Plate Reverb Build: Schedule

Posted on by ftsullivan

Now I am at a point in this project where all I have left to do is to build the reverb itself. I have done almost all the research, which I will be finishing up this week. I am treating week 9 as a flex week. If there are any difficulties that come up before that, there is a week where I can make it up.  I am still not sure if I will be making a damping plate and wooden frame for this reverb or if I will wait until later in the summer to do so.

Here is my whole build schedule for the rest of this project.

This week (6):

  • Build Steel Frame
  • Research Electronics, Part 2
  • Research Steel Acoustics

Week 7 (5/17-5/23):

  • Hang Plate By Frame
  • Build and wire all Electronics

Week 8 (5/24-5/30):

  • Mount Piezo Mics
  • Mount Transducer
  • Test Reverb to see if it works

Week 9 (5/31-6/6):

  • Analyze results of test
  • Damping Plate ???
  • Wooden Frame ???

Week 10 (6/7-6/13):

  • Tweak final product
  • Make samples to put on website
  • Take professional pictures

Plate Reverb Build: Critiquing another D.I.Y Project, Part 2

Posted on by ftsullivan

For this critique, I will be looking at JCC & Associates’ Ecoplate Plate Reverb.

ecoplate

There are a lot of great things about this plate reverb. One of the ones that I liked the most was the fact that it is a close take on the legendary EMT140. One of the more intriguing parts of this is the fact that you can’t flat out buy one from their website or anywhere else. They only give you their schematics on their website, along with some of the parts that you can buy off of them.

And that comes to some of the things that I don’t like about it. There aren’t any instructions on how to put this one together. You are sort of on your own, though they have the most detailed schematics that I have found so far. Also, if you don’t know anything really about electronics and how to read and put together schematics, then you are at a major disadvantage on how to make their power amp and pre-amp.

This is what I eventually want to turn my reverb into after a few prototype versions, which will scale up to the quality that the Ecoplate brings to the table. I never heard of this plate reverb before this project, so I’m not really sure on the overall draw of this particular reverb, though people seem to really like this one as well.

Pros:

  • Similar to the iconic EMT 140
  • Very detailed blueprint
  • Can buy the same voice coil and mics they use from them

Cons:

  • No actual pictures of unit on website
  • No directions on how to build them

Plate Reverb Build: Needed Materials

Posted on by ftsullivan

Building this plate reverb will not be without some costs. I have come up with everything that will be needed to complete this project.

1x Cold Rolled Steel Plate – ($26)
2x 1-1/2 in. x 60 in. Zinc-Plated Slotted Angle ($28)
2x 1-1/2 in. x 14-Gauge x 36 in. Zinc-Plated Slotted Angle ($52)
1x 12-pack 20mm Piezoelectric Elements/Contact Pickups with 2″ Leads ($17)
1x Vidsonix Ghost Transducer ($20)
1x GLS Audio 1/4″ Jacks Female TS Mono Panel Mount Jack – 4 PACK ($12)
8x 880 lb. x 1/4 in. Zinc-Plated Quick Link ($18)
8x 1/4 in. x 2 in. Zinc-Plated Steel Eye Bolts with Nut ($5)
1x TEKTON 6555 Rivet Gun with 40-pc. Rivets ($14)
1x Neiko Hand Held Power Punch, Sheet Metal Hole Punch Kit($31)
16x Stanley-National Hardware 1-in Metallic Corner Brace ($25)

Overall, the entire cost of this project will be $248 if I don’t include the wooden frame and damping plate, which are both optional at this point. This doesn’t include the extra nuts, bolts and screws that I will need to keep everything together. It also leaves me with some extra supplies for my second attempt at it, and I won’t have to buy the tools again.

Next up is buying all of these materials, as well as researching the acoustics of metals and damping plates, which will come later this weekend.

Plate Reverb Build: The Blueprint

Posted on by ftsullivan

Over the few days, I have been putting together a blueprint of what I eventually want my plate reverb to look like. Here are the first sketches:

figure1-3
My plate reverb’s steel sheet will be 2’x4′ and will have metal triangles installed on each of the corners for reinforcement. (Figure 1). The corners will be 2.5 inches tall and wide with three small holes for the rivets (Figure 2), which will combine the two sheets of steel. There will also be two 1/4″ holes to suspend the plate from the frame. The frame and plate will be joined by either Eye or Spade Bolts connected to the frame. There will be two 1/4″ quick links on each corner too (Figure 3).

 

PLateFront
The frame will be constructed with Zinc-Plated Slotted Angle (Blue) which will be 2″ longer than the sheet metal on each side to come to a length of 28″x52″ (Figure 4). There will also be Four sections of the slotted angle which will be for support and running cables up them (Green). Two of these will be 23″ from each end with a 3″ gap between them to mount the Transducer. There will be two more sections 11.5″ from each end to mount the contact mics and run the cables from. There will also be two 6″ sections on the bottom to use as feet.

 

plateback
On the backside of the unit will be 1″x1″ metal corner braces to hold the reverb in place. (Red) There will be two of these located in each corner. I will also drill three 1/8″ holes to adhere the transducer to the plate (Orange).