New UA pedals - Galaxy, Del-Verb, & Max Preamp

[MirrorProfiles]

Why doesn’t someone from RME join UA to help them develop better functioning windows drivers and installers that don’t take 20 times to install?
I mean, I’m pretty sure Lee Iacocca can join UA and in a few short years we can have a UA automobile, but it would only make sense if development wasn’t needed on their core product line.
As far as TC, they’re a shell of what they once were. They make zero competitive products in the higher end rack mount effects market. They made some great products in the past, but I have zero interest in their current product line.

I'd love UA interfaces to be as solid as RME (I use both here). The main developer behind the Apollo line jumped ship to Apple, and honestly, even though I'm sure there will continue to be new Apollo lines every few years, the latest version of them really closed the gap in terms of high end conversion. UA probably realised they sell TONS more Apollo Twins (which are kind of the defacto interface for writing/production rooms, writing camps, users at home, etc) than x16's, which while great interfaces are harder to sell. It gets even more tough when the improvement in quality is so minor. The Apollo was a great idea and product when it was released, but the market is so different now for a number of reasons.

As far as TC go...... well, we've seen that time and time again in the music industry when companies are slow to act and don't adapt with the times. Now they're part of the Behringer line and their tech is getting used in various ways. They're nowhere near the company they were, but they still have years of R&D and experience that very few on the planet have. Their plugins (especially MD3/MD4, VSS3/VSS4) are still absolutely flagship products and fare VERY well even after all these years. Its a shame Behringer don't push them more, but thats clearly not where the money is right now.

 

[EOengineer]

Resurrecting - looks like the market agreed with a lot of the sentiment in this thread. The Galaxy is being blown out for $219 pretty much everywhere. That’s a big price drop.

Maybe a new version coming?

 

[david57strat]

I've had my Galaxy and DelVerb for a few years, now.

I personally prefer the DelVerb over the Galaxy.

Evidently, the price doesn't seem to have dropped, on this model. Not surprising.

I think Universal Audio designed these pedals for people who wanted a great-sounding pedal and weren't in need of or desirous of MIDI and mega programmability that their counterparts offer. There are plenty of other pedal companies that do that. I feel like they were targeting a different demographic, here.

They do sound fantastic, in my opinion - but you know what they say about opinions.

You'll have to excuse the spaghetti. I'm not traveling with these boards right now, or I would tack everything down and make them picture perfect, for safe, reliable travel - and pedals fly on and off of these boards, so I don't really invest the time to make them travel or picture perfect.

They're very heavy, so if you're looking for a lightweight pedal, these aren't going to do the trick for you.

They're also power hungry (I think they need 400 mA, of isolated power, if I recall correctly..?). All of my power supplies (on the different boards) will easily provide that, so I wasn't worried about the power requirements.

There's a PP3 under this Classic Jr board.

They're clunky, and so is the interface to change the preset (well...default models, on power-up) algorithms (verb and delay). I like the app...sort of. But, I find it a little clumsy (It's all done through a Bluetooth connection on a smartphone), and I wouldn't want to have to rely on it, on-stage, if I was going to be experimenting with different algorithms, on-the-fly.

I haven't gigged in years, though, so that was never a concern. I just wanted something that sounded great, and I was okay with having access to other flavors, albeit not necessarily in an immediate way (the clunky app).

Looks like there's a firmware upgrade, as of November of 2024.

I'll have to install it :-).

I didn't have any issues installing the latest firmware, when I first purchased these. I'm hopeful, I won't encounter any, now. either.

We'll see.

They sound wonderful, though (I know I already said that LOL). I thought they were worth the investment, and have never regretted making the purchase - but I have plenty of other delay and reverb pedals at my disposal, so these weren't the be all, end all purchase for me.

As others have said, no reverb or delay pedal does it all, and I'm a reverb and delay junkie, I like having lots of options; so different reverb and delay units get swapped out on different boards, as desired, for the task at hand.

These are bit of an odd duck, compared to the big box mega-delays at similar price points. But, for me, they fit the bill :-).

 

[the swede]

I've had my Galaxy and DelVerb for a few years, now.

I personally prefer the DelVerb over the Galaxy.

Evidently, the price doesn't seem to have dropped, on this model. Not surprising.

I think Universal Audio designed these pedals for people who wanted a great-sounding pedal and weren't in need of or desirous of MIDI and mega programmability that their counterparts offer. There are plenty of other pedal companies that do that. I feel like they were targeting a different demographic, here.

They do sound fantastic, in my opinion - but you know what they say about opinions.

You'll have to excuse the spaghetti. I'm not traveling with these boards right now, or I would tack everything down and make them picture perfect, for safe, reliable travel - and pedals fly on and off of these boards, so I don't really invest the time to make them travel or picture perfect.

They're very heavy, so if you're looking for a lightweight pedal, these aren't going to do the trick for you.

They're also power hungry (I think they need 400 mA, of isolated power, if I recall correctly..?). All of my power supplies (on the different boards) will easily provide that, so I wasn't worried about the power requirements.

There's a PP3 under this Classic Jr board.

They're clunky, and so is the interface to change the preset (well...default models, on power-up) algorithms (verb and delay). I like the app...sort of. But, I find it a little clumsy (It's all done through a Bluetooth connection on a smartphone), and I wouldn't want to have to rely on it, on-stage, if I was going to be experimenting with different algorithms, on-the-fly.

