# Unpopular Opinion? I don't really like spring reverbs.



## Erick - BVA (Feb 7, 2020)

I'm not sure if this should be in the "Drama Zone" but I thought I should get something off my chest. 
I don't like spring reverbs -- or maybe I should say VST emulations of spring reverbs. Maybe I just don't like the general sound of it, and I wouldn't like the real thing either. I don't know. Maybe I'm using it wrong? 
What's the best way to use it? 
What are the best VST emulations?


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## ProfoundSilence (Feb 7, 2020)

I have a real spring verb, the danelectro spring king

I bought it to make surfer sounding stuff.

cant imagine a use outside of that, color me drama


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## DS_Joost (Feb 7, 2020)

I don't like Spring Reverbs at all. I hate that twangy sound. Then again, I'm allergic to that uninspired surfer sound too. Most plates also sound like absolute shit (except the Soundtoys one).

I also have never heard a guitar amp emulation I like. Ever. Distortion units are okay, but those so called emulations... No DAW update can make me roll my eyes more than a new amp simulation. I need one like I need a headache.

Then again, I think guitars as a whole have been played out. I've heard the sound. We've been milking it completely dry by overexposure in just 60 years. Can't stand the sound anymore, it all feels like parody these days. Just like all those emulations of guitar gear. Oh and by the way, I believe that all those discussions about good or bad emulations reach into comedy territory. People reaching about so called mojo as if they actually hear it. Reminds me of those discussions among audiophiles. Discussions about synth filters are pretty much the same, by the way.

Bring on ze drama!


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## jononotbono (Feb 7, 2020)

I love a good ole Spring on Guitar! Not too much. Just enough. Shoot me.


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## nolotrippen (Feb 7, 2020)

DS_Joost said:


> I don't like Spring Reverbs at all. I hate that twangy sound. Then again, I'm allergic to that uninspired surfer sound too. Most plates also sound like absolute shit (except the Soundtoys one).
> 
> I also have never heard a guitar amp emulation I like. Ever. Distortion units are okay, but those so called emulations... No DAW update can make me roll my eyes more than a new amp simulation. I need one like I need a headache.
> 
> ...


Next you'll be hating' on tape delays!


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## zvenx (Feb 7, 2020)

Finally, I found my group. 
I don't either.
When I played guitar live and got a fender amp, the first thing i would do is turn down the Reverb to zero.
And have beta tested a few, tried my best but haven't used any of them since.
rsp


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## jononotbono (Feb 7, 2020)

Plate Reverbs on Guitar... God, the sound of the shredder is grim.


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## sostenuto (Feb 7, 2020)

Bang !!


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## Erick - BVA (Feb 7, 2020)

nolotrippen said:


> Next you'll be hating' on tape delays!


Nothing to hate about them


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## Jimmy Hellfire (Feb 7, 2020)

DS_Joost said:


> Then again, I think guitars as a whole have been played out. I've heard the sound. We've been milking it completely dry by overexposure in just 60 years. Can't stand the sound anymore, it all feels like parody these days.



When you get to the point in your life where you can't appreciate the sound of the electric guitar any more, you know you're ready for retirement and gardening.


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## Erick - BVA (Feb 7, 2020)

sostenuto said:


> Bang !!


Did a spring break?


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## Erick - BVA (Feb 7, 2020)

Jimmy Hellfire said:


> When you get to the point in your life where you can't appreciate the sound of the electric guitar any more, you know you're ready for retirement and gardening.


I think it depends on who's playing it. Need to search for that "good" tone and listen


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## Jimmy Hellfire (Feb 7, 2020)

Sibelius19 said:


> I think it depends on who's playing it. Need to search for that "good" tone and listen



Sure, as with anything, you gotta separate the great from the bad. In that regard, anything electronic is already played out far more than a guitar ever could get.


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## sostenuto (Feb 7, 2020)

Sibelius19 said:


> Did a spring break?



Jus' puttin' @ jononotbono to calmer place (per Post #4) ...


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## jononotbono (Feb 7, 2020)

Sibelius19 said:


> Nothing to hate about them



Except for when the tape runs out and you have to get off your arse to respool the thing. Yeah, they are shit too.


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## Loïc D (Feb 7, 2020)

I love spring reverb... on guitar. Especially that boing sound when you hit the amp.
Then it doesn’t work anymore.
I hate spring reverb.


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## TimCox (Feb 7, 2020)

I dig a classic spring reverb but they have to be light. They're fun to try on other things for textures, I had success on one of my old band's vocal parts. It was definitely there to be noticed as a special effect


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## DS_Joost (Feb 7, 2020)

Jimmy Hellfire said:


> When you get to the point in your life where you can't appreciate the sound of the electric guitar any more, you know you're ready for retirement and gardening.



