2020 Best New Reverb Workstation Pedals - The Year of Reverb!

I've obviously recently just concluded an overview / review of this fabulous slightly otherworldly reverberator. This most certainly is not the right box if you're seeking Pristine CXM 1978 varieties. This is what I call a Character or Ambient Reverb - where each Mode / Voicing is intended to be far more prominent in the mix - versus an always-on background Reverb.

There are some quite distinct and texturally interesting reverse onboard with Arcades Reverb Card - and all of them are usable and musical - but you often need to adapt your playing style to fit those algorithms.

You get 8 Modes onboard :

• ModPit : Pitch-Modulated
• VHS : Video Tape Style
• Shim : Shimmer
• EnHold : Envelope Filter Freeze
• Multi : Multi-Tap Reverb with Diffusion and Audio-drop
• Flange : Classic Weirdo-style Flange on Tail
• Grnule : Granular Sliced Reverb
• Arp : Arpeggiated Undulating Reverb

You get 8 controls - 4 variable digital parameters, and 4 analog parameters - Dry, Wet, Tone and Clock-Rate. And you get 8 Presets which are saved to the Card.

A slightly more unusual and non-vanilla Reverb - which for many will be on supplemental duties versus core. But delivers some very interesting and usable flavours - probably slightly more for the adventurous minded - and doesn't do the straight-up vanilla reverbs like the Strymon NightSky can.

I've always conceptually been a fan of Death by Audio pedals - but some of there very best like this Rooms Reverb and the Evil Filter - come in somewhat awkward outsized enclosures - which knocks them down a peg or two in practical usability.

Nonetheless this is a great new Reverb Workstation with actually a good mix of of rather more vanilla and unusual varieties - with 6 modes in fact onboard :

• Room : as it says
• Digit : Reverb with Delay Time and Feedback
• Peak : Resonant Filtered Reverb
• Gate : Gated Reverb
• Wave : Chorus / Vibrato Wave-Modualated Reverb
• Gong : Aliased Ring Mod style Metallic Reverb

You get 8 controls - 5 Primary - Time, Frequency, Depth, Dry, FX Volume, and 3 Secondary - Frequency, Depth and Time - which are activated by the second Alt footswitch.

So some cool modes and clever controls onboard - but alas loses some point through lack of presets.

I've already mentioned that I regret I didn't get as much time with the unit as I would have liked - as I was so excited by the new Strymon NightSky - I just had to get that into the chain as quickly as possible - as a result I didn't get fully under the skin of this pedal as such - while I enjoyed it enormously while in active rotation. Although some of those mini controls are a little fiddly in daily use - and what seems clear on the blown up picture of the pedal is somewhat a lot more obscure with relatively tiny writing - when operating in somewhat low light. You almost need a magnifying glass to see what's what - or at least I do!

Nonetheless this is a tremendous far-ranging and extended proper Dual-Channel Reverb Workstation with actually no less that 29 Reverb Modes across 12 Engine Types (2-3 Modes per Engine). It's one of only 3 parallel Dual Channel Reverbs - alongside the Boss RV-500 and Source Audio Ventris - as far as I'm aware.

Its 12 Engines are :

• Room
• Spring
• Plate
• Reverse
• Echo
• Trem
• Mod
• Dyna
• Auto-Inf
• Shimmer
• Poly
• Resonant

You have 11 further controls including Param 1 & 2, Expression Mode, Momentary Mode, Tails, Function/Alt, Mode (Sub-mode 1-3), FX Level/Inf Level, Predelay / Send Lvl, Time / Lo-FI and Tone / Tide. Where each mode can be adjusted for Lo-Fi output and Tide Stereo Ambience. It actually probably works well enough with just the 2 footswitches, but is better utilised with an external 3-footswitch add on - where I've found the GFI Triple Switch to be the most compact and usable format.

This is such a hugely capable unit and so tiny relative to its process - and actually very well priced to. I've recommended this to several people - and it's truly a really high quality Reverb Workstation with more functionality and features on tap than most. The algorithms aren't quite as pristine as the CXM 1978 - but they are all really high quality.

