Neunaber Audio

The story: from the Wet Reverb to a family-run maker

Neunaber's first pedal, the Wet Reverb, launched in 2009, and the company marked a decade since that launch in 2019 with a limited-edition Immerse Mk II⁵. Early coverage placed Brian Neunaber's operation in a small California workshop, building stereo pedals such as the Stereo Wet Reverb and the Stereo Chroma Chorus⁸. A 2016 reviewer summed up the company's standing at the time:

The Wet Stereo Reverb set the pattern for much of what followed: stereo inputs and outputs, an expansion port that "opens up a whole new world of versatility," and programming via a USB port⁹¹⁰. Reviewers took to it quickly. In 2014 a Pedal of the Day reader feature called it "My favorite pedal. Best pedal I ever used. Highly recommended"¹⁰, and a 2015 review called the Stereo Wet "a phenomenal reverb pedal"¹¹. Guitar World's review of the later Wet Reverb V4, a digital reverb effect pedal the magazine described as "the essence of simplicity," found it "a strong contender, combining simple, straightforward operation, plenty of performance versatility and professional sound quality"¹².

The company's later products kept the stereo, software-configurable approach. The Echelon Stereo Echo, a digital delay pedal with up to one second of delay time, could be entirely reconfigured through Neunaber's Pedal Customizer software using an included USB cable¹³. The Seraphim Stereo Shimmer combined Wet reverb with a shimmer effect switchable on the fly, also with Pedal Customizer software for PC and Mac¹⁴.

Known for shimmer and stereo reverb

Delicious Audio's Paolo De Gregorio wrote that the Californian company "built its reputation through the sound of their lush reverb pedals, gaining a certain amount of buzz in particular for their shimmer algorithms"³. That reputation runs through the whole reverb line:

A distinctive part of the Neunaber approach is that its stereo pedals can be programmed with any of its other pedals' algorithms. As one Pedal of the Day reviewer put it, "you can program any of their pedals into one of their other pedals"¹¹.

The Immerse Mk II, announced in October 2018, followed the original Immerse and was completely redesigned from the ground up, with five controls: Effect Selection, Mix, Depth and two multi-function controls²¹. MusicRadar reported that it earned a spot on that publication's list of notable reverb pedals available⁵. The 10-year anniversary limited edition of the Immerse Mk II, released in 2019, carried the Wet Reverb's blue ripple design, a retro-style Wet Reverb font, a hand-numbered serial number and a 10-year mark, built to order in small batches²². Gearnews' writer was measured about it: "Apart from the marketing hype/'celebration of 10 years in the pedal business', this is still a great reverb pedal," though the same writer was not convinced by the new graphic²².

The Illumine, announced in August 2021, is a stereo, multi-mode reverb pedal with 17 reverb algorithms, presets and MIDI, in a small footprint with top-mounted jacks³²³²⁴. MusicRadar's Jonathan Horsley noted that "with its top-mounted jacks it should be respectful of pedalboard real estate"¹⁸.

Beyond reverb, the line includes the Echelon Echo delay²⁵²⁰²⁶, the Elements pedals covering reverb, shimmer reverb and echo²⁰, and the Neuron, a gain pedal announced in January 2019 that its maker says achieves "a seamless array of incredible amp tones in a compact pedal, from sparkling clean to heavy distortion"²⁵²⁰²⁶.

Brian Neunaber, the founder

Brian Neunaber founded the company and designed its pedals; Premier Guitar named him as company founder in its 2018 and 2019 announcements²¹⁷. Quilter Labs, which hosts Neunaber's product pages, describes the pedals as designed by "Brian Neunaber, whose obsession with reverb algorithms and DSP engineering produced some" of the company's sounds⁶. MusicPlayers.com's Bruce Sokolovic, reviewing the Echelon Stereo Echo in 2014, wrote that "Brian Neunaber tends to pack all sorts of cool studio goodness into his little metal boxes," and noted that he "provides a thorough manual for all of his pedals as well as quite a useful education on impedance, true bypass and other topics"¹³.

The Neunaber Technology and Neunaber Audio names

Early pedals were released under the Neunaber Technology name, including the Wet Stereo Reverb and the Echelon Stereo Echo¹³⁸, while later products carry the Neunaber Audio name²⁷⁹¹³. The two are the same maker: current manuals are published by Neunaber Technology LLC and hosted at neunaber.net, on pages titled Quilter Labs²¹⁹. Neunaber Audio describes itself as family owned and operated and dedicated to "bringing you the highest quality audio effects on the market"¹.

The range (29)

News

Questions