Alesis Quadraverb reviews

abalagula

New member
I just purchased the quadraverb on ebay for 60 and am wondering if anyone has this used this unit. Whats good and bad about it?
 
quadraverb gt

they seem pretty solid and dependable but getting on in age and mine is showing signs of needing a new lithium battery... anyone know how to replace them?
 
The Alesis Quadraverb is a general-purpose reverb processor, a very nice one for its day and age (fifteen years or so ago now).

There was a model called the Quadraverb GT (which I have) that added some guitar-specific features, namely a pre-amp and compressor, maybe a speaker emulator circuit too? It's not a bad-sounding thing. Again, it's pretty old by now...

I think there was a later model called the Quadraverb II but I'm not sure about that...
 
Be careful to keep audio lines away from the power supply. The supply must be poorly shielded, as it leaked a lot of noise into audio lines when I had a Quadraverb.
 
I have one. It also does a gate, flanger, pitch shifter, etc. sort of like a "vintage" plugin pack.
 
IIRC most of the verbs had groups of reflections that stack up at particular spots in the decay that can't be moved in time with size' or the other adjustments. That gives them a certian rhythm. If it happens to fit that's fine.
A lot of times it would fall in wrong though and there wasn't much you could do about it... One of those things that once you tune in on... it's time to move on.
 
I have had mine since about 92' or so, I really like it and have never had any problems with it, (it's been thru hell). I use mine as my primary effects processor in my guitar rig, but have also used it in studio mixing situations without any problems.
 
They are noisy, and have a very grainy sound to them. They do have a cool layout for a processor of its price and in its time. There are definately some cool sounds in there, but I would not want it to ever be my primary reverb.
 
Quadraver GT battery

they seem pretty solid and dependable but getting on in age and mine is showing signs of needing a new lithium battery... anyone know how to replace them?

The motherboard comes out easily. I suggest you purchase the plastic battery holder similar to what is found on PC motherboards. carefully note and mark on PCB the - and + on the board and replace the battery with the new holder. Double check that the + and - are correct. The original battery is three legged. Make sure that you have a new connection where the two common legs were soldered.

Then when the new battery needs replacement you can just pop it out and replace. No more desoldering.
 
Loads of versions - original was great for PA, for a bit of reverb, of effects, then the later versions Mk2 , 3 etc got better and better. £60 is not that cheap of course - I've got a rack full of reverbs, compressors and gates from those days - not even quite sure where it is now, but my studio in 96 had quadraverbs in the rack. It makes nice noises - it doesn't like anything other than line in - trying to use them on guitars reveals the noise.
 
I have two. The second version. Like Rob's sentiment, no good for guitars. Use it live with a strat in front...yukkk!

However, on my console, they work great. And there's some awesome gritty 16 bit effects that, to me, are perfect for some rock and roll.
:D
 
Didn't Kevin Shields use these on MBV records? He raved about them, from memory...unless it's a different unit.
There are many ways to get those sounds now using better gear fwiw.
 
He may have used a QV, but the unit most associated with him is the Yamaha SPX90. That is THE MBV reverse reverb. The QV just isn't the same.

They didn't work for guitars because A) their input impedance is too low and 2) they are a little noisy and low guitar levels required you to turn up the levels too much. The answer to that question was of course some kind of preamp before it. Even a loud boost pedal would do it.

And yes this thread is 12 years old, but nostalgia can be fun. :)
 
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