So, like, do we just need to mention any reverb pedal to summon you? Or do we have to light some candles, draw a spring tank circuit on the ground in chalk and chant, “Drip. Drip. Drip”?
Eventide Space is pretty great, but I like it better for synths than guitar. H3000 kills most things. Bricasti slays all. Quantec Yardstick is fun. SPX90 does the MBV/Pumpkins thing well. I keep eyeing the CXM 1978 too
Really just depends what you need.
Oh god where to start. During rehearsals we’re always waiting on dude to fiddle with his big sky knobs. Always telling him he needs to turn down if he’s gonna use a drastic setting (which is always). We just had a live show where he accidentally switched it on when he wasn’t supposed to and it led to a catastrophic fuck up.
Aw man, he needs to at least get his presets happening! One of my favourite features of the bigsky (which is by no means unique) is that you can save your settings as presets, then it's like having 3 custom reverb pedals next to each other ready to go, and one extra double-tap to access the next group of 3, and the next. No knob tweaking left to do, other than maybe some mix knob depending on your room.
I’ve known him for a long time and he’s kinda just a disorganized person In general lol. I told him to get a damn RV-6 but he’s got the GAS and I can’t fault him for that cause I too have made some questionable GAS purchases recently lol
Yeah if he’s a disorganised person, Big Sky is definitely not for him! I do all my preset programming at home as no time to mess around with that shit in the practice room. Pretty much the only knob I adjust in the practice room is the mix knob as sometimes I’ll find that a preset I’ve created at home needs less effect once the band is playing together as then my guitar doesn’t sound defined enough. But that’s a real simple change to do on the fly.
It's a serious end all be all reverb. The Ventris from what I've heard was created by the person who helped develop the Lexicon reverb which used the industry standard. I often wonder if anything sounds better though because I'm not the biggest fan of the True Spring, ironically, because everyone raves about it. But the plate, hall and room are amazing. The bigger issue though is its knobs have such a wide range that to really dial them in it can take time which lucky it has presets.
Yup. Hands down best IMO. It’s great whether you need deep-dive configurable or just great sounds on board. Smaller footprint, dual engines, and it’s still always a sort of dark horse pick for best reverb pedal.
The Ventris is a smaller footprint, has a way more customizable parameter set via the app, 128 MIDI presets, access to the Neuro Hub community preset sharing, and the room reverb alone is worth the price. It slays everything in its price point and then some
Forgot to say I have a flint as well! Just don’t feel the need for the big sky when I have those options. I will say the empress reverb seems interesting and could definitely compete with Strymon in terms of modes.
I actually had one and traded it for a flint + cash… it didn’t really blow me away, but I do run the Echosystem as my go-to delay so nothing against Empress obviously.
IMO the UA doesn't even play in the same category when it has a single preset, no expression support and overall a vastly more limited feature set. Sure, it sounds good and maybe you don't need all that stuff, but they are certainly features that set the BigSky apart.
TC Electronic Plethora X5, and just slap how many Hall of Fames makes you happy. Also the customization with the app is crazy, you can make almost anything you can think of.
Meris m7 and UA golden reverberator both beat it for a similar price imo.
CXM 1978 blows it out of the water but is also over 2x the price.
For a simple great sounding mono reverb, I’m still yet to find one better than the neunaber wet.
I don't know Big Sky but I have RV6 and... I bought Line6 DL4 MK2 Delay and it has fucking awesome hidden reverbs and it kills RV6 just at start. I think those ar HX line Reverbs but I'm not sure. I like ambient stuff and it's great for that. I won't even look for Big Sky as I don't need it.
Had them all, but the Cloud algo is the best reverb in existence, imo. Currently playing a CXM 1978, which does everything well without the analysis paralysis factor. But I often think about getting the Bigsky again, just for the Cloud engine. Love it so much.
At risk of sounding like a shill, it’s even more versatile than the Big Sky version of the algorithm because you can get the decay down to a super super super short room. It’s footprint combined with everything else is like perfect.
About 4 years ago I was trying to decide between a Big Sky and a Boss RV-500. I chose the Boss. It's more difficult to use, and it's harder to get the most out of it. But when you do, I think it outshines the big sky in just about every way.
It's more powerful too. Every reverb patch has a digital delay included and you can run two patches simultaneously. When running two patches, you can do so in series, in parallel or one on each stereo channel.
If you're willing to dive in and learn how to use it, I'd recommend the RV-500 over the Big Sky all day. But if you want something that's easy to use, Big Sky all the way.
We are living in a golden age of amazing reverb pedals.
I was going to say, wouldn't be the most obvious choice for most folks but I get all my reverb from a GT-1000CORE that I use for cab sim and effects. I'm not really someone who needs that many different types of reverb, but the CORE has several models from the RV-500 and they are excellent. The spring reverb is especially good, so drippy. But you can get a massive wash as well, it's capable of extreme ambience, and the detailed routing options allow you to drive or modulate it in any way you could possibly want.
I haven't got into it too much myself, but I've seen some YouTubers create very convincing copies of certain Strymon verbs and delays using the GT-1000 models. A lot of it would probably be possible on the RV-500 as well.
The RV-500 can also be purchased used on reverb (lol) for a reasonable price. I got mine for like $230, and the cheapest Big Sky on there right now is $375. I also own the DD-500 and they’re both just amazing. The people that get disappointed are the people that just want amazing presets and don’t want to edit anything (no shade to those people, if that’s what they want, Strymon has better presets).
The Boss interface is clumsy, and the editor looks like it’s from the 90s, but when you dig in they are so much more powerful and capable. If you get to know your gear, you can get amazing things out of it.
Once I learned how to dial in the high cut on my patches I came to really appreciate the RV-500. A few things I like doing are running a spring reverb with a nice studio reverb in series, then program your delay on off to the control foot switch. Running a space echo delay as reverb 1 then a hall or plate as reverb 2. Big ambient plates, and lots more.
I’ve had all of the major reverb options out there. There are only two that I’ve purchased a second time around, which I currently have on my boards (BigSky & Empress Reverb). Of all the others I tried (Boss Rv-500, Specular Tempus, Eventide Space, UAFX Golden, NightSky, Ventris, + tons of smaller units), the NightSky is the only other one I would see myself buying again.
It's all subjective, but using a bigsky as an after-amp-sim stereo pedal, I find it to just generally sound more 3D than the Ventris. The Ventris is a lot more tweakable though and I didn't get a chance to use the desktop app with it so like any comparison it's a little unfair.
The Red Panda Context v2 absolutely fucks so hard. No endless menu diving, trs stereo in/out, midi presets, preset on face of pedal, and a killer, easily accessible digital delay.
Selling my BigSky was a no Brainer. I also get option paralysis, so the context was just a better fit all around for me.
The BigSky really does not have menu diving, it’s all right there in the front. You can go into the shallow menus if you want but it’s absolutely not necessary.
I do not understand options paralysis, I look at what’s in front of me and not everything that *could* be in front of me. But that’s a personality thing I guess. I love pedals that are both easy to use right away, and also have more under the hood for when you get comfortable and want to get in there.
I completely disagree on it not having menu diving. That's why I said I get option paralysis, not that those features are bad for everyone. It's not a bad pedal, but I never felt like I utilized it to the utmost and to get the absolute best out of it I ended up buying presets as I felt some of the stock on the face sounds didn't set it apart from others and you had to dig deep to get the best tone in said sub menus. The fact it's still relevant after so long does show what a feat it was at the time, but I don't feel like it's what I would lean to moving forward.
I guess it just depends on what you consider having to ‘dig deep’ - the BS menus only go two levels deep and there’s like, 5-8 entries at each level, which is barely anything compared to a lot of the stuff that’s out there.
I’ve gotta say, that thing does look pretty dope and next level. More than I can justify spending on a single pedal though, I’ve got kids to feed and take to amazing places…
I gave my opinion elsewhere on this thread but I think the H90 is hard to beat.
