Tapco 4400 reverb?

[mjau]

Already read what some have said about this unit from the search engine...just curious if there's anyone else out there who can chip in about it. What do you find it best on? Is it a special effect reverb, or can it be subtle?
much thanks...

[gabriel]

I've used one a bit, but mine's not really in great shape. One channel of it seems to work okay, though. I wouldn't call it subtle. The 4-band EQ on it can create some interesting effects. Eventually it ended up stored in my garage because it was just too flakey and seemed to distort really easily. My two spring reverbs now are the Fostex 3180 (cheap and good) and the MasterRoom XL-305. The MasterRoom is not quite as cheap but very smooth - if you want something subtle you should check it out.

-gabriel

[psychicoctopus]

I got a tapco 4400 on ebay for about $100. when it arrived, the reverb tone was very dull. I opened it up and found that there was some foam material glued inside the reverb tanks originally, and it had decomposed and turned into sticky crap that was all over the springs. I cleaned it off with some automotive carb and choke cleaner and the reverb got brighter and the tone was more balanced between the channels.

I think it's a cool sounding reverb. especially for drug music. the EQ is pretty severe. it gets a good twoink sound when a good transient comes along.

Biggest complaint - it's sort of noisy.

[radiationroom]

The Tapco 4400 reverb is great on drum machine tracks, on things like hi-hats and shaker sounds. If a kick is proceessed through it, there will be a large "twang", typical of spring reverbs. It is noisy, so upgrading the chips to the latest Burr-Brown op-amp might be worthwhile. Also, considering this model is from the 1970's, changing out all the 'lytics would be a smart idea as well.