How To Use Reverb on Guitar | What EVERYONE Should Know 

Reverb is by far my favorite effect. No matter how subtle it is it still makes a difference. You may not even be able to tell when it's on but you can always tell when it's off 😁

I’ve heard so many guitar tones ruined with reverb. I love reverb. One trick I’ve learned is to bring it up till I can hear it then back it off a little

Rhet should do a solo album with these intros omg

I don't trust anyone who doesn't like reverb.

I hadn’t thought about using a higher pre-delay to make a smaller room type reverb sound bigger (like a larger room than it is). Cool idea 💡

Finally someone who understands that to demo reverb, you need to use a lot of percussive tones and chords, and that the reverb level needs to be turned up a bit. I've seen so many reverb demos where you can barely hear the reverb, because of only playing sustained notes and/or using not enough reverb level. Great demo and descriptions!

that fucking intro dude, its insane

These Intros dude, so haunting !! 👌🏼

I was one of those who avoided reverb because I didn’t understand the pre delay ... I got the concept but didn’t put the pieces together. Your vid was very helpful, thanks!

Hall of Fame 2 at end of my signal chain into amp works great for me.

Every time I hear you do these incredible ethereal intros, I just think man you need to make a solo record like this! I know someone else also made that comment, but seriously I think you’d find massive success with it. Reverb is my favorite effect hands down. I stack reverbs on top each other, but like you said in an effective way. I love great guitar sounds soaked in Reverb when it’s done right, and isn’t too overwhelming.

You realize how vibe that Solus F1 is when you see it without warning in the intro. It catches your attention.

The example no. 2 that begins at 18:38, is not only the best tone of those two, but one of the best guitar tones I’ve ever heard.

I barely used reverb for the first 15 years of my playing. I always knew something was missing but didn't want to admit it was reverb. Of course, it was reverb.

Man that tone at 1:37 just incredible!! Also love that your using a jazzmaster now !

Epic intro music. I’d listen to an album of that.

Hall of fame reverb is a great pedal with many reverb options, super modular. Great video!

Dude, love the new studio, and digs!

First bid gig I played when I just bought my Strymon BigSky, years ago, I cranked the reverbs so high and in stereo, only to find out later in the recordings that I was completely lost and mud in the mix. We had a video crew shooting that show too and eventually couldn’t use most of that. Lesson learned.

Wow, Rhett, that intro is beautiful. :-O

Production quality improved!! Intro jam was smokin’

Wow that opening jam was mind blowingly good Rhett

I absolutely love the Ambi-Verb on the Headrush Pedalboard. It really blew my mind. Capo on 5th fret and just doing arpeggios of chords. Very lush and ambient sounding. Love your vidoes by the way! Keep on rockin'!

Great opening. Fortunate to grow up on the Cali coast (pacifica) and the Surf craze. Now, like Mark says 'Just a little reverb'. gotta have that bounce.

Great to see you utilizing the new space. Seems like you feel real comfortable in it. Congrats. Nice video too. Good hear someone talk practically about verb usage.

Rhett: "When not to use your reverb..." Worship guitarist: no.

Holy shit, Rhett. Amazing intro jam (and video).

I've noticed some nice differences in color between using reverb either before or after a drive pedal, pedal reverb on one side or amp reverb on the other. Brett's demonstration of pre and post reverb explains a lot about why those approaches sound so different.

Reverb changes with the times! Years ago most of my mixes had ample amounts of verb. Then it became very dry for a good while. Now I’m back to healthy dollops of reverb on all sorts of instruments!

Man, that intro jam! Loved it! So cosmic....

For me that reverb going through the distortion sounded epic

Love the spring in my Princeton. The Keeley Caverns is a lot of fun and versatile.

This video exemplifies why I watch every one of your videos. 👍🏻👍🏻

love being able to stack reverb plugins and seeing what combos with hammer ons and palm muting etc can add rhythmically...can give new ideas/perspectives on how things can be played or improved...

Nothing better than some clean reverb sounds😍 I got the 63 fender vintage reverb by boss last year and I LOVE it

I like the reverb in the front of the overdriven amp. Just my preference.

Hell of an intro track bud! Love me a good plate reverb 🤘🏼

I love a good reverb, but one place I seldom use it is in my distorted rhythm tones. Especially when the dirt is fairly saturated. The sound is much tighter without it. Occasionally, I'll use a very small delay on a doubled guitar track that is mixed lower than the dry track.

My Big Sky is coming in on Monday. This is video is very helpful. I love plate and spring reverb.

Hitsville USA house #2 attic, the reverb we all heard on every Motown hit.

Thanks for all the sensible comparisons Rhett! You've done a fantastic job of comparing all the different ways of placing the Reverb in the right & wrong place in the chain, & what to expect from the Reverb when doing so. By the way. The sound quality you've achieved in this Video demonstration is excellent. You've surrounded yourself with first class gear & you have learned to use it extremely well. Considering this is being transmitted Via RU-vid, I find it very refreshing! Too-Shay Rhett!

