STRYMON: Which REVERBS & DELAYS are Right for You?
If you are into quality guitar effects then you will definitely be a Strymon fan! Since their first releases over a decade ago, Strymon have redefined ambient effects, leading what is a crowded market with pedals that inspire and deliver the goods.
Strymon’s sound quality and build quality are second to none, and that’s why you’ll see them popping up again and again on the pedal boards of the world’s best guitarists.
So, there’s no argument from me on any of that: Strymon stuff is awesome! My reason for writing today’s blog is to guide you towards the correct Strymon pedal. They make lots of reverbs and lots of delays, so which one is the right one for you?
Let’s find out, shall we?
Contents
Casual, Interested & Obsessed: Which Reverb is Best For You?
Best Strymon Reverb for CASUAL: Blue Sky V2
Best Strymon Reverb for INTERESTED: Big Sky MX
Best Strymon Reverb for OBSESSED: Night Sky Reverb
Best Strymon Delay for CASUAL: Dig or Brig
Best Strymon Delay for INTERESTED and OBSESSED: Timeline
Best Strymon Delay for SPECIAL MENTION: El Capistan
Strymon Reverb & Delay Pedals
Strymon are market leaders in reverb and delay effects, and this is reflected in their output. They have a wide selection of pedals that will do more or less of what you’re looking for. Here’s an at-a-glance rundown on what’s current in 2025:
Reverbs
- Big Sky MX: The flagship reverb unit, with IR loading and dual engines for multiple reverbs at once. Most of the sounds are upgraded from the Big Sky, making this one the most powerfully comprehensive reverb that Strymon makes.
- Big Sky: The previous model, with less features but similar stunning sounds. It’s a slightly older model compared with the MX, but it is still a valid choice for many players who want the connectivity and the choice of amazing reverbs.
- Blue Sky: Now in its second version, the Blue Sky V2 Reverberator captures lots of power in a smaller footprint. It has MIDI, it has a dedicated Shimmer knob, and it’s almost half the physical size of the Big Sky
- Flint: Designed to capture the retro surf and Western reverb and tremolo tones from vintage amplifiers. Spring reverb and vintage tremolo together, or one at a time.
- Night Sky: an ambitious and creative reverb ‘workstation’ with lots of hands-on control. Deep and powerful with, believe it or not, an onboard sequencer for the reverb pitches!
- Cloudburst: A compact ambient reverb pedal that sounds wondrous and epic. Soundscape people should run to this one, and check out the unique Ensemble effect, which actually alters the sound behaviour in accordance with your own playing, pickup selections and more. It’s extraordinary sounding, and I haven’t even mentioned the gorgeous string section sounds that happen underneath your notes!
Delays
- Timeline: The flagship Strymon delay pedal. This has SHARC DSP processing power, which is more than some computers have! There’s a 30 second looper, MIDI implementation, and ace Filter and Grit control knobs.
- Volante Magnetic: Large format delay pedal that is vintage/retro in character but quite futuristic in power. Best of both worlds, in many ways.
- EC-1: Tape Echo simulation. Simple, retro and give you a selection of preamp tones to colour with. Also had a dedicated ‘tape age’ knob.
- El Capistan: This is a tape delay with added spring reverb. You get tap tempo, a great range of sounds, and control over the age of the virtual tape here, too. It is a great single pedal choice, if you don’t need specialist reverb algorithms.
- Dig: Digital delay pedal with ability to run two separate delays - with different times - simultaneously. Good for a certain ‘Edgy Irish’ sound, if you get me.
- Brig: Digital version of analog ‘bucket-brigade’ delay sound, with three types built in.
Casual, Interested & Obsessed: Which Reverb is Best For You?
So, those are the pedals, in a nutshell. Which is the best for you? Let’s begin with the reverbs. To me, it seems like you are going to be one of three people:
- 1: You just want a nice bit of ambient to sweeten your sound, and you don’t want it to overpower things. You still insist on quality though. You are what I’ll call a CASUAL reverb user.
- 2: You like to have a degree of control over what you use, and you want to explore a little, but you can get a bit daunted if you are given too much choice. You are an INTERESTED party: more than casual, but not obsessed.
- 3: You want to go deep out into space and bring back glowing artefacts of sound from the future. Guitars for you are an excuse to get to reverb. Three control knobs is simply not enough for you. You are OBSESSED. You are in good company here.
Did any of those strike close to your truth? I suppose you’ll be at least close enough to the Casual, Interested or Obsessed types that I’ve created for today. Keep reading to get my recommendations for each type.
Best Strymon Reverb for CASUAL: Blue Sky V2
For the casual guitarist, I think the Strymon Blue Sky V2 is a wonderful choice. It gives you all of the expected Spring, Hall and Room style ‘verbs, with the additional shimmer there to add longevity to your purchase. You can take advantage of the MIDI functions is that’s how you do things, but as a straightforward reverb, this is massively effective.
