Analog reverb pedal suggestion...

[AlexLakis]

Got a client here who is interested in purchasing an analog reverb pedal. Any favorite experiences, slutz?

[kats]

In "The old days" I used to use a Boss analog delay, it was fine.

Funny you bring this up, when I was 19 the digital stuff just started coming out and one of my mates gave me a digital delay - loved it, the lights flashing, rack mountable, looked so cool - but for some reason my tone wasn't happening and went back to the Boss pedal. IIRC, they were purple.

I didn't know it then or why - but it was like night and day.

[bobby yarrow]

There's only one spring reverb pedal that I know of, from little lanilei. I had one for a while, not bad, no better than a decent digital emulation like the holy grail. Other than the little lanilei, you're looking at tanks or rack units I think.

[DavidJ]

The Maxon AD-900 is my personal favorite. Apparently it's no longer made. You can find them available used from time-to-time or as an alternative Maxon offers this as their “new and improved” replacement: http://www.maxonfx.com/vintage/ad999/

David

[DavidJ]

Sorry, I may have miss posted. The Maxon pedal is an analog delay not a reverb.

[kats]

OOOPS me too, I replied about delay, not reverb...sorry!

[84K]

Analog Reverb?
Vintage Fender Spring Reverb. Not a pedal, but the best you'll get.

[vandi]

Van Amps makes the Reverbmate.


http://musictoyz.com/guitar/pedals/vanamp.php

[u b k]

my keys player is a tone snob --- 1959 b3 a100, 1976 suitcase rhodes, wurli of unknown origin --- and the only verb he lets in to the party is the electro harmonix holy grail.

his rig sounds like god, fwiw, especially that damn b3 thru the leslie.


gregoire
del ubik

[covert]

There are any number of booteek outboar rever units. On the quick and dirty end of things, the Dan Electro spring king is pretty cool.

[usamike]

Just hot a holy grail yesterday, used at a gig last night. It's really good. Digital, but really good. Powering it is the problem- the EH adapter seems to be the only way.

-Mike

[AlexLakis]

Thanks for all the responses, guys! I'll let you know what he decides to go with.

[Pohaku]

Not a pedal (although it does have a foot switch), but I really like the Peavey Valveverb. Real spring tube reverb in a 1U rack -- and cheap.

[Andy Montel]

The Holiest grail would be the best reverb in a pedal.
Andy Montel

[Jack Luminous]

Try to find a Peavey Valverb. It's an old 1U rack from the 80s. I know it's not a pedal but there's a switch input to connect an on/off switch. It is a tube driven spring reverb and tremolo with tone and drive controls. Awesome tone, just like an old Fender unit, a bit less wet but more versatile. Around $150 used. Best bang for the buck IMHO.

EDIT : I just saw someone beat me to it.

[wesn]

Every time I've heard the Soldano Spacebox I've been in awe. I'd love to have one for myself if they weren't so ridiculously expensive.

[danny]

I'm looking for an analog reverb too, to replace my Dynacord EC280, which is a multi-tapped analog delay that does really cool reverb effects. It's just too big and too noisy. The Dynacord VRS 23 rack does the same thing more cleanly but I refuse to plug a rack into my '58 Tremolux!

[Kiwi]

Originally Posted by u b k

my keys player is a tone snob --- 1959 b3 a100, 1976 suitcase rhodes, wurli of unknown origin --- and the only verb he lets in to the party is the electro harmonix holy grail.

his rig sounds like god, fwiw, especially that damn b3 thru the leslie.


gregoire
del ubik

I hope he isn't sending the reverb tail through the Leslie - otherwise he would sound like god through a blender. Some of the Leslie models had stationary speakers just for the spring reverb, because reverb doesn't sound good being doppler shifted. Or there were the Hammond Tone cabinets that had that gorgeous Hammond spring in them.

Even when using plugins, it's way better to Send to the reverb pre the Rotary emulation.

FWIW.

Anyhoo ...

Analog reverb includes Plates as well as springs. But neither plates nor springs belong in a "pedal". Does the client understand what "analog reverb" really is? Or does he want an analog delay?

