Find great deals on these pedals on Reverb . com Click Here reverb.com/marketplace?... Signal Chain, Fender Stratocaster into a Klon then Empress Reverb then Big Sky and into a 1974 Marshall JMP 100w Super Lead
Speaking as an owner of a real full-size plate reverb, as well as several old analog springs, and also the owner of a large brick-mortar hall, alongside a room (several in fact), not to mention a large beer cellar, and haunted as I am by many ghosts from the past, I’d say both these pedals sound very good.
I turned this demo on, and started working on something else, not looking, but only listening. 5 or six times if I really liked the sound I would check which pedal was being used. It was always the Empress. Both pedals sound great though..
Both sound really great. It's odd to judge a tone without hearing it in context with music around it though. The Big Sky sounds really bright here, but in the track, that might be just what helps it cut through. It's all relative to the surrounding music.
I'm a big fan of Empress pedals and this Reverb is no exception, it's just so sweet, Strymon are quality pedals but for me Empress have raised the bar. The Empress Wins
Ordered an Empress earlier today and then stumbled on this video and very nervously clicked on it expecting the BigSky to ruin my night lol. But the Empress really is as amazing as it seemed in the other videos. Phew 😮💨
I personally believe that the Strymon has a little more character but the Empress has a warmer less digital tone. They both are great pedals and serve their purpose. I'd get both of them.
I think I prefer the sound of the Big Sky. However, I am so impressed by the Empress - not the least for having a beer setting as well as thing 1 and thing 2.
The empress is amazing, still blows my mind every time I switch it on after two years! The strymon is just too much work and doesn’t do natural as well.
The Big Sky sounds beautiful, and I've owned it (and a Space and a Liquid Ambiance, etc.). The only thing about it is that it has a very identifiable but hard to describe"something" to its sound/tone. So much so that all the people using it these days (which is just about everybody into ambient/dreampop/worship type music) are all starting to sound exactly the same. "Turn on Big Sky and do volume swells" is sort of becoming a cliche at this point.
Big Sky is limited to doing swells if you use it %100 wet,(not a fan of the "swell" setting,prefer long trail %100 wet style in other modes)It has a measly range of -3db in the cut,useless for me since the volume gets way too loud when the trails stack up.Strymon hasn't done any firmware updates since January of 2015...they look to be done with it.I might pawn mine and go for the Empress since they address this issue.
Yes but hasn`t this always been there with just about anything? I don`t think it`s the Pedals fault that it`s being abused same as it is not Autotune`s fault that it`s been used in order to conquer the borders of stupidity or look at all the "clone" artists imitating Burial over the years with his characteristic mellow high pitched mickey maus voices and atmosphere. At first it was interesting bt when dozens do it you realize that evolution goes on... I get what you mean and this is not meant as an attack. of course but i hope you get what i want to say. When things tend to the cliche,,,,, then as Flavor Flave said: Don`t believe the hype ... :-) Just a thought
The Strymon is analog dry through with a digital mix on top, the same as the Empress. So as to the many comments I've seen about the Big Sky sounding more artificial, I think that's just because the person doing the demo is comparing sounds with knobs in similar places, not actually matching tones completely by ear. If you click through the whole video, the Mix knobs are basically identical on both pedals, but the sound of the mix is not. I think it's just that the pedals have different thresholds with the mix knobs. The Strymon has more reverb at, for example, 2 o'clock than the Empress. If that's the case, that's not a signal degradation issue; that's just what the designers felt like "2 o'clock" ought to sound like.
This is often a problem with comparison videos. There is a comparison of for instance a Tanzbär to a Drumbrute... where the sounds are just so different, to the extent that you can't believe a regular bass drum on the DB could not be tweaked to sound more like a bass drum on the Tanzbär. It's comparing "default' settings, not trying to match sounds in order to compare. It can both be useful, but it's only part of the story.
@@mutantbaby1672 Good point. Try Empress Reverb review from Benn and Gear. It's a pretty credible source and from and outside perspective at least better than myself.
Empress Reverb and Empress Echo System have taken my playing over. If you play at home or do shows, and you want all the options, get them and brace yourself for the complete package. You will have no other hobbies for a while.
