The Steel Guitar Forum

Does anyone use Reverb while playing Hawaiian music?
I run dry with a little Fender Champ and I like the tone.

I was pondering the idea of putting a Reverb Tank into one of my Champs.

Curious if any Hawaiian players use reverb in their mix.

Does the pope wear a funny hat?

Is the atomic weight of Cobalt 58.9? (from Egon Spengler in Ghostbusters II)

Here's a great Reverb Pedal.

https://robertkeeley.com/product/aurora ... mm-special

I use reverb on everything, it just helps to fill out the sound.
If that amp didn't come with reverb, it isn't that simple to add a reverb tank.
I would suggest just using a reverb stomp box, there are a lot of good ones out there.

For me it depends on the sound I'm trying to get. If I want to sound like 30's and 40's electrci steel players, no reverb. I use a simple tube amp that is a lot like the vintage amps of the period, no reverb.

But I add some reverb to sound like Hawaiian recordings from the 50's on, as many players seem to have either a touch of reverb from the amp, studio board, or both.

Hi Steve, that's a valid question. Like Don Kona Woods, I use what I term a "touch" of reverb just to give a slight "presence" to the sound. You don't really notice that it's there as "reverb", but it takes away the quick drop out to deadness. Hope this helps.
Geo

Hi David, just to let you know I didn't steal your term "touch of reverb", you must have jumped in just ahead of my post!!!!!!! Geo

Thanks for all the feedback (no pun intended LOL) guys.

I'd agree with David's comment on my logic. The older sound of the 30's and 40's didn't seem to have reverb. The 50's and later did. So it would depend on the song and feel I'm going for. That's why my little Champ is nice for the old era stuff.

I use Zoom 507 reverb pedals, laying in the bottom of the cabs, on two amps I use. I have them wired into one jack, and a wall-wart power supply which comes on with the the amp power.
These have just a touch of reverb when they turn on, & gives a bit of body, or presence to the sound...

My vote is no reverb on anything except maybe a touch on vocals if I'm playing a small room . I like the feeling of immediacy that no reverb has, and it actually set your tone apart from most others nowadays.

George Rout wrote:Hi David, just to let you know I didn't steal your term "touch of reverb", you must have jumped in just ahead of my post!!!!!!! Geo

No sweat, my friend, I don't own the phrase anyway.

Steve Marinak wrote: That's why my little Champ is nice for the old era stuff.

I'm using a Champion 600 into a 10 inch speaker. It sounds a lot like early amps, like yours.

Of course one of those old amps with a field-coil speaker would be best.

I think the reason the early recordings didn't have reverb is because there wasn't any available.
That is, unless you went into a large tiled out bathroom!
If I'm not mistaken, that's what Chet Atkins did.

I play a little Hawaiian, a little Western swing, a little 50s country music, and a couple of standards in the Gershwin/Kern/Cole Porter vein, and I don't use reverb on any of that stuff. I don't think I know how to use reverb effectively, so I don't use it at all.

Once upon a time, a friend introduced me to the blue sky. And i use a splash of it on my Hawaiian tunes. Sometime in heavy doses for those ambient swells.

https://store.strymon.net/bluesky-reverberator/

One of my amps is a 1950 National, that I bought new, and has a 12-inch field coil speaker. The other one is a clone of the national, using a turret board in place of the rat's nest wiring. I've built 6 of those, and I use Weber ceramic type speakers. I did build one with a 10 inch speaker, in order to use a smaller cab.

Bill Creller wrote:One of my amps is a 1950 National, that I bought new, and has a 12-inch field coil speaker. The other one is a clone of the national, using a turret board in place of the rat's nest wiring. I've built 6 of those, and I use Weber ceramic type speakers. I did build one with a 10 inch speaker, in order to use a smaller cab.

How do the Weber speakers sound compared to the original?

Reverb is like salt & pepper. A little bit adds a nice flavor. Too much and the dish is ruined.

Note: the Surf music genre gets a hall pass to use as much reverb as it needs.

Andy Volk wrote: Note: the Surf music genre gets a hall pass to use as much reverb as it needs.

So I can turn up the reverb when playing surf tunes on the lap steel, eh?

Surf was also the first musical style to use electric bass from the start.

I used to practice in the stairwell at the Ilikai in Waikiki,with my little Marshall battery amp.

I use a little reverb, bout 3 out of 10, on non-pedal and pedal steel. It's main effect is to give more "presence", IMHO, in the midrange.

I don't build reverb into the " Luigifier" ...

I did hear Jeff Kearns last week ... Who used a little Electrohamonix reverb "strapped" onto his "Luigifier" ... Sounded great ... But it was more him than the unit.

Ho'opi'i .. Iona ... McIntire ... No reverb ... Who knows what they would have chosen if it was available ... JB liked a little ... And in one HSGA convention he used the set up from the guy who came before him ... A lot of delay + reverb ... He sounded great ... As always

For me ... as said above ... I'm going for fluctuations in pitch at about 6 hz ... Any reverb or delay ... Smears that sound ... Interfering with what I am trying to accomplish ...

But that is me in my basement ... At the last HSGA convention I went to ... I went with Jeff Au Hoy's setting from the set he did before mine ... I'm not a complete fool

Thanks for the input Rick! I just picked up a clean blackface Champ in the $300's. Love my Silverface Champs that are slightly moded. They all sound a little different. I'm trying for that McIntyre, Iona sound, like a 78rpm record. Sometimes I think part of the tone we hear is actually the tonal range from the 78 Victrola. I've been reading up on turntables a little and read that the range is different from a manual turntable with a needle to a more modern electric with a high end stylus and EQ. Not sure I want to bother with the expense etc just to hear those records sound more modern. But I probably will at some point, the temptation is there.