Never been a joiner, and i come from the same place. Seeya on the other side.Let us not forget that we are talking about SURF GUITAR here, ok? SURF.
It’s not a tone, it’s an attitude, a feeling. It came from California and it won’t die because it makes us feel good. Hell, even women dig it.
We’re loadin’ up the woody. You in or out, man?
Dude! Annette is coming!Never been a joiner. Seea on the other side.
I'll leave the porch light on.Dude! Annette is coming!
Ohhhhhhh yeahhhh.... Love that pedal board and feelin' exceptionally groovy having seen it. I have the Blossom Point and the Keeley and the Immerse by Neunaber...... I love that reverb pedal. When dove deep to buying one, it was a "finalist" that eventually went to the Source Audio Ventris. But, I cannot deny the the quality and goodness from Neunaber and especially the Immerse.For pedalboard aficionados, here is an update to my pic above. The auto-swell pedal is very rarely used and really belongs on a dedicated mini-board with a compressor, a digital delay, and a digital reverb — all patched straight into the amp or my Apollo interface. In its place, after the compressor of course, a basic tremolo pedal that is used far more often. This board is for studio use only, as I have retired from live shows. Too much work for too little return — live original music is no country for old men.
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Thanks! I used to have two pedalboards in the studio, a big one for electric and a smaller one for acoustic. Took up a lot of room and I never used 80% of them, so I decided to pick just six I absolutely needed for recording, plus three pedals for ambient tracks. It’s amazing what a little self-discipline can do to focus the creative mind.
I learned never to contradict a lawyer.
I saw a JHS Show with Ryan from 60 Cycle Hum, where they tested a number of Spring Reverb pedals and talked about Drip. When they got to the Catalinbread Topanga, Ryan opined that the pedal didn’t have strong drip, but that it was a good Surf sound.Let us not forget that we are talking about SURF GUITAR here, ok? SURF.
It’s not a tone, it’s an attitude, a feeling. It came from California and it won’t die because it makes us feel good.
We’re loadin’ up the woody. You in or out, man?
West Coast Bluegrass: I like that.
I’ve seen some effects recently that purport to emulate various lengths of patch cable. Sounds like a switchable cap, to me; just like the mud switch. With a 1 Meg input impedance, even a 50’ cable should be ok, although it wouldn’t be my first choice. 100’? Wow, that’s a lot! The only input impedance I could find for the REs was 66 kilohm, which is exceptionally low. Well, whatever.
I had wondered how a Strat would do with one of these. I would think that it should be a great match. The only variable,, is output level of tne guitar, and you’ve already addressed that.
Actually, the point here was, in part, to demonstrate that long cable runs are not problematic as long as the impedances are in order.
Dammit! Now I have to buy a Surfy Bear reverb. Curse you, Synchro!Flash Report from Stately Synchro Labs:
it is a rainy, drizzly, good-for-nothing day, here in the Sonoran Desert, and I am just recovering from the mother of all allergy attacks. Of course, this is merely nature’s way of telling us that we should stay inside, and goof around with effects.
So, not wanting to defy the natural order of things, I did just that, by defying what many people consider the natural order of external reverb tanks. Simply stated, I plugged my Fender Reissue tank, in front of the Blossom point, to see what would happen. I have to say that the Blossom Point did not fail to impress. Actually, I think that this was to most dramatic demonstration of just what the Blossom Point does, that I’ve seen, so far.
The signal chain was very simple: Telecaster - Tank - Blossom Point - Amp. Because everything was on, the impedances were just fine, with 1 megohm input at the tank, the Blossom Point and the amp, and low output impedances on every device. There was about 40’ of George L’s cable involved. This could have been shortened, had I cared to move the tank right next to my chair, but I didn’t care to do that; so sue me.
So I’ll get right to the point, and state that this setup drips. I put the Astronaut’s Baja on, and the drip I was getting compared favorably to that recording, which is thought to be the Holy Grail of reverb drip. In fact, I could actually get too much drip, in some situations, or perhaps more accurately, the drip could get a bit overwhelming, but that actually serves to demonstrate the value of the Presence control.
With the Presence dimed, the drip was a bit much, literally in excess of what I heard on the Astronaut’s recording. But if I rolled the Presence back a little, the drip was perfect. This is the real thing; genuine springs, dripping and a Presence control, which either accentuates, or attenuates the level of the drip. Bloody clever, these Presence controls.
Today’s experiments taught me a thing or two about drip. Drip is a natural effect that I have observed in both Spring and Plate reverb. I won’t go on record regarding any other reverb types. I think that drip happens when there is metal involved. Drip could occur with reverb from echo based sources, such as Hall or Room reverb, but that would require that there was something present in those spaces, which would resonate with the high frequencies which comprise drip. Spring and Plate reverbs are not actually reverb, but are actually emulations of natural reverb. They are delightful emulations, and they bring some good things to the table; good things like drip.
One other thing about drip, is that it is highly dependent upon the characteristics of the signal hitting the input of the reverb unit. It is well known that drip usually happens when the strings are lightly damped. It also helps, immensely, if the string is struck abruptly, with a bit of a snap. When the drip hits the Blossom Point, it seems to … well … blossom. When the signal comes out of a literal tube-driven reverb tank and passes into a Blossom Point, there is an obvious sonic difference. The drips, apparently, are compressed slightly, and then trail off more slowly. It’s a very brilliant sound.
Perhaps this even helps to explain why the Brown-Panel Showman is so strongly associated with the sound of Surf music. The interaction between a 6G15 reverb tank and the Presence control in a 6G14 Showman amp is a perfect setup for generating, and controlling spring-reverb drip. I’ve never played an amp with a Presence control at gig volumes, but after this test, I can see exactly how the 6G15 into a 6G14 (or into a 6G7 Bandmaster) would be perfect for Surf sounds in a live setting.
The big question that came to mind, regarding this pedal, was just how it would go about creating a Brown-Panel sound. From what I can tell, the Blossom Point does not change the EQ. It seems not to color the signal, in tne sense of a tone control, or some simulation of a Brown-Panel tone stack, but it adds the Presence control, which basically adds a degree of sonic presence, which I assume that accomplish with a negative feedback loop in an Op Amp with the tone cut which acts to reduce damping of highs, because the logic of a negative feedback loop is inverted. Very clever, and exactly the logic of the Presence control on an amp. So, at least to my satisfaction, Surfy Industries seems to live up to the claim they make regarding this product.
They are said to sound just like a 6G15, and the demos I’ve hear seem to bear this out.Dammit! Now I have to buy a Surfy Bear reverb. Curse you, Synchro!
I don't have a 6G15, but I do have. Surfybear metal, which is just the true bypass version of the classic, for $100 less. It's huge sounding for sure.
I have to say that Surfy Industries knocked it out of the park with their tanks.
I’ll be interested in hearing about that pedal.
