Electro-Harmonix Holy Grail Reverb

Very easy. Three setttings and one knob to dial in the sound you want.

Totally Unusable.
When I brought the pedal back after playing it for a few hours, the effects salesguys all sounded like they had never heard about the noise problem mentioned by most people here.

I bought the pedal against my better judgement only because I had heard there were all kinds of revisions to the pedal making the noise issue a non-issue. SO I thought I would take a chance.

I ran the pedal direct from a fender strat into a reissue 59 bassman.

With the volume on the bright channel at 3, and the pedal setting at about 3 oclock, you could already hear the hiss/noice. Turning the amp up a bit to more realistic volume club settings, the pedal hissed like nothing I have ever heard.

I played it for about an hour and then returned it.

It is too bad becasue the sound at *extremely* low volumes was very nice.

See above.
I would never use this pedal and I think it's a joke that it is still being sold. Maybe there are the lucky ones that get a pedal that doesn't hiss, but count me in the long line of those that didn't. As a result, I probably won't rush out to try anything else made by EH.

I have been playing for so many years now that I have lost count. I have played with a wide variety of pedals as well and I have never heard the hissing (even my old boss rv2 never hissed as bad as this baby).

Nevr dealt with them. Returned the pedal to the store and got a store credit for the Digitech Digiverb.

I could hear some really nice sounds of reverb trying to come through all the hiss. Too bad. I would loved to have kept it.

If someone stole it I would be laughing my arse off.

Very simple to use

I thought the quality of the reverbs was very good for the price paid...however, I found this unit to be far too noisy when engaged and returned it. Great reverb destroyed by surprisingly loud hiss. Too bad.

Can't say...didn't keep it. I'd imagine it would last a while if properly cared for. Based on just the feel of it, I'd say you would have to baby it far more than, say, a Boss pedal.

Did not deal with them. I can say that Musician's Friend made it easy to return. What can I say...I live in a city without an E/H dealer.

My amp does not have reverb and I planned to just leave it in the efx loop to add some space to my sound. It added some space and too much noise. I was using properly shielded cables but this just sounded like hiss. Perhaps I had a bad unit. I think I'll try Boss or (more likely) do without reverb.

Incredibly easy to use, with spring, hall and flerb switch, and then a large knob to turn and dial in the amount of reverb.

The hall reverb is gorgeous and I use that most. Spring reverb adds a little extra twang to what I can already get on my amp. Flerb is great if you used sparingly - I like to combine it with tremolo for a lovely washing sound. On the whole the sound that comes out of this unit if glorious, warm and full.
BUT it can be a little noisy. Once you've played through it for a while it's not so bad, but there's noticeable hiss when the effect kicks in.

Only had it for a month or so, but it's built well so I can't foresee any problems.

I play atmospheric instrumental music, and this pedal has been a godsend. It's lush. Highly recommended.

One knob, a reverb type selector switch, on/off switch!

Setup: Fender Roadhouse > CryBaby > DS1 > DS2 > Vol Pedal > CE5 > DD5 > Holy Grail > Fender De Ville

It's pretty quiet and works very well with my DD5 and CE5. It help fills in the gaps in-between the delays. After using them together, I'll feel the signal is pretty dry the moment I turn off the Reverb. I'll not seperate them from now. I feel the sound produced is transparent and clean, great! But I wouldn't say it's super lush and warm, but neither thin as air as some reverb unit produces. I've heard good reports on the holiest grail that's really lush. I guess for that price, it had better be! But for what I paid, I'm very satisfied with what it gives.

I noticed when the knob is turn up beyond 2 O'clock, the overall volume drops quite a bit. Most probably due to extreme phase cancellation between the wet and dry...

Just got it today, so I wouldn't know

One knob for wet-dry mix - easy.

Very good spring simulation though it goes from too little to too much very easily. Nice spacious hall which can get pretty large feeling. If you like natural hall and spring sounds and are not too fussy then for the money it simply can't be beaten but if you're after a specific tone it may not give you what you want. Personally, despite liking it a lot I find that it just doesn't give me the edge I want for aggressive solos.

Okay here's the final word... The newer pedals are superbly built and without any problems. They use an expensive 3 way stomp-switch which gives a rgenuine hard/true bypass. Absolutely nothing in the signal path bar wires and jacks.

HOWEVER... There was a period in manufacturing not so long ago when Electroharmonix used an unreliable components manufacturer (though they don't like to admit it) and these dodgy pedals are now out there and changing hands frequently. Some are still even as yet unsold on shelves here and there!

