Surfy Industries “surfypan” reverb pan

[øøøøøøø]

Ordered one of these yesterday

Supposed to be “closer” to the sound of an old Gibbs/Hammond. We’ll see.

I paid full price, no endorsement, so I’ll report back.

I have a ‘64 6G15 that had its failed original tank replaced with a recent Accutronics years ago. I’ve never been entirely happy with it; it’s fine, but not exactly right.

We’ll see if this gets me closer. I’m happy someone has at least recognized that the new tanks sound different and has attempted to offer something closer to original spec.

I’m a bit discouraged that they seem to have gone for “middle ground” as opposed to 1:1 Gibbs/Hammond accurate, but I’m open-minded

[fever606]

I'll be watching this space with interest... I've never been completely satisfied with the (apparently original, positively tiny) Belton tank in my 90s Matamp Reverb Unit. Something more akin to the Accutronics they used in the Series 2000 Reverbs would definitely be preferable.

[øøøøøøø]

On that point, it’s far from guaranteed that a Fender-spec reverb pan would work in your Matamp unit.

Input and output impedances vary considerably across reverb pans, rather frustratingly

[Igorilla]

I have a surfypan and an old Gibbs/Hammond pan in good working order, among other.
Surfypan is definitely a big improvement over the other current production reverb pans, if you don't want cavernous reverb.

It is not 100% replacement for old Gibbs/Hammond pans but it is really good.
My favorite pans are two older accutronics pans (one from 90s and one from late 60s early 70s).
Some other older accutronics reverb pans that I tried are meh. They are all different.

[øøøøøøø]

I wonder whether anyone has ever experimented with replacing the I/O transducers of an old Gibbs pan to get the right I/O impedance from a different model.

They’re not hard to find, but kinda hard to find in the correct impedance spec

[DeathJag]

I have a ‘64 6G15 that had its failed original tank

I also have a ‘64 tank, and the Gibbs pan died and I replaced it with the Surfy Pan… and it’s great! More drippy, with a pretty short decay. I like it a lot. I have considered adding some foam for less decay (and more drip), but haven’t gotten around to that. I think you’ll be happy.

[Salfaromeab]

I have one of these Surfybear pans, I put it into my older Surfybear. It has noticeably less tail and a quicker decay than the Accutronic pans, and a lot less than the MOD pans, it's much less spacey sounding and a lot more authentic to those 60's surf sounds. Very drippy, sounds great, a worthwhile upgrade imo, if that's the sound you're after.

[Surfysonic]

I installed the SurfyPan into the Fender "Custom" Vibrolux Reverb back in September 2021. Happily, it was compatible and works great. What a huge difference with the shorter decay/reduced reverb tail. I feel like I'm playing a brownface Vibroverb or Super, only with a spiffy onboard reverb tank instead of an outboard reverb unit.

I had a look at my Fender FSR '65 Reissue Princeton Reverb and removed the (I guess) stock Ruby 4-spring reverb tank and installed the US-made Accutronics tank that was in my Vibrolux. It was compatible and sounds/works great in the Princeton Reverb. It just seems better suited with the smaller cabinet. The decay didn't seem so extended. If you have a Fender '65 Reissue Princeton Reverb, I assume the SurfyPan will work with it.

I have two SurfyBear Classic Reverb Units - a blonde tolex one (stock pan) and I recently bought a brown tolex one with the previous owner having upgraded it with a SurfyPan. I use the blonde SurfyBear Classic with my '64 Princeton and I use the brown SurfyBear Classic with my Fender '62 Chris Stapleton Edition Princeton. Both sound great. I'll try to do a comparison video at some point.

[øøøøøøø]

Nice to hear that I'm not the first, and that people have been mostly-pleased.

Someone said above that reverb pans are all different (even from like manufacturers), and that's certainly true.

I played a DRRI in Minneapolis earlier this week that had the longest decay I've ever heard. It was borderline unusable--just an eternal wash of long reverb at 1.75 on the dial. I've gone through long stretches of my career where I pretty much played through random DRRIs for a living (I've played through at least a thousand at this point, probably way more), and this one was anomalous... way on one end of the spectrum.

