This is a digital reverb mini-pedal, simple to use, but giving a whole selection of unique – and very useful – new sounds. It’s based around an FV-1 chip and comes with an Igor expression pad for real-time control. ‘Size’ adjusts the length of the effect, and ‘Level’ the amount of it you hear (the original guitar signal is always present).
DISTORTION
The Reverb-X really comes into its own in how it can deal with the reverb. It’s based on the excitement of plugging an overdrive pedal after a reverb pedal; it’s ‘wrong’, but everything you play sounds huge and epic, exaggerated and full of texture and detail… Here, an overdrive circuit – after the reverb – can be blended in via the ‘Distn’ knob. Have it totally clean, a bit gritty, quite rough, or dial in a fully burnt-out glow.
At all times, however, the input signal is unaffected; if you already use an overdrive pedal, the Reverb-X can add a whole new dimension of distortion to your sound! If your tone is clean, however, it stays clean – no matter how much-distorted reverb you dial in.
Usually though, in this situation when you stop playing, the hum from your cable alone would be as loud as the notes you were playing! So you have to have a noise gate involved…
NOISE GATE
This is always on, either before the reverb and distortion circuits, unobtrusively silencing hums and buzzes when you’re not playing. Switch in the ‘Gate’ button though, and this changes to post reverb and distortion. It opens when you play, and closes hard when you stop, totally cutting off any reverb that’s happening – giving an incredibly dramatic and original effect. Sure, it’s a gated reverb, but play along riff and gate stays open, giving the full reverberation as set by the ‘Size’ knob. Stop playing and the whole thing is shut down, giving a tight control over it – like a hard-edited ‘sample’.
The ‘input’ control and ‘Overload’ LED to ensure that the output is always as loud – and clean (if desired) – as possible. The ‘Out’ knob has plenty of spare output volume on tap.
IGOR
Plug in the Igor expression pad and you get no reverb at all. However, as you start to lean on it the signal gets diverted to the waiting reverb pathway, and a bloom of reverberation grows behind whatever notes you’re playing. Take your foot off of Igor and you go back to fully dry – but the reverb decays on its own.
Or have the ‘Gate’ switch in, and the added reverb is cut short, like some twisted dub-meister at the controls, messing with everyone’s depth perception….
The two types of reverb available are set to cover the widest range of musical situations as possible. The Reverb-X is an incredibly flexible, easy-to-use, and inspiring effect – all in a deeply cute package!