Boss RV-5

This pedal takes a long time to really figure out. My first big hurdle? Realizing I needed to turn the tone knob COMPLETELY OFF. Don't use it at all, EVER. I'm all for personal opinion, but boss pedal tone sucks for some reason. Once I got beyond that, I started to figure out how to get all the sounds I wanted fairly easily.

I have the following chain:
Boss turbo overdrive, electro harmonix minipog, line 6 dl4, and then boss rv-5. The rv 5 is great for blurring the line between delay changes (I switch between them frequently. Think any sigur ros song where the guitar goes from prominent and perticular to downright "stringy" or "blurry"). The gate sound is great for any kind of droning noise. I haven't found much use for the modulation reverb sound, but it's still nice to play with every once and a while. I never use plate or spring simply because I'm not a fan. Hall, room, and gate all sound fantastic. yeah they sound digital and cold sometimes, but I like having a heavy effects presence in my music, I'm not one for being subtle. I play alt rock in a similar vein as bands like dinosaur jr, sonic youth, pavement, pixies...

aside from the age old boss problem of inputs coming loose (or maybe it's just me), never ever had a problem with this pedal.

I've never had to contact boss

In the end, this pedal is still a boss pedal, which to me means it's a solid pedal. It's not the greatest thing ever made, obviously, but it's much better than most of what is out there. The only other pedal within a similar price range that I could think of recommending over this is the electroharmonix holy grail. For it's price, I'd say it's well worth it. The more you use it, the more uses you find for it, and it's much more powerful than some people let on. I've given it a ten based on it's usefulness compared to it's price.

Very easy to use. Self explanatory controls knobs: effect level, tone and time work well and have good sweep. Also a six-way selector knob for the reverb modes, arranged effectively enough.

I use Fenders and the like (such as Gretsch) through the RV-5 and a few other pedals (delay, overdrive). I like to keep the effects to a minimum and currently only use delay and the reverb. This goes into My Dr. Z Maz 18 Junior. This setup is stunning and is a true experience in great tone. I favor the "Plate" and "Room" settings most, though I use some of the others regularly enough. The Tone on the pedal is not oppressive and actually enhances the sound of my setup. Does not color in any negative or obtrusive way. I use it to brighten the sound up just a bit. The reverbs are warm and professional sounding. "Hall" and "Modulate" are great - give you anything from a "Twin Peaks" tone to a My Bloody Valentine sound. I have stopped using my Boss chorus because when I want a lush, ethereal sound, the "Modulate" setting on this pedal can't be beat. "Plate" and "Room" particularly give my sound a tough, mean garage-y snarl. Perfect compliment to the Maz, and that's saying a lot. Yes, the "boing" on the "Spring" setting is a disappointment. Is just too sensitive. You have to play at very low output for it to work rigt on this setting. But even if they got it right, I'd be sticking with the ones I've already mentioned, 'cause I love 'em. Also, there's a "Gate" setting that is just edgy and strange! Somewhat "Room-ish" but almost backwards sounding. Less uses, but it's cool and is actually great for lead. I like to mess with it from time to time!

Totally reliable. In my experience, Boss just has a perfect track record. Built very tough.

I have played for about 25 years. I like rock, indie rock etc. Edgy stuff, sometimes. Has slowly changed over the years. I wish this pedal was around since I started playing - I am finding it invaluable. Brings my Fender Strat and Jaguar to life. Ditto my Gretsch! Total compliment to my awesome Dr. Z Maz 18 Jr. amp. Takes care of all reverb needs that my amp reverb doesn't. Is easy to use and has a very useful selection of sounds. Incidentally, you could pretty much get a spring-like reverb sound by messing with the settings on "Hall" and "Plate," I think. Would replace this pedal immediately. I like some of these distinct settings so much that trying to find another pedal to do them would be a waste of time. If I was wealthy, I'd get extras so I could have dedcated pedal for my fave settings. A real value, and the sort that one expects from Boss! Try one out - tons of fun! Too bad about the Spring setting - they should fine tune it.

There is more than 1 knob on this so you will have to experiment with it to get use to it. Makes sence right?

The Mode Settings I "Like" are: Room, Hall, and Modulate

The Mode Settings I "Do NOT Like" are: Spring, Plate, Gate

"Important" When adding this to your pedal board, make sure you put this "AFTER" your distortion type pedals or it will sound like crap! The general rule of effect placement is always in this order: Guitar to Distortion to Clean to Filter to Amp. (For those who don't know this already of course)

So far so good.

Never needed them

I'm 46 and have been playing for 32 years (for what it's worth).
Like most things, "before you buy it - try it"
But if you don't get that luxury to try it first then all I can say is if your just looking to add some or some more reverb to your sound, this should do the job. If you???re looking for a certain special type of sound, then really, how can you expect to magically find it by just reading? Everybody???s taste is different and this will never change!

The Boss RV-5 is easy to use and pretty much self explanatory. E.Level is a Wet/Dry Mix. Tone cuts highs in the counter clockwise position, cuts bass in the clockwise position. Time knob increases or decreases your decay time and the Reverb Selector, is just that.

I particularly like the way this pedal sounds in the the fx loop especially if you plan on using your amps distortion, but it sounds alright at the end of your signal chain. I'm going to echo some of the same sentiments as the previous posts: The Spring Verb is crap. That little sound that it makes, again is useless. The Room and Hall Verbs are much better, With Hall being my most favorite. Contrary to other users, i find the Modulation Effect to be quite pleasing, and kinda goes with my dreamy pop guitar sound. Sinking 150 for just that effect sounds kinda steep to me, but the five options made versatility a selling point, but i'm just dissapointed in 3 out of the 5.

switches clean and easy. a little noisy if the time knob is dimed

never was an issue

This pedal fits my reverb needs, but if it suddenly disappeared or exploded, i don't think i'd hurry out and get another. The useful reverb tones are okay, but the others are horrid.

RV-5 is just like all other Boss pedals: buffered, silent JFET bypass, tough construction, small package, clean sound with little noise. It's super easy. Mode selects reverb type, Time sets reverb decay length, Tone controls the brightness of the reverb sound, and Level controls the wet/dry mix. Stereo ins and outs, 9V power, etc. Nothing challenging here.

Overall the pedal sounds pretty good. I liked most of the modes, but the gate reverb is a useless novelty and the spring reverb is absolutely horrible and un-usable. I used this pedal in the FX loop of my Boogie Mark IVa combo (which has a beautiful spring reverb, but it's not footswitchable and I hate reaching behind the amp to adjust it). I got this pedal to expand my reverb options and to allow me to footswitch it on the fly. As for guitars I use both a Strat and a Les Paul. The RV-5 is a bit thin sounding. Lowering the tone control helps, but only slightly. I really like a great spring reverb, but Boss dropped the ball on this one... Big Time! The tone of the spring verb is close, but it has that aweful spring slapping sound like when you bump your amp with the verb turned up. That pretty cool and authentic sounding, but it is so sensitive that even a moderate pick attack causes it to bang away like crazy. It makes it completely useless. It's more like a novelty springy noise maker. I though that maybe my FX Loop's level was too hot, so I tried it in front of the amp... no change. Even with my Strat's single coils I couldn't pick even remotely hard without that horrible BOING!!!!! happening on every note. Accutronics?... I think they modeled this on a broken reverb tank! That said, the rest of the modes were pretty good, especially the Hall... very smooth. So if you don't care for spring reverb, give this pedal a try. However if you're looking for that sweet Fender tube reverb tone, this pedal is NOT for you. I ended up taking it back and getting a Line6 Verbzilla instead (which I liked much more BTW). I'll give it a 6 simply because the other reverb modes were still pretty good.

