Surfy Industries Surfybear Compact BK

Best in class

This one replaced an FRV-1 digital spring reverb, which had started sounding too artificial to my ears after a few years.

The Surfybear Compact has the perfect, organic sound. It can do everything from subtle ambience to full-on surf music / spaghetti western sounds. I though it would be a set-it-and-forget-it type of pedal, but the knobs are responsive across their whole range and a joy to play with.

There's a footswitch to choose between two mix options (mixing the reverb with the dry signal). When the effect is engaged, it's possible to see which mix option is active, because the corresponding LED is on. When the effect is bypassed, no LEDs are on, so there's no way to tell which mix option is active. It's possible to switch between mix options while the effect is bypassed.

The LEDs are brighter than necessary, but not blinding. The switches are smooth and silent. Construction quality is top notch.

The Surfybear Compact has different power needs than most pedals and it provides its own power supply. However, I chose to upgrade my power supply to one that can handle the Surfybear along with everything else, in order to only have one power cable to plug to the wall.

Bonus points for the email received after registration, following the instructions on their website.

This one is a keeper and will stay on my pedal board for a long, long time.

Real reverb tone

Overall the SurfyBear Compact is an excellent reverb! I owned various digital spring reverb pedals, including top end, but no one is able to compete with the SurfyBear. I am now able to get a tridimensional tone with a very natural and dynamic response to my playing.

While this pedal gives a distinctive and unique sound that digital can't 100% emulate, it's also very versatile and able to cover different genres.