Songworks Little Lanelei Reverb Pedal

Brain power is not needed to operate this pedal; however, I did get my pedal modified where an extra pot and knob were added to increase and open up the amount of reverb. My pedal is 3 knobs.

I had this pedal modified because I was not satisfied with the sound. Before the modification I rate it a 3 or 4. It was extremely weak. I had to crank the knobs to the max to get noticeable effect or obvious amount of reverb. If I cranked the pedal I would also get feedback. I liked the feedback but not in correspondence to the amount of reverb. <P>

After the modification, I rate the pedal an 8. An extra knob was added to open it up. I am now happy with the wet sound I am getting but now the pedal does not feedback. This can be a good thing depending on the player. The pedal still lacks a more subtle tone though. <p>

Average rating of a 6-7 <p>

I am working with a Standard American Telecaster ('99ish), heavily modified Billm Blues Junior (larger cab, bigger reverb tank, bias adjustable, C-Rex speaker) and a few pedals including a Boss DD-20 and OCD. My amp's ruby reverb tank is better in comparison.

This is an inconsistent pedal. You can dial up the same settings 3 times and get 3 different sounds. The pedal also lacks an input for a power supply. I would not gig with it. Lastly, if you drop this pedal you might be in for it. I might keep it for recording but I'm looking to sell it.

PLEASE READ! <p>

Customer support is what influenced me to write a review. Read the other reviews as well. I am just confirming what others have said.<p>

If you pay Tris from Soundworks, do not expect to get a timely response. Do not expect to get your product in a fair amount of time, even if he makes a promise or you have already contacted him. Do not be shocked if you pay Songworks and never receive goods or services. I only got my modification done after countless emails, calls and FACEBOOK messages to Songworks and Tris. <p>

My short story: I contacted Tris via email regarding a reverb modification. He confirmed and accepted my request so I sent his the pedal and money in March. I did not get my pedal back until July. I believe I would not have received it unless I harassed the other guy at Songworks and Tris.

This pedal is unique, cool, fun to have and maybe record with but it is not worth the money or the hassle. If your amp's reverb is not cutting it and you don't like digital, invest in a reverb unit. If you are interested in this pedal, get it on Craigs or Ebay. <p>

This pedal has potential and can be useful, but I my amp's reverb is fine for now.

I loved this unit. Very easy to use. No way I could bet a bad sound out of it.

Great! Did what I needed it to.

It took a tumble on the floor and stopped working.

I e-mailed Tris and he said to send it to him to look at. So I did. That was seven months ago. I have tried politely to keep in touch. He has only made one attempt in that time period to contact me. I have sent numerous e-mails and had started calling to leave messages but no answers. I had left my contact info in the shipping box in case I had to pay extra for anything but he has essentially refused to contact me. My wife bought this as a Christmas gift for me and it had served me very well. Working or not it is still my property and refusing to give it back is theft in my opinion. I encourage all who have had issues with his service to contact their Better Business Bureau and let them know your story immediately. I will continue to contact him more frequently. Hopefully things will change but judging by others comments here it doesn't sound like it. Tris, if you're reading this please just give it back. Working or not!

Nice product! Terrible service!

2 knobs = very easy.

The reverb that this pedal produces is very nice, but it in no way deserves the hype that the Songworks website suggests. You can not get a super-saturated surf reverb from this pedal. It is a subtle reverb, never over-the-top.

This pedal does have one big problem, it is a tone-sapper and I mean bad. It even sucke tone in bypass. I ran it through a true-bypass box and found this pedal to be completely unusable. In bypass, it sucks all the life and tone from your signal. It has the same problem when engaged, it sucks bass and lowers the signal level considerably.

I really wanted this pedal to work for me, but I've spent much time and money to get a great tone with my equipment and this pedal will only make your tone suffer.

Looks well made.

I emailed Songworks regarding the problem and they emailed me back quickly. They suggested I swap the gain pot out for a 1 meg pot. I tried this and noticed that the pot I removed was already a 1 meg, so obviously the problem still existed.

As I said, I really wanted this pedal to work for me. I hate digital reverb and this seemed to be a great solution. I ended up getting a Fender tube reverb reissue which is a different beast, but there are no compromises with this unit. I replaced the tubes with new JJ's and it sounds great. The Fender can be subtle or completely washed in reverb. GC sells the Fender Reissue Reverb unit for $350.00 new, so watch out for eBayers selling used units for that much.

2 knobs and a switch. Don't get easier then that. To get the desired amount of reverb I was I have to get the knobs up pretty high around the 2 o'clock range or better. Don't think the store I bought it from had the manual for it. Oh is has a plug for a remote foot switch if you want to set it on top of your amp.