I've owened quite a few Boss pedals over the years and they have all proven to be very reliable. I have a Boss DD-20 on my pedal board too (great delay - check it out too). I don't see any reason why this one would be any different.

Never had to deal with them. Their website is quite good though with lots of samples, demos, manuals, etc.

This wasn't a bad pedal. It just wasn't for me. I was VERY disappointed in the Spring mode, but the rest were pretty good. Once again, if you're not a spring reverb cat, give this one a try. It might serve you well for more "studio" type reverbs. I did like the Hall reverb a lot. Just don't expect that sweet smokey Fender tube reverb tone to come from this box.

Well, the pedal is easy enough to use in terms of twisting knobs the way they're supposed to be twisted. It's not difficult to understand the instrument at all.

It IS difficult to get a satisfying reverb sound when using distortion, though.

CLEAN: The sound quality of the RV-5 on clean sounds great. I run the pedal from a Fender Stratocaster American Deluxe to a B-52 AT-100 Half Stack and I get enough warmth out of the pedal for my settings. I don't really seem to lose much of any tone on the clean setting, and there is little noise.

DISTORTION/OVERDRIVE: On these settings, the pedal sounds significantly noisier (which is pretty ridiculous, considering I have noiseless pickups) and has an unbearable tinny sound. I've tweaked with the sound and the knobs the best I could and couldn't remedy this. I think this is the greatest downfall of the pedal, and a big one at that.

It's also inconvenient that the reverb kicks in AFTER you've played your lick, not during.

EFFECTS: The effects sound nice enough, for what they are. The spring reverb has a nice authentic sound, but it's not really for me. The hall reverb is a little to strong for me, and the room doesn't seem to adjust much when modified by the knobs. The gate reverb doesn't sound pleasant, as it cuts out sometimes before you even have the chance to mute the strings.

The pedal is reliable, as long as you carry your AC adapter. The batteries run out quickly with it.

The frame is well-built and sturdy, so I can't imagine that it would break any time soon.

Considering that I play every style from Metal to Bluegrass to Jazz to Blues to Pop to Techno, this pedal has some useful applications here and there. The biggest downsides are that the reverb does not kick in until after the notes have been played (no immediate playback) and the distortion sound is too tinny, regardless of how much equalizing I try to do.

If this was stolen, I'd probably just be upset that I was out of the money, not the pedal. The pedal is easily replaced with a better pedal. I'm going to return this pedal as soon as I get to the music store.

Overall, I'd say it was a waste of money and that it destroyed my tone.

Very easy to use pedal. straightforward controls, no programs to surf through, easy.

I am confused by some of the reviews. i try to keep in mind that its all about preference, but some of the things people are saying are just flat out wrong.

anywho, it sounds great. the gate reverb is probably best used for precussion instruments.

heres my intial reactions:

b:Spring[/b]: very well done. warm and lush sounding, and i love that "boing" water drop sound at high volume or if you play hard. i will probably use this setting alot.

b:Plate[/b]: interesting sounding. sounded really spacious. im gonna play with it more.
b:
Hall[/b]: very nice. sounds like a huge church. this one will get used a lot as well.

b:Room[/b]: also really nice. sounds insane at long time settings.

b:Gate[/b]: what the hell is this. i am gonna play with this more, see what i can do with it.
b:
Modulate[/b]: my friend madison told me i should buy it for this setting alone. that kids knows a thing or two about cool sounding stuff. super lush, awesome modulation, and freaking dreamy as hell. im gonna use this alot, too.

all in all this thing sounds fantastic. ive used it in front of my friends fender roc pro 1000 combo and in the effects loop of my vox ac30cc. sounded great with both.

its boss.

never had to use it. good online support.

i got it for a great price, and its fantastic. people bash on it for sounding too metallic and tinny, but thats what the tone knob is for. its doesnt sound too digital either. the spring setting is warm an lush, and its for sure my favorite, followed closely by the plate setting.

i play energetic indie type stuff. if you are into newer brand new, manchester orchestra, death cab for cutie, and the like you would probably dig my band.

anyway, great pedal.

It Is Easy.

In my opinion spring rev. sounds just bad, absolutly unuseful because that kind of spring noise - making amplifier only if you kick it, but not when you play, but in case with that pedal spring noise follow your pick.Just rubbish.Yes it possible to adjust and almost get rid of that noise, but real spring rev. do not sound like it.
Another thing i do not like is By Pass- It is not true bypass and pedal changes real sound of the guitar when rever is not in use.

Modulate - another unuseful effect - what is? It is not chorus, it is like kind of lightly untuned guitar.

Hall reverrb is best in that pedal.

30 minutes of " jamming" with that pedal enough for me,tomorrow i will i ask for my money back from shop i bought it.

If you have enough mental stability to plug a cord in this thing and turn it on, you can get a great sound out of your guitar. I strongly disagree with some of the comments posted here. I say that because I came to this review forum hoping to find some helpful information, not hype or negative propaganda. Anyway, I had an RV-3 once upon a time and hated myself for selling it. I tried a real tube reverb unit which sounded more lush than anything I've ever heard, but it sucked out my mids bigtime and was too bulky. Then, a Dano that broke at some point when I stomped on it (I thought that's what stomp boxes were for). The case was pretty weak on the DE, but it sounded good. Then a Holy Grail, which was ok, and I gave up after that until I got this RV-5. A very familiar layout and the sound I missed was there again. I've used rack mounts and this box comes pretty close. A rack mount is hard to beat, but this box fits on my pedal board nicely and that pushes it over the edge for me. One guy who rated this at 1's straight across said that maybe he should "go back to playing golf". You know what? Go back to playing golf and leave playing guitar to real working musicians if you feel that way. I've been involved in show biz for going on 4 decades and this is a great pedal.

The pedal is pretty quiet, for a pedal, and it has several great reverb sounds. I agree with most reviewers that the spring reverb isn't that great. Ok, it sucks, but who says I have to use it? My amp sucks if I dial the treble, mids and bass down to one, so I don't do that. I don't use the spring reverb, but the Hall reverb is great. I've been playing around with a few other sounds, but the Hall seems to be the best overall sound for constant use. I normally use it with my delay for slower songs - gives a very eerie/romantic sound to the guitar. You can probably get better reverb devices, but for me this is the easiest way to fatten up my sound. Just plug and play with it for a few minutes and you'll find your sound. Simple.

Very reliable. Never had a Boss pedal fail me.

I play lots of rock, original and classic, blues, and lots of country style chicken pickin' depending on who I'm with and where I'm playing. I've been playing for about 45 years. I typically play my Les Paul Classic with pafs and my trusty stock Telecaster on gigs. I fiddle around with a jazz box and a few others at home, but I can't take all that stuff on the road. I compared this to other pedals such as I mentioned above, and for the money and portability, this one seems to do the best job. I haven't the time to try everything out there, but Boss always seems to be a safe bet. I own a few other pedals, such as an Ibanez TS9, an Ernie Ball volume, a Zvex SHO at the end of my chain, and an Ibanez delay. I'm currently in the process of reducing the number of pedals I have on my board, but this RV-5, the Ibanez delay, my Dunlop Crybaby, and the TS9 will stay aboard. If you are seriously thinking about getting one of these but have been turned off by a few of the reviews, keep this in mind: there are lots of wanna be's out there who feel that since they've noodled around with guitars for a few years they're somehow experts on tone and effects. Playing live is a different world (any professional musician can tell you that) and that's the best place to test your gear. That's where I've tested this pedal and it works for me. Take it with a grain of salt, but this ain't a bad pedal for the bucks. Maybe you'll like something you like better, but this really is a good pedal.