Update: Purchased the Big Sky. The Happiest I have ever been - with a pedal purchase. It is On Another Level. (not knocking any other reverb). I Love the little MXR - too . . . however - The Big Sky is almost like a Guitar Synth, in addition to being a Top Quality Studio Rack Reverb in a stompbox format. I am on Cloud 9. Trust Me. You will not regret it. Worth every penny. - Michael - NYC -
I notice in all of these "Big Sky vs x" videos that the competition like the Empress create a soundscape with more "depth of field" than the Strymon. Can that be tweaked in the Strymon's settings?
I have the Empress Superdelay, also bought the timeline, but sold the timeline coz super delay is just that much easier to tweak and has the kind of (organic) tone that I just can't explain. Now I want a reverb pedal and have the struggle again, my ear is telling me BigSky but my brain is telling me Empress Reverb. Looking at the user interface I know exactly what to do with Empress already, but BigSky still a bit hidden...
I prefer the BigSky mainly because I cannot unhear the subtle yet obvious grainy digital sound of regeneration on the empress. It reminds me of my old Alesis MicroVerb III. The BigSky sounds more ethereal and random in the trailing algorithm.
Had the Empress because: a) I could fit it to my board as its footprint are quite friendly b) I find it to sound less artificial than the Strymon. c) All the cool additional features such as delay, isolated stereo out, sum to mono, etc, etc... I sold the Empress after about 6months of use though because: a) The interface is not anywhere near intuitive if you wish to use several presets. b) The mix knob start off at quite a lot reverb in the mix. I couldn't bring it down to as subtle as I like to use reverb The Empress holds the finest reverb effects I've tried to this day though...
I am really quite torn about some of the same things. I feel that the Empress Echosystem and Reverb are clearly superior in sound but the lack of onboard MIDI and even just the simplest display as a UI is such drag. It also sucks to have a dual delay pedal only to have to use both for most stereo effects. So close to perfect........
I want to like the Empress better because its less expensive and I like how it looks better. Also I had and experience with my Mobius and El Cap where I thought turning on the pedal brightened my sound. It seemed slightly shrill and louder. I thought it was because the buffer was pulling more accurate sound from my signal, but I was never clear on that.
Every time I went away and went "ick. I don't like that" it was the Bigsky. No shade on Strymon - the Bigsky is just a dated pedal compared to the empress.
If your going for a more authentic sounding reverb The Empress is the one/However if you want sounds that are more ambient and a little more Cosmic or doing Soundscapes The Big Sky will get you there/But there is always a trade off-as beautiful as The Strymon pedal is & also pedals Like Eventide Space is that everything starts to sound the same because the Digital side is very apparent.So if your going straight ahead for a genuine Reverb tone Empress reigns....
This is is an astonishingly useful and beautiful video, but I think there's a mistake around minute 7:00. The title says ambient swell, but the Empress clearly says "spring"'' - and it sure doesn't sound ambient to me. Anyways, minor glitch aside, thanks for this!
Yeah I've had the v2 slate and I also would put it #2 behind the Bigsky. My biggest gripe with the V2 was the software aspect. I needed to have the tactile knobs on the pedal vs in the software. I asked Brian if he could make the software in real time while playing to dial in the right sound. He said that would be a feat to create.
I haven’t been able to find this anywhere but does the Empress have infinite decay time on any settings? Without having to hold down a switch? At least that’s what I understood could happen
There's something about the Strymon that just sounds artificial. It definitely messes with the dry signal more than the Empress, and in my opinion, reverb is an effect that should be layered over your dry signal, not change it.
Depends what style of music you're going for. I love the heavenly wash that the Big Sky creates. It makes it sound totally unique and you can bet it's going to be one of those classic reverbs that will still be worth a ton even in 20 years. It has tons of mojo and character.
I wouldnt say that at all. The Strymon excells at certain sounds and the empress also has its strengths. I really like the mids on the strymon in listening so far.
Anyone know if gated reverb can be obtained with either of these machines? Before the hate for gated reverb ensues, I must remind you of Marc Ribot's stellar use of said effect.
Hey, just curious, what didn't you like about the Empress? I was gonna get one. I'm so on the fence about Empress vs. Strymon and unfortunately haven't gotten to play either.
Ambient Swell on the Empress is what does it for me. Not saying BigSky is bad. I actually do own both on my pedal board, plus a Digitech Supernatural (Plate setting only)! Yes, I am a reverb junkie.
A more realistic dry sound or not, it's all down to the player's preference. At the end of the day, it's what comes out of the speakers and whether that is musically appealing to the player's/listener's ears that's important, imo. The Empress Reverb is superb in quality of both the sounds and the hardware - very typical of Empress pedals (go Canada!! ^_^). But in terms of capabilities, i.e. Number of banks and presets and accessibility of those banks and presets, and the plethora of parameters you could tweak or change, the Big Sky is quite a feat of engineering.
