New Boss '63 Fender Reverb pedal !

[pauliventura]

Has any of you guys checked out the new Boss FRV-1 pedal.....?
Its a Fender '63 Tube Reverb Unit "recreation" in the wellknown Boss pedal format.
If it works it would be a great addition to any pedalboard...

[dubtrub]

I dunno, them sufer types ain't gonna like if it don't have that crashing sound when you kick it.

[GattonFan]

Someone brought this to our attention a while back - I don't think it was supposed to be in stores until sometime this Fall ... haven't checked in a while.

[dubtrub]

Someone brought this to our attention a while back - I don't think it was supposed to be in stores until sometime this Fall ... haven't checked in a while.

I don't recall discussing this particular pedal on the Mosrite forum but it has been discussed on other forums. It is in stores now, or at least they are taking money for them. The ad say's in our store in a day or two. Unknown when the ad was made. http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/FRV1

[GattonFan]

Yep a little while ago ...
http://www.mosriteforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=1362&p=12738&hilit=boss+reverb+pedal#p12738

[64sunburst]

Okay, I literally just came back from testing one out at one of the guitar shops here. While I didn't spend a huge amount of time with it, I think I played with it enough to make an informed observation. Of course the first thing I checked was whether it could drip or not. Well, the answer is yes, it does drip, but unfortunately the more drip or dwell you add, the more you get this tinny, high frequency "ring" (I can't think of the right word). So while you can add a lot of drip to it, it comes with a price. Overall, it does have kind of a trebly tone to it and IMHO does not come close to a tank - at all.

As a comparison, I asked to try the Digitech Hardwire RV-7 Stereo Reverb. I had tried it once before and was impressed with it considering it was a digital pedal. It utilizes a Lexicon chip, if that means anything to you. Anyway, the DIgitech was hands down superior to the Boss FRV-1. You can get a lot of drip on it without the annoying high-pitched ringing. The overall tone was way more lush than the Boss. Plus it has the versatility of being able to get various types of reverb - spring, hall, plate - as opposed to the Boss's one flavor.

Okay, so we know no pedal is going to beat out a real tank, but for me I want the convenience of a pedal (and I'm cheap) - so I bought the Digitech Hardwire ($149, Boss-$129). I wish I had a gig coming up so I could give you a real world review, but that won't be for a few weeks.

Byron

[Veenture]

Good review Byron. Looks like Boss gambled on putting the bait in the cosmetics rather than in the guts!

[dubtrub]

Thanks for the report, Byron.

For my own use, even though I have a custom built outboard tank, for most styles of playing I use a DigiVerb pedal by Digitech with amps that do not have built in reverb and I don't think it can get any better than that. But of course if I'm playing a 'surf set' I'll breakout the tank.

[64sunburst]

I just read the review on the Boss pedal on surfguitar101, and the guy who tried it sorta liked it - he wasn't crazy about it, but said the more he played with it the more he liked it. I spent maybe 15 minutes with it playing a Squire Strat thru a Vox AD30VT with the amp reverb off. I think I messed with it enough though - how much more can you tweak it? I generally like Boss pedals - I use the tuner/power supply, the analog delay, and the RV3 digital reverb/delay, and I love the Blues Driver pedal for rock stuff, so I definitely have no bias against Boss. But this reverb pedal just didn't cut it for me.

As far as other reverb pedals, I have tried a Holy Grail and a Spring King. The Digiverb is a nice pedal, but it doesn't drip. The Hardwire does drip, so I plan to use it for surf (okay, SOMEDAY I'll get an outborad tank, bbut for now...... )

Byron

[64sunburst]

Just wanted to add that my review of the Boss FRV-1 pedal was based strictly on how well it could reproduce the heavy surf "drip" or "splash" of an outboard tank. It probably is a reasonably good basic reverb, but I didn't test it for that purpose. So it may serve as a good reverb for some players, but not for surf players. Just my personal opinion.

Byron