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SurfGuitar101 Forums » Gear »

The Surfy Bear Fet Reverb

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JObeast Joined: Jul 24, 2012 Posts: 2762 Finknabad, Squinkistan	Posted on May 21 2016 10:58 PM Bjorn, you are the greatest reverberational electronic engineer on the web! Who would dare say you do not stand behind your work? — Squink Out! Top
zunrj5 Joined: Jul 16, 2015 Posts: 259 ID	Posted on May 22 2016 01:58 AM This is my deployment build, definitely not as sexy as the others here, but it sounds great. Really inspiring! It will get a nicer housing when I return to the States. Thanks again Bjorn! — -John The Seatopians 2017- The Seatopians on bandcamp Top
wfoguy Joined: Dec 11, 2011 Posts: 2129	Posted on May 22 2016 06:41 AM ^^^^ Looks good to me. Bjorn's efforts to keep us all going are very good. Can you imagine teaching electronics to a bunch of kids? Top
Badger Joined: Nov 16, 2013 Posts: 4536 Wisconsin	Posted on May 22 2016 12:04 PM wfoguy wrote: ^^^^ Looks good to me. Bjorn's efforts to keep us all going are very good. Can you imagine teaching electronics to a bunch of kids? +1 Bjorn = Numbah One! I sometimes think oldsters are more difficult. My 2 oldest grand-daughters have already grasped the Prime Law*. After that it's all downhill. Their Dad needed some 'splainin' however... "Electrons are lazy." — Wes SoCal ex-pat with a snow shovel DISCLAIMER: The above is opinion/suggestion only & should not be used for mission planning/navigation, tweaking of instruments, beverage selection, or wardrobe choices. Top
JObeast Joined: Jul 24, 2012 Posts: 2762 Finknabad, Squinkistan	Posted on Jun 01 2016 08:44 PM I just want to report how Bjorn came through above and beyond the call of duty when my 2014 FET Reverb board anomalously failed this month. Bjorn generously sent me a new board without my asking. I just got the new 2016 PC board (1/3 the size of the 2014) in the mail and installed it in place of the old one. And my rig is back up and reverberating as it should! Thanks to Bjorn for supporting even old Surfy Bear builds which would by all rights be out of warrantee. Bjorn is the mensch of circuit design! — Squink Out! Top
SanchoPansen Joined: Jan 04, 2011 Posts: 1588 Berlin L-Berg	Posted on Jun 02 2016 02:06 AM Björn is one of the nicest guys on this planet and we can be thankful to have him in our community! — The Hicadoolas Top
JObeast Joined: Jul 24, 2012 Posts: 2762 Finknabad, Squinkistan	Posted on Jun 02 2016 02:59 PM I feel we owe it to him to promote his work to a broader customer base among musicians at large in expression of our gratitude. — Squink Out! Top
JObeast Joined: Jul 24, 2012 Posts: 2762 Finknabad, Squinkistan	Posted on Jun 02 2016 11:11 PM Seems to me the new version of the Surfy Bear produces less distortion and noise than the 2014 build with the large heat sinks. Is that just because the gain is more easily adjusted with the trim pot while the old version needed aixiliary resistors at the input to effect the same control? — Squink Out! Last edited: Jun 02, 2016 23:12:01 Top
bjoish Joined: Jul 06, 2010 Posts: 596 Stockholm	Posted on Jun 03 2016 01:49 AM Thanks guys You are too kind !! These circuits are far from rocket science, I am just happy to have found people with the same interests This friendly, international community is fantastic. Regarding the R5 board. Yes, the gain trimmer makes it possible for me to set the gain of each board to the same value as the 6G15. I have an Arduino based test jig that measures gain and dc voltages at the testpoints. Top
horax Joined: Mar 23, 2011 Posts: 518 colorado springs	Posted on Jun 08 2016 12:25 PM Bjoish, Your inbox is full....what's the cost to have you do the soldering before shipment? Top
bjoish Joined: Jul 06, 2010 Posts: 596 Stockholm	Posted on Jun 08 2016 04:57 PM horax wrote: Bjoish, Your inbox is full....what's the cost to have you do the soldering before shipment? Hi Horax I am sorry, for the moment I have very little time It is actually not difficult to solder, if you are careful! Otherwise I recommend that you find a friend that can help you. Top