Sound-wise, the Empress and Big Sky are quite close. They are both quite extensive in the different kinds of reverbs you can choose from and they both sound very nice, indeed. You wouldn't necessarily be amiss buying one over the other. But if you factor in the ease of use, capability and sheer capacity, not to mention a screen that lets you quantitatively see and measure the different parameters you are tweaking; considering these factors as well as the sound, the Big Sky wins for me!
Please how can I get in Nigeria, its not in Nigeria, the pedals we have here are majourly for soloist like NUX, MG 20,MFX 100 and so on.....please I really need your help.....I do really be glad if anyone can help my situation
Hi Shaigh, if you‘ve had the chance to Bus Ventris, Big Sky, Empress Ort the H9 Eventide. Which one would you buy at the first place when you would use it in Synthesizers? I own the Rooms from Death by Audio and would like to enrich the experience. Thank you! Kindest regards from Berlin
The empress seems to keep more of the original dry signal intact, whereas the Strymon sounds as though it loses some mids or boosts the highs. To me the Empress sounds more natural, and the Strymon is a bit more lush and rich.
I completely agree about the dry tone. I own the Empress never owned a Big Sky. I did had other Strymon pedals and didn't like what they do to the dry tone. From this video however, to be honest I hear the Big Sky has slightly nicer reverb. Dry tone preservation is better on the Empress.
+Eric sin sinner using good headphones I can hear it. Just because it's analog dry through doesn't mean it's not possibly having some processing done to the dry signal. Or perhaps it's how the effected signal blends with the dry that makes a perceived difference. I don't know, everyone's ears are different.
I own the bigsky, and never tried the empress one. BUT I pre the tone of the empress more for now. But the Bigsky get some more special character than the empress. (I was about to sell the bigsky but now i need to think more:))
The Big Sky IS amazing. You can do really fancy stuff or just simple high quality reverbs. Pair it with a Strymon DECO and get some really warm sounds.
The Big Sky is really the best, I know , it's like having a treasure ... combined wit an El Capistan delay it an be the best solution for high quality ambientalguitar tones ...
You will Never go wrong with a Lexicon Reverb. I had a rack MPX-1 ( in my studio / NYC ) and All the Vocalists would marvel over the Sound. Lexicon Reverbs are something Special. So pure. Studio Quality at the highest level.
I choose empress. I think empress have a nice tone and dynamic attack than strymon. empress very easy to setting when i play in live show empress easy to change setting. I think empress is serious real reverb. :)
Everything Strymon makes is soo clean. That's o.k. for some pedals but the Big Sky wich i've owned sounded too cold (digital) and didn't made the grade for me. Empress does.
To be fair, you could spend hours on each on each of these pedals and still not cover all the sounds available. They both have many types of reverb along with a huge number of parameters you can adjust. But the fact that the Empress doesn't color your dry tone makes it superior. End of discussion!
+Eric sin sinner "analog dry through" means the signal is buffered and split before being processed. I'm not a stickler when it comes to buffered vs. TBP, but every Strymon pedal I've played through has its own sonic stamp it puts on your tone.
Mark Williams Ever pedal ever made does, Eventide is one of the most expensive and worst in coloring your tone. Sorry but you dont seam to understand analog dry through, its not about buffered vs true bypass, every digital pedal is buffered when on, but few pass the "unprocessed" signal directly to the output, ie strymon and neunaber, and with thier buffer's there is no change to the sound, I assume you know that a well designed buffer will not change the tone
+Eric sin sinner I was only using the buffer vs. TBP example to establish I'm not anti-buffer. As an engineer, I also understand that all unity gain amplifiers (buffers) are not equal. You should realize this because you used Eventide as an example to make that point. Take care.
Overall the Big Sky still wins but that Hall engine on the Empress is fucking unbelievably great and worth the price of admission alone, it eclipses the others and leaves them pounding sand and crying for their Mommas.
@@MoooseBlood I was listening to the comparison while working and every sound that made me click back over to see what was going on was the on the strymon pedal.... blind test got me as I wanted the empress for board space
@@yzeerkd big sky is a mistake. Empress iş a more experimental device. Big sky presets sounds very same to each other. Bis sky is like a device with couple of main sounds with so many different parameters. Empress is like a device with dozens of sounds with dozens of parameters.
