Talkin' Reverrrrrb...

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Surfysonic
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Talkin' Reverrrrrb...

Post by Surfysonic » Sun Oct 17, 2021 8:58 am

I thought it might be fun to have a thread all about Reverb pedals. If you want to include outboard reverb units and inboard amp reverb tanks, that's cool, too.

In my reverb journey, I've come to experience and appreciate a variety of reverb effects, in/onboard reverb tanks vs outboard reverb units. Consequently, I've acquired a decent variety of reverb tones/options. So here are my reverb units and pedals. As always, YMMV as to what works for you. Oh, and apologies for some of my dustier pedals - I'll break out the Swiffer soon.

Be warned, I'm going to go on for a while focused on the spring reverb sound, that has that classic, drippy surf sound. I'll also talk about my other Reverb effect pedals.

'64 Fender Reverb Unit - I wanted a vintage reverb unit after having owned the '63 Reissue version, which I had replaced with Tavo Vega's Nocturne '63 F-Bomb Reverb Unit. Once I got the '64 Fender Reverb Unit, I traded Tavo the F-Bomb in exchange for some of his spiffy pedals. I know Tavo through Gretsch guitar events.

I bought this museum-quality '64 Fender Reverb Unit from Carter Vintage Guitars online, where it was incorrectly identified as a '62. At that time, I fully admit I was smitten by the $1200 price tag (very inexpensive price for vintage Fender Reverb Units) and the fact that it was vintage and in mint condition. At the time, I wasn't fully versed in how to identify vintage correct details such as vintage tube chart date code stamps and when Fender switched from the flat logo to the raised logo. I was gently schooled on what I actually had was a '64. It's all good - it sounds great as hoped for with its 6G15 Tubes - total drippy surf machine.

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Then came the realization that no way would I take this museum-quality piece of Fender history out of the home to gig unless in really safe conditions. Kicking myself that I should have held onto the Nocturne '63 F-Bomb for that purpose, I opted for a SurfyBear Classic Reverb Unit. Basically, as great in quality and tone as the vintage Fender Reverb Units, just flatter - not a bad thing for transporting.

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It comes in blonde, brown, and black tolex. While it does not have true bypass, there is a workaround. I bought a Drip Switch by Alameda Guitars that you connect to the Surfy Bear or most outboard reverb units from Mel Waldorf of Alameda Guitars at the Surf Guitar 101 convention back in 2018. SurfyBear now has the SurfyDrip Switch, which is designed by Alameda Guitars - basically, it's an in-house version of the Drip Switch.

The SurfyBear Reverb Unit is an outstanding and affordable option if this is the reverb sound/tone you're looking for. It's way more affordable than the Fender '63 Reissue Reverb Units, which are currently not in production. Besides, to my ears/memory, it sounds way better than the Fender '63 Reissue Reverb Units. Trading the Nocturne '63 F-Bomb back to Tavo proved worthwhile after all.

SurfyBear also has a two other versions, the SurfyBear Metal and SurfyBear Compact, both with True Bypass functionality and both housing actual reverb tanks. Different sized tanks for each, though. The larger SurfyBear Metal can also be used on pedalboards but I felt it too big for my board and needs.

I bought the pedalboard friendly Compact, which is basically the size of 3 or 4 standard effects pedals or two large pedals such as the Nocturne El Pescadoro. The Compact has dual mixer controls, vol, tone, decay, and dwell.

I have other reverb pedals and some of those have an approximation of the early sixties "surf" drippy reverb. The SurfyBear Compact, however, nails the surfy drip tone best of all of them to my ears because it actually has a reverb tank. So, now I don't even need to bring out the SurfyBear Classic Reverb Unit at this point as the Compact is on my pedalboard. Super convenient.

The SurfyBear Compact comes in Fiesta Red, Surf Green, and Black. I have the Surf Green one.

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My next surfiest spring reverb pedal is without a doubt the classic Boss '63 Fender Reverb FRV-1 pedal. These can be found used on Reverb and eBay from $223 to $399 (prices subject to fluctuate). It's the closest effects pedal to approximate the Fender Reverb Unit to my ears.

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My next pedal is a reverb pedal with a lot of reverb tones/options that includes a solid spring effect - Electro-Harmonix's Oceans 11. I wouldn't say the spring effect is spot on with the Fender Reverb Unit but it does drip very well and it does the job in a band mix. Having lots of other reverb effect options, this is a keeper pedal.

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On my smaller board, I have a few Fender pedals and two of them are reverb effects pedals. The one that can do the early sixties spring reverb effect (among a lot of reverb effects plus tremolo) is my Fender Tre-Verb. If I had no other reverb pedals to do surf and other effects, I'd be happy to just have this one. I continue to be quite impressed with this one. Sorry about my big ol' foot in the photo.

