DIAL ME UP a Barratt home, as the joke goes with these things. It's not a new joke. It's not even a very good one. But it is, I suppose, fairly relevant to these reverbs, both of which can take a grand and a bit of your cash (bear in mind we've quoted manufacturer's recommended retail prices — most places will give you a deal meaning you pay about a hundred or so less) and convert it into a small black box which can simulate the sound of anything from the Taj Mahal to the bog at the local curry house.

The effect at first took a lot more cash, and top studios were about the only places able to give you a Quantec Room Simulator or similar to play with. Now, thanks to good old Oriental knowhow and the current high-tech war going on between musical/recording gear manufacturers, you get to choose between these two very powerful and versatile signal processors at around the £1,200 mark. A wonderful thing, technology. Now where did I leave my steam-powered pencil sharpener?

Round One: Roland

This is a superb machine. It provides a great deal of control over many very versatile digital reverb programs — two plates, eight rooms and five hall sizes as well as non linear and gated reverb programs.

At Manfred Mann's Workhouse studios in the summer, the engineers had received a few of the SRV2000s to compare to their AMS, Quantec and Lexicon (read: very pricey) digital reverbs. They were seriously debating whether or not they should sell one of their AMS reverbs and buy four of the SRV2000s.

To be fair, the SRV-2000 is not quite in the same league as the AMS — but it's bloody close! With the parameters available on the SRV2000, there is no reason why just about every digital reverb effect — from gated reverb to long, long concert hall reverb — cannot be emulated and stored in one of the Roland's 32 internal memories.

The SRV2000 is a 1U 19" rackmounting unit. All parameter control is done from the front panel and displayed in its six window, 15 character display. To the left of the window are the input controls, memory management controls, MIDI switching, as well as controls for the parametric EQ page, Reverse/NonLin reverb switching and Room Simulate control.

The reverb's pre-delay time (up to 160mS), reverb time (up to 99 seconds!), High Frequency damping, Reverb program select (whether plate or hall etc) and output level can all be altered by their respective front panel switches, and the resulting patch is then easily stored into memory.

When gated reverb/nonlin is selected, the HF damping control then becomes a control for the gate time (from 10-450mS). Having built in control of reverb gating is an excellent feature — usually an effect that can only be had by using stereo noise gates in conjunction with a reverb unit.

When the front panel is switched into the parametric EQ mode, three filters can be accessed (low, mid or high), each of which have their own frequency and boost/cut controls as well as variable 'Q' (mid and high Eq only).

All three of the parametric EQs are stored into the memories, so that any reverb patch can be given its own EQ. This facility goes a long way towards increasing the versatility of the SRV2000. I found it not too hard to actually copy different tonal qualities of other reverb units. Both Quantec and AMS sounding reverb wasn't too hard to simulate, however it was quite a job to make the SRV2000 sound anything like the smooth Lexicon reverbs.

MIDI on the SRV2000 enables you to select the patches remotely from a MIDI source. However, Roland also give you the opportunity to select which patch number you want to have selected when you press a certain patch on your MIDI device. This enables you to, say, select reverb patch 12 when you select patch 32 on your JX-8P, or whatever other MIDI device you may use the SRV-2000 in conjunction with. This is an invaluable function which makes one's life very easy indeed.

Another very handy facility is the 'Room Simulate' button. This will instantly switch all parameters (include EQ) to provide as accurate a simulation of the reverb program selected (Hall setting, or Plate setting...) as possible.

This is only a brief outline of the effects you will expect to find on the SRV-2000 — and I haven't even begun to describe the 'FT Level Mode' which gives further control over different elements of the reverb's initial density, decay density, pre-delays, attack times...

Round Two: Yamaha

In many respects these two machines are very alike. They both provide their user with very versatile and high quality stereo reverb for a little over a grand. However, their similarity more or less ends after that, as Yamaha have gone for a slightly different approach. The REV7 doesn't provide quite as versatile a selection of reverb parameters as the SRV-2000, nor does it offer quite as smooth sounding reverb as the SRV-2000; however, it certainly makes up for this by offering a number of other features which are more usually found on digital delays, such as chorusing, stereo delays and flanging.

The REV7 has 30 factory preset effects as well as 60 user memories for storing your own settings and variations of the presets. There are six 'idiot-proof' buttons on the front panel which select the first of the six factory presets — two halls, two plates and two special effects. In this way, it is possible to switch the REV7 on and at the press of a button have six of the most usable patches instantly.

The REV7 comes in a 2U 19" rackmounting unit and, in keeping with Yamaha's other products, looks immaculate. An LCD screen gives all data information and patch names, to the right of which are found the data entry controls.

Although you are given a large variety of different types of signal processing effects, the REV7 does not offer the same degree of parameter control over these effects as does the Roland unit. Maximum reverb time is only 10 seconds (as opposed to the SRV's 99 seconds), predelay time can only be set up to 100mS; yet at the same time, the REV7 gives reverb a first reflection whose amplitude and delay time (up to 100ms) can be set independently to the reverberation settings. This can add quite a bit more depth to reverberation, as it is the equivalent of the naturally occurring first reflection off the wall nearest the listener. Great for vocals.

Yamaha have given each preset its own name, related to either the type of effect it is or the type of instrument it is most appropriate for (eg 'Flanged Reverb' or 'Bass Drum').

Yet another 'goodie' which the REV7 gives you is a cable remote control. With it, it is possible to select any of the 30 factory presets, or the first seven of the user-presets. Very useful.

These are two units which must both be awarded full marks for value for money. The Yamaha is a good allrounder providing a decent selection of reverb and DDL functions. It certainly would be a good choice for someone who didn't have much outboard gear and/or didn't want to have to fiddle too much to get the effects he was after. In this respect, the REV7 could be thought of as a glorified preset digital effects box.

Roland's SRV2000 on the other hand is quite a sophisticated and versatile digital reverberation device. It has a number of very useful facilities and is a rather 'tough' sounding unit. Control over the different reverb parameters is excellent and I would certainly recommend this unit to the slightly better equipped studios who would either use it as a secondary digital reverb, or who have already got DDLs and flangers, etc. to provide the kind of effects that the REV7 offers.

I have been able to use both of these units over quite a period of time and for quite a number of recording applications — from livening up 'dead' sounding voice-overs, to classical sessions, to (and more usually) high-tech/rock/pop sessions. When used in a 24-track/SSL situation, where I used them mainly as secondary units to Lexicon and AMS reverbs, the gated reverb was the effect I most often used on the Roland, while the Yamaha's special effects such as flanged reverb and stereo digital delay effects were where it was found to be most popular.

The Winner?

Neither of the two units were excessively noisy, the Yamaha being slightly quieter than the Roland. However, as a straightforward digital reverb the Roland's smoother and slightly richer sound came out on top.

So my 'hands on' conclusion about how these units compare to one another would have to be that if you are after a very smart looking unit with a wide range of different sound effects, then the REV7's the one to get. If you aren't too bothered about having digital delay effects in the same box as your reverb, then the Roland's greater degree of control as well as smoother reverb sound gives it the edge over the REV7.

ROLAND SRV2000 reverb: £1,375
YAMAHA REV7 reverb: £1,199