Strymon BigSky

118 Guitarist February 2014
Strymon BigSky £429
A torrent of big ideas from one skyscraping reverb pedal
WORDS Michael Brown PHOTOGRAPHY Joe Branston
D
espite its relatively short
existence, the name
Strymon already
commands plenty of kudos in
pedal-loving circles. Thanks to
sophisticated effects such as the
El Capistan, TimeLine and
Flint, the Californian company
has become synonymous with
unparalleled attention to detail
and tonal integrity – and its
latest creation, the BigSky, aims
to be the pedal that is to reverb
what the TimeLine is to feature-
rich delay: a pro-quality
stompbox that does it all.
Packed into the BigSky’s
lightweight aluminium chassis
are 12 ‘reverb machines’, which
offer different sizes, effects and
dimensions of sound, controlled
by seven fundamental knobs:
Decay, Pre-delay, mix, tone,
Mod, Param 1 and Param 2. The
latter two control functions
specific to particular reverb
machines – anything from
additional EQ options to pitch-
shift intervals or room size.
Three footswitches give you
instant access to three presets at
a time – you can store up to 300
of them across 100 banks, which
can then be edited on your
computer using the Strymon
Preset Librarian. Hitting the left
and middle footswitches sends
you down a bank, while middle
and right sends you up; saving a
preset simply requires a quick
press and hold of the Type knob.
Those footswitches are for
more than just switching
sounds, though. Hold down
the switch for the currently
selected preset and you’ll
activate the Infinite Sustain or
Freeze functions. Infinite
Sustain causes the current
reverb trail to decay indefinitely,
adding each subsequent note
you play to the reverb signal,
while Freeze offers the same
infinite sustain effect, but also
allows you to play over the
sustain without adding to the
reverb. You can choose which
function is activated via the
BigSky’s easily navigated
menus, which also give you the
option to choose between
buffered and true bypass, and
spillover and Reverb Persist
modes, which cause reverb
trails to continue when
switching patches and
bypassing the pedal,
respectively. There’s also an
assignable +/- 3dB boost to
ensure your reverb’d guitar
signal doesn’t get lost in the live
mix, and even switchable
cabinet emulation for playing
direct and recording.
STRYMON BIGSKY £429
EffEcts
GIT377.rev_strymon.indd 118 12/19/13 8:54 AM