MXR make some incredible pedals but oddly enough they have never really had many reverb pedals in their lineup. The M300 has 6 different reverbs available at your feet with three simple controls to get everything set up up nice and easy. For many guitarists, it’s pretty important for a reverb pedal to accept a stereo input and output. As reverb will usually be one of the last effects used, if you run a stereo rig and use other stereo pedals, you will want to make sure you get a stereo reverb pedal.

Even though none of these would replace my existing trio of reverbs, and my most likely next addition to the collection is the GFI System Specular Tempus - the Dark World in particular has something which draws me in - I may try to accommodate it in some way eventually - here’s hoping a few more of these will be stereo by then! Pad: my favorite reverb when noodling. This reverb adds in an octave up and down synth style effect.You can adjust whether you hear the octave up, down or both with the Tone knob. As you can hear in the above video, it’s a very lush effect. Of course you can tone it down using the Decay knob if you want a subtler effect.Mod: a modulated plate reverb. If the Plate reverb sounds too plain or dull, try Mod instead. I feel it adds a nice amount of color into the effect without it feeling overwhelming.

When it comes to premium digital emulations of classic studio and amp reverbs in one portable place on your 'board, this Universal Audio pedal sets the standard. Three different choices in each category of spring, plate and hall reverbs can be found here, channeling the company's plugin prowess into pedal form for the first time. Shimmer is an ethereal, octave-up reverb effect with a long, sustaining tail that produces a synth-like texture, and the polyphonic reverb applies two programmable pitch shifts to the reverb tail to also generate complex, synth-like sounds. SPRING sets a new standard for truly authentic sounding reverb without coiled metal—a perfect recreation of the classic amp-based effect, with the Tone control taking you from dark vintage amp spring, through classic jangle, to bright surfy splatter. Presets are accessible in separate banks of three presets (A, B, and C), which are accessible via the pedal’s three footswitches and/or the rotary value control knob. The large LED displays preset info, including its number and a programmable name. The LEDs surrounding the rotary reverb-type control change color from green to amber to let users know when a preset has been modified. The sound quality of all of the effects is stellar, boasting smooth tails and pro-studio-quality noise-free performance. The spring reverb setting is based on a 1962 Fender 6G15 reverb unit and delivers some of the best spring reverb effects you’ll ever hear. Echo combines delay and reverb, while tremolo applies a tremolo effect to both wet and dry hall reverb.

Upstairs Piano Delivery

As you would expect from a pedal with only three control knobs, it’s very easy to use the M300 Reverb. You select the type of reverb you want by pushing the Tone knob down. The three LEDs in the middle will cycle through the six reverb types which is a nice way to instantly see what type of reverb is selected. Reverb is, for the most part, a digital effect. This is because for it to be analog, you’d need something physical to play your sound through. Early reverb effects like the plate reverb required huge metal sheets through which the sound was played. Echo chambers had sounds played into them which were then captured by a microphone and added to the dry signal to create a sense of space on the recording. So as you can imagine, it’s pretty inconvenient to use an analog reverb outside of the studio or sound design spaces. The M300 is a stereo pedal although it might not look it at first glance. Unlike other reverb pedals which give you two inputs and two outputs, the M300 only gives you one of each. To run it as a stereo pedal, you first need to set an internal switch to stereo. Then you need to runTRS cables to and from the M300. A reverb pedal simulates a space for the sound of your guitar to occupy. When you clap your hands in a large room, you’ll hear the sound of your clap bouncing off the walls and surfaces of the area around you. A reverb pedal does the exact same thing for your instrument, artificially recreating the sound as it if it were happening in that space.