Danelectro DSR-1 Spring King

If you need a consistent spring reverb that will always travel with you (so that you are not dependent on the built-in reverbs of the amps you play, and want to be foot-controllable), but you do not want to carry a pedalboard unfriendly reverb tank around, this is the best solution. The Danelectro Spring King is not completely analog, as it has a digital pre-delay chip, but it does not matter as long as the sound it produces is very natural and you can actually hear the srings vibrating in the sound coming out of your amp.
The footprint of the pedal is huge, but it has a real spring tank inside, so it is inevitable. The knobs are chicken-head, which makes it easy to control the parameters with your foot between or during songs.
The pedal is not very versatile, as it gets you only 1 type of reverb - spring - but if it is what you are looking for, you won't be disappointed, as it is better than digital any spring emulation in a reasonable price range, and has loads of decay on-tap.
I must admit though that I ended up buying a digital pedal with a smaller footprint and more versatility, though it cannot quite replace the Danelectro. I would still highly recommend this pedal for Spring reverb lovers, especially guitarists playing surf music.

I have had this pedal for a few years now (bought way back in 2009) and until recently its been a mainstay on my effects board, I say recently because I finally purchased a real Fender tube reverb unit making this little guy a bit obsolete.
However until the new unit arrived this managed to cover all the splashy surf spring sounds I needed and it did it very well at a fairly good price. Its much better than the digital pedals mainly because it has a real spring inside so every time its working its ever so slightly random and more organic sounding. Even the kick pad is a bit of fun when you want that thunderous crash sound effect so often used in surf music.

Bit of a big bugger isn't it?...and there is I gather some digital magic going on in there though the springs are "real"....
I've only used it with practice amps as my bigger ones all have reverb trays built in or I'll take an FRV to save space but its a decent sounding unit for that purpose...possibly a little thin but then its being used with amps in the 5W Zone with cheap 6" speakers...
Get a PSU...but then that holds for any and all Reverb/Echo analogue or digital I've used..so I'm not counting that as a "con"
It takes up a lot of real estate,more than the size of the spring tray seems to warrant which could be an issue for placement in a live rig...
The "kickpad" is kind of a gimmick but may as well have it as not!...probably as much to prove to us the springs are working as anything else!
The folded steel case is rock solid and I've always liked the switching used by Dano on their older pedals...reacts to even a light touch and is very positive in action...
Overall its actually a more practical unit than the slightly cheesy looks suggest and more analogue than any others that I'm aware of at this price point if you're a digiphobe...

If you're after a genuine spring reverb at a good price you can't go wrong with this - it's probably the cheapest on the market. It's strength is also its limitation - it's a spring reverb full stop, however if you want to get an authentic 50s/surf sound, this does it, just don't expect anything else. There is a good level of control over the sound and its easy to see your settings, courtesy of the chicken head knobs. I feel that the Kick Pad is somewhat of a gimmick, it has limited use, though is fun to use occasionally and does give the effect it's designed to - the boingy sound of someone bashing into an amp fitted with a spring reverb. A problem I encountered with the Kick Pad however, was that if I used it a few times repeatedly, it set up a vibration in the spring which took some time to subside; meaning that I couldn't use the reverb normally for some time after. The build quality is good, having a solid steel chassis and should stand up to a lot of punishment.

This pedal on its original for is really a one trick pony... a great spring reverb with a preset digital "analog" slapback delay and a kick pad for having fun. It's probably the best pedal you can get for surf/rockabilly kind of sounds and in general it's a fun pedal.
To be honest, one of the reasons I bought it was the possibility of modding it, in order to have more control to the delay time/feedback. After the mod the pedal was able to produce more "experimental" sounds. Great if you like dub, or post/psychedelic sounds.
Although I don't know if it'll ever replace the Hall of Fame on my pedalboard due to it being huge and mono, it's one of my favourite pedals, great for songwriting and recording,