When one of the most talked about and anticipated effects of the year shows up on your doorstep, the excitement that has been building up in your brain finally becomes a reality. The aptly named Reverb pedal from Empress Effects is the pedal we’re talking about today, and it absolutely lives up to the hype. We’ll try to give you a good amount of info in this review and subsequent demo video, but this is truly a pedal that you need to experience in person to really appreciate.
The Empress Reverb holds nothing back coming out of the gates, featuring an insane 24 algorithms to choose from. That’s right, kids, TWENTY-FOUR. Plus, as more become available from Empress, you can update them onto your pedal via an SD card, for even more delicious reverb choices. The 12 mode settings shown (Hall, Plate, Spring, Room, Sparkle, Modulation, Ambient Swell, Delay + Reverb, Reverse, Ghost, Lo-Fi and the now-popular Beer setting) have a host of differing sonic qualities, some with multiple variations in the same mode.
Each mode has been designed to sound great with all the control knobs starting at noon, then tweaked to your delight as you explore and discover new and fascinating sonic soundscapes. Decay controls how long it takes the reverb tail to fade out, while Mix blends the effect and your instrument’s dry signal to taste. Output adjusts the overall Volume the Reverb gives off, with unity set at 12:00, and the Lo and Hi knobs form the tone via EQ and dampening. Thing 1 and Thing 2 (cheers, Dr. Seuss) have different functions depending which mode you’re in, such as modulation depth and rate, delay time, sparkle length, octave, diffusion and more.
The footswitches have multiple uses as well: Select will engage a preset, but can also act as a tap tempo or infinite hold, too; Scroll goes through your presets, and once you find the one you want, use the Select switch to activate it. Using these two together simultaneously will scroll backwards through your presets as well. Bypass turns the Reverb on and off, and can be done in both True Bypass and Buffered Bypass modes, which are set in Advanced Configuration.
Stereo Ins and Outs make for huge sounds, MIDI controls are available for all parameters, and you can control them all with an external Expression pedal, too (except for the Mode parameter). There’s a Tap Tempo option as well, and these all run through a lone Control Port jack, which you set in Advanced Configuration for total control over the Reverb.
The demo below scratches the surface a bit, but no one wants to watch a 4-hour demo, which would be about how long it would take to show everything this pedal can do, so we just showed some of our favorite highlights, to give you some semblance of the power of the Reverb. We can’t thank Empress Effects enough for letting us check this puppy out, and are honored to be able to add our flavor into the mix of demos floating around the interwebs. Head over to their site and pick one of these up immediately following the demo, as this just may be the last reverb pedal you are ever going to need.
Specs:
24 studio quality algorithms and counting – The pedal has 12 algorithm types, some include multiple variations. For example, vintage and studio plate, dark and bright springs. Also, as more algorithms get added you can update your pedal via the SD Card. It’s the pedal that keeps on giving.
Pristine Classic Sounds – pristine sounding classic hall, plate, spring and room sounds that rival or surpass studio units costing many times more.
Ambient Sounds – A complete palette of tweak-able ambient sounds that offer the creative player so much territory to explore and make their own.
Easy to use and fast to dial in – All the algorithm controls are sitting on a knob in front of you, no fiddling through laborious menus.
Tap Functions – many algorithms have infinite hold settings or the ability to tap in delay time.
Low Noise signal path – Features a signal to noise ratio of >104dB and maintains an analog dry path.
Up to 35 Presets – Settings can be saved to 35 presets. With three stomp switches, accessing the presets is easy.
2 Preset Modes – Bank style or scrolling style preset modes.
True Bypass and Buffered Bypass – It can be configured to run with true bypass or buffered bypass if you want to hear trails.
Cabinet Simulator – 3 variations to choose from, perfect for recording, practicing or for gigs without an amp.
Output Transformer – Get hum-free operation when operating in stereo with two amps. Output 2 is isolated with a transformer to eliminate nasty ground loops.
High Quality Audio – 48kHz sampling, with 24 bit conversion and 32 bit internal processing.
Analog Dry Path – Dry signal is left untouched, and blended with the wet signal using VCA. (no zipper noise, hooray!)
Unsurpassed Connectivity – The Universal Control Port allows you to connect an expression pedal, external tap switch, control voltage, external audio input and MIDI – all using a standard 1/4″ jack!
Advanced Configuration Menu – The Advanced configuration menu lets you configure how your reverb works. Select from true or buffered bypass, 0-35 presets, MIDI configuration, Control port control(expression pedal, external tap, control voltage and MIDI) as well as which style of preset system to use, input signal pad, output transformer enable and more!
Small Size – The enclosure measures approximately 5.7″ by 3.75″ by 1.75″, which is delightfully small when considering all the features packed into this unit.
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