Behringer RV600 Reverb Machine: Bad -> Great mods.

A forum devoted to mod, tips and suggestions for upgrading and rehousing your VERY CHEAP commercial stompbox to near boutique excellence.
User avatar
briggs
Tube Twister
Information
Posts: 1971
Joined: 12 Jul 2007, 10:02
my favorite amplifier: Briggs Custom Suprono
Completed builds: Too many to still class myself as sane....
Location: Breaking into Heaven.
Has thanked: 27 times
Been thanked: 128 times
Contact:

Post by briggs »

Taken from my blog:
I've been working on this for a few days now. I purchased one of these: http://www.behringer.com/EN/Products/RV600.aspx, a Behringer RV600 Reverb Machine for a couple of quid. It's supposed to be a replica of the Line 6 Verbzilla pedal (more info on that one here: http://line6.com/tonecore/verbzilla.html) and it does a pretty good job of emulating it too. There are ton of very useful reverb tones to be had here. However, there was also 3 major problems with the stock unit:


1) The case was plastic and definitely not up to being trodden on for long!
2) The stock switching was useless. If you had trails on and the mix set below about 80% there was serious tone suck, if the mix was 100% wet and you turned the thing off it didn't pass your signal at all!
3) There was a noticable noise increase while using the pedal.

OK, so simple. A rehouse was in desperate need! I also decided to build up my own switching and mixing system around the pedal instead of trying to adapt the stock unit to perform how I wanted (It's all SMD so not ideal to take a soldering iron too!).

The switching/mixing system I designed allows you to have trails on the switching but also to true bypass the unit. I added independent wet and dry level controls and a preGain control (I used a Zvex SHO as the preamp circuit) which controls the boost of the signal before it hits the front of the 'verb. The set up I produced, with the separate wet/dry level & preGain controls in combination with a few sneaky low pass filters, allows much lower noise operation than the stock single "mix" control present on the Behringer RV600. There is no distinct increase in noise between on and bypassed!

Below you can see what I eventually produced. Controls from left to right: PreGain, Wet Level, Dry Level, Tone, Decay, Delay, Mode.

Check out the neat custom Hammerite & Jackson Pollock paint job :-) On the left of the internal gutshot you can see my custom switching/mixing circuit. I'll be posting a schematic of my switching/mixing circuit soon so stay tuned if your going to be embarking upon any Behringer rehouses....

Next up the Behringer EM600 Echo Machine ;-)

P.S Thanks to SuperVelcroBoy for his heads up on things to look out for while rehousing Behringer stompboxes.
Attachments
verb_2.jpg
verb_3.jpg
Image

I am Klon.

User avatar
moltenmetalburn
Resistor Ronker
Information
Posts: 309
Joined: 03 Nov 2008, 14:01
Location: Indiana
Has thanked: 3 times
Been thanked: 7 times

Post by moltenmetalburn »

Nice workaround! :applause:

IMHO the yellow knobs are drawing too much attention away from your awesome paint job.
"The Humans Will Never Destroy Us"

User avatar
briggs
Tube Twister
Information
Posts: 1971
Joined: 12 Jul 2007, 10:02
my favorite amplifier: Briggs Custom Suprono
Completed builds: Too many to still class myself as sane....
Location: Breaking into Heaven.
Has thanked: 27 times
Been thanked: 128 times
Contact:

Post by briggs »

Cheers!

I've ordered some new knobs 8) Those ones on there are pretty terrible but it's all I have at the moment!
Image

I am Klon.

User avatar
briggs
Tube Twister
Information
Posts: 1971
Joined: 12 Jul 2007, 10:02
my favorite amplifier: Briggs Custom Suprono
Completed builds: Too many to still class myself as sane....
Location: Breaking into Heaven.
Has thanked: 27 times
Been thanked: 128 times
Contact:

Post by briggs »

I just added a Wet signal FX loop to this as well.

The schematic I'm drawing up will show how I added it. It's got an option to have stereo wet/dry outputs as well. I don't have two amps to run this though so I'm leaving mine mono 8)
Image

I am Klon.

User avatar
Ripdivot
Resistor Ronker
Information
Posts: 316
Joined: 19 Jan 2008, 19:15
Location: Canada
Has thanked: 8 times
Been thanked: 78 times

Post by Ripdivot »

"Next up the Behringer EM600 Echo Machine"

I am looking forward to seeing what you can do with the echo machine. I have one and it is not too bad but I find it noisy unless it is on its own power supply. I even shielded the inside of the plastic enclosure but it didn't help.

