Moog Music Forum

Im looking for a reverb unit to use with my drone-setup. I need a BIG stereo reverb with a loooooong decay (30sec). Most videos on youtube doesnt focus that much on the decay-time, at least none of the ones Ive seen so far.

Been looking at strymon bluesky, tc hall of fame, neunaber wet and ehx cathedral.
Most people seem to like the bluesky and neunaber, but thats mostly for guitar.
(The bluesky is the most expenicive pedal I can afford.. And yes, only pedal-format..)

Any thoughts or words of expertise/experience?

I've been using EHX Cathedral for three years now. Still very satisfied with it. And it's the only effect that offers the longest decay in the world: infinite ! (seriously)
It also has a neat feature: programmable presets, which others don't have also. Except the Blue Sky with only one (with an added cost and device).

I'm a Cathedral converted too. However I'm not sure the setting just under infinite reaches 30 seconds. Alain, thoughs? Ill' test tomorrow.

Plus the Cathedral seems to be "voiced" for guitar. It add some hi-med frequencies that I like to dress my Nord G2 stabs with...
BlueSky is a better candidate from what I know. Any users?...

I had the chance to try out a Blue Sky after I had bought my Cathedral, and was really impressed by it. Although the price is rather steep and only one "memory" with optional "favorite foot switch". But the sound quality is great. Although I am extremely satisfied with the EHX.

Can't say how long is the maximum decay on the Blue Sky, didn't time it when I tried it.

But I can say that on my Cathedral it clocks in at 3 full minutes to complete decay, from a 1/4 second sound impulse of one oscillator square wave with 440 Hz frequency at 0 db amplitude. (on the Hall setting, no damping, no pre-delay, mix at 50/50)

Note: if you set the reverb time knob to the maximum, you'll get infinity. I set it juuuuust below that to time it.

Also, I find that the Room type is better suited for my synths, as it keeps the low end frequencies better than the other types like Hall and Plate.

I also am deeply satisfied with the Cathedral. I have nothing negative to say about it. It is beautiful and pristine and lovely and perfect. Buy a cathedral.

Great! Thanks for the feedback guys.
So it comes down to the cathedral, or maybe the bluesky. I guess it depends on which of the two units I can find second hand. Currently only the bluesky, which is the same price as a new cathedral.
Ill give it a few weeks and see what happens.

Thanks again.

Thanks Alain for the details

I'm fully satisfied of the Cathedral as well. About this:

stiiiiiiive wrote:Plus the Cathedral seems to be "voiced" for guitar. It add some hi-med frequencies that I like to dress my Nord G2 stabs with...

... I'd like to add that I do that by using the spring settings. The plate is cool also, nice and fits anywhere. I tend to use those two simulations rather than "real space" simulations... the vintage hype maybe

Keep us posted, Rabalder

You're welcome Rabalder and Stiiiiiiive.

If you're looking for a reverb for drones, you can make one easily just by holding the "infinite" foot switch on the Cathedral, while you play over it without adding anything else to it. Neat. As soon as you release it, the droning reverb will decay according to the reverb time knob setting, while adding sounds from the input to it again.

So the "infinite" footswitch acts like a "bypass input - create infinite reverb drone" instant button.

WAIT WAIT WAIT!~ Please check out the Eventide SPACE pedal. Not super cheap, but reasonable for the quality. I'm hoping to get one myself. It's sonically beautiful, especially on those long spacey things. Truly a wonder - Roger Cordell from Big City Music turned me on to it - and I was hooked in seconds!

Rabalder did write that the Strymon Blue Sky is the most expensive pedal he can afford at $300. So the Eventide Space, clocking in at $500, is out of the range I think...

JRRShop is selling the Eventide Space for $389. But you have to create an account, click "Blowout", then login to your account to see that price.

http://www.jrrshop.com/

Still close to $100 too high...

Just kidding. Maybe it's worth the extra $89. How long is the maximum reverb decay time on the Eventide ?

I believe the Eventide Space has an infinite decay time when the Freeze option is activated. This option is available for 9 of the 12 algorithms.

Worth the extra expense over the Cathedral which also has an infinite decay time option? Can't really say since I own neither.

The BigSky lets you freeze on any of the reverb machines, not just a selection of them - but then again, it costs even more than the Space.

I just randomly stumbled on the blowout price for the Space at JRRShop while shopping, so I thought I'd share in case anyone is shopping for a Space. I ended up buying two delay pedals instead, because I wanted delay more than reverb at this time.

I thought it was a typo on your part when you wrote BigSky reverb. I didn't even know Strymon had come out with another reverb named BigSky !
That's showing you how much, or rather how little, I know about effects...