I took a chance buying Electro Harmonix’ Ravish Sitar pedal as it is so new that I couldn’t find a user review on it. But I have to say, I am very pleased and it sounds really cool! It is modeled after the famous Coral Electric Sitar made famous in the 1960s and featured on so many pop and rock recordings and not a real acoustic sitar. That being said, the Ravish Sitar still sounds very good and has some pretty interesting tones. I especially like that it has many ways to change a tone subtly or completely making it very versatile–for instance, you can eliminate the drone or sympathetic string sounds altogether and just feature the lead melody or vice-versa. Also, you can strengthen or completely eliminate the buzz that gives a real sitar its unique sound depending upon what you are trying to achieve or emulate. If you’re looking to achieve a close simulation of real sitar sounds in a live band setting for tunes like: Paint it Black, or Cry Like a Baby, as well as many others, I think you’ll be pleased with the relatively inexpensive, Ravish Sitar. And by the way, it comes with a 9 volt power adapter so you don’t have to buy it separately.

I’ve been dreaming about a pedal like this one for 15 years. I saw the Ravish Sitar online a few months ago, got it, and boy, I could not be happier.

First things first. This is not just another stomp box. It is a full-blown effects processor – with its own memory, and user editable patches you can store and recall at any point. It is very flexible and you can create a ton of interesting – and usable – effects with it – not just the sitar it is primarily known for. There is a ton of inspirational videos on Youtube about it – watch them and see for yourself.

The pedal has a learning curve – it’s not something you play right out of the box, so be prepared for that. To fully understand what it can deliver, you need to invest quite some time with it.

It is built very well, and the metal box looks reliable to me. A few things left to be desired: 1). I wish the two metal on/off switches were not as stiff. You have to really push hard to make them work. 2). The plastic pots look plain cheap to me – for that price I wish they were a little nicer. 3). The LCD "screen" is also in that department – cheap soft plastic. 3). Overall, I wish the navigation and the interface were a little better. The solution with a basic LCD, a white rotating pot and two metal on/off switches looks too cumbersome to me. This is not a simple effect. It needs to inspire you, not make you spend hours reading tutorials and fiddling with switches. I have a Strymon Timeline delay, which shares a similar concept, and those three issues do not exist there.

The sound is very convincing, and the sonic options are limitless and very fun to explore. Currently I am using the Ravish with an EHX expression pedal – for the pitch effect, and I am planning on getting a second expression pedal to control the drone effect. The Ravish sounds great on clean channels, and is not quite usable on dirty ones. You may want to throw in some reverb and/or delay, but even by itself it sounds awesome. The pedal is very transparent and while disengaged it does not alter your tone at all.

Overall, I am very happy with it, and I do recommend it to anyone willing to explore new territories in their playing. Have fun!

Great fun. Very nice piece of equipment. First song I laced into was George Harrison’s "Inner Light" … Followed by "Paint it Black"
Having a complete blast with this

Chocolate Watchband tunes next!!