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SurfGuitar101 Forums » Gear »

Permalink Surfybear and amplifier incompatibility

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Hello to everyone.

I bought a surfybear classic with great expectations and although I tried it in many amplifiers, I only like the sound in my small pignose amplifier. The sound I heard in the videos and exactly what I was expecting. But I can never get the sound I expect from my laney cub 10 amplifier with jensen p10r-fen speakers. My other pedals are very compatible with this amp, but its not good at all with Surfybear. Just unnatural digital, muddy, ear-splitting highs. (Despite any tone settings) I also tried it on my friend's roland jazz chorus. The results are not good in that amp either. I have another vintage solid state amplifier called Mars Gem-15, which is the same way. I get very satisfying tones just from my little pignose amp and I want to get this tone in a big and powerful amp. I didn't expect this product to be so selective. Now I'm looking for a suitable amplifier for it. Apart from expensive Fender amplifiers, (they are not cheap anyway and in my country they are a few more expensive) are there any other amplifiers that you think are compatible with Surfybear? Which one would you recommend? Thanks in advance.

edit: after experiencing this gears for a while some things became clear to me. I realized that it was actually my jazzmaster that was incompatible, not surfybear. you know the Japanese jazzmasters pickups are a bit different from the original jm pickups. They are similar in structure to strat pickups and that's why the sound is much more clear, bright and shrill, with a 1 meg pot it becomes even more difficult to control, especially if you use it with surfybear. That was the first problem, the second one was the jensen speaker that I bought new and put in my amp. It was new so it wasn't working at full performance, but as time went on it sounds better now. I also heard better sound on pignose because dark and vintage character of pignose drowned out the highs of the jm. What made me realize all this was to leave the jm for a while and hang out with my strat. That way everything was in harmony. I think I should put a more balanced pickup in my jazzmaster.

Last edited: Mar 14, 2024 07:01:40

Hey Brky87, welcome to SG101! While you are waiting for some answers, go over to the "Shallow End" forum page and tell us about yourself on the "Introduction, New Members" thread!

Patrick

Ted Pilgrim, one of the surfybear folks, is on this site and will most likely chime in to help you out. Just thinking out loud but it may not be the surfybear as my understanding is that they are very compatible with many amps (if not all). What guitar and pick up settings are you using?

Rev

Canadian Surf

http://www.urbansurfkings.com/

Padraig wrote:

Hey Brky87, welcome to SG101! While you are waiting for some answers, go over to the "Shallow End" forum page and tell us about yourself on the "Introduction, New Members" thread!

Hey Padraig Thank you I will do that.

revmike wrote:

Ted Pilgrim, one of the surfybear folks, is on this site and will most likely chime in to help you out. Just thinking out loud but it may not be the surfybear as my understanding is that they are very compatible with many amps (if not all). What guitar and pick up settings are you using?

Rev

Thanks revmike, I use a mij jazzmaster. Middle position is my favorite tone. Actually, I don't hear a bad sound in any amplifier, I just think it is much more compatible with pignose. So the drip sounds much better. I can't hear this characteristic thing much in my tube amp. I couldn't figure out why. If anyone else has tried Surfybear and Pignose, I'm curious about their thoughts.

I have used SurfyBear with numerous amps, Fender, Vox, Orange, Marshall, Mesa, Peavey, Laney, Blackstar, Quilter and others and it always sounded great. Surely some amps I liked better and some not, but the reverb was always great. So that’s a little strange for me.

Waikiki Makaki surf-rock band from Ukraine

https://linktr.ee/waikikimakaki

Lost Diver

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

Can we have sound samples?

A short video I recorded before: https://streamable.com/bqwkkw

Hey samurai what is your favorite amp with Surfybear?

I did some more comparisons and I think the biggest incompatibility is between Laney cub10 and Surfybear. Maybe Jensen speaker is part of it. Actually works well with Mars Gem-15. I think the only causing trouble here is Laney. I think I would be happy with any other tube amplifier. Thank you very much everyone.

Brky87 wrote:

Hey samurai what is your favorite amp with Surfybear?

My new EP that’s in my signature was mostly recorded with Quilter Superblock US so probably this is my favorite right now)

Waikiki Makaki surf-rock band from Ukraine

https://linktr.ee/waikikimakaki

Lost Diver

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

This is the first time I have heard someone say they are not happy with their SurfyBear unit. I have the compact version, and it sounds great with every amp I have ever used it with.

