Z.Cat Pedals Big Reverb

The Big Reverb is a reverb pedal from Z.Cat Pedals, a maker of compact effects. Z.Cat describes it as "a versatile reverb pedal, a good choice for creating lush ambient soundscapes," and the sound it is built around is a medium sized hall type reverb¹. For a player, that puts it in the camp of pedals aimed at washes, ambience and space rather than short room or spring sounds. It sits alongside other time and space effects such as Delay Pedals and Chorus Pedals, and if you are browsing the wider category you will find it among Reverb Pedals.

Trails and decay

The feature Z.Cat leads with on the current version, the Big Reverb TI, is what happens when you switch the pedal off. The maker describes it as "The Big Reverb TI with Trails and nearly Infinite decay," and explains that after the pedal is disengaged, reverb trails hang over naturally rather than being cut dead¹. In practice, that means the sound you played keeps decaying behind your dry signal instead of stopping abruptly, which is the behavior most players want from an ambient reverb.

The versions

Z.Cat lists the Big Reverb in several forms on its site, all described with the same core sound²¹³:

The Stereo version is the one to look at if you run a stereo rig or two amps: Z.Cat presents it as the Big Reverb TI in stereo form, carrying the same versatile, ambient and spacey character². The Blem version is the same circuit sold at a discount for cosmetic flaws, and Z.Cat confirms it keeps the same behavior, noting that "After the pedal is disengaged reverb trails hang over naturally"⁴.

What reviewers said

Pedal of the Day, a review site that posts one pedal a day, ran a video review of the Big Reverb on January 21, 2015, submitted by contributor Kyle and filed under Delay / Reverb⁵. The review introduced it as "The Big Reverb from Z.Cat Pedals"⁵.

Videos

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