Comments on: The History of EMT and Plate Reverb https://www.wikiaudio.org/emt-140-plate-reverb/ Best Audio Recording Gear, Musical Instruments, & Home Studio Guides Mon, 31 Jul 2023 00:51:47 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.2.9 By: Tim https://www.wikiaudio.org/emt-140-plate-reverb/#comment-27453 Mon, 31 Jul 2023 00:51:47 +0000 https://www.wikiaudio.org/?p=3039#comment-27453 The valve EMT 140 St really was rather special, another sounding than the solid state ones.
EMT plates were not only large, they needed to be houses in a quiet room away from the recording area and other sources of noise, the large steel plate acted like a microphone and added any ambient nose into the returning reverb. They also required occasional free tensioning to sound their best.
EMT did produce a smaller version of the 140, the EMT 250 gold foil. It was never as popular as the 140 as it didn’t have the brightness and sparkle of the original, although it was a lot smaller and still sounded very good.

]]> By: Dead-eye the Jedi https://www.wikiaudio.org/emt-140-plate-reverb/#comment-20911 Mon, 20 Jun 2022 23:31:34 +0000 https://www.wikiaudio.org/?p=3039#comment-20911 Damn, but I didn’t like the EMT 140!
I worked for the Who — way back when (1973), building their new studio in Battersea (London). It was a really hot summer day and I had to work around the huge and very heavy 4ft x 8ft box, housing ‘The Beast’ in a *very* narrow little room, dedicated to just this device, and nothing else…

The surrounding sound isolation / insulation was made from fiberglass and I had to install thin plywood sheeting over the top of this… Due to the heat, my back was bare and I was really sweating, so having to lean against the fiberglass meant my back was covered in VERY itchy fibers ……. blooming —> OUCH!!!
The EMT 140 was then used in the recording of the Who’s ‘Quadrophenia’ album; they recorded it as we were still working on the studio; they were a but desperate — and broke, at the time! so urgently needed the cash…

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