MooreLoud.com - A tribute to Dick Dale. New Singles "Finish Line" and "Paradiso" on Bandcamp and website.

Samurai wrote:

My new EP that’s in my signature was mostly recorded with Quilter Superblock US so probably this is my favorite right now)

Terrific EP, Vitaly! Definitely want to check out the Quilter Superblock US (sounds great!) and loving the EP - just bought it off of iTunes so I can hear it in the car as well as at home. Cool

Back on topic, I've got 2 SurfyBear Classics and a SurfyBear Compact Reverb and all work great with my amps, which are mostly brown/blonde Fender amps without onboard reverb.

For what it's worth, I also have a '64 Fender Reverb Unit and the SB Classic and Compact units sound pretty much exactly the same or as close as one can get to my 59 year-old ears. Unless there's something wrong with your specific SB Classic unit, I don't think the issue is the SB Classic.

I wonder if trying a (Surfy Industries Blossom Point pedal) will get you closer to that surf tone you want when used with the various amps you use and SurfyBear Classic? I don't have one myself but maybe someone with a Blossom Point pedal can offer their perspective.

In any case, welcome and good luck! Smile

The doofus formerly known as Snorre
Surfysonic on YouTube
World Famous Philistines: 2014 - 2015
K39: 2013 - 2014
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gv9JADQ4ukw

Last edited: Sep 17, 2023 08:04:16

Surfysonic wrote:

Samurai wrote:

My new EP that’s in my signature was mostly recorded with Quilter Superblock US so probably this is my favorite right now)

Terrific EP, Vitaly! Definitely want to check out the Quilter Superblock US (sounds great!) and loving the EP - just bought it off of iTunes so I can hear it in the car as well as at home. Cool

Back on topic, I've got 2 SurfyBear Classics and a SurfyBear Compact Reverb and all work great with my amps, which are mostly brown/blonde Fender amps without onboard reverb.

For what it's worth, I also have a '64 Fender Reverb Unit and the SB Classic and Compact units sound pretty much exactly the same or as close as one can get to my 59 year-old ears. Unless they're something wrong with your specific SB Classic unit, I don't think the issue is the SB Classic.

I wonder if trying a (Surfy Industries Blossom Point pedal) will get you closer to that surf tone you want when used with the various amps you use and SurfyBear Classic? I don't have one myself but maybe someone with a Blossom Point pedal can offer their perspective.

In any case, welcome and good luck! Smile

Thank you so much! I also use Blossom Point and love it.

Waikiki Makaki surf-rock band from Ukraine

https://linktr.ee/waikikimakaki

Lost Diver

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

I guess nobody wants a blue Surfybear but it goes perfectly with The Sea Hunters blue theme so at this price I bought it. Should arrive Tuesday. I sold my RI tank a few years ago figuring I would pick a one of these up if I needed one...and I do.

image
image

Last edited: Sep 17, 2023 13:05:15

Stormtiger wrote:

I guess nobody wants a blue Surfybear but it goes perfectly with The Sea Hunters blue theme so at this price I bought it. Should arrive Tuesday. I sold my RI tank a few years ago figuring I would pick a one of these up if I needed one...and I do.

image
image

Looks great!

Waikiki Makaki surf-rock band from Ukraine

https://linktr.ee/waikikimakaki

Lost Diver

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

-

Last edited: Feb 02, 2024 09:15:08

The blue SurfyBear Metal looks great! I'm pretty much all set for SurfyBear reverb units but I'm loving the SurfyBear Classic limited edition classic red (not available), gold sparkle (not available), surf green, and blue sparkle offerings. Very tempting!! Yes

The doofus formerly known as Snorre
Surfysonic on YouTube
World Famous Philistines: 2014 - 2015
K39: 2013 - 2014
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gv9JADQ4ukw

@OP brky87 - are you sure you connected it properly? Line in & out I mean.

Using a Surfy Bear metal with a Fender Mustang GX50. Sounds good.

DrippyReverbTremolo wrote:

@OP brky87 - are you sure you connected it properly? Line in & out I mean.

Using a Surfy Bear metal with a Fender Mustang GX50. Sounds good.

Yes, I think there is no problem with surfybear. Sounds good on my two solid state amps. But the sound is not very good in my tube amp. Maybe the problem is the amp or tubes, I don't know. The tubes are old and I'm thinking of changing them. I hope this solves the problem.

Last edited: Sep 18, 2023 12:19:07

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