Reverb

The persistence of sound in a space after the source stops, produced by countless reflections from surfaces of different distances and absorbency.

It is not an echo but the accumulation of reflections arriving too close together to be heard separately, and the resulting density and decay time tell the ear how big the space is. In guitar amplification, reverb ranges from a physical spring tank to digital algorithms and measured impulse responses of real rooms. A little reverb adds depth and masks small imperfections, while too much blurs articulation and pushes the guitar backwards in a mix.

Example: a clean guitar part with a long, dark reverb sits far behind the vocal, where the same part with a short plate reverb stays up front.

Reverb

See also