Electro-Harmonix Holy Grail Reverb

I don't usually get this excited about any effects device (especially one with a micro-chip in it), but I have to give Electro Harmonix a big hand for their latest product; the "Holy Grail" reverb pedal.

It's actually quite astonishing how realistic it is. OK, so it's not perfect, but for something that you can easily cram into a gig bag (or the back of your amp), it's close enough!

I even gave it the "Vintage Amp & Guitar Acid Test"... I ran the Holy Grail in line between my 1965 Epiphone Century archtop (w/P-90 pickup)and my 1965 Ampeg SB-12 Portaflex (all-tube vintage amplifier). The Ampeg is perfect for this test since it's so transparent that every subtle nuance of any guitar naturally shines through, providing an untainted pure reproduction.

So far the "Spring" reverb setting seems to work the best for average guitar use (in my opinion). I can't think of any other way to describe the quality of this setting except to say that it absolutely sounds "real"! Even when set to extremes it sounded convincing (although I wouldn't call it very useable). In fact I'm almost positive that *most* people wouldn't be able tell the difference. Apparently Dick Dale was tested and even he couldn't... !

Where just about every *other* digital reverb (pedal) seems to fail is the lack of realism in the tail end. They all tend to sound more like glorified delay units to me. Even BOSS describes their RV-3 as a combination of "multiple digital delays to simulate ...blaa blaa blaa..." reverb. Besides, the RV-3 doesn't even include a "spring" setting, only "room" "hall" and "plate" reverbs. Electro Harmonix has no doubt catapulted the quality standard for reverb pedals up to the Heavens with the Holy Grail! ;)

With the Holy Grail switched "on" I did notice a negligible amount of noise added to the signal and it does color the sound a tad bit, but I don't know of any analog reverb that doesn't do this to a certain degree.

I'm not entirely sure if it has true bypass switching, but I didn't notice any negative effects when the unit was switched off.

Anyway, I don't know how EH did it but, I swear, I almost expect to hear that crashing spring noise if I kick it too hard! ...close enough indeed!

Considering some of the downsides of a real "all tube" spring reverb; like their size, sensitivity to vibrations, vulnerability of the tubes and of course the price, the fact that the Holy Grail comes so remarkably close is truly a "God Send" ;)

In regards to other digital units... the comparison isn't even close. Oh sure, there are plenty of great high-end devices out there, but most require a rack to carry around, aren't really convenient or all that easy to use for the average musician and are even more expensive than their analog counterparts.

I bought my first Electro Harmonix products back in the early 80's (LPB-2 linear power booster, Small Stone phase shifter, Deluxe Big Muff distortion). I never liked the Big Muff but the other two are very cool and usable. I know that EH has introduced a wide variety of effects recently, but most seem gimmicky and narrowly limited in use to me. So, as far as I'm concerned the Holy Grail is absolutely the best thing they've come up with in years!

Anyway, there are currently two Electro Harmonix products that I can easily recommend: The Holy Grail reverb (obviously) and their 12AX7EH preamp tubes (the quality of the few I've tried is well above average).

But don't take my word for it, hear it for yourself!

One knob and one switch with three choices:Spring - Hall - Flerb. Set the switch and turn the knob to increase the level of the effect.

I love this little toy. Both "spring" and "hall" settings are very Fendery. Sort of like long and medium tray springs. I used Velcro to hang the unit (set and forget)inside the back of my three ten Bandmaster. I settled on the "hall" setting with the knob at 11 o'clock. So real I expect thunder (Wipe Out)when I bump my amp. I'm not the type to care about the "flerb" setting, but instrumental guys might find a use for it.

Don't shoot it with birdshot or jump up and down on it in your steel toed boots and it should be okay.

never had to deal with E H myself.

I'm an old pro from the persnickity world of tubes and vintage wood. (WWW.MichaelChain.Com gives examples of my music.) The Grail is just right for those of us who want that touch of reverb from a classic amp that didn't come with one and want to save the hassle and expense of custom trays and extra tubes. I own an old Fender stand alone reverb unit (it stays home). Nothing sounds better than that but the Holy Grail is a hell of a lot more convenient and sounds pretty damn good. Less space & if somebody steals it you can buy another. I am a happy camper.

