Shoutbox

sysmalakian: Birthday month starts now!
362 days ago

diceophonic: Vampiro Classics 2024 reissue
343 days ago

SabedLeepski: Sunburn Surf Fest for some scorching hot surf music: https://sunb...
300 days ago

skeeter: I know a Polish sound guy.
228 days ago

skeeter: I know a Czech one too!
228 days ago

PatGall: Surfybear metal settings
148 days ago

Pyronauts: Happy Tanks-Kicking!
126 days ago

midwestsurfguy: Merry Christmas!
94 days ago

sysmalakian: HAPPY NEW YEAR!
88 days ago

SabedLeepski: Surfin‘ Europe, for surf (related) gigs and events in Europe Big Razz https://sunb...
49 days ago

Please login or register to shout.

Current Polls

No polls at this time. Check out our past polls.

Current Contests

No contests at this time. Check out our past contests.

Donations

Help us meet our monthly goal:

100%

100%

Donate Now

Cake March Birthdays Cake
SG101 Banner

SurfGuitar101 Forums » Gear »

Permalink Catalinbread Topanga Spring Reverb

New Topic
Goto Page: Previous 1 210 11 12 13 14 Next

I did a gig on Thursday where the other guitarist used a Topanga Reverb through a tweed reissue bassman. The Topanga sounded pretty good - while it did not have the 3D quality of a reverb unit/tank, it certainly captured the essence pretty well without sounding brash/harsh. Very convincing without the hassle of the tank and lower cost wise. Of course if you have to have a reverb unit/tank then that's the ticket for you, but if you want the essence then I think the topanga is great.

derekirving wrote:

I did a gig on Thursday where the other guitarist used a Topanga Reverb through a tweed reissue bassman. The Topanga sounded pretty good - while it did not have the 3D quality of a reverb unit/tank, it certainly captured the essence pretty well without sounding brash/harsh. Very convincing without the hassle of the tank and lower cost wise. Of course if you have to have a reverb unit/tank then that's the ticket for you, but if you want the essence then I think the topanga is great.

For some of us here, this is adeqaute, quite possibly more than adequate. I love Surf music and try to play it respectfully with regard to the feel and sprit of the music, especially the first wave music of the early sixties. But I'm not a tone chaser or a cork sniffer. I can't justify the cost of a Showman clone when I'm already putting $10,000 worth of gear into my pickup, to drive 100 miles and play a gig that would barely cover my travel costs, when I'm lucky.

Were I wealthy enough to afford my On my way! venue, like Jim Stafford has done in Branson, I'd have the perfect back line in place and ready to go when the show started. But in the reality of my playing situation, I have to hit the venue, setup and be ready to go quickly and then ready to GTH outta there if there's another act coming on behind us. Even if they want Surf and Instrumental Rock the audience may have differnt ideas (there aren't a lot of Surf festivals in Arizona) Smile and we could end up having to cover Merle or Waylon, just to get outta there alive. The last gig we play was at a place called "The Hut", opening for a Rockabilly band. Even though we walked through a giant Tiki Head in order to enter the place, I think we might have been the first Surf band that ever played there. We got a good response, but it probably would have been every bit as good had we done a set of Eagles material or spent the evening covering the Stones or the Dead.

Ain't gonna drag a tank along just for that. Smile

The artist formerly known as: Synchro

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

Surf Side IV and Slacktone played at the Hut a few Years ago.
I DJ'd tiki music in-between.

Jeff(bigtikidude)

JONPAUL wrote:

TVTheWiredTurtle wrote:

I would never EVER NEVER use a solid state amp in place of my beautiful tube amp. I'd rather die.

Worship Worship Rock

Hogwash! Big Grin
I'm actually thinking hard about giving the topanga a go before a tank as I'm not playing surf.I do however love vintage analog tones and clancking springs! I just bought [and sold] an FRV-1 after seeing the reverb shootout on this site. It didn't do it for me and didn't play well with my rig. I much preferred my DIY Belton brick reverbs.