Thank you for explaining and demonstrating pre delay. I had a vague idea of what it does and now I know exactly.

Good video, Rhett. These are my favorite videos of yours - quick, but educational. You are on of the few YT’ers that seems to understand that 99% of your subs are amateurs.

that intro song is kicking asses man! great video as always :)

There is so much cool stuff you can do with reverb.

Additionally on your last point, I was watching another recovering reverb addict, Tim Pierce, he rewards himself for hard work by adding a little extra reverb.

That was a killer intro track. For a great reverb sound, try Why’d you lie by Colin James.

I don’t have tons of pedals (can’t afford em) but I do have a reverb. I have the Earthquaker Devices Ghost Echo.

That mini solo (just some phrases together but really well used) remind me of Pink Floyd's time, and since you've said that solo was once of the most important for your musical development, I have no doubt you've been unconciously inspired by it in this intro

Opening intro is FANTASTIC!

What a killer tune at the beginning!

Haha! Wow, that was kinda funny at the end, when you said your "there is no plan B" tag, I was a diehard skateboarder when I was a teenager, and Plan B is the name of a pro skateboard manufacturer, right when you said that, my eyes happened to glance past a little Plan B fingerboard I have on my desk, lolz, I was like, "but I'm looking at it, it exists," heh, that just caught me off guard :P I'm a verb junkie too, I have 5 verbs on my board about to be 6. I have an always-on RV-5 in spring mode that goes into a Gamechanger Light Pedal, usually in harmonic mode for the super hollowed-out ghostly haunted verb it gives, I can't live without this pedal now :P only had it for like 3 months, that goes into a Red Panda Context² that I use mostly for the grain function and sweep back and forth between the verb/delay knob with an expression, that's super fun to blend back and forth between delay and verb, then into a Walrus Descent for my beloved Hall verbs where I have a building hall setting, and a cave hall setting, and a nice subtle shimmer and a reverse verb where exp is assigned to predelay I believe it was in my presets which gives it crazy ripping fabric of spacetime sounds when you get fast and wide with the exp movements, like messing with delay times with exp, that finally goes into an Astral Destiny for my more-than-subtle shimmers and spacey stuff, all with assigned expression parameters, I love expression pedals too, just got an OBNE Expression Ramper couple weeks ago, my new favorite way to use the Astral Destiny's exp out, I like it on that and on my Super Pulsar tremolo, it makes any pedal you plug into it a whole new game, it's fanfkntastic! Get one everyone who has pedals with an exp out, Expression Rampers are $70! 9v low current. Oh, and I'm heavily considering the Zoom MS-70CDR, technically I'm getting it for the lofi vinyl crackle function, and hoping it'll let me dial in white noise, I already have every other lofi element somewhere in my convoluted setup except that, so I'd be getting a bunch more reverb options from that pedal too, not a bad thing for a guy who doesn't understand the phrase "too much reverb." :) almost half my board is verb, haha, and technically I don't use it much, I'm primarily a death metal guy, the RV-5 is literally always on, and I use em in my clean passages, but those are sparse compared to the distortions, but I'll blues jam and ambient jam and psychedelic jam or Doom jam with my fuzzes and all my verbs all over for hours :P they just don't actually make it into most of my actual songs, I just have an obsession, with verb and exp...and fuzz, like every sane guitarist, lolz jkjk, anyway, go forth brethren and sistren, verb it up!!! And get an Expression Ramper, they're genius if you like movement in your effects!

I have a T-Rex Tonebug reverb. It's always on, with decay set to maximum and depth set very, very low. There's a toggle between modern and spring. The spring setting produces a more obvious effect, but you'd hardly notice it in the modern setting. I used to have an Alessis Microverb II that I'm still kicking myself for selling. It had an infinite reverb setting that I'd keep always on, but at such a low mix level, you wouldn't hear it as reverb.

Whoa. That intro was incredible.

Reminded me that I need to pick up one of the Noventas. Or may be just confirmed it for me once again, I don't think I've ever actually forgotten about it :'D

Wow man, intro song absolutely blew me away

I am one of the people who doesn't use reverb because I didn't understand it. I can't wait to try it out now! Thank you!!

Good stuff Rhett. For a long time, I ran a 100w Marshall dry with a boost and some delay. I graduated to plate and and never left. In the end, it depends on what you're trying to achieve. Always appreciated.

Great to see you jamming in the new house. Major upgrade to not only the studio but also to the sense of accomplishment.

PREDELAY! Thanks for this lesson, Mr. Shull!

Your hearing & musicality amaze me, the only other person I can immediately think 🤔 of with such an ear for music is your old friend Rick B always just enough & not to much I’ve just began to realise some time’s less is more, thanks to listening to you guys. Thanks 🙏 so much

Bought and sold 1/2 dozen of all the usual Reverb pedals, settled on the Strymon Flint: 60's/70's/80's; Decay, Color, Mix. Effects Loop. Done, finished.