An actually very decent multi-variable Reverb based around Eventide's immense Blackhole Algorithm - as first appeared on the Space Reverb Workstation - and is onboard the H9 Max too. So for H9 Max owners something of a surplus requirement as we already have all that goodness.

In this format though - which is well priced - you get the most variability from that single algorithm - courtesy of 6 controls knobs plus alt button and secondary parameters and 5 onboard presets.

The parameter controls being Mix, Gravity / Delay, Feedback / Q, Size / Depth, Lo / Rate, and Hi / Out Lvl. So it's actually rather simply to use and for maximum impact. In this scale of tings though this is possibly the most vanilla in many ways and one of the least versatile overall. That said the Blackhole Algorithm is a Magnificent Classic of the type - and this gives relatively easy access to that in a very handy and relatively compact form factor.

Because of my H9 ownership - this is actually entirely surplus to my own requirements - but I can see how it could be just the right choice for some players - for around the same price though - you get a lot more bang for your buck courtesy of the EHX Oceans 12. And in a year of Reverb innovations - this is kind of disappointing to most existing Eventide fans - who already own the Blackhole Algorithm in one of its many guise - and would have liked to have seen something a little more different and creative.

I have a separate forthcoming article on all 6 current Flamma pedals - which are genuinely doing something innovative for the budget-end digital type pedals. I have a feeling that these are somehow related to Mooer - as the algorithms here are quite similar to those on the Mooer 7 Series - or namely :

• Room
• Hall
• Church
• Cave
• Plate
• Spring
• Mod

All very relatable fairly vanilla classic reverb styles. Controlled by 5 parameter knobs - Level, Hi-Cut, Lo-Cut, Decay and Pre-Delay - and as mentioned with 7 presets onboard - one for each Mode/Type.

This is just incredibly good value right now at just $68. And this brand seems to be steadily innovating. I personally would have preferred a second footswitch here to switch presets - rather than having to use the small Save/Select button - which really isn't that convenient when stood up.

That this is full stereo ins and outs - with presents and all for just just $68 currently is somewhat incredible!

This is the most interesting budget range for a while - and so much more interesting than the recent Tone City Compact range - which currently retails for £60. I will likely snap up several Flamma types - for secondary use and experimentation mostly - and benchmarking - I can see those coming in handy in several ways. And if / when they add the second footswitch - those will really become essential.

In many ways they are the same sort of concept as the Mooer 7 Series - but with more tactile controls. Will be interesting to see how they develop. They have more scope for evolution vs the tiny Mooers - but virtue of the greater surface area.

This seems to have disappeared off the radar somewhat after a fairly sizeable Winter NAMM fanfare - with 1,000 units set to be made available by Spring. But I guess the early demos weren't quite sufficiently inspirational and Gamechanger have likely gone partway back to the drawing board or engineering workshop even. All the recent noise has been about the new and suitably impressive Whirling Mechanical Motor Synth - which has largely been very well received - and has been smartly demo'd by a number of the leading lights in the synth world.

The Light Pedal is essentially a fully authentic 3-Spring Tank Reverb with additional smarts via Infrared Optical Sensor - which captures more Spring Movement and Transients to render a richer and more detailed Spring Reverb Sound with several enhanced modulations possible by combining the traditional and innovative technologies employed.

For whatever reason though the early demoes were not sufficiently inspiring - so I'm not sure what happened to the early take-up of the pedal - or whether it is even still a going concern - which I will assume it to be until I hear otherwise.

This is similar in concept to the Evenite Blackhole in being a Multi-Variate Reverb Workstation - based around maximum manipulation and enhancement of a single Core Reverb Type - here obviously Spring Reverb.

There are essentially 6 different modes here :

• Optics
• Sweep
• Trem
• Reflect
• Feedback
• Harmonic

And there are 7 further parameter controls - Dry, Spring, Optical, Tone, Control, Drive, and Envelope. As it is a proper Spring Tank Reverb it has a number of practical challenges including size / format and knock-noise. Also with that many variable controls - this is really a pedal that would benefit from onboard Presets.

