Surfybear compact reverb

[ohm-men]

Just scored one of these in Surf green used.
Was a local sale and I paid a bit above half price what they go new for.
It was hardly used and came with original packaging and box? candy.

I gotta say I'm impressed. Sounds really, really good.
I used to have a 90's Fender RI Reverb unit which I liked and hated at the same time.
Sold it a few years ago. But been lusting for a decent replacement ever since.
I "think" the Surfybear fill this spot

I really like the bypass option and the compact has a 2 mix knobs and a switch, very usefull to switch between wet spring reverb and less reverb.
Volume and decay knobs are also very usefull.
I wasn't sure the smaller 3 spring reverb pan would deliver the lush bongy drippy reverb, but it does just that.
Seams very reliable (much more then my Fender Ri reverb unit, which was always way too trebly to my ears and was a pain from time to time to get it to sound right) Although it looks less cool... But I'm not complaining as it works nice with my el cheapo Wish Klon and my Musikding Jordan Bosstone Fuzz clone. Mucho nice for Spagetti Western sounds when paired with a nice tremolo.... And when hooked up with the Bass VI.... Heaven....

[DeathJag]

Congrats! SB are great!

[MechaBulletBill]

i really need to get mine put together

[Singlebladepickup]

I have one that someone built for me in pedal form, which lets me swap tanks. It's probably the last bit of guitar gear I'd ever part with.

[ludobag1]

the best available that cost less than a tank ,i have 2 surfy bear diy kit,one in tank format with accutronic pan that i love ,a smaller with a mod pan than i hate (hate mod pan in fact) ,and 63 reissue that i love too (accutronic pan also )
surfy bear is the best package ratio weight sound and my go to play ,i made some effort to bring the real thing but it is heavy then if i need to travel light it stay at home (like my tube amp i play more often with my quilter head)

[zhivago]

Cool to hear you guys are liking it...I've been tempted to pick one up for a while...maybe I should take the plunge!

[JSett]

Cool to hear you guys are liking it...I've been tempted to pick one up for a while...maybe I should take the plunge!

I'm the same, been tempted to give one a go for a while. I had a Fender Reissue unit recently and it sounded great but coloured the tone too much for my liking. GAK are blowing some out for about £315 at the moment too

[antisymmetric]

I have the long tank Metal model- (would have bought the kit version and housed the tank separately but they no longer do them). I described it to someone recently as the one pedal I own that's never switched off.

[MC5tooge]

Next on my shopping list - but can't make my mind up between the big one or the compact one. The latter will JUST fit on my home made pedal board but I think I'm drawn more to the idea of the big one and a footswitch. Any thoughts?

[Surfysonic]

I have 2 SurfyBear Reverb units:

The blonde tolex-covered SurfyBear Classic (think squished Fender Reverb Unit) with no bypass (I use a bypass pedal called the Drip Switch by Alameda Guitars - SurfyBear has the SurfyDrip Switch designed by Alameda Guitars). Not really ideal for the pedalboard but as a stand-alone outboard reverb unit.





For its footprint on my pedalboard, I went with the SurfyBear Compact and it sounds just as great as my larger Classic, only with more options - 2 mixer, bypass, vol, tone, decay, dwell. If pedalboard space is not a concern, sure, go for the larger SurfyBear Metal. You won't go wrong with any SurfyBear IMHO.

[ohm-men]

Cool to hear you guys are liking it...I've been tempted to pick one up for a while...maybe I should take the plunge!

I'm the same, been tempted to give one a go for a while. I had a Fender Reissue unit recently and it sounded great but coloured the tone too much for my liking. GAK are blowing some out for about £315 at the moment too

That's exactly what I like about the Surfy Bear the bypass switch. The Fender unit colours the sound to much for my liking as well. I used to play in Surf bands where it was on all the time, so I didn't matter that much back then.
But nowadays I like to be able to bypass it. The on-off switch of the RI Fender reverb didn't do the same as the the bypass of the Surfy Bear. (could be in my head, I don't know)

Meaby if I ever wanna spent some more cash, I might get a Classic Surfy Bear. But for now, the compact suits my needs perfect

[SeymourG]

For any of you that have owned the Surfybear Compact and the Surfybear Classic, have you noticed a difference in tone between the two? I was going to replace my Classic with a Compact to gain some space, but the compact I bought (off reverb.com - a Thomann 70th Anniversary Edition), adds some weird fuzzy overdrive to the tone. They really don't sound the same to me at all. Thanks.

[steveguitars]

For any of you that have owned the Surfybear Compact and the Surfybear Classic, have you noticed a difference in tone between the two? I was going to replace my Classic with a Compact to gain some space, but the compact I bought (off reverb.com - a Thomann 70th Anniversary Edition), adds some weird fuzzy overdrive to the tone. They really don't sound the same to me at all. Thanks.

I was reading on reverb how that Thomann unit uses a different power than the regular compact, which is 12v/1a center positive. I am wondering if that's it. I just bought the plain black one and it sounds amazing to me. No overdrive in the tone.

[MrSparkle]

For any of you that have owned the Surfybear Compact and the Surfybear Classic, have you noticed a difference in tone between the two? I was going to replace my Classic with a Compact to gain some space, but the compact I bought (off reverb.com - a Thomann 70th Anniversary Edition), adds some weird fuzzy overdrive to the tone. They really don't sound the same to me at all. Thanks.

Contact Surfy Bear! They're usually very helpful.

[MayTheFuzzBeWithYou]

Yeah write them. Björn is very helpful and so are Ted and Lorenzo. I once compared the Classic to the Compact at my local music store - and I too felt the Compact was a bit noisy which prevented me from buying it back then.

I recently purchased a B-Stock Classic V3 (aluminum sides instead of plastic and the new Surfy Pan Extra) - they only had the Black and Brown Versions left - so I took the Black one - to match my Bandmaster… originally I planned on buying the Metal version but the Classic is so classy looking… I couldn‘t resist.

and of course I also had my DIY Bear and Trem (The Dynamic Duo) on my Board since 2019.