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What’s new at Zystrix? Read on… February 17, 2025 Reverb Pedals for the Metal Guitarist In the last issue we looked at delay pedals (click here for a refresher) and in this issue we’re going to look at the most bang-for-the-buck budget reverb pedals for the metal guitarist. There are many options, but we’re going to try to narrow it down and let the cream rise to the top. So sit back and relax. Welcome to Zystrix, the heartbeat of the universe. Where creativity and free-thinking have more value than conformity. Background Artwork The colorful artwork that surrounds the edges of this website is invisible to many cell phone users. It’s included here for your enjoyment. Multiple copies are tiled together for a cohesive and seamless background seen all around this page. Enjoy. Reverb Pedal Introduction Reverb has been used in recordings for a long time. It used to be a speaker and a microphone was setup in a hall, stairwell, or bathroom to blend in something believable. Or the microphone was placed far enough away from the source to also capture the room sound. At the time this made studios with a great ambient sound more desirable (and expensive). Now digital magic can produce the sound of a real or imagined area within the confines of a circuit board. This reverb pedal listing does not pretend to be all inclusive, it can’t because we’re value shopping, so of course many pedals won’t even make honorable mention. I use free plugins in my DAW (digital audio workstation) or make my own reverb IR (impulse response) for any sounds I need, so price is not something I need to consider. Check out the free mastering issue for a refresher on some excellent free reverb plugins. And if you have a way to use stereo reverb IRs in your DAW (or pedal -- see Hall of Fame 2 below) there are many great reverbs available -- click here for hundreds of high quality free reverbs to get you started. And it’s also worth noting, reverb can add a certain girth and softness to a massive guitar sound, so if you are going for flat out stun or slaughter floor in your guitar presentation then using a lighter touch on the reverb mix knob is usually better. And not all reverb pedals are created the same. Some acoustic spaces just sound like and are intrinsic to the pedal where they came from, so if you are looking for something specific (guitarist Black Tooth in the Barfingtons uses a Strymon and I want to sound like him) you’ll simply need to purchase that pedal. That is, unless you want to make or find an IR of that pedal sound. And reverb pedals are not particularly inexpensive and budget friendly, so keep that in mind when deciding. And also consider what types of reverb you need. Although it’s not a hard and fast rule, surf guitar reverb is not generally considered a metal attribute. Metal guitar generally starts with a tight 3-25 millisecond delay (be careful of phasing) for an angry in-your-face realistic intensity. After that it all depends on what feel you are trying to project and how much perceived “air” your meltdown amps and cabs are moving. It could be a subtle attitude ambiance like the sound of a larger studio, or an industrial garage, or a college venue, or a factory, or an airplane hanger, or something even bigger like a stadium or outdoor concert. Use your ears because you’re the boss. And if you are lucky enough to have two, don’t forget about reverb pedal stacking, often with a short reverb followed by a larger reverb. And try using your reverb in the amplifier effects loop for even cleaner and more pristine variations. At any rate, what we’re going for in this list is a great reverb sound, more features, and of course, a good price with free shipping. So that’s enough of this damn long-winded intro, here are the best sounding bang-for-the- buck reverb pedals I have found… THE FINE PRINT: We never use affiliate links to monetize this website. Unlike most music websites, Zystrix never receives any commission on any gear or software you may purchase via a link on this website. Ever. This keeps our reviews dead honest, and also helps keep your price of gear lower. Reverb Pedals for the Metal Guitarist Behringer RV600 Their plastic enclosures don’t inspire confidence of durability – I wouldn’t recommend playing hopscotch on them – but the company manufactures some amazing sonic value pedals for the money. And this one is no exception. If you like the old Line 6 Verbzilla then you’ll like this one (hint: it’s a clone). And somehow they managed stereo inputs and outputs on this one. No one else is even close in this price range. Choose from 11 reverb presets: ʼ63 Spring Reverb, Spring, Plate, Room, Chamber, Hall, Ducking, Space, Cave, Tile, and Echo. And there’s even a switch that lets you choose if the reverb trails fade out after you turn off the effect. This pedal is cheap enough to buy two and stack reverb pedals for some serious complex stereo ambiance. Or use one for the smaller/shorter reverb times in a multi reverb chain. The only audio problem I can detect is on the longer reverb times the tail end seems a little grainy. But in a band or studio context and for $39.00 USA with free shipping that’s some really small potatoes. Click here to learn more or to order the Behringer RV600. M-Vave Mini Universe Unlike the previous pedal, this one’s made of durable metal, and it’s another cost effective great sounding reverb pedal. Unfortunately the M-Vave doesn’t offer any stereo option, but at this price ($31.48 USA and free shipping) buy two and run them in parallel (not series or stacked) for stereo. There are 9 reverb modes on tap: