If you have an amplifier with integrated reverb, a reverb pedal may not have been something you have considered investing in, but I believe the best reverb pedals can offer something that is hard to match with most amplifier reverbs, particularly the ability to adjust parameters to your exact desires. Traditionally designed to add some subtle space to your guitar sound, the modern reverb pedal is a much more creative tool that can endlessly inspire your guitar playing.
The advent of this creative reverb revolution has been the rise of the ever-improving world of digital reverb. While the first digital reverb was released in the ‘80s, the really exciting evolution of digital reverb came when DSP-powered reverbs arrived on the scene, such as the Eventide Space and Strymon BlueSky, both released over a decade ago and still some of the best reverbs around. These reverbs set the benchmark for bigger, more malleable, and generally more exciting types of reverb for guitar.
If you’re looking for a simple reverb guitar pedal that does admirable recreations of classic ambience types – such as plate, spring, and hall – then the Boss RV-6 is my pick. It has a few more experimental reverb sounds, like shimmer and modulated, meaning it has plenty of options. If you are in the market for something more complex, however, the Strymon Big Sky MX remains my favourite reverb pedal overall. Its algorithms are second to none, and the tapestry of ambient tones that it can produce is jaw-dropping.
My top picks
I’d go as far as saying that the Strymon Big Sky MX is as good as any pro-level studio reverb you can buy. It’s a big box pedal, so not for those short on space, and it’s not cheap either, but if you want the best of the best, this is where it’s at.
With the Boss RV-6, it’s the fundamentals that make it such a great pick for players who want an excellent variety of tones, but not at the expense of simplicity. It also comes in the classic Boss stompbox size, so it will fit anywhere.
The TC Electronic Hall of Fame 2 is only marginally cheaper than the Boss RV-6, but as reverb pedals aren’t particularly cheap, it’s still very good value for money. If you want quality at the lowest possible price, this is the pedal to go for.
Best overall
✅ Buy if
You want to be provided access to some of the most complex and stunningly beautiful reverbs you can find.
❌ Avoid if
You’re hoping to keep a small pedalboard. This takes up the space of at least two standard stompboxes.
Overview: This one’s been a favorite with the ambient crowd for over a decade, and it’s easy to see why. It’ll do regular verbs very well indeed, but most guitarists out there covet it for its ethereal Shimmer, Cloud, Chorale, and Nonlinear machines. Engage any of these settings, before slowly picking through an unresolved sequence of arpeggiated extended chords, and trust me, you’ll be in ambient nirvana.
Build quality: From looks alone, you can tell the BigSky MX is a premium pedal – reflected in its admittedly steep price point – made with an entirely anodized aluminum chassis featuring laser-etched artwork. For a digital unit, it is generally pretty tactile to use too, with well-labeled and solid-feeling knobs allowing you to change reverb type and individual parameters simply.
Usability: If you want to dive into more features, a little exploration through the menus quickly reveals more settings to tweak, most of them unique to each reverb type. Once you unearth a sound that meets your specification you can store them across one of 300 preset slots arranged across three banks. If that doesn’t give you quite enough control, it’s also expression pedal compatible, can speak MIDI, and features high impedance inputs that can handle instrument or line level. Quite the resumé, I’m sure you’ll agree!
Sounds: While a beautiful build and lots of connectivity is nice, it’s the unbelievable reverb engines that make this one of my favorite pedals ever made (not limited to just reverb effects). ‘Cloud’ sounds like a huge, gossamer-light enveloping expanse of airiness, whereas ‘Nonlinear’s’ reverse, swoosh, and ramp settings provide exquisite textures for any sound design project. Yes, ‘Shimmer’ has become a bit cliched, but Strymon’s implementation of this ambient classic is so majestic it’s impossible not to fall in love with it all over again.
"For guitarists who are unsatisfied with their current reverb pedal — or who find the reverb on their multieffects pedal too vanilla — the MX is a must-try contender that will satisfy your ambience requirements regardless of your musical style."
