For many years, Accutronics® (a Hammond® Corporation Company) designed and built spring reverberation units in the United States. Today, most reverb tanks are built in Korea and China. The following is a comparison of current made reverb tanks as well as the Accutronics® (made in USA) tanks which are no longer in production.
Accutronics® (USA): no longer in production
These tanks are the industry standard. They were marked as made in the USA.
- unpainted steel chassis
- panel mount phono jacks riveted to outer channel
- phono jack shell is grounded to reverb tank outer channel by surface to surface contact
- 3 spring units have all transmission springs laid out in one single plane
- phono jack terminals connect to transducer coils via small two pin plug connector
Accutronics® (Korea)
Accutronics® was purchased by Belton. These tanks are currently made in Korea with Accutronics® equipment.
- black painted steel chassis
- panel mount hooded phono jacks clamped into outer channel via plastic housing
- phono jack shell is grounded to reverb tank outer channel by a tab and self tapping screw driven into the chassis
- 3 spring units have all transmission springs laid out in one single plane
- phono jack terminals connect to transducer coils via small two pin plug connector
MOD™ (China)
Is a trademark of CE Dist. (USA). These tanks are currently made in China to vintage Accutronics® specs.
- black painted steel chassis
- PC mount phono jacks riveted to outer channel
- phono jack shell is grounded to reverb tank outer channel by two PCB copper pads and their soldered connection
- 3 spring units have transmission springs laid out in two planes
- phono jack terminals connect to transducer coils via direct wire taps
Belton (Korea)
Belton is a Korean electronic components company that also makes the Digi-Log Reverb Module.
- gray painted steel chassis
- panel mount hooded phono jacks clamped into outer channel via plastic housing
- phono jack shell is grounded to reverb tank outer channel by a tab and self tapping screw driven into the chassis
- 3 spring units have transmission springs laid out in two planes
- phono jack terminals connect to transducer coils via direct wire taps
Sound Characteristic Comparison:
Here is a comparison between the four different reverb tank brands discussed previously. In comparing the sound characteristics of reverb tanks it is important to remember
that the amplifier plays a major role in how the reverberation effect will sound. (i.e. The same reverb tank will sound different depending on the amp).
The reverberation effect can be thought of as being composed of two parts:
- 1) Early reflections: shape the listener's conception of room size
- 2) Cluttered reflections: convey the liveliness of a room
- "Echo" is used to describe the initial reflections. The first reflections arrive about as quickly as the blink of an eye, but they can be heard as being "pronounced", "moderate" or "subtle".
- "Flutter" is used to describe the cluttered reflections while they decay over the matter of a few seconds. As the cluttered waves blend into one another a fluttering sound can be heard as "rapid", "moderate or "slow".
Accrutronics® (USA) - No Longer in production
- Echo - Early Reflections: Pronounced.
- Flutter - Early Reflections: Rapid. Most emphasis on the high frequencies.
- Overall - Focused, Bright, Mellow Wetness
Accrutronics® (Korea)
- Echo - Early Reflections: Subtle.
- Flutter - Early Reflections: Rapid. Most emphasis on low and mids.
- Overall - Thick with lots of wet bite and mid attack
MOD™ (China)
- Echo - Early Reflections: Pronounced.
- Flutter - Early Reflections: Rapid, Emphasis on mids and highs.
- Overall- Focused lots of wet shimmer and bite.
Belton (Korea)
- Echo - Early Reflections: Moderate.
- Flutter - Early Reflections: Slow, most emphasis on lows and mids.
- Overall - Straightforward with lots of wet bite.
Any amp using a two spring tank may have its tank replaced by a three spring tank of the same impedance code (for example, 4AB3C1B vs. 9AB3C1B) and vice versa.
This will also change the sound characteristics of the reverberation effect. Three spring tanks have a more smoothed out flutter with a bigger, fuller sounding reverb effect and more lows.
Two spring tanks have more flutter and grit, they also seem to capture that vintage 1960's vibe better.
