adding reverb to one that has none?

[dearlpitts]

my mk iii has no reverb,i have a few amps that have reverb that i can easily pop out-but i see no rca jacks on the mk iii to hook one up to- so is there a half way easy way to hook one up ?are is this somthing for a tech?

 

[stokes]

Theres way more to it than just popping it out of your other amp.There is a couple of components your amp doesnt have,tubes,transformer and circuitry.Better to get an external reverb,either a stand alone Fender type or some sort of digital effect and hook up in front of the amp or in the effects loop.

 

[dearlpitts]

Theres way more to it than just popping it out of your other amp.There is a couple of components your amp doesnt have,tubes,transformer and circuitry.Better to get an external reverb,either a stand alone Fender type or some sort of digital effect and hook up in front of the amp or in the effects loop.

yep thats what i was affraid of.

 

[Loral]

Actually, if you have a skilled electronics tech, you can add a reverb to about any amp.

I have a MKIIa and a friend of mine added a reverb to my amp about 15 years ago, and this amp was made in the mid 70's.

I wish I could give you more info on *how* he did it, but he made a small circuit board and it has about 8-10 wires coming out; some are soldered to the pots on the front of the amp, and some to the mesa circuit board.

The holes were drilled for a reverb knob, so that was easy and we mounted a Fender reverb tank. Done.

 

[stokes]

Actually, if you have a skilled electronics tech, you can add a reverb to about any amp.

I have a MKIIa and a friend of mine added a reverb to my amp about 15 years ago, and this amp was made in the mid 70's.

I wish I could give you more info on *how* he did it, but he made a small circuit board and it has about 8-10 wires coming out; some are soldered to the pots on the front of the amp, and some to the mesa circuit board.

The holes were drilled for a reverb knob, so that was easy and we mounted a Fender reverb tank. Done.

Yeah,its real "easy" if you pay someone to do it.Never said it couldnt be done,just that it wasnt as easy as the OP seemed to think it was.

 

[dearlpitts]

oh well its pedal or bust

 

[stokes]

oh well its pedal or bust

A stand alone tube powered unit is much better sounding.Much bigger and bulkier than a pedal,but well worth it,in my opinion.I got a Fender '63 re-issue and rebuilt the circuit board like the original,the modern PCB circuit didnt cut it for me.

 

[Heritage Softail]

Wampler makes a very simple, reverb tank like pedal. I tried a Dr Z and Fender tank. For the very subtle amount of reverb I like they both were more than what I needed for the coin involved and potential feedback and noise issues. The Hardwire unit is serving for now. The simple 'room' mode is there but not over the top.

 

[dearlpitts]

ya just like a little

 

[CoG]

The mark iii's reverb is nothing to write home about anyway. Pretty much any modern reverb pedal sounds just as good and is more versatile.

 

[SonicProvocateur]

I agree with CoG, Outboard reverbs have alot more flexability in terms of tone live and in studio. It's one more piece of gear - whether a pedal up to a big tank, but they certainly outperform a built in spring tank. I live by mine. I have a vintage Furman RV-1 in a rack for live, and just got a Dr. Z for the studio. Awesome verbs! The T.C. Hall of Fame is also -amazing- as a pedal. I did a shootout with a vintage '65 blackface in my store and it was spot on on the "spring" setting.

 

[Loral]

Yeah,its real "easy" if you pay someone to do it.Never said it couldnt be done,just that it wasnt as easy as the OP seemed to think it was.

Instead of jumping on my comment, read the original post/question.

I answered his question with my results. A reverb can be added by a tech, which is the route I chose to take.

If you want to mess up your amp, go ahead, but I chose the more intelligent route, the same I recommend to anyone not knowledgable in electronics. To further elaborate, unless you have a reverb circuit, "no", there will not be RCA type jacks just to add a reverb tank to.

If I recall from the schematics I have, the reverb is driven by 1/2 one of the 12AX7 tubes which can also be swapped out for a 12AT7 for a slightly different tone by user prefference.

 

[stokes]

Nobody "jumped" on anything.The OP was asking if it was as simple as taking the tank out of one and adding it to another.Its not.In your first reply you made it sound simpler than it actually is.He would need to add a couple of tubes as well as an OT.If it was as simple as a "small circuit board with 8-10 wires" it is a solid state circuit,not a tube circuit.There is a driver circuit and a recovery circuit,both require a half a tube each.The recovery circuit also requires an OT.Using an outboard reverb is not going to "mess up your amp" dont know what you mean by that.Adding an onboard reverb is not necessarilly the "more intelligent route".It is somewhat complicated,expensive and no onboard reverb can compare to the lush tones and wider variety reverb you get with an outboard unit.

 

[jedmon01]

I bought a cheap second hand EH Holy Grail and simply transplanted it into my old '83 Mark SOB.
I had already removed the useless limiter cct and replaced with long tail pair so I used this control for reverb level.
Works a treat. Only problem is that it is now before o/d section, so as you drive the amp the reverb increases, but that's
no bad thing as you can set it very low for rhythm and on solo's it kicks in

I would upload a photo but I don't know how to ?

John

 

[stokes]

John,I'm not familiar with the Holy Grail,but assuming it is some sort of pedal that you would normally plug into the input,why not just wire it to the inputs on the inside of the chassis?Your reverb level would then stay the same in rythm and lead mode.

 

[jedmon01]

Hi ,
That's where I have wired it but due to the compression when overdriving the front end the reverb level increases as I push the amp. I tried it further down the chain, but it overloaded the reverb circuit.
It's not a problem though.
If the SOB had a FX send/return I would have put it there.....

John

 

[stokes]

Somethings not right.If its in front of the input tube,it shouldnt be affected by anything beyond it.Of course,I dont have it in front of me so its just speculation.But if it sounds good to you and you can live with it,thats all what counts.

 

[jedmon01]

It happens with all reverb & delay pedals.
When you run the amp clean both the original & fx are amplified the same.
When you drive the front end into o/d it clips the original signal but the fx, be it reverb or delay, is unaffected because it is below the clipping point. Although you do not touch the fx mix , the fx will increases dramatically.
That's why reverb springs are fitted just befor the PI.

BUT it's very beneficial because at low clean rhythm settings say "3" on the guitar volume there is little reverb.
For solos when you wind the guitar volume up to "10" and o/d the amp the reverb increases. Cool effect.

This does assume you use the guitar volume control and not o/d pedals.....

John