Gomez El Sonido & Nocturne F-Bomb '63

[Surfysonic]

My Nocturne F-Bomb '63 reverb unit arrived the other day. It sounds fantastic with my Gomez El Sonido (bassman clone). Here's some photos and a meandering video:





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFRMElpIZO0

[Surfysonic]

Updated with fixed image links!

[StevenO]

Beautiful! What kind of reverb tank is in there?

[Singlebladepickup]

So you have the Gomez amp but went with something besides Gomez reverb? Just curious whether there is anything that drew you to Nocturne.

[Surfysonic]

Beautiful! What kind of reverb tank is in there?

Thanks! From Tavo Garcia Vega's Nocturne webpage:

F-Bomb '63 tube spring reverb tank, based on the historic standard but with a refined grounding circuit and highly improved preamp. I spec Mod spring pans in my builds with reissue Tungsol & NOS 6K6 tubes.

More on the Mod pan from this Gretsch Pages posting by Tavo: http://gretschpages.com/forum/other-equ ... 352/page1/

The "mod" in the MOD pan bears no real mention other than to attenuate decay length a tad, ironically. You have good ears. The original American Accutronics pan had a quicker decay but the present company is no longer what it once was, so the Accutronics is no bueno. The MOD pan is built really well and interestingly has a longer decay. My favorite pan is the Gibbs and if they were back in business, that would be the IT pan.. until then the MOD tank is the right choice is set up well.

So you have the Gomez amp but went with something besides Gomez reverb? Just curious whether there is anything that drew you to Nocturne.

I was interested in three reverb units: Gomez G-Spring, Billy Zoom's Little Kahuna Reverb and Tremolo Unit, and Tavo's Nocturne F-Bomb '63. At the time, I don't believe there were any Gomez G-Springs for sale (and this was after Dario Gomez shut down his shop) and Billy's Little Kahuna was a bit out of my price range, even though the tremolo capability is really cool. I've gotten to know Tavo over the years as we're both into Gretsch guitars and are regulars on The Gretsch Pages and Gretsch-Talk. We've hung out at the 2012 Gretsch Nashville Roundup, an annual gathering of Gretsch fans. Anyhoo, I contacted Tavo about the differences between his reverb unit and the others I was interested in. One of the big selling points for me is that it works well for both solid body and hollow body guitars.

Tavo's passion and knowledge for re-creating vintage amps and tones from his very cool array of pedals convinced me to give the F-Bomb '63 a try - I haven't been disappointed. It's a fantastic reverb unit. I've owned a Fender '63 Reissue Reverb Unit in the past and the F-Bomb '63 (to my ears) gives me superior vintage/modern surf/instrumental tones.

I now have a bit of an obsession for hunting down a vintage '62 or '63 Fender Reverb Unit. If I ever get one, I'll have to do a side-by-side comparison.

[StevenO]

Ah cool. I have a mod reverb tank and I kind of hate it. The decay is stupid long. I might try putting some kind of dampener on the springs to chill them the f out.

[Singlebladepickup]

His instagram videos sound cool, I'd love any of those units. I have a mod tank also and I don't like it that much. It sounds big/deep, but I prefer the shorter decay of my princeton reverb's tank.