Matt22 wrote:

belcourtchampagne wrote:

Since I slummed on the prospect of paying $400 for
the
real deal brown tolex outboard tank I am going to
trade
a bass I dont play anymore for the FRV-1 today.
After
reading a bunch of posts on it I really hope it
scratches the itch for a little drip in the tone..I
see
plenty of negatives but Im an optomist of sorts...

I have a Cyber Twin and the "Surfs Up" preset tone
only
goes so far man...

Right on, Jonathan! Good find! Hope to catch up with
you on Friday and test this thing out!

MTK

Yo Matt! right on man..yeah, I will bring it by for sure on Friday. Pepsi challenge time if you dig it..

So last night I fired this baby up and after a little bit of tweaking I got really into what I was hearing. Using the old school Cyber Twin (dated 2004 I think) I was finding some gorgeous sounds out of this pedal working in concert with the presets. I found the "Champ '49" tone to be really interesting with the FRV-1 as well as one of the Bassman presets. There was also a '59 and 65 combo that I was stuck on for about an hour...

On top of that I was playing around with it on presets that had reverb already...like a few of the Twin and Deluxe settings and was really happy with what I was able to get while using the FRV-1 with themm...It was like having a fine tuner for the Verb sounds and gave me a lot of flexability...though the dry tonews like the Champ '49 really worked nicely with the FRV-1

Good Stuff man...why didnt I get one of these before??

So day one in the books as a FRV-1 convert and I am very happy so far...thanks for the comments and from bangbang, BigKen and Matt of course..see ya Friday man after I get my Stratocaster out of the shop...

Fender Twin Reverb-Amp ('65 reissue)
2003 MIM Stratocaster/1998 Ibanez RG7620

ARP? Like the synth company?

I ordered a BOSS FRV-1 pedal over the weekend (someone had a nice sale going on) and I go to the BOSS website for tips on how to get the best sound out of it. I learned a lot. It turns out all their audio and video demonstration clips have the FRV-1 playing through either a BOSS FDR-1 Fender '65 Deluxe Reverb pedal or a BOSS FBM-1 Fender '59 Fender Bassman pedal. They don't even try to demonstrate how the pedal sounds by itself. That explains a lot and the differences are striking.

I'm trying to guess which of these amp emulators will work best for traditional surf music with my solid state Fender Stage 112SE. Any ideas?

This is Noel. Reverb's at maximum an' I'm givin' 'er all she's got.

Thanks. You are correct, except that as I don't yet have the pedal, I don't know how it will sound with my amp. But I did find it extremely interesting that BOSS didn't even try to demonstrate the FRV-1 without going through one of the Fender amp emulators. I'm very eager to try the Stage 112SE/FRV-1 combo out and hear what I can get.

You're the first person I've contacted who uses a Stage 112SE for surf. Do you mostly use channel 1 or 2 on your Stage 112SE? I find the darker channel 2 less shrill with my 2001 MIM Strat but it still produces bright and clear ringing tones, just more mellow than ch1. One day we'll have to find out why my Strat's pups are as hot as they are compared to other MIM Strats.

I have a copy of the Fender owner's manual for it. Do you have one? I can FAX it to you if you need it.

belcourtchampagne wrote:

I have owned a stage 112 SE since 1995 and I love
it...as a Solid State Amp's go its killer. I have
always been able to get great sounds out of it. If I
understand your question right you want to buy one of
the other pedals?

what I like to do is get a very plain and thick sound
out of the SE and then touch it up with the FRV-1 and
watch what happens..I use the FRV-1 for my SE now since
I bought a Fender Twin. You can get great sounds out of
it...its not going to be a Twin or a Bandmaster with an
outboard but its shred-able in my opinion...
Just saying before leaning on those other pedals to see
what you can get most out of what you got.

I have managed to get a lot of different sounds out of
my 112SE. I wont ever give it up.

This is Noel. Reverb's at maximum an' I'm givin' 'er all she's got.

Last edited: Jul 26, 2011 16:10:50

Hey Noel...do you still have the original speaker in the 112? I was thinking of changing it out to see what happens to the sound...I have a few options

Fender Twin Reverb-Amp ('65 reissue)
2003 MIM Stratocaster/1998 Ibanez RG7620

Sweet..thanks for the link...yeah you will be happy with this thing for a while..Im stil lhappy with mine after 16 years...It has some scratchy pots and the Reverb is so noisy now that I have abandoned the Accutronics that was build in in favor of the FRV-1 and its no contest...the onboard cant hang with the FRV-1 on its best day.

all the negative things aside, I have always managed to get cool sounds out of it..the clean is solid and its WAY lighter than my Twin...so yeah...if you are gunna get a Twin you better be ready and strong enough to move this puppy...its not playin around.

Fender Twin Reverb-Amp ('65 reissue)
2003 MIM Stratocaster/1998 Ibanez RG7620

Awesome, thanks man. Well I usually just put everything on the amp at 5 and go from there so there really isnt a set standard for me...it just gets tweeked from there on...Im always moving around and jammin in different places and rooms so I kinda adjust as I see fit. Starting at 5 tells me what I need to add...and always remember with EQing (which it essentially is) addition by subtraction is usually the best way to go. Starting a 5 and getting a balanced tone from the driest possible way seems to work when you add the reverb.
For the FRV-! I find there is a few ways to do it..you could turn the DWELL up to 100% and use the MIXER to ease into something you like or you can put the MIXER to about 11 o'clock and then adjust the DWELL to what you like. Either way is a good starting point and you may find your way around the kitchen after that ;)

Its just like cooking...everyone has there way of doing it but in the end good is good and bad is fit for the bin.

Fender Twin Reverb-Amp ('65 reissue)
2003 MIM Stratocaster/1998 Ibanez RG7620

JakeDobner wrote:

ARP? Like the synth company?

Yes, the synth company. I'm primarily a keyboard guy.

Snufkino wrote:

Has anyone else found the FRV-1 compresses your tone,
especially with fuzz? I had one, and loved it, but I
love fuzz more. Apparently this might only be because
I'm using a small 15w tube combo amp? If you're using
bigger/better maybe it's less of a problem?

I too play a 15W amp (Blues JR.), and I actually found the opposite to be true. Maybe it depends on your Fuzz type, mine is incredibly thick (Greenhouse Effects Remedy)- The FRV tends to open it up, gives it more dynamics.
But anyway, the FRV is a digital pedal, meaning your signal goes through AD/DA conversion, meaning some dynamics will always be lost. Overall, I still get a sweeter sound combining the Fuzz with the built in Reverb of the BJR eventhough it's sucky by itself.

Seems to be a bit off-topic now, but I ordered a BOSS FDR-1 '59 Deluxe reverb pedal to go with my FRV-1 pedal. As BOSS doesn't even demo sample sound clips of the FRV-1 without either the Fender Deluxe Reverb or Bassman amp emulator pedals plugged into it, I thought I'd try a combo out and let you know what I find out.

This is Noel. Reverb's at maximum an' I'm givin' 'er all she's got.