Help me choose an appropriate reverb unit

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substitute
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Help me choose an appropriate reverb unit

Post by substitute » Wed Apr 25, 2012 4:29 am

Hi folks,
I'm shopping for a hardware reverb unit, I've been poking around the various "best reverb" threads. My issue is I'm not really sure what my budget should be. I have a small-ish collection of fairly nice gear...

-mics, peluso 2247, beyer ribbons, and a few studio work horses.
-pre's, drip Redd 47, telefunken v676
-out board, drip la2a, group DIY 2254, Gpultec

So, IMHO I have a pretty good bang for the buck signal chain but it's not like neuman or elam mics, DW Fearn pre's, Thermionic culture level of gear. So, I'd like to pick up a reverb unit that can "keep up" with the resy of the signal chain so to speak, if that makes sense.

I'm looking at...
On the under $500 side: Sony R7, Ibanez SDR 1000, various Lexicons, Roland SPX line.

On the under $1000 side: Eventide h3000, Roland R880, nicer lexicons.

So my question is, given the other gear I have, what units or pricerange would be appropriate? I'm ok with spending up to $1000, but I don't need the reverb to be my nicest piece I just don't want it to be the weakest link either.

Thanks!

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joninc
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Post by joninc » Wed Apr 25, 2012 11:02 am

what kind of reverb do you like?

i get a lot of mileage out of my Alesis wedge - suprisingly good verbs and more often, my outboard spring reverbs (sound workshop and masteroom) - for $1000 you can pick up all 3.
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crow
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Post by crow » Wed Apr 25, 2012 2:13 pm

Are you recording with a DAW, or tape? If the former, I'd lean toward spring reverb. I have a few nice to decent digital reverbs, but even before I started DAW-ing, I almost always reached for my cheapo 80's Tascam spring reverb.

These days, a hardware digital reverb has to be pretty dang fancy to be preferable to all the great-sounding cheap to free reverb plugins out there. If you must go hardware, I would even consider putting a computer into service only as an fx unit. Even an old computer could be easily configured into an extremely versatile effect unit for a fraction of the cost of a fancy digital reverb. it likely could even sound decent using 1/8" adapters instead of a dedicated AD/DA interface.

All that being said, I really like the reverbs in the ensoniq dp4, and I think they go for about $300 used.

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Post by drumsound » Wed Apr 25, 2012 3:34 pm

I've heard a lot of good things about the Sony, I think Garges may have one (or three?). The H3000 is a great piece of gear, and there are a few cool reverbs in there, but I used it for other effects more often. I really love my TC M3000 and I'm pretty sure they are in the $1k or less range these days. The reverbs sound really nice and the interface is really easy to navigate. It has digital I/O if you're using a DAW with digital I/O.

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Post by ivanovich » Tue May 08, 2012 4:55 pm

what about getting something pretty nice in the $500-800 range and getting a second unit for $500-200 range(spring/wedge/etc). that way you can have two pieces to blend. food for thought...

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Post by rhythm ranch » Tue May 08, 2012 5:14 pm


Mane1234
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Post by Mane1234 » Tue May 08, 2012 7:56 pm

Alesis Wedge rocks....If you can find one that's been taken care of and all it's a fine addition. So to is the Yamaha Rev 500. Plenty of those on evilbay these days.
Of course I've had it in the ear before.....

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farview
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Post by farview » Wed May 09, 2012 7:19 am

The cheaper TC electronics stuff sounds really good and is very clean.

The cheaper Lexicon stuff is pretty good, if you like Lexicon reverbs (I do).

If you are using a DAW, plugins are the way to go.

Lexicon makes a hardware unit that connects to your computer and can be inserted as a plugin in your DAW. That's a great idea, because you can use it as a hardware unit to give a singer some reverb in the phones and as a plugin during mixdown. But, unlike normal plugins, you can have multiple instances of it all working at once.

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Post by Jim Williams » Wed May 09, 2012 8:07 am

If you have the $, Bricasti M7, nothing else is like it. For a lower budget, a used PCM92. For less, a used PCM90. For less, a used LXP-1. For less, a used Reflex. I have Alex, Reflex, LXP-1, LXP-15 II and the M7, all play well together.
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jnorman34
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Post by jnorman34 » Wed May 09, 2012 8:50 am

jim - how do you go about monitoring the affected signal chain with older units like the LXP-1, and how do you render the final file with older hardware like that? do you have to burn a CD in realtime to an external CD burner?
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Post by Ron's Brother » Wed May 09, 2012 9:14 am

i don't think this will work for you but, best guitar chain reverb is the holy grail

review: http://yourband.info/index.php?q=holy-grail
http://www.yourband.info great site to promote your band or music.

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Post by Jim Williams » Wed May 09, 2012 10:00 am

jnorman34 wrote:jim - how do you go about monitoring the affected signal chain with older units like the LXP-1, and how do you render the final file with older hardware like that? do you have to burn a CD in realtime to an external CD burner?
It's done just like it was done in 1970. I use an analog recording console and all hardware outboard. I don't use a computer to record here. Everything is done as it was when I was a kid, the only difference is the recorder is digital now.

To me, the convienience offered by computer recording/editing is offset by the sonics. I don't care about how easy it is, only the results.
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passnthru
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Post by passnthru » Sat May 12, 2012 8:37 am

Jim,
I would love to hear some of your recordings in context with some of the gear you talk about on the boards. Would be an interesting exploration, I think. Any way or place you could give a link to?
Utmost respect,
JP
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Marc Alan Goodman
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Post by Marc Alan Goodman » Sat May 12, 2012 9:24 pm

crow wrote:These days, a hardware digital reverb has to be pretty dang fancy to be preferable to all the great-sounding cheap to free reverb plugins out there.
I've gotta agree with that. There are cheaper hardware reverbs that I still really like (still can't replace my SPX90), and some of the older lex units that go slightly under a grand are still great (PCM series), but if I was working with a computer and had some plugins the first hardware reverb I would buy is a spring! I haven't heard digital get even close, and a good spring doesn't have to sound like a guitar amp. I really like my zerotronics.

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Post by Jim Williams » Sun May 13, 2012 9:16 am

passnthru wrote:Jim,
I would love to hear some of your recordings in context with some of the gear you talk about on the boards. Would be an interesting exploration, I think. Any way or place you could give a link to?
Utmost respect,
JP
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I finished my Blues Buzzards CD last Feb. but I don't have MP3 conversion here, I would probably have to send you a CD.
Jim Williams
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