Very easy to use. I bought it used, without a manual and I didn't have any problem figuring it out. The one problem I had was figuring out how to get rid of the "boing" noise in the spring reverb setting and I doubt that was in the manual anyway

This is a great sounding pedal, except for the "boing" noise in the spring reverb setting. But with a little experimentation, I figured out how to get rid of the noise.

Actually, the "boing" noise sounds just like a real spring reverb does when you tap on it lightly, or when you give your reverb amp a little kick. I also noticed that the noise was controllable by how hard I picked a note - light picking gave no "boing" sound, heavy picking and the "boing" was there.

What I realized is that if I turned the volume down at the guitar, that would keep the noise from happening. I had to turn my amp up to make up the difference. You could also use whatever boost pedal you have after the RV-5. I also found I could actually put a little of the "boing" back into the sound to simulate the sound in some old surf songs by adjusting the volume on the guitar up or down a little.

Now that I figured that out, I really love this pedal.

It's normal Boss quality.

Never used it

Quiet, realistic sounds, good selection of sounds - what's not to like?

Its relatively easy to use. The knobs are self-explanatory. Just fiddle around a bit with the various types off reverbs this pedal has and you'll probably find the sound you want easily.
The manual you get with it is pretty clear, but a bit summarized, so no great details.

Most reverbs on this pedal are very good, you really get the feeling your in a large stadium. Only the spring reverb is pretty bad because you hear a weird klik when you hit your strings. It sounds a bit like drops off water falling in a pool in a large hall, it echoes. I don't really like that. But it has five other reverb modes, so I don't really mind. I wasn't a big fan off spring reverb anyway.
I use this with my Lakland 55-02 bass, or my fretless bass on an swr amp.
Its dead quiet, no hums or anything.

Its a tank!!!

never dealt with them

I use this pedal when I have solo's or when I'm playing crying ballads (usually with a fretless bass). When I play fretless I use it with a EBS Unichorus and they work great together.
If it were stolen I'd save up the money to buy it again.
What I love abouot it is the quality off the sounds and the reliability.
It sucks up a lot off power, so BUY AN ADAPTER!!!!!
I compared it to a digitech reerb and a line-6 reverb and this one sounded best and looked the most reliable and durable.
I can't imagine some off my songs without this thing anymore.
Again: Buy an adapter, batteries last only for a few hours, six I beleive maybe less. So three practice sessions and you need to repplace it again.

seemed somewhat easy to get the sounds I was looking for. I think the pedal came with instructions and settings but I didnt look to see if thats true or not. Easy enough I didnt need any

For a digital reverb I hink the pedal does just fine. I use the pedal in the effects loop of my boogie rectoverb and it seems to work just fine. I bought the rv5 because believe it or not,even with an amp called rectoVERB, the built in reverb of the amp is a bit weak.
I set out to purchase a reverb pedal but because I dont use it with all my playing I knew I didnt want to spend some ungodly amount of doe on one. I decided to go digital so I knew this pedal would never totally compare to a tube driven unit. For what I use the rv5 for it does very well. There are some nice sounds on it and some weak sounds also. I enjoy using the spring,hall and room reverb. The others like,modulation I cant see why they would even add that to a pedal. I guess someone may want it though? The unit does not create any noise with my setup. Ive enjoyed the pedal since I got it.
If you decide to buy this pedal you must not compare it to anolog/tube reverb. Its a digital,,it even says that on the pedal..compare it to a digitech or something

its a boss

never spoke to them

I play everything from blues to rock to metal. Like I said above,,when buying this I went in knowing that it was digital. I accepted the fact that it will never sound like a $400 unit. Therefore
comparing it to other digital reverbs I think its about the best Ive tried. I cant think of anything I really dislike about it. But it blows the built in reverb of my rectoverb away.

The pedal is easy to use, just play with the various modes and twist the settings so you understand what they do. Place it last in the chain...after your noise surpressor.

The sound is great. The qulaity is great...very adjustable.

I had a Digitech but found the sound to be dull and the adjustment knobs didnt seem to be linear enough...the effect level would jump.

New. No problems.

New. No problems.

Great pedal. I play rock, metal, alternative etc...

My settings are:
E level - 10%
Tone - 50%
Time - 50%
Mode - Hall

This pedal has a lot of great reverb options. Easy to use...

This reverb pedal sounds a lot better than the EH Holy Grail. I had that pedal but returned it because it made my amp REALLY noisy. This Boss pedal has alot of great sounds from the Spring to the Modulated reverb. Surf, shoegaze, chicken pickin'...this pedal covers it all. Some reviews said this pedal sounds thin. I'm running mine through a Fender Blues Jr. and it sounds nice and fat.

It's a Boss pedal...built like a tank.

Had to contact Boss once about a problem with another pedal. A little hassle but in the end they took care of it.

A good value for so many quality reverbs...

Really esay to use. No need to use the manual.

Great sound. I use it with both my bass and guitar.

I would bring this to every gig I go to.

Never dealt with company.

I love this pedal! It has great sound compared to other reverb pedals I've tried.

simple to use,tone knob really helps warm up the decay.

these reviews crack me up! one guy says its ok with the exception of the warp mode!other folks put it before their dod distortion metalizer!still others say it makes there valvestate sound ''fake and digital''.i happen to really like this pedal.i know one long time nashville slide player who's played in town 3x a week for years.he uses a vibro-king onstage that has a built in 3 knob spring reverb but has opted to use this instead.i love the stereo ins and outs!ive got three stereo boss pedals[dd-5,pn-2,rv-5]all bouncing around between two fender musicmaster bass amps and it sounds cool!i will say the spring mode does have a weird boing to it,though.doesnt drastically alter my guitar tone either.i mean unless your eric johnson and can hear the number of wraps in your guitar cord then this will cover your reverb needs.

yup!

been playing 20 years,finally learning that low watt amps and a few good stompers are all you need.keep it simple,save your boutique amp/pedal money for whats important in life:women,cars,kids & beer[not necassarily in that order]
oh,i forgot the rv5 review.
the stereo ins and outs did it for me.had the rv2/rv3 in the past.none drastically different in tone.get a dedicated delay pedal if you want delay!

Couple of knobs and that's it. No rocket science here.

If you realize that this unit has tons of headroom and you're conservative with where the knobs wind up, it sounds awesome.

As sturdy as they come.

I play country, rock, blues, and some jazz. My son-in-law plays metal. We both like this pedal.

Easy to use. I mean does it get any easier? The sounds are good. No problems.

First off... I can't understand what all the bad reviews are here. I have a ton of effects ranging from Zvex, to Digitech, to Keeley modded stuff.

I think the thing that people do with this pedal is put it in front of your amp. It's sounds cold and harsh and just flat out ugly in front of your amp's distortion. I am thinking that most of the people are probably using their amp's distortion and because of this, can't get a decent sound.

I think alot of effects loops don't do what they are supposed to.

I use all pedal distortion, expect in very light drive situations. I don't think I've heard too many reverbs that were "warm sounding"... I always thought the Fender reverb sounded kinda cold. I guess I don't understand what people expect out of reverb.

My chain is as follows - Digitech Whammy, Zvex Wah Probe, Maxon AF-9 Filter, Hughes & Kettner Rotosphere, Maxon DS-830 Distortion Master, Visual Sound Jekyll & Hyde Ultimate Overdrive, ISP Noise Decimator, Maxon PH-350 Rotary Phase, Keeley Modded Line 6 MM-4, Boss RV-5 Digital Reverb, Boss RV-3 Digital Delay/Reverb, Keeley Modded Line 6 DL-4.

That is the stuff I use on stage, but I have a ton of boutique overdrives, analog delays, synth pedals, and even a tape echo, vintage Fender amps, etc...