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My other Fender reverb pedal is the Fender Marine Layer Reverb. It has a lot of options, but disappointingly, it doesn't have a spring option. Otherwise, it does a lot of other reverb effects well - great for shoegazing and stuff. Sorry again about my big ol' foot in the photo.

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A pedal out of left field for me is Mr. Black's Deluxe Plus Reverb & Tremolo. The reverb is darker - to me, it's really cool and interesting! I tend to use it quite alot for surf, alternative, '70s & '80s punk/new wave music like Blondie and Echo & The Bunnymen songs. There's a killer instrumental band from Denmark - Tremolo Beer Gut that plays really cool, dark, instrumental surf/spy/'60s movie soundtrack tones. The Deluxe Plus pedal gets me to get that Tremolo Beer Gut vibe. If you are a fan of a variety of reverb, this darker reverb (plus fantastic tremolo), I can't recommend this pedal enough. It may not be drippy surf, but it does cool reverb nonetheless.

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Slight derail - check out Tremolo Beer Gut's music. I was fortunate to see them live in 2018 at the Surf Guitar 101 convention in LA. Killer band live, too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u01sUpcPcvk

Since Mr. Black's Deluxe Plus Reverb & Tremolo broadened my reverb tonal horizons, I was greatly fortunate to have worked that trade deal with Tavo Vega. Amongst the pedals in the trade, I acquired the Nocturne El Pescaordo Reverb & Preamp pedal. Like Mr. Black's Deluxe Plus Reverb & Tremolo pedal, the Nocturne El Pescadoro Reverb & Preamp pedal has a darker, yet different reverb - a late '40s and throughout the '50s reverb. It's gloriously different from my other pedals.

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Another pedal that I don't currently use but still own is the Boss Digital Reverb RV-5. Not a bad pedal at all, but I have other pedals that cover the same territory (and better). I ended up putting it on my bass pedalboard for funsies. (far left)

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A quick, honorable mention to a pedal that has a spring reverb effect option - the Strymon Flint. Based on reviews and recommendations by others, I bought one. Strymon has a solid reputation and unsurprisingly, these pedals ain't cheap. The pros - lots of reverb effect options and it's a quality product. However, the spring reverb on it was underwhelming to me when compared to my other, less expensive pedals that also have a wide range of reverb effects such as the E-H Oceans 11. Maybe it does those other effects better and I should have given the Strymon Flint more of a chance in the long run. Since I use spring reverb most, though, I found myself not using this pedal much at all and have since sold it. If I didn't have these other pedals, sure, I'd have hung onto the Strymon Flint. Maybe one day I'll acquire another if my needs change.

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As to onboard reverb - I have the following amps with great onboard reverb:

Fender Vibro-King - this 3x10 amp basically has an outboard Fender Reverb Unit onboard!! Killer.

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Fender "Custom" Vibrolux Reverb with Fromel Mods to fix all the production-release issues - fantastic amp now! I swapped out the stock US-made Accutronics Reverb tank and put in a new SurfyBear SurfyPan tank for shorter decay. I replaced the stock Ruby reverb tank in my Princeton Reverb with the US-made Accutronics Reverb tank from the Vibrolux.

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Fender FSR '65 Reissue Princeton Reverb

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Fender Tone Master Twin Reverb

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Vox AC15C1-TV and Fender Pawn Shop Vaporizer - replaced the Vaporizer's weak small stock reverb tank with a large/full-size MOD reverb tank, much improved. The Vox AC15C1-TV's stock reverb is OK...may upgrade down the road. The Pawn Shop Excelsior Pro shown doesn't have onboard reverb...but sounds killer with the Surfy Bear Classic or one of my reverb pedals.

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What are your current favorite reverb effect pedals/outboard units/onboard tanks in amp?
The doofus formerly known as Snorre...

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Re: Talkin' Reverrrrrb...

Post by sessylU » Sun Oct 17, 2021 9:35 am

Nothing to contribute, but I've always been very grateful that I have a bit of a cloth ear when it comes to reverb. Like, I can hear the differences, but they still sound broadly the same to me in terms of what they do to my sound.
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Re: Talkin' Reverrrrrb...

Post by marqueemoon » Sun Oct 17, 2021 10:37 am

Great summary of the drippy options. I like reverb with a little less clank and chirp.

I’m a big fan of the Swart spring sound. It has an almost plate-like character. The verb on my STR Tremolo gets a little swampier than my AST does.

For pedals my current favorite is the Catalinbread Talisman. I like the adjustable high pass and predelay, and there’s lots of extra clean gain on tap for pushing the amp.

On the board I typically run with the Swart AST I use a Boss RV-6 on top of the spring for swells and fake pedal steel effects. The spring and plate sounds are meh, but the modulated verb is great as is reverb/delay. I even use the shimmer sometimes. The key there is to roll the tone back.

