Back in A.D. 500, King Arthur and his knights rode bravely through the land searching in vain for the Holy Grail. Here in 2002, guitarists are on a different kind of quest: they're looking for great-sounding ambient effects. In a move it hopes will bring renown among the knights (and damsels) of the six-string, Electro-Harmonix has released the Holy Grail reverb pedal ($136). Although entirely digital, it aspires to emulate the sound of a spring reverb unit.
HOLY SPECS
Housed in Electro-Harmonix's familiar metal casing, the Holy Grail is solidly built, and its user interface is simplicity itself. A three-position selector lets you switch between three reverbs: Spring, Hall, and Flerb (more on that in a bit); and a single knob labeled Reverb controls the wet/dry mix. There's also an on/off switch and a status LED that indicates when the reverb is on. The pedal is powered by an external power supply (reverbs draw too much juice to use batteries) and comes in a sturdy wooden box. The Holy Grail is a mono unit, with standard ¼-inch I/O.
THE GRAIL IN ACTION
I connected the Holy Grail to my Strat and my Music Man amp, set the selector to Spring, and began playing. Sure enough, the reverb sound produced was reminiscent of a spring unit. To compare it to the Real McCoy, I A/B'd the pedal with both the spring reverb in the Music Man amp and one in a Peavey guitar amp. The Holy Grail sounded a lot like those actual spring units, although it was a little less warm and its decay wasn't as “boingy” and complex. Also, the Holy Grail's Spring reverb sound wasn't quite bright enough for my taste, but without an EQ knob there was no way to tweak it.
I also wished for a decay control, which could have been used along with the Reverb knob to really fine-tune the sound. To be fair, however, the Holy Grail was meant to function like the reverb section of an amp, and most of those also have only a single control. What's more, adding the ability to adjust decay and EQ would certainly have boosted the unit's price considerably.
The Holy Grail's Hall setting was useful but not that memorable. The third sound, Flerb, consists of reverb with a whooshy flanged tail. It is an interesting effect, but it would have been more useful to have a plate or room sound as an option.
Just for grins, I tried the Holy Grail out in the studio. Because it's a stompbox, I was surprised at how clean it sounded, both for recording direct (I plugged it in after my guitar preamp) and when patched into an aux send on the board.
WHAT'S THE STORY?
If you're searching for a relatively inexpensive way to add a “spring” ambience to your setup, the Holy Grail will fit the bill nicely. It sounds good, is easy to use, and — though it's unlikely to be the answer to your ultimate sonic quest — it's a pretty cool pedal for the money.
█ Rating (out of 5): 3
Electro-Harmonix
tel. (800) 633-5477;
Web
www.ehx.com
