Split Infinitives
Before I played a single note through the
Sole-Mate Jr., I examined the logistics
of various tank-mounting options. The
underside of the pedalboard is a pretty good
place for it. It’s a short cable run, and the
underside is usually dedicated to power supplies
anyway. With Emma AmARHyll and
Pedaltrain PT-1 units, there was enough
room to mount the tank and place it conveniently
next to the power brick (you’ll
need to be mindful not to ground the
reverb tank to a metal pedalboard, however,
and use rubber spacers to avoid hum). My
concern with underside mounting, though,
is that pedalboards can get banged around
a lot in live situations—loading a board on
and off a stage could leave the underside
vulnerable. Alternatively, mounting the
Sole-Mate Jr. upside down under a pedalboard
could effectively make the tank a collection
cup for dust and stage crud.
Placing the tank on the floor comes with its own dangers. The vibrations in a live, loud setting can mean audible problems, and the “set it on a t-shirt” solution isn’t very elegant for such a beautifully made unit. Mounting the unit to the topside at the backside of the pedalboard is the most logical solution, but then most of the advantages over an all-in-one unit like the original Sole-Mate are negated. Still, while placement can be a puzzle, the flexibility remains attractive, and the Sole-Mate Jr. will enable players to find what works best for them.
The tank itself is an off-the-shelf MOD 8EB2C1B. It’s not rebranded, nor is it hidden in a protective box. It’s just a stock, drop-in unit, with the springs exposed on the underside. What this means to you is what you’re really buying is the switching/amplifier unit. Nobody makes a better, sturdier reverb tank than MOD these days, so does the switching unit match in quality? Definitely. A peek inside exposes a beautifully wired circuit board made from high-quality components. And while the Sole-Mate Jr. is aimed towards fans of vintage equipment, the modern op-amp design keeps things compact.
High Lonesome Sound
No matter how you mount the Sole-Mate
Jr., it sounds fantastic. The box only has
two controls, so dialing in a great tone is
easy. Output level mixes wet and dry, and
the dwell knob adjusts decay. Want longer,
more intense reverb? Or how about something
tighter and less washy? Thankfully,
you don’t really need an owner’s manual to
figure any of that out—it’s simply a matter
of twisting the two knobs to taste. When
switched off, the true-bypass Sole-Mate Jr.
disappears completely from your chain, and
when it’s on, it’s nice and quiet. Even sitting
in a room full of transformers, I didn’t pick
up any interference.
When both controls are wide open, the reverb is lush and full, with a little shimmer, a trail that sounds very natural, and an absence of the “boing-boing” tones that are the downside of spring reverb to some ears. Interestingly, the Sole-Mate Jr. is better suited to spatial, more ambient reverb than surf tones, which is probably attributable, in part, to the 3-spring tank.
The surprising absence of really strong surf-style tones did prompt a thought about the Sole-Mate Jr.’s potential for customization. After all, reverb tanks are cheap, and theoretically, you could easily experiment with other ones. As long as you’re mindful of impedance matching, you could easily adopt a more surf-ready 2-spring tank or try different tank lengths and spring counts—effectively making the Sole-Mate Jr. a customizable reverb system. And while it’s unlikely this modularity was the primary motivation behind Van Amps decision to decouple the tank from the switching and circuitry, it’s a strength that could create a lot of options, especially in the studio.
Ratings
Pros:
An easy way to add real, high-quality spring reverb to
your amp. Fantastic tones, especially for clean sounds.
Cons:
High price tag. Still requires a lot of space for a
basic effect. Spring unit could be better protected.
Tones:
Ease of Use:
Build/Design:
Value:
Street:
$250
Van Amps
vanamps.com
It’s worth noting that by running the Sole-Mate Jr. before your amp, you’re placing the reverb before the preamp, just like the old surf-music players that stacked a Fender reverb tank on top of their Showman head. And I really enjoyed the sound of grit added to the reverb, rather than vice versa. If your amp has an effects loop, you could set up a more contemporary and conventional chain that places the reverb after the preamp. But the only time I thought the arrangement sounded less than stellar was when I hit it with a lot of overdrive or fuzz. In these setups, a lot of harmonic definition was lost in a wash of sound.