JObeast Joined: Jul 24, 2012 Posts: 2762 Finknabad, Squinkistan	Posted on Jun 08 2016 08:53 PM Last night the jam wasn't stellar but the Surfy Bear won the respect of my very particular bandmate (RAT pedal is no go!) who agreed that its sound now gain-adjusted exactly matches the G-Spring he uses. I am superbly stoked. bjoish wrote: Thanks guys You are too kind !! These circuits are far from rocket science, I am just happy to have found people with the same interests This friendly, international community is fantastic. Regarding the R5 board. Yes, the gain trimmer makes it possible for me to set the gain of each board to the same value as the 6G15. I have an Arduino based test jig that measures gain and dc voltages at the testpoints. — Squink Out! Top
derekirving Joined: Nov 03, 2011 Posts: 660	Posted on Jun 21 2016 11:47 PM Surfy Bear owners, do you miss the tube preamp in the fender 6G15's? There's something about that preamp section that adds to the overall vibe of the Fender Reverb Tank. I'm debating building my own Surfy Bear vs buying a Reissue Fender Reverb Unit. Top
SanchoPansen Joined: Jan 04, 2011 Posts: 1588 Berlin L-Berg	Posted on Jun 21 2016 11:55 PM Build both and check out yourself. And to answer your question: nope! — The Hicadoolas Last edited: Jun 21, 2016 23:56:02 Top
da-ron Joined: Jan 02, 2009 Posts: 1308 The original Plymouth, UK.	Posted on Jun 22 2016 01:52 AM I've built both and each has their merits. The surfy bear is far cheaper and easier to build and you have more options for enclosures and the physical size of it. The 6G15 is way more expensive to build. Tone wise I don't think there's much in it. If you only build one, build the surfy bear. It's a gift to us surf guitarists, and a serious improvement on a pedal. I think the valves in a 6G15 give more of an intellectual improvement than an actual audible one. — http://thewaterboarders.bandcamp.com/ Top
SandBug Joined: Feb 22, 2016 Posts: 442 California	Posted on Jun 26 2016 01:17 PM Sorry if everyone has seen this already. Super cool demo vid by Björn himself. The kits are extremely fun to make and sound amazing, but the pedals he makes are next level! Really looking forward to the next phase of production so i can buy one. Last edited: Jun 26, 2016 13:18:19 Top
bjoish Joined: Jul 06, 2010 Posts: 596 Stockholm	Posted on Jun 26 2016 01:41 PM SandBug wrote: Sorry if everyone has seen this already. Super cool demo vid by Björn himself. The kits are extremely fun to make and sound amazing, but the pedals he makes are next level! Really looking forward to the next phase of production so i can buy one. Thanks SandBug, for the kind words! Sorry, but I have to disappoint you. The video is made by my good friend Sven in Bang Mustang! He is a much more talented guitar player than I am Top
remora1 Joined: Jan 04, 2008 Posts: 1276 San Pedro, CA	Posted on Jul 06 2016 11:39 AM Waiting on a couple of components but here's a little preview shot. Surprisingly, everything seems to be going according to plan - — Bill S._______ HELLDIVER on Facebook Top
JObeast Joined: Jul 24, 2012 Posts: 2762 Finknabad, Squinkistan	Posted on Jul 06 2016 01:51 PM Looks intriguing. Is that a tolex-covered all-in-one cabinet pedalboard for use on the floor? remora1 wrote: Waiting on a couple of components but here's a little preview shot. Surprisingly, everything seems to be going according to plan - — Squink Out! Top
JObeast Joined: Jul 24, 2012 Posts: 2762 Finknabad, Squinkistan	Posted on Jul 06 2016 02:26 PM da-ron wrote: I think the valves in a 6G15 give more of an intellectual improvement than an actual audible one. IMHO, the only other possible advantage that point to point wired tube circuits may have over Björn's FET board is robustness. But the cost of even pc board "reissues" which do not really have all of the this robustness is so disproportionate to the intellectual benefit that it's moot. One could literally build several Surfy Bears for the cost of one semi-robust 6G15. The improvements Björn has incorporated into the latest iteration of the FET reverb circuit include new tiny size that allows it to fit enclosures on a pedal board, and more importantly to me, the internal trim pot for gain. While the 2014 build had a fixed gain that could be adjusted by retrofitting resistors at input, the new one is continually adjustable to the input signal. The net effect is tat the 2016 Surfy Bear has a reverb sound with distortion characteristic virtually dentical to the performance of the 6G15. My bandmate, who uses a G-Spring formerly thought the FET sound of the 2014 SB was too distorted to compare favorably to the tube circuit's but he agrees the 2016 build is spot-on. — Squink Out! Top

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