Electro-Harmonix Holy Grail Reverb

Pretty straight forward...select hall or spring and use the big knob to set level...manual is limited but usefull. Adaptor only power might be a pain for big settups or board users (requires unique power supply) probably best alone or with one or two other pedals.

Strat and SG with silverface Princeton...decent sound, a bit washy at high settings...not quite up to a vintage tube unit but close enough for most uses. Flerb is usefull to give faux phaser, chorus, vibe, leslie effects.. a little extra bang for the buck

Usuall "tin box" EH construction.....probably hold up ok with a bit of care.

NA

I play a little bit of everything that you would use a classic Fender
amp for. I had been looking for a Fender 'Verb for my Princeton but could never find one at a good price; plus they are almost as big as my amp! I came across the HG on sale (they usually run @ 99.00) and decided to give it a try..Not bad!

Hey it's me again...just got my Holy Grail back from warranty repair from EH in 13 days ! And it's working....impressive turnaround time !

This is an addition to the review I posted (about 5 reviews down)- after sucessfully using the Holy Grail on five gigs (at the end of the effects chain) it failed on me on gig #6 - before I started playing, there was a humming, whistling noise coming from my amp.
When the HG was disconnected from the chain, the noise disappeared.
I was hoping that just maybe the place I was playing (never gigged there before)and the HG "didn't get along electrically" - but when I got home, and tried it through a different amp at home, the noise was still there.
So today (3/19)I shipped the HG back to Electro Harmonix - costing about $7 (insured it for $100), and enclosed the $5 for return shipping - hopefully this will be a pleasant experience (as far as warranty repairs can be "pleasant").
I'm curious as to how long I'll be without the pedal, and curious as to whether anything else will go wrong.

Very easy to use! Input, output, level and three way switch.(spring, hall, flerb) Doesnt include a manual but its reverb, who needs a manual?

My guitar setup is: Squire stagemaster, and a bunch of other pedals. Last at the moment, holy grail.
It has a very good reverb sound. Ive played a couple of really good fender reverb amps but cant afford any, so I bought the grail and it just plain sounds awsome. The spring setting is really good for general rythme. Hall is good for solo's. Flerb, well, is just a funny sounding phaser. But good sounding.

I would defently depend on it. I wouldnt carry a backup. Its housed in a metal case and though light, seems pretty well built.

Pretty good even though I only emailed them a question about the logo. They responded pretty quickly though.

I play rock and some r&b. It sounds great on my rig and really accents my sound. Great reverb for the price

Just "set it and forget it" just like you would with your amp reverb.Reacts the same way too, anything past 12 o clock on the level knob gets a little too indistinct so just keep it low and enjoy the lush!!

All three modes sound fantastic. The one I use mainly is the hall setting, sounds very realistic.The spring is identical to the one built into my Fender amp, maybe a little cleaner, and the "Flerb" gets used for those New Age moments.I bought this to add some much needed ambience to my '70's Hiwatt Custom 100 and they are now in love!!I use various Strats, Teles and a 335, it doesn't matter.
I bought this after reading a killer review in a UK magazine whose opinion I trust, didn't even try it in the shop, just took it to the gig, plugged it in, set the knob to around 10 o clock and didn't switch it off all night....

EH have a reputation for crapping out, but because I don't use the footswitch, I guess that's one less thing that's going wear out.

Haven't dealt with them yet!! but I'm sure this thing'll last at least 'till the warranty's expired, then I'll definitely buy another one.

I play jazz, funk, blues and rock and this is perfect.I've been playing for 30 years and I like to think I know a good thing when I hear it now.My amp hasn't got send and return so this just goes straight in the front and it still sounds glorious.
If you need reverb for your amp, there's no point looking any further, this is the one to buy.

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

???????

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!

This is an extremely easy pedal to use. It's got a 3 way slide switch that allows you to go through the 3 settings: Spring, Hall, and "Flerb" (reverb with a light flange). It's got a knob to set the level of the effect. That's it. Finding a good sound is also not hard. Just plug it in and chances are that you're there. Every sound on this pedal is usable IMO, the only trick is finding how to use it.