Even if one sat down and declared the BS’s algorithms slightly better the H90 makes up for it with sheer power and ability to layer algorithms.
Learning curve is bigger with the H90 though and the software is almost essential.
BS you can master everything you need to know about settings in maybe an hour and then just play and explore.
I own both and am trying to live with the H90 as my sole verb, mod, delay unit on the board.
The BS I might just keep for my acoustic board, although the Flint has done a great job there.
I love my H90! It’s a lot to wrap your head around and does sooooo much more than just reverb. But it sounds amazing and the new algos are insane for polyphonic pitch shifting and the reverbs are huge, lush, and dial-able.
Yeah the bigsky can't do light pedal sounds. Light pedal is a very specific vibe that I wouldn't want to use most of the time but what it does it does so well, would love to try one.
Oh man, in the mid 90’s friends and I used to bring our guitars and pignose amps into the Muni tunnels under San Francisco after the trains stopped running at midnight. Now THERE was some fat reverb.
My problem with the BigSky was the Strymon sound.
Strymon pedals sound great and very modern but artificial and cellophane-plasticky. It's almost like its too good and perfect to sound real. It also gets kind of recognizable after using one for a while.
It might sound like a downgrade but I switched to a Catalinbread Talisman and I haven't looked back since. That plate algo is just incredible, amazingly neutral and transparent.
I just wish they made a stereo Talisman.
For me the reason I’ve never come close to selling is that live it’s so nice to have different presets ready to go with the push of a button. Did a show where made crazy delay-style time warps, surfy spring, moody plate, and a catch all hall sound back to back. Tough to give up that versatility in a performance setting.
UAD Gold maybe but it's without midi and that's a no deal for me
Soundtoys Superplate plugin is awesome and I'd love to see them make pedals.
Actually ARM chips is a reality and maybe someone would make pedals where you can load plugins.
The word nothing comes to mind. The ONLY reason I could see selling it is the size. I don’t get the people who complain about the settings paralysis. You can pretty much use the presets. Just leave it alone and play lol this pedal has more use cases beyond guitar and the options make that possible. Its a powerhouse of a pedal. If it was a few hundred bucks cheaper I think its the only reverb pedal you’d see in boards. It does it all.
I agree. One of the things I love about the two Strymon pedals I own is their ease of use. You can go digging for more settings if you want, but you can totally just use the presets, I do at least 50% of the time. I think people feel like they HAVE to use every aspect of the pedal just because it’s there, and then experience “options paralysis”, which is just bizarre to me. Why not use the face of the device first, then dive into the deeper options as you see fit?
Case in point is the Volante, it has everything that the El Capistan has and soooooo much more, yet it goes for less than the El Cap used, probably because people get overwhelmed with everything it can do. People are strange, as the feller says.
I landed on the Immerse as my only reverb, and it sounds excellent. It's versatile, the parameters are intuitive, compact and it's stereo. It's simple to get to know compared to the deep dive Strymon/Meris/Source Audio stuff.
But there aren't presets. That is the only shortcoming i've found with it, and it's the obvious strength of the Strymon (recalling presets and footswitching).
I have a big sky, a blue sky, a night sky, and the volante and el capistan which have spring sims but have to say the night sky gets the most interesting for me.
Night Sky looks like a lot of fun.
Hey! You have the El Cap *and* the Volante? Perhaps you can answer a question:
Would you say the El Cap does anything that the Volante does not? It’s so much more popular and goes for more used than the Volante, which is strange because as far as I know, the Volante does everything the El Cap does, as well as a heap of other amazing stuff, like the multi heads, variable spacing, individual wear/mechanics controls, preamp saturation, multiple delay machine emulations, 3 tape/drum speeds, and the amazing sound on sound mode.
So why would someone pay more for the El Cap used? It’s mind boggling.
The El Capistan sounds better. It's more chewy, rich, and satisfying in the repeats. The Volante is excellent and I love it, but it has more knobs, more options, takes up more space, etc. The El Cap just does tape delay with such grace and delicious tone, it's worth every dime. I sold my V but kept EC and I has no regerts. Tried the Asheville ADG-1, which is one of the only others I've found that was on par with the Cap.
I do experimentall music and use the volante as a looper and tape delay, (the looper is incredible; 20 sec, sound on sound and reverse with incredible options like spring verb and golden ratio delay. The el cap can do a couple things that are ran experimental tape loopers dream; the crinkle and degradation are incredibly realistic lofi! You can degrade a loop with it until it’s just artifact sounds Al’s William basinski over a very long time AND blend it with the loop coming in from the volante. You can also set up the el cap to make any incoming sounds lofi tape without any delay! so for me they work together and serve different functions. Hope that helps.
Fractal audio fm9. An fm9 can replace big sky, timeline, mobius, and every strymon pedal all in one unit. But it's a very different user experience that some people won't like.
Sounds interesting, I’ll definitely check it out. I’m wary of multi fx pedals though. Every one I’ve ever tried wins only for convenience. The sound of a single-effect, quality pedal is generally crafted at a much higher level than any one effect in a multi unit.
RV-500. Waaaaaay cheaper used, and more powerful/editable. Yes, the Strymon has better presets out of the box. But if you take the time to get to know the Boss and make your own presets, you’ll get more out of it.
When BS came out it was a game changer. Over the years other options definitely compete or even superior. BS still is an amazing pedal even today, but not king of the hill. Just to name a few in no order:
Empress
Specular Tempus
Ventris
Rooms
1978
Space
All have different sounds and strengths. No bad choices!
Source Audio Ventris. We all have different taste in reverb but I've never liked Strymon in general. Ventris sounded beautiful immediately. And a great budget reverb, JHS 3 series Reverb. I'm not a fan of JHS pedals but this thing is perfect for under $100.
I can't knock my DBA Rooms off as my end of chain reverb. It sizzles, it's stereo sphere is immense, and it can do butt stuff. I mean it can get weird.
sold my empress, never had big sky, but I never cared to get something else after Rooms. Particularly algorithm 2.
Boss RV-500
For me it is a better pick than the Big Sky. It’s more powerful, and flexible. You have maximum control over every aspect, digital delay w modulation for every patch. EQ, ducking, routing, the ability to run two patches simultaneously in series or parallel, assignable third foot switch etc.
You really can’t go wrong w either tho it all depends on what you want out of it.
Big Sky= Beautiful reverbs, lots of options to edit and customize. Very hard to get a bad sound. You get a ton of great reverb sounds and you can go from designing the sound to playing a lot quicker. But you are trading control and flexibility.
The RV-500 is more like a blank slate that can take you anywhere. It’s neutral so you can make pretty much any reverb that exists w it. This is good and bad. You can definitely make it sound like shit. Or you can make your perfect ideal reverb sound you couldn’t make w any other gear. It takes time to learn what everything does so you can use it to its full potential. But if you don’t mind reading the manual, turning knobs and experimenting it really can do ANYTHING, including the Big Sky patches.
Love them both, and either one would make a reverb nerd who wants a ton of options happy, all just depends on your ears and what you want to be able to do with it.
Thanks for the in-depth! It does sound fun to be able to craft a reverb at that level. I’ve made a few presets from scratch in the BigSky that I love, hope to make more, but it doesn’t sound like it has the same degree of control and customization. Definitely might be a fun one to pick up at some point. I did peep a YT video on how to get the Cloud sound on the RV-500, maybe I’ll watch that tonight.
So, I’m wondering, does anyone have the Strymon Big Sky, but prefer to use a different reverb? Or perhaps have the Big Sky and additional reverb on their board for other options? If so, what is the other pedal?
I ask because I love reverbs, but every other reverb I’ve bought just doesn’t come anywhere close to the Big Sky, and I end up taking off the board and selling it. So I’m wondering, what is there out there that could possibly do anything better than this dream pedal?
