Reverb Pedal recommendations?

For pure audio goodness, I was super impressed with Fender’s Marine Layer Reverb. It just sounds... good.

 

If I want spring, I use my Fender amps spring. The blackface, brownface and silverface all have different qualities. Mostly, I prefer the one in my ‘66BF. Obviously you are not going to go look for a BF Twin just for a spring reverb.

I also have reverb in my EchoFix EF-X2 which is amazing (like the JC-120’s clothes-line)

Then there is the Meris Mercury7 and the Fender Marine Layer.

Not to mention the Empress Echosystem which has a delay+reverb function also... then there is the RE-20 which is incredible for a pedal. I honestly believe that an RE-20 would absolutely pants the majority of RE-201 & 301’s out there in the wild which are desperately in need of a complete overhaul and service, despite owners claims of ‘vintage sound’ which is synonymous with “neglected POS I’m flogging for 10x it’s actual worth”.

There are a lot of offerings worth enquiring about, other than the obvious. Anasounds Elements and choose a tank size for example - and you simply will not get a better stompbox version of a spring reverb... then there is the White Whale, or the HeadRoom...

There are literally dozens, and all have a unique take on the sound.

Even Chase Bliss has a truly epic pedal CXM1978 but boy.... you could buy an amp on reverb for less money and get the real spring thing...

The world is your oyster. Experiment and try everything.

I feel that reverb and delay is a very personal taste, everyone likes their own tweak - and sometimes one type of reverb (just like delay) is not enough.

That’s going to make your decision about 50x more difficult.

The easy choice is the path to the Dark Side.

 

I see you're getting some good responses.

Now, IMHO and only IMHO I have never played a reverb pedal that could do justice to the lush drippiness of a long tank tube driven spring reverb like you'd find in a Super Reverb. They just can't produced digitally all of the depth and nuance of an analog tank reverb.

For that you're gonna need an actual stand alone tank reverb or a pedal that's an actual reverb tanks but none I'm aware will still sound like a long pan 3 spring Fender spring reverb.

I could always suggest what I use but rather than do that let me post this link instead so you can do your own research.

https://delicious-audio.com/best-spring-reverb-pedals-top-effects/

Best Spring Reverb Pedals in 2021 – 20 Great Options
Posted by Paolo De Gregorio
Dec 14, 2020

Ready to buy? Please use our affiliate links to Sweetwater, Reverb.com, Amazon, and the other independent stores – that’s what’s allowing us to keep this site alive at no cost to you!

 

For reverb pedals, I've tried the Super Spring theory, Topanga, RV-6, JHS Spring Tank, Boss 63 Reverb, and Wampler Faux Reverb.
All of these worked well, the best for my application was the JHS, having two settings is really nice.
I would recommend any of these for basic spring reverb needs

I do not recommend the Hall of Fame, great for everything else but not good for spring reverb

 

Coming to give my 2 cents:

The Keeley Caverns has 3 modes (Plate, Mod and Shimmer), so it has pretty much everything covered. You even get a delay. WHAAAT?

But, if youre into more experimental stuff:

Meris Mercury 7 - Dude this thing is a bomb!
Matthews Effects Astronomer v2 and Cosmonaut v2- If youre into ambience weird stuff...
Two of my favs, Hungry Robot's the Wave v2 and Stargazer v2...

 

Inexpensive, good working, beautifully sounding, compact size and you have the delay too.

 

I have the solemate and love it. Especially with my Vintage 47 1955 twin supreme. Imagine a falcon with reverb. SWEET!

 

The Nocturne El Pescadero is my go-to:

 

I got the JHS 3 series Reverb pedal. Seriously good for the money.

 

I've got two, the Hall of Fame 2 and the EHX Holy Grail Neo. The HoF has lots of tricks up it's sleeve, but for ease of use the Holy Grail is great on it's own.

 

It all depends on what you want to do with it. My first choice for playing live is the spring reverb in the amp. I tend to set it to taste and leave it alone. Note that you always need more reverb live than you'd think because the room will absorb a lot of it. For amps that don't have reverb, I put a HOF mini in the effects loop. The tone prints give me anything I want to hear. Cheap, small and versatile.

If you can find one, the Trinity reverb by TC is really good. Lush, trippy sounds for shoe gaze stuff. Keeley's Caverns is also beautiful for that stuff.

 

Was surprised to find a free mini series on Amazon prime video devoted to just pedals.
Learned allot. Nice Scotish fella presented it well.

 

I use my Deluxe Reverb amp primarily. Killer suggestions above on this post. Keeley, MXR, Strymon, Boss..... Keely Caverns makes a killer dual pedal, reverb and delay. My HX Effects has a large number of reverb options if i want more than my amp. Best delay is MXR Carbon copy.

 

I have a fender ultimate chorus, with spring reverb! It’s great but I can’t play it because it gets too loud. I got a fender marine layer reverb which I use with my Chinese fender champ. Sounds like the big speaker, but in a pedal, and has a few more features that the actual amp does not have. At the end of the day, it’s up to you and your ears!

 

I really like my Earthquaker Dispatch Master. The reverb is lush and the delay is great as well. You can probably find a used one in your budget. Try Reverb for a retailer. No pun intended...

 

I have two:

Wampler Reflection...spring and plate settings...simple. Get it on sale and it is <$140.

Danelectro Spring King...true spring reverb...simple...a large pedal...<$120.

((I had an EHX Oceans 11 for about a week...a cool pedal, but mine suddenly developed a loud screech on the spring setting (no amount of cable changes, power isolation or pedal isolation would fix it)...no help from EHX and the seller (legendary for poor customer service I've found out) charged me $15 to return it. That is when I purchased the Wampler on SDoD. Others seem to have had good luck with the 11.))

 

I had a Strymon Flint that I loved. It's quite pricy at $300, but sounded amazing. I got rid of it when I picked up a Silverface Pro Reverb because it seemed redundant, but I wish I still had it because my current amp doesn't have a reverb tank. Right now I'm using a TC Electronic Arena Reverb. It's not as naturally 3D sounding as the Strymon, but for half the price it does the job just fine.

 

Check out the EHX oceans eleven, that pedal is killer. Also the Catalinbread topanga.

 

The first rule is that it has to drip. Like the reverb has no delay whatsoever and just drips off of the strings. Fender reverb tank in the amp is what I use but if I didn't have that I'd probably try a few options mentioned above. The SurfyBear is great but its big and probably expensive. I rarely go above 3 on my reverb unless its a surf song or some other ballad that calls for it.

 

In your price point, it is hard to beat the mini HOF from TC. Something like ~$120 new, super pedal board friendly from a space consideration and a million an one models available and installable from your phone. And good reverbs. Anything more that that will cost you twice as much.