This all goes into a Hughes & Kettner Duotone thru a Orange 4x12 cabinet with Celestion Greenbacks.

I like this reverb, yeah, it sounds digital, do you see the word "DIGITAL" right next the word "Reverb"?.

I can get some really long trails, some more subtle verb, and some kinda cool room sounds. It integrates pretty well with my other effects. Sounds FINE with distortion. I get some pretty clear and crisp sounds out of it. I like to consider my rig the best of old and new.

Some of the sounds are kindy cheesey, but for the most part I think it's a winner.

I have never even HEARD of a Boss pedal dying.

Never dealt with them... which is probably a good thing.

I am a young guy... some old heads would say I don't know anything about tone. The truth is... I can afford mostly anything I want, and I choose this pedal in my chain. I own 10's of thousands of dollars worth of stuff, and I think I've got a pretty good ear. I have been playing for about 15 years and I have been thru 100's of pedals. This pedal is really is worth the money, if you get one, make sure you use it right, and you will probably have good results. Keep in mind, it's a digital piece of equipment, and will never sound quite the same as some of the vintage stuff, or a blackface's reverb.

I think Boss did a pretty good job on this one.

it is easy.
the manual gives you a few examples of how to use this pedal.

I use it with electric violin (yamaha ev205), a yamaha strings amplifier and DD-20 gigadelay. and an LRbaggs para di.

the great thing about this pedal is that it can handle the input signal coming out of my violin and preamp.
The Holy Grail reverb pedal could not do that. It resulted in a somewhat distorted tone.

The pedal is very versitale and I am really really happy with it.
Its not true bypass, like the holy grail, but my ears cant tell the difference in this case. Moreover, unlike the holy grail, the tone is not being sucked when the pedal is ON.

I also compared this pedal with a Verbzilla and some other pedals (glx, I had never heard of it). The reverb of the rv-5 is also better then the one on my old roland re800 and the 24 bit reverb on my phonic mixing desk.

Some reviews below are very negative about the rv-5.
Of course I did read them and they almost had made me buy another pedal without even trying the rv-5!
But all I can say is that its a really good product.

I dont expect any problems.

In order to keep a rich tone I try to use as little effects as possible.
I only use the digital delay (I need a few different types of delay in several songs) and a touch of reverb, but only in places without natural reverb.
Most of the time I use a modest amount of hall.

As I said before, I compered it to holy grail and verbzilla.
In my case, Verbzilla is simply not as good as the rv-5 and I get some sort of mandoline orhestra sound when I use the octo mode. I dont want that.
I completely fell in love with the Holy grail, with its excellent Hall and great Flerb effect sound. But it distorted my tone. Something to do with impedance or input volumes I guess.
But I liked the rv-5 also. Very clean reverb, very versatile.

It could have been a 10 but I am sure there will be even better reverb pedals within ten years.

I wonder why Boss does not sell a reverb twin pedal.
It could be a winner.

This is a decent Reverb unit...it's fairly easy to use, level, tone, (amount of reverb), and selection of what reverb type.

I'm sure there is manual , if you purchase it new.

After playing with it , you'll figure it out...

The sound quality is very good. It's not noisy. And , it's nice to have a level and a tone adjustment. I'm primairly using this in the studio and before I go to a direct box to the soundboard. This unit has stereo ins and outs, so you can achieve a nice stereo mix if you're going into a soundboard mixer.

Boss makes fairly reliable stuff, it's a quality product. You can buy this stuff used too, I did and saved a little bit of money.

Well, I've dealt with Roland before and their support is some of the best out there, I'm sure Boss is the same.

Overall, great effect if you need some reverb. The only thing I don't really like is the spring reverb is a little too sensative on the spring side...the tone is good , but you get a little "quack" when you pick hard, I think the dynamic is off somewhat. Every thing is great, hall, room , plate, and the modulation is really neat for that "Eno/Lanois/Edge" sound, it's really cool in stereo. I actually choose this effect becuase I wanted to find that type of processing, well it's nails if you want that. I think it's difficult to replicate any real tube drivin spring reverb, so I'll cut them a brake , but everything else is really , really good and high quality. Stereo ins and outs are a nice feature, I wish more effects had this capabiltiy.

Very easy to use. Input and output and turn some knobs.

I see a lot bad reviews on this product and I have to feel that some of these are negative because of where the reverb is in the pedal chain. Just like an amp with built in reverb it should be at the end of the chain. The guy at GC that sold me the unit tried to tell me it should be up front. I don't think you want to use reverb before your distortion. Some of the review say that clean sounds great but distortion is God awful,I wonder why.

Built like a rock.

None at this time.

All styles for many years.

Sooner or later you will stop tweeking the knobs and realise it is futile to try any more to get a good sound out of this.

I concur with others that have rubbished this pedal. I have learned the hard way NOT to believe a word I read on Harmony Central.However in this case I wish I had. There are a number of bad reviews on this pedal and they are spot on, unless there are good and bad batches of the RV-5.I got rid of an RV-3 that was just bearable and got an RV-5 because at the time I needed stereo inputs. Well what a piece of crap the RV-5 that I got was. I had the tone knob all the way off ie. fully counter c/wise but the thing still was too tinny, I found that the only thing to do with this pedal was to inflict it upon some other poor unsuspecting chumpa like myself. Well I had to try and recover my money didn't I. Stay away from this joke. Shame on Boss.

I'm sure it would go on sounding terrible for the rest of time.

Well they won't give you you're hard earned back will they. Spread the word on this ripp off pedal. Boss should discontinue this now and make a reverb pedal that is usable. The RV-3 that I got rid of was usable, but really, I think it was only just OK for reverb.And the reverb and delay together settings were horrible as the reverb was far too loud and you could not adjust the levels for reverb or delay. How makes these stinking things.

Absolute trash. A product like this deserves to be taken off the market. As a matter of fact.The whole pedal industry needs to have a damn good look at itself really. Stop giving them your money and maybe they will all start making guitar amps that work without having to turn them up to 11.Did you ever get a pedal that made you sound like a Marshall opeded up, of course not.It's not possible.
I think guitar players are like golfers,there are far too many of them and most of em can't play to save their lives and this is why the pedal industry has thrived and will continue to thrive. Please don't take offense, I ain't that good either.
I have had a total gut full of thinking I can get my sound using noisy expensive pain in the ass pedals. I used to just plug straight into my amp and use the volume knob on the guitar for dynamics, hell, that's what it's there for, but I got caught up in the pedal debacle for a couple of years and right now I'm realising the error of my ways. So what now? Spend another huge fortune on different amps? Maybe I should go back to golf.

Easy to understand, but not easy to get that "just right" setting.

Very disappointing! For the price I should get something much more concincing. The effect does not melt into your playing - it follows it, or adds to it, but is definately not smooth and lush like, say, a Lexicon rackmount unit. Of course you will say that a MPX-1 or G1 is four times the price - well, you get ten times the flexibility, endless preset tweakability, and five other pro-quality effects on board. So for 1/4 of the price, Boss should at least give us a single comparable reverb algorithm, which does not exist on this unit. It's not like Boss/Roland can't out with anything better; give me a break! This pedal is a ripoff.

You can never question this aspect of Boss.

If you MUST have reverb in a pedal, go ahead. It will satisfy you immediate need for reverb. Otherwise, get TC Electronic or Lexicon (MPX-1 or go cheap with LXP series and be very surprised).

Easy to use. No problem there.

Ugh... sounds beautiful on clean tones, but on distortion/overdrive. My god. It's audible vomit. Absolute crap in my opinion. The only thing keeping from bringing this sucker back is that I recieved it as a gift.

COMPLETELY !@#%$ up my tone. It's ridiculous how badly it screws it up.

