The Steel Guitar Forum

Much has to do with the amp. A good sounding amp with a good speaker in a well built cabinet can have a subtle depth of its own, so sweet that you might not want to ruin it with reverb. I find this is mostly true with some of the older pre-reverb tube amps.

Depends on the amp. I usually record without reverb because it tends to cover up mistakes in technique, tone, and mic placement. If I record without reverb to my satisfaction and add it later, the result is usually better. Some amps require it more than others, as do some styles of music.

There are a few guitarists I like who don't use reverb, most notably Wayne Krantz, but I am not one of those guys. I need a sense of space. If I am playing in a room with a good amount of reverberation, I can be happy with that as long as I put a little distance between myself and the amp. For an outdoor gig, I NEED reverb.

I remember in the 60's playing Armenian music on my Gibson jazz box through an Ampeg B15 out at a picnic - the natural echo from the surrounding woods was nice!

Ian Rae wrote:I've said this elsewhere, but I think the volume pedal is misnamed - the overall playing volume is set on the amp and the pedal is really there to assist the natural sustain of the instrument, so it would be better called a sustain pedal. If it's used properly it should not draw attention.

it controls amplitude...

I run a stereo delay using 2 amps, and don't even like the sound of playing mono (1 amp) anymore.

Tim Whitlock wrote:Much has to do with the amp. A good sounding amp with a good speaker in a well built cabinet can have a subtle depth of its own, so sweet that you might not want to ruin it with reverb.

Bingo.

The room also makes a difference, as does the instrumentation. In a loud band with a drummer, reverb seems to disappear in the cymbal wash. This phenomenon seems especially evident with the digital stomp box reverbs.

I used to use a lot of reverb in the old days but for the last 10 years or so I don't use it at all. I do however use a Boss DD3 delay unit with just a tad of delay. I have had many folks tell me that I have superior sound and that makes me real happy. It sounds real good to me also. I also use the DD3 for recording with just a little delay and it seems to work real well. At this point, I really don't like the sound of reverb on my rig but our guitar player uses it and his guitar sounds real good to me. Anyhow, just my thoughts. NM

Rich Upright wrote:I run a stereo delay using 2 amps, and don't even like the sound of playing mono (1 amp) anymore.

Me too! I recently bought a second amp just for gigs, but now I practise in stereo even in my tiny 12'x 6' room! Guess it's addictive

Seeing my old friend Dave Z. log in on this... thought I'd give my $.02

I used to use a fair amount of reverb... but that was back when you had to bring 400 watts with you to fill the room... those days are gone.

Now, I use a teeny-tiny amount both on stage, and recording (knowing that as soon as I am gone the producer will flood my steel track with WAY too much steel reverb )

Instead I favor, like the icon Sneaky Pete, a nice back-slap very limited delay... and the let the room
add the rest of the ambient "reverb".

Too much reverb, puts you way too far back in the mix... live room or studio.... IMHO

I understand about not overdoing it when you're performing, but it's great to be able to turn my small practice room into a big one!

Ian Rae wrote:

Rich Upright wrote:I run a stereo delay using 2 amps, and don't even like the sound of playing mono (1 amp) anymore.

Me too! I recently bought a second amp just for gigs, but now I practise in stereo even in my tiny 12'x 6' room! Guess it's addictive

I've been playing in stereo for around 9 months now and I be struggling to go back to mono as I'd have to ask my identical twin to practice elsewhere

I've been playing about with different setups for my stereo rig, I was using my Boss GT3 to do all the electronics and then feeding into a 75w per channel power amp. Recently I started using stand alone electronics with a valve pre-amp into an Ashly 7 band parametric then an analogue delay and a stereo chorus feeding the power amp.

I would have put a reverb on the end of this but didn't have a stand alone, (until yesterday), and have just been using the analogue delay and I think it sounds better than using reverb.

Having said that I bought the new Boss RV6 yesterday and it sounds fantastic. Haven't had a chance to try it on the steel yet but I trialed it in the shop on an acoustic - wow!!

It seems to give a nice ambiance without muddying up the sound. It has a dynamic mode which responds to how you're playing, so keeps the clarity of the individual notes.

The two times I saw Curly Chalker play, he was playing very dry. I believe he didn't want to be covered up, although on occasion for a special tune, he would use either slapback echo or verb.

I am a big Chalker fan so maybe that has something to do with it. Now if only that was all it took to play 1/10th of what he could how he could!!

I regularly play in a club with a concrete floor, 12 ft high windows on three sides, and a metal ceiling/roof. Talk about reverb. Sounds pretty good though without any effects