They both seem great (I have the BigSky). What kills it for me is the shoddy graphics that came from the side of a caravan and the unimaginative name. "Reverb". Duh. C'mon Empress, you do this all the time. Fred Astaire dressed in a wife beater and overalls.
Jon Yanhko this is joke right. Empress kills anything strymon puts out. kids who think they know about pedals get Strymon. People who KNOW about pedals get Empress
Speaking as an owner of a real full-size plate reverb, as well as several old analog springs, and also the owner of a large brick-mortar hall, alongside a room (several in fact), not to mention a large beer cellar, and haunted as I am by many ghosts from the past, I’d say both these pedals sound very good.
lol
Good review!
I guess it's pretty off topic but does anybody know of a good site to watch new series online ?
@Skyler Salvatore I dunno I watch on Flixportal. just google for it:) -sonny
@Sonny Roy Thanks, signed up and it seems like a nice service :) I really appreciate it !
I turned this demo on, and started working on something else, not looking, but only listening. 5 or six times if I really liked the sound I would check which pedal was being used. It was always the Empress. Both pedals sound great though..
Both sound really great. It's odd to judge a tone without hearing it in context with music around it though. The Big Sky sounds really bright here, but in the track, that might be just what helps it cut through. It's all relative to the surrounding music.
I'm a big fan of Empress pedals and this Reverb is no exception, it's just so sweet, Strymon are quality pedals but for me Empress have raised the bar. The Empress Wins
Both sound great.
I really dig the reverse mode on the Big Sky, and the plate setting sounds really crisp on the Empress! Both top notch musical tools i'd say
Ordered an Empress earlier today and then stumbled on this video and very nervously clicked on it expecting the BigSky to ruin my night lol. But the Empress really is as amazing as it seemed in the other videos. Phew 😮💨
I sold my Big Sky and bought the Empress. Felt like the latter was easier to use and the ghost mode is incredible!
Andymanaman the ghost, especially when the using the Casper is perfect for anything between ambient picking parts and big pad-esque swells
Both units are great
I personally believe that the Strymon has a little more character but the Empress has a warmer less digital tone. They both are great pedals and serve their purpose. I'd get both of them.
I'd be thrilled with either
Diggin the Shnobes, as per usual!
I think I prefer the sound of the Big Sky. However, I am so impressed by the Empress - not the least for having a beer setting as well as thing 1 and thing 2.
The empress is amazing, still blows my mind every time I switch it on after two years!
The strymon is just too much work and doesn’t do natural as well.
The Big Sky sounds beautiful, and I've owned it (and a Space and a Liquid Ambiance, etc.).
The only thing about it is that it has a very identifiable but hard to describe"something" to its sound/tone. So much so that all the people using it these days (which is just about everybody into ambient/dreampop/worship type music) are all starting to sound exactly the same.
"Turn on Big Sky and do volume swells" is sort of becoming a cliche at this point.
My thoughts as well. The Big Sky has a signature sound, sounds a little synthy and more effect-y than the Empress.
Agreed, Strymon do tend to give a tone a certain signature.. common with all their pedals.
Exactly why I held off on getting it last weekend. I'll just wait and see what else will be available next year.
Big Sky is limited to doing swells if you use it %100 wet,(not a fan of the "swell" setting,prefer long trail %100 wet style in other modes)It has a measly range of -3db in the cut,useless for me since the volume gets way too loud when the trails stack up.Strymon hasn't done any firmware updates since January of 2015...they look to be done with it.I might pawn mine and go for the Empress since they address this issue.
Yes but hasn`t this always been there with just about anything? I don`t think it`s the Pedals fault that it`s being abused same as it is not Autotune`s fault that it`s been used in order to conquer the borders of stupidity or look at all the "clone" artists imitating Burial over the years with his characteristic mellow high pitched mickey maus voices and atmosphere. At first it was interesting bt when dozens do it you realize that evolution goes on... I get what you mean and this is not meant as an attack. of course but i hope you get what i want to say. When things tend to the cliche,,,,, then as Flavor Flave said: Don`t believe the hype ... :-) Just a thought
The Strymon is analog dry through with a digital mix on top, the same as the Empress. So as to the many comments I've seen about the Big Sky sounding more artificial, I think that's just because the person doing the demo is comparing sounds with knobs in similar places, not actually matching tones completely by ear. If you click through the whole video, the Mix knobs are basically identical on both pedals, but the sound of the mix is not. I think it's just that the pedals have different thresholds with the mix knobs. The Strymon has more reverb at, for example, 2 o'clock than the Empress. If that's the case, that's not a signal degradation issue; that's just what the designers felt like "2 o'clock" ought to sound like.
