Crazy Tube Circuits White Whale

The Crazy Tube Circuits White Whale is a spring reverb and tremolo pedal with a real three-spring tank mounted inside the enclosure, driven by an analog power amp in the manner of the tube-driven spring reverbs built into 60s American amps and outboard reverb units¹². The original White Whale is discontinued and sold as old stock, and the line now runs through the White Whale V2 and the compact White Whale Junior¹³.

The concept is the classic amp pairing of drip and wobble in one box: a genuine spring tank for reverb, plus an all-analog tremolo with modes drawn from vintage amplifier circuits. Delicious Audio called the V2 "the most tweakable real spring reverb out there"⁴.

A real spring tank and three tremolos in one pedal

The White Whale is not a digital emulation. It has actual springs under the hood, which is why the enclosure is as large as it is: the pedal is effectively the tank, with the three-spring assembly mounted to the baseplate⁴⁶. The circuit follows the lineage of vintage designs, where a tube power amp drove the spring assembly through an output transformer².

The tremolo side is likewise all analog. The original White Whale offered two selectable tremolo modes, an opto style and a bias shifting style⁴. The V2 keeps the opto and tube bias modes and adds a third, harmonic tremolo².

The reverb controls and three spring settings

The V2's reverb section is built around the same three-spring tank assembly as the original, but with an upgraded power amp driving the springs for increased headroom and a wider frequency response². A toggle switch selects the size and decay of the reverb between three tank types²:

Guitar Pedal X lists the three playback modes as 2-Springs Short (to Medium), 2-Springs Medium (to Long), and 3-Springs Long⁷. The reverb controls are:

• Dwell: how hard the springs are driven⁴
• Tone: sits after the recovery stage at the tank output and affects only the wet signal²
• Mix: blends the wet signal on top of the dry guitar signal; on the V2 it can also be controlled by an expression pedal²⁵

The tremolo section: harmonic, opto and bias

The V2's tremolo offers three modes, all types used at various times in Fender amps: bias, opto and harmonic⁵. The harmonic mode is new to the V2, and Crazy Tube Circuits says it includes the two most significant variations of the effect as found in the original amps, differing in range and sweep of the pulsating frequencies². The maker describes harmonic tremolo as a hypnotic, frequency-based modulation that originated on certain brown and blonde era amp models².

The depth control sets the intensity of modulation, and the speed control's range is extended beyond the span of vintage amps' speed controls². Tremolo speed can be controlled by an expression pedal or an external tap tempo footswitch, neither included²⁵.

The two onboard footswitches engage or bypass each effect section independently, with a power-up bypass/engage preset function, and the V2 lets you set whether the tremolo runs before or after the reverb². Crazy Tube Circuits' guidance on ordering: optical and tube bias tremolo usually sound better placed after the reverb, while harmonic tremolo usually sounds better in front of it².

Power and connections

The V2 runs on a 9V DC adapter, not supplied, drawing 180 mA⁵. Its connections are a standard input, a standard output, TRS jacks for tremolo and reverb expression, and a TRS remote jack⁵. Guitar Pedal X noted the one real limitation: it is not a stereo solution⁷.

History and versions: V1, V2 and the Junior

The original White Whale is now discontinued/old-stock, with an original price of €309.00¹. The White Whale V2 adds a toggle switch selecting the size and decay between three reverb tank types, a harmonic tremolo mode that originated on certain models of the brown and blonde era amps and does frequency-based modulation, and an upgraded power amp driving the springs for increased headroom and wider frequency response². The V2 lists at €349.00 and ships in 3-4 weeks². It keeps the same pedalboard-friendly enclosure, 17 x 12,5 x 7,5 cm, in a surf-friendly light green finish².

In June 2026 the company followed with the White Whale Junior, a compact version that uses the exact same three-spring assembly as its larger siblings, driven by a dedicated analog power amp³. The Junior trims the feature set: the effect order is fixed at reverb first, the tremolo has a single mode instead of three, a hybrid of the optical and bias styles, and the reverb length is fixed⁶. It measures about 15 cm long by 8 cm wide and 5 cm deep, runs on 9V DC center negative at 110 mA, and uses true relay bypass⁶⁸⁹.

The White Whale Remote

The White Whale Remote is an external unit that controls the bypass state of each effect section, tremolo and reverb, from elsewhere on a pedalboard¹¹. It operates on both the V1 and V2: on the V2 it connects to the Remote input jack, while on the V1 it connects to the reverb expression input jack with an internal assign slider switch set to FX SW¹¹. A TRS cable is required and not included, and the Remote also functions as a studio grade buffer and booster¹¹.

What reviewers said

A reviewer concluded that while you could buy separate tremolo and spring reverb pedals, getting both effects in one small chassis with easily switchable ordering makes absolute sense, calling it the perfect remedy for an amp without onboard reverb and tremolo⁵. The same review noted that a Mix knob governs how much reverb is added to the dry signal, and that an expression pedal plugged into the Trem XP input will control the speed of the tremolo⁵. The V2 is made in Greece¹².

One reviewer observed that the reverb playback modes on the V2 are 2-Springs Short (to Medium), 2-Springs Medium (to Long), and 3-Springs Long, and that the only downside, if there is one, is that this is not a stereo solution⁷.

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