If you’re looking for more than reverb from your reverb pedal, you really should check out EHX’s latest powerhouse...
With most of Electro‑Harmonix’s effects pedals, you use just a few intuitive controls to perform a specific task. But Oceans Abyss goes way beyond this remit. While it isn’t exactly a budget unit, you get a lot of processing power for your money, and I’d say it finds itself in the rarefied company of pedals such as Strymon’s Big Sky, Source Audio’s Collider, Boss’ RV‑500 and IK’s AmpliTube X‑Space.
With dual stereo reverb engines and additional effects blocks, you could argue that the Oceans Abyss is in fact a dual‑engine multi‑effects pedal. Its main focus, though — at least where the 128 presets are concerned — is very much on reverbs, with the other effects generally playing a supporting role. It can create reverb effects that go way beyond the natural, yet it can also handle all the more conventional reverb scenarios. You can use any of the other effects without reverb if you want, though. For example, you could use one processing block to replicate a Small Stone phaser or Memory Man delay. Furthermore, as each engine has its own bypass switch, you could load different effects into each and access them separately during your performance. The audio quality has also not been neglected, and the pedal’s converters run at 96kHz/24‑bit.
In Control
The footswitches are kept well out of the way of the sliders!Physically, the pedal is fairly wide (181 x 146 x 57mm WDH), and is housed in a robust folded‑metal base that mates with an extrusion forming the front, top and rear of the case. The Oceans Abyss is controlled by a combination of knobs, sliders and three footswitches. The footswitches are, sensibly, located well away from the sliders, which have integral LED indicators in their caps that flash while they’re being moved. The footswitches are used for bypassing the A and B effects engines, overall bypass and, by pressing both together, for preset up/down scrolling. The switches may also be used to enter tap‑tempo data, with various customisation options offered in the Settings menu.
As with EHX’s POG 3, a turn, rock and press NavCoder works in conjunction with a monochrome OLED display. The latter makes use of graphics where applicable to show the signal path, settings, patch saving, virtual fader positions and so on. Control settings are aided by those illuminated slider caps (green on the left, blue on the right), again similar to those used for the POG 3, along with dedicated knobs for Pan, Pre‑Delay and Time. The faders adjust Blend, Low EQ and High EQ, and there are buttons for Edit, Moment (which changes the related footswitch from latching to momentary action) and Tails. Reverb engines A and B have identical control sets, with master buttons for Preset, Home and Settings just below the display. The NavCoder, which is mounted centrally, is quite sensitive to movement, so you’ll need just a little practice before you get used to it.
As for editing, the Home button shows the signal path, and this can be navigated using the NavCoder. The blocks, I/O ports and links blink when selected. When a block is selected the NavCoder can be used to scroll through the list of available effects and when a connector is selected, rotating the NavCoder scrolls through the connection options. A Live mode allows for direct control using the panel faders, to make quick changes to the sound. And being able to see the various blocks and their connections on the display makes more detailed editing much easier — once you’ve learned the three‑letter abbreviations used on screen.
If you can’t find what you desire on board, then an effects send/return loop allows you to incorporate other pedals.
On the rear panel are pairs of jacks for the inputs and outputs, which allow the pedal to be used in mono or stereo. There are also send and return jacks (TRS for mono or stereo connections) for inserting an external device into the signal path, a jack for connecting additional footswitches and a jack for an expression pedal. The footswitch input supports up to three additional footswitches. There’s MIDI in and out on five‑pin DIN connectors and a USB‑C port for connection to a computer for running EHXport software, similar to that already available for the POG 3. This was not available at the time of writing, but should streamline preset editing and handling. The comprehensive MIDI support includes Program Change, Control Change and MIDI Clock sync. Power comes in via a standard barrel connector, with the pedal requiring 9.6V DC/500mA. A suitable PSU is included in the box.
Reverb Algorithms
There’s a choice of 10 reverb types, and each can be panned independently — great for dramatic stereo effects when recording or playing live through a stereo system. While only one reverb can be run in each of the A and B sections, the remaining effects blocks can be distributed as you see fit, and can be used in multiples if needed (there’s one preset that uses eight analogue delay blocks to simulate a BBD reverb). Also, note that each effect block is stereo, so that opens up a lot of routing possibilities.
