Stereo / mono reverb

  • Having just updated to the OS 6, I find like most others that there are a lot of superb reverbs in this release - not just the Big Sky kind of stuff, even the plain old reverb type reverbs.


    I typically set the Kemper to mono out and track mono. However, some of the things I do are simple three piece songs with nothing but one guitar, bass, drums and vocals. One I'm currently working on is a slow, moody kind of blues thing with a clean Tele, for which the large plate was perfect.


    When there's echo and other modulation effects involved, I would imagine there are benefits to using a stereo image. However, for these straight up, unmodulated but impressive reverbs, I'm wondering if you've gained any benefit by running stereo. Is it just "big mono," or are the reverbs actually designed to take advantage of the stereo field and offer something more?


    Would be interested in your thoughts and experience in this regard.

    Kemper remote -> Powered toaster -> Yamaha DXR-10

  • Hey Chris,

    Is it just "big mono," or are the reverbs actually designed to take advantage of the stereo field and offer something more?

    In order for a 'verb to qualify as being stereo, all it takes is for each reflection to not appear in both channels at the same time and at the same level. So that "something more" is the discrete-channel identity of each of them.


    This is why heavy-ER-style 'verbs will exhibit a greater apparent difference between mono and stereo versions, and also why the more-diffuse the tail becomes, the less-important / noticeable that difference is because the "impulses" quickly become too-close-together to be easily-identified as being any different in one channel as opposed to the other.

  • all it takes is for each reflection to not appear in both channels at the same time and at the same level.

    Yeah, that's the part I'm unsure of on a plain Jane reverb. The large plate sounds mega, but there's no modulation so I'm not sure if verbs like this end up with different outputs in each channel, or if it's just "big mono."


    Of course, ultimately I'll plug in, fool around and use my ears, but I was just curious if there was even a point in doing it from a technical perspective. If it is just "big mono" then stereo would be worth the trouble.

    Kemper remote -> Powered toaster -> Yamaha DXR-10

  • Well, you could test that by recording the output as two mono tracks, phase-inverting one of them and playing them back both panned-centre, Chris.


    Compare this mono track with either a straight-up "mono-ised" version of the stereo 'verb (both channels panned-centre) or the mono-'verb equivalent from the KPA and listen for phase-cancellation differences. If it's phasey but not ridiculously-low in level, it was "true stereo", and if it nulls to a near-zero (or completely-zero) level, it was indeed mono to begin with.