No brainer. 1 knob.

Through a bass amp, it sounds nice and clean. It's hard to find guitar effects that sound good thru a bass amp. It does'nt hiss thru the tweeter.

The spring reverb effect does'nt sound like the spring reverb of a vintage fender amp, not even close.

The hall effect sounds nice, though, real spacey.

The flerb effect is a mix of reverb and phaser.

It does'nt look as sturdy as a Boss. It's builky for an analog pedal. But, it'll give you the reverb you want.

It's the next best amount of color to your sound without buying a chorus. For some music, bass sounds dull without having some degree of echo or reverb.

Incredcibly easy to set up and use as it only has a single 3 way sitch for reverb type and a balance dial.

I'm using it with a fender 15 watt bronco, this small fender just rocks by the way. It's so small and has so much going for it as a put it in your pocket, practice amp. The only thing it lacks is reverb, hence the addition of a pedal. I have the RV-3 and use it primarily for delay with an acoustic guitar. The reverb on the RV-3 is very tinny and is nothing like the superb sound you can get from the simplistic holy grail. I don't want to tweak a stomp box for ages, I just want to connect it and get a great sound, and that's what it does.
Like someone else mentioned who wants lots of reverb when you're using lots of distortion anyway, it's best used with a clean setting or with a dirty blues breakup setting. Transforms the sound to a professional dimension.

Only had it a week, hope it's dependable!

No comment, just bought the thing from the internet, arrived in 3 days. Great!

Currently only using this with the small bronco. Most larger amps these days have a decent reverb, especially the modelling amps. I will probably always use it as I'm planning to keep the bronco for a very long time as it sounds just great.

Very simple, two reverbs and a wierd sound and one knob to set it up.

If it was hardwired instead of having a detachable wall wart I'd give it a 10.

This thing sounds great. I can get exactly the reverb sound I'm looking for. I play through old Fender amps, right now my amp of choice is a 1960 Concert. This pedal gives me that wide open sound, the out of the box in a big hall sound. Without any of the ussual digital noise or artifacts. This pedal gives me hope that someday digital emulation and effects will become useable. This is the first low cost pedal that actually sounds like the analog effect its trying to emulate! I like the reverb effect better than the reverb of my silverface twin reverbs (I have 3 of them).

Both reverbs are cool, the other noise is a waste of space that should have been used to hardwire the pedal.

Have only used it for a couple of gigs. Seems like its built well...we'll see in couple of months. My main concern is the power supply. The chord seems a little flimsy and there is no option of using batteries, its the power supply or nothing. It would have been nice if it was totally hardwired, pull the "flurb" noise out and put the transformer inside and give it a nice sturdy chord to plug in.

I play a fairly clean, San Francisco sound. The Dead and the like. This pedal gets me right to that tone, that spacey warm sound. I use a real TS9, a real Mutron III, thats about it. The pedal sounds great with all of these, it doesn't interfere with my sound. The '60 Concert is possibly the greatest amp ever made for this style of music, especially with a nice warm reverb in front of it...the Holy Grail gets me there!

If it was stolen or lost I'd be right back at the shop buying another one of these, I'm thinking of getting a second one for backup just in case.

Get rid of the wall wart, put the power supply inside the box, give it a real plug and you've got the perfect reverb pedal!

Hmmm, one knob. Could it be any easier to use this pedal? Maybe if it came with a sound engineer who tweaked everything for you. I like just a twinge of reverb, so I definitely don't crank the thing, and it sounds great.

To the guy who said that this pedal sounds horrible with his Mesa distortion; did you put the reverb in your effects loop? You can never run reverb in FRONT of your distortion.

Personally, I almost never use my reverb with my distortion. So, that eliminates that factor almost completely. Except for occasionally when I'll play a part using the feedback of the amp - I can get some beautiful, naturally-compressed-sounding tones with the reverb then =)

The spring reverb is a good, solid sound; and definitely not a crappy sounding spring reverb that "warbles" too much.

I thought I would be using the hall reverb a little more, but it eliminates much of your picking nuances.

