Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
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Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: UNKNOWN
Submitted 10/26/2009
at 04:25pm
by Darryl Pierson
Ease of Use
:
7
I'm talking about all three (Original Script V logo, New V over circles logo, and the New V2), one at a time below.
Overall fairly easy to use, but no two versions are the same. One minor complaint: delay settings drift. Found that when I used the battery clip rather than the AC barrel jack that was taken care of in version 1 and in version 2. I can't figure out V2 (version 3). After playing for hours, the delay becomes like the original. Long is long; short is short but usable. At first, short sounds like bad digital reverb, and long sounds similar to the original short. Time shift is very strange, especially considering that these are digital delays designed to sound analog.
Sound Quality
:
6
Script V logo - the original (1999 to 2002 or so)
Great sound. Warm analogue chorus...noisier (hissy), but as good as just about any analogue chorus on the market.
Delay also sounds really good. (Just use the battery clip to power it in your pedal board)
Block V logo - the second version (2002 to 2007 or so)
Chorus sounds like a high pass filter was inserted at about 200-240Hz. Engaging it means the body of your sound (where the fullness and--sometimes--boominess comes from is gone). Not bad if you're playing a solid body and you're in a band with a rhythm section, but if you've got a jazz box or an acoustic and you're using it without a drummer or bassist around, you'll really notice it and not like it one bit. On the other side, a vibrato setting (fast and not too deep---rate at 1-3 o'clock/depth at 10-12 o'clock) is really cool. Much better than the original. This isn't enough for me to keep it though.
Delay is the same...same glitch too. The only thing I notice, just a little, is that the volume of the dry signal seems cut when you crank the delay level.
V2 - The new guy (2008-Present)
Chorus is interesting. Same as Block V logo (everything below 240 Hz or so goes bye bye when you engage it), but it has that 80s lush switch, which is kinda cool. Although I never have the need to sound like Alex Lifeson circa Presto. So, I'm not a fan...Don't like the new foot switches either. I like to know it's engaged by feel. With the new one, I have to do a quick visual confirmation...no pun intended.
The new delay takes the glitch to a whole new level. Unusable short...unless you like really bad digital reverb. The long isn't bad, but it has a noticeable drop in volume.
Overall, the history is this. The original was warm, but a little hissy. I used it for more than 10 years...live only. The second version is alright, but I probably won't be keeping it around too long. And the third one didn't last a week...couldn't stand it. Personally, I think Visual Sound is starting to get in the habit of shooting themselves in the foot.
Reliability
:
8
The original one just died after 10 years of heavy use, (live, on the road use). Not too shabby.
I don't think I'll find out with the two new ones...
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Overall Rating
:
2
Starts with an 8, moves to a 6 and ends with a 2. Not too good.
I've been playing for 20+ years, and I'm kinda ticked off a Visual Sound. I really liked the original pedal. But, que sera sera...
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: UNKNOWN
Submitted 08/31/2009
at 07:08pm
by Mike
Ease of Use
:
9
The manual is ok - the suggested presets will get you started. After that, it's just a matter of tweaking the knobs a bit to get the sound you're looking for!
Sound Quality
:
10
This is by far the best sounding chorus pedal I've ever owned! The Echo effect is just a bonus, in my opinion! The combination of these two effects is great! I have used other chorus pedals in the past, but found that they boosted the treble and volume of my amp when I kicked them in, so I found that I had to adapt to playing with the chorus on all the time. This pedal doesn't do that! For that reason alone it was worth the price, but throw in the fact that this is the most lush sounding chorus effect I've ever heard and it's a real winner!
Reliability
:
9
Not sure about this, but it's built like a tank! I'm hoping that it's as rugged as it feels!
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
No opinion here - haven't had to use them!
Overall Rating
:
No Opinion
I would recommend this to anyone who needs a chorus pedal that can produce a variety of useful sounds! Throw in that echo effect and this is a combination that will turn heads! Well worth the money!
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: USD 189
Submitted 02/26/2009
at 06:24pm
by James Willaman
Email: Jameswillaman<at>netzero dot net
Ease of Use
:
9
Although all of the controls are quite simple, I did have to work a bit to get the sounds I was looking for especially out of the chorus side of the H2O. This is probably more a result of me looking for a very particular sound rather than problem with the design of the pedal. I was also coming from the Electro-Harmonix Small Clone whose single knob and switch had probably spoiled me!
Sound Quality
:
9
I use a 1998 Godin LGXT, a 1995 Godin LG (with a SD Phat Nack in the neck and SD P-Rail in the bridge), and a newer Gretsch Country Classic through either a 60 watt Music Man with 2 tens or Vox AC30.
The chorus side of the H2O is pleasantly subtle, and the tone of your ax is not at all buried. It is also capable of producing a wide range of sounds thanks in part to the inclusion of a "lush" switch. With the lush switch off, you have access to a range of tones that are more flat and flanger-like--though not as overbearing. The lush settings are just that, fuller, warmer, and more what I think of as chorus. The sound quality is really rather high and the unit itself is pretty quiet, however it may be just a tad less warm sounding than I personally like. That said, this is part of my touring rig.
The echo side is slightly less impressive. The short/long switch is great in that I have been able to find a balance setting for the overall pedal that allows me to choose between slap-back and spacy-echos with one flip. This is great for the application I am using for since I need to keep my pedal board small enough to fit in an overhead. While the sounds are very usable, they are not overly impressive. In short, it is 'good enough.' It is not harsh, cold, or sterile, but it could be warmer and more analogue sounding. Also, I would love it is VS added the trailing off feature that my old delay pedal had which meant that, after you turned the pedal off, the sound naturally faded away rather that suddenly disappearing.
In all, the pedal does everything I need it to do and sounds just a tad short of fantastic. It is its versatility that has earned a permanent spot on pedal board, but my I will be keeping my eyes out for other chorus and delay pedals that I can fall in love with for recording situations.
Reliability
:
6
After a year of use, I did have to have VS replace my H2O. I lost all control of the speed setting intermitantly.
Customer Support
:
10
Great. The above mentioned problem was handled fast and no questions asked which made up for the unit's failure in my mind.
Overall Rating
:
9
After using this pedal for well over a year, I can say that, for the price, this pedal is hard to beat. I sounds very good, has lots of options, and is not noisy. I am glad I purchased it.
I do have to say that having this pedal made in China does bother me, and I was unaware of this fact when I first bought it.
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: UNKNOWN
Submitted 02/07/2009
at 09:00pm
by douglip
Ease of Use
:
10
Dead Simple - no need for a manual. Even my mum could get a good sound out of this pedal!
Sound Quality
:
9
Chorus a bit swishy on unsubtle settings, but I'm only using this live and it ain't an issue for me - it's quiet enough.
I like the chorus and the echo sounds a lot - very natural sounding to my ears
I've only recently bought this - the Mk One version, second hand. I've gigged it twice including last night and on the spur of the moment I used the chorus and echo with a Line 6 Distortion Modeler (the Chandler Tube Drive sound) and I swear it was the sound Alex Lifeson uses on Red Alert. Knocked out by it. Only used that particular sound on one song though.
My set up currently is a PRS Standard 24 Satin 20th Anniversary and a Clapton Signature Strat into:
Boss Tuner - Cry Baby Wah - Line 6 Distortion Modeler - Tube Screamer - Boss Graphic EQ (primarily to boost solos) - H20 - Boss DD3 Delay - Boss Pitch Shifter
All the effects are on a Pedal Pad (MKS) and go into a Cornford Roadhouse 30W head, with a Marshall 2 x 12 and a separate 1 x 12, running in mono (the second cab used just to provide more spread)
Very happy with it - the H20 had added a lot to my sound
Reliability
:
8
no reason to question it's reliability. built like the proverbial brick **** house too.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
no dealings heard good stuff about them though
Overall Rating
:
9
I play 70's & 80's covers. I like this pedal coz it sounds a wee bit different with the chorus (it doesn't sound generic)and gives a pretty warm analog sounding echo too
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: USD 189.00
Submitted 02/03/2009
at 07:59pm
by Eddie
Ease of Use
:
10
Typical configuration for a chorus and delay pedal.
Sound Quality
:
9
guitar: Charvel San Dimas Model 1-2H
amp: Mesa Boogie Express 5:25
Inserted in the effects loop of my amp - very quiet with a slight boost in volume. Full bodied tone, very lush - this one's a keeper.
Reliability
:
No Opinion
As far as I can tell - should be fairly reliable.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Haven't used it - can't say...
Overall Rating
:
9
I own chorus pedals made by Boss, Digitech, Guyatone and Rocktron - I now have a new favorite. I also own a Boss and Digitech delay. I've never been satisfied with their tone. The short delay setting on the H2O is very organic in tone compared to the others. The long delay setting is more digital in tone but still pretty good.
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: AUD 350
Submitted 11/11/2008
at 10:00am
by Vinnie
Ease of Use
:
10
Its a no-brainer pedal (or really, two). The controls are obvious. I haven't read the manual, I rarely do unless it's some new digital thing. It's the latest model (purchased mid 08) I had an older version which I sold.
Sound Quality
:
9
I have several strats, a tele, a Jazzmaster and a Gretsch Roundup. A Fender Twin amp, a Vibroverb (old black face with Altec 15" speaker) and a Blues Jr.
It's a quiet pedal, no noise to mention. I use a regulated AC adaptor with it, I don't trust batteries !!
The chorus is rich but not too thick. I like the addition of the normal/lush switch, the Lush setting allows the natural sound of the guitar to come thru, where the normal sounds alters it around the mid and low end. This was the reason I sold my old one and I'm glad they added this switch.
The echo/delay is the best I've heard of any pedal I owned before. It doesn't have buckets of effect volume when you crank it up all the way, but I've never had a need to go this crazy setting. why ??
Although it's not a full bypass, I haven't noticed any loss of signal like others have reported, maybe they're really picky. I think they've done a really good job of this.
Reliability
:
10
This new model is a rock solid diecast box, the upper ridge offers some protection from stomping the knobs or even knocking them, where the previous model was made from sheet metal. Still good, this I feel is better. I would feel confident in not taking a backup with me. If it failed, I would just unplug it. My life don't depend on it.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
nope, nope.
Overall Rating
:
10
I've played on and off for around 40 odd years, play rock/covers, funk, jazz (old and new), bass (when I really have to). I like to be able to recreate the original sound and feel and I also like to improvise my solos ALWAYS !! I don't like to play the same thing twice. I don't go for effect pedals too much apart from distortion and overdrive, only use chorus and echo when really needed. My other pedals are MI Audio crunch box and Tube zone for distortion and a vox or dunlop (don't remember) wa pedal.
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: USD 80 USED
Submitted 01/18/2008
at 09:47am
by JerseyBoy62
Ease of Use
:
8
I have the original H20 not the V2. It take ssome tweaking but the manual provided give syou some good standard jumping off points. I bought it for the echo and to us ethe chorus as a backup to my analog.man. It blends well with my othe rpedals thus far.
Sound Quality
:
9
What I like best is atmospehere I get from the echo/delay side. Next, the chours is decent. not fantastic, better than less expensive stuff for sure. It sounds so much better when I run it with the analog.man unit simultaeously. I put each on slightly different settings and WOW! It sounds like a wall of guitars.
The delay side really gives my solo playing serious beef and depth.
I havent noticed and problems with tone sucking so the buffer must be decent.
Reliability
:
9
This thing is built like a tank. I have confidence in it.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
No opinion, I bought it used. They seem liek a good company I just wish they would make these true bypass. I may have someone do it anyway if its possible. The buffer inst bad.
Overall Rating
:
9
I think would replace it if broken accidentally or stolen. I have been playing for 30 years on and off. I have just really taken to it again in the last 2 years. Play it with my D'Agostino Benchmark two humbuckers with coil splitters and a Les Paul faded special with P-90's It sounds the best with the Dag but good woth teh P-90's too. I definitely ought it for the echo/delay but like the added chorus. I wish it was true bypass. Overall, it s great pedal worth the cash.
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: UNKNOWN
Submitted 12/29/2007
at 06:31am
by Slimfinger
Email: lpjoe at yahoo<dot>com
Ease of Use
:
5
This is an update of my earlier review. I had a hard time getting settings I liked at first, but now that I've found them, I'm an enthusiastic user of this pedal.
The thing is thick and heavy, which all cuts back on ease of use to I'll give it a 5.
Sound Quality
:
No Opinion
Love the delay on this pedal, now that I've figured out how to set it up. Really organic sounding, better than a Boss DD3 I used to own. Just perfect for me with all three knobs set at around 11 o'clock.
The chorus side works quite well too. It brightens the sound a bit, but I don't notice the volume increase others have mentioned. I use it with the sweep knob all the way down most of the time.
Reliability
:
7
Seems reliable overall but the thing really eats batteries. Seems like most chorus and most delay pedals have the same problem. Before I would have to change batteries every two gigs or so, so sometimes I just didn't bother bringing it along, worried it would die mid-gig.
Since I started using PowerBug batteries I've been able to use it more.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Overall Rating
:
10
I play indie rock, some classic rock as well. Works great for both, very happy with this pedal. Great buy for the money.
