ludobag wrote:

bjoish wrote:

ludobag wrote:

Hi Bjorn
is it possible with the old circuit to have a way to choose between 2 mix preset ,with a switch for exemple connected to 2 pots ,a simple derivative with a 2dpt position 1; one pot position 2 second pot
for surf thing mix high and for other stuff mix less ?
i study also to exchange my 2pdt switch on off for a 3ptt on bypass off

Sure, with a 2-pole toggle switch you can switch between two Mixer pots.
The problem is that you probably want a long cable and a footswitch. That can be complicated with that many wires. A long cable may also pickup hum and add capacitance.

i just want to change the on off Switch on the châssis no need of footswitch just put a 3 way instead off, bypass ,on
and for the pot how do you do for the same pot with 2 value cause if i Can avoid to redrill the châssis for it ,is double pot with push pull exist ?it Will bé cool to choose the seting for both and alternate between with the push pull

?

Ludo, sorry for the late answer.
I had to draw this in order to explain. This is how I did Mixer-pot-switching on my reverb units. I used relays but you can use a 2-pole toggle switch if you prefer this. On Ebay you can find 250k lin concentric double pots, see pic below.

Tanks Bjorn for the drawing
Mel you have to find a little relay who work in 12v ,a relay is an électric Switch at one side electricity contrôle the ôther side who is Switch

Finally finished, after reading instructions and taking notice the pots had different values... Well, I got to practice my soldering skills a little extra.

Everythings works as supposed. But...
After watching some of the forum members videos and listening to sound samples I actually feel I miss the final touch. I have tested 2 tanks of recommended model (MOD and accutronics) but don´t get the really deep wet drip. When muting strings it sounds OK but not even close playing open strings. Think Surfites, or the Astronauts. Surfer Joe on The Kilaueas and Surfer Joe play the Astronauts & more got the sound I´m looking for.

Any trick or tip to share how to improve that anyone?

Last edited: Sep 13, 2016 14:13:38

Rustan wrote:

Finally finished, after reading instructions and taking notice the pots had different values... Well, I got to practice my soldering skills a little extra.

Everythings works as supposed. But...
After watching some of the forum members videos and listening to sound samples I actually feel I miss the final touch. I have tested 2 tanks of recommended model (MOD and accutronics) but don´t get the really deep wet drip. When muting strings it sounds OK but not even close playing open strings. Think Surfites, or the Astronauts. Surfer Joe on The Kilaueas and Surfer Joe play the Astronauts & more got the sound I´m looking for.

Any trick or tip to share how to improve that anyone?

@rustan I don't have a surfy bear, but I have a reissue fender reverb unit that had a MOD pan. I don't think the MOD pans work we'll for that bright surfy drippy reverb sound. Those older 4AB3C1C or 4AB3C1B accutronics/gibbs tanks are magical... That being said when I switched to a new (Korean) Accutronics pan my sound improved a ton over the MOD pan. The mod pans sound to cave like with tons of echo/reflections. Again I haven't compared a surfy bear to a fender reverb unit "in person" but the surfy bear not having tubes could affect the overall feel and sound. Others may think differently, but there's something in the way a tube responds (compression/warmth/dynamic/heat/inconsistency, etc) vs how JFET replicates what a stable tube would do. One thing you can try is to reduce your bass eq to see if you get more drip. The drip is in the treble frequencies (I'm also not a fan of C10 change in the reissue units either - changes the reverb response) ... Can you get your ears/hands on a reverb unit to compare? That will help you know if what you hear in your head you can get with the Surfy Bear. Be careful comparing to recordings - there's a ton of stuff (eq/mastering/mic's/room/etc) that affect a final recording.

Last edited: Sep 13, 2016 15:05:24

If you want to do a quick hearing comparison, here I am noodling on a Fender Reissue Reverb Unit w/new Korean Accutronics pan, GE 6K6, JAN 12AT7, cheap chinese 12AX7. Internal components are stock. All knobs @ 5 played on a Strat w/bridge pickup.

More of a comment on general reverb unit usage than the Surfy Bear project (that I have, but just have been too lazy to build the kit!).
As time went on, I just used slight variations on the 6-6-6 on my Fender RI unit but only recently started using a 3-7-7 setting that I saw in a photo of DD's reverb unit in one of the threads here on SG101.

Much more usable because it is less swampy but retains the splat/drip...the reverb just does not smear the whole guitar tone as it tends to do with 6-6-6 so the clarity of the tremolo picking comes through better. YMMV. 6-6-6 works fine for sustained chords.
BTW, I have the Korean Accutronics in my RI unit although with the 3-7-7 settings.
Re: the MOD pan - I wonder if the rather long decay (too long for 6-6-6 settings, IMO) would be tamed using 3-7-7?

Lorne
The Surf Shakers: https://www.facebook.com/TheSurfShakers
Vancouver BC Canada

Last edited: Sep 14, 2016 06:21:05

I agree with Bjorn about the pans. It can make a huge difference, just as it can with the tube tanks. When I built my Surfy Bear, I used a new accutronics pan, which sounded very nice, but the decay was too long for my tastes. I found an old Gibbs pan and with the shorter decay I can get splash much more like my 1963 Reverb with its original pan.

The newer tanks seem to have MORE / longer decay on the springs. The MOD pans are the worse offenders in my book, MOD pans sound like you're in a cave. The newer Accutronics pans are better than the MOD's with less decay and more brightness but still not the same decay as the older pans. What I find with the new Accurtonics pan, is start with Dwell at 3, Mix at 3, Tone around 5 - and go from there.

Last edited: Sep 16, 2016 08:37:15

Greetings! New to this great site, stumbled onto it while searching for Fender Reverb Unit info and found Surfy Bear instead. I placed an order immediately and have all of my parts in and now I am ready to start putting it together. I appreciate all of the info in this thread (you guys are great!) and I'll post pics of mine as it comes together. The post office chose to bend my faceplate decal but hopefully it will not be very creased once it is applied.

bjoish wrote:

I bought a few old pans on Ebay, some of them sounded good, some sounded 'metallic' in a bad way. So I dont think they always age in a good way.

Agree. When there was a problem initially with Vibrolux pan my local tech offered me full access to his bakery-rack size secret stash of old pans to try out. I took 5 home, kept 1 as the replacement & bought a 2nd. But returned the others which really sounded pretty poor.

"don't always age in a good way." That's a good description.

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.