High-End Reverb Units For Ambient Sounds.

[Puddleglum]

I got a pretty generous GC gift card for Christmas and am considering how to spend it. For a long time I've been drawn to those ambient electric guitar sounds but have never had the equipment to experiment with it myself.

I have a good guitar and a decent amp already. But I don't have any pedals. I don't even know how to hook them up (that's a little embarrassing but when I play electric I just plug in and jam). I keep hearing references to 'stereo' and 'mono' and don't understand it. I know 'stereo' must mean 'two,' etc, but it doesn't compute.

I've been looking at these fancy reverb/delay/looper units and it's a bit overwhelming. So far I really like the Electro Harmonix Grand Canyon, all the stuff from Strymon, and the Dark Star from Old Blood Noise Endeavors.

Do any of you play this kind of music? If so, what works well for you?

[BillyH]

Google UAFX Pedals

[J Patrick]

I’ve owned many reverb units…..pedals and tube driven stand alones……the Strymon stuff is pretty darn good…..I owned a Flint and a Benson Tall Bird….(which is a 1350 dollar stand alone tube driven unit)..at the same time…..yeah the Tall Bird had the better sound but the Flint did sound darn good in comparison. For a simple one knob spring style reverb I really like the Boing from J Rocket Audio….it compares favorably with the reverb on my vintage 1965 Fender Deluxe Reverb…again not as nice as the real deal but pretty darn good….

…personally, if I were in your shoes I’d buy a Flint and have the excellent tremolo side of the pedal to go along with the reverb….plenty of ambient goodness in there….and yes the UA FX Golden reverberator is an excellent option…I have access to their reverbs on my UA OX and they’re mighty fine…

[Brent Hutto]

Some pedals will let you put a single guitar cable into the input, and the pedal will create a stereo, reverb or delay, or whatever effect from it. But then you either need two guitar amps to do the stereo amplification or you have to run the whole thing through some sort of stereo amp-emulator and then into headphones or stereo monitors.

I do this at home with two Katana amps to provide that stereo amplification. One to the left of me, the other behind me to the right. It sounds amazing for all kinds of music but especially when I do stuff that’s not miles away from “ambient”.

If you have literally never plugged in and used a pedal before I would suggest holding off on the whole stereo deal. Get a reverb or delay that makes cool noises and insert it between your guitar and amp. Then get more elaborate what you’re comfortable with the basics.

[Rosette]

Stereo is L/R channels, so you don't need a stereo pedal if you're just plugging into an amp.

It's been several years since I purchased a pedal, so I'm not up to date on the latest models, but I would recommend a more basic unit that has only a few knobs to tweak parameters, rather than some mega pedal like the Big Sky which has submenus that are easy to get lost in . Strymon Cloudburst looks like it might fit the bill although I'm not familiar with it. My bias is towards simple pedals with just a few knobs as I prefer to just quickly dial in a sound and not spend time going through sub-menus.

What I would do with a large dollar value gift certificate is buy separate mono delay, reverb and looper pedals, then you'd have more flexibility with the pedals. I usually run a delay pedal into a reverb pedal for ambient textures. If that sounds like too much, there probably is a multi-effect pedal that will do both delay and reverb, if not also looping.

The EHX Grand Canyon is a nice pedal but I sold mine as i found the controls to be too tiny to work with. It's just a delay, if I'm remembering correctly.

The folks at Guitar center can show you how to run the pedal to your amp. I don't know if they have demo models of pedals or used ones to try, but that could be a way to get a sense of which particular models you like.

[Puddleglum]

Originally Posted by Brent Hutto

Some pedals will let you put a single guitar cable into the input, and the pedal will create a stereo, reverb or delay, or whatever effect from it. But then you either need two guitar amps to do the stereo amplification or you have to run the whole thing through some sort of stereo amp-emulator and then into headphones or stereo monitors.

I do this at home with two Katana amps to provide that stereo amplification. One to the left of me, the other behind me to the right. It sounds amazing for all kinds of music but especially when I do stuff that’s not miles away from “ambient”.

If you have literally never plugged in and used a pedal before I would suggest holding off on the whole stereo deal. Get a reverb or delay that makes cool noises and insert it between your guitar and amp. Then get more elaborate what you’re comfortable with the basics.

Very helpful info, all. I want to ask you, Brett, something specifically since you touched on something. Can the EHX Grand Canyon not just be "plugged into an amp" like the old-school Boss pedals I used back in the day? Would I need two amps to make it work? If so -- dang! What a complicated deal. I only have a small Katana amp and don't want to buy another to make a pedal work. Some of the sounds I'm hearing in demos on this pedal are just unreal. I'd love to be able to do that stuff while noodling around at home.

Thanks again, all. And please keep the recommendations coming (with links if you feel so inclined).