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: UNKNOWN
Submitted 11/30/2007
at 03:02am
by esxmac
Ease of Use
:
10
The new V2H2O is pretty easy to use--no manual necessary, although the manual does include some good sample settings, 4 per side. However, no specs are listed in the manual and they wasted 1/2 of it advertising their other products. Other than a new Normal/Lush switch for the chorus side, the knobs/switches are the same as the original H2O (Chorus: Speed, Width, Delay Time; Echo: Echo Time, Repeats, Effect Level, with a Short/Long switch). It also has a 2nd output jack for a dry signal.
Sound Quality
:
10
This pedal is blowing me away so far. It doesn't color my tone when it is off. And both sides sound very analog--truly impressive.
The Chorus side really shines. I can get Boss CE-5 smooth and lush to a 70's type sound to a Leslie type tone--a truly amazing array of chorus sounds. The only catch with the chorus is that when the switch is on "Normal", highs are increased at the expense of some midrange. It doesn't sound bad at all, but it did surprise me. When the switch is on "Lush"--and it really is lusher--it doesn't change your tone, just add a very lush chorus to it.
The Echo side has a pretty good range of both echo and delay. When the Repeats knob is fully CCW, it provides exactly one repeat, which is great--others I have tried still do 2-3. However, when the Effect Level is all the way up, the echo isn't as loud as the original. It won't kick my Boss DD-20 off my board, but it sounds very good.
The only thing that would make this pedal True-Bypass is if the slick new stomp switches actually popped and/or snapped. The buffer is just incredible and has no color that I can hear. I thought I heard something at first, but after extensive testing with both my amp and GT8 using headphones, I think it was either all in my head, or, any change is just because I had to add another patch cable.
Reliability
:
8
I would gig without a backup. The build quality is very solid. Nothing plastic other than the Normal/Lush and Short/Long switches. The bigger back seems there to protect the back of it as well.
I am not giving it a 10 because when I first plugged it in, it distorted some and behaved very oddly. I plugged it into #6 on my PedalPower2 (5-6 on the PedalPower2 can power the Boss twin pedals) and after a seconds the lights stabilized and the tone cleared right up. If Visual Sound were to publish the milliamps required for this pedal, I bet it would rival the Boss twin pedals. However, I have also heard that sometimes with fresh solder, it stabilizes during the first 1/2 hr of use, so maybe that is what happened. It only behaved oddly that first time I plugged it in.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Don't know yet, and considering the build quality of this thing, I doubt I will need it.
Overall Rating
:
9
I play blues, rock, CCM, R&B, and some funk. I started almost 17 yrs ago on bass, and added guitar shortly thereafter (but I have played maybe 5 yrs total in all that time).
My setup is as follows:
Fender American Standard Hardtail-->Keeley BD-2 Phat Mod-->Fulltone Fulldrive 2 Mosfet (blue sparkle)-->V2H2O-->Boss DD-20-->'65 Twin Reverb Reissue. All cables in the chain are Evidence Audio Lyric HG.
If it were lost or stolen and I still felt a need for chorus/echo, I would definitely get this one again. I love the bypass, the wide variety of tones it makes, and how it looks. I am not so crazy about the lower echo volume or the tone shift in the chorus.
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: UNKNOWN
Submitted 11/29/2007
at 11:11am
by john
Ease of Use
:
9
Easy to use, controls are very responsive. It has "two" independent sets of controls for each effect. Awesome!
Sound Quality
:
No Opinion
I just bought the 5150 III head and was looking for an effect pedal that would "compliment" the already killer sound I'm getting from the amp. I have a 89 Les Paul Custom, Fender Strat, Tele, Wolfgang, and Rhoads Jackson. As you can tell by my selection of guitars my tastes in music are really broad. This pedal, for the money, is the best one out there. Slight delay you get the early Halen sound, definitely Rockabilly, Robin Trower, just about anyone you can think of. Engage the chorus with an acoustic or electric, Boston sound. I do notice a slight increase in volume when I engage the chorus, not too bad, just being nit picky.
Reliability
:
9
The only thing I would have a backup of is batteries. This unit can be drop-kicked and nothing will happen to it. More sturdy than a stinkin' tank!
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Never dealt with them
Overall Rating
:
No Opinion
I play rock, metal, Christian you name it. This is the most versatile and great sounding pedal for the money. Again, two pedals in one and totally independent of each other. I looked at other products that cost 300-500 dollars for one of these effects let alone two this one does the trick. I would even go as far as saying this is probably better than most of the more expensive models. The construction reminds me of Fulltone products, complete quality. I'm going to start looking at other pedals this company makes and if they're anything like this one I'm definitely buying them.
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: USD 80.00 USED
Submitted 05/01/2007
at 11:20am
by barniclebast
Ease of Use
:
10
No manual necessary. three knobs per side. If you are familiar with delay and chorus pedals it is a no brainer. I like that it has two separate stomp pedals that can be hit individually or both at the same time. I was able to get decent sounds out of it within a couple of minutes. you will find that there is some tweaking to be done on the width and delay time on the chorus, and the effects level and repeats on the delay to help the effects cut through better.
Sound Quality
:
9
I have had this pedal for a couple of years now. Overall, i am still very happy with it.
The chorus is pretty good. I use very subtle settings on chorus pedals. I keep the speed very low, around 7:00 or 8:00, the width around 11:00 and the delay time around 1:00 or 2:00. it does add nice warmth but i have two minor complaints. first there is a definite volume boost that i get with the chorus side and not with the delay side. not a big deal but kind of annoying because i can't bring the effects level down on my loop because then it will be too low for the delay. Second, the chorus causes and earlier break up, which can be unpleasant in the clean tone. sometimes it sounds nice for leads with delays.
I think that the delay is excellent. for the money i have not found a better delay. It is very warm and round sounding. i have compared it to boss delays and they sound brittle in comparison. I think that this pedal is technically a digital pedal but it definately sounds analog. I know of a lot other delay pedals out there, but i can't justify paying $300 or $400+ to get one of these. i use delay alot, so i had to go rack and went with a korg SDD-2000 which is very good.
Reliability
:
No Opinion
no problems to speak of.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
N/A
Overall Rating
:
9
I know of a lot other delay pedals out there, but i can't justify paying $300 or $400+ to get one of these. i use delay alot, so i had to go rack and went with a korg SDD-2000, which is very good. i don't have time to bend over and change settings anymore and i cannot afford to have 10 delay pedals. I will however keep this pedal and use it when recording unless the korg can prove to be better.
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: USD 90 USED
Submitted 04/11/2007
at 04:13am
by TJSweet
Ease of Use
:
9
Very straight forward to use. I never really use the second dry output because I dont have a second amp so I dont know the difference in the volume of the two outputs, and I know the delay time knob on the chorus does something but not exactly sure what. I can hear the sound change but its not as straight forward as the speed knob or the repeat knob on the echo.
Sound Quality
:
7
I love the chorus and the echo. Its just great. BUT, I do know that the signal is altered just a tiny bit even when the pedal is off. Its either because of the extra cable or the fact that the pedal is not true bypass, I think its the pedal. Having said that its tho only pedal that isnt true bypass in my chain and one pedal is really not going to make a difference. The chorus is great, and real easy to get a great sound with. The only problem with the chorus is the volume jumps up when you turn it on. If you try it with a small practice amp you can really hear the increase in volume but when your playing loud its fine; I personally got used to it and either keep it on for an entire song or use it to emphasize. The echo is also good, but only if you keep it in the long mode. The short is really short, I mean really short and if you dont have the time knob set to past 3:00, its almost non existent, and besides thats almost exactly the same a 9:00 on the long mode. But its simple, no fussing with numbers like a delay pedal, its great to build an atmosphere. It can be used like a powerful reverb to double lead phrases. But the thing about the echo is, unlike the chorus, the volume drops when you turn it on. If you turn both the chorus and echo on at the same time the changes in volume almost cancel out but individually, its kind of annoying.
Reliability
:
No Opinion
Very sturdy, but one thing, it eats batteries so use an adapter. The structure is heavy duty (and quite big!).
Customer Support
:
10
I bought this pedal on ebay for I believe it was something like $80 or $90, but it was broken. I had tried it at music shops and loved it but knew it was cheeper online, and Im all for used stuff but this experience has taught me to NOT buy pedals online. The seller was rude and not helpful at all and was actually kicked off ebay, so naturally I ended up with a pedal I had to get fixed. I realized the phone number for Visual Sound was on the back of the pedal so I called them up and they said they would fix it and upgrade it if I wanted for $30. I thought great!, shipped it off and within a week I got an email saying the pedal is fixed and upgraded, call this number during these times and you can pay over the phone and we will ship it back. Paid them $30 and got the pedal in great shape. Thanks a lot.
Overall Rating
:
9
I love this pedal. Im sure there are some high end chorus pedals that have more control over the effect but I like a subtle chorus on most of the time so I just needed a little. I play Blues, Rock and a little Jazz. The chorus makes my clean sound full and warm. The echo is great to use as a reverb, but thats just how I use it. Its capable to be use in more extreme manners, if that makes any sense. If it were stolen I would look around but wouldnt be surprised if I arrived back to the H2O. Its just great for the price.
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: UNKNOWN
Submitted 03/06/2007
at 04:26pm
by Vintagetone
Ease of Use
:
10
Easy to use, couple of knobs.
Sound Quality
:
5
Chorus bugs me on this, don't like the sound. Delay is fantastic. It does cut your signal if you go into it first. I use with an Evans AH200 Hybrid amp.
Reliability
:
9
Reliable and tough.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Overall Rating
:
6
I play Jazz but wanted to get a nice tone with chorus and delay. This thing chows on batteries so get a wall wart. I mean chows! If you are going to get a pedal and you have to plug it in, why not get a multi-effects floor board? I wanted the ease of battery but I am spending all my money on batteries.
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: UNKNOWN
Submitted 12/23/2006
at 04:30pm
by Bobby D.
Ease of Use
:
10
Basically: this is one of the easiest pedals on the market to use.
Sound Quality
:
7
Having read some of the other reviews, there's two ways to use this thing. You will get more tone sucked out of your signal if you use it on the floor. But if you use it in your FX loop (especially if your loop is buffered with a tube like the Boogie stuff) you will hardly notice any drop. When I sent it back for the newer Panasonic bucket brigade upgrade, it started to make oscillating noise if the chorus was turned up too much. But for the money and the BASIC sound of this unit: it's a jobbers tool and good for most applications. Use good cords, experiment with batteries versus AC. Then make your decision.
Reliability
:
9
Made well: used for 3 years before upgrade. No backup needed unless you use it as springboard or throw it at your keyboard player.
Customer Support
:
9
When shipped back to the manufacturer for the upgrade: it took one week! A rarity in the gear world. But when I wrote them about something, they did push their AC adapter.
Overall Rating
:
7
With Johnny Hiland, Phil Keaggy and other top players using the line: there's reason to be impressed. Gear that affects your instrument's time or modulates it will always be your personal business. After playing over 30 years with mucho studio/live experience, this pedal is small yet rugged. It does eat batteries if you choose to go that route (about 12 hours if you yank the input cord). Great for jobbing, but maybe not quite a TC or Lexicon unit if you can tell the difference. I use DLS stuff for true bypass (Vintage Guitar had a great shotout this past year) and will get a Zoom G2 for small stuff.
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: USD 125
Submitted 10/28/2006
at 11:24pm
by Tim Singer
Ease of Use
:
10
Nothing to it.
Sound Quality
:
8
Playing a LP Custom through either Fender Twin or straight through PA. Also direct to computer for recording. H2O has very, very sweet sound. Only two gripes: 1) A bit noisy when using the AC instead of battery. 2) "Short" echo is VERY short, almost non-existent. Long echo is fine.
Reliability
:
10
No problems.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
N/A
Overall Rating
:
No Opinion
I'm sure there're better sounding pedals out there. But for a dual pedal at this cost, I highly recommend.
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: USD 145
Submitted 10/22/2006
at 04:34pm
by TieDyedDevil
Ease of Use
:
8
Not plug-and-play, but neither is it rocket science.
Sound Quality
:
8
I play a semi-hollow guitar into a Fender amp.
I like that the echoes get murky with extended repeats, and that tweaking the delay control during repeats gives you a "pitch-shift" effect rather than the nasty "zipper" sound that you get from certain digital delays. Both the short and long delay modes have their charms, although the sounds I most often use are from the long mode. I tend to run the delay level quite low, as I like a subtle echo effect for most of my playing.
The chorus side has some good sounds. I've found that it's really important to adjust both the delay time and width controls to avoid the hoky `80s chorus sounds. The manual's "fast Leslie" setting is actually fairly convincing; it's certainly an OK Leslie substitute for live performance.
The buffer sounds really good to me. I think I can hear a small difference between the buffered signal compared to plugging my guitar straight into the amp, but it's subtle and not at all unpleasant. The complaint that I have about most buffered pedals -- that the high-end is veiled -- is definitely not present with Visual Sound's buffer.
The other nice thing about a good buffered pedal is that you get absolutely clean switching with none of the glitches or pops that seem to be unavoidable with true-bypass switching.
Reliability
:
No Opinion
It's too early to tell how well this'll hold up with long-term use.
