Roland DC-30 Analog Chorus-Echo

I will give this a modest 7 out of 10, only because there is no way to combine the dual effects at the same time. my particular unit
I beleive is un-modified and in its origional condition, more or less...a few cigarette burns to the plastic casing...my other friend stole my goddamn knobs for his guitar because he liked the "vintage" knobs...bastard! that guy is a knob himself! here is a VERY IMPORTANT LESSON PEOPLE! NEVER EVER EVER TRUST ANY OF YOUR GEAR IN THE HANDS OF YOUR SO-CALLED FRIENDS! you might say to yourself "gee, mike really knows how to fix electronic gear"
or
"I'll bet my friend so and so would take it apart and put it back together for me"

SURE...well...the taking apart part...lets just say...if you want all the screws dissapeared, and you arent seeing eye to eye with your roland DC-30, sure..hey man...I'd be happy to take it off your hands for you! noooOOooo Problem! just give it to me instead.
if you have one,a strong word of advice:hold it in your arms and cherish and love for it and care about it as if It were a newborn infant...precious, fragile and beautiful...well maybe.

Im sure the manual has a few good suggestions...thats actually a GREAT idea...the interet IS a popular source of information, Im sure I can get schematics for this thing at the click of a mouse....heheh I like that word, Shhcee-matics!

yeah this thing is pretty quick to master, took me a couple of weeks of just playing around to figure it all out down to a science..all a balancing act between you and your guitar and anmp and effects etc..
this thing will give you pretty good results even if you dont have any experiance with effects, lots of things this thing is good for!
like looking real badass and cool on top of a huge amp and cabinet for a start...most people already realized it makes for a fine ashtray for that matter!

I love the sound, actually really find it complements a guitar through a tube amp, Ive recently swtiched from a cruddy marshal solid state 90 watt to a 1966 Traynor YBA-1 Bassmaster...that alone is a whole different can of worms, anyway..anything with a humbucker on it allready melts your face off with hot tone, not to mention a blistering hiss with the amp tone knob all the way down allready...now you crank up the main volume knob on your delay/chorus and just put some chedder between two slices of bread and let the damn thing fry! IT WAILS! I couldnt function without the chorus/delay for that sole purpose in itself...it can make for a very handy overdrive, heres another great thing you can do if you are using it through a tube amp..the last knob on the right side is what I like to think of as a sort of "compromise" knob...you either set it to "low" or "high" pretty much Bass or treble...anywhere in between is cool...I find it takes a little edge off and that helps if your completely drowning in too much crispy tone, I usually leave that knob around the 12 o' clock to 1 o' clock position.
I find that these So called "analog" effects bring out some subtle charecteristics in your guitars' sound that I don't really feel I get from anything in the modern realm of the tech-effects world.

dude, reliable...IS IT HEAVY? heavy is reliable...Im sure, well..It LOOKS heavy anyway...sounds heavy...heheh.

yeah I'd say, how old is yours? still working?

pretty damn reliable as it could be if you ask me.

...now just watch me put my damn foot in my mouth...I really dont want to buy another one let alone FIND another one.

no, I have never contacted Roland itself..let alone tech support...
but I CAN however recomend testing this particular item on your lowest possible volume setting, mine didnt come with a manual..and being the kind of adventurous man I am, decided to just plug it in and play...let me just say...DO NOT MESS WITH THE INTENSITY OF THE ECHO even at moderate volume...or you can possibly kiss your speakers goodbye...part of the ANALOG aspect of this peice, you layer too many levels of signal and no compression..well...you can possibly kiss your ears goodbye too. needless to say, if your tampering with anything you do not yet fully understand, be prepared to suffer consequences.

Yessir..This box of junk landed in my hands a few years ago, my friend was a DJ and into various chemical substances..regardless, some other DJ dude gave it to him for dope or something else along the likes. He wouldn't give in about letting me use it or anything and it just sat around...he told me it didnt work, and so It hung around for a couple of years after that, finally I think he must have caved and either gave it to me,...or did the old "fear and loathing" routine and skipped town and left EVERY peice of material he owned behind in a tornado of crack spoons and dirty rigs and whatnot...well I either dug it out of the ruins when after he vacated out of the province, or he just said "here" one day.
It worked great...worked even GREATER after I took it apart and got all the dust bunnies out of it, the little switches never worked and Im hot on the heels of re-constructing a compatable footswitch.
really blows my mind that this thing was worth so much, and still is.
Its taken years but Ive collected a 3 peice bands worth of gear out of the garbage, value village or just bartering, lets not forget that one mans trash is another mans treasure.

