Danelectro Spring King

The Danelectro Spring King is a spring reverb pedal with a real spring tank inside it, rather than a digital emulation of one. Danelectro launched it in 1999, and it gained acclaim for faithfully recreating the classic spring reverb sounds of the 1950s in a compact pedal format, at least by the standards of the tank-driven reverbs it replaced¹. The trade-off was physical: the pedal itself was huge, a point Danelectro now makes itself².

The original Spring King is discontinued. Delicious Audio described it in 2018 as a discontinued spring pedal with a real spring, listing used examples at $100 to $150³. That Pedal Show's June 2024 gear list likewise marked it as no longer available new⁴. Its successor is the 2024 Spring King Junior, which Danelectro launched twenty-five years after the original³².

A real spring tank in a pedal

Spring reverb works by driving an audio signal through physical springs; the vibrations bouncing along the metal give the wet sound its character. Where most reverb pedals model that behavior digitally, the Spring King put an actual tank in the box, which is what set it apart from the start. Gearnews's 2025 spring reverb buying guide still groups it with the pedals that use a genuine spring tank rather than a digital emulation⁸.

GuitarPlayer reported that the pedal "boasts a real spring reverb" in its coverage of the 2024 return, and noted that its size and yellow enclosure made it a pretty easy target to hit on dark stages⁷. That size was the pedal's defining quirk. Danelectro's own product page for the Junior puts it bluntly: "NOT ONLY WERE THE SALES HUGE....THE PEDAL ITSELF WAS HUGE!"²

The controls: Volume, Tone, Reverb and the Kick Pad

The original 1999 model carried three knobs and a pad. Gearnews describes them as Volume for the wet/dry mix, Tone, and Reverb¹; Guitar World's rundown adds that the Reverb dial set the length of the effect¹⁹.

The Kick Pad was part of what made the original distinctive. Guitar World's review of the Junior recalls the 1999 pedal as "a much larger pedal at about five times the width and equipped with Volume, Tone and Reverb knobs as well as a" Kick Pad⁵. Players used the pad to kick the springs for the crash and thunder effect familiar from vintage spring reverb units.

History and versions

The timeline runs from the 1999 original through a long absence to the 2024 Junior⁶⁵⁷.

• 1999: Danelectro debuts the original Spring King reverb⁶. The original Spring King first appeared in 1999⁵.
• 2018: Delicious Audio lists the pedal as discontinued, with used prices of $100 to $150³.
• December 2024: Danelectro brings the pedal back after a lengthy absence, in a slimmed-down form. GuitarPlayer describes it as returning "in a slim 'post Ozempic'-sized enclosure"⁷. The Spring King Junior comes in a die cast case¹, and MusicRadar reports it with a soft-touch footswitch¹¹.

The Spring King Junior is the current version. It is a fraction of the size of the original pedal, according to RockBoard, "while still able to produce some of the springiest 'verb sounds imaginable"⁶. Inside is an Accutronics-Belton spring tank with three short springs, aided by a delay chip in the circuitry, as Guitar World's reviewer Trevor Curwen reports⁵. RockBoard lists its circuit type as analog⁶.

The control set was streamlined on the way down to the smaller box. Where the original had three knobs and a pad, the Junior has just two controls, Reverb and Tone⁸. Curwen found that the Tone knob "tempers the overall sound very effectively, travelling from the darker end of things to bright and splashy," and that the Reverb knob adds the effect into the dry sound up to a maximum that works for heavy surf sounds⁵. Gearnews's buying guide calls the two-knob layout quick and intuitive⁸. The Junior also adds a soft switch and a die cast case², measures 68 (w) x 151 (d) x 70mm (h)⁵, and is made in China⁵.

What reviewers said

On That Pedal Show, Dan and Mick compared the Spring King against the Surfy Bear Metal Reverb, Echo Fix EF-P2, Crazy Tube Circuits White Whale V2 and Carl Martin Headroom, and the audience response was clear. As the show put it: "judging by the comments in the last video, you all love the Dano Spring King!"⁴

Guitar Pedal X's Stefan Karlsson, reviewing the Junior against other true spring tank reverberators, found that "this newest Danelectro take looks a little more budget overall - which is reflected in its price, and the overall aesthetics of the pedal, while its form factor will be perfect for many"¹⁰. GuitarPlayer's report on the slimmed-down version, citing R.J. Ronquillo's demo, noted that placing both dials at two o'clock offers a snappy and resonant surf-rock 'verb, with a long, natural tail when the reverb length is maxed⁷.

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