reverb

[moop]

question! i'm looking at reverb pedals and just wondering what people on here have/love/hate...

i love natural valve amp reverb and that classic space echo sound, but i dont really know how the digital versions compare.
so has anyone tried the boss re-20 imitation space echo?

i've heard both good and bad things about the quadraverb + (i think nick mccabe used this a lot on ASIH?).
i mean obviously he gets an incredible sound, but i got the impression that would take a lot of programming/setting up, plus it's pretty hefty, and some people mentioned it had a noisy hiss? the idea of linking it to an expression pedal/and or midi pedal sounds potentially great though...

how about the boss rv-5? / fdr-1? / etc etc?

i have a boss dd-20, which isnt bad itself, but i really love the idea of combining it with a separate (dedicated) reverb pedal that i could just turn up to drench the sound. i think i've become overly used to using computers for effects/layering, and would really love to get back to making these sounds live.

cheers!

[Chris Barrus]

This isn't an easily answerable question and much of this depends on exactly what kind of sound(s) you're going after. Reverb is my #1 effect and I'm incredibly particular around it.

I've tried out various Space Echoes (including the RE-20) and never really took a liking to it. I went with the Moog MF-104Z delay and have been completely happy with it - somehow it just meshes in with my way of thinking. FWIW, I saw Adam Franklin live last year and he used the RE-20 to tremendous effect. As always, YMMV with this sort of thing.

As for straight-up reverb, nothing beats the bog-standard spring reverb in my old Ampeg Reverb-O-Rocket amp. I don't know what alchemy Ampeg used in these amps but it's tremendous. Only way you're going to do better with tube/springs is to get an outboard Fender or a DST VTR-2 but then you're spending so much $$$ you'll never take it to gigs or experiment with it.

The Quadraverb is indeed the main Nick McCabe effect (Roy Montgomery uses one everywhere too). It doesn't take too much to set-up, but the thing is that you have to be McCabe or Montgomery to get those kinds of sounds. You can find a Microverb II for much less $$$ and get a lot of use out of it. Very underrated, but since it's not a Quadraverb you'll lose out on bragging rights (BFD)

I've got a RV-3 and for me it's absolutely mandatory. If I lost it or if it should get broken I'd get a RV-5 the same day. It's all over my band's EP (especially this track: http://fairtilizer.com/track/36444 )

I think after I eBay some stuff off I'll pick this up: http://www.strymon.net/products/bluesky/ - I'm looking for a reverb that I can use more or less conventionally with an AC30 and I really like how this sounds in the clips.

[moop]

thanks for the quick reply
sorry about being so vague. basically i dont/cant have an amp at the moment, and i really miss my old amp-y reverb. so buying a new amp is out of the question at the moment, and i think i was probably going off on a bit of a tangent with the whole space echo thing. sure, they're fun but not really what i need right now.

that blue sky pedal looks and sounds really nice, but i found the previews a little limited (partly a result of them not being videos, so you cant see how it's all set up). I found in those clips the original guitar and the reverb seemed kind of separate. Do you think that's just because of how the 'mix' was set? Also, one thing I love is that big 'hall' kind of reverb. I'm surprised this pedal doesnt have that as a setting. Or maybe that's just what happens when you select 'normal' and up the decay? I hope so, cos i like that it gives you so many options to mess with manually.

i found another couple of potentially good pedals. the 'Holy Grail' and the 'TC Electronic NR-1' (lots of options/settings on the latter). anyone know how these sound/compare to the boss rv-'s? hard to really get a good impression from the demos online. I wish i could go and try these out, but the guitar places round here are rubbish.

oh and the microverb II looks pretty good, and great value for money, plus it's nice and compact. but on the other hand maybe i wouldnt mind spending a bit more money for a pedal with more options.

decisions, decisions...

[moop]

anyone checked this one out? seems more along the lines of what i was looking for, but perhaps is more of a fun gadget than a useful pedal... i dunno. am somewhat tempted. (seems promising, but again, it's hard to tell without testing it out yourself)

http://www.harmony-central.com/ProductI ... Reverb.jpg

[marcvolta]

Damn.

That EHX Cathedral looks nice........now i gotta shuffle things around and get one dammnit!!

i had an original Re-201 Space Echo tape delay with reverb and i loved that thing, but i was always worried about it. they are kind of a hassle, with cleaning the heads, making sure the tape is ok, and being very gentle with it... also buying tapes online, and then they get to you and are really short or are spliced like shit (i dont know how to splice tape and make my own so i was forced to resort to buying them from guys online) i sold it a few months ago, for more than i paid, they are kinda ridiculously pricey now...but are worth it if thats your thing!

if you want a unit that sounds great but will make you paranoid when ever it takes a little while to warm up or sounds a little off, go for a real RE-201 or any of the original space echo's .

