master room srping reverb users

[joninc]

hey all - i have a xl-305 stereo unit which i like but i have noticed that i can't really match the tone of both springs to use as stereo. the eq of one side has a lot more mids than the other. i thought it broken initially but had it serviced and still does the same thing.

any tips?

do you guys primarily use your spring reverb in mono?

there's the "mono chamber drive" and "mono chamber return switches" on it for this purpose too...

do you have any tricks for adjusting the length of the reverb - it seems set on "medium" - never goes super long at all.

i should mention that i have been using the 1/4 inch ins and outs on the front rather than the XLRs on the back too.

[tony_tomlinson]

I have a mono masterroom and an AKG BX15 which is stereo. I've never used the AKG in anything but mono. Maybe it's because I primarily mix in mono but using stereo reverb just seems wrong for some reason that I can't quite put my finger on. Someone should change my mind.

[Dakota]

hey all - i have a xl-305 stereo unit which i like but i have noticed that i can't really match the tone of both springs to use as stereo. the eq of one side has a lot more mids than the other. i thought it broken initially but had it serviced and still does the same thing.

any tips?

do you guys primarily use your spring reverb in mono?

there's the "mono chamber drive" and "mono chamber return switches" on it for this purpose too...

do you have any tricks for adjusting the length of the reverb - it seems set on "medium" - never goes super long at all.

i should mention that i have been using the 1/4 inch ins and outs on the front rather than the XLRs on the back too.

Hello - I have an XL-210 which is much the same unit except it has unbalanced i/o only. I use the heck out of it, it sounds great in the "much more vibey than plug reverbs" category. I also have other spring reverbs of differing character, each gets tested per track and used for whatever gets the best vibe per. The master room wins a lot.

The two sides of mine do different fine detail to a mono input (as you'd expect) but are definitely spectrally matched in the overall. My compadre Josh Hager has a master room "plate synthesizer" which is a doubled-up springs version of these and is pretty deluxe, but overall has a similar character and is also pretty matched in L/R response. Even though yours was serviced, I'd still suspect there is something wrong. An option if you want to deal with shipping, etc.: Vince at Audiopro in Watertown MA specializes in spring reverbs and knows the master room units very well.

I usually use mine in stereo. It's lush. And applied to stereo groups (backing vox, strings, etc.) it does not collapse the panning placement. When using other spring verbs - sometimes mono, it's case by case. I usually want reverb to stay away from the center of a stereo mix in any case.

Re: length of decay. Spring reverbs just do what they do, seldom have a useful decay control. When I want longer decay, I set up a stereo delay on the board (delay unit set 100% wet) , send the spring reverb return to to the delay, send the delay return to the reverb, such that each delay repeat goes through the springs over and over, diffuse and extended. If it starts to resonate in a way that I don't like, I patch in a stereo parametric EQ before the delay and dial around and cut the resonant frequencies that build up. That done, the decay can get very very spooky long, as much as is needed for any given thing.

Or more simply, just patch a delay at 50wet/50dry mix leading into the spring reverb, set the delay for lots of repeats, the springs will blur out the distinctness of the separate echoes, it'll sound mostly like long reverb.

Re: balanced or not. If I were you, I'd try the xlr's, listen and test if it makes a difference. It may or may not. With mine being unbalanced, I do the usual precautions of keeping the cable runs as short as possible and keeping the unit away from power supplies and hum sources as much as possible. Mine hums a wee very small bit, but less than most spring reverbs, very deal-able.

[aurelialuz]

i don't know what the model is, but i have the floor standing master room and it has two different sized springs in it, and you can get the two different sound from seperate outs. i'm not familiar with all their models but maybe the two are supposed to be different...? just a guess...

[losthighway]

Re: length of decay. Spring reverbs just do what they do, seldom have a useful decay control. When I want longer decay, I set up a stereo delay on the board (delay unit set 100% wet) , send the spring reverb return to to the delay, send the delay return to the reverb, such that each delay repeat goes through the springs over and over, diffuse and extended. If it starts to resonate in a way that I don't like, I patch in a stereo parametric EQ before the delay and dial around and cut the resonant frequencies that build up. That done, the decay can get very very spooky long, as much as is needed for any given thing.

Or more simply, just patch a delay at 50wet/50dry mix leading into the spring reverb, set the delay for lots of repeats, the springs will blur out the distinctness of the separate echoes, it'll sound mostly like long reverb.

This is really smart. One of those super helpful posts that makes me love this board.

[Dakota]

Re: length of decay. Spring reverbs just do what they do, seldom have a useful decay control. When I want longer decay, I set up a stereo delay on the board (delay unit set 100% wet) , send the spring reverb return to to the delay, send the delay return to the reverb, such that each delay repeat goes through the springs over and over, diffuse and extended. If it starts to resonate in a way that I don't like, I patch in a stereo parametric EQ before the delay and dial around and cut the resonant frequencies that build up. That done, the decay can get very very spooky long, as much as is needed for any given thing.

