Dub and spring reverbs.

[djangodeadman]

If you’re looking for a cheaper and more readily available alternative to the Fender reverb tank, there’s only one option: Surfy Bear.
https://www.gak.co.uk/en/surfy-industries?page=0#&auto=true&b=1424

[Arpangel]

I’ve decided, this is all too much, reverb tanks, power supplies, I’m asleep already.

[Drew Stephenson]

That didn't take long!

[Frank Rideau]

IMO for dub, I would be tempted to avoid guitar-pedal spring reverb type and would look for the vintagey dedicated units, you know the one you can kick on them and goes tccHAAAaahaaaAA
Some years ago, I found a Space Echo re-201 at a very decent price. The spring reverb in it is very usable. Now, unfortunately, they are going at ridiculous high price, and this without saying the amount of love you need to put into them to get them nicely rolling.
I also bought a Roland RV-100, low price. A little less agressive, but still very nice.
Check the used market, sometimes, you may see reverb units at very decent price.

This more is my kind of studio for making dub music...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcvIeacjzgE

[Arpangel]

IMO for dub, I would be tempted to avoid guitar-pedal spring reverb type and would look for the vintagey dedicated units, you know the one you can kick on them and goes tccHAAAaahaaaAA
Some years ago, I found a Space Echo re-201 at a very decent price. The spring reverb in it is very usable. Now, unfortunately, they are going at ridiculous high price, and this without saying the amount of love you need to put into them to get them nicely rolling.
I also bought a Roland RV-100, low price. A little less agressive, but still very nice.
Check the used market, sometimes, you may see reverb units at very decent price.

This more is my kind of studio for making dub music...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcvIeacjzgE

I recorded in a local Ska studio in the 70’s, we had a Grampian spring, all right, but not worth £6,000 which is what I saw one up for recently.
I had a very nice Vesta Fire dual stereo spring reverb, that was really nice, very very smooth sound.

[MOF]

Arpangel you might want to look at the UAD AKG BX20 and Korg SDD-3000 plugins. I have both of them and like them a lot.

[Mike Stranks]

... the... AKG BX20...

Now THAT was a reverb!

[Frank Rideau]

IMO for dub, I would be tempted to avoid guitar-pedal spring reverb type and would look for the vintagey dedicated units, you know the one you can kick on them and goes tccHAAAaahaaaAA
Some years ago, I found a Space Echo re-201 at a very decent price. The spring reverb in it is very usable. Now, unfortunately, they are going at ridiculous high price, and this without saying the amount of love you need to put into them to get them nicely rolling.
I also bought a Roland RV-100, low price. A little less agressive, but still very nice.
Check the used market, sometimes, you may see reverb units at very decent price.

This more is my kind of studio for making dub music...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcvIeacjzgE

I recorded in a local Ska studio in the 70’s, we had a Grampian spring, all right, but not worth £6,000 which is what I saw one up for recently.
I had a very nice Vesta Fire dual stereo spring reverb, that was really nice, very very smooth sound.

Cool ! Indeed the Grampian high value as probably more to do with the name of a certain Jamaican sound engineer associated with it. Also pretty sure once you've paid that price, it does not come free of potential troubles...
There is a growing business of people refurbishing old piece of gear and selling them on a flip. Some of them are actually doing a pretty good and honest job, for example these guys:
https://soundgas.com/
They also have a blog article on spring reverbs for those who are interested to hear what they have to say about the Grampian and other stuffs,
https://soundgas.com/blog/which-vintage-spring-reverb-is-best/

[Hugh Robjohns]

... the... AKG BX20...

Now THAT was a reverb!

Certainly was. I used the smaller BX15 spring reverb for a good few years, which was engineered in a very cunning way. The service manual is here and includes a diagram of how the springs are arranged. Fabulous technology that worked and sounded far better than traditional Fender/Hammond type spring tanks.

[MOF]

... the... AKG BX20...

Now THAT was a reverb!

Certainly was. I used the smaller BX15 spring reverb for a good few years

I could only afford a very small spring reverb and it constantly boinged at the least provocation. I seem to remember buying it from an early incarnation of Turnkey, before they had a shop in charing Cross Road, I think it was in Hendon. The Great British Spring was much larger and better but still had that metallic sound.
Thank you for the service manual Hugh, I love the pictures of all those springs.