I was looking for a reverb to go with my Bluesbreaker RI and Soldano Decatone head. I found this unit in a shop in Baton Rouge and it sounded real good on a Dr. Z combo. So I took it home found a spot for it on my pedal board and everything was groovy. Being last in a long chain of pedals didn't do anything to help the sound of the reverb. Even with high end true by pass pedals. But it did what I wanted and gave me some real reverb when I needed it. After year or two it just sort of stopped sounding good. The reverb got real weak and you had to crank the knobs all the way to get a useable amount. But even worse the tone of the reverb got real "HOLLOW" like something was missing from my tone. It was like my more then decent amps got turned in to little transistor radios...with reverb. Well ya can't have that can you? So off it came and was left to set in the pedal grave yard of my garage. After about a year I tried to use it again just to see how it sounded and it was pretty bad. What the hell I e-mailed Tris at Songworks and told him of my trouble. I got a reply the next day saying he could fix it if I sent it to him along with 10$ for return shipping. I said cool, boxed it up, included a money order for the 10$ and mailed it off. After a week or so I started sending e-mails to see if it had arrived. No reply. No big deal..a few more weeks passed and a few more e-mails and finally I get a reply that he indeed had the unit. So I ask when can he fix it? Hummm a few more weeks and no reply. Finally I get a e-mail that he's gonna repair it in a day or two. Ok no big deal. It's just a reverb pedal right. Ok a few more weeks pass and it doesn't show back up at my house. Now I start calling and getting no answer to the number on the website. But I leave a few messages and my cell number. So I sort of forget about it and figure it's just gone for good. What the hell one day the cell phone ring and I answer it and the Voice asks to speak to me. Sounds like a bill collector and I'm about to get pissed that they got my cell number when the voice says "Hi this is Tris from Songworks." I about faint cause that's like the last person I expected to call me. Tris tells me that the unit it repaired and he's gonna ship it to me and apologized for taking so long to repair the unit. Yeah the dude has been having a tough go at it lately and he is a one man shop. He wondered way I wasn't cussing him out like everybody he must have called. I said I was from the South and I don't get excited over stuff like that. If it was a guitar or amp that I paid a few $1,000 for I might get stired up, but it was just a little pedal. Nothing to lose your religion over. We talked about the type of sounds we liked and what other equipement I used. He was very nice and seemed very sorry for taking so long to fix the unit.

A few days later it showed up and it sounds GREAT! Lot's of ((((REVERB)))) and that "Hollow" sound was gone. Here comes the 10 cause it now has more reverb then I can use. The feedback thing bugs some people but I think it's cool. It's a real reverb unit. If the stage is vibrationg to much it feedsbacks some and you have to turn it down a little but that's how i know the joint is jumping. I like it better then the reverb in some of my old Music Man and Fender combos. Fa True No Lie. So yeah if you got to have everything yesterday then Tris may not be the guy for you if you have a problem but the guy is busting his hump to stand behind his products. Oh and I felt bad cause he sent me a $10 bill back with the unit. Damn he didn't charge me nothing.

It seems dependable enough. Gig without backup. Had a problems like I said but it's fine now. Tris will do what he can to get it up again if I have a problem. But I ain't gonna die if it stops working or lose my gig either.

See the above rant. Tris is OK by me.

I play a lot of Blues Funk R&B Classic Rock Jazz and Country. Over 30 years of picking on guitars. Lot's of Strats, a Les Paul Standard, PRS C22 some others. Big Jimi Head! I like other stuff too. I like the high gain stuff the Soldano does but missed reverb. Except for my old Roland GR1 Synth every digitial effect is used for fish bait. That was one of the things that made me get it in the first place. You can kick it and it makes that "THUNDER" sound like a Fender amp would. Maybe that's how I broke it.

Not easy to adjust and sound is unpredictable. Disappointing.

Sometimes great and sometimes it SUCKS! Not sure what the problem is, might have been able to fix it if I'd ever heard back from anyone.

Since sounds varies, it is not dependable. It's good for practice maybe but not a show. Looking to sell mine.

Worthless and full of excuses!!! Can't get any response e-mail after e-mail and when I finally do it's to tell me his hard luck story. Sounds a little too much like "the old dog ate the homework routine." Questions still unanswered.

Not worth the time cash and energy. I'm done with Songworks products!

Easy to use. 2 knobs: Gain and Reverb. The knobs don't do much, but they're easy to use. There was a paper describing the unit, but it was inaccurate. Said to open up the unit to find a trim pot to adjust feedback, but there was no trim pot. Unit was not user friendly to open up.