Unfortunately there is no external cosmetic difference between the old and new ones so the best thing to do is buy one new from a high volume retailer I'm afraid!

Finally, the PSU/adapter is in fact not critical at all. The unit has it's own internal regulator which is happy with a wide range of voltages. The reason for Electroharmonix insistence on their own brand PSU is because this thing generates digital noise on the supply line so if it shares a PSU with an analog pedal you'll get awful interference, pops, clicks and whines!

In short. new = 9/10. Old = 1/10.

Depends who you speak to. Mostly pretty useless. Occasionally well informed and helpful.

Great unit for the straightforward player wanting quality natural sounds in a compact unit at a bargain price providing you go for a new one.

Simplicity may not satisfy all players though and secondhand units are sadly a bit of a gamble.

Oh and the flerb... a flanger without rate control is unlikely to be of much use to anyone and it's not extreme enough to be crazy fun.

Why trust my opinion? I have a BSc in Audio Technology, have been playing guitar professionally for 15 years, released two CD's and have worked as Engineer, Technician and all sorts of other boring music jobs for the last decade. Oh and I play only bloggy sportastic moggle guitars through frump-biscuit amplifiers using a precision 9.1045 volt 312mA PSU for maximum thrang. Not.

One knob, no explaination needed. very easy

I bought this to use with my new orange rocker 30. didn't come with any onboard reverb. I was going to buy a nice reverb tank like the soldano or a fender but instead I decided to try this because it was so much cheaper. I'm glad I did. This thing sounds lush. The great tone on the orange became inspiring. It sounds better than the reverb on my mesa rectoverb by far. this is at the end of my chain going into the front of the amp. no loop on the rocker 30. I only use the amps own distortion. going into the front of the amp still sounds killer. my setup is as follows. SG standard> boss tu-2>boss ce-2>boss bf-3>boss dd-6> using both outputs on delay, one goes right to my rectoverb the other goes into the grail then into the front of the orange. I put all my effects into the front end of the mesa too. The loop on the rectoverb sucks. but still an awesome amp. no noise at all. i hear nothing except the sweet reverb. I do power all pedals with a voodoo lab pedal power which is plugged into a furman power conditioner with the amps and everything is linked with monster cables. I find a lot of people blame pedals for noise when it's really their fault for using shitty connectors and power options.

I've only had it for a weak now, but no problems yet. I have had several other EH pedals and have never had any problems with them ever.

no idea. never needed them.

I like playing everything from nice blues to very hard agressive metal. as far as tones go I like a nice glassy clean that almost blooms and lot's of crunch. i would definitely buy this again if it were lost or stolen. as far as the other reviews on reliability, sucks to be them. I seem to get lucky with my EH pedals they have all been awesome. Keep in mind with EH if subtle effects are what you want go elsewhere. When these are on you know it. That's why i love them.

its one of the easiest pedals out there - even if you're not an effects-head

Here's where I get a dilemma.

It sounds pretty good at the store, even at semi loud levels. And it sounds OK if you run alot of gain at home or even at a loud practice/jam/gig volume. BUT if you play as naturally as possible with a guitar>pedal>tube amp setup and use a more classic setting like pure tube amp breakup for that lovable, responsive overdrive - you will notice tone loss. Enough to really make a difference. Like I said, dont worry if you play with insane amounts of distortion or play at lower volumes, it seems to sound pretty smooth in those situations. But you can really notice some unpleasant side-effects when running loud using nice thick tube breakup. It just sucks a little magic out of your rig and I cannot accept that, not when I rely on subtle nuances and classy sounds

The first one I got started working funny as soon as I got it home. It would work, then not work.....all the while the light would stay on (YIPPEEEE!!!)

So I took it back and the guitar store let me trade it in on another.

Got the 2nd one home and it worked long enough to let me get my impression of it (read above) but after a week I started getting the same problems. I dont know if the whole bunch of them are prone to this madness, or just the 2 I had but I dont care anymore.

I decided to try the digiverb when I took the 2nd one back and not only does it feel and work solidly as it should, but Ive found none of those problems I did with the Holy Grail. Even at higher volumes it sounds great. It can sound just as authentic as the HG if set correctly and Im sure it will outlive the HG.