[Rosette]

Originally Posted by J Patrick

…personally, if I were in your shoes I’d buy a Flint and have the excellent tremolo side of the pedal to go along with the reverb….plenty of ambient goodness in there…

This is a great recommendation, I used to have this pedal and it does have the one reverb preset that does the ambient thing really well. And then the tremolos. Easy pedal to work with and get a lot of great sounds from.

[Puddleglum]

Originally Posted by Rosette

Stereo is L/R channels, so you don't need a stereo pedal if you're just plugging into an amp.

It's been several years since I purchased a pedal, so I'm not up to date on the latest models, but I would recommend a more basic unit that has only a few knobs to tweak parameters, rather than some mega pedal like the Big Sky which has submenus that are easy to get lost in . Strymon Cloudburst looks like it might fit the bill although I'm not familiar with it. My bias is towards simple pedals with just a few knobs as I prefer to just quickly dial in a sound and not spend time going through sub-menus.

What I would do with a large dollar value gift certificate is buy separate mono delay, reverb and looper pedals, then you'd have more flexibility with the pedals. I usually run a delay pedal into a reverb pedal for ambient textures. If that sounds like too much, there probably is a multi-effect pedal that will do both delay and reverb, if not also looping.

The EHX Grand Canyon is a nice pedal but I sold mine as i found the controls to be too tiny to work with. It's just a delay, if I'm remembering correctly.

The folks at Guitar center can show you how to run the pedal to your amp. I don't know if they have demo models of pedals or used ones to try, but that could be a way to get a sense of which particular models you like.

The stand-alone pedals thing is a good recommendation. I really like the Dark Star by Old Blood Noise Endeavors (what a cool company AND product name!) and a simpler looper by TC Electronic. I've seen a dude on YT get some absolutely insane and cavernous tones with these.

[Rosette]

To answer your question about stereo pedals (and as a correction to what I said above about buying mono pedals), yes you can still run a stereo delay pedal like the Grand Canyon directly to your amp. Stereo pedals will also have mono outputs.

[Puddleglum]

Originally Posted by Rosette

To answer your question about stereo pedals (and as a correction to what I said above about buying mono pedals), yes you can still run a stereo delay pedal like the Grand Canyon directly to your amp. Stereo pedals will also have mono outputs.

Man, forgive my absolute ignorance but it's genuine... Will the pedal sound the same in mono as it does in stereo? Will it do different and better things in stereo, etc.?

[Brent Hutto]

Originally Posted by Puddleglum

Very helpful info, all. I want to ask you, Brett, something specifically since you touched on something. Can the EHX Grand Canyon not just be "plugged into an amp" like the old-school Boss pedals I used back in the day? Would I need two amps to make it work? If so -- dang! What a complicated deal. I only have a small Katana amp and don't want to buy another to make a pedal work. Some of the sounds I'm hearing in demos on this pedal are just unreal. I'd love to be able to do that stuff while noodling around at home.

Thanks again, all. And please keep the recommendations coming (with links if you feel so inclined).

All the stereo pedals I’ve ever seen work fine in regular mono mode like a normal pedal. Grand Canyon will definitely work fine in normal (not stereo) mode. You just don’t plug in to the second jack, it sees that and runs in mono.

So in my opinion no harm at all buying pedals with the stereo capability for future use, but then using them in mono. I was using all my pedals in mono for a few months and one day realized, hey, these will also do stereo! So I found a cheap deal on a second Katana, bought a few extra cables and made tye change.

[Puddleglum]

Originally Posted by Brent Hutto

All the stereo pedals I’ve ever seen work fine in regular mono mode like a normal pedal. Grand Canyon will definitely work fine in normal (not stereo) mode. You just don’t plug in to the second jack, it sees that and runs in mono.

So in my opinion no harm at all buying pedals with the stereo capability for future use, but then using them in mono. I was using all my pedals in mono for a few months and one day realized, hey, these will also do stereo! So I found a cheap deal on a second Katana, bought a few extra cables and made tye change.

All helpful info - I'm learning a lot! Thank you. I guess I don't see the point in stereo? Does it just sound better to have two speakers, or can you bounce sounds back and forth? I still remember back in the day at the beginning of films where it would state: In stereo where available. I never knew what this meant and still don't.

[rmp]

I can't throw a hammer in my studio without hitting a delay pedal!

!ha! really I've got about 6 of them...


My son gave me an Earthquaker Avalanche Run Reverb/Delay pedal for christmas.

I love this thing.

Transparent, warm lush sounding.

It's about $300 new most places.

I would only offer that for what ever you decide on, look for something with tap tempo controls.

[Turp]

Ditto on tap tempo for delay pedals. Although not in production but very available used, the Keely workstation Reverb/Delay is a pedal I’d immediately replace if lost.

Although there are higher end offerings, TC Electronic Hall of Fame Reverb sounds good and a Boss DD8 with added tap tempo button sound very good.

[hazmuz]

maybe you can find something here:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...1Gi3xyC5-XXRoR

or here:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...CYhuPZywsF0gRt