Songworks Little Lanelei Reverb Pedal

Very easy to get going, just set a little bit of gain on the first knob, and adjust the mix of reverb with the second. It works fine in front of an amp. I haven't tried it in an fx loop, so I'm not sure how good the drive and recovery stages are on it, and if you would need some sort of buffered fx loop to not overdrive the input, and have enough juice at the output.

Sound quality is excellent, very warm and natural sounding. It's a pedal, so the springs they used in it had to be quite short, thus you can't get really really wet sounds out of it. I use very few fx and use them on low settings anyway, and for most styles of music it would be more than enough.

The pedal is relly quiet on and off, switching is silent, it has true bypass, and the output level is consistent between on and off.

Construction looks solid enough.

I've heard that they're quite good.

Definitly well worth the money if your amp does not have reverb. The external footswitch is really useful as well, if you want to leave the reverb by the amp, although for the most part I leave the pedal on.

The gain knob does allow so overdriving of the springs, which gets some funky sounds, but it does feedback a bit, and for the most part I just want a reverb pedal, so I leave the gain knob down.

Again it's a great pedal !

There are two knobs, and it seems like the best way to set them is with both knobs at about 1:00.

Sound quality is excellent. There is no noise when the unit is on, and it doesn't hurt the tone of your guitar. Also, there is a true bypass.

I just got it, but it seems well made. The footswitch isn't the usual beefy steel type, but I plan to leave it on all the time.

I haven't dealt with them yet, but I notice they are accessible by e-mail and by phone. That's much better than a lot of big manufacturers. Ever try to contact Marshall?

If you have a nice tube amp without reverb (like the re-issue Bassman) and you don't want to haul around (or pay for) a tube reverb unit or a rack unit, then this is the pedal for you. I think the only other choice is the Boss RV3; in my opinion, this pedal blows that pedal away.

two knobs. one adjusts how much mix you get of spring signal and original signal, and the other adjusts the amount of signal going into the springs. Very easy to get a goos sound from.

I play it with humbucker equipped guitars through an orange amp and a fender musicmaster bass amp (I use it for guitar). Neither amp has reverb, and both sound great with this pedal. No noise, just nice rich spring reverb. My only problem with it is that I get this annoying feedback when I try to turn the knobs up past about 3 o'clock. It will work fine for a second, I'll get great deep reverb sounds, but this feedback squeal slowly creeps in. The crazy thing is that even when I turn the amp off I can still hear the squeal faintly coming from the pedal until I turn the pedal off and it stops. No-one else seems to have noticed this on these reviews, maybe mine's a fluke or I'm doing something stupid. I'll have to call the company and see what they say. Assuming that feedback thing is my fault or a fluke I give it a resounding 10.

haven't had it long enough to say.

I'll come back to this one after I talk to them

Again, assuming the feedback stuff is a fluke, which according to everyone else it seems to be, this thing is a godsend. I'm a ludite through and through. I hate digital effects and amps. Give me tubes, give me springs and I'm a happy camper. I've been around pricing old and new fender tube reverb units and I got really discouraged about the prospects of finding a true spring reverb I could afford. This thing gives me exactly what I wanted....spring reverb in a footswitch!! Those dudes down at songworks are geniuses.

I've found the reverb pedal extremely flexible. I initially bought it to add reverb to a Fender amp that did not have it and to use it for a jazz sound.Later however I used it very successfully for a surf music recording and also for some blues tones and with a piezo equipped acoustic guitar. There are 2 dials and I found that using the pedal was extremely straight forward.

The sound quality used with a battery or regulated power supply is crystal clear, although the sound fades out at the higher end of the signal when using a battery. I wasn't surprised at this. It's the nature of battery powered high drawing devices. The only drawback I found was the tendency of the volume to drop as the amount of reverb was increased. I've been using it primarily through a '67 Blackface Fender Bassman Head and in the past the Fenderhas been very honest about the true tone of pedals & FX in general. That was why the quality of sound really stood out. There is no loss of tone, with the pedal on or off. It has an individual sound that is still notably spring reverb but with a charcter of its own, something I prize in ma.y ways over a straight out copy of say Fender tube unit or something else regarded as classic. Whether driving the preamp of the Fender or thickening up the sound of other effects, it is very capable and pleasing to the ear.

I regard it as infinitely reliable. The only rider to this statement is that I feel anyone wishing for a constant sound should always use a regulated power supply. I don't think anyone would need a backup, & what's more, I can't afford that sort of mucking around. If it was a problem, it wouldn't make it out of the house, even it it sounded amazing breathtaking for say half the time. As it stands, the product has lived up to my expectations.

I play many varied styles of music. The reverb pedal solved a large problem for me. It allowed me to have the exact reverb sound I love for playing jazz and it allowed me to use it through an amp that has exactly the right tone for jazz but was missing reverb. And that was just the beginning.
The best way to describe the Little Lanilei Reverb Pedal is subtlely flexible. The reverb is not gluggy or too dark, and while it has it's limits i.e. you'll never make it sound like you're playing in your backyard pool, I have coaxed some very cool colours from it. I live in Australia and the alternatives to buying the reverb pedal were either about five times the price or digital reverb and digital doesn't have the same natural feel - that classic sound with round edges that loses definition & gains warmth as it decays. I had to wait a number of months and send quite a few faxs and make a number of phonecalls, not to mention postage, but Tris Mahaffey truly delivered on this one. I challenge anyone else to come up with these quality components and build quality and this much sound for around US$150. If you're after something a little different that delivers what you like with a slightly different slant, check out the Little Lanilei Reverb Pedal. I know you guys prefer really critical reviews, but my pedal has had a real working over and this is an honest review.

two knobs.

