Roland SRV-2000 MIDI Digital Reverb

Had an SRV 2000 from 2010 – 2017 in the studio. Works on pretty much anything. Drove my TR-808 sum signal thru it – bang. Reminds me on all the 1980s hits. I really liked the easy to use approach and the spot on reverbs of it. Features an EQ as well! You can set it to SDE 2000 mode with some knob-combination – nice to have. Drawbacks: Units gets pretty warm in the rack (requires space), DRY WET knob is on the backside of the unit. Mine had some issues with the Output jacks.

So, over the years I’ve had a plethora of Reverbs and to this day, I’m a bit of a geek when it comes to 19 inch rack effects. I own a couple of these SRV 2k’s and for what they seem to be selling for now, is a ridiculous price for a lot of tech !

When these came out in 84, Yamaha released the Rev 7 as an alternative, and I own 4 of those too. The SRV is more than just a reverb and as such, you can utilise its “test: function to operate as a Digital Delay. The Reverb itself is really warm, and I love it for Vocal and softness.

It is equally suited for woodwind and acoustic instruments but can also be quite snappy for gated (non-linear) effects on drums, but I have to say, I do prefer the Rev 7 for percussion reverbs. Like all vintage outboard gear, its a little noisy but not any worse than other gear from the same era.

If you buy one, you will definitely need to change the internal battery and be warned…. SRV’s can go into spasm if the battery is completely dead. A great feature is re-loading the factory reverb patches if the unit loses its memory, by holding “Reverb/Non-Linear & Write” buttons while powering up. Unfortunately, this will only load the first 16/32 programs, but better than nothing.

Came across this unit at a flea market yesterday. Did not know what I was in store for. This unit just goes places I never expected to. The sound is amazing, lush, deep, bright..anything you want it to be. Turning up the mid band EQ really makes this come to life. Such a fantastic vibe to it. LOVE IT! Downsides? None really, except its heavy as a horse but who cares, it sounds great!

Like most people at the time, I was torn between this unit and a Yamaha REV-7. I sat there comparing features with the brochures and the eventual purchase was postponed many times. When I later actually heard both units, I was so relieved that I did not buy the REV-7 which to my ears had a terrible brittle sound to it.

I eventually bought my Roland SRV-2000 when the DEP-5 was released and therefore the SRV-2000 was greatly discounted. I always thought that this unit was far superior than the DEP line of effects. I was starved for reverberation in my little closet studio for so long that this was a total coup. Literally *everything* I played and recorded instantly sounded so much more appealing and I loved tweaking all those parameters, even though the presets were programmed very well.

Later I discovered the hidden features on how to turn it into a delay unit as well. I remember working in a larger studio which had a Lexicon 480L as their main reverb. I had brought my SRV-2000 in as an auxiliary unit and left it there for a few days.

One of the engineers actually preferred it over the Lexicon because he thought it sounded ‘more natural’! If it wasn’t for the fact that everything is being done in the box now, the SRV-2000 would still be my go-to box for everything reverb, even though by now I own a bunch of larger effects boxes, including a 480L.

This old Roland Reverb is absolutely brilliant on snares. With it’s grainy reverb tails being very well suited to the task, and this graininess can work well on brass too I find. They tend to get really hot in use, so space above it in your rack is advised.