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!

Pretty straight forward to adjust verb and gain level desired.

Sounds very close to a onboard Fender Verb, warm organic spring sound that does not color the amp tone, No digital effect can emulate having real springs. Not a lot of noise added when on and quiet bypass when off. I have over 10 vintage Fender amps with verb, I needed verb on a real 1960 Bassman, this did the trick. Of course I use my verb no higher than 3 on the amps, I used an analog delay for slapback of really deep echo style tone.

The unit is very good for a real spring sound copy of a vintage Fender amp up until 4, I do not agree with the claim from Songworks that you can get Surf verb tones, just not there..

So if you want to add a splash of Spring verb, this is for you.. If you want light to surf, spent the $$ and get a Verb tank.

Just got it, Looks well built. No problems yet..

I sent e-mail and phone messages to Songworks with questions,I recived response back to both in a timely manner.

For a light verb wash that has a Vintage Fender tone, not bad. For the surf Tone, look else where...

All and all not a bad unit if you pick one up used at a fair price and want to add a bit a verb to a non verb amp.

This fine pedal has but two knobs - one for gain and one for reverb. Turn them both up past 12 o'clock and you're in for some fine, fine spring tone.

I do not find it especially noisy unless turned all the way up - it can create feedback at the highest settings. Some feel that this doesn't provide enough 'verb, but it provides quite a bit IMHO. I could see a more hardcore setting for those outer-space moments (which is a bit of a misnomer, as space is a vacuum and no sound could carry). Still, it will liven up your reverbless amps and much better than a digital box, says I. Arrr.

Using it with a 74 tele or a 71 Tiesco Del Rey and a 65 Bandmaster head through a 112 cabinet, or with a Lectrasonics Maximouse or occasionally a Roland Cube 60 (1980s version).

I can emulate some Ventures-style sounds with this, maybe some Hank Marvin...too bad I can't play like them!

Yes, I would depend on it, seems quite solid and the springs are loose so I doubt they would break...footswitches don't look too sturdy but an extender switch means you can keep the 'verb in a safe place so you don't have to stomp on it.

Fast response to eMails.

This is a good pedal for anyone wanting to get that slightly sassy mid-60s reverb, but it generally livens it up no matter if you're going for that sound. I've been playing for 26 years and it's one of the best I've heard. Comparable to the sound of a Fender Super Reverb. If it were stolen I'd buy another buy I'd also hire a witch doctor and put a spell on whoever stole it...it's just not right to swipe another man's sound.

I tried the Danelectro Spring King and found it darkened the sound. Also tried the Holy Grail, Digitech Digiverb, and that Boss one (can't recall the model but it has like 5 settings, including spring). Both the Digitech and Boss pedals try to emulate the "toc" you hear at the head of a note when plucking hard, but neither do so very convincingly - in particular the Boss seems to add it in based on input level, which is understandable but in practice results in inaccurate tracking. The Holy Grail wasn't too bad but still not as convincing as the Lanelei.

Two knobs. One button. One remote switch (optional). Easy! And it's small - about 6"x9"x1.5".

One caution: the seller warned me to keep the pedal away from the amp so the springs don't pick up the speakers' vibrations and feedback.

Just what I was looking for. I'd test-driven a Holy Grail first. It had too many controls, none were persuasive, and the thing was noisy at all levels.

The Little Lanilei is lush! It has real springs in it, yet costs a fraction of what the big reverb units go for. Because it's smaller, you can't get the sound of, say, a Fender reverb turned up to 10. But since I never use that much reverb anyway, I'm not missing out on anything. Imagine a Fender turned up to, say, 4. That's the Little Lanilei turned all the way up - plenty for my purposes. An easy way to moisten up my reverb-less amps.

And when place properly, no noise. The thing plays totally clean and doesn't alter the sound in any way other than as intended.

Just got it. So far, so good. Solid, thick metal box. I have no qualms about using it without a backup.

