Not way back I unequivocally declared Meris’ Mercury X (9/10, WIRED Recommends) one of the best reverb pedal you should buy. The very day that evaluate went dwell, 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 can be an understatement. Whereas it nonetheless appears to be like just like the BigSky in the event you squint, and also you’ll discover many acquainted reverb algorithms on its entrance panel, the MX is an virtually 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 now not say there’s a definitive “best” 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 specific 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 screen, and the in depth array of knobs may appear too complicated 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 way of presets utilizing both the Worth knob within the prime proper or through the use of the foot switches. And in the event you simply need to begin from scratch, there’s a knob within the prime left that selects from the 12 reverb engines. The row of seven knobs under that management all of your most necessary 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 immediately from the font panel. As an example, if you wish to change the voicing of the Shimmer reverb from the hi-fi MX model to the basic mannequin, it’s essential 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, in the event you determine you’d somewhat have management of the 2 parameters at present hidden away within the menu, you possibly can swap them.
For the reason that variety of issues to deal with is streamlined, it ought to take solely an hour or so to determine the fundamentals of the BigSky MX. It might take a couple of days or perhaps a few weeks to actually grasp all of its subtleties, however even in the event you’re averse to menu diving, it is best to really feel fairly snug by the top of day one.
What is going to take probably the most time is just familiarizing your self with all of the out there reverb choices at your disposal. Even in the event you ignore the IR (impulse response) engine, which affords virtually countless selection by itself, there’s quite a bit 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 finest is at its finest is on the smaller, extra delicate finish of the reverb spectrum. That’s to not say it could actually’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 mild ambiance that you would merely go away on one hundred pc. At decrease settings you won’t even consciously discover the reverb, however you’d know if it was immediately turned off.
The Spring, Corridor and Chamber reverb choices are a bit extra apparent and may attain absurd depths when cranked, however nonetheless they’re usually pure sounding and don’t scream “Hey, check out this crazy reverb!”
