LSS Reverb seems not so great - What don't I know?

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elvis

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After seeing so many comments and vids about the LS reverb being incredible, I'm finding the LSS Combo reverb is not. I usually struggle with spring reverbs in any case, but I expected the reverb to be stronger/louder when cranked, and a bit richer. It seems anemic.

It does work, so I doubt it's wired wrong, but anything is possible.

Any advice or comments appreciated!
 
I have to agree with you there Elvis. I purchased my early LSC used at a great price as the reverb was not working. One new good quality replacement tank later, I was disappointed in the ‘normal’ sound of the reverb. It was certainly not the deep lush reverbs all the media reviews had suggested. Could the scribes have all been hyping-up this mythical reverb?

So I guess my question is similar to yours - what can go wrong with a ‘working’ reverb to reduce it to unremarkable performance and, is it fixable?
 
Interesting.
I have a 2005 Lone Star (Classic) version 1 that I purchased used a few years ago and to my ears it has the best onboard reverb I've ever heard.
 
Hmmm.

Seems like maybe we have different opinions about how a reverb should sound. Or maybe they are different. If only we could have a large-scale shootout.
 
elvis said:
Hmmm.

Seems like maybe we have different opinions about how a reverb should sound. Or maybe they are different. If only we could have a large-scale shootout.

When you say "cranked" do you mean turned all the way up? I've never run my reverb that way. Mine's set between 11:00 and 1:00 usually.
 
By cranked I mean reverb cranked. I would typically run reverb at around 11:00 on most amps, but it's inaudible at that level on my LSS. Cranked it is somewhat audible but doesn't sound very good.

I suspect the LSC has a better reverb than the LSS.
 
Elvis. Have you tried swapping the preamp tube allocated to the reverb? I think it’s V4 from the diagram I was able to find online. I have the classic and I find the reverb tone very good, personally I’d prefer a shorter decay. I tried it once with the smaller tank from my Express 5:25 and liked it better as it seemed a more natural time length simulating a medium sized room or hall. Definitely try another 12AX7 in that spot as it’s two halves apparently handle the reverb drive and return.
 
Hmm, sounds like your reverb just plain isn't working. You can try swapping tubes, but what you describe sounds more like what happened to my LSC long ago, which was that the reverb transformer crapped out. I think it's a fairly simple repair, though I took it to a tech to diagnose and fix it.
 

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