EHX Oceans Abyss Reverb: Monstrous Mega-Reverb and Multi-Effect
17 engines, dual reverb - and an FX loop!
4,4 / 5,0 | 
You can never have enough ambience effect machines! And when it’s a magnificent-sounding reverb pedal like EHX Oceans Abyss, we’ve got a real highlight on our hands! And because just one reverb would be boring, you get to use two different ones per preset!
EHX Oceans Abyss: All Your Reverb Belong To Us
If you feel vaguely reminiscent of Eventide Blackhole, you’re not alone. Since its release, this pedal (and plugin) has set the standard for dark, epic reverb tails that stretch into infinity. But the EHX Oceans Abyss Reverb wants to be more than that. Much more.
Each of the 128 preset memory slots can load two reverb algorithms simultaneously. These can then be assigned to different stereo pan positions. Bright plate reverb on the right, wobbly spring reverb on the left – full-on double reverb galore. I saw something similar, albeit smaller and more minimalistic, from Crazy Tube Circuits at Superbooth. They’ve got something cooking!
The EHX Oceans Abyss is a real effects monster. Not only can you load two different reverb algorithms in each preset, but there are also six effects slots where you can build your own super reverb from 12 additional effects. Looking for a shimmer reverb with crunchy bitcrusher and tremolo on the left, and, a reverse reverb, followed by saturator and delay to further distort the signal on the right? No problem!
What’s inside?
The EHX Oceans Abyss comes with seventeen reverb types: Room, Hall, Spring (2x), Plate (2x), Reverse, Dynamic (2x), Auto-Infinite (2x), Shimmer (2x), Polyphonic (2x), and Resonant (2x). You can find details to each one in the manual on page 26. Here are just a few explanations of the lesser-known types.
- Dynamic includes a gated reverb and a reverb type called Duck, where the input signal attenuates the volume of the reverb tail the louder it is played.
- Auto-INF offers two modes, X-Fade and Swell. In both modes, new notes or chords are automatically faded into the next washed-out reverb tail.
- Polyphonic appears to include two reverb modes that work similarly to the Shimmer reverb with pitched reverb, but with smaller intervals.
- Resonant comes with Chimes and Filtered modes. The former is a reverb colored by tuned resonators, while the latter has a self-oscillating filter on the reverb tail.
The twelve additional effects are delay (digital, analog, and tape), tremolo, chorus, flanger, phaser, graphic EQ, saturator, bitcrusher, external FX loop, and volume. That’s right, you can use the FX loop on the back of the pedal to loop another pedal into a reverb preset. This should result in some crazy combinations, for example with a Chase Bliss Mood MKII or a Hologram Microcosm.
Connections and Workflow
Stereo input, stereo output, FX loop, footswitch input, expression connection, MIDI IN and OUT (both 5-pin) and USB-C connection – they really have everything there! On the front, each of the two reverbs has its own mix control (called “Blend” on the EHX Oceans Abyss), a two-band EQ, and controls for panning, pre-delay, and reverb time.
In the middle is the Navcoder dial, which allows you to scroll through the presets on the monochrome display, change settings, and load effects. Then, here are three footswitches: A, Effect, and B. Effect activates the pedal, while A and B activate or deactivate a reverb engine or switch between presets.
How Much Does The EHX Oceans Abyss Cost?
Currently, the pedal is only listed on Electro Harmonix’s website, where it is priced at a hefty $495. As soon as we have details about the price and availability at Thomann, we will let you know here.
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