Can I turn an amp's reverb into a seperate pedal???

Stringmaster · #1 03-20-2011, 12:58 AM

Hi,
I had a little Peavey Backstage combo amp that I turned into a pedalboard/monitor combination. It was in rough shape, but I did some resoldering and got it working. Anyway, it had a nice spring reverb unit in it that I would like to turn into an effects pedal. It looks just like the pic below, just an in and out. Can I just run a 3pdt switch and a volume pot (blend pot maybe?) in a separate enclosure running to that big honkin thing behind the board? What kind of pot and value should be used? Thanks

Eric! · #2 03-20-2011, 01:08 AM

there's another company that did a crazy expensive one, too. I remember looking into this..though I don't really remember the results. I do think it wasn't so simple..but I've been wrong many a time before.

bongomania · #3 03-20-2011, 01:32 AM

The thing is, the reverb tank itself is only the mechanical part of the effect. It also needs an amp circuit to "live in", that feeds it signal going in, and amplifies the resulting vibrations going out. It is possible to make it work on a basic level just feeding it a raw bass signal and putting a simple gain stage at the end; but the best results are obtained by building an active input stage with clean and wet channels, and an active mixer output stage. Plus the bypass of course. So the answer is: yes, it certainly can be done; but no, it isn't as simple as some people might hope.

tomhanzo · #4 03-20-2011, 03:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bongomania

The thing is, the reverb tank itself is only the mechanical part of the effect. It also needs an amp circuit to "live in", that feeds it signal going in, and amplifies the resulting vibrations going out. It is possible to make it work on a basic level just feeding it a raw bass signal and putting a simple gain stage at the end; but the best results are obtained by building an active input stage with clean and wet channels, and an active mixer output stage. Plus the bypass of course. So the answer is: yes, it certainly can be done; but no, it isn't as simple as some people might hope.

+1. I tried just plugging in to one with some 1/4 to rca converters. It doesn't work.

You'd have to have all the jazz he mentioned to make it work.