Believe me I've felt like that for a long, looooooong time


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## Polkasound (Feb 7, 2020)

Sibelius19 said:


> I don't like spring reverbs -- or maybe I should say VST emulations of spring reverbs. Maybe I just don't like the general sound of it, and I wouldn't like the real thing either.



I once conducted a test of spring reverbs to see which one I like best. After careful consideration, I decided I didn't like any of them. No matter which one I tried, I just couldn't glue my Spitfire libraries together.

OK, but seriously...

To me, spring reverb is simply a purpose-driven tool. On my recent EP where I had to emulate country recordings dating back to the 1940s, '60s, and '70s, it was a necessity. It's also an essential effect in lo-fi productions. And for anyone who wants to emulate the Dick Dale sound, a spring reverb would be a requirement. No other kind of reverb would work.

There's no comparing it to halls or rooms, if that's what you might be doing. Spring reverb is different beast altogether.


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## artomatic (Feb 7, 2020)

I hate spring verbs.
But I bought Eventide's $29. 
Just because.


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## Erick - BVA (Feb 7, 2020)

artomatic said:


> I hate spring verbs.
> But I bought Eventide's $29.
> Just because.


I have 2 months left on my everything bundle. I haven't used it just to spite the thing. 
The only plugin I use anymore by them (that I don't already have) is Octavox, so once my Sub runs out, no more. And then I don't have to have that nasty spring verb tempting me. Even thinking about it disgusts me. I see ads about the sale and my stomach turns. I don't know, maybe I'm put off by the fact that it looks like every other reverb or delay plugin they have. 
Maybe I should break down the walls and try it out...


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## mcovarrubiasi (Feb 7, 2020)

I like them for sound design. I use audiothing springs and tweet them a lot (filter, drive, whatever is cool). It can provide a special kind of fattening to the source.


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## jononotbono (Feb 7, 2020)

artomatic said:


> I hate spring verbs.
> But I bought Eventide's $29.
> Just because.



You’ve got serious problems. 
You’re in the right place! 😂


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## synergy543 (Feb 7, 2020)

Isao Tomita's first few albums were all mastered with an AKG BX-20 Spring Reverb. Granted, this wasn't your typical "guitar amp" spring reverb, but this was in the days before digital reverbs were common (EMT 250 existed but wasn't common and wouldn't have even fit into his room which was about the size of a typical bedroom).


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## Fredeke (Feb 15, 2020)

artomatic said:


> I hate spring verbs.
> But I bought Eventide's $29.
> Just because.


You could have made a hardware one with hardware store stuff for about the same price


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## Dietz (Feb 15, 2020)

There's nothing like AKG's BX-20 on electric guitars or electric pianos. It's a marriage made in heaven. 
 .... just don't expect something resembling a "real room". 

That said, it's indeed hard to find emulations that do the original justice.


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## Fredeke (Feb 16, 2020)

synergy543 said:


> Isao Tomita's first few albums were all mastered with an AKG BX-20 Spring Reverb. Granted, this wasn't your typical "guitar amp" spring reverb, but this was in the days before digital reverbs were common (EMT 250 existed but wasn't common and wouldn't have even fit into his room which was about the size of a typical bedroom).


Yes, along guitars, modular synthesizers (typical of electronic music from the 1970s) are well served by spring reverb.

What's nice in the example you posted, is that he didn't go over the top with it.



Dietz said:


> There's nothing like AKG's BX-20 on electric guitars or electric pianos. It's a marriage made in heaven.
> .... just don't expect something resembling a "real room".
> 
> That said, it's indeed hard to find emulations that do the original justice.


Just listened to some demos (of UAD's emulation)... Sounds gorgeous indeed!
I like how they managed to keep the "twanging" and "pionging" (in their own words) in check.

It's, like, probably the opposite of this:

(just for fun)


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## jacobthestupendous (Feb 17, 2020)

My long history of disappointment with spring reverbs dates back to my first little Fender practice amp when I was 15. I don't have the visceral reaction that the OP seems to, but none of these new emulations tempt me at all.


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## thevisi0nary (Feb 20, 2020)

DS_Joost said:


> I don't like Spring Reverbs at all. I hate that twangy sound. Then again, I'm allergic to that uninspired surfer sound too. Most plates also sound like absolute shit (except the Soundtoys one).
> 
> I also have never heard a guitar amp emulation I like. Ever. Distortion units are okay, but those so called emulations... No DAW update can make me roll my eyes more than a new amp simulation. I need one like I need a headache.
> 
> ...



