Electro-Harmonix Holy Grail Reverb

easy as hell

For all of you suckers that are hunting for high priced boutique pedals from some nurds in the dessert of texas...or you studio shredding dream theater cracks...go and waste your money on a tone anyone has.
I play a 5 year old holie grail in a Plexi from 1969 with a mingled greenback, V 30 pounder cabinet ! And my need for a reverb is great with this stupid littel box. Sound ? Yes I got mine ? Whats with you ?

********. the Acdc input doesnt work seriously, you must put it out and back again to make the "grail" work...also the screws from the input/output get weak every year ! the case is thin as a fishcane.

Never get a question answerd !!suckers

Im a bla bla bla, and i can bla bla bla, also I earn money with bla bla bla, playing since bla bla bla, so im a pro bla bla bla....

I bought this used and to say it is easy to use would be an understatement. There's a three way switch and one knob to control the amount of reverb. It doesn't get any easier then this.

Setup wise, I am mainly playing a Gibson 1958 VOS Les Paul into a Marshall TSL 100 head and Orange PPC412AD 4x12 cab using various other FX pedals both in front of the amp and in the loop. I run the reverb into the amps FX loop which is permanently engaged and it's the only pedal I use specifically with it's own power supply and not daisy chained as this mother draws a lot of current at 500MA's.

Firstly, these pedals seem to be hit and miss for some people. Noise wise, it doesn't add a single bit of noise to my sound and being true bypass, it's transparent. I power both my amp and pedals through a regulated / conditioned power strip which I have always found keeps noises to a minimum + using high quality leads as these two things are the cause of most noise in guitar setups.

As for the sound of this thing, I was blown away! This cheap reverb pedal I bought for ??40 to use with one of my non reverb amps actually sounds better then the spring reverb on 95% of amps that I have ever owned and used (and believe me, we're talking 50+). The Orange Rockerverb and Fender Twin Reverb are the only two amps with a better "spring reverb" that I've heard and this thing has no springs !!! I don't ever bother having the Marshall's reverb on, I just use this instead as it sounds miles better anyhow.

The reverb is very lush and deep but without being completely overpowering like a built in spring reverb when you set the level to high. Not really tried the hall or flerb setting but don't need to as the spring setting was bang on the money for me straight out the box.

It's not the strongest looking pedal in the world but a bit too early to tell. I think it will last as this lives in my pedalboard and is permanently on and never switched off with the footswitch so there's absolutely no reason why it wouldn't last.

I do gig without a backup of this as I don't have another one and if it stopped working mid gig, I'd just engage the Marshall's reverb instead.

Never dealt with them so I'm not going to offer up any rating here.

I've been playing for about 13 years and play in two different rock bands. This pedal is a good match for what I need in a lush clean sound and thick overdrives.

Gear wise, I've owned so many amps, guitars and pedals, I couldn't even start to list them all but recently I've thinned down my collection and the above setup is definately my sound so not really forseeing any changes in that setup in the forseeable future.

If you want a natural sounding spring reverb pedal that sounds better then the other digital pedals from Boss and Digitech etc and doesn't cost the earth then this is for you. I've owned both the RV5 and hardwire reverb pedals and both sound digital and sterile next to the EHX which sounds very natural and clear

If something happened to this, I would definately go out and get another one.

Ease of use was OK. Plug in and away you go. One knob and a 3 way selector switch for Spring, Hall, and "Flerb"? reverb choices. Not much to it

First of all, this is as noisy as you can get. It has the correct power supply and the hiss is louder than the guitar signal. Not easy to get above the noise floor on this. The adjustment knob is useless after about mid way. The effect is beyond useable and sounds fake. No natural sounds from this and what is a "Flerb"? Not a feature I would consider using but I did try it but only out of curiosity.

This not a very well built unit. Thin sheetmetal, flimsy feeling, the connectors don't look to be first rate, and it really has kind of a "cheap" feel about it. Careful not to cut yourself on the edges/corners.

No idea. I returned this before I would try customer support.

I recently bought a head and cabinet set-up with no reverb. I bought this before reading the HC reviews. That was my mistake. Please don't make that same mistake. Read others comments about the sound quality and try this in a quiet setting (if that is possible at the local GC). If you get it home and starts acting up, take it back. Do not be shy about this. It will not get better and you will hear the hiss and hate that you bought it. I took it back and considerd the higher priced gear. There is a reason the others cost more, because they are worth it. This thing? Well, not so much...

Plug it in, set the controls the way you want them, and go.

