I have one of these and it is definitely a gift from the God’s. The tones are insane and it’s so much more than the average pedal. It’s basically putting rack mount or studio quality gear on your pedal board. It’s the next step and evolution in the pedal world. I usually wind up selling most pedals I buy to try something new but this I will never sell. I also have the Preamp MK II and it’s just as amazing as this pedal for overdrive, fuzz and parametric EQ. The two combined are glorious. If there was a delay version, I would only ever use those 3 pedals and never need another expect for maybe a Tube Screamer/Galdio/ Jan Ray for a some simple but amazing blues tones.
dude! really appreciate this demo. the entire time I'm thinking "can i get that sound with this hardware and that plugin?" and then you did that very thing with the Ocean Way plugin and other UAD similar plugins. Although I can definitely get similar sounds with what I have, this unit seems to make it very easy, is inspiring, and has it all in one. Makes me want to form another live project and have each band member use one of these just to create a cinematic trippy LSD David Lynch club experience.
@@BigHairyGuitars while I agree, there is something about the visual representation of the sound your hearing that lends to dialing in sounds extremely quickly. My first preset that I made when I got the pedal took less than 5 minutes and it’s become one of my go-to reverb sounds.
It’s funny I watch all these ambient reverb pedals and think I want to do that then I get one play for about two minutes and go back to playing 80s hair metal IDK
@@coreyclark6505 exactly. I can’t seem to write music in the style my ears want to hear right then. Instead I have to be open to making something cool out of whatever my hands give me.
Watch Mike Hermans play his arrangement of The Doors “ The End “ featuring this pedal and you’ll hear what it could do. This video was great too though. That Pedal Show also really made this pedal shine when compared to the Strymon Nightsky and Eventide Blackhole.
This pedal sounds AWESOME!!!! The best sounding reverb I have ever heard! I’ll be adding this to my already bought Chase Bliss Automatone pedal. Together they’ll sound even better!!!!
Great demo and video from the man himself! Honestly your demo has me considering using this instead of my lexicon pcm-70 and my tc m-2000! Thanks brother u rock🎸🤘🎸🤘
Lexicon Gotham Delta....Has anyone ever heard of this? In one of my Led Zeppelin books, it mentions this unit as a tool for some of those Houses of the Holy, The Ocean type reverberations. I can’t seem to find much info on these. Great channel.
Yes! And please run it against the PCM81 as well! I so far have decided to not buy the CXM 1978 because it's too expensive - but if it can do reverbs like real Lexicons - one could begin to reconsider. And Michael know how to dial in reverbs - so please run it against the real Lexicons !!!
@@geoffreymerrifield5666 it dosen't, the cxm is a novelty item for pedalheads and instagrammers at best when compared to the actual units it tries to copy.
@@0megalul309 I totally get this, but for me it's such a powerful creative studio tool - I have it permanently setup as a desktop unit. For me, it's lack of screen and the fact that it's just 6 faders and 5 buttons invities creativity and makes you 'feel' your sound selection, as opposed getting concerned with present names, delay times, menu scrolling etc. This combined with the fact that in my opinion it sounds better than any other verb pedal, about 95% as good as say a PCM rack unit or Bricasti which are more expensive, and better than any vst I've tried (various valhallas, Altiverb, uad, slate digital and arturia verbs), makes it an incredible studio tool.
Great review Michael. How do you have the pedal connected in your recording chain? (And for that matter any time based). It’s the one part of my studio I’ve not really sorted out - my amps don’t have easy access to the effects loop (those that have them) and my efforts so far to go out-in of my UAD interface have been less than successfully. Any guidance appreciated!
Oh man, that Interstellar sounds got me!! But I could never have that pedal on stage because the singers have the bad habit to step where they shouldn't, and goodbye to those nice faders!!! damn singers!! ;)
Michael any chance you can do a demo video show casing the synergy one model case and the vai unit? I am thinking it would work great running brainsworx plugins w preamp off.
I have Big Sky and Chase Blis 1978 but sound quality is a bit better on Chase Bliss . I think this year or next Strymon will release Big Sky ver.2 , because they already released Blue Sky ver. 2 with USB output finally .
