The Internet Has Thoughts About Guitar Player's Strymon BigSky MX Review.
Guitar Player crowned it the champ of multi-reverb pedals. The only argument owners are having is about the price tag.
Two sides. One page.
Johnny argues the piece. Then he argues against himself. Somebody has to check his work. Read both, then call the winner below.
The take is shown below.
Source
“the MX is a must-try contender that will satisfy your ambience requirements regardless of your musical style”
What the internet actually said
“Absolutely blown away by the depth of options and quality of sound.”
Long & McQuade · q.
“Sounds so good it will bring tears to your eyes. Strymon is the Ferrari of effects pedals.”
Long & McQuade · d.d.
“It is ridiculous that a 10-year old reverb, costing half the price, is still beating this thing.”
Thomann · 0.
The Suede Read
Guitar Player did not hedge on the Strymon BigSky MX. The reviewer wrote that it would be replacing the original BigSky as his go-to reverb pedal, crowned it the champ of multi-reverb pedals, and in the cons column reported nothing except a price that may deter some users. The price is $679, so that except is doing real work.
We pulled the receipts. On Long & McQuade, one buyer was absolutely blown away by the depth of options and the quality of sound. Another said it sounds so good it will bring tears to your eyes and called Strymon the Ferrari of effects pedals, which covers the sound and the invoice in one line. On Thomann the pedal sits at 4.8 out of 5 across 16 ratings, and the distribution is the story: fifteen five-star reviews, one two-star, nothing in between.
That one dissent is worth reading in full. The buyer called the MX 90 percent old algorithms in new packaging and said it is ridiculous that a ten-year-old reverb costing half the price still beats it. Notice what the fight is about. Not the sound. The number on the tag.
Guitar Player said the only thing standing between you and this pedal is the price. The owners who love it talk about the sound. The one who is angry talks about almost nothing but the money. When the harshest receipt we found agrees with the magazine's con column, the press called it.
Spotted something the press fluffed? info@suedeai.org
Fifteen five-star reviews from $679 early adopters is the exact honeymoon distribution the Fluff Index warns about, and the house's own mid-year list already called this pedal over-praised. Both verdicts cannot stand.
This masthead has now published two rulings on the BigSky MX. Upstairs, the mid-year fluff list ranks it the single most over-praised pedal of the year, a $679 spec bump whose honest new feature, two simultaneous reverbs, serves approximately the people who post board photos professionally. Down here, the receipts desk reads the same coverage, pulls the same price, and stamps press was right. One building, one pedal, two opposite verdicts, zero cross-references. I am not asking the house to agree with itself. I am asking it to notice, in print, that it does not, because a publication that runs contradictory verdicts without flagging them is doing the thing it audits the glossies for: printing whatever the day's format demands.
Now the receipts themselves. Fifteen five-star reviews and one two-star on Thomann is presented as consensus. Consider who files a review in the launch window of a $679 reverb: buyers who pre-ordered the flagship, self-selected believers with maximum post-purchase investment, reviewing inside the honeymoon. That distribution, near-unanimous raves with a lone dissent, is precisely the shape this column's founding essays teach readers to distrust, the unused bottom half of the scale, the month-six silence. The Fluff Index method says wait ninety days and read the firmware threads. This post read the wedding register and called it a marriage study.
The tears-to-your-eyes, Ferrari-of-pedals quote the post savors is the tell. That is not an audit surviving contact with owners. That is enthusiasm quoting enthusiasm, and the desk that built its name setting launch copy against month-six reality just set launch copy against week-two applause and banked the agreement. The MX may earn the crown; Strymon usually does. Check back at month six, run the used-price rule from the house's own playbook, and print the follow-up either way. Until then this verdict is a deposit, not a finding.