“Usually you hear it coming out of your amp. Here, you feel it all around you”: Paul Davids once visited a nuclear power plant to find the world’s most incredible reverb – now it’s been turned into a signature ambient pedal
Austria’s inactive Zwentendorf nuclear plant plays host to what might be the world’s most awe-inspiring natural reverb, and now its essence has been bottled for Cornerstone’s first signature pedal
(Image credit: Cornerstone / Paul Davids/YouTube)
Paul Davids' has collaborated with Italian boutique pedal builder Cornerstone for a new signature ambient reverb pedal, the Nucleo – which is inspired by the natural reverb of a nuclear power plant.
Many of Cornerstone's previous releases, including the Klon/Bluesbreaker-inspired Colosseum, have centered around emulating the tones of classic players, such as Stevie Ray Vaughan and Robben Ford. The Nucleo, though, is a different beast entirely.
Inspired by Davids’ visit to the Zwentendorf nuclear plant in Austria, the Nucleo looks to offer the sort of reverbs you'd experience from an abandoned reaction chamber, but has also been bestowed with granular synthesis, modulation, pitch shifting, freeze effects, and plenty more to take its ambient capabilities beyond typical realms.
Microphone manufacturer Lewitt Audio, which was the brains behind the trip, created an Impulse Response out of Davids' nuclear jamming, but now that reverb and swathing magic has been bottled in a user-friendly stompbox.
Its two biggest dials control the 'Reactor' size, from a lo-fi room reverb and upwards, and the Blend of the effect. There are controls for the Modulation, Pitch, and Speed of the resulting 'verb, as well as Decay, Tone, and Freeze (volume) dials. Finally, there are two footswitches for Bypass and Freeze.
Cornerstone has also said the pedal can save presets for quick interchanging between the best voices players can muster, and will also have MIDI functionality to bolster its viability in live settings.
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Playing Guitar In A Nuclear Power Plant (sounds BEAUTIFUL!) - YouTube
“Usually you hear it coming out of your amp or from your speaker,” David had said of the reactor’s reverb while standing in the heart of it, guitar in hand. “[Here you’re] drenched in reverb, you feel it all around you… this is very inspiring.”
The pedal is available to pre-order now with the launch price of $429. Orders will begin shipping in early December.
A freelance writer with a penchant for music that gets weird, Phil is a regular contributor to Prog, Guitar World, and Total Guitar magazines and is especially keen on shining a light on unknown artists. Outside of the journalism realm, you can find him writing angular riffs in progressive metal band, Prognosis, in which he slings an 8-string Strandberg Boden Original, churning that low string through a variety of tunings. He's also a published author and is currently penning his debut novel which chucks fantasy, mythology and humanity into a great big melting pot.
