The Steel Guitar Forum

I have an Evans E200 amp on which the reverb is not very effective. Have to turn it up to 8-9 to get even slight reverb. Reverb can is short. Circuit doesn't make any extraneous noises. Otherwise, amp is very good. Any ideas what the problem(s) might be?

Dave - I agree.. I use a SE 200 It sounds great in my practice area and a super clean sound, but on stage I'm not that satisfied with the reverb. Sometimes it seems to have "not much" I'm currently using the Buzz Evans trick mentioned in the manual. That seems to help. Maybe just be my ears and using the Accutronic 3 spring pan for many years. I'm considering the use of the Boss /Fender reverb pedal. I just don't like to carry another item! I may not be running the Evans properly. RP

The reverb circuit, and not the tank appears to be the weak link. When I had my Evans (or also when I use my Session 500), I used Lexicon for my reverb.

I had an SE200 and it had an electronic reverb, not a mechanical. It worked OK.

Randall, Lane, Jack: Thanks for your responses. I see I'm not the only one with the problem. My model is E200 and not SE200; if there's a difference there, which I wouldn't know. Other than this problem, the amp is really killer. I'm using a Dispatch Master reverb/delay pedal made by Earthquaker Devices. It is really good.

I have an Evans 150 With a 12 inch speaker and I have the same issue with a weak reverb. Going to pull the tank and see if I can get a Mod tank replacement. For 27 bucks it's worth a shot.

Len, Let me know how that works please.

In my opinion, the Accutronics reverb tank is the problem. We discontinued using them over a decade ago because we prefer the sound and reliability of modern digital reverbs.

It's easy to mistake a strong digital reverb for a weak sounding one, if you don't know that I changed the reverb control pot from linear to tapered. With everything else being equal, the linear pot on 5 would sound like the tapered pot on 7. By using a tapered control pot, I can adjust the reverb to the maximum output before distortion when it's wide open. That way the person that wants the maximum reverb can simply set the control to 10 and the person that just wants a touch can set it to 1.

People that have contacted me about broken or weak spring reverbs like this replacement unit from amplifiedparts.com. Simply seach for reverbs from there home page and you'll find part number P-RMOD_8FB31B on about page 4. It should have a slightly longer decay than the orignal accutronics pan.

Dave, Lane, Jack, Len and Scot I would like to clarify: My Evans SE 200 gives me a very good sound with lots of clarity and I have received lots of positive comments on my tone! I have recently tweeked the "buzz secret" to satisfy me a lot more. The dwell knob is well past the center detent, CW just shy of say, 15%. 30 years of the Accutronic is probably the problem. My friends, Albert Talley and Rick Price encouraged me on this path. If good enough for them, I should be very satisfied. The only other thing: I have replaced the Beta 15A with a 1502 BW .. I sure haven't missed the banging reverb on the trailers, shaky stages, etc. All the best Randall

Evans amps just don't have a great reverb. Buy yourself a Wet Reverb and be happy. Run it in line and not through the loop.

Thank you Randall. I have been using my Evans with an arch top Gretsch and it sound wonderful.