u/MagpyeRecords

I have the RV-6 currently, and it’s really good. It was actually my first ever pedal, and a gift from my wife. So I’ll never sell it but I’m ready for an upgrade, and looking for suggestions on something premium, as it’s one of the final pieces of the board I’ve been working towards for a while.

I’m a home player, and been gassing for the Cornerstone Nucleo ever since I saw it on TPS, and then watched the vid at the reactor. Incredible, it sounds amazing, I love the back story, but very importantly, it seems to have a huge amount of functionality but with a very intuitive interface.

BUT, a friend pointed out the Empress Reverb is probably the absolute top of the mountain and has been for a while. I watched some reviews and blown away by how many incredible sounding options it has, and the ability to save several presets, and again a simple interface.

My use case is broadly what I have with the RV-6: three or four main presets which I use and can tweak a little bit. move between a few options, and then mostly forget about, but very easily adjustable when I’m in them. And then a little weirdness when i want it. ideally a bit more weird than I’ve got now, and all round just a far higher quality of effect.

Has anyone got and played the Nucleo or the Empress reverb? How’s your experience been with them? How do you use them? Which is the one to go for? Or, does anyone else have a lesser known (by me!) premium option which I should check out? Not really interested in Strymon and menu diving in general, i prefer a more hands on the pedal experience.

Any thoughts feelings emotions about these/your fave ‘verb pedal very welcome. TIA

I’ve been obsessed with the Grateful Dead for the past few months, such joyous inspiring music and some of the most incredible musicians I’ve ever seen.

For the past few weeks I’ve been working on putting together a Jerry inspired board, and today it’s complete. It’s not a totally faithful recreation, but playing it through today I definitely feel like I’ve nailed parts of the sound.

Signal chain is:

Guitar: Telecaster >

Tone City Funny Boy autowah > Dophix Leonardo optical compressor > Wampler Tumnus > MXR Distortion+ > Tone City Summer Orange > Boss RV-6 / Landlord FX Banging Hangover reverb >

Amp: Supro Keeley Custom 12

Overall I’m really happy. I went for the cheap autowah as I’d not really used this effect much, but I love it and will definitely upgrade down the line. That said, I’m always impressed by Tone City gear even as the cheapo option. Same for the Orange Summer - I have a Phase 95 which is broken and not fixable (by me) and I will probably get a script Phase 90 down the line, but for now it does a good slow job, albeit with quite a bit of noise.
The Leonardo is a borrow from a friend, and I hadn’t considered putting a compressor on until he leant it to me. But given Jerry’s penchant for resonating notes (thinking aluminium necks on the Travis Bean) it made sense, and really works well with the drive section. I’ll probably replace with a Keeley Compressor, but also open to suggestions for subtle and transparent options.
The Tumnus is one of my fave overdrives and had generally lived either on my main or Headphones board given its versatility. The transparent nature of it really suits the Jerry clean tones and elevates everything around it, and I can throw in a bit of gain if I need to, but am mostly using it as a transparent boost.
The MXR Distortion+ is my new favourite distortion pedal, and I love the slightly softer squished clipping. This is really the centrepiece of the board for me, and pairs so well with the autowah and the Tumnus. It’s also the one pedal which Jerry directly used, so whilst a modern reissue, it gives the board some authenticity to my mind 😂
Finally the RV6 is borrowed from my main board and is just perfect for the job of a subtle spring, but will be replaced by the Banging Hangover as the backup reverb, and which does a really nice simple room and spring without being too in your face.
Oh and the board is the side of an Ikea crate covered in velcro 😝

Overall very happy and loved researching the sounds and pedals, and doing so on a bit of a budget. Now just need to work on my playing… which may be the main weakness in the rig 😜

Premium reverb upgrade

Jerry Garcia inspired board