Bought it used very recently and haven't had occasion to call the company about anything.

I play blues, country, folk - mainly roots American sounds, with some forays into free-form and world. I like a rig that lets you hear the wood. Have played mostly unprofessionally, but with a few band here and there, since 1968, I think. I now have two Strats and two Teles - all single-coil. My main amps: A Fender RI Vibroverb with a pair of vintage-style Jensens in the combo and the original Oxfords in an extension cab (don't need Little Lanilei there!), a '62 Ampeg M-15, and a Fender Pro Junior.

If it were stolen or lost, I'd get another one. Compared to the Holy Grail? The HG I tried was a noise box. The LL is the real deal.

Very simple pedal to use, plug it in, turn a knob, and hit the switch...

I tried to use this pedal with a Fender-style 2x12 combo amp that had no reverb...but, this thing generated so much noise that I couldn't use it! I tried different places in the signal chain, but...no dice.
I eventually had Tony at Krank amps install a tube reverb in my amp, much cleaner and vintage sounding.

When the pedal arrived, the first thing I noticed was the led didn't work...the pedal seemed to function, but no led...so, I mailed it back to Songworks for some repair before even trying it with my amp...I would have returned it for good if I had.

I have to give them points for making my little led problem a priority...they had it fixed and returned within a week.

Not satisfied at all with this one...great concept, but poor execution. I have since purchased a combo with amazingly thick tube reverb...there's no substitue for the real thing.
I must admit that I am very curious to try one of their "Leslie" cabinets.

Very easy to get a good sound. I like pedals that are usable throughout the extremes of the knobs. This is one of those. It doesn't sound bad at any setting. The gain knob sets the level of signal that hits the springs, the reverb knob is a wet dry control. The gain knob is not a feature on any amp reverb I know of, and I find it very useful. Tris also includes directions with it, and they are straightfoward and helpful as well.

I am using this with a '76 Fender Champ and a G&L ASAT Classic. The Champ has no 'verb, and it really comes to life with this pedal. I also have a '59 RI Bassman that has no reverb, either, but I haven't tried it out on that. Not noisy unless the reverb knob is set at the highest level, but that's not really white noise, that's from the spring tank. I got the sound from Bob Dylan's Love Sick out of this, and that did it for me. I was convinced. It sounds like the reverb is actually coming from the amp, unlike the Boss RV-5 I had that never quite convinced me. It's not overly boingy, and I was worried that would bother me, but it doesn't.

I have not used it enough to know about its reliability. I did however buy it used, and when I got it home I found that it wouldn't work with batteries. However, I soon figured out that the ghettofied power supply the original owner used had fried something inside. He probably knew this, but he didn't tell me and refused to return my phone calls. Mother #*@$er.

Here's where the story gets better. I emailed Tris Mahaffey, maker of the Little Lanilei, and he offered to fix it for a very reasonable 25 bucks. When I got it back, I discovered not only the instruction sheet, but a remote foot pedal I'd never received from the original owner. Not to mention a fully working reverb unit that sounds fantastic. Maybe I've dealt with my cell phone company to often, but I was not expecting this level of service, especially since I bought the pedal used.

I play rock, blues, and jazz. I've been playing for 8 years. For some reason, I've bought two amps without reverb. I sort of missed it for a while, then bought a Boss RV-5 and wasn't impressed, so I sold it and went reverbless for a while longer. I've tried the Holy Grail, the Digiverb, a Peavy rack unit, and a Danelectro Spring King. None of them were bad, but they weren't that great either. I can't afford a Fender Reverb tank or a VanAmps Reverbamate which is roughly the same price, and after hearing and owning the Little Lanilei those costs do not seem justified. Plus, I know the customer support is there, which isn't the case for any other gear I own except maybe my Analogman SD-1/808. I buy and sell a decent amount of gear on ebay, but this one is going to stick around.