Last edited: Mar 26, 2015 06:35:47

Howdy friends. I've had the Topanga a few months now. I gotta say that it is pretty darn good. Much better than the FRV for sure. Remember,old tanks have a pretty wide variance in the type of sound they put out: some good, others not as much. I have to believe that the sound of this pedal will be pretty consistent form unit to unit, and that is a good thing in my book.

And as far as the drip comments I have read here, most guys playing surf use too much reverb anyway. Yes, I said it. Too much reverb. Unless you are Dick Dale, or The Astronauts at RCA Hollywood, all that "Drip", is way overs used in most newer recordings. back off on the Dwell, fellas!

MelPhantomSurfers wrote:

Howdy friends. I've had the Topanga a few months now. I gotta say that it is pretty darn good. Much better than the FRV for sure. Remember,old tanks have a pretty wide variance in the type of sound they put out: some good, others not as much. I have to believe that the sound of this pedal will be pretty consistent form unit to unit, and that is a good thing in my book.

And as far as the drip comments I have read here, most guys playing surf use too much reverb anyway. Yes, I said it. Too much reverb. Unless you are Dick Dale, or The Astronauts at RCA Hollywood, all that "Drip", is way overs used in most newer recordings. back off on the Dwell, fellas!

I agree. I love reverb, but I've heard it overused by a lot of people. James Calvin Wilsey's solo recording, as was his work with Chris Isaak, was slathered in reverb. There's nothing wrong with that, but it's one situation, one setting. We don't have to sound like that at every moment in order to be legit. If I'm playing Pipeline too much reverb is just right, but for any number of other songs I use reverb at levels more in line with those heard in Country music, and it sounds just fine.

The artist formerly known as: Synchro

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

I finally bought one of these for a backup, and also for touring in Europe this summer. Can somebody recommend a good 18V adapter for the pedal? I was thinking this:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GSUX5CQ/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=2G27CFP0CNR7P&coliid=I3UK0QKED7IIDD

Thanks in advance!

Ivan
Lords of Atlantis on Facebook
The Madeira Official Website
The Madeira on Facebook
The Blair-Pongracic Band on Facebook
The Space Cossacks on Facebook
The Madeira Channel on YouTube

That should work fine Ivan. It's about half the price of the Dunlop. Do you already have one for your EP booster? They may be able to be daisy chained.

Thanks, Surf Skater. No, I just used a regular 9V for the EP booster, but I'll definitely try to daisy chain the 18V for both pedals once I have that.

Ivan
Lords of Atlantis on Facebook
The Madeira Official Website
The Madeira on Facebook
The Blair-Pongracic Band on Facebook
The Space Cossacks on Facebook
The Madeira Channel on YouTube

Will you have three pedals? Echo, Topanga, EP Booster?

You might want to think about a pedal power supply. It costs a little more, but can really simplify things.

Voodoo Labs

MXR

T-Rex

This way, you won't have to carry multiple adapters, which will be cleaner. And you will only have to carry one Euro->US adapter.

You could even build a small simple pedal board just to keep things cleaner and save on setup/teardown time.

I've got a small soft pedal board that has a case like a laptop bag. Something like that would be great for travel.

Jake, I actually do have a small pedalboard that I use now, with a Korg Pitchblack tuner, EP booster, and Strymon El Capistan (with an additional preset pedal). I don't have any room left on that pedalboard, and so far a single adapter has done the just job just fine. The Topanga would reside in my bag, not on my pedalboard, until needed. But I was planning on building a very compact pedalboard for Europe with a TC Electronic PolyTune Mini, EP booster, my old Korg Dynamic Echo and the Topanga. I think a power supply would not be necessary - I can run all that with two adapters (possibly even just one), and it won't take up space on the board (which I may not have, anyway). All of those you list above are kinda pricey, anyway. I'm sure they're very good, but I don't see a need for them right now. Thanks, though!