User avatar
briggs
Tube Twister
Information
Posts: 1971
Joined: 12 Jul 2007, 10:02
my favorite amplifier: Briggs Custom Suprono
Completed builds: Too many to still class myself as sane....
Location: Breaking into Heaven.
Has thanked: 27 times
Been thanked: 128 times
Contact:

Post by briggs »

Ripdivot wrote:"Next up the Behringer EM600 Echo Machine"

I am looking forward to seeing what you can do with the echo machine. I have one and it is not too bad but I find it noisy unless it is on its own power supply. I even shielded the inside of the plastic enclosure but it didn't help.
Any features you'd especially like to see?
Image

I am Klon.

User avatar
Ripdivot
Resistor Ronker
Information
Posts: 316
Joined: 19 Jan 2008, 19:15
Location: Canada
Has thanked: 8 times
Been thanked: 78 times

Post by Ripdivot »

briggs wrote:
Ripdivot wrote:"Next up the Behringer EM600 Echo Machine"

I am looking forward to seeing what you can do with the echo machine. I have one and it is not too bad but I find it noisy unless it is on its own power supply. I even shielded the inside of the plastic enclosure but it didn't help.
Any features you'd especially like to see?
Just for it to work on the same pwr supply as the rest of my pedals. Sometimes it will work with a shared supply but it depends on the pedals before and after it. I have the Rotary Machine as well and it is also noisy. One thing that bothers me with the behringer line 6 knock offs is how the bypass works. You step on the pedal but it doesn't switch until you release your foot. I want them to switch when you step down on them like any other pedal (boss, ibanez etc...). As for the delay itself, it sounds pretty good.

User avatar
chris_d
Solder Soldier
Information
Posts: 180
Joined: 16 Aug 2007, 20:03
Has thanked: 4 times
Been thanked: 4 times

Post by chris_d »

I picked one of these up a while back. Definitely interested in your mods to it. It is a pretty decent pedal, but obviously with lots of room for improvement!

-chris

User avatar
JiM
Diode Debunker
Information
Posts: 967
Joined: 11 Mar 2008, 22:56
Completed builds: Completed builds :
Proco Rat
MXR MicroAmp in a volume pedal
TubeDriver (w/ NoS russian tube and big muff tone contol) + Phase 45 (w/ univibe cap ratio)
Dallas Rangemaster (w/ noisy OC75, negative ground)
SubCaster tube booster (w/ NoS russian tube, PtP)
Hot Harmonics
Music From Outer Space SubCommander in progress
Crackle Not OK
Simple bass blender in a 1590A
Bazz Fuss with a photo-darlington
Location: France
Has thanked: 70 times
Been thanked: 66 times
Contact:

Post by JiM »

Ripdivot wrote:Just for it to work on the same pwr supply as the rest of my pedals. Sometimes it will work with a shared supply but it depends on the pedals before and after it.
I heard that the original Line6 had this problem too ... they are very noisy when they share their power supply. If we find a solution for one, it should work for the other.
Ripdivot wrote:One thing that bothers me with the behringer line 6 knock offs is how the bypass works. You step on the pedal but it doesn't switch until you release your foot. I want them to switch when you step down on them like any other pedal (boss, ibanez etc...).
Isn't there some "hold" or tap tempo function using a long press on the footswitch ? This might explain this behaviour, as you don't want the effect to switch off when you begin tapping the tempo ... I guess it could be fixed in software :| or by adding some pulse-generating logic (the opposite of a latch) right after the switch :wink:

Btw, what is the DSP ? I can't read on the picture, but i guess there is also an Atmega16 for the knobs like in the other Behringer Boss-inspired digital pedals.
I only give negative feedback.

User avatar
briggs
Tube Twister
Information
Posts: 1971
Joined: 12 Jul 2007, 10:02
my favorite amplifier: Briggs Custom Suprono
Completed builds: Too many to still class myself as sane....
Location: Breaking into Heaven.
Has thanked: 27 times
Been thanked: 128 times
Contact:

Post by briggs »

Here is a schematic detailing how I have done this, enjoy. There are so many other mods you could add that I've not put on the scheme. If I was really gonna go for it I would have a dedicated "wet" jack for faux stereo operation and I would buffer the FX loop.
Attachments
mixer.jpg
Image

I am Klon.

