I spent some time today playing with the 'verbs and found out something very interesting and non-obvious. I'm surprised the Mackie guys never told us?
Anyways turns out to select a 'verb you DON'T want to select one on the FX page
! If you do you are only selecting the kind of 'verb model but not loading proper settings for it so of course it'll sound like poo
.
What you have to do is recall one of the "Presets". That sets the kind of 'verb and loads a proper set of settings for it. I like "ShortPlate", "Sml Stage" and "Sml Room". I'll try some of the other models with the settings those use. The "Ambience" and "Small Room" models do sound a bit on the "undetailed" side to my ear but quite acceptable - hopefully some of the other models are more detailed
.
Update: I was using the "Lrg Room" preset yesterday outdoors and it really sounded great to me
.