It’s not a stretch to suggest that reverb is one of the most often used effects in music. reverb stompboxes are utilised on a variety of instruments, from vocals to drums, keyboards to guitars, to give a musician’s sound a much-needed sense of depth. So, if your tone lacks a sense of space, you’ll want to invest in one of the greatest reverb pedals on the market.
What is the purpose of a reverb pedal? A reverb pedal imitates the reflections and decay time that a sound source makes in a specific location to reproduce the sound your instrument would generate in a larger room. Assume you’re clapping in a large hall or church. In that situation, the sound will bounce off the walls and other reflective surfaces, gradually diminishing after the initial impact – this is the effect that a reverb pedal reproduces.
Reverb can be used delicately to avoid your guitar sounding “dry,” or it can be used dramatically to produce massive, dark atmospheres and serious ambience. So, if you think your setup might use some reverb, keep reading to find out what we think are the greatest reverb pedals on the market right now.
Table of Contents
Gamechanger Audio LIGHT Pedal
- The LIGHT Pedal is the world’s first analog optical spring reverb system...
- Separate level controls for the dry signal, spring and optical reverbs. The...
- 6 unique effects: optics (frequency and texture calibration), sweep...
The Light Pedal from Gamechanger Audio is the world’s first optical spring reverb device, allowing you to add new audio textures to your performance. The Light Pedal features a classic spring reverb tank at its core, but it also has an ingenious array of infrared optical sensors targeted at various positions along the spring’s length to harvest unique overtones and harmonics. Six additional effects take advantage of the Light Pedal’s groundbreaking design to allow you to create anything from traditional spring splash to experimental ambient textures; an expansive mixer section allows you to blend the dry, spring, and optical signals to taste; and six additional effects take advantage of the Light Pedal’s groundbreaking design to allow you to create anything from traditional spring splash to experimental ambient textures.
A conventional spring reverb tank is at the heart of the Light Pedal, with all the splash and drip you’d expect from a mechanical spring reverb. Gamechanger Audio’s experts methodically tested a variety of springs and input and output transducers until they found the perfect flavour of metallic spring jangle. The Light Pedal also allows you to customise the drip with the Drive knob and shape the reverb tone, which ranges from dark and swampy to dazzling and boisterous. You may also tweak the shock sensor on the Light Pedal to lessen or remove the wet signal when mechanical impact is detected, or open it up for stompable tank crash effects.
The Light Pedal is the world’s first analogue optical spring reverb system, producing never-before-heard reverberation. The infrared optical sensor array on the Light Pedal pulls sound from many spots along the spring, accentuating various harmonics, subharmonics, resonances, and overtones. Select precise combinations of optical sensor pairs via the optics control and dial in the right timbral and textural character to generate a fantastic performance by diving into the Light Pedal’s effects area. The Light Pedal is a trailblazing reverb pedal like no other for musicians who appreciate trekking across the sound outlands.
Electro Harmonix Oceans 11 Reverb Pedal
- Tails switch. Select whether the reverb fades out naturally or stops...
- Easy access to powerful “hidden” parameters thru Secondary Knob Mode
- Able to produce infinite reverb you can play over in most settings
The Oceans 11’s front panel’s lower left rotary switch knob gives the clearest sense of the complexity hidden within this small device. Hall, spring, plate, reverse, echo, tremolo, modulated, dynamic, auto-infinite, shimmer, and polyphonic effects are among the 11 settings available.
The mode switch can be used to select three various sets of parameters for several of these effects, including tremolo, modulated, and dynamic. For the echo option, the mode switch also sets tap tempo divisions, and for the Poly setting, it engages either interval or mix edit parameters. FX level, time (decay), and tone knobs are among the other controls, with the latter two additionally giving a secondary set of settings that may be accessed by holding down the mode button for roughly a second.
All of the effects have excellent sound quality, with smooth tails and noise-free performance comparable to that of a professional studio. The spring reverb setting is modelled after a Fender 6G15 reverb unit from 1962, and it produces some of the best spring reverb effects you’ll ever hear. Tremolo adds a tremolo effect to both wet and dry hall reverb, whereas echo mixes delay and reverb.
Shimmer is an ethereal, octave-up reverb effect with a long, sustaining tail that creates a synth-like texture, and the polyphonic reverb applies two programmable pitch-shifts to the reverb tail to create complex, synth-like sounds as well.