The 'flerb' sounds okay, but it's a stupid feature - It's, as the name implies, a reverb with a flange after it. Woop dee doo.

There is a little bit of hiss but not when it's in bypass, but it's more than bearable. Just don't use more reverb than necessary.

The fact that EH has a product called "HolIER Grail" is what bothers me. Grrrrrrrrr.

Other than something stupid I did to destroy one, I can't really say.

I blew one up a few weeks ago and all I had to do was send in on warranty. Voila. They fixed it and sent it back within a month.

Good value, but this not being the most integral piece of gear I have, it's hard to say comparing this to other reverb units.

Pretty easy to use. There's a switch to change between the three algorithms (spring, hall, and flerb) and a master reverb knob which acts as a wet/dry control rather than a parameter control, but I like it that way.

Being a digital pedal, I initially thouhgt it was going to sound a little grainy, or have that "Digital" twinge to it, but I was pleasantly surprised. The spring reverb is nice and springy (the perfect algorithm for guitars), the hall algorithm is full and spacious (I prefer this algorithm for vocal effects loops), and the flerb setting is really cool. It's like a combination hall reverb/flange which is really cool for vocals. It sounds like you're singing "underwater" which is pretty cool.

I bought this unit with the express purpose of layering reverb onto line-in recording in my home studio. It's not going to see a whole lot of the road, so the fact that it's made of light-grade aluminum is excusable. I treat all of my equipment with respect, so I'm not too worried about it getting crushed or anything

Never dealt with electro harmonix

I play a lot of blues with some classic acid rock type stuff every now and then. I really like the sound of this pedal because it has 3 unique, realistic, and authentic sounding algorithms. This is the kind of pedal that would suit just about any style of playing, singing, or recording, and I highly reccommend it to anyone looking for a good reverb pedal. Best I've ever heard!

Very easy to use .3 way switch(spring,hall,flerb)and a knob .No brainer .Spring sound is ok,hall sound was,less ok,and flerb is useless.

Ok here's where I have to be honest. I didn't care for the sound of this pedal.I was planning on using it with my Mesa dual recto head which doesn't have built in reverb .It didn't sound too bad on the "spring reverb" setting with a clean sound but as soon as you switch on a little distortion it sounds horrible .No matter how much I tweaked it I couldn't get it to sound good with distortion . If you play exclusively with a clean sound this pedal may be of some use to you as it wasn't too bad with the amp set clean .Spring was the best sounding verb to me and hall was just ok .
The "flerb" setting is a useless feature .It's a suttle flanger sound with verb .

Didn't keep it long enough to know if it's reliable. The case seems very weak .It's just thin aluminum.Doesn't seem like it could take a beating .I returned it .

Never dealt with them .

I hate to bash products like this but this pedal was not what I expected and did not suit my needs. It was not all together bad just very limited in what it can do .I bought this site unseen .I've only seen it in ads and bought it based on the hype .Try it before you buy it.At $79 bucks I guess you get what you pay for.It's a luxury item at best .I couldn't use it and returned it .
A LITTLE SIDE NOTE:If your looking for some reverb for your "no reverb" mesa amp .I resorted to using an old Alesis microverb in the effects loop of mine.Sits on top of my amp nicely and can be switched off and on with the mesa footswitch .(newer mesa's have footswitchable fx loops) So far so good .A boss rv-3 is an option I'm thinking of as well.

One switch, one dial = easy.

A really good clone of a real Fender spring reverb. If your amp is missing reverb, or it has a crap reverb, you'll appreciate this pedal. Not noisy. The "Spring" setting has the best reverb emulation, "Hall" and "Flerb" are pretty much useless to me.

If taken care of reasonably well, it should last. This should be a "set and forget" kind of FX, not used as an "on/off" fooot stomper. I'd never gig without a backup of any pedal.

Who knows, who cares, Tonto lose'um underwear.

Playing guitar since '55 - gigging pro from '62-'73 - into blues, jazz, new age surf, ragtime - Strats, Teles, old tube amps - this FX pedal will become a mainstay for reverbless amps.

