Walrus Audio Delivers Beautifully Calibrated Mako Series R1 High-Fidelity Stereo Reverb to Match its D1 Delay

There’s no question about it - Walrus Audio has delivered a killer reverb in every which way - and which properly challenges the bigger reverb workstations. This is a darn fine bit of engineering to get all this magic to fit within a compact enclosure. I dare say this is even more impressive than the Mako D1 Delay - certainly for my tastes.

I’m almost instantly smitten after having viewed just a couple of demos. My current thinking is that this could be a great rotational alternative for my Strymon NightSky for the occasions that becomes a bit much for me. I have several simpler pedal editions that I rotate in when I don’t wish to be overly taxed as such. This would push back my acquisition of the CBA Automatone CXM 1978 most likely. Economically this is a total shoe-in at £349.

Walrus Audio really get the maximum feature set out of this limited surface area - with really clever application of the 2 x 3-Way Tweak and Tune settings - allowing you to target Rate, Depth and Pre-Delay with the Tweak function, and Lo and High EQ, as well as Specific X Program Parameter with the Tune function. As for the D1 - you have 9 footswitchable Presets (press both footswitches to scroll) in 3 banks of 3 (A|B|C). You also have a unique and killer ’Swell’ control - and can kick in an infinite Hold / Sustain via the right-Hand footswitch - either in Momentary or Latching fashion.

Of course none of that would be particularly useful without killer Algorithms - and that is just what those 6 Program options deliver, as follows :

• Spring - Classic Spring Tank Reverb with plenty of Drip; X-Tune adds a warm grit to the reverb decay
• Hall - The Ambience of Large Spaces; X-Tune controls the Room / Space Size
• Plate - Smooth Analog Plate Emulation with Even Diffusion, inspired by the EMT 140 et al; X-Tune adds warm grit into signal simulating hot signal into the plate
• BFR (Big F-ing Reverb) - Immense Cavers filled with choirs of angels!; X-Tune controls amount of diffusion applied to multi-tap delays
• RFRCT (Refract) - Hovering Glitch-Like Textures over a largely Diffused Reverb; X-Tune shapes the tone and fidelity / texture of the Glitch effect
• Air - Diffused Reverb with Subtle Shimmer and a rather crisp clarity to its decay; X-Tune controls % Amount of the Wind and Shimmer Elements within the Air Program

By holding down the Bypass footswtich and adjusting the ’Tune’ knob you can also Increase (CW) or Decrease the Stereo Width.

All-in-all a nigh perfect execution and totally stellar sounding too - nice touch to feature Yvette Young in the demo!

This is for sure the next Walrus Audio pedal that I will be adding to my collection. Who knows - it may even become my main reverb!