I chose this over the Flint because the Flint is perhaps too specific for certain players. It’s all about creating a vintage ‘Tarantino’ guitar amp sound, so it’s not a general-use reverb at all. That said, if you are all about classic twang, then it’s probably the best pedal ever!
Best Strymon Reverb for INTERESTED: Big Sky MX
Don’t let its size scare you off: the Strymon Big Sky MX is actually dead straightforward to use. It’s the type of pedal that will reveal extra depth as you progress with it, but it will give you quality goods without requiring a lab coat.
You have all of the essential reverbs covered here, but a good deal more, with the opportunity to blend two together for some really quite unique textures. It’s a powerful unit, and I suppose that once you have this, you’ll always have access to studio quality reverbs in any live or studio situation. If your laptop complains at you when you record with reverb plugins, this could be a great way to ease that problem, as well as scoring one of THE all-time awesome reverb pedals.
Best Strymon Reverb for OBSESSED: NightSky Reverb
Come clean: as soon as you saw the astronaut in the advert for the Strymon NightSky, you knew this - and only this - was the pedal for you. There’s a ton of real-time knobs on here for you. If you like things like NORD synthesizers or Eurorack modules then the top panel of the Strymon NightSky is something to get excited by!
It’s obviously complete overkill for those who want a simple room reverb, but I should make it clear that yes, the NightSky will absolutely do that for you, but it’s the wild possibilities that make this unit so fascinating, not least the ability to use the onboard sequencer to change the frequency of shimmer that happens, at a predetermined time! When have you EVER come across that on something that can go on a pedal board?
It’s time to make space on that board, clearly, because you can’t NOT have one of these! As a long-time fan of the Eventide Space pedal, I can tell you that this is a different experience. Overlapping? Maybe, but when was that a problem?
Okay, so those were my reverb recommendations. What of the delays? Ays? ays? ays? Sorry.
Best Strymon Delay for CASUAL: Dig or Brig
Ah, I’ve chosen two here. That’s a bit of a cop out, isn’t it? What sort of guide is this?
Okay, I hear you. My actual choice here is the Dig. I think digital delays are slightly more useful overall, because their clarity or tone can be turned back (the Dig has a tone control), whereas the warmth of an analog delay (actual analog or virtual like here) can’t be made clearer. Does that make sense? If you want the clarity, you’ve got it: if you don’t, you can turn down the pedal’s tone control.
The Strymon Dig offers two delays at the same time. You don’t need to use it like this, but if you do want to play some U2 covers or whatever, you need this sort of thing or you need two separate delay pedals. It’s your call, but I reckon the Dig has all of your casual delay needs met!
So why bother mentioning the Brig? Well, because for a lot of guitarists, it’ll be perfect. No need to do much with it beyond setting the time and the repeats. You play and it’ll give you those lovely, wonderful, slightly disintegrating repeats of a classic old analog delay. If you only ever use delay for background ambience, this is a very delicious way to achieve that.
Best Strymon Delay for INTERESTED and OBSESSED: Timeline
In a shock twist, I’ve chosen the biggest, most feature-rich delay pedal for both the middle and the third choices. Why? The Strymon Timeline delay is going to be a wonderful thing for all guitarists, frankly. Because delay pedals inherently have more options and choices, I reckon most players are okay with a small amount of ‘learning’ before twiddling and strumming. This pedal rewards investigation, and offers a very clean, clear and easily manipulatable set of delays to work with.
I think this is a pretty inspiring pedal, and the addition of a straightforward looper makes this even better. Looping is something you should have fun with: it needn’t make you turn into Ed Sheeran, either. There is a whole world of opportunities here for the guitarist who wants to cover every prism of delay available. The processing power will definitely let you go wild, but the pedal is really pretty sensible, so you can dial up, save your favourites, and get on with playing.
If you want to go deep, this is the pedal. If you just want great delays, a good looper and scope for the future, this is the pedal. If you want to go bonkers, get this AND the Night Sky reverb.
Best Strymon Delay for SPECIAL MENTION: El Capistan
The El Capistan deserves a quick mention, because it’s an excellent addition to any simple setup. You might not want a huge pedal board. You might want a delay pedal that can give you a good basic reverb too. This is the chap, and when I say ‘basic’, I mean in operation, not in quality: the El Capistan has the same studio-quality processing that the others have. I get the feeling that it is one of those pedals that will be used with vintage amps, particularly old Marshalls and similar styles that lack an onboard reverb.
The pedal sounds awesome and is inordinately useful. It may not go as far as some Strymon pedals, but lots of guitarists don’t want their pedals going that far anyway! If this sounds like you, I’d put the El Capistan to the top of your list.
But Which Ones Should I Get?
How did you get on there? Does some of that resonate? If you’re in any doubt, I can’t help but just say this: buy the Big Sky MX Reverb and the Timeline Delay. Do this and you can consider your ambience needs truly catered for. If these two don’t give you what you need, then please, start designing pedals and let me know what you’re working on!
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