Another great review of both these UA pedals. The Strymon Volante is an excellent tape echo emulation pedal that has super robust features and sounds excellent to me...

You officially sold me on the Starlight. Already own the Golden. Top notch!

Right..when Ryan has his American Pro II Jazzmaster out for review you know he's taking things seriously. Really enjoyed this Ryan and I think you nailed the balance between fun users and those that actually 'need' either of these & made that point loud and clear. 😎 Both of these seem to be externally well made, sound awesome and built for purpose. I am rather impressed!!! I can say at $600 out here, I had a quick check at 3 of my go to stores & all sold out, other than one golden still in stock. (All Astra's sold also). So, whilst not for the mass market, it shows that those who want the 'best' quickly snap them up. Great stuff Ryan.👍 🎸⭐

When you've been waiting for actual weeks just to know whether Ryan thinks the Golden "drips". Happy to see you pleased with the pedal. I don't have the Golden but I got the Starlight and am continually amazed with it.

Thanks! I was waiting for you to get to the Golden

What a great video. I own this pedal, but I didn't explore the spring sounds that much...until now. Sounds wonderful, thank you!

Thanks very much for the great demo. The purity of the tones in both pedals is pretty inspiring. 18:12 for all the ambient reverb lovers.

I just got the Golden Reverberator this week - I use it on my Aux bus for synths and drums, and it's awesome. The OTO Bam is a completely different kind of beast but is just as awesome in a different way. The Source Audio Nemesis is amazing as a delay. It's good to see that there are new brands / pedals able to challenge / shake up guys like Strymon and Eventide who have depended on their flagship units for over a decade now without improving / adding to them.

Excellent Video 👍 I just got the UAD reverb pedal, it's the best reverb pedal I've heard! I absolutely love it! Yes it's pricey but, by-thunder it sounds awesome!

Really great playing on the intro bit Ryan.

I have them both and GFI system synesthesia. Amaizing pedals. They have very detailed 3D sound in every settings. Sometimes I use 2 reverbs at once. First from Synesthesia And the second from Golden. It's an ambient haven then. I use Marshall jcm 2000 tsl 602 combo and PRS singlecut 2001. Great playing and video!

I always went back and forth between wanting to sell my Golden and keeping it... just because I'm more of a recording artist at the moment. Glad I kept it. After upgrading to RME from an Apollo, the Golden is now used as a send effect when I record electric guitar and also keys and vocals and I LOVE IT!

I've owned sooooooo many pedals and effects VST's and, to me, these two are hands down the best at what they do. It is so easy to dial fantastic, usable sounds and that's just not that easy with everything. UAD hit grand slams with these FX pedals.

Tape echo is my favourite effect ever! Such a beautiful effect and so creative for me personally, I get some will find these pedals a bit pricey but with Universal Audio gear you know you will be getting a fantastically manufactured product with the best parts and the effect will be excellent. Unfortunately I can’t afford a Starlight for quite some time but I think this will definitely be worth the investment and saving for in the long run, so I’ll start saving now and hopefully will have one in the future. Thanks for your review Ryan.

My god, the intro song is gorgeous

....WOW!!!!! THANK YOU, SO MUCH, Ryan!!!! GREAT TONE!!!! GREAT RANGE of Effects!!! GREAT DEMO!!!! I AM A SURF MUSIC ADDICT!!!! ILOVE THIESE EFFECTS, ESPECIALLY THE "GOLDEN REVERBERATOR"!!!! I'LL BE ORDERING ONE, ASAP!!!!! THE PRICE IS WORTH IT, IMHO!!!!! NO QUESTION!!! I ALREADY HAVE A STRYMON "BLUE SKY", AND I LOVE IT, TOO!!! YOU OUGHT TO DO A SERIES OF SURF MUSIC "LICKS"& Riffs-techniques TUTORIALS!!!! THANKS!!!! FOR THE SPLASH!!!!....THAT GRETSCH BARITONE WAS AWESOME!!!!!

