Old Blood Noise Sunlight Dynamic Reverb

The Old Blood Noise Endeavors Sunlight Dynamic Reverb is a reverb pedal with a difference: it listens to how you play. Described by MusicRadar as an "envelope triggered multi-mode reverb"¹, it reacts dynamically to your performance and can freeze its reverb trails when you stop playing, holding a note or chord as a sustained pad²³. Released in August 2021⁴, it was inspired by OBNE's Dark Star reverb¹ and sits in the company's line of experimental reverb pedals.

The core idea is a dynamic reverb with an additive hold function, which allows you to freeze a note and hold it³. On top of that sit three modes, Tape, Comb and Pass, each adding a different extra effect to the reverb, and a set of knobs whose jobs change depending on which mode you have selected².

Tape, Comb and Pass modes

A three-way toggle switch selects between the Sunlight's three sonic modes: Tape, Comb and Pass³¹. Each mode layers a different effect onto the reverb, which is what gives the pedal its bright modulated, comb filtered and bandpassed reverb voices⁵.

Because the Rate and Depth controls are specific to each mode²³, the same two knobs behave differently depending on the toggle position. In Tape, Rate shapes the vibrato wobble; in Comb, Depth becomes a resonance control over the stacked delays; in Pass, Rate sets how the step filter moves through its frequencies.

The controls

The Sunlight's knob set is Input, Rate, Depth, Mix and Decay¹. Only one of them, Decay, is a straightforward reverb control; the rest shape how the pedal responds or what the mode effect does.

• Input: adjusts the overall dynamic sensitivity, setting how strongly your playing triggers the reverb's dynamic behavior³²
• Decay: controls the reverb feedback, and is the only reverb-related knob on the pedal; it can be used to create enveloping infinite reverbs³²
• Rate and Depth: mode-dependent controls for the non-reverb effect in each mode²
• Mix: a standard reverb Mix control that lets you reintegrate the clean signal to taste³²

Two footswitches round out the control set. The main switch is a soft-touch bypass¹, and the Alt footswitch lets you quickly snap to a particular knob setting³², so you can jump between two sounds without bending down to turn knobs.

Expression control

The Sunlight's functionality can be extended by an external expression pedal¹. The expression input works with a standard external expression pedal and gives control over the Input, Decay, Rate and Depth parameters on the fly³². That means you can sweep dynamic sensitivity, reverb feedback and the mode-specific effect while playing, which pairs naturally with the freeze function: pull the Decay back for a short trail, then push it up as a note freezes.

Power, bypass and placement

The pedal requires a minimum of 80mA from a 9V DC center negative power supply³². It uses soft-touch switching with true relay bypass, so it will not mess with your tone when not engaged³².

For placement, MusicRadar describes the Sunlight as designed as an early chain pad reverb¹, which points to running it near the front of your signal chain, before drives and other time-based effects, so its envelope tracking responds directly to your picking and frozen trails can feed the pedals after it.

Where it came from and what reviewers said

Old Blood Noise Endeavors released the Sunlight in August 2021⁴, with MusicRadar noting it was inspired by the company's Dark Star reverb¹. It was priced at $209 and available at launch¹; by December 2021 Gearnews listed it at $244.00 at Thomann⁶.

Gearnews named it among the stand-out effects of 2021, calling it "another stand-out effect this year" and great for players looking for something new⁶. The same site summed up the freeze function's appeal:

Gearnews, December 2021⁶

Delicious Audio framed the pedal as one that rewards experimentation, calling it "a pedal that requires and invites exploration"². For players comparing it within the OBNE lineup, it sits alongside the Dark Light dual reverb and the Dark Star Stereo, but the Sunlight's dynamic, playing-responsive freeze behavior is what sets it apart from a conventional reverb pedal³.

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