Delay and Reverb uncertainty

[ben4343]

Hi Team. Hope you don't mind yet another reverb and delay thread... I started with some very cheap reverb (Behringer RV600) and delay (cheap Chinese mini thing) pedals to see if I enjoyed them, and they have fast become some of my favourite board members. Despite tonally sounding pretty ok, they are a bit noisy, so it's time to upgrade...

I'm combining my echo effects questions together as I have wanted an Avalanche Run (AR) since they were announced. The delay sounds awesome as best as I can tell, and the reverb is seems cool too, but that is where I am hanging up. The AR does roomy/hally/spacey style reverb very well, but doesn't seem to do the more bog standard/subtle plate and spring verbs, which actually are what I end up using the most... It's a shame, as I love everything else about it, I just wish it had a spring and plate verb!!

The AR is an expensive bit of kit, so I wondered (sadly) if an alternative could be separate delay and reverb pedals. Tap tempo is a must, so I would likely choose the DD7 (I know it well from a friend, and like it a lot). However, what verb pedal to pair with it?! I would quite like the 'experimental' spacey swelling of the AR with the expression pedal, but need that plate and spring... What are your recommendations for an allround verb pedal for about 150-200 poonds (to go with the 120 odd DD7) that can do some cool things in addition? HoF? RV5? Levitation? I think Strymon is out of budget... EDIT just to jump the shark, the Polara appears to tick lots of boxes for not a lot of cash...

Or, do I suck it up, get the AR that I think I am in love with, and buy a quality mini plate/spring verb to get the whole shebang, and be able to stack reverb? Any ideas for this? HoF mini? Mooer Shim? Holy Grail variant from EHX?

Edited October 18, 2016 by ben4343

[nash]

I tried the MXR Carbon Copy Bright not long back. Really nice on bass I think because the repeats stay (obviously) bright.

Then maybe a TC HOF if you're on a budget. If not try the MXR reverb.

[itsmedunc]

I used an Alesis Midiverb 3 for years. Brilliant piece of kit and cheap now. I had 2 stacks though and run the effects solely through one of them.

[Westenra]

Tap tempo - plate setting - you want the EHX cathedral!

Picked up second hand for £100-120, I'd sell you mine but I'd have no other reverb to replace it.

[Michael J]

I picked up a small, dead guitar amplifier (Park, by Marshall) from a market junk stall for a few quid, because it had a spring reverb tank in the bottom of it. I was under no illusions, I thought the amplifier was trashed and I was right but I only wanted the tank. After getting home and a couple of minutes with a screwdriver later, it went into the effects loop of my four-track and Yay! 'verb on whatever I want. A few caveats:

1. it loses about 30dB of signal, a volt or two input comes out as a literal handful of millivolts, you need a following gain stage capable of boosting a microphone or moving-magnet phono cartridge up to line level again;

2. it is larger than most pedals and far more delicate;

3. it is physically microphonic, feedback can occur if it is mounted in a poor (or good?) location, it will 'verb if banged, etc.

It's great. It's a Belton, specs. available online.

[ben4343]

Thanks for the options guys; of course it just served to muddy the waters further! I thought the on the fly adjustment of the MXRs expression parameters was a great idea... Pricey mind.

[nash]

These may interest you

http://www.tcelectronic.com/smorgasbord-of-tones/

All £49 each.

[GarethFlatlands]

Line 6 M5? The other effects are hit and miss but the delays and verbs are largely great. Some element of control with an exp pedal if that's what you want.

[ben4343]

Nice to still get some input on this, thanks all! Those TC pedals look great; I think affordable effects are key when testing the waters, and these look to be very well put together.

Just as an update, a Digitech Polara arrived yesterday. Picked it up second hand for under a ton, and first impressions out of the box were excellent. Superb build quality, with a thick chassis and metal knobs. Soft button switch rather than a clicky one, but that's ok. It has all the reverbs I wanted (room, hall, spring, plate), as well as some shimmery alternatives. Oh, and the reverse is hilarious! Not sure how I can use it yet, but it's great fun to sound like a cello. The 'voicing' is just superb. No tone colouration at all to my ears, it seems to simply use your existing tone, and reverberate it...!

It feels like bad form to ask for advice and then do something else, but I am grateful for the tips, and am very happy with my new toy. Would happily recommend the Polara as a 'normal+' reverb.

[SpcMnk]

hmm... the Boss RE20 Space echo might be interesting as well.

I love delay ad reverb on bass. After fooling around with the Hotone delay, the EHX Memory man Deluxe and the stereo, the EHX Holier Grail, EQD Dispatch master, Boss RE-20, TC electronic Nova Delay and Repeater, and some more..... I've settled with the EQD Levitation and MXR Carbon Copy analog delay. This gives me everything from subtle to enormous room out of space wall breaking freakyness.

With a lot of delay and reverb pedals used on bass the effect get swallowed in the mix. With the Levitation and Carbon copy I don;t have that. It sticks..

[0175westwood29]

Surprise surprise I have another Fuzzrocious pedal on the way, was thinking of adding a strymon blue sky for reverb aswell as the timeline but not using the timeline enough so that went now waiting for a Fuzzrocious afterlife reverb and anomalies delay in one box, so a dirty Lofi delay into a really nice verb after some fuzz hoping it should sound pretty big!