The Steel Guitar Forum

I like surf and spaghetti western music with a "Drippy Reverb" I have been checking out many spring units including the Surfy Bear Classic. Here is a demo with an A/B Surfy Bear Classic and Surffy Bear metal model.

I think the Classic model has a realistic drippy vibe.
Pedals do a good job of replicating different reverbs and I own a Catalinbread Topanga that is very nice.

The Surfy Bear Classic is a bit pricy at $450 but the wife asked me what I wanted for Christmas

Your thoughts?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_opJ4VCODY

These things are great if you can find one. Since designer/builder Tim Van Tassel retired a few years back, they're no longer in production. The Sole-Mate does the springy, splashy, drippy wet thing quite nicely. They have the same Accutronics spring tank as a Blues Junior:

They are still available, what they discontinued was the "kit" they sold for a while that was under $100!

https://www.surfyindustries.com/

A man after my own heart. About once a week I have to talk myself out of spending $500 that I should probably use to pay down other debts instead. And without any shows on the horizon to justify "needing" the tool, I have yet to commit. But I'm sure that one of these days the temptation will win.

I did line up a deal on the the Surfybear Compact, but I sold it off. It was very nice, but ultimately the 3-spring, shorter pan just wasn't giving me what I wanted. Sadly, the truth is, if you care enough about the nuances of spring reverbs to even consider spending the bread on one of these, and if you lean in the direction of the 6G15, you'll probably not be satisfied with anything else.

On the other hand, I do have one of these French deals that is exceptionally nice, but comes across more like in-amp verb than an outboard unit: https://anasounds.com/element-spring-reverb/

I have played surf guitar since the 60s when I started playing guitar, and still lead a surfy/twangy heavily instrumental band. Surfybears are hot in the surf world, as exemplified on the surfguitar101 forum. I haven't played one at this point, but I know a bunch of people who do. And I think they're a good, well thought out product.

Myself, if I wanted a Fender 6G15, with all its great points as well as downsides, I'd get a 6G15 or tube clone. I've had maybe a half dozen originals and a couple of reissues over the years, and I have a ca. 65 original now. I can't see getting the Surfybear Classic, because it pretty much clones one of those with FETs instead of tubes. At $450, I'd get a clone or reissue. Even the reissues have gone up, but if one is patient, I think they're still obtainable at that general price level. Maybe not so easy online right now due to the pandemic, but once guitar shows come back, I think a grand for a reissue is gonna be hard to justify. Or a clone with a different name. I see 'em pretty routinely for reasonable money.

The main downsides of the original 6G15 circuit, in my opinion, are that you lose some clarity and gain for styles other than surf, and it's not true bypass. So I don't consider a 6G15 an all-around reverb unit. But for surf guitar - pretty much indispensable if you really want the classic surf guitar sound.

As far as the Surfybear Compact - it uses an 8-style short reverb tank. This is what's used in the Blues Junior, the old Fender Princeton Chorus, and similar amps. They're OK, but not the same as the Accutronics 4/9 style long tanks if what you want is the classic Fender reverb.

What looks most interesting is the Surfybear Metal. Long 4-style tank, true bypass when it's switched out of the circuit, a gain knob to recover some of the gain lost in the circuit, and it's a reasonably, but not super, compact floor pedal. And $100 cheaper than the Classic at $350US. Hits all the marks for me.

With all that said, I frequently use my Catalinbread Topanga which, as you know, is a normal Boss-sized digital reverb pedal. It resides permanently on my surf guitar pedalboard for gigs - I don't always drag the 6G15 out. I think it sounds really great - like a really good Fender on-board reverb and then some. Some of the surf guys say it doesn't 'drip' as much as a 6G15, but I think it can be dialed in pretty close, especially with a little bit of delay added. But I may spring for a SB Metal one of these days (pun intended).

If you wanna find out more about these and other reverb units, check out the surfguitar101 forum, and especially this thread - https://surfguitar101.com/forums/topic/25376/ - but remember that these guys lean heavily to the surf guitar mindset.

Milkman makes a real spring reverb unit:

https://milkmansound.com/collections/am ... everb-unit

I have played surf music semi-professionally for 32 years, and a 1964 Fender reverb has been there the whole time. When we play out of California, I need to bring a reverb pedal along as bringing a tank is impractical.

For years there were no pedals period. Since the original EHX Holy Grail came out, I have tried more reverb pedals than I can recall. If you want my opinion, most pedals that try to emulate the Fender 6G15, in most cases, fall short. Not to say that there are not a lot of great pedals being made, but to my ears they just don’t have “it”.

I highly, highly recommend the Catalinbread Topanga. It is simply the most accurate pedal for authentic surf music available. I have bought and sold it three times in the search for something “better”. I am done looking. As an added bonus, it has a volume control which really contributes to the tone.

I realize tone discussions are fairly pointless exercises on internet forums, but I hope this gives you something to think about.

Thanks for all the input and comments. I'm going to do a bit more research before comitting to a spring reverb unit. The Topanga is a good pedal and I'll work with it a while longer.

Dave Mudgett, I watched a demo with Roy Fulton with the Surfy Bear Metal with the longer tank and true bypass. Very impressive so I ordered one.

I have been a fan and user of spring reverbs and amps with spring units forever, UNTIL recently when a spring unit had issues and I could not find a direct replacement. I have an amp now with a NON working spring unit and a replacement is impossible to locate. YES its the spring unit, a swap with another exact unit confirmed it. Reverb tanks can die. Rare ? Sure, but they can die non the less.

I recently acquired this pedal, it is friggin' awesome ! I even use it with my Fender and Dr Z amps that have spring reverb tanks. This Ped is a combo Delays / Reverbs. Got it right here off the forum from a SG Forum member ! Not cheap...

Hi Tony, I have heard good things about the Nux line of pedals. It's cool when you find a pedal that has a special vibe.

have you considered the source audio true spring reverb pedal ? i just ordered one after researching tons of spring reverb options...

Just got my Surfy Bear Metal spring reverb with the long reverb tank. Yow, simple to dial in a drippy splashy reverb that would get a thumbs up from Dick Dale. You can also dial back the mix and dwell for a lighter airy vibe.

This unit is true bypass and has a volume knob to match the amps output volume. You can also use the volume as
a gain function. Big foot print but I put it on top of the amp and in the studio and that's where it will stay as I won't be using it on a pedal board. What a fun reverb unit.

Len,
I love a thread with a happy ending!

Tony,
That NuX Atlantic looks very interesting. I've been trying to decide if I wanted a Reverb or a Delay pedal and if Delay, analog or digital. That one has it all! I'm assuming that it isn't true bypass since I don't see that mentioned in the literature. Notice any tone suck when the effects are off?

It seems like no one mentioned the old Fender reverb unit:

Bill, I don't hear any tone suck and have been enjoying this unit very much. It's quite a large footprint so I leave it on top of an amp using no other effects. Guitar to the reverb to the input of the amp. Surfs UP!