this effects box has what you want! the echo alone...
weather you want to play pink floyd's "one of these days"
or turn up the speed a bunch and play something out of an old 70's drive in B movie...like out of a quentin Terantino film or whatever, to jazzing up a few power riffs, really adds to any breaks in your riffs, I could play on this and never get tired of it...then again I collect and listen to 8-tracks still...so..I dunno If you want to take it from me.

now the chorus I have less interest in but It doesnt hurt to use it once in a while, depends what your playing, I really DO go for the Twangy-ness on this effect...ideal for clean guitar, makes me feel like Im back in the 80's music scene, everything everyone else has said about the "intensity" of the chorus has been right on so far, It took me a while to realize that you gotta keep the chorus volume AND the intesity at virtually nothing for just being able to tell if you are in tune or not...and by 80's music scene...lets narrow it down to something between Van halen or rush or something progressive like that if I have to be specific as possible.
relatively guitar oriented effect if you ask me.
anyhow it still works fine excepting the little teeny switches..that probly never worked right in the first place. Its older than my friend who I got it from, and STILL...it works better than he does.

people...I dont want to be morose and more importantly, OFF topic of discussion, but my close friend is borderline skitzo-psychotic now, and plus he's already had a stroke in his sleep causing "bells paulsy" (spelled wrong i think, but its what prime minister jean chretien has...where half your face is dead..honestly is pretty freaky to see someone laughing with no expression on one side of their face!) this was evidently caused during an indulgent two week long bender, involving some XTC...so the paulsy went away after a few months, and a few months after that he was gone...well his poor mother, please dont be a dumbass!

anyway...I DARE YOU TO TRY AND STEAL MINE!

OR ELSE!!! (or else what? you dare ask?) well I dont know yet but thats the point...Im gonna take my time and come up with something pretty sinister in that case, just try! yes I would be a sad and broken spirited man untill I had filled the empty void left by an absence of the ROLAND DC-30 Analog chorus/delay!!! I cant wait to hook it up to my 4-track and test a few vocal tracks!
rock on everyone!

This unit is very user friendly, with nice sized rotary pots for chorus strength, delay time, feedback, input volume and tone, plus a 3 way blade switch for selecting chorus, echo or bypass. These make it easy to see what your settings are and very simple to adjust one handed and get on with the real job of playing music. Just plug a footswitch in for turning the effect on and off, and a volume pedal can be used to remotely adjust the delay time to gain the perfect slapback or echo for the tempo of whatever you're playing. Couldn't be simpler.

These were I believe originally designed with the guitarist in mind, so of course the frequency response isn't 20/20, and neither it should be. The chorus sounds best at it's lowest setting, or close to it. Very nice and warm like that, but a bit too over-modulated if you wind too much in. The echo is where I believe it really shines. Typical analogue sound with that natural decay of bucket brigade devices as the echo fades away on longer repeats. You do notice a slight loss of top end on longer repeats, but in my opinion this just adds to the pleasantness of the overall sound, similar to a tape echo, without the hassle of using endless loop tapes.

I bought this unit new when they first came out some time in the late seventies and it has been part of my stage setup ever since. I've never had a problem with it and I consider it an important ingredient to my overall guitar sound.

Never had any sort of problem with it, so have never needed any sort of customer support.

I don't use the chorus much, but the echo is indispensible for my guitar sound. I've been a pro guitar player for nearly forty years, and this unit replaced my WEM Copycat, and apart from not having multi-tap capabilities, has been a perfect sonic partner to my strats and any amps I've used over the years. Good for recording too. I've embraced most musical styles as a serious working musician since the mid sixties, and whether it's a bit of doubling or slapback for rockabilly or soft repeats ala Hank B Marvin and Mark Knopfler, or long call and answer type echos, this unit does the job for me. If it was lost or stolen I'd definitely have to find another, because digital delays just don't have the natural sound and ambience I get from this.

