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.
His visit to the plant led to Davids experiencing what might just be the world’s most incredible natural reverb. Uniquely, Zwentendorf was never brought online after a change in public sentiment in 1978, meaning he could plug in and play in a reactor that, if it were functioning, would be deadly.
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.
“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.”
