What makes reverb sound SURF-Y? Anybody built this one?

[cx_deluxe]

The reverbs that I've played all sound so different!

What makes a reverb sound really "moist": like "squirt/squirt/squirt/squirt" without too much muddy ringing?

Think the opening of Al Casey's "El Aguila" or The Astronaut's version of "Baja"

[you'll note that the "squirt" in these songs is "treble-y", as opposed to I don't know, Pipeline, where the squirt is clearly "bass-y".  I'm beginning to think that a reverb needs to be "tuned" to produce the desired sound for the desired frequency and would need to be "re-tuned" to move around the neck.  Hmmm.  maybe that's why there's always like 6 guys in an instrumental surf ensemble...] 

My GUESS: the sound I'm looking for involves a fair bit of dry signal BUT at the same time a very pronounced attack - "TWAK" - coming though.

does this make any sense?

Why am I asking this?

I have a type 1 (short) EB2C1B tank:  that translates to 600ohm in, 2250 ohm out, medium decay.  I realize that this is no surf monster.

I'm running it with this http://sound.westhost.com/project34.htm circuit because 600 ohm is way above what the Stage Center Reverb schematic calls for.  I will probably build and tweak a CSR for comparison.

modifications: 2.2 nano cap in c5, 100 ohm resistor as r5. running at +/-12v.

It works ok.

It does the lush "little bit of reverb" thing ok.

Cranking VR1 too much seems to distort the 386 and the reverb sounds almost fuzzy or farty.  Not good.    (This surprised me a bit, my Artcore isn't known for having super-hot pickups...) 

VR2 - Reverb Level, seems to be like a "mix" knob.  sounds best with mostly dry signal, get's noisier (even with the 5532) as it is increased.  Tweaking c5, r5 and messing with the knobs, I can get it sounding fairly squirty, but its too muddy.

Any suggestions?
Has anybody else built one of these?

[zeta55]

Well, I've built one.
I used an old big reverbtank, input DC resistance 170 ohm.
For C5 I used 4.7nF and R5 a 1K trim, and for U1 a 4558. Supplied with +/- 15V.
Haven't used it in a long time so I can't describe the sound but it did sound fairly good as I remember.

/Krister

[Mark Hammer]

I'm going to say that there is no real single surf reverb sound.  Rather, the ideal surf reverb sound depends on the tone of the guitar itself, and the tonal contrast between the clean guitar and reverb.  That's probably why the Fender outboard reverb unit was so critical to "surf" tone.  It allowed you to vary how hard you were slapping the springs, and adjust treble content, in addition to the normal dry/wet blend.  So for my part, whatever lets you adjust drive gain (what Fender called "Dwell"), as well as the tonal quality of the reverb return signal, ought to be able to let you achieve the needed tones.  I suppose having longer and shorter springs, and being able to blend those two sources wouldn't hurt either.

[cx_deluxe]

Allright.  Thanks guys. 

Got ahold of a reverb schematic from the Fender Amp Field Guide page.  Looks like it would be pretty easy to add the tone control to what I have.  I'll have to go over things a little closer and see what else I can come up with.

[vfr800fiman]

I built this circuit 2 years ago, and it's very good sounding (IMHO).
I have the same complaint though about the LM386. The gain is
a little high on the amp in my opinion. It does "fuzz" when pushed
hard. This is only a component change though to lessen the gain.
It does actually sound pretty good for fuzz, but I have other pedals
I like to use for that effect.
Glenn

[cx_deluxe]

Interesting looking schemo. 

There's a whole lot of caps around that 386.  If I'm reading you correctly you are suggesting that I might try adding some of these to help stop the 386 from getting fuzzy?

Agian, I'll have to look closesly at the 386 portion and see what I can try for tweeking the one I've got. 

[zeta55]

Forgot to mention I run this reverb in the effectloop of my amp.

Well, I've built one.
I used an old big reverbtank, input DC resistance 170 ohm.
For C5 I used 4.7nF and R5 a 1K trim, and for U1 a 4558. Supplied with +/- 15V.
Haven't used it in a long time so I can't describe the sound but it did sound fairly good as I remember.

/Krister