I use a Tradition Strat copy with a Humbucker in the treble pickup position. I also have 2 Fender Mexican Strats, one with Texas Special pickups. The Holy Grail sounds good with all of them. My amp is a 1966 Fender Concert with 4 10 inch speakers. Sometimes I will hook the Concert up to a 1966 Fender Bandmaster head and a 1964 2-12 Fender Bassman bottom, or a 15 inch Kustom speaker. The Holy Grail spring reverb setting sounds good with all of them.

I have been using it for about 6-7 years with no problems.

Haven't had to.

I play blues-rock. I have been playing guitar since 1965. I would buy another if this one shut down or was stolen.

well, its certainly easy to use-but I'll get right to the main point-only buy this product if you can't afford anything else.For all of the reasons below..

Firstly-is it noisy? yes-constant hiss (and yes, I am using the correct psu.)
effects parameters are breathtakingly poor-and Im not a fussy guy-you can choose from long to super long reverb-the dial for controlling the length of the reverb is poor in terms of incremental scale-seriously lacking and frankly, smacks of a homemade unit put together by an enthusiast..
instead of including a delay/echo as a third option after spring and hall settings, they give you 'flerb'-i mean..i wont waste my time or yours..
I bought mine as a v.good condition ebay find- half price-I would NEVER buy this full price and new.

used it at the 100 club-its been ok so far..

been playing decades.
like i said-dont buy it unless its dirt cheap and you're strapped for cash.

Possibly the easiest to use pedal in the world. One knob which increases the amount of reverb and a switch to chose from there reverb voices. perfect

The sound quality is great, better than the actual spring reverbs in both the marshall tsl 100 and peavey classic 50, much warmer with out losing the colour and characteristic of the instrument used. I mainly use this pedal with a Marshall jcm 800 super bass, orange 4x10 and 1x15 and a fender jazz bass. This effect works well to add atmosphere and huge sound to my band, it loses no bottom end

I love electro-harmonix gear to bits, but i will be honest, this pedal suffers like alot of their other products from poor jack in puts which have had to be retightened regularly and sometimes replaced. This has also happened to my russian muff. I have to say though that their newer products that come in aluminum die-cast enclosures are much more reliable.

never had any problems. always been able to repair them myself

just a great sounding simple reverb pedal,

Super simple to use

I got this pedal as I was tired of the spring reverb crashing in my Marshall amp. And what can I say... I was amazed at how well this pedal duplicates spring reverb in a very natural and warm way. the hall setting is fantastic too. I run it in the effects loop of my amp and it is noiseless and acts like it was a reverb actually built into the amp. It really is quite amazing for a digital set up... it doesn't sound digital or tinny in the least...

The flerb setting is cool, but I don't think you could play for long with it before the novelty would wear off, but it is a cool little thing to have in your arsenal of sounds.

I would definitely recommend this to someone who is looking to add a reverb sound to their amp.

I use it with a Gibson Es 335 and a Marshall on the clean channel and the tone is freakin awesome

A word of advice - the louder your amp gets, the more you need to tweak back how much reverb you are dialling in.....

I leave it on all the time and it sets there doing a very reliable job....

It's in a stury enough metal casing..... not built like a freakin tank like fulltone pedals, but much more sturdy than your average pedal...

not needed

A word of advice - this thing sucks down 500m/a, whiich is a lot of juice and you will need to get a converter to run it with your 9 volt power supply.... but a good guitar shop should have all the accoutrements you need.... :)

Very easy. 3-way mode selector switch (Spring Reverb, Hall Reverb, Flerb) and Reverb knob, which controls the amount of reverb. I didn't rad the manual b/c it was just so damn easy.

Also, this pedal only runs off a power cord (included) because of the massive energy required to power it.

I'm using a Tele, Jazzmaster, and SG through a Deluxe Reverb.

Spring Reverb is OK, but not great. It's not as warm as the spring in my amp. It's not bad, but nothing too impressive. The Hall Reverb is very nice and very lush and ambient. The Hall Reverb is the best feature of the pedal. The Flerb is a flanger/reverb effect and I find it completely useless. I wish they hadn't included it and made the unit cheaper.

I'll admit that I am bias towards digital and prefer analog. Obviously, the HG is digital and it shows. It sounds a bit too thin and unnatural compared to spring/tube tanks. It has small volume cut while engaged, which is common. It also has another signal problem I will get to below...

The biggest problem I had with the HG is that mine would often have massive signal cuts when I turn it on. It didn't start until I about 2 hours after I first started playing with it. The LED would light up but barely any signal would come through. After turning it on and off a few times, it would finally engage properly. I've read that this a problem with many HGs. Some people get units with this problem and some people don't. I guess it's luck of the draw.

