Art & Inspiration Reverb? Anyone recall?

Was talking with a friend recently when I recalled this story...

There were cars of the early 1960’s that had a factory radio option called REVERB which was a time delay from the front and back speakers giving an echo effect. Can you imagine motoring down the highway at night listening to Link Wray’s RUMBLE with Reverb?! One of my uncles had Reverb in a big Pontiac Catalina model.
I remember the sound was really good and I think you could vary the delay with a potentiometer. There were seven of us in the car, four adults and three of us kids so there was a lot going on. I asked my uncle about the feature and he demonstrated it! I was sitting in the front seat, middle, between my aunt and uncle, my sister and cousin sat in the back with my parents. It was a Sunday ride, probably out for breakfast, and I was out voted on keeping the Reverb on.

 

This gizmo popped up on a FB site I'm on several days ago. I think it works in the same way, but doesn't look OEM. Dealer install?

 

Too funny you bring this up right now. Last week when I bought a 62 Impala from a friend, he mentioned he only wanted to keep two things...the column mounted tach and the reverb. I think they were mainly sentimental things since it was his first car and he had lots of memories cruising with his friends using the reverb.

 

A HS friend had one of those after-market mechanical types in his ‘60 Valiant.
Might have been the Motorola unit pictured above.
Was kinda weird, but simple. IIRC, I think there was a coil of wire that vibrated and somehow induced a sorta echo effect.

 

Crimson and Clover.......

 

I can remember a couple of guys that used to hang out at my dads shop had them in their cars. I thought it was really cool.

 

I remember one that had a spring as part of the delay process. When you hit a rail road crossing or a bump, you would get this loud crashing sound as the spring bounced around

 

My '57 210 with a Motorola AM manual tune ( cheapest sold by the Pep Boys ) sounded huge with a 6" speaker and a reverb unit. Ten months later, it was outclassed by a Craig 8 track and door panel speakers.

 

For all you oldster garage band wanna-bees out there, remember those el-cheapo Sears Silvertone amps that had a reverb that was like this? If you slapped it firmly on the top, you'd get sort of a lightening sound. I think we used that effect for some Beatle songs, but can't remember which ones. Perhaps on Rain?

 

Put one in my 1963 Galaxie 2 door hardtop. Boy was I king shit! Cranked Norman Greenbaums spirit in the sky! To a young guy with limited knowledge and limited funds it was awesome.

 

I remember reverbs. The first time that I heard one as a kid I just thought that was the coolest thing in the world. Then I saw my first suicide knob with a naked woman in it!

 

In So Cal, we had dances at places like El Monte Legion Stadium and the Retail Clerks Union Hall in Buena Park and you would always drive in with the windows down and the Vibrasonic just blaring. And if you had a four track, you were hot stuff. Low and Slow. Good times.
I had no doubt that @Moriarity would have one in his collection some place.

 

long ago i had a 66 GTO with a factory reverb, had a switch on the upper dash to turn it on. reverb box was mounted in the trunk near the rear seat back.

 

Hello,

The "Reverb"unit was a small sealed, silver box with something inside that made it sound like a chamber within the whole car. They were not factory accessories, but an over the counter at parts stores or radio install places. Link Wray was popular, too. The sound was funny as it made the whole interior sound as if you are in a hollow chamber. The original sound was distorted as the hollow sound made it strange.

But, it was a popular item. I installed one on the 58 Impala, in the under panel of the trunk next to the center rear speaker. I am sure I bought it at the local car radio shop that was in the area of speed shops and build shops in the Cherry Avenue corridor in Northeast Long Beach, near Bixby Knolls.

Jnaki

The sound was so weird that I took it out. When we went over some bumps or intersections, the bump made the sound worse. The reverb units were tried in a 57 Chevy, a 55 Chevy and still did the same things, so it was not the install or the car. It was the unit that was the culprit. At first, it was funny, then bothersome.

So, as fast as it showed up on the cruising scene, it disappeared to other parts of the state/country. It was as if something was dangling inside and made he "boing" sound too much to take. We would rather listen to the good old AM Radio with clean sounds.

It was a similar situation to the 45 rpm record players. The idea was different, but made driving and listening worse as it changed the actual sound. In the case of the 45 record players, it skipped and made a scratch across the record. Which is not nice.

If there ever was a fad, not a "T" roadster, but an accessory, this "Reverb" unit was it. Until it wasn't... times moved fast back then. With the advent of the FM radio channels, new broadcasting methods and better speakers were the most popular item in hot rods, customs and street sedans. YRMV

 

That's the one that I had once upon a time.

 

Ahhh yes, Cruising the El Monte Legion Stadium and the Teen Canteen in Azusa were good times! I don't remember the Retail Clerks Union Hall though.
Had a Motorola Vibersonic in my '55 Chevy Handy Man, loved it! But then went with a Muntz 4 track in the '55 Buick for the real stereo effect, lol!

 

I still have one of those somewhere in a box, somewhere in the shop!

 

I had a good friend that had one in his special order hi-performance first gen Baracuda, but I don't know if he could turn it off to regular radio. It did get a little old after a while, so I can understand why it was a flash in the pan. What I totally don't understand is why true stereo faded away? It's rare that you hear a true stereo cut on a modern radio. I hear a few on Sirius, but one in a hundred, if that. I miss that.

 

Yep....I had a reverb unit.........I bought a Ford accessory kit in the mid/late 1960s....loved it....poor man's stereo.....had it and an FM converter....thought I was 'Up Town'....and for a po' boy in those days, I was .....

Ray

 

That almost looks like a 1/4 jack input. I've seen things where you can plug a guitar into your car stereo so you can jam while you're camping or whatever, is that what that is Mark?

At some point in the late 90s I believe one of the Japanese car makers sold a car that marketed such an option?

Edit: I Googled it, it was Volkswagen. Car came with a free super crappy guitar and an input jack for the stereo.... Lol.

 

If so, I'd imagine it's an even more rare and cool piece... What year is that thing?

 

I have never seen a factory installed unit. The best was the fore mentioned Motorola. The steel case housed the electronics and the spring. The spring looks like a screen door unit with transducers on each end. The "crash" people mentioned was when a bump caused the contact of the spring with the case. While it's not very popular in car audio, the music world is filled with various reverbs and echos. Whether for instruments or vocal, few songs are recorded with out some of that in the effects chain. In the instro surf music world, reverb is a staple. Players kicking the "reverb tank" causing the crash is also common. Modern sound systems list "digital sound placement" as part of their operation. Longer term for reverb and echo.

 

Motorola Vibrasonic Sound, my 64 Lincoln had a factory installed unit. It had a knob that stuck out the bottom of the dash which was also the front/rear fader switch. If you pulled down on it the Vibrasonic turned on. It's mentioned in the Beach Boys "Check my Custom Machine".

My cousin had an aftermarket unit installed in one of her cars. If you hit a hard bump it made a crashing sound that made you think the back of the car fell off.

 

Poor was the FM converter on the AM radio with 6x9 TV speakers in the back window.

 

I had one in my 66 GTO, it was an option on that car.

 

Children can you say In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida!