expensive reverbs

[Errant Tiger]

I'd love to know specifics things people like/dislike about each, for research purposes. It seems to be (more or less) a given that people are going to love their stuff, or hate it, but the motivation behind my post was really about details - stuff a regular review might not reveal.

[tremolo3]

The ability to change the order of my presets is literally one of the best things ever, which is only available with the H9, not the SPACE.

You can, they released a firmware update so every *factor and Space can do that as well.


Also another vote for Eventide Space/H9.
I thought it was great on guitar but when I moved it to my synth setup, that's when I realized how great it was.

[fcknoise]

My favorite effect is reverb, but I can't GAS over it anymore because I have the space, which is the best reverb as far as I'm concerned.

Blackhole, mangledverb, spring, the god damn hall. All brilliant

[blackjaw]

Mercury7 is my favorite of the “expensive” ones. It’s so lush and I feel like I had complete control over every little nuance.

I don’t own one anymore (or any Meris pedals) because to even get full use out of it you needed a midi setup. I got the midi setup and all was well...but it was just a huge pain in the ass to pull out my iPad or laptop to change presets or to make major edits to settings (with an app you can see and control all secondary functions). Sometimes I just want to jam with preset 2 (which I made to be a nice relaxing hall) but then I want to get weird with preset 6 (which was this choir echo drone that sounded like the ghosts of aliens in caves)...but I couldn’t be bothered to connect to change it all. I have an hour maybe per day after kids are in bed to practice or make noise and sometimes you just want to plug the guitar and go...and Meris just didn’t let me do that with my setup.

I also kind of liked CBA Dark World for a bit. I liked Keeley spring and hall and enjoyed mixing it with the Cooper Gen Loss algorithm, but I didn’t like black setting and I just never could get a sound out of ramping that I just had to have.

I go through lots of reverbs. I’m enjoying OBNE Minim right now for the reverse octaves and how well it plays before fuzz (shoegazing is easy)...but at the end of the day I usually just go back to a dispatch master or avalanche run for how easy they are and how well they sit in the mix.

[gila_crisis]

I don’t own one anymore (or any Meris pedals) because to even get full use out of it you needed a midi setup.:

I love to use my Mercury7 like this, bare bones, only by tweaking the knobs on the flight.
I tried also its preset capabilities (with a DIY preset switch and then with a CBA Faves midi controller), but this is a pedal I really like to interact with.

[cantremember]

The mec7 is a great reverb especially on synths. The dr scientist atmosphere is also great, that thing is a lot of fun and has a ton of great sounds in it. Plus the midi on it is a lot easier to setup than it is on the meris stuff.

[Errant Tiger]

I don’t own one anymore (or any Meris pedals) because to even get full use out of it you needed a midi setup.:

I love to use my Mercury7 like this, bare bones, only by tweaking the knobs on the flight.
I tried also its preset capabilities (with a DIY preset switch and then with a CBA Faves midi controller), but this is a pedal I really like to interact with.

I also use the M7 like this - presets just confuse me.

It's the only "fancy" reverb I've owned, as I usually rely on amp verb, which is part of why I started this thread - interested to see what else is out there from a hands-on perspective...

[friendship]

I have an Alesis Wedge that was expensive in the 90s but is cheap now.

The bad
- weird proprietary power supply
- takes up precious, precious desk space
- introduces some hiss most of the time. Maybe I'm gainstaging wrong or something though.

The good
- So lush
- comprehensive parameter control that you can easily adjust with sliders
- The "Swirl" modulation sounds fucking great
- Infinite reverb feedback
- QuadPitch algo makes monosynths sounds absolutely massive
- Impulse button means you can record any patch and use it in your computer's convolution reverb plugin.

Anyone use the Boss RV500?

[rfurtkamp]

I'm using one that wasn't cheap when it was new, and one that became expensive once it wasn't available.

