A pedal you can kick might seem like a gimmick, but since its 1999 release, Danelectro’s Spring King reverb has become a cult classic. Now it’s making its return in a more compact form.
Heavily inspired by ‘50s and ‘60s combo amps, the Spring King was an oversized box with a real spring reverb tank inside and a kick pad you could stomp to create all sorts of sproingy sonic chaos.
The only problem for most guitarists was the pedal’s size — 10.5 by 7.5 by 3 inches — which made it difficult to place on crowded pedalboards, although its size and yellow enclosure made it a pretty easy target to hit on dark stages.
After a lengthy absence, the Spring King is back in a slim “post Ozempic”-sized enclosure that retains the true spring goodness and stomp-savvy wackiness of the original.
The pedal still features a real spring in its core, and controls for tweaking its tone and reverb length, but its kick pad and individual volume control for wet/dry mix have been lost in the downsizing process.
But rest assured, the Spring King can still be kicked, thanks to its rugged die-cast housing. It also features a true bypass footswitch and a small light that illuminates when the pedal is on.
It’s worth noting that the input and output jacks and the DC input for its nine-volt power supply are side-mounted. The only obvious place to kick, then, is the back of the enclosure, which ensures the Spring King will have a place at the player’s front of the pedalboard.
As R.J. Ronquillo’s demo of the pedal demonstrates, 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 maxed.
The new Spring King costs $199, but as of this writing it’s available only at Thomann and is still absent from Danelectro’s website.
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