Customer Support
:
9
I had a question about the pedal and was very pleased with the rapid, courteous and thorough responses to my emails.
Overall Rating
:
8
I play improvised fingerstyle guitar, drawing freely from old-school rock, folk, jazz and classical styles. I first picked up the guitar in the mid-`60s, and have been playing "seriously" for the past six years.
My main rig is a Koll Custom DL Thinline through a Fender Vibro-King. I have a small assortment of special-purpose pedals in addition to the recently-added Visual Sound Route 66 and H2O. If the Visual Sound pedals hold up under regular use, I may consider selling the rest of my pedals.
The most important things to me are that the pedal sounds good and is easy to adjust.
The real stroke of genius is packaging two related effects in a single pedal with the stomp switches close together. With one press you can turn either or both effects on or off or toggle between one effect and the other.
The "home plate" shape of the pedals may also be useful. I have both the Route 66 and the H2O and have experimented with placing them at 45 degrees to each other so all the stomp switches are in a cluster. I've been able to toggle useful combinations of three or four switches at once.
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: USD 110
Submitted 09/23/2006
at 07:01pm
by Madison
Email: m0sma at hotmail<dot>com
Ease of Use
:
7
its a pain in the ass to get the chorus to stop sounding ridiculous, but it comes with a booklet that gives you the different types of ranges and settings, so that helps a lot.
Sound Quality
:
4
i read on the visual sound website that "visual sound pedals do not use a true bypass, but something that may be better: pure bypass". this lasts longer than true bypass and is cheaper, part of the reason why you're getting two pretty high level effects for under $200. upon reading this, i set off to my amplifier and pedalboard to test their hypothesis. the pure bypass is a type of buffered bypass, meaning that your sound is passing through circuitry whether the effect is activated or not. i tested with several different cords and effects that had true bypasses and discovered that this pedal cuts a good amount of high end and brightness off of your tone even when its not activated. both of the effects themselves would be really quite good, but the pure bypass' cutting of brightness renders both of them useless. they also stated on the site that the pure bypass cleaned up the tone of a guitar that had been run through several pedals that cut brightness and whatnot. although this may be true, it is certainly not anywhere near a true bypass or "guitar to amp" as it claimed.
Reliability
:
8
its never failed me, but the buffered "pure bypass" means that circuitry is liable to go bad faster than hardwired pedals. still, i'd trust it for a gig without a backup...if i chose to use it.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
never dealt with them.
Overall Rating
:
6
it is so close to being good. the effects are seriously great and well conceived, but that "pure bypass" and the brightness it takes away is just unforgivable. that being said, it is tremendously superior to the buffered bypasses that are featured in boss, danelectro and digitech pedals, but its still nothing near a true bypass. it is a good idea to have 1 buffered bypass in the chain so that your signal from the guitar is powering just a few feet of cable rather than all the way to the amp, and i'd probably choose this as that one over any other pedals.
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: USD 100 USED
Submitted 08/15/2006
at 11:52pm
by halfling
Ease of Use
:
8
Easy to get a good sound out of it? It is hard to get a BAD sound out of it. Very versitile and easy to tweak.
Sound Quality
:
10
This thing sounds amazing, and I'm not really a huge fan of chorus effects. I needed an echo, and thought I'd give this a try and see if I can find a use for the chorus. Now I use a subtle chorus on a lot of the stuff i do...it sounds very organic and just fattens up your guitar, doesn't alter it in anyway. The echo is perfect for me, simple and warm, even though its digital.
Reliability
:
No Opinion
Haven't had it long. but i bought it used and its still kickin
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
N/A
Overall Rating
:
9
I play a lot of instrumental, dark yet mellow kind of rock and roll and this is working out wonderfully. The chorus sound great with other effects--ie overdrive and fuzz (it true!)--and the echo is just what i needed for a warm vintage vibe without the hassle and insane expense of tape echo.
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: UNKNOWN
Submitted 07/16/2006
at 03:26pm
by Mathijs
Email: heteren at tiscali<dot>nl
Ease of Use
:
8
Very easy to use, see all other descriptions. The only problem I encounter is the short long swith. First, changing from short to long yields a loud "sreege" sound (not very pleasent during a live gig), second, if you set up the pedal for short echo, changing to lon echo yields useless sounds. In other words, changing to long echo requires fiddling with the knobs. While this is not a bad case for at home/studio applications, it does not make the pedal a two in one pedal in live situations
Sound Quality
:
4
And this is where I probably differ with the majority of the reviews here -I really don't think this is a good sounding pedal. Why? In any setting it drastically alters the tone of your guitar. It doesn't matter what set-up you use, what guitar you play, but once you turn on the pedal there's this metallic, bass-less mid-range-y tone. My basic rig consists of a Fargen Miniplex, a Boogie Mark II, a '59 Reissue Les Paul, a Custom Shop Mary Kaye Strat and a customised Japanes Custom Tele (great guitar by the way!). My pedals are all analogue: vintage Ibanez AD-9, Pearl AD-5, Fulltone Wah, MXR Script Phase 100.
The chorus is very hard to use. Aside from the metalic tone, on low speed settings there's a loud phasing to be heard, more like a phaser/flanger than a chorus. The chorus is harsh and not very musical. On higher speed settings the effect becomes a bit out-of tune -the delayed effect is out of tune with the original effect. This also takes away the dynamics of your playing. I only find the chorus mode usefull for extreme gadget effects: with the speed on ten you get this crazy Leslie-like effect. Compared to my Boss CE-2 (which is excellent sounding, but an one-trick pony), the effect just really isn't good.
The Echo effect is better, but I simply just don't like like digital echo. Do note: this is an echo effect, not a delay effect. All repeats are copies of the original. So, there's no way you will ever get a decent slap back delay like a tape delay or a good AD-9 unit. The echo must degenerate while repeating, and that's not the case. The pedal's main teritory is long echo's, so you can lay dreamy land scapes and layers. But again, I find the way the pedal alters your bsic tone into a metallic, screaching Tele-like style really terrible.
Reliability
:
8
It's solidly made. The casing will last 20+ years, but the paint will be gone by then.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Never dealt with the company, but they seem to be quite active on the market.
Overall Rating
:
5
I just really don't like this pedal. I don't mind digital per se (check out the new Boss RT-20!), but this pedal just really is harsh sounding, in a very un-musical way. Any pedal that takes away the warmth of a Les Paul is worthless (unless it is a Treble Booster or Big Muff of course). I sold this pedal, and I will never by it again.
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: US $135 on sale at M-Friend
Submitted 06/29/2006
at 12:06pm
by Chris Barnes
Email: barnes<at>productoffaith dot net
Ease of Use
:
10
Very easy to use. One page manual. Very lush and sweet chorus. Or mega swirly ala leslie-like if ya want it. Very 80's to me. Old school....Police or Gilmore all the way!! NICE!
The delay is simple and no-nonsence. C'mon do delays really need a hold mode?? Or a tap tempo?? Use your ears and buy a sharpie marker!! It is just an echo people. This one is a keeper. Great analog vibe. The second output can be easily modded from clean to effected for a second amp out! I use mine clean for an output to my tuner. I hear no signal loss when the second output is used. Not so with a volume pedal's tuner out...
Sound Quality
:
10
The Pedal sounds great! Both effects...Not noisy AT ALL but it does have a slight volume boost when engaged. I find that an asset, not a negative. Not a tone sucker either! You will LOVE this pedal!! It has a permanent place on my board.
My Rig:
Guitars... Main->"Barnes Guitar Works"Custom (PAF style bridge,duel blade singles HSS)Swamp Ash body psudo-strat<>Area 51 Wah<><Keeley Modded Sparkle Drive<>Keeley Compressor(Keeley suggests placing it after the main OD)<> Monte Allums "H2O" modded Blues Driver(better than Keeley's IMHO)<>Keeley Ultra Mod Boss DS1<>Visual Sound H2O Chorus/Delay<>Keeley Modded Boss TR2 Tremolo<>Modded Boss DD3 Delay<>Marshall AVT 50 Stack or Behringer Vintager AC112 Combo... depending on the room or stage.
Reliability
:
9
Honesty time here. This is the ONLY problem that I have had was the long/short switch. I have had mine for about 2 years. And used for countless hours. The long/short switch went bad a weeks months ago. One of my students also has the same problem. Hmmmm...they might need a different switch. Or maybe they already do, I have not seen this problem in other reviews. Hey! But have no fear!!!!!! Read Customer Support Section..... really.... read it!
Customer Support
:
10
Fastest Email Response EVER.... like 2 minutes per ! AND...mailed me the replacement switch for FREE!! Notice I said I had it for almost 2 years!!! Warranty was only ONE year!! I got the switch right away. The best in customer support!! THIS is what we pay for!
Overall Rating
:
9
I play Christian Rock ( like Third Day, Audio Adrenaline, and David Crowder Band)...and some old school rock and roll stuff.
I have been playing for 32 years....as a Pro/Semi-Pro live and Session Player and instructor... and just for the fun of it ;-)
Chris Barnes www.productoffaith.net
This is a GREAT sounding pedal!!! And UNREAL support!!!.....Not too tough to repair(if needed) No board soldering needed. They might need a heavier switch.... But on the other hand... two years of being continuously stepped on can give almost any pedal a switch problem.... Hey just ask VooDoo Lab!! lol
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: N/A
Submitted 06/24/2006
at 12:32pm
by Bobby D.
Ease of Use
:
10
If you cut to the chase & read the E-Z to read manual: great sounds out of the box. Superb for jobbers & players who want to :get it right & get it quick".
Sound Quality
:
10
From PRS to Reynolds (using Bartolini PU's): superb. I use it with the various send-return loops in my amps & it's clean (Fuchs, Bogner, Star Gain Star * Boogie Lone Star Special). Better to use it with an adaptor: the batteries don't last long if you you keep the input cable plugged it all the time. Recently sent it to the company for an upgrade: back in one week!
Reliability
:
9
Never had a problem. Just have an extra battery ready after about 9-12 hours of use.
Customer Support
:
10
The fastest return speed when I had it upgraded. No need to say more.
Overall Rating
:
9
Quiet, compact, well-built. Usefull for any application from country slap to long delay, nifty chorus too. PedalGeek.com was great to deal with too.
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: US $80 used
Submitted 06/09/2006
at 10:49pm
by Paul
Ease of Use
:
10
This pedal is incredibly self explanatory. There are 2 buttons, one for chorus, and one for echo. Lots of options to choose from as far as eq's go and such. Definetly a user friendly pedal.
Sound Quality
:
10
I play this pedal through a 100W Marshall JCM900 Half-stack, a 1970 Gibson Les Paul Deluxe (Original), and a dunlop cry baby wah pedal. It is definetly an organic chorus, because you hear fuzz a little bit, but overall the chorus and echo together are incredible. A side note, im a firm disbeliever in chorus pedals, they never sound good to me, but the chorus on this pedal is amazing even without the echo.
Reliability
:
No Opinion
Never giged with it, although i plan to in the very near future.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Never Dealt with the company
Overall Rating
:
10
My band plays all kinds of music, and this pedal goes great with alot of the songs. I've been playing guitar for 5 years and this is by far my favorite pedal i have ever, or ever plan to, buy. If my h2o were stolen, i would try my hardest to find another one, because i'm sure once i start writing with this pedal, nothing else will be the same.
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: N/A
Submitted 05/09/2006
at 06:09pm
by Marc Nolte
Email: info at facetomorrow<dot>net
Ease of Use
:
9
Man, I love this effect. This is just what it says; a chorus and echo in one pedal which used together give your sound an 'underwater edge'. First one I bought was from the States, it gave up on me after a year or so, so I bought a new one in the Netherlands. And to be honest that one isn't quite as nice (Much more extreme) But still; love it and I have to be careful not to use it too much.
It's pretty easy to use, left side controls the chorus, right the echo. Knobs are self explanatory...
Sound Quality
:
10
It fits nicely in my setup, I usually put it last in my effects loop. Playing over a Koch Powertone with either a Fender Telecaster Deluxe, Gibson SG or Les Paul... the effect sounds ok though the echo is a bit noisy. I use it with clean as well as distortion, here's a track I've used it on quite a bit; http://www.facetomorrow.net/download/Face_Tomorrow_-_My_World_Within.mp3 (My guitar is on the right, which starts with arpeggios and comes in at 0:35) I use it almost throughout the song on clean as well as on distortion
Reliability
:
5
Well, I had one break down on me during a really important gig, so I'm not too sure about it anymore.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Overall Rating
:
9
Overall, this is a great effect, if it'd break down again I'd definately get a new one. I have used it a lot and I am very sure this will stay in my setup for a very very long time..
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: US $89+boss trade
Submitted 04/23/2006
at 09:15am
by martingibson70
Ease of Use
:
10
It doesn't get any easier. It sounded great with all knobs at 12:00. Even so, it still comes with a cheat sheet for 4 classic sounds for both the echo and chorus.
Sound Quality
:
9
I traded my Boss CE5. I think the Visual Sound pedal is vastly superior in sound, veratility, and ese of use. 9 because it is a more organic sounding chorus (code for a bit of hiss).
