The Spring Reverbs inside guitar amps have always fascinated me, and I took them one step further by connecting one to my stereo years ago, and the sound was really cool! So, yea, I know the basic operation. According to one web article, there is a transducer at one end of a spring and a pickup on the other end. This caused the spring to vibrate and create the reverb effect. One group from the 1960s and 70s that really used them was the Ventures. (I have to mention that I love that groups music). Often when they play, you can actually hear them springs. I've taken them inside guitar amps and bnaged them, and they really can make a clatter. But what I am not finding is exactly what or how does this transducer work. Is it similar to a speaker coil? Or what goes on inside there? And the pickup, is that similar to a microphone, or what? There seems to be nothing that actually details the workings inside of them on the web. So, I thought I'd ask on here.

Yes, the transducers are like a speaker and mic. The sound travels down the spring taking some time. The signal is picked up at the far end giving a delayed copy. This delayed copy can be run back to the input where it is delayed again. By controlling the gain of this feedback the reverb can be made more or less pronounced. If the loop gain exceeds 1 it will create an ever growing echo that gets out of control like feedback, but not at a high frequency. -- Rick C

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How do those Spring Reverbs work in guitar amps?

Mar 19, 2017 41 Replies

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Michael A. Terrell 9 years ago

That's what I saw, as well.

Here, as well.

Never piss off an Engineer! They don't get mad. They don't get even. They go for over unity! ;-)

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Jasen Betts 9 years ago

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