It's built like a rock, but I sure wouldn't rely on it to sound good.

Didn't have to.

I play alot of rock. It's an awful match.
I've been playing for a while.
If it was stolen, I'd be delighted.
What I hate about it: Everything.
One thing I wish it had: something good about it.
It definitely gets in the way.
It just sucks. Please do not buy this. More suitable for an ashtray than anything else.

Relatively easy to use, it will take you some time sitting on the floor with it to dial in the sweet spots. The manual is easy to read, but I didn't need it.

Use reverb pedals last in your effects chain to get the best sound. This peadal does not make any noise at all! it's silent on and off. I use this in front of a Marshall JCM-800 with a 4 speaker cabinet, and I got the reverb sound I wanted, anywhere from surf, blues to metal. This peadal does not ruin any other of your effects, it has a nice clean sound

Its a Boss, it's built like a tank. If it were lost or stolen I would get another one.

Boss has been making pedals forever, I've never had one break! Never had to call them.

I play blues to metal ,this does all of them well. I only use two settings on it, spring and hall, they're my favorite. I compared this with Digitech Digiverb, E-H holy Grail, and a Danelectro pedal, I don't remember which one it was .

From The outside this pedal is complete of every knob you need. As simple as any other Boss effects but...

...using it with a Strato, Jagstang or Gibson SG and both Fender Deville/Marshall Valvestate Amps I've found some problems... The big one is that if you raise the time or E-level over the half the sound comes distorted then try to follow the Boss examples on the booklet is utopia.

I play rock. With a lot of delays and reverbs. Boss delay DD-3 sounds good, you can raise the whole knobs to the top and the sound is always perfect but RV-5 is a complete FAILURE. Too much money for a bad sound reverb.

All the expected controls for a reverb unit.

I've used it with old tube amp setups, high volume, low volume, as an outboard device for software etc.

It generally sounds very tinny, lacking any warmth. It sucks much of the lows and low mids out of you signal. It can be viable for certain uses, such as giant cascades of spatial wailing (big post rock hyperbole); but even then it sucks so much life from your tone that it leaves you kind of depressed. The only useful reverb types are the hall and the modulate settings (the modulate oscillitates the tuning the decayed signal slighly, creating depth). The spring sounds ridiculous. The gate effect is novel for ten seconds.

Mine was a little finnicky on occasion. It would sometimes create harsh clicking noises when activated. This might have been a power issue. Also, it eats batteries. You'll need an adapter.

I couldn't use this thing. It's such a tonal sacrifice that I would end up just leaving reverb out of what i was doing, rather than using the one or two palatable sounds this thing could produce.

I tried a "Holy Grail" (Electro Harmonix), and it sounds much nicer, but is obviously much more limited in terms of adjustment. Maybe the "Holier Grail" or the "Holiest Grail" are worth checking out if you have the money. Another option is to use a subtle analog delay to add some space; Maxon's AD series pedals are nice for this.

The list price for this pedal is absurd. You should buy it used if you really want one. Don't pay more than 60 dollars american for an RV-5.

Immediately easy to get a good sound, the only thing I would like to add is a pre-reverb delay, maybe they could use one of those knob within a knob knobs (like the metals zone or super shifter) to do this?

I was looking for an alesis quadraverb in a pedal, you'd think after 20 years they could pull it off, right? The Digitech Digiverb could not for me, colored the original sound (acoustic guitar) too much, too digital. This one does it for me, at least in a performance arena, haven't tried recoding with it yet, but I have built-in or software effects for that. I suspect the BOSS keeps the original analog signal analog while other digitize the whole thing, but that's just what my ears tell me.

Should be fine. I did have a DD-3 die on me a dozen or so years ago, one pedal in a dozen years is ok.

no opinion

Pricey, but the convenience of knobs for performance make it worth it. The sound quality is excellent.

Easy to use, everything is self-explanatory. Wish the knobs were bigger, but that's minor.

Sounds good to me. I run it in the stereo loop of my Engl e580 preamp with chorus and echo. It plays well with the other pedals, and I don't notice any noise.

I gig it without a backup. I have my pedals on a board and none of them give me trouble. Just take care of them, and they'll take care of you.

Never used...

This was about the only choice as I needed stereo ins and outs, but it delivers the verb without noise, so I'm very happy with it. I would buy it again if it were stolen. There's a lot of picky, hair-splitting reviews out there, maybe I'm just easier to please. I think it sounds fine, just as advertised.

Pretty darn easy, choose from presets, Plate, Hall, Spring, Modulate and a way you go. The only thing I wish is if there was an expression pedal for it, that would be cool.

I am using with Boss DD-5, Line 6 MM4, Line 6 DM4 into a Fender Deluxe. Generally I find the reverb fairly thin and trebly, if you are looking for a warm reverb, this aint it. The only reason I got it was, a) it was a pedal and not a rack mount, b) it had stereo ins and outs and c) for the modulate setting which is quite nice, adds a slight wobble to your sound. If you crank this thing and start playing hard it will get that harsh digital ice-pick sound. But then again, aren't all digital pedals like that?

It's Boss, they last and last, no worries there.

Apparently the Dynaverb is better than this thing but I didn't know about that until after buying this. If you are looking for a warm reverb, go for a rack mount I guess.

Very easy.

I too bought this to use in conjunction with the DD-6, and they make a very nice couple. Playing clean, you can get some goregous and crystal clear sounds out of this. Playing with distortion is trickier, and you really have to turn the knobs down low if you run this in front of the distortion. Put your distortion in front of this and you will be more happy. It can make your sound absolutely huge, like Beck on "blue wind". The SPRING mode is kinda lame, as it is very accurate in that you get that loud "boing" that sounds like you just dropped your amp on the floor with the reverb unit on. I was hoping it wouldn't have that, as that is the reason I don't use my amp's reverb.

Hell yes-it's a Boss.

Very good-it's a bit pricey, but it is brand new and super reliable. I would definitely have gone with something else were it not for the stereo ins and outs, which is the only reverb I have seen that features this. I need them to place the unit after my DD-6. So if you absolutely need a stereo in and out reverb now, get it; otherwise, wait till they are cheaper new or until they saturate the ebay listings for a lot less.

I bought this and a DD6 to replace my RV-3 and I'm very happy. They made it as easy to use as possible.

With the exception of the warp function, which I find pointless, I think the sounds are all usable and distinct. I actually like the gated reverb for some applications, particularly with other delay based effects, since you don't get the tail of the reverb getting mushed up with all of the other stuff. Its supposedly 24 bit but as I said about the DD6 if you don't dial in excessive amounts of reverb it probably doesn't matter. All I know is that I'm happy with the sound, both on its own and with other effects. Oh yes and I don't hear any hiss.

No problems.

It does what it sets out to do and like the DD6 in a small package - which is important for me as I like to switch things around and don't like massive pedals.

I would easy put a 10 here. But compared with other BOSS boxes it is not as straight forward so I give it a 7.

I picked up my RV-5 two days ago at the post office. I bought it used (mint in its box without manual) for 500 SEK (+ 70 SEK mailing cost) which is $67 (+ $9) My first impression connecting it between the guitar and amp was that the "spring" reverb made a strange attack sound. This went away completly when I put it in the amps effect loop instead. My conclusion is that the spring reverb can't be used without a loop
on the amp. (Same for both channel A and B so it cannot be broken.) However, the rest of the effects (plate, hall, room, gate, modulation) seemed uneffected, so I will not hold this against the RV-5.

The reverb gets a "7" for "sound" from me. I like it, but I havn't compared it with anything else really. "7" means that it is really good and I am satisfied. All effects are different. The modulation reverb adds a little chorus.

