EMT 140

Category:  Products / fx & processors / reverb

Added: 23-Mar-05  |  Author: admin

New price: discontinued  |   S/H price: Not listed

Company Link:  No company link

EMT 140

Invented in 1957 by EMT of Germany, the plate reverb consist of a thin metal plate suspended in a 4'x8' sound proofed enclosure. A transducer similar to the voice-coil of a cone loudspeaker is mounted on the plate to cause it to vibrate. Multiple reflections from the edges of the plate are picked up by two (for stereo) microphone-like transducers. Reverb time is varied by a damping pad which can be pressed against the plate thus absorbing its energy more quickly.

some more stuff from a webpage: (http://studioelectronics.biz/recentprojects/recent-classicemt.html)

In 1957, EMT introduced the 140 Reverberation Unit. The 140 consisted of a large piece of sheet metal, suspended from a heavy steel frame. An electrical transducer (similar to a miniature speaker) transmitted sound energy to the plate, which along with its drive and pickup amplifiers, was built into a heavy wooden enclosure. The 140 was about 4 feet tall and 8 feet long, and weighed about 600 pounds. A damping plate, controlled by a servo motor, allowed adjustment of the reverb time. Though it was much smaller than an echo chamber it was still sensitive to ambient noise, and had to be kept in an isolated space. Still, the “plate” was a great advance. Instead of building 8 echo chambers, a large facility could put 8 140’s in a small iso room. And it was the first cost effective answer for smaller studios, where actual chambers weren’t feasable. EMT 140’s didn’t sound exactly like a real room but they sounded very good, and remained the most popular studio reverb for many years. The early ones used tube electronics, but in the 70’s EMT began shipping them with transistor circuitry. EMT released a primitive digital reverb in 1972, the rack mount 144, but its capabilities were limited, and few survive



Reverb is created by playing the sound (as electrical voltage energy) thru a steel plate or gold foilplate and then picking up the resulting electrical audio signal after passing thru the plate to get reverb - Plates have a characteristic low ish full decay, if you drive 'em too hard they oscillate adn you get that sort of ringing decay..

If you think plates are that out of fashion mind, try searching on the www for 'plate reverb' and see just how many big studio's still use 'em!.. they have a sound... The actual plate can be tensioned up/down with the lever on the unit etc...

oh well, a classic... after the added comment i changed the details, i've used these or rather used them in studio's i've worked in but it was always stashed away in another room out of sight... I tried to find some more info today for about an hour, very little about the company, but found some stuff like a service tips page in pdf format.

EMT 'Care & Repair' PDF


Here's the original manual cover for the 140:




A pic of EMT plates in the factory in Germany:




Some good info here, inc' schematic's, moving info & lots of piccies of the monster!

EMT plate page

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Looking for the manual? - Check this page above under the heading: 'Product manual or files' - We might have it!

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