Reliability
:
No Opinion
After reading some of these reviews you'd think you'd need 3. I bought it on recommendation from a friend is a pro. He says this pedal is "an integral part of his sound". Having said that he never gigs w/o a backup modeling amp.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Website is helpful and informative. My dealer, Mojo's Music www.mojosmusic.com, has had nothing but good experiences with the company. This is a great old-fashioned "Main Street" music store with personalized service, and I have no reason to doubt that any problems that may arise will be expedited with courtesy and professionalism.
Overall Rating
:
9
I'm a Les Paul/Mesa convert to Tele/Rivera Pubster 45. I now mostly prefer clean Texas/Southern Blues/Single Coil simple tones. This pedal fits the bill for adding a nice Nashville slapback-Crazy Little Thing Called Love solo. In addition, the long delay switch can offer that Police-think Message in a Bottle.
The chorus is lush, liquidy, and refreshing. I like it enough that I will probably pick up the Route 66 to complete my Nashville sound.
Cost figures here, and it does seem expensive. Yet, it is 2 pedals in 1. So, I will give it a 9, great but not fanastic value.
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: US $94
Submitted 04/08/2006
at 10:53pm
by Slimfinger
Ease of Use
:
9
Very ease to use, in fact this is one of the unit's best features. I like the way there are three well-marked, logically arranged knobs for each effect. I decided to give one of these a try after being frustrated with a Line 6 Echo Park, which had way to many choices for me. Plus the Echo Park had too many knobs with labels written in such small fonts that they were impossible to read on a darkened stage.
I bought my used off eBay, and it was a unit that was an original H2O that had been modded by Visual Sound to bring it up to par with the 2nd version (enhanced chorus).
It's difficult to get a bad sound on any of the settings. I like that when all the knobs are set at 12 o'clock you get a medium, usable sound for each effect (chorus and delay), and can work from there in either direction. Perfect.
It may have been easier for me to figure out - and this may be why I wanted to try one of these in the first place - because I've been using Visual Sound's Route tt (compressor/OD) pedal for years. The layout is similar, easy to pick up.
The unit is heavier and bulkier than I thought it would be. Maybe 2cm taller than the Route 66. Doesn't fit in my gig back pockets as readily as the Rte 66 and other effects, so I find myself having to carry it separately. Slight negative there, otherwise would get 10 points for 'ease of use' Mind you the extra mass is not large enough that it's not usable, for sure there are other pedals around that fall into that category.
Sound Quality
:
10
I use Strats (set up with 10s) and Teles (11s) through a variety of amps (Blues Jr; Vibrolux Reverb: Siegmund Midnight Special; Sound City 50w with 2x12 cab). The only other effect consistently in the signal chain is a Route 66. I place the H2O at the end, as prescribed. For some gigs I may also use a RMC Picture Wah, which I run between the Rte 66 and H2O.
The sound quality is perfect for my uses. Starting with dealy, I just wanted two basic kinds: a slightly spacey one for David Gilmour-style solos or Hendrix's House Burning Down type sounds; and slapback/reverb. I found it really easy to set these two sounds on the delay side. I have one spot for all three knobs on that side, and then simply switch the rocker switch between long (spacey echo for certain solos) and short (slapback/reverb, used almost all the time except for the aforementioned solos) delay. I never have to move those knobs once they're set. I turn all the reverb off on my amps (I don't really like the reverb on any of my amps anyway, except for the Vibrolux; the H2O actually sounds much better, much cleaner).
Comparing to the Line 6 Echo Park (the only other delay pedal I've owned; I will probably eBay it now), the delay sounds on the H2O sound much more natural, with more 'body'. Even though the Echo Park had the option of choosing tape, analog or digital, none of the three sounded as good as the one-sound H2O delay, which I would describe as analog-sounding. All the other tricks the Echo Park through in just weren't needed by me. Some of the tricks that sounds really good in theory - like ducking (where the echo stops while you're playing notes, comes back in between note phrases) - just don't sound like good classic delay in actual practice. I thought ducking would be cool but then you don't get that nice 'blur' throughout (as in House Burning Down, again), which by the way can cover up a multitude of sins and make fast runs come off sounding just a bit better than they would sound without delay (as much as it pains me to admit that). Likewise 'trails' and a bunch of other options on the fancier delay pedals.
The chorus side similarly offers great, classic-sounding chorus in several layers of depth and speed, just perfect for old Police, U2, and so on. You can also get a good jazz chorus sound on that side, a la Pat Metheny, I was suprised to find last night at an after-hours jam last night where I fooled around with it.
I was half-way waiting to hear some tone-sucking when I first took it to a gig. For a few mintues after I first plugged it in I even though it was sucking my tone. So between songs I took it out of the chain and it made no difference whatsoever - in fact it was the room that was sucking my tone that night (really tough room with low ceilings and too many hard surfaces). Later at home I tried taking it in and out of the chain, and again could hear no difference. Really quiet pedal by the way - I get zero noise from it, and thankfully no loud clicks or pops when switching it on and off.
Reliability
:
No Opinion
It seems pretty sturdy. I've been abusing a couple of Route 66s for the last six years or so and they've never complained, so I'm hoping this pedal will hold up just as well.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
I've emailed Bob a few years back, when I needed a new Route 66 quickly, and he was quick to respond. Other than that, no idea, so will not score this category.
Overall Rating
:
10
I'm really happy with both sides of this pedal. I was looking for good, basic sounds to dial in, was hoping the H2O would have it, and I feel I hit the jackpot on this one. I know I'll be using this pedal for years to come, much like I have the H2O. I was hoping the Line 6 was going to be it for me, but it wasn't - too fussy and too easy to get bad sounds out of it. For a player like me with relatively low demands - or perhaps I should say 'standard' or 'classic' demands, as I'm actually using it quite a lot, it's just I don't need more than two or three settings, nothing extreme for cutting edge - for echo and chorus, it's perfect.
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: US $165
Submitted 04/07/2006
at 12:22pm
by Jay Thorson
Ease of Use
:
10
I've had this 8 months, its on my main rig, used a few days a week. Very simple to use. Almost every setting is useful. The little suggestion sheet gets you started in the right place quickly.
Sound Quality
:
10
I'm using this with my custom semi-hollow body electric made by Master Guitar (Luthier George Gorodnitzki). It has custom wound H-S-S pickups and a piezo bridge pickup. I play a wide variety of styles in a worship band. I run it into a SansAmp Tri-AC, and from there direct to the board. This pedal gets me exactly what I want in chorus and echo, and it is very easy to get my sound in a moment. Absolutely delicious.
Reliability
:
2
I've had this for 8 months, and it has went bad twice. A chip went bad two weeks after I bought it, which wrecked the chorus section. The same thing happened this week, which is why I'm writing this review. YOU CAN'T DEPEND ON THIS PEDAL. The case is very solid, and I have it mounted to a pedal board, which is in a custom case. I treat my gear with lots of TLC. Visual Sound must have a bad source for its chips.
Customer Support
:
8
The company repaired the unit quickly the first time it broke. They answered emails quickly, and were friendly on the phone. However, it got lost in UPS for awhile, because they were careless about writing my address. Still waiting on the second repair. My question is, what happens when the unit breaks again in a few months, after the 1 year warranty is over? $165 is too much for a disposable pedal.
Overall Rating
:
7
I love the sound, and the combo of analog chorus and echo is all I need for modulation effects. I'm afraid I'll have to switch, if Visual Sound can't make this work reliably.
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: US ??? used
Submitted 01/10/2006
at 09:12am
by Anonymous
Email: modorange322 at yahoo<dot>com
Ease of Use
:
10
This is a relatively easy pedal to get a good sound out of. I think it is less noisy with an actual battery, but my 3rd party wallwart ac/dc adaptor may have been a bit noisy. This is basically 2 pedals in one. It features a nice analog chorus sound with Speed, Width and delay time, and an analog-shaped echo with Echo time, Repeats and Effect level. There are no patches but it is easy to dial in. I bought it used but no manual. Not needed, though.
Sound Quality
:
9
I use both a strat and an SG and I think it sounds equally great with either one, it seems to add some noise from my wallwart but again this could be a bad power supply, totally non-related to the pedal. I have a battery in it now and it sounds gorgeous. The chorus is silky and smooth, and it reminds me of a Roland Jazz Chorus sound. The echo has a wide range of speeds with the slow/fast switch. If you're foot-dextrious you CAN switch from fast to slow with the foot, but overall this isn't necessary. The pedal on the echo side also gives nice analog-type modulation effects. Probably the analog aspect of this delay is the decay part, the repeat and copy function is probably digital.
So these are strong effects, and I'm playing the guitars directly from the guitar to the H2O then into a 75 Ampeg V-4 halfstack with original tubes, a very warm-sounding setup with plenty of power when needed. Another nice sound is the chorus sped up gives a good leslie simulator. This pedal spurs creativity. The 2 outputs are not for stereo chorus, but one is a "bypass" or dry signal while the other is "wet" or with fx. I did get a sort-of EDGE from U2 sound with both chorus and echo on. I have an Ibanez UE-405 and this chorus in my mind is better sounding, and the echo sounds as good or better too, on the H2O, and, as I have no use for either the parmetric eq or the compressor on the ue405, it will be sold shortly.
Reliability
:
9
Looks bullet-proof. It is probably very reliable. No need for a backup. I have seen these Visual sound cases bent before by a person stepping on the chord outside one of the jacks, meaning the metal case is slightly bendable, but this was a situation where the pedal was on the middle of a barroom floor and wasn't noticed. I still award it a 9 because the built quality is good.
Customer Support
:
10
Never dealt with them but may do so, because this pedal is the earlier version with blue markers on the knobs and there's an upgrade they provide for $30 including shipping, which I've heard improves the chorus sound--even though this chorus sounds great the way it is, I believe. I have heard they are excellent with their products.
Overall Rating
:
10
I play my own jazzy version of alternative. I enjoy the effects in the creative process. I have been playing on and off for the past 20 years. I would buy another one if it was a good deal if I lost this one. I love the fact that it is more compact than a multieffects unit while still being basically 2 effects in one. Both are very useable effects. I have compared it to other products, have owned various analog echos/ad80, ue405, memory man, etc. The echo may not be as smooth as a memory man but it is definitely a good-sounding echo that would sound great live. The chorus is comparable to either a Jazz Chorus or an Ibanez chorus. I like CE-2 boss pedals too but this one is a bit more aggressive than that one, although it still is beautiful-sounding. As stated earlier it assists the creative process and doesn't get in the way. Well worth the dough.
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: US $125
Submitted 01/06/2006
at 12:16pm
by MJF
Ease of Use
:
9
The thing has a few knobs, a rocker switch, and two stomp buttons. Its easy as pie to use. Dialing a good sound is cake.
Sound Quality
:
8
Setup: Gibson Les Paul Studio -> Boss GE-7 EQ -> Visual Sound Jeykle & Hyde -> Visual Sound H2O .
The box sounds fine does the job. I normally use a Vox TonLab and a 300 watt powered speaker but sometimes if I have to play where all I can access is a guitar amp, I bring this light-weight rig instead and I'm good to go. It takes me like 5 minutes to dial in the chain the way I like it.
Reliability
:
No Opinion
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Overall Rating
:
8
I play Blues, Jazz, Rock, and some progressive forms I dunno what to call. I've been playing for 27 years. I own a bunch of Les Pauls, an AC30TB, and a load of other crap. If this box where lost or stolen I would replace it. My favorite feature is the short delay. I compared this to EH Small Clone, Boss, DigiTech, and a bunch of boutique pedals that were pure garbage. I chose the H2O because it was priced right, sounded good, and gave me two effects in a neat little box.
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: US $164.99
Submitted 12/28/2005
at 12:04am
by JK
Ease of Use
:
8
It's a pretty straightforward chorus/echo with speed, width and delay on the chorus side and time, repeats and effect level on the delay side. The manual is a single sheet of paper with some suggested settings, so not very useful, but almost anyone who knows something about guitar could figure it out.
Sound Quality
:
2
Here's my setup: Rickenbacker Dakota 650D -> DynaComp -> Danelectro EQ -> Blues Driver (Indyguitarist mod) -> Big Muff (Russian) -> Boss DD-6 -> H2O Chorus/Echo -> BBE Sonic Stomp -> Vox AC30CC 2x12
This pedal is definitely quiet, but it sucks ridiculous amounts of tone on or off, in or out of the FX Loop. I've heard digital modeling crap that sounds better than the chorus. The echo was OK I guess, but it's not "analog voiced" as VS claims. When the pedal was turned off, it absolutely killed my tone. My amp usually sounds huge with deep warm bass and glowing mids and highs; with this pedal in my chain, my AC30 sounded like my old Vox Pathfinder 15R (not a bad amp really, but it can't compare to an AC30), that is to say, this pedal reversed everything my tubes did and made my amp sound like a cheap solid state.
Its really big too, and the whole pentagon shape just isn't doing it for me. It took up too much real estate on my already cramped pedal board.
Reliability
:
No Opinion
I only had it for a few days and I never gigged with it so I won't comment. It looks very sturdy though, nice solid steel construction, well made pots with good rubber covers, metal jacks, decent switches etc.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Never dealt with 'em, but I've heard Bob, the owner, is a really nice guy.
