Walrus Audio

4
Electro-Harmonix
Oceans 11
£136
1
To start off, let’s take a look
at a mono-only pedal in the
form of Walrus Audio’s
Fathom. All parameter editing here is
undertaken directly from the five
front-panel knobs and toggle switch,
which keeps things fairly
straightforward. There are four
algorithms here – Hall, Plate, Lo-fi
and Sonar – each with adjustable
decay, mix, brightness, and three
levels of modulation. Pressing the
built-in sustain footswitch extends the
decay time to maximum (so not so
much ‘sustain’ as ‘extend’). The Lo-fi
programme adds filtering, whilst the
Sonar pitch combines a low and high
pitchshift. The ‘X’ knob adjusts
pre-delay, filter width or high/low
pitch blend.
walrusaudio.com
VerDICt 8.7
2
This second incarnation of
TC Electronic’s sturdy Hall
of Fame reverb pedal adds a
shimmer algorithm, which pitches
the reverb up an octave on each
feedback loop for an ethereal effect.
It adds TC’s MASH technology too,
adding a pressure-sensitive
expression pedal/switch, all of which
beefs-up an already impressive
feature set. This pedal includes full
stereo in/out. It’s also capable of
patch-saving via three ‘TonePrints’
and in-depth editing (via USB, using
the TonePrint Editor software). The
pedal can also easily accommodate
synth level signals, which adds to its
range. Although the reverbs are
strong, they are not quite as lengthy
or lush as those that have been
designed specifically with ambient
music in mind. That aside, there’s no
doubt you’ll be getting an awful lot of
bang-for-your-buck here.
tcelectronic.com
VerDICt 8.9
3
Mad Professor’s Kosmos
pedal is well and truly
geared up for the dreamier
end of the reverb spectrum. There are
11 programs on offer in total, which
divide up into Plate, Room, Spring,
Hall, Shimmer, Swell and
Room+Delay treatments. Another
mono unit, the Kosmos provides
additional editing beyond the
standard level, tone and time
parameters via the Control knob
(though on half of the programmes
this will adjust the automatic effect
level ducking). Using the footswitch
can extend the reverb up to an
(almost) frozen state. The reverbs on
offer here are strong, though the unit
is almost certainly geared more
heavily towards guitar usage than
synth or studio applications.
mpamp.com
VerDICt 8.5
4
Electro-Harmonix have been
players in the pedal game
for longer than most, and
their current range of pedals is
undeniably huge – taking in
everything from analogue classics to
all sorts of newer digital units like
this, the Oceans 11. Right from the
very start, it is clear that this pedal
has been primarily aimed at the
guitarist who requires a wide range of
reverb styles – from conventional
through to modulated, reverse and
shimmer types. Although input and
output is strictly mono in this case
– which acts to limit the scope for
creating wide soundscapes – the
mode switch and pair of parameter
knobs provide a decent level of
control, with secondary edit
parameters available to you if you find
that you need to do any additional
tweaking of the sound.
ehx.com
VerDICt 8.5
FM VerDICt
THE HIGH PERFORMER The TC unit trumps the
others when it comes to depth of editing, integration
into non-guitar scenarios and stereo output
THE BEST VALUE It may not have the shoe-gazing
allure of Walrus Fathom, but EH’s Oceans 11 is good
value and provides the widest range of treatments here
Reverb Pedals | Grouptest
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