Sweetwater has announced The Beach Boys Studio Effects collection, which sees the retailer team-up with the band and the brains behind Benson Amps, Keeley Effects and JHS Pedals on a range of guitar gear inspired by the Beach Boys’ landmark studio sounds.
The news comes ahead of Disney+’s new documentary, The Beach Boys, which is set to debut on May 24.
“People generally don't think about the Beach Boys as a guitar hero band,” explains JHS’ Josh Scott in Sweetwater’s clip. “But they are massively important, especially in the evolution of guitar sound.”
The most attention-grabbing piece of the five-strong line-up is the Benson Amps Surfs Up tube-driven spring reverb and optical tremolo unit. Limited to just 66 pieces, it has – unfortunately – already sold-out.
It’s based around a 6V6 power tube, paired with a 12AT7 and three 12AX7 tubes – in keeping with classic Fender amp builds – but is not an actual tube amp itself. Instead, it’s described as “a blended dual-tank” spring reverb, which is combined with a vintage-inspired optical tremolo circuit (think In My Room, in terms of Beach Boys tones).
It’s said to offer a much cleaner, noise-free operation compared to the traditional route, and even comes with a footswitch. It’s all wrapped up in a stunning blue tolex, with a price of $2,199.
Next up are two units from JHS Pedals: the Good Vibrations Chorus/Vibrato and the Punchline Bass Station. The former is inspired by the “warmth and warble” of the Beach Boys’ golden era studio recordings and appears inspired (in both looks and tone) by the Shin-ei Uni-Vibe.
“This might be my favorite effect of all time,” explains JHS’ Josh Scott in Sweetwater’s video. “The vibrato setting on an actual bulb-driven Uni-Vibe.”
In keeping with the historic, er, vibe, JHS’ take uses a bulb-driven circuit that keeps it simple, with a simple three-knob operation and Chorus/Vibrato switch.
Meanwhile, the JHS Punchline attempts to bottle the Beach Boys’ bass tones, laid down by Wrecking Crew icons like Carol Kaye, into an all-in-one bass tone box.
It combines an EQ, amp simulator, drive circuit and an 1176-style compressor into one unit. Fun fact: Scott thinks this is the most knobs to feature on any JHS pedal yet.
The JHS Good Vibrations and Punchline Bass Station have prices of $299 and $499, respectively.
Finally, there’s a pair of offerings from effects icon Robert Keeley, in the form of the California Girls 12-string simulator and the I Get Around Rotary simulator,
The intention of these is pretty plain, but the 12-string sim gets its chime-y tones via a combination of chorus, octave and slapback echo effects. You can toggle the echo on/off via a mini-switch, while a second footswitch disables the octave effect, enabling you to use it as a standalone chorus pedal, if preferred.
The Rotary sim emulates the Leslie rotating speaker sounds – as featured on the Beach Boys’ 1964 hit I Get Around – and has both a speed control knob and a secondary Slow-Fast footswitch, for quick selection between two speeds.
Both Keeley units are also set to retail for $299.
For more information, and to browse the full Beach Boys Studio Effects collection, head to Sweetwater.
