High-End Reverb Units For Ambient Sounds.

[fpuhan]

Originally Posted by Puddleglum

The main issue with me and everything Strymon makes is that I'm not really a gadget-guy. This has been my main impediment to getting into this whole pedal thing in the first place. It's not that I can't do it, but it's that I don't enjoy fiddling with things. When I sit down to play music (and with my lifestyle, play-time is pretty precious to me - I'm sure this is common to most here), I want to spend it playing music and not trying to figure out how equipment works.

Boy, does this resonate with me. On another thread, I just responded to someone with much the same reply. I sometimes call myself lazy, because I just like to reach over, grab an instrument and spend some time letting my muse work.

Even getting up from my chair, plugging in a cable, turning on an amp, setting dials and knobs and getting pedals organized sometimes just seems like work to me. I think that's why I often refer to myself as an "electric guitar player playing acoustic guitar." The songs I like were from the days of rock 'n' psychedelia gone by, but trying to reproduce those sounds on electrics makes me spend more time twiddling than fiddling.

[Puddleglum]

Originally Posted by fpuhan

I think that's why I often refer to myself as an "electric guitar player playing acoustic guitar."

I get that! Sometimes I even play my electric guitar unplugged simply because I like the feel of it. Another great option for simple jamming are those little Vox headphone amps. Decent tones and pretty much instant jamming capabilities.

[stephenT]

For ambient reverb sounds, the Strymon Nightsky is supreme.

If you're worried about fiddling knobs and learning something new,.. the are tons of YouTube Vids showing different patches/sounds that are easy to copy.

It's a pedal you can grow into, US built like a tank. Nice stuff. I have one paired w/ a Strymon Mobius and I'm having a lot of fun.


For ambient delays, the Keeley Halo Dual Echo is pretty luscious.

[Puddleglum]

OP here... I've spent the last couple weeks deep-diving on all-things high-end reverb/delay pedals. Man, talk about a world inside a world. A true subculture with lots and lots of great options. I have to admit that these things seem ridiculously overpriced, esp. the stuff from Strymon. The Strymon stuff also just looks too hard to use and that it would be more work than fun getting one up and running and useful.

In a strange twist, as I learned about all this, I stumbled upon the Positive Grid Spark amps. I'm pretty out of the loop on gadgets so I'd never heard of this thing. And while, from what I can tell, it doesn't do a strict ambient thing, there is a guy on YT showing how to come very close with its built-in settings.

At any rate, this little amp has me intrigued and I might end up getting one to mess around with. It's also the same price (less in some cases) as some high-end pedals. It seems like there are endless tones in there, not to mention all the jam-along capabilities, etc. Looks like a lot of fun. I've used the search feature here and read several threads about the Spark. Mixed reviews and reactions.

The extent of my electric guitar playing is noodling around with riffs with headphones on. No gigs, nothing fancy. I have a Katana right now that has some absolutely killer settings, but I can't use the online stuff because it's not Mac-friendly.

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by Puddleglum

OP here... I've spent the last couple weeks deep-diving on all-things high-end reverb/delay pedals. Man, talk about a world inside a world. A true subculture with lots and lots of great options. I have to admit that these things seem ridiculously overpriced, esp. the stuff from Strymon. The Strymon stuff also just looks too hard to use and that it would be more work than fun getting one up and running and useful.

In a strange twist, as I learned about all this, I stumbled upon the Positive Grid Spark amps. I'm pretty out of the loop on gadgets so I'd never heard of this thing. And while, from what I can tell, it doesn't do a strict ambient thing, there is a guy on YT showing how to come very close with its built-in settings.

At any rate, this little amp has me intrigued and I might end up getting one to mess around with. It's also the same price (less in some cases) as some high-end pedals. It seems like there are endless tones in there, not to mention all the jam-along capabilities, etc. Looks like a lot of fun. I've used the search feature here and read several threads about the Spark. Mixed reviews and reactions.

The extent of my electric guitar playing is noodling around with riffs with headphones on. No gigs, nothing fancy. I have a Katana right now that has some absolutely killer settings, but I can't use the online stuff because it's not Mac-friendly.

Many people like the Spark that said:::: are you sure you can't use your model Katana? Because according to Boss you can now download a driver for Mac


from Sweetwater Katana page

How to install the Boss Katana driver (macOS only)
With the Katana disconnected from your Mac, go to the product page for your version of the Katana and download the latest version of your software.
The Katana is now compatible with macOS Catalina.
Double-click the .pkg file and follow the on-screen instructions. If you receive a message “System Extension Blocked”, click OK.
Once the installation is complete, restart your computer.
Once your computer has restarted, connect the Katana to your computer and turn the amp on.

[Puddleglum]

Originally Posted by KevWind

Many people like the Spark that said:::: are you sure you can't use your model Katana? Because according to Boss you can now download a driver for Mac


from Sweetwater Katana page

How to install the Boss Katana driver (macOS only)
With the Katana disconnected from your Mac, go to the product page for your version of the Katana and download the latest version of your software.
The Katana is now compatible with macOS Catalina.
Double-click the .pkg file and follow the on-screen instructions. If you receive a message “System Extension Blocked”, click OK.
Once the installation is complete, restart your computer.
Once your computer has restarted, connect the Katana to your computer and turn the amp on.