Meris makes some of the best reverb algorithms I've ever heard so I'm not surprised that it's gotten rave reviews. I hope Meris will make plug-ins one day for ITB people, like me!
I'd neve pay it either. But there's a difference in quality that you aren't hearing here. When it's in your face, and A/B'd you hear and feel the difference. It ain't a pedalboard toy.
Crap, if it has the BHG stamp of approval, I may have to finally bite the bullet on one of these. I have tried one in the past and I found it to be kind of noisy, the same with the preamp model they also built. A lot of the sounds I felt comfortable replicating in the Strymon Bigsky, so I kind of left it... but man oh man does it look cool. Haha.
There ya go! Also if you don't have a UAD card and the UAD plugin, Native Instruments also makes a great version of the 224 reverb plugin in the Reverb Classic bundle. www.native-instruments.com/en/products/komplete/effects/rc-24/
I frankly wonder how durable it would be on a long tour. The thing about BOSS pedals is, even if your in South America, The Balkans or SE Asia if one fails you can nip out to the local music store for a replacement. This stuff is for enjoying at home or recording.
Nice sounds and it can program your sprinklers too, or would look right at home hanging in the garage next to one. Given that most guitar players are performing for their goldfish, the asking price pretty much targets the country-club guy who make his dough on pork bellies. In 5 years, dudes will be chasing the tone of a scratched record.
The Gear Brain: "Well...I gotta buy something else. It makes no sense but that's what we do." So effin true man...I just cancelled an order on a seriously-delayed Marshall cabinet only to take that exact same amount of money and bought yet another guitar. I mean...the money's sitting there in my account. What am I gonna do with it? Spend it on something practical?
NOT based on the Lexi 224. It is a Meris Mercury 7 engine. It certainly emulates the best of the 224, and then some. It does indeed have the form factor of the Lex 224 LARC, which tells you --right away--that if you look at it as a guitar 'stomp box' you will grossly underestimate its value for tracking, mixing, mastering.
"We had already done quite a bit of work capturing the vibe of the 224 since it was also used by Vangelis on Bladerunner which we largely based the Mercury7 on. Angelo took this even further towards the operation of a literal 224 with the CXM 1978." it's like Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon
Sounds great but for dive bar gigs? I'd destroy it with my feet or spill beer in it and its too expensive to risk that...plus its gigantic. My H9 will do.
For live playing (without a midi set up), my Big Sky still wins. This is definitely not a pedal to just drop on your board for the average church or local bar player. Immensely cool, but not practical outside of a home or studio.
Any products of Chase Bliss is made for making Studio music instead of playing live because the pedal itself produces so many different tone/sound with just a twist of the knob or turning on/off some options. I believe that the BigSky is still the top tier reverb pedal for playing live.
@@jesselough At the level of the Ventris and Big Sky, (I've owned both), it's really a matter of taste because they're both so good. I can quickly jump through my three main reverbs live and have six side by side that can be easily switched between songs. For me at least, it doesn't get much easier than that and I can nail the album tones live. That's really what I'm looking for and Big Sky delivers.
Agree - they are both exceptional units, but this puppy is exactly what I was looking for as a desktop reverberator for my studio. Definitely don't see me using it on my gigs - got the Big Sky for that.
@@jesselough Shhh. We dont want them to know. I have "V" and big sky, big sky sounds like there is a blanket ove the amp next to the... other pedal. ;)
Valhalla reverbs are great. The UAD Lexicons are great. Relab, TC Electronic makes some great ones, Seventh Heaven, Eventide Black Hole. There's tones of great reverb plugins. The CXM DOES have a killer vibe though. It's great.
CXM 1978 - It's my favorite non-instrument, instrument. Kicked the Big Sky and OTO BAM right out of the room (and OTO Bam is legendary). I was sick of Strymon Chorale, Infinity, and Shimmer anyway. If I never hear Shimmer again it will be too soon.
How much the CXM is superior to the UAD-2 plugin is not even funny... The Eventide perhaps could be tweaked to sound better, but still. The CXM is in an entirely different league.