I play Fenders and Squiers (Mexican-made Duo-Sonic, Squier Fat Telecaster, and Squier Affinity Strat) through a Fender BXR bass amp. The amp sucks and the guitars are worse. I can still get a great sound with this setup by using this pedal I've tried it with other guitars and amps and been impressed as well. Like I said earlier, every setting is usable, and I can get some great sounds out of it. It works best when placed after everything else in an effects loop. By doing that, I can add a nice "larger than life" effect that sounds like something off an old Pink Floyd record or something (this pedal's really good for getting David Gilmour's "space" tone on the Hall setting, along with Robby Krieger's "slippery" tone on the Spring Setting). Flerb isn't useless, though the lack of controls over the depth and rate of the flange are annoying. I think they were going for Kurt Cobain's watery chorus tone on Nevermind (which he got with another EH pedal, the Small Clone), and I find that by turning the level up on Flerb I can nail the intro to "Come As You Are" and the verse of "Smells Like Teen Spirit". This pedal also gets a passable Dick Dale Surf Rock tone, and works nicely for electric blues licks as well. If you turn it up to about 3 o'clock, it sounds a little like a very warm, lush chorus pedal. All this is if you put it AFTER your effects. Put it before them and it muddies everything up, though you can get some nice Radiohead/Sonic Youth-ish feedback by putting it before a distortion pedal and playing note stuff. This pedal can go from being subtle to being very full and lush, though on higher settings the Hall setting becomes more of a delay, throwing your signal off by a fraction of a second and burying it under so much reverb you can only hear the effect. Still, it's not a bad sound. On lower settings, it's extremely transparent and quiet. It might not be a perfect duplication of a spring reverb, but I can't tell the difference. According to the ads, neither could Dick Dale.

It's given me no problems so far, and since I'm broke and can't afford a backup I'm forced to gig with it. It's a reverb pedal, so even if it does break at a show, it's probably not going to throw your sound off THAT much. It seems to be built very solidly. I suspect it'll last, but since I've only had it for about 4 months it gets an 8 from me just because I don't have the experience with it to know if it'll hold up forever.

Never had to deal with them. No opinion.

I've been playing for about 2 and a half years, with my own style of bluesy psycadelic punk rock. This pedal has taken my sound to a place I had always wanted to go. If it were lost or stolen, I would have to look at the new Danelectro and Boss pedals, but I'm confident I would come back to this. This is my favorite pedal, and I can't see myself doing without it. At under $100, it has a better sound than the more expensive delay/reverb pedals out there such as the Boss and the Digitechs. A great bargain.

one knob, it's killer baby! turn it up to half and it gets in the marshall spring reverb range, turn no farther than 2 o'clock or you'll get all kinds of nonsense. manual is a little ticket inside the box. ya don't need it, really.

gibson sg to pedals, reverb is placed last before the ORANGE HEAD! good reverb filter, does not corrupt your sound. very transparent.

power source only to run this thing. don't kick out the plug!!!

n/a

this a great end-line effect for amps like THE ORANGE which don't come with the traditional marshall spring reverb. i wish this box had a "kick" simulator so it could sound like you dropped the head down a flight of stairs. my old marshall MOSFET does that, it's hell-arious. this is a very practical and useful pedal for my purposes. leave it on if you don't have a speck of reverb in your amp.

very easy to use,see other reviews

I used it through the fx loop of my Laney valve amp,after the preamp and the amp,between them,I even tried it between the amp and the guitar.The Laney GH-50L has an fx loop that allows different options (see above)with a knob to control the volume of the fx.

In all cases I was very disappointed with this box,it is a very,very cheap digital sounding thing,very weak and IT IS A DELAY,NOT A REVERB,the problem being it's very easy to spot it.The box looks great but the sound is a real let down.it is not nice at all,doesn't bring anything to your sound.If you have ears,DO NOT BUY IT!!It gets better at low levels of reverb and I eventually ended up not using it at all!!
The reverb of my 4-track boss digital recorder wasn't worse...

The reverbs with the AVT Marshall amps (Which are crap amps by the way) are much,much better than this one for example.

Once again:if you are a musician able to listen,do not buy it

The only good point:it is very transparent.

I don't know,I sold it after a few days

If you need a nice sounding reverb to add to your quality rig,look elsewhere.I wish I had never bought it,fortunately I sold it for #50 to a guy who didn't hear the obvious poor sound quality of it...
I'll give it an overall 4/10 because it looks and feels the business (as long as one doesn't use it as a reverb for guitar)

Only a moron couldn't operate it.

I've tried every reverb unit out there and nothing touches this.
It's vintage fender verb and I've A/B'd them side by side with an old vibrolux. The spring is superb..the hall is lucious and I even like the flerb..perfect unit for a verbless amp bar none.

seems fine..not a fan of warts but...beats paying 1500 for a fender verbhead.

don't know...no probs ever..