I tested the leakage between right (R) and left (L) channel of the RV-5 by connecting a digital delay (Ibanez DL10) as a splitter from "send" of the amp loop. The DL10 have like many other delays(e.g. BOSS DD-2, DD-3, DD-5, DM-3) one "direct out" and one "effect" output. With the DL10 "OFF" the same direct signal is then fed into R and L of the RV-5.

The direct signal is not leaked between the two channels of the RV-5, but by turning the "Effect level"-knob clockwise from "min" to increase the effect level, reverb sound (only) started to leak between the channels as expected.



!!!!!!!!!! NOW TO THE BIG BIG BIG "DONT MISS OUT ON THIS" INFORMATION PART !!!!!!!!!!

It hit me that maybe the delay could with the help of RV-5 be both "high-cut fitered" AND smoooothen out to get a more "muddy" sound. I never really liked the exact regeneration of digital delays(and I havn't tested any analog delays either).

When turning the delay (DL10) "ON", the "direct" sound is fed into RV-5 input-A and the "effect" (delay sound without direct sound) is fed into RV-5 input B. The amp use RV-5 output-A in the "return" of the loop. The result is that the direct sound (with reverb) processed in channel A is mixed with the reverb sound (only) of the delay from channel "B".

Connections looks like this ("nothing" means no cable attached):

nothing <= [OutputB(RV-5)InputB] <= [Effect(DL10) ]
Return: <= [OutputA(RV-5)InputA] <= [Direct(DL10)Input] <= [Send]



To give an example of the resulting sound:
A "TICK" would become "TINGGggg" with ONLY the RV-5.
With normal usage of a delay in front (or after) it would then sound "TINGGggTInggggtingggg.

With my setup is will sound TINGGggWHINGgggwHINGgggwhing.

The sharpness of the delay is gone. Only the reverb part of the delay is used. The sharpness of the delay sound can be further controlled by the "tone"-control.

The operation of the effects with this setup is as simple as this:
-Delay can be turned on and off as long as the reverb is on.
-When the reverb is turned off both reverb and delay are switched off.


The bad part might be that you miss out of stereo reverb (I run in mono anyway). I guess that you can connect a stereo chorus after the reverb to regain some stereo effect.

With my setup I would give this possibility a 10 as I am thrilled about this. But I guess that I can't put this rating on "Sound quality" as it is not RV-5 making the delay part so I put 10 on "Overall rating". It also needs some tweeking of the effects to sound nice and I found "room" to work best with the delay for both clean and dirty channel (E.level=max, Tone=min, Time= "10 o'clock").


Does this mean that the days of searching for an analog delay, digital delay with or "high-cut mods", are gone? This setup does more to the echo than only cutting the high frequencies. You can control

All BOSS pedals seems to eat batteries if they are left in the box. Other than that it would be a "10".

10 as they were really friendly when I asked for more avanced blueprints of the cirquit boards of other effects.

A friend of mine was however refused to by a 220-9V (?) adapter for a Roland porta studio he bought new for half the price in the US compared with here in Sweden 15 years ago. They didn't like to support imported items.

I give them an 8 for traveling reliability (but I dont know really).

Due to the reverb-delay possibility above I have to give it a 10. It would have been good if there also was a possibility to totally separate the effect-leakage between channel A and B so that two instruments could be feed through it more independently (guitar+microphone), but I can't hold this against it.


I have a Gallien Krueger 250ML feeding a gray 4*12 Marshall cabinet in mono. I always thought that the on-board echo (analog?) was a bit weak (but good). Especially when feeding the "send" signal into the "aux in" instead of the "return" to get more low-end in the sound. Sounds really heavy. I play an 1989 PRS.

The level control is overly sensitive to changes, but besides that it's strait forward and the effects parameters are easily controled. The battery runs out WAY too fast though. It should come with a power adapter.

The RV-5 sounds good, plain and simple. Not great, but better than I expected even after trying it in the store. I use it mainly with my THD BiValve and an assortment of Strats. It sucks a small amount of tone and body in the effects loop, and a little more if in direct line with the guitar. It's not too bad at all, and I've not used a pedal that doesn't. It's certainly not noisey, and the Hall setting is excellent. I think it sounds better than the real spring 'verb in many of my other amps.

Boss, built like a rock.

I play blues, and use this pedal to add a small amount of livelyness to my THD. It seems to be the one of the best available, and does exactly what I want it to without being intrusive on my tone.

As with every Boss pedal in existence, it should only take about 20 minutes to master this pedal.

When using a pedal for the first time, I simply run my Gibson ES-325 straight through the stompbox and into my amp. Simply put: the settings that sound good on this pedal were the one's that sounded good on the RV-3. Plus the RV-3 had delay settings. All additions that Boss has made (Reverse; Gated) are absolutely inapplicable to almost any type of music. Otherwise there is not a difference in sound between the RV-5 and RV-3.

I have never had a Boss pedal break, or even get scuffed for that matter! Super-reliable.

Never dealt with them. See above.

If I were to state it broadly I would say that I play jazz. I needed something add a bit of sustain and life to my guitar, and this does it. But so does the RV-3. I liken it to the DD-6 in comparison to the DD-3. The only settings that sound good on the DD-6 are the only settings that the DD-3 has! Same goes for the RV-5 vs. RV-3. The RV-3 has all the good settings from the RV-5 and nothing more (plus delays). Boss simply added alot of crappy extras to an already excellent box. If you can find a RV-3 (although it is almost impossible to find one new) get that instead. But as I stated in another review, I am almost certain that once Boss stops production of the RV-5, all the disenting voices will then praise it as the best Boss Reverb. The popularity of a pedal is often times directly related to it's scarcity.

Simple. Just use common sense and tweak away, being careful not to go over the top with the level and time settings. I tweak the tone just this side of 12 O'clock to make the reverb sound warmer. Easy to wind time and level up up when you do want to go over the top for some Jeff Beck "Guitar Shop" type emotional sustaining solo moments. Hmmmm nice....

American series strat, Ibanez JS100, BOSS V Wah > Tubescreamer > Pete COrnish SS/P2 Duplex > BOSS Equaliser > BOSS Flanger > BOSS CE20 Chorus > BOSS Giga Delay > RV5. Not forgetting BOSS noise suppressor (excluding delay and reverb) and Tuner. All into an Orange AD15 class A 15 watt combo. All pedals mains powered.
Sounds great. Really long if you like it that way. Forget the spring reverb though artificial sounding - no where near as good as the real thing (I remember my Yamaha G100 B212 combo had a fab accutronics spring reverb). Hall and Plate float my boat.

No problems yet.

Never had cause to contact them

If you want quality, easy to use reverb in a tin, go and get one now. The last pedal I bought to complete my ensemble after ditching my GT5 some while back in search of sonic nervana which I've now found. An important piece in the tone jigsaw which works well with my set up. (no reverb on my amp). Individual pedals, though more expensive in combination, sound so much better than one box wonders and they're easier to use too.

a simple layout to tell you what each knob does... too easy!!!

reverbs are lush, but watch that tone knob!!!
otherwise you be getting that metallic, sterile sound all the negative reviewers are getting.

boss pedals are an investment... enough said.

no problems

I play lots of spacerock/shoegazer type stuff. Delays and Reverbs are a must.
I've been playing for 16yrs. I play a mim standard tele>tu2>oc-3>gt-5[ds-1>ge-7 in the loop]>dd-20>rv-5>alesis ra-100>alesis monitor ones or peavey 120W 1x12 combo.
I would replace it if it were stolen or lost.
I wish the modulate mode had a rate setting.
this reverb is very inspiring.

