tube spring reverb & EQ

 A very different sound from digital reverb, valve-driven spring reverb is one of the trademarks of the dub reggae sound, giving a very organic, 'springy' sound; still unattainable with software plug-ins or digital processing.

This custom incarnation of the original design for a spring reverb system represents many years of refinement and tweaking of the basic circuit, alongside numerous improvements to the user interface and individual component parts.

The EQ/ISOLATOR section has been especially designed to function as an integral part of the complete spring reverb system. This has lead to the user interface for the EQ operating in a different manner to the standard modern parametric EQ found on most modern mixing desks and outboard equipment. Rather the operation is as the original EQ designs dating from the 50s and 60s, as seen, for example, in equalisers from companies such as Pultec and Lang, where boost and attenuate were always on separate bands. This can take a second to get used to if you are only used to using a modern parametric EQ, where each band can provide both boost and cut.

Another important difference with this type of EQ is that when the boost control is set to “zero”, or if that frequency band is bypassed, then the entire frequency band of that section is removed from the signal path – as opposed to the controls of a modern parametric eq, where if the controls were to be set to “0”, or if a frequency band was bypassed then you would hear the original “flat” unaffected signal.

It is this very difference that enables the equaliser to also act as an “isolator” – each band can literally be switched in and out of the output signal, and can be continuously varied by changing the EQ controls – with skillful operation the user is able to switch and vary the spring reverb effect each time it is triggered, by for example, a snare drum, bringing in/out each band and changing the frequency/gain each time the snare is hit…