Boss RV-6 Reverb Recorded In Stereo



Just a short page to show what a pedal steel sounds like recorded with stereo reverb applied to two amps. I normally record with a bit of mono amp reverb then add a fatter stereo reverb when I master a song In my Reaper DAW. I just received a Boss RV- 6 reverb unit and have been swapping it back and forth with a Hall Of Fame reverb in mono and stereo modes. During these swaps I also compared my Lehle Mono 90 volume pedal to my old Goodrich model 120 pot pedal with a Dunlop HotPotz. After a few days of trying all these combinations I definitely prefer the Hall of Fame reverb (Church mode) in mono. In stereo, the Boss sounds more natural, fuller and doesn't exhibit any strange artifacts in either channel. These are both stellar reverbs and I would be happy to use either one full time! After much listening with this setup, I prefer the fatter and warmer tone I am able to get with the Goodrich pot pedal. No amlount of cutting back on the amp's treble seemed to yield the fat and warm vintage tone with the Lehle pedal.


The setup as shown below used my Excel 12 string in E9th mode, one Shure SM-57 mic on each tube amp, an Allen Encore with a Double-T 12" speaker and a new Sweetwater special edition Fender tweed Princeton Reverb. The live tracks were recorded on a Zoom R24 with each mic fed to a Studio Projects premap (to eliminate R24 pre-amp noise). Then the (.wav) tracks were ported to Reaper and panned fully left ad right to duplicate the live sound heard in the studio room. Final mix was to mp3's at 320 kbps.

My Allen Encore Amp Review

My Sweetwater Tweed Princeton Reverb Review

Lehle Mono 90 Volume Pedal Review






Review Summary

This is a great wall of sound especially considering that neither of these amps is really properly voiced for steel guitar! It would be a great setup for live playing or recording although it's much easier for recording to just lay down tracks in mono and add stereo effects later in the DAW. My original Hall Of Fame is still a great reverb unit and in a live situation it would be hard to tell it apart from the Boss RV-6. The RV-6 does offer a reverb/delay mode where you can adjust the overall effect level, delay time and number of repeats but you can't separately adjust the reverb level or select the reverb type in this mode. The Hall of Fame Tone Prints capability give it a big edge in this deparment.






Sound Samples



Here's some sound samples. The RV-6 settings and hookup can be seens in the pictures below.

Selection
Reverb Type
 		Comments
Hall
 Pedal Steel - E9th
Hall
 Pedal Steel - E9th
Hall
 Pedal Steel - E9th
Hall
 Pedal Steel - E9th
Plate
 Pedal Steel - E9th
Modulate
 Pedal Steel - E9th
Spring
 Pedal Steel - E9th
+Delay
 Pedal Steel - E9th



There are quite a few pictures below. Click on them to see them full size or at least sized to a browser window. Click on the picture again if needed to zoom in even more!







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