Shimmer is an ethereal, octave-up reverb effect with a long, sustaining tail that produces a synth-like texture, and the polyphonic reverb applies two programmable pitch shifts to the reverb tail to also generate complex, synth-like sounds.

A reverb pedal simulates a space for the sound of your guitar to occupy. When you clap your hands in a large room, you’ll hear the sound of your clap bouncing off the walls and surfaces of the area around you. A reverb pedal does the exact same thing for your instrument, artificially recreating the sound as it if it were happening in that space.Here atMusicRadar, we are experts in our field, with many years of playing, creating and product testing between us. We live and breathe everything music gear related, and we draw on this knowledge and experience of using products in live, recording and rehearsal scenarios when selecting the products for our guides.

Finally, there's also a step-sequencer in the NightSky, presumably to add experimental options akin to those in the Hologram Infinite Jets and Microcosm. It's not clear that it's a USP in the context of the NightSky, which is more of a studio reverb workstation than an esoteric weirdo box. The harder, more right-angled reverberations of the room reverb are less immediately satisfying, but provide a great blank slate for percussive delays and tremolos. Without other effects, short decay and mix settings in room mode tend to evoke the less-than-charming space of an empty apartment. More extreme settings, however, create very big spaces, with a minimum of additional color, for other effects to work within. First and foremost, we are guitarists, and we want other players to find the right product for them. So we take into careful consideration everything from budget to feature set, ease of use and durability to come up with a list of what we can safely say are the best reverb pedals on the market right now. When it comes to premium digital emulations of classic studio and amp reverbs in one portable place on your 'board, this Universal Audio pedal sets the standard. Three different choices in each category of spring, plate and hall reverbs can be found here, channeling the company's plugin prowess into pedal form for the first time. There are three main modes. Sparse is a tap-delay-based reverb, Dense is more of a plate-style reverb, and Diffuse, as the name implies, is more of an ambient reverb. The tap delay mode can put you in the ballpark of more standard delays as well, further adding to the versatility of the NightSky.The Boss RV-6 is a massive improvement over its predecessor, offering all-new algorithms and a totally updated DSP. We’ve had one of these on our ‘board for years now, and considering the number of reverb types you get for the money, it’s without a doubt one of the best reverb pedals out there. Whether you want outstanding versions of bread-and-butter reverb effects, complex and unusual special effects, or a combination of both, the Electro-Harmonix Oceans 11 Reverb is a worthy and highly affordable contender for any pedalboard, large or small - and is easily one of the best Electro-Harmonix pedals in their lineup right now.

The knobs are a familiar and conventional set: decay, tone, and mix—essentially the same controls you see on a vintage Fender Reverb. The key to the wider universe within the MXR Reverb is the tone knob, which doubles as a push-button voice selector. Pushing the button illuminates one of the three LEDs in ether green or red. The color—and LED that is illuminated—indicates which of the six voices you’ve selected. One note of warning: You’ll have to use a light touch when making tone adjustments. The push switch is sensitive and it’s very easy to accidentally switch voices. CONTROLS Decay, tone, mix. Tone control doubles as reverb style selector cycling through plate, spring, epic, mod, room and pad modesRead more about how we test products and services and how we make our recommendations. Related buyer's guides First and foremost, we are musicians, and we want other players to find the right product for them. So we take into careful consideration everything from budget to feature set, ease of use and durability to come up with a list of what we can safely say are the best reverb pedals on the market right now.

One of Strymon’s “large-format” pedals, the BigSky provides 12 different reverb effects that encompass standard reverbs and special effects like swell, bloom, cloud, chorale, shimmer, magneto, nonlinear, and reflections. Seven control knobs on the front panel allow users to instantly adjust parameters like decay, pre-delay, mix, tone, parameter 1, parameter 2, and modulation, while new settings can be saved in any of 300 preset memory locations. In addition to its normal parameters, the MXR Carbon Copy has a small control for modulation which adds more color to the delay trail, bringing the sound even closer to the warble of a vintage tape machine. Under the hood, two trimpots allow adjustment over the width and rate of the modulation effect. For new Carbon Copy users, it's best to adjust these up a bit when first using the modulation as the factory presets can be too subtle. Don't Delay! There are dedicated controls on the front panel for adding harmonic intervals, shimmer reverb tails, and modulation to the core reverb sound, plus a footswitch to trigger an infinite reverb mode.

MXR dips its toe into the reverb pool

This is because reverb is a time-based effect, so putting it in front of other effects can make your whole signal sound like it’s really far away. This might be a cool effect you could use for a certain style of music and some guitarists like to put reverbs ahead of their fuzz or distortion pedals to create unique, droning guitar tones. What is the difference between digital and analog reverb pedals? Reverb is one of the more expensive effects out there. That’s because they are created through the use of algorithms and powerful computer chips. Carrying out the myriad amount of calculations required to accurately simulate your guitar tone occupying a space, in real-time with no latency requires tremendous processing power and that’s before you start adding in modulation and octave effects to the tails. There are some reverb pedal bargains out there, but for this type of pedal, you really do get what you pay for.