sublime40oz wrote:

2) the only rca cable i have handy is around 9 ft long, which is excessive for this project. Will this cause any issues or am i fine to use it?

Thanks!

While the cable will work, I'd shop around for a shorter, high-quality cable as you're likely to be losing some clarity from the excess length (especially if the cable quality is inferior). Details like that do matter in squeezing the best performance out of this kind of gear.

You can compare it to using a shorter or longer guitar cable.
The transducer or pickup inside the reverb pan works identically to a guitar pickup (coil of wire + moving magnetic field, either the magnetised string or the magnet at the end of the spring)
The longer the cable, the higher the capacitive load, the more you shift the resonance peak of the frequency reponse to a lower frequency.
It takes quite a bit of capacitance (couple of nano Farads) for the difference to become noticeable.
I tried a 10ft cable once and couldn't really hear a difference compared to the short 1 foot rca cable.

There's actually a mod (the color mod) for the Surfy Bear which uses this effect to get different tones:
https://surfguitar101.com/forums/topic/28840/

In the added soundclip I don't hear much of a difference when 2.2n is added but it becomes quite obvious with the next value.
You might even like it better with a longer cable...

Just to be clear: it does not roll off highs like a treble control usually does.
Here's a graph showing what happens:

Last edited: Jul 09, 2018 12:20:49

Finally I'v completed my build!

Imperfect look, but it does the job and sounds drippy. I put a reverb pan in a cardboard box along with some bubble wrap to carry around (I plan to mount it under a pedalboard).

For future builders: ALWAYS use good heavily shielded RCA cables for connecting the reverb pan. When testing with cheap ones, I got a LOT of noise (not like 60hz cycle hum from bad power supply, more like high frequency static from a radio).

Last edited: Jul 11, 2018 08:26:17

Ive finally got the kit put together. I have to say im surprised by how easy it was to get this up and running. I have limited soldering experience so I figured there was a chance i'd have to spend some time troubleshooting, but it just worked flawlessly as soon as i plugged everything in. Next step is wiring up a switch and lamp, but I wanted to make sure I had the basics working before I got too adventurous.

C10 mod:

Unless you want to reduce the bass instead of increasing it (which is what the c10 mod is all about) there is no need for those 'cuts'. You can simply add caps in parallel to the one that is already there to get a more bassy or full sounding reverb.
Some discussion about it here:
https://surfguitar101.com/forums/topic/24295/?page=85

Kill dry mod:
There is some discussion about it here:
https://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=117665.0

Color mod:
While you're at it you might want to try that one as well.
https://surfguitar101.com/forums/topic/28840/

I don't have any means to draw something right now, but if you do it, I will comment on it or correct it. ;)

Last edited: Jul 17, 2018 16:55:27

All pot lug numberings on the Surfy Bear schematics are wrong.
According to the schematic we need to switch lug 3, the left one, as you had drawn.
But since the schematic is wrong we need to switch lug 1, which is the one on the right.

You need a single pole ON/ON switch by the way.

How are you going to do the mixing? I'm still using my Boss LS2 peda but I'm planning to add some small active op amp based mixer inside the pedal.

You could use on ON/OFF switch instead of ON/ON as well:
This way you switch the dry signal to ground (muted) and the rest stays the same as above (mixer becomes volume pot for wet).
With the ON/ON switch the dry side is left hanging/disconnected.

Last edited: Jul 18, 2018 17:09:49

sublime40oz wrote:

Where is a good place to connect the ground signal to the switch do you think?

Any ground connection is good. Connections on the pcb that have the upside down T-symbol, sleeves of the input/output jacks, the metal case, etc. Whatever is nearby and is easy to solder to.

Last edited: Jul 19, 2018 03:16:33

So I ordered my Surfybear and Surfy Trem kits a few weeks ago and this week I've finally gotten the chance to start putting things together (still a bit of time before I have the chassis/case to house them in). But after soldering alsmot everything to the two boards and testing them out, I began to wonder if I've done things right, horribly wrong, or just different.

Specifically I soldered the wires on the backs of the boards, i.e., I pushed the wire through and then soldered it on the back, whereas most of the other builds have done the opposiite (threaded through the back and soldered in the front.

I figure wiring it this way will be reliable enough and I'm happy to mod the guitar this way. Likewise, I doubt it has any other impact on the guitar. But I must ask to make it clear: will attaching wiring on one side significantly impact the tone compared to attaching on the other side?

BTW - The Surfy Trem kit sound great in test mode.

Last edited: Aug 02, 2018 22:49:54

Thanks for the insights, Ariel. I'll double check all the soldering before final installation, which won't be until next week at the earliest. I've got a somewhat complex build planned, so there's bound to be a lot of re-adjustments along the way - I just don't want to go through the pain of de-soldering and re-soldering everything on both boards.

Ariel wrote:

I find it a bit difficult to discuss and chat about the builts and tech stuff in only one thread. I think all those builts deserve an extra thread or some other place to be shared and discussed.

I thought about that too, there's a need for sure, and while I agree in spirit, it would be improbable to implement. How many sub categories will be enough? Looking back at the thread, it's mostly 'show and ask and learn more', not 'show and tell'. It seems there is too much bleed between any categories we might think to divide this thing into - tech support, mods, new and old builds, science... And I would check all of them anyway...

There's a page here, showcasing some builds.

Maybe we could just keep this as the technically oriented thread (show and ask and learn more) and have a separate show and tell thread. There have been several shorter threads where people have presented their builds, and while that tumblr is nice to see pics, a thread allows you to get more details and have some interaction.

The Safety deposit box looks like a great idea. I went with the common Harbor Freight toolbox. I may get one of these. Just a question for all the Surfy Bear experts out there: My knobs seem to turn in odd eliptical patterns instead of a nice circular shape. I think it's because the metal on the toolbox got bent out of shape when I drilled the holes for the pots and so each pot pokes through at an odd angle. What can I do to get the knobs to rotate more perfectly?

Thanks