Electro-Harmonix Holy Grail Reverb

Basically you have a 3 point selection switch (hall, spring and flerb), and a depth knob. Simple. I would have like to seen a mix or level control (be a cool option with reverb).

Strat--->Holy Grail--->60's Silvertone 2-12 Tube amp. Thats it. I am pretty serious about my reverb, I have owned a plethora of older amps with reverb so I know old spring reverb when I hear it. When my tank on the silvertone crashed on me I strolled down to the old music store. I tried everything in the 0-$150 price range: the new BOSS RV-5, Digitech X-verb, Danelectro Spring King, and the DOD verb. I have to say, if you want a real sounding reverb, especially spring verb Than this is the only way to go, period. You can dial in that over the top decay if you like as well. The Boss and Digitech were basically delays (choppy), the Dano just didn't have the depth and space. So if your looking for a great sounding and affordable spring reverb, here it is! It sound idential to most of the reverbs I have had in my older amps. Also has a Hall reverb-very natural sounding, and a crazy sounding "Flerb" verb, like a phasing reverb is my best description.

3 months old, Nice aluminum case, time will tell. It appears to be built well.

no experience with E.H. yet.

I play very mellow folk/songwriter inspired music with a band. Similar to Mayo Thompson/Red Krayola. I am recording constantly, and hope to use this pedal for years to come. I would definately replace this pedal if it were stolen or broke down. I guess I can only say to those who may be looking, go to a music store, grab every reverb pedal and find out for yourself. For myself I wanted that older spring tank reverb, and this is it.

Its got only a 3-way switch, a reverb knob, and a switch. Simple enough? Well if you can't operate this... u'll most probably be a no brainer. The manual is only a sheet of paper, i guess theres not much to say about it. Simple to get HoLy ReVerb from it, plug it in your rig, tweak it to ur liking, and there you go. 3 Settings : Spring , Hall , Flerb (Reverb with Slight Flanger). Hey hey! Plus its got TRUE BYPASS! New products from Electro-Harmonix are equiped with true bypass. Cool eh?

I am using a Marshall amp, a Gibson Les Paul, with the Electro-harmonix Small Clone together with this .Well, as i said above, though it looks simple, the holy grail sounds more complex than it seems to be, giving you a wide array of different magnificent reverb. Don't be baffled by the fact that its digital. This unit sounds fabulous and immaculate! Firstly, the spring reverb sounds 100% like an actual spring reverb, well done! I compared it with an actual Fender Spring Reverb, and guess what, me and my friends could not hear the difference. Secondly, the hall setting is lush, warm,It really feels as if i am playing in a huge arena. Cool stuff! As for the Flerb, i don't have much use for it, but it'll probably be useful for guys craving for something new, fun, groovy. I play anything thats nice to my ears, no special genre. This pedal is used by John Fruciante of RHCP in the new album "By The Way". Well, i tried playing some songs like Zephyr Song, By the Way with it, sounds authentic.Furthermore, this thing is super quiet, nice to work with, simple. I tried the BOSS RV-3, RV-5, i still chose the Holy Grail. Its the best bang for the buck, although the RV-3/5 may seem that it'll give you more control over the sound etc. I personally think that simplicity is the best. The Holy Grail is the BEST REVERB STOMPBOX EVER!

Its pretty reliable, though some ppl say it "Looks Weak" with the brushed metal sheet, but its kinda sturdy. Theres also a 1-year warrenty, so theres realli nothing to worry about. I would definately use this without backup.

Haven't got any problems.

It suits all styles of music and genre. Particularly of course the artists who use it, like John Frusciante. If u dig RHCP, u dig the Holy Grail. If it was stolen, i would go find the guy who stole it and slash him with a chainsaw or something. I love how simple it is to get good sounds out of it. For the BOSS Rv-5, i had to stay in the music shop for 1 hr and still not get anything nice from it. Furthermore, its got true bypass!! The older versions of the pedal does not. Its the best reverb at that price. Go check it out guys! Holy Reverb for ur Mere Mortals.....

No Brainer.Plug and go

I ran A SRV signature Strat though the holy grail then to a 1963 fender princeton blackface. :) It was killer.So far I can sound like Im playing at carnagie with the hall effect setting or a bit toned down with the spring setting.The flerb is kind a weird.maybe when I do a hendrix tune it will be cool

Not sure about reliability as I just set it up at home and there it stays.So far so good

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I play blues and its a great compliment,im 46 and Ive been playing since the age of 12.If I lost this pedal or it was stolen I would most definitly replace it

Very easy to use - three position switch (spring, hall, flerb)and one knob for dry/wet mix. The "manual", one sheet of paper, is virtually unnecessary.

I think it sounds very good - there's always something magical about a well done reverb tank (think certain Fender amps, some Ampegs), and this digital pedal, on the spring setting, comes damn close.

