Phil Spector and Gold Star Studio interpretations. Take his “Wall of Sound,” double-down with 60’s acid-laced distortion and some sun-drenched vinyl and you have the Gold Star Reverb.
Three Mode Reverb: Compressed, Distorted and Flanged
The “Wall of Sound” was a formula used in the production of music for playing on radios and jukeboxes in the ’60s. Parts were doubled and played in unison to create a huge, lush soundscape. We daydreamed what it would be like if Phil, Larry Levine, and the Wrecking Crew had modern tools to make ambient and shoegaze washes of sound. And then we took Spector’s room compression and maxed mixing faders ideas to the extreme.
The Gold Star Reverb’s Compression Mode adds compression controls to the reverb so that the trails “duck” or compress when you play heavily. In this mode, the Depth control adjusts your compression threshhold. The Vinyl control adjusts your compression ratios. Use this for pumping synth leads in dance music or on vocals for a powerful reverb sound to render them clear and distinct or use it on blues guitar for unique note definition with the space of reverb between the notes.
The Distorted Mode imparts a thick, throaty distortion on the trails that is bold, jarring, and terribly powerful. The Vinyl control is the distortion wrecking ball. The Depth control adjusts pre-delay time. Try setting it for a distorted slap-back echo!
Flanged Mode gives you two options: Flanger Reverb and Sun-Drenched Vinyl Reverb, which is a random pitch vibrato added to the huge “Wall of Sound.” This mode has super-long reverb trails that twist and turn in a Wagnerian cacophony of dense reality-obliterating sound. Turn the Vinyl control to left of center for Flanger mode, or right of center to hear sun-drenched, warped vibrato.
In the Gold Star Reverb we have incorporated vintage microphone and tape-machine responses like those produced by the RCA 44 and the Ampex 350. We even threw in a little AM Radio response where appropriate.
And if you want to Just Go Naked, all you have to do is turn down the Vinyl control and use the three amazing-sounding reverbs, which offer a treasure trove of classic, timeless studio-rich sounds.