Very simple. Input,output, gain and reverb. However, for some reason, the input and output are reversed from all other pedals I know of! Thus the output comes out on the right. Thus you have to either put the unit backwards or use a long cable to get it to line up with others. Not a huge deal but kind of annoying.

Well, I bought this pedal because I was looking for a real spring reverb sound in a smaller package then my reverb tank. I used this pedal through my 1957 Gibson GA-6 amp and my 1964 bandmaster and unfortunately it didn't meet my expectations. There simply was not enough reverb. It needed to be maxed out to get any real reverb and I usually don't use much! My Traynor tank is usually set to about 2-3 at most! Another problem was that when it was maxed out it really started to feed back when at club playing volumes.

Seems very well built and would likely last forever.

Well, I do have to commend Tris, the owner of Soundworks and builder of the pedal. He personally called me when a dealer fell through with getting me the pedal at a great price. He got me the pedal at that price and with free shipping and the foot switch. I really wish I had liked the pedal more.

Great idea but needs to put out more oomph without feedback to be useful at a gig. Would be fine for bedroom use at low volumes where you don't want a huge amount of reverb. I play blues, country and some rock and gig occasionally. I have sold it to get a holy grail which, though not perfect, seems like a better deal and gives more reverb.

Plug it in, turn the knobs (gain & reverb), and play.

Fender Deluxe Fat Strat > VIntage Vox V846 Wah > Original 1970's Proco Rat > T.C. Electronic Chorus > EHX Deluxe Memory Man (w/ mods) > Fulltone Supa-Trem > Little Lanilei Reverb > '59 Bassman R.I.

Unfortunately, the Little Lanilei didn't live up to the hype. I've always used on-board reverbs (and some digital), but since I got my '59 bassman, my reverb hunt led me to the glowing reviews for the Lanilei pedal.

I found one, an hour away, that was brand new, but wasn't pumping out much reverb. The store owner said it had worked before, and because of Tris's good reputation, I decided to fork over the cash and deal with it myself. I sent it to Tris (on my dollar) and got it back in working order the following week.

Once it was in my chain, I found the reverb to be very vanilla, not as warm as I'd have liked, and kinda weak. I was expecting it to be on the subtle side, but as I turned the gain and reverb up, it would go from nothing, to very subtle, very subtle, subtle, drenched. Not much room in between. I also noticed a volume loss with the pedal on... If you're looking for spring reverb, save your cash and buy a Fender reverb unit. That's really the only way to go. The Little Lanilei looks cool, and it sounds alright, but for the price, it's not worth it.

Seems well built. The screws on the battery door are longer than the rubber feet, so it wobbles a bit on a flat surface. Not great for something that "boings" a lot anyway. I would have placed the Lanilei in a padded box, left it by my amp, and used the footswitch, so, who knows...

It does seem a lot of folks have to send their Lanilei Reverbs in for service, and because mine didn't work very well when I first got it, I have to say that the reliability is only average.

Initially, I sent Tris a few emails, left a few messages, and didn't get a response. Finally, I got a brief email back saying, "Did you get my other emails?" Once all that was sorted out, I sent Tris the non-working pedal, and asked for a couple simple mods (like others have), an adaptor, and a manual. I got the pedal back, and it worked better, but didn't get anything else that had I requested and offered to pay for (even though some reviewers got all this stuff for free). Too much trouble, and once again, not worth it.

6 - Friendliness
5 - Service
3 - Helpfulness

I play rock n' roll, sometimes on the indie side, sometimes on the classic rock side... some jazz, blues, surf, alternative, r&b, electronica...

I really, really wanted to like the Litlle Lanilei reverb... I mean, it's a beautiful pedal. But it just didn't give me the wet sound I expected. It's a little TOO subtle, not round and warm with nice tails like it should be. I even cranked the knobs and busted out "Misirlou" and "Sleepwalk" and was still disappointed... Maybe I got a lemon, but I wouldn't bother with another one. Needless to say, after all that trouble, I returned it.