The Electro-Harmonix Oceans 11 Reverb is a worthy and highly affordable challenger for any pedalboard, large or little, whether you want outstanding versions of bread and butter reverb effects, complicated and odd special effects, or a combination of both. This is the Best Reverb Pedal in 2023.
TC Electronics Hall of Fame 2 Reverb
- New MASH footswitch and shimmer effect
- Tone print- instant access to custom pedal-tweaks made by your idols!
- Stereo in & out - added flexibility to fit any set-up
The TC Electronic Hall of Fame 2 Mini Guitar Effects Pedal delivers classic delay and reverb sounds when you need them most. It features six different types of delays including Room, Plate, Center-cancelled modulation, Modulation, Dynamic & Tape Delay type delay designs. This pedal also includes TonePrints, allowing you to download signature artist presets directly from TonePrint website or use one of the preloaded ones. The TonePrints are easily accessible through the TonePrint app which you can download to your smartphone, allowing you to edit sounds or even create new effects on the fly!
Following in the footsteps of its predecessor, the TC Electronic Hall of Fame 2 Reverb Pedal expands on all of the qualities that made the previous different types of reverb so popular. The MASH technology allows for more diversity and expressiveness. There’s no need to bend down to change knobs because the effects of the pedal are controlled by the amount of pressure applied to it.
The sounds are more genuine thanks to next-generation reverb algorithms. The new Shimmer reverb technique in Hall of Fame 2 offers your signal an octave pitch change. You can produce authentic-sounding reverb no matter where you perform by combining the Tone Switch, which switches between bright and dark sounds, with the FX level, which adjusts the intensity. The follow-up to TC’s best-selling Hall Of Fame takes the proven model and adds a slew of new features, including spring, plate, and church settings, as well as mod and lo-fi sounds.
In addition to a polyphonic shimmer reverbs, the HOF2 features TC’s pressure-sensitive MASH technology, which lets you control the reverb’s intensity according on how hard you press the footswitch. TonePrint presets can be stored in three slots onboard, and you can use TC’s computer or app-based editor to create your own sounds or download artist presets. This is the Best Budget Reverb Pedal in 2023.
MXR M300 Reverb
- Six meticulously crafted reverbs in one pedal
- Dry path is 100% analog
- Relay true bypass and delay trails modes
The MXR EQ Effects Pedal M300 is a versatile machine with only three knobs. It’s a single-input, single-output stereo pedal. Because of this, you’ll need two sets of TRS cable splitters to connect the pedal to your gear properly. Overall, it’s a cleaner setup, which may help you maintain your space cleaner.
This reverb pedal deals a 100 percent wet mode in addition to the output and input. With a 100 percent analogue dry route, it also supports true bypass and trials bypass modes. The combination of these and the other functions is straightforward to use, making this pedal very accessible.
MXR waited a long time to release a reverb pedal, but it was well worth the wait and completely deserves to be ranked third in this list of the greatest reverb pedals. The M300 is a low-noise, compact unit built with MXR’s customary attention to detail. Decay, Mix, and Tone are the only knobs on the pedal’s simplistic structure, with the last of these also used to cycle among the pedal’s six verbs: Plate, Spring, Epic, Mod, Room, and Pad.
A hi-fi analogue dry path with 20 volts of headroom of reverb options is also included, as well as an Exp jack for connecting an expression pedal and blending between two alternative setup combinations. A trail bypass mode, which is a very fascinating feature, allows the reverb effect to fade out rather than being cut off abruptly when the pedal is turned off. The M300 is a clear winner since it is smart, uncomplicated, and sounds terrific.
Strymon BigSky Reverberator Pedal
- - Hand crafted, studio-class reverb algorithms deliver lush, gorgeous, and...
- - True Bypass (electromechanical relay switching)
- - High quality, transparent Analog Buffered Bypass mode
The Strymon BigSky is a popular premium full-featured reverb, if not the most popular. Strymon’s work always sounds fantastic to us, so it’s no wonder that this reverb does as well. This reverb pedal has a lot of options for customization. You may be aware that Strymon already has a fantastic reverb called the blueSky, but this takes the concept of flexibility to a whole new level. What we mean is that you may alter and modulate the reverb to your heart’s content using this pedal’s incredible customizability. The BigSky has 12 different reverb generators to choose from: Hall, Plate, Spring, Swell, Bloom, Cloud, Chorale, Shimmer, Magneto, Nonlinear, Reflections, and Room.
