Not way back I unequivocally declared Meris’ Mercury X (9/10, WIRED Recommends) the very best reverb pedal you should buy. The very day that evaluate went stay, Strymon, one of many pioneers of high-end boutique guitar pedals, introduced the BigSky MX, an replace to its legendary BigSky reverb.
To name the replace huge could be an understatement. Whereas it nonetheless seems just like the BigSky for those who squint, and also you’ll discover many acquainted reverb algorithms on its entrance panel, the MX is an nearly ground-up reimagining of what the BigSky will be. And whereas I’m not about to say that Strymon has already usurped Meris, I can not say there’s a definitive “greatest” reverb pedal. In the event you’re available in the market for both, you are in for a deal with.
Into the Weeds
The BigSky MX is a selected breed of impact that may flip off gamers preferring their guitar pedals to only have a few knobs and one or two foot switches. The piles of presets, the display, and the in depth array of knobs might sound too advanced for some at first, however a part of the great thing about the BigSky MX is how easy it’s to make use of.
{Photograph}: Terrence O’Brien
You possibly can scroll by means of presets utilizing both the Worth knob within the high proper or by utilizing the foot switches. And for those who simply wish to begin from scratch, there’s a knob within the high left that selects from the 12 reverb engines. The row of seven knobs under that management all of your most vital parameters: Decay, Pre-Delay, Tone, Mod, and Combine. Then two knobs labeled Param 1 and Param 2 are engine dependent. For instance, on Spring setting, param 1 controls the quantity of low finish within the reverb, whereas in Shimmer it controls the pitch of echo one.
Some parameters aren’t accessible straight from the font panel. As an illustration, if you wish to change the voicing of the Shimmer reverb from the hi-fi MX model to the basic mannequin, you’ll want to faucet the Worth knob to open the parameter menu. However the variety of hidden parameters often isn’t overwhelming. Some engines solely have three or 4 parameters to manage in complete. And, for those who determine you’d relatively have management of the 2 parameters at present hidden away within the menu, you possibly can swap them.
Because the variety of issues to take care of is streamlined, it ought to take solely an hour or so to determine the fundamentals of the BigSky MX. It might take a number of days or perhaps a few weeks to actually grasp all of its subtleties, however even for those who’re averse to menu diving, it’s best to really feel fairly snug by the top of day one.
What’s going to take probably the most time is just familiarizing your self with all of the accessible reverb choices at your disposal. Even for those who ignore the IR (impulse response) engine, which affords nearly countless selection by itself, there’s rather a lot to work with. There are 12 reverb engines that vary from easy, natural-sounding Room and Spring algorithms to the ethereal Cloud and glitchy Nonlinear choices.
Nice for All the time-On Efficiency
The place I believe the BigSky MX is at its greatest is at its greatest is on the smaller, extra refined finish of the reverb spectrum. That’s to not say it may possibly’t do epic otherworldly weirdness, but it surely’s the much less flashy stuff the place it actually shines. The Room reverb is the sort of light ambiance that you would merely depart on 100%. At decrease settings you may not even consciously discover the reverb, however you’d know if it was out of the blue turned off.
The Spring, Corridor and Chamber reverb choices are a bit extra apparent and might attain absurd depths when cranked, however nonetheless they’re typically pure sounding and don’t scream “Hey, try this loopy reverb!”
