Guitar reverb settings: how much and which type

How much reverb

Less than it sounds like you need on your own. Reverb that sounds right with the guitar alone usually turns to wash once the drums and bass come in, so set it against a backing track or the band, and turn it down a step when in doubt.

The knob does not always move evenly. Electro-Harmonix built the Holy Grail so that its Reverb knob adds only a subtle amount up to noon and much more after it, so small moves past the middle make a big difference.

Fast parts want less reverb, or a shorter decay, than slow ones, because the tail of each note runs into the next.

Spring, plate, hall and room

Spring is the reverb built into most guitar amps, with a bright, splashy tail, and BOSS describes the RV-6's Spring mode as a copy of that amp reverb. Room is short and warm. Hall is longer, clear and spacious. Plate, modelled on a studio unit that vibrated a metal plate, is bright and dense, and suits slow leads.

Pedals add less traditional types. The RV-6 has a Shimmer mode with a sparkling high end and a Dynamic mode that sets the depth from how you play, and the Holy Grail offers Spring, Hall and a third setting of its own called Flerb.

Decay, tone and pre-delay

Decay, or Time, sets how long the tail lasts. Short decays suit rhythm and fast lines; long ones suit slow, sustained parts. Tone darkens or brightens the reverb alone, and a darker reverb sits further behind the guitar.

Pre-delay is a short gap before the reverb starts. It lets the attack of each note through before the reverb arrives, which keeps a part defined under a lot of reverb. On the TC Electronic Hall of Fame 2 it is a switch; on a larger reverb such as the Strymon BigSky it is a knob.

When you switch a reverb off, its tail can either stop dead or ring out. BOSS notes that the RV-6's reverb carries on after the effect is turned off, so the last chord of a part fades naturally.

Amp reverb

An amp's own spring reverb works like any reverb knob: 2 to 3 for clean, less as the gain goes up. On a Fender '65 Deluxe Reverb it only works on the Vibrato channel, so plug in there if you want it.

Built-in reverb sits inside the amp, ahead of the power section, so on an amp turned up into distortion the reverb is driven along with the notes. For a clean amp that is fine. For a loud crunch sound, keep the amp's reverb low, or use a reverb pedal in the effects loop, where the tail stays clear.

Reverb with distortion

High gain and a lot of reverb fight each other. The distortion raises the level of the tail and sustains it, so palm mutes and fast riffs blur. Keep the reverb at 1 to 2 for rhythm, or off, and bring it up for a lead, where the space helps a sustained note.

Put the reverb after the distortion: after the drive pedals, or in the amp's effects loop when the amp makes the gain. In front of a dirty amp, the reverb tail gets distorted as well.

Reverb and delay together

Put the delay first and the reverb after it. The reverb then softens the echoes along with the notes, which blends the two. The other way round, each echo repeats a reverb tail and the sound clouds over quickly. The RV-6 has a +Delay mode that combines the two in one pedal.

Chris Isaak's Wicked Game is a good model of the pair: a clean Stratocaster with generous reverb, a subtle delay and gentle vibrato, where the space is part of the song.

Reverb settings for one song on your amp

These amounts are starting points. How much reverb a part can carry depends on the amp, the gain and the rest of the chain, so the same setting sits differently from one rig to the next. When you want one song's whole chain set for the amp you own, Tonelify works out the positions for that rig, reverb included.