'Set and forget' reverb padal

[baward]

Hi,

I recently sold a spring reverb, which did only one thing, but did it really well. I am looking to replace it with a similar, modern digital reverb (stereo) pedal. I looked into some Strymon pedals, such as the Night Sky, but they exceed my requirements by about 1000 miles, as I don't need all the parameters. It doesn't need to slavishly only recreate spring reverb. I can spend up to about £300 or so. What do people recommend?

[Dave.P]

My go to is the Boss RV-6 - but everyone has different thoughts of course.
The RV6 does spring, plate and hall plus some lovely ambient stuff too.

Should be about £125 new if you look around.

Built like a tank too of course.

Demo here -
https://youtu.be/kWG6e3WGIBM

[The Elf]

Zoom MS-50G or MS-70CDR, depending on requirement - and hack it to pick up the effects you'd like from the other pedals in the range.

The reverbs are actually pretty good, and one of them is 'Strymon-inspired'...

[Wonks]

Mooer R7 is worth a look as well at about £99. I have a Boss RV-5, (which is the same as the RV-6 less one ambient reverb mode IIRC), but the R7 gives you 7 modes, lots of tweaking (pre-delay, HF, LF, decay and level) and is programmable per mode. Modes are room, hall, church, cave, plate, spring and mod. It sounds good to me, probably better than the Boss, though you could say just a bit different. Mooer also do the A7, which is their ambient reverb version. Never heard that though.

But if you just want a simple spring reverb pedal, the Tone City Tiny Spring (£50 at Andertons) sounds decent to me. But reverbs are very personal as to what you like. I prefer reverbs to not have too many definite echoes, but others like a very ‘drippy’ reverb.

If it’s not for guitar use, then a used rack reverb unit could give you everything you want for not much money.

[Ben Asaro]

TC Electronic Hall of Fame mini may fit the bill for you. Super easy to load algorithms, single knob for whatever parameter you consider most important.

Excellent sounding reverbs, too.

[Wonks]

You do realise you are just going to get a list of almost every reverb pedal available, don't you?

[Ben Asaro]

You do realise you are just going to get a list of almost every reverb pedal available, don't you?

LOL, truth.

[BillB]

Basic question - mono or stereo output? I was just checking out Wonk's Mooer R7 suggestion and noticed the single output. Complete turn-off for me, but might well suit a single-amp gigging musician!

[baward]

Basic question - mono or stereo output? I was just checking out Wonk's Mooer R7 suggestion and noticed the single output. Complete turn-off for me, but might well suit a single-amp gigging musician!

Stereo outs, so that will exclude the Mooer (sorry Mooer

I'll check out the other boxes, thanks all.

[Wonks]

I was just going to ask about the stereo question. But stereo input as well? My Boss RV-5 unit has that and is fed from a stereo chorus.

[Sam Spoons]

Stereo also excludes the TC Hall of Fame mini but the Hof 2 full sized pedal is stereo, as is the HoF 2 x4, Trinity Reverb and Arena Reverb from TC. The original HoF is still on the TC webpage but may be discontinued, if you can find one at the right price that would probably get the job done but the Hof 2 is under £100. My main guitar combo has no reverb so I have a HoF mini on my guitar pedalboard, I found a reverb I liked, loaded it to the pedal (the mini can only have one reverb loaded at a time) and it is always on.

[CS70]

I think you can take any reverb pedal, set it and then forget about it? So long it keeps working that is

[MOF]

If ‘or so’ means an extra £55 then the new UAD fx pedals could fit the bill.
https://www.uaudio.com/uafx/effects-pedals.html

[Arpangel]

Put simply, if you’re after a spring sound, you won’t get it with a recreation, it’s the most difficult thing to do, and they haven’t done it yet, there are so many mechanical factors involved.
Get something secondhand, vintage, it’ll cost you a bit more, but it’ll be worth it, there really aren’t any compromises, and recreations always sound pathetic, sorry, but that’s the reality of it.
If it worked so well, why did you sell it?

