The Reverb battles

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

Okay, I am not finacially stable to get a rig, so Im reliying on pedals. Ive only seen didgital pedals, and I want to know which is the best of these:

Line 6 ToneCore Verbzilla Pedal
Electro-Harmonix Holy Grail Reverb Pedal
Boss RV-5 Digital Reverb Effects Pedal
Marshall Reflector Digital Reverb
T-Rex Roommate Tube Reverb Guitar Pedal
Electro-Harmonix Holiest Grail Reverb Pedal
Danelectro Spring King Spring Reverb
Danelectro DJ-4 Corned Beef Reverb Pedal
Tech 21 Boost R.V.B. Analog Reverb Emulator Pedal
Rocktron Cyborg Digital Reverb Pedal
Boss FDR-1 Fender Deluxe Reverb Pedal
Boss RE-20 Space Echo Delay / Reverb Pedal
Hughes & Kettner FS1 Footswitch for Vortex, Metroverb, and Club Reverb

These are all I could find, but feel free to add more if you know any.
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RumorsofsurF · Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2007 11:15 pm Post subject:

Honestly, I think the Holy Grail is the best value in a 'verb box. The Boss Fender Deluxe pedal has some cool sounds, but you can't switch them easily. The reverb is pretty great, and the tremolo is an added bonus.

DannySnyder · Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2007 11:19 pm Post subject:

Save your money, it's inevitable you'll need a tank. Push yourself to come up with ways to earn extra cash to make this happen, it'll be worth it.
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RumorsofsurF · Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2007 11:24 pm Post subject:

DannySnyder · Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2007 11:41 pm Post subject:

I have a Holy Grail and I can tell you that it's fine for general reverb on rhythm guitar strumming, but for anything approaching the surf sound, it won't do. Be patient and save your money. Watch craigslist religiously and you'll find one for $300, I bet you.

Plus the fact that if you do end up playing surf guitar mixed with thrash, the tone is going to need something as extreme as an outboard reverb. The pedals are going to sound too soft and will get buried.
_________________
Danny Snyder
A.K.A
Mycroft Eloi The TomorrowMen www.tmensurf.com
Shecky Shekels www.meshuggabeachparty.com
Captain Morgan - The Drunkees
Pancho Rigatoni - Pasta del Mar
Zinc Oxide - Frankie and the Pool Boys

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

I wanna start practicing surf guitar with real reveb sound. Im playng it all clean or throu my DigiTech RP 50 "surf" setting, but it totally sucks. I will eventully but a tank, but for now its for practice and geting to know the effect
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RobbieReverb · Posted: Fri Aug 31, 2007 12:09 am Post subject:

I absolutely agree with Danny, but if you have to
go with a stompbox, there are some old threads
here covering this. My recollection is that most
guitarists here who use reverb pedals favor the
Digitech 'Digiverb'. The 'Holy Grail' is favored by
some, as well. Tom of the Neptunes uses the 'Holy
Grail', and sounds awesome. Once I tried the tank,
I would only use a reverb pedal if forced, and then
I would be seriously "kicking and screaming" the
whole while.

Bob

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

Im gonna keep this thread rolling for a little while longer, but from what Im seeing DigiTech Digi Reveb and the Holly Grail. I'll keep checking before I buy. Thanx guys
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JakeDobner · Posted: Fri Aug 31, 2007 1:14 am Post subject:

I personally think I get a better surf sound with analog delay than with any reverb pedal I've played(which doesn't include the Holy Grail).

WR · Posted: Fri Aug 31, 2007 2:42 am Post subject:

Phantom1 · Hodad Joined: Mar 07, 2007 Posts: 97 Location: Sacramento

I had a Digitech Digiverb and the reverb sound was very very good. While I didn't have a tank to compare it to, I had trouble differentiating it from the reverb on my 67 Super Reverb or 73 Bandmaster Reverb.
The problem was it was very, very noisy. I bought it from eBay, and shortly after I got it I actually sent it to Digitech to have the noise issue "repaired," as I couldn't believe that it would be sold that way. They sent it back and told me nothing was wrong with it. With your amp at very low volumes it's great, but once I turned up even a little, there was a white noise (somewhat like a shhhhhhhh--) that made it unusable for me.
I later read something about them being much quieter when run thru an effects loop, which none of my amps have.
Perhaps I got a lemon. a lot of these digital reverbs have well documented noise issues, so just make sure you're aware of that and try it out somewhere that it's quiet so you don't have any suprises when you get home.

Philly · Newbie Joined: Aug 02, 2007 Posts: 9

Hey Gang,

I know that this may be a sacrilege to the purest (Forgive me oh Oracle of Surf) but I use a Combo Fender Hot Rod Deluxe w/built in Spring Reverb and I love it ! The rich and buttery sound of the pure tube mixed with the genuine Fender spring tank is so sweet. I purchased my amp 6 years ago but I think they cost right around $400- $500 now. I realize that we would all prefer the outboard tank (vintage 64....) with a big Cab...but I think for an initial investment that will work on gigs and act later on as a back-up...Go with a combo.

Pedals...will always sound like...well Pedals. All the digitized modulators and Line 6 Digitec stuff sound synthetic (Personal taste...) I also don't want something where I need a PhD from MIT to operate- Keep it simple.

Thats my two cents...Keep it real folks-

jp · Posted: Fri Aug 31, 2007 9:48 am Post subject:

For the price of some of the pedals that you've listed, such as the T-Rex, you'd be better off saving for another month and get the real deal. I've used the Line 6, the Holy Grail and both Danelectro pedals and none have even come close to my Fender tank reissue.

That being said, if you need reverb now and you're not playing out, go with the cheapest thing possible so you're not blowing your savings and start saving like a miser.

My 2 cents.
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surfneptune · Contributor Joined: Mar 16, 2006 Posts: 853

I sold my original 62 white reverb unit because it was just too expensive to kick, and it seemed to suck tone.

I am not a huge fan of a lot of reverb, it smears tones, and really negates the reason for having a vintage amp. You can take a Crate block, slam massive reverb into it and it will sound as good as a showman.

I ended up with the holy grail, and I am nosing around for options to that... I may go tank again. But it is a very low priority. If you want to just recreate tones from 63 well then go for all the original stuff, if you are more personal about your sound don't be afraid to try anything.

IN a live situation, at the amount of reverb that I like, the Holy Grail is a major bargain, even more when I use it in an FX loop. Most folks think it's a tank before they see my rig.

I am too into tone nuance to have it negated in a wash.

Just my opinion, (ducking the insuing flames)

TOM

Stormtiger · Posted: Fri Aug 31, 2007 11:39 am Post subject:

I like a lot of "flavors" and the tank is only one of them. Some of my favorite surf music has very little reverb. The other night I saw Paul Johnson playing through a Hot Rod Deville 2x12 using on board reverb, Boss RV-3 (reverb and delay), and a compressor/gain pedal. Of course he didn't sound anything like Dick Dale but he isn't worried about that.