Rich_S
Joined: Feb 17, 2014
Posts: 30
Potsdam, NY
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Posted on Sep 06 2015 09:39 AM
I've been playing guitar 40+ years, but never surf. I decided a while back that I was going to start playing it at home, just for fun. I have a Muchxs blackface Champ clone head with a 1-12 cab that will do surfish tones, given my modest volume needs.
As some others said above, I thought I'd just have to add reverb and tremolo and I'd be set. I had a BYOC 2-knob tremolo lying around, sniped a cheap used FRV-1 off eBay, and I'm good to go, right?
Well, no. I need a tuner. Fortunately, I had a pair of Petersen StroboStomps on the shelf, given to me by a friend a few years ago when the whole "poly" thing swept the tuner market and he just had to upgrade. And if my surf interest veers into instro/spaghetti western, I'll need a Fuzzrite, right? Right? Good thing I have a spare DIY Fuzzrite sitting around (it was too big for my main board, so I built a second, smaller one).
Oh, look... my OneSpot daisy-chain has one more 9 volt plug left over. I wonder if I'll ever need a "more" button? Just a clean-to-slightly gritty boost for solos or whatever? Well, there's that Soul Food a buddy gave me after he tried it and decided Klon-style ODs were not for him.
So now my simple, play-at-home surf rig is up to five pedals (only one of which I had to purchase, thankfully) and I haven't played a note.
Since I'm a total noob at this genre, comments, advice, and suggestions are welcome, except for "Stop fiddling around with your pedals and start playing the damn guitar!" That particular bit of wisdom is already painfully obvious.
Last edited: Sep 06, 2015 11:22:51
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Vince_Ray
Joined: Aug 26, 2015
Posts: 252
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Posted on Sep 06 2015 12:32 PM
On a budget, the Behringer Reverb Machine is fun, cheap and the spring reverb is kinda cool, not too digital sounding. But I'm always on a budget. Superfuzz clones are fun too, lots of usable filth there
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spy
Joined: Mar 29, 2007
Posts: 815
Athens, Greece
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Posted on Sep 07 2015 05:16 AM
No pedals over here! Never liked anything for instro-surf, only a reverb unit. 
— Every word is like an unecessary stain on silence and nothingness.
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surferjoemusic
Joined: Jan 01, 2008
Posts: 2105
Livorno
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Posted on Sep 07 2015 07:19 AM
casey wrote:
Anyone concerned with the degradation in tone from all the pedals? I found it to be a problem, ended up getting one of these:
http://www.tonebone.com/loopbone.php
Bypasses your pedals when you don't need them while maintaining your tone and feel of the guitar. Great product.
I am concerned with the degradation of SURF MUSIC by using pedals  (just joking of course).
I do not currently use any pedal. Not even the tuner as I do not usually need any retuning during the show.
But I quite liked in the past the Fender Bassman FBM-1, the only thing that really emulate brownface sound for me, allowing to have a full brownface attitude sound even at low volume.The FRV-1 alone is not enough and keeps the sound quite thin and harsh. Putting the Boss FBM-1 after it, the FRV-1 reverb gets full and it is really similar to the analog proper sound.
— Lorenzo "Surfer Joe" Valdambrini
(www.surfmusic.net)
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spy
Joined: Mar 29, 2007
Posts: 815
Athens, Greece
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Posted on Sep 07 2015 07:40 AM
surferjoemusic wrote:
I am concerned with the degradation of SURF MUSIC by using pedals (just joking of course).
About degradation, when using pedals, how often do you play with none of them. Almost all players are using one or two all the time. In this case you don't have any degradation as they are acting like buffers. Unless, those two are from a pedalboard with 20 pedals!
Also, if you're using any Boss pedal (or any like Boss), it's a buffer when it's closed so it helps a lot not loosing the highs.
Good cables are must over here, too. Don't use those colored cheap ones.
Of course, don't forget that the amp has a tonestack! If you turn a little bit clockwise the Treble pot everything come to its place.
— Every word is like an unecessary stain on silence and nothingness.
Last edited: Sep 07, 2015 07:53:19
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Ariel
Joined: Aug 29, 2009
Posts: 1556
Israel
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Posted on Sep 07 2015 08:34 AM
spy wrote:
surferjoemusic wrote:
I am concerned with the degradation of SURF MUSIC by using pedals (just joking of course).
About degradation, when using pedals, how often do you play with none of them. Almost all players are using one or two all the time. In this case you don't have any degradation as they are acting like buffers.
He (SurferJoe) said surf MUSIC.  MUSIC.
Sometimes a buffers could introduce degradation in form of squeaky highs, unnatural feel, or bad interaction with analog reverb, for ex.