User avatar
jeannot
Information
Posts: 2
Joined: 27 Feb 2009, 19:18

Post by jeannot »

Awesome looking mod. Im new here, but I was just wondering how much of a difference you think it would make to leave out the pre-amp circuit? Is there something you can point me to that would be a good substitute for the Zvex circuit? Thanks.

User avatar
RonaldB
Information
Posts: 34
Joined: 18 Sep 2007, 07:10
Has thanked: 4 times
Been thanked: 1 time

Post by RonaldB »

Well i'm doing the Echomachine right now.
But i have a slight problem. When the switch cuts the input of the Echomachine there is a noise coming from the wet output.

any idea what this is?

User avatar
briggs
Tube Twister
Information
Posts: 1971
Joined: 12 Jul 2007, 10:02
my favorite amplifier: Briggs Custom Suprono
Completed builds: Too many to still class myself as sane....
Location: Breaking into Heaven.
Has thanked: 27 times
Been thanked: 128 times
Contact:

Post by briggs »

Are you using the scheme I posted above? You can try grounding the input on switching. That may help.

Regarding a different preamp choice - you could use a standard op amp gain stage, configured to give gains from 1~10, it would work just as well 8) I chose the SHO circuit because I'd already run out of op amps in my quad and I like the sound of it :)
Image

I am Klon.

User avatar
RonaldB
Information
Posts: 34
Joined: 18 Sep 2007, 07:10
Has thanked: 4 times
Been thanked: 1 time

Post by RonaldB »

Allready tried to do that (grounding the input) but no luck.

Iám using the your schematic now but i think i'll change the input buffer/pre gain circuit to an opamp stage as i like that more.

I will get back on this as i solved the problem.

User avatar
briggs
Tube Twister
Information
Posts: 1971
Joined: 12 Jul 2007, 10:02
my favorite amplifier: Briggs Custom Suprono
Completed builds: Too many to still class myself as sane....
Location: Breaking into Heaven.
Has thanked: 27 times
Been thanked: 128 times
Contact:

Post by briggs »

Good to know. You can use any low output impedance preamp stage you'd like really, I just chose SHO as I like them 8)
Image

I am Klon.

User avatar
ant1mat
Information
Posts: 1
Joined: 13 May 2009, 17:35

Post by ant1mat »

Hey Briggs! Hi all! :applause:
what about the layman in all this? I understand the switching/mixing schematic but I don't have the technical know-how to make something of it. Could anyone by any chance write a actual layout of the mod with the actual parts needed and brief run through of what goes where. Give the working musician a chance guys! I'm sure I'm not the only one looking for this! Don't let us down and spread the good word!!! :wink: ...please.... thanks!

User avatar
DWBH
Cap Cooler
Information
Posts: 498
Joined: 24 Aug 2007, 16:26
Location: portugal
Has thanked: 12 times
Been thanked: 3 times

Post by DWBH »

One thing I didn't understand is whether you eliminated/bypassed the original buffers of the pedal.

I mean, from what I read and from the schematic, you have the original pedal, unmodded, turned always on, with the mix pot all the way up, 100% wet - then you just added the aforesaid circuitry. Correct?

User avatar
DWBH
Cap Cooler
Information
Posts: 498
Joined: 24 Aug 2007, 16:26
Location: portugal
Has thanked: 12 times
Been thanked: 3 times

Post by DWBH »

bump :scratch:

User avatar
briggs
Tube Twister
Information
Posts: 1971
Joined: 12 Jul 2007, 10:02
my favorite amplifier: Briggs Custom Suprono
Completed builds: Too many to still class myself as sane....
Location: Breaking into Heaven.
Has thanked: 27 times
Been thanked: 128 times
Contact:

Post by briggs »

Correct yes. So only the wet signal ever goes through the Behringer. The dry signal goes through the buffers and mixer..
Image

I am Klon.

User avatar
DWBH
Cap Cooler
Information
Posts: 498
Joined: 24 Aug 2007, 16:26
Location: portugal
Has thanked: 12 times
Been thanked: 3 times

Post by DWBH »

But the RV600 is nosiest when the mix pot is fully clockwise. Are those filters efficient?

Post Reply