[forumuser931182]

Strymon Blue Sky is simple yet gives you a number of reverb options.
Free the Tone also has a nice stereo reverb pedal.

[Arpangel]

Strymon Blue Sky is simple yet gives you a number of reverb options.
Free the Tone also has a nice stereo reverb pedal.

Spring reverbs aside, I’ve had both, Blue Sky, and Big Sky, sold the Blue Sky, still have the Big one.
The Big Sky is set and forget, you may think it's OTT but honestly, it’s so good, even the basic patches, you won’t want to edit it much, most of the time I just select one of the presets and it sounds fantastic, it’s simply one of the best reverbs out there, rack or pedal.
The only thingy that comes close, but sounds a bit different, is the Specular Tempus, the Eventide Black Hole is a bit of a vulgar show-off in comparison to these two, good, but way over-used, and a bit of a cliche, I had one, for about two weeks, the Big Sky does all that, and much much more, it could be my only reverb.

[Ben Asaro]

the Eventide Black Hole is a bit of a vulgar show-off in comparison to these two, good, but way over-used, and a bit of a cliche, I had one, for about two weeks, the Big Sky does all that, and much much more, it could be my only reverb.

You forgot the 'in my opinion' part.

I have the Blackhole, it's a great pedal, very versatile and sounds amazing. I think it's biggest failing is that it clips rather easily when you're feeding a hot signal into it.

[Arpangel]

the Eventide Black Hole is a bit of a vulgar show-off in comparison to these two, good, but way over-used, and a bit of a cliche, I had one, for about two weeks, the Big Sky does all that, and much much more, it could be my only reverb.

You forgot the 'in my opinion' part.

I have the Blackhole, it's a great pedal, very versatile and sounds amazing. I think it's biggest failing is that it clips rather easily when you're feeding a hot signal into it.

"In My Oppinion" .......Ben, I was blown away by the Black Hole when I got it, it really does give you all you need if you’re after that Eventide sound, you probably know, it’s supposed to be the same algorithms as used in the H8000.
I had an H3000 and I was expecting something similar, and the BH isn’t, I sold my H3000, and bought another one! when they were actually affordable, I sold that one too, they have this really bad transformer hum, all of them, I just couldn’t put up with it, but they sound the best, out of all the Eventides.

[baward]

If ‘or so’ means an extra £55 then the new UAD fx pedals could fit the bill.
https://www.uaudio.com/uafx/effects-pedals.html

That Golden Reverberator sounds lush! Vangelis would have loved it, although of course he had an actual Lexicon 224...

[baward]

Put simply, if you’re after a spring sound, you won’t get it with a recreation, it’s the most difficult thing to do, and they haven’t done it yet, there are so many mechanical factors involved.
Get something secondhand, vintage, it’ll cost you a bit more, but it’ll be worth it, there really aren’t any compromises, and recreations always sound pathetic, sorry, but that’s the reality of it.
If it worked so well, why did you sell it?

Enormous and unwieldy (it was a Great British Spring, and did indeed sound fab and I fancy a change.

[Macca_25387]

Trex room mate may be worth a shout. It’s lived on my board with the knobs in the same position for about two years now. That’s about as good as set and forget gets. Setting number 4 with a touch of chorus is my favourite. Can be had for under £150 second hand.

[Arpangel]

If ‘or so’ means an extra £55 then the new UAD fx pedals could fit the bill.
https://www.uaudio.com/uafx/effects-pedals.html

That Golden Reverberator sounds lush! Vangelis would have loved it, although of course he had an actual Lexicon 224...

I had a 224 up to three years ago, hardware? software? When you’ve had something like this you can’t help but giggle inside when people talk about how good plugins are
It was so unreliable, but it was nearly 40 years old! The sound was fantastic, but because of reliability I sold it, and the guy repaired it.
I didn’t ever think about replacing it, you just can’t, it was a lovely time having it as "my guest" for awhile, it had a spirit, it was so powerful, you could feel it, a vibe, attached to its physical being, I can't say that about many things, and I’m sure that’s why Vangelis was attracted to it.

