Boss Fender '63 Reverb Pedal Review

Years back, Boss did a run of pedals in partnership with Fender.  Two of them were "amp-in-a-box" versions of a '65 Deluxe Reverb and a '59 Bassman, but the third was a recreation of Fender's classic Spring Reverb unit, in the almost-as-classic Boss pedal format.

The amp-in-a-box pedals aren't exactly coverted at the moment, and with the kind of modelling available these days, I doubt they ever will be, but hey, I've been surprised before...

An aside...
I really don't understand how we can go from used Digitech "Bad Monkey" overdrives going for $40 to seeing them command $200 nowadays. Josh Scott set this one off with his YouTube video on the subject.  I remember the first reviews of this pedal, and remembrer it doing well, but this was during a time where the TS9 was a pretty popular pedal on a bit of a resurgence (late 90's?) thanks to grunge leading to a wider aray of "guitar-music". Suddenly, Josh Scott says it's good and everyone LOOSES THEIR MINDS.

That's power. I think Josh Scott should pick something absolutely terrible, demonstrate why it's terrible, and then ASK people to be on the lookout anyway for their collectors value.  Market on hot garbage would explode...
Fin.

So what about the third pedal, the '63 Reverb? How's that doing on the used-market?  Commanding prices from $250-$350 (top dollar paid for having the original box and manual) this pedal is the newest pedal to achieve "collectable" status.

And in the last few years, Boss has become cool again. Well, some Boss...

...Don't worry, we all still irrationally hate the Metal Zone... Sigh...

It might have had something to do with a bunch of other builders on YouTube talking them up for 10+ years (Scott, Wampler, etc.), and the collaborations with other brands.  OR maybe "out of production Boss" IS just cool...

So what about the Boss RRV-1? Just collector's hype?

I dunno, but it's an awfully good reverb to my ears.

Don't get me wrong, this pedal has some serious collector's mojo.  TWO ICONIC BRANDS! ONE PEDAL!  That's what the poster might have said, or at least should have. I honestly can't explain it. It has a certain je ne sais quoi. It feels collectable. Of course, it helps they're not making them anoymore, right?

It really sounds great though, once I found something I wanted...

I wasn't really sure what to do with this at first, and if I'm honest, I have this mental block when it comes to reverb controls - I understand them, ahem... theorhetically, but in application I can't seem to  twist the dials in the direction I want...

It wasn't until I decided to max the Dwell and really back off the Mix and Tone controls that I discovered a sound that I really liked. Just the perfect deep reverb that didn't get in the way of anything and just made everything bigger, while softening the front of every note.

Just fantastic.

I compared it to my TC Electronics HOF2 set to "spring", and I just couldn't quite get the spring to sound right.  The Boss FRV-1 was more just more real sounding.  

I really like this setup - has me coming back to play more.

Am I going to go out and find one of my own? Probably... not? I mean, if I find one under $200 I guess?

If anything, this is getting me to wonder about other reverbs out there that have their own handle on that reverb sound this Boss seems to ape so well. 

It's also getting me to wonder which of the pedals in my collection are bound to be a bit collectible, and which will become yesterday's nonsense...


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