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Pedalboard / 039

Dick Dale

Dale's left-handed Strat fed the standalone tube spring-reverb unit he helped inspire before reaching the high-headroom Showman amplifier system.

Board
Standalone spring-reverb core path
Context
Early surf recordings and stage rig
Board date
Evidence
Documented equipment · 2 cited sources
Order
Source-described
Scope
Core signal path
Routing
Serial path
Audited
Signal
1 unit · Guitar to amplifier

Signal path / A

Standalone spring-reverb core path

Artist-described historical route

InputGuitar
OutputAmplifier

Documented equipment · Source-described order · Serial path

Dale explained that his earliest machine-gun surf sound had no reverb and that the wet sound began when he plugged the guitar into the tank developed from a Hammond-organ idea. Fender independently documents the same guitar-into-unit discovery. The entry is dated broadly to the early 1960s, after the unit's 1961 introduction, and represents the defining core path rather than every later touring variation or amplifier split.

Cited sources

  1. Guitar PlayerDick Dale Talks Gigs and Gear
  2. FenderThe Father of Surf: 7 Essential Dick Dale Facts