Xploration • Curation • Recommendation
My Hotone Verbera Hi-Fidelity Stereo Convolution Dual Reverb Workstation has finally landed - and I'm exceedingly impressed!
I’ve finally picked up a Hotone Verbera (normally $299 / £249), where I paid £229 at Andertons - super good value, and I’ve been incredibly impressed right from the start. The control interface is mostly pretty intuitive - and the value of this pedal is hard to beat. It could even be my favourite Reverb workstation to-date - but it’s a little early to call - I normally give it at least a few months!
It’s been a long time coming - and has been held off for quite a few months by a combination...
Gigahearts takes inspiration from Aliens' ethereal ambient sounds for its eerie spacey / whirring RV-426 Atmosphere Processor Reverb
Aliens fans will instantly know what ’RV-426’ is derived from, where this is a mono atmospheric reverb with a Brian Neunaber style Belton Brick Reverb at the heart of that circuit.
The PT2399-derived Belton Brick was originally created to generate Spring Reverb sounds in particular - so this RV-426 is a significant spin and departure from its original purpose.
Controls - Boost (Level+), Dry/Wet Mix (Max is 50/50), Low Pass Filter (Dampen), Regen / Feedback, Decay, Dry-Kill, Rise-Time (...
Source Audio releases killer Pathways Multi-Mode Full Stereo Tremo-Verb in same enclosure format as its Lo-Fi Artifakt
Source Audio takes on the Fender Tre-Verb, Keeley Hydra, and venerable Strymon Flint - with a few more modes and features onboard. Source Audio are brilliant at Reverbs - I still love my Ventris, and they’ve covered the same flavours of Tremolo as you would expect - should do really well. This is a very neat form factor - almost exactly per the recent Lo-Fi Artifakt - it’s great that Source Audio has found further use for this format - this may just be my pick of the ’tremoverbs’ - as long as ...
EarthQuaker Devices rolls out new Towers Modulated Stereo Reverberant Filter with 8 Presets onboard
Circa EQD’s 10th Reverb pedal. A very straigftforward, but somewhat unusual confection, with cool stretch function on the second footswitch.
You have individual full stereo connections, alongside an Expression Jack. And you get some great dynamics in manipulating the Expression and Stretch function on-the-fly. All-round a rather handy take on reverb - balancing filtering and modulation.
Controls - Length, Mode : Manual | Envelope | LFO, Frequency, Mix, Preset : 1-8, Filter, Stretch ...
Robert Keeley and Andy Timmons collaborate once more - this time on a signature Nocturne 3-Mode Modulated Reverb
The last time I covered Andy’s Rig - he was rocking the Neunaber Immerse Reverb - so presumably that has been knocked off the board - by this Nocturne.
You have two rather conventional Modes - Plate, and Spring Reverb - finely honed by Robert over the years. And then we have a unique Nocturne Reverb voicing - which is derived from Andy’s Halo Echo - and reimagined as an ethereal, immersive Reverb.
The controls are pretty conventional as for the other pedals in the ’Core’ series - where ...
End of Year Pedal Chain Update - Class of 2025
New Pedals in the Class of 2025 Pedal-Chain Snapshot = 41
[OCTOBER] = 9
[NOVEMBER] = 6
[MARCH] = 5
[SEPTEMBER] = 5
[AUGUST] = 4
[JANUARY] = 3
[FEBRUARY] = 3
[APRIL] = 2
[JUNE] = 2
[MAY] = 1
[JULY] = 1
[A-Z by Brand]
- Becos FX CompIQ Pro Yuna Soft Knee Blackmer VCA Studio Style Compressor [SEPTEMBER]
- Blue Colander Grimrobe Dual Cascaded Super Rat [OCTOBER]
- Blue FX Devices Fuzz Fields Ultimate Modulated Fuzz [SEPTEMBER]
- Boss RT-2 Rotary Ensemble Leslie / Rotary Speaker
2025 Best New Delay and Reverb Pedals of the Year
In many ways this is the most straightforward category with singular award nominees - GOLD, SILVER and BRONZE.
It’s the second smallest category after Distortions - and the one where I own the least number of pedals in proportion to the whole - just 10 out of these 26.
The order pretty much set itself - with the Cornerstone Nucleo being the clear winner from the start. I’m so impressed with every aspect of that pedal - it’s a perfect Trifecta of Design, Feaures and Playability - pretty ...
Death By Audio unleashes killer Destroyer Series with an Expansive Dream Station Echo-Verb, 6-Mode Moonbeam Phaser, and Thee Treble Overloader
What we have here is a killer Trifecta of potent shoegazer-enhanced compact editions - where two of them are fully Stereo capable.
Conventional wisdom would decree the order of : Treble Overload > Moonbeam Phaser > Dream Station.
While for shoegazer optimisation you need to reverse the order and put the reverb at the front of the chain - as several demoers have done below. I quite like Ian Pritchard’s setup too - with the Dream Station in the middle, and Thee Treble Overlaod in front! ...
Mentha.Works evolves highly stylised and unique Monk Echo + Reverb pedal with Celestial Human Formant Voices, Presets, and smart Macro control and LED display
Set up by 2 former Gamechanger Audio alumni - Toms Lazdovskis and Matiss Tazans - with a Team steeped in Darkglass Electronics / Neural DSP and Marshall.
The pedigree and provenance is pretty clear here, and Menha.Works have understandably come up with an ulra modern killer aesthetic for heir very unique new Monk Echo + Reverb. The Monk Echo is inspired by Baltic Choirs and Mystical Spiritual Spaces.
Apart from the gorgeous design here, the Monk Echo has a unique Human Formant Voicing ...
Chase Bliss releases new Black Friday - 'Desert Friends' Editions of the Mood Micro Looper and Ambience Generator
The Mood is Chase Bliss’s most perennially popular and celebrated bestseller - by far and away the most sold Chase Bliss pedal to date.
It also happens to have had the most different special and limited edition artworks - and I’ve selected 4 each of those for the Mood I and Mood II - I’m sure I’ve probably overlooked 1 or 2 variants - while hopefully I’ve covered all he best looking ones!
Up until now the Light Bright edition was my favourite - while I feel that may have been pipped by the new ...
