Walrus Audio's 9th in the Fundamental Series is the somewhat different AMBIENT Pillowy Atmospheric Reverb

I did a fairly substantive feature on the original set of 8 Fundamental Series - and how they stacked up against the other competing Budget Boutique Series. I love this format - while there are still questions about how long-term robust those sliders are - but so far so good! And then there’s the price - which sits mostly at the $129 which is quite significantly above the usual $99 price tag.

Overall though I feel Walrus have about got the formula right - while I feel that they may not have done sufficient conjoint pricing analysis - in how these stack up within a competitive retail environment.

In any case the 9th Fundamental pedal is the AMBIENT - which is a obviously a somewhat Ambient leaning spatial effect - firmly within the Reverb ballpark - but quite distinct from the previous Fundamental Reverb Pedal - which delivered a more traditional trio of flavours - Hall | Spring | Plate. The sliders are however the exact same ones - Decay. Tone and Mix!

Controls - Decay, Tone, Mix, Mode : Deep / Lush / Haze

It’s worth touching on the 3 Ambient flavours - which do require some slight explanation :

DEEP – A dark ambient reverb with an added low octave, perfect for creating murky, cavernous sustain or adding a touch of moody atmosphere.

LUSH – A breathy, expansive reverb featuring ultra-long sustain. Perfect for generating silky pads and immersive soundscapes with every note.

HAZE – A textured, lo-fi reverb featuring distortion, sample rate reduction, and a resonant bandpass tone control, great for vintage or experimental tones.

You can additionally set the Trails mode - on/off, via a power-up sequence.

This is a somewhat grown-up Ambient effect, and somewhat distinct from the usually more basic meat-and-potato budget offerings. This is somewhat more reminiscent of the kind of reverbs that OBNE is better known for.

It’s a little left-field for a budget offering - but I really like it for introducing something different into the mix. If this had been a Stereo pedal - it would have been right down my street. While I really need my spatial effects to be fully immersive stereo - to match my stereo rig.

I admire Walrus for making this bold detour - within its Fundamental / Basic / Enry-Level Series Range!

Of the Fundamental Series - only the 3 gain pedals are priced at $99, everything else is priced at $129 - which quickly adds up very significantly when compared to JHS Pedals’ all-$99 3 Series. The added attention to details on the Walrus Audio Fundamental Series - go a long way towards justifying the higher price - while the $129 price tag falls short of the psychological satisfaction of a $99 budget pedal. There is a reason why the JHS Notaklön was one of the very best selling pedals of last year - its $99 price of admission was significant - it would not have sold nearly as many at a higher price point!

In any case - for those with mono rigs - I feel the Ambient is a pretty intriguing proposition and should be very well received my most.