The Strymon BigSky reverb pedal stands as a titan in the realm of guitar effects, celebrated for its ability to conjure vast and immersive soundscapes. While its sonic capabilities are expansive, Strymon has ingeniously designed the Big Sky Guitar Pedal with a user-friendly interface, ensuring that its immense power remains accessible and inspiring for musicians of all levels. Let’s delve into the thoughtfully crafted controls that make the BigSky both a deep well of sonic exploration and a remarkably intuitive tool.
Simple Yet Powerful Interface
Simple Controls
Strymon’s design philosophy for the big sky guitar pedal centers on empowering creativity without overwhelming the user. They’ve meticulously selected the most crucial reverb parameters and fine-tuned their range and responsiveness. This careful curation means you can effortlessly sculpt breathtaking reverbs without getting lost in endless tweaking. The layout is clean and logical, allowing you to quickly dial in your desired sound and focus on your playing.
Extensive Presets for Sonic Exploration
300 Presets
The big sky guitar pedal provides an astounding 300 built-in preset locations, giving you ample space to save and instantly recall your personalized reverb creations. Navigating through your sonic library is seamless, thanks to the intuitive bank up/down switches on the front panel. You can even assign custom names to each preset, displayed clearly on the pedal’s screen, for easy identification during live performances or studio sessions. For those with more complex setups, preset selection via external MIDI controllers is also readily available, further enhancing the pedal’s adaptability.
Expression Pedal Mastery
Expression Pedal Control
Unlock a new dimension of real-time control with the expression pedal input on the big sky guitar pedal. Connect an expression pedal to dynamically manipulate any knob or combination of knobs, including the versatile Param knobs. This expressive control is saveable per preset, allowing for dynamic shifts within your reverb textures. Alternatively, connecting an external momentary tap switch grants remote control over Pre-Delay, or even Decay time with specific machine types like Magneto and Nonlinear, expanding your performance possibilities.
Cab Filter for Direct Connections
For guitarists venturing beyond traditional amplifier setups, the big sky guitar pedal offers a practical Cab Filter. Whether you’re using a full-range PA system, recording directly, or monitoring through headphones, this feature becomes invaluable. Engaging the selectable Cab Filter activates Strymon’s sophisticated speaker response curve, specifically tailored for guitar. This ensures your overdrive and distortion pedals retain their amp-like character, and your clean tones possess a balanced and articulate presence, even when bypassing a guitar amplifier.
Assignable Knobs for Personalized Tweakability
Assignable Knobs
Recognizing that every player has their go-to parameters, the big sky guitar pedal features assignable Param knobs. You can assign your most frequently adjusted menu parameters to these front-panel knobs, saveable within each preset. This ingenious feature brings your essential controls to the forefront, enabling rapid, on-the-fly adjustments to your reverb sound without diving into menus.
Unleash Ambient Textures with Infinite Freeze
For ethereal soundscapes and ambient explorations, the big sky guitar pedal incorporates Infinite Sustain and Freeze functions. By simply pressing and holding your active preset footswitch, you can activate either mode, configurable per preset. Infinite Sustain allows your reverb tail to extend indefinitely, with each new note you play adding to the evolving reverb texture. Freeze, on the other hand, also provides infinite sustain but allows you to play new notes over the sustained reverb without layering onto the existing reverb signal, creating captivating sonic layers.
Seamless Transitions with Spillover and Persist
Reverb Spillover
Maintain sonic continuity in your performance with the Spillover and Reverb Persist features of the big sky guitar pedal. Engaging Spillover ensures that reverb decays gracefully carry over when switching between presets, preventing abrupt cuts in your ambient textures. Reverb Persist takes this further by allowing your reverb trails to continue even after you engage the bypass switch, letting your sonic washes linger naturally.
MIDI Integration for Advanced Control
MIDI Implementation
For guitarists integrating the big sky guitar pedal into more complex MIDI-controlled rigs, comprehensive MIDI support is readily available. Remotely control any knob, parameter, or switch via MIDI, and seamlessly select presets programmatically. Furthermore, you can organize and back up your extensive preset library to your Mac or PC using a MIDI to USB adapter and Strymon’s Librarian software, ensuring your sonic creations are always safe and accessible.
The Strymon BigSky expertly balances immense sonic potential with an intuitive and player-centric design. Its thoughtfully implemented controls empower you to explore vast reverb landscapes while keeping the creative process fluid and inspiring, making it a truly exceptional addition to any guitarist’s rig.
