Grateful Dead Music Forum

I lost out this weekend on an ebay auction for a Real Tube Reverb. The final price was somewhere around $775. They don't seem to show up very often.

Wondered what reverb effects everyone is using and generally how happy you are with them. (And if anyone has RTR they want to sell let me know).

My rec would be for a Peavey ValVerb.

Incredible.

Holy crap, are they worth that much now!!!!

I bought one recently, but I won't part with it.

The ElectroHarmonix Holy Grail reverb pedal is not bad, but it has a reputation for being hissy and noisy. I had to try about five of them before I got a quiet one; I keep it on my pedalboard as a back up.

Before I got the Real Tube Reverb, I had just bought a Peavey Valverb, which is an all-tube spring reverb and vibrato in a 1-space rack. It sounds very good, actually; it's probably the best thing Peavey ever made. They are rarer than hen's teeth, though, and haven't been made for years.

I paid stupid money for it, I thought at the time; I put in a bid that I thought was ridiculously high to avoid being sniped on it at the last second, and got a surprise; I paid $425 for it when I expected it to be about $325-350 or so. But it is in excellent condition and has the footswitch.

This is not the best example, because I wasn't using much reverb to start with and there's delay in there during the solo, but this is a quick excerpt from the first gig I did with the Trio and the Valverb together (excuse the fumbling for chords, it was a request and we hadn't played it before):

http://playingdead.net/fourth.mp3

I'd sell if for what I paid for it if anyone wants it; I know you passed on it before, though.

Try the Holy Grail, it's not expensive, it might do it for you. If you get it online new or at Guitar Center, you can always return it if it's too noisy.

Vic

You might like a Lexicon LXP-1.
It's their old school 'verb.

Have you thought of investing in a Twin Reverb? A bit pricey but it's got a great reverb sound and is right in the ballpark for Dead material.

I'm currently using an EH Holy Grail Reverb with those amps that lack onboard reverb. It is quiet alone with the EH-supplied wall wart except for some minor hiss in hall mode (the hiss is virtually gone in spring mode).

That being said, I jumped on "Buy It Now," Saturday morning, on this "dark horse." They are extremely rare and hard to find. It took me a year of searching to find one in excellent condition from a 100% positive feedback seller but my ship finally came in. Expecting delivery Wednesday.

acidrain30005 wrote:Have you thought of investing in a Twin Reverb? A bit pricey but it's got a great reverb sound and is right in the ballpark for Dead material.

It's home plate.

tigerstrat wrote:It's home plate.

Bedeke has a Trio preamp and a McIntosh 2300 ... he's already playing in the same stadium.

The Trio price was a bit high. I don't have a Economics degree, but I have noticed that:

Out of Prodution + Played by Jerry = Expensive

I have a couple of notes out to ValVerb owners. They seem to be reluctant to sell non-local. If all falls through I'll keep the PlayingDead Supply Co. in mind.

bcresci wrote:The Trio price was a bit high. I don't have a Economics degree, but I have noticed that:

Out of Prodution + Played by Jerry = Expensive

I have a couple of notes out to ValVerb owners. They seem to be reluctant to sell non-local. If all falls through I'll keep the PlayingDead Supply Co. in mind.

LOL @ your math! It's soooo accurate!

RE:ValVerb - ya gotta check eBay.

I see them on Craigslist every so often but most people there will not ship.

Retraction on my note.... I meant to say the Real Tube Reverb price was high. I actually got a very good deal on the Trio.

I use the TC Electronics G-Major. I got it primarily for the Reverb but ended up with a whole host of VERY usable effects (delay, phaser, chorus) better than most any pedal I've tried in all classes; subjective of course. I did away with ALL my pedals. But, their reverbs are where this unit shines. This is NOT a pre-amp, its a EFX unit.

http://www.tcelectronic.com/G-Major.asp

Valverb's sold, ya'll ... just an fyi.

Are you looking for a rack mount unit or a floor pedal. As far as rack mounts, it is tough to go wrong with anything that is made these days as 24 bit sound quality is pretty impressive. Some things will work better for post production studio work, others have better live applications like the aforementioned G major unit.

For floor pedals, I hear the T Rex Room Mate is pretty sweet to the ears. By no means a cheap pedal, $400, but I have two pedals from them (a Replica delay and a Tremster) and I would be a lesser man without them in my life. I love their products!!

I have heard the Holy Grail can be a little noisy yet haven;t heard a similar complaint about the Room Mate. It has 24 bit AD/DA converters, it also has some modulation features which I don't really know if you have much use for. Worth checking out though.

I dunno, man ... when it comes to spring reverb, it's hard to digitally get that tube warmth and physical spring sound happening.

I can hear the difference. It's like those modeling amps that get sort of in the same ballpark as a tube amp, but compared to the real thing ...

I'm sure the newest generation ones are much better than the old ones, though.