If he really wants reverb, digital is the way to go - and the Holy Grail or Holier Grail is a serious contender.

If you get over this analog purist hurdle, I think the Line6 stuff is amazing value for reasonable models of the old analog gear. Not quite the same, I know - I know - I know. But for live use (I presume this is not for studio) it seems crazy to turn your nose up at the power of these cheap digital boxes now.

I've just picked up a POD HD, and i'm really impressed. They run on 9V DC now - good news for pedalboard users. (I think some of the M series might have been DC too). I think the spring reverb and delays are great. You can mono-ise them to make them sound more vintage (usually a good thing anyway). The sound quality and routing flexibility are way improved over previous models. You could - for example - split a dry mono organ tone into two parallel paths, and apply a spring reverb and a Leslie in parallel.

FWIW.

[danny]

Kiwi, the whole question regards analog reverb which you seem to regard as quaint, but there are in fact a few actual spring pedals out there, and there is such a thing as electronic analog reverberation using multiple taps as I described above. You might think it's snobbery, but some of us don't want to stick a cheap ADDA converter in the middle of an otherwise very expensive and sweet analog signal chain.

[vincentvangogo]

Vanamps Solemate is doing it for me. Never liked any digital reverbs I've heard.

[cyjanopan]

Originally Posted by vincentvangogo

Vanamps Solemate is doing it for me. Never liked any digital reverbs I've heard.

I`m thinking about adding this one to my FXs when mixing, but can you set mix to 100% and hear only reverb without dry signal ? It was a bummer with Space Echo for me as there was always dry signal there ...

[Penny]

Not an analog pedal but my fav reverb in a pedal is the T-Rex Roommate hands-down.

RoomMate

[danny]

Originally Posted by cyjanopan

I`m thinking about adding this one to my FXs when mixing, but can you set mix to 100% and hear only reverb without dry signal ? It was a bummer with Space Echo for me as there was always dry signal there ...

I believe there are or have been two versions of this, one with a wet output.

[vincentvangogo]

Originally Posted by cyjanopan

I`m thinking about adding this one to my FXs when mixing, but can you set mix to 100% and hear only reverb without dry signal ? It was a bummer with Space Echo for me as there was always dry signal there ...

I think you can if you use the Aux output. The Reverbamate and Sole-Mate by VanAmps
btw my re301 Space Echo has a direct signal on/off switch.

[timi]

Highly recommend the Van Amps Sole Mate (actual spring reverb in a pedal with Dwell control).

[Kiwi]

@ Danny - trust me, I love real spring reverb. Ever since I was a kid, and the big ol' Hammond Tone cabinet at my parents church would sometimes get bumped, or an electrical spike would make it crack like a thunderbolt and scare the crap out of everyone ...

But i'm also practical when it comes to live gear and 'pedals' as a concept.

I wasn't questioning why anyone would want spring reverb - I was just testing to see if the OP actually wanted spring reverb, or whether he wanted analog delay - which could be BBD, tape, oilcan, etc, etc ...

If you want to use real spring reverb live - consider what Neil Young has to say in an old interview:


NY: An original tube Echoplex, an MXR analog delay, a Boss flanger, and an old white Fender reverb unit with new springs that are separate. The springs are on a microphone stand that goes on the cement floor of the building. It extends up to the bottom of the stage, and the spring stands on top of the microphone stand and the wire comes through a hole in the stage completely separate. I can't use it if I don't do that, because if I jump onstage, the spring rattles. It has to be isolated from the surface of anything that's vibrating.
JO: What if you can't drill a hole in the stage? NY: No, we do it. We just put a hole in the stage. There's always a way. It can't be very far away, because with a long wire, you lose the fidelity, the high end where the reverb lives, so the magic is gone. You've got to keep it close and really short.

[litepipe]

there isn't anything like good reverb. I don't like any of the digital boxes except for the occasional special effect. In which case I would check out the TC Electronics stuff. I'm not a fan of the Holy Grail as some are. Sounds very fake to me. My favs are the Van Amps Solemate and the Valve Train tube spring reverb. Both of those are amazing. Pure tone.