Used by countless musicians, from Pete Townshend on stage to Lee Perry in his Black Ark Studio, the Grampian Type 636 has garnered a real cult following among collectors of weird and wonderful vintage effects units.
This 1966 Grampian Reverberation Unit Type 636 encompasses a traditional spring reverb with a germanium circuit based preamp. The reverb sound is perfect as an amp top guitar reverb pedal, but it really excels for a classic dub reggae spring sound, with a character and vibe that makes it incredibly unique in a studio setting. The Type 636 features Mic and Auxiliary input channels that are capable of fairly monstrous distortion and fuzz sounds thanks to the germanium preamp circuitry, and paired with the spring reverb can create a colossal guitar tone, as well as the dirty, colourful springy reverb sound that you've heard on countless dub records.
This Grampian Type 636 has been serviced by our amp technician at The Vintage Instrument workshop. It is a battery powered model, and appears mostly original with the exception of the battery clips and the retouching of solder joints around a couple of resistors. There is a fairly high noise floor, which it would seem is typical of these units where the original germanium transistors remain in place. Type 636's can be difficult to date precisely, but the Erie brand capacitors show a date of 1966.