Each of the three channels can have 100 presets saved and named in the memory bank. Yes, you read that correctly: there are 300 presets that are easily accessible and named. This is one of the reasons why this pedal is so popular among musicians who wish to create beautiful soundscapes with configurable reverb effects. This is where this pedal outperforms simpler (but still great-sounding) one-trick ponies. The sheer number of alternatives provided by BigSky is incredible. It is capable of performing all tasks and does not perform any of them poorly.
Presets are accessed by the spring reverb pedal three footswitches and/or the rotary value control knob in distinct banks of three presets (A, B, and C). The huge LED shows pre-programmed information, such as the number and a programmable name. When a preset is changed, the LEDs surrounding the rotating reverb-type control change colour from green to amber to alert users.
Furthermore, the BigSky’s reverb sounds are simply incredible, far superior than several well-known digital reverb rack units from the previous three decades. The reverb tails are silky smooth, and the special effects are on par with those seen on studio gear costing thousands of dollars. Onstage and in the studio, playing through the Big Sky instantly gives you that elusive professional gloss. This is the Best Reverb Pedals in 2023.
BOSS RV-6 Reverb Guitar Pedal
- Mono or Stereo Operation
- Expression Pedal Input
- Compact and versatile reverb pedal with rich, expansive soundDial in...
In the end, the Boss RV-6 Reverb Pedal tied for first place with the DigiTech Polara, and after spending some time with the RV-6, it’s easy to see why. The Boss RV-6 offers all of the features of the Polara, including the build quality, exquisite reverb tones, adaptability, and a reasonable price tag.
The Boss RV 6 first and most obvious advantage is that it’s a Boss stompbox, which means great manufacturing and dependability. As they say, it’s built like a tank. Boss pedals can be thrown out of 20-story windows and still be functional and ready to perform (but we strongly advise against it). With a pewter Boss enclosure, this is also a very appealing pedal.
The Boss RV-6’s controls will not surprise you in the least. There’s nothing unusual about this – E.LEVEL stands for effects level and is simply the amplitude of the reverb sound. TONE controls the reverb’s sound colouring, TIME controls the reverb’s length of time, and the MODE knob chooses the reverb effect mode you desire from eight options: Modulate, Spring, Plate, Hall, Room, +Delay, Shimmer, and Dynamic. The Boss RV-6 is the successor to the RV-5, and the later three reverb modes are new to the RV-6. There are no other toggle switches, and this is a stereo in/out reverb pedal, similar to the Hall Of Fame and Polara.
Although the Boss RV-6 isn’t the best at everything, it excels in a variety of areas and is consistently good. It isn’t the most original reverb, but it adds a lot of arrows to your quiver for a very low price. Furthermore, they are nearly all usable. All of these characteristics combine to make the RV-6 a reverb that can’t go wrong.
Walrus Audio Fathom Multi-Function Reverb Guitar Effects Pedal
- Easily go from tasteful, small room reverb to long, modulated trails...
- Hall - Wide, open and vast with decay that ends with high-frequency...
- Plate - Full Body reverb with a smooth decay. X knob adjusts pre-delay.
Walrus Audio’s foray into multi-function reverbs maintains its boutique credentials while providing a useful range of reverb types – hall, plate, lo-fi, and Sonar – each with a preset-specific parameter. The hall and plate settings are particularly impressive, while lo-filtered fi’s tones provide some gnarly textures for ambient players.
Although it’s not the strongest shimmer available from a tiny pedal, Sonar adds high and low octaves to the reverb trails, and it’s a handy extra to have in your back pocket.The ability to apply modulation to any sound, as well as the onboard sustain footswitch, which maxes out the decay for infinite reverbs, are two of the pedal’s strongest features.
However, there are only four presets per type, so if you want more flexibility, you’ll need an external sequencer or DAW. In addition, the Walrus doesn’t offer much control over the amount of delay applied to the reverb tail; instead, you get one tap for either 0ms or 1ms. Finally, although the pedal has a dedicated input for guitar signals, it lacks a direct output jack, meaning you must use another device such as a DI box or amp simulator to send audio directly to your amplifier.