Room, Hall, Plate, Spring, Shimmer, Cloud, Bloom, Swell, and Lo-fi. The reverb sounds are warm and pleasant, and there’s a natural feel to them. This pedal is a little hard to find from traditional music gear sellers, so Walmart has come to the rescue. Click here to learn more or to order the M-Vave Mini Universe. Sonicake Levitate The Levitate is a larger pedal that’s sturdy and feels well made, and it features mono only plate reverb and digital delay up to 2 seconds. However, the plate reverb has a pleasant vintage sound to it. The jacks are top mounted so your cords on your pedal board are out of the way. The very usable sounds are quiet even when the unit is cranked. It even has a trail control button and tap tempo control, and it runs on 9-volt DC. This pedal has limited features but a great sound (and it’s a little hard to find) but it’s only $56.00 USA and free shipping. Click here to learn more or to order the Sonicake Levitate. Caline Mariana The Caline Mariana is a mono in and mono output pedal, and there’s 3 knobs that control individual parameters with each setting creating a different interaction with these three controls. It has a sturdy aluminum alloy case to withstand abuse. This pedal sports great sounding large modulated soundscape reverb, so it’s not really meant for cozy spaces. It runs on a 9V DC center negative input and the power supply is not included. For $67.80 USA and free shipping it’s a lot of spacial reverb. Click here to learn more or to order the Caline Mariana reverb. Flamma FS02 This excellent sounding pedal has seven reverb types: Room, Hall, Church, Cave, Plate, Spring, and Mod. It’s got stereo input and outputs and it can store up to seven presets one each in the seven reverb slots. It also offers the option to allow reverb trails. As I learned the hard way, before you decide on this pedal make sure you’ve got a power supply that can handle 300 mA of DC 9-volt power. The Caline CP-205 does the job perfectly. At $60.99 USA and free shipping this is truly a bargain studio/stage reverb pedal. Click here to learn more or to order the Flamma FS02. Flamma FS22 Ekoverb If you need a large sounding delay and reverb together the Flamma FS22 is a tough one to beat for the price of $77.99 USA and free shipping. It offers stereo inputs and outputs but only three modes. Mode 1 is a reverse delay and a swell reverb. Mode 2 is a reel type echo with a modulated reverb. Mode 3 is a classic analog delay with a shimmer reverb. The pedal has tap tempo and a hold option for a seemingly endless repeat. The sounds are more suited to larger spaces, so if you need a choice of rooms, halls, or plates you may want to look elsewhere. Click here to learn more or to order the Flamma FS22. Alabs Audio Cetus This Singapore-based company has produced an excellent sounding 32-bit floating point digital reverb pedal with stereo ins and outs for greater versatility. Nice. There’s a lot to explore here. The pre-delay can be adjusted from 0-100 milliseconds. It offers 9 presets: Hall, Room, Church, Spring, Plate, Swell, Shimmer, Cloudy, and Wave. Freeze function and True bypass and trailing bypass. It uses a 9-volt DC with a minimum of 250mA input but, sorry, the power transformer is not included. This pedal shines on larger ethereal sounding reverbs. Although there’s a lot to like with this pedal, the main problem I have with it is that it’s difficult to find. Maybe because the company is so new -- it formed in 2021. And it’s only about $115.00 USA with maybe free shipping, but that’s if you can find one. At the time of this writing the websites Amazon and Reverb were the only places that sometimes had them. Unfortunately I have no link to offer for a purchase of this sonic excellence, however you can learn more at Alabs Audio Cetus. DemonFX Reverb/Delay Workstation If you like the Keeley Delay Workstation (approx $299.99 USA) you’ll probably like this pedal. Unfortunately it does not offer stereo inputs, only stereo outputs, but for $119.80 and free shipping this pedal is amazing. This is a slightly over-sized pedal probably because it includes a knob for all parameters. The reverb side has eight effects: Spring, Chamber, Hall, Plate, Shimmer, Flanged, Tape Delay, and Digital Delay. The delay side has Slapback, Tape, Multihead, Analog, Digital Delay, Subdivided, Ducking, and Pitch. It is easy to quickly dial in a traditional classic sounding ambiance, and it’s difficult to dial in a bad sound on this pedal. Click here to learn more or to order the DemonFX Reverb/Delay Workstation. Mooer R7 X2 This stereo input and stereo output solid feeling reverb pedal has impressive reverb algorithms with plenty of versatility. There are 14 convincing presets to modify to your liking, however scrolling through the presets sequentially makes it difficult to skip from sound to sound. The X2’s algorithms are crystal-clear, and it offers excellent ambiance with no artifacts except on excessively long spaces. This pedal does a good job with any of the settings, and at $139.80 with free shipping it deserves a serious listen. Click here to learn more or to order the Mooer R7 X2. Electro Harmonix Oceans 11 This one has eleven different 11 different algorithms: Hall, Spring, Plate, Reverse, Echo, Tremolo, Modulated, Dynamic, Auto-Infinite, Shimmer, and Polyphonic effects. To my ear the sounds can range from mellow to slightly brittle by using the tone knob, although the reverb tails have no discernible grunge or graininess. The mode switch can also select tap tempo divisions for the echo setting and engages either interval or mix edit parameters for the Poly setting. Unfortunately this pedal