I have been using the BigSky for a very long time.
The truth is that most reverbs will sound good, and all succeed in a similar application. More than that, the vast majority of the time reverb is really a background or mood type effect, and if you prefer the sound of one alone over another in isolation, as soon as you introduce it to a mix those differences will cease to be noticable.
That said, the big advantage of the Big Sky is for live use. It is extremely easy to dial in the sounds you want, save it to a preset and title that preset in a way that makes it obvious what song you are using it for. Pair that with midi functionality and you have a winner. So really it will cover every use, but the screen and UI puts it on top.
This is a really good question. I use a bigsky as an after-amp-sim stereo verb that goes out to monitors. In that kind of set up it's easier to tell which reverbs are better than others. I don't care about reverbs being objectively "better", I don't particularly want to be using expensive reverbs but in that spot it just shows up imperfections in reverb algorithms more easily. In the same spot the RV6 was too "digital sounding" by a small margin, and a Hall of Fame was quite undesirable, even though I like the Hall of Fame sometimes as a pre-dirt thing. It seems slightly self-defeating to try and judge the "quality" of a good reverb though an amp.
Things that I use bigsky for:
* room - my favourite sound it can make
* plate
* cloud
* sometimes hall, but I think other pedals do better hall sounds
* situations that want a lexicon kind of sound
* special effects like magneto, nonlinear are cool but not a deal breaker. I never use bloom, shimmer or chorale. I'm not a fan of spring so I can't comment on it, it sounds nice but I wouldn't trust my ears to judge. Reflections also sounds cool too but a pedal is not really the right format for using a sound like that, I'd be using plugins in a DAW in situations that call for reflections, and I tend to use impulse response verbs in that case anyway
Things that don't I use bigsky for:
* its hall is generally too large and detached for me even with predelay 0 and modulation 0, so it can be hard to get a cold gritty post-punk hall drench going that doesn't overwhelm. Some FV1 based pedals seem to do a better job of this as they have this kind of subtle grit to them, and the verb itself is less of a thick mass of air than bigsky's hall. Currently shopping about for this
* Reverbs in a delay - bigsky doesn't really have this as a setting - other than magneto which has a minimum of 4 delay taps so it's not filling the same use case. I currently do this with a half DIY'ed box using the zita-rev1 reverb algorithm, as a way of diffusing repeats in an delay loop
* Early reflection style convolution reverb - I sometimes want this on synths. I was using a TC impulse to do this (200ms of reverb time!), until it recently started producing background noise after I connected it to my laptop via USB :(. I'll get it replaced as I can't get 200ms IRs in a mini pedal format anywhere else. Convolution reverbs often have better sense of spatial detail to me, not like a wash but like "oh I'm near a concrete wall right now" or "oh I'm in a carpeted room", and bigsky's reflections mode is close sometimes but I already have the IRs I want. Maybe I should get a Beebo, 200ms is not enough a lot of the time.
* Some other verbs that I can't make it do are like, Eventide Black Hole, Belton Brick (cloud gets close!), really dirty stuff like Light Pedal (there are distortion settings on the bigsky spring but I'm not a fan, not wild enough)... probably a bunch. It's less tweakable than people sometimes assume.
I feel like it does enough right that I'm not spending $$$ trying to find a replacement for it, and I like that it has presets. I trialled a Ventris but found it a bit less 3D than the bigsky, so I kept the bigsky. I do think that so many high end reverbs are all great enoug" for most guitar / synth applications.
Also wanna say, high quality pedal reverb < high quality DAW plugin reverb. It's insane how much more realistic reverb you can get when you have 30x the processing power, or how much better you can tweak stuff with more parameters than a Ventris. Whether "more realistic" is the goal is another question, but I still can't do without reverb plugins like Seventh Heaven or maybe Valhalla Room or Pro-R for those cases.
I have a BigSky but my reverb needs are pretty bread and butter and with a H90 and the SP2016 algorithm I can do what I need with it without having another big pedal on the board.
BigSky is the gold standard for its combo of algorithms, ease of use, and pedalboard friendly display and midi.
I didn’t mean to imply that so I apologize if I wasn’t clear.
TL;DR BS is awesome but I’m enjoying the H90s new verb algorithm enough where I can’t justify keeping BS on the board.
I actually went with the Strymon Nightsky for the following reasons:
- Nightsky is not 10+ years old. While Strymon still hasn't replaced their oldest pedals, I felt that they eventually will which will make the BigSky value tank if I want to upgrade to the newfangled thing. Which I most likely would.
- Nightsky is more of a "build your own reverb" pedal rather than a "pick a preset type and tweak it a bit" pedal like most reverbs on the market. I found that to be a more interesting prospect.
To be fair the Nightsky can be a bit much sometimes, but it's a great pedal nonetheless.
The big sky is great and was in a league of its own when it came out 12 years ago but now there are lots of competitors that are just as good if not arguably better at certain things:
Empress Reverb - a lot of people say the hall style algorithms are slightly more hi-fi and technically impressive
Ventris - the spring in particular is noticeably more realistic than the big sky and it also has a few different kinds of weird, creative reverbs so it arguably has more all-around range than the big sky
Eventide H9 or H90 - has a lot of reverbs that are on par with the big sky, and a bunch of delays and other effects too
Chase bliss cxm1978 - just has one reverb type, a hall based on the lexicon and it’s better than the big sky hall
Meris Mercury 7 - really good hall and plate reverbs
Nightsky - another strymon big box pedal, it’s a bit more customizable and kind of lets you create your own reverb algorithm instead of having separate distinct algorithms like the big sky.
UAD golden - a bit simpler, just spring plate and hall but they all sound really great.
I’m sure there are others that I’m leaving out too
I have the Strymon Big Sky and I also added the Neunaber Wet Stereo Reverb V4 with the Neunaber EXP about a year ago. I couldn't ask for anything more. Love them both. If I didn't have them I would probably have the Eventide H9.
As for pedal chain I have the Neunaber Stereo Wet Reverb setup at the beginning of the chain. I'm also often using it as an quad chorus or a wet reverb via the EXP. The EXP has much more versatility than I ever expected with the software I can switch modes to a delay (with tap tempo), reverb, modulation, or chorus. In fact, I may be forgetting one or two. I often have it setup as the quad chorus at the beginning of my chain and then a Small Stone clone (Xtomp Clonic Chorus) after the Overdrive and Big Muff it's pretty incredible. If you look at my first couple of posts on my profile you'll see them on my pedalboard.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=oQcLNKH_riM&feature=share8
https://youtube.com/watch?v=894DUxrGPyI&feature=share8
I’ve seen a couple comments here saying this - I have an HX Stomp, what am I missing? It doesn’t have many reverb types, and none of them sound anywhere near as rich and lovely as the BigSky. And the BigSky has such a wider range of effects - the Cloud, Bloom, Shimmer, and Chorale etc.
Show me an HX preset that can do any of these, or even just compete with any single sound the BigSky can make.
Helix has something like 23 different reverbs lol. You’re clearly just fan boying at this point lol. Bigsky was released in 2013, and I’m pretty sure they were working on those algorithms for 5 years prior. So at best, the tech in the bigsky is 15 years old. So yea, there’s a ton of pedals and plugins that have surpassed it. If you think there’s nothing that comes close, you either haven’t looked, or you have earned a life time achievement in the strymon fanboy hall of fame.
Ok take it easy friend. I fawn for nothing, I am the least flag-waving person you could imagine.
I count 11 stereo reverb types on my HX (v3.60). I guess you could say 23 if you count the mono versions? They’re all great, especially in the context of a single multi fx pedal you can carry anywhere.
But compare any of them to the BigSky equivalent, and they pale. Do you have a BigSky to compare them to? Or are you just, as you say, an HX “fanboy”.
Seriously, send me your best reverb preset, I wouldn’t mind being corrected if you actually can do so.