This is often a problem with comparison videos. There is a comparison of for instance a Tanzbär to a Drumbrute... where the sounds are just so different, to the extent that you can't believe a regular bass drum on the DB could not be tweaked to sound more like a bass drum on the Tanzbär. It's comparing "default' settings, not trying to match sounds in order to compare. It can both be useful, but it's only part of the story.
Well, actually it's because the algorithms of the Empress are much better.
@@poulwinther [citation needed]
@@mutantbaby1672 Good point. Try Empress Reverb review from Benn and Gear. It's a pretty credible source and from and outside perspective at least better than myself.
Nice Video! I made a video with the BlueSky compared with the Empress Reverb myself. Love these pedals.
Empress Reverb and Empress Echo System have taken my playing over. If you play at home or do shows, and you want all the options, get them and brace yourself for the complete package. You will have no other hobbies for a while.
Im getting empress today..most beautifill reverb in the world
Please do an Echo System vs Timeline video !!!
Nice comparison!
Your noodling is quite relaxing. Not to mention the reveeeerrrrrb.
I'm really... empressed... by the pedal on the right.
I'm not sorry.
TheParanoidAndroid79 When I am king, you will be first against the wall
What's that?
TheParanoidAndroid79 i was using lyrics off of paranoid android to make a joke about how angry your pun made me lol
TheParanoidAndroid79 pretty clever if i say so myself
I was with you. "What's that" (some say it's "what's this") is also a lyric from that song.
Update: Purchased the Big Sky. The Happiest I have ever been - with a pedal purchase. It is On Another Level. (not knocking any other reverb). I Love the little MXR - too . . . however - The Big Sky is almost like a Guitar Synth, in addition to being a Top Quality Studio Rack Reverb in a stompbox format. I am on Cloud 9. Trust Me. You will not regret it. Worth every penny.
- Michael - NYC -
I notice in all of these "Big Sky vs x" videos that the competition like the Empress create a soundscape with more "depth of field" than the Strymon. Can that be tweaked in the Strymon's settings?
I have the Empress Superdelay, also bought the timeline, but sold the timeline coz super delay is just that much easier to tweak and has the kind of (organic) tone that I just can't explain. Now I want a reverb pedal and have the struggle again, my ear is telling me BigSky but my brain is telling me Empress Reverb. Looking at the user interface I know exactly what to do with Empress already, but BigSky still a bit hidden...
I prefer the BigSky mainly because I cannot unhear the subtle yet obvious grainy digital sound of regeneration on the empress. It reminds me of my old Alesis MicroVerb III. The BigSky sounds more ethereal and random in the trailing algorithm.
Had the Empress because:
a) I could fit it to my board as its footprint are quite friendly
b) I find it to sound less artificial than the Strymon.
c) All the cool additional features such as delay, isolated stereo out, sum to mono, etc, etc...
I sold the Empress after about 6months of use though because:
a) The interface is not anywhere near intuitive if you wish to use several presets.
b) The mix knob start off at quite a lot reverb in the mix. I couldn't bring it down to as subtle as I like to use reverb
The Empress holds the finest reverb effects I've tried to this day though...
I am really quite torn about some of the same things. I feel that the Empress Echosystem and Reverb are clearly superior in sound but the lack of onboard MIDI and even just the simplest display as a UI is such drag. It also sucks to have a dual delay pedal only to have to use both for most stereo effects. So close to perfect........
@@poulwinther They both do MIDI over the control port.
Empress just needs to make a mini-reverb of this pedal and I'm sold.
lol how much smaller should it be please!? xD
Me and my homies we tighter than a glove
can you cut out the lows on the bigsky? i only see 1 tone knob, notvsure what it does. the empress has a hi and low knob.
I want to like the Empress better because its less expensive and I like how it looks better. Also I had and experience with my Mobius and El Cap where I thought turning on the pedal brightened my sound. It seemed slightly shrill and louder. I thought it was because the buffer was pulling more accurate sound from my signal, but I was never clear on that.
Empress sounds better in my opinion
Actually after hearing it a few times. The reverb trails actually sound better on Strymon.