Overall, the Walrus Audio Fathom Multi Function Reverb Guitar Effects Pedals is a versatile little unit that provides plenty of versatility without being overwhelming. If you’re looking for something small and simple, then look elsewhere. But if you’re willing to put up with a few limitations, then the Walrus Audio FATHOM may just fit the bill.
Boss RV-500
No products found.
With 32-bit AD/DA, 32-bit floating point processing, and a 96-kHz sampling rate, Boss’ RV-500 is a large-format powerhouse. Three footswitches, digital delay options, and 12 modes with 21 various reverb types are all included in the jam-packed instrument, which includes a wide range of adjustable settings ranging from decay, density, and modulation to EQ, ducking, and more. There are also Roland classics like the SRV-2000 Reverb and RE-201 Space Echo for good measure.
You won’t run out of tonal possibilities anytime soon with three footswitches, 12 reverb settings, and digital delay options, not to mention a large array of adjustable parameters. We get all of Boss/classic Roland’s reverbs, but they’ve also included a Space Echo multi-head tape delay simulation for added flexibility and an alternative to the delays with the reverbs.
There’s a lot to discover in this incredibly useful pedal that combines reverb and delay. With so much memory and so many footswitching choices, it’s the ideal instrument for creating distinct atmospheres for different songs.
The RV-500 also has an A/B Simul mode that allows you to use two reverb patches at the same time, as well as close to 300 onboard patch memory, selectable buffered-bypass or true-bypass operation, and the ability to interface with MIDI control devices. Boss’ most powerful and versatile reverb processor to date, with a seemingly limitless amount of possibilities and combinations.
Mosky Spring Reverb Guitar Mini Effect Pedal
- Electric guitar effect pedal for guitar players
- Boasting a super small size with low noise, and a near bottomless depth of...
- 2 functional knobs: MIX pot- adjusts dry/wet balance, DWELL pot- adjusts...
This compact Mosky Spring Reverb Guitar mini effect pedal offers a variety of effects including spring reverb, room echo, plate reverb, hall reverb, chorus, flange, phaser, tremolo, pitch shifter, vibrato, wah, octave divider, noise gate, compressor, limiter, and looper. The built-in speaker delivers clean tones while the internal power supply can be used to drive other pedals. It comes equipped with a 3 position switch allowing users to choose between dry signal path, wet signal path and bypass. This pedal will work great for live performances where space is limited.
It’s easy to set up using its front panel controls: volume knob, tone knobs, master level, feedback loop enable, and gain reduction. You can adjust the frequency response by adjusting the resonance setting. The Mosky Spring Reverb works best when paired with a distortion pedal because it adds some grit to the overall mix. However, we found that it worked fine with our favorite fuzz pedal.
We were impressed with how quickly the Mosky Spring Reverb was able to create rich-sounding reverberations. While the quality of the sounds produced varied depending on what preset was selected, each had their own unique character. For example, the “Spring Room” preset gave us lush, warm, natural-sounding echoes.
Fender Marine Layer Reverb Pedal
- Hall, room and shimmer reverb types
- Reverb trails continue when effect is muted
- Led backlit knobs
What qualities do you seek for in a reverb pedal for live use? Fender enlisted the help of a number of guitarists, and the result is the Marine Layer Reverb pedal. The Marine Layer Reverb pedal sounds rich and luscious, thanks to an all-original circuit that includes Hall, Room, and Special reverb kinds including shimmer. You’ll be able to experiment with a wide variety of reverberation with pre-delay and damping settings in addition to reverb duration and volume controls. The Fender Marine Layer Reverb pedal shines in just about every live performance scenario, thanks to its numerous gig-focused features.
The Fender Marine Layer Reverb is one of the most versatile reverb pedals on the market. This pedal offers up a wide range of different reverbs – from old room to plate to springs to shimmer, with pre-delay and damping settings too. The Fender Marine Layer Reverb also has volume and tone knobs, as well as buffered bypass or true bypass functionality.
The Fender Marine Layer Reverb pedal is designed for live performers in every way, including its powerful reverb sound. Even on a dark stage, the LED-backlit knobs show you your settings at a glance. The unique battery compartment design allows for quick and easy battery replacements. A Dry Kill switch allows you to utilize the pedal in your amp’s effects loop. All of this is housed in a tough anodized aluminum shell.
