ParkRowe wrote:

This is a great thread!

After reading this i got myself a Catalinbread Topanga Reverb. I know it wasn't in the test but i found out about it here and liked it better than the others being demo'd. That said i'd rather a real tank, but i can't afford that right now, so a pedal it is. and this is the best sounding one to me.

i played with it all weekend and it really sounds good!

like a few others here i was a bit disappointed by the Flint. I have an El Capistan and it's amazing at what it does. I've heard the Flint in other demos and it does sound great... but for surf type stuff, it doesn't move me.

thanks again for doing this shoot out!

Congrats on the Topanga, I've heard they sound great. To be honest, almost all of the reviews on here say that while a wonderful pedal, it does lack "drip." I own a Flint, and it does give me pretty good drip for a pedal. Have you actually owned/played with a Flint yourself?

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Tuck wrote:

Next a test that shows that what actually matters is the guitarist and what they had for breakfast.

The most important meal of the day; even if you end up having it at 2 a.m.

Wes
SoCal ex-pat with a snow shovel

DISCLAIMER: The above is opinion/suggestion only & should not be used for mission planning/navigation, tweaking of instruments, beverage selection, or wardrobe choices.

I realize I'm way in the minority here, but I thought the Boss whooped the Flint...

Great shootout. I picked the FRV-1 instantly upon listening to the samples. I was a major fan of that pedal when it came out, but technology has moved forward and the FRV-1 has fallen behind. The modded Fender RI sounded good, maybe I should do that C-10 mod on mine. The G Spring was definitely the Mercedes Benz of everything you tested; but then again, Dario has always made wonderful stuff. If this was a just world, Dario would be a rich man. The Surfy Bear was a wonderful surprise and I liked the Strymon pedal as well.

Currently, I use a Catalinbread Topanga and I'm quite happy with its performance. It drips well enough for my purposes and has a very natural sound, considering that it's digital, and by definition, an emulation. I would recommend this pedal to anyone, even the owner of a good tank. At the very least, it's a worthy backup to a tank and, IMHO, it's good enough to take to a gig.

I played a Tiki bar in Tucson just last Friday and used the Topanga in place of the built in reverb in my Deluxe. I normally use a Winfiled amp, but last weekend I took the Deluxe because we were an opening act and I needed a combo amp that I could move in and out quickly. When we got there I found out that they had a great soundman and I would have been fine with my 5 watt Winfield Typhoon combo (as opposed to my piggyback Winfield Cyclone). In any event, the Topanga performed well and ansolutely smoked the reverb in my Deluxe; which is surprising, because I had always thought that the DR's reverb was pretty good.

The artist formerly known as: Synchro

When Surf Guitar is outlawed only outlaws will play Surf Guitar.

What about the Digitech Polara? Would be interesting to add it into the comparison. . .

Mark2Bra wrote:

What about the Digitech Polara? Would be interesting to add it into the comparison. . .

As said in the initial post and before, I simply did not include 'insert other reverb unit here' because I do not own it. I own 5 reverb units and that's enough for me.
If you (or anyone) would like me to throw in a different unit to the shootout we can talk about it. You could send it to me and I will send in back in the same condition as I got it. We could also share shipping, of course. So if anyone feels the need to have this done, feel free to contact me and we'll figure it out.
Or you could visit the Surfer Joe Festival this year

Teiscofan wrote:

Just reviewed the thread and did the "listening test". As a proud Surfy Bear reverb owner I was a suprised that I picked it second. First choice was the Gomez..... I was juggling them back and forth so to my ears it was very close. Great quiz!

Thanks, mate.

The Hicadoolas

^ cool, looking forward! I had the frv-1 and sold it pretty quick.
Almost went the topanga route but then lucked into a Peavey Valverb for about 30 euro's more than a topanga! Loving the valverb's reverb but the tremolo has a pretty big volume drop. Worth it for the verb alone though!

Hey Kman1

How did you find the frv-1? I got one and was impressed since i had no experience of a real unit didnt know the ice picky sound you sometimes get was not a fender feature until came to this place. Can still get a pretty decent sound out of it though.

^ looking forward with baited hook

What happens when you kick a reverb pedal?
No splash, just a sore toe?

Reverb pedals may need a crash button.