Hello this is Surfer Joe: don’t get confused people
Actually come to see my shows in California in the next days and we can talk about SurfyBear as much as you want. Do you want to try it? You are welcome.

Note: if you need to put the dwell at 10 on SurfyBear there is definitely something wrong with your equipment or your ears. What is not clear is that the SurfyBear is exactly the same thing of a Fender 6G15. obviously the tubes affect the sound in good or bad ways, depending on the tubes and the components of the circuitry. Especially the old ones sound all different one from the other. But the SurfyBear is the same damn thing. It’s not a replica pedal with a digital rendition of the reverb. It’s a reverb pan controller with the same specs of a fender tank.

We have many times done A-B comparisons with fender tanks and in the average the surfybear is waaaaaay more controllable and better sounding. Of course if you compare it with my 1963 tank you are stupid because you want to compare a new product, which even if well done has modern components, with an old piece of electronics that has a “life” on his own. but we ALWAYS said that the surfybear is not intended to replace a fender reverb unit, just to have a lighter, cheaper, more transportable and replicable unit with no compromises on the sound.

that’s it. do what you want, it’s a free world.

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

obviously everyone has its own necessities. i do not get compromises on my sound and i don’t care how much it costs to achieve the goal of the right sound i want. this said i hate people continuing claiming to have found the SECRET TRUTH of the drippy reverb sound comparing digital pedals and adding words like “echo” or “delay” trying to justify the fact that they use crappy amps in probably a bad way and not clearly knowing the value of compression which is the one and only trick with the reverb in surf music.

again and again: use what you want but don’t come out of nothing in 2019 pretending to discuss things already analyzed in any possible way throughout many years but that in the end go back to one basic point: PLAY LOUD AND BUY GOOD EQUIPMENT (and write good songs). period. if you are not happy with the fender reverb unit it means that surf music is not your genre.

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

surferjoemusic wrote:

obviously everyone has its own necessities. i do not get compromises on my sound and i don’t care how much it costs to achieve the goal of the right sound i want. this said i hate people continuing claiming to have found the SECRET TRUTH of the drippy reverb sound comparing digital pedals and adding words like “echo” or “delay” trying to justify the fact that they use crappy amps in probably a bad way and not clearly knowing the value of compression which is the one and only trick with the reverb in surf music.

again and again: use what you want but don’t come out of nothing in 2019 pretending to discuss things already analyzed in any possible way throughout many years but that in the end go back to one basic point: PLAY LOUD AND BUY GOOD EQUIPMENT (and write good songs). period. if you are not happy with the fender reverb unit it means that surf music is not your genre.

This lines should be at the "SURF GUITAR 101" FAQ's section or at the description of the group ... SINCE 2006 ... FOLKS! ... "What's the best reverb?" ... well, you can surf on a desk, but MAYBE it would be better to try a SURFBOARD first.

When you have to shoot ... shoot! Don't talk.

"Los Grainders" > https://losgrainders.bandcamp.com
"The Strings Aflame" > https://thestringsaflame.bandcamp.com
"Planeta Reverb" > www.instagram.com/planetareverb

Last edited: Jan 22, 2019 13:22:38

surferjoemusic wrote:

synchro wrote:

surferjoemusic wrote:

Hello this is Surfer Joe: don’t get confused people
Actually come to see my shows in California in the next days and we can talk about SurfyBear as much as you want. Do you want to try it? You are welcome.

Note: if you need to put the dwell at 10 on SurfyBear there is definitely something wrong with your equipment or your ears. What is not clear is that the SurfyBear is exactly the same thing of a Fender 6G15. obviously the tubes affect the sound in good or bad ways, depending on the tubes and the components of the circuitry. Especially the old ones sound all different one from the other. But the SurfyBear is the same damn thing. It’s not a replica pedal with a digital rendition of the reverb. It’s a reverb pan controller with the same specs of a fender tank.

We have many times done A-B comparisons with fender tanks and in the average the surfybear is waaaaaay more controllable and better sounding. Of course if you compare it with my 1963 tank you are stupid because you want to compare a new product, which even if well done has modern components, with an old piece of electronics that has a “life” on his own. but we ALWAYS said that the surfybear is not intended to replace a fender reverb unit, just to have a lighter, cheaper, more transportable and replicable unit with no compromises on the sound.

that’s it. do what you want, it’s a free world.