Quite easy to get a good sound, easy to figure out without a manual. The effect level and time controls provide enough flexibility to get a good reverb patch set up. The stereo ins and outs can be a tad confusing for mono operation at first, if you don't notice the little 'MONO' signs on the 'A' jacks. But that's easy to learn.

One point of usability over the RV-3, for me at least, is the LACK of delay programs; that means there are more knobs to control the reverb sound. To me, the RV-3's combined reverb/delay settings were somewhat compromised; you could control the delay time but not the reverb settings, and so on. If I had liked any of the RV-3's combined programs, I would probably still have an RV-3. So to me, the RV-5 is more usable because it provides greater control over the primary effect - reverb. I'll use my DD-3 or DM-2 for the delay chores.

The sounds are all good to my ears. The modulated chorus is not something I'd use much but it's pretty cool for ambient aounds.

I'm primarily using a Les Paul or Strat into the RV-5, set on spring reverb, then into a tweed 5E3 Deluxe kit amp or a brown Fender Princeton. It's not quite a Fender combo style reverb, but when I play I get that reverb sound that I was missing with just the amp alone. And when the effect is off, the buffered bypass is good enough so that I don't feel like there's a tone suck.

The effect is not noisy in terms of hiss, but the spring reverb sim is somewhat of sensitive to the input level. I guess the `boing' is intentionally put there so you know it's a spring reverb simulator! I'd like a dwell control or input/output level controls to avoid the splatter when I don't want to go surfing.

It's a Boss, I bought it used without hesitation and expect it to work without flaws for as long as I have it. There's always a first time, but I think I've owned over 20 Boss pedals at this point and I have never had reason to worry about their dependability.

I have had no reason to contact Boss customer support directly. I will say that I find the Roland/Boss 'groovy' visually overstated Web sites hard to navigate. And I'd really like to see ALL the varied pedal manuals on line in PDF format, which I have not found yet.

I play blues and some rock and some country and some all mixed together. This pedal provides a good variety of reverbs to match just about any situation. I've been playing for over 25 years, not that it shows, and I've owned an RV-3, various analog and digital delays, and a Kendrick tube reverb unit, among other things. For compactness, flexibility, stereo capability and overall sound, the RV-5 is a great package. If it were lost or stolen, I'd try to find another one used.

As stated above, I wish it had either a dwell or input/output controls so I could control the spring reverb `splatter', but when I use it front of my reverb-less amps I don't really think at all about how it's a digital pedal.

Very easy to use and sounds great straight out of the box.
Four control knobs - effect level, tone, time and effect type. Can't get much easier than this.
The manual is very straightforward but the pedal is very self-explanatory.
Software? I don't think so!

I use this pedal with guitars, keyboards, pretty much anything and it sounds really cool. My favourite effect is probably the modulated hall. This sounds really good on clean, arpeggio passages on the guitar. My guitar set up is a Yamaha PAC 112 into a Marshall MG10CD (I'm a newbie to guitars!) but I've had great results from passing a Yamaha DX7 synthesizer through this into a Peavey KB-100 combo.
The room, hall, plate and modulated hall effects are probably the best - the modulated reverb certainly yielding the most interesting effect for synths without reverb. The spring reverb, as someone else mentioned does have a habit of popping a little too often so I don't use it too much. I find that the gated reverb sounds very artificial and too metallic for most things.
The tone control can introduce noise and create very harsh sounds so the best setting is usually somewhere between 10 o clock and 2 o clock

In a word you can make things sound really 80s with this pedal and there'scertainly nothing bad about that!

This is Boss - built like a rock and would survive a nuclear bomb blast. I've noticed with some of my other Boss pedals that the paint can get chipped quite easily but electronically this will last forever. The battery wire is prone to breakage after many years of use but nothing a soldering iron can't put to rights.

Never contacted Boss / Roland so I can't comment I'm afraid

This is a great pedal for the money. I didn't compare it to anything else and just thought it was a compact, low cost way of getting a reverb effect for my older synths which don't have built-in effects. Expecting it simply to be just a reverb, the addition of six different programs was certainly a bonus.

I produce electronic music which, at the moment is totally electronic from synthesizers. I am new to guitar and so have yet to record with the guitar.

If it was lost or stolen, yes I would replace it.
This certainly does bring an entirely new life to my older synths and sounds great on my Yamaha PAC 112 and Ibanez GSR 200 guitars.

I thought that the RV-5 was a step down from the RV-3. The Reverbs sound good but the reverse and spring settings sound like gimmick settings. Roland loaded this pedal with stuff that you wouldn't really use. For the money you could buy an Alesis Rack unit with a remote foot pedal and have a real reverb. The reverse setting is silly. Why did they add useless patches. The RV-3 has 11 usable REVERBS and DELAYS; things that you can apply.

See above, perhaps I said too much in the intro.
I have a Les Paul Special, A plain American Strat and a Mexi Tele.
I use a Marshal 50 watt combo anfd a Carvin SX-200 combo amp.
The few reverbs sound great, the other modes are useless unless you want to make goofy sounds to amuse yourself.

I'm sure it's as reliable as any Boss Unit

I've never used Boss support but I've NEVER heard a complaint from a musician buddy.

I play fusion, classic rock and Jazz. I may sell this unit on E-bay and just bail on it. I may look for a back-up RV-3 to my aging RV-3.
Thw RV-3 is loaded with traditional quality reverbs and delays, (things a player can use.) I would rather have a serious reverb delay unit than a souped up gimmick box.

easy becouse the knobs are simple and no special wierd buttens.
not easy becouse adjustment should be controlled carfully.

my setup is epiphone lp--->535q cry baby-->maxon od9-->rocktron rampage-->big muff pi usa-->boss bf3 flanger-->marshall vt1-->boss ce20-->BOSS RV5-->akai headrush-->fender frontman (extended costum speaker)

sound is great not noisy
if tone is too high than its harsh so dont do it.
i think that hall and modulate is the best.
room mode sounds like a real room (so if you need it its good).
the rest i dont care

buy it

boss is very strong

no need for back up - im sure

i play create electronic music but i play kinds of rock also (rock is very boring stupid music) i love it.

Simple enough to use, I already had the RV3 (which was not very good)& this is basically the same set-up. Effect Level, tone, reverb time (decay), & type of reverb. Manual had some settings but blah, don't need em.

I have an Ibanez RG570 & a Gibson Les Paul Custom. Amps vary, I own a VHT Pittbull UL but I am using this pedal for an upcoming European tour so it will be used through whatever amp i'm borrowing at the moment ;) I like the reverb sounds this pedal offers much more than the RV3. Definitely a step in the right direction. I use hall only, but just fooling around with the other settings I did notice they all sounded well above average. The Spring setting I don't mess with so I can't comment on it. The Hall is very lush on my clean channel, organic sounding for a stompbox. With the time up 3/4 the decay is extremely long & natural with a wide open sound that decays very naturally. Tone knob can make this noisy if it's too high but I keep it around 10-12 o'clock. There is a modulation sound on this pedal too which adds a bit of chorus to the Hall; I like to use this setting too on occasion. Overall a very clean, natural, and HUGE sounding reverb that even on more extreme settings does not get muddy or flubby. Does eat batteries as any Reverb or Delay pedal would, but highly recommended.

I've had my share of Boss pedals in the past and have absolutely no worries that this thing would ever break down. Solid.

Never dealt with them, and probably wouldn't if it broke anyway. Too much of a hassle dealing with these huge corporations.

Overall, this pedal was worth the money. I did compare it to the Digitech X Series reverb and this was definitely better to my ears. This is highly recommended for those who want that deep, haunting reverb on their clean channel without lugging around a processor & tweaking parameters for 15 damn hours.

Easy.