Generally though, anything that you put between PU'ps and amp can either degrade or improve, it's a matter of circumstance and preference.
Effects are cool and fun. Reverb is an effect. When I use them in the context of SURF, it's mostly to imitate or facilitate functions that exist in amps anyway.
Delay and looper are great for harmonic and rhythmic practice, if an excuse is to be made.
But this is what this thread is about, so why be apologetic?
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spy
Joined: Mar 29, 2007
Posts: 815
Athens, Greece
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Posted on Sep 07 2015 08:56 AM
DreadInBabylon wrote:
Generally though, anything that you put between PU'ps and amp can either degrade or improve, it's a matter of circumstance and preference.
Totally agree with that.
— Every word is like an unecessary stain on silence and nothingness.
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sonni
Joined: Nov 08, 2006
Posts: 80
Vienna, Austria
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Posted on Sep 07 2015 03:11 PM
sometimes (not in general, of course), a little degradation can be quite fun! just leave aside the reverb tank for once and try a little cheapo can like the spring king, for example...
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GregEL
Joined: Mar 16, 2016
Posts: 217
Highland CA
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Posted on Jul 02 2016 07:48 AM
Crybaby
TC Electronics Dark Matter
Boss TR-2 Tremelo
TC Electronics Flashback Mini Delay
TC Electronics Flashback Delay (Use the two delays for Hank Marvin stuff)
Gomez G-Spring
Mustang III v2 clean Twin setting ABY-ed with BJr III Tweed
Pedaltrain Nano board
Snark Tuner
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Chippertheripper
Joined: Mar 11, 2011
Posts: 819
Semass
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Posted on Jul 02 2016 10:30 AM
I don't know if I threw my cap in this ring yet or not, but I paired down to a:
Tuner
Fuzz
Trem
Adineko
G-spring
The gspring and adineko are on all the time.
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JObeast
Joined: Jul 24, 2012
Posts: 2762
Finknabad, Squinkistan
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Posted on Jul 02 2016 11:12 AM
I love the unadulterated sound of my blonde Bandmaster either into its native tone ring D120F or Altec 417. The Normal channel this gets fed from the guitar to the Surfy Bear Reverb via an ABY.
BUT I also like gain stages, modulation and exotic reverbs and echoes. So the tremolo channel on the Bandmaster gets a signal through a pedalboard populated in this order:
Rangemaster
Maestro-type Fuzz
RAT-type 'stortion
Fulldrive2
Damage Control Womanizer class A preamp/compressor
Maxon Analog Delay
Hall of Fame Mini
Maggie Stereo Vibrato
The idea of the rig is to enable dual musical personality - 1st wave surf vs. Everything Else.
The Womanizer is an element that most tweaks the signal to give the impression of an entirely different amp, with the Bandmaster serving as a more-or-less neutral power amp.
— Squink Out!
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Wombat
Joined: Oct 13, 2011
Posts: 251
Byron Bay, Australia
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Posted on Jul 02 2016 05:48 PM
Pedals are fun, but I try not over use them, my surf pedalboard is
Korg Tuner
Boss OD-3 (for slight overdrive)
Boss Giga Delay
Boss Rv-3 (for digital reverb)
Remote off/on switch for Fender Amp tremolo (Princton, Deluxe or Bandmaster)
Remote off/on switch for 63 RI reverb tank
— 'Surf Music Lasts Forever'
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mike_fried
Joined: Aug 02, 2012
Posts: 161
Nashville, TN
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Posted on Jul 03 2016 12:21 PM
I have two pedalboards that I choose from depending on the gig. Most often I'm doubling on guitar when playing pedal steel into a Quilter Steelaire. In that case the board (currently) has a Harben Synthesia Drive> EHX Small Stone Nano> TC Flashback> Topanga reverb> Malekko Omnicron Trem> Tech21 Blonde preamp> amp's FX return jack. The front end of the Steelaire takes the pedal steel> Zoom multi FX; the amp's footswitch selects the FX loop for the guitar board. Kind of a pain to set up but easier than carrying two amps PLUS a pedalbaord. I used to use a 1x15 Fender Twin for both but the Steelaire is half the weight and has twice the power...
When using a dedicated guitar amp (often without onboard trem and/or reverb), a smaller board has a DYI germanium fuzz face> MXR Studio Comp> TC Alter Ego V2> Strymon Flint. In either case, my pedal tuner is either off the board or I use a headstock tuner. I use Godlyke Power-alls to daisy-chain power on the boards with zero ill effects (IME the best compact pedal PS on the market - 2000 ma, lifetime warranty, $25-30).
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CrazyAces
Joined: Jul 31, 2012
Posts: 4052
Nashville, TN.
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Posted on Jul 03 2016 01:13 PM
Interesting coincidence, this thread being revived.