Im giving this pedal a 6 based on how I feel about it. I would probably give it a 7 overall if it worked all the time. Theres nothing worse than getting a pedal that sounds pretty decent only to find out in real jamming situations it reacts differently or alters the tone. It would be cool if they could get it to only add reverb and not take anything away from your sound - but even then there is a better reverb pedal on the market (Digitech Digiverb) but I just did'nt give the digiverb any time at the store because I was caught up in this Holy Grail fuss. Yes it did sound OK while it worked at lower volumes but because of the sound at high volumes and the reliability problems please make sure you get a good one, give it hell at the store - just dont say I didnt warn you about what it does in real gig/playing situations

The holy grail pedal is a no-brainer for use. The brief description in the accompanying leaflet is all to get the pedal working.With only 3 settings and a rotery knob for intensity, the dimmest of axe-weilding neanderthals will be re-inventing their peter green routes in no time.

Im using two gordon smith humbucking-equiped guitars, a 50th anniversary strat and a prs custom 22-brazilian.There is a minimum of noise when switched on-nothing to upset yourself with at jam/gig levels.Im using the pedal with a vox wah only in front of a peavey bandit{latest type} and a boogie 22 plus with boogie 1x12 extenstion cab.When played in the spring reverb mode, its instant classic 60s vibe that out-guns your fender valve unit...true. Try it with a good strat. its transparent and warm as hell on a saturday night!With humbucking guitars, the black magic woman vibe smacks you around the chops and pulls you to and fro. inspiring stuff! Beware though. The effect is signal activated-switch to the dirty channel of your amp and the reverb can sound too much. I dont like the flerb setting...perhaps a room setting would have suited us most.Overall, buy one and thank E.H for giving us a true-sounding lush fx to get all excited over when you gig. its that fine.

Sure I CAN DEPEND ON IT. THE JACKS STAY IN, ITS BUILT LIKE A BRICK AND DELIVERS OODLES OF WHAT I WANT.

Never needed to contact them.Got a feeling i never will.

Im into santana, peter green and any blues at all.
Ive been flogging the dead horse that is guitar playing for thirty years.im inspired again because of the grail.if stolen, id take a contract out on them...or just go to my nearest retailer and surely buy another.
BUY IT.
Regards,
Jeff Levy

Very Easy to use one knob and one swithch to select spring, hall, or flerb.

Excellent sound quality. Simply superb. I wrote an earlier review where I complained about the hissing in the background but i have concluded that my unit is defective because many players say that thiers are silent. But the reverb is sooooo good through this thing that I am going to replace mine with another silent one. The reverb is great so If I can find a silent one I'll give EH a 9 on tyhis because I never give 10's. NOT YET ANYWAY!! For now just an 8 --- stay tuned...

The spring reverb is a good convincing spring reverb, The Hall is my favorite very lush and transparent, The Flerb is useless as far as i'm concerned.

It always works no problems yet..

This reverb is so good that I am writing a favorable review even though my unit is hissing a little bit. That should tell you something about the quality of Reverb itself. So before you buy one check it out first for noise. If it's quite then belive me you have a keeper.

I've been playing for over 25 years and play several nice guitars through fender tube amps (deville, twin, and blues junior). I run it through the FX loop of my Fenders. Other FX -- Boss Giga Delay, Boss CE5 chorus, Boss DD6 Delay, VOX Wah. Various distortion boxes--I keep it simple --- great tone --- great player --- tastefully and purposfully used FX.

Extreamly easy to use! Choose a reverb setting and turn a dial! I like simple so I give it a 10..

Here's where I could not belive my ears! I plugged this into a BF Deluxe Reverb and tuned the amps reverb down all the way and kicked on the Holy Grail, set at spring revber and the dial at about noon. It was great! Then I switched the Holy Grail off and turned the Deluxe Reverbs, reverb to about 3. I honestly couldn't tell the difference. The room reverb on the Holy Grail is great too! The Flerb (Flange / Reverb) is cool to play around with but I really won't use it during any shows.

I will use this Holy Grail all the time as I am playing smaller venues as I get older. I play nothing but strats through a 1956 Tweed Deluxe amp! We are a power blues / rock trio so I needed some verb to fill things out..

By the way, I also tried out the Holier Grail and it was NOT worth another $100.. Don't get ne wrong, it was great but not worth $100 more than the Holy Grail!

All this EH stuff is built like a S_it Brick House!

?? Never called EH

Since I A-B'ed this against a Real Tube Driven Spring Reverb unit and I really couldn't tell the difference, I bought it right then and there! I have used many amps with killer reverb on board, this thing is the real deal.. I have been playing as a pro for 25 years. I am also analog freak, I always refused to use the digital stuff, but now I am.. The holy Grail sounds awsome! The price is right too!