Death by Audio Reverberation Machine

[saltyj]

Anyone use this as their main reverb? I have a blue sky and I just find it too perfect? Looking for something a bit weirder.

 

[saltyj]

One lil bump

 

[saltyj]

Last one, promise

 

[earwax]

I don’t have one anymore but really enjoyed it while I had it. It doesn’t have a ton of sounds in it but it does have some good ones. Have you looked at the DBA Rooms reverb?

 

[saltyj]

Yeah, I've been debating between the two. Price is a factor kinda, but I also don't run stereo. It has a lot more going on but what I've found with reverb is I'm not looking for a million different sounds, just something distinct.

 

[roquero]

I like the SolidGoldFX Counter Current. It has a control where you can dirty up the reverb and can even self oscillate. It’s definitely the antidote to sterile, pristine reverb!

 

[saltyj]

Cool, I'll check it! I've just found recording wise, if I want a crystal clear reverb I can just use a plugin, thus having a blue sky seems kinda pointless, whereas something weirder is harder to pull off via computer.

 

[guitarslinger21]

I disliked it greatly.

The knobs demo made it sound awesome. sucked me right in.


It’s like every other belton brick reverb with a distortion circuit in front of it.

I hated it. Can’t recommend.


Edit: if you want something with a similar sound, but better, check out the eqd ghost echo. Same kind of hardware, better execution.

 

[Baskervils]

I have two of them.

My wife and I each have one on our boards. It is a great reverb for texture, vintage weirdness and keyboards. If you want something a little more 60s, vintage and gritty, the Reverberation Machine is fantastic. It's moody. Our bright reverb is the Earthquaker Devices Dispatch Master. Between those two, we are never wanting for good reverb. They really both work well, but in entirely different situations.

I also like the Counter Current, but I haven't pulled that one out in a while.

 

[earwax]

Sounds great to me here and I wasn’t disappointed when I got it home either. Just I run stereo a lot of the time and so mono reverbs don’t last for me.

 

[openbar]

Really wanted to like this pedal, it is pretty neat. But I can't stand the pre-delay.

 

[saltyj]

Really wanted to like this pedal, it is pretty neat. But I can't stand the pre-delay.

Too long? Too short? I dial in a fairly sizable pre delay on my Strymon, so maybe I'll like it.

 

['90s Pacifica]

My first reaction was disappointment. I expected more from the demos I'd heard, but it doesn't change much over the range of its knobs.

Unlike the reviewers I was persuaded by (plus I'd had a few when I pulled the trigger lol), I don't like its gain at all. I never turn it up past 5 on its scale (5's a little back from 9 o'clock). Maybe it's my rig? This was rally disappointing because I'd love a DBA fuzz and thought this might get me halfway there.

It's f*cking loud! Annoyingly so - what's the point in having a vol control you can't turn up past 9 o'clock? Check out where PedalZone keeps his in the emo linked to above.

I always leave it on dark setting, so that little toggle switch is doing nothing for me.

But I got it because I was sick of the terrible spring emulations I kept trying and I'm sadly without a proper tank reverb at present. It isn't a fantastic spring, but it'll do for now and it's better than the other reverbs I had on hand, so I've kept it on the board.

Maybe it would serve me better if I played more ambient sounds like PedalZone dude, and if played as well as him. I like his reviews and he makes it sound great. When I get a new amp with a reverb tank, this one may well go. But If I can't get a decent price/trade for it, I might keep it for future experimentation.

 

[openbar]

Too long? Too short? I dial in a fairly sizable pre delay on my Strymon, so maybe I'll like it.

Too audible. I understand reverb needs a little pre-delay to avoid a mess, but it sounds like an actual delay with a few short repeats.

 

[p.j.]

Caroline Meteore can be weird.

 

[saltyj]

Ended up getting one. Absolutely love it. I did a ton of a/b’ing with my blue sky. It’s just different. I prefer it but if you really don’t want the tone of your guitar to shift I can see why people want something as clean as a strymon. I guess I just never want my guitar THAT clean and usually when I play with dirt I don’t use reverb. That might change though because this pedal also sounds sick with dirt. It’s noisy but I also own a CBA Spectre and a RAT so I obviously don’t care about noise. Noise is cool.

 

[cyberprimate]

Ended up getting one.

