Thought I’d share my opinion on this new little guy. Cornerstone Nucleo.
It’s easily the best reverb in a pedal I have ever heard. I need to get to a studio to compare it with a Bricast M7 - which won’t happen for a while. But I can compare it to my UAFX Golden which I primarily use to get bass to sit in a soul/pop mix live. The UAFX Golden probably sounds like the reverbs it emulates perfectly - but those reverb sounds are not natural reverbs (spring, plate and Lexicon Hall I think). I never liked the Strymon reverbs on bass (I had the bluesky for a while and was never that happy with it - very artificial with weird high frequencies)
The Cornerstone sounds absolutely amazing. It sounds real. I can find useable short reverbs on the ‘room’ setting but it’s ‘hall’ and ‘reactor’ where the ‘oh wow’ happens. Spent 45 mins cross legged on the floor basically playing, for fun. I’m ready for my solo super-indulgent sound-design tour now!
I can’t remember the last time I heard a genuine real - non ‘synthetic’ reverb from a pedal - never I think, it sounds wonderful to my ears. My wife said ‘that sounds really mellow and smooth’ I turned the pedal off, and then she said ‘that sounds crap’- so that’s my review board’s verdict!
The question is always ‘yeah - when and where will I use it’. And the answer is, during experimental jams and spacious improv which I’m regularly doing on a weeknight with and old friend on guitar and an experimental drummer. I kid you not. Sometimes the magic happens - other times less so. We record everything just in case…
Who knows, perhaps the next album I’m on will sneak in some sound design from it.
It’s going to be the only pedal on my board which doesn’t have to financially justify its place. Everything else is 100% utility - this pedal is inspiring.
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