If you never use the Flerb position, it is VERY easy to use, to me, the Flerb is useless. Just select "spring" for short tank emulation, or "hall" for long tank, dial in your wet signal amount. I NEVER go beyond 12:00, at which the effect becomes perverse.

I play it with an ADA Rocket A10, which is a wonderful amp, unfortunately however, without reverb. My other amp is a Fender Deluxe Reverb (long tank), and in comparison I am very pleased with the Holy Grail. I had it for a week now, and I am still unclear if I should prefer "spring" at 11:30 or "hall" at 9:30 (which is a bit deeper, kind of like my DR). At $79, the sound quality is awsome to me!

Feels a bit flimsy, but I take good care of my stuff, so I am not overly concerned.

No experience (yet).

Great little sucker at $79, if stolen, I would try to get another one used.

Piece of cake

I use it with my 59 Bassman Head 1x15 cab or my Vicky Tweed Pro (1x15)
I use Homemade KBR Guitars, with a variety of Pups.
It is a very good Spring reverb tone, without dragging out the Fender Reverb tank.

too early to tell
I bring a backuop verb pedal, just in case

Blues/ a little Jazz works for me
40+years on Guitar
I would try another if ripped/lost
I dig the tone of it, I only use spring setting
It smokes the RV 3's I have owned

I hope other companies make one that is More rugged!

Easy to use. It came with power transformer.

The big problem is this was an extremely noisy effect. When everything was off, it put out a lot of unwanted noise even when the reverb was turned off. It was so bad, I bought the Boss RV-3. Much quieter. I actually like the sound of the RV-3 better.

I used a couple of times and it's now back in the box, but it worked fine.

The noise made it unbearable for me.

Piece of CAKE to use! One knob, one toggle switch, and the footswitch!

manual is not really needed, although, it's there if you "do" need it, and it describes everything about the pedal in nice detail.

I'm currently using a great LANEY (early 80's) all tube head, with a Marshall 1960A (4x12 cab), (2) Fender American Deluxe Strats, a few other guitars, effects & rackmount units which I use every now & then...Depending on what style music I'm playing that particular night.

The sound quality of this pedal is incredible. Although, I was a bit peeved about it being digital, I have to admit, the reverb from this pedal is, in my opinion, a bit better than any other reverb-type pedal out there. For a pedal I thought I would not use often, I was dead wrong! I use this pedal constantly.

Pedal has 3 different settings: SPRING REVERB, HALL REVERB & FLERB. The first 2 settings are really great. They're warm, very close to what they are supposed to sound like! The FLERB setting is ok for a different effect. I do not use it all that much, but, it's just another option the pedal offers. It's kind-a like a cross between Flanger/Reverb/Chorus????? All in one setting....

I also find that turning the knob past the 1:00 postition is going overboard. Turning it to the 12:00 or 1:00 position will give PLENTY of reverb for almost any tune. Turn the knob all the way, and it will give you some serious delay time for reverb. Very "echo-ie"

By the way, this pedal is GREAT for playing songs from artists like Eric Johnson, SRV, Dire Straits, Clapton...etc Country/Western styles, Rock, Jazz...etc It adds a wonderful warm reverb VERY SIMILAR to the old Fender "Twin Reverb" amps. This is a pedal that will stay with me for years to come!

I do NOT experience ANY noise with this pedal.

I think it's built pretty decent. Typical of an EH pedal. Not as sturdy or strong as a BOSS pedal or a similar pedal, but, it's built good enough. Could have a better wall wart, but, it works.

I would gig with it if I had to. I wouldn't worry too much about it.

Never dealt with them directly.

I play everything from today's heaviest metal to 50's - 70's rock/blues. Been playing over 20 years. If this pedal were lost or stolen I'd be very angry. But, I'd have NO problem whatsoever with buying another one. I love just about everything about this pedal...The overall sounds, the ease of use (just plug in and step on it)...etc The things I don't like about it, and I'm being very nitpicky here...The wall wart could have been better, and Electro Harmonix could make their pedals using a little better grade steel. Other than those 2 small things, I LOVE the pedal, and use it every day!

While playing styles from SRV, Eric Johnson, Dire Straights, blues, Jazz...This pedal just makes my 1/2 stack come alive with some really nice, warm reverb tone.

