What's your favorite reverb build?

spi

Well-known member
I'm thinking I need to build a reverb. Given they need belton bricks or fv1s, the cost is more than the average build, so I'd like focus on one or two good ones.

What's your favorite and why?
 
I'm going for the Spirit Box when I make my inevitable jump into the Belton Brick. And the Deflector for the FV1. (Both seem to have a useful range / no one trick ponies, which is a must for these "firsts".) Though I'm gonna keep an eye on the thread to see what else pops up! I have no mono reverbs, only these manual-heavy "workstations". Something straightforward to squeeze inside the signal path of a semi-modular sounds fun!
 
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I'm going for the Spirit Box when I make my inevitable jump into the Belton Brick. And the Deflector for the FV1. (Both seem to have a useful range / no one trick ponies, which is a must for these "firsts".) Though I'm gonna keep an eye on the thread to see what else pops up! I have no mono reverbs, only these manual-heavy "workstations". Something straightforward to squeeze inside the signal path of a semi-modular sounds fun!


These two are it for me too. The pre-delay (attack control) on the spirit box is a must for playing with higher gain set ups.
 
I've built a few and haven't really found a good one. I just use a Flint. The Belton brick reverbs sound a bit naff to me I'm afraid. The FV-1 reverbs here can be pretty good but can get a bit noisy.
 
I've built a bunch of Belton and FV-1s and always seem to just go back to the boring old classic 1-knob Rub-A-Dub reverb I built eons ago. Maybe it's just me, but I tend to prefer fewer controls and don't mind the sound of the Belton brick. You can get some fun options from the FV-1 too though.

Depends on what you want, really. Are you looking for a bread and butter, standard reverb or do you want specific options or weirdness?
 
I've built a bunch of Belton and FV-1s and always seem to just go back to the boring old classic 1-knob Rub-A-Dub reverb I built eons ago. Maybe it's just me, but I tend to prefer fewer controls and don't mind the sound of the Belton brick. You can get some fun options from the FV-1 too though.

Depends on what you want, really. Are you looking for a bread and butter, standard reverb or do you want specific options or weirdness?
I'm honestly kind of in the same boat. I went down the FV-1 rabbit hole for a while and did loads of reverbs of all flavors, but at the end of the day the only reason I want a reverb pedal is because most of my amps don't have built-in reverb, so I just want something that sounds more or less like a spring tank, and the BTDR does the trick.

On that note I'll second the Rub-A-Dub, it's super simple but it does the job in a good way. Also since it just uses two op-amp stages it's pretty easy to swap in a dual triode for a tube-driven reverb...
 
Depends on what you want, really. Are you looking for a bread and butter, standard reverb or do you want specific options or weirdness?
Yeah, I just like a bread and butter. I have an Rv-6, I and I mostly use room or spring modes.
 
I haven’t built a lot of reverbs but here is my experience

Belton bricks
Levitation:
a sold vanilla reverb with a respectable range.

Ghost echo(spirit box):
a one trick space pony and it does its trick well and will go into self oscillation if that’s your thing.

Fv-1
Spatialist:
Covers a lot of ground from room to ambient, the draw back is: although I find them all very usable and it is the reverb pedal I continually return to, I do think because of it’s flexibility it does give up the ability to be exceptional at any one thing. I like it but if you aren’t into cavernous ambient stuff then half the patches won’t be interesting to you.

Binaura:
There isn’t many reverb algorithms out there for this but the couple I have tried I did really enjoy, I just prefer stereo reverb. Once again if you aren’t into ambient type sounds it’s probably not worth the effort of programming an EEPROM


I would say I like the FV-1 better for reverb than a brick and I’m still wanting to build a daisy seed based pedal specifically for a reverb one of these days.
 
I have the one knob rub a dub one for a long time. I use it pre drive and want another one last in chain.
 
I actually prefer the Belton to the FV-1 for spring/plate sounds. The Spirit Box is a required build, IMO. It deservedly gets a lot of love around here.

But I also highly recommend the FuzzDog Box of Hall. Instead of a delay/reverb hybrid, it's a straight reverb. It has a damp control so it can be as bright or dark as you want, and it's wetter than the Sproing. It's my go-to 'verb second to my RV-6. I might do a build report if I get around to it.
 
I would love a good diy Plate option
I love plate! But I only have great sounding ones in the high end range of reverb pedals (Strymon Nightsky, Meris Mercury, and SA Ventris). Something in a small enclosure that you just hook up and play, I'd love to have one! Especially if it goes into strange modulated / affected territory. It's the one classic reverb that sorta sounds "off" and "right" at the same time.

Actually, give me a stereo DIY reverb IR loader like the Integral below, so we can do all we ever wanted to do!

 
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I don’t know about High Gain settings. But I like Belton’s for the always on reverb.
The Sproing is top-notch, and it’s what I have on my board, as an always on. I have built a few of them, and a few GGG Reverb kits. Both are simple one knob reverbs, that don’t colour your tone. The Add-Verb from GuitarPCB is a Belton style. And I found it coloured up things. But that was an older version.
I have dabbled in the FV-1 reverbs and I find they aren’t as “transparent”. As if they add a layer of sound that feels processed. But maybe it’s just me.
The Spirit box is fun. I made one for a friend. I could see it being used as a second, pronounced reverb. But maybe not a subtle, always on effect.
I liked the Sproing and Moonshot tremolo so much that I built them into a combo, 1590bb. It’s a great grab and go pedal, that can sit on top of the amp at a Jam session.
 
Admittedly, I haven't found a diy reverb pedal I liked. Fv-1, Belton, actual spring tank pedals...all were disappointing. Every single Belton brick project has me like🤢🤮😑
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