[moop]

if you want a unit that sounds great but will make you paranoid when ever it takes a little while to warm up or sounds a little off, go for a real RE-201 or any of the original space echo's .

yeah, that's not for me.

That EHX Cathedral looks nice........now i gotta shuffle things around and get one dammnit!!

glad you like it too. the video demos of it seem pretty cool, and from what ive read it has a similar reverb to the 'holy grail'. some people complained that it was 'too clean' in comparison, but also pointed out that you can make it less clean by changing the settings.

my main concern is with powering it, since ive read that EHX pedals can be difficult like that. seeing as they really expensive to buy over here i'd have to order one from the UK/US and then try to find a 3rd party adapter which can use the right settings, but im a little concerned that it wont work (or it'll fry it!?).

[toomilk]

On a related note, what is the best non-amp slap echo someone can get for cheap?

[mojo filters]

On a related note, what is the best non-amp slap echo someone can get for cheap?

Dano PB&J

I paid £10 for one (missing some knobs, but all the important stuff was there). After a bit of soldering and some simple replacement/substituted parts, it works fine. As a delay/echo pedal it has more functionality than other cheap analogue delays, notably in the extra stomp switch to change between short and long delay settings.

It's not made anymore, but is a good way to get both slapback and delay fx, which you can easily toggle between without turning off - I doubt there's a cheaper good-quality echo, and it should be easy to get hold of. Best of all it sounds good, is well made and can be got cheap!

[simonkeeping]

I used to have a EH Holy Grail. that sounded pretty nice. You could juice it up to full and it would give you some nice Nick McCabe style ghostly notes.

[moop]

so i finally got myself a cathedral and i have to say it's a LOT of fun and pretty intuitive/useful.
i hooked it up to 2 speakers on either side of the room and it made some pretty epic washes of sound.
cant wait to try it out with my other pedals too (crybaby, dd-20 delay, shredmaster, rat) but theyre not in the same country.
will post links to new tracks made with it as and when

[radioshack]

so i finally got myself a cathedral and i have to say it's a LOT of fun and pretty intuitive/useful.
i hooked it up to 2 speakers on either side of the room and it made some pretty epic washes of sound.
cant wait to try it out with my other pedals too (crybaby, dd-20 delay, shredmaster, rat) but theyre not in the same country.
will post links to new tracks made with it as and when

Damn, I was trying to forget about the Shredmaster and you've reminded me! I so want one!

[moop]

overbkill!



now if only i could stop that infernal buzzing/hissing sound so i can record clearly. not entirely sure what's making it, but i'm guessing proximity of guitar to computer? (since it's still there if i just plug the guitar straight into the audio interface). Does anyone have any advice for this? I can use the computer's EQ to cut out the higher frequencies, but that eliminates some of the sounds i want to keep.

EDIT: yes! finally figured out the source of the buzzing. i found if i unplug the laptop 90% of the noise disappears. i suspect that if i also unplug my external hard drive it may disappear entirely, but it's already good enough to live with. I suspect that the reason is because the laptop has an american plug, and the hard drive is from japan, but they're both using uk power. hopefully when i add the pedals back into the equation it stays quiet. now the only problem is that windows 7 wont let me change the source of the audio, so i can't use my XLR mic... arghghhh!

[scratch]

overbkill!

now the only problem is that windows 7 wont let me change the source of the audio, so i can't use my XLR mic... arghghhh!

eeh.. huh? windows 7 wont let you.. what?

[moop]

overbkill!

now the only problem is that windows 7 wont let me change the source of the audio, so i can't use my XLR mic... arghghhh!

eeh.. huh? windows 7 wont let you.. what?

i'm using an audio interface from about 6 years ago, called the MI4. It's by Steinberg and they don't care about supporting hardware that's beyond a certain age, so the drivers for it in windows 7 don't really work with it properly. It totally skips the installation of a little program which lets you select which input you want to use (it has a mono input, 2xstereo inputs and 2 XLR inputs for condenser mics. suffice to say this renders my XLR mics useless for the time being. infuriating!

[scratch]

old hardware seem to usually have buggy beta w7 drivers, if any at all..
I never managed to install the w7 drivers to my old emu card.

maybe you can try older xp or vista drivers in compatibility mode?

[moop]

old hardware seem to usually have buggy beta w7 drivers, if any at all..
I never managed to install the w7 drivers to my old emu card.

maybe you can try older xp or vista drivers in compatibility mode?

thanks for the advice. actually i oversimplified things - there arent any win7 drivers, so i used the old vista (i think) drivers as you said. it took many attempts to even install it to a functional level, since the installation process requires the usb cable to be plugged and unplugged many times, causing spontaneous blue screens of death and computer restarts. *sigh!*

having finally got it to the level of almost-entirely functional, i'm afraid to try messing with it again.