Amp gurus: spring reverb replacement question.

[Artie]

My new Hughes & Kettner amp arrived today with the spring reverb busted loose, hanging down inside the cab. It was no big deal to remount it using tie-wraps and a toilet paper tube. (A temporary "mod".)

Its an incredibly cheap piece of crap. Is this the kind of thing that I can just replace with an Accutronics unit, or similar? Will the wiring be the same. There appears to be two wires in one end and two wires coming off the other end. Will this improve the reverb sound?

Thanks all.
Artie

 

[Rich_S]

Re: Amp gurus: spring reverb replacement question.

There's about a brazillian different reverb tanks out there, but I'm sure you can find one that works, and maybe improves the sound. The important specs are the input and output impedance, the number of springs, and the length.

Beyond that I'm not a reverb afficionado, so I can't comment on how different kinds of tanks sound. Trying asking on Doug Hoffman's amp forum, and check out Antique Electronics - they seem to have a pretty good assortment of tanks.

 

[Artie]

Re: Amp gurus: spring reverb replacement question.

Thanks Rich. I was just looking over Accutronics webpage and picked up on the input/output impedance thing. Fortunately, I have the facilities to measure this one if H&K can't supply that info.

I'll check out those other two resources also. Thanks.

Artie

 

[kmcguitars]

Re: Amp gurus: spring reverb replacement question.

One more thing to check on the Accutronics webpage . Some tanks are designed to be mounted Horizontally others vertically. One of the digits in Accutronics code signifies this.

 

[Artie]

Re: Amp gurus: spring reverb replacement question.

One more thing to check on the Accutronics webpage . Some tanks are designed to be mounted Horizontally others vertically. One of the digits in Accutronics code signifies this.

Yup . . . thanks. I see that I need to be careful about the ordering code.
More importantly, I wonder if the Accutronics unit will make a sonic difference. Is it just the "tank" that matters, or the electronics that drive it?

 

[frankfalbo]

Re: Amp gurus: spring reverb replacement question.

Accutronics will tell you it's the tank.

The tank is a big part of it. The quantity of springs, size of springs, and length are three big variables. The reverb in my Tube 50 is pretty good, but that's German made pro gear.

Most tanks have one RCA in and one RCA out. So if you have two ins/outs for a total of four connections, really be mindful of that when you're ordering. Without seeing the tank, I can't tell why it has four. It could have a seperate send and return for clean vs. dirty, or it may drive two different sets of springs, mixing a short and long tail reverb, etc. The Mesa Quad has a dual setup like that, but that's done with two seperate tanks. Plus it's a parallel connection off the board anyway. The sends are the same, only the tanks are different.

 

[Artie]

Re: Amp gurus: spring reverb replacement question.

Thanks for the info Frank. I believe mine just has two wires soldered to each end. I'll probably need to add RCA connectors if I replace it, but that'll be a piece 'o cake for me.

I'll see if I can snap a pic of it later. You'll laugh when you see it.

 

[flank]

Re: Amp gurus: spring reverb replacement question.

a new tank will likely sound a little better, but I'm not sure how much. When i had my Twin Reverb restored at Allen Amplification, we ended up needing a new reverb tank because one of the springs had snapped off the original tank. He put in a new accutronics tank and it sounds great (this was a special tank that accutronics sent him to test out and he put it in my amp, so i dont know what model it is), but he said as long as its a decent tank, its very difficult to notice a difference in sonic quality. He said unless its a completely junky tank, it will sound good in an old Fender amp that has reverb, because obviously, Fender has very famous reverb and the circuit must be where that sound comes from, not the tank specifically.

 

[jeremy]

Re: Amp gurus: spring reverb replacement question.

i wish i had a brazillion of anything!! sounds like it'd be sweet!!

 

[That90'sGuy]

Re: Amp gurus: spring reverb replacement question.

I used to have a H&K Triamp w/ reverb and I'm pretty sure it was an Accutronics reverb tank. I'd definitely go that route if you want a great tank for not a lot of coin.

 

[Brow]

Re: Amp gurus: spring reverb replacement question.

If I was in your place Artie, something new I'd bought had arrived broken etc, I wouldn't even think about fixing it and upgrading the broken part myself with my money. I'd take/send it backk to where I bought it from and ask for a replacement.

As far as Reverb Tanks go, I have no idea so can't suggest anything

 

[frankfalbo]

Re: Amp gurus: spring reverb replacement question.

It was a "blem" item, so the tank could have been one of the reasons it was cheaper. But now, for the same amount of money as a "boxed" one, or possibly still less overall, he'll have an accutronics tank instead of the "tin can special" it came with.

Artie you're saying the tank has two wires on each end? That's fine. I thought it was two connectors, both with a + and - . So 8 connectors total. I understand now, it's 4 connectors total. And yeah you should put RCA's on there. Any other tank will have RCA's.

 

[Artie]

Re: Amp gurus: spring reverb replacement question.

If I was in your place Artie, something new I'd bought had arrived broken etc, I wouldn't even think about fixing it and upgrading the broken part myself with my money. I'd take/send it backk to where I bought it from and ask for a replacement.

Under normal circumstances, I'd do the same, but as Frank pointed out, this was a one-shot great deal on a blem. It only took me a few minutes to fix, and I have the amp to enjoy now . . . and saved a bunch, to boot.

The reverb works fine. I thought it might be fun to upgrade it, just to see what the difference was. Fortunately, nice Accutronics units aren't very expensive. It will still be less than these amps cost new.