Sonicake Levitate Review – Budget Ambience Done Right
When it comes to budget pedals, reverb and delay can often be hit or miss. Affordable delay pedals some diamonds within the fold, with classics like the Donner Yellow Fall or the Mooer AnaEcho punching well above their weight. Reverb, on the other hand, tends to be a lot more difficult to find great examples in the budget space. Occasionally you stumble across a gem like the Mosky Spring, but more often than not budget reverbs feel a little flat, a little lifeless, and ultimately uninspiring.
Sonicake clearly decided that wasn’t good enough. Ambience is such a vital part of modern guitar playing that there needed to be a proper go-to option for those on a budget. Enter the Sonicake Levitate—a compact dual reverb and delay pedal that aims to deliver practical, great-sounding ambience at a fraction of the cost of the big names.
Breaking Down the Levitate
The Levitate is essentially two pedals in one, split between its reverb side and its delay side. Both are controlled independently via their own footswitches, making it a versatile addition to any pedalboard.
On the reverb side, things are kept simple. You get just two controls: Reverb (which works as your mix knob) and Decay (which sets the length of the reverb). At shorter decay settings, you’re working with a modest reverb—subtle, natural (like the sound in the room), and perfect for adding a touch of space without overwhelming your dry tone. Turn the knob the other way, and it blooms into a spacious ambience that starts to take on a life of its own. Paired with the mix control, you can set it anywhere from “barely-there” airiness to “drenched in reverb” soundscapes where the effect becomes as important as the guitar itself.
The delay side, however, offers a few surprises. On paper, it looks standard enough, with Time and Feedback knobs to control the length of the repeats and how many you get. But here’s where Sonicake gets clever. Instead of a single mix knob, they’ve given the delay independent controls for the dry and wet signals.
At first glance, that might not seem like a big deal. After all, most delays handle this with a single knob that blends between the two. But if you’re the kind of player who likes to experiment, this is where the Levitate reveals its hidden depth. By dialling out the dry signal completely, you’re left with nothing but the wet repeats. That means you can stack modulation, distortion, or other effects onto the repeats themselves while keeping your original guitar tone pristine and unaffected. It’s a trick usually reserved for more expensive studio gear, but here it is on a £50 pedal. For ambient players, this opens up some serious creative potential—thick, washy textures sitting under your clean playing, or glitchy experimental tones that wouldn’t be possible otherwise.
Does it Rival the High-End Options?
No, no it doesn't. Next question... Ok, you want to know the details? Here it is then. Is the Levitate going to rival a £300 Strymon reverb or delay in terms of tone and depth? No, of course not. It offers more than you'd think though...
What makes the Levitate impressive is just how usable and musical it is for the price. At around £50, you’re getting a dual pedal that delivers reverb and delay of a quality much better than you’d expect. The reverb might not be dripping with the complex shimmer of a BigSky, but it’s solid, tasteful, and versatile. The delay, with its added blend functionality, is far more flexible than most budget offerings.
In short, it’s not about replacing your dream high-end ambient pedal. It’s about having a practical, reliable way to add ambience to your board without breaking the bank. For beginners or players just starting to explore ambience, it’s an ideal entry point. For seasoned players, it’s a surprisingly useful utility pedal that covers the basics with style.
Practical Features and Extras
Sonicake has a knack for cramming in extra features where you wouldn’t expect them, and the Levitate is no exception.
For starters, the delay footswitch doubles as a tap tempo when held down. That means you can lock your repeats to the tempo of the song—a feature that’s often missing from budget delays entirely. The method isn’t as immediate as having a dedicated tap switch, but it’s a clever way to pack in functionality without making the pedal larger or more complicated.
On the reverb side, holding the footswitch engages trails mode, letting the reverb decay naturally after you turn it off instead of cutting abruptly. Again, this is the kind of feature you often see missing even in pedals twice the price, and it makes the Levitate feel a lot more polished in use.
Then there’s the practical stuff: it’s compact for a dual pedal, it only takes up one output on your power supply, and it’s built solidly enough to stand up to regular gigging. It also only draws 92mA on your power supply, so you won't have to set aside one of the bigger draw outputs for this one.
Why the Levitate is a Budget Classic
Since this pedal landed at BPC Towers some years ago, I’ve been saying it: the Sonicake Levitate is a budget classic. In fact, day one of receiving it, I posted a short saying this exact thing and I am glad to say, I wasn't wrong. It’s not flashy, it’s not pretending to be a boutique pedal, and it’s certainly not trying to replace the Strymons and Empresses of the world. Instead, it focuses on giving players a strong, practical foundation for ambient tones at a price that makes it hard to say no.
Good reverb and delay are essential for most modern pedalboards. Whether you’re adding depth to a clean tone, filling out your solos, or creating lush ambient soundscapes, you need at least one of each. Having both covered in a single, compact, affordable pedal is a no-brainer.
The Levitate might not win awards for ground-breaking innovation, but it nails the essentials and sprinkles in just enough extra flexibility to make it stand out. For players curious about ambience but not ready to drop serious money, it’s a perfect gateway. For more experienced players, it’s a solid utility tool that can earn its place on a board as a backup or even a mainstay for smaller gigs.
Jerry Springer moment...
The world of budget pedals can be hit and miss, especially when it comes to ambience. But every so often, a pedal comes along that raises the bar for what’s possible at an entry-level price. The Sonicake Levitate is one of those pedals.
It combines solid, versatile reverb with a surprisingly flexible delay, throws in useful extras like tap tempo and trails, and packages it all into a compact, affordable unit. No, it won’t replace your £300 dream machine. But it was never supposed to. What it does is deliver dependable, musical ambience at a price that makes it accessible to everyone—and that’s something worth celebrating.
If you’re putting together your first pedalboard, or if you’re simply after a compact solution for reverb and delay without breaking the bank, the Sonicake Levitate should be at the top of your list.
If you'd like one of your own and you'd like to throw a bit of support to the channel too, consider using this link (use code:BudgetPedalChap for a saving too!):
https://www.sonicake.com/products/levitate?sca_ref=1425095.S0avGvl0i2
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