Just got it a few days ago - in most cases I "set and forget" reverb, so I won't be stomping on it much, and that ought to help it's longevity.
This is the first EH product I've bought since the company re-emerged a few years ago - hopefully their products are better made than they were in the 70s - the reasons Boss kicked their ass all over the market place back then ? Boss stuff was better built, and they caught on to the LED light and AC adapter sooner than the competition.

Haven't had to deal with EH, and I'm hoping I won't have to...the one year warranty is pretty standard, although if I read it right, the customer pays shipping to and from EH - too bad they wouldn't let you bring it to an authorized repair place instead.

I play classic hits, oldies, country, blues, roots-rock, etc. Reverb on guitar is common in all those styles - on some of my amps the reverb is broken or weak, and for less than the cost of repairing two amps, I've got reverb. I also bought a Boss RV3 a few years ago, and although I don't think it's as bad as some people think it is, I ended up using it as another delay pedal instead of reverb.
I didn't compare it to the Holier Grail, or the Digitech, or Danelectro units - I took a chance that the positive reviews in guitar magazines and on Harmony Central were correct - and my wife was buying it for me as a birthday present, and I was trying to keep the price under $100 - some of the previously mentioned units are higher than that.

3 reverbs, one knob, one button. Duh.

Not bad for digital! I have a early 70's silver face Super Reverb and didn't dig the spring reverb too much (too much dwell), and plus I use a non reverb amp at practice and wanted some reverb for it.

The quality is pretty good if you keep your levels reasonable. The "Hall" setting is nice and lush if you keep it at or below 12 O'clock. After that, it getts a little washy and almost turns into a delay.

The "Spring" setting is my fav. It really sounds like a spring reverb. I like it more than my original Fender tank!

The "Flerb" setting is ghey.

The only qualm I have with the effect is:

1) Volume level - I notice that around 12 on either reverb setting, you notice a little drop in volume. This drop becomes more noticeable as you add more reverb. I understand that you're washing out the dry signal when you do this, but it shouldn't lower your overall volume.

2) Decay rate. No control over the length of decay, which is really too bad, especially for the hall settings. I really like the sound, but the decay rate is about 1/3 to long in my opinion. A knob to control this would be nice. I think the "holier" grail has more control over this, but that's a much bigger and expensive pedal.

Well, it's EH, so it'll probably break within a year. Never anything too major, mostly cheap switches and such. I can't rate it though, because it's been reliable this entire 4 hours I've had it.

I emailed their support once regarding getting my Qtron serviced and they were extrememly quick and friendly. They offered to refurb it back to new specs for around 20 bucks. I guess they offer this service on all their pedals, which is pretty cool.

I dig it. Sounds better than the Alesis or other verbs out there for the same cash. Less controls, but more realistic verb. I wish it had more control, but I guess that's what the Holier Grail is for...

One more complaint... It won't run off batteries, and the power supply on the pedal is a female plug type, completely different than your standard Boss or even some of the other EH stuff. A real pain in the ass when you're using a pedalboard with onboard power, but no compatible connector.

Why can't everyone just standardize on the Boss style power supply connectors and move on?

one knob. 3 settings. couldnt be easier. BUT, it is more prominent when plugged direct, not through effects loop. that bothers me.

great sounding. sounds perfect

solid steel. very tough. never had a problem

na

great sound. easy to use. thats all reverb should be. also came in a nice package with an ac adaptor which was nice considering most pedal companies make you buy it at extra cost.

This is very easy to use. It only has 1 knob, 1 footswitch and 1 switch (for Spring, Hall and Flerb reverb settings).

The pedal comes with a sheet of paper to explain the different reverb settings.

I plugged a mid 80's Epiphone guitar into this pedal then straight into an Ampeg Superjet (SJ-12T) all tube combo amp (which the amp already has built in reverb). I bought this pedal because when I use the Ampeg out on certin gigs (that are in big carpeted rooms) I want more reverb and I keep the amp's reverb knob on 10, so I use this pedal along with the amp's reverb.

The pedal is not noisy at all (no hiss) when the pedal is off. The only hiss I noticed was when the pedal is on and when you have the knob turned up to extreme levels (3 to 5 o'clock), but the hiss is not that noticable, I only noticed it when I really paid attention to the sound the pedal was putting out.

The tone of the guitar changed slightly when the pedal is on, the tone is slightly brighter than when the pedal is off. This tone change is very subtle, and since it's a reverb pedal most people will keep the pedal on all the time so it's not really an issue.

The spring reverb sounds very close to the actual spring reverb I have in my amp. The hall reverb is great, very long trail type reverb (it turns out to be a delay when set in extreme settings). The flerb reverb is a reverb sound with a touch of flanger sound in the trail off, it's nice for guitar leads, but I don't know how it would sound using it for a rhythm guitar. My dad heard the flerb setting and he said the sound reminded him of an old tape echo unit he had. The sound the flerb was puting out he said his tape echo machine had the same sound when the tape was 'messing up'.

I did use this pedal along with a Big Muff USA reissue pedal (the Holy Grail has to go AFTER the Big Muff ... or it will sound funny), and it sounded fine with distortion / fuzz.

