General Concensus on Reverb Pedals?

[Livewire]

Hey guys, I have an empty space on my pedal board and currently looking to fill the gap. My board consists of Korg tuner, ebs compressor, xotic bb preamp, groove regulator, ibanez flanger, and vt bass. I was looking into reverb, primarily to make the bass sound fuller and fill in the empty gap when my gutiarist is soloing (we're a 3 piece). Any thoughts on reverb? I'm also open to other suggestions (except octave, never sounded right in the mix for me). Thanks!

[Din Of Win]

Reverb on guitar is my favorite effect! However, on bass, i haven't gotten as much use with it.

I've owned or own a Boss RV-5, Digitech Digiverb, EHX Cathedral, EHX Holy Stain, Malekko Chicklet, and the ginormous Danelectro Spring King.

I use it mainly for the noisy feedbacky parts, and the Boss and Digitech seemed to work the best on bass for me.



For just filling out sonic space, i prefer chorus.

[Yorick]

Personally I think reverb on bass is wrong.... but try out the Line6 M5 pedal. That has a shed load of reverb sims in.

[NeroJazz]

Originally Posted by Din Of Win

For just filling out sonic space, i prefer chorus.

This.

Reverb often disappears in the mix. The only success I've had using a reverb was when doing a quiet intro/mini-solo type thing with no one else playing.

[G.Bisson]

When it comes to reverb I prefer darker repeats. Dark repeats create the preception of added sustain. Bright repeats from most digital pedals tend to blur rhythm, much like a second instrument playing out of time. The less obtrusive the repeats, the better for the band mix.

[grygrx]

I'll stand with the group so far, generally reverb seems a bit lost on bass. That said, I really enjoy the DigiTech RV-7 in reverse mode for a cello like effect.

[insomniac2295]

good on guitar, cheesy on bass

[Darknut]

I think reverb is real nice when used with fuzz or dirt .... sounds real "wide" ... great when the Gtard player is soloing in a Trio

[M Sterling]

Defintely depends on the pedal. I have had a lot of success using an Iron Ether Nimbus in many situations where you wouldnt think it would be appropriate. It has a filter that removes the low end from the reverb, keeping the lows clean while the rest of the frequency spectrum is effected. This, coupled with a small room size and just a hint of reverb volume, can fatten up any bass sound without being muddy or obtrusive IMO.

[Kwesi]

Good for solos, chording, ambient effects and sound layering but not much else, at least in my experience. I get plenty of use out of the various 'verbs I have.

[bongomania]

Reverb on bass is nice in spacious uncluttered recordings, or at home on headphones. I agree that filtering the lows out helps; I wanted a Nimbus but ended up in a trade for an Aboveground Fx "The Venue", which also has that low-cut filter, and it sounds pretty nice. I just use it on my EADGBE sixer though, not my BEADG fivers.

[genericusername]

I like my boss DM-2, it adds that tiny bit of echo that you can't hear when you're playing normal rhythms, but has that cool slapback sound when playing staccato notes.

[chuck3]

I have the EBS Dynaverb, which is a great pedal. However, I decided (like several above) that reverb on bass is pointless. I kept the pedal, though, as it works well for guitar and even voice.

[insomniac2295]

I've found that while playing live, the bass needs to be felt, as well as hear. Every reverb I've used live has taken away that feeling. It doesn't translate well on bass as most other effects do.

[caeman]

Iron Ether Polytope

or...a phaser

[Insouciance]

Like all effects, there should be an appropriate place and time to incorporate them. I personally love reverb on bass! I admit, it doesn't sound the best on the lower strings, but higher up on the neck it really makes your sound a lot broader. I have the Strymon Bluesky and love it. It has the semi-cheesy Shimmer which can really sound remarkable, and the Favorite switch to store two different sounds. Has High Damp and Low Damp knobs to fine tune the frequencies.

It brings out harmonics and makes a very lush sound.

[metaball]

i love my Strymon Blue Sky Reverb, my Neunaber Wet, & even the TC Hall of Fame is pretty good for the price. but not for Bass. for me it gets too muddy.

[u84six]

Reverb on bass can be amazing if used in conjuction with a parallel blender. I have one of my loops set with a fuzz and then a deep reverb and then I mix it in with my dry sound and get like a distant fuzz guitar sound playing in the background along with my bass. The reverb gives it just enough delay to make it sound like two tracks.

[ZanaZulu807]

I love reverb on bass, it adds another dimension in Jazz/Improv type music or where the bass isn't following the guitar for the most part. For Rock or Heavy guitar driven music though, errm... Not so much... I've been using the EHX Holy Grail for years and I love it; it's one of my always on type pedals. Sometimes reverb even replaces the purpose of delay for some of the stuff I do, and its extremely useful for recordings as it gives the bass an added "oomph" in terms of overall atmosphere in the music.

I tried out the Cathedral the other week in GC and fell in love, I'm gonna nab it as soon as I can. However, my Holy Grail has been a board staple and is gonna remain there for as long as possible. I could care less about what other brands there are or even if they might be better. The Grail just sounds so perfect to me...

[MIJ-VI]

Originally Posted by M Sterling

Defintely depends on the pedal. I have had a lot of success using an Iron Ether Nimbus in many situations where you wouldnt think it would be appropriate. It has a filter that removes the low end from the reverb, keeping the lows clean while the rest of the frequency spectrum is effected. This, coupled with a small room size and just a hint of reverb volume, can fatten up any bass sound without being muddy or obtrusive IMO.

A HPF for the effected signal that keeps the lows dry & distinct would be the key to many useful effects for bass and it's high time someone applied it to a reverb unit.

The Iron Ether Nimbus has my interest and it's a clean, quiet & smooth-sounding reverb to boot:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HegmlocI94s

Hmm...

As a long time Fender VI/reverb/'60's movie sound track enthusiast I've been looking for something like this for a while to further exploit the simultaneous dual bass & guitar nature of my MIJ Fender VI.

I just read on their site that the HPF is adjustable. Clean, dry finger style bass on the downbeat, tastefully reverbed chord tops on the backbeat.