only has a mono input and output. The 9.6- volt 200mA power adapter (wall wort) is included with the pedal (YAY!), and I wish more companies included them with their pedals. This is a great sounding pedal for only $176.00 USA with free shipping, and it’s easy to find one used for $20- $50 less. Click here to learn more or to order the Electro Harmonix Oceans 11. TC Electronic Hall of Fame 2 This well-built sturdy reverb has an awful lot to offer for the money. The thing I especially like is the ability to install a reverb of your choice. The pedal uses a USB port and communicates via what’s called their TonePrint Editor software or app to make adjustments to modulation and/or add your own reverb impulse responses. That’s impressive, although that can be a turn-off for some. I just wish it had more memory slots than three. Hmm, how about a microSD connector in the future? It also has 7 algorithms available on the front panel: Room, Hall, Spring, Plate, Church, Shimmer, Mod, and Lofi. The shimmer setting is excellent. There are also impulse responses available from their website, from the internet, or even by clicking here. Surprisingly it only uses 100mA of 9-volt power to get a huge amount of resources and customization, and it also has true bypass which is switchable to a buffered output. There are stereo inputs and outputs, and it also offers what they call a MASH expression foot- switch which allows you to adjust the intensity of the reverb. This is a workhorse reverb pedal that can be used on stage or in the studio, it’s only $120.00 USA and free shipping, and most other pedals don’t come close in this price range. Click here to learn more or to order the TC Electronic Hall of Fame 2. Boss RV-6 pedal This intuitive reverb pedal is a typical high-quality Boss effect in a durable tank-like metal enclosure. This one sports effect level, tone and time, plus eight-way mode control: Modulate, Spring, Plate, Hall, Room, Dynamic, Shimmer, +delay; bypass foot-switch; 9V power input, stereo inputs and outputs, and expression pedal input. And, like most of the reverb pedals posted here, has no way to step through any presets. In their defense, reverb is generally a set- and-forget effect. This is definitely a stage or studio quality reverb, and to my ear, sounds ever so slightly more natural than the Hall of Fame2, especially in the smaller room settings, but your ear mileage may vary. I just wish it included the slots for choosing your own personalized impulse response reverb effects like the pedal above. This is another reverb pedal that can double as a studio reverb stereo send and return, and I found one new for $140.00 USA and free shipping. Click here to learn more or to order the Boss RV-6 reverb pedal Reverb Pedal Honorable Mention These are not what I would consider budget reverb pedals, so open your wallet. But they sound great. The following is just cursory explanations for quick information. Boss RV-200 This one has stereo studio sound features and pedal-board size -- a great combination. Shimmer, Arpverb, Slowverb, +Delay, Modulate, Lo-Fi, Gate, and Reverse with Room, Hall, Plate and Spring for a comprehensive selection. About $270.00 USA. Electro Harmonix Oceans 12 This one’s got two independent or combinable reverb effects in a studio quality stereo in and out pedal with plenty of editable parameters. About $237.00 USA. Boss RV-500 They outdid themselves on this one. Wow! Killer modern features, studio-quality sound, and it’s my favorite big money reverb. $320 to $400 USA . Strymon Big Sky Many guitarists say it’s the only reverb pedal to own. There are deals to be found on this pedal because the newer version (MX) was introduced not long ago. Usually around $400 to $480 although it may go lower soon. Reverb Pedal Conclusion What I did here is compile a list of my favorite reverb pedals at budget price points. These should be viewed as recommendations because only your ears can hear the real value to you. I hope I have inspired you to listen and learn more. Don’t touch that dial… Stay tuned next time… We’re going to look at some IR (impulse response) pedals for imitating a speaker cabinet. We’re not looking at price so much (although price is important), we’re going to be looking at value or features. As you probably know, a higher price doesn’t necessarily mean more value. Just like we’ve been doing, we want the most bang-for-the- buck possible. Maybe I’ll see you next time. If you lend someone $20 and never see that person again, it was probably worth it. Knowledge, art, and music for all.

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ZYSTRIX POPULAR FREE DOWNLOADS The Best Free Synthesizers of 2024 It’s another epic issue, and there’s lots of FREE downloads here. And the Honorable Mention Synthesizer List might surprise you. This list is long, so prepare yourself. And if it seems like too much to take in, I warned you. Click here for the official list of The Best Free Synthesizers of 2024. The Best Free Mastering Plugins Your DAW (digital audio workstation) will be so happy. And so will you. Here are the best of the best for EQ, compression, limiting, tube and tape emulation, reverb, delay, and honorable mentions. This list is a must have with lots of downloads. Check out The Best FREE Plugins for Mastering 2024. Here’s a free download of almost one and a half hours of original neo-classical solo piano by Dangerous Neighbors. This full length album called Piano Top to Bottom consists of 18 original piano pieces with the final piece in two movements. There is a bonus track making 20 files total. 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