@@daveandrew7014 Make up your mind, Dave ;-)
Every time I went away and went "ick. I don't like that" it was the Bigsky.
No shade on Strymon - the Bigsky is just a dated pedal compared to the empress.
If your going for a more authentic sounding reverb The Empress is the one/However if you want sounds that are more ambient and a little more Cosmic or doing Soundscapes The Big Sky will get you there/But there is always a trade off-as beautiful as The Strymon pedal is & also pedals Like Eventide Space is that everything starts to sound the same because the Digital side is very apparent.So if your going straight ahead for a genuine Reverb tone Empress reigns....
This is is an astonishingly useful and beautiful video, but I think there's a mistake around minute 7:00. The title says ambient swell, but the Empress clearly says "spring"'' - and it sure doesn't sound ambient to me. Anyways, minor glitch aside, thanks for this!
Great demo, nice clean tone that gives a nice palette for reverb. That BigSky though is hard to beat.
I have to admit, every time he hit that switch it was like heaven's gate's opening. In a "musical" sense...
+Jeremy Dore yeah as he went further the empress has some cool sounds. The BigSky just had a thicker wider sound.
Try out Neunaber Wet v2 Reverb Stereo pedal its probably no.2 to the big sky and half the price
Yeah I've had the v2 slate and I also would put it #2 behind the Bigsky. My biggest gripe with the V2 was the software aspect. I needed to have the tactile knobs on the pedal vs in the software. I asked Brian if he could make the software in real time while playing to dial in the right sound. He said that would be a feat to create.
Im thinking about getting the immerse for space saving so I can add a couple more pedals to my board when needed. I'll miss the preset feature
Is that the latest firmware on the Empress with the better mix rate?
I haven’t been able to find this anywhere but does the Empress have infinite decay time on any settings? Without having to hold down a switch? At least that’s what I understood could happen
It would’ve rocked to hear an Oto Bam in there.
There's something about the Strymon that just sounds artificial. It definitely messes with the dry signal more than the Empress, and in my opinion, reverb is an effect that should be layered over your dry signal, not change it.
Depends what style of music you're going for. I love the heavenly wash that the Big Sky creates. It makes it sound totally unique and you can bet it's going to be one of those classic reverbs that will still be worth a ton even in 20 years. It has tons of mojo and character.
It's just simply because the Empress algorithms are far superior - on a whole other level than Strymon.
I wouldnt say that at all. The Strymon excells at certain sounds and the empress also has its strengths.
I really like the mids on the strymon in listening so far.
What is the recording signal chain?
Empress is the more defined and natural sounding one. No doubt. And I hate to admit it as I have been eyeing the Bigsky for quite a while...
Great demo! I'm getting the Empress now, my wife isn't happy...
Seems like she might see it as more of a Mistress lol
John Ward yeah my wife would be pissed to if I didn't get the big sky
Yes, you're right - he needs an Electric Mistress, too ... That'll show her ...
XD 😂
SEPARATE YOUR ACCOUNTS! Kicking over 13 years and we don't have those issues. Trust me.
I own the bigsky and love it , the empress reverb seems to be a great pedal as well , I wonder what would sound like if you put them together 😬
jose ramirez Expensive lol
Big Empressive Sky
I have the b sky but i also want the empress
@@tannerslice9717 Nailed it!
…sounds like….poverty.
Both are amazing but the Empress wins hands-down for my ears.
Anyone know if gated reverb can be obtained with either of these machines?
Before the hate for gated reverb ensues, I must remind you of Marc Ribot's stellar use of said effect.
ebeep I don't own it (yet!) so I can't be sure, but i believe the Empress has a gated reverb. Not 100% sure, though.
I sold Empress and my Blue Sky and bought the Big Sky. is amazing ! ! !
Edimilson Santos aā
Hey, just curious, what didn't you like about the Empress? I was gonna get one. I'm so on the fence about Empress vs. Strymon and unfortunately haven't gotten to play either.
Ambient Swell on the Empress is what does it for me. Not saying BigSky is bad. I actually do own both on my pedal board, plus a Digitech Supernatural (Plate setting only)! Yes, I am a reverb junkie.
Stereo demo?
You should do RV-500 vs BIG SKY!