And the reverb hunt continues...

This is a really easy pedal, just two knobs to work with and you can't really get a "bad" setting from them. The battery compartment is kind of annoying to get to because you need a screwdriver, but it includes an AC adapter. The AC adapter mine came with has a little high-pass filter or some such thing wrapped in a rubber sleeve on the cord, I don't know if that's normal from Songworks or what, but I think it helps get rid of any AC noise.

Gibson SG Special -> Tubeworks Real Tube II preamp -> FX Loop [ Little Lanilei Reverb -> Danelectro EQ Pedal ] -> Tubeworks MosValve -> 1x12 cab
It's important to put this in your FX loop. If you have it in your chain before your preamp, it will probably feed back when the level knob is around 2:00. This preamp has level knobs for the FX loop send and receive so that might have something to do with a lack of feedback, but in this setup the gain and level can be all the way up with no feedback or noise.

Anyway, the sound is super-smooth. It makes those cool spring reverby blurps when you bop the strings, and it really sounds like that old school reverb sound. I still felt a bit disappointed. I got into the surf sound after hearing the band Man... or Astroman? and their spring tone is just way over the top. This pedal doesn't quite match up with the reverb on Fender amps, like the Hot Rod series. It's still a fine pedal and I definitely always have it on and enjoy it, but I won't say it sounds like the crazy warm Fender reverb. But I guess that's not exactly what it's supposed to sound like, or it'd have some tubes in it and stuff. It really is a great sounding pedal though. It sounds just like The Chantays and The Ventures and stuff. Dig.

I got it used, so I don't really know what happened before, but there was a very low hum that got louder as the level knob was turned up. It turned out to be a loose ground wire that had to be re-soldered. From what I've read, Songworks would have fixed it, but it still kind of sucks. Anyway, all the internals seem very secure despite that, and the case is very sturdy. You can bump it around to make the springs crash and it doesn't blink. Because it doesn't have eyes. It has solid rubber feet, and the jacks and stuff have never bugged out, even though they're those stupid cheap jacks in plastic casings that are inside of every instrument, apparently. Those old guys at music shops who hate everything that was made after 1972 know what I'm talking about. I don't gig but I definitely trust the hell out of this thing.

I've been playing guitar for a little over 3 years, playing a lot of straight up rock and roll, surf, blues, and 80's kinda hardcore punk. I've had the pedal about a year, and it's always on when I'm playing. When you back the gain and reverb off, it sounds like a nice background reverb, and when you turn them up, it sings that jangly surf/rockablilly sound you know you love. It's kind of an expensive pedal, but it's pretty much a monopoly because no one else makes a decent spring reverb unit, so they're forgiven. I don't mean to be elitist, but this sound can't be reproduced digitally (yet). It's a great sound, and can't be done without springs. It's missing something if you're going for the absolute wild Fender spring tone, but it definitely helps scratch the itch, and you can play it through anything. I enjoy it and would buy it again. [Insert clever "I'd beat down the guy who stole it" joke here]

-Analog spring reverb tank
-active/bypass switch
-controls for "gain" and "reverb"
-optional external 1 button active/bypass footswitch
This is a simple effects unit. It acts like any on-board spring reverb unit, only more powerful. The unit itself
has an on/off foot switch, but because stomping on a spring tank results in a loud, banging, vibrating noise,
an external 1 button footwitch can be attatched. This is extremely helpful, though I've heard people like to
bang the actual spring tank around just because it makes neat noises.

Like I said, It acts like any on-board spring reverb unit, only more powerful. You're not going to get any
crazy spaced out sounds with this unit, but it gives you great, natural sounding reverb. I play with a gibson
es-333 through a boogie dc-5 and a fender ultimate chorus. I prefer this unit to the spring reverb on the
boogie and the digital reverb on the fender. It's warm and natural sounding, and it doesn't interfere with your
tone in the least bit.

