A simple, easy-to-use reverb pedal can be as essential as a kid's favorite wooby. It comforts you when the harshness monsters jump from your speakers. And while you sometimes barely notice its presence, something just doesn’t feel right when it’s missing.
Thankfully, not all ’verbs are created equal. For the surf-minded, a buoyant and spongy spring sound is the ticket. The psych set might dig on the expansiveness of a large hall for mind-altering ambient settings. In other words, creating and tweaking these artificial acoustic properties is a bit of a rabbit hole. Thankfully, Crazy Tube Circuits’ latest version of their Splash reverb captures a wide array of tones in a relatively small package.
Back to the Future
Perhaps the biggest improvement over Splash’s previous iteration is an extra mode accessed via a central toggle switch. Surrounding the toggle is a quartet of controls that includes decay, mix, and volume, plus the mysteriously named excite. An added bonus is the push-pull mix knob that also sets the attenuation of your dry signal. Way cool!
With the first algorithm—dubbed “the exciter”—the overall sound is surprisingly warm for a digital unit. The excite knob earns its keep here: at about 11 o’ clock, the wet signal starts to develop beautiful hints of modulation and harmonics that creep up and caress the dry sound as the knob is maxed out.
Ratings
Pros:
Realistic spring reverb. Handy volume control. Impressive build quality.
Cons:
No expression pedal control. May be tough to adjust settings onstage.
Tones:
Ease of Use:
Build/Design:
Value:
Street:
$248
Crazy Tube Circuits Splash MK III
crazytubecircuits.com
One of my favorite tones is to dime the excite and mix knobs, yielding an odd mix of spring ’verb and hall elements, but with plenty of fundamental guitar tone. It’s a natural fit for background arpeggios that need some air to sit properly within a crowded mix.
Trad Tones
For more traditional guitar reverb flavors, the second algorithm is a good place to start. The biggest issue I have with my blackface Deluxe Reverb is that it gets too deep too quickly. But with the Splash, I could walk that fine line between a soft hint of space and the crashing sound we all love. The refreshing responsiveness let me bring out different accents in in a way that rivals some of the best tube reverbs I’ve ever plugged into. In both the second and third modes, the excite knob exerts a more subtle effect—even maxed out, it wasn’t quite as useful as in the first algorithm. (Secret trick: I’d sometimes crank the Splash’s volume control and use it as an off-the-wall boost when combined with my amp’s reverb.)
Rolling in the Deep
These days it’s hard to miss the wash (pun intended) of ambient ’verbs on the market. It just seems like there’s a growing need for cavernous, spacey tones! Splash’s third mode is a luscious soundscape machine that will instantly make you gaze at your shoes. With a healthy amount of decay and a wet mix setting, the effect tiptoes on the edge of oscillation. In more ethereal settings, the ability to create faux echoes and crashing waves with the slam of your pick is exciting and inspiring. The Splash’s mix control took me from the slightest hint of natural space to vast, Grand Canyon-like reverb without ever losing sight (or sound) of my guitar.
The Verdict
The Splash is an extremely well designed box that covers much spatial territory. Sometimes you just don’t need a million buttons, switches, presets, and a touch screen to access a wealth of tones. Admittedly, the Splash might work best onstage as a set-and-forget stomp, but that’s a small price to pay for such a fine collection of creatively musical reverbs.
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Price unveiled her new band and her new signature model at a recent performance at the Gibson Garage in Nashville.
The 6-string was inspired by the J-45 she bought at Nashville’s Carter Vintage Guitars after she was signed to Third Man Records, where she made her 2016 ice-breaker album, Midwest Farmer’s Daughter. But her affection for Gibson acoustics predates that, going back to when she found a 1956 LG-3 in her grandmother’s home. The guitar had been abandoned there by her songwriter great uncle, Bobby Fischer.
“I played it for years before I found my J-45,” Price recounts. “At Carter Vintage, I tried a lot of guitars, but when I picked up that J-45, I loved that it was a smaller guitar but really cut through, and I was just really drawn to the sound of it. And so I went home with that guitar and I’ve been playing it ever since.”
“Having a signature model was something I had dreamed about.”
Of course, Price was also aware of the model’s history, but her demands for a guitar were rooted in the present—the requirements of the studio and road. The 1965 J-45 she acquired at Carter Vintage, which is also a cherry ’burst, was especially appealing “compared to a Martin D-21 or some of the other things that I was picking up. I have pretty small hands, and it just was so playable all up the neck. It was something that I could easily play barre chords on. I could immediately get everything that I needed out of it.”
