DIY Reverb! Now with added Tremolo
Moderators: Slowy, Capt. Black
- bender
- Darth Fader
- Posts: 11856
- meble-kuchenne.warszawa.pl
- Joined: Fri Feb 02, 2007 12:46 pm
- Location: Dorkland
- Has liked: 416 times
- Been liked: 1016 times
DIY Reverb! Now with added Tremolo
I've been trying to find a good backup option for my Fender '63 Reverb (which is a 6g15 standalone spring reverb unit) for a while now. I've tried a whole bunch of pedals and none of them quite do what I want them to, so I decided to build one of these excellent Surfy Bear FET reverb kits.
http://www.surfyindustries.com/surfybea ... -faceplate
They sell complete spring reverb pedals, tremolo pedals and a DIY kitset version of each. The board comes pre-assembled (it's all SMD so is tiny), and all of the bits you need apart from the chassis, reverb tank and power supply are included.
Here's the board fully assembled and installed in an offset from some cable ducting that I found at work. The FETs are on the back of the board and have adhesive backing so they hold it in place.
I bought an adhesive faceplate with the kit. Looks great!
It normally powers off a standard DC socket, but requires 12v 600mA. I didn't want a wall wart so I'm using this neat little open frame PSU from Meanwell so I can power it off an IEC socket. It's 12v 1.3A.
I've built a little cab for it out of pine. It's the same form factor as the 6g15 cab, but I've made it as small as I could:
For scale.
Gave it a final sand and a couple of coats of tinted varnish today. It's going to look awesome!
I'll hopefully be able to give it a couple more coats and then buff it tomorrow, then I just need to figure out what to do about feet and a handle. I have a tremolo kit too so I might even rehouse it so I can put both in the one enclosure at some point.
It sounds great too. It's a really cost effective way to get a genuine spring reverb for that great surfy drip! I'll try to set up a decent A/B test at some point.
http://www.surfyindustries.com/surfybea ... -faceplate
They sell complete spring reverb pedals, tremolo pedals and a DIY kitset version of each. The board comes pre-assembled (it's all SMD so is tiny), and all of the bits you need apart from the chassis, reverb tank and power supply are included.
Here's the board fully assembled and installed in an offset from some cable ducting that I found at work. The FETs are on the back of the board and have adhesive backing so they hold it in place.
I bought an adhesive faceplate with the kit. Looks great!
It normally powers off a standard DC socket, but requires 12v 600mA. I didn't want a wall wart so I'm using this neat little open frame PSU from Meanwell so I can power it off an IEC socket. It's 12v 1.3A.
I've built a little cab for it out of pine. It's the same form factor as the 6g15 cab, but I've made it as small as I could:
For scale.
Gave it a final sand and a couple of coats of tinted varnish today. It's going to look awesome!
I'll hopefully be able to give it a couple more coats and then buff it tomorrow, then I just need to figure out what to do about feet and a handle. I have a tremolo kit too so I might even rehouse it so I can put both in the one enclosure at some point.
It sounds great too. It's a really cost effective way to get a genuine spring reverb for that great surfy drip! I'll try to set up a decent A/B test at some point.
Last edited by bender on Thu Aug 10, 2017 8:38 am, edited 1 time in total.
- Jay
- Vintage Post Junkie
- Posts: 7809
- Joined: Sat Sep 25, 2010 9:35 pm
- Has liked: 1634 times
- Been liked: 1300 times
Re: DIY Reverb!
Looking good Ben, what material is that front plate?
No shielding required?
No shielding required?
When faced with quality, I recognise it every time.
- Single coil
- BANNED
- Posts: 10050
- Joined: Wed Mar 28, 2012 5:35 pm
- Location: Public toilet
- Has liked: 1110 times
- Been liked: 485 times
Re: DIY Reverb!
That's pretty fuckin cool.
werdna wrote:Well at least I can still make toast in the bath without anyone telling me it's unsafe.
- GrantB
- ADMIN
- Posts: 15907
- Joined: Fri Oct 31, 2003 9:04 am
- Location: Where I need to be
- Has liked: 1360 times
- Been liked: 2098 times
Re: DIY Reverb!
That's cheeeoice! Have you tried the sound / tone? Up to spec?
"Man is the most insane species. He worships an invisible god and destroys a visible nature. Unaware that this nature he's destroying is this god he's worshipping." - Hubert Reeves
- bender
- Darth Fader
- Posts: 11856
- Joined: Fri Feb 02, 2007 12:46 pm
- Location: Dorkland
- Has liked: 416 times
- Been liked: 1016 times
Re: DIY Reverb!