Lexicon MPX500 for dedicated verb, especially the plates and the PCM60 patches. They do EXACTLY what, with consistency, in true stereo. Relatively cheap now (buck, buckfifty), the basic presets are usable and there's four real-time dials for tweaking so it's not "stuck with X" on a patch, which I do like quite a bit (and saves me a ton of time in terms of patch creation v. tweaking/using).

And the Boss FRV-1 faux Fender reverb tank. It does that particular outboard tank VERY, VERY, VERY well, and I acquired it when it was in production so not paying the insane fees for it. The big thing is simple controls, simple form factor, reliability, and well, it does everything but respond when I kick it like an actual tank. I'm ambivalent about onboard Fender verb on amps (usually use minimal amounts), but....the outboard tank, if I want verb as an EFFECT, I want a tank. This does the job and isn't another Space-Echo sized piece of furniture.

[mr. sound boy king]

I have an Alesis Wedge that was expensive in the 90s but is cheap now.

The bad
- weird proprietary power supply
- takes up precious, precious desk space
- introduces some hiss most of the time. Maybe I'm gainstaging wrong or something though.

The good
- So lush
- comprehensive parameter control that you can easily adjust with sliders
- The "Swirl" modulation sounds fucking great
- Infinite reverb feedback
- QuadPitch algo makes monosynths sounds absolutely massive
- Impulse button means you can record any patch and use it in your computer's convolution reverb plugin.

Anyone use the Boss RV500?

I also use The Wedge. All of your points are spot on. It definitely introduces some hiss but the hiss has that 1994 digital vibe nothing else can really match.

[Snufkino]

FWIW I tried the Alesis Quadraverb and the Neunaber Wet side by side, and the Wet could nail the basic reverb tones. So while it's not a super-pristine or modern sounding pedal, it proves you can get those perfectly eq'd slightly lo-fi tones in a pedal, which I'd take over the bigger expensive units.

Still kind of tempted to try out the Wedge though.

[spacelordmother]

Another vote for the Wedge. Love it.

I had a Space for awhile and couldn't bond with it. Seemed like every algo was just slight variations on the same thing so it felt like a waste.

[rfurtkamp]

FWIW I tried the Alesis Quadraverb and the Neunaber Wet side by side, and the Wet could nail the basic reverb tones. So while it's not a super-pristine or modern sounding pedal, it proves you can get those perfectly eq'd slightly lo-fi tones in a pedal, which I'd take over the bigger expensive units.

Still kind of tempted to try out the Wedge though.

The only thing that the Quadraverb has over (most) modern units is if you upgrade to the Q+ eprom (where you get extreme control over the multitap delays, on a per-tap level).

The plate gets interesting on it if you put it on the verge of oscillation/infinity (at which point it goes into a hard kernel panic and requires hard reboot), but everything else I can get out of other units.

The one that's not quite right anywhere is the Midverb II Patch #29 15s grainy death machine.

[friendship]

The plate gets interesting on it if you put it on the verge of oscillation/infinity (at which point it goes into a hard kernel panic and requires hard reboot)

[tuneintokyo]

Reading through this thread it seems I haven't tried a lot of different reverbs even though I thought I had. I still haven't found one I love but perhaps I haven't priortized spending the money on a nice one? I am excited by the announcement of the Chase Bliss/Meris reveb, the teaser video was exciting but I don't necessarily understand the need for motorized faders or the cost involved. I have been curious about Collider only because it has both delay and reverb and I do have a mild obsession with delays but there's a lot listed here that I haven't heard of so time for some research! I tend to gravitate towards PAD type reverbs versus traditional spring type reverbs but haven't found a stand alone reverb I like yet. I also tend to stray away from algorithm type pedals as I would rather shape my own sounds than have a bunch of algorithms or presets to choose from. I also tend to stay away from stuff with midi because I don't use it and if a pedal has it, I feel like I am paying for a feature I am not going to use. Totally going to check out some of the stuff here I have never heard, time to waste a day on youtube, lol!