I bought a few that were cheaper on a group buy on BYOC/MB. Other then that they are generally as expensive everywhere. Probably even more in Europe because everything is more expensive over here. Probably even the stuff that gets made over here is more expensive then elsewhere.
Where are you located? I've bought them from antique electronic supply at tubesandmore.com for around $14 or $15 here in the US. They have a lot of other good stuff too, and have decent sales sometimes.
Yeah the BTDR3 has adjustable decay but there don't seem to be many designs out there for it, I built the 1776 effects rub a dub deluxe. That was all I could find.
I have also built the Rub a Dub Deluxe and seems to work OK. One thing I noticed is that the reverb's decay has a somewhat "warbly" (or odd modulated) sound that I don't care for. Is that modulation controllable? Is it present in the older bricks? I keep thinking that the only way to get a true reverb sound is to get a reverb tank and build a driver for it (like the Stage Center Reverb).
Then, there is the Catalinbread Topanga... (it sounds great! how do they do it??).
Yeah, all of the bricks have that modulated sound. I really wish there was some control over the modulation because I usually want to turn it off
I would never recommend the brick as a substitution for a spring reverb sound, but it's great as a modulated digital reverb. I think it has a beautiful and unique sound, but certainly not like a good spring verb
I did a quick online search and couldn't find any specific info on how the modulation works in the BTDR-3H or if it could be reduced/eliminated. However, in the entry here on the Equinox II reverb there is this:
Equinox II: Reverb with Tails
This project came about because I wanted to roll my own reverb. A common way to do this is to use a tapped delay line, but no such chips exist any more. No matter; the result is the same as using multiple delay lines in series and/or parallel. Several DIY reverb effects use the excellent accutronics Belton Digi-Log reverb module, and the associated patent, US8204240, shows that it uses three PT2399 delay chips, one of which is modulated at a slow rate to give a more realistic spring reverb sound.
I may just try to build a reverb with a real tank, like the stage center reverb (or the surfy bear reverb, although that one would be more of a challenge).