It's great at generating feedback. I can put the little lanelli in my effects loop on the Mesa/boogie, and run
directly into my sound card out of the boogie's record out line and generate feedback while the speaker is on
mute. The lanelli acts like a self contained room in doing so. It's tough to learn to control, but once you've
got it, this simple pedal reveals itself as being full of possibility

Solid metal construction. The knobs fall off occasionally, but they can be screwed back on.

It seems clear to me that this thing wasn't designed to be gigged with. There are no rubber feet on the bottom
of the spring tank, just a couple of protruding metal screws. What's worse is that these screws are placed in a
way that sets this thing off balance, so if you stomp in it, it will wobble from side to side for a few seconds
afterwards, resulting in a lot of excess noise. The external footswitch is a must. When i gig with it, i leave the
actual tank off to the side of the stage in a padded case. Otherwise it would shake about the place, and make a
great deal of noise.

I've been playing for 10 years, and this is the most natural sounding external reverb i've ever heard. It's a
great addition to any amp if you're looking to retain your true tone. The actual housing needs work, but it's
the one pedal i own (i'm an analog freak, i don't trust digital products messing up my signal line) that i trust
to be on at all times without worrying about a loss of tone.

unit is fairly easy to use. Two knobs, fiddle around with them and you'll get lots of great sounds.

Strat - Boss TU-2 - Keeley bluesdriver - Nick Greer Sonic Boom - Diaz Tremodillo - Fender 59 Bassman R.I. It seems made for this amp. The pedal is very quiet and does not affect the tone of my amp. I use just to wet up my sound, both knobs around 11:00 - 12:00. I've read people get feedback when they set the controls up too high. I turned mine up to 2:00 - 3:00 and didnt get any feedback. I was able to get some fairly deep reverb sound without any feedback. Although I think its optimal setting is just wetting up your sound. I leave it on all the time, no problems with distortion pedals.

I just got it, but it seems well built. If you take reasonably good care of it, you should have no problems. Cant really speak of reliability yet, as I just got it.

Tris is great. I bought the pedal used and was getting some tone and volume loss. I called Tris, and he told me to send him the pedal and he would fix it, which he did. It works great now. He fixed and shipped the pedal back to me free of charge. Always recieve e-mails and returned phone calls promptly.

I play blues, country and rock. Its great for all of these. Sounds awesome when used with my tremelo pedal. Ive been playing for alot of years. Ive tried the Holy Grail and the Danelectro Spring King pedals. This kills them both easily. It sounds as good as any on board Fender amp reverb I've used. Its not cheap, but you get what you pay for. If it was stolen I would hunt down the sumbitch that stole it and get medevial on his ass.

Wicked easy.

I agree with the review below ? it?s the best outboard reverb on the market. I used to have a Fender reissue tank, and I?ve tried the EH Holy Grail. I think the Little Lanilei is better. It?s much more versatile than the tank (not to mention less than half the price), it has better tone than the Grail, AND it?s totally quiet even when you turn it way up. Quieter than any amp w/reverb combo I?ve ever had, and frankly it sounds better. But there are already a bunch of reviews that say all this...I?m writing to let you all know that it also works great with other pedals. You can slam the input with all your toys and it still sounds great. I use a Fulltone ?69>Blues Pearl Blue Balls>Analog Man Silver Mod 808>Fulltone Fatboost>Diaz Tremodillo>MXR Analog Delay>Little Lanilei Reverb>Dr. Z. I sometimes feel the urge to use two or three or all of those at the same time and it still sounds great! And with the reverb on full it makes the Diaz downright spooky. Anyway, if you have a bunch of other pedals and were worried about compatibility, well, don?t be. If you like spring reverb, you will not regret buying one of these.

So far so good, and it?s mostly metal. Looks pretty solid to me. The switch doesn?t need much force, but I kinda like that. I keep mine in the back row of my pedalboard, and I can easily kick it on and off with the tip of my foot. Last couple gigs I haven?t even bothered with the remote switch.

