The Reverb Thread

[Gearjoneser]

I'm curious to hear your thoughts on reverb.

Do you use None? A little? A lot? Spring? Digital? Analog? Amp? Outboard?
Do you like more on clean or lead?

I'm a fan of using just enough to give the impression of an amp in a wood room.
On an amp that has it, I use it. On an amp that has a loop, I prefer to subtly use an analog or digital unit. On 4 input amps like Bassman or Plexi, I like to bridge the two channels with an EH Holy Grail, but mix in just a tiny bit to add some 'air.'

How do you use reverb, and what's your opinion?

 

[Erlend_G]

Re: The Reverb Thread

I need a touch of reverb on everything.

To me, just a little reverb will improve the tone on all guitar amps. It smooths out everything, and gives a little depth.

But, for recording, i like using lots of reverb on the final mix. It makes it sound...eh... more professional, and also blends everything together nicely.

For guitar i prefer a good spring reverb, for mixing at the computer i use a high quality reverb VST plugin.

EDIT: I migth add that i love soaking my guitar in reverb when playing slow metal ballad leads ... think "80's".
-Erlend

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: The Reverb Thread

Live, I just use a touch off of my GT-8's spring simulation (quite good, actually).

When recording, guitars and bass are mostly bone dry. Drums and vocals get a touch of room reverb.

 

[Scott_F]

Re: The Reverb Thread

Funny, I just typed something about this in a PM.

I think I need it sometimes. Then I plug into an amp that doens't have it and the amp is magic. It just swirls and has this thick pure tone going on.

So, I waver. Sometimes I jones for the reverb, other times I dont' think I need it at all. Just depends on the mood.

 

[Gunny47]

Re: The Reverb Thread

Hey Benjy - you like the spring reverb? I think thats the worst reverb type of the GT-8. I like the Room and the Hall ones a lot. Plate one comes next, then the ambient one, then modulate then the spring. The spring for me always have these squeek noizes (it sounds like a spring kinda, but wierd, do you know what I are talking about?) that just happen in random spots and scare the **** out of me! And then its kinda bright. Just my opinion. Do you know how to fix that sound? Maybe im using too much of it, i kinda gave up on it and just use the other ones anyway - hall 1 is my favorite.

On amps, I use the reverb all the time on both clean and dirty - more on the clean though and just a dab on the dirty. But on my Vox AD15VT, I usually dont use the reverb on that, but I use the compressor (almost the opposite of what reverb does) but it gives it a volume boost (good compressors arent supposed to do that) and a thickness boost. I of course love a Fender reverb like on a VibroKing or a Twin Reverb and I used the Reverb unit before and I liked it, not sure if it is worth the money, but it is something that I would buy for my Gibson GA5 amp that is hooked up to my GT-8.

 

[CapoFirstFret]

Re: The Reverb Thread

I play a fender amp...of course I love reverb! I can't just a lot of it though on my super though because a little goes a long way!

 

[fretburner]

Re: The Reverb Thread

I use my RV3 a lot these days - but only a little bit of reverb. It's actually always on when I play on a gig.

 

[Gr8Scott]

Re: The Reverb Thread

I think in most band situations, reverb is a very very bad idea live. At best, it makes the sound of the guitar less distinct and blends it in with everything else. At worst, the sound is overprocessed garbage that sounds like the least pure form of noise one can imagine. It can turn a bright shimmery amp into a muddled mess in no time flat. It's far better to lose the reverb live and settle on sounding good first. This is especially so when playing with more than one guitarist. One lone guitarist could better pull off a bit more reverb than two guitarists can. Two guitars with lots of reverb is just a complete waste of time and talent.

For bedroom playing or recording, reverb is nice indeed. It's a more controlled setting.

 

[Mincer]

Re: The Reverb Thread

I use reverb a lot on my Blue Angel, which has glorious reverb. When I am using my rack setup, I use plenty of digital plates and halls, some as much as 10-20 seconds long. It might get far away from that 'pure tone', but that is my point. I don't always like it to sound like a guitar. I think it depends on the player and they type of band you are playing in.