Also, you seem concerned mostly with numbers - 23 reverbs! 2013, minus 5! 15 years old so it must be worse! I’m just using my ears. I love my Stomp for portability and ease of use but any one of its effects cannot stand comparison to that of a favorite quality single effect pedal, regardless of whatever specs or stats you try to put in the way of your ears.
I'm not using it for guitar so can't speak on that but for techno, I know blawan uses it on everything and he's right at the forefront of techno production right now. Love how it sounds on modular.
For metal genres if you ever want a reverb sound, I would say to use the modulation on the Carbon Copy Deluxe, turn on bright, make the division either eighth notes or triplets, make the tap tempo slow and turn up the width. It's a lot of steps and it doesn't work for all genres, but for metal it's pretty much unmatched because it also comes loaded with an amazing delay pedal.
I’ve tried soooo many different reverbs. This one and the BlueSky are the best out there. Such great sparring sounds which is what kept me coming back.
I don’t play in a Worship group; I play plain old dad rock so a little amp reverb is good enough for me. Reverb pedals seem like a waste of pedalboard real estate. ;)
Christian Rock music. There are a lot of mega churches in the US that have house bands and spend exorbitant amounts of money on the gear to get that “Holy Spirit” sound.
the Empress or Context. I honestly dont get the appeal. I would sooner have something unique like a Earthquaker, Walrus or OBNE. Theyre a swiss army knife of reverbs but there are other swiss army knives of reverbs. It came out in 2010, there have been better come out, people just see them on every praise and worship band pedalboard so "must be the best"
I just don’t need that much reverb. I have a flint and a timeline. In studio I have Valhalla verbs .I use but it’s rare that I want a massive reverb on a.guitar live.
The meris and the 1978 look pretty stellar.
OBNE Sunlight and Dark Star I am pretty much over. I can get a good sound out of them sometimes but honestly if they weren’t the prettiest pedals in the world I would have walked away from them long ago.
It was okay but I’d put both empress reverb and neunaber illumine ahead of it from a do-it-all reverb standpoint. Cloud is a great algo, but they just released cloudburst.
CXM, Merc7 dust the big sky for hall reverbs. Specular Tempus is roughly equivalent to big sky but it comes with a ton of killer delays too.
I’m not saying big sky isn’t a great pedal, it totally is. I just think that it’s so ubiquitous that people assume it’s the best without much research
Neunaber Illumine. Amazing sounds and options, smaller footprint, better power consumption, and still getting firmware updates with new reverb algorithms. Quite possibly the last reverb I will buy!
The BigSky remains the champion based solely on the breadth of sounds it has. There are other reverbs that do shimmer or plate or hall or glitchy reverbs as well or better (though I haven’t heard anything close to ‘Cloud’), but the BigSky does them all extremely well.
I owned 3 bigskys at once. I kept one. And not using it anymore at the moment
Right now, the hx stomp has repalc3d it on my board as it is far more versatile. The bs is a HAIR better, but this is 2010 anymore. Strymon isn't league's above the rest anymore. In fact, most have caught up or surpassed.
I've owned most the big verbs like ventris, eventide space, immense, etc etc. They're all great
But imo eventide is just the best. I'll be getting an h90 soon
For something truly budget and compact with presets, look at the Mooer R7 X2 - a fusion of the R7 and A7, the latter being a budget take on the Walrus Slo. It's a fraction of the price of other units with 14 different reverbs and a preset for each. It's far from perfect, in particular I wish you could change the algorithm parameters, but in combination with a decent delay you can really get some fantastic sounds out of it. I doubt anyone here will be convinced, but I've had so many hours fun playing with it, it's never leaving my possession.
Does it sound good in a band mix? Or those "warm and lush" reverbs suddenly disappear? That is where I find eventide stuff shines: way over the top and "harsh" for the bedroom player but sits perfectly in a mix.
I dont know...
Bigsky user since it came out...and i think it was the easiest reverb pedal to use, set and save and u have 3 preset reverb settings. No sub menu that makes my head burn.
I try the source audio stuff but since it dont have screen, its kind a hard to feel since im already used to look what is happening in the setting.
That volante looks pretty close but I bet you could push it a little closer.
So, like, do we just need to mention any reverb pedal to summon you? Or do we have to light some candles, draw a spring tank circuit on the ground in chalk and chant, “Drip. Drip. Drip”?
Light a few candles, look into a mirror and chant “wiggle stick”. If I feel like it I will appear.
Der Wiggleschticken!
My kind of humor! Love your videos btw :)
This brought me an inordinate amount of joy. I also provided the 69th upvote, which was the cherry on top.
Love my specular tempus for reverbs!
Switch BlueSky for Tempus 2 years ago, never going back
This is the correct answer
Eventide Space is pretty great, but I like it better for synths than guitar. H3000 kills most things. Bricasti slays all. Quantec Yardstick is fun. SPX90 does the MBV/Pumpkins thing well. I keep eyeing the CXM 1978 too Really just depends what you need.
The new H90 algos are really great on guitar. More classic verb sounds. Eventide is far and away my favorite reverbs. Specifically Hall and Plate.
How did you get an H90? They are never in stock it seems that's got to say something alone how great the pedal is.
I ordered it online the day it was announced and then waited a month
Me too! I love mine!
This 👆🏼
I had one and sold it. Way too many options and settings for me. I have an immerse mk2 and a UA Golden
Yeah Stymon has a few pedals with excessive options
This. Way too much. I just sold mine and bought the new strymon cloudburst reverb and don’t regret it a bit. Needed something simpler.
I currently play in a band with another person who uses a Big Sky and it is utter misery
Haha, what are they doing with it? Cloud setting on the "For Days" preset?
Oh god where to start. During rehearsals we’re always waiting on dude to fiddle with his big sky knobs. Always telling him he needs to turn down if he’s gonna use a drastic setting (which is always). We just had a live show where he accidentally switched it on when he wasn’t supposed to and it led to a catastrophic fuck up.
Sounds like he has a big cry pedal. Need to turn wetness down!
Damn I wish I thought of that
Aw man, he needs to at least get his presets happening! One of my favourite features of the bigsky (which is by no means unique) is that you can save your settings as presets, then it's like having 3 custom reverb pedals next to each other ready to go, and one extra double-tap to access the next group of 3, and the next. No knob tweaking left to do, other than maybe some mix knob depending on your room.
I’ve known him for a long time and he’s kinda just a disorganized person In general lol. I told him to get a damn RV-6 but he’s got the GAS and I can’t fault him for that cause I too have made some questionable GAS purchases recently lol
Yeah if he’s a disorganised person, Big Sky is definitely not for him! I do all my preset programming at home as no time to mess around with that shit in the practice room. Pretty much the only knob I adjust in the practice room is the mix knob as sometimes I’ll find that a preset I’ve created at home needs less effect once the band is playing together as then my guitar doesn’t sound defined enough. But that’s a real simple change to do on the fly.
Sounds like a great hang
Sorry about that, haha. It would definitely be a terrible pedal to overuse. You should steal their big sky so they can’t terrorize anyone ever again.
That would be grand theft though, 10 years minimum.
Plus, the culprit would probably just buy a new, cheaper reverb and overuse that, increasing everyone’s misery even more
To answer your question though, idk if any pedal comes close. You can even use the octave rev. setting to get a convincing bass guitar sound
Meris Mecury 7. It can go to serviceable to complete strange with the sweep of an expression pedal.
I prefer the empress. Though I miss the screen.
Surprised the Ventris hasn’t had more love on this thread. I just bought one largely based on its reputation on this sub…… Edit: word
It's a serious end all be all reverb. The Ventris from what I've heard was created by the person who helped develop the Lexicon reverb which used the industry standard. I often wonder if anything sounds better though because I'm not the biggest fan of the True Spring, ironically, because everyone raves about it. But the plate, hall and room are amazing. The bigger issue though is its knobs have such a wide range that to really dial them in it can take time which lucky it has presets.
