From shoegaze guitars to synth pop vocals, it seems like every modern genre of music has embraced an indulgent amount of reverb in the mix as a default. Decades before this recent trend, however, the surf rockers of the early '60s were swimming their way through the heavy reverb sounds of Fender amps and tank units, as well as massive studio-housed plate reverb units. Take a listen to Pet Sounds by The Beach Boys or any of The Ventures' recordings for a sampling of that era.
Today, amid countless options for stompbox reverb, the revamped Surf Rider III from SolidGoldFX captures the old school surf reverb sounds of the '60s, along with a healthy smattering of more modern sounds. As Jim demonstrates in the above video, this pedal has no lack of surfy goodness, from subtle space to totally cascading soundscape.
Beyond the immersive sounds out of the box, the Surf Rider III provides a few useful tools to truly express yourself in the art of reverb. The Tone, Decay, Depth and Level controls are standard for most reverb pedals, but the addition of the Resonance switch adds a useful tweak-ability to the decay of the tails. A boost button works in conjunction with an internal trim pot to give real time control over an extra reverb surge. Better still, the boost function can be controlled by an external expression pedal to put a full range of reverb at your feet.
SolidGoldFX