If a good reverb pedal is what you want, give this one a listen.

one 3-way switch clearly labeled and one control knob. Easy although like any device true potential can only be relised by experimenting.

Really good, I bought it for a strong reverb sound like a billy corgan solo and turned up near full on the 'hall' setting with distortion loaded through it sounds beatiful. Its debatable whether or not the flerb is useless it doesn't really sound like a reverb more a cross between a phaser and a flanger with with a little reverb added no one is gonna buy the pedal for this but its an option thats there. My one nuance with th pedal is its subtle, sound as well as using heaps of reverb on distortion I like using it to get a rough sounding clean effect like and old velevt underground recording but found this hard to achieve and I found no use of the effect at any setting less than half, it was barely audiable below that.

it electro harmonix, it is made of steal and the controls have a nice sturdy action to them, not so sure about the power supply though.

N/A

Well it is what I was looking for, I think its more a novelty reverb than one that gives that subtle 'roomy' feel to a song. I didn't know it was digital until I got home and checked the manual, which I was a bit pissed off at as analouge sound is the reason I buy Electro Harmonix pedals. A bit crap that you HAVE to use a power supply, I've got multi effects pedals that use batterys so either its extremely in-effecient at using power or its just laziness on EH's part. All in all though the effect is really beautiful and the flerb is just a bonus not a hinderance, live my main urk is the power supply and recording-wise my urk is the lack of subtlety

It's certainly easy to use - one knob and a three position mode switch. Manual not needed

Kind of a heartbreaker - this one. I found the reverb sounds to be remarkably warm and natural sounding for a digatal, but there's a contsant backround hiss that I just couldn't live with - even when its switched off - too bad 'cause it sounds great otherwise.

I've always felt that E.H. stuff is kind of cheaply made - including the original's from the 70's.

If it weren't for the noise, I'd have really liked this unit, guess I'm going to try a Boss RV-3 instead.

It's pretty easy to get sounds out of it. Heck it's EH!
Great little blue "-description page-", decal, and other pamplets & warrenty cards.

Any amp without reverb will do, mostly use it with tube amps.
All the settings on mine sound great.

With the walwart thing...i wish it was hardwired in like the Memory Man.
Would gig without a backup.

Never delt with them, hope i dont have to send any new pedals back.

I choose this unit because it was small and i have other EH pedals, new and vintage, chain em all up and have at it!
The post above definatly has something wrong with the unit, there is no mute button to it. Im glade i bought it and hope that they can improve upon more units like this.

Very simple.

Not quite an outboard spring reverb but at least 90 percent and more versatile. Flerb I can do without although you don't have to use it and it might suit some styles.

Mine's new. Seems solid though.

I work in a music store and these guys are nice. They do however need to shorten their phone answering system as it goes on and on before giving you options. Anyone at electro-harmonix reading this?

A solid buy.

Very simple to use. Has a switch with 3 settings (Spring, Hall, and Flerb) and a single knob for wet/dry signal. Doesn't get much easier than this.

This is a digital reverb unit. It sounds pretty darn good. The Spring setting is somewhat close to the real thing. The Hall setting is useful for some stuff. Would be good if used on a vocal track or something like that. Flerb is very interesting. It is simply a flanged reverb. Sounds sort of like you are playing underwater. This setting is good for adding texture. I only have one small complaint. It is subtle all the way up to about 12 o'clock. As soon as you hit about 1 it is out of control. You go from subtle to mega. It cuts down the guitars signal after 12 o'clock. Plus the fact that you have to use the included wall-wart. Oh well. All in all this is a good pedal.

Built like a tank.

For the overall rating, I will give it a 9. It is definately worth the buy. If it were to crap out or get lost I'd get another one. Give it a try. You might like it.

This pedal has 3 settings as previously posted and one knob with an on/off switch. Just plug in and play. Would be nice to be able to control some of the parameters, but I just wanted a "simple" reverb that sounded decent that wasn't large or expensive.