I use lots of guitars (2 Gibsons, 7 Fenders, 1 Epiphone and various acoustic instruments) and lots of effects pedals (even though I don't have a main pedal setup, it changes depending on what music style I'll be playing that day/night).

I would say this pedal should last for years (made with steel / aluminum plus comes in a nice wood box).

I take care of my pedals (I don't stomp on them and I usually put them back in their boxes when not in use).

The pedal has to use an AC adapter so you don't have to worry about the pedal dying on you due to batterys going out.

I have never had to contact them but they have a great website (with sound clips of alot of their pedals).

This is a really nice reverb pedal, it would be really good with amps that don't have reverb and it will be great for amps (like the one I have) that doesn't have enough reverb and you use the pedal to 'boost' your original reverb sound.

My favorite setting on this pedal (so far) is the hall setting with the knob set around 12 - 1 o'clock.

It would be better if you could use it without an AC adapter.

Lack of control of reverb length is made up for in ease of use. You get more "wet or dry" but cannot control feedback length.

Despite previous statement, sound is good. Bought it for Fender Virbro Champ that has no reverb. Have used it for recording wet signals for guitar and vocals. The three settings: Spring, Room and Flurb offer pretty good variety. The Flurb setting is kind of like a tremolo/phaser sound, I've actually used it and like it although it has limited applications

I read a review in TapeOp mag that said two out of three units tested arrived in non-working order. I bought mine new about a month ago. One day it wouldn't work, the signal continued but the reverb effect was totally absent, after unplugging ps and patch cords and replugging all back in it was revived,the next day it was totally stone cold dead, still the signal flowed but no effect. I'm taking it back to the shop to get my money back.

I think this is a good company making some pretty shitty stompboxes to be competitive, but they may be hurting their reputation with poor quality control.

Unreliable, returning to store. But if you get a working unit i think you will enjoy it's applications for traditional reverb. Good sound, bad quality.

1 switch, 1 knob. Couldn't be any easier. True Hard Bypass switching!

OK, please read this section. My comments are all in regards to the Spring setting.

I've been looking for a reverb for my Fender Pro Junior which has no effects. I'm used to listening to my father's '65 Princeton Reverb, from the golden era of fender amps. As a result I am extremely picky about reverb. I purchased 3 pedals from Guitar Center. The Digitech Digiverb, The Dano Spring King, and the Holy Grail. I liked the Holy Grail best of all, so I decided to put it to the ultimate test. I A/B-ed the Holy Grail versus my Fathers Princeton Reverb. I plug my guitar into the Holy Grail, then into the Fender Reverb amp. Alternating between the Grail, and the built in Reverb I was amazed. I could bairly tell the difference. Then, I took it a step further. I had my father stand outside the room, and alternated between the two. HE COULDN'T TELL THE DIFFERENCE!

This test was done at a moderate and tasteful setting. As the settings are made extreme, there is divergence in the two sounds. But comparing the two reverbs at a solid level (3on the amp, 11 o'clock on the Grail) resulted in two very comparable sounds.

My hats off to EH for doing the impossible, capturing the best reverb sounds in a digital stompbox.

True bypass switching

Looks solid enough.

Crappy manual, but who needs one when there's only one knob?

I rate this as a must buy for anyone without built in spring reverb in their amp. Great sounding pedal.

This has all been explained before. One knob, one switch...

I consider myself very picky about effects, especially digital ones. This has to be the best non-rackmounted reverb I have ever heard. The only reverb I like better is the one in my Digitech 2120. I A/B'd this with the reverbs in my vintage deluxe and my two mesa's, a Mark IV and a Subway rocket reverb. It blew all of them, including the Fender away! That was just in the "spring" setting. The others cannot even compare to the "hall" setting. I haven't messed too much with the "flerb", but if your into Andy Summers this should do you up.
The only problem I ran into was the same as a previous post: if you have it before your distortion it sounds awful. But anyone into effects knows that reverb needs to be after the distortion, so if you don't have an effects loop and you use your amps distortion you might have to shut it off for that. It wasn't too bad unless I used the ultra-high gain boogies; the fender seemed to be okay with it. It sounded the best with my '65 Vibro-Champ; it really lets you know what you're missing with those non-reverb amps.

It's an EH. I have several original EH pedals and they all still work fine, so I imagine it will last for years. Reverb is not a necessity unless your a Surf Dude, but backups are nice.

Never dealt with them.

I play mostly blues-rock, and classic rock. This pedal suits me fine. I have been playing off and on since about 1994. I have more gear than I could mention here, including a digitech 2120, a mesa mark 4, a G&L strat, a mexi-strat w/duncan rails, etc... If it were stolen, I would definitely get another. I bought this one based on recommendations from this site. I am glad I did, because I was going to spend twice as much on the danelectro spring king, and everyone seems to hate that one. This was definitely a good buy. It's a blem too, so I got it cheap!