Has anybody adapted the Hot Springs two tank thing to an existing circuit?

[wavley]

The title pretty much says it all.  I got to thinking about how the reverb sound on my RE-501 Chorus Echo isn't so great and I have an extra tank sitting around.  I've never messed with the Paia Hot Springs but looking at the schematic it seems like a pretty cool solution and was just curious to see if anybody else had tried modifying an existing circuit, is it better, and are there any tips or tricks that they learned while doing it?

[Mark Hammer]

I've pondered it, but never done it.  Keep in mind that a pair of reverb pans takes up an awful lot of space; certainly more than the average combo amp affords.  Moreover, since you have to use identical pans, and since most Accutronics pans need to be mounted the same way (sideways, suspended from above, flat on the bottom, etc.), it's really an idea that is best done with a deep rack chassis.  Alternatively, I guess you could stick a pair of short-spring units inside a standard 2x12 combo cab, end-to-end, but the short spring pans don't sound nearly as lush.

Where I imagine the unit would really shine is in adding outboard reverb in a gig situation.  As mechanical elements, the springs pick up vibrations.  The humbucking aspect of the HS design would conceivably help in minimizing bass bleedthrough in the reverb, since that content would cancel out.

But what you got me thinking about is whether a PT2399 could be used in tandem with a single reverb pan, as a sort of substitute for the 2nd pan.  Mix them out of phase, set the delay time on the PT2399 just right, and maybe you'd get some of that same bass cancellation.

[wavley]

I've pondered it, but never done it.  Keep in mind that a pair of reverb pans takes up an awful lot of space; certainly more than the average combo amp affords.  Moreover, since you have to use identical pans, and since most Accutronics pans need to be mounted the same way (sideways, suspended from above, flat on the bottom, etc.), it's really an idea that is best done with a deep rack chassis.  Alternatively, I guess you could stick a pair of short-spring units inside a standard 2x12 combo cab, end-to-end, but the short spring pans don't sound nearly as lush.

Where I imagine the unit would really shine is in adding outboard reverb in a gig situation.  As mechanical elements, the springs pick up vibrations.  The humbucking aspect of the HS design would conceivably help in minimizing bass bleedthrough in the reverb, since that content would cancel out.

I've got the space and the pans, so that's not really a big deal for me.  My space echo is mounted on a drawer to pull out of a rack I built and I have enough space in the rack to mount both of the pans the same direction and just run the associated cabling out of the back of the space echo box.  Sure, if I want to take it out of my rack and turn it into a stand alone unit again I'll have to put the pan back in and redo the cabling, but it's not hard to do or much of a concern.  I was kinda hoping the humbucking part of the Hot Springs would help out with some of the hum and noise that makes the 501 reverb unusable, that, and even if you ignore the noise the reverb just doesn't sound that great.

[wavley]

But what you got me thinking about is whether a PT2399 could be used in tandem with a single reverb pan, as a sort of substitute for the 2nd pan.  Mix them out of phase, set the delay time on the PT2399 just right, and maybe you'd get some of that same bass cancellation.

You added this, and it's totally a thing that I could fit inside the 501 box with all the power rails I need for such a thing, maybe it's not a bad idea.

[mth5044]

But what you got me thinking about is whether a PT2399 could be used in tandem with a single reverb pan, as a sort of substitute for the 2nd pan.  Mix them out of phase, set the delay time on the PT2399 just right, and maybe you'd get some of that same bass cancellation.

IIRC, the Danelectro spring reverb pedal uses a PT2399 with the spring tank, but I doubt they used it 'just right' in the manner you're talking about.