Top 3 Best Reverb Pedals for Guitar (2023)

Music possesses the remarkable ability to transport the listener to a different realm in time, similar to how dreams can transcend the confines of reality. Reverb is the unique glow and backdrop of that sonic realm.

With recent developments in technology, there are more reverb pedals on the market than ever. With hundreds of reverb pedals to choose from, deciding on which one is right for you can be a daunting task.

Through extensive research and real world professional experience, we took on that daunting task so you don’t have to. Here is our list for the 3 Best Reverb Pedals of 2023.

Best Overall Pick: TC Electronic Hall Of Fame 2
Highest Quality: Boss RV-500
Best Value: Behringer DR600

See our TC Electronic Hall Of Fame 2 vs. Boss RV-500 vs. Behringer DR600 video below.

Best Overall Pick: TC Electronic Hall Of Fame 2

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The TC Electronic Hall of Fame 2 Reverb Pedal Tops our list as The Best Overall Reverb Pedal of 2023. This pedal’s price to performance ratio is hard to beat.

The HOF2 is an update to the popular Hall of Fame Reverb Pedal. It features new Shimmer algorithms and an innovative Mash footswitch that allows for expressive effects.

The Mash footswitch is pressure-sensitive and can be used to control reverb parameters like an expression pedal. The pedal also has three slots for TonePrint presets, which can be downloaded using the TonePrint app or created using the TonePrint editor software.

The Hall of Fame 2 pedal is perfect for Shoegaze, Worship, and other Ambient styles, and its Mash footswitch gives it amazing creative potential.

If you don’t need Stereo I/O and want a more compact version of this same great pedal look at the HOF2 Mini.

This is why the TC Electronic Hall Of Fame 2 is one of the best reverb pedals out there.

Pros:

• Simple to use
• Nice variety of highly usable algorithms with User slots for custom sound storage Excellent Hall, Mod, Room, Plate and Shimmer algorithms that can get very deep and lush. Sound editor software via USB for deep editing of algorithms with your computer or smart device
• Mash gives you a slick built in expression pedal
• Pre-Decay is a nice feature at this price point
• Compact sturdy metal enclosure
• Mono or True Stereo Ins/Outs
• True Bypass
• Great price for features offered

Cons:

• Sound Editor might be too deep and complex for some
• Mash Button requires Software to assign what parameters it controls
• Not the most natural or realistic sounding reverbs out there
• Overall very bright and digital sounding unless tweaked
• Settings can get washed out fast
• Pretty weak Spring algorithm

Best Value: Behringer DR600

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The Behringer Digital Reverb DR600 is Behringer’s take on Boss’s Legendary RV6 Reverb Pedal. It takes the prize as our pick as the best budget reverb guitar pedals.

Although it looks similar to the Boss RV6 it has totally different algorithms that can sound incredible in their own right. With 24-bit digital technology, this pedal offers deep, rich reverbs to suit any performance situation.

Choose from traditional Spring reverb, or opt for a more studio-like plate or Hall reverb. You can even add a slight chorus effect with the Modulate setting. Dual outputs give you the option to run your signal in mono or stereo for an even bigger sound. If you want to add a quality reverb to your sound and you have a tight budget and are not rough with your gear, check out the Behringer Digital Reverb DR600 effect pedal.

Pros

• Simple to use
• Impressive variety of highly usable algorithms at this price point
• Surprisingly good Plate and Spring algorithms
• Compact
• Mono or True Stereo Ins/Outputs
• About the price of a coffee in LA

Cons:

• Cheap plastic enclosure that isn’t built to last
• Flimsy wobbly encoder knobs
• Reverb Decays don’t go as long as most reverb pedals
• Most Algorithms gets muddy sounding with over 50% Mix
• Not the most natural or realistic sounding reverbs out there
• Overall very bright and digital sounding unless tweaked
• Pretty weak Hall algorithm
• A bit noisy depending on your setup

Highest Quality: Boss RV-500

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Boss and Roland have a legendary legacy when it comes to reverb. They were the innovators of the very first compact digital reverb pedal and Boss reverb pedals have made their way on countless pedal boards over the years.