Overall Rating
:
3
I play mostly alternative rock, using a lot of delay and slide guitar (think U2 meets the Allman Bros., but with Radiohead-esque scales and bizzarre harmonies). I have been playing guitar for 3 1/2 years, but I played piano for 11 years before that, so I picked it up quickly and have been able to focus a lot time on achieving a sound of my own. I thought that this pedal might add some depth and character to my tone, but it just killed it. If it were ever stolen I'd feel sorry for the poor guy who ended up with it. The wet/dry outputs were a nice idea, I only wish this thing had something decent to output. I sent it back. I'm gonna spend a bit more money and get a deluxe memory man. I've played through a friend's and it sound great, plus, it's real analog delay rather than "analog voiced." Hope I could help someone out with this.
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: US $165
Submitted 12/27/2005
at 08:32am
by Chris
Ease of Use
:
9
Easy pedal to use, straight forward controls.
Sound Quality
:
5
The echo was good, it has a rocker switch to selct a "short" or "Long" delay. It would have been useful to have a stomp swith that selcted the long and short. The chorus part of the pedal was noisy.
Reliability
:
No Opinion
Only had it for a month before returning it foe a refund, but it worked every time I used it.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Overall Rating
:
1
This pedal was expensive.
I wasn't impressed with the enclosure, folded metal, no welds, and goofy styling.
The chorus was noisy and had background hiss with some swooshy sweeping noises, The delay part was great, I would have been happier to have just that alone, without the chorus. When I realized that this expensive pedal was made in China, it had to go back. Maybe I'm ignorant, but why does a folded metal box with surface mounted components and no moving parts, cost twice as much a a Sony DVD player that is made in the same country. I thought this was made in America when I bought it.
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: US $165
Submitted 12/12/2005
at 10:23am
by Jim
Ease of Use
:
8
Fairly easy to use. The Echo side is a little tough to dial in. No real manual, just a sheet of paper with some settings. The Chorus is very easy to setup.
Sound Quality
:
6
Well, it is a two-headed beast here. My primary amp for the last 8 years has been a Soldano HotRod 50+. I bought this as a cheaper replacement to my Yamaha Magicstomp that was destroyed. I was very disappointed when the pedal did not function properly in the FX loop of the Soldano. However in front of the amp (between the guitar and amp input) it worked perfectly fine. But, delay in front of an overdriven amp isn't exactly wonderful. I give it a 6 because of the FX loop issue. In front of the amp, I give it an 8.
Reliability
:
10
Had it for one month. Just returned it last week. Worked perfectly in the physical sense, not musically though.
Customer Support
:
1
I went with the H2O because many years ago I had their J&H Ultimate Overdrive. During that time Visual Sound was a smaller company and it was easy to contact them. Now, I tried contacting them twice on the FX Loop issue. No dice. However, Soldano still picks up the phone.
Overall Rating
:
7
If you are a clean player and are looking for more of a rotary-style chorus, this is it! Wonderful for that type of chorus. The Echo is nice for slap-back, rock-a-billy stuff. It diesn't play nice with the effects loops. It is very mechanically sound.
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: US
Submitted 11/30/2005
at 06:02pm
by Wayne
Ease of Use
:
10
There are 3 knobs on each side twist'em till it sounds good, your drummer could do it, lol.
Sound Quality
:
9
setup is; PRS CE into a Weeping demon wah to a Kustom '72 coupe, H20 and a Magicstomp on the loop. Both effects sound great, the chorus is just right, not overbearing and not so weak that you struggle with it. As someone previouly stated "very syrupy". The echo is fantastic on the short side, the long side gives you some pretty good delay. So far it works vey well with all the effects I've tried. Both effects add alot of flavor to my sound.
Reliability
:
9
It's built very well. I don't forsee any problems.
Customer Support
:
10
I've had the H20 a couple of weeks now and wondered why the rocker switch for the short/long echos wasn't a button, so you could change on the fly. I e-mailed them thinking this has probably been asked a million times. A couple days later I get a response from Dave Mullins explaining why they use a rocker switch. I really appreciate a company that takes time to respond to the customer. I have no doubt that if I have an issue I will be taken care of. 10 for Dave.
Overall Rating
:
10
Fantastic piece of gear, well built, I like the design, easy to operate, does what I need it to do very well. I think most people will be happy with it. I'm impressed that they took the time to answer a question that's probably been asked a million times. Sadly it's hard to find that nowadays. I know I sound a bit overzealous with my review, but I usually don't complain alot about bad products, However, when I find something I,m really happy with, I think it does more good to spread the word than to shout my complaints upon daef ears.
I will buy Visual Sound gear again. I would like to see a phaser/flanger, and a reveb/delay from them.
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: US $149
Submitted 11/23/2005
at 04:39pm
by Jonathann
Email: jricenator<at>gmail dot com
Ease of Use
:
9
Easy enough. The sample settings for the Chorus are particularly useful to give you a starting point for finding specific sounds. I actually found the suggested Leslie setting to be pretty much as good as this pedal gets.
Sound Quality
:
8
Effects chain: '62 Reissue Telecaster w/ Texas Specials (Single Coils) > Boss TU2 Tuner > Proco TurboRat > H20 > Vox AC30CC2. I also occaisionally run the H20 through the loop, but I can't tell much of a difference and I prefer to bypass the loop on the vox because the tone is just a little richer when the loop is bypassed.
I actually got this pedal as a gift. I had originally wanted a more dedicated delay pedal but decided to give this one a go since it fell into my lap and I did like the feel of the echo effect. As an echo pedal, it does its job very nicely. You can get great slapback effects, though that's not really my style. It works excellent to thicken up leads. It has enough echoes to use for simple ambient guitar lines as well. The echoes are really warm but it should be noted that this is not an analog delay. This side isn't amazingly versatile, but it works and it made me decide to keep the pedal. Oh, I'd also like to say that I like how you can twist the delay rate knob and have the pitch of the repeats bend like crazy just like old school analog delays.
The Chorus side is pretty nice, but I agree with some of the other reviews that say that it is not as good as some dedicated chorus pedals. The leslie sound is quite good, but it is difficult to get a subtle, shimmering chorus effect from the pedal. The Vox allows me to get a pretty bright sound, but when I kick in the chorus, even on low settings, the sound becomes dull. instead of complimenting the tone, it reprocesses it, which is fine for a Leslie sound, but not for subtle choruses. I also would like to note that, at least with my vox, there is very little difference in the two effects when they are placed in the loop or on the front end. The delay is capable of more echoes when placed on the front end, but that's all I've noticed.
Reliability
:
9
I've had it for a year now and it has been extremely dependable. I use it and my other two pedals with a 1spot and I haven't had any problems. I have a friend who has had a Visual Sound Route 66 pedal for years. he has spilled everything you can imagine on it, dropped it, and kicked it around and it is still going strong. So if that is any indication, I shouldn't have anything to worry about in this category.
Customer Support
:
9
The guys at VS are easy to contact. I haven't needed to contact them, but my friend did one time and it was a painless process.
Overall Rating
:
7
I play rock in many forms. As my equipment might suggest, I like to blend the old school and the new. I love the sound of responsive tube amps (which, if you get a solid version of the Vox AC30CC2, you get more amp than you could ever dream for a bargain compared to the "boutique" class A's that are out there). But I also love experimenting with sound effects and other weirdness. I don't have much money to buy tons of effects, but through creativity, it is possible to come up with some very interesting and usable sounds with the H20. however, my main problem with the H20 is that it does two effects pretty well but neither one is perfected. The Echo pedal cannot be used for sweeping delays or anything like that. The Chorus pedal is pretty good, but not as versatile as it could be. For 150 bucks, it'd be nice to have a sound I'm completely satisfied with. however, I find myself wanting to find a new delay pedal and perhaps even a new Chorus pedal eventually because, while this pedal is good, it's not great and still leaves something to be desired. Considering my limited funds, I think it works out well because I get two pedals in one, it takes up very little space, it is easy to operate and it is reliable. however, if it were stolen, I'd probably take the money and try to find a more dedicated delay pedal and a more dedicated chorus pedal. Don't get me wrong. This is a good pedal. But there are lots of good pedals out there but very few great ones. It's the great ones that I'm after now (that goes for my turbo rat, too).
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: US $129.00 used
Submitted 11/18/2005
at 10:48am
by Roy F.
Email: drgonzoguitar<at>comcast dot net
Ease of Use
:
10
This pedal is very simple to use. The knobs are self explainatory. I bought mine on EBAY from Visual Sound as a refurb/upgrade. They were fantstic to deal with.
Sound Quality
:
10
I play in a cover/wedding band about 6 times a month (my full-time giggin' days are over). We have some 70's tunes that require that chorus effect, or fifties tunes where I use the delay as a slapback. It sounds amazing at both functions. Personally, I hate all chorus pedals. But the H2O has made me a believer in chorus that is functional and dare I say, beautiful.
Reliability
:
10
I use a heavy-duty pedal board with a case so there is no problems. The pedal is constructed very well. I would not need a backup.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
This is a great company to deal with. When I had some questions about the refurb, they answered through email promptly. They have a great website with various samples of their pedals in context (studio and live). This is a great company.
Overall Rating
:
10
If this pedal was stolen, I would immediately buy another one. Again, I hate all chorus pedals, but this one is simply amazing.
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: US
Submitted 11/17/2005
at 06:31pm
by Joe Mc/ Emerald City
Ease of Use
:
10
Easy to control - self explanatory.
Sound Quality
:
7
I use a Marshall DSL 2000. This thing MUST be looped. It sucks your tone if you run it in-line.
Reliability
:
10
I've been gigging with it steadily for the past 6 months with no problems at all. (hope i didn't just jinx myself!)
Customer Support
:
9
I corresponded via email to one of the guys at Visual, Steve. He was very nice, very helpful.
Overall Rating
:
7
I purchased a factory reconditioned model thru Visual's E-Bay store and paid a few extra bucks for the chorus mod. It was not worth it.
CHORUS: Everyone's tastes are different, but I do not understand the rave reviews about this chorus. And, it sounds nothing at all like the Police chorus (like a few of the people here said) It's not a tight, thick chorus. Yes you can make it sound like a leslie but I don't have too much use for that. It's more like a flanger - lots of sweeping swirl. I use it only occasionally.
ECHO: The echo is really really nice. Easy to control, and lots of variation, just like the good old analog delays.
OVERALL: It's a great peice of gear. Pro sound, and certainly roadworthy. My only complaint is the company boasts "true bypass" or I think they call it "virtual bypass" that's a lot of virtual crap. It robs your tone whether it's on or off and therefore MUST be run in the effects loop. And again, the chorus has it's moments but not exactly a shining example of what a true chorus should be. But, it IS a solid piece, awesome delay, works fine in the loop and takes up less space on your board than 2 seperate units would.
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: N/A
Submitted 10/27/2005
at 08:27am
by Kurt
Email: kurts_rte<at>yahoo dot com
Ease of Use
:
9
Easy, three dials per side, no troubles here,
Sound Quality
:
9
I got this box two months ago, to replace my famed TC chorus, and my line 6 dl4. Both pedals sounded cold to me, and I needed something that took up less space. I've owned all the chorus boxes out there, save the analogman, and I can honestly say the h2o is my favorite. As my buddy put it, it's very syrupy. If you want the Eric Johnson subtle stereo chorus, this isn't for you, it's just a bit more dominant in your mix than the TC or fulltone. But, if you want a good police sound, or, my favorite, a leslie like sound, this is your box for sure. i just did a gig last night, where there were two guitarists on stage, and after the show, a well respected jazz sax player came up to me and said he thought there was either a rhodes or hammond on stage at times, he thought I had a leslie.
The delay side is also great, it sounds a lot like my old boss dd2, digital, but really warm, and not ear splitting like most new models. i would have liked a dampening dial, but that's just me being picky. It's not quite up to my memory man, but, what is, really? I'd give the chorus a 9.5 and the delay an 8.5
Reliability
:
9
I've used it extensively, gigging at least three times a week, but I take good care of my gear, so I'm sure that helps.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Overall Rating
:
9
I use two teles, one with humbuckers, and one with a b/bender, into vht valvulator, volume pedal, vox wah, true bypass mod, xotic RC booster, hermida zendrive, fulltone fulldrive, h2O, carr rambler amp. I am really into funk and R and B, and this pedal really fits that bill. I think I'll pick up another memory man, but aside from that, I love it and would highly reccomend.
Kurt
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: US $160
Submitted 07/31/2005
at 03:26pm
by Greg Dennis
Email: greg0228 at aol<dot>com
Ease of Use
:
10
bought the H2O pedal in the afternoon, sounded great the same evening at the gig just going off the user guides presets. After further tweaking I'm finding some really useful sounds like the leslie stuff and rockabilly slap echo
Sound Quality
:
10
Basically I play a Fat Strat through a Marshall TSL60 half-stack and I ran the pedal through the loop. Sounded great. I wasn't for sure how it would do in the loop but it did really good.I tried the pedal in the store and ran it direct and the only difference I noticed was that the delay had more repeats going straight into the amp. However if your interested I understand there's a moification you can do to the delay( not the chorus mods people are doing to the older versions) that actually really makes the delay louder with more repeats. But don't gt me wrong the, H20's delay is still very impressive, very warm with nice tailing-off repeats.