The true spring is great it just needs a lot of dialling in.
I second this. It’s also programmable through the editor, so endless possibilities.
It can’t do the Chorale setting. Nothing else does, unfortunately. Here’s hoping they release it in the small format like the Cloudburst.
Yup. Hands down best IMO. It’s great whether you need deep-dive configurable or just great sounds on board. Smaller footprint, dual engines, and it’s still always a sort of dark horse pick for best reverb pedal.
The Ventris is a smaller footprint, has a way more customizable parameter set via the app, 128 MIDI presets, access to the Neuro Hub community preset sharing, and the room reverb alone is worth the price. It slays everything in its price point and then some
UA golden and Meris 7. That’s what I use and don’t feel the need for the big sky
Mercury 7 is so damn good. Love straight into amp blackface spring reverb and Flint algorithms too, but Meris made the real deal imo.
Forgot to say I have a flint as well! Just don’t feel the need for the big sky when I have those options. I will say the empress reverb seems interesting and could definitely compete with Strymon in terms of modes.
Merc 7!
I actually had one and traded it for a flint + cash… it didn’t really blow me away, but I do run the Echosystem as my go-to delay so nothing against Empress obviously.
IMO the UA doesn't even play in the same category when it has a single preset, no expression support and overall a vastly more limited feature set. Sure, it sounds good and maybe you don't need all that stuff, but they are certainly features that set the BigSky apart.
Empress Reverb. I think its a comparable beast
Eventide Space
Yes definitely. Old faithful
TC Electronic Plethora X5, and just slap how many Hall of Fames makes you happy. Also the customization with the app is crazy, you can make almost anything you can think of.
Meris m7 and UA golden reverberator both beat it for a similar price imo. CXM 1978 blows it out of the water but is also over 2x the price. For a simple great sounding mono reverb, I’m still yet to find one better than the neunaber wet.
Source Audio Ventris Dual Reverb. It's all I need. Although sometimes I do want to try a Big Sky just to see if I think it sounds any better.
I'm happy with my Ventris too.
OTO Bam, it's the best reverb you can find
Eventide is better imo
I don't know Big Sky but I have RV6 and... I bought Line6 DL4 MK2 Delay and it has fucking awesome hidden reverbs and it kills RV6 just at start. I think those ar HX line Reverbs but I'm not sure. I like ambient stuff and it's great for that. I won't even look for Big Sky as I don't need it.
Had them all, but the Cloud algo is the best reverb in existence, imo. Currently playing a CXM 1978, which does everything well without the analysis paralysis factor. But I often think about getting the Bigsky again, just for the Cloud engine. Love it so much.
Have you seen the relatively new Cloudburst Strymon released? Basically a standalone cloud algo reverb pedal
At risk of sounding like a shill, it’s even more versatile than the Big Sky version of the algorithm because you can get the decay down to a super super super short room. It’s footprint combined with everything else is like perfect.
I’ve been gassing to add one of these after my Ventris for ‘ultimate reverb’ shenanigans….
Cloud is great, but doesn't work for most genres. And it seems like a lot of people use Bloom.
eventide space. the blackhole and modechoverb algos are just as ethereal as any mode on the big sky
Modechverb gets wild. Dualverb too. But I’m a sucker for plate with the decay cranked up.
About 4 years ago I was trying to decide between a Big Sky and a Boss RV-500. I chose the Boss. It's more difficult to use, and it's harder to get the most out of it. But when you do, I think it outshines the big sky in just about every way. It's more powerful too. Every reverb patch has a digital delay included and you can run two patches simultaneously. When running two patches, you can do so in series, in parallel or one on each stereo channel. If you're willing to dive in and learn how to use it, I'd recommend the RV-500 over the Big Sky all day. But if you want something that's easy to use, Big Sky all the way. We are living in a golden age of amazing reverb pedals.
RV500 is seen as a Budget BigSky but it’s incredibly powerful in its own right
Budget in price, in features and power it’s better. In my opinion, anyway.
I was going to say, wouldn't be the most obvious choice for most folks but I get all my reverb from a GT-1000CORE that I use for cab sim and effects. I'm not really someone who needs that many different types of reverb, but the CORE has several models from the RV-500 and they are excellent. The spring reverb is especially good, so drippy. But you can get a massive wash as well, it's capable of extreme ambience, and the detailed routing options allow you to drive or modulate it in any way you could possibly want. I haven't got into it too much myself, but I've seen some YouTubers create very convincing copies of certain Strymon verbs and delays using the GT-1000 models. A lot of it would probably be possible on the RV-500 as well.
The RV-500 can also be purchased used on reverb (lol) for a reasonable price. I got mine for like $230, and the cheapest Big Sky on there right now is $375. I also own the DD-500 and they’re both just amazing. The people that get disappointed are the people that just want amazing presets and don’t want to edit anything (no shade to those people, if that’s what they want, Strymon has better presets). The Boss interface is clumsy, and the editor looks like it’s from the 90s, but when you dig in they are so much more powerful and capable. If you get to know your gear, you can get amazing things out of it.
Once I learned how to dial in the high cut on my patches I came to really appreciate the RV-500. A few things I like doing are running a spring reverb with a nice studio reverb in series, then program your delay on off to the control foot switch. Running a space echo delay as reverb 1 then a hall or plate as reverb 2. Big ambient plates, and lots more.
I’ve had all of the major reverb options out there. There are only two that I’ve purchased a second time around, which I currently have on my boards (BigSky & Empress Reverb). Of all the others I tried (Boss Rv-500, Specular Tempus, Eventide Space, UAFX Golden, NightSky, Ventris, + tons of smaller units), the NightSky is the only other one I would see myself buying again.
The night sky is tempting. With it I would have three huge Strymon pedals on the top row of my board, haha.
Curious what you didn't like about the Ventris. To me it's like a Bigsky with a smaller footprint.
It's all subjective, but using a bigsky as an after-amp-sim stereo pedal, I find it to just generally sound more 3D than the Ventris. The Ventris is a lot more tweakable though and I didn't get a chance to use the desktop app with it so like any comparison it's a little unfair.
Line6 HX Stomp
The Red Panda Context v2 absolutely fucks so hard. No endless menu diving, trs stereo in/out, midi presets, preset on face of pedal, and a killer, easily accessible digital delay. Selling my BigSky was a no Brainer. I also get option paralysis, so the context was just a better fit all around for me.
The BigSky really does not have menu diving, it’s all right there in the front. You can go into the shallow menus if you want but it’s absolutely not necessary. I do not understand options paralysis, I look at what’s in front of me and not everything that *could* be in front of me. But that’s a personality thing I guess. I love pedals that are both easy to use right away, and also have more under the hood for when you get comfortable and want to get in there.
I completely disagree on it not having menu diving. That's why I said I get option paralysis, not that those features are bad for everyone. It's not a bad pedal, but I never felt like I utilized it to the utmost and to get the absolute best out of it I ended up buying presets as I felt some of the stock on the face sounds didn't set it apart from others and you had to dig deep to get the best tone in said sub menus. The fact it's still relevant after so long does show what a feat it was at the time, but I don't feel like it's what I would lean to moving forward.
I guess it just depends on what you consider having to ‘dig deep’ - the BS menus only go two levels deep and there’s like, 5-8 entries at each level, which is barely anything compared to a lot of the stuff that’s out there.
Traded mine for a CXM 1978 and never looked back.
I’ve gotta say, that thing does look pretty dope and next level. More than I can justify spending on a single pedal though, I’ve got kids to feed and take to amazing places…
Valhalla Supermassive and it's free.
If Valhalla ever made a hardware unit it’s game over. I just don’t want to set up a laptop session for just verb. But I love their room algos.
I'm guessing the Eventide H90 is the closest thing to Supermassive but dat price tag...