The RV-500 is their latest flagship reverb pedal and takes the prize of best quality reverb pedal of 2023

The RV-500 is a multi-effects pedal that offers 12 different types of reverb paired with independently controllable delays to suit any tonal adventure.

It is loaded with BOSS’s legacy of highly praised reverb effects and delays, giving users access to their famous Modulate mode, Space Echo delays and Fender Spring reverb tones.

The RV-500 is perfect for guitar players, keyboard players or producers looking for a versatile and powerful reverb effect to add to their pedalboard, with deep options for tone tweakers and a simple workflow for plug-and-play types.

The pedal has an intuitive layout, bright display, and vast menus to help you conjure up every tone you can dream up. It offers true stereo performance, split between two separate amplifiers, and can be witched from true-bypass to buffered operation.

With up to 297 preset locations, you have ample space for all your sonic creations. If you want the Modern Boss Sound and don’t need all of the extra features and deep editing capabilities of the RV-500, check out the Boss RV-6 Pedal.

It has many of the same great bread and butter algorithms of the RV-500 in a more compact enclosure at a lower price.

Pros

• Impressive variety of highly usable algorithms
• Class-defying 32-bit AD/DA along with 32-bit/96 kHz floating point processing for ultra
  premium performance
• Excellent Hall, Mod, Room, Plate and Nonlinear algorithms that can get very deep and lush as
  well as quite out there.
• All Reverb algorithms have extensive in menu controls including low & high dampening, ducking and pan
• All reverb algorithms have a controllable modulation rate and time
• All Reverb Algorithms have a separate Midi or Tap Tempo synced delay
• Up to 4 Reverb types layered at once
• Roland’s iconic Space Echo delay built in
• User assignable expression pedal with Tap Tempo for delays
• 99 banks of 3 user presets
• Sturdy metal enclosure
• Nice easy to read backlit display
• Midi Ins/Outs
• Mono or True Stereo Ins/Outs
• With careful sound design almost any reverb sound is achievable from realistic to “Bending
  The Fabric of Time”
• Optional True Bypass Or Buffered
• More affordable and more feature packed than it’s premium priced competitors

Cons:

• Deep menu diving absolutely necessary to get the most out of this pedal
• More hands on controls would be much appreciated
• Steep learning curve that can be daunting for even experienced sound designers due to the
  vast amount of deeply tweakable controls available
• Not the best presets
• Spring, Plate and Room algorithms need to be extensively tweaked to sound authentic
• Convoluted menu structure
• Midi Tempo Sync setup is tedious
• The decay time knob is a dual function encoder which clicks when you move it which means
  it’s not as smooth to turn or as immediate to respond as the other encoders
• Many ranges of settings go to unusable levels fast
• Harsh Shimmer algorithm
• Not the most compact pedal around

Short History on Reverb

Reverb which is short for Reverberation refers to the persistence of sound waves in an enclosed or semi-enclosed space after the original sound is produced.

It adds depth, richness, and ambience to whatever sound or sounds it’s correlating with. It is commonly used in music production and audio engineering to create a sense of space, realism and surrealism.

Musicians and audio engineers alike have been trying to incorporate and emulate the sound of real world environments in their recordings for the past 75 years with varying degrees of success.

Many of the older technologies and techniques only faintly resembled real world environments, yet they had their own unique charm. They achieved these sounds by playing music through small speakers connected to either Metal Springs, Metal Plates or mic’d speakers in empty rooms.

These sounds were simultaneously recorded with a microphone placed in a position to hear and record the altered vibrations and tones of the music played though the speaker.

Those nuanced and charming sounds have played a major role in shaping the sound of music of the past as well as the music of today.

As digital technology has advanced, audio engineers have gotten very good at emulating the sound of specific real world environments with the help of Impulse Response Sampling and Convolution Reverbs.

Digital reverbs have also gotten very good at emulating the sounds of vintage analog reverbs. Many digital reverbs of today pay tribute to the classic vintage Reverbs and expand upon their feature sets in creative new ways.

High end digital reverbs that have only been accessible to expensive top tier recording studios in the past have recently made the leap to becoming accessible and affordable to the masses in the form of compact pedals.

There you have it. That is our list of best reverb pedals. We hope our research helps you choose the guitar pedal that’s right for you.