Tonight in Memphis I'm playing an older Deluxe Reverb (looks like a '66 or '67) with a reverb pan of unknown origin, and it's much more manageable... I can actually dial it in until it's somewhat prominent without washing everything out. It might have its original Gibbs-Hammond (but it'd probably be frowned-upon to go dismantling the amp to verify)

If the SurfyPan is "pretty good" and isn't overly splashy or long, I'll probably be satisfied.

[hexes]

I bought a handful. The decay in the surfy pan is still a bit much to me. it just seems like there’s tighter tolerances from pan to pan, but it’s still a current accutronics pan. used in the exact same circuit, there isn’t any magical difference.

i love surfy industries and i am grateful they have made these available. i do consider it a slight improvement, however. worth the purchase.

my 1998 fender 6g15 reissue tank still wins, despite most people hating on those too.

[øøøøøøø]

Installed the new pan yesterday. Sounds good.

I like it much more than the 2010 "made in S. Korea" pan that was installed when the original Gibbs-Hammond pan failed.

Does it sound exactly like my memory of the old pan? Who knows. Do any two old Gibbs/Hammond pans sound alike after years of having the springs bounced around in cars and vans? Also unknown, but seems unlikely.

I'll leave it in and call it "good." Before, I was pretty aware that the newer pan sounded different from my memory of the old one, and always had in the back of my mind to keep an eye out for an old Gibbs-Hammond. This one seems much more in the ballpark, but my memory of the old one is a decade old at this point.

This one is good enough to make me call off any kind of intensive search for an original part and focus on more important things.

[ziess]

How are you using your 6G15? I’ve got a really early one (Apr 1961 I think) that I’ve always struggled to love, even when paired with the proper amps and guitars. Always seems like more hassle than it’s worth to me, particular given it needs isolated from the amp to avoid ground loops since all have grounded plugs.

Tommy.

[øøøøøøø]

I use it lots of different ways.

I don't struggle with ground loop hum, but I'm pretty careful about how I power my stuff (when using it for guitar I always plug the amp and the 6G15 into a single power drop going to the same place).

Less so these days, but when I had it in my NYC studio I'd often use it in conjunction with a Radial EXT-C patched to a send as a reverb effect in mix contexts... it's "what spring reverb should sound like" to me, probably just because it was the first really good spring reverb I knew.

I especially like it doing a pretty subtle thing on a clean archtop sound... dwell pretty far down, reverb tone really dark, mix pretty low as well (just a sniff of reverb)

It also works really, really well with Danelectro UB-2 baritone ("six string bass") and also just any time I want Fender-style spring reverb, really.

One thing it doesn't really love, in my experience, is to be used with amps that are overdriving on their own. I'm not normally putting reverb on overdriven sounds anyway, but "distorting the reverb" is very different from adding reverb to a distorted sound, and can tend to take up a lot of space, sonically (usually too much, for me)

[MayTheFuzzBeWithYou]

Bought one somewhen last year... I think it was the first re-stock after the first bunch were sold out.
I use it in my Batman-themed „Dynamic Duo“ Double Surfy Industries DIY power in a self-bent aluminum enclosure - pedal.

I had their MOD tank before and do like the Surfy-Pan better - it‘s snappier/shorter - which indicates „surfier“ for me.

[ziess]

I use it lots of different ways.

I don't struggle with ground loop hum, but I'm pretty careful about how I power my stuff (when using it for guitar I always plug the amp and the 6G15 into a single power drop going to the same place).

Less so these days, but when I had it in my NYC studio I'd often use it in conjunction with a Radial EXT-C patched to a send as a reverb effect in mix contexts... it's "what spring reverb should sound like" to me, probably just because it was the first really good spring reverb I knew.

I especially like it doing a pretty subtle thing on a clean archtop sound... dwell pretty far down, reverb tone really dark, mix pretty low as well (just a sniff of reverb)

It also works really, really well with Danelectro UB-2 baritone ("six string bass") and also just any time I want Fender-style spring reverb, really.

One thing it doesn't really love, in my experience, is to be used with amps that are overdriving on their own. I'm not normally putting reverb on overdriven sounds anyway, but "distorting the reverb" is very different from adding reverb to a distorted sound, and can tend to take up a lot of space, sonically (usually too much, for me)

Funnily I always preferred it with a distorting tweed Deluxe! I might pull it out of storage and try it with some other amps.

Tommy.