Hooke Spring Reverb Pedal Review

You never knew you needed another 'verb

Great sounds, so many options, just killer. .... HOWEVER, there is a gripe: the internal mode & bank switches. I really don't like having to pull it off the board and remove the backplate to change modes. Just not cool. I suppose if you were using this on a touring rig, you'd just buy two or three - but the switches need to be on the outer housing. Aside from that, still great sounds!

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Great Potential

The only reason I'm provding 3.5 stars for this is due to the fact that mine came with a short in the Fugue Church Organ selection. The tiny switch to select has to be pressed down for the effect to actually kick in. Now as far as the reverbs you have at your disposal, well they sound pretty great. I purchased this purely to expand on my collection, but I will more than likely… read more have more use for it later on down the road.

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Soo close

I guess I am VERY picky about reverb! I play Strats and Teles. I run a Koch head into a 2 x 12 front ported cabinet. I have dirt, boost, modulation, delay, then reverb running before the anplifier's front input - a fairly conventional setup I'd say. I'd say my style and taste generally run along the lines of a David Gilmourian bent. I tend to run a subtle reverb most of the time,… read more but don't want it to take over my spund. I had a Neunaber WET, but I have been looking for something different - namely a spring-type pedal. I have tried both Hardwires, Spring Chicken, boss RV-6, TC HOF, and many others I can't even recall. In the interest of full disclosure - I have NOT tried a Strymon, but I just can't bring myself to py that much for a pedal. I got a great cyber-deal from Sweetwater on the Keeley, but after owning the Hooke for a couple of days - I am giving up trying to find a decent spring emulator for a good price. One of my biggest gripes is that the "reflections" or "bounce" of the "sprin" in every one I've tried is way too rhythmic and predictable... And when the algorithm fails to capture the randomness created by bouncing springs, they slap modulation on the sound! I don't want my guitar to sound like it has a chorus on at all times! My second gripe is the eq - these pedals all tend to have too much low and midrange content. There wasn't a single natural sound on the Boss-I simply cannot understand how it gets all of its positive reviews. TC HOF had way too much thickness and the spring was the least usable sound on the pedal. The Supernatural had too much mids. The RV-7 just sounded like second-rate fakery. The Hooke suffered from the rhythmic-repeat issue just like the others, but seemed to attempt to hide this fact with wash. The hall / spring mode ALMOST saved it, but after I got it dialed in to sound decent on clean tones - once overdrive was applied - the midrange content of the wash took over and created a smeared mess. And then there was the modulation rearing its ugly head too! I just couldn't take it. Overall it was technically executed very well (just like the Stahlhammer I tried and didn't like), although it did seem to impart a bit of a bass-boost once set at unity. It was quiet, and the build quality seems great! I just wish they could figure out how to use the Spin chip to create a little chaos in the trails. Thank you Sweetwater for your return policy!!!

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Excellent reverb; very legit sounding spring 'verb!

I can't speak highly enough about this pedal. It sounds absolutely like a real spring reverb. It can emulate many 'verb from many amps due to its tone and spring knobs; furthermore, the pedal's tone knob shifts the 'verb's overall brightness, while the pedal's spring knob shifts the overall tightness of the springs. FYI - I think the reverb sounds best with the tone knob pushing… read more its maximum range on the dial. The only mode I use is the spring mode. I like the trem-verb mode just fine, and don't find much use for the fugue setting. As for bank 2 (hidden mode in the pedal), I haven't messed around with it; after all, the pedal sounds absolutely killer on its own.

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KEELEY HOOKE REVERB

I know a lot of guys don't like reverb on bass, but I do sometimes most of the time. I have tried the TC Electronic Hall of Fame great reverb but was not for me. The reverb pedal I was using started making noise then quit on me. So I went looking for a good reverb, I wanted something that had class not overbearing. I wanted something that was there but pleasing to the ears, nice… read more jazz type sound you know. So I talk to the guys at Keeley for a while and talk to them about the Keeley Hooke reverb. They told me it would cover bass guitar quite well and it does. Its not fancy it has a spring, trem and spring and something call Fugue. The Fugue is suppose to sound sort of like an organ, to me it does not, my TC Electronic Subnup does that real well. But I use my Subnup for 1 octave down just to fatten up my sound once in a while. But back to the Hooke it does what I want it to do very well, and that is reverb. It is a nice classy reverb subtle and sexy when playing jazz. I like it very much it is a keeper on my board. The reverb is very warm and there, it doesn't take over it lets you be the musician. And again I would like to thank Sweetwater for their fine service. And they have very good understanding of the needs of most musicians, and how picky we can be. I like they listen to me and are more interested in my needs. Instead of trying to unload something they want to get out of the warehouse. If your not buying your gear from Sweetwater its beyond my understanding. And 99% of everything I have order even ground shipping, 3 or 4 days and its at my front door. I don't work for them but I like to give people good people and they are good people, good reviews cause you don't find that to much anymore.

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