A more realistic dry sound or not, it's all down to the player's preference. At the end of the day, it's what comes out of the speakers and whether that is musically appealing to the player's/listener's ears that's important, imo. The Empress Reverb is superb in quality of both the sounds and the hardware - very typical of Empress pedals (go Canada!! ^_^). But in terms of capabilities, i.e. Number of banks and presets and accessibility of those banks and presets, and the plethora of parameters you could tweak or change, the Big Sky is quite a feat of engineering.
Sound-wise, the Empress and Big Sky are quite close. They are both quite extensive in the different kinds of reverbs you can choose from and they both sound very nice, indeed. You wouldn't necessarily be amiss buying one over the other. But if you factor in the ease of use, capability and sheer capacity, not to mention a screen that lets you quantitatively see and measure the different parameters you are tweaking; considering these factors as well as the sound, the Big Sky wins for me!
It's so weird to see the hand moving inside the outline of the pedals.
Empress
@Odell Mateo u forgot Natasha Nice
Signature sound or not ,nothing sounds as beautiful as the BigSky
Empress all the way. Another one to check out is the specular tempus.
why “all the way”? I’ve got an Empress and it’s awesome but I’m not convinced it’s better than Big Sky
Please how can I get in Nigeria, its not in Nigeria, the pedals we have here are majourly for soloist like NUX, MG 20,MFX 100 and so on.....please I really need your help.....I do really be glad if anyone can help my situation
Try Amazon or eBay! You can find both of them on the internet!
I don't own either but the empress sounds better. There's a warmth that's missing in the big sky.
Had them all... IMO, BigSky is the best single reverb...and Ventris is the best dual reverb with Empress a close second...
Hi Shaigh, if you‘ve had the chance to Bus Ventris, Big Sky, Empress Ort the H9 Eventide. Which one would you buy at the first place when you would use it in Synthesizers? I own the Rooms from Death by Audio and would like to enrich the experience. Thank you! Kindest regards from Berlin
The empress seems to keep more of the original dry signal intact, whereas the Strymon sounds as though it loses some mids or boosts the highs. To me the Empress sounds more natural, and the Strymon is a bit more lush and rich.
I completely agree about the dry tone. I own the Empress never owned a Big Sky. I did had other Strymon pedals and didn't like what they do to the dry tone. From this video however, to be honest I hear the Big Sky has slightly nicer reverb. Dry tone preservation is better on the Empress.
You cant here what your talking about from a youtube vid. if you can please explain analog dry though and how its changing the tone?
+Eric sin sinner using good headphones I can hear it. Just because it's analog dry through doesn't mean it's not possibly having some processing done to the dry signal. Or perhaps it's how the effected signal blends with the dry that makes a perceived difference. I don't know, everyone's ears are different.
Daniel Jeffries
Analog dry is just that, no processing to the original analog signal which gets passed though with NO processing.
+Eric sin sinner Analog dry just means the dry signal doesn't go through an A>D conversion. It may still pass through an analog circuit, ie, a buffer.
I own the bigsky, and never tried the empress one. BUT I pre the tone of the empress more for now. But the Bigsky get some more special character than the empress. (I was about to sell the bigsky but now i need to think more:))
Please, do the spring reverb sounds comparison!
He did the "ambient swell" was actually spring on the Empress
Nevermind the pedals, I'm just enjoying the amazing music! Can anyone point me in the direction of something sounding like this on Spotify?
hulqen The Deep Focus playlist on Spotify is awesome, as is This Patch of Sky!
Check out the Durutti Column
Hammock. Thank me later.
The dead Texan
Two Feet uses a lot of pretty Reverb in his music.
mono ???
Empress. It smaller and easier to use. and of course sounds better
I want so bad a Strymon Big Sky Reverb pedal ...
I wanted it for years ... I buy it, back in october. Believe me, it's completely worth it. This pedal is amazing :)
I believe you, I know what it is capable of, it must be the most beautiful pedal on Earth ! ...
The Big Sky IS amazing. You can do really fancy stuff or just simple high quality reverbs. Pair it with a Strymon DECO and get some really warm sounds.
The Big Sky is really the best, I know , it's like having a treasure ... combined wit an El Capistan delay it an be the best solution for high quality ambientalguitar tones ...
I ended up getting a PCM81 over either of them. Nearly 25 years later and you still can't beat it in this price range (If you don't mind racks).
You will Never go wrong with a Lexicon Reverb. I had a rack MPX-1 ( in my studio / NYC ) and All the Vocalists would marvel over the Sound. Lexicon Reverbs are something Special. So pure. Studio Quality at the highest level.
