Fostex 3180 / How to "customize" a spring reverb

Post by **interruptor** » Tue Jul 17, 2001 6:24 pm

Someone offered me a Fostex 3180 Spring Reverb Unit. Does anybody here know this device? I would like to know whether it's a true stereo device (= separate springs for left & right channel. I saw different reverbs that just have a single reverb line generating a mono reverb which is then mixed with your stereo input signal, from the outside you just see the stereo in/out and may wrongly assume the reverb is stereo too..) Also it would be interresting to know about how the springs are assembled in the unit. Many of the newer spring reverbs sound too clean for dub purposes. This is because they use several springs in parallel or in series to over- come the typical "boingyness" of simple spring reverbs (People used to hate this boingyness back in the days when there was no affordable alternative to spring reverbs). If the springs are connected in parallel with a separate sender and pick-up for each spring you can mute some of the springs using cotton (or your fingers) and thus obtain the typical old-school spring sound. I recently came accross a unit with three springs connected in series in a "Z"-like manner (they called this "folded delay line"). In this case it is not possible to mute a single spring without muting the others too. respect everytime..

Post by **interruptor** » Thu Jul 19, 2001 4:17 pm

ok, I got a nice answer from ben at <A HREF="http://www.angelfire.com/music/instafame/">instafame</A> (see the studiopics - wikked old-school equipment..) according to him the 3180 is a true stereo reverb with parallel springs.

Mike Zee · Post by **Mike Zee** » Fri Jul 20, 2001 7:23 pm

hi, Daniel, yeah, instafame is a 'some studio' , man, <IMG SRC="http://www.interruptor.ch/cgi-bin/discu ... /happy.gif" ALT=":)"> you know what, I just want to let you know, I was thinking of buying some stuff, so I went through eBay, just to see what out there. So if you just search eBay for 'spring reverb', there are a few there, some pretty cool loking old stuff, and some are really cheap-priced..., well, you never know how is it. I also have not seen any stuff there which I ever saw in real myself, nor ever heard any of them. anyhow, all I want to say , if you are checking to buy something old it's a good idea to swing over eBay.com, for at least to see some stuff. Some have actually pictures and some guys give you some idea about what it is etc... take care etc..., regards, <A HREF="http://www.audiogalaxy.com/bands/mikezee/dub_lab.htm" TARGET="_top">Mike Zee</A>