You're opening a can of worms here! Welcome to the forum.

Some of us here are on a tighter budget where it comes to buying gear, like me. You've got a Strat, that's good. You may want to put some heavier strings on it, like .011's.

Most of the digital reverb pedals work fine for general use and they all seem to work on the same chip set. The main difference is in the programming and the buffering stages which handle the guitar signal. So there's quite a variety of options for you to chose from, but most of them will give you a good reverb to start with.

BUT, as soon as you play a couple of months and listen some more to the tons of surf out there, you learn that the reverb you're after has a property that's called 'drip'. It's the percussive splash at the attack of a note that will give you the sound that surf is famous for. Some pedals like the Topanga and the Boss FRV-1 do a convincing emulation of that, but they're more expensive. Once you've reached that point you probably want to have a look at the Surfy Bear. If you're able to handle a drill and a hacksaw you can build one for a very reasonable price. That's where you get very close to 'the sound' you're after. (Oh, and after that you need a Jaguar and a Fender Showman and a cabinet with a stupid loud 15" speaker and a second job to pay for all of this.)

Last edited: Jan 26, 2018 15:31:55

The Zoom G1on has gorgeous reverbs and delays, simply gorgeous. The "Springs 63" effect sounds just like a spring reverb, it has drip at the higher settings, and it is less harsh than some spring reverbs that use real springs. You can get the Hank Marvin sound with it, and in several different ways. The adjustments are so flexible that you can also get lots of bad tones. If you are not experienced with multi-effects pedals, you may need to spend several hours or even many hours learning how to get good sounds. Of course, the factory set "default" patches are mediocre, no surprise there.

At $50 new, this is the all-time best bargain for high quality guitar tones. Zoom does have more costly models, but they are also heavier and bulkier. I like and use the G1on. But of course, my results depend on my guitar pickup, amp and speakers. Some of my guitars sound really gorgeous with it, and some sound only good. Incidentally, I don't use Fender equipment so I don't know how well the G1on works with it.

Insanitizers! http://www.insanitizers.com

Save your pennies and get a Boss Katana 50 for about $220. USB hookup gives you free access to most of the Boss effects pedals and will sound better than the Squier amp with pedals.
I've seen some used at guitar center online for about $170.

surfridern wrote:

Hello

I am new to this forum and also a beginner to play both guitar and also surf music. I have a squier strata by fender guitar and a squier amplifier. I want to add a reverb effect. Do those cheap reverb effect pedals on ebay their work or is it only crap?

I have looked on both tomesline and aroma pedals. Any recommendations?

Thanks in advance

To answer your question, from what I can see on the YouTube videos, the Toms Line reverb, and aroma pedals are the same thing. They dont sound good to my ears, and I wouldn't know about their durability's.
You didn't say where you are located, Are you in Europe ?
Neither pedal does a very spectacular job of getting the surf sound drip.
I suppose you could add a little slap back after the pedal and get a richer sounding drip.
But,,,
The rich drip of surf songs are often brought about by more than just a reverb pedal, or reverb tank. Amps play a large part of the sound too.

Hmmm.. I have a Boss Katana 50, better hook up the USB as I have yet to see what's available. Might even be fun.

Here's one for less than any decent reverb pedal.
No pics yet.

http://www.guitarcenter.com/Used/Boss/KATANA-KTN-50-Guitar-Combo-Amp-113945802.gc

@Gilette Thanks! I have built some tube amps and lot of stuff before. I will check the Surfy Bear reverb. I saw a topic here on the forum about it. I just bought at mounted .010 strings on my Strata Squier. Btw is a Strata Squier a good quality guitar? Its my girlfriends guitar actually I also have a Levin Royal 1948 guitar. But I am a beginner to play since 15 year ago.

I have also have a ownbuilt Fender Deluxe Reverb amplifier but that is not finished yet. It is a lot of hours of building time left on it but it has spring reverb. I have all parts. I also built a copy of Fender Champ and that sounds nice with a 12" guitar speaker. The Fender Champ copy is not safe to use, I was only 16 years old when I built it.

@wfoguy I will check out the Behringer too! Thanks

@Squid Zoom G1, I saw some on ebay uk, I will monitor the auction. Thanks!

@Frelonvert, What is TC Electronics drip?

@Surf_Skater Boss Katana is big money. I will see what I will do next. Thanks anyway.

@PhantomOperators What is Tonestudio interface?

@Joelman I am located in Sweden, Europe. Your user name sounds Swedish btw I Think I will skip the cheap china pedal..

@Samurai A used one for 80$ will be great if it is a multieffect pedal. You are also in europe like me. Where should I start to look after a Zoom ms70?

@bamboozer Thanks for your input.

@stratdancer

@Surf_Skater Its sad that they do not ship to Sweden.

Kind regards!

Thanks for the heads up SS!

The Kahuna Kings

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Surfridern,
When you mentioned Squier strat and amp I envisioned one their beginner starter packs.
If you can build amps, the Surfy Bear kit is the way to go and will sound awesome with your deluxe reverb clone when finished.
Welcome to SG101 and we'd love to see some build photos of the amp.

«@Samurai A used one for 80$ will be great if it is a multieffect pedal. You are also in europe like me. Where should I start to look after a Zoom ms70?”

Here i Ukraine we just got it in any musical shop for some $100
For the used ones I guess you need to check some boards where people sell stuff) I’ve just sold mine for $80 on Facebook)

Waikiki Makaki surf-rock band from Ukraine

https://linktr.ee/waikikimakaki

Lost Diver

https://lostdiver.bandcamp.com
https://soundcloud.com/vitaly-yakushin