Strymon BigSky

February 2014 Guitarist 119
STRYMON BIGSKY £429
EffEcts
The Rivals
Similarly priced to the BigSky,
the Eventide Space (£499)
boasts 12 hugely adjustable
reverb sounds, while
Strymon’s own BlueSky
(£279) still offers stunning
reverb algorithms and ease of
use. TC Electronic’s NR-1
Nova Reverb (£199) is a
cheaper option, but features
considerable control over its
six reverb types
Strymon BigSky
PRICE: £429
ORIGIN: USA
TYPE: Digital reverb stompbox
CONTROLS: Type, Value, Decay,
Pre-delay, mix, tone, Mod, Param 1,
Param 2, cab filter switch
PRESETS: 300
REVERB TYPES: Room, hall,
plate, spring, swell, bloom, cloud,
chorale, shimmer, magneto,
nonlinear, reflections
OTHER FEATURES: Infinite Sustain,
Freeze; spillover and reverb persist;
analogue dry-though; cab emulation
CONNECTIONS: Left/right inputs,
left/right outputs, exp out for
expression pedal, MIDI in/out, power
POWER: 300mA via 9V DC mains
adaptor (supplied)
DIMENSIONS: 130 (d) x 171 (w) x
44.5mm (h)
WEIGHT (KG/LB): 0.664/1.46
MusicPsych
0207 607 6005
www.strymon.net
GUITARIST RATING
Build quality
Features
Sound
Value for money
Guitarist says: This kind of
quality doesn’t come cheap, but
reverbs don’t get much better
than this – a superlative
stompbox in every way
Similarly priced to the BigSky,
reverb algorithms and ease of
Strymon BigSky
While the functionality is staggering,
it’s the sounds themselves that make
your jaw drop and your playing soar
Sounds
Considering the borderline
academic nature of Strymon’s
research, you’d be disappointed
if the BigSky sounded anything
less than extraordinary. All that
homework paid off: the 12
reverb machines are as natural
or fantastical as you want.
In part, that’s down to the
flexibility of each machine – for
example, the spring setting is
utterly convincing, and allows
you to nail the exact sound you
love, right down to the number
of springs themselves.
Much of the BigSky’s appeal
lies in its more atmospheric
settings, and Strymon has amply
provided for ambient and post-
rock musicians. The pitch-
shifted Shimmer setting is
particularly impressive, offering
two chromatically shiftable
voices for painting ridiculously
grand soundscapes. Then
there’s the Chorale setting,
which applies a vowel filter to
its ’verbs – it’s almost like a vocal
choir backing your every note.
Verdict
As hefty as that price tag is, we
can’t help but fall in love with
the BigSky. It makes us want to
write poetry to the soundtrack
of its glorious ambience – while
it’s so chock-full of features
there isn’t space to do more
than mention its additional
multi-head echo (Magneto) or
studio-faithful Plate settings.
But while the functionality is
staggering, it’s the sounds that
make your jaw drop and your
playing soar – and it’s that
which could end up justifying
the lofty asking price.
Each of the BigSky’s 12 reverb ‘machines’ can be refined by seven further parameters
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GIT377.rev_strymon.indd 119 12/19/13 8:54 AM