As any Gregorian monk worth his robe
can tell you, reverb is one of the most
effective effects you can use to enliven an
otherwise dull and not-happenin’ tone. From
cavemen in the canyons to cathedral chants
at Chartres to the Chantays riding “Pipeline,”
we’ve listened in wonder at its ability to add
dimension, color, and a sense of space.
It’s no coincidence, then, that Eventide
elected to use that very word to name its
new hyper-packed reverb stompbox. The
range of reverbs inside this single sexy
box can seem as expansive as the cosmos
itself—100 factory presets derived from 12
basic algorithms that can also be tailored to
your needs. It runs the gamut from standard
room and classic spring reverbs to the positively
extraterrestrial.
This is a deep pedal—deep in sounds and
functionality—that distills a lot of the great
work Eventide has done with rack units like
the H8000FW and H3000 SE. And the
entirety of what the Space does could fill
the pages for 10 reviews. But even a casual
session with the Eventide Space reveals that
it can lure you in for hours, and if you’re an
incurable texturalist who loves to paint in
broad strokes and subtle washes alike, the
Space has virtually endless treats in store.
As Vast As the Sky
Like most of Eventide’s stompbox line, the
Space can look daunting at first glance. It has
11 knobs and three footswitches, as well as a
red LCD display glowing with occasionally
cryptic readouts. But the Space works quite
intuitively once you get the hang of a few basic
functions. You will have to spend some time
with the manual, but you can still get cool
sounds quickly and with minimum effort.
Each of the Space’s sounds is born of 12
basic reverb algorithms—including Hall,
Room, Plate, Spring, and Reverse—in
addition to more esoteric algorithms like
Mangledverb (which distorts and detunes
reverb tails), Shimmer (which shifts pitches
in reverb tails and lends a touch of harmonizing),
and Blackhole (which lends an
overtone-rich, more-spacious-than-space
feel). One of the trickier things is that,
apart from the Mix control—which blends
wet and dry signals—knob functions
change depending on the algorithm.
The footswitches also have variable functions.
In the most basic setup, the Active
(bypass) footswitch turns the effect on and
off, and the HotSwitch and Tap footswitches
scroll through algorithms or presets (as indicated
by the down and up arrows next them).
Interstellar Voyage
Consider this a fair warning to guitarists who
don’t have a lot of time to spare or who have
impatient bandmates: This pedal
will suck
you in. And as an insatiable fan of psychedelic,
dub, and space-rock sounds, I immediately
plugged in my Telecaster, ran the Space
into a Fender Champ, and searched out the
Blackhole setting. One of the beautiful aspects
of the Space’s performance is that even the
most radical algorithms and presents can be
scaled back to very subtle or almost imperceptible
versions of themselves—or propelled to
serious extremes. You can also modify several
tone-shifting parameters. For instance, on the
Blackhole setting alone you can move decay
from super long to long-and-inverse decay
(for a cool suction-like effect), apply and
adjust delay to the effected signal, increase or
decrease the size of the reverb (a sort of littlescreen/
widescreen effect where you can cut or
boost highs and lows in the reverb tail, adjust
the speed and intensity of modulation, and
increase or decrease resonance).
Even at fairly tame settings, the
Blackhole algorithm is overflowing with
expressive potential. Dial back the Decay,
Size, Delay, and Mix knobs, and you can
add a ghostly quality to, say, a fuzzy or
overdriven blues solo. But dial everything
back up between 11 and 2 o’clock, and the
simplest strum of a chord finds you stretching
time and covering light years.
The Shimmer algorithm is also bound to
please ambiently concerned players. And if
you’re a fan of Daniel Lanois or the Edge’s
work with reverbs and harmonizers—particularly
the ethereal sounds on
The Unforgettable
Fire—the rich, celestial, and orchestral textures
this setting lends to a clean Fender tone
will leave you giddy and dreaming.
The Space isn’t all deep, cosmic travelling,
though. The Spring algorithm sounds
natural and rich, particularly at more
mellow settings. And with my detuned
Telecaster, it conjured images of a dusty
spaghetti Western sunset. The hall and
plate reverbs were both beautiful sounding
when I ran a Martin 00-15 with an L.R.
Baggs iBeam out in front—enlivening
fingerpicking phrases and complex
chords. Probing further into the factory
presets (which include presets from artists
like Vernon Reid, Sigur Ros’ Jonsi,
U2 producer Flood, and electronic music
producer Richard Devine) revealed even
more mind-boggling possibilities.
The Verdict
You could spend an entire rainy weekend
with the Eventide Space and only scratch
the surface of what it can do. The basic
algorithms and presets alone could probably
inspire hundreds of fresh approaches
to solo sections and songs. But the seemingly
limitless tweakability and range of
the pedal, as well as the ability to save
personal presets, have the potential to
make it the busiest pedal on your board
or in your studio. For puritanical players,
the Space will offer a thousand more
textures than they need, especially given a
street price of around 500 bucks. But for
true 6- and 12-string adventurers eager
to explore the final frontier, the Space has
the power to be endlessly rewarding.
Buy if...
texture is your king and you have
little use for guitar-tone dogma.
Skip if...
you haven’t turned the Reverb knob
on your Twin Reverb past 2 in ages.
Rating...