If you’ve seen Price on TV, including stops at Saturday Night Live, The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, and Jimmy Kimmel Live!, you’ve seen her ’65. And you’ve also seen, over the years, that part of the soundhole’s top has been scraped away by her aggressive strumming. It’s experienced worse wear from an airline, though. After one unfortunate flight, Price found her guitar practically in splinters inside a badly crushed case. “It was like somebody would have had to drive over this case with a truck,” she relates. Luckily, Dave Johnson from Nashville’s Scale Model Guitars was able to put Humpty Dumpty back together again.
After that, an alternative guitar for the road seemed like a requirement. “Having a signature model was something I had dreamed about,” Price says. Friends in her songwriting circle, including Lukas Nelson and Nathaniel Rateliff, already had them. Four years ago, a tweet asking which women they thought should have signature models appeared, and one of her fans wrote “Margo Price.” Smartly, Price tagged Gibson and retweeted. Codey Allen in Gibson entertainment relations spotted the tweet and agreed.
The double pickguard was chosen for Price’s J-45 because of its symmetry, as a nod to the Hummingbird, and due to her heavy strumming hand.
Photo courtesy of Gibson
“The neck is not quite as small as my J-45, but it is just a bit smaller than many J-45s fives, and very playable no matter what size hands you have.”
“And so we began our journey of building this guitar,” Price says. “I debated whether it should be the LG-3, which I still have hanging on my wall, or the J-45. I went to Montana and visited their [acoustic] factory and sat down with Robi Johns [senior product development manager at Gibson acoustic], and we ultimately decided that the J-45 was my guitar. Then we started talking about the specs. We did pull from the LG-3 in that the body of this signature guitar is a bit smaller. It still has a really loud, clear sound that rings through. The neck is not quite as small as my 1965 J-45, but it is just a bit smaller than many J-45s, and very playable no matter what size hands that you have.”
The pickup that Price selected is a L.R. Baggs VTC Element with a preamp, and she took a prototype of the guitar on the road opening for the Tedeschi Trucks Band. “I am used to playing with a really loud band, with drums and sometimes a couple electric guitars, and I wanted to make sure that this guitar just cut through,” she says. “It was really important to me that it be loud, and it cut beautifully. It’s got a mahogany body and scalloped bracing, which makes it very sturdy. This guitar is a workhorse, just like me.”
The Margo Price J-45’s most arresting characteristic, in addition to its warm sunburst finish, is its double-sided pickguard with an etching of a quartet of red-tailed hawks in flight. It’s practical for her strumming style, but it’s also got a deeper significance.
“We talked about all sorts of things that we could put on the pickguard, and I’ve always been a big fan of the Hummingbird, so what we did is a bit of a nod to that,” Price continues. “I’ve always been drawn to red-tailed hawks. They are supposed to be divine messengers, and they have such strength. They symbolize vision and protection. I would always count them along the highway as I’d be driving home to see my family in Illinois.”
Birds of a feather: “I’ve always been drawn to red-tailed hawks,” says Price. “They are supposed to be divine messengers, and they have such strength. They symbolize vision and protection.”
Photo courtesy of Gibson
With its comfortable neck, slightly thinner body, and serious projection, Price notes, “I wanted my guitar to be something that young girls can pick up and feel comfortable in their hands and inspire songs, but I didn’t want it to be so small that it felt like a toy, and that it didn’t have the volume. This guitar has all of those things.” To get her heavy sound, Price uses D’Addario Phosphor Bronze (.012–.053) strings.
Price says she and her signature J-45, which is street priced at $3,999, have been in the studio a lot lately, “and I have a whole bunch of things I’m excited about.” In mid March, she debuted her new band—which includes Logan Ledger and Sean Thompson on guitars, bassist Alec Newman, Libby Weitnauer on fiddle, and Chris Gelb on drums—in a coming out party for the Margo Price Signature Gibson J-45 at the Gibson Garage in Nashville. “I’ve been with my previous band, the Price Tags, for more than 10 years, and it’s definitely emotional when a band reaches the end of its life cycle,” she says. “But it’s also really exciting, because now, having a fiddle in the band and incredible harmony singers … it’s a completely different vibe. I’ve got a whole bunch of festivals coming up this year. We’re playing Jazz Fest in New Orleans, and I’m so excited for everyone to hear this new iteration of what we’re doing.”
With its heritage cherry sunburst finish and other appointments, the Margo Price Signature Gibson J-45 balances classic and modern guitar design.
Photo courtesy of Gibson
