DIY Plate Reverb The ultimate Guide

Video Tutorial on how to build a plate reverb with the best value for money.
No IKEA! No welding! No grinding! :)
Signal chain:
Audio source (e.g. mixer)- shielded cable (e.g. XLR) - amplifier (PCB) - two short, one lead cables - exciter of the plate (e.g. speaker) - sound pick-ups (e.g. piezos) - shielded cable (e.g. Jack) (- maybe u need to amplify again)* - mixer/audio interface
*try it without first, because cheap digital amplifier modules will reduce the signal quality (refer to data sheet, e.g. for the sample rate)
- Soldering the leads to the piezos is not easy. Consider buying piezos with leads. (If you solder it, you may remove some coating from the metal of the piezo and flux paste will help you!)
- Don’t forget to insulate your cables after soldering. (In most cases you need to put the heat shrink tubing on the cable before soldering.)
- If you need to solder a lot, consider buying flux paste.
Links:
Online Distributors:
- Mouser: eu.mouser.com
- Digi-Key: www.digikey.com
- Farnell: www.farnell.com
Piezos:
- 2.2 kHz and 300 Ohm:
www.digikey.co...
- 6.3 kHz with 350 Ohm:
www.digikey.co...
- 6.3 kHz with 1 kOhm:
www.digikey.co...
- 9 kHz and 1 kOhm:
www.digikey.co...
Transducers:
- SparkFun Electronics COM-10975:
www.digikey.co...
- PUI Audio ASX07008-WP-R:
www.digikey.co...
- PUI Audio ASX10108-SPD-R:
www.digikey.co...
- PUI Audio ASX08604-SW-R:
www.digikey.co...
- transducer screw mount:
www.mouser.de/...
- Speaker:
www.digikey.co...
- Tape:
„Tesa filming mounting tape“
- Amplifier PCB:
„TDA8932 35W Mono Digital Amplifier Board“ from KKmoon or MissBirdler
Additional Info:
No series connections - What does that mean for me and my sockets?
The ground potential of your sockets may be different. This may result in unwanted noise and ground hum. To prevent that from happening use one socket and connect a big multi-plug (with 10 plugs). Depending on the amount of your electronic studio gear you may need to connect triple plugs to the multi-plug again. I wouldn’t connect more to one socket, if you need more sockets, group your devices into sound making and non sound making. That means use one socket for computer, desk lights and similar and one socket for Mixer, Speaker, Main Amplifier, Synthesizers and similar. If you use one socket with a 10 multi-plug and triple plugs you will have 30 sockets. Group your devices too. E.g.: first triple plug: main mixer, main amplifier and main speaker. Second triple plug: main synthesizers / drum computers. And so on...
Always read data sheets:
- I recently bought a crappy amplifier PCB. After a closer look at the module and the data sheet I realized they mounted a fake IC on the PCB. The labeling was the original IC which has 32 pin outs, but the mounted IC had only 28 pin outs. That means they copied a PCB and mounted cheaper parts instead, but labeled them with the original part names.
- Generally, you can compare the prices of the mounted ICs and similar ICs to evaluate a PCB and it’s mounted parts.
- You can read at witch voltage your amplifier IC gives the best results.
- You can get the impedance of the inputs / outputs of your devices. Try to match the impedances when you connect output to input. (U may need to read the section ‚technical specifications’ (or similar) in the user manual or directly at the supplies website)
- AND MANY MORE! If it’s a good data sheet you get ALL the information.
- Get the latest data sheet at the suppliers website.
- Clean and oil your plate, to prevent it from rusting.
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If you have a question feel free to ask :)
I hope you enjoyed it and learned something! Feel free to share your experience with us :)

[@urbanflorjancic661]

Thx for the effort, this goes to the list of I never knew. All the best

[@nainportekel6431]

Thank U, great and very usefull, very inspiring !
And by the way, did you consider exciting the plate magneticaly, directly without any physical contact ?

[@atuanoiniin]

I do want this, I do want this, I do want this!

[@kensmechanicalaffair]

Lol

[@esmeralda5394]

thanks for these exactly descriptions 👌🏽👌🏽👌🏽

[@iBorsch]

Hello. I have a Harley Benton GA5 guitar amp into which I would like to build in a spring reverb. Which I'll take from an old Laney PL50 Reverb
Can you tell me where to attach it according to the diagram? I want to build it into the body and mix in the sound of reverb.

[@ronnyjaydirects]

Great video!!! I've been wanting to build my own plate for a long time. Regarding the steel plate itself... Do you have any thoughts on other sizes or ratios? Always rectangular or maybe square? (As I recall, the EMT plates were 4' x 8' - which I couldn't handle in my set-up). And might grommets on the holes for the springs help to isolate the plate from the frame? And.... would a thinner plate have more of a shimmer/sparkle? Thanks!

[@searchiemusic]

honestly what I did was go to each of the local hardware stores and tap on the plates to see which I liked the sound of most, that by far made the most difference versus the second and third plate reverbs I've made, I've been trying this a while its been a passion project haha, do it though, if you have a closet and some hangers you can make a plate reverb, mine's just where I used to hang my pants lmfao

[@martinvitaldurand6282]

NIce video thanks. So in the final resultat (which sounds best) you use a speaker and a cork to transmit the vibration onto the plate ?

[@greensquare6360]

Cool

[@searchiemusic]

im surprised how similar this sounds to mine, minus the low frequency response haha, I used a cell phone vibrator on a 4x4ft steel plate, I never recorded samples of the stereo since i intended to rebuild it with a bit higher quality, i guess its that piezo sound? i've wanted to experiment with using cheap dynamic mics and forcibly gluing their diaphragms

[@percaros]

sticking the module of a dynamic mic won't work properly since it won't pick up the vibrations of the plate as well as a piezo does

[@searchiemusic]

@@percaros since making that comment I've actually rebuilt mine with a 6' x 3' plate, that honestly I went around to the local hardware stores and tapped on each large metal plate they had to see which sounded best, then used a 4" speaker glued to a block of wood then directly to the plate as the input transducer, I found some large piezos hoping it'd help with the low end, but I think these things just need an ultra high impedance input to function properly, I don't have a driver circuit made up for them but its something I've been thinking of doing time and time again, I agree though, a coil/magnet would pick up much more mids, but frankly that's kinda where my plate is lacking at the moment, more just an experiment or something i could switch between with a footswitch

[@ratchetboo]

Where did u get the frame bud?

[@searchiemusic]

@@ratchetboothe one in my closet is just hung freely, i am currently working on a newer one though that's just generic 2x4's with wood screws, not too difficult, was my first time working with wood and it looks terrible but if it sounds good it sounds good

[@ratchetboo]

@@searchiemusic oh sweet. I wonder if the wood is rigid enough to provide resonance on the plate? How thick is the plate you're rocking my lad?

[@ratchetboo]

Great work bud boo

[@bMarlonHutze]

Gute Erklärung, danke hat mir sehr geholfen 👍☺️

[@ratchetboo]

Where's that aluminum frame from brotha?

[@Koryteq]

Helpful video! What's the song from 3:48?

[@xLImanx]

What is the thickness of your steel plate? Thank you so much

[@copelandguitar]

.05mm it's in the video

[@xLImanx]

@@copelandguitar thank you so much

[@fendoap5655]

Great!

[@nikolaineuwald5779]

Thx buddy ur the best 🥑