Firstly, the Behringer DR100 Reverb pedal is a steal at $29.99, for guitar anyway. Do not use this for voice, as I discovered when doing a scene for my animated rock film Bards of Fantasia (order from createspace.com or download from amazon.com)--unless you want a washed-out sound. The jacks and knobs are delicate, but the unit as a whole should survive a couple years if you carefully secure it to a pedalboard. 6.5 out of 10.

Next, the Alesis Microverb III was only about $100 when I bought it in the early 1990's, and tended to stay at that price as Alesis offered more sophisticated midi-versions. I loved how light it was and easy to dial-in. Good for voice and drums, but washed the guitar out too much I thought, and the delays never mixed well with anything either. 6.5 out of 10.

Finally, Rocktron's Cyborg Reverb is astounding right at patch one (you can store and recall 8 patches with the 2nd footswitch, mounted on the pedal). At $219 street, $100 used, you'd expect high-quality, and this puppy delivers on par with sub-$500 Lexicon units. A tone control is strangely absent, but not needed, as the reverbs are practically perfect. I'm just more of a delay guy (delay-effect-blog soon!) so even this didn't stay in my rig long. But for price, build-quality, and sound, it's a 10 out of 10.

Scott "The Bard" Wilcox, aka tocs100, is a musician, Mystic Fx Stompbox designer, filmmaker, and former English teacher, living in Utah.