requesting assistance from people with electronics skillz

I have an old spring reverb unit which I took out of an organ, basically I changed its input outputs to 1/4" jack for use with my shit, the spring reverby bit works fine and is a good volume( this is just me hitting the spring with the output going to the mixer) however when i input anything its volume is so low its not effected by the reverb at all and needs alot of gain just to be heard, i tried boosting the pre single with an eq and a distrotion pedal but to no success.

TL;DR spring reverb input very very quiet wat do ;pic related

I did exactly the same thing may years ago with the spring from and old Teisco 100P (apparently a rebadged ARP and the same spring found in a 2600 = geek mode off).

I bought a small amplifier circuit from Maplins to boost the signal but all this did was introduce a lot of backround hiss however a quick look on good old google.

wait so you bought a $200 circuit amp or like a headphone amp?and you were able to get a reasonable input level, just with a bit of noise?

i know you can make headphone amps for like 20 dollars but i doubt i have the experience for that..

You probably need a proper preamplifier (eg one used for mics) to boost the signal before it hits the reverb.

  On 9/25/2011 at 4:05 AM, elliot said:

wait so you bought a $200 circuit amp or like a headphone amp?and you were able to get a reasonable input level, just with a bit of noise?

i know you can make headphone amps for like 20 dollars but i doubt i have the experience for that..

no dude just a simple £10 kit but it didn't work that well anyway as the hiss was too much (i.e. a failed attempt) however the circuit I put in the link would be a better bet

hmm i doubt i could build that from scratch what about a kit like one these, which one do you think would be suited? http://www.voltelectronics.co.nz/kits/amplifiers

thanks man

You can't simply hook jacks up to a spring tank and get reverb - you need a spring driver circuit. Try looking at Figure 2