AKG BX20E Spring Reverb

One knob per channel, turn the knob = longer reverb tail. Simple. Send / return on your console. Nice effect when you compress the source and the reverb together for the dipping and rising reverb sound of the 60's. Dual mono, bridgeable if you want. Not well suited for a small studio however...

A lush natural reverb, not at all "springy". A bit on the dark side, but fits into the mix well. Suprisingly little self nosie, s/n better then many digital reverbs around the town. Good channel separation, can use as 2 distinct reverb effects with separate controls. Fantastic. Not as prone to sound leakage as you might expect, if I thump the top or sides of the wooden box there is barely a bump on the monitors. So yes, you want to place it in a quiet place, but you don't need a freeking Whisper Room for it.

Well, it is old. Over the years many have been destroyed by neglect. Some were used on sound stages, these are in great shape usually and well taken care of. Good luck finding one. You could probably fix one if you were mechanically inclined, the electronics are simple enough if you have a working knowlege of that kind of stuff. So far mine has been working great, it was well cared for and I am very cautious with it and I use it sparingly (springingly).

Hope you have some "techie" friends that owe you something.

You have a nice studio of moderate size. A good collection of vintage and modern gear. Some good sounding mics, mic pres. You make music of all kinds. Maybe you are not getting the kind of reverb that inspires you from software plugins and digital effects boxes. You have several free square feet in an other room and 4 tie lines... and you can find one. Get it.

I own a BX20E for almost 10 years now and let me tell you that this spring reverd work very good. I bought it from an old AM radio station in Montreal. It was almost new. I got the service manual with it. You have to drive the input at + 6db (as per the service manual)if you want a good sound. I use it for String ensemble or some guitars parts with a stereo pre-amp to boost the inputs.

Good but you have to use it as a special fx on some parts, not as the only reverb in your mix.

Well, this reverb is pretty old stuff. I have the chance to know people who can maintain it in good shape but since I bought it...no problemos..

None...

They don't know what you talking about. Find somebody who is good in electronic and... get the service manual if you can. Mine is not for sale.

You have to be crasy and also in love with your studio to find and buy this hudge 150 pounds spring box but Man! it worth the money for the sound, the look and... its an AKG!!

Couldn't be easier. There is one small control panel with XLR I/Os, remote input (the remote has two knobs to change decay time from 2 to 4 seconds and that's it), a switch to combine inputs or use separately, and a power switch. It was obviously designed for send and receive consoles. I have owned two in the past couple years and the electronics cards were slightly different with different part numbers. It is an old, classic studio spring reverb housed in a large four foot box that is supposed to be placed somewhere else.
It is hard to rate this product in any area because I agree with the previous rater. These boxes are pretty much done unless you are an original owner or are a very rich musician or engineer. Most of good ones are in collections and the ones running around now are not much.

If you can get one that works, they do sound good. It has been described as a large hall sound. Big and very dense. Thunder!
Unfortunately both units that I have owned turned out to be garbage very quickly. One I put out with the trash after taking out some of the essential parts and the other has only one channel that works and the other channel needs a new pickup or spring. They are incredibly difficult to work on. I have taken one apart and my hands actually hurt for days afterwards trying to move things around. It is not a piece where you pull a card or a part and just replace it. The tank is unbelievably difficult to work on. I had no luck and finally gave up. Unless you just won the lottery, I would not recommend this unit.They are done.

At this point in their life, forgetaboutit! Unless you are a trained tech, this experience can be a real nightmare and the real problem is you can't just box it up and send it to someone. It weighs 150 lbs at least and it is big and bulky. Where are you going to send it anyway? The BX10s are the same. The good ones are off the market and the ones available unless you luck out, are in need of some tuning or repair. The BX10 that I bought sounded like one set of springs needed work and again, who is going to do that work?

AKG is a great company if you have a mike but they don't have anything left for these units and that is certainly understandable.

Same old song. Stay away unless you see and hear the unit. Listen very carefully to each channel to make sure that one side or the other is not needing tuning, has a volume problem, sounds muddy or clangy. I am officially done with the AKG Spring Reverb series. They were classics but being so dependent on mechanics has made them a very questionable purchase.

This is a vintage studio spring reverb. It comes in a 4 foot high wooded box with XLR Stereo I/Os. It has a knob that allows it to work from a mono send and combines the output to stereo. I have never seen a manual since the eighties but the operation is straight forward send and receive from your mixer to the reverb tank. Inside the box is an isolated cylinder that contains the spring apparatus.
This assembly is a marvel of mechanical engineering with many springs of various sizes and composition all running through a series of dampers with pickups at either end of the the spring tree.

I am writing this review as a bit of warning to potential buyers of this vintage product. Several show up on auction sites from time to time but it's time to be very careful buying this product. It has unfortunately reached the end or near end of it's life cycle. The wiring has become brittle and the insulation, used everywhere in the unit, is in various stages of disintegration. The yellow foam has just run it's course and will fall all over the place when touched or when the unit is moved around. This can cause it to effect the sound of the box. Properly cared for and replaced by someone who knows what they're doing, can make the BX20 work. I also think the springs have lost a bit of their luster but in operation you can get a HUGE vintage reverb sound. In the digital world, it would probably be modeled after a large hall but this reverb is bigger and denser than anything I've ever heard from a digital reverb. Drums, particularly toms, are really beautiful if you are into that big tom fill sound.
I have a Lexicon 300 and it always takes awhile for my ears to get aclimated to digital reverb after long sessions of drums going through the BX20E. I've gotten used to vocals using digital reverb and the big dense springs can overwhelm a delicate track. I used to use it for vocals, way back when, and now it's just a matter of what you're used to. Since this a high quality spring reverb the sound can be unpredictable and seems to vary a bit from unit to unit these days but I think it is because of the age problems mentioned above.

Right now I would never take this on the road. Not to mention the fact that it weighs about 150 lbs., the insides need to stay put at this age. In fact the best way to buy one of these would be to find an original owner who kept it maintained and go pick it up, using a high degree of care when moving. After it has been tuned and setup, I think it can be reliable. Again, it has to sit still at this age.

It is very difficult to find anyone at AKG who even knows what you are talking about. These are strictly "old school" products and there just is no support. They can't even find a schematic after all these years.

I think the time is running out on these great machines. I recently have been inside two units and they both showed the same deterioration but can be maintained for awhile if setup, cleaned, and left alone. There is nothing except the old plates that can produce this big wet sound. The digital reverbs are all really clean and I love them but having an old high quality spring around is a great extra for any studio, home or commercial. I sold my original model many years ago and wished I'd kept it stored. Again, I would only replace my current unit with one from an original owner who took great care of it, one that never went on the road, and one that I could pickup myself without the trucking world getting a shot at it.