Or more simply, just patch a delay at 50wet/50dry mix leading into the spring reverb, set the delay for lots of repeats, the springs will blur out the distinctness of the separate echoes, it'll sound mostly like long reverb.

This is really smart. One of those super helpful posts that makes me love this board.

Thanks!

Hmm, further on the topic of adjusting decay w/spring reverbs, on the rarer occasions I've wanted shorter decay, I put a downward expander (or a compressor set to downward expand) after the reverb. Or a gate (adjust hold and release to taste) if it's a track with reasonably separate hits, like a snare.

[losthighway]

Sorry to change the topic but I see Master Room springs available from time to time. I have been lusting for a Sound Workshop, but more often come across Demeters, Tapcos, and Fostex springs.

I really want a slightly classier spring reverb that can be used on more applications than just 'freaked-out' sounds. Can Master Room be that spring?

[joninc]

i had a fostex and the masteroom is way classier (ie: darker/smoother - more like a plate in some ways) where the fostex sounded like a guitar amp spring.

but there are times when i really want that silk like a AKG spring has - long sustain and shimmer....

[losthighway]

but there are times when i really want that silk like a AKG spring has - long sustain and shimmer....

Too bad they're so damn hard to find!

[Dakota]

Sorry to change the topic but I see Master Room springs available from time to time. I have been lusting for a Sound Workshop, but more often come across Demeters, Tapcos, and Fostex springs.

I really want a slightly classier spring reverb that can be used on more applications than just 'freaked-out' sounds. Can Master Room be that spring?

You, sir, are in luck, as I have a bunch of these on hand that see active use and can offer my subjective opinion.

Master Room: smoothest, classiest of what I have. It's not generic accutronics tanks, it's custom tanks they did in house, designed for minimum sproing and minimum duplication of frequency resonance for each spring - an attempt to get closer to plate-like behavior. It does not actually sound like a plate, but you can tell that's what they were shooting for. Some people love the sound of these reverbs, some people don't. They don't sound like anything else.

Sound Workshop 242: can go toward smooth/classy or toward clangy depending on how you drive it. A very good all-rounder if one had only one studio-type stereo spring rack 'verb. Not as sweet as the Master Room at the most sweet, but still can definitely get the dignity.

Fostex 3180: more springy than the above two, but still a timbre I like a lot, can be kind of coppery-pretty in the high mids and highs (if that means anything). Can be persuaded to run nicer/smoother if a limiter w/fastest attack time and moderate release is set in front of it. Which is true of any spring reverb.

I have a bunch of other (freakier) springs, but the above three get tasked for the classy applications - vox, keys, synth, strings and woodwinds, etc. All three get fairly equal use, depends on which one has the best magic "ooo! ah!" interaction for any given track, which isn't particularly predictable ahead of time. EQ pre or post verb is often needed to wring out maximum classiness in any case, as springs are given to resonances that often need sculpting.

[thethingwiththestuff]

Doodz-

My 305 is at a technician who can't source the parts it needs. have any of you 305 owners had repairs done and can you recommend a tech who might specialize in them or has a bunch of it's output trannies sitting around?

[Marc Alan Goodman]

I have a SW242, which I love, and I've been looking around for a good deal on a masterroom, but the one I got recently that blew my mind is a Zerotronics Coolsprings Mini-LE. It's by FAR the closest to my EMT plate that I've ever heard from a spring but it still has entirely its own character. I haven't tried their other models but from having used this one I bet they're fantastic. It's fully passive, and as opposed to the info on their site I usually find that I need to use something to gain up the signal on the way to it as well as a mic pre on the way back, but I have the channels and it doesn't bother me. Plus, what the hell else am I using my mic pres for during a mix?

[Nobtwiddler]

All of my Master Room XL 305 reverbs exhibit this exact thing, left and right are sonically slightly different.
I play around with their EQ's to match them a bit, but never really sweat it.
Sounds a bit more natural to me when they are not exactly the same.
Less processed.

[mumblesound]

Just because, what the original poster was probably experiencing was one or more eq pots on the left side malfunctioning.
They can get stuck open (full boost all the time).
Probably broken solder joint since the pot itself is the main point of reinforcement for the pcb in the front.

[Recycled_Brains]

If you have Fabfilter Pro-Q, maybe record a bit of just the wet verb to a track, split to mono, put the plug on each and use the eq-match function, save preset and just stick that in the chain after your return?

I imagine any parametric plugin can be tweaked to balance it out more. Slight differences are probably a good thing overall though.