Electro-Harmonix Holy Grail Reverb

simple: one knob and one switch (spring, hall, flerb)

the sound is great.
my main reason for writing this review is to comment on the flerb. everyone seems to not think much of it, but i LOVE IT!
the spring and hall effects are great, but the flerb setting gives a cool slow flange to the spring reverb sound.
I use it a ton and nave even recorded with it and it sounds great!
it can adda really cool dimension...

usually mine works well.
every once and a while, it will hum loudly for no good reason, but then the next day sound normal again.
a few weeks ago it just stopped working. i messed around with it, and even took it apart to look for a loose joint. i didn't see anything wrong, and put it back together planning on buying a new one...but then it worked. and it has worked perfectly since...

never dealt with them..

nice pedal.
simple and fairly versatile for a straightforward reverb pedal.
i like it.


yes i'd buy another one. i'd thought about a holier or holiest grail, but i really love the simplicity of this one.

Just one knob and one switch. Pretty easy to get a good sound out of this box

The quality of effect itself is very good considering the price.
Spring and Hall I find very usable, Flurb is fun but not more than that. I used in front of a handbuild Tweed Twin and at first I found what I was looking for. But after a while......

....the problems started! Due to very poor quality of crucial parts the pedal started to hiss and sqirl. I found this problem in a lot of reviews on HS and people state that the pedal is very noisy. A little nuance on that: from the moment it starts to make noise, an op-amp has broken down, so in fact, your pedal has broken down and should be returned to the shop on a warranty basis.

Had two Holy Grails returned to shop I bought them from. On both occasions they were 'repaired' and after a while failed on me again. It doesn't really matter what kind of music one plays if your gear is not reliable. Whatever you play, it will always sound crap. It's a shame Electro Harmonics isn't prepaired to spend, say about, 5 dollars more on this one in order to make it more reliable. Bloody shame

Pretty easy to use, 1 knob, nice and simple.

I play a G&L ASAT Classic through a fender tweed clone. This thing is noisy as all hell. I would never even think of recording with it. The Spring reverb is weak, but the hall sounds cool. Thats what I use most of the time. The Flerb is a novelty, a kinda fun novelty, but a novelty none the less. Oh, and when you click this thing on it takes a little bit away from your tone. Not very much, but enough to aggravate me.

It works when it wants to work... Really have to baby it.

Maybe i'm just so hard on this thing cuz the I'm comparing it to the reverb on my Fender Deville, but overall I was not very pleased with this product. It's noisy, it's unrealible, and it eats my tone!!! RAWR!!!!! Maybe I will save up for a reverb unit...

Pretty easy to use, 1 knob, nice and simple.

I play a G&L ASAT Classic through a fender tweed clone. This thing is noisy as all hell. I would never even think of recording with it. The Spring reverb is weak, but the hall sounds cool. Thats what I use most of the time. The Flerb is a novelty, a kinda fun novelty, but a novelty none the less. Oh, and when you click this thing on it takes a little bit away from your tone. Not very much, but enough to aggravate me.

It works when it wants to work... Really have to baby it.

Maybe i'm just so hard on this thing cuz the I'm comparing it to the reverb on my Fender Deville, but overall I was not very pleased with this product. It's noisy, it's unrealible, and it eats my tone!!! RAWR!!!!! Maybe I will save up for a reverb unit...

Very simple: Switch to choose among 3 reverb setting, and 1 knob to adjust the volume/intensity of the effect.

Well, the reverbs actually sound very cool... MAJOR problem is the amount of noise and hiss from the pedal!! I tried it both at the end of my effects chain and in the fx loop - still noisy as hell. In fact, the noisiest pedal I ever owned. It's a shame.

It's an EHX... aluminum box looks nice, but easily scratched and dented.

Never tried to contact them.

I really wanted to like this pedal... but for me, it was unusable because it's too damn noisy. I gave up and returned it to the store.

The only downside is the no-standard power socket - but it's easy to swap out.

Hall and spring are just right for me. Flerb is fun but I'll never use it. Sound is OK - it doesn't suck tone. Problem is that it's just started hissing. It's been OK for 5 months but now the hiss is annoying. I play into a THD Bi-Valve. If I plug it straight into the amp then it's v. hissy. If I put it in the amp's effect loop then it's a lot less hissy - but still a bit annoying. I'll try returning it to the vendor. If it weren't for the hissing it would score 9

See above.

Fenders Mustang and modern USA Tele. Yam SG 2000 (70s). THD BiValve.

I won't buy another.

When you know what you want from a reverb ??
Very easy.
Set it at Hall, 9 - 10 o clock !!
Ready for anything !!

I have it since 5 years and it worked sometimes good and sometimes bad.
Sometimes it just dont want work, so I must put the adapter ( you need 500 mA. + 3,5 pin ) out and back again, sometimes I must repeat this 3 - 5 times, till it works. But than you can switch it on and off without any problem. Because my Plexi Amp has no reverb, I have buy that. Thinking that it give my some more "magic" because its called "holie grail", ( You know that "glory" Storys ). But at times I notice thats its not, I hold it the 5 years because, its better as nothing ;-) And a reverb is not the "importantsd" gear I need.
I have buy the new Engl souveraign 2x12 combo, with two seperate reverbs, so I dont need this anylonger.
I play since 20 years and have noticed that the best sound is coming from a good guitar, a goood amp ( with 2 channels + seperate reverbs ) and maybe a good Overdrive as Booster ( I use a maxon Ts9 ). And thats it, the more stombboxes you use, the more the main "natural" sound goes away. Also ( extrem ) with the Holie Grail.
I only used it at Hall, 9 - 10 O clock, sometimes, because the rest is f*** s****. What you eccept under a " Flurb" ?! You know !
I dont can say that its a tip, if you need a reverb ! Try something other out !!

