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SurfGuitar101 Forums » Gear »

Permalink Blossom Point & SurfyTrem sales pitch and First Wave sound

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weird_oh84
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Joined: May 24, 2023
Posts: 172
Link Posted on Jul 18 2023 12:33 PM

Hey everyone!

In my musical guitar journey of 3&1/2 years now, im still learning the subtle refinements that are possible with the electric guitar , pedals and amps.

I see a lot of folks using the Blossom Point and SurfyTrem pedals on their boards and am very curious as to why…I am genuinely curious about them and will definitely acquire them if they can help me attain a classic , First Wave sound and playability.

1.What exactly does the Blossom Point do ? Why does it exist and can no other (more affordable) pedals do what it does?

2.Why the SurfyTrem ? Why is it better than say my Boss Tr-2? What makes it unique?

I’ve read and reread the info on Surfy Industries website for each and honestly the info seems to be aimed at somewhat advanced players.
Im having a difficult time understanding what these pedals do in the real world and why I should purchase them.

Im an intermediate player at best with a mild learning and comprehension disability and need stuff broken down in order to understand.

Let me also state that I LOVE Surfy Industries!

I’ve purchased both the SuryBear Metal AND Classic , and they’re literally my most prized possessions, even more so than my guitars ! Im so grateful for having them…

So this isn’t a snarky “why should I buy this?!” Post aimed at SI… it’s me trying to finally understand what the hell these pedals do!

Also, my goal is to get a classic , First Wave sound… im not too interested in the modern surf sound (super clean and over produced just doesn’t connect with me)
Aside from these pedals , what other items / effects pedals can help me get that vintage sound? I can’t afford a Showman Amp or even a Deluxe Reverb, but I’m saving up to buy a Quilter Superblock US and a 25 watt cabinet for my new amp set up…

THANKS! Cool

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Goldenbirdies
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Joined: Jun 21, 2018
Posts: 36
Indianapolis, Indiana
United States
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Link Posted on Jul 18 2023 01:30 PM

As a fan of 60s era Surf groups, and being somewhat a technical boob, what I’d say is the Surfy Trem gives a more period accurate experience than a Boss pedal. For instance, the “Brownface” setting has what I’d say is a bit of vibrato-like seasoning to it. Perhaps someone more technically oriented can chime in on this. The “Blackface” setting is more on the choppy side of things. I know these are just abstractions, but I’d say there’s a subtle difference to the Surfy stuff that goes a long way to giving you the early gear experience that modern equipment’s missing. My understanding of the Blossom Point is that it gives you a subtle but important compression/sound that gets you more into classic Fender territory than other compressors/preamps that are available. Someone with experience should know better. And I’d say there’s a bit of pride in having gear specifically designed for this era of music. Especially as vintage gear’s pretty much out of reach unless you save a LOT of dough.

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Samurai
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Joined: Mar 14, 2006
Posts: 2239
Kiev, Ukraine
Ukraine
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Link Posted on Jul 18 2023 02:50 PM

They just sound right. I am not a First Wave sound chaser, I prefer building my own kinda sound, but it’s a perfect base for anything you may want, classic, clean, punchy, spacy, modern, progessive, punky, rocky, heavy, or somewhere in between.

This setup mostly goes into Quilter Superblock US or Palmer Eins and it’s a surfy heaven for me.

image

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Redfeather
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Joined: Jul 30, 2016
Posts: 883
3 Download Pins
Link Posted on Jul 18 2023 11:40 PM

Those two pedals are intended to reproduce (or approximate, really) the sound of the Fender amps of that period, the brownfaces. The Blossom Point is an EQ adjuster, for one thing, adding a lot of mids. And the brown setting on the trem is a reproduction of the harmonic tremolo that the professional series of brownface amps featured (the Showman, for instance.) It sounds similar to a Univibe, if you're familiar with that pedal.

Keep in mind, while you hunt, that the most important thing really is the music you play and the way you play it, not what you play it on or through. Not every original surf band was playing Fender guitars through Showman or Bandmaster amps, after all. They played whatever they could afford or scrounge up, I reckon. I'd say the only truly crucial element is the reverb tank and you got that covered.

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archimedes
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Joined: Dec 10, 2006
Posts: 104
Link Posted on Jul 19 2023 12:21 PM

I also am going for a mostly first wave sound approach with my gear. I am currently using a superblock US (and sometimes a Quilter 101 non reverb), a Quilter 1x15 Blockdock cab with the Steelaire aluminum dome speaker, a SurfyBear Metal, a Blossom Point, and a JHS 3 series harmonic trem. I have never been more happy with my gear setup. The Blossom Point could possibly be approximated with a compressor/limiter pedal and an eq, and maybe one day I might experiment with this, but it would take a lot of trial and error tweaking and you would have to have/buy two pedals to acheive this effect. The Blossom Point is specifically designed to get that sweating tube sound of a Showman cranked up right before it starts overdriving. There is a beautiful compression and a very nice eq effect that with my rig appears to be broadening the frequency range. Mildly boosted lows and expanded upper treble response that enhances the drip and liveliness of the spring reverb. It is a somewhat subtle effect in some ways, but if you turn it on and play for a few minutes and then turn it off, you’ll instantly want to turn it back on. I can’t imagine not using it for surf music now that I have it. Honestly I use it when I’m playing any other styles as well.

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synchro
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Joined: Feb 02, 2008
Posts: 4446
Not One-Sawn, but Two-Sawn . . . AZ.
United States
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Link Posted on Jul 19 2023 06:02 PM

I’m not absolutely certain of everything the Blossom Point does, but I know that there’s a trim pot marked “Limiter”, so I think I’m saying that it works as a limiter, and perhaps has all the features of a compressor. Tne Presence control suggests to me that there is a Op Amp inside and it’s negative feedback loop can shunt more or less of the higher frequencies of the negative feedback loop to ground, allowing control over how aggressively highs are dampened in that Op Amp. Midrange has been mentioned, and there well may be a change to the device’s EQ to allow more midrange. I know that if you plug it in before a Blackface Fender, it sounds like a Brownface.

The TR-2 isn’t a bad pedal, but it is limited. You can tailor the waveform to resemble Bias Varying trem’, or more of a choppy optically coupled trem’ sound. The Surfy Trem’ has the option for Harmonic Trem’, which is another level, altogether.

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The artist formerly known as: Synchro

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

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ArtS
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Joined: May 09, 2008
Posts: 1348
Isle of Kent, MD
United States
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Link Posted on Jul 20 2023 08:30 AM

Weird,
You may want to visit this link for more detail on the Blossom Point. As others have mentioned it compressor/eq that seems to focus on surf oriented frequencies. I recently bought one, put it in as the last pedal in my chain and love it. See this post for more details.

Blossom Point SG101 Forum Post

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