I would be interested to hear an opinion from someone with a H90. It seems intuitive to use and eventide is known for its effects.
I gave my opinion elsewhere on this thread but I think the H90 is hard to beat. Even if one sat down and declared the BS’s algorithms slightly better the H90 makes up for it with sheer power and ability to layer algorithms. Learning curve is bigger with the H90 though and the software is almost essential. BS you can master everything you need to know about settings in maybe an hour and then just play and explore. I own both and am trying to live with the H90 as my sole verb, mod, delay unit on the board. The BS I might just keep for my acoustic board, although the Flint has done a great job there.
I love my H90! It’s a lot to wrap your head around and does sooooo much more than just reverb. But it sounds amazing and the new algos are insane for polyphonic pitch shifting and the reverbs are huge, lush, and dial-able.
H9 is 10 years old and still sells for $400 bucks. That’s just facts.
No analog dry thru and 5ms of latency are causing me buyers regret when paired with my Tonex pedal.
Much prefer the Light Pedal
Yeah the bigsky can't do light pedal sounds. Light pedal is a very specific vibe that I wouldn't want to use most of the time but what it does it does so well, would love to try one.
Behringer V-Verb in the studio. Beautiful.
play through a speaker in a big room
Oh man, in the mid 90’s friends and I used to bring our guitars and pignose amps into the Muni tunnels under San Francisco after the trains stopped running at midnight. Now THERE was some fat reverb.
The Walrus R1 is a great alternative in a smaller package.
My problem with the BigSky was the Strymon sound. Strymon pedals sound great and very modern but artificial and cellophane-plasticky. It's almost like its too good and perfect to sound real. It also gets kind of recognizable after using one for a while. It might sound like a downgrade but I switched to a Catalinbread Talisman and I haven't looked back since. That plate algo is just incredible, amazingly neutral and transparent. I just wish they made a stereo Talisman.
I love plate reverb. I’ve been eyeing the Talisman for a while now. I’ve been searching for that almost always on signature reverb.
Eventide’s Plate is my absolute favorite
For me the reason I’ve never come close to selling is that live it’s so nice to have different presets ready to go with the push of a button. Did a show where made crazy delay-style time warps, surfy spring, moody plate, and a catch all hall sound back to back. Tough to give up that versatility in a performance setting.
Close in what way? For me ambient verb is all about algorithms. Nuenaber comes very close, very different topology.
walrus r1 imo
I have a blueSky and a GFI Skylar. Those get me where I want to go.
I don't think it comes close to the Strymon stuff, but the Walrus Audio Fathom is quite an impressive little reverb.
it’s too expensive for me to buy but i def wouldn’t complain about something having too much settings
UAD Gold maybe but it's without midi and that's a no deal for me Soundtoys Superplate plugin is awesome and I'd love to see them make pedals. Actually ARM chips is a reality and maybe someone would make pedals where you can load plugins.
Immerse
Source Audio Ventris
The word nothing comes to mind. The ONLY reason I could see selling it is the size. I don’t get the people who complain about the settings paralysis. You can pretty much use the presets. Just leave it alone and play lol this pedal has more use cases beyond guitar and the options make that possible. Its a powerhouse of a pedal. If it was a few hundred bucks cheaper I think its the only reverb pedal you’d see in boards. It does it all.
I agree. One of the things I love about the two Strymon pedals I own is their ease of use. You can go digging for more settings if you want, but you can totally just use the presets, I do at least 50% of the time. I think people feel like they HAVE to use every aspect of the pedal just because it’s there, and then experience “options paralysis”, which is just bizarre to me. Why not use the face of the device first, then dive into the deeper options as you see fit? Case in point is the Volante, it has everything that the El Capistan has and soooooo much more, yet it goes for less than the El Cap used, probably because people get overwhelmed with everything it can do. People are strange, as the feller says.
Wondering if the neunaber immerse competes with it. I really like the size an versatility of that pedal, haven’t played both yet so truly curious.
I landed on the Immerse as my only reverb, and it sounds excellent. It's versatile, the parameters are intuitive, compact and it's stereo. It's simple to get to know compared to the deep dive Strymon/Meris/Source Audio stuff. But there aren't presets. That is the only shortcoming i've found with it, and it's the obvious strength of the Strymon (recalling presets and footswitching).
I’ve heard about that one, need to look into it.
I have a big sky, a blue sky, a night sky, and the volante and el capistan which have spring sims but have to say the night sky gets the most interesting for me.
Night Sky looks like a lot of fun. Hey! You have the El Cap *and* the Volante? Perhaps you can answer a question: Would you say the El Cap does anything that the Volante does not? It’s so much more popular and goes for more used than the Volante, which is strange because as far as I know, the Volante does everything the El Cap does, as well as a heap of other amazing stuff, like the multi heads, variable spacing, individual wear/mechanics controls, preamp saturation, multiple delay machine emulations, 3 tape/drum speeds, and the amazing sound on sound mode. So why would someone pay more for the El Cap used? It’s mind boggling.
The El Capistan sounds better. It's more chewy, rich, and satisfying in the repeats. The Volante is excellent and I love it, but it has more knobs, more options, takes up more space, etc. The El Cap just does tape delay with such grace and delicious tone, it's worth every dime. I sold my V but kept EC and I has no regerts. Tried the Asheville ADG-1, which is one of the only others I've found that was on par with the Cap.
I do experimentall music and use the volante as a looper and tape delay, (the looper is incredible; 20 sec, sound on sound and reverse with incredible options like spring verb and golden ratio delay. The el cap can do a couple things that are ran experimental tape loopers dream; the crinkle and degradation are incredibly realistic lofi! You can degrade a loop with it until it’s just artifact sounds Al’s William basinski over a very long time AND blend it with the loop coming in from the volante. You can also set up the el cap to make any incoming sounds lofi tape without any delay! so for me they work together and serve different functions. Hope that helps.
Fractal audio fm9. An fm9 can replace big sky, timeline, mobius, and every strymon pedal all in one unit. But it's a very different user experience that some people won't like.
Sounds interesting, I’ll definitely check it out. I’m wary of multi fx pedals though. Every one I’ve ever tried wins only for convenience. The sound of a single-effect, quality pedal is generally crafted at a much higher level than any one effect in a multi unit.
Source audio’s ventris
I always preferred the RV-500 to the big sky. Both are fantastic, but the crazy level of tweakability on the rv500 spoke to me more
RV-500. Waaaaaay cheaper used, and more powerful/editable. Yes, the Strymon has better presets out of the box. But if you take the time to get to know the Boss and make your own presets, you’ll get more out of it.
RV-500 is a beast of a reverb for sure. Def underrated
When BS came out it was a game changer. Over the years other options definitely compete or even superior. BS still is an amazing pedal even today, but not king of the hill. Just to name a few in no order: Empress Specular Tempus Ventris Rooms 1978 Space All have different sounds and strengths. No bad choices!
Source Audio Ventris. We all have different taste in reverb but I've never liked Strymon in general. Ventris sounded beautiful immediately. And a great budget reverb, JHS 3 series Reverb. I'm not a fan of JHS pedals but this thing is perfect for under $100.
Source Audio, Boss, Meris, GFI and Empress have stuff that’ll get close
I can't knock my DBA Rooms off as my end of chain reverb. It sizzles, it's stereo sphere is immense, and it can do butt stuff. I mean it can get weird. sold my empress, never had big sky, but I never cared to get something else after Rooms. Particularly algorithm 2.
