Grateful Dead Music Forum

Mike performed his awesome Maestro Mod on my FYD Twin Reverb preamp. I had a chance to use it this past weekend with the band for a rehearsal session with a new bass player. I'm still tweaking my "touch" and "volume knob finesse", but other than that which is all me, it really nails the tone to my ears."The icing on the cake"! Sweet tone! It's very cool to hear the tone you like. It allows you concentrate on all the aspects of playing without any tone distractions except for your hands.
There's one full song (long as usual) and a few outtakes/jams. Ya can tell it's rehearsal lol! https://soundcloud.com/jammindead

Hey now I'm saving up for a pre amp and I've heard a lot about the SMS JG
And not as much about theFYD.
I like that the FYD has spring reverb, but its $850+the mods
Vs $700 for the SMS ready to go but,w digital reverb
Why did you choose the FYD?

I use the SMS and love it! The reverb is great!

Check out Jeff Matson with Dark Star Orchestra, and you will hear the reverb. Although it may be a bit processed through the board?

Pfallon wrote:Hey now I'm saving up for a pre amp and I've heard a lot about the SMS JG
And not as much about theFYD.
I like that the FYD has spring reverb, but its $850+the mods
Vs $700 for the SMS ready to go but,w digital reverb
Why did you choose the FYD?

I have both the SMS Classic Tube Preamp with Jerry mods and the FYD Twin Reverb "jerry" Preamp. Love them both and they are both excellent preamps. Both are "ready to go". You might have to specify (when purchasing the FYD) that you want the Tantalum caps. That was my experience, anyway. Otherwise, the only differences are that the FYD is point to point and has tube driven spring reverb and takes up two rack spaces as opposed to one.

Yes, the digital reverb in the SMS is excellent sounding (one of the best I've heard), but the reverb in the FYD being tube driven with springs sounds better to me as far as authenticity goes for getting "the Jerry tone". It's a very fine line and many I have spoken to cannot hear the difference in the reverbs, but I feel it has a lot to do with the tone.

Neither one comes with The Maestro mod from Wald Electronics. That is NEW and you will have to speak with Mike Wald Jr.(aka Waldo here at Rukind) about it.
I chose the FYD to receive The Maestro mod from Wald Electronics because it is point to point and because it has the tube driven spring reverb.

I actually like digital reverb and prefer it in most cases to spring, but I'm weird that way. Big Lexicon fan and the reverb in the Lexicon sounds Lexicon-y to me.

The Lexicon reverb is awesome. I have a Lexicon MX200 unit as well and love it, however the tube driven reverb creates a different dynamic in the circuit and is true to Jerry tone. Not a deal breaker, but Jerry would only use spring reverb for a reason.

Thanks for the detailed relpies!
I'm going back and forth from my Fender 75 and digitech reverb
I like the authentic sound of the spring reverb when I get it wetter
But I like the quiet convenience of the digital reverb and solid state rig
For most applications.
We'll see when the funding fills in
Thanks again
Pat