The olde, original tanks from the ‘60s, sound magnificent, but it’s going to vary much more between units. I’d wager that not all of the originals sounded great. There was a lot of variability between individual units, back in the day. Oldness is no guaranty of a great sounding amp, reverb unit or even guitar. There were plenty of bad ones, too.

From what I’ve heard on demos, etc. it’s every bit as good sounding as the original tanks.

i absolutely agree with you. old not necessarily means good. this is why i play 120+ per year with a classic surfybear. because when i run the amp on, ANY amp i have to use, i want to sound right, warm, controlled, drippy but without loosing the attack and the natural sound of the guitar which is the important thing. obviously if you have a piece of shit guitar you want to hide this with mega digital pedals and supersonic effects... but the drip is ALWAYS in your hands, not in the instrument.

I’m old enough to remember when hand wired amps were all we had and, I can assure you, amp problems were much more frequent, back then. Printed circuit boards make for greater reliability and FETs are both more reliable and predictable than tubes, with no penalty in sound.

For quite some time, it has been well known that FETs are capable of the same sort of response as tubes, but they have only hit the market in the last 10 - 15 years in any numbers, at least when it comes to guitar products. The Jazz Amp is a perfect example, a modern, reliable amp that the old school jazzers are accepting as a valid replacement for their old GA-50s.

I’m glad to see the Surfy Bear bringing this technology to market at a very friendly price. Hopefully this will,be just the beginning.

The artist formerly known as: Synchro

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

surferjoemusic wrote:

i hate people continuing claiming to have found the SECRET TRUTH of the drippy reverb sound comparing digital pedals and adding words like “echo” or “delay” trying to justify the fact that they use crappy amps in probably a bad way

SurfyBear and this forum have helped me avoid this tragic mistake.

I thank you all for that.

Last edited: Jan 22, 2019 13:58:16

synchro wrote:

surferjoemusic wrote:

synchro wrote:

surferjoemusic wrote:

Hello this is Surfer Joe: don’t get confused people
Actually come to see my shows in California in the next days and we can talk about SurfyBear as much as you want. Do you want to try it? You are welcome.

Note: if you need to put the dwell at 10 on SurfyBear there is definitely something wrong with your equipment or your ears. What is not clear is that the SurfyBear is exactly the same thing of a Fender 6G15. obviously the tubes affect the sound in good or bad ways, depending on the tubes and the components of the circuitry. Especially the old ones sound all different one from the other. But the SurfyBear is the same damn thing. It’s not a replica pedal with a digital rendition of the reverb. It’s a reverb pan controller with the same specs of a fender tank.

We have many times done A-B comparisons with fender tanks and in the average the surfybear is waaaaaay more controllable and better sounding. Of course if you compare it with my 1963 tank you are stupid because you want to compare a new product, which even if well done has modern components, with an old piece of electronics that has a “life” on his own. but we ALWAYS said that the surfybear is not intended to replace a fender reverb unit, just to have a lighter, cheaper, more transportable and replicable unit with no compromises on the sound.

that’s it. do what you want, it’s a free world.

The olde, original tanks from the ‘60s, sound magnificent, but it’s going to vary much more between units. I’d wager that not all of the originals sounded great. There was a lot of variability between individual units, back in the day. Oldness is no guaranty of a great sounding amp, reverb unit or even guitar. There were plenty of bad ones, too.

From what I’ve heard on demos, etc. it’s every bit as good sounding as the original tanks.

i absolutely agree with you. old not necessarily means good. this is why i play 120+ per year with a classic surfybear. because when i run the amp on, ANY amp i have to use, i want to sound right, warm, controlled, drippy but without loosing the attack and the natural sound of the guitar which is the important thing. obviously if you have a piece of shit guitar you want to hide this with mega digital pedals and supersonic effects... but the drip is ALWAYS in your hands, not in the instrument.

I’m old enough to remember when hand wired amps were all we had and, I can assure you, amp problems were much more frequent, back then. Printed circuit boards make for greater reliability and FETs are both more reliable and predictable than tubes, with no penalty in sound.

