Boss Reverb

WANGS V T-1H £120
BOSS
RV-6 REVERB
£119
Small is the new big – how loud can one watt be?
A feature-rammed compact ’verb with six appeal
WE
all know valve amps
sound great and
still manage to overhaul their
solid-state cousins most of the time
for tone, but they’re big, heavy and
expensive… or are they? One of
the most portable valve heads
we’ve ever seen has just arrived
in the UK, in the shape of the
diminutive Wangs VT-1H. In a
small box about the same size as a
boutique overdrive pedal, Wangs
(no sniggering at the back, please)
has shoehorned an entire valve
head, using a pair of 12AX7
preamp valves and a single 12AU7
to deliver an output of one watt to
either an eight- or 16-ohm load.
The VT-1H’s controls are
minimal: volume, tone and an
on/off switch, with a single guitar
input and speaker outlet. At lower
volumes, the clean sounds are
IN
the 13 years since the RV-5
was launched, the compact
reverb market has become a
crowded fi eld, but the RV-6 hopes
to entice guitar players back to
Boss, updating it with all-new
algorithms and overhauled DSP.
For starters, there are some new
types alongside the usual suspects:
shimmer and dynamic expand the
feature set, while a reverb/delay
returns from the RV-3. The RV-6
can also control the effect level via
an expression pedal – handy for
altering ambience on the fl y.
Each of the eight modes delivers
pristine, artefact-free reverbs, with
a huge amount of fl exibility. So,
while using the plate or hall, the
tone knob totally reshapes the
sound, adjusting 10 different
surprisingly good, with a crisp
treble, balanced midrange and
restrained bass. As you turn up
the volume control, the VT1-H
starts to overdrive in a pleasing
AC30-ish way, with a nice
touch-sensitive response. With
the volume maxed, it has a ton of
sustain and distortion, and it’s
loud – plenty loud enough for
practice and recording, possibly
even live gigs, thanks to modern
loudspeakers, which are much
more effi cient than they used to be.
It’s not totally perfect, mind you
– a loose handle on this sample
would need a board removal to
correct, and the only fuse we can
see is a sub-miniature type
soldered directly to the PCB;
but for recording and practice,
it’s great fun. We like!
Nick Guppy
parameters every time you move
the knob, going from menacing
undertones to abrasive, metallic
resonance. The new reverb types
are effective, too – shimmer
delivers one of the best pad-like
octave-up reverbs around, while
dynamic ebbs and fl ows with your
playing without overwhelming it.
Okay, so the spring setting is a
little splashy and we’d like more
control over the pedal’s pre-delay,
but we’d argue that the regular
settings are sideshows to the main
event here, which is cavernous
atmosphere – switch over to the
modulated setting, and you’ll have
a hard time shutting it off. Boss
needed to step up its reverb game
– it’s done that and then some.
Michael Brown
FEATURES
SOUND QUALITY
VALUE FOR MONEY
BUILD QUALITY
USABILITY
OVERALL RATING
SUMMARY
FEATURES
SOUND QUALITY
VALUE FOR MONEY
BUILD QUALITY
USABILITY
OVERALL RATING
SUMMARY
86 OCTOBER 2015
QUICK TESTS
ALL THE SMALL THINGS
TYPE: All-valve amp head
OUTPUT: 1W
VALVES: 1x 12AU7, 2x 12AX7
CONTROLS: 1x volume, 1x tone, on/off
switch, mains voltage selector
SOCKETS: 1x input, 1x speaker output
WEIGHT: 1.2kg
DIMENSIONS: [HxWxD] 80x125x110mm
CONTACT: Spartan Music 07773 952008
www.spartanmusic.co.uk
TYPE: Digital reverb pedal
CONTROLS: Effect level, tone, time,
reverb type
SOCKETS: 2x input, 2x output,
power, expression
BYPASS: Buffered
POWER: 9V battery, 9V power supply
(not included)
CONTACT: Roland UK
01792 702701
www.roland.co.uk
TGR272.gear_halves.indd 86 9/10/15 5:17 PM