Danelectro has announced the return of its cult classic Spring King reverb pedal, which has been repackaged into a new form factor that vows to outshine its predecessor.
First launched in 1999, the Spring King was prized for its ’50s-era spring reverb sounds, which were offered in a convenient pedal format instead of being housed within a combo amp.
This had one particular and unique benefit: the OG Spring King had a real spring inside, which would behave erratically when disturbed. In fact, Danelectro even equipped the stompbox with a dedicated kick pad to encourage players to stomp on the pedal's housing for untethered, rumbly, wobbly tones.
The good news is that, despite the fact it has now been radically resized to free up valuable pedalboard space – the original wasn’t exactly petite – the new version, dubbed the Spring King Junior, still has a spring inside, and it remains kick-friendly.
Mind you, there is no sign of a kickpad, and with side-mounted inputs and outputs, it looks as though the only ideal kicking spot would be the very bottom of the pedal. That’s something to bear in mind when thinking about pedalboard placement.
Its downsizing isn’t overly dramatic, though. It still has a decent size to it to accommodate the spring that lurks within, and there’s still plenty to swing a boot at, which can only be a good thing.
Notably, the controls have also been slimmed down. The original unit offered a trio of dials – Volume for blending wet/dry, Tone for obvious reasons, and Reverb for its length. This time, the Volume dial has been omitted.
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There’s also a tiny light beneath the Tone dial that illuminates when the pedal is on.
Despite those changes, the retro warmth and warbles of the Spring King Junior’s older sibling have been transferred across. It offers a fairly astute and subtle reverb with the dials at 12 o’clock, but is far more dramatic and evocative when both controls are maxed out and, erm, kicked.
“The Spring is the Thing,” Danelectro proudly declares. “Even better than the 1999 original.”
The firm’s Instagram post says that it’s “available now for $199”, but at the time of writing it has only surfaced on Thomann.
Keep your eyes on Danelectro for more information.
The pedal isn’t the first reprisal of a Danelectro golden oldie this year, thanks to the return of the Big Sitar, and the arrival of the Nichols 66 – a reissue of the first-ever fuzz pedal that brand owner Steve Ridinger designed.
A freelance writer with a penchant for music that gets weird, Phil is a regular contributor to Prog, Guitar World, and Total Guitar magazines and is especially keen on shining a light on unknown artists. Outside of the journalism realm, you can find him writing angular riffs in progressive metal band, Prognosis, in which he slings an 8-string Strandberg Boden Original, churning that low string through a variety of tunings. He's also a published author and is currently penning his debut novel which chucks fantasy, mythology and humanity into a great big melting pot.