I didn?t get a manual with mine and when I emailed Tris he got one to me right away. He seemed genuinely happy that I liked his pedal.

I just plain love it. Also the mermaid is very cool.

Plug-and-play. Two knobs. Very self explanatory. Sounds great on any setting. Can get feedback at extreme settings.

Absolutely the best outboard reverb on the market right now. Especially designed for those of us who are in love with our small boutique class A amps, but wish we had some reverb occasionally for depth. You do need the footswitch (included in price) to prevent "boings" but, hey, it's essentially a big spring, what do you expect?. Mine is on whenever the amp is on, I love the tone THAT much. True bypass means completely unaltered signal when off. When it's on, you don't lose any nuances of your guitar...just great reverberation. Completely silent, hum/hiss free operation. What else do you need?

Not sure here. It does have a metal chassis, but I feel like the switch is a bit, well, light. It's constructed well, I just don't have confidance that it would take much abuse. I plan on keeping the spring box out of stomping range, and only using the footswitch on the rare occasion when I might turn it off. I don't think it would be very expensive to replace the switch.

Tris is great
Answered all my questions via email...and told the truth!
Ordered through ebay, but Tris drop ships for the company I ordered it from. It was here in less than a week after auction end.

I don't write many reviews. It has to be something very special for me to want to put my 2 cents in. This is a special piece of equipment, and a MUST if your amp doesn't have reverb. I'm a little skeptical of boutique effects. Sometimes wonder why they are worth so much. This is worth every penny. This rates right up there with my favorite musical purchases which include my Ultrasound acoustic amp, Yamaha P80 digital piano, and Keeley compressor. You will NOT be disappointed with this pedal.

Absolutely nothing to it. One gain control & one reverb output control.
LED indicator lets you know it's on.

You're not going to find a better spring reverb unit out there, period!
It sounds nearly identical to the internal reverb on an old Fender amp.
The BEST thing about it is how quiet it is! You can hardly tell the
darn thing is on! True bypass switch is a plus. It doesn't load down
your guitar signal or color the tone whatsoever. I'm using it with
some old Fender tweeds and a '63 & '65 VOX AC-30. Outrageous!

So far, so good.

Haven't had to call them yet.

You really can't go wrong with this thing. It's not cheap but at
least it's made in the USA! Quality worksmanship inside as well.

There's 2 knobs -- gain and reverb. It doesn't get any easier to use than that. It only takes a couple of seconds to dial in a great reverb sound. If you want to take down some of the ringing of the pedal, there's an internal trim pot. I opened up the pedal just to see what it looks like inside and saw it. If I wanted to take down the "Boinginess" a hair, I could. Tris inlcudes an external switch box with an 8' foot cord. This allows you to put the reverb unit on top of your amp and switch it remotely. It plugs in to the front of the unit. If you can plug a 1/4' jack into something and can hit a switch with your foot, you can use this. It's a reverb -- pretty much you turn it on and keep it on.

The manual is a one-shetter that's basically an overview of the philosophy of the pedal, as well as an instruction sheet. Expalins everything well.

Amazing. It sounds like great vintage spring reverb. Very quiet -- absolutely no noise (other than the reverb). I'm using it with a Songworks Vintage 50 amp (birhtday present, too)and it seems like a match made in heaven. It totally nails vintage reverb sounds. I don't play rockabilly, but it's very easy to get a great rockabilly sound. It does not sound like anything digital. True bypass keeps the signal pure when it's not on.

You can work with it to get some cool feedback if you turn both dials up high enough -- out of the range where just about everyone would normally use it and set the gain on your amp. You can use this to your advantage if you set it to that level, cut it off and then turn it on to when you want the effect.

It's built like a tank. All steel. Knobs are the old chicken head style and feel like they're on there for good. Built really, really well.