My decision too. My pcm81 runs circles around both these pedals
If only the pcm was a bit easier to program...
PCM can do Shimmer stuff lol?
andivax think so
I choose empress. I think empress have a nice tone and dynamic attack than strymon.
empress very easy to setting when i play in live show empress easy to change setting.
I think empress is serious real reverb. :)
Next video idea would be Strymon Vs Empress VS Eventide?
Eventide what?
H9
+Dave Andrew (DAndrew) Why not the Eventide space reverb so none would need a blue tooth connection to really tweak?
You CAN do all the tweaking without the app on H9.
Both pedals sound great but I have to go with the Big Sky!
Everything Strymon makes is soo clean. That's o.k. for some pedals but the Big Sky wich i've owned sounded too cold (digital) and didn't made the grade for me. Empress does.
Mmmm, beer....
🍆💦🤤
I'll take the Empress if I don't have to pay the price.
Haha same here. I wish they weren't that expensive
Empress easily wins : much more Authentic ! There's something not-so-natural with the Strymon.
Strymon stuff ain't about "natural", like most others
empress is much more clear and better frequency response across the board.
Wont get called a choir boy with the empress
To be fair, you could spend hours on each on each of these pedals and still not cover all the sounds available. They both have many types of reverb along with a huge number of parameters you can adjust. But the fact that the Empress doesn't color your dry tone makes it superior. End of discussion!
How does analog dry though color your sound?
+Eric sin sinner "analog dry through" means the signal is buffered and split before being processed. I'm not a stickler when it comes to buffered vs. TBP, but every Strymon pedal I've played through has its own sonic stamp it puts on your tone.
Mark Williams
Ever pedal ever made does, Eventide is one of the most expensive and worst in coloring your tone. Sorry but you dont seam to understand analog dry through, its not about buffered vs true bypass, every digital pedal is buffered when on, but few pass the "unprocessed" signal directly to the output, ie strymon and neunaber, and with thier buffer's there is no change to the sound, I assume you know that a well designed buffer will not change the tone
+Eric sin sinner I was only using the buffer vs. TBP example to establish I'm not anti-buffer. As an engineer, I also understand that all unity gain amplifiers (buffers) are not equal. You should realize this because you used Eventide as an example to make that point. Take care.
Mark Williams Still comes down to the FACT that with the buffers in both these pedals and analog dry though they dont change your core tone AT ALL.
BIG SKY! SOUND CELESTION!
Overall the Big Sky still wins but that Hall engine on the Empress is fucking unbelievably great and worth the price of admission alone, it eclipses the others and leaves them pounding sand and crying for their Mommas.
Both sound great but the Strymon stuff just has something more...
Stéphane Bergeron It's called hype.
hahahha, damn!
@@MoooseBlood I was listening to the comparison while working and every sound that made me click back over to see what was going on was the on the strymon pedal.... blind test got me as I wanted the empress for board space
dsagfdsaf bro I have both the reverb and echo system. Why would you assume someone’s financial status over a yt comment lmao.
@@MoooseBlood You spelled "quality" wrong. No comparison to the BigSky.
I just divorced my Big Sky... this pedal is way more sexy!!! Not to mention quieter than the Big Sky.
Laserguy2009 how do you mean quieter?
Strymon wins but both are great!
First i bought empress and one week later ı switched it with bigsky. Dont do that mistake. Never.
Which part was the mistake? The switch or the original purchase?
@@yzeerkd big sky is a mistake. Empress iş a more experimental device. Big sky presets sounds very same to each other. Bis sky is like a device with couple of main sounds with so many different parameters. Empress is like a device with dozens of sounds with dozens of parameters.
They both seem great (I have the BigSky). What kills it for me is the shoddy graphics that came from the side of a caravan and the unimaginative name. "Reverb". Duh. C'mon Empress, you do this all the time. Fred Astaire dressed in a wife beater and overalls.
what does that have to do with the way it sounds?
Anyone how thinks they can really hear what these sound like in person through a youtube vid is kidding themselves
Oh, O.K. Eric. Thank you.
nah. it’s very clear.
Big Sky sounds kinda mid ngl
The BigSky is a tool. The Empress is a toy.
Jon Yanhko this is joke right. Empress kills anything strymon puts out. kids who think they know about pedals get Strymon. People who KNOW about pedals get Empress
and Jon Yanhko is a simple idiot
@@chrishepburn1503 Nope.
@@DamienTheCat don't be so hard on yourself, kid