I haven't gigged in years, though, so that was never a concern. I just wanted something that sounded great, and I was okay with having access to other flavors, albeit not necessarily in an immediate way (the clunky app).

Looks like there's a firmware upgrade, as of November of 2024.

I'll have to install it :-).

I didn't have any issues installing the latest firmware, when I first purchased these. I'm hopeful, I won't encounter any, now. either.

We'll see.

They sound wonderful, though (I know I already said that LOL). I thought they were worth the investment, and have never regretted making the purchase - but I have plenty of other delay and reverb pedals at my disposal, so these weren't the be all, end all purchase for me.

As others have said, no reverb or delay pedal does it all, and I'm a reverb and delay junkie, I like having lots of options; so different reverb and delay units get swapped out on different boards, as desired, for the task at hand.

These are bit of an odd duck, compared to the big box mega-delays at similar price points. But, for me, they fit the bill :-).

Daaaaayum.. that board has me salivating… ambient dream board…

 

[david57strat]

Daaaaayum.. that board has me salivating… ambient dream board…

Thanks, brother. Ambient is where I live, sometimes.

 

[the swede]

Thanks, brother. Ambient is where I live, sometimes.

same same, 50% ambient noodling (i usually last 15-20 minutes, then i start nodding off )
and 50% static noises (when i try to do post-rock showgaze sounds )

 

[laxu]

I think Universal Audio designed these pedals for people who wanted a great-sounding pedal and weren't in need of or desirous of MIDI and mega programmability that their counterparts offer. There are plenty of other pedal companies that do that. I feel like they were targeting a different demographic, here.

This excuse never holds water. It's digital, capable of switching presets to swap param values, therefore it already has 90% of the building blocks for MIDI and expression control.

If I buy a Strymon, Meris, Eventide or Source Audio pedal and don't use MIDI, nothing bad happens. MIDI is always just another option waiting there for you if you decide you need it. UA deliberately chooses to shoot their own foot with the design of these things.

I wish they had gone for some secondary parameters for the Del Verb's reverb. There's not enough delay+reverb combo pedals on the market.

 

[Orvillain]

I've gotta say, the Golden Reverberator has quickly become one of my favourite reverb pedals. It just sounds so alive and 3D, it really is quite wonderful.

I do use manual mode and then the preset mode. If I ever went back to a more complex rig, I imagine the lack of presets might be annoying, but for a tap dancer, it isn't much of a worry.

 

[Orvillain]

There's not enough delay+reverb combo pedals on the market.

I've got an algorithm in mind along these lines.

 

[laxu]

I've gotta say, the Golden Reverberator has quickly become one of my favourite reverb pedals. It just sounds so alive and 3D, it really is quite wonderful.

I do use manual mode and then the preset mode. If I ever went back to a more complex rig, I imagine the lack of presets might be annoying, but for a tap dancer, it isn't much of a worry.

That's probably the least bad of all of them. For a non-ambient oriented reverb, two preset settings is more than enough for most users.

I feel like UA designed this pedal first, and then promptly found they had painted themselves into a corner with every other pedal. Then they did nothing to solve those design issues. Of the original 3, the Astra is by far the worst because it's a multi-modulation where you can't have more than two settings.

 

[Boudoir Guitar]

I wish they had gone for some secondary parameters for the Del Verb's reverb. There's not enough delay+reverb combo pedals on the market.

Nobody wishes for secondary parameters. "WHY DIDN'T THEY ALLOW ME TO BANG MY HEADSTOCK INTO MY THE GROUND AND DROP MY PICK INTO A BLACKHOLE WHILE TRYINT TO HOLD A BUTTON AND TURN A KNOB AT THE SAME TIME?!?!?!?"

 

[laxu]

Nobody wishes for secondary parameters. "WHY DIDN'T THEY ALLOW ME TO BANG MY HEADSTOCK INTO MY THE GROUND AND DROP MY PICK INTO A BLACKHOLE WHILE TRYINT TO HOLD A BUTTON AND TURN A KNOB AT THE SAME TIME?!?!?!?"

You wouldn't find use in e.g reverb decay or tone settings, considering it has 3 types of reverb?

UA has always put an alt toggle switch on their pedals for that kind of stuff, but chose to omit them on the Del-Verb.

 

[Boudoir Guitar]

You wouldn't find use in e.g reverb decay or tone settings, considering it has 3 types of reverb?

UA has always put an alt toggle switch on their pedals for that kind of stuff, but chose to omit them on the Del-Verb.

I sold my reverberator mostly because I noticed it darkened my guitar a little when used first in chain (how I intended to use it) and have moved on and stopped thinking about all the things UA coulda shoulda woulda done on a series of pedals I don't own or want to own.

I know this is a guitar gear forum and we are here to discuss guitar gear, but man the need to dissect all the reasons that something is wrong with a device the poster doesn't use or own for the entire life cycle of that product is seriously exhausting at this place.

 

[paisleywookiee]

I've gotta say, the Golden Reverberator has quickly become one of my favourite reverb pedals. It just sounds so alive and 3D, it really is quite wonderful.

I do use manual mode and then the preset mode. If I ever went back to a more complex rig, I imagine the lack of presets might be annoying, but for a tap dancer, it isn't much of a worry.

That's the only one I liked out of their pedals.