Matthews Effects Astronomer

The Matthews Effects Astronomer is a digital reverb pedal built around shimmer, the harmonizing upper-octave texture that sits on top of the reverb tail¹. What sets it apart from most reverb pedals is its layout: two rows of identical knobs and two footswitches, so you can dial in two completely different reverb sounds and jump between them with one press². Premier Guitar described it as "a well-made, thoughtfully executed digital shimmer 'verb" with a street price of $199 at the time of its 2021 review¹.

The pedal's history runs through several versions. The Astronomer V1, launched in 2015, was a fairly simple hall reverb with shimmer². Version 2.0 arrived in June 2018 with three reverb algorithms, a trails or hard bypass toggle, and the same two-preset switching³. Josh Scott of JHS Pedals notes there was also an early V2 with onboard toggles, and that Rick Matthews later rebranded the whole line and moved the algorithm switches to the side of the enclosure⁴.

How the two-preset system works

The core idea is the double row of controls. Three knobs on the top row are duplicated on the bottom row, giving you two sounds to jump between². One footswitch engages and bypasses the pedal; the second switches between the top and bottom knob rows⁵. Sweetwater's Mitch Gallagher described these as "two different banks of controls, the top row and the bottom row, these allow us to preset completely different sounds"⁶.

You can configure the two rows in different ways. The toggle switches let you set both rows to the same algorithm with different knob settings, or assign a different algorithm to each row². On the V2, the algorithms are assigned via switches on the side of the pedal⁷.

The two voices cannot be stacked. Premier Guitar found that "because you can't stack the two reverb voices, the most effective use of the Astronomer is to set up the two modes for vastly different applications"¹, and Guitar.com likewise noted the two circuits work as presets you switch between, not layers³. Pedal of the Day saw this as the pedal's strength, calling it well suited to players who need "two set reverb tones that can be swapped in and out at a moment's notice"⁷.

The three algorithms on the V2

The V2 carries three operating modes, each named after a constellation⁶:

The three algorithms break down as the original reverb from V1, an echoverb, and a room reverb with an octaver circuit mixed in². Pete Thorn, demoing the pedal, characterized it as "super spacey sounding, modern sounding reverb, no spring or vintagey sounding stuff going on here, this is all about halls"⁵.

Controls

Each knob row carries the same three controls²⁵:

On the shimmer question, the glow knob is the main lever: it sets how much upper-octave content is in the tail¹. Rick Matthews told Premier Guitar that the newest version of the pedal goes further and lets users remove the shimmer voice entirely¹.

Bypass, trails and power

Holding both footswitches for 10 seconds switches the pedal between regular bypass and trails mode, so the reverb tail can either continue or cut immediately when you bypass². Guitar.com confirmed the V2 "can now toggle between trails or hard bypass mode"³.

There is no battery option. Premier Guitar noted that "though the circuit layout is visibly efficient, the extra footswitch means there's no room for a 9V battery"¹.

External switching

The V2 has an Alternate jack that lets you control the Alt and bypass switches remotely⁷, and Gallagher demonstrated controlling the function or bypassing the pedal with an external footswitch⁶. American Loopers makes a dedicated aux switch for the Astronomer V2 with two click-less buttons: the left switch controls the Alt function, and it is made in the USA. It requires a TRS cable, sold separately⁸.

What reviewers said

Reviews across the pedal's life were consistent about its ease of use. Premier Guitar called it "one of the easiest and most intuitive shimmer reverb pedals to use," appealing for players moving between shimmer and conventional reverb tones without navigating presets, and found its basic reverb voice pleasing and versatile, with a somewhat plate-like quality and not much spring flavor¹. Gallagher called it "a very versatile reverb pedal, super easy to use" and praised the front-panel preset switching⁶. Pedal of the Day described the sound as "spacious, engulfing, spectrum-sweeping and inspiring"⁷. Thorn found it worked well both in an amp's effects loop and in front of the amp⁵.

In JHS Pedals' roundup of extraordinary reverbs, Scott highlighted the same shimmer setting he used in his demo, noting "it has octaves"⁴.

Sweetwater's demo video covers the three modes, the dual control banks and the footswitch functions in detail⁵:

Click to load

Pete Thorn's demo walks through the controls, the three modes and the remote switching features:

Click to load

Related Matthews Effects pedals

The Astronomer sits in a Matthews Effects lineup that includes the Cosmonaut V2 reverb/delay⁹¹⁰. The maker's current product pages list the Cosmonaut V2, the Whaler v2 and the Chemist V2 as sold out¹¹¹²¹³, so availability of the Astronomer's siblings is limited at the time of writing.

Videos

Click to load

Click to load

Questions