DeadendFX Hooke (Analog Spring Reverb)

[flemming]

Ah yes build reports, what we did before we spend all our time trying to win ProtoBoards and talking about what's in the mail

Getting all the parts together for this one took a bit of time. In the end this is probably the most expensive pedal that I've built. It doesn't have a very high parts count, but a few things are harder to come by so the shipping charges added up and the damn 1590D is a lot pricier than you'd expect it to be. Thanks to @jjjimi84 for the TDA7052B, that saved me from having to buy one from a questionable eBay source. His build report also contains a great demo so check it out if you want to know how it sounds:

Dead End FX Hooke Reverb

Here it is, the Hooke Reverb! I was looking into making a spring tank driver and then this board was announced and made my life a lot simpler. It is a cool build and went together really smoothly, albeit waiting for parts in the covid era. This video is actually the latest video I shot and am...

forum.pedalpcb.com

This board is based on the Spaceman Effects Orion and the pedal itself contains a small spring reverb tank. I'm not sure if there are any other pedals that require a trip to the hardware store, but I enjoyed the mechanical aspect of putting this one together. I used a 2SK30A-R from my SmallBear Grab Box in place of the J201 since I had a bunch of them. The faceplate is from @amplifyfun and I think the two tone thing came out pretty nice, though lining them up was stressful. I went with super sexy red felt to match the outside. The build docs suggest lining the enclosure with foam, but the original Orion appears to have used felt and I question whether or not it was really necessary at all. I'm still not sure how I feel about the knobs. It's a fun pedal to play with. It doesn't sound as cool as a SurfyBear but it also takes up a whole lot less space, though it is quite beefy on its own.

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[Dan0h]

Hell yeah. I wanted this but it was out of stock at the time. Great job. Love it.

 

[Bricksnbeatles]

Nice!

 

[Harry Klippton]

Pics aren't loading for me atm but I'm looking forward to checking it out

 

[flemming]

Pics aren't loading for me atm but I'm looking forward to checking it out

Bah, I updated the post with upload photos rather than images inserted from links, just in case.

 

[Harry Klippton]

Ooooooh that looks very nice

 

[peccary]

Excellent build! Any chance of a sound sample?

I have a couple of these in the works but at this rate they'll be done in a decade or so, so I'm looking to live vicariously through you for the time being.

 

[dawson]

OH SHIT.
that graphic rules.

 

[flemming]

Excellent build! Any chance of a sound sample?

I have a couple of these in the works but at this rate they'll be done in a decade or so, so I'm looking to live vicariously through you for the time being.

Here's a video from an earlier build report.

 

[Paradox916]

That’s a sweet build…. Well done!

 

[SYLV9ST9R]

Great build, design and pics!

 

[Bio77]

Dang, those guts look down right comfy Great build!

 

[Robert]

Verrrry classy!

 

[benny_profane]

Gorgeous inside and out. Regardless if the felt is necessary, it looks fantastic. I think the knobs look good—what else were you considering?

 

[flemming]

That's tighter than a nun's balloon knot! I was actually telling @Harry Klippton the other day I'm thinking of changing the dwell pot to a logarithmic taper to give more range before I got full surf drip, even though I use it for surf tones. Which tank did you use? I used the long decay but wanna try the medium decay.

I used the long decay tank. I don't think that I've played with it enough to have a strong opinion yet about ways in which I might wish it were different.

Gorgeous inside and out. Regardless if the felt is necessary, it looks fantastic. I think the knobs look good—what else were you considering?

I just feel like the knobs look a little cheap. I tried it with some white marshall style knobs and I think they were too small.

 

[benny_profane]

I just feel like the knobs look a little cheap. I tried it with some white marshall style knobs and I think they were too small.

tubesandmore has a bunch of daka-ware and other vintage-style big knobs available right now. Might be worth checking out to see if anything looks good to you.

 

[giovanni]

Very very nice!! Is it easy to swap the tank? Yeah may have to give this a try.

 

[flemming]

Very very nice!! Is it easy to swap the tank? Yeah may have to give this a try.

The tank itself just plugs in with two headers, so in that respect, sure. Disconnecting it from the springs and stuff would be a bit of a pain. You could always just wrap the tank in bubble wrap and forget the fancy suspension.

 

[Diynot]

That is a stupid cool build with exceptional execution! I really have no need to build this since 2/3 of my amps have spring reverb, but sh*t I might need to just because.

 

[bowanderror]

Man, that thing looks great! I love the luxurious red carpet look inside, and the graphics work well against the huge enclosure.

I built one of these on vero and it's the best circuit I've made that uses the Accutronics blue reverb tanks. Suuuuuper drippy with the Dwell turned up, and it never veers towards clipping.

I wasn't so impressed at first as, even with the Dwell & Blend turned all the way up, I was getting a pretty mild reverb. So I made some changes to the resistors around the Dwell control to push the tank a bit harder, which awakened the drip beast. That change did alter the dry-wet gain balance a bit, meaning that the Blend control can't go all the way dry anymore, but the controls aren't going to be living in that range anyways.

I did notice that my Tone knob range seems a bit skewed towards the high end. It adds discernible HF noise above 90% and I'd personally prefer a bit more high cut when set to zero.

If anyone is looking at building this, defo source the TDA7052B first. It is pretty hard to find and you can only use the "B" variant. I actually found one at my local mom & pop electronics shop, although unfortunately it was the last one.