The chorus is worth the price of the pedal alone and I bought it for the delay. I've always thought my clean channel on my amp lacked something. I found it. The H2O pedal. It made my clean sound come to life. Through my loop it smoked my old Boss CE-2. One word(AWESOME)
Reliability
:
10
The pedal looks like it's built like a tank.Switches are solid, great construction. Has worked great so far.
Customer Support
:
10
First of all, before I even bought this pedal I e-mailed the company with a couple of questions. I was curious if I could use the pedal in my effects loop. Bob Weil, company founder and owner e-mailed me after a few hours . I was blown away. With all the substandard products I've encountered and poor customer service I've dealt with, Visual Sound is something special.Bob answered all my questions and was pro all the way.
Overall Rating
:
10
I've been playing guitar for about 25 years, Played in multiple gigging bands, owned a ton of recording equipment, and a lot of P.A. gear. For the most part I've been using rack mount effects through my loop, some pedals in the past, and never been happy with NONE of it,(you know the feeling I'm sure). For the price,it's almost like a boutique pedal that actually works.I'd replace it in a minute.Great Chorus and Delay that doesn't color your sound either.
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: US $145?
Submitted 07/26/2005
at 12:15am
by Jason Bennett
Email: guitarbennett at yahoo<dot>com
Ease of Use
:
7
It's not too hard to get a good sound out of the pedal. The chorus knob names are a little confusing. The delay isn't much past 180 in the short phase. I keep it in the long setting unless i want some slapback kind of echo.
Sound Quality
:
9
I use this in an effect loop with delay, reverb, phaser, and volume. I use it on a tube and solid-state amp. The echo doesn't repeat enough for me. This is really is an echo not a delay. I ended up getting another delay pedal. I do use the echo on the H2O quite a bit, but not for big swishy delays. I use the chorus in two different settings. Leslie sound, and swirly weird stuff. I use it to get a Charlie Hunter rotary sound or a off kilter John Scofield sound. For the Leslie I crank the speed almost all the way,same for the width, the delay knob, (in the chorus), I set to 9'clock. For the weird swirl: the same on the width, back off to 1 or 2'clock on the speed, and up the delay to 10-11'clock. I gives a volume boost in the chorus effect.
Reliability
:
9
I don't do batteries, I always use an adaptor or an effect board. This needs 300ma 9V. That's a little different..... Sometimes it needs to turned on, warmed up, then unpluged for the echo to behave as it should.
It's a big pedal and tall. It seems tough.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
N/A
Overall Rating
:
9
I play jazz, rock, funk, r&B, blues. I really enjoy it and it's a unique pedal, two in one. I've had it for 1/2 a year and I would probably replace it if I lost it. I like to use it for subtle echo and mainly the leslie kind of sound. Pretty cool pedal!
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: 1895 (Norwegina Kroner)
Submitted 07/23/2005
at 03:39pm
by James Acker
Email: jacker at online<dot>no
Ease of Use
:
8
This pedal somehow is DEAD EASY to get a fantastic sound out of. I don't know if it is just me, that it is intuitive for me for some reason but it is MUCH easier to get what I want out of it than my Ibanez DE7 Delay/Echo unit...though that has a few more tricks, the sound is inferior to my style that the H2O.
I find the Echo really easy to work with, also the chorus is a piece of cake and every knob does what I expect it to, and keeps in a "reasonable" range. I bought this on a whim (this is the honeymoon phase, I will follow up in 6 months if I remember) after playing with it for an hour in the music store and now a few hours tonight.
The manual is really minimal...really only useful at all because they have some sample settings with styles named...extra points for mentioning it is only the INPUT that drains the battery (keeps the unit on) but doesn't apply to me, I use a power supply. Also good advice about how much current it draws (less than many delay units, but still relatively high...power supply recommended). All in all not bad...Their site has some more info.
Sound Quality
:
9
Number one point...I don't know why so many of the reviews below talk about the "delay" unit...mine says "echo" and it sounds like an echo to me.
Anyway, I have gotten to be a hard grader, but I still have to give it a 9. This pedal is one of about three or four that I consider QUALITY in construction, but most of all sound quality. I can play with this thing all night. I can adjust it as subtle as I want, or make it pretty over-the-top. There is NO noise in mine, don't know what the other folks are experiencing but my amps, 3 different tube amps, are VERY susceptible to noise...the Boss GE-7 is unusable, and several other pedals at least on the lead channel. This thing is Beautifully quiet when on but not playing.
There are two outputs on this, one dry one affected, and because it is done correctly (buffering) I tried it out sending out to 2 different amps...WOW...this may have changed my whole setup. I am going to try it out at practice next rehearsal, but I LOVE the sound of this. I am currently using it in line with another "chorus" type effect, (one of the other quality pedals I am really pleased with) the Deja-mini-vibe. Though they are similar effects I can use any of them alone or even with each other. This pedals chorus does not (as far as I can tell) change the volume AT ALL...which is great, if I want a boost I use my volume pedal, or other pedals.
This pedal is really exceptional. Well worth the price. I used it just now Strat->Deja-mini-vibe->Crybaby wah->Ed-1 compressor->tubescreamer->volume pedal->Peavey Classic 30BT with the effects loop then -> H2O with one output to the effects return, the other output 2 into a Carvin Vintage 33.
I'm getting wonderful clean sounds, Hendrixy OD, or anything in between.
Reliability
:
No Opinion
I can't judge that as I just bought it, but it seems sturdy as can be, the switched are rock solid and the layout is well thought out. I can't see a problem.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
No opinion
Overall Rating
:
9
I play Blues, Rock (Hendrix, SRV, older style blues, BB King style, hell...all the King styles..I try anyway)
Been playing for 30+ years, though when I was younger I couldn't afford pedals, not many anyway. Now I'm making up for it, in the last year have bought many and have gotten a lot of experience with pedals. I'm finding, with experience, that I would rather have fewer but the ones I have better...I am mostly done with Boss, thier pedals work but I keep feeling like dissapointed in them after a while...they degrade my sound (obviously not ALL, but many. I was glad though that they are out there, as they do whet your whistle for what kind of effect you really want to go for) and Ibanez. I like these kinds (like the H2O) pedals better. The only way I can describe it is, pedals like this one sound more REAL...sound more like an organic sound. I know they are using digital in the echo at least..or I read it here, but I A/B'ed it with my DE7 and it is a warmer, more natural sound in my opinion.
Right now, I WOULD buy this pedal if lost or stolen.
It helps me make music. Already. This pedal brings out more me, my style, my sound than most pedals I've owned. This is one I feel really good about.
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: US $150
Submitted 06/30/2005
at 09:00am
by jec
Ease of Use
:
5
Easy to use but it doesn't work very well.
Sound Quality
:
1
The dealy side worked fine but the chorus didn't. Plugged into the front end of a THD Univalve it produced this god-awful tick or pulsing sound that varied as the speed control was changed. It didn't do the same thing into a RI Fender Twin but hey... It ought to work with everything. My age-old Boss chorus doesn;t do it.
Reliability
:
No Opinion
No idea. Took it right back.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
No idea
Overall Rating
:
1
Since the chours didn't work the overall rating is about as low as it can get.
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: N/A
Submitted 06/25/2005
at 01:51pm
by MarkF
Ease of Use
:
10
This is such a simple unit to use. Just 3 knobs (Speed, Width, and Delay) on the chorus side, and 3 knobs on the delay side (Echo, Repeats, Delay Time). There is also a short/long echo setting that is in a rocker switch. Just tweak and play! It really couldn't be any simpler. The manual has some suggested settings, and these seemed useful.
Sound Quality
:
10
To try these out (I just got them), I just ran it into a Peavey Envoy amplifier. My guitar was a Parker Fly Deluxe. The unit is not noisy at all. This is an awesome chorus box, producing everything from subtle chorusing to warbly to Leslie-type spinning sounds. The echo side is great, too, offering up everything from rockabilly slap to Queen layering.
Reliability
:
10
Built like a tank, and with a return rate of 1/2 of 1% (according to Bob Weil), I feel very confident using this pedal with no backup. The steel (yes, steel!) housing is very thick. Switches seem rock solid.
Customer Support
:
10
I emailed the company and received a reply in less than 24 hours. I then exchanged a few emails with Bob Weil, the owner. We then talked by phone. This is the best company I have ever had the pleasure of dealing with.
Overall Rating
:
10
I do contemporary Christian music. I was introduced to these pedals by Phil Keaggy at a recording session. He sounded so great through them that I had to get some myself! I have been playing for 27 years. I am selling most of my other pedals, since Visual Sound has everything I need! I would replace it if lost or stolen. It is a great pedal (actually, it is two pedals in one, remember?!) and a great value by a great company. I highly recommend it to anyone.
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: US $120.00
Submitted 06/06/2005
at 11:05pm
by Not-For-Long
Ease of Use
:
10
Pretty easy to use. Using the basic settings in the manual, you can get it working pretty well.
Sound Quality
:
5
I play this through a Zinky Superfly (all tube channel switching...too much to explain) in the effects loop.
Hmm. Where do I set this?
I want to place a usable review here, so I'll be honest. I have to review it on the basis of my effects loop (where it's supposed to go) and straight into the amp (suggested by cust support).
Looped delay:
The delay is very good. Nice delay that does not interfere with your sound. It sounds great here.
Looped Chorus:
I have not been able to get a good chorus sound out of this based on my effects loop. My sound goes from what I have dialed in, to muddy and unusable.
Unlooped Delay:
Somehow the tone of my amp is more brittle. The delay suddenly sounds more like a straight echo unit than a delay. Decay is more of a repeat than anything else...I couldn't dial it out. Much better in the effects loop.
Unlooped Chorus:
Finally I see that this works. Nice subtle harmonics, and great watery sounds. Very nice unit here.
I am reluctant, but I have to give it a 5, since either effect is worthless when I use the other to it's strenghs (i.e. delay in the loop, chorus in the front of the amp.)
Reliability
:
10
Seems very sturdy and reliable. I am only a month in, but willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.
Customer Support
:
10
Very responsive. They really couldn't help me, but they did answer email very quickly.
The response to my questions were to place it in front of the amp, use an AC adapter (more wallwarts), and/or change the battery. None of which worked for my Zinky superfly.
They get good marks here.
Overall Rating
:
5
The delay fit my style very well. Nice and subtle once I had it set up. The chorus did not do so well.
I would say that the problems I (and clearly many others on this board) have is based on the amp's effects loop. If it is designed for the particular level that your amp is well attuned to, then you are in good company, otherwise, take it back. This is not the unit's fault, but still, it's lack of flexibility makes me not appreciate it's use.
I, for one, will probably unload this thing on Ebay. I had hoped for a good combo unit to reduce the amount of warts in my rig, but did not find what I was looking for. Delay-great, chorus-iffy. Like I said, not the h2o's complete fault, but in the contest of amp vs. pedal, the pedal loses.
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: US $150
Submitted 06/02/2005
at 01:46pm
by Steve
Ease of Use
:
7
Considering that this pedal is really two pedals it is really very easy to use and to get good sounds out of it. The chorus side has three knobs; Speed, Width and Delay Time which gives you almost as much control over the effect as you need. I say almost because there should be an effect level adjustment but even without it this chorus effect is a solid sounding analaog chorus and might be worth the retail price all by itself to some. The echo side has 3 knobs as well; Echo Time, Repeats and Effect Level plus a rocker switch that selects the range of the other knobs between "short" and "long". Obviously this doesn't lend itself to exactitudes but the upside is that all the sounds this thing makes are musical and useable. It is easy enough to use, but could be easier by adding one more knob (choruse effect level) and marking the range values for the echo controls somehow.
Sound Quality
:
9
The sound quality of this pedal is superb -- both sides. The chorus goes from barely there to underwater leslie and all points in between. It could use an effect level knob IMHO, but is just fine without it too. The echo side is a really good analog echo box which provides everything from gentle trail offs to rockabilly echo to convincing slapback echo and on into pretty good quality space echos. There is no other coloration of your guitar signal and it is a very quiet pedal to use. In a mix, this pedal sits very well I think, not being overbearing and yet maintaining the effect(s) at a level that is desirable and effective. Iuse my H2O with a pair of amps; 65 Deluxe Reverb Reissue on the left and a cleaned up Blues Junior on the right. The H2O has two outputs, but is not a true stereo effect. What it does is output the effected signal through the left channel and the uneffected signal out the right. The result? A dramatically widened soundstage and a nice blend of you guitar's unprocessed signal with the processed tone. There are instructions included with the unit when purchased new that detail how to make the effected sound come out both output jacks if you wish to do that. I didn't and I wouldn't personally, but you can do it. I am giving the unit a composite score in sound quality of 9.5. 9 for the chorus and 10 for the echo effect. Oh, and you can and should play these effetcs together for something really special and easy to dial up on stage mid-son because the design is well thought out and allows for both effects to be switched simultaneously.
Reliability
:
10
I have had mine for nearly three years without a hitch. Granted, I don't gig often with it but I use it nearly every day. This thing is built like a tank!
Customer Support
:
10
Bob Weil, the Visual sound founder and president is a really friendly and helpful guy. I talked to him at length about the pedal before I bought it and he did not mind answering my questions in the least and was very informative. I can't imagine that he would stiff anybody on customer support. Benefit of the doubt based on his stellar attitude.