The CXM sounds too 2-dimensional and it absolutely does not sound like a Lexicon 224 [Have a listen to the youtube upload "Lexicon 224XL on SH 101" to get an idea how a real 224 sounds] . The CXM Bliss reverbs have a nice witdh but not enough depth. Even the Eventide Blackhole plugin is able to give the impression of three-dimensional space [Their DSP series hardware sounds even better]
Absolutely agree - it's got the 2 dimensional quality but no 3d depth. Blackhole plugin beats it. I'll keep my PCM80 and KSP8 which I got for what this is going for.
I have one of these and it is definitely a gift from the God’s. The tones are insane and it’s so much more than the average pedal. It’s basically putting rack mount or studio quality gear on your pedal board. It’s the next step and evolution in the pedal world. I usually wind up selling most pedals I buy to try something new but this I will never sell. I also have the Preamp MK II and it’s just as amazing as this pedal for overdrive, fuzz and parametric EQ. The two combined are glorious. If there was a delay version, I would only ever use those 3 pedals and never need another expect for maybe a Tube Screamer/Galdio/ Jan Ray for a some simple but amazing blues tones.
*Michael talks about a pedal*
Me: Yeah, I don’t really need another pedal
*Michael starts playing*
Me: son of b*tch, I’m in
dude! really appreciate this demo. the entire time I'm thinking "can i get that sound with this hardware and that plugin?" and then you did that very thing with the Ocean Way plugin and other UAD similar plugins. Although I can definitely get similar sounds with what I have, this unit seems to make it very easy, is inspiring, and has it all in one. Makes me want to form another live project and have each band member use one of these just to create a cinematic trippy LSD David Lynch club experience.
Wow with the Morgan fuzz that sounded awesome. Love your stories, and sense of humor.
Thanks so much!
I love it when you change presets and all the sliders move like magic!
I think that magic might have added an extra $300 to the price tag! haha
@@BigHairyGuitars while I agree, there is something about the visual representation of the sound your hearing that lends to dialing in sounds extremely quickly. My first preset that I made when I got the pedal took less than 5 minutes and it’s become one of my go-to reverb sounds.
In the clean hall demos towards the end I felt the expansive sorrow of gazing into the abyss.
Do you see a CXM 1978 gazing back at you?
It’s funny I watch all these ambient reverb pedals and think I want to do that then I get one play for about two minutes and go back to playing 80s hair metal IDK
It’s the game of what your ears want vs what your hands do...
@@coreyclark6505 exactly. I can’t seem to write music in the style my ears want to hear right then. Instead I have to be open to making something cool out of whatever my hands give me.
I've probably watched 10 videos on this "pedal", and yours is the first where I could actually hear what it's doing.
Man, it does sound great.
Watch Mike Hermans play his arrangement of The Doors “ The End “ featuring this pedal and you’ll hear what it could do. This video was great too though. That Pedal Show also really made this pedal shine when compared to the Strymon Nightsky and Eventide Blackhole.
The "room" sound is amazing.
So...you get the reverb i asked you to i see😂 love it and your amazing video and sounds😁🎸🔥
THANKS FOR THE COOL VEDIO ITS HAS THAT SOUND THAT INTOXACATING.
KEEP IT!!!
TOZZ
Sounds awesome, great feel and vibe. Not Cheap, for half that price I picked up a Yamaha SPX 990, SPX 2000 and a TC Electronic D Two.
SPX90 is on my bucket list.
This pedal sounds AWESOME!!!! The best sounding reverb I have ever heard! I’ll be adding this to my already bought Chase Bliss Automatone pedal. Together they’ll sound even better!!!!
Check out a real Lexicon one day. Your mind will implode.
3:19 - Hans Zimmer in the house! Sounds incredible, really nice.
I can see how inspirational this unit is by your noodling. On my must have list.. my wife says thanks!! 😂
That pedal is just NEXT level!! Great demo as always!!
It must be ideal for synths and drum machines as it's more desktop friendly. Thanks for the video!
Sounds really great! 900 dollars though. You have to really decide if these are the sounds you want. Thanks for this excellent demo sir.