Yard Sale Treasure... Kind of like a Large FootPedal, Plug-n-play. 2 Inputs: Mic and Mic/Instrument with separate large, smooth volume controls, and two outputs: Direct and Effect. Tone Knob similar to old style radio-High/Low. Switch - Echo, Chorus, Off. Great for those who don't need to be crouching in front of their pedals to manipulate the settings, this thing can be operated with one hand. Great for anything you wish to be experimental. Chorus Has one Knob, 'Intensity' can really detune the heck out of anything at max rate. Echo is simple- Repeat Rate, Intensity, and Volume Control. Repeat Rate Footswitch input on back, have yet to use it. Echo Can be used with nothing input into the unit, dial your Intensity to the Max, Turn up volume (watch it!!), dial in repeat rate. Sounds like the aliens are coming to get you, then dial repeat rate down slowly for the landing, or for an idling Deisel Lorry sound. I use echo more than chorus, as you can imagine. Flip the echo switch to off and echo rapidly for a stabbing delay. Dial repeat rate to max, and intensity minimal for a large pseudo-reverb tank. On the interior of the unit, there are some labeled variable resistors on the board you can adjust if the repeat rate is too high or low at the min/max thresholds, which I found to be quite useful. No Manual, you'll figure it out under 2 minutes. Schematics are on the net.

I use this thing with anything I have available that I need to aurally augment, or destroy. Fender Rhodes (Spacey!), microphones, Moog (Whoof!) let your instruments run free with this thing. I uusually patch the output into an MXR Script Phase 90, crazy stuff...

As before, I tend to use Echo more abundantly than chrous, so I tend to be drawn to that. Watch your input volumes, there's LED's (Green and Red) that'll notify you of impending distortion, but that's a 50/50 aspect that might intrigue sound construction. I'll dial this baby in whatever amp I can Muster up, a large Bass Cabinet will shake a rib loose if your not careful. I'll consider the effects portion excellent for the age of this thing.

Built like a tank, metal encasement, which I repainted with Wrinkle finish for a retro-radio operator look. The knobs are large, pots are smooth. The dB adjust switch and the other switch (?) were removed by previous owner, or never installed at all from the start. Switch flicks with no effort, but watch your abuse. Plug and Play, always there for me. I've dragged this thing everywhere, and people wonder at the sight of this thing.

I'm the Customer that Supports the unit myself. I bet Roland's tech crew are probably younger than this unit itself.

Good stuff for those whom like to hoard old equipment. I like it just the way she is, and if it were stolen/lost, I'd eBay and get ripped for prob'y $150+ for another. I have a Boss Digital Delay Pedal, that is similar, but I need the 'One-Handed Echo Control' for when I'n stabbing abay at keys or holding a mic. I play electronic drumset, but I don't really need it unless I'm doing a reggae beat. I'll use in an insert to a group on the mixing board, but Have a Midiverb 4 for that. It is fun for all...

Pretty much straight foward. Plug into it and plug the output into an amp. Twist some knobs and you're on your way to some sweet analog delays.
Getting a good sound is easy if you know what you're doing, if you don't you'll probably get something interesting too.
There's footswitch and a rate control optional (if you can find them) so I imagine with those it would be quite easy to use.
When you set it up to self-oscilate it is like an alien space instrument. Very nice noises.

I've used several different guitars, synths , bass guitars and voices with it. Seems a little noisy for a mic or a clean sounding bass but for guitar I like the nastiness. I love the warm Echo/Delay sounds from both ends of the dial and all point in between. The volume and tone controls allow you to really dial in just the right sound and the input controls can produce sweet overdrive.
The Chorus section isn't the greatest but it will do. The chorus has a warm tone and if you crank it you will get a weird warble, which is a nice strange special effect.

Never had trouble with it. I bought it in 98 and have used it for almost every live gig and countless hours of jamming, and practicing.
I've ran all kinds of stuff through it and it just keeps on going. I've even used the metal top as an ashtray. In short, I've abused it and it is still going strong.
The front is plastic but the chasis is metal and vented on the sides.

Never had to deal with roland so i dunno.

I give it an overall 8 because the chorus seems weak and by today's standards it's porbably not too impressive, but I love it. It's strong and has a distinct sound.

