an analog spring in your step
Spring reverb was invented back in the 1930s to try and get close to the ambience of a church with a Hammond organ at home. But then the unique sound, the harmonic richness and the depth created by that process has become an integral part of most vintage amps, and even musical genres like surf music or garage rock.
Despite the evolution of very powerful processors with the sole purpose of getting close to that gorgeous spring sound, nothing really gets close to the analog and the mechanical, which accounts for the Anasounds Element continued success since 2019. La Grotte is based on the same technology, but the three-spring tank the size of a Le Bon unit is built in the main pedal for a smoother integration to a pedalboard. Also, the circuit of La Grotte is quite different to allow for a wider sonic range as well as a cleaner sound that is still extremely deep.
Even though it is a signature pedal for the modern garage rock master Jack White, La Grotte will also be the perfect asset for musical genres such as soul, post-rock, reggae, blues and even pop that will greatly benefit from the added soul of an analog spring.
the power of the built-in preamp
A big part of the appeal of iconic spring reverbs like the Fender Reverb Unit or the Roland Space Echo also come from their built-in preamp. A good reverb, or even a great spring reverb, never sounds as rich and full than when it is being pushed by a preamp before the gain stage of the amp.
Anasounds has designed a few quality preamps already, but La Grotte was a brand new challenge: to create a circuit with a nice headroom but still can get a little dirtier and closer to White’s typical sound. He mostly plays high-wattage amps, and therefore his crunch mostly comes from his right-hand pummeling. La Grotte has that range, and it also has a healthy dose of volume to get the input of your amp cooking.
The deadline for the design of La Grotte was a tricky issue, which is why the Anasounds team called upon an engineer who knows pedals as well as anybody, Rodolphe from Tampco. He used his own Tone Oven as the basis of the design that he came up with in collaboration with Alexandre Ernandez (founder of Anasounds). Then the resulting preamp was fine-tuned in the studio by White and his team to get the exact sound they were looking for. But you don’t have to agree with Jack’s sweet spot, the gain can be controlled with an internal trimpot.
the universal spring
Jack White is a true Renaissance man, therefore La Grotte had to be versatile enough that he could use it in many situations. Also, it had to get you towards the sound YOU want, and not just a Third Man sound.
Contrary to most vintage spring reverbs, La Grotte is not only for guitar players. It input and output impedance has been designed to work with a synth, an active bass, even brass and many other instruments.
Spring reverb is also a highly coveted studio effect, and it works wonders on a snare or a voice track. A pad allows you to adjust the input level from 0dB to -10dB in order to use La Grotte as a studio outboard unit, and the preamp has a massive volume boost to help your tracks come alive. That is also where having two independent volume settings for the dry and wet sounds really comes in handy, since a lot of mixing effects are done with a full wet balance to keep the reverb on its own separate track. Factor in a very musical two-band EQ, and you get a pedal that goes way beyond classic vintage guitar sounds.