Read more: Strymon BigSky MX review
Best for beginners
✅ Buy if
You’re looking to combine simple operation with pro-grade tones.
❌ Avoid if
You want a super-authentic spring reverb sound, this is a little over-the-top splashy.
Overview: Is the perfect reverb tone no more than the twist of a knob away? Boss thinks so, which is why it’s kept things real simple with its chunky RV-6. So many modern reverbs are complex to program, and so expensive that we hesitate to stomp on them with purpose. Not so this offering from Boss.
Build quality: Other than the E.Level knob, which adjusts the wet/dry mix, there are just two aptly named controls. Time alters the length, or time, of the reverb and Tone adjusts the tonal palette, from dark to bright. That’s pretty much it. Yes, you can plug in an expression pedal to play with the wet/dry mix, and the RV-6 supports mono, mono-to-stereo and stereo-to-stereo operation for compatibility with almost any pedal chain, but essentially this is a device that’s easy on the brain as well as the ear.
Usability: In true Boss style, it’s a heavily built pedal with a proper large rubber footswitch that your toes can’t miss, even on a dimly lit stage. It’s a compact unit with only a couple of controls to tweak, but I appreciate the simple, rugged design. It’s a pedal I could imagine buying and continuing to use for the vast majority of my playing career.
Sounds: There are seven reverb types to play with – Spring, Plate, Hall, Room, Modulate, Shimmer and Dynamic – together with a +Delay option that combines reverb with a simple delay. The Dynamic option is interesting because, as the name suggests, it introduces more reverb depth the harder you dig in, which can be used to great effect. The important thing is, all eight reverb options sound wonderful, and finessing them further with the simple controls is a joy.
Best budget
✅ Buy if
You want premium-level tweakability, at a budget price.
❌ Avoid if
You don’t want to rely on an app to get the most out of your pedal.
Overview: The TC Electronic Hall of Fame is an iconic pedal that was guaranteed to make our buyer’s guide. It’s small, it’s inexpensive and it does basic reverb – and a few less basic reverbs – really well. Since the V1 model TC Electronic has fattened up the feature set without adding complexity. This is a pedal that enables you to focus on playing rather than faffing with fiddly parameter knobs and squinting at LED screens.
Build quality: One of the unique features added to the HOF 2 is the ‘MASH’ footswitch. It may look like any other stompbox footswitch, but as well as simply turning the pedal on and off with a tap and a click, this one is pressure sensitive. Which means that you can massage an assigned parameter with a little gentle persuasion from your footsie. Smart eh?
Usability: Out of the box it’s very simple to use and much of the time you’re going to find yourself fine-tuning your sound with the straightforward Decay, Tone, and Level knobs, which define the reverb’s length, color and wet/dry mix. However, if you want to drill deeper into your tone, or just fancy working through some big-name presets, then you’ll love dipping into TC Electronic’s Toneprint software and library. Using the TonePrint Editor, you can build or borrow sophisticated custom sounds to load into its Toneprint slots or the aforementioned MASH switch.
Sounds: It comes loaded with eight reverb engines – Room, Hall, Spring, Plate, Church, Shimmer (which is new), Mod(ulated) and LOFI – plus three Toneprint slots. For a pedal at this price, you may anticipate that there may be a few dud reverb types, and the Spring is probably the weakest link, but on the whole these are really high-quality algorithms, taking you from subtle ambience all the way to gargantuan spaces.
Best ambient
✅ Buy if
You want a tactile and easy-to-use premium reverb pedal with epic levels of ambiance
❌ Avoid if
You want the very latest premium reverb – this still sounds great, but is getting on a bit.
Overview: It may feel like it's been around for eons but this stompbox remains a big-hitter in the world – no, make that universe – of creative reverb pedals. Well over a decade ago, some bright spark at Eventide made a list of all the cool reverb effects that existed in the brand's high-end rack-mounted processors and repackaged them in a comparatively affordable pedal, resulting in a truly pioneering piece of kit, designed to boldly go where no guitarist had gone before.
