Reverb preference

Billy Murdoch · Post by **Billy Murdoch** » 1 Aug 2012 10:48 pm

Do You prefer a digital reverb or a spring reverb when using a multi type stand alone unit?
Billy

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 2 Aug 2012 2:24 am

I'm using the "spring reverb" in my POD X3.

Greg Cutshaw · Post by **Greg Cutshaw** » 2 Aug 2012 3:58 am

I like the Boss RV-5 and the Hall Of Fame reverb a lot. The reverb on all my amps sucks except the original Fender Princeton Reverb spring reverb which is excellent. There's a ton of really nice reverbs available now and I haven't tried a 10th of them so it's hard for me to say what's best!

Greg

Jim Bates · Post by **Jim Bates** » 2 Aug 2012 4:42 am

Sorry, I never found any 'box' that gives me a clean, real sounding reverb. The first and best amp to give me that reverb was the Sho Bud/ tube amp by Evans, then the Sho-Bud solid state by Kennenth Cain,now the best is the Session 500 (which is why I bought it in the first place).

Thanx,
Jim

Adam Sorber · Post by **Adam Sorber** » 2 Aug 2012 4:52 am

I use the Holy Grail nanoverb.

Stephen Cowell · Post by **Stephen Cowell** » 2 Aug 2012 6:30 am

Folks, in general, if you have an amp with a real spring tank in it and aren't getting the sound you like there are several options for replacing the tank. For one thing, there are little rubber dampers inside there that determine the option for short, medium, and long decay... when these wear out then you have a super-boingy ultra-long decay tank. During replacement you have the option to go with the aforementioned short,med, or long... the number printed on the tank will tell you what it was supposed to be from the factory.

http://www.accutronicsreverb.com/main/? ... 01_02.html

These folks run an eBay store too... each tank is made-to-order, so having the correct number is important.

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 2 Aug 2012 6:34 am

Dave Grafe · Post by **Dave Grafe** » 2 Aug 2012 10:51 am

It really depends on the setting and the music being played, certainly the word "reverb" covers a lot of territory. There are a number of facets that make up the nature of a given effect, from pre-delay to early reflections to attack intensity to tail density to high- and low-frequency damping to stop slope and much, much more. The finest digital units provide for accurate control of many such characteristics, the cheaper ones offer less control (more simplicity some might say) and most spring tank reverbs, as well as some stompboxes, offer no control at all.

Although I have at one time or another used a number of fine digital effects processors, most of the time I record and perform with the pedal steel guitar using the long-decay Accutronics spring tanks installed my amps. It sounds "right" for most everything I do and I don't have to cart around a rack full of toys. The long-decay tank provides about 50ms of pre-delay and around 3 seconds of fairly smooth reverb tail; the Randall amp provides some EQ on the reverb send in addition to the usual level control, but there are otherwise no adjustable parameters to this sort of device.

There are times when a piece of music calls for something more detailed and carefully crafted, and for these effects a good digital unit with full parameter access - Lexicon's PCM70 and above, Klark-Teknik's DN780, several units from Eventide and a few of TC Electronics' high-end products - will deliver sparkling clarity and natural ambiance that the cheaper units simply cannot match, plus the ability to sculpt the effect to perfectly complement the rest of the mix, which is maybe no big deal to a player on stage but is the very essence of fine audio engineering.

Len Amaral · Post by **Len Amaral** » 2 Aug 2012 3:12 pm

I agree with Greg on the RV-5 as I keep going back to it for a pedal. However, the plate reverb in my GP-100 is sweet and so is the delay but using a stomp pedal is convienient.

Lenny

Jeff Valentine · Post by **Jeff Valentine** » 2 Aug 2012 7:44 pm

Yes, I agree with Dave. It all depends on the song. It also depends on what kind of equipment you have. Cheap equipment usually falls short on the spring or hall reverbs. Sometimes it's better to use some delay and cut the reverb out all together. I guess it also depends on the player and what they like. Sometimes the amp reverb is the way to go. With Guitar Center's 30 Day return policy you can afford to try some things out!

Ray McCarthy · Post by **Ray McCarthy** » 3 Aug 2012 8:57 am

Is it my immagination or does reverb take something away from the original tone to create the reverb effect. Sometimes I use delay only and it seems I have a fuller tone.

