Rackmounting a spring reverb

[AnthonyMF]

Hey guys,

So I've got a BX5 spring reverb in my rack at the moment, but it seems incredibly sensitive to flanking noises through the floor, rack, etc. Basically if I'm bouncing a mix with the spring reverb in it I have to stay very still while it bounces.

Is there a particularly effective way of fixing this? Or do I just have to live with it?

Cheers

[Lee Cardan]

Hi Anthony

My guess is you'll have to live with it, unless you're prepared to get a little crafty with it
you could open it up though and see how the reverb tank is actually mounted in there. if it's just mounted directly to the chassis, you could think up a clever way to decouple it from there, be it foam, springs, or something else

I've got the same with my plate, I need to time my mixes between the trains going by!

[AnthonyMF]

Hey Lee,

This is actually the reverb you sold me! I'll open it up and have a look sometime soon, unless you've already had a try.

I really should just stop pacing during bounces

Cheers

[Lee Cardan]

yeah thought it might be
I did open it up, don't remember for sure but I think it was just mounted directly to it

it wouldn't be too hard to set up some kind of spring brace, holding it against some foam
and, stop your pacing during bounces for sure

great smiley list on this forum too

[Hookemeister]

Is this an AKG unit? If it is I would think it has balanced inputs and outputs. If this case then why not mount it outside the room. There's usually not a lot to adjust on a spring reverb once they're setup. Just thinking outside the box.

Greg Hooke

[The Tasmanian]

Most (serious) studio spring reverbs are meant to be kept away from all the equipment - including the monitors - for exactly this reason of external vibration coming through the springs. Especially longer springs (AKG/Masteroom)
To muck around with the spring tension/rise and fall because it is in the wrong place would be foolish.
Studios have been using them for 40 years in this way without needing to mute the springs.

[AnthonyMF]

Is this an AKG unit? If it is I would think it has balanced inputs and outputs. If this case then why not mount it outside the room. There's usually not a lot to adjust on a spring reverb once they're setup. Just thinking outside the box.

Greg Hooke

It is an AKG, it does have balanced ins/outs, but it also has a 3 band EQ. But you're right, I don't adjust the controls much..

[Alistair]

I don't have an AKG- but between a thousand guitar amps with spring reverbs and a Space Echo with a spring in it (that actually sits on top of my rack, next to my monitors), I can say don't even think about opening it up. They are finicky things, and quite easy to damage (especially if they are old tanks). Take it out of the rack, and put it on a piece of foam. If that doesn't work- do what Chris/Greg suggested and get it as far away from your speakers as possible.

I saw a cool video from inside Daptone records the other day (obviously a fairly eccentric mix of high tech/low tech/obsession and nonchalance), and they had a bigger AKG (whichever BX is the square cube) just sitting on the floor under the console. At one point they illustrate that by jumping on the floor next to it and getting the springs going. I'd be guessing that being under the console it doesn't hear a lot of the speakers above the console, but also bear in mind that they aren't really making bass heavy music, and there didn't seem to be a sub.

[rick]

hmm All AKG springs are designed to be mounted in the controlroom , it is a feature all their manuals brag about !
much better then those pesky plates they didnt make !

so there is something wrong with the internal mounting system in yours , it must have collapsed
i have/had a bunch of akg springs none of them did this neither did the masteroom spring i had for years
i never really used them all that much but i would recall if they were that sensitive .. actually the masteroom wasnt so great

I currently have Two restored Akg bx20e they are certainly ok and in no way sensitive to noise and unless you kick them you would never even know they are spring , time will tell if i love them and they love me or if i sell them

that said i havent hit them with ambient mega bass from the dual 18" dual 15" woofers that i have to set up in one of my rooms one day if i ever finish them

anyway you need to open yours up , its probably obvious whats going on , if your lucky its not the spring mounting itself
its the cage or mounts they sit in .
in an akg it could be isolated by rubber ,foam, strings or springs depending on what year it was made

the smaller ones like yours are worse - because they were cheaper and there could be anything holding the springs assembly up
but most likely grommets or rubber pads of somekind have given way over the years
let us know what you find

myles recently bought one like yours ( bx 10 ? ) that was sitting at my place for a time
myles wanna chime in about the mounting system in that one ..?

[mylesgm]

Yep, I've got a bx15 sitting under my console and initially it had a terrible transmission of footfalls and sound from the speakers. Took me a terrible time to get it open but I did and it has a very impressive mounting and decoupling system for the springs. The springs themselves reside inside a metal box inside a foamlined cavity. The cavity is larger than the metal box and there is a spring mounted metal cantilever system at the top of the cavity and the metal box is suspended from the cantilever with rubber shock absorbers. These had stretched and two had broken so the box was resting on the foam floor of the cavity. At first I attempted to repair the rubber shocks but that failed so I replaced them with industrial rubberbands. Works a treat and now sounds fantastic with absolutely no transmission from outside except if you kick it which I never do!

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