Great demo and video from the man himself! Honestly your demo has me considering using this instead of my lexicon pcm-70 and my tc m-2000! Thanks brother u rock🎸🤘🎸🤘
There’s a lot more the PCM70 can do than just the reverb.
@@ondrejholiencin8555 oh I know but I mainly use it in my guitar rig for reverbs and a 2290 for my delays,Chorus,flange,etc
I can't get over that 335. 🤩
Lexicon Gotham Delta....Has anyone ever heard of this? In one of my Led Zeppelin books, it mentions this unit as a tool for some of those Houses of the Holy, The Ocean type reverberations. I can’t seem to find much info on these. Great channel.
Dude, please do a shootout with your PCM70 and the CMX 1978.
Yes! And please run it against the PCM81 as well! I so far have decided to not buy the CXM 1978 because it's too expensive - but if it can do reverbs like real Lexicons - one could begin to reconsider. And Michael know how to dial in reverbs - so please run it against the real Lexicons !!!
Yes. Wonder how it competes with my Lexicon pcm92.
@@geoffreymerrifield5666 it dosen't, the cxm is a novelty item for pedalheads and instagrammers at best when compared to the actual units it tries to copy.
@@0megalul309 I totally get this, but for me it's such a powerful creative studio tool - I have it permanently setup as a desktop unit. For me, it's lack of screen and the fact that it's just 6 faders and 5 buttons invities creativity and makes you 'feel' your sound selection, as opposed getting concerned with present names, delay times, menu scrolling etc. This combined with the fact that in my opinion it sounds better than any other verb pedal, about 95% as good as say a PCM rack unit or Bricasti which are more expensive, and better than any vst I've tried (various valhallas, Altiverb, uad, slate digital and arturia verbs), makes it an incredible studio tool.
Sounds quite amazing 😱 I’m surprised
Preset 3= Jeff Buckley vibes... another excellent video.
Awesome!
Love for you AB all these with Native Instruments RAUM- free plugin.
Great review Michael.
How do you have the pedal connected in your recording chain? (And for that matter any time based). It’s the one part of my studio I’ve not really sorted out - my amps don’t have easy access to the effects loop (those that have them) and my efforts so far to go out-in of my UAD interface have been less than successfully. Any guidance appreciated!
My Genelecs just melted out of joy.
The Edge is jealous of this pedal ! 😂 sounds amazing
What's it sound like next to a PCM 70? The PCM 70 is based off the 224 so it would be a great comparison
wow, that sounds great!!!
Hey Michael! What's the Friedman on top of the rack?
Oh man, that Interstellar sounds got me!! But I could never have that pedal on stage because the singers have the bad habit to step where they shouldn't, and goodbye to those nice faders!!! damn singers!! ;)
That's why you put bear traps around your board man..
That thing sounds so good.
Michael any chance you can do a demo video show casing the synergy one model case and the vai unit? I am thinking it would work great running brainsworx plugins w preamp off.
yep. coming soon
I ordered the game changer light pedal, since I have an Apollo with 224 and 480 plugins, which is a stupid comparison but whatever.
I have Big Sky and Chase Blis 1978 but sound quality is a bit better on Chase Bliss . I think this year or next Strymon will release Big Sky ver.2 , because they already released Blue Sky ver. 2 with USB output finally .
Dry tone and playing really nice I forgot about the pedal
Sounds good for sure 👍
It may be the platinum level verb pedal for this time frame.
cool sweatshirt
Thanks lol. Now I want 2.......
Looks like a bunch of quartz locks from technics 1200s lol
I didnt know it was based on 224, Great, now I HAVE to buy one 😩
Okay - TWO YEARS OUT. @Michael Nielsen do you still have it? Black Friday's coming and I'm thinking of getting one. 😁
I do. I've been tempted by the Meris Mercury X, but for now it's still the CXM
Fab hoodie, bruh...
Kind of surprised Eventide hasn’t hit you up for their new micro pitch pedal.
If Eventide releases every H3000 algorithm as a standalone pedal there will be a lot of Eventide pedals🙂
Uh oh. Now I think I want one. These are not cheap.
Reverb was nice, but I'm more interested in that guitar. A 335 gold top?
