At long last, more Surveyors are coming! We will have our next batch up for sale on Friday, February 19 at 2PM EST. As you may have noticed, this one looks a little different. The Surveyor has officially moved to V2! The changes are primarily utilitarian in nature, as follows:
New mechanical format: slightly different enclosure (same footprint, different brand), different potentiometer spacing, and different jacks. Same facelift as the Model feT and Longsword.
Implementation of over-voltage and ESD protection: the Surveyor, like our other recently updated pedals, will safely shut down in the event of incorrect power to protect the internal power supply and other sensitive circuitry.
Addition of a Hi/Lo toggle on the front panel: this is the most prominent change. The primary goal is to make the gain range more granular at lower levels, which is good for high-output instruments, and to broaden the overall range of gain.
Here’s the updated product page, with a fresh revision of the manual as well.
(If you want to learn a little more about the Hi/Lo control, here’s a brief explanation. Otherwise, feel free to scroll ahead a couple paragraphs.)
This graph compares the gain settings of the V1 (top plot) versus the Hi/Lo settings on V2 (middle and bottom plots). As you can see the gain is essentially flat except at the highest levels, where there is a tiny rolloff just at the edge of the audio band. (This is good, because in conjunction with the Bass and Treble controls you can know exactly what you’re sending into the Tube Voice circuit.)
Each graph shows the gain versus frequency with the Gain knob at minimum (green), halfway (blue), and maximum (red). As you can see, the V1 input stage has a range of about 0dB to about 30dB of gain. In comparison, the V2 input stage has a range of 9dB to 36dB on the Hi setting, and -15dB to +12dB on the Lo setting.
OK, that’s enough technical detail. Now for some housekeeping.
First, I plan to update this blog on more or less a monthly basis, rather than the extremely sporadic updates I’ve been posting before. Instagram is a very helpful tool, but I prefer the longer format and more permanent nature of a blog as opposed to social media. I think we’ll all benefit from a regular look at the bigger picture goings-on.
Second, I realize we are still struggling to meet demand! We have substantially ramped up production, with batches available weeks apart instead of months apart as before, but we are still taking steps to increase our output and reach our goal of having inventory on demand. I have previously not shared our production schedules because of the unpredictability of my day job, but now scheduling is much easier. Here’s what’s currently, concretely in the pipeline (i.e. we have parts on hand and are just coordinating logistics for assembly, testing, demos, etc):
The aforementioned Surveyor V2 launch
Longsword restock - late Feb/early March
Final Beholder batch - mid to late February
Limelight Batch 2 - mid March (more on this later)
Model feT restock - early to mid March
0xEAE Boost Launch - late March (tentatively)
Less concretely, but still worth mentioning: we’ll have more Daggers and Halberds coming this spring, also updated into the new format!
I realize the Hypersleep is conspicuously absent from this list. We’re making every effort we can to secure enough BBDs for long-term production, but this process is still ongoing. Once I have a sufficient stockpile of BBDs I will keep you all posted.
Thanks everybody!