I literally love the reverb, it is the first effect that I have discovered when I started playing guitar ❤️

I run two verbs. One mild, always on, spring and one that does everything. Reverb with overdrive gets muddy quickly so a mild amp reverb is excellent

Reverb, to me, is definitely a mood creator in each song. In other words, I'd use a dry sound (zero reverb) in some funk rhythm things or really tight power chords . . . add a touch of room or hall or chamber for my general clean guitar tone, because it enriches the guitar sound beautifully . . . and then crank up the reverb and pre-delay in solos when I'd rather not use delay, or when I want a really ethereal sound to fill space. Yeah, I use it wherever and whenever I can. :)

Very educational video for me. Always just used reverb for light ambience.

This is a fantastic explanation. Great sounding gear too!

Very informative video. I made the mistake of playing with no reverb for a long time.

Great video and congrats on the new space!

Love some dirt on the tail. Gary Moore sometimes used reverb like that. Nice sound

Rhett, the new studio looks and sounds great! Well done.

Thanks Rhett. Nice to see the new studio in action. ⚓️

I’ve only ever used my amps reverb and have recently started looking at reverb pedals because my board is “done” and have no idea where to start. This couldn’t have come at a better time

That opening track had some fire in it!!!! Way cool.

I use a JHS Prestige and a EHX Holy Grail as always on pedals when playing at home. Depending on the room I'm in live, sometimes the Grail is on, sometimes it's not. Love me some reverb!

Rhet, as you said it is everywhere in the natural world, I love the 63 tube reverb Fender stand alone unit , lost mine in the late 90's been chasing that sound soo long I am building one now. Great playing always.

HO-LEE HELL that is one sweet ASS vibe, tone and tune at the first of this vid! WOW! Absolutely love this channel! Cheers!!

Thanks, Rhett! Superb video. My experience with reverb is what I have in my Fender Studio 85. I'm fond of it cranked up when playing old school surf music (Dick Dale, Astronauts, Trashmen, Jesters, etc.). You have given me SO much more to chew on with this video! I also loved your beauttiful intro!

Very informative! Thanks. I would like to hear your tips on using reverb and delay together. Congratulations on the new house and studio!

I couldn't imagine playing without at least a little bit of reverb. I have been loving the new Hot Springs on the Helix, I think it sounds great.

very informative video Rhett... I run the plate reverb on my OX into my monitors and also use a guitar cab that is dry from the OX so I get a full reverb but still have the clarity mixed in... my perfect wet/dry setup at home.

Thanks. That cleared up a lot of misconceptions I had about reverb, especially pre-delay. Congrats on the new house and the new studio.

I have recently been thinking about getting a reverb pedal. Right now I only use my spring in my Hot Rod deluxe.

Thanks Rhett, fantastic advice here.

One of my favorite recordings is E PowerPoint Biggs playing Bach's 4 great Tocattas and Fugues on the Frieburg Cathederal's 4 anticholinergic organs, with he played from a central console. The sanctuary has like a 7 second reverb! A recording only available on vinyl. You can find a couple on RU-vid, but you gotta dig.

Liked! Nice explanation and examples. One humble tought about "predelay" - your example with the "big room": If the "player" and the "listener" are ... let's say "in the middle of the big room" - then you get a big pre delay. Both are "close" to each other. If you put the "player" in one corner and the listener in the opposite corner - the listener will have nearly _no predelay_ since sound source is far away and the reverb will be there close to the original signal. So in the mix as sound engineer you can control the "depth" ... esp. on the drums --> small predelay = far away and vice versa. So thanks very much and this is no "correction" or "complaining" - I love your videos. Just wanted to add, that you also control the "distance" between listener and soundsource with predelay... but there are so many factory ... so really love your examples! Thanks and cheers, Stefan

I just took the plunge & picked up the chase bliss cxm 1978 & wow what a amazing inspiring pedal! Crazy expensive but it sounds incredible.

Thanks so much Rhett for explaining the pre delay function, I've always had an issue understanding this before now

Opening tune was freaking amazing!!! Great video!!!

Thanks for sharing Rhett. Very good

Fantastic video! It has my mental wheels turning

That intro song it’s just amazing really awesome ambient guitar tones.

Thanks Rhett! I run all verbs/tape echo through effects loop. Agree that the tones stay much clearer. Cheers!

Thanks Rhett, I learned a lot from that video.

Very instructive. Thank you Rhett

Congrats to the new studio and your sponsorship with Universal Audio! Almost every scene exposes UAD gear... ; )

that intro was amazing ;O

great video thanks. i use the levitation reverb pedal from earth quaker devices. it took me a while to dial it in but it was worth the effort.

that new studio is 🔥

5:38 Wow, nice new Jazzmaster Rhett!