The reverb algorithms fall into the categories of Room, Hall, Spring, Plate, Reverse, Dynamic, Auto‑Infinite, Shimmer, Polyphonic, and Resonant. Routing allows for numerous series or parallel configurations including running one engine’s output into the other to cascade all the blocks.
Dynamic mode allows for ducking, swelling or gated reverb, while Auto‑Infinite mode will appeal to those wanting their sound to build into an infinite drone; in effect, this mode listens to your playing and crossfades to a new reverb wash when new notes are detected. Two modes determine how the crossfade operates. In X‑Fade mode it crossfades smoothly from the previous reverb wash to a new one, while Swell mode mutes the previous wash, fading in the new one. Polyphonic mode includes up to two pitch‑shifters running into a Hall or Plate reverb, while Resonant mode also offers two sub‑options: Chimes mode is a reverb coloured by tunable resonators, while Filtered uses a configurable, self‑oscillating filter to treat the reverb tail. Those working on chill‑out, cinematic or ambient music will find a lot to explore within these less‑conventional reverb algorithms.
Starting out with what I’d call the bread‑and‑butter Plate, Room and Hall reverbs, these come across as serious, studio‑quality effects, and the same is true of the excellent Spring and Plate emulations. The more adventurous may want to explore the Shimmer and Resonant reverb modes before jumping into the effects section. Shimmer is very smooth and creates perfectly that impression of a hidden string machine mirroring your playing. Even more so if you add chorus.
If the range of reverb treatments is impressive, the pool of 12 effects modules can transform the sound. These include some excellent delays and modulation effects. As explained, multiples of any block type other than reverbs can be combined. So you could, for example, combine several delays to create your own multi‑head tape delay emulation, or cascade overdrive modules to build a fuzzbox. The delays offer digital, analogue and tape variants. The remaining effect categories are Modulation (chorus, flanger, phaser or tremolo), Graphic EQ, Saturation/Overdrive, Bit Crushing and Volume control. And if that still isn’t enough, those stereo effects‑loop jacks let you connect external pedals or processors. Bypass can be set to buffered ‘with tails’ for the reverbs/delays to continue to die away naturally once the pedal is bypassed.
Swells, shimmers and even backing drone pads are within easy reach.
The factory presets provide some insight into what this pedal is capable of, but there are so many possibilities that you’ll probably want to fine‑tune and re‑save the existing presets or build your own from scratch. Effects can range from dreamy and ethereal to glitchy and dramatic, and swells, shimmers and even backing drone pads are within easy reach.
Impressions
I have to say that the Oceans Abyss is beyond impressive. The conversion sounds clean and the conventional reverbs are top‑tier, including the very convincing Spring, complete with drippy twang. (You can even set an external switch to replicate the sound of a spring reverb being kicked, should that appeal!) But if that’s all you need, this pedal is most definitely overkill — check out EHX’s popular Holy Grail or Oceans 11 if that’s what you want.
Rather, it’s a reverb workstation that will hold particular appeal to ambient musicians and exponents of shoegaze, or anything for which evolving soundscapes are central. Doubling up on reverbs offers some interesting options, such as running a Reverse reverb into a Hall or Plate, or panning a Plate reverb to one side and a Spring reverb to the other. But once you start exploring the crazier reverb types and putting modulation before, after or between them, life gets much more interesting! Feeding a distorted signal into reverb can also be effective, while for a shoegaze wall of noise, try feeding a long reverb through distortion — and then perhaps flange the end result!
Of course, you must master the editing menus if you’re to get the most out of it, and the sheer flexibility of this pedal inevitably means that there’s some depth to the menus. Thankfully, EHX have made navigation and editing intuitive, and the individual effects modules have sensibly concise control sets. The promised free EHXport software should make patch editing even easier still. Heartily recommended.
Summary
The Oceans Abyss is an extremely sophisticated pedal that goes way beyond reverb, and is capable of some truly beautiful sounds. It might better be described as a reverb workstation with integral multi‑effects and high‑quality, dual stereo reverbs... though its delay and modulation effects are excellent too!
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