Good sound for what it does: MILD REVERB, NOT SURF REVERB. The promo says it's good for surf. This is just simply not true. Maxed out it's about equal to a Fender reverb on 3 or 4. But if you turn the Reverb and gain all the way up, it feeds back with single-coils. With that said, the reverb that is has does has a good tone. I bought it for some surf stuff that I do. I'm selling it since it just does not do this well at all. False advertising.

So far so good, but it uses a + tip adaptor. Since I use Boss and I banez effects, my adaptor won't work for this unit. It drains betteries VERY quickly so you really need an adaptor.

I called and emailed and have recieved no response. Terrible and unprofessional. F-

To sum it up: If mild reverb is what you're after, this might be the ticket. If surf reverb is what you crave, look elsewhere. Good tone. No customer support.

knobs need to be turned right up to get the effect. the first 2/3rds of the pots travel do very little. feedback problems can and need to be addressed though.

it wont saturate like stated on the website (even with the trim pot maxed out) but to it's credit, what reverb it has is VERY nice.

for subtle reverb i'd give it a 10. for reverb as described on the songworks website i'd give it a 0. math done above.

needs opening, checking, fixing, testing and assembling properly.

absolutely appalling. it took 3 months to arrive AFTER it was payed for. emails were sent again and again and again with no response. emails lost, specific, simple, repeated questions avoided. i eventually started typing in CAPITALS and sending multiple emails containing threats to get a response. to this day the questions are still unanswered. really awful.

i bought this unit new direct from songworks but the state it arrived in made me think it was second hand. the box was scratched/chipped, the tank was bent and knocked about, there were wires that needed re-soldering, bad connections, earthing problems etc etc. pretty much all the components are cheap and its all thrown together badly. pretty nasty really.

i only wanted very subtle reverb which was very lucky. if i had wanted reverb as described on the site, i'd rather have cut my losses ($199) than try for a refund.

sorry songworks but you messed up this time. dont take peoples money if you can't deliver.

Couldn't get any easier--2 knobs--Gain, which controls the amount of reverb & Reverb, which seems to me to function like the Mix knob on old Fender tanks, controls the dry-to-wet signal ratio. I know there's a short manual, but the guy I purchased it from didn't include it. Don't really need it, though. Tweak it enough, & you'll get what you're looking for

I use this with my '64 Princeton (6G2 circuit). Play a '52 Tele exclusively. It does feedback when the controls are dimed--Reverb knob in particular--but I'm going to try placing it away from my amp to see if makes a difference. To my ears, it's the most natural & familiar sounding reverb I've heard outside of a Fender tank or the onboard 'verb on a blackface Fender. However, as far I can tell--you won't get that dripping, "boingy", cavernous, ultra-Surf music sound like you would if you had a Fender all the way up. But if you're looking for authentic spring 'verb for your tweed or brownface amp--you'll get it. How many people crank the reverb on their amps all the way anyhow?--maybe if your Dick Dale. If that's your favorite sound, you might want to get a tube reverb tank instead. I've always kept my reverb at '2' or '3' on my previous amps, ala Roy Buchanan, so I'm happy with it.

Seems about as solid & reliable as they come. Obviously, Tris builds great gear & takes a lot of pride in what he makes. I don't care for using effects pedals as it is, but this would be the one I'd use for a gig--no backup necessary.

The guy I bought it off of had told me before I purchased it that the pedal was only working with the adapter, but not the battery. I emailed Tris, inquiring about the problem & asking if I could send it out to him for repair--he sent me 2 emails within the 24 hrs explaining what the problem might be & letting me know that I was better off using the adaptor anyway, since the pedal would eat batteries pretty fast. Even though I bought it second-hand, he didn't hesitate to respond--that's customer service & a man who stands behind his products!

I got my Princeton a few months ago & it's become my Fender amp soulmate, but I was still missing that touch of reverb I've had in all the other Fenders I've owned. I considered buying a vintage tube tank but they were all about the price I paid for my amp! Even the Fender reissue was too steep for my budget. I'd been looking around at various pedal reverbs & had read about the Little Lanilei here on HC a while back. I didn't want to go the digital route, so after much thinking & shopping around I finally snagged one. I play "roots" music--blues, country, soul, rockabilly, '50's R'n'R, etc.--this pedal fits the bill. I'd definitely buy it again if it was stolen & can't wait to use it with the tweed amp I'm going to be building soon. Some people may desire more reverb than this unit puts out, so this isn't the be-all end-all pedal for everyone. It's perfect for my applications though, & it has a real Accutronics spring tank in it! Big thumbs up from me...

Very simple to use. Two 1/4" jacks in the rear: one in, one out. Can be used with a 9V or a DC power supply. The DC input is the 1/8" male type. Foot switch in the center of the unit, on/off. Also can a remote foot switch can be used.

