tubeswell
Joined: Sep 24, 2011
Posts: 1424
Wellington, NZ
|
Posted on Jul 27 2016 03:05 AM
Guitarwise, anything with single coils and a whammy bar. I love the smooth trem of Jags and Jazzmasters, and sound-wise they are the bees knees for me. (Although the chime of a nice tele or the quack of a strat has its own charm). Gretschs can also be good - bigsbys are cool and filtertrons have their own sound mojo. I love strats for their comfortable feel and ease of fretting.
Ampwise, I like 6L6 guitar amps for surf. Anything that delivers a clean loud sound 40-100W or more. But Princeton Reverbs or Deluxe Reverbs (6V6s) are real sweet too at lower volumes and are okay for small clubs and bars (and don't break your back).
A reverb tank is a 'must have' acquisition.
— He who dies with the most tubes... wins
Surf Daddies
|
Pihabeach82
Joined: Sep 29, 2015
Posts: 470
|
Posted on Jul 27 2016 06:09 AM
40-100 watt or more!!?
tubeswell wrote:
Guitarwise, anything with single coils and a whammy bar. I love the smooth trem of Jags and Jazzmasters, and sound-wise they are the bees knees for me. (Although the chime of a nice tele or the quack of a strat has its own charm). Gretschs can also be good - bigsbys are cool and filtertrons have their own sound mojo. I love strats for their comfortable feel and ease of fretting.
Ampwise, I like 6L6 guitar amps for surf. Anything that delivers a clean loud sound 40-100W or more. But Princeton Reverbs or Deluxe Reverbs (6V6s) are real sweet too at lower volumes and are okay for small clubs and bars (and don't break your back).
A reverb tank is a 'must have' acquisition.
|
revmike
Joined: Feb 26, 2006
Posts: 3743
North Atlantic
|
Posted on Jul 27 2016 07:50 AM
My Vibrosonic is from the early 1960's. The amp is pre Reverb so I use a reissue Fender tank.
Rev
elpacifico wrote:
revhank wrote:
elpacifico wrote:
JObeast wrote:
If you plan to play beyond the bedroom those amps won't take you far. Get 15 watts (tube amps sound louder) at least, and a 12"'speaker
You think A Fender Blues Junior could pull off good surf and would be suitable for small shows?
Something to consider is that smaller (less powerful) amps are not always a good idea for small shows due to the fact that there will probably be no PA to mic the amp through. At the very least you will need something to project your sound out to the audience, and compete with the other instruments. Small amps will certainly work in larger venues that will mic your amp, and have monitors to help hear yourself on stage.
My usual amp (for big and small venues) is a 35 watt Fender Vibrosonic with a 15" speaker. It is powerful enough for a room of about 100 people without miking, and for any larger gig it gets miked.
Rev
PS for a small amp/big venue example Neil Young's main stage amp is a 15 watt late 50s tweed Fender Deluxe with a 12" speaker (miked, of course)
Thanks! A 35 watt Fender Vibrosonic with a 15" speaker sounds like the way to go then and ill keep a look out for some good deals, what do you use for the reverb? or does the Fender Vibrosonic already have a good reverb system?
— Canadian Surf
http://www.urbansurfkings.com/
|
Pihabeach82
Joined: Sep 29, 2015
Posts: 470
|
Posted on Jul 27 2016 12:48 PM
My ac15 is stooopid loud for a 15w amp. Easily keeps up with our fairly punishingly loud drummer. Keeps clean when needed ,but I like adding a little grit.
I had a hot rod deville for a while, but I did NOT like the sound. Card boardy and kind of mid focused.
I ho early had intended to get a blonde bassman combo clone built (even put the deposit down last year) but that fell through so I was left with my vox and made do to start with. But now I love it.
|
shake_n_stomp
Joined: Jan 09, 2014
Posts: 600
Vancouver BC
|
Posted on Jul 28 2016 09:03 AM
Surf gear can be a bit of a rabbit hole. You will undoubtedly get very strong opinions here on SG101.
First of all, make plans to get to the SG101 convention on Aug 13th or at least the Huntington Beach pier show the next morning. Get an idea of what surf music played live sounds like by folks today vs. only using vintage recordings as your gold standard.
Pickups: the OP mentioned Fenders and it would hard to go wrong with those. I am a long-time fan of Seymour Duncan pickups. I have a Strat that came stock with noiseless hot pickups but I wired-up my own pickguard with Seymour Duncan SSL-1s. Affordable and very well-balanced.
When it comes to Strats, I think it is necessary to have the wiring so that one of the 2 tone knobs controls the bridge pickup. Not having a tone control for that bridge P/U is detrimental...rolling off the ice-pick, spikey edge makes it such a great sound.
A 3-knob vintage (or reissue) Fender reverb unit is integral to nailing those classic Cali surf tones. There are pedals like the Boss FRV-1 or the Catalinbread Topanga that are popular but as players home-in on the authenticity of the tone, an actual spring tank is likely where you'd end up. (been there, done that!). The Surfy Bear reverb kit is an avenue to at least be aware of as a possibility. It gets a lot of praise from folks here on SG101
There are posts above mine that talk about tube amps that I cannot really add to. My happiness settled in with a 35 watt Fender '68 Custom Vibrolux Reverb. Vintage-sounding cleans are a must for that trad surf sound.
— Lorne
The Surf Shakers: https://www.facebook.com/TheSurfShakers
Vancouver BC Canada
|
April Birthdays 
