spring reverb

Spring reverb is a reverb effect in which the guitar signal is sent through metal springs to create reverberation¹. A transducer at one end of the spring tank converts the electrical signal into mechanical vibrations in the springs, and a pickup at the other end captures the resulting series of delays and mixes them back with the clean input signal². Originally made famous by Fender's classic amp designs in the early 1960s, it uses physical springs to simulate the natural reflections heard in a real room³, and it became associated with the electric guitar sound of that decade, particularly surf music⁴. Its sound is often described as splashy, with a characteristic drip when cranked⁵, and a lack of low frequencies due to the steep low cut filter in the original design⁶.