I feel that Gamechanger have some work to do here - and this will likely be more attractive in the eventual V2 iteration whenever that materialises. It's a great idea, and there's some really smart innovation and engineering here - which is what Gamechanger excel at - but they don't always have key usability practicalities in the frame. Definitely an appealing prospect though.

A conceptually really great new enhanced Reverb, but lacking in some areas for me too q.v. This is a significant improvement and evolution over the original Context Reverb - and it's found its way into the same 1.5x format as the recent Particle 2 and Tensor varieties. Albeit each of those have quite different control topologies and difference in onboard presets and how they are applied.

The Particle V2 has 4 onboard button-selected presets, the context a single onboard footswitch-selected preset, while the Tensor weirdly has none. Lots of pedals seem to be offloading presets to midi these days which doesn't at all suit my own modus operandi. I would prefer to see more onboard presets - which are wholly footswitch selectable - in a similar way to the Stone Deaf Tremotron or VS Audio Alchemy - that's where I believe things should be at, but are somewhat sorely lacking right now.

In any case the Context V2 has 8 Modes :

• Room
• Hall
• Cathedtral
• Gate
• Reverse
• Plate
• Spring
• Grain

So all the classics really plus some more diverse ones. Controlled via 5 regular knobs, 3 mini ones and one 'Shift' push-button for secondary modes. Parameters are Blend / Balance, Pre-Delay / Delay, Decay / Feedback. High Frequency Damping / Dynamics Ducking, Low Frequency Damping / Dynamics Threshold, and Modulation Depth / Rate.

The two footswitches various activated Infinity and Trails Modes and Save and Select presets. It's a neat Reverb Workstation in a super-slim form factor and with smart controls - but it is kind of let down by only 1 preset onboard.

The star performer in the Red Panda range is also the only one I have do date - the Particle V2. This is decent no doubt, but it doesn't quite compete with the usability and smarts of some of these others. Still a very valid choice though that will suit many, just not quite for me.

The cleverest Reverb to-date as far as I'm concerned and in fact a whole new sort of modular way for building up your preferred / desired Reverb tones - using essentially 5 compartmented building blocks - where only 3 need be active at a minimum.

In fact as rather glossed over by That Pedal Show - this can be used very simply in vanilla-style fashion by just dialling back all those elements you don't wish to utilise.

In essence there are 3 core Modes / Textures / Types here :

• Sparse : Granular-sounding reverb which reflective delay taps
• Dense : Fast response multiple-reflections sort of Plate-style Reverb
• Diffuse : Multiple Diffusers employed to create slow-building atmospheric Washes

You can dial out Modulation and Voice/Shimmer entirely - and just focus on the really rather simple Decay, Mix and Tone blocks. The pedal has 10 Primary knobs - Speed, Depth, Length, Size/Pitch, Reverb Level, Dry Level, Low Cut, Hight Cut, Shimmer Interval, and Shimmer Intensity. You also have 8 push-button option selectors for Modulation Target and Wave Shape, Texture / Type, Quantize Type, Filter Type, Shimmer Type, Glimmer Application and Drive Application. Furthermore you have 8 silicon buttons which serve as Preset Indicators / Selectors and Tail Sequencer Steps.

I will be doing a further in-depth NightSky review either later in December or early January - based on the below visual - which indicates the various secondary modes - but more of that later.

There's certainly plenty to get your teeth stuck into here - but don't be fooled into thinking this is rather just for some Blade Runner -scoring synth types - these are great guitar reverbs too - and every bit as good as the CXM 1978 in most ways - with a lot more variety.

Don't get intimated by all the options - do what I do rather - and start simple with just 3 blocks - then add in the Modulation when you feel comfortable, then the Shimmer effects, and finally the Tail Sequencer element - all in good time.

There's no question that this is the most innovative and creative Reverb in decades probably - and an entirely new way to build up your own very particular Reverb effect. That said - if you're not at all experimental and just want the very best of Pristine Classic Reverbs - start saving up for the CXM 1978!