I just scaled back on pedals recently.
Now down to:
EH Pitchfork
Joyo Voodoo Octave fuzz
Ibanez Mostortion
Zoom MS-50
and then depending on the gig or travel a Reissue Tank or Reverb Pedal.
Still deciding how I want to mount my Surfy Bear.
Cheers,
Jeff
— http://www.facebook.com/CrazyAcesMusic
http://www.youtube.com/user/crazyacesrock
http://www.reverbnation.com/crazyacesmusic
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stratdancer
Joined: Dec 11, 2013
Posts: 2532
Akron, Ohio
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Posted on Jul 04 2016 06:41 AM
I recently downsized from two pedalboards to one. I had a large board for my hard rock rigs and I decided to plug my surf PB into the marshall and blackstar amps playing my les paul. It sounded just as great for crunch metal as it does for surf.
EP Boost
Soul Food
Fuzz Face Clone
Joyo Trem
Barefoot Baby Pink Boost
TC Electronics Flashback
Strymon El Cap
Surfy Bear Reverb
— The Kahuna Kings
https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Kahuna-Kings/459752090818447
https://thekahunakings.bandcamp.com/releases
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Badger
Joined: Nov 16, 2013
Posts: 4536
Wisconsin
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Posted on Jul 04 2016 07:01 AM
Mine seems large to me but small in comparison to many I've seen. There is a small one to grab that is usually put away in a grab bag that has:
Fuzzrite I built
Modified TS overdrive
FRV-1
The main board currently has:
EP Boost
Boss CS-3 compressor
An old analog delay from the 80's that may move to the grab-bag
Strymon El Cap for echo
MXR Graphic EQ
Older red-knob Tremulator
(The Trem will go onto the smaller board once the Surfy Trem gets here.)
Then into an A/B/Y to select the Vibrolux and/or the Vox
The Vibrolux path picks up the Gomez G-Spring tank.
— 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.
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kas
Joined: Feb 24, 2016
Posts: 44
St. Petersburg
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Posted on Jul 04 2016 07:55 AM
My current set up is as follows:
Boss PW-10 Wah (okay, not a surf pedal at all but it has a very cool uni-vibe mode that I like a lot)
MXR DynaComp for some extra punch in the few places
OKKO Diablo overdrive (currently in "always on" mode with very low gain settings)
ProCo RAT2
SubDecay Baby Quasar phaser
Moog Minifooger analog delay
As for the reverb, I prefer to use the spring reverb of my Fender Blues Deluxe combo.
— The Air Cats Band - Instrumental surf-rock music from Russia
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revmike
Joined: Feb 26, 2006
Posts: 3743
North Atlantic
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Posted on Jul 04 2016 08:32 AM
My set up varies depending on the gig.
1.Planet Waves tuner > EHX Soul Food > MXR Carbon Copy > Reissue tank > amp
2.Reissue Tank > amp
3.Amp
The last outdoor show we did a couple of days ago I went straight into my Garnet Revolution II amp and used the onboard reverb. Recording wise I will add in a Fuzzbrite pedal for that Davie Allan sound.
Rev
— Canadian Surf
http://www.urbansurfkings.com/
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El_Guerrero
Joined: Mar 22, 2012
Posts: 23
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
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Posted on Jul 04 2016 08:36 AM
Either a Vick Audio MosFUZZ or Bigfoot F.X. Spaghetti Western Fuzz
Xotic EP Booster, Mooer PURE Boost, Movall Minotaur, T.C. Electronic Spark Boost, or Analogman DOD Overdrive Preamp 250 (I can't make up my mind which I like better - it's a dilemma)
Joyo Tremolo
Original '65 Spring Reverb
Analogman Boss GE-7 Equalizer
I also use a Catalinbread Echorec or BBE Two Timer Delay if I'm playing rockabilly
Sometimes a Joyo Compressor
Tech 21 Blonde and DigiTech DigiVerb for back-ups.
— Chris
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tubeswell
Joined: Sep 24, 2011
Posts: 1424
Wellington, NZ
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Posted on Oct 31 2016 02:02 PM
Quite often I'll just use a reverb tank with a subtle amount of rangemaster treble boost in front of it - works nice with a jazzmaster.
Although I do use a cheap belcat delay with a tweed princeton amp for quiet home jamming.
I also use a hotcake for grind and I have a B9 and a 720 stereo looper for fancy footwork.
When I want real fancy surround sound, I use a A/B/Y splitter pedal going into two different amps with a different array of effects chained to each amp.
But nuthing is a good as going straight into a BF amp with a Jag/JM/strat/ bigsby-tele/Gretsch, or my P90 loaded surfboard caster. LoL
— He who dies with the most tubes... wins
Surf Daddies
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