Build quality: Ten knobs provide the kind of instant hands-on control this caliber of pedal deserves – there are few greater crimes in our book than having to menu-dive a stompbox – and you can hook up an expression pedal or take the reins via MIDI.
Usability: There are twelve reverb machines, including stalwarts Room, Plate, Spring and Hall. Beyond that the tones become ever more twisted and ethereal, especially our favorite, the haunting yet delightful Blackhole engine. The other seven engines are Reverse Reverb, ModEchoVerb, DualVerb, MangledVerb™, DynaVerb, TremoloVerb plus the now ubiquitous Shimmer.
Sounds: Is it a bit long in the tooth? Not at all. The Space's tones are up there with the best from Strymon, Source Audio, and Neunaber, and its comprehensive I/O provides robust futureproofing. If you're a multi-instrumentalist or producer, you'll be pleased to learn that it offers line-level inputs and outputs too, so it's not limited to just making guitars sound awesome.
Best vintage
✅ Buy if
You are a big fan of vintage studio reverbs, this replicates them better than any other pedal.
❌ Avoid if
You want a premium reverb with lots of different reverb effects – this is limited to just four.
Overview: For many years, Universal Audio has enjoyed an enviable reputation for producing some of the best modeled plugins of classic studio kit out there. More recently, it’s used its modeling expertise and hardware knowhow to develop half a dozen stompboxes that cover all the essential bases from classic amp simulations to indispensable FX. As you’ve probably guessed, the Golden Reverberator handles the vintage reverb side of things, including '50s-inspired studio plates, ’60s springs and ’70s digital.
Build quality: This is not a cheap pedal – nothing made by UA ever is – so it’s no great surprise to find it packaged like an expensive item of jewelry or fancy piece of consumer tech. Make no mistake, unboxing the Golden Reverberator is an event. It’s also a beautifully designed pedal that looks a million dollars all dressed up in its suit of glistening gold. But is it a case of style over substance?
Usability: Certainly, this is not a feature-rich reverb pedal. There are just four reverb engines – Spring 65, Plate 140, Hall 224, and Chamber & Plate 224 (the latter you have to download after purchase) – and it’s only possible to save a single preset per engine without resorting to MIDI. You do have the option to select three variations per engine, typically different room sizes or plates, and you can dial in EQ, modulation, mix, decay, and pre-delay, but it doesn’t offer the kind of versatility that products from the likes of Strymon and Eventide do.
Sounds: Nevertheless, the tones it does offer are impeccable. If you’re after the very best spring reverb, the finest plate, the most expansive hall or the textural delights of a great ’70s digital verb then the Golden Reverberator is one for your shortlist. You can use the accompanying UAFX Control app to access a few extra routing features and download the additional Chamber & Plate 224 engine, so who knows? Perhaps Universal Audio will treat us to some added functionality in the future. In the meantime, just plug in and bask in the golden glow of a select few vintage verbs.
Best mini
✅ Buy if
You’ve got a minimum of space on your pedalboard and want to cram in an additional reverb pedal.
❌ Avoid if
You don’t need to save space, the full version isn’t that much more expensive than this one.
Overview: Reverb pedals are typically pretty large enclosures compared to a lot of other pedals, so if you need something space-saving, the Electro-Harmonix Pico Oceans 3-verb has got your back. Coming from the NYC DSP series of mini digital pedals from EHX, it gives you three of the most commonly used flavors of ‘verb in one teeny tiny compartment.
Build quality: The build of the Pico Oceans 3 is as you’d expect from a company as well established as EHX. The chassis feels rock solid and all the controls are firmly applied with an even travel as you turn them. It’s a simple affair due to its size, so there’s no battery compartment, and just a single input and output alongside a power jack for connectivity.
