The Reverb battles

Alex_oddity · Hodad Joined: Jun 19, 2007 Posts: 87 Location: California

Wow WR, that was an amazing experiance. I like the Holy Grail Sound and the Tank with OD. Ya kinda left me hangin at the end, what does a whole song sound like with them all on?
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imafunkyman · Newbie Joined: Sep 16, 2007 Posts: 8

If you can find one, the Peavey Valverb is very cool. I'm not too crazy about the the trem on it because it's too quiet, but the reverb is very wet sounding.
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LHR · Contributor Joined: Aug 23, 2006 Posts: 1254

If you are handy and can act fast this may actually provide a decent sproing-per-dollar ratio. You would have to build at least a simple cabinet for it or affix it to your amp somehow.
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spy · Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2007 2:45 am Post subject:

I was ready to hit it when I read "shipping to US only"!
Only the tank costs double the price......

Samurai · Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 3:20 am Post subject:

I compared side to side Tech 21 Boost RVB and Danelectro Spring King

so, shortly:

They are both very nice, much better then the pedals I tested (boss rv-5, marshall reflectro, EH holy grail), I guess both have basically digital emulation, but you just won't tell it by ear.

Every one have its pluses

Boost RVB:
+ it's small, has a lot of nice controls so you may get the wet "tank" sound with feedbacks, low end spring rumble, etc or some cosmic sounds or whatever...very versitile and intuitive to use. And it's the booster at the same time, gives nice clean boost to your sound, if you need

- the sound sometimes a bit "unnatural" - shoud be careful with controls, may be too much of them, but it's up to you!

Spring King
+ it's sound seems to me warmer and more "alive", very "surfy". I like kick pad a lot (just coudn't stop kickin' it till the seller took it away from me:))), simple controls (just 3 kobs, I like it)

- it's big (three times bigger then boost rvb), and seems for me not so solidly built (how will it stand regular kickin', don't know). it's not so versatile - and not really deep even when all controlls are to the full.

If you need some more info - ask!

I think that I'll buy the Spring King - it's the same color as my Fender Champ:))))

badash · Contributor Joined: Aug 18, 2006 Posts: 1637

Before I got my tank I had narrowed my options down to the digitech and the holy grail. I ended up buying the one that showed up with the best deal first Laughing

It turned out to be the Holy Grail. Great pedal. But so is the digitech. Jake does have a point about a delay pedal. Effects are very much aural illusions. If you dig into the engineering of the sounds, phase, flange, chorus, vibrato, reverb all have so much in common, and delay is very much in the equation. If you can borrow a delay pedal and play around with it, you could find a sound you like that isn't reverb, but captures you in the same way. Or you could just drop $70 on a used holy grail or digitech. Oh. One thing I didn't realize about the holy grail before buying it is that it plugs into the wall. No battery option. But the fender tank won't run on a battery either Twisted Evil

Stormtiger · Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 10:53 am Post subject:

I'm picking up a used Holy Grail today for $80. I have a tank but sometimes I go out for three songs and I want to travel light. WR's samples convinced me this was a good one. I will be adding Memory Man soon.

DeadRanchHands · Contributor Joined: Apr 15, 2008 Posts: 706

Samurai · Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2008 5:40 am Post subject:

UmaFloresta

yep, it sounds to me like a "baby tank" or something like this:)

DeadRanchHands · Contributor Joined: Apr 15, 2008 Posts: 706

Stormtiger · Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2008 11:06 am Post subject:

I picked up a used Holy Grail yesterday and tried it out briefly. It sounds pretty good to me but when I turn it way up the sound gets real muddy and volume drops off. I think it may not be working properly? WR and Surfneptune, do you get this too? While it didn't sound like a tank to me it was a very usable and surfy flavor.

donbarroso · Hodad Joined: Jan 25, 2008 Posts: 60

seems that the most considered ones are the holy grail, digiverb and tech21....

Stormtiger · Posted: Thu Apr 02, 2009 10:22 am Post subject:

It's been a year since I got the Holy Grail. I haven't used it once.
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badash · Contributor Joined: Aug 18, 2006 Posts: 1637

TyPierce · Gremmie Joined: Oct 26, 2007 Posts: 143

For a while I was doing just what you're doing - using a pedal as an "in the meantime" source of 'verb before I could upgrade my rig.

I had the DigiVerb for a while, and overall it was pretty good. It did have some drip factor going for it, but eventually I got tired of it adding a digital-ish "thwack" to just about everything and moved on. Overall, though, a very good reverb, and if you're looking for more atmosphere than drip in your reverb tone, you could fool around with the spring/hall/etc. settings on it to see if they suit you better.

I recently had and sold a Tech 21 RVB, and it was much better than the DigiTech, in my opinion. The controls gave it a ton of variability - to the point of self-oscillating madness and beyond, even - and it sounded great. I particularly liked the Rumble knob, which let me dial out some of the bass in the 'verbed signal and keep things from becoming too muddy.

If you're really strapped for cash and aren't planning on gigging any time soon, I'd recommend getting a used Blues Junior on CL for around $300, then spending $30 on a Ruby Tubes Reverb tank upgrade from Mojo Musical Supply and playing your hands off. It'll give you some great reverb, and if you buy used it should hold value down the road for when you horse trade it to a bigger, more surfable setup.