So Mike… the 1978 or the UA Golden?
Trying to hold out for the Bricasti but I definitely have seen some good videos that I feel showcases this reverb to be worth investing in!
What is it as far as midi code? 35_39?
Meris makes some of the best reverb algorithms I've ever heard so I'm not surprised that it's gotten rave reviews. I hope Meris will make plug-ins one day for ITB people, like me!
hear a bricasti or eventide/lexicon pcm
Sounds better than BigSky in my opinion.
How does this compare to a Big Sky or something like it?
I don't get it, especially at the price. There's a lot of ways to get.ambient reverb/echo sounds at 1/8th the cost
but the sliders...dude! lol
I'd neve pay it either. But there's a difference in quality that you aren't hearing here. When it's in your face, and A/B'd you hear and feel the difference. It ain't a pedalboard toy.
Crap, if it has the BHG stamp of approval, I may have to finally bite the bullet on one of these. I have tried one in the past and I found it to be kind of noisy, the same with the preamp model they also built. A lot of the sounds I felt comfortable replicating in the Strymon Bigsky, so I kind of left it... but man oh man does it look cool. Haha.
*stomp of approval
This leaves me cold. Yes, it has a lot of character but I don’t like the grittiness of it much. The 224 plugin on the other hand❤️ 🍯 ⭐️
There ya go! Also if you don't have a UAD card and the UAD plugin, Native Instruments also makes a great version of the 224 reverb plugin in the Reverb Classic bundle. www.native-instruments.com/en/products/komplete/effects/rc-24/
Thanks, @@BigHairyGuitars ! Great video btw as usual. Will stick to my PCM80🙂
Uh oh. I think I need a reverb. Damn.
It's a beautiful piece of desktop studio gear but totally silly for a pedalboard.
Yeah looks gigantic lol. Would be overkill for me. I’m out.
It sounds insanely good.
But damn..
The price..
I frankly wonder how durable it would be on a long tour. The thing about BOSS pedals is, even if your in South America, The Balkans or SE Asia if one fails you can nip out to the local music store for a replacement. This stuff is for enjoying at home or recording.
Right! I would NEVER take it out for a rock show.
dude those moving faders in a pedal..... We've come a long way from a trident 80c with magic tracks flyn faders
Yeah, this is awesome!... Or buy 6 x Zoom MS-70CDR and chain them together!
Where in the signal chain is the CXM 1978?
In happening "in the mix" / in the DAW.
Yea interesting piece of engin... guitar players tool or distraction depending on the player ... ha ha ... that thing sounds very nice
Same size as big muff. But for some reason they look huge.
This or the pcm 81?
lucky #7!
It would've been a boatload less expensive if they'd have foregone the motorized faders for some plain ol' knobs, ain't it.
Nice sounds and it can program your sprinklers too, or would look right at home hanging in the garage next to one. Given that most guitar players are performing for their goldfish, the asking price pretty much targets the country-club guy who make his dough on pork bellies. In 5 years, dudes will be chasing the tone of a scratched record.
A lot of the people buying this are going to be music producers. Electronic musicians use FX pedals too.
It’s definitely overhyped but it is a cool pedal.
The Gear Brain: "Well...I gotta buy something else. It makes no sense but that's what we do."
So effin true man...I just cancelled an order on a seriously-delayed Marshall cabinet only to take that exact same amount of money and bought yet another guitar. I mean...the money's sitting there in my account. What am I gonna do with it? Spend it on something practical?
Damn.
Uhh yeah you have to keep it. There is nothing like it. The sounds with the hands on interface. It’s genius.
YO!
Would this unit be good for vocals?
Yes. It's a great sound. It's a bit of a 1 trick pony, but it's a GREAT trick.
I now only buy speciality reverb pedal after getting empress.
If this unit is just a standard lexicon I'll most likely passed it.
Gift from the Gods
Okay Almost 1000 bucks is "expensive" says the guy with the 7000 $ rack reverb🤣💜🖖 by the way how is this in comparison to the Barcatzi?