 

[kmcguitars]

Re: The Reverb Thread

Reverb has always been a intricate part of my tone. I've always used reverb to try and create a 3D image to my tone. I passed up a lot of great amps in my time ONLY because they didn't have verb:duh:. IMO nothing beat a fender style reverb circuit in a clean to mild O.D. amp. If your your going for the old school blues tone? Nothing beats the on board tube driven spring. I've had heated arguments with recording engineers about this. (There argument)
It's better to record dry and add (What they call better?) verb in the mix. Understandable, But the tone I'm going for is coming out of my amp.THAT'S the sound I want recorded. I'm still searching for the best Way to add ambiance to a O.D/Dist. solo. I've tried plates and hall's setting from a few different units, But still haven't found my magic formula. I love the Alesis verbs in the mix. The nano verb I had was great for that, But I could never get that sound using it in front of a amp or in the loop?
BTW, I was listening to Chris Issak's `Wicked Game' the other day. I realized that the verb on that guitar sets the whole mood for the song. Take that verb off...and that song wouldn't have been a hit IMO.

 

[Stratman]

Re: The Reverb Thread

I use 12ax7 tube driven Accutronics three spring ( Type 9 Can) reverb and that has three necessary adjustments, as follows:

Sweep
Dwell
Mix

Fender reverb unit uses Dwell, Mix, Tone controls or just Reverb on most amps.


Those CMOS and digital crap units do not even come close to real reverb.

 

[Koreldyre]

Re: The Reverb Thread

I found that the better my guitar tone got, the less reverb I liked. The tone gets strong enough to sound good on its own, rather than need to be modified by effects to fudge it into something that hopefully sounds "bigger". Personally I feel the "best" guitar tones on tape start off with a great sound to begin with and only add reverb very sparingly at the mix.

It's okay to use reverb where it's really part of the sound that is trying to be achieved, like in certain leads and clean passages. However reverb definitely takes the hair and bite out of a good heavy rhythm tone. Adding too much reverb sounds like the player is trying to make himself sound bigger to make up for a poor tone. Likewise a naturally big guitar tone sounds very bold and strong, there's nothing to hide and a lot of details are very audible and appreciable.

 

[Erlend_G]

Re: The Reverb Thread

^^ very true.

 

[Rich_S]

Re: The Reverb Thread

I can't remember the last time I owned an amp with reverb - about 1980, I think. I like an in-your-face guitar tone. However, I love heavy reverb as an effect, like the way surf players use it. Gonna build me a 3-knob Fender standalone one of these days.

 

[That90'sGuy]

Re: The Reverb Thread

I'm a spring reverb kinda guy. I love adding just a little bit of reverb to both clean and overdrive channels. It just gives the tone that little bit of extra depth while keeping it's regular tonal signature. It may not be a big thing to most people, but I need it and all 3 amps I have right now (Bogner Shiva, Fender Vibrolux Reverb and Crate V32 Palomino) all have some form of reverb in there.

 

[Scott_F]

Re: The Reverb Thread

But what if the amp already has a 3D quality? Then why use reverb?

 

[Koreldyre]

Re: The Reverb Thread

But what if the amp already has a 3D quality? Then why use reverb?

Exactly - I think that if you find those "perfect amps" out there, you simply wouldn't want to touch perfection with a metal spring box anywhere in the signal chain.

There's a couple places where reverb is an effective tool, like holding long notes in solos or playing smooth legato runs where it adds more than it takes away. But to me, the perfect amp tones I've come across I wouldn't even want to touch it with anything in the signal chain.

 

[kmcguitars]

Re: The Reverb Thread

But what if the amp already has a 3D quality? Then why use reverb?

Quality is the key word here. You need a good amp & chops to get 3D tone without verb. Like someone already mentioned, the better your natural tone gets the less reverb you find yourself using/needing. My Home brew 2204 is the 1st amp I ever owned that has a complex 3D tone.

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: The Reverb Thread

Hey Benjy - you like the spring reverb? I think thats the worst reverb type of the GT-8. I like the Room and the Hall ones a lot. Plate one comes next, then the ambient one, then modulate then the spring. The spring for me always have these squeek noizes (it sounds like a spring kinda, but wierd, do you know what I are talking about?) that just happen in random spots and scare the **** out of me! And then its kinda bright. Just my opinion. Do you know how to fix that sound? Maybe im using too much of it, i kinda gave up on it and just use the other ones anyway - hall 1 is my favorite.

I like the spring on clean tones, my driven tones are either bone dry or am using a very short, analog style delay. If you want, I can e-mail or PM you some patch settings tomorrow.

 

[Johtosotku]

Re: The Reverb Thread

I typically use my amp's own spring reverb all the time, just so that it's barely noticeable. It adds a bit of something. It's not that I wouldn't be able to play without one, I usually use one if it's available.