Strymon BigSky Reverb Review 2023

Reverb Types

This versatile unit offers 12 different reverb algorithms, including:

Room Reverb

This is great-sounding room reverb machine that ranges from subtle studio ambience to a spacious night club. It has the characteristic short reflections of a traditional room, but a long decay can really add to the size of the space.

Hall Reverb

Another quintessential reverb machine present in the BigSky is the Hall. Almost overlapping with the larger end of the Room, this allows you to create even bigger spaces. The Concert setting gives a warm, rich reverb while Arena brings expansive reverb the size of a stadium.

Plate Reverb

As you’d expect, the plate emulator onboard the BigSky is a faithful replication of the early analogue machines. Varying the plate sizes allows you to achieve some stunning, slow decaying plate reverb with no early reflections that plate reverbs are famous for.

Spring

The spring reverb machine on the BigSky is a real standout in terms of quality and flexibility. It’s a brilliant emulation of a classic analogue spring reverb tank, giving a wonderfully clean sound with plenty of options including Clean, Combo, Tube, Overdrive. The ability to deploy up to 3 separate springs is also a nice touch.

Swell

Moving on to the more unconventional machines, the swell effect offers beautiful rolling textures with a touch of reverse added to the mix. An extra bonus is the fact that you can choose to apply this effect to the wet signal only, or both the wet and dry.

Bloom

The Bloom machine generates a slow-attacking reverb that literally “blooms” around your signal, with a touch of modulation added to the tail.

Cloud

I was blown away by the lush, cinematic soundscapes I was able to create with the Cloud reverb machine, and it was really easy to get lost in the huge expanse of sound with long smooth decays and few reflections.

Chorale

This seems to be a unique feature, and is probably my personal favourite of all the reverb machines on the Big Sky. The Chorale algorithm adds a gorgeous, almost vocal-sounding effect on the wet signal, similar to the “ooh’s” and “ahh’s” of a choir.

Shimmer

Another very well regarded reverb effect is the Shimmer, which adds a beautiful, tunable pitch shift to your wet signal. There’s also a lot of flexibility here, with the ability to shift up and down a full octave, and in 5ths, with plenty of other options to boot.

Magneto

The Magneto is almost a delay/reverb combo, with lots of clear echoes in the late reflections. A really cool option if you don’t own a separate delay pedal, or another alternative sound if you do.

Nonlinear

This is another standout algorithm in the BigSky. It features almost a half dozen separate shapes, and combines a reverse reverb with slight echoes, delays and swirling, swishing effects in the tail. It’s difficult to describe and you really need to hear it for yourself, but it’s another of our favourites.

Reflections

In terms of sonic flavor, the Reflections reverb is similar to the Room machine. However it’s a completely different algorithm which allows you precise control over the position of the amp within the space. It can be quite complex, but if you’re prepared to invest the time to experiment, you can be rewarded with a very realistic and intimate ambience.

Other Features

Cab emulator

The cab filter is a really neat addition that emulates a the sound of playing through a speaker cabinet, adding a warmth and richness to your tone when plugged in direct to a PA or DAW. The only minor drawback is that this really dictates that your BigSky needs to be the last pedal in your signal chain to avoid muddying the rest of your effects. This is only an issue if you like to experiment with different signal chain configurations and are playing direct.

MIDI

As you’d expect, the BigSky is equipped with Full MIDI implementation that allows full remote control which can be essential for recording or playing live, especially for those with complex complex setups.

Expression Pedal

The BigSky also comes with an expression pedal input for even more control over your effects. You can use any one of three pedal types (Strymon MiniSwitch, Strymon Multiswitch, or standard TRS expression) for selectable control over any combination of knobs, saveable per preset, or external tap, bank, and preset selection.

Infinite sustain / freeze

The infinite sustain setting allows your reverb signal to never decay, adding a rich, warm background to your sound that never fades, while the freeze mode allows you to play new notes over the top of that sustain, without adding any more to the mix. There’s also Spillover and Reverb Persist modes, both saveable per preset. Reverb persist ensures your reverb spills over rather than cutting straight out when the effect is bypassed.

Strymon Librarian

The Strymon Librarian is an open source library that allows you to organize and back-up your presets for ease of access – No more needing to write down those settings for that awesome tone you made. Hooks up to your laptop / computer via a MIDI-to-USB interface (which unfortunately you’ll need to buy separately) and is really easy to use. It’s both Mac and PC compatible, which is helpful. We were disappointed to find that you can’t download presets that have been created by other artists (which is a popular feature on a lot of effects pedals these days), but its a minor complaint.