do u use delay and reverb together?

[mbengs1]

I think they should be used one at a time since they do similar things, give air to the sound. i really prefer delay but i think delay will work fine.

[1001gear]

I use a Quadraverb set to delay, verb, chorus, and eq on the one always on patch. Puts a reasonable "space" to whatever guitar sound I send through it.

[nice keetee]

sometimes yes, sometimes no

[Phil O'Keefe]

I use both together rather frequently... but I also use them separately too on occasion. But the two are definitely not mutually exclusive IMO.

[WRGKMC]

I use it all the time. The order is important however. If you use reverb before echo it produces as sound called Swell. Its not one of my favorite sounds. The echo repeats the reverb attack and it can sound fluttery as hell.

 

Echo before reverb is what's used most. The echo repeats tend to be clean and the reverb acts like a room the echo occur within.

 

If you shorten the delay time and increase the repeats you essentially have one form of reverb. There are many more types of reverbs then echoes however. They often have adjustments which allow highly complex images involving space and depth. When you combine Chorus or Flanger (both are time based effects) with Echo and reverb, you can create all kinds of special imagery from being highly natural sounding to totally bizarre.

 

Knowing how to stack them to get specific results, and knowing when and when not to use them is the key. If for example you're playing is a reflective room with plenty or natural reverb, using any artificial reverb is only going to make things worse. If you're playing a large hall and your sound is bounding back at you from the far wall, it might be better to lay off both and use the natural echo instead.

 

If you haven't played out much and haven't experienced natural reverbs and echoes, and in fact learned how to use those to your advantage, you don't know what you're missing. No artificial echo or reverb comes anywhere close to the real thing. Its got a three dimensional aspect that makes the entire room come to life.

 

What tops it all is when you have experienced players who really now how to use it well. Having your beat timed to a room echo intensifies the bands groove immensely, and just as importantly, having the beat out of sync can have negative effects.

 

There's a whole science in back of this too. Ever listen to the sound track of 2001 Space Odyssey? They have several tracks done with nothing but vocals resonating in a room. The technique came from monks chanting in a room with cave like reverb. The vocals manipulate the frequencies to excite the room resonance and the room itself starts to resonate and feedback creating ghost voices to appear. In that sound track you start hearing things that sound like horns and violins, but its all done with voices exciting the room resonance.

 

Singers tend to notice it more then guitarists because the PA projects throughout the room more. I remember watching a Mamas and the Papas biography where Papa John was talking about the band first got together and started doing 4 part harmonies. He said they knew when the band was nailing it when Elmer appeared from the ceiling. To someone who didn't know what he was talking about you'd think he was talking about and angel appearing - but musically that's exactly what did occur. An angelic room resonation and a 5th voice would appear up near the ceiling which could be clearly heard. Monks of the past likely found this effect to be supernatural, but its actually been studied and mastered by many.

 

Unfortunately you can only learn to manipulate it by playing in a big room. We used to rent rehearsal space in an old warehouse when I was a kid. We played there for about a year and became accustomed to using that resonance for our sound. We didn't need to use artificial verbs, we had the real thing all the time. It really makes you understand how to project your sound to be heard by others too. Lessons you never forget, its like learning to ride a bike. I can play any room size and get the reverb to work for me.

[travisbrowning]

I'm a reverb junky, its pretty much always on for me, a nice heavy spring or hall. I enjoy delay too, but I usually keep it off unless I'm using it as a noticeable effect in a solo or something. Lately I've been playing in a two piece with a drummer and I enjoy keeping a delay on for some added texture. Low - medium length, low repeats, low mix.