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Surf’s Up is a new collaboration between The Beach Boys and Benson Amps, sold exclusively through Sweetwater.

It is an all tube spring reverb and optical tremolo unit. The reverb features a long, two spring tank and a short, three spring tank that are blend-able, inspired by Brian Wilson’s infamous production technique of blending two instruments together. The optical tremolo is based on the mid-sixties large combo amp sound, and features an extended range of tremolo speeds. While being a nod to the 60s surf sound, the Surf’s Up sets a new bar for the technology of surf effects. Not content to make a clone, we incorporated modern functional and tonal improvements (like trails) when the reverb is switched off, no volume loss when the tremolo is engaged, and low source impedance which means that none of the sound is lost between the spring tank and the amplifier.  

With noise being a consideration for spring reverbs, a modern ground scheme from the world of hi-fi was incorporated to prevent any noisy ground loops. We also tapped Soursound to design a custom transformer set… A power transformer with low flux density in mind to prevent hum from entering the reverb tanks, and a custom bifilar reverb driver transformer to drive the two tanks. 

We discovered that a piece of electrostatic film placed between the neon lamp and the photoresistor in the LDR greatly reduces the tremolo ticking sound the classic circuit is infamous for. There is a two button LED footswitch as well for both the reverb and the tremolo.