Xploration • Curation • Recommendation
Crazy Tube Circuits delivers the perfect combination of feature rich and pedalboard-friendly with its superb sounding handy all-analog White Whale Jr Amp-type Tremolo and 3-Spring Reverb
So the mission here was to shrink down the White Whale V2 Tremo-Verb into a smaller, more compact and more pedalboard-friendly unit - while maintaining the full fidelity of the original large unit - obviously with a few less options and some slight differences, but all the essentials wholly intact!
And Christos has done a quite superb job here. There are smaller spring tank units available, but nothing in the All-Analog Tremo-Verb Category (see below for size comparisons).
The device is a little taller than I would have preferred - but it’s mostly quite manageable, and I was able to squeeze it in well enough on my board - while it’s extended length (154mm) may prove to be a challenge for some. I have a lot of flexibility in my rig - while certain pedals take a little more effort to accommodate - as was the case here, and with the recent Rainger FX Binary Pulsar - both are now safely ensconced on the board!
I expected this to sound great - as Christos never puts anything out until he’s fully satisfied that he has perfected it - and this sounds truly amazing. The very embodiment of the word lush! I’ve set Christos the challenge to next do a stereo version of this - while maintaining the same size - what would certainly be a thing of wonder.
In the meantime - this White Whale Jr should provide you with all the wonders you need! All-in-all this is a pretty magnificent device.
A few notes direct from Christos - "Note that the Junior voicings are not exactly the same as in the V2 White Whale. The Reverb side on the Junior has the long decay setting but with the EQ of the medium decay setting from the V2. And the Tremolo side is a cross-mix / hybrid of optical and tube bias styles."
Controls - REVERB } Volume, Dwell (Intensity), Wet Mix, Tone, Footswitch; TREMOLO } Volume, Speed, Intensity, Footswitch.
Preferred Default Settings - REVERB } Volume @ Noon, Dwell @ Noon, Mix @ 1 o'c, Tone @ Noon; TREMOLO } Volume @ Noon, Speed @ 1:30 o'c, Intensity @ 3 o'c.
For Ultimate Drip - just Max out Dwell and Tone - and then roll back until you achieve nirvana - both at Max works pretty well for me, but may be too much for some!
I thought I might end up with an Anasounds x Jack White La Grotte Spring Reverb at some stage - but this very pedal is even better in having the analog Tremolo onboard also. The La Grotte has a few extra controls, mostly internal - while the White Whale Jr is exactly as full-featured as it needs to be - and gives you the full Vintage Amp style Analog Tremolo and proper Spring Tank Reverb experience - just in a smaller box!
Some similar category devices (mostly solely spring reverbs) in order of overall size :
- Danelectro Spring King Junior - 57 x 149 x 57mm
- CTC White Whale Jr - 83 x 154 x 68mm
- Anasounds La Grotte - 123 x 150 x 62mm
- Spaceman Effects Orion - 120 x 93 x 25mm
- CTC White Whale - 172 x 125 x 73mm
Note that I decided to swap out the Reverb-side knobs for transparent equivalents which I already had in stock (per the above visual). I typically like to have a visual demarcation between different parts of the control topology - so therefore the use of different knob colourways and varieties, And I feel that my current incarnation of the pedal looks nigh perfect!
The White Whale Jr All-Analog Tremo-Verb goes for €299 / $359 / £269 on the Crazy Tube Cicuits Webstore. Make sure you get in there quick - as everyone will want one, and these will likely be out of stock as much as the Venus Tube Drive was initially!
It's every way a fantastic pedal, beautifully engineered - and sounds every bit as good as you could hope!
Key Features
- All analog spring reverb featuring a 3-spring reverb tank assembly
- Dedicated power amp – spring reverb driver [Dwell]
- Analog tube power amp and output transformer saturation emulation on the reverb driver circuit
- Amp style tremolo inspired by vintage optical and bias tremolo circuits
- Reverb controls for Dwell, Tone, Mix and Volume
- Tremolo controls for Speed, Intensity (Depth) and Volume
- Independent footswitches for reverb and tremolo sections
- Click-less relay based true bypass switching for both sections
- Power up bypass preset function
- Top mounted jacks
- Power Supply: Use 9V DC, 2.1mm x 5.5mm, center negative (not included)
- Isolated power supply recommended for optimal operation
- Max current consumption 110mA
- Arctic White finish die-cast enclosure
- Dimensions: (W x L x H): 83 x 154 x 68 mm
- Weight 486gr
- Designed and manufactured in Athens, Greece
- RRP / MAP : €299 / $359 / £269
- Available direct from the Crazy Tube Circuits Webstore and a leading International Dealers
Demos
