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Who makes a 'kickable' reverb pedal, such as the Dano Spring King?

Fixing to retire (as in, no longer gigging with) my Fender '63 RI Tube Reverb Unit. I recently retired my Roland Space Echo (replaced with the excellent Boss RE-202). It's got decent built in reverb but really sounds nothing like the '63 unit. I've tried that Dano Spring King (blah) and was unimpressed. Gave it an A for effect anyway.

I need a reverb unit that's kickable so I can make it splash, but in a much smaller small pedalboard friendly package. I normally use one or two (depending on venue) Fender 57 Custom RI Twin amps. They don't have reverb or tremolo built in.

I usually use a Boss MS-3 to control everything, and as a utility pedal (tuner, ect...).

GEAR:
  • Fender '57 Custom Twin 40W 2x12 Tube Guitar Amp
  • Fender 64 Custom Princeton Reverb
  • Fender American Vintage '57 Stratocaster (1998-2012)

This discussion came up on a diy forum I belonged to a few years ago and the true spring pedal quest turned into a massive group project. The OP started a solid state driven design with an ampeg style C tank in a relatively small enclosure because no one liked any commercial products enough to recommend cloning them.

As he had issues with his own design that kinda subbed fets for tubes people jumped in and we eventually came up with a pedal that was just a tank driver based loosely on a piece of 80s studio equipment I own that's designed to interface a guitar reverb tank or home built plate with your mixing desk auxes. We adapted that gadget to high Z low gain signals and chose some more modern ICs and lower noise discreet transistors I think. He then housed the tank in a wooden box separate from the pedal. Just a shock mounted tank with in and out jacks. The shockmounting was just ribberstandoffs to reduce unwanted splash but if he licked it you got THAT sound. Not my bag but it turned out pretty well. If you search the internet for something like 'diy spring reverb driver pedal' you might find the schematics for the pedal portion.

In my opinion there's not much on the market now to wrote home about. Personally my favorite springs are really studio gear. Love my chorus echo spring sound... sound workshop made a real winner, bit they're thin on the ground... my tapco is good in a trashy way... then there's the amazing AKGs. These are short tank studio units. Great but also more natural sounding. But you have a fender unit which is as good as surf guitar verb gets. Why retire the king? Nothing will touch it for what it does.

GEAR:
  • Roland Juno-6
  • Gibson SG Standard
  • Vox AC30 Guitar Combo Amp

Age and weight. I normally load my own stuff in/out these days and it's just getting to be a bunch of stuff to drag around. If I play 2 different churches on a Sunday, (morning and evening) that's moving everything twice plus loading/unloading at the house. My 57 Twin has a pair of 12" Celestion Neo speakers that knocked the weight from 56lbs to 46.5lbs. Not my favourite speakers but much easier to handle the amp by myself. I've also got a Vibroking that pretty much stays home, it's 74lbs. I never weighed my Evil Twin with a pair of JBL's but it's probably the heaviest amp I've got.

So anyway, I'm just trying to simplify my gear and make my rig easier to transport now that I'm fast approaching retirement age.

I like my reverb tank to replicate (somewhat) the sound of surf or thunder. I don't use it ALL the time but usually twice during a typical service. I've also tried the Carl Martin Headroom and it sounds nothing like the 65 RI either, it's a short tank, completely different sound. I'm wondering if the White Whale (crazy tube circuits) will sound simular to the Carl Martin, but it does have tremolo which I also use once or twice a service.

GEAR:
  • Fender '57 Custom Twin 40W 2x12 Tube Guitar Amp
  • Fender 64 Custom Princeton Reverb
  • Fender American Vintage '57 Stratocaster (1998-2012)

I get it. I play a 62 ac30, I don't like to carry it now that I'm middle aged. I was gauging down from the space echo for awhile because of weight and a desire to have it wired permanently for studio use but as much as I wanted to love modern pedals I wound up with an ep3 echopkex. Bulky but lighter. Delay and reverb. There are so many good kinds from every era, but once you get used to something on your guitar that's it... tubes, tapes, tanks? It's hard to go back even for conveniences like tap tempo and a small footprint. I think I own a solid dozen processors at this point but on guitar I pretty much only use the evhoplex and roland for delay and verb... most of my pedals get used for synths and the rack stuff is patchbayed up to my mixer. It's all sweet stuff but not into a guitar amp. Maybe a bbd delay once in awhile but that's it.

Any short tank will sound like an Ampeg, not a Fender. That's more my spring sound but I seldom play with reverb unless specifically asked... for your needs its chalk and cheese! if I were you I would find a massive store with every boutique brand and try everything. Maybe something will get close. Lots of digital gadget at every price point can do a fender spring with reasonable to excellent fidelity but only an actual tank splashed when vibrated.

Or build something. I would think about mounting the tank in the amp but having an outboard driver in a pedal as previously mentioned though you may not want to lick such a nice amp... you have excellent taste.

GEAR:
  • Roland Juno-6
  • Gibson SG Standard
  • Vox AC30 Guitar Combo Amp

Can you kick it? ...Yes you can!

( Anasounds Element )

https://youtu.be/KdgvfGQL-Q0?t=134

GEAR:
  • Epiphone Casino Coupe
  • Pignose "Legendary" 7-100
  • Hohner Marine Band 1896 Diatonic Harmonica