Sound quality is so subjective. To my ears this unit sounds great. I read some of the other reviews that say that there isn't enough reverb. I disagree. About 1/2 way up gives lots of depth and texture. Cranked to 10 on both knobs is the 60s surf sound. I wouldn't want anymore verb. I played thru a reissue Fender tank reverb and it had more verb than the Lanelei but in my opinion it was overkill. The Fender sounds fine, but its $400, big and heavy. Digital reverb: granted I'm an old dude but spring reverb IS the sound. I play an american strat with lace gold sensors to a black face bassman and the Lanelei is the frosting on the cake. It does not affect the tone and it is very quiet. Just bought an Epiphone archtop and the tone thru the Lanelei is killer. I would give this product a 10 for sound quality, (it probably deserves it) but then the quest for "the tone" has ended and what fun would that be!

This thing is built like a tank. I couldn't resist popping the thing open to check out the inside. Very nicely designed, solid solder contacts. I have only had the unit a couple weeks but I expect it will last many years. I'm not in a band, but I would trust this unit without a backup. Its solid.

Tris is very responsive and is a great guy. I have talked to him about his other products and he is very helpful. If I had a problem I have no doubt he would take care of it.

I play blues. Just got back into guitar after a 25 year break. Still have my Guild Starfire and Fender Bassman. The Lanelei is the reverb sound I always wanted. I love everything about this pedal, it even looks really cool. If it were stolen I would replace it a new york minute. I'm so impressed with it I'm going to buy the Rotary Wave from Songworks.

very easy to use - 2 knobs. one for gain, one for reverb. however, it's not that easy to get good sounds from it as the unit hardly has any reverb. you need to turn both knobs at least up to 1 o'clock to hear ANY reverb. this leads me to question - what is the range from 7 - 1 o'clock for???

i've been on a quest for some nice reverb to add to my non-reverb'd fenders (vintage princeton + super, pro junior) - mainly for use at home, but it would be nice to be able to use it with my band as well. i don't use any effects at home - just guitar-reverb-amp. when i heard about this pedal i thought this might as well be the ticket as everything sounds good about it (small, lightweight, analog ...).
i also thought that the description on the website ("Lots of big "lets go surf'n style reverb" with a choice of boominess if pushed too far. Or, how about a classic 1950s space alien movie where you will hear the best lost in space imitation since the 1960s? WOW!!!") seemed quite intriguing - unfortunately it prooved to be a load of b!"?$%&s.
the actual sound of the reverb-effect - once you get to hear it - is actually quite nice. but like i said, there's only reverb from 1 - 5 o'clock, and unfortunately it starts adding noise from 3 o'clock up - which also happens to be the most useable range of this unit. you also have to make sure to keep the unit away from your amp/speaker as it will start to feed back quite easily - especially on the higher/more useable settings.
i took it to rehearsal once - and, of course, it was completely useless, as you need noticeably more reverb in a band-situation than you'd need at home - and this unit doesn't have it.

here's where it gets ugly. i took this unit to my tech to see if he could get me some more reverb out of it. well, when i got it back he said he would have to completely rebuild it and that this unit was put together in a "love-less" fashion using the cheapest possible parts. i brought him my danelectro spring-king for comparison and he strongly advised me to keep that unit instead as it was of much higher quality. i'm not going to say it broke on me as i hardly ever used it ...
another thing worth noting is the lack of feet on the unit - can you give me a break? if you place this unit on the floor it will go wiggle about as it will rest on the 2 screws holding the batterie-department. at close to $200 new i would think a quad of rubber-feet would have been within reach.

i'm sorry tris, but i have to share this ...
over the course of 3 weeks i've tried to get an answer to two simple questions:
1. is it normal that my controls don't do anything until i reach 1 o'clock on the dials?
2. is it normal that the reverb-effect isn't very strong full-up even though your manual states otherwise?
i appreciated the fact that tris at songworks got back to me at all, even though i purchased the unit 2nd hand, but he only responded to me with further questions (how old is the unit? what amps do you use? is the internal trim-pot turned all the way to the right? is the gain-pot 250k or 1m? etc. ...). i answered all his mails promptly and still didn't get an answer to my questions ...i would have been happy with a simple "yes" or "no", but i have since given up.
i appreciated his attempt to help me, but he failed to give me any useful information.

been playing for a long time, mainly rock/pop/alternative. own/owned a bunch of amps and guitars - incl. a bf Fender Pro REVERB. i've compared this unit to most other reverb-pedals out there and frankly, i think the danelectro spring-king is much better value. i fell for the hype surrounding this product and i'm sorry i did. i should have listened closer to the negative reviews around here instead! unless you really only want/need VERY little reverb, my advice would be to look elsewhere.
anything i wish it had? yeah, REVERB!