Hey guys I need help. I have 3 days to decide if I want to keep this amp. The reverb is not working. I took the unit out and the 2 springs had fallen out inside the unit. Is it relatively simple to just connect them back. There is a long one and a shorter one. Which one goes where????? I have enclosed some pictures of the unit. Can someone please help. I am holding the unit the way it goes in with bottom down. Where does the long or short one go top or bottom or does it even matter? Since this reverb has a pull switch for high it may matter.
The position of the springs does not matter. As long as the end clips are still intact and the springs can be connected.
Later tanks were glued at the connection points, to keep the springs from falling off. But then the end clips would be broken off when the tanks were bounced too hard. This would mean that the tank would need to be replaced when the springs broke loose.
If you want to glue them in, mix a little epoxy and dab a tiny bit on with a toothpick where the spring connects to the end clip.
I think one reason for both springs falling off was the fact that there is a label on the inside of the tank that came partly unglued, and rolled up on the ends, as you can see in my first pic. The label could have been putting pressure on the springs causing them to slip off when bounced in shipment to me...I removed that label and glued it to the outside of the tank.
One was longer, by about 2" or so. When I put them back in the centers of both sections of springs lined up pretty close.. Anything to be concerned about at this point????? Looking back I see there are 2 short sections connected together and 2 longer sections connected. Should I try to put a long and a short together, and make them equal?????
stevem Messages: 4730 Registered: June 2004 Location: NY
Senior Member
The long one is likely shot and when bounced in travel will come off again, or may snap off the the little hard wire it clips into at each as happens very often .
If this latter issue takes place I can fix if for you if you want to keep the tank original!
No, the two springs are not supposed to be the same length. Or actually there are 4 springs there, that's why the tank is a model number 4. The springs are also counter wound.
All of this was to make the sound more complex, a mixture of longer and shorted delays to make a rich, thick reverb.
I looked at my reverb tank which is exactly like this one and both springs are the same length and in one section not two. The reverb is awesome on my unit....best of all the one's I have but am wondering if mine has been updated or altered? Wondering how one spring could have possibly been stretch that much longer inside the amp. I smell mischief afoot.
Chicagobill just answered my question......guess mine has been altered.
So if one is shorter than the other, then the shorter spring would be much tighter than the other one since the distance to the connections is the same for both springs......correct?
Yes, the shorter spring will be tighter, but these springs are not like door closer springs, they really aren't that strong.
Is your tank marked with a brand like Accutronics or OC or Gibbs? There was a very early version of the tanks that had only two long springs. That was a type 2 tank, but they were never used in Kustom amps.
It could be that your tank was replaced somewhere along the road.
Gibbs was a division of Hammond Organ, who invented the entire spring reverb business. The original springs were about two feet long and were hung like a necklace. In fact they are often refered to as necklace reverb units.
Later on the standard size tanks were created and were sold to all sorts of companies that wanted to add reverb to their sound systems. Fender, Gibson, General Motors, etc. all had "Hammond Reverb" units added to some of their products. I remember a friend's dad had a early '60s Buick that had reverb unit on the car radio. Every time he hit a bump the springs would go boing. It did make the mono newscasts sound cool though.
My friend in high school had an old Corvar (spelling) that had factory reverb on the radio also. Had the coolest sound until you hit a bump in the road......then the loudest damned twang you every heard. The car's doors also opened on their own when turning corners fast. Dead trap on wheels.