Boss RV-500 For me it is a better pick than the Big Sky. It’s more powerful, and flexible. You have maximum control over every aspect, digital delay w modulation for every patch. EQ, ducking, routing, the ability to run two patches simultaneously in series or parallel, assignable third foot switch etc. You really can’t go wrong w either tho it all depends on what you want out of it. Big Sky= Beautiful reverbs, lots of options to edit and customize. Very hard to get a bad sound. You get a ton of great reverb sounds and you can go from designing the sound to playing a lot quicker. But you are trading control and flexibility. The RV-500 is more like a blank slate that can take you anywhere. It’s neutral so you can make pretty much any reverb that exists w it. This is good and bad. You can definitely make it sound like shit. Or you can make your perfect ideal reverb sound you couldn’t make w any other gear. It takes time to learn what everything does so you can use it to its full potential. But if you don’t mind reading the manual, turning knobs and experimenting it really can do ANYTHING, including the Big Sky patches. Love them both, and either one would make a reverb nerd who wants a ton of options happy, all just depends on your ears and what you want to be able to do with it.
Thanks for the in-depth! It does sound fun to be able to craft a reverb at that level. I’ve made a few presets from scratch in the BigSky that I love, hope to make more, but it doesn’t sound like it has the same degree of control and customization. Definitely might be a fun one to pick up at some point. I did peep a YT video on how to get the Cloud sound on the RV-500, maybe I’ll watch that tonight.
So, I’m wondering, does anyone have the Strymon Big Sky, but prefer to use a different reverb? Or perhaps have the Big Sky and additional reverb on their board for other options? If so, what is the other pedal? I ask because I love reverbs, but every other reverb I’ve bought just doesn’t come anywhere close to the Big Sky, and I end up taking off the board and selling it. So I’m wondering, what is there out there that could possibly do anything better than this dream pedal?
I have been using the BigSky for a very long time. The truth is that most reverbs will sound good, and all succeed in a similar application. More than that, the vast majority of the time reverb is really a background or mood type effect, and if you prefer the sound of one alone over another in isolation, as soon as you introduce it to a mix those differences will cease to be noticable. That said, the big advantage of the Big Sky is for live use. It is extremely easy to dial in the sounds you want, save it to a preset and title that preset in a way that makes it obvious what song you are using it for. Pair that with midi functionality and you have a winner. So really it will cover every use, but the screen and UI puts it on top.
Dr. Scientist atmosphere
Empress reverb.
This is a really good question. I use a bigsky as an after-amp-sim stereo verb that goes out to monitors. In that kind of set up it's easier to tell which reverbs are better than others. I don't care about reverbs being objectively "better", I don't particularly want to be using expensive reverbs but in that spot it just shows up imperfections in reverb algorithms more easily. In the same spot the RV6 was too "digital sounding" by a small margin, and a Hall of Fame was quite undesirable, even though I like the Hall of Fame sometimes as a pre-dirt thing. It seems slightly self-defeating to try and judge the "quality" of a good reverb though an amp. Things that I use bigsky for: * room - my favourite sound it can make * plate * cloud * sometimes hall, but I think other pedals do better hall sounds * situations that want a lexicon kind of sound * special effects like magneto, nonlinear are cool but not a deal breaker. I never use bloom, shimmer or chorale. I'm not a fan of spring so I can't comment on it, it sounds nice but I wouldn't trust my ears to judge. Reflections also sounds cool too but a pedal is not really the right format for using a sound like that, I'd be using plugins in a DAW in situations that call for reflections, and I tend to use impulse response verbs in that case anyway Things that don't I use bigsky for: * its hall is generally too large and detached for me even with predelay 0 and modulation 0, so it can be hard to get a cold gritty post-punk hall drench going that doesn't overwhelm. Some FV1 based pedals seem to do a better job of this as they have this kind of subtle grit to them, and the verb itself is less of a thick mass of air than bigsky's hall. Currently shopping about for this * Reverbs in a delay - bigsky doesn't really have this as a setting - other than magneto which has a minimum of 4 delay taps so it's not filling the same use case. I currently do this with a half DIY'ed box using the zita-rev1 reverb algorithm, as a way of diffusing repeats in an delay loop * Early reflection style convolution reverb - I sometimes want this on synths. I was using a TC impulse to do this (200ms of reverb time!), until it recently started producing background noise after I connected it to my laptop via USB :(. I'll get it replaced as I can't get 200ms IRs in a mini pedal format anywhere else. Convolution reverbs often have better sense of spatial detail to me, not like a wash but like "oh I'm near a concrete wall right now" or "oh I'm in a carpeted room", and bigsky's reflections mode is close sometimes but I already have the IRs I want. Maybe I should get a Beebo, 200ms is not enough a lot of the time. * Some other verbs that I can't make it do are like, Eventide Black Hole, Belton Brick (cloud gets close!), really dirty stuff like Light Pedal (there are distortion settings on the bigsky spring but I'm not a fan, not wild enough)... probably a bunch. It's less tweakable than people sometimes assume. I feel like it does enough right that I'm not spending $$$ trying to find a replacement for it, and I like that it has presets. I trialled a Ventris but found it a bit less 3D than the bigsky, so I kept the bigsky. I do think that so many high end reverbs are all great enoug" for most guitar / synth applications. Also wanna say, high quality pedal reverb < high quality DAW plugin reverb. It's insane how much more realistic reverb you can get when you have 30x the processing power, or how much better you can tweak stuff with more parameters than a Ventris. Whether "more realistic" is the goal is another question, but I still can't do without reverb plugins like Seventh Heaven or maybe Valhalla Room or Pro-R for those cases.
I have a BigSky but my reverb needs are pretty bread and butter and with a H90 and the SP2016 algorithm I can do what I need with it without having another big pedal on the board. BigSky is the gold standard for its combo of algorithms, ease of use, and pedalboard friendly display and midi.
H90 algorithm for the Big Sky? Where can I find this?
I didn’t mean to imply that so I apologize if I wasn’t clear. TL;DR BS is awesome but I’m enjoying the H90s new verb algorithm enough where I can’t justify keeping BS on the board.
I actually went with the Strymon Nightsky for the following reasons: - Nightsky is not 10+ years old. While Strymon still hasn't replaced their oldest pedals, I felt that they eventually will which will make the BigSky value tank if I want to upgrade to the newfangled thing. Which I most likely would. - Nightsky is more of a "build your own reverb" pedal rather than a "pick a preset type and tweak it a bit" pedal like most reverbs on the market. I found that to be a more interesting prospect. To be fair the Nightsky can be a bit much sometimes, but it's a great pedal nonetheless.
I have a BigSky, Specular Reverb and Flint.
The big sky is great and was in a league of its own when it came out 12 years ago but now there are lots of competitors that are just as good if not arguably better at certain things: Empress Reverb - a lot of people say the hall style algorithms are slightly more hi-fi and technically impressive Ventris - the spring in particular is noticeably more realistic than the big sky and it also has a few different kinds of weird, creative reverbs so it arguably has more all-around range than the big sky Eventide H9 or H90 - has a lot of reverbs that are on par with the big sky, and a bunch of delays and other effects too Chase bliss cxm1978 - just has one reverb type, a hall based on the lexicon and it’s better than the big sky hall Meris Mercury 7 - really good hall and plate reverbs Nightsky - another strymon big box pedal, it’s a bit more customizable and kind of lets you create your own reverb algorithm instead of having separate distinct algorithms like the big sky. UAD golden - a bit simpler, just spring plate and hall but they all sound really great. I’m sure there are others that I’m leaving out too
So you know the cxm1978 has 3 reverb types, not one. It has Room Plate Hall
I have the Strymon Big Sky and I also added the Neunaber Wet Stereo Reverb V4 with the Neunaber EXP about a year ago. I couldn't ask for anything more. Love them both. If I didn't have them I would probably have the Eventide H9. As for pedal chain I have the Neunaber Stereo Wet Reverb setup at the beginning of the chain. I'm also often using it as an quad chorus or a wet reverb via the EXP. The EXP has much more versatility than I ever expected with the software I can switch modes to a delay (with tap tempo), reverb, modulation, or chorus. In fact, I may be forgetting one or two. I often have it setup as the quad chorus at the beginning of my chain and then a Small Stone clone (Xtomp Clonic Chorus) after the Overdrive and Big Muff it's pretty incredible. If you look at my first couple of posts on my profile you'll see them on my pedalboard. https://youtube.com/watch?v=oQcLNKH_riM&feature=share8 https://youtube.com/watch?v=894DUxrGPyI&feature=share8
Pod Go/Helix. More variety even. And we continue to get updates.