For quite some time, it has been well known that FETs are capable of the same sort of response as tubes, but they have only hit the market in the last 10 - 15 years in any numbers, at least when it comes to guitar products. The Jazz Amp is a perfect example, a modern, reliable amp that the old school jazzers are accepting as a valid replacement for their old GA-50s.

I’m glad to see the Surfy Bear bringing this technology to market at a very friendly price. Hopefully this will,be just the beginning.

i thank you for the kind words of course and trust me, like anyone here, i am totally a tube guy, a showman guy. that is what i use daily. but i am often in strange situations where the sound is not what you would want. to need to find workarounds to do a decent show and give that feelings. the surfybear project starts out of necessity, not just a plain intent to replace the fender unit because it would not make any sense. this said i hear many people complaining about the fender reverb unit, reissue is bad, they break easily... well i have 3 reissues and an old one. nothing ever broke on me. always in the car in a proper flight case shaking it all way around, and never broken anything. so my question would be: why people break the fender tanks? look: i am co-owner of surfy industries and i defend the fender unit

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

thanks but i want to say again that it’s clerly a matter of taste. anyway before complaining about an effect (reverb in this case) make sure what stuff you are playing with: guitar and amp and still the most important things. once you have those then comes the rest. you cannot expect that a princeton sounds like a showman because of a pedal effect. it does not work this way unfortunately.

AND: good stuff costs money. sorry to say there is nothing cheap and good. when you pay an amp $4000 you realize where that money went when you are ON stage, not at home testing it. when you are in a crappy location or bad sounding situation is when those $4000 come to your mind and make you say “it was worth spending that money”.

A matter of taste, yes, but when some dude makes a YouTube video of 'Creating That Classic Surf Drip' and it doesn't sound close, making claims of getting close, etc... I wonder, where do we draw the line and ask folks to stop spreading misinformation about getting that sound?

I searched for years, did a ton of reading, tried lots of reverb pedals and built in reverbs in amps... never got there UNTIL I learned about SB on this forum last year.

People like that guy don't make it any easier for someone to realize the sound that they are wanting to have.

synchro wrote:

Gilette wrote:

Surfer_Joe_1961 wrote:

The dwell all the way up sounds more authentic to me - To me doesn't quite get there -

I had you mistaken for another Surfer Joe. It's a bit confusing because the Surfer Joe we know is very knowledgable about these reverbs, and on top of that, partner in SurfyIndustries.

It is a bit confusing. The original Surfer Joe is pretty well known in these parts.

Sorry about that - I was thinking of the song by the Surfaris - and the year I was born. I heard of Surfer Joe and saw his band playing on youtube before - I did not know he was on here - the site accepted my name - I live on the east coast and know nothing of the west coast scene outside of videos on YouTube I just joined a week ago - I will change my Username.

Ok maybe I should change it to SurfieBear No I won't do that either -

Yeah the amp and cab have a big influence on the overall sound I'll buy that- so the SurfieBear I imagine would sound different through different rigs etc... I may get this anyway being I'm a reverb freak - I am looking at all kinds of types - I like rack units I guess I could put a bear in a cage

Last edited: Jan 24, 2019 17:08:26

wfoguy wrote:

When I 1st read about this 112 pages ago and prior to building several of them, I was aware of 2 items: it works and it's inexpensive. Why there is further discussion about that escapes me.

We have to talk about something.

The artist formerly known as: Synchro

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

Surfing_Sam_61 wrote:

wfoguy wrote:

When I 1st read about this 112 pages ago and prior to building several of them, I was aware of 2 items: it works and it's inexpensive. Why there is further discussion about that escapes me.

its good to keep talking because I never heard of it before joining this site. Still not sure if this is a kit to put together or both versions? Stuff like this always needs promo being there are always people that never saw it before etc....

It’s sold in both forms. The kit is, I believe $80, plus shipping from Overseas (which is quite reasonable). You have to come up with a cabinet, and buy your own pan, but it’s a hell of a good sounding unit.

The fun comes from devising an enclosure. Surfy Industries sells a faceplate, so the knobs can be well labeled, but it would seem that everyone has their own idea regarding an enclosure. I’ve seen more than one built into a tool box. Some fellows have built the PCB into a small enclosure and mounted the pan beneath their pedalboards. I’m thinking of buying/building one myself, but am up in the air regarding an enclosure. Time will tell.

The artist formerly known as: Synchro

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