DIY spring reverb

[clueless]

I have a 1975 Godwin SpaceMaster organ...thing...

It was somewhat prone to mid-set spontaneous combustion and has probably enjoyed its final resuscitation...

However, it has an appealingly nasty-sounding Hammond spring reverb tank inside which I'd like to salvage and use as a stand-alone effect for guitar, drums, etc.

Where do I start?

[whyterabbyt]

http://sound.westhost.com/project34.htm

[Vegetarian]

Look for the tank-shaped thing?
Have you tried opening it up and looking around the inside?
I dare say it'll be somewhat obvious, or you'll know what it is when you shake it around and you can hear the springs. I've never seen that particular organ though so I don't know if it'll be well hidden or anything.
I'm not so sure how you could use it on its own, but you might be able to find some DIY communities who'll set you on the right path, or will have an idea on how to fashion it into a stand-alone effect. You might want to look around http://www.geofex.com/ or http://www.diystompboxes.com/ for some ideas/advice.
Hope that's in some way useful

edit: whyterabbyt beat me to it!

[BertKoor]

You start by unscrewing the screws (at the back)

Locate the spring reverb unit and the wires going to/from it. Plunder it! Make sure it has proper markings on what's the input and output. Also check the labels on the other end of the wires.

Connect its outputs to the mic input of a mixer. Set trim level to zero. Gently tap on the reverb unit and gently raise trim om the mixer, so to get an idea at what level it outputs some noise. If the level is too hot for a mix input, try a line input (oh, maybe you should have started with that and switched to mic if you couldn't get a strong enough signal)

Connect a guitar or whatever to the mixer. Set up an appropriate level, and send that to aux. Set the aux level to zero first. Connect aux send to the input of the reverb unit. Make sound with the guitar, and gently raise the aux send level until you get a good signal coming from the reverb unit.

That should be it... All to perform at your own risk ofcourse

[clueless]

Look for the tank-shaped thing?
Have you tried opening it up and looking around the inside?
I dare say it'll be somewhat obvious, or you'll know what it is when you shake it around and you can hear the springs.

er...yeah...i got that far - that's how I knew there was a Hammond unit in there.

the poor old thing's been dismantled and rebuilt several times now.

I'm not so sure how you could use it on its own, but you might be able to find some DIY communities who'll set you on the right path, or will have an idea on how to fashion it into a stand-alone effect. You might want to look around http://www.geofex.com/ or http://www.diystompboxes.com/ for some ideas/advice.
Hope that's in some way useful

edit: whyterabbyt beat me to it!

thanks anyway!

[clueless]

BertKoor! That's ace! Never occurred to me just to drive it from my mixer!

[clueless]

http://sound.westhost.com/project34.htm

cheers Sean!