With clean tones—or with a little drive to excite it—the reverb sounds better than almost anything I hear from stock in-amp reverbs. With a renewed interest in small vintage amps, like Champs, the Musicmaster Bass, and Broncos, it’s great to have a reverb option that matches an amp in spirit. It really feels like what Fender or Ampeg probably would have put in their amplifiers, were they reverb equipped.
The Verdict
The Sole-Mate Jr. can breathe new life into
old or stale-sounding amps, or it can add a
second spring-reverb option to your chain
instead of a digital replication. Despite the
emphasis on downsizing, I’m not so sure the
Sole-Mate Jr. will find favor with users of
large pedalboards, because the features-to-size
ratio is pretty small. But those who prize
high quality, simplicity, and vintage reverb
tones will doubtlessly love what the
Sole-Mate Jr. has to offer.
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There is, however, a difference in how the reverberated signal is handled in the two units. In the ASR-1, the reverb signal is routed to a 1/4" output jack on the rear panel, where it sits next to another jack that outputs the dry signal. The Sole-Mate, on the other hand, mixes the reverb signal with the dry signal at the same output jack, a more commonly used routing, as found in the venerable Fender reverb tanks. Both VanAmp units use the same model 8" Accutronics spring unit, which is hard-mounted to the aluminum chassis. Both units also run off a12V AC wall wart, but the ASR-1 also has two internal 9V DC batteries that can be used for power. Both chassis are covered with either a Tweed fabric or brown, cream or black Tolex, in addition to a host of custom colors.
Other identical features are two footswitches on the top of the chassis: one for switching the reverb on and off (doesn’t affect the dry signal) and one labeled “Aux”, which allows a cable to run from the footswitch jack of a built-in effect or an amp channel switch to the aux input jack, which allows centralized control of both parameters.
The ASR-1 is not useable with amps with a single input jack, and efforts to Y-cord the outputs together creates a dangerous feedback loop. It is, however, useable with one channel amps that have two inputs by using the output control to bring the reverb signal up to desired level in the mix. The Sole-Mate was created for those amps with a single input jack. Another difference between the two units is that the Sole-Mate has a reverb status light and a power light, while the ASR-1 does not.
Plugging In
I tried out the Sole-Mate first and found it to be very sweet sounding. The delay was of medium duration and the tail had that full, sustained sound that seems to be the hallmark of the great spring units. I thought the tails sounded especially good in the higher ranges, a place where some reverbs sound a bit harsh. I also found the overall sound a bit on the dark side, which wasn’t bad, but I found myself wishing for a bit more tone control—not a biggie, though.
The dwell control took us from a shadow of reverb to full-out cavernous thunder. Fender has the surf sound locked down, partially because of the behavior of the longer springs mechanically, and partly because of the longer delay, so it was difficult to get what I considered an authentic surf tone. Nonetheless, the Sole-Mate is definitely a first-rate spring tone for everything else, and VanAmps informs us that there is a long decay spring tank available on special order that will bring the performance solidly into the surf realm.
The ASR-1 solved the tone problem by its split output. Using a two-channel amp, I could adjust reverb tone to taste using the EQ of the dedicated reverb channel. The unit itself seemed to have higher output than the Sole-Mate, and it had a bit of a tendency to feedback and overdrive the amp at ridiculously high settings. It was, however, nice to be able to place a distortion device on the clean output and not have to deal with the questionable sonic qualities of a distorted reverb. What was really cool was using a separate amp for the reverb signal and putting some space between the two amps, which yielded reverbzilla in stereo.
The obvious comparison question is VanAmps vs. Fender. For my money, I’m taking the Van. It fits in my gig bag and has all the sweet reverb I need. If you’re a surfer dude, get the Fender and plug her into your dual Showman with JBL’s. The Reverbmates’ shortcomings were few, but included the lack of a tone control on the Sole-Mate, and no lights on the ASR-1. Both Van units “boinged” when hit or dropped, but nowhere near as bad as the Fender units. Don’t plan on doing a lot of stomping, and, in fact, place the unit where it will be safe from trauma and vibration. More soul and less sole.
Buy if...
you want to add great-sounding reverb to your non-reverb amp.
Skip if...
you don’t use, or already have, good reverb sounds; or if you play surf music.
Rating...
Street $285 - VanAmps LLC - vanamps.com |