Posted on Aug 26 2024 08:26 AM
The Blossom Point uses a limiter, and is definitely not and overdrive. It basically changes the dynamics to sound more like a first generation Showman being pushed to just before breakup.
As a general rule, I don’t use overdrive, such as a Tube Screamer, etc. because I like the clean sound. If I was playing Cheap Trick covers, or Texas Blues, I might distortion or overdrive and I’ve experimented with transparent overdrives, although I tend to use them as a clean preamp and not so much for clipping.
Even clean amps, with no pedals in front will break up if you push them hard enough, and a 6G15 worked as a clean preamp, which pushed the front end a bit, but most of the early Surf recordings were clean, at least to my ear.
When Dick Dale played the Rendevous, he was filling a big space, filled with people, and needed a lot of volume. The Dual Showman was developed for that situation, and it was designed to stay clean. When I first came to Surf Guitar 101, I assumed that this was essentially the same sound as a Twin Reverb, but it was explained to me that the Showman from that era had more midranges than the later amps, and I was pointed to this YouTube example, which is definitely not Surf.
IMHO, some modern Surf bands take the reverb a bit far. Original Surf bands may not have had reverb available. The unit came out in ‘61, the dawn of Surf, and made the sound a lot more portable, whereas it had been a studio effect only, just a few years before. I believe that Dick Dale’s earliest work didn’t have reverb, and not every band adopted reverb right away. IIRC, it was the BelAirs which actually broke up because some members didn’t want reverb, and others did.
So, while I understand the pursuit of the vaunted Astronaut’s Drip, as heard on Baja, I personally do not think that there’s any absolute necessity to have drip on every Surf tune, and I can get great reverb sounds out of the reverb built into my Deluxe Reverb or my Winfield Elizabeth. No, it’s not the sound of a 6G15, but it’s still a good sound. I’ve found that drip is influenced by a lot of things, such as RH technique and the pick itself. Obviously, Palm muting makes a big difference.
The last thing that comes to mind is that high volume, in and of itself has an effect on how we hear sound. We can’t get the same sound in our living room as we could get in a large venue with the amp cranked up. It’s just not possible.
In the greater world of Rock, fortunes have been made by devising ways to make small venue or living room volumes take on the characteristics of a high volume situation. How many Tube Screamer based devices have been sold over the years? My own opinion is that a lot of what people like about cranked up and overdriven sounds is that compressed dynamics that are natural to high volumes.
For me, this is where the Blossom Point comes into its own. This is only my opinion, but the Blossom Point, placed just before the amp, acts as a Limiter and offers the ability to adjust Presence to taste. Ther is definitely a trimpot marked “Limiter” on the board and there is a Presence control on top. There is the ability to attenuate input signal and an Output control that allows up to 6dB of gain, but 6dB is not usually enough to push an amp into overdrive. I use the Output control to simply match volume, so that the pedal itself doesn’t change the volume, when it is engaged. Mine is pretty much never off, anyhow. I recommend this pedal for pretty much any use.
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The artist formerly known as: Synchro
When Surf Guitar is outlawed only outlaws will play Surf Guitar.
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