Usability: As it’s such a simple pedal, it’s no surprise to find that it’s an absolute breeze to use. You can also get a surprisingly different array of sounds from it thanks to the versatile controls, and there’s a neat function where if you turn the time knob all the way up and hold down the footswitch, you’ll get an infinite swathe of reverb to play over until you release the control again.
Sounds: While the plate and hall sounds are fantastic, it’s the spring setting that’s the star of the show here. Perfect for surf sounds you can crank it beyond the realms of the traditional spring setting, or just use it as you would traditionally to add that lovely metallic drip to your tone. The plate and hall sounds are very useful though, and the ability to just add a touch of space or crank it into generous helpings of wash make it a very versatile pedal indeed, especially considering the size.
Also consider
How to choose
Selecting a reverb pedal isn’t necessarily a simple choice. Over the past decade, as digital effects have become more popular, and cheaper to produce, there has been a sharp rise in the number of reverb pedals on the market.
They span from very simple, with only one integrated reverb style, to complex DSP-powered effects that can create just about any kind of ambience you can think of. This, unsurprisingly, also has a price implication, but there are also several other things I think you need to consider when buying a reverb pedal.
1. Reverb type
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Reverb is one of the oldest effects around, starting life as recording real echo-chambers, and then moving to plate, spring, and digital reverbs, all of which have their own character. If you are looking for a vintage-style reverb, which emulates the sound of a classic tube-driven spring tank, a reverb that specializes in large ambient tones may not suit you.
If you aren’t sure what reverb type you want, or you know that you want to try out/use multiple different types, there are many reverb pedals that offer lots of different options. If you have a style in mind, make sure the pedal has that style in its locker.
2. Reverb size
Another thing to consider that goes hand-in-hand with reverb style is its size. This doesn’t mean the actual size of the pedal – though some of the more powerful digital reverb pedals can take up quite a bit of pedalboard real estate! – it means how large the decay is, or how massive is your reverb tail.
Some reverb pedals are designed specifically to take ambience to the next level, creating spaces and sounds that don’t occur in nature, and can even combine other effects such as modulation and delay to create these bold atmospheric textures.
Many players find these types of tones endlessly inspiring, but if you’re more traditional you may want a reverb that doesn’t imbue this unnatural ambience, instead, you may prefer a natural and realistic tone. Check the manufacturer description of the reverb to find out what kind of ambience it creates.
3. Mono vs stereo
Deciding whether to go for a reverb with mono or stereo outputs will either be a bit of an afterthought (or something not thought about at all) or an absolute priority, based on the rest of your pedalboard. If you don’t have any other stereo effects in your chain and haven’t even considered running a stereo rig, then you probably don’t need to worry about it, but any stereo reverb worthwhile looking at will work absolutely fine in mono too.
If you are stuck between choosing a mono or stereo reverb, I would always opt for stereo, as it gives you the opportunity to try out stereo in the future, even if you’re not interested in it just yet.
FAQs
What is the difference between digital and analog reverb?
Analog reverb is produced by vibrating springs, as is found in a tank in many classic (and modern) amplifiers, or a metal plate – the choice of classic recording studios. Analog reverb may also be used as a way to describe the natural phenomenon of reverb in a space, such as an echo chamber, which can be recorded and blended with a direct sound source. All of these types of analog reverb can be difficult (or impossible) to put into a pedal format.
Digital reverb is produced by using computer processing to produce the reverb effects. This can be through algorithms that are used to create a series of delayed and decaying echoes – reverb is essentially lots of individual delays stacked on top of each other – to simulate a physical space. Digital reverb is versatile and can even emulate analog reverb, though older digital reverb pedals can have a noticeably unnatural quality to them. More modern digital reverb pedals can sound almost identical to the analog reverbs they are simulating.
Where should I put my reverb pedal in the signal chain?
Reverb effects should, generally, be put at the end of your chain, as anything beyond it will impact the whole reverb tail, which can sound messy. There are some instances when you may want to put an effect after the reverb – for example, to create large shoegazey walls of sound – and I always recommend trying things out, but in general the reverb should go last. If you have an effects loop, this would (arguably) be an even better place to run your reverb pedal, so it sits after your amplifier’s preamp stage.