If I had a good one, I guess I would feel comfortable gigging with it. However, mine was broken, so I returned it. I love EHX and have several of their pedals but never experienced anything like this before.

Never had to deal EHX. Usually their pedals work like a charm.

The fact that the pedal wouldn't work properly bugged me, but since I wasn't head over heels for the sound either, I just returned it for a refund. I'd rather just fork over the cash for a Fender Reverb tank. I liked the Hall Reverb of the HG, but in the end I didn't think the Hall alone was worth $118.

A lot of people like this unit, but it just wasn't for me. I'm not a fan of digital and the fact that you don't know if you're getting a defective pedal or not does not appeal to me. I still love EHX, so this won't hold me back from getting more of their products. Every company has problems with their products occasionally.

Really couldn't be any easier!. There's one large main knob that adjusts the effects level and a simple switch allows three distinct tones, each of which I find very usable for different styles. This is my second Holy Grail and I'll explain why below. The first (defective) one came with Big Muff directions (???). The (good) one I exchanged it for csme equipped with the proper Holy Grail directions. However, anyone with an ounce of intelligence can figure out how to use it in about three seconds.

To check the Holy Grail out, I used my Gibson Angus Young SG, plugged into an 80's Marshall 4010 Combo with vintage Celestion G12-65 speaker, along with a Jacques Overtube. This is already a "tone monster" combination but the Holy Grail makes it much better in ways I didn't anticipate. The Spring mode with the Overtube just rocks out with violin tone. The Hall mode, run clean through the amp, produces tones reminiscent of the bluesy ones Mike Bloomfield used to pull from his Les Paul. The Flerb mode brings Gilmour's Pink Floyd tones to mind. There is minimal hiss with this pedal and only a very slightly discernible loss in volume when the Holy Grail is employed, in contrast with other feedback I've read here. Solution? Turn the guitar's volume up a smidgen.

Here lies the rub! The first one I bought from Guitar Center had the wrong directions (no big deal) as I mentioned above. The big problem was that the volume cut out substantially on at least three occasions, probably within a total of an hour's use. Someone here, commenting about the same problem, talked about removing the casing and then reattaching it, to find that this somehow temporarily solved the problem. Well, it temporarily did, but I couldn't explain how. When it happened a 3rd time I thought about resoldering the wires but quickly ruled this option out when I considered the money I had just spent on this pedal. However, Guitar Center exchanged it for me without any argument and the second one sounds wonderful and has worked perfectly.

I've never dealt with E-H and didn't have to, since Guitar Center was very accommodating. I do believe E-H would have repaired or replaced the 1st unit for the cost of shipping if that had been necessary, but I can't say for sure because of Guitar Center's good customer support.

I love this pedal with my Marshall, for rock or blues. It would probably work well with Jazz, too, but that's not really my thing. I've been playing good garage band blues and rock since 1964 and still gig every now and then with a band I've been with 17 years now. I've owned other old Marshalls before and have usually purchased Fender Reverb Units (both new and vintage) to accentuate the tone. When I would eventually sell the Marshall, I've always sold the reverb unit as well. As far as I'm concerned, this pedal does the job of the more expensive outboard Fender units for a fraction of the cost and I would buy another immediately if it were lost or stolen. Of course, the key is to purchase one that works properly. By the way, the sales people at Guitar Center recommended the Holy Grail over the more expensive Boss Digital Reverb. I'm glad I listened!!!

Not too much to be concerned with here. The manual explains it all and the three functions, spring, hall, and flerb (light flanger with hall reverb) and all controled by a simple level knob.

KH 203, Holy Grail, Boss NS-2, Peavey 6505+. This combination is perfect for what I was going for. I typically use the flerb setting and use it to thicken up solo sections. The spring and hall reverbs are fantastic but you can't beat the sound of the flerb. I have no idea if it's noisy because I run the NS-2 directly behind it. I had heard a customer complain of a reduction in signal strength while using the Holy Grail but my signal strength remained loud and clear when I turned the unit on.

I just purchased it but I'm sure I won't have any problems with it as I take great care of my gear.

Never had to deal with them and hope I never have to.

I originaly purchased this for a cover band I was playing for and to make up for the fact that my amp lacked a reverb tank. After using it today with my southern metal/hardcore band I found it to be a great way to thicken up my solo sections. I really enjoy the flerb feature and the fact that a power supply is included with the pedal. I basically picked the Holy Grail over other reverb units because I've always been a fan of EH effects.