Electro-Harmonix Holy Grail Neo Reverb pedal
- Features Spring, Plate and Hall Reverbs
- True Bypass
- Compact, rugged chassis
The Electro-Harmonix Holy Grail Neo Reverb pedal is one of the finest guitar effects pedals available on the market today. The hallmark tone and lush reverb effect can be used in countless ways to add ambience, depth, and space to your music. This pedal offers nine distinct reverb styles ranging from hall and plate reverb to modulated and flerb reverbs for exceptional versatility in a compact package. There are also knobs that control decay time, volume swell rate, modulation speed, and type which allows you to further manipulate sounds with ease.
The Electro-Harmonix Holy Grail Neo Reverb is a compact analog spring + hall combination reverb that has been designed to the integrity of the original audio signal. It has a very small footprint and only weighs about one pound, making it ideal for any pedal board design. There is also a 9V battery power switch on the backside of the pedal so you don’t have to worry about turning it off when not in use, as it will shut itself off after a few minutes of no signal passing through. This preserves valuable battery life and keeps your reverb from draining energy when not needed, prolonging its lifespan.
This pedal is ideal for anyone looking to add a more organic sound to their instrument signal. Whether you’re looking to get that classic Spring Reverb or Hall Reverb sound, this pedal will provide you with excellent authenticity and audio integrity. The Electro-Harmonix Holy Grail Neo Reverb Pedal is an excellent choice for guitarists in need of a budget-friendly reverb pedal that still has excellent value and quality.
Frequently Asked Questions
How to choose the best reverb pedal?
The ideal reverb pedal for you will depend on your needs, but all of the pedals on our list will give you terrific sounding reverb, are reliable and road-worthy, and are simple to set up. Whatever you want to do with it and whatever sort of music you prefer, you’ll find something suitable here.
Reverb pedals are used in a variety of ways by different musicians. If you want to add some texture to your tone and make it sound less dry, you may only need a simple pedal with one or a few varieties of reverb – many guitarists will leave the pedal on all the time once they’ve got it dialed in. It’s not so much used as an effect as it is to add a little extra spice to their fundamental sound. The most apparent factor is size: if you have enough room on your pedalboard (and the funds), you could invest in a studio-grade workstation like the Strymon BigSky or the Eventide Space.
The ability to use presets and personalize to the nth degree could be vital in genres where reverb is at the core of a band’s overall sound, such as post-rock or more ambient, textural playing. If soundscaping is your thing, you’ll want to make sure your’verb has polyphonic tracking for its shimmer settings.
If reverb is a more seldom effect in your pedal collection, we recommend going with a more compact (and usually less expensive) option. The Electro-Harmonix Oceans 11, Walrus Audio Fathom, and TC Electronic Hall Of Fame 2 all have momentary footswitch functions that let you control the reverb signal on the go for limitless sustain.
Do I need a reverb pedal if my amp already has reverb?
You might also ask if a pedal is necessary if your guitar amp already has reverb built in. Some guitarists prefer to move between different ‘flavors’ of reverb, such as a spring reverb on your amp that’s on a bit all the time, then switching to a more dramatic reverb for particular sections of a song or sections of a live set. You might also wish to be able to add another form of reverb to your amp’s reverb – mixing and matching different types can produce some very amazing outcomes.
Where in the signal chain do I place the reverb pedal?
When it comes to reverb pedals, there is no right or wrong answer: where should you put them in your signal chain? Aside from your personal experimenting, the sound of your amplifier is the most important component in determining the answer. Is there a lot of headroom in there, or are you putting the preamp section into natural overdrive?
If the former, then a reverb pedal should have enough area to breathe when placed between your guitar and your preamp. If the latter, you’ll get the clearest sound from a reverb pedal when it’s in your effects loop – that is, after your preamp section and before your power amp section. Consider decreasing your preamp level and making up the difference with a dirt pedal if you don’t have an effects loop and still want a clean reverb sound from a pedal.
That’s not to argue that ‘clean’ is the only way to do things. Placing a reverb pedal in front of a distorting preamp section, similar to putting one in front of a distortion, overdrive, or fuzz, can produce a distinct sound, one that is frequently linked with shoegaze and post-rock.