What is pre-delay and how does it affect reverb tone?
Pre-delay is the time delay between a direct sound and the onset of its reverb – think of it as the time between a sound occurring to it then bouncing back off of a surface so you can hear it. It affects the reverb's tone by separating the original signal from the reverberated tail. A short pre-delay means the reverb can blend or ‘smear’ with the original signal, which can sound messy, while a longer pre-delay can provide clear room between the original sound and the reverb, giving the illusion of a larger space and the reverb sitting further back in the mix.
How does modulation affect a reverb pedal's tone?
Modulation is often used in a reverb to create a ‘shimmer’ effect, which can give an ethereal quality to your reverb. It can also be used to create subtle movement within the reverb, which can be more pronounced in stereo setups.
What are the main types of reverb algorithm?
The primary types of reverb algorithm are hall, plate, room, chamber, and spring algorithms, which simulate those distinctive types of reverb, though there are others that can be based on different environments or types of reverb. Generally, the longer the reverb type, the more complex the algorithm will be.
Can I use an expression pedal with reverb?
Some reverb pedals will have expression inputs built in, which allows you to create swells that give the illusion of a space growing around you, which can be a powerful musical tool. This isn’t a feature that is available on all reverb pedals as standard though, so find a reverb pedal with an expression input.
Can reverb pedals handle high gain?
High gain with reverb pedals can create a busy, muddy sound, so I would recommend avoiding particularly long reverb tails combined with high gain for chugging riffs, however if you are super-keen on using larger reverbs while chugging, taking a bit of the bottom end out of your tone can help mitigate the mud. High gain and a large reverb can be an incredible combination for solos however, giving a soaring, euphoric quality to your lead lines. It’s always worth making sure that reverb sits after your high gain pedals, or in the effects loop of a high gain amp.
What does wet/dry mean in a reverb pedal?
Wet/dry refers to the mix of the original, dry signal and the effect-processed, wet signal. Any good reverb pedal should have a wet/dry knob (though the name may vary) which allows you to blend in as much of the wet signal as you like with the dry signal. Turn to 100% dry and there will be none of the wet reverb sound, and turned to 100% wet, it will only be the wet signal. 100% wet is not good for a traditional setup, but can be very useful when sending effects to a separate amp or mixer for stereo wet/dry setups.
Key terms
- Algorithm: A digital mathematical model used to synthesize a reverb using a series of digital delays, filters, and feedback loops creating a simulated physical space.
- Ambient: A word used to describe a reverb effect that is particularly long, and gives the feeling of a large space. The algorithms used to create these effects are often complex.
- Buffered bypass: A pedal with buffered bypass has an integrated buffer built in that boosts the audio signal, ensuring no tone is lost, particularly in the high end.
- Convolution: A type of reverb that digitally recreates the acoustics of a real space by using an impulse response (IR). An IR is an actual recording of a real space, as opposed to an algorithm that is designed to sound like a real space.
- Damping: In a reverb, damping is the reduction of high-frequency sounds over time – more damping = more reduction – which simulates how soft surfaces absorb sound in a real environment.
- Decay: The time it takes for your reverb tail to totally fade away.
- Dry: The unprocessed signal of your guitar which is blended with the reverb effect to the user’s taste.
- EQ: The ability to adjust a specific band of frequencies, boosting or reducing them to taste. In a reverb this can help remove muddiness or unwanted resonant frequencies.
- Feedback: Is the process of an audio signal being fed back into itself. In many applications, this is unwanted, however in reverb, this feedback loop creates a continuous spiral where the reverb signal is layered upon itself, leading to evolving textures that can cascade into chaotic, oscillating drones and noise
- Hall: A type of reverb based on the sound of a hall. It is typically a long, ambient style of reverb.