All three modes sound pretty good. I prefer the spring reverb mode with the knob slightly past 12:00. It is a bit noisy when the unit is off, I hear a whoosing sound almost like a flanger when you aren't hitting the strings. I plug my guitars directly into this unit to a SF Fender Champ. It sounds amazing, it adds nice warm reverb. The amp really sounds great, I wouldn't use it without this reverb. It is a definite standard accessory for a practice amp without reverb.

Seems solid enough. Time will time.

Perfect reverb unit to utilize with a practice amp. I wouldn't play my Champ without it.

Popped it open, sure enough a green wire had become detatched during shipping. (You can see where it had been soldered initially). Simple fix. Since the HG goes at the end of my signal chain, it might be cool to leave it the way it is though. Mute. Hmmm.

Where did I leave my soldering iron?

First let me say that the previous reviewer obviously has a broken unit. The pedal functions normally in bypass mode.
The specs: One knob, one 3-way selector, one footswitch. You can figure it out in about 10 seconds. The mix knob is designed to work gradually up to 12 o'clock for traditional reverb sounds, and after that it gets DEEP quickly. Select spring, hall, or "flerb" (flanged reverb) algoryhyms. Not as easy to change sounds on the fly as MIDI presets, but with the minimal controls it's not a pain either.

GREAT for the price. The spring setting is pretty damn good for a cheap digital box, not going to replace your Fender tube reverb but it's still a lot of fun, esp. when the mix knob is cranked up. The hall sounds nice too, not really what I bought it for but I do find myself using it. Either of these settings, with the mix turned up all the way, can yield some massive MBV-style walls of sound. VERY cool. The "Flerb" setting may only be useful to those Cure fans who do a lot of crystal meth...if the modulation was adjustable independently of the reverb on this setting it would be cooler. Points off for being AC power only (wall wart at that), which may bring some unwanted noise into your signal, plus it's not true bypass.

I dunno.... I've had many EH pedals and never broken one, but their boxes do tend to get racked up pretty easily. As I mentioned before, the other reviewer's pedal wasn't even working correctly (mine was built 2 days before his, I doubt the bypass issue was a deliberate change in design!). Time will tell... At least with the adapter it can't die on you mid-song due to a drained battery (this thing would probably kill a Duracell in 45 minutes if it could take one), not a bad design in that respect.

Never dealt with them. At least they're in business again....

Overall, I am very pleased with this pedal. I own a '65 Twin Reverb which is too loud for my apartment, but this pedal was a perfect fit for my Princeton and Velocette. Whenever I change the settings it inspires me to play differently. Psych, surf, jazz, shoegazer, country...It just makes me want to keep playing, which is the mark of a good piece of gear. If you're a session ace look elsewhere, but for gigs or just practicing with a reverb-less amp it's a big thumbs-up.

This pedal is very easy to use, it has a three way switch to select between the Spring, Hall and Flerb algorithms and a good sized knob to dial in how much effect you want, and a red light to indicate status. You better hope this light is on, I'll get into that later..
Setting the knob to all the way to the left is dry and to the right is wet.
One point off for having to use the supplied 9v adaptor.

The sound quality is fantastic. It beats the crap out of the RV-3 and then rolls around on it. All three algorithms are good. Spring reverb sounds full without being hollow..the Hall reverb is deeper alibet a little more noisy past 1-2 o' clock. I usually stay below 12 o' clock anyway on all settings.. Hall and Flerb are noiser than spring at the same dial settings, so ease back a little and it is perfectly silent.
Flerb is interesting, it introduces motion into the sound, sort of like phase. Best used in moderation, but useful nonetheless. 10, easy.

I've had it for a very short while, I think it was just introduced last month into the market. I couldn't find any reviews or pictures. The lovely wooden box that it came in says Oct 19, 2001 on the bottom.
Here is the only real negative aspect of this pedal: The bypass switch turns off the entire signal. Its a mute button, really. This effect needs to be on all the time, or you will get no sound. You hope it doesn't die in the middle of a song, or you will need to take it out of the chain in a hurry.

Erp.

This pedal sounds great.
The downside is the bypass switch, however, as I mentioned earlier, you can set the reverb ammount to nothing, and it does not colour your tone. You might have to bend down. It is worth it.
Show me any other reverb pedal this good. Check out all those RV-3's on Ebay.