I am using the golden for a month now and have to say it's by far the best reverb I ever bought. There are also a lot of possibilities that have not been covered in the video. So if you think about 4 absolutely high end reverbs with 3 different modes on each its really not that pricey anymore

So the last 2 mins of this clip just turned my world around. Getting my Starlight in a few days. Bring the DOOOOOOM!

There’s a really good video interview with the developers of these pedals. Hearing the amount of effort that went into them, I was sold before even hearing. I’ll wait until I can justify the cost with a band or project, but oh yeah.

Thanks for the vid. Starlight is very good, worth the money if you are about the sound, the Golden is to surfy for me, prefer the RV-6.

Dang that Starlight and Golden sound awesome. Yep 3D sounds are what im looking for. Its why I always like the Boss Dimension for chorus, Harmonic or Panning Trems, Roland JC amps and EHX ((STEREO)) electric mistresses flangers to move air. There's lush Andy Summers/Robert Smith/Prince chorus ...to space there to mess around with pretty chords or polyrhymns like in Reggae. Or playing off the short slapback like the Ventures, Pink Floyd or U2'ing it...whatever yall prefer. Its a trompe d'oeril or optical illusion but... for the ears. It sounds freakinggggg HHHHHUGE. Especially in dream pop bands when they run stereo. Yep I agree it has a better drip on the Golden Spring than Mako R1 but then I'm still torn with UA vs Mako series as my next big purchases. I just love the ethereal sound of Mako and its extra features like the stereo width X control since I'm running stereo amps. Golden had crystals of ice on spine pretty plate. Starlight is just a David Lynch soundtrack waiting to happen. B from Detroit. Surfing frozen tundra.

I pre-ordered this pedal in 2021. When I got it I noticed this thing runs a lot hotter than other guitar pedals, it reminds me of some audio rack gear. It was concerning at first, but I put it through maybe 200 hours or so of rehearsals, sessions, and shows. Never left on more than 2 hours at a time during that whole year of use. I tried to take decent care of it! About 2 weeks ago I heard a very bad "whine" on startup for a practice session, then a loud pop... a scary pop. Resulting in silence from my Starlight entirely. It lit up its LEDs still, but clearly burned out something inside. And yes, it was kinda hot like usual. UA did an RMA- found a blown diode D2100. Replaced that and sent it back to me. (about $150) I just this morning got it back and tried a simple bench test- plugging it into power and seeing how hot it gets. After 20 minutes, I had to pull it. There is NO WAY this thing will survive the heat again. I'm pretty disappointed with UA. Did I get the one crappy Starlight out there? Love the sound of the pedal, but it really doesn't seem reliable in the long haul. Really curious if anyone else has had overheating issues.

If you could only pick one to add to your board (running into a Deluxe Reverb Tone Master) to play Surf. Is it the Golden or Starlight?

I had no idea you could go up and down thru the algorithms until this video

Wow, that drip is so dependant on the EQ settings of whatever you’re listening to this on. On my iPhone that drip sounds so clear and awesome. On my television, I can’t even hear any drip. I’ve also noticed that at home I can’t hear the drip as well with my spring reverb surfy bear unless I sit closer to the front of the speaker cab. Really interesting.

Oh man. I got the starlight, now I want the Golden. The starlight is the best delay pedal I’ve ever owned. I’ll just sell my Strymon Flint and Catalinbread Topanga.

The wiggle Stick Tee 🙌🏻🎸👕

This one or the true spring reverb pedal from source audio is better? Which do you think takes the cake?? for full on Surf guitar enthusiasts!! Thanks in advance

As far as Tape echo another great one is empress tape echo. Would love to see a shootout of it and the Starlight.