7 dials and knobs on the front of this 40cm x 15cm x 10cm metal box from 1979 or so. Saw that Adrian Belew used one for one song on an early `90`s album of his (mainly for the quirky foot controlled delay rate that can be achieved with a volume pedal). There is only one control for Chorus, and thats *Instensity*, but I`ve found that it actually controls the rate. For the Echo side there are three dedicated knobs for repeat rate, intensity and volume. There are three other knobs, two for volume inputs and one for tone. There are two inputs, and two outputs; one output is for direct, or uneffected signal, the other is for the effected signal. There is a switch for Chorus, Echo or Off; you cannot use the Chorus and Echo functions simultaneously (bummer). There are "level" selectors for -50, -35, and -20dB on the input jacks, and -20 and -35dB on the output jacks.

For your information, I have lived in Japan since 1991, and I bought this relic from the age of polyester leisure suits and disco from a pawn shop for 10,000 yen (about $100 US). It listed in the 1979 Roland price list for $625 (1979 dollars, sheeeesh!), that price rivaled their more well known models like the Space Echo....however THIS is the first review of this model ever submitted to Harmony Central (I wonder why?). Has anyone out there ever owned one of these these units?
While Adrian Belew found the foot controlled repeat rate useful for recording one song (genius that he is) I found it to be just plain weird and not useful for any situation in which I might find myself, except maybe attempting to communicate with an alien mother-ship, like the "contact-scene" in *Close Encounters*. Churning, garbled weirdness is the most I can say for it.
Even weirder is the fact that Adrian was manipulating only the repeats and the original note was not heard because he was using the effect "out" only, and the effect out does not carry the the uneffected signal. This unit allows this flexability, but it is of dubious value.
However, quirky long-abandoned foot controlled repeat rate aside; it IS an analog device with dials and knobs, and I have found it quite intuitive to use.

Well, its a Roland. Can you say Boss? Think late seventies Boss Analog Delay (like a DM-2), and early Chorus (like a CE-2). OK now stop thinking that! I`d trade this thing for a DM-2 anyday (incidently, I have a Boss DM-2, I love it. I submitted a review to Harmony Central, read it if you like). If the person trading me wanted to throw in a Boss CE-2 as well, you`d make me doubly happy. While this device is ok, and I don`t regret buying it, it does not live up to my expectations. The chorus I do not use, its just too limited, there`s only one control, and it just doesn`t deliver what I want. I don`t know whether this thing was actually meant for guitar players or keyboardists or vocalists. One of the inputs is marked "mic/instrument", and the other is just marked "mic".
The Echo is good, about equal to the analog delay of the DM-2, and while my DM-2 was not functioning, I was gigging with the CD-30 for its delay function, and getting by alright, but its big and doesn`t fit in my pedal board worth crap. I guess a more accurate rating would be a 5 or 6 for the chorus effect and an 8 or if I were more generous a 9 for the analog delay effect. BUT I like the DM-2 more, and I only gave it a 9 for sound quality, so I can`t give the CD-30 a 9.
Can anyone out there tell me why this proto-chorus effect from a company known for its great early chorus (Roland JC 120) is so ho-hum?
Also, if any of you vintage gurus out there can shed some light on how this thing was received way back when, your sage-like advice would be well appreciated. Roland Space Echos seem to be the holy grail, but this thing which was offered the same year and for equally BIG bucks gets nary a mention, except a brief nod from Adrian Belew who used one once to record one song; and only then for its bizzaro foot function.

So far, so good. Had it about 4 years. Looked new, the still looks new. Metal case. AC cord. Tough enough.

Nope never dealt with them. Owned a ton of their products, including a JC-120 and a zillion Boss pedals. Good stuff, the one Boss pedal I had break, I fixed myself (see my review of the Boss DM-2)

I play primarlily Strats, I own about 5-6 and ten other guitars (again see my review of the Boss DM-2). This Unit is good if you can find one at a low price and if you don`t have an Analog Delay.
But, when I say a low price; I MEAN a LOW price....how low? Well, if you have a chance to buy a Boss DM-2 or DM-3, or a Deluxe Memory man, in my mind you`d be further ahead paying more for one of those, especially if you are a guitarist looking for a guitar analog delay. The delay function is good though, and it will give a nice atmospheric, ambient kind of trance inducing wash to your sound. Maybe there are some finer points that I have missed that someone else out there who owns one could point out to me, if you could it`d be much appreiciated (is there anyone out there who owns one of these!!!???) All in all its a very big clunky box with some kitch value, but considering the one thing it does do quite well its a waste of space, and very quirky, and although it does have its merits, it would be hard to recommend that you buy one.