There are some modeled amps that have come within the 10-20% range of real amps, I also agree that the better ones are distortion tones. 

Pretty old but this is a good example - 

The amp modeler still has that slight bit of harshness you don't hear in the real amp, but it's very usable.


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## charlieclouser (Feb 20, 2020)

Spring reverbs are trash. 

In college I finally saved up enough to get an Oberheim DMX, but the "studio" at college only had an Orban stereo spring unit. 

Two less sonically compatible devices have never existed. A DMX kick drum hitting the Orban sounds like kicking a slinky while wearing a wet sock. All I wanted was the Blue Monday drum sound, and all I got was boing-twang-jingle.

Garbage.

A couple of years later I finally had enough to buy an MXR 01a, one of the first "affordable" digital reverbs - but by that time junkies had stolen the DMX, and for some stupid reason I bought a Sequential DrumTrax. (Actually it was because the DrumTrax had MIDI and you could program in pitch changes on the drums, but it ain't a DMX that's for sure.)

So I never did get the satisfaction of hearing a DMX hitting a digital verb until years later.

I plan to purchase exactly zero spring reverb emulation plugins.


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## Fredeke (Feb 21, 2020)

charlieclouser said:


> Spring reverbs are trash.
> 
> In college I finally saved up enough to get an Oberheim DMX, but the "studio" at college only had an Orban stereo spring unit.
> 
> ...



Yes, but -

Come on, spring reverbs are not suited for percussions.

It's like saying synthesizers are trash because they can't emulate the Human voice well (ok, I'm caricaturing your point, but only to make mine in a attempt at an humourous way)


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## charlieclouser (Feb 21, 2020)

Never heard anything other than surf guitar or Americana / Roots riffs that sound acceptable through a spring, and that's only because there's a shared cultural memory of that sound. There's one in my TTSH Arp 2600 clone and it instantly makes whatever you do on the thing sound cheap and chintzy.

For charming nostalgic purposes, maybe. But I have no need for charm or nostalgia.


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## Erick - BVA (Feb 21, 2020)

charlieclouser said:


> But I have no need for charm or nostalgia.


I like nostalgia, but not really that kind of nostalgia. 
Surf music has never really been my thing.


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## Erick - BVA (Feb 21, 2020)

thevisi0nary said:


> There are some modeled amps that have come within the 10-20% range of real amps, I also agree that the better ones are distortion tones.
> 
> Pretty old but this is a good example -
> 
> The amp modeler still has that slight bit of harshness you don't hear in the real amp, but it's very usable.



I could see some of this usable for sound design, but because of how bad it sounds lol. Well, I mean those springs flailing around and twanging around so violently. There may be a cool reverb sound underneath, but I can't tell with all of that buzzing.


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## Erick - BVA (Feb 21, 2020)

Sibelius19 said:


> Surf music has never really been my thing.


Just after I wrote this I'm reminded that my very first talent show performance in middle school was a rendition of "Wipe Out"
It's actually pretty hilarious. My drummer's bass drum stand got jarred out of place, and so the bass drum was moving all over the place and he had to try to stabalize it and play at the same time.
I believe I have a VHS of it somewhere. Should try to find a way to upload it.
I think I even have some cheesy spring verb going on my all-in-one cheap amp.


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## Cinebient (Feb 21, 2020)

I also really do not like any spring reverb. But i love plate reverbs.


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## JEPA (Feb 21, 2020)

I don't hate spring verbs... But I use them also only for one unique special thing: to add spring verb to the source, when needed.


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## Patient_Minds (Feb 21, 2020)

I do like springs. Maybe I'm the only one? But only for sound design only. I find some interesting textures in there when you pitch it down. Or use a mono spring on a drone to add some character to it.


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## Cinebient (Feb 22, 2020)

F.e. i really love U-he Diva but the spring reverb just destroys the beauty of the sound. 
Spring reverbs are one of the few FX which alters a sound in a not good way for me


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## Dietz (Feb 22, 2020)

The main issue seems to be that people nowadays never heard a real high-end spring reverb (the hardware, not an emulation). Used properly, a good spring can add magic to a signal; but much like bad samples the emulated ones send you to Uncanny Valley instantly.


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## Fredeke (Feb 22, 2020)

Cinebient said:


> I also really do not like any spring reverb. But i love plate reverbs.


Plate reverbs are great on vocals, especially if you want to go vintage.
I like their lack of "echoy" character.


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## Cinebient (Feb 22, 2020)

Yes, and because the lack of "echoy" character they work really perfect for me with delay in front of it.
I actually even like plate reverbs for orchestra/acoustic sounds. Not all are good but i never will touch spring reverbs for this for sure


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