Would you hear the difference with Surfy Bear and Golden pedals if you don't play and see which pedal is used for. Especially in mix with other instruments? I have been thinking about buying Surfy Bear, but Golden sounds quite good and it's more versatile playing other types of reverbs as well.. so? I don't know... Analog is always the best, but how much better is it? :)

Those outro sounds are stellar. Would be interesting to compare to hx stomp which is about the same price as one of these pedals. I think the recent dynamic hall in the hx might give the golden a run for it’s money.

Wow!

Will the golden reverberator dethrone your SurfyBear Metal?

If I’d built a career on the sound of the finicky gear these emulate, they’d be a bargain. But then, I’d have the budget. I haven’t, however, so I’m happy to choose less expensive alternatives. 🙂

What is the Strymon El Capistan missing by comparison? What about the Starlight better “captures the soul of a real tape echo,” as you put it? Just curious. This sounds brilliant, but I love my El Cap.

Ryan, have you tried the Catlinbread Belle Epoch Deluxe echo? It’s pretty stellar too!

You could buy both jptr effects for about the same price as one of these

I bought my first tape echo in ‘82 For the 4 play heads and the ability to turn on/off your choice for multi tap What is a tape emulator with multi tap? I bought this with the the obvious hope that it was replicating a tape echo Not the noise and flutter that are charming in hindsight We didn’t care for the noise back then because we could have long repeat times and multi tap

@16:09 DOD Ice It Amp from mid 90s had a physical spring unit and a 3 band EQ. Fun fact: I didn't know it had a an actual spring tank up until this year and I always thought that I broke the amp back then, everytime I heard a thunder sound as I moved the amp or accidentally hit it. Long story short, it turns out that springs were hitting everywhere in the tank causing that thunder sound 🤦🏻‍♂️😅

Hi Ryan. I know I've asked this before... however, I want to be sure. What is your Baritone guitar tuned to? Thank you in advance (Damn, that things sounds great with Fuzz and those pedals)

What do you think about the surfybear compact compared to the golden? I have both but I’m just curious what you think about them.

have you tried a volante before? how do u think it compares to this? and source true spring vs UA?

I have all 3 and am undecided on the Astra. I wonder if Ryan didn’t dig it-hence it’s not in this video…..that thing needs more EQ/volume/mix control- sounds a bit weird and weak and digital.

What power were you running these off during the demo?

You’re offered a UA Golden or a Source Audio True Spring. Which do you choose?

Don't sell the DMM delay short... its AWEsome too!

Is the golden better than a surfybear tho? 👀

What might be an afford-a-pedal version of a Boss DS-1?

Little salesman nuggets of kale in ever single video.

Can anyone compare this pedal to the surfybear metal. While it sounds much better than the pedals I’ve had before with its real spring, it tends to be very bright (even though my amp isn’t particularly bright) & in order to get the drip sound I have to crank the reverb so high it’s almost unusable. Any helpful info would be appreciated. 🏴‍☠️🤙🏻

Does anyone know the name of the song Ryan opened with?

I returned my Golden, no presets, no use live. A reverb good only at home. Price is now dropped here, people returning both delay and reverbs by UA.

your face at 1;26 says it all

Worth the price? well, to my ears they sound *exactly* the same as what they're emulating. What they're emulating costs more than these and have to be maintained regularly (especially the tape echo). Only not worth the $$$ if you're broke/cheap

Professional pedals for professional players. 👍

Covet

Reverb sounds good but $400? No sir!

Wouldn't it be funny if he just forgot to kill the Reverb on his amps?

I personally really dislike spring reverb exactly because the spring inserts itself into your sound lol. But yeah 😍😍😍 tape delay.

That's a cool reverb and all, but I can buy a Surfybear for less and have the real thing... with a completely analog circuit. I know a lot of time and energy went into the development of these pedals, but they're overpriced. Simple as that.

Nope

You think you're so funny Ryan.

It's offensive that these pedals cost more than a decent instrument. Buying these overpriced pedals will continue to drive up prices of new gear. The high cost is also just making Sweetwater more money- more margin for them. Less gear for you.