Can you use it as dirt pedal without the reverb itself ?

 

[saltyj]

Can you use it as dirt pedal without the reverb itself ?

Will report back tomorrow. I was pretty focused on seeing if it could be my stand alone reverb today.

 

[cyberprimate]

The knobs demo made it sound awesome. sucked me right in.


It’s like every other belton brick reverb with a distortion circuit in front of it.

I hated it. Can’t recommend.

For information KNOBs still raves about that pedal:

"I’m a big fan of that pedal and I still have it. It’s really simple and these days I really enjoy simple pedals that do a lot, the interactions between elements. This pedal is odd but not in an experimental or dramatic way. There’s something about it that doesn’t sound normal or natural, and I really like that about it. I got the idea of making a video demo when I got that pedal.’ (Tonemob podcast)
'The Reverberation Machine has a natural, organic feel, but a mysterious character. The 'Altitude' control simultaneously widens and distorts the sound, and is a unique way to explore an abstract fictional space.' (Pedal Crush)

I guess the distortion knob is THE big part of why KNOBs likes that pedal so much. Out of a 6 minute demo, there are only 35 seconds where 'Altitude' is not 100%. Also he uses Danelectro pickups with very weak outputs which makes the distortion more manageable, a pedal that roars here and there in a non linear way. But he still keeps the Vol knob at 8 o'clock throughout !

Such a weird, radical pedal design. So anyone looking for a normal BB reverb will be a bit distraught. It's a freaky pedal. I'm as much attracted to buying it than horrified by it.

 

[scott_v]

Resurrecting a-not-so-old-thread, but want to convey something I found after have three different Reverberation Machines at different times and just obtaining one that was made in 2020. ALL the ones I owned sounded abit different, the way I can describe it as it seems to have an old school type of EHX thing where maybe there is variation in the part specs or substitution on parts that may lead to differences in sound/tone from units made in different time frames, assemblers...etc etc. I don't exactly recall my first one too well but I believe it was similar to my most recent one. The 2nd one I had seemed to have a propensity to pick up RF or radio stations when the reverb level was full CCW and had abit more noise/hiss, also the volume and amplitude pots were very sensitive, would get unity volume below 12 o'clock and the the amplitude would start to distort starting about 10 o'clock in the rotation (I think its was made in 2018 or earlier). My most recent one (made in 2020), has perceivable less volume overall in most of the volume and amplitude pot rotation. It is noticeably quieter and does not pickup RF/radio stations at all (only has hiss noticeable when the reverb level is cranked). For the volume and amplitude pots, it seems like the difference between my 2nd and 3rd ones I've owned may come down to linear vs audio/log pots being used by DBA??? My 3rd one doesn't reach unity volume until 12 o'clock and the amplitude does not distort until about 2 o'clock. I'm not exactly sure if there was really anything wrong with the 2nd one I owned because I have two friends who have this same pedal and one said they had the same issue/experience with theirs (RF and hiss/noise). At first I didn't like my 3rd/latest one because of what I thought was lack of volume and the late distortion in the amplitude pot but I now don't mind that about the amplitude because I don't like the "grittiness" that the amplitude creates in this pedal. It's like a speaker ripping (just not for me) or a fuzz that's badly biased. With all that, I really like the pedal for being a Belton Brick reverb! and I like this one more than my last/2nd one. Last point which was also noted in the last post here, this pedal is quite reactive to the guitar you are using. So the amplitude pot sounds quite different with a guitar with low output pickups vs a guitar w/ high output pickups vs single coil vs humbucker... so keep that in mind.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, if you don't like the one you have... you may want/have to try another because its possible that there are noticeable sound/tone difference between one unit vs another... that is pretty annoying these days because not many places you can go to that carry more than one of them in their stock and choose the best one and most other makers that are on par to DBA seem to have good consistency from unit to unit on their effects.

btw, someone asked if this can be used as a stand alone boost/drive pedal with the volume and amplitude. The answer is yes, if you turn the reverb level full CCW the reverb is out of the signal. I did mention to one of the host's/assemblers @ DBA during one of their recent live Instagram sessions, that it would've been cool if they added a 2nd footswitch to turn on/off the reverb on this pedal and the response was that they want to keep the pedal in its existing simplicity, enclosure size and keep the cost down, so they don't want to add a 2nd footswitch.