Reverb Tank Mods

[Tim37]

Hey i fell in the trap and got one of the crate v18 112 combos

http://guitars.musiciansfriend.com/product...-Amp?sku=487051

well its not the brightest amp but i have another amp if i am wanting my ears to bleed i am actualy diggin on its tone.

my only complaint is the reverb if you turn it up past 3 it sounds like your amp is in the bottom of a well

my question is does anybody have experience with modding or replacing a reverb tank it hooks up using rca plugs so that part will be easy im just not sure about impedance and output and all that good stuff or do i just need to say forget it and not worry with the reverb.

[psw]

Glad you like your new amp...

my only complaint is the reverb if you turn it up past 3 it sounds like your amp is in the bottom of a well

Well...Isn't that what reverb is supposed to sound like? I take it that this is a spring reverb not a digital thing, and that the amp is pretty small. So, likely they used a short reverb tank and transistor circuitry to run it...so it wont be the lush reverb that a fender gives you.

It depends what you want to use it for an how much reverb you want...do you play surf music or something?

For recording or if using it with a digital effects say it is best run dry and the effect added later. If used loud in a small room there is likely to be room reverb, if playing with others, reverb can mess things up with too much ambient noise in the background.

A good addition is an analogue delay. I love this sound and use it all the time (and I do have a valve fender reverb). Set on low volume but delay of 300ms or so (not the quick rockabilly slap, though it would do this too) this creates a clear background repeat (not a wash of sound like reverb). Combined with a reverb, each repeat gets a little reverb too that extends it as it fades and adds dimension to it. Digital delay, especially if it can mimic analog is good, a little to clean and so sounds artificial. The difference is with analoge, the repeats lessen in tone and quality and sounds more natural.

Hope that helps..

pete

oh...often amp makers hype amps where most of the control is in the low numbers...perhaps 3 on the reverb is almost full on...that is to fool you when you are buying that if it does this at 3...then there is still 7 more to go. My fender hot rod is extremely loud at 2 maxes out at 3-4 and the rest to 12 is bearly noticable.

[Tim37]

lol when i say it sounds like its at the bottom of a well i mean its got some serious echo. well i guess i will just keep it down and be happy with it i mean for that price i can't really complain if the reverb is crap

maybe i will finaly break down and buy a pedal i don't really play guitar i just play around with one more or less and have always just depende on onboard over drive and distortion.

[ansil]

try a smaller tank. there are tons of them out there. measure the impedance of the tank itself find something reasonably close and you are in the park. personally i rip out the tanks and get me delay pedal or something in there and use the reverb knob as my delay mix knob. but thats me

or you can chain several tanks together i have been frowned on many a times for daisy chaining 4 or more together