I agree with Florian - a dedicated digital effects unit is very useful, and better quality can be had in an external unit. I have the a-199 Spring Reverb and have modded it with two front panel phono sockets so that I can easily change reverb tanks.

I have mounted the stock tank inside my case for portability, but also have a larger external Accutronics tank which I can patch in and this allows me to play the springs like an acoustic instrument as well as generating a different quality of reverb.

Zoë made a vital point about feedback - this is exactly where digital systems show their differences with analogue systems and having proper control over the boundary conditions is a huge strength of analogue. The beauty of a spring reverb is that as well as patchable feedback you also get good old-fashioned acoustic feedback too!

If you are looking for an external reverb tank make sure to check the input and output impedance of the tank - there's a thread about that somewhere.

Best of luck

Sean

--- In Doepfer_a100@yahoogroups.com , Zoë Blade <zoe@...> wrote:
>
> Hi everyone!
>
> So I don't own either of the modules discussed (although I'm hoping to get an A-199 next week), but as an owner of an A-188-1B, I'd like to chip in with a suggestion: if in doubt about which module to get, make sure you at least have one module with some kind of feedback. It really opens up a lot of possibilities, and allows you to make the kinds of sounds that are very difficult to achieve in software. Being able to put, say, a filter in the middle of a delay or reverb unit's feedback loop really gives you a lot more flexibility than with a hardwired unit. I think it really gets into the heart of what a modular system's all about.
>
> All the best,
> Zoë.
>