The folks saying this sounds bad must be using the incorrect output in Mono mode. If operating in mono, one must use input A and output A. A very good sounding pedal. Spring verb is very nice and realistic.

I play rock. This works very well for me when I need it. Been playing 12 years, and have owned old Blackfaces - I'm not gonna say this reverb is up to Blackface reverb caliber but it is very good. I'm playing an old Tweed with no reverb now. I love this pedal. I'd buy another if it were lost or stolen.

Fairly easy to use straight out of the box. Shouldn't take anyone with a 100+ IQ more than a minute to coax out the reverb sound one's looking for. Manual has a couple of settings to try.

This is mainly used with Telecaster and Stratocaster guitars and Fender amps with a TS9 Tube Screamer. Contrary to what some of the other users are saying here, I find the Spring reverb setting to be very useful. According to the manual the RV5 "[m]odels the sound of the spring reverb from Accutronics, a name synonymous with spring reverb. The emulation on modeling is so realistic that even the sound of the oscillations resulting from the mutual interference between dual springs is reproduced."

Indeed, the subtle modulation of more than one spring can be heard on the Spring setting. It's as accurate a digital sound of a Spring reverb as I have heard. Very nice.

The other settings are quite nice too. Haven't explored them as much as I really like the Spring setting and have been using that almost exclusively since purchasing the pedal.

Should be as reliable as we've all come to expect from Boss products.

Haven't contacted Boss nor Roland, nor had a reason to, so I have no comment.

For the Country, Blues and Metal that I play, it sounds great. The convenience of having a rack-quality reverb in a pedal size is well worth the price for me. The Limp-Bizkit-wannabe kiddies that complain the price is too high, I say go back to your Crate amps and Zoom pedals. Obviously there is no sense of perspective from someone that isn't even old enough to remember that the first production digital reverbs were something like a three-or-four space rack device that cost $20,000. That's right, I have the correct number of zeroes. I also remember the first so-called "price break" concerning this early digital reverb, when the price dropped to a "mere" $12,000. We've certainly come a long way when spoiled kids fret about if they'll still have enough allowance money left over for "Bonestorm XIII" for their Xbox after buying the RV-5. $130.00 for a digital reverb that sounds THIS good for THIS cheap??? No way I'd ever complain about the price... Things have come a long way. Back then I would never have thought I'd see the day that that's all one would have to pay for a digital reverb. I can just about guarantee that this sounds far better than those first digital reverbs. In fact, I do have to say that as someone that has a rack full of serious rack gear, it DOES sound as good as or better than some of the devices I have. Comparing it to the late-80s Ibanez SDR-1000 digital reverb in my rack, I'd say the RV-5 has a far more natural sound than the SDR-1000 - there is a certain grainy quality to the reverbs from the SDR-1000. Nice job Boss!

very easy to use... the manuel gives some good example settings, but not necessary.

i play this with a lot of effects through a telecaster and a roland jc120 amp, the spring reverb does the pop effect way too much, so a I almost never use the spring reverb setting.

Very Strong quality... i ALWAYS do a jump test for my pedals where I get on top of my bed and Jump down as hard as i can on the pedal and if everything is fine then i'll keep it.

Never called them....never cared to....screw the fat cats who sell us products for WAY too much money....

I play low-key ambience drone-like rock music and it's very good for a deep resonating reverb tone.

Simple and self-explanatory. Controls for effect level, tone, reverb time, and reverb type. Feedback? Does it have a feedback control. I don't have it here with me, but I think it does.

My situation: When I gig, I'm playing a start-plus through a bassman head with no reverb. I needed some ambience. I wasn't after super lush, super-effected sounds, just a little blur around the edges lest I sound like an electroshocked banjo. A year ago I sold my Alesis Quadraverb GT because, which I had hated for years before that.

The RV-5, after the first couple of gigs, seems to handle the job nicely. I haven't been able to coax a compelling sound out of the spring reverb setting yet, but everything else sounds pretty darned decent. Even though I'm not looking for heavily-effected sounds, the modulation reverb has a lovely lush sound. The controls, esp. the tone control, are effective, very adequate for the kind of sound shaping I need to do.

It is also notably quiet.

If you are an fx-dependent player, this box will be of very limited use compared to a rackmount multi-effects unit. For me, it serves nicely. My one qualm, I'd say, is with the price. A little high for a limited stomp box.

Too early to tell. So far so good.

I play in a mostly original band that also does a motley array of covers rangning from Zappa to Billy Joel to Los Straitjackets and Tom Waits. The other guitarist is the effects meister, with his line 6 modelers and tube boosters and you name it--effects are integral to his sound. I'm the plinky, dry, "organic" counterpart. As a result of playing very dry next to this very wet other player, I began to develop ambience envy. Still, I thought it in the best interest of the group to keep my sound more plain jane than his. Thus a modest reverb stomp box as opposed to a multi-effects unit.

So far, it's doing the trick. As I said above, I find the price a little high when you consider what much more elaborate units and rackmounts are going for these days. I mean the Line 6 delay modeler pedal--a very cool toy IMO--was sitting right next to in the display and was only 50 bucks more. Oh well. I needed reverb and I got a satisfactory one.

10 pretty much self explanitory as all boss pedals are

very dissappointed with effect. not much improvment since the rv3.
you would think after 7-8 years boss might be able to develop something
new and beyond. I use an alesis quad reverb gt for plate revs. thought
this pedal might do the trick for live purposes. sorry

what ever

never had to

be sure to play with it awhile before you fork it over

Choose the reverb type you want, set the reverb delay time, eq the tone to taste, mix the effect sound and dry signal

The best reverb around without using rackmount gear. Reverb is very clear and transparent. Tone control is very wide ranging from very bassy to very trebly. The amount of reverb can be altered in the mix from just a bit to all you could ever want. Very powerful controls.Some noise but all pedals have that.

It's a Boss.

Never had to deal with them due to the superb quality of Boss products.

If you want a dedicated reverb pedal with great sound quality this is it. Has loads of possibilities and very easy to dial them in. The noise level is not an issue either. Even if your amp already has reverb a pedal like this can give you many additional sounds. Boss's best reverb pedal yet.

The unit is easy to use. There is a effect level, tone, length of delay, and a selector of reverb type. The advertisements say it is 24 bit. The manual did not confirm it. I do wish the unit could store settings so that you could stomp between presets. For this price, who cares?

I am using the unit with a Taylor 714CE acoustic into a Carl Martin chorus and into the Boss RV-5 unit, then to the house in stereo. I was using a TC electronics M One reverb [which sounds great!] but the Boss unit is so small and clean that I bought one. It is very transparent. It doesnt have the sonic detail that the M One has, but it does give a pretty decent reverb affect for the money. I like the hall effect up high in level with tone at 10 o'clock and a shorter time setting. I like the modulated reverb sound, too. It isnt quite a rack unit in quality of sound but it is getting close. Much, Much better than a RV-3

Seems ok so far. You don't want to rely on batteries, you must use the AC adapter. The battery light goes out after a while [the battery sags] then comes back if you shut it off for a while [while trying to use batteries] I wont use it that way again.

I have called them before for parts to repair other units and they seem to be very organized. Got the right parts the first time and they didnt gouge me for them

I play Christian contemporary and would probably buy another rv-5 until someone else comes out with a reverb pedal with M One sonic detail.

Very easy to use. You don't need the manual.

All sounds are very good exept the spring reverb. I think there is no use for it. The RV-5 is a litte bit noisy when turn the tone more than 3/4.

I hope it is like the other BOSS pedals

???

It is much better than every other reverb pedal I have tried (RV-3, Holy Grail, Nanoverb). It don't beat my favorite the LXP-1. But this you cannot compare.