EHX Cathedral Reverb Pedal Review

[Structo]

I ordered the Cathedral Reverb from Sweetwater and it was delivered last night.

This time it was really weird how they shipped it.
It went FedEx but then when it got to my town, they transferred it to USPS.
I have never had that happen before, but the important thing is I got it.

[img:292:240]http://www.ehx.com/assets/jpg240h/cathedral.jpg[/img]

I played around with it for about an hour last night and some today.

Mind you the only other reverb pedal I have had is the Boss RV-5 and of course my trusty POD XTL multi FX.

My setup is as follows.

Brown Note D'lite
Guitar>Tuner>Wah>Amp Input

In the loop (Dumbleator Tube Loop),
EHX Stereo Memory Man>Chorus>EHX Cathedral

My first impression of the Cathedral is not entirely good.
I do like the infinite button that you press and hold for a droning type tone in the background that you can noodle over.
This switch is also a tap switch that you can punch in the tempo you want for the reverb delay.

But as far as a reverb pedal I'm not sure I care for it.
The trails of the fading reverb seem a bit too digital and kind of stair stepping down as it fades. It's these kinds of artifacts that I don't care for.

Sometimes if you have the knobs turned up there seems to be this background noise I can't really put my finger on.
Out of 8 modes I really only like three or four of them.

I also have the EHX Stereo Memory Man that I like a lot.

[img:450:380]http://www.stevesmusiccenter.com/EHSter ... raiBig.jpg[/img]

Primarily I want a reverb that sounds like natural reverb, the other bells and whistles don't really do much for me.

I'm not sure because I haven't opened up both pedals to take a look but I almost suspect that the Cathedral is pretty much the same thing as the Stereo Memory Man with a few tweaks to make it more of a reverb, it certainly has quite a few of the same features.
Like the Pre-Delay knob, if you turn it up the pedal acts more like a delay.
Well, I already have a delay so I don't need that, I just want reverb.
Maybe having them both in the loop is too much, not sure.

To be fair to this pedal I have not tried it yet at gigging volume since the wifey is home but sometime this weekend I hope to see how it works when turned up.

As it stands right now I believe I still prefer the RV-5 to this.

I want a natural sounding reverb.
The spring type doesn't do much for me unless I was into surf or retro.
I prefer a hall or large room type most of the time, not overly done just for some ambiance.

I'll decide over the weekend whether or not this stays on my board or goes back and I continue the search for the best reverb for me.

In a nutshell.

PROS:
Presets, infinite button, 8 choices of types of reverb, Stereo In and Output, lots of adjustability.

CONS:
Digital artifacts, unnatural decay, maybe too much adjustability to dial in what you want, too many bells and whistles, must use the wall wart that comes with it, expensive.

OK, I ordered a Digitech RV-7 today to compare with the EHX and Boss.
I may end up with three or four reverb pedals to try but will only keep one.

[Blindog]

Hey Tom,

What about the EH Holy Grail reverb? Heard good things about that one from guys on the Dumble forum.

http://www.ehx.com/products/holy-grail

Mark

[Structo]

Yeah, those are apparently OK although some users report high noise content.
They seem to be inconsistant in their production.

Currently being produced are the:

Holy Grail

XO Holy Grail Plus

Holy Grail Nano

Holy Stain

#1 Echo

[CapnCrunch]

I'm aching to try one of these.........

www.strymon.net/products/bluesky/

[BTF]

I can certainly sympathize. Years ago I bought ear unheard a Peavey Valverb (I understand they are collector's items now-just goes to show how ANYTHING can eventually become a collector's item! ). To be truthful, I bought it on Guitar Player's recommendation that its tremolo and reverb were right Fender-in-a-rack. Mine at least was not. Its reverb pan tends to distort on those Peter Gunn-type bass riffs no matter where you set it. It's also one of those reverbs that sound as if you're playing on top of the reverb, not IN it like a good Fender reverb amp. I occasionally open it up and tweak, but one of these days i'm going to gut it and put in a 6G15!

From your description, your EH pedal sounds much like those early analog reverbs that were delays set with short delay and decay times. I too have a Boss RV delay for my acoustic pedalboard and like it. The old 1/3 rack-space Alesis Microverb was a very good reverb, if you can find one.

Good Luck on your quest, BTF.

[iknowjohnny]

It's not a pedal, but you know whats really good and they are cheap now are those old quadraverbs. I've had a ton of verb/delays and thats the one that sounded most natural. Till i got one of those i never thought much about the difference between reverbs and delays because they all seems too close to matter much, especially in a live enviornment. But even live it stood head and shoulders above all the rest i've owned. I may start doing gigs again for the first time in about 6 ot 7 years, and if i do i'm getting another QV. You can find em all day for $50. Just my opinion.

[Structo]

I'm aching to try one of these.........

www.strymon.net/products/bluesky/

Yeah, those Strymans are getting good reviews.
Goes to show what high quality sound clips can do for your sales.

But, they are $300

[CapnCrunch]

The $300 is a pretty tall hurdle. I have a friend that has their compressor and it is a cool pedal. I would like to have their compressor, delay, and reverb. They're a well designed and made pedal. I don't know if they are worth $300, but I'd have them all if they were in the $150 to $200 price range.

Right now I'm looking for good digital delay that leaves your dry signal alone, i.e. leaves it analog. There are very few out there. Damage Control makes the only one that I've found so far and it is $400.

Good luck with the Reverb Tom. Maybe you should just build a Fender stand alone clone

[Structo]

Yeah, I have a hard time spending more than $150-200 for a single pedal.
I was very happy with the EHX Stereo Memory Man so I thought the Cathedral reverb would be a good fit. I still haven't decided if I will keep it yet.
I have the Digitech HardWire reverb coming today or tomorrow, so between those two I will decide or just send them both back and use the Boss RV-5 that I have had for a year or two.

[Noel Grassy]

The reverb in my Eventide Eclipse is beyond the pale. I thought the Lexicon reverb was superb but with this new doodad I'm floored by the
spaces it creates. It'll be a long while before I need to buy another ambience type implement!

NG.

[Structo]

I would hope that a $2,000 piece of gear would sound good.
That simply is not an option for me.