True verb and for digital it's amazing and warm and exactly want I was looking for for years in a stomp box. I use Gibsons and a Boogie and bought it for my old Beltone but it will now replace my Acutronics verb on my Boogie as well..

One knob, 1 three postion slide switch, one bypass switch. Very simple, but very effective.

I have always been a fan of two things when it comes to recreating vintage sounds, and they are tape echo and spring reverb. When I was a teen, I recorded tons of poor quality electronic music tracks at a local cable TV studio, with nothing to use for effects except a reel-to reel and a PA mixer (Kustom) with an onboard sring reverb. This made all the really cheap synths and electronic pianos I ran thru it sound really nice and thick, saving many recordings from being totally embarassing.

Years passed, and even if the board and studio were long gone, I still yearned for that spring reverb sound... The only problem was, every time I found a unit in a pawn shop, it was either rusty, humming like crazy, broken, or just plain atrociously weak sounding.

Nowadays, there are a few options if you are looking for a real spring reverb, but none so compact as the aptly named Electro Harmonix Holy Grail. It's only natural that after having purchased a Line 6 DL-4 Delay Modeler, the next step in achieving that vintage warbling warmth would be to add a spring reverb to my kit list. I was quite suspicious at first, having been disappointed by many "spring" algorithms in rack mount units, and wasn't so certain the Holy Grail could cut it, but after listening to it on the Buzzfox.com site, I was somewhat curious and impressed, so I placed an order.

I wasn't disappointed at all with what I got; in fact, it sounded even better than on the demo. I have never heard such a perfect emulation of spring reverb. The realism of the effect, coupled with the unit's vintage EH look, makes you wish you could tap it to make the spring go BOOOIIIINNNG! (heheheh). Danelectro have implemented that lovely feature on their new Spring King Pedal, but I figured the EH one would be a better buy because not only does it have a spring model, it also has a nice lush Hall setting, free of the metallic "chickahhh" sounds normally heard in rack units, and something called "Flerb", which many of the guitarists who have posted their reviews did not seem to like, but sounds absolutely amazing when applied to hi-hats and string synth lines. Kudos to EH for three useful settings.

The last time I heard reverb this warm, it came from a Lexicon. But the Lexicons seek to emulate real acoustic spaces, whereas the Holy Grail serves an altogether different purpose.

The Holy Grail is a unique, musically useful box, and it is sweet sounding too, with no hiss or hum of any kind; makes me think I should add some for authenticity...

Electro Harmonix boxes have never been known for their sturdiness, but then again, they tend to get scuffed up more than suffer internal damage, a fact that is evidently apparent when visiting pawn shops and second hand music stores stocked with beaten but working original issue EH pedals, which they try and sell you for more than it costs to get a reissue. I would gig without a backup, but perhaps if I had two, I could do stereo spring lines...

I have not dealt with Electro Harmonix in the past.

A great little box everyone who is into vintage studio sounds should look into. This is one of the few new products Electro Harmonix have put out that will someday achieve the same legendary status as the Big Muff, or the Electric Mistress.

Very easy to use. Like the simple control on the top. 3 patches (spring,hall,flerb) all very usable.

I was a bit sceptical at first about it being a digital unit but was really suprised by the amazing quality, especially the spring setting. I use it with my strat and mesa boogie rectifier head and cab. I play deep heavy sounding music - tool, deftones, rage. I can keep the pedal on constantly without it affecting my precious tone. The spring is almost exactly like the real thing, the hall sounds big but I tend not to use it because it can sound a little synthetic, and the flerb is good if used low for a subtle effect for swells etc. I have no hums or problems of any kind

seems ok. so far so good

This box is ideal for somebody wanting a reverb for their reverbless amp. I tried the RV-2 from BOSS but it sounded like a digital unit where this actually sounds real. Really pleased

I'd like to start off saying I like this Reverb unit and it was easy to use.When I first got it on and hooked up the knob was turned to 100%.It sucked up all the tone .But as I dialed it back the magic happened.It comes with a manual thats easy to read and understand. The unit is not complicated.