Ivan
Lords of Atlantis on Facebook
The Madeira Official Website
The Madeira on Facebook
The Blair-Pongracic Band on Facebook
The Space Cossacks on Facebook
The Madeira Channel on YouTube

ivan ... the topanga is picky about power adapters. better get one that can switch from 100v to 220v and try it back home ..

yours wolfi

http://www.surfgrammeln-san.org
https://www.facebook.com/BaluUndSurfgrammeln
http://greencookierecords.bandcamp.com/album/coming-out-soon-los-chicharrones-del-surf-10

Congratulations Ivan!. I wanted to say: Brave move, but surely for a gigging musician it's a natural necessity and a helpful tool.
When I used mine with Jazzmaster (sold it since I built a Surfy-Bear), I had to max out all the settings to get adequate drip... I'd love to hear your impressions.
It does some lovely things with mix at %100 after echo, with some clean blended on the other channel.
There was not much perceivable difference when I ran it at 18v, worth trying though. When daisy-chaining digital pedals with the same un-isolated power source, there's a chance for interference (hum, clock noise), just be aware of that. If all is good, then good, period.
There's the internal on/off switch for the output buffer. The impedance's and output of the pedal are quite different from a tank's, so it might be worth trying both positions to hear what works best with your setup.
Enjoy!

Uhm, Ivan, that's an AC adapter (your amazon link). IIRC the Topanga, El Capistan and Xotic take DC power and the AC adapter will fry the units?

The Hicadoolas

as far as I can tell, it is a standard wall wart as the output schematic indicates DC ... however, the topanga is picky with wall warts, as said before...
yours
wolfi

http://www.surfgrammeln-san.org
https://www.facebook.com/BaluUndSurfgrammeln
http://greencookierecords.bandcamp.com/album/coming-out-soon-los-chicharrones-del-surf-10

I was referring to the one that Ivan posted.
(http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GSUX5CQ/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=2G27CFP0CNR7P&coliid=I3UK0QKED7IIDD)
That's an AC power supply and it will toast DC pedals.

/Edit: checked the Catalinbread site and it says:
If you are using a power supply, a regulated 9vDC/center-negative tipped adapter is specified for our products. A few of our pedals can be run at 18vDC and will say so right on the pedal – they also require a regulated center-negative tipped adapter.
So the one linked above will definitely fry the pedal, as it is AC and center-positive.

The Hicadoolas

Last edited: Apr 27, 2015 06:39:59

Sancho, It's 18v dc out. It will work. I have the Dunlop ECb-04 for my EP booster and Topanga and have had no problems with either.

I see, it is only for the adapter piece. That works.
The adapter piece will work, even with french/belgian power outlets.
But be aware of those outlets, it is crucial to plug in these adapters the right way.

The Hicadoolas

Last edited: Apr 27, 2015 09:06:53

My Topanga will finally be on showcase and use at the Reverb Seminar of the festival... but after that I think it will be for sale. I used it, and loved it. But I find the FRV-1 is more "fakely efficient". Yes it is colder, yes it is fake, but the Topanga is not enough pushy somehow. The quality of the reverb is great, but every time i was to push the reverb it just does not go too far...

I played it on a showman, on a quilter, with different size of speakers blah blah blah, but every time I have something to say about it.
I used that for recording the show in Brighton last December and in that occasion it was great. But after that I cannot replace a good sound for me.

It is probably due to the actual volume from the pickups of my guitar. Maybe needs a push before adding the reverb (so a booster before).

I initially mentioned about using the 18v power supply and it seemed to be great. But in the end does not change much as it seemed.

Anyway... the reverb seminar will be the ULTIMATE comparison. After that we will know what is what ONCE AND FOR ALL.

Lorenzo "Surfer Joe" Valdambrini
(www.surfmusic.net)

Goto Page: Previous 1 210 11 12 13 14 Next
Top