It's fully enclosed in some steel cable ducting so all shielded.jvpp wrote:Looking good Ben, what material is that front plate?
No shielding required?
The front panel is an offcut of some ply with whit laminate front and back that I made some trestle tables out of for my wife.
- bender
- Darth Fader
- Posts: 11856
- Joined: Fri Feb 02, 2007 12:46 pm
- Location: Dorkland
- Has liked: 416 times
- Been liked: 1016 times
Re: DIY Reverb!
It's pretty damn good actually. Need to find a loop switcher pedal of some kind to properly AB it with my Valve one.GrantB wrote:That's cheeeoice! Have you tried the sound / tone? Up to spec?
- StrummersOfThunder
- Vintage Post Junkie
- Posts: 7229
- Joined: Sun Jul 15, 2012 2:23 pm
- Has liked: 823 times
- Been liked: 1315 times
- jeremyb
- Chorus of Organs
- Posts: 41161
- Joined: Sat Dec 06, 2008 9:03 am
- Has liked: 7737 times
- Been liked: 4182 times
Re: DIY Reverb!
Awesome project!!
Slowy wrote: That's the problem; everything rewarding is just such hard work. Regret takes much less effort.
- Jay
- Vintage Post Junkie
- Posts: 7809
- Joined: Sat Sep 25, 2010 9:35 pm
- Has liked: 1634 times
- Been liked: 1300 times
Re: DIY Reverb!
Must say I quite like that feature with the screws sticking out a bit...StrummersOfThunder wrote:Very pleasing to the face
When faced with quality, I recognise it every time.
- AiRdAd
- Vintage Post Junkie
- Posts: 7731
- Joined: Sat Jul 04, 2009 2:33 pm
- Has liked: 57 times
- Been liked: 698 times
Re: DIY Reverb!
Well done!!!!
It's screaming for the 'Bullkelp Surfers' logo on the front - or a cutout from one of your cool posters
It's screaming for the 'Bullkelp Surfers' logo on the front - or a cutout from one of your cool posters
Slowy wrote: To Danny, everyone is either a supplier, customer or a courier.
- bender
- Darth Fader
- Posts: 11856
- Joined: Fri Feb 02, 2007 12:46 pm
- Location: Dorkland
- Has liked: 416 times
- Been liked: 1016 times
Re: DIY Reverb!
I have a plan for the logo...AiRdAd wrote:Well done!!!!
It's screaming for the 'Bullkelp Surfers' logo on the front - or a cutout from one of your cool posters
- Bg
- Site Admin
- Posts: 43309
- Joined: Fri Sep 05, 2003 12:13 am
- Location: Auckland
- Has liked: 2264 times
- Been liked: 3909 times
Re: DIY Reverb!
So, is that low alcohol or no alcohol at all? mmmm, no alcohol, do you want to try it? Noooooooooo.
- bender
- Darth Fader
- Posts: 11856
- Joined: Fri Feb 02, 2007 12:46 pm
- Location: Dorkland
- Has liked: 416 times
- Been liked: 1016 times
Re: DIY Reverb!
I made up the Surfy Trem yesterday to see how it sounds and help make a decision on whether to put both in the same chassis.
http://www.surfyindustries.com/surfytrem-pcb-diy-kit
These kits are super easy to make- all you need to do is solder the jacks, DC socket, pots, LED and switch and it's done. This one has the added benefit of being less power hungry so can power off a standard 9v pedal PSU or battery.
The only bummer is that the board is quite big so it would be tricky to fit in a smaller enclosure, but it could be done with a bit of care.
Such an awesome sounding tremolo! The 50's setting is Brownface (Harmonic Tremolo) and the 60's setting is Blackface (probably optical but sounds more like the bias trem mode on a Flint). I sold a Flint recently and this plus the reverb is an awesome replacement!
I'd highly recommend these kits to anyone wanting to dip their toes in DIY FX, or anyone wanting a killer sounding reverb or tremolo.
http://www.surfyindustries.com/surfytrem-pcb-diy-kit
These kits are super easy to make- all you need to do is solder the jacks, DC socket, pots, LED and switch and it's done. This one has the added benefit of being less power hungry so can power off a standard 9v pedal PSU or battery.
The only bummer is that the board is quite big so it would be tricky to fit in a smaller enclosure, but it could be done with a bit of care.
Such an awesome sounding tremolo! The 50's setting is Brownface (Harmonic Tremolo) and the 60's setting is Blackface (probably optical but sounds more like the bias trem mode on a Flint). I sold a Flint recently and this plus the reverb is an awesome replacement!
I'd highly recommend these kits to anyone wanting to dip their toes in DIY FX, or anyone wanting a killer sounding reverb or tremolo.