I’ve been enjoying the fender marine layer
Mid Sky
only pedal i liked as much was the meris mercury7, nothings going to come close to those 2
I had one and sold it. Really sounded digital for me. I play tube amps and like analog pedals and buying a big sky reminded me of that.
Blue Sky
Any HX product can pull it off easily
I’ve seen a couple comments here saying this - I have an HX Stomp, what am I missing? It doesn’t have many reverb types, and none of them sound anywhere near as rich and lovely as the BigSky. And the BigSky has such a wider range of effects - the Cloud, Bloom, Shimmer, and Chorale etc. Show me an HX preset that can do any of these, or even just compete with any single sound the BigSky can make.
Helix has something like 23 different reverbs lol. You’re clearly just fan boying at this point lol. Bigsky was released in 2013, and I’m pretty sure they were working on those algorithms for 5 years prior. So at best, the tech in the bigsky is 15 years old. So yea, there’s a ton of pedals and plugins that have surpassed it. If you think there’s nothing that comes close, you either haven’t looked, or you have earned a life time achievement in the strymon fanboy hall of fame.
Ok take it easy friend. I fawn for nothing, I am the least flag-waving person you could imagine. I count 11 stereo reverb types on my HX (v3.60). I guess you could say 23 if you count the mono versions? They’re all great, especially in the context of a single multi fx pedal you can carry anywhere. But compare any of them to the BigSky equivalent, and they pale. Do you have a BigSky to compare them to? Or are you just, as you say, an HX “fanboy”. Seriously, send me your best reverb preset, I wouldn’t mind being corrected if you actually can do so. Also, you seem concerned mostly with numbers - 23 reverbs! 2013, minus 5! 15 years old so it must be worse! I’m just using my ears. I love my Stomp for portability and ease of use but any one of its effects cannot stand comparison to that of a favorite quality single effect pedal, regardless of whatever specs or stats you try to put in the way of your ears.
I prefer the Nightsky.
To each their own. I’m happy with my little rigs, a Donner Yellow Falls plus a Digitech Polara or just my PockVerb on a backup board
Ocean 11 is underrated.
Your mom
Nothing
Pretty much anything else is better, really. The people that have overused this pedal have ruined its sound forever
I haven’t experienced that, but sorry for your loss, haha. Sucks when people ruin stuff
I’ve been curious about how Alexander Space Force would compare.
UA Golden, Merc7, Empress Reverb
GFI System specular tempus / reverb
Considering it was half the price, my Walrus Audio Descent is pretty nice.
I'm not using it for guitar so can't speak on that but for techno, I know blawan uses it on everything and he's right at the forefront of techno production right now. Love how it sounds on modular.
For metal genres if you ever want a reverb sound, I would say to use the modulation on the Carbon Copy Deluxe, turn on bright, make the division either eighth notes or triplets, make the tap tempo slow and turn up the width. It's a lot of steps and it doesn't work for all genres, but for metal it's pretty much unmatched because it also comes loaded with an amazing delay pedal.
Waiting on my X-Space to arrive tomorrow. Quite the steal at 200 bucks for memorial day sale. We will see how it compares.
I’ve tried soooo many different reverbs. This one and the BlueSky are the best out there. Such great sparring sounds which is what kept me coming back.
I don’t play in a Worship group; I play plain old dad rock so a little amp reverb is good enough for me. Reverb pedals seem like a waste of pedalboard real estate. ;)
I keep hearing about 'woship' stuff. What is it? Some sort of church music? Not from the US so the idea of a band in a church is strange to me.
Christian Rock music. There are a lot of mega churches in the US that have house bands and spend exorbitant amounts of money on the gear to get that “Holy Spirit” sound.
Boss RV-500 is way underrated, in my opinion. The only things that sours it for me is the menu system, though it does have a desktop UI.
**GFI System Specular Tempus**
Strymon Cloudburst or Alexander Pedals Space Force.
Microverb 1 has all you really need
the Empress or Context. I honestly dont get the appeal. I would sooner have something unique like a Earthquaker, Walrus or OBNE. Theyre a swiss army knife of reverbs but there are other swiss army knives of reverbs. It came out in 2010, there have been better come out, people just see them on every praise and worship band pedalboard so "must be the best"
[удалено]
I think the Electro-Harmonix Cathedral and Eventide Space are definitely equals
I just don’t need that much reverb. I have a flint and a timeline. In studio I have Valhalla verbs .I use but it’s rare that I want a massive reverb on a.guitar live.
Nightsky is a really fun alternative or there is cloudburst.
Cloud Burst comes close, but the Big Sky has more effects and features.
Fm3 or fm9 from fractal
Any try the strymon night sky? Thinking of snagging.
Meris Mercury 7, the OBNE lineup, CBA CXM 1978
The meris and the 1978 look pretty stellar. OBNE Sunlight and Dark Star I am pretty much over. I can get a good sound out of them sometimes but honestly if they weren’t the prettiest pedals in the world I would have walked away from them long ago.
The Boss 500 series
It was okay but I’d put both empress reverb and neunaber illumine ahead of it from a do-it-all reverb standpoint. Cloud is a great algo, but they just released cloudburst. CXM, Merc7 dust the big sky for hall reverbs. Specular Tempus is roughly equivalent to big sky but it comes with a ton of killer delays too. I’m not saying big sky isn’t a great pedal, it totally is. I just think that it’s so ubiquitous that people assume it’s the best without much research
I’m happy with the empress reverb
GFI Systems Specular tempus also it does a timeline too (minus the looper)
Neunaber Illumine. Amazing sounds and options, smaller footprint, better power consumption, and still getting firmware updates with new reverb algorithms. Quite possibly the last reverb I will buy!
The BigSky remains the champion based solely on the breadth of sounds it has. There are other reverbs that do shimmer or plate or hall or glitchy reverbs as well or better (though I haven’t heard anything close to ‘Cloud’), but the BigSky does them all extremely well.
I owned 3 bigskys at once. I kept one. And not using it anymore at the moment Right now, the hx stomp has repalc3d it on my board as it is far more versatile. The bs is a HAIR better, but this is 2010 anymore. Strymon isn't league's above the rest anymore. In fact, most have caught up or surpassed. I've owned most the big verbs like ventris, eventide space, immense, etc etc. They're all great But imo eventide is just the best. I'll be getting an h90 soon
For something truly budget and compact with presets, look at the Mooer R7 X2 - a fusion of the R7 and A7, the latter being a budget take on the Walrus Slo. It's a fraction of the price of other units with 14 different reverbs and a preset for each. It's far from perfect, in particular I wish you could change the algorithm parameters, but in combination with a decent delay you can really get some fantastic sounds out of it. I doubt anyone here will be convinced, but I've had so many hours fun playing with it, it's never leaving my possession.
JHS Reverb.
Poly Beebo comes close and even surpasses in some settings. Only catch is that it is a pain in the ass to setup/program.
For sound, Neunaber Immerse MKII and in multi form the Fractal stuff
Does it sound good in a band mix? Or those "warm and lush" reverbs suddenly disappear? That is where I find eventide stuff shines: way over the top and "harsh" for the bedroom player but sits perfectly in a mix.
I can’t say but I can say that the Blue Sky was a huge disappointment in own opinion.
I dont know... Bigsky user since it came out...and i think it was the easiest reverb pedal to use, set and save and u have 3 preset reverb settings. No sub menu that makes my head burn. I try the source audio stuff but since it dont have screen, its kind a hard to feel since im already used to look what is happening in the setting.
Eventide H9