[Arpangel]

Cool ! Indeed the Grampian high value as probably more to do with the name of a certain Jamaican sound engineer associated with it. Also pretty sure once you've paid that price, it does not come free of potential troubles...
There is a growing business of people refurbishing old piece of gear and selling them on a flip. Some of them are actually doing a pretty good and honest job, for example these guys:
https://soundgas.com/
They also have a blog article on spring reverbs for those who are interested to hear what they have to say about the Grampian and other stuffs,
https://soundgas.com/blog/which-vintage-spring-reverb-is-best/

I knew a guy that used a BX20 as a stand for his DX7, he offered it to me for nothing and I said it took up too much room, no thanks, that was about 1988.
Fair enough if you can make a living out of this old stuff, but I do think that some of the prices asked, especially by the people you mention are a bit OTT.

[ken long]

Love my Great British Spring for all these reasons. As Frank mentions, Soundgas do a very nice grampian but £££.

[Arpangel]

Love my Great British Spring for all these reasons. As Frank mentions, Soundgas do a very nice grampian but £££.

What I find quite ironic, is that a lot of this old stuff was bought by people with little money at the time, we had a Grampian because no one else wanted it, the British Spring, that was a budget reverb, the Grampian was the only commercial unit we had, the rest of our effects, and mixer, were home-made.
Then you had all those Jamaican guys doing it all on a wing and a prayer, mostly home made stuff, they’d pick up on something and it would go into legendary status, now it’s worth a fortune, but it was just what was around at the time.

[ken long]

Love my Great British Spring for all these reasons. As Frank mentions, Soundgas do a very nice grampian but £££.

What I find quite ironic, is that a lot of this old stuff was bought by people with little money at the time, we had a Grampian because no one else wanted it, the British Spring, that was a budget reverb, the Grampian was the only commercial unit we had, the rest of our effects, and mixer, were home-made.
Then you had all those Jamaican guys doing it all on a wing and a prayer, mostly home made stuff, they’d pick up on something and it would go into legendary status, now it’s worth a fortune, but it was just what was around at the time.

Some of it was. Lee Perry used a 201. Part of the charm of King Tubby's sound came from the interfacing with his MCI console with built in Altec Lansing stepped HPF.

[Arpangel]

Some of it was. Lee Perry used a 201. Part of the charm of King Tubby's sound came from the interfacing with his MCI console with built in Altec Lansing stepped HPF.

I think a lot of the charm cane from the atmosphere in the studio, and the magicians and musicians in those consecrated studios.

[N i g e l]

the British Spring, that was a budget reverb,

thats what the adverts said but it was way out of my budget !
My ~8" spring reverb was a DIY build from Maplin or E&MM.

I did send off for the G.B.S demo tape though...

[Agharta]

the British Spring, that was a budget reverb,

thats what the adverts said but it was way out of my budget !
My ~8" spring reverb was a DIY build from Maplin or E&MM.

I did send off for the G.B.S demo tape though...

Tape and spring reverb!
The holy grail; my beard is twitching.
Now if you playback the tape through an actual spring reverb and record that to an actual tape machine...
The universe may disappear in a puff of beard dust.

[baward]

You do not want to hit them with much
Dave.

I seem to accidentally hit (geddit?) my Great British Spring with my foot each time I walk past where it lives on the floor.

[Arpangel]

Even though I appreciate the character of springs now, and use them a lot, I hated them at the time, I was always trying to find ways of getting the longest reverb time possible, slowing things down, layering, adding chorus/delay pedals, feedback etc etc.
And then I heard all my hero’s taking about these things called Lexicons, Eventides, and EMT's in the late 70’s, WTF are these? I was suddenly hearing massive Canyons, infinite halls, cathedrals, Eno was making On Land, Fourth World, Vangelis too, what was going on?
I can remember, I went into my local music shop in Canterbury and asked if they could order me one of these Lexicon 224's and I’d also like a Prophet 5 if at all possible, I’m not going to say what the reply was, but Idid end up walking out with a secondhand VCS3.