The Surfy Industries SurfyVibe is a vibrato pedal built to emulate the mono channel of a Magnatone 280 amplifier, the amp whose pitch-shifting vibrato set the standard for the effect known as vibrato, as Paolo De Gregorio put it in his Delicious Audio write-up1. Rather than a generic pitch wobble, it aims at one specific circuit: Surfy Industries says the pedal recreates the character of the varistors found in a Magnatone 28021.
It sits among the smaller family of pedals that chase the Magnatone sound rather than the more common uni-vibe style circuit, alongside pedals like the Origin Effects Magma57 and the Crazy Tube Circuits Killer V. For a wider look at the effect type, see the site's page on Vibrato Pedals.
What it does to your sound
In its main mode the SurfyVibe produces the pitch-shifting vibrato the Magnatone 280 is known for. The pedal's second mode broadens that: "The \"sweeping\" mode adds a feedback path to create a unique effect that is a mix of phaser / chorus / tremolo," according to Surfy Industries2. On the pedal this is the left selection on the toggle switch1.
Delicious Audio's Paolo De Gregorio described the range of the pedal this way1:
"Depending on settings, it can be deeply bluesy, very modern or spooky sounding."
Pedal of the Day's review summed up the pedal as, "Cheers on an absolutely fantastic vibe pedal to the crew at Surfy Industries," and noted that Surfy had packed it into "one pedalboard-friendly enclosure that doesn't require a degree in physics to figure out"3.
From varistors to jFETs
The Magnatone 280 gets its vibrato from varistors, components whose resistance changes with voltage, and the SurfyVibe's designers set out to recreate that character in a pedal. Surfy Industries explains the translation directly: "We replace the tubes with jFET transistors and the varistors with special diode arrays"2. Delicious Audio adds that the pedal "also emulates the amp's tube sound with a jFET transistor circuit"1, and Pedal of the Day describes the same approach: "Using jFET transistors in place of tubes and special diode arrays in place of the Varistor component the old Magnatones" relied on3.
In plain terms: the parts of the amp's circuit that shaped the vibrato are rebuilt with modern equivalents chosen to behave like the originals, so the pedal can produce the amp's effect without the amp's tubes or its varistors213.
Controls
The SurfyVibe keeps its control layout simple. Pedal of the Day describes the two main knobs: "The Intensity and Speed controls set the presence and rate of the effect"3.
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Intensity | Sets the presence of the effect3 |
| Speed | Sets the rate of the effect3 |
| Toggle switch | Selects Sweeping mode (left) or Vibrato mode1 |
Bypass and what it means on a board
The SurfyVibe is not true bypass. Surfy Industries states this plainly ("NO TRUE BYPASS")2, and Delicious Audio confirms it is a deliberate choice, made to keep the vintage amp's tone change as part of the pedal's character1.
For a player, that means the pedal's circuit stays in the signal path even when the effect is off, so it can color the clean tone slightly. That is presented as part of the vintage character rather than a shortcoming, but it is worth knowing if the rest of a board is built around strictly true bypass switching21.
Videos
Surfy Industries
Brett Kingman
Pedal of the Day
Questions
Is the SurfyVibe true bypass?
No. Surfy Industries states plainly that the pedal is not true bypass. That is a deliberate choice: the tone change the circuit introduces when it is on is kept as part of the vintage character of the Magnatone amp sound the pedal is emulating, rather than removed the way a true bypass design would remove it.
What does Sweeping mode do on the SurfyVibe?
Sweeping mode, the left position on the pedal's toggle switch, adds a feedback path to the circuit. Surfy Industries describes the result as a unique effect that is a mix of phaser, chorus and tremolo, sitting alongside the pedal's main Vibrato mode.
Which amp is the SurfyVibe based on?
The SurfyVibe emulates the mono channel of a Magnatone 280 amplifier. According to Surfy Industries, the circuit recreates the character of the varistors that produce the 280's pitch-shifting vibrato, with the amp's tubes replaced by jFET transistors and the varistors replaced by special diode arrays.
Is the SurfyVibe a tremolo or a vibrato?
It is a vibrato pedal, meaning it shifts the pitch of the note, in the manner of the effect Magnatone amps made famous, rather than a tremolo, which changes volume. In its Sweeping mode it adds a feedback path that produces a mix of phaser, chorus and tremolo, but its core effect is vibrato.
Sources (3)
- Surfy Industries SurfyVibe, Delicious Audio, 2020-06-30
- Surfy Industries, Surfy Industries
- Surfy Industries SurfyVibe Vibrato Phaser Chorus Tremolo, Pedal of the Day, 2020-04-04