A cheapie I really liked was the HOF Mini. I sold it when I got the Talisman. Highly recommended if you have a simple setup or need a auxiliary reverb sound for atmospheric stuff.

Curious about the UA Golden, but am in no hurry. The only time I go stereo with reverb is when recording and I can do that in the box.

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Re: Talkin' Reverrrrrb...

Post by fuzzjunkie » Sun Oct 17, 2021 1:12 pm

I like spring reverb, at least the Fender variety. I had an old Princeton for a while, so that is my standard there, but I don’t play surf and none of my current amps have onboard reverb.

The only true spring reverb I have is in a Roland Space Echo. It’s thinner and more metallic sounding than a Fender to me. I stick to the tape echo and don’t use it very often.

I have a Strymon el Capistan - it has a spring reverb for its Space Echo emulation. It is not a great spring reverb if you want a Fender reverb sound, but it’s close enough to a Space Echo. I don’t use it much, just the tape echo settings.

My only other reverb pedal is an Eventide Space. It has a decent spring reverb. Better than the Strymon at least. This is the one that I use if I want a spring reverb sound, but I mostly use it for other things.

My main reverb units before I got the Eventide have been rackmounts. A Roland DEP-5, a Roland GP-16, and a Yamaha SPX-900. I never used them for surf sounds.

The only one that has a spring reverb setting is the GP-16. It has a 2-spring and a 3-spring setting. The 2-spring sounds a bit like the Space Echo, and the 3-spring is wetter but also more clanking. Not a Fender. The Eventide’s is more realistic. I think none of the pedals having something akin to a Dwell control might have something to do with it? Pre-delay just isn’t the same.

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Re: Talkin' Reverrrrrb...

Post by Gavanti » Sun Oct 17, 2021 2:16 pm

I’ve been using a Caroline Meteore for several years as an almost always on light spring reverb. I tried a bunch of other Belton brick pedals but have always preferred the Meteore, and It’s basically just part of my core sound now. I also have an Afterneath between my fuzzes and other dirt, which I use for non-springy spacey/washy sounds. The Meteore does those pretty well too, if really differently, but I prefer not having to adjust it between songs.

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Re: Talkin' Reverrrrrb...

Post by MechaBulletBill » Sun Oct 17, 2021 3:28 pm

the frv1 is truly remarkable in how it responds like a real spring. even in youtube demos, nothing came close and nothing i've tried it against has come close for that sound. obviously not all-singing-all-dancing but... there are other pedals for that!

excellent collection of amps also!

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Re: Talkin' Reverrrrrb...

Post by Braunzo » Sun Oct 17, 2021 3:46 pm

How is the Surfy Metal vs the Classic?

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Re: Talkin' Reverrrrrb...

Post by Singlebladepickup » Sun Oct 17, 2021 5:38 pm

I love the Surfy Bear. Meris is also great. Have wanted to try the Talisman.

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Re: Talkin' Reverrrrrb...

Post by CorporateDisguise » Tue Oct 19, 2021 3:49 am

I’ve been through a few reverbs over the years. A few of my favorites are the H9, Ventris, CooperFX Arcades and on whole different note, the Carl Martin Headroom.

The H9s strong point is definitely more in the ambient realm. Big pillowy reverbs that feel like your riding a boat through a foggy harbor. It’s spring is ok, and at the time was definitely as good as anything else on the market. For me this pedal more or less lives on the blackhole algo.

The Ventris is sorta the opposite of the Eventide. It does a really good job emulating natural and mechanical reverbs. The spring is top notch and gets alot of things right, as does the outboard spring. It definitely drips and get that great bouncy sound in the decay. On the ambient side, it doesn’t quite have the depth of the Eventide, and they also feel significantly different. Probably due to the Ventris having analog dry through.

The Arcades is all about that lofi magic and delivers in spades. It is unashamedly digital, and won’t apologize for it.

The Headroom is an actual spring reverb in a pedal. And it does what it’s supposed to. It lives more in the blackface amp reverb rather than an outboard unit. The tone controls are very useful as is having two independent setting to switch through. I mounted it under my board for years, but now I’m trying to slim down my board, and it is just to big and heavy.

On my board I currently run the Ventris and the H9. The Ventris is covering the majority of my needs, but sometimes you just need that Blackhole. I made a decent emulation of Blackhole on the Ventris, but it is far more limited than the h9. Luckily the H9 has other jobs it can do, so it doesn’t sit unused. The Arcades also gets swapped on and off pretty often as well.

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Re: Talkin' Reverrrrrb...

