Two things are undeniable about the classic, standalone, spring-loaded, Fender Reverb Unit: the charming character of its sound, and the pain-in-the-rear transporting and maintaining one is. That's not even to mention how difficult it is to find an original (yes, they make a reissue, and its about $800). What if you could get that sam spongy, dreamy ambience in a rugged, compact stombox? The new BOSS FRV-1 thinks its just the pedal for the job.

As part of BOSS's Fender Legend Series, the FRV-1 utilizes Roland-derived COSM modeling to recreate the subtle, nonlinear tube-powered nuance of the classic Fender Reverb Units (originally introduced in 1961). The FDR-1 ('65 Deluxe Reverb) and FBM-1 ('59 Bassman) pedals have already garnered serious accolades, and from the demos posted on BOSS's website, the FRV-1 sounds just as authentic.

The controls are simple, as a pedal emulating the straightforward Fender Reverb Unit should be: Dwell controls the length of the reverb tail, Tone, the overall coloration, and the Mixer control acts as your wet / dry mix.

You might wonder why one would need an additional reverb effect, being that boss already makes the respectable RV-5, and most amps already sport their own, built-in reverb. The obvious adherents to the classic Fender Reverb, country pickers and surf-guitar aficionados, will tell you there's no replacing a spring reverb's grinding, magical, atmospheric mojo. That character seems to be pretty-well captured by the FRV-1, and probably makes even more sense as an effects pedal than the other, "amp simulating" stompboxes in the Legend Series.

The BOSS FRV-1 has an expected delivery date of late July 2009, will pricing still TBA.