Whats is wrong with EHX ??
It looks good but is build from cheap thin alu plates !
Turn in the guitar/amp cables, in and out can damege the box.
Stombing youre feet a littel bit to heavy on the on/off switch can destroy the cover !! Look inside the box and you understand why russian people drink wodka !! The paint job and the end manufacturing is made in the USA but the parts are made in UDSSR !

I dont speak russian and I dont know enough english "bad" words to contact them and say what I thing about them !
"WE ONLY HAVE THE DOLLAR SIGNS IN OUR EYES"

NO, NO, NO
I have spirit and magic in my soul and fingers.
I use Gibsons, Music Mans and Fenders.
I use Roccaforte and Engl Amps.
I play 50 - 100 gigs a year. Cover Stuff or own Music.
I play in studios.
I play since 20 years.
I had testet nearly anything that is popular in the guitar scene.
No, no, no.
This unit is s**** !!

Simple, and straightforward... Simple to get "GOOD SOUND"???

Sounds great till you turn your amp past "1". Then the noise takes over...

It is built cheap but I'm easy on stuff so it would probably last forever...

Didn't bother...

Holy Grail not so Holy...

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I bought one about a week ago (Holy Grail) at Guitar Center. I think the spring-reverb effect is pretty impressive. The other settings don't interest me. This would be a really cool piece of equipment but...

It produces a lot of hiss in my old amps (Stock BFPR/New Build 5E5A Pro clone). No, really, a LOT of hiss!!! (Think LOUDER than driving on the freeway with your windows down). There is a bit of squeal, or high pitched whine, that is pretty annoying too. It would be even more noticable but it is somewhat drowned out by the hiss. The switch makes a loud POP when you step on it. The box itself is microphonic, tap on it and you will hear it in the amp. Yes, I tried it with more than one amp, more than one guitar, wall wart plugged in to a separate circuit, different cables, even different tubes...

I read reviews here that some are better than others so I returned mine to GC and got another. EXACTLY THE SAME ISSUES! This one will go back too. UN-USEABLE...

Reading the reviews for the Holi-er Grail there doesn't seem to be the same problem with noise. I'm curious if it has the same spring-reverb effect, the one part about this pedal I like (I'd appreciate some feedback about this pedal). I don't need/want all the extra doo-dads but if that is what a guy has to do to escape the noise...

It's a joke. It also sucks that you have to use the power adapter that comes with it unless you have the newer Pedal Power.

This is an awesome, practical delay. And I emphasize practical. The guy below compares it to a Fender reverb unit. Obviously, the Fender dominates. But what practical, touring musician, would bring along his/her priceless, vintage Fender outboard reverb unit? I sure wouldn't. The Holy Grail is an awesome, simple reverb. The verbzilla and digiverb are cool, but if you want simplicity at it's best, go with the Holy Grail. Great sound and can do a pretty cool gated reverb a la Kevin Shields. My personal favorite is the Spring setting. I read about people having horrible noise issues. I A/B'd mine and didn't notice any noise problems.

I have mixed feelings about ehx boxes. I don't trust them, but nothing's happened to me and I've had mine for a 4 months. I'll probably rehouse the Holy Grail. I've heard people blowing out their Holy Grail because they use an insufficient power supply other than the one that comes with it.

Never dealt with them.

This is a very practical pedal. I recommend finding it used because I don't think it's a 100 dollar pedal. I traded a Boss RV-3 for this and I have noticed a greater improvement in my tonality. Definitely check it out and see if it suits you.

Using this is obvious, there's so few controls.

I won't bore you with a list of gear, other than to say I'm comparing this with a Fender 1963reissue stand-alone valve spring reverb, modded slightly to take it as close as possible to the original spec (6L6 not 6V6 valve, JAN NOS 12AX7s etc).

I was attracted by the advertising, which implies this pedal can make the same sounds as a Fender reverb, and because it looks less fragile than the Fender. I did wonder why the EHX website's sound samples don't include any surf guitar. Now I know. Dick Dale may or may not be able to tell the difference but I bloody well can. The Holy Grail is no substitute for the Fender unit. The Fender has pots that control dwell (basically the overall delay time/how hard the srings get twanged), mix (clean and fx signal) and tone (treble roll-off on the reverb signal only). These three controls interact in a very complex way, giving everything from a fearsome BOING with almost no reverb tails to swimming-with-head-under-water reverb wash. The tone control is very important in this as it has a huge impact on the reverb character, and the Holy Grail has no way of adjusting anything other than "level".

And if you kick it it doesn't go CRASHH-HH-HH-H-H-H-H either.

On the plus side it's a good copy of the single-control reverbs fitted into Fender amps, and when my hyper-active sax player trips over it it doesn't go CRASHH-HH-HH-H-H-H-H.

One thing to watch - all these reverbs that go before the amp sound best if the amp is set (relatively) clean. Ultra-long, compressed and distorted reverb tails are not pleasant (or even interesting).

I didn't notice whether the Holy Grail butchers your tone when its (supposedly) by-passed or not. My (limited) experience of EH stuff is that it probably does.

No idea about reliability. My EH fx are both from the 1970s and I've owned them both from new. Apart from having to redo/repair lousy soldering on most of the joints (dry joints, joints with mountains of solder, wires attached to the board/sockets by a couple of hairs) all I can say is that they keep working.

Would I buy one if it got stolen? I didn't buy the one I was trying out.