Overall Rating
:
10
What can I say -- I love this pedal. I am not really a chorus freak or anything but this chrous seems to me to sound more like they used to in the seventies when I first encountered. When I use it, it really adds something special to my sound and yeat is not overbearing. Don't get me wrong, it can be made to be overbearing if you want it too though. The echo side is everything from classic slapback through spacey repeats and has that groovy analog quality that many of us geezers really dig. I don't have anything against digital delays mind you, but this echo is very warm by comparison and will suit anyone searching for such thing. When both effects are engaged simulateously, this pedal can be something special indeed. Sure you can engage seprate chorus and delay stomps and achieve nearly the same thing, but I think this pedal is setup to push the echo into the chorus which is slightly different than many folks might set up separates on a pedalboard. As always, YMMV but my experiences with this pedal have been very favorable of the nearly three years I've had it and I consider it an indespensable piece of my tonal pallet.
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: US $150.00
Submitted 05/16/2005
at 03:04am
by Bob Dalton
Ease of Use
:
10
3 knobs for chorus,3 knobs for delay,very easy to use
Sound Quality
:
10
awsome sound,extremely quiet ,infact i dont even carry my pedal board much anymore,a little delay,a little chorus and some overdrive from my tube amp and i really dont need the other pedals that often, in fact i sold my dano chorus and dano echo,my DOD flanger and am going to ditch my Boss EQ because it is noisy...just leaves my a Dano overdrive,(when not using amp but DI),Boss compressor,Budda Wah and H2O
Reliability
:
No Opinion
built like tank and no problems,not owned extensively
Customer Support
:
10
Bob W. is a great guy,i talked to him on phone extensively prior to purchase and was assured that i would like or he would make it right. We have a mutual friend and that person gave him a big thumbs up.
Overall Rating
:
10
highly recommend,2great pedals in 1 small package. my son has been playing about 2.5 yrs church,local college jazz ensemble,garage band,i'm his "tech" ,financial purse, and chauffer.i'm a bass player. we own Carvin guitars and bass,Carvin tube amp,Carvin 600 watt bass amp,Kustom guitar amp,Washburn 7 string,Walden acoustic electric,Kay acoustic,Kingston short scale bass and the above mentioned effects.
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: US $65.00 used
Submitted 04/14/2005
at 08:01am
by BigbusPop
Ease of Use
:
10
Very easy to use and lots of different sound settings..
Sound Quality
:
10
This thing is the absolute best chorus I've ever used and added to my arsenal of effects..The echo is an added bonus and has replaced both of my BOSS pedals that I've been using for quite awhile..It's very rich and full sounding and can be dialed in to suit just about everyone's taste..I'm using it right after the BOSS tuner and after my FULLTONE overdrive in the chain on my pedal board and then directly to my 71 Silverface Super Reverb and the sounds I get are just amazing..I use it in combination with my 3 classic Strats and Line 6 modeling guitar..It's perfect for me..
Reliability
:
9
Built like a tank and in my opinion ,well made..A little on the large size,but hey,all good things don't always come in small packages
Customer Support
:
10
Had e-mail contact to make sure mine had the latest upgrade and Steve Mikesell was extremely helpfull and very courtious to me in a quick and timly manner with requards to my inquiry..
Overall Rating
:
10
I've been at this thing for 40 years and play all types of music..At the present time ,I have a Classic Rock band that suits me to a "TEE"and this unit fills the bill for me and the group..Try one and I bet you'll be on the purchasing end also..
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: US $134.95
Submitted 03/17/2005
at 07:01pm
by Alan Miller
Ease of Use
:
10
This pedal is very straightforward, and simple to use. Basically a single input with an effects out and another for an unaffected sound (which can be modified to another effects out). On the Echo side you have Echo Time, Repeats and Effect Level. The Chorus side offers Speed, Width and Delay Time. Each effect is footswitchable on the unit.
Sound Quality
:
10
This is where it gets good, and I mean REALLY good! Visual Sound utilizes something called "Pure Bypass", and being that I use many true bypass pedals, I'm extremely impressed with the true tonality of this pedal. I spent quite a while doing some sound quality determination, and noticed nothing less than "true bypass quality" in using the H2O. I've been playing for 25 years and deal with Nic at Catalinbread and Brad at Tone Factor (both of which are at the top of the game in the effects pedals) and I also use George L cables to get the best signal possible.
Let's start with the Echo. I'm using this pedal on a Splawn Quick Rod 100 rig with a Splawn 4x12 cab. The Echo fills just the right frequencies to get the Ol' Van Halen sound. Other similar analog delays that I've used that would approach this sound would cost over $250.00, considering tone, and variability. (The H2O is not an analog delay BTW, it just has the same, if not better analog quality and sounds as good as many of the top ones out there.)
Onto the Chorus, again, sounding like a much more expensive analog chorus, with a wide range of uses. Everything from a nice thick chorus (which is what I primarily use it for) to sounds more toward a leslie or even a chorused phasing effect.
To have either one or the other in a single pedal at the price is an abolute steal, never mind both in one!
Reliability
:
No Opinion
Being that I just received it a week ago, I can't make any ratings remarks here. Only that it seems very well constructed, and haven't had any "popping" issues that some of the old reviews of this pedal mentioned. The current version of the H2O has apparently been upgraded in many ways, and this might be part of that. (I see a "10" here in the future!)
Customer Support
:
10
I've had some conversations with Dave and Bob at Visual sounds about using the H2O in some different applications. They've both been great on the phone and via email, ready to help, and answer any questions.
Overall Rating
:
10
Well, I have a hard time giving perfect ratings accross the board to manufacturer, I tend to be pretty (or maybe overly) critical toward most sometimes. But in this case, great ratings are warranted. Excellent product, great price, and awesome customer support. What else can you ask for?
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: US $135.00
Submitted 03/07/2005
at 12:05am
by SD
Ease of Use
:
10
This pedal is extremely easy to use. It really is two pedals in one, but just a few minutes spent fiddling with the knobs will allow you to hone in on some very usable sounds - both on the echo side and the chorus side. The capability of this pedal to create a Leslie-like sound is very cool and easy to achieve.
Sound Quality
:
10
I'm using a Tele and a Strat into a Fender Blues Deluxe with this pedal and it's very nice. The chorus works well - all the way from a nice gentle shimmer, to to a nice Leslie-like sound, to a very wide and wacky sound (but it's still good). Don't know if I'll ever use it on the most extreme settings, but it's very cool nonetheless. The echo also works well - sounds great and it's very easy to dial up what you're looking for - although changing delay times during performance is a bit dicey. You've just got to memorize your settings. But hey, that's what you expect from this type of effect. I'm not noticing any added noise or tone-sucking.
Reliability
:
10
Visual Sound seems to build very nice, reliable pedals - feels very solid. Not enough experience with the H2O to know for sure how durable it will be, but I've owned a Route 66 for a while now with no problems whatsoever.
Customer Support
:
10
Seem to be very committed to customer satisfaction - by providing a customer service number on the back of the pedal. Based on Visual Sound's reputation I have no worries in this area, although to be honest I have yet to deal with them directly myself
Overall Rating
:
10
Play country, rock, and pop for 25 years. Gigging on electric about 8 or 10 nights a month and another 8 or 10 on acoustic as a solo. I'm taking the H2O to ALL my gigs. I may only use it a couple times a night, but that leslie effect is so cool I have to have it available. I dial up some gentler chorus sounds and use them a little more frequently througout the night. Sounds great on both electric and acoustic. Sure TC Electronic and Fulltone make some great chorus pedals, but for about half the price you're getting a pedal with very competitive chorus sounds AND an echo pedal. I'm happy with mine and would replace it with another if it was stolen, lost, or if a drunk person fell on it and crushed it during a show.
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: US $120 used
Submitted 02/14/2005
at 06:17pm
by gobster
Ease of Use
:
No Opinion
A pedal is a pedal. Nonetheless, I believe it lacks very critical "effect control" on the chorus channel. Before I bought the pedal off ebay w/o actually trying it (couldn't find one locally), I wondered how one could adjust the intensity of the chorus effect. Well.. you can't!...bummer...
Sound Quality
:
7
Good:
1. Relatively cheap: you can get a used one off eBay around $120.
2. Has decent chorus and delay effects in one.
3. Looks cool (some may disagree).
Bad:
1. No effect level control: Without it, it's kind of hard to dial into the very sutble chorus effect w/o coloring the tone too much. Also, in my opinion, the chorus channel has too much of the flanging/phasing tone quality (shhhweeeeshhhhhhweeee). Again, this problem is amplified by the fact that it doesn't have the effect control.
2. No true bypass: I actually hear the difference in the tone. But this is nothing new and true for all other pedals w/o true bypass in the market.
3. Weird distortion (not confirmed with the manufacturer yet): The pedal that I got (it was said to be/looks new) distorts the tone noticeably when you really dig in and play hard clean rythms. This is very annoying and a big turn-off. None of the review below seemed to have that same problem. Either I'm not lucky with mine or they weren't paying attention. I'm yet to find out on this.
Reliability
:
No Opinion
Just got it today. Not able to say.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Sent an email today regarding the distortion problem explained above. Will update shortly.
Overall Rating
:
8
My rating is aside from the distortion problem discussed above. There are better chorus pedals in the market (by far, TC Electronics is the best in this format; I haven't tried Choralflange by Fulltone but read some good reviews on them). However, for the money (~ $120), it's a good value. Just make sure to check for the problem that I'm having before you buy one.
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: $400 (AUD)
Submitted 01/10/2005
at 09:33pm
by Tobstar
Ease of Use
:
10
The manual offers some setting suggestions for both the chorus and the delay that are ideal for getting you started. With a slight tweak you are able to create your own unique sounds.
Sound Quality
:
10
Incredible, amazing, sweet, fat, tonal quality.
I use an Ibanez guitar with Semour Duncan Pickups, a Fender Hotrod Deluxe amp, and a Hughes & Kettner Tube Factor. There are so many inmportant links in finding a quality sound and tone that you are happy with. My setup is ideal for my style (Rock / Alternative),
I was surprised to read reviews from people disappointed in the quality of the chorus...I'm not sure if they had it turned on when they played it because it is superb. Hey, each to their own...but if you play classical music then NO, this chorus probably won't appeal to you. I've read that 'The Edge' from U2 has one in his setup...are you telling me that he would settle for anything less than the best?? And this is coming from someone who isn't a big U2 fan!
Reliability
:
No Opinion
Haven't had it long long enough
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Never had to deal with them - but heard good things!
Overall Rating
:
10
Don't wait - just go get one NOW!
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: US $150
Submitted 11/17/2004
at 07:18am
by JEC
Ease of Use
:
9
Pretty easy to use. Three knobs for the chours, three knobs for the echo, a long / short rocker switch for the echo, and separate on/off buttons for the chorus or echo effect. Not rocket science. The manual has some good suggested starting settings, although you just fiddle with the three knobs if you want something else.
Sound Quality
:
9
Overall, pretty good here too. I don't find the unit to add significant noise or color to my sound. I run a Wolfgang guitar into a 5150 head and cabinet and run the liquid chorus / echo in the effects loop. I use an attenuator to keep the volume at a reasonable level so I can heat up the power tubes a bit.
I don't really like the chorus. I prefer the chorus from my MXR chorus pedal. The settings just don't sound right to me, although this is a very personal, subjective deal. I think the manual gives some good suggested uses, and you can get a pretty heavy underwater leslie type sound. The chorus does not lack for strength of effect, but the actual chorus sounds it made were simply not to my taste. Your mileage may vary. I should also mention that I have not tried the chorus through any other amp or a clean channel setting. Who knows, it might sound great in those settings.
The echo, on the other hand, I find to be great with my fairly simple rig. I set the delay on long, and each of the knobs are set at about 10 o'clock. With this setup, I get VERY close to the sound from Van Halen's "Fair Warning" album. I do recommend this pedal for the echo if for no other reason.
The echo is digital, but voiced to sound analog. Certainly, it is a different sound than say, my Boss DD-3. The DD-3 is a bit more metallic or perhaps treble-y but more precise. I have a hard time telling that the echo on the Liquid chorus / echo is NOT analog.
For comparison, I have a Fulltone Tube Tape Echo. This is a sweet unit, but it is tape and has maintenance requirements. Also, I find it somewhat difficult to find just the right amount of echo. In short, it is very high end, but it is also a pain in the ass. This pedal doesn't suffer from any of those problems. In fact, I prefer using the Liquid Echo over the Fulltone for the sound! Again, a very subjective opinion here.
The echo on this thing is not as precise as say a digital echo. If you want pristine, sparkling delay, you need to go for something holding itself out as a digital delay. I don't think one is necessarily better than the other, it is just what type of sound you are looking for.
The best example I can give is that this pedal does a good job for me of doing the old Van Halen type echo whereas a Boss Digital Delay or rack mount digital delay would be better for the newer, more processed Van Halen sound.
