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wwhhhaatt « good multi use verb »
Published on 07/12/11 at 08:07The verbzilla is another in Line 6's series of small stomp boxes meant to digitally emulate classic sounds. It has stereo 1/4" inputs and outputs, 9v dc in, 5 parameter knobs, and a switch to turn trails on or off. There are 11 reverb models including spring, plate, room, chamber, ducking, hall, cave, octo, tile, and even an echo capable of short delay repeats. All this is in an enclosure that seems to weigh as much as a brick.
UTILIZATION
Set-up and dialing in a sound are a breeze on this pedal. There are no sub menus or anything to navigate. One dial controls which model you are using and the others are self explanatory as to how they change the sound. The manual is well written and clears up any questions you might have about the parameter adjusting. Really the only thing most people might not immediately grasp is the "time" knob since it's something you would more often see in an echo unit.
SOUND QUALITY
I used the verbzilla in a pretty large pedal board set-up for guitar. The bypass on the pedal was okay and it didn't color the sound too much when on or off. In a set-up the size I was working with it's kind of difficult to figure out exactly what is changing your tone and really if you need purity you would probably be better off with an actual spring unit as this box is better suited for the wilder side of reverb.The pedal can also clip when used in a hot effects loop which may be a deal breaker for some.
I spent most of my time with the octo and cave settings as they were the deepest sounding reverbs. The octo sound is what some might refer to as a "shimmer" sound. It is a very large reverb with some pitch shifting that adds a very eerie upper octave in the background. Cave is exactly what you might imagine by the name. Just think of yelling into a huge cave and that's what this model does. Just a huge reverb that can make odd chords sound very dark. The more traditional reverbs were okay but with my limited experience with reverbs even I have found better options for spring and hall sounds.
OVERALL OPINION
If you are looking for a wide variety of sounds without breaking the bank or using up too much space on a board you should give this pedal a shot. It was perfect for me at the time as I don't use too much reverb and mainly wanted the more wild sounds anyway. If what you want is a very authentic reverb sound with a perfectly clear bypass then look else where. You would probably be happier with one of the malekko reverbs or something like an actual spring unit or top of the line lexicon. I owned the pedal for a few years and never had any real problems with it. I eventually just realized that I didn't really need a reverb with all the delays I have so I sold it. Sometimes I miss the cave and octo settings so I might get another someday just to have around.
UTILIZATION
Set-up and dialing in a sound are a breeze on this pedal. There are no sub menus or anything to navigate. One dial controls which model you are using and the others are self explanatory as to how they change the sound. The manual is well written and clears up any questions you might have about the parameter adjusting. Really the only thing most people might not immediately grasp is the "time" knob since it's something you would more often see in an echo unit.
SOUND QUALITY
I used the verbzilla in a pretty large pedal board set-up for guitar. The bypass on the pedal was okay and it didn't color the sound too much when on or off. In a set-up the size I was working with it's kind of difficult to figure out exactly what is changing your tone and really if you need purity you would probably be better off with an actual spring unit as this box is better suited for the wilder side of reverb.The pedal can also clip when used in a hot effects loop which may be a deal breaker for some.
I spent most of my time with the octo and cave settings as they were the deepest sounding reverbs. The octo sound is what some might refer to as a "shimmer" sound. It is a very large reverb with some pitch shifting that adds a very eerie upper octave in the background. Cave is exactly what you might imagine by the name. Just think of yelling into a huge cave and that's what this model does. Just a huge reverb that can make odd chords sound very dark. The more traditional reverbs were okay but with my limited experience with reverbs even I have found better options for spring and hall sounds.
OVERALL OPINION
If you are looking for a wide variety of sounds without breaking the bank or using up too much space on a board you should give this pedal a shot. It was perfect for me at the time as I don't use too much reverb and mainly wanted the more wild sounds anyway. If what you want is a very authentic reverb sound with a perfectly clear bypass then look else where. You would probably be happier with one of the malekko reverbs or something like an actual spring unit or top of the line lexicon. I owned the pedal for a few years and never had any real problems with it. I eventually just realized that I didn't really need a reverb with all the delays I have so I sold it. Sometimes I miss the cave and octo settings so I might get another someday just to have around.