Like I said, this was given to me as a birthday present. From what I understand Tris was great to deal with and everything arrived on time. Everything arrived in working order right out of the box and was packed really well. I sent an E-mail asking about getting another one of the little bags that comes with the amp so I could put the pedal in it and I had an answer in like an hour. If something happened with the pedal I don't doubt Tris would help.

I know it was ordered from the webiste, so I'm assuming that was the price paid.

The only reason why I'm raitng a no opinion is because nothing has happened with it and I haven't had to get it fixed, but I'm sure it would be fine.

I play blues/classic rock, as well as contemporary christian with my church praise band. It's a great match for both. It doesn't sound the least bit digital, which to me, is worth it's weight in gold. It's built like a tank and sounds great. It's right around the same price as a EH Holier Grail, so to get the real spring deal for basically the same money as that pedal is a great value to me.

Only thing I might change would be to put the input jack in the front. With it in the back, you lose about a foot of chord with it doing around the back. Of course the flip side to that is the cord could come out really easy. Who knows.

Not much to it, but gives you what you need. Two white chicken head knobs: one for gain and one for amount of reverb. I found it very easy to get a good sound with the Reverb knob down (@ about 8 to 9 o'clock) and the Gain knob up (@ about 3 to 4 o'clock). Unit has stomp switch on top, but you really should use the remote switch it comes with because it has a real spring inside that can start vibrating easily if upset.

I own a Fender Tweed Twin replica amp that does not have reverb. Since I got my Songworks unit used and did not pay a lot, I was not expecting too much--I mainly wanted a bit of decent analog reverb in a pedal with a low amount of noise.

Well I was pleasantly surprised. After about two minutes of tweaking, I was able to get a reverb to rival a blackface Fender. Together with the tweed amp it is a KILLER! The pedal is very low noise and has a nice warm realistic spring reverb sound to it. Far, far better than ANY other outboard pedal I have ever used to simulate reverb, and much warmer than a digital rack unit. This thing was MADE for use with tweed Fender amps!

I will not rate this category because I have not owned it long enough. But it feels very solid and high quality (like a slim "brick"). All controls are dead silent. Since I am the second owner and it looks and functions like new, I suspect it is an easy 10.

I also cannot rate this category because I have not had to contact Songworks. But anybody who makes a reverb pedal of this quality and with this good a sound must know what they are doing and appreciate their customers.

This pedal is easily a 10 all the way. It is WAY better than I had hoped. It may be tough to use in an environment where there is lots of ground instablility, but for my use (home recording and small gigs) it could not be a more perfect product.

What a killer pedal, Songworks. Great Job!!!!!!

Easy as breathing...unless you're a mermaid.

This sweet little pedal far exceeded my great expectations for it. Really, I can't tell you how happy I am with it. It's absolutely pure, deep, luscious and true reverb-no noise or artifacts, and no infringement on the tone of good amps and guitars...NONE WHATSOEVER! A lot of pedals falsely make that claim, but this one deliver on the promise. Sounds incredible with single coils and humbuckers. I've used it with an old Rickenbacker (40s) amp that has, of course, no reverb of its own, and it sounds great. My THD Univalve now has a whole new dimension of sound possibilites. I've been using a TC Electronics G Major for reverb until now, and I had thought its Spring Reverb patch was pretty good. But the Lanilei blows it right out of the water! This is no exaggeration. The G Major sounds much more like an effect added to the original sound (with quite a bit of noise, too), but the Lanilei sounds soooo natural, like it's integrally designed and built right into the amp-a quality the reverb on my Fender Deluxe Reverb has. All pedals should be this good at what they do. Can you tell how excited I am? Do yourself a favor and buy one!

Not much to go wrong, seems to me. I'm not big on the tech side of stuff, but I'd say simple equals reliable. Hope I'm right.

