BUILD YOUR OWN REVERB UNIT

I’ve always had an uneasy relationship with reverb. I’m crazy about plate and spring reverb effects in the studio, and always have to take care not to overdo it. But when it comes to the traditional tube-driven spring reverb in most guitar amps, I sometimes find myself less enthusiastic.

I may be in the minority – and I suspect many will disagree with me – but when it comes to Fender reverbs in particular, I often find myself struggling to find that happy medium between too much and too little. There is, however, a style of amp reverb that really does work for me and I first encountered it when I got the chance to review a Swart amplifier.

Swart’s reverb really gels with the dry guitar signal to enhance it rather than drown it, and to my ears it sounds more like the AKG studio spring reverbs that I love so much.

So the idea behind this project is to build a Swart-inspired reverb module that can be added to a wide variety of amps.

PARTS LIST

RESISTORS

2x 100K

220K

22K

1.2K

470K

3K

10K

CAPACITORS

0.22μF

2x 0.022μF

0.1μF

25μF/25v electrolytic

4700pF

500pF

POTENTIOMETERS

2x 1M

220K

MISCELLANEOUS

Aluminium enclosure

12DW7 valve

2x isolated RCA sockets

9-pin valve