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I have never switched reverb in my life.
Nor me - except to turn on a separate unit for more reverb.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
How about high-gain single-channel amps? Might be able to get a decent gain sound out of it, but then there's nowhere to go for a solo unless you want to stomp twice just to get the right volume and gain, and then adding extra delay/reverb is another stomp etc.
Footswitchable gain boost. Pointless - it's no good as an extra channel for leads, because you'll just disappear in the mix without a volume boost. That relegates it to a "more" switch, which is always going to be better with an actual pedal designed for it, which is what everybody actually does. Then you're stuck with an amp footswitch which is bigger than it needs to be and is just taking up too much space on your board.
Line-level loops. They're just annoying in modern amps. I get that, in the bad old days, it was done for the extra signal-to-noise ratio, but modern external gear is reasonably well-designed and doesn't suffer from noise problems. All this does is reduce your choice of pedals for the loop to a few select manufacturers/models, and rack gear.
Damn. It's bedtime, and now I'm grumpy. Thanks a bunch, @monquixote .
Also... parallel 50/50 mix FX loops. I'm looking at you, Laney.
JM build | Pedalboard plans
Single channel high gain (but can be dialed back for clean)
Controls on the back for power & to set the output impedence. & the guitar dry di out (these are necessary due to already having 15 pots on the front of a 1u rack)
To add to the thread for me for things i hate on amps. Loops that aren't line level & the lack of a slave output..
The right place for the controls is at the top of the front, preferably angled back slightly, ie like a blackface Fender.
But regressive design choices seems to be a real problem in the guitar world now...
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
Extra points if you combine this with inadequate strain relief so that it’s possible for the (now effectively captive) footswitch and mains leads to come disconnected in use or in transit requiring you to partially dismantle your amp on stage.
Yes, I’m looking at you Mesa Engineering. It’s probably the one thing I’d actually change on my Express 5:25 combo...
If I set a nice reverb level that works well with the clean channel it is invariably too washy and undefined with any level of gain then added on top.
I play in a function band and, exaggerating to illustrate the point, wouldn't want the reverb level I'd use on La Bamba on Enter Sandman or All The Small Things. How do you address this?
Every major amp manufacturer other than Fender must be wasting their time including reverb switching in their designs if I'm the only person that ever uses it.
Hence, you then will focus on the one thing you don't like about an amp rather than the 5 things you like.
A really good example of this is the Blues Junior v the Pro Junior. One tries to cover all the ground possible, one is a raw and focused one trick pony. However, the proof that the makers will cite is the BJ sells about 10 times more than the PJ, despite the love that serious players have for the pro and the hatred they have of the BJ
*An Official Foo-Approved guitarist since Sept 2023.
I use a background reverb setting on everything, never turn it off - so for me, a reverb switch on the footswitch is an annoying waste of space and something I can hit by accident when I will never want to.
If I want a deeper reverb I use an external unit to add more.
(Ditto for FX loop footswitches.)
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein