Crazy Tube Circuits White Whale Junior: Real Spring Reverb, Really Small Pedal
Three springs, one legendary spring reverb
Crazy Tube Circuits White Whale Junior: Real Spring Reverb, Really Small Pedal · Source: Crazy TUbe Circuits
The White Whale spring reverb needs no introduction. It’s one of the most revered analog spring reverb pedals on the market. After introducing V2 two years ago, Crazy Tube Circuits has now made the impossible possible: the White Whale Junior. It’s the same circuitry, but in a much smaller pedal.
White Whale Junior: Legendary Spring Reverb
When it comes to spring reverb and amp-driven tremolo effects, there are purists, and then there’s everyone else. Quite a few players rely on virtual, digital emulations that “do the job” for their surf rock covers band. But those who know, know. There is a soul and a vibe in an actual spring reverb with actual springs, no virtual emulation has ever come close to.
And Crazy Tube Circuits’ original White Whale is one of those pedals that gets scarily close to the legendary sounds from the amps of the fifties and sixties. Only, the original was a bit bulky for crowded pedalboards. With the White Whale Junior, CTC has shrunk the spring reverb in to a much more compact format.
Spring Reverb meets Amp Tremolo
Like the original, the White While Junior also features both an analog spring reverb and an amp-style tremolo. Like the blackface and brownface circuitries that inspired it, the pedal houses both effects, with the reverb sitting before the tremolo in the signal chain.
That way, you can trem both the dry signal and the reverb for some extra three-dimensionality. The 3 spring reverb is the same as the one in the bigger models, and just like the legendary vintage amps, the White Whale Junior “drives the springs using a dedicated analog power amplifier rather than feeding them directly from a low level signal path”.
Controls
Unlike these amps, you get more control over both effects on the pedals. Each effect has a dedicated footswitch and a separate volume control, so you can carefully dial in your desired surfrock sound. For the tremolo, the pedal features controls for speed and intensity.
For the spring reverb, you get controls for decay (‘dwell’), mix (dry/wet) and tone. Compared to a classic decay control on a reverb effect, the dwell knob sets how hard the spring are driven. In addition, CTC have put a lot of work in to the driver circuit to come as close as possible to the subtle saturation these vintage amps were famous for.
How much does the White Whale Junior from Crazy Tube Circuits cost?
The White Whale Junior from CTC is available for pre-order now from Thomann* for $285 / £262 / €299. The estimated delivery time is two to three weeks.
More on the new pedal from Crazy Tube Circuits
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