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 3 Aug 2012 9:10 am

Reverb doesn't take anything away from the original tone, it adds some richness to it.

George Macdonald · Post by **George Macdonald** » 3 Aug 2012 9:45 am

I used to think that the built in Fender reverbs in tube amps of many years ago were the best. After switching to Peavey amps 35 years ago I was always dissapointed in the amp reverbs. About 10 years ago I went to digital reverb pedals starting with the Boss RV-3, Boss RV-5, Hardwire RV-7, and currently a "Wet" reverb by Neunaber Technology. It's a matter of what flavor you find your ear likes the best. They all do the job better than most amp spring reverbs. My amps now are class D MB200s which don't have onboard reverb.

Philip Mitrakos · Post by **Philip Mitrakos** » 3 Aug 2012 9:48 am

Im real happy with the RV-7 ...BUT...you need to use both inputs and both outputs...and forget about using a battery ...it only lasts about four hours...needs solid electricty.

Dave Grafe · Post by **Dave Grafe** » 4 Aug 2012 7:44 am

Ray said:

Is it my immagination or does reverb take something away from the original tone to create the reverb effect. Sometimes I use delay only and it seems I have a fuller tone.

None of these time-delay effects - which is what reverb, chorusing and delay all are - take anything away from the original signal. They all take a copy of the original signal and play it back slightly delayed and on top of the original, in the case of reverb there are many delays very close together and how close together and at what levels is what gives a particular reverb effect its "sound." In the case of straight delay or "echo" the illusion of a large space is still created but there is a great deal less delayed program to cover up the original than with a reverb effect, no doubt this is the difference you are hearing.

Lee Baucum · Post by **Lee Baucum** » 4 Aug 2012 9:34 am

I like using digital plate and hall reverbs. The digital spring reverbs that I have tried don't sound very good to my ears.

Jay Ganz · Post by **Jay Ganz** » 4 Aug 2012 12:32 pm

Yeah....me neither.

Steve Humes · Post by **Steve Humes** » 5 Aug 2012 2:13 pm

Boss FRV-1

Ken Jameson · Post by **Ken Jameson** » 5 Aug 2012 9:43 pm

i like the danelctro spring king reverb unit.

Mike Archer · Post by **Mike Archer** » 9 Aug 2012 9:42 am

I use the plate setting on my holy grail reverb pedal its realy nice I dont care much for the name though.....surely they could have picked a better
name for the pedal.....

Jay Ganz · Post by **Jay Ganz** » 9 Aug 2012 11:13 am

Something new from Hardwire > > >

Here's some MORE INFO

Clyde Mattocks · Post by **Clyde Mattocks** » 9 Aug 2012 12:20 pm

Another vote for the plate setting in digital reverbs. The spring simulation seems to fall a little short. I have two Lexicon Alex's that I have had for 10 years.

Atom Schmitt · Post by **Atom Schmitt** » 12 Aug 2012 8:49 pm

I like old Fenders for the most part, but those reverbs can be touchy and they sound better on some amps than others. The best one I had for steel is gone now, too. But, more importantly, if you're on a stage where the kick drum can cause your tank to rattle, it's really better to have a pedal no matter how good your spring reverb sounds. Even if that gig only happens once in a blue moon, I'd rather be prepared than stuck without reverb, especially if I'm playing steel.

I've used a Strymon Blue Sky, a Strymon Flint, and the plate reverbs on my Eleven Rack a lot in the past, but I'm most blown away by the Dr. Scientist Reverberator. It's got a nice boost knob built in, which seems to add something that's hard to define but really great. Did the weekend with that pedal, which I got on the way to Saturday night's gig. Just the Reverberator, a Malekko 616 delay for a couple tunes, my Sho-Bud, and my Webb. I've got to say, I've never been happier with the Sho-Bud/Webb combination, and we all know that's a pretty good combo to begin with. So, to get a demonstrable improvement from a pedal was pretty impressive to me.

Jay Ganz · Post by **Jay Ganz** » 13 Aug 2012 4:28 am

Yeah...I had a topic awhile back on that pedal HERE

Brad Sarno · Post by **Brad Sarno** » 13 Aug 2012 7:40 am

The engineering staff at Strymon think this is their best reverb pedal. Just leave the tremolo off if you don't want it. I have one, and it's fantastic.

http://www.strymon.net/products/flint/

Brad