I need to try this, so thanks for the heads up. I tried getting it going a couple years ago and it didn't work so I abandoned the endeavor. The Katana is so great on its own that I actually forgot about alt the online stuff till I started learning about the Spark.

[FrankHudson]

I have the EH Canyon (not the larger, more expensive Grand Canyon) on my current pedal board. It has a lot of delay sounds in a small and low-priced box. The labeling around the knobs on the Canyon is in small print. If I had the space, I'd keep it up on a table-top so I could more easily read the legends. Other than that vision and old-knees thing, I don't find it hard to use. Fits on my crowded board, good value, and the sounds are twist the lower left knob for the type of delay and then move the other three.

On thing I added to mine was a small external footswitch to more easily use the tap-tempo functions built into the Grand Canyon. The other three knobs on the box itself are for the classic Level (how much of the delay in the mix), Delay (how long before the delayed sound sounds) and Feedback (how intensely does it repeat). The extra internal switch lets me use my foot to easily set the Delay time. The REVRS (reverse) DMM (Deluxe Memory Man) and SHM (shimmer) delays are all nice ambient options to have.

The OP doesn't seem to want complexity, but the green Line6 DL4 is a classic solution that has its current MKII version going for a very attractive $200 at Sweetwater right now. Even more sounds than the Canyon, lots of tweakability. Reverb options are in the MKII version too. I made a lot of use of the original DL4 back in the day and one of the nice things for the "don't confuse me in the fog of battle" player is that you could save four presets to the unit's footswitches so that you could bring up "your sounds" without a lot of squinting or fooling around once you'd dived in and picked your favorites.

[Igotsoul4u]

Strymon and Empress are my favorites.

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by Puddleglum

I need to try this, so thanks for the heads up. I tried getting it going a couple years ago and it didn't work so I abandoned the endeavor. The Katana is so great on its own that I actually forgot about alt the online stuff till I started learning about the Spark.

I believe the Mac driver option is fairly recent and it should simply be a matter of downloading the driver for you model . ( I don't have a Katana so just guessing)

[imwjl]

Originally Posted by Puddleglum

OP here... I've spent the last couple weeks deep-diving on all-things high-end reverb/delay pedals. Man, talk about a world inside a world. A true subculture with lots and lots of great options. I have to admit that these things seem ridiculously overpriced, esp. the stuff from Strymon. The Strymon stuff also just looks too hard to use and that it would be more work than fun getting one up and running and useful.

In a strange twist, as I learned about all this, I stumbled upon the Positive Grid Spark amps. I'm pretty out of the loop on gadgets so I'd never heard of this thing. And while, from what I can tell, it doesn't do a strict ambient thing, there is a guy on YT showing how to come very close with its built-in settings.

At any rate, this little amp has me intrigued and I might end up getting one to mess around with. It's also the same price (less in some cases) as some high-end pedals. It seems like there are endless tones in there, not to mention all the jam-along capabilities, etc. Looks like a lot of fun. I've used the search feature here and read several threads about the Spark. Mixed reviews and reactions.

The extent of my electric guitar playing is noodling around with riffs with headphones on. No gigs, nothing fancy. I have a Katana right now that has some absolutely killer settings, but I can't use the online stuff because it's not Mac-friendly.

Spark can be pretty neat stuff. My son is sort of traded his Mini for my Yamaha THR. I'm gaining more interest now that I've dug into their software options and how the app can parse songs in your Apple or Spotify accounts. Our (son, me) is the Yamaha THR family and Sparks deserve their reputations.

If you got a generous gift and want good reverb go plug into the fairly common Princeton Reverb reissue and custom amps. They have been around for a good while now. Beyond proven quite reliable and repairable, you will get the real deal spring reverb tank, vibrato, and the genuine tone a feel people have loved since the early 1960s. After that sound that is so loved, a Princeton Reverb is an amp that can work at home and playing with others including drums.

Something else neat about owning a Princeton Reverb I discovered after buying and selling a lot of stuff is it seems every style of guitar, pickup type and classic pedals sound good with them. Little or nothing replicates the clean or cleanish tone with reverb and vibrato and any pedal I've had sounds good with it.

The same sort of Fender black face tone is there with others but a while bunch of buying and selling taught me why the amp is such an icon and so versatile.

If that gift was extra extra extra generous you can even get hand soldered versions.

Enjoy!

[davidd]

As others have said DELAY pedals! Reverb is best used as only a small splash on the canvas.

[PTony]

Still think the blueSky is highly underrated and simple to operate. Fantastic ambient sounds, cool modulation, stellar reverb. Much simpler to use then the bigSky.

[Methos1979]

The most fun I've ever had with an ambient pedal is the Mooer Ocean Machine. It's got dual reverb and delay and is also a built-in looper. No shortage of YouTube demos for it. Here's the one I liked best before I bought mine:



I eventually sold it off as I just wasn't using it live but just for fun around the house but since our gigging has taken off I just don't have the time. I also have the Grand Canyon which is much smaller and less complicated. I also don't use that anymore. I'd give you a great deal on it if you want it. PM me if interested.

[Jeff Scott]

For quite a few years now I have been using my Strymon Flint fairly constantly. And, mostly for bass. Fantastic pedal that's a load of fun.

[Puddleglum]

Originally Posted by davidd

As others have said DELAY pedals! Reverb is best used as only a small splash on the canvas.

Right you are. What I've discovered on this deep-dive into the ambient guitar thing is that it's really delay that does it, not so much reverb.