Surfy Bear FET Reverb project

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Laservampire
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Joined: Sat Mar 02, 2013 11:34 pm
Location: Melbourne Australia

Surfy Bear FET Reverb project

Post by Laservampire »

So I'm in a surf band, but my reverb is currently only the terrible Boss FRV-1 pedal, as I can't afford the insane prices for Fender reissue outboard units over here ($1000+!)

I found the Surfy Bear FET reverb a few months back and it looks like exactly what I need. It replaces the tube driven circuit with a FET emulated version (plus a real reverb pan), and sounds incredibly close to the real thing at a fraction of the price ($175 to get it up and running!!)

I'm going to mock it all up to begin with in a cheap toolbox, but eventually I'm looking to mount the reverb pan in the back of my tweed deluxe and run the electronics in a hammond enclosure sitting on top of the amp. Either than or run it as a stompbox with longer RCA leads running back to the amp.

(I've actually seen one guy mount the reverb pan to the bottom of his pedalboard! Which would be a great idea if I actually used a pedalboard... :hmm: )

Ideas? Suggestions?
Ben
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Snufkino
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Joined: Mon Jul 25, 2011 11:11 pm
Location: Fuzzwell UK

Re: Surfy Bear FET Reverb project

Post by Snufkino »

I've had one a while, but have been too lazy to make the cab yet. I'm going for a standard fender tank design, just smaller and in dark green tolex.

It sounds really nice. Not quite as sweet as the fender unit that I had, and the mix gets too high too fast for my liking, but it does the job well enough. I got lucky with my fender tank, picked it up for £300 posted, with NOS tubes and custom soft case, when they usually cost about £400-500 used. The Surfy Bear, tank and cab will cost about £150, which is cheaper than some reverb pedals, so definitely worth it if you want a real spring reverb.
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Laservampire
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Joined: Sat Mar 02, 2013 11:34 pm
Location: Melbourne Australia

Re: Surfy Bear FET Reverb project

Post by Laservampire »

Man that's a bargain on the real tank. My surf guitar buddy has one too that he picked up for around that price.

Still waiting on delivery of the board from Sweden :(
Ben
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