Zoom H4 recorder used for reverb?

[tjcurtin1]

I just read an interview with acoustic master and popularizer of DADGAD tuning, Pierre Bensusan, where he talked about his minimalizing of his gear for on the road use. It listed his effects as a volume pedal and "Zoom H4 handheld digital recorder (for reverb)". Anyone understand how that would work? Just curious.

[deeaa]

Hm, I guess he'd just place the zoom a bit farther away (even quite far) from the amp so it picks the sound a little later and also some room sound, and then feeds back the Zoom's output to a mixer - so you get a reverberated sound in addition to mix in. Or maybe the zoom has a reverb built in as well, go figure...but sure you can get reverb with any mic placed well off the amp and mixing it with the original.

Only, you'll also get all kinds of bleed from any other instruments plus noise plus phase issues...so it's not the way you'd usually do it live, only in recording.

[Ch0jin]

Yeah the only way I see it working is like Deaa said, but it sounds really dodgy to me. I mean it's not hard to find a decent reverb in an amp or effect these days and that would negate issues with feedback, placement, cable runs, noise, phase, pickup and so on that would have to arise using a recorder to do it. Then again, I'm no expert by any means. :)

[syo]

I believe the H4 has a bunch of on board effects including reverb.

[deeaa]

Yep it does have an onboard verb..VERY strange though to use that if it's what he's doing...those in-built verbs are similar to what a Zoom G1 for instance uses, which would be not only a fraction of the price, also already configured to use for guitar...using a zoom for its inbuilt reverb seems like really going up the tree *** backwards...

OR maybe it's he's using it somehow as a combination of all those; the Zoom mics allow for very diverse ways of toying with phase and whatnot...it could be he's really close-micing with the zoom after all and using its verb and phase tricks to output something to mix with the guitar---I can see a gearhead doing that kind of experiments easily...but, still seems like a weird and complex way to achieve something like just reverb ;-)