I used this unit with a 1966 Blackface Bassman w/original 2-12 cab.The guitar is a 2000 Gibson S.G. 61 Reissue/maestro vibrato.
This reverb unit was dead quiet on all settings.The spring reverb sounded as good as my 1965 deluxe reverb,The hall setting is drinched
spring and very fender sounding(warm)But the best to me is the flerb.
If set just right (clean) you get the sound of the old Gibson oil can
reverb. But, this effect has a swirl to it that makes it fun to play old Lonnie Mack songs off his 1963 Fraternity label album. Wham of the Memphis man.

I must admit, I thought the unit would be heavier built.. It's made of
lite aluminum and plastic. I would depend on it with out a back up.It
being a Reverb unit I would leave it on all the time so I would hook it up and just put it back out of the way. Maybe in the back of my amp on a gig.

I have never dealt with Electro-Harmonix.

I play Blues ,Classic, Southern rock.This reverb will able me to use non-reverb amps that I like (point to point wired)
I've been a gifted guitar player since the Beatles first showed up on Ed Sullivan.I'am 43 yrs. old. I started when I was 6.But,like a million other kids that saw the beatles play I had to beg my parents to buy my first guitar.If this unit were stolen I would have to find another.I don't think I would want it to have anything else.It's pretty much got what a reverb unit should be and sound like. I like it simple!

This thing is extremely simple. Just plug in, set at 10 oclock, and play.

Pretty much classic Fender reverb in a convenient little box. Spring for the guitarist who wants a mild dose of reverb; Hall for the heavy dose. As for the "Flerb" setting; it is completely useless. Before I got this pedal, I had heard bad remarks about the Flerb... but I thought, maybe I can get some pschedelic sounds out of it. Not true. It's weak and weird and therefore unusable. Thankfully, the Spring and Hall settings work wonderfully, and do exactly what I had hoped they would do. I have mine set at 10 oclock, and it's last in a chain of boutique overdrives going into a BF Bassman. Very little noise. So, in all, a very nice classic Fender reverb emulator -- but I have to detract a point for the Flerb setting.

Had it a very short while, but I've had nothing but luck with other EH products.

N/A

I play original indie rock, sort of a Byrds meets Television sort of sound. This is a great addition to my pedal board. Very happy with it. But if forced to make suggestions for the good folks at EH, I would improve it by:
-getting rid of the Flerb setting and maybe adding a chorus or, better yet, a vibrato
-re-think the power supply strategy... either make it 9voltable; or more like the Boss system. That wall wart is a bit of pain.
-I also would like to be able to footswitch from Spring to Hall and vice-versa.

Bottom line: Say your amp doesn't have reverb, but you want that Fender reverb sound without shelling out bug bucks for a standalone tank, and prefer it in a pedal-board-ready package? Here's your ticket.

Easy. Plug it in and whail.

A tad noisier than I'd like, but still within reason. I'm using it with a '66 Silvertone 1481 tube amp, which has no reverb. I play Jazz through it. The Holy Grail is about as close to a real spring reverb as you can get. I tried the Boss RV-3 and thought it sucked. The Spring setting on the H.G. sounds the best to me; very spring-like. You can almost hear the springs in the tone. I can hear the digital side of the tone if I listen carefully, but it's certainly not obvious. The Hall setting is alot like Spring, but more transparent and a bit longer of a tail. I hate the Flerb setting- what the heck am I supposed to do with that?! If they're gonna give you a multi-effect with a reverb unit, it should be chorus and you should be able to at least adjust the mix of reverb & chorus.

I just bought mine, so I don't know. I don't understand the gripe others have with the aluminum casing. It's not built like a Boss pedal, but it's alot nicer looking. You'd have to really abuse it to break it, it's not like it's made of plastic.

I've been playing 24 years now. I love the sound. It's the best fake reverb unit I've ever found. Besides the Flerb thing, I also hate the wall wart. A box as large as these should have a built-in power supply and hard- wired AC cord. Besides, only units that are battery powered should be wall-warted as a backup power supply! I love the unique look of these aluminum boxes. If some big fat bastard crushed it, I'd get another one.

One knob, one switch with three settings. Easy enough

Very quiet. Spring reverb emulation is convincing. I use two small amps, one with real spring verb and one using the Grail next two it. When both amps are on, very hard to tell which is the real spring verb.

Only had it a month, no problems so far. Solidly built.

No need.

The spring verb is the only setting I use. Flerb is interesting but probably not that useful. The Hall verb is great and expansive. Maybe a hi eq roll off knob would be helpful in damping the verb as needed. All in all, a quality pedal that does what is states it does and does well.