Excellent, lush, very deep (if you want) reverb. Not as sproingy as fender but just as deep. no noise, true bypass.

looks tough as hell.

very helpful on the phone

it's a bit pricey, but the point is there is nothing else like it. if you want to add real spring reverb to, say, a fender tweed, or deeper reverb to a peavey classic, well this is it. i love it.

Two knobs and a foot switch - duh?

I was using the Boss RV-3 digital pedal with my Matchless amps. I have just realized how poor this unit sounds compared to the real thing! I always thought the RV-3 was fine. Wrong! Now I get dripping, wet spring reverb with the Lanelei Pedal. I am re-born with this unit!

Just got it last week.

They seem fine. Responded to my e-mails.

I play blues and blues/rock on a Strat with Matchless amps. Hey, I know good gear, right? This Pedal is good gear. I was considering a second one to mount in one of my amps. If you want spring reverb, you buy a spring reverb folks. This sounds great!

I am writing to commend Tris and Songworks for their customer support. In each contact they have proven professional,polite and dedicated to customer satisfaction. I bought the new reverb pedal and decided i would like it moded to obtain even deeper reverb textures. Tris not only did this ,he covered the shipping both ways and sent an adapter for the unit. Bravo!

I just received my Little Lanelei reverb pedal, plugged it in and got some great reverb instantly! I used it with my narrow panel deluxe and I, well, I am playing it right now! I like this little guy.

I have a strat, an LP, a couple of Fender amps with and without on-board reverb and this little pedal is just doing a great job of providing the sweet reverb effect I like. It is a very quiet unit and it sounds much better than any other reverb pedal I have heard-much better.

I have only had it for about 6 hours but I guess that with a little care it would be fine.

I have not dealt with the manufacturer other than to inquire about the pedal via e-mail and they got back to me quickly

This unit is working for me right now, I like that fact that it dosn't color the good sound coming out of my amp. the reverb is sweet, quiet and the controls are easy to use. I have had or heard a variety of other reverb pedals and they just don't compare really. As far as reverb goes, the pedal variety is just not that happening, in my opinion. This pedal has actual springs inside and therefore gets much, much closer to 'the sound' it also has a great bypass switch and you gotta love a pedal with that feature. I am happy and you gotta love a pedal with THAT feature.

Very easy to use. There are two knobs--one ("Reverb") controls the amount of reverb and the other ("Gain") controls the amount of signal let into the reverb circuit (I think). Neither knob affects the overall volume of the guitar which is fabulous.

A beautiful, lovely, and mesmerizing reverb. Very very quiet. True bypass.

Seems pretty reliable. One of the little rubber feet (held on by glue) came off of it within several gigs but that's not much of a biggie to me. I tend to play rough with my effect boxes (they get thrown into a sack all together at the end of the night). So far it's held up admirably. Pretty long battery life too.

I ordered the unit the moment I read about it in VG last summer (I've been waiting for a unit like this for years). It took months to get to me, but I believe that had more to do with the article coming out prematurely than anything.

They seem like nice folks.

This is a very fine device. As most guitar players know, putting the reverb before the first stage of an amp sounds different from where Fender ended up putting them in the black-face amps. Personally I prefer the woolly sound of a reverb in front. While this is a battery operated solid state unit and not an old Fender tube reverb unit, it sounds very nice indeed.

Plus it's nice green box with a handpainted mermaid on it. Gotta like that.

The downsides are few but worth mentioning: 1) the unit is larger than a standard stomp box which may be a factor if you have a pedal board. 2) If you're jumping around near it, you can get a crashing sound--as you would if you shook an amp (note--there is an external switch which comes with the reverb, allowing you to place the unit far away and still turn it on and off). 3) the unit is best as a fairly subtle effect in my experience--trying to find a giant surf or a massive Lexicon-like room sound might lead to disapointment.

Overall I'm really quite pleased with my Little Lanelei Reverb Pedal.

Note--I primarily use a Strat into either old tweed amps or a Sonic Cord amp, which is a class A EL34 amp--very tweed/Marshally sounding:

Plug it in, play around with the knobs, and hope your wife calls you for dinner!

I'm using this unit with various setups, and it sounds great with anything I have hooked it up to......I even use it with Blackface Fender amps, and turn their reverb off, and plug in the Little Lanilei Reverb........you can get anything from clean and moist, to as crazy and wet as you want.....let's go surfin'....

Don't know how reliable this unit will be......haven't had it long, but it has to be better than taking a Fender "Tank" on the road....should be much more reliable just because it's a stomp box!

Tris and the gang are totally "customer friendly".........He gladly answered all my questions, and returns phone calls!!!

I'm a Chicago Blues player, and also play the West Coast Swing/Bop styles, so, I've always used reverb, either in combo amps, or reverb tanks. I've been playing for over 30 years as a pro (Jeez, I must be old)......My axes are Strats, Jerry Jones, Gibson ES335, and a couple of fat-body archtops, played through various black face and some tweed Fender amps. I love the rich vintage tone from this, the first spring reverb stomp box (I've been waiting years for someone to do this, and Tris did it RIGHT!) There were no other units like this to compare to.....it's the first! My favorite feature, is ease of use, and not worrying about putting it in a foam bed, like I've done with Reverb "Tanks." If this unit were stolen or lost, I would be calling Tris, immediately. This is the richest, and most "quiet" Reverb unit I've ever played through......If you are a fellow "Reverb Freak", stop lugging around that "tank", and get yourself a Little Lanilei Reverb Pedal, by Songworks.....The only thing I wish it (I) had was a Little Lanilei amp, to plug the reverb into!