Our Fave Real Spring Reverb Pedal? [Surfy Bear, Echo Fix, White Whale, Headroom & Spring King]

If you must have springs – and you MUST – which one would you choose?

Welcome to the show. Yes we’ve done spring reverbs before, but there are a couple of interesting, relatively recent entrants to the market. So it’s time to get springy once again.
Crazy Tube Circuits has updated the White Whale to V2 and Echo Fix has introduced its own surprisingly compact, real spring ’verb. Dan loves the Headroom, I love the Surfy Bear and – judging by the comments in the last video – you all love the Dano Spring King!
You know the deal, we’ll have a blast through all of ’em and see what we think.
Enjoy the show!

- Why no digital spring reverb pedal?
We wouldn't choose one over a real spring. Ever. Digital is of course fantastic for plates, rooms and all the weird-beardy stuff, and we use those all the time.

- Why don’t you have the big Fender tube one?
They’re rare, we couldn’t find one to borrow and we wouldn’t buy one with our own money. Sorta the same for the Victoria Reverberato. Except we probably would.

- Why didn’t you include the Game Changer Light Pedal?

Enjoy the episode!

Interesting bits and go to sections…
0:00 Intro
1:30 Dans epiphany
2:00 Our spring reverb line up
3:00 Digital spring emulations
3:48 Today’s amps 
5:00 Spring reverb in our amps
7:04 Carl Martin Headroom
10:28 Dan’s loves a short tank
11:28 Surfy Bear
17:40 Danelectro Spring King
22:25 Crazy Tube Circuits White Whale V2
30:00 Surfy Bear as pedalboard?
32:00 Echo Fix Spring Reverb
35:20 Echo Fix direct on/off
35:36 Mythos Herculean Deluxe
40:40 White Whale tremolo
43:15 Deluxe reverb rock
46:27 Different verbs to different amps
50:00 Round up
54:00 Yay spring reverb!

Pedals & Stuff used in this show
• TheGigRig Three2One

• Sonic Research Turbo Tuner 200

• Mythos Herculean Deluxe Overdrive

• Crazy Tube Circuits White Whale V2

• Carl Martin Headroom

• Danelectro Spring King
No longer available new

• Surfy Bear Metal Reverb

• Echo Fix EF-P2 Spring Reverb

• TheGigRig G3S

Amps used in today’s show
• Benson Bellringer 1x12 combo with Benson Custom Ceramic 12-inch speaker

• Fender ’65 Deluxe Reverb with stock speaker
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[simonhirstmusic]

Dang. The Strat into the Herculean was flippin’ righteous.
The reverbs were good also, ha!

[mennoosmusic]

Can I Just say that Dan’s playing was on fire in this episode. Very inspiring sounds, that Jag suits you 😊. Gold strat sounded killer too

[GabrielRice]

in response to dan's question about a band bleeding through the surfy bear... I use one live and I had an awesome moment one time at the end of a song where it picked up the crowd cheering while i had my volante on with high repeats too and it created this HUGE wash of reverby applause. so epic

[elliotgreen]

That's a new challenge idea! Best pedalboard that uses the Surfy Bear as a board please! Loving the episode if only we could have real analog plate reverb pedals!

[bobbiemiles-foremaniii]

Catalinbread Topanga is my favorite by far. It is SO good

The Howard era of catalinbread is such a gold mine

[SalisburySimon]

As a result of your last show featuring the Surfy Bear one has made its way into my house. Occasionally it goes out as part of my rig, but I don't use reverb live, so mostly it stays at home in the loop. It is the end of reverb for me. Nothing else required. The ability to have two different settings (subtle and ridiculous, for example) was the game changer. And it sounds so good. Thank you.

[rhysevancampbell]

Really enjoyed Dan's playing today. Good vibes 😊

[MarkB.Guitar]

The Danelectro Spring King actually has an always-on PT2399 delay circuit built in to it, which is why it has such an exaggerated delay chatracter to it. It can be easily modded to add level and feedback controls for the delay on the top pannel. With the delay level at 0, it loses a lot of its "splashy" character and is probably somewhere closer to the Headroom or EchoFix in character. You can also upgrade the reverb tray in it as well. Really it's a pedal that needs all 3 knobs turned up full at all times, imo! 🌊🏄🏻‍♂

[ToddTheJoker]

This was great guys, with Mick playing his gold strat sometimes but the sound of Dan playing that Jaguar into the Fender and Benson amps is what stood out to me....man I love that sound! Got to get a Jaguar! and oh yeah I loved the Surfy Bear, that and the Carl Martin would be the choice for me! I love Spring Reverb! Thanks guys!

[Tanzi]

Another wonderful episode, thank you chaps! (SB Classic owner here) The magical thing about a real spring reverb is that it envelopes your tone, becoming part of the sound. It's cohesive, unlike a digital reverb, which (in my opinion) feels 'sprinkled on', like a separate layer. I love digital reverbs for synths, but spring and guitar are a match made in sonic heaven!

[DivKid]

The Echo Fix is a fantastic pedal. Really great on a wide range of instruments, it's really shining on electronic/synth sources for me.

[shamsam]

Very pretty chords and flourishes from Dan at the beginning of the White Whale. Fun show as usual! Thanks dudes!

[STMRecords]

The headroom is fantastic. I love the fact you can reduce the decay time by not setting the spring muffler all the way into it's locked position.

[michael_caz_nyc]

That Surfy Bear sounds incredible ( they all do, but that one was extraordinary ). How can anyone not Love Reverb ? Great show fellas.

[Strangel]

That was the most beautiful Jaguar I have ever seen.

[whiskersb]

The name surfybear alone makes me want one.

[thefilthyjesusexperiment]

I spent a year making a valve spring reverb (lamington reverb) The year was working out how to get rid of more noise, neatly compensate for the volume drop and a switch to remotely go between 2 settings. Hadn’t taken to rehearsals for a while because it’s so big. You inspired me to plug it in today. Actual spring tank spring reverb is joyous. Thanks Gents.

[winstonsmith]

That Headroom was my first favorite pedal- absolutely gorgeous sounding

[youKnowWho]

Here I am glued to the Tube, Geeking out as soon as TPS comes on. One of my fave guitar shows.

[_nstone]

Thanks guys for featuring spring reverbs again. I have a SURFYBEAR COMPACT here, in surf green of course 😎 and I love that thing, everytime I plug it in.