tune_link wrote: ↑Wed Jul 22, 2020 10:38 am
shoule79 wrote: ↑Sun Jul 19, 2020 4:25 pm
I currently have 7, but can’t say I have ever had a favourite pedal. I use a Flint on one board and a DBA Reverberation Machine and Loomer on another (guess which one gets crazier?). I tend to like One or two modes per pedal, then prefer different modes on others.
Overall my favourite is probably my old Alesis Quadraverb that I sold a few years ago.
I've read so many people gush over the Flint in the last year. I want to say that Jeff from Daysleepers that posts here was posting about switching from whatever reverb he was using to this thing. I feel like I'm always looking for something intangible when it comes to reverb specifically (hell aren't we all?). Would love to hear your thoughts on the Reverberation Machine as well as the Flint. That post in the pedals thread with the all in response to my question about the Gray Channel spoke to me so I'll ask again here and see what that gets me.
Hmmm...okay, Flint and Reverberation Machine.
The Flint was originally a pragmatic decision. I never have a huge board anymore (8 pedals including a tuner tops), but portability and space where i'm playing was a bit of an issue in my current situation (not exactly playing large stages), so I built a smaller board last winter. My old board had a Walrus Fathom and Monument on it (plus 2 delays). I tried the Flint in a store last fall and fell in love with the Hall setting, so when I needed to downsize it was one of the first pedals I bought.
Overall, its a good pedal. The 60's spring works for me, but reminds me of more of an amp reverb than a tank. I've heard complaints that it doesn't drip enough online, but its enough to do Pipeline. 70's plate is a little flat for me. Its not bad, and can be near infinite, but the Fathom was better for me, especially because you could add modulation. I'm also a fan of the old Boss RV-3 plate, artifacts and all, so I may be biased as to what a "good" plate reverb is. My least used reverb setting on this pedal.
80's hall is where the magic happens for me. I run this fairly wet and long with the color way up to get the little bit of octave on the trail. Its my favorite wet reverb with fuzz after the Infinity Reverb patch on the old Alesis Quadraverbs. It also does the Chris Isaak Wicked Game thing, even some pseudo slap back delay. The harmonic tremolo subtly underneath this setting also gives it some interesting movement. It was worth buying for this setting alone.
All the verb settings are really tweakable, but it sounds good at most points on the dials. I find that the mix can be a bit touchy to get it where I want it when i'm not going ridiculously wet or having just a touch of reverb. The infinite reverb on the 70's and 80's setting is nice if you are doing pads and swells. Is it the craziest reverb? No. But its usable for most situations when you need a lush sounding reverb, and can handle most ambient situations you can throw at it. With the favorite switch it handles all the reverb I need on my main board.
Going to cover the tremolo side too. Its really good and amp like. I didn't care for harmonic trem on the Monument, but find I use it/like it more on the Flint. The Bias trem goes deeper than my actual PR, so thats a plus. The Photo cell trem is what I usually use, it gets a nice throb that works for most settings. Lush again is the word i'd use to describe the trem.
Is it my favorite trem pedal? Nope. For sound I still like the Boss PN-2. The PN-2's chop is great, but its also the other trem sounds hear on all the old Ride/MBV/Radiohead records, so it sounds like what a trem should be to my ears. The Monument gets close to the PN-2 sounds with added flexibility, and repeat-percussion sounds to boot. The Flint is very amp like, easy to dial in, blends well with the reverbs and will cover what 90% of players need. There's no chop though and it never gets as extreme as the others I mentioned. But, the other thing here is that it blends with the reverbs really well, so you get this overall really good sound that was made to go together.
If space were no issue on my board, i'd still have the Flint on it, simply for the 80's setting. I generally use a decently wet sound and a really wet sound with my reverb, and it covers both with the favorite switch. I'd put the Monument on my board for crazier trem sounds though, but would still use both to get How Soon is Now type swells.
The Reverberation Machine was something I went back and forth on for a long time. The EQD Ghost Echo was my first Belton type reverb, and I couldn't get past the pre-delay. A local shop had the RM used last summer, so I gave it a try. First time trying it, didn't really like it, but found it easier to dial in than the GE. A couple weeks later felt compelled to try it again, loved it. Went back to buy it a couple days later, didn't like it again. Looked up demo's online and figured out how the controls work and interact, then tried it again. Loved it again.
The trick to this pedal is learning how the knobs interact. Turning up the verb or the altitude impact the overall volume greatly, so you have to be careful with your volume when learning the pedal. It will boost your signal to dangerous levels if not careful.
First off, I love the altitude (gain) control. Even if you are not going for the whole gain after reverb sound, a little bit of dirt on the trails sounds great. This pedal can sound surprisingly normal for a DBA pedal. Using the light setting with the reverb below 10 o'clock is a surprisingly good spring sound. 10 - 12 is a nice washed out spring that almost sounds like it has some modulation on it. After 2 o'clock its like the Ghost Echo and the pre delay bugs me.
The dark setting is where the crazy can really come in. It doesn't get too wet until after 12, before that its like a dark hall setting. I personally am not a fan of these settings, but have a buddy that when ever he uses my rig goes right for this sound. After 12 o'clock with the altitude turned up its like a crashing, speaker ripping distorted reverb. If you like APTBS you can tell Oliver Ackermann created this pedal.
In practicality, I usually use this pedal on the light setting as a washed out spring reverb. It does not do the long ambient thing. Giving the strings a good smack gets some nice noisy crashes, but its still pretty when I lessen my attack. The light setting is also good with a vibrato pedal. This with a bit of overdrive kills my want of a Generation loss or similar lofi pedals. One of my favorite sounds on this pedal is the dark setting, with the altitude all the way up with my EHX B9 (organ pedal) going into it. Very Boards of Canada. I have a bunch of song ideas on my phone from doing this that i'll eventually get around to finishing.
Its on my second, noisier board with a Keeley Loomer for other reverbs currently. The Monument is there as well. The Monument and RM work well together if you are into stuff like Spacemen 3 or Brian Jonestown Massacre. If I had room for two reverbs i'd pair this with the Flint though. The Flint for ambient and pretty, the RM for abrasive.