Which Reverb Tank?

[tbryanh]

I am planning on making a stand alone reverb unit similar to a Fender 6G15.

I was wondering what reverb tank might sound the best and why?

I am thinking that the Accutronics P-R9AB3C1B might be good.
http://www.michaeltone.com/Accutronics.htm

[Casey4s]

I am planning on making a stand alone reverb unit similar to a Fender 6G15.

I was wondering what reverb tank might sound the best and why?

I am thinking that the Accutronics P-R9AB3C1B might be good.
http://www.michaeltone.com/Accutronics.htm

The Fender stand alone unit uses the 4AB3C1B/C tank. It has a longer delay than the other one and is the one most often found inVintage Fender amps. The input and output impedances are correct for most Fender Tube Reverb systems.

[Enzo]

Using the Fender drive circuit, you need an AB pan. 4 and 9 style pans are the full size ones, while the 8 style is the shorty used in smaller amps. Compared to the full size pans, the #8 sounds more like a screen door spring to me.

The 4AB pan is the typical two spring, and the 9AB is the three spring. I think the three spring has a little richer sound, but not a huge difference. Pick either one to taste. Try one of each, and keep the reject for another project.
Either one will sound fine.


As Casey points out the delay level 3 pan will ring longer than the common 2 level. That has a different sound than a 2 turned up farther, but the difference is not spacious.

[tbryanh]

I wound up ordering the following units:
P-R9AB2C1B
P-R9AB3C1B

They arrived today.

I have not hooked them to amps yet, so I do not know how they sound yet.

Except for the different part numbers that are hand stamped to the metal housings, I cannot see any difference between the two units.
One is supposed to be a medium delay, and the other is supposed to be a long delay, but they both appear completely identical.

I am wondering now if one of the part numbers stamped on one of the unit is wrong.

[Enzo]

The difference is in the long springs, they won't look much different. it is doubtful they mismarked them. The hardness of the metal, the tension on the spring, the composition of the metal in the spring. One should take a somewhat longer time for an impulse to damp down.

Basically they made the same pan and use two different sets of springs in them. I would not expect a visual difference.

[PeaveyBandit]

I wound up ordering the following units:
P-R9AB2C1B
P-R9AB3C1B

They arrived today.

I have not hooked them to amps yet, so I do not know how they sound yet.

Except for the different part numbers that are hand stamped to the metal housings, I cannot see any difference between the two units.
One is supposed to be a medium delay, and the other is supposed to be a long delay, but they both appear completely identical.

I am wondering now if one of the part numbers stamped on one of the unit is wrong.

I'm extremely interesting in how those compared. I want a deep reverb in an amp I'm building but I dont want the super long delay. I want to be able to bring the reverb into the mix strongly without it meaning endless sustain and the surf sound. That link helped me alot since it looks like for my new Princeton build I might want to order the fender type with about 10/2500 ohm input output impedance. Thanks again.

PB

[tbryanh]

I am in the process of building a Fender Reverb 6G15 unit.

It will probably be a few weeks, hopefully not months, before I am done.

[flyingtele]

it so happens that i am building a a 6G15 Fender reverb unit as well. I am going to order the original spring, mentioned earlier. But, when ordering a reverb tank, the most important thing is to match up the input and output impedances, otherwise it will normally sound real bad.