Reverb advice RV-2 vs RV-5/6

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Re: Reverb advice RV-2 vs RV-5/6

Post by soggy mittens » Wed Nov 18, 2020 3:01 am

BOSS make some fantastic delay pedals but it is strange that at least to me their reverb pedals are really nothing to talk about at all. They sound so cheap and fake. Maybe it is just a tone I don't like but all I'd suggest is to listen to a bunch of different brands until you find one that speaks to you, maybe it ends up being a BOSS pedal, who knows. xD
If OSG has tort me anything...

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Re: Reverb advice RV-2 vs RV-5/6

Post by Shadoweclipse13 » Wed Nov 18, 2020 3:09 am

For your budget, the standard TC Electronic Hall Of Fame can be had new, and quite common to be cheaper if you bought used. Digitech also had one that's supposed to be pretty good (Polara?) that's discontinued now, but fairly well-liked. For $150, you can probably find a nice reverb if you don't like the RV-2/5/6. I've never played any of the RV pedals, so I can't comment. For some reason, I've seen comments that the 2 and 3 are more well-liked than any of the newer versions, but I don't know why.
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Re: Reverb advice RV-2 vs RV-5/6

Post by Jazzmastervsjaguar » Wed Nov 18, 2020 6:45 am

I love my RV-2 I own a 3&5 and I don't think they come close to capturing the sound of the RV-2. I like all 3 but for different reasons. But since you asked about the RV-2 here are my thoughts.

For short reverbs it sounds really, really good. I leave mine on almost all the time to just fill in and brighten my sound a bit. If you are looking for super ambient wash of reverb I don't think the RV-2 will be what you are looking for.

As far as cheap options go the EHX holy grail plate mode has always been an excellent sound for not a lot of money.

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Re: Reverb advice RV-2 vs RV-5/6

Post by marqueemoon » Wed Nov 18, 2020 9:51 am

I use an RV-6 as a supplement to my amp’s spring verb. The spring and plate sounds are just ok. I tend to use delay/verb and modulated the most. The shimmer is usable if you turn the tone WAY down to de-emphasize the upper octave stuff.

I think it’s great for sounds where realism isn’t the goal. I like the simple interface and for me the lower fi sound is more compatible with my baseline tone vs. Strymon, etc... It melds better with the sound of the amp.

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Re: Reverb advice RV-2 vs RV-5/6

Post by Gavanti » Wed Nov 18, 2020 1:05 pm

Jazzmastervsjaguar wrote:
Wed Nov 18, 2020 6:45 am
I love my RV-2 I own a 3&5 and I don't think they come close to capturing the sound of the RV-2. I like all 3 but for different reasons. But since you asked about the RV-2 here are my thoughts.

For short reverbs it sounds really, really good. I leave mine on almost all the time to just fill in and brighten my sound a bit. If you are looking for super ambient wash of reverb I don't think the RV-2 will be what you are looking for.
Yeah, This has been my experience as well. I like the tone of the RV-2, and it has sounded quite good in the band mix on the shorter settings. I struggled a bit more with the plate and longer hall settings in that context (though plenty of other people have seemed to make that work). I liked them more on my own, but I think there are other choices I'd pursue for washy reverbs. So how useful the RV-2 is may depend on what you're looking for. The RV-2's gated reverb in front of dirt is pretty brilliant though, and if the other settings sounded as good that way, I'd just park it there.

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Re: Reverb advice RV-2 vs RV-5/6

Post by ElephantDNA » Wed Nov 18, 2020 4:02 pm

I think as far as reasonably priced reverb pedals that sound good, I would agree that Hall of Fame by TC merits some consideration here. It's one of two reverbs I've been using lately. The other is the digitech polara which I would also recommend if it didn't just get price inflated since it's been discontinued. Might be hard to find in that price range, but that one is pretty solid too. Really any of the digitech pedals will have lexicon reverbs which are hard to beat in my opinion - certainly for basic reverb sounds. Clearly, there are some specialized boutique products for the weirder reverb options but for just regular stuff (hall, plate, spring, etc) those are the two I've been playing and been happy with both.
Shadoweclipse13 wrote:
Wed Nov 18, 2020 3:09 am
For your budget, the standard TC Electronic Hall Of Fame can be had new, and quite common to be cheaper if you bought used. Digitech also had one that's supposed to be pretty good (Polara?) that's discontinued now, but fairly well-liked. For $150, you can probably find a nice reverb if you don't like the RV-2/5/6. I've never played any of the RV pedals, so I can't comment. For some reason, I've seen comments that the 2 and 3 are more well-liked than any of the newer versions, but I don't know why.
Those are the two I have had on my board lately, so I have a lot of experience with them. Both are very good, at least to my ear.

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Re: Reverb advice RV-2 vs RV-5/6

Post by Paco » Sat Nov 21, 2020 4:04 pm

Jazzmastervsjaguar wrote:
Wed Nov 18, 2020 6:45 am
I love my RV-2 I own a 3&5 and I don't think they come close to capturing the sound of the RV-2. I like all 3 but for different reasons. But since you asked about the RV-2 here are my thoughts.

For short reverbs it sounds really, really good. I leave mine on almost all the time to just fill in and brighten my sound a bit. If you are looking for super ambient wash of reverb I don't think the RV-2 will be what you are looking for.

As far as cheap options go the EHX holy grail plate mode has always been an excellent sound for not a lot of money.
I also own the 3 of them (RV-2, RV-3 and RV-5) and I think they're all awesome, but quite different. The RV-2 was my main reverb for years, the plate setting is really unique and lo-fi sounding. I also think it records really nicely and sounds great on a live mix. I ended up replacing it with a EHX Holy Grail, which does an amazing hall and spring setting that somewhat feel more "natural".

The RV-3 is my favorite though, the modulated reverb setting in particular. I think both the RV-2 and 3 were really ahead of their time, and both have aged nicely. I prefer them over most modern reverb pedals, they are super reliable (Boss is boss) too.

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Re: Reverb advice RV-2 vs RV-5/6

Post by i love sharin foo » Sat Nov 21, 2020 6:52 pm

I have owned an RV-2 for just about 20 years now. At one point, I had an RV-5 as well. The RV-2 plate setting was MY sound for a LONG time. I used it for EVERYTHING. The 2 is a lot noisier than the 5 as fair as hiss and background noise go. The RV-2 is definitely grainier and more lofi. It sounds like an EFFECT in most settings.. never quite natural or real. Not 'studio' quality. The 5 does as well, but is cleaner and a little more transparent. It's mostly an improved RV-2. I really liked both but in the end still stayed with the tried and true RV-2. I would later go on to try LOTS of other higher end reverbs but eventually came full circle back to the RV-2. I never sold it, but it sat on the shelf for quite a few years awaiting it's return. I had tried a Verbzilla, Dr Scientist, Holy grail (big and little), Malekko Spring Chicken, Death By Audio, and some others that I can't even remember by now. All had good points, but I'll be damned if that RV-2 plate isn't THE sound for me. Besides plate, I use a '65 Fender tube reverb pretty much 100% of the time. I haven't found sounds I like better than those two.
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