Soldano Space Box Info/Schematic

[rccolgan]

Long shot, does anyone happen to have any info and/or a schematic for this rack reverb unit? I emailed Soldano and asked if they could consider releasing the schematic on it since it's been long out of production but no reply. It looks like a fairly simple design and almost can see enough to figure it out from these pics posted long ago. Trying to complete my Mayer Dead & Company rig now that I did the Dumble UltraPhonix.

Thanks in advance!
-Ryan

[drewspriggs]

Long shot, does anyone happen to have any info and/or a schematic for this rack reverb unit? I emailed Soldano and asked if they could consider releasing the schematic on it since it's been long out of production but no reply. It looks like a fairly simple design and almost can see enough to figure it out from these pics posted long ago. Trying to complete my Mayer Dead & Company rig now that I did the Dumble UltraPhonix.

Thanks in advance!
-Ryan

Reportedly it is just a standalone Fender-styled reverb, which would make sense given the PCB.

[rccolgan]

I read something similar. It's missing the 6v6 of the stand alone reverb tank so perhaps it's more like a AB763 implementation? hmm

[martin manning]

Not tube driven, but this is a nice spring reverb unit: https://ampgarage.com/forum/viewtopic.p ... 20#p391220

[rccolgan]

I ended up being able to borrow a Space Box to reverse engineer. Here is a photo album with the pics so far. 2x 7025 tubes which is interesting.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/eBsfy34HhuGGMidc7

[Roe]

"Bill Sundt of So[l]dano told me the Space Box uses a 12AX7 while the Surf uses an EL84, I think. He told me the Surf reverb sounds much better than the Space Box reverb." https://www.thegearpage.net/board/index ... st-5790958

[rccolgan]

"Bill Sundt of So[l]dano told me the Space Box uses a 12AX7 while the Surf uses an EL84, I think. He told me the Surf reverb sounds much better than the Space Box reverb." https://www.thegearpage.net/board/index ... st-5790958

Nice!! I'd love to figure out the Surfy too one day. I heard it sounds better too.

Anything I should measure while I have the PCB out? Transformers, etc? I think if I were to replicate this for my own, the transformers are the biggest mystery to me. Hopefully measuring can be done without removal? I doubt it but figured I'd ask the group.

[rccolgan]

I added a raw and uncut sound sample to my photo album above of the Space Box. It's definitely interesting... unlike other reverb units I have (Victoria Reverberato, Strymon Flint, etc)

I also noticed when toggling back and forth between my Reverberato that the Space Box does something really funky with the EQ of my dry signal and makes everything sound more "high definition" and piezo-like. It works well with my dark amp. I guess I didn't expect the dry signal to be colored so much. The reverb itself sounds pretty shallow. I can see why some people would be disappointed in this unit however, I also see it working really well for others. I'm obviously trying to figure out and learn how John Mayer is using it with Dead & Company Sphere shows. The reverb is subtle and I doubt it would stand out in a mix with the rest of the band.

I'm also waiting on the folks at Soldano to get back to me about the user manual. I want to confirm it's supposed to have 2x 7025/12AX7 tubes. Maybe that could be why the dry signal is EQ'd so much.

Over the next few weeks I'll draw a schematic. I need to return this unit to the owner so I'm hoping I don't need anything else physically from the unit. I did measure voltages and will post that as well.