Bricasti is more transparent, less obvious, smoother, and doesn’t have an infinite delay (yet)
NOT based on the Lexi 224. It is a Meris Mercury 7 engine. It certainly emulates the best of the 224, and then some. It does indeed have the form factor of the Lex 224 LARC, which tells you --right away--that if you look at it as a guitar 'stomp box' you will grossly underestimate its value for tracking, mixing, mastering.
"We had already done quite a bit of work capturing the vibe of the 224 since it was also used by Vangelis on Bladerunner which we largely based the Mercury7 on. Angelo took this even further towards the operation of a literal 224 with the CXM 1978." it's like Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon
Sounds great but for dive bar gigs? I'd destroy it with my feet or spill beer in it and its too expensive to risk that...plus its gigantic. My H9 will do.
For live playing (without a midi set up), my Big Sky still wins. This is definitely not a pedal to just drop on your board for the average church or local bar player. Immensely cool, but not practical outside of a home or studio.
Any products of Chase Bliss is made for making Studio music instead of playing live because the pedal itself produces so many different tone/sound with just a twist of the knob or turning on/off some options. I believe that the BigSky is still the top tier reverb pedal for playing live.
Either of yall played a source audio ventris? It beats the piss out of the bigsky IMO and is smaller and easier to operate live.
@@jesselough At the level of the Ventris and Big Sky, (I've owned both), it's really a matter of taste because they're both so good. I can quickly jump through my three main reverbs live and have six side by side that can be easily switched between songs. For me at least, it doesn't get much easier than that and I can nail the album tones live. That's really what I'm looking for and Big Sky delivers.
Agree - they are both exceptional units, but this puppy is exactly what I was looking for as a desktop reverberator for my studio. Definitely don't see me using it on my gigs - got the Big Sky for that.
@@jesselough Shhh. We dont want them to know. I have "V" and big sky, big sky sounds like there is a blanket ove the amp next to the... other pedal. ;)
There are glugins that sound just as good if not better, but I guess you are paying a lot more for the hardware control and hands on
Valhalla reverbs are great. The UAD Lexicons are great. Relab, TC Electronic makes some great ones, Seventh Heaven, Eventide Black Hole. There's tones of great reverb plugins. The CXM DOES have a killer vibe though. It's great.
@@BigHairyGuitars Yea, it does sound gritty and has a nice presence. It does low end too. The infinity preset is really stunning.
This is going to cost me ... 🙈
Sure it's expensive... but compared to "real" outboard reverbs it's still kinda affordable right? Sure beats having to spend 2 grand on a Lexicon
A Lexicon PCM 70/80/81 costs less than this, and they are still considered legendary units.
CXM 1978 - It's my favorite non-instrument, instrument. Kicked the Big Sky and OTO BAM right out of the room (and OTO Bam is legendary). I was sick of Strymon Chorale, Infinity, and Shimmer anyway. If I never hear Shimmer again it will be too soon.
Is it the CMX or CXM? :D
CXM, Chase (Bliss) x Meris. (He has it spelled wrong).
OH BALLS! Thanks!
@@BigHairyGuitars no worries, love your channel!
ha ha ha
How much the CXM is superior to the UAD-2 plugin is not even funny... The Eventide perhaps could be tweaked to sound better, but still. The CXM is in an entirely different league.
The CXM sounds too 2-dimensional and it absolutely does not sound like a Lexicon 224 [Have a listen to the youtube upload "Lexicon 224XL on SH 101" to get an idea how a real 224 sounds] . The CXM Bliss reverbs have a nice witdh but not enough depth. Even the Eventide Blackhole plugin is able to give the impression of three-dimensional space [Their DSP series hardware sounds even better]
I agree it doesn’t have that much depth and is completely different than a real lexicon.
Absolutely agree - it's got the 2 dimensional quality but no 3d depth. Blackhole plugin beats it. I'll keep my PCM80 and KSP8 which I got for what this is going for.
It's gimmicky. Even as a desktop pedal. There are better VSTs around too.
Like what? Please don't say Valhalla Supermassive free vst.
@@_thevaporz check Eventide and Lexicon
Relab
certainly overpriced
Every Chase Bliss pedal is overhyped.