Post by Jaguar018 » Tue Oct 19, 2021 5:54 am

Back in my university days I never used reverb or most other effects besides a Turbo Rat pedal. But with the help of the internet and disposable income I managed to completely immerse myself into the world of effects. :fp:

I had a Fender black tolex outboard unit for a while and while I liked it, the reverb always seemed to be a bit 'harsh' for my tastes. I know those units come with these things called 'knobs' that allow one to adjust tone and whatnot, but I could never quite dial it in.

I currently have a silverface Princeton and even after a tube swap it starts to make weird noises when the reverb is set to ten (like reverb feedback :'( )

Also have a Deluxe Reverb clone thing. Great reverb, but it's a little too 'smooth'

The only flavor of reverb that I really enjoy is full-bore set-to-10 surf drip, so I'm appreciating reading all this.

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Re: Talkin' Reverrrrrb...

Post by JSett » Tue Oct 19, 2021 6:20 am

sessylU wrote:
Sun Oct 17, 2021 9:35 am
Nothing to contribute, but I've always been very grateful that I have a bit of a cloth ear when it comes to reverb. Like, I can hear the differences, but they still sound broadly the same to me in terms of what they do to my sound.
I'm the same. Thankful I'm content with something that approximates what I'm after. I have the Flint, mainly for the bias trem setting, and I enjoy the spring on that absolutely fine
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Re: Talkin' Reverrrrrb...

Post by PorkyPrimeCut » Tue Oct 19, 2021 7:14 am

My journey into reverb has taken a few twists & turns over the years.

I think the 2nd or 3rd pedal I ever bought was an Electro Harmonix Holy Grail...

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I had it for quite some time & only decided to change it when I felt I needed more dialable options.

So I sold it & bought a Tech 21 Boost R.V.B...

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A pretty good pedal, and with the extra options I'd wanted, but it was around this time I started reading about "drip".

So, I sold it & bought my first spring reverb pedal, the pig ugly Danelectro Spring King...

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Within days I'd spray-painted it black & then happened upon a simple mod that could turn it into a Reverb/Delay pedal.
So, along came a colour change, a bit of soldering & a new decal. Hey presto!! The UmaVerb...

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(named after the guy who posted the mod, username Uma Foresta, who goes by Dead Ranch Hands on OSG)

The bottom 2 knobs were added for Feedback & Delay. Considering what a basic mod it was, the results were fantastic!!
I could kick it, like an old stand-alone tank, but also make it feedback & self-oscillate with very organic repeats.

But....the spring thing got a hold of me. I'd grown in confidence with my pedal building & decided to go all-in.

After enlisting the help of another forumite, daydreamdelay, I amassed all the electronics & got them sent to his address in America. It was way cheaper than ordering everything in Europe, even with the eventual hefty postage over to London.

I bought enough MDF, a router, tolex and a spring tank, worked out the dimensions I wanted & made this...

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You can follow the whole build thread here.

I've never wanted another reverb pedal since. I can do all the modulated stuff with my EHX + Hazarai (if I even want to anymore).
The tank was possibly my proudest moment. So much fun to build, slightly scary but very, very rewarding!!

AN HONORARY MENTION...

I bought a Danelectro Reel Echo at some point, probably after the Spring King, but never really gave it chance.
It was a great pedal, and I was actually sold on a great demo but it just wasn't to be.
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Re: Talkin' Reverrrrrb...

Post by Dr Tony Balls » Tue Oct 19, 2021 7:48 am

FWIW if one wanted a standalone tube reverb unit but didnt want to bring a pricey vintage unit out for shows, Weber makes kits for a clone of the Fender reverb, as well two other kits which pair the reverb with tremolo (one bias modulating, one harmonic). They're not TOO much and are relatively straightforward builds.

https://www.tedweber.com/5g15-c-kt/
https://www.tedweber.com/5h15t-c-kt/
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Re: Talkin' Reverrrrrb...

Post by fever606 » Tue Oct 19, 2021 7:55 am

My favourite reverb pedals for guitar are the Dr. Scientist (Radical Red) Reverberator and the Boss RV-3.

I think the RRR is a Belton brick and every mode on it is great. Having a switch for the decay time is somehow freeing (SHORT or LONG, that’s it!) because those are seemingly the only ways I use reverb… short decay to dissipate and make room for new note, and long decay for the washy washy.

The RV-3 has just enough of the artificiality of those 90s rack reverbs to be the nostalgia kick. The Hall setting is my go-to… It’s also great on synths.

As far as springs, I’ve had the best luck with the RE-201 in my setup…

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Re: Talkin' Reverrrrrb...

Post by PorkyPrimeCut » Tue Oct 19, 2021 10:54 am

Dr Tony Balls wrote:
Tue Oct 19, 2021 7:48 am
...if one wanted a standalone tube reverb unit but didnt want to bring a pricey vintage unit out for shows, Weber makes kits for a clone of the Fender reverb...
As do Triode Electronics, that's where I bought my kit.
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