[CS70]

can’t help but giggle inside when people talk about how good plugins are

My impression (not from a Lexi 224) is that a lot of the difference we perceive is because of the ease, immediacy of use and the way we can explore the options and zoom in the one we want.

For example, I much rather use real guitar amps than emulations, and physical-box emulations much rather than software emulations.

But I'm well aware that good guitar emulations are indistinguishable from a sonic point of view. There is no electric guitarist in the world that can consistently tell a Kemper or an Axe or an Helix from the real things in a true blind test, with no prior information.

Sure if one knows a specific AC30 intimately, he/she may be able to recognize it, but take two random AC30s that you don't know, one real then other emulated, have someone else set them up similarly and play without knowing what's attached to guitar.. no way you can tell what's what. You could with a POD, but not anymore.

And yet I still like "real" amps better (to the point that I have a small warehouse full of them ).

Why? I get better sounds. A paradox! Because from the above, the exact same sounds could be found within the emulation.

I don't usually think that much about it (I'd rather play) but if I do, the difference must lie elsewhere than the sound.. and indeed it does. A real amp is often a thing of beauty - I love the lights and the colors and the shiny metal and the feel of the knobs. It puts me in a good mood. Turning physical knobs allow me to explore a huge range of sounds very quickly, without looking. Controls in amp are often interrelated - changing one changes what the others do as well - and I can make complex, multi-parameter changes in less time that it takes to say "Fractal Audio Systems". No wonder I find better sounds on real amps!

[Arpangel]

can’t help but giggle inside when people talk about how good plugins are

My impression (not from a Lexi 224) is that a lot of the difference we perceive is because of the ease, immediacy of use and the way we can explore the options and zoom in the one we want.

For example, I much rather use real guitar amps than emulations, and physical-box emulations much rather than software emulations.

But I'm well aware that good guitar emulations are indistinguishable from a sonic point of view. There is no electric guitarist in the world that can consistently tell a Kemper or an Axe or an Helix from the real things in a true blind test, with no prior information.

Sure if one knows a specific AC30 intimately, he/she may be able to recognize it, but take two random AC30s that you don't know, one real then other emulated, have someone else set them up similarly and play without knowing what's attached to guitar.. no way you can tell what's what. You could with a POD, but not anymore.

And yet I still like "real" amps better (to the point that I have a small warehouse full of them ).

Why? I get better sounds. A paradox! Because from the above, the exact same sounds could be found within the emulation.

I don't usually think that much about it (I'd rather play) but if I do, the difference must lie elsewhere than the sound.. and indeed it does. A real amp is often a thing of beauty - I love the lights and the colors and the shiny metal and the feel of the knobs. It puts me in a good mood. Turning physical knobs allow me to explore a huge range of sounds very quickly, without looking. Controls in amp are often interrelated - changing one changes what the others do as well - and I can make complex, multi-parameter changes in less time that it takes to say "Fractal Audio Systems". No wonder I find better sounds on real amps!

Seventeen years ago I was the one arguing about how great computers and plugins are, I was a complete convert, and it was great, didn’t think about anything else for years, I bought into it from day one, an early adopter, it worked for me, for two reasons, I had very little money, and two, I had no choice, it was all I could afford, and I got a lot for my money, compared with hardware.
But then I did have a choice, and I found out, and got back, the feelings I forgot about, like using and interacting with hardware, and in that time, it’s gradually taken over from the computer, simply because I do have a choice now, and I prefer it, that’s just me.

[Albatross]

I have an enormous and unwieldy 88-key keyboard flight case in the shed not doing anything and as soon as I bump into a suitable bit of metal I'm going to make a plate reverb out of it.