Coffee Shop Pedals 3rd Release is the Cool Compact Cortado Multi-Mode Full Stereo Reverb with Presets onboard and Dynamic Trails

There’s no shortage of great compact reverb pedals out there currently and where the recent Strymon Cloudburst is more of a secondary reverb / additional reverb pedal for me, the Cortado is rather a primary - with 4 really cool and useful modes :

• Spring
• Tremoloverb
• Hall
• Octave

Where the Octave mode is obviously similar to the shimmer of the Cloudburst. The Cloudburst is focused on getting the most out of a single algorithm - while with the Cortado you have 4 distinct sounding modes / algorithms to play with. The Control knob then adjusts a key parameter per each of the 4 types - as indicated in the visual above and the controls overview below.

Controls - Mix, Decay, Tone, Program : Spring / Tremoloverb / Hall / Octave, Control : Warm Overdrive [Spring] / Trem Speed [Tremoloverb] / Mod Speed [Hall] / Octave Level [Octave], Preset Footswitch [1-3], Bypass Footswitch.

This does the more traditional thing of dual input and output jacks for full stereo - while many manufacturers nowadays are switching over to TRS-enabled single jacks.

What makes the Cortado further distinct is that there are 3 onboard User-definable presets which you can easily flip between. Further smarts within the pedal ensure that you have trails between mode-switching as well as on bypass - giving you an extremely fluid and versatile reverb. And if you connect your Cortado to a MIDI switcher that extends the range to 20 presets.

For just 4 algorithms this is probably the most rounded selection you could expect within that limit. I typically use even more full-featured reverb workstations - while there are some very capable multi-mode compact stereo units on the market currently including this Cortado, the Alexander Pedals Space Force, Boss RV-6, Digitech Polara, Jet Pedals Revelation, Mooer R7 Reverb X2, Neunaber Immerse, TC Electronic Hall of Fame 2, and Wampler Mako R1 - and only a very small number of those have proper onboard presets.

My current main Reverb Workstation is the Empress Effects Reverb - with no less than 32 algorithms onboard - including Lo-Fi and Reverse - which are kind of essential for me. So the Cortado is a lesser priority for my own preferences.

For those considering their very first Reverb pedal - the Cortado is an excellent choice and has several brilliantly useful features that you won’t readily find elsewhere in this form factor.

Available right now from the Coffee Shop Pedals Webstore - for $249 CAD or roughly $185 USD - which is all-round pretty reasonable.

Which is your own favourite Reverb pedal and why?