- High cut: A type of EQ process that removes (or cuts) only the high end of a sound.
- Impulse response: A recording of a real environment that can be used in convolution reverb to reproduce the reverb of that environment. An impulse response can be recorded in a variety of ways, such as playing and recording the onset and reverb tail of a sine sweep in a space.
- Low cut: A type of EQ that removes just the low end of a sound, in a reverb this can help with overly boomy bottom end, which can make a mix sound muddy.
- Mix: The amount of dry (unprocessed) and wet (processed) signals that are blended together.
- Modulation: A pitch or volume-altering effect that constantly changes to give the illusion of movement. There are several different types of modulation effect, many of which work well with reverb, some of which will be integrated into some reverb pedals.
- Plate: A type of reverb that was popularized in recording studios in the ‘50s that used a physical metal plate to produce reverb effect through electromagnetic waves running through it and contact mics/pickups recording the electronic signal and converting it back to sound. This style of reverb is still extremely popular, but now in the form of digital replications rather than using physical plates.
- Pre-delay: The amount of time between the original unprocessed sound and the start of the reverb. The larger the predelay, the bigger the space will feel.
- Room: A shorter reverb-type based on the sound of a room. Many modern digital amplifiers use a room-style reverb as it generally offers a natural sound.
- Shimmer: A reverb type that blends a chorus modulation into the sound to give an angelic, ambience.
- Spring: An analog reverb type that uses a physical spring and a transducer to create physical vibrations that are converted back into an audio signal and blended with the original. Spring reverbs are often found in tanks inside of vintage amplifiers and have a distinctive ‘drippy’ tone.
- True bypass: A pedal that has no buffer in its bypass and when disengaged, transmits the audio signal directly from the input of the pedal to the output of the pedal, preserving the tone.
- Wet: The purely processed part of your signal - 100% reverb. There is no original dry signal.
How we test
Having been reviewing since 1967 here at Guitar Player, it's not bravado to say we've seen every kind of reverb pedal imaginable. From vintage spring reverbs with a physical tank through to the latest and most advanced convolution reverbs, we've played them all over the years.
When approaching testing for our guides and reviews, we aim to get a broad overview of the product in question, testing each essential component in-depth, and most importantly, just living with the product to get over that initial honeymoon phase and really dive into its capabilities.
When testing reverb pedals, these are the key aspects we will look at:
1. Build quality
We'll start with a close physical inspection of the pedal, looking at it both inside and out to see how well it's been put together. We've been looking at pedals for a long time now, so we want to see well soldered connections with neat and tidy wiring, rock solid components like knobs and potentiometers, and a general ruggedness that lets us know well it will put up with live playing.
We'll use the pedal in real-world scenarios like rehearsals and gigs to make sure it really can withstand the pressure of daily use, pushing them to the absolute limits of what they can do. We'll also take time examine any connectivity, and hidden options like internal dip switches.
2. Usability
Next, we look at the usability of each pedal. Often, we'll try using it sans manual to see how easy it is to get up and running, and of course we'll make sure to read the manual cover to cover to unlock all of its features. We'll try out every single knob and switch on it to see what they all do, and check out all of the connectivity options too.
Again, we'll use it in a variety of scenarios too, from home use, to the rehearsal room, to live on stage. This allows us to see how easy it is to use in various circumstances, and help us identify any potential issues with the way the pedal has been built, and the way it operates.
3. Sound
Finally, we'll look at the sound quality. Now, sound is a very subjective thing, but we have got decades and decades of experience using music gear, working in recording studios, and playing live, so we know what's what. We'll start off by trying any available presets on the reverb pedal, then once that's done we'll dive into the deeper tweaking.
We'll aim to play the pedal through different amplifiers, using different pickup types, as well as trying it through headphones and studio monitors if applicable, to see how it reacts in different situations. We'll also spend time combining it with other pedal types to see how it reacts to different sounds, as well as trying it at different points in the signal chain.
Read more on how we test gear and services at Guitar Player.
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