Re: Analog Reverb for Laney AOR
Let's get our terminology straight here. Any reverb you're going to use for guitar has to be either spring or digital. Other forms of analog reverb (plate, for example) are only practical in the studio.
A spring reverb has springs, in an assembly called the reverb tank (or reverb pan). At one end, there's a little speaker-like thing that rattles the springs with sound from your guitar. THe sound boings down the springs to the other end, where there is a pickup that puts the sound back into your amp, where it's mixed with the dry sound.
Spring reverb tanks come in various sizes, but none small enough to fit in a normal-size stomp box. Most spring reverb units are tabletop affairs.
Spring reverbs are all analog, but they can be tube or solid-state. This applies to the little amplifiers needed to drive the spring and re-amplify the resulting reverb signal. Tube or SS, they still use springs.
Most modern reverb pedals are digital, even if they have the word "spring" in their name. Digital reverbs usually model several kinds of reverb, including spring; others include plate and hall. Digital models of reverb can be very convincing.
It looks like I was wrong about the Holy Grail - I thought it had a tube to add warmth to it's digital reverb, but apparently not.
BTW, I agree with those who say that there's nothing wrong with some non-tube effects connected to a tube amp. That AOR is gonna supply all the tube warmth you need and then some.
Shop around, and don't be fooled by misleading names containing the word "spring".