No idea, but my guess is that whoever would build such a damn sweet pedal and then draw a swimming mermaid playing a guitar on the case...well, such a person must be intrinsically good and funny and would probably love music and life. I'd trust such a person to help, with reason, if I had a problem with something of his that I bought.

Not much more I can add. The Lanilei serves up reverb and hits it right out of the park. She's a one-trick pony, but she turns that trick with pride...and perfection.

This is an update to my first review. The reason for the update is that I had some problems with getting enough gain when in my effects loop. Tris Modified my unit AT NO COST, by putting in a BOOST pot. I get all the gain I need now... I can now get deep deep fender reverb tank out of this little puppie. Very authentic! Springs! A+++ Tris

Ease is a 10... a breeze...

Not a lexi.. yes a great SPRING sound for you traditionalists!

No breaks yet... build out of hard gauge steel

Absolutely spectacular... tris worked with me and put up with me when some of my problems were not even his ... (my effects loop had a bleed). Can't say more about the courtious support

This pedal is very easy to operate...only 2 controls. Problem is when you are always on the verge of feedback once the gain or the mix is up past 12 o'clock position

Big disappointment...to get any significant reverb out of it you will always be on the verge of, or actually feeding back. As a comparison, I compared it to a Fender tank unit. I could not achieve the amount of reverb that the the Fender unit provided with its Dwell and Mix settings only on 3 or 4 until I went past 1 o'clock on the songworks box. Unfortunately past 1 o'clock had a continuous feedback squeal. Songworks apparantly is aware of the feedback problem...why not perfect it before release??

You can't consider this device reliable with the feedback problem that it has.

2 knobs. Gain, and Verb (this is a dry/wet mix knob). Pretty straight forward.

I did find some significant issues with placement though. Initally I placed after my preamp and in the effects loop.... Then to the power amp. My preamp does not have an attenuator on the effects send.. so it can send pretty damn hard. With this high send level i found.

1. bypass volume much above effect on! (yes the true bypass works.. this is logical).
2. The effected signal quite week on verb (it appears that the box was working so hard dealing with the high signal.. that it over drove the effected signal) Again logical. BUT NO OVERDRIVE DISTORTION from the box!!!! wow!

My next move was to put it in my chain BEFORE my preamp (an before 2 of my 3 distortions). Normally I WOULD NOT DO THIS, cause I like verb pretty clean, same as echo/delay.

1. because the input level was where it was suppose to be... It sounded wonderful..

True bypass, little to NO NOISE. REALLY UNEFFECTED tone, both engaged and not engaged!

Has the sound of a spring verb... a little twang too. It does not have the controls of a digital verb (like depth or distance, eq bright or dark). You get just plain old spring verb sound. VERY VERY BEAUTIFUL spring verb sound!

I actually am very fond of digital verb and delay, but for guitar... this spring verb sound is so authentic. It is really quite perfect.

So don't buy this if you want really long lexi tails.. you will not get them. You will get classic fender sounding beach/blues verb.

Tris has really outdone himself.

we will see..

very sturdy machined box, with custom parts. Most impressive. I absolutely love the fact that tris throws in an 8 foot external switch in free.. Just incase you're afraid you might get the spring sound when you engage the effect. I do not use it.. but a truly classy touch.

We will see,

Email support on purchase was very good!

If you're looking for classic spring verb that is noise free... this is it!

This pedal is very easy to use. There are two knobs (gain and reverb); I turn both to around 1:00.

The sound quality is very good. The original tone is preserved, when the pedal is on, and there is also a true bypass. The reverb is not as deep as a tube unit. But it's great with other pedals.

The pedal seems solid. The footswitch isn't that tough, but I really don't use it (I leave it on all the time).

I've never dealt with them, but I hear they are good.

If you have a amp that doesn't have reverb, and reverb isn't your main effect (e.g. you play with a little distortion), then this is a great choice. It's better than any pedal I tried, including the Boss unit. It might not be as good as a tube unit or a unit, but it's not nearly as expensive or as awkward to use.

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!