TONE TIPS: Reverb - Understand the WHY!

[@themerrillmiller]

It always makes me chuckle when people at church ask me how I manage a huge sounding tone out of a really low output guitar. I have a stereo patch with reverb and a couple of delays stacked together. And that's really about it. Though I like to throw in some tremolo sometimes.

[@trunks828]

As a bassist reverb is my favorite effect you don’t hear it a lot but it’s a secret weapon of mine. I tend to use it to add noise kinda like sonic youth or radio head to fill in the gaps on a song it gives a song more life. Other ways I tend to use it is to fill a dead sounding room that has no life to it just a small amount of reverb fixes that. I do tend to use a lot of effects to make things different from normal music and adding reverb with chorus/flanger really brings something new into the music scene and gives a bassist like me more of a stand out other than just holding down the rhythm. Been using the fuzzrocious afterlife and it does everything I love from giving life to a dead room to going crazy to fill a gap in a song.

[@michael.wiegand]

The splash of spring reverb on the transient of a short scale bass is magic. See “Cheerleader” by Grizzly Bear.

[@jeffburnham4582]

Great topic for a video!

[@DieselWeazel]

Interesting as always

[@jash500]

Very helpful breakdown! From my own experience in a church context, this brings to mind a few thoughts: It’s surprising how much gain you can get away with when delay and reverb are applied “thick”. Using a very bright reverb will sound “effected” with the guitar by itself, but in a mix with competing keyboard pads, will be the best way (or the only way) to cut through while maintaining space. I’ve been told by fellow church folks they’d wish the sound guy would turn me up. What they actually mean is they want him to bring me forward in the mix (b/c i’m already pretty audible and well mixed).

[@paulmcconville1]

I don't think I've heard reverb explained this well before. Great examples, too. Thanks Michael!

[@MichaelWWestbrook]

Thanks, I really appreciate that!

[@dr_tomK]

Agreed. This was so useful. I need to go experiment with my Flint reverb now.

[@pcanarsky]

Great episode!! Thanks Michael

[@anicca-ent]

Subscribed.

[@herbertdonovan7217]

Really helpful video thanks for making! So well explained straight to the point and with excellent demos! This will really help me make better reverb choices in my playing thanks again!

[@MichaelWWestbrook]

Glad it was helpful!

[@richieworrell]

Michael I love your vids for the guitar content, but I have to say your hat game is always on point. Where do you get your hats?

[@MichaelWWestbrook]

Different places. I know them when I see em’

[@grantdickey]

Imogene and Wille! I love 12 South!!

[@pinstripe_pedals]

Excellent explanation!! 😎👍

[@MichaelWWestbrook]

Thanks!

[@Rummy73]

Dear Michael, good day. I liked video. Helpful as always. I have a question, please. Might you do a video that shows the differences between the Tweed Deluxe and the Marshall clone you built? I have a small studio and I get players asking about these amps. I would really appreciate any comment or more about what key factors distinguish them from one another. My studio presently has a Friedman Smallbox for Plexi tones, a Princeton clone, and an AC-15. If adding a Tweed or JTM/bluesbreaker would enhance things, I would like to know. Thanks in advance for all the practical advice and useful, real world info for players -- including the small-time guys and gals. Best, Rumy

[@matthewpendrick4980]

How often are you tailoring your reverb settings to fit each live performance space? For example , if the room is very live , are you pulling back on the mix or decay time , or tailoring the tone of the verb to an extra bright or dark room ?

[@MichaelWWestbrook]

Hey! Yeah, absolutely. All of those are definitely considerations and tweaks I make. That being said, I also try not to over think it when I can help it 😂

[@matthewpendrick4980]

@@MichaelWWestbrook thanks ! I take the same approach . It’s easy to overthink the knobs when every room and stage sound so different!

[@andocobo]

Why use reverb: to make my playing not sound quite as shit 😂