Overall, I am pretty pleased with this echo. I don't have any plans to use anything else at this time. I think it is very versatile too and allows you to get a number of echos, slapback, longer and shorter delays. I could not, however, find a reverb like setting. That is a different pedal, obviously. I'll give her a 9, but deduct a point for lack of good sounding chorus, at least to my ears. I wonder if these effects on this pedal simply don't sound good together?
Reliability
:
No Opinion
I don't think any of us have had this long long enough to really know -- I think it is a failry new product.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
No clue.
Overall Rating
:
9
Been playing since the 80s. My main style is Van Halen type tunes. If this pedal were stolen, I would replace it again. As stated earlier, I use this pedal only for the echo.
It is a bit pricey, but I think for a good echo, you are going to need to spend a little cash. There seems to be a real gap between the Boss and Digitech pedal type echo / delays on one extreme and on the other lies the rack units, the Fulltone and Hughes and Kettner products. Very little middle ground as far as I was concerned. It seemed I was either going to spend about $100 dollars or more like $500. I think the Liquid Echo is a nice compormise.
In the past, I had always been a reverb man. But reverb tends to place your sound in the distance, you loose that in your face type tone. I needed something to flesh out my distortion, give it some air. I have never been very happy with any echo or delay device I had purchased -- these were the Boss and Digitech products and the Fulltone Tape Echo.
The Liquid echo is a nice solution. It gives me a somewhat compressed, fairly precise echo. It is lo-fi or at least sounds lo-fi. But it took me a long time to realize that was actually the sound I wanted. It is a relatively inexpensive Echoplex type pedal. It does the lo-fi sound well without sounding like a cheap, crappy pedal. I think the echo is versatile enough on this echo to give you short slapback or really long delay times with the twist of a few knobs.
For my application, this pedal only does one thing: sits on top of my amp and give me reliable, fairly inexpensive, digital reproduction of an Echoplex type sound. This was enough for me. It did not degrade the sweet, sweet crunch coming out of my 5150. In fact, I think it enhanced the sound, compressed it a bit, and gave it some mono echo expansion. THis may or may not be your cup of tea. Again, although this pedal is digital, it does not sound digitial to my ears. Some people are looking for that sound, others aren't. In any event, I suggest you check this pedal out, it might be for you too.
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: N/A
Submitted 10/04/2004
at 10:37pm
by Ryan Radcliff
Ease of Use
:
8
I started with the suggested settings that can be found on the website. They were very helpful in finding out how this pedal sounds at different levels and gave me a good jumping off point. The knobs are not hyper-sensitive, but still offer a wide range of tones. I get a consistant sound out of both sides, I don't have to worry if a knob is knocked a slight amount.
Sound Quality
:
8
I like the chorus for its fast leslie sound, and its classic chorus sound. It can get that Charlie Hunter/John Scofield leslie sound. It can also get Mike Stern/John Ambercrombie tones. It can mimic Andy Summers very well, too. Lots of diversity in the chorus, and always very musical. There is some extra noise from the chorus side, but mine is used, so hopefully its not a problem with all of them. The delay side is great, it doesnt sound cold. Because of the warmth, it gets a great echo sound, from one tasteful repeat, to a few big echoes. This is the delay you want if you're going for taste. If you want a big loop, this isnt it. The short side is useless, I keep it on the long delay setting, as some of the best sounds come at the lowest settings of the long setting. There is a slight high pitch sound coming from the amp when the delay is on.
Reliability
:
5
I've had the pedal for a year, and sometimes the chorus side will be acting funky, but it will always fix itself the very second I unplug and replug it.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Overall Rating
:
9
This pedal is a good match for me because I want a light warm echo sound, and a tasteful chorus tone. This pedal brings both. If you want alot of range with your delay, get the Line 6. This pedal is for subtle effect, but great tone.
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: N/A
Submitted 10/02/2004
at 10:57pm
by shad
Email: pickin4jesus<at>hotmail dot com
Ease of Use
:
No Opinion
Sound Quality
:
9
i really just wanted to comment on the sound quality of this pedal versus another review of the "features" of the pedal. you already know what features it has. if not, read below to see dozens of other reviews that will provide that info.
this is an ANALOG chorus which sounds little or nothing like the digital chorus pedals by boss, dod, ect. not that they aren't good units, i'm simply making sure that potential buyers understand the difference between analog and digital chorus. if you want to have a basic idea of what the chorus side of this unit sounds like, listen to anything andy summers did with the police. this is that chorus sound dead on. by adjusting the speed control all the way up, you can get a really cool leslie effect as well. this chorus is very organic and colorful. has a "wobbley" quality to it if that makes sense. as for the echo, well, again, it's an analog type ECHO, not a digital delay. technically, the echo is digital, but it sounds analog... you get the idea. the echo is very warm and well rounded. not the precision dealy you get with digital units.. this one has a lot of character. even with the effect level wide open on the echo side, it's not overwhelming. this echo is perfect for chicken picked country lines or rumbling rockabilly riffs. it's really a light effect. just to season your sound. this pedal is a must try for you analog / retro gear junkies out there. it's also hosed in a thick metal housing! built to last a lifetime.
Reliability
:
No Opinion
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Overall Rating
:
No Opinion
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: US $135
Submitted 09/02/2004
at 05:08pm
by Ron Beel
Email: oneill_505<at>hotmail dot com
Ease of Use
:
9
Very Easy to use, intuitive and laid out well.
Sound Quality
:
5
You know, the sound I did not really like the sound. The chorus sounded kind of "stock" to me, and when it was off my whole sounded compressed and lost all of its sparkle. I don't think I'm going to use the thing, but I think on a middle of the road amp you would be moderatly satified. the delay does what delay is supposed to do, but again not a hole lot of range.
Reliability
:
3
well, I used it for one show and then let a sax player run thru it. the very next show was a live broadcast on the radio, and it just crapped out for no reason. tried new batteries and nothing worked...so I guess mine was not very reliable.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
I bought it new on E-bay and havent even tried to contact anybody. I've lost the fire, and I'm broke.
Overall Rating
:
4
It seems other people like the H20, mabey I'm just a whiner or something but I'm totally underimpressed and wish I had bought groceries.
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: US $115
Submitted 07/08/2004
at 06:25pm
by Anonymous
Ease of Use
:
9
Very simple to work, once you manipulate the settings to your likings, you're good to go
Sound Quality
:
9
The Chorus is lush and full, very police like. The Delay is alright, but perfect for what i use it for. I have a boss dd6 digital delay (modded to sound more analog) for my super long and crazy delays. I use to the H20 for slap back echos and to add definition to my solos. I use the chorus for a leslie effect and to color chords and lines. My set up right now is a Epiphone Elite Sheraton/Fender 69 tele going into a Fulltone Fulldrive 2, Fulltone 69, The H20, Voodoo Lab Trem, Boss dd6, MXR dynacomp, Dunlop Classic Crybaby, and a Boss TU2 stage tuner going into two fender hot rod deville 212s for sterio effect with the boss. I play fusion/jazz/jam band kind of stuff and this set up works great for it.
Reliability
:
10
Nothing wrong yet
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Overall Rating
:
10
I love it, it doesnt effect my sound and adds just enough shimmer and shine to my sound to give higher definition. I recomend checking it out, but if your looking for a delay pedal than this may not be good for you. It is only really good for slap back and little echo, it is more of a chorus.
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: US $130
Submitted 06/30/2004
at 09:56pm
by Mr. Pickhead
Ease of Use
:
10
The dual setup is convenient. When an accurate foot is landed on it, both can be turned on at once or separately. In a gig, accuracy is not to be taken for granted. Too many variables. As for eeking out a tolerable sound, it's up there. I'd have to say that it runs circles around anything in its price range. A TC Chorus and an Atomic or Maxon analog delay might be a better sounding pair, but it would cost well over $500 to get there. For less than $150, this piece really shines.
Sound Quality
:
8
I run this into one amp after a Tonebone A/B box. The other amp is clean. I can achieve a fairly impressive stereo impression considering that it's a mono amp. Haven't found the panning combination yet while recording to reproduce the stereo effect in the room, though. The Delay Time parameter is what creates the stereo effect. It's very pleasing. It is a noisy pedal. Don't know if I got a lemon or what, but it hisses something fierce when all is silent. That is a disappointment, because otherwise it is a great sounding device. The delays sound analog and the chorus is sufficient for me. Again, for the price, this is a nice unit. Switching delay lengths with the delay engaged can cause a slam type effect (as in reverb units). It is best to turn the delay OFF and then select short or long.
Reliability
:
No Opinion
Seems solid. Too soon to tell.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Overall Rating
:
8
I really like the sound of this pedal and I like that it is two in one: saves on patchcords and space. The delays are muddied ala analog and the chorus shimmers appropriately. Other than the hiss, I'd say this is a keeper. It works well for classic rock sounds, modern & clean electronic guitar sounds, but the delays get a little muddy with the hyper distortion--fer me, at least.
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: #100 (Pounds Sterling) used
Submitted 06/02/2004
at 05:59pm
by Anonymous
Ease of Use
:
6
Very big on a pedal board.
Switches are very close together which is great if you want to use them together but not so good at a gig if you don't. Chorus is easy to dial not so the delay.
Sound Quality
:
7
Sound quality is excellent.
Pedal not noisy at all.
Delay sounds nice but is weak in a live setting and not very versatile - good for rockabilly echo.
Chorus is fab - really versatile and dripping with character - and produces the most natural flanging sound I've ever heard.
Reliability
:
6
Sturdy and tough but you have to concentrate on stage to make sure you press it on and off right. I don't want to mess around with that kind of stuff - I'm in a rock band and I'm performing here!
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Don't know - I think they try to sell you a bible or something.
Overall Rating
:
7
I can see this would record well - the sounds are classy. But stomp boxes are for playing live as far as I'm concerned...and for stomping on.
I got this for the delay thinking it would be a step-up from my good old DD3 - the chorus I just took as a bonus. Well I suppose digital delay is a bit harsh and unmusical but at least you could hear it when I was playing live and the DD3 is really controllable and it's quite happy to be stomped on!
Pretty much the first sound I got out of the Chorus side was the flange I mentioned and I was hooked! Not on the H2O but on flange!
Anyway, after a few gigs the DD3 fought its way back onto my board accompanied by a new friend - a Boss BF3 - and the rather hefty H2O had to make way. Now, the Boss flanger sounds like garbage compared to the H2O and, as I set off on my search for a really good flanger, I'll always be grateful to the H2O for giving me the taste and I think I'll even miss the old boy in some ways but...really...it was like trying to race a Ferrari in a big old vintage bus!
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: 219 (cdn)
Submitted 05/23/2004
at 04:18pm
by alan
Email: hiebert0262 at rogers<dot>com
Ease of Use
:
No Opinion
Very easy to get a usable sound
Sound Quality
:
No Opinion
Nice subtle chorusing and a very usable delay. The delay reminds me of the Boss analog units from the early 80's. The H2O was very noisy plugged into the front end (on high gain sounds) on my Mesa Nomad 45 with a Les Paul standard, but moving it to the effects loop solved that problem. Just needed to tweek the effects level and masters on the Nomads three channels to achive a balanced sound. For me this is the sound I remember when I started playing. Reminds me of Rush's 2112 album and a basic Frank Marino / Robin Trower sound. Very nice.
Reliability
:
No Opinion
It seems dependable, metal box and all. I would never use anything without a backup on a gig.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
No contact required as of yet. Visual sound is offering the new BBD chip as an upgrade for this pedal but I like what it does now. I'm not planning on upgrading.
Overall Rating
:
No Opinion
I play all types of music except disco. (that still sucks) I've been playing for 30 years and own lots of stuff. MY NAME IS ALAN, I HAVE G.A.S. I would certainly replace this if lost/stolen. I like it's simplicity, if you want to change setting just move a knob. No memory, settings, hidden menues or claims of sounding like "?????" This really works for me. Plus it's two effects and saves on pedal board space. I am also using an old MXR dynacomp and a new Vox wa pedal in the front end.
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: US $100 used
Submitted 05/08/2004
at 07:29pm
by K. Greene
Ease of Use
:
10
It's all pretty simple and self explanatory.
Sound Quality
:
3
Here's where I have a problem with this unit. I must say, I'm a little surprised to read all the rave reviews of this product. The main problem with this unit is a nasty little trick the manufacturers are hyping called "active bypass", which essentially means they chose not to put a true bypass on this pedal. Instead, the signal is "active" even when the unit is in the OFF mode, and it sucks ALL the life out of your original straight in tone. Now, ,maybe I'm a different kind of player than most. My set-up is pretty simple: Fender Strat w/Fralin pickups, Blackstone overdrive, Teese RMC2 wah, Menatone Blue Collar, then the H20 chorus/echo unit. I really like my sound to be natural and true when I'm not using any of the pedals and true bypass is a must. If you are like me, you will likely be very disappointed with the sound of this pedal. And frankly, the chorus and echo sounds are mediocre at best. My old Boss CE2 beats the chorus sound on the H20. Furthermore, this pedal is very unfriendly interacting with other pedals; sounds weird to my ear.
Reliability
:
3
I had this thing hooked up through a bypass loop pedal one night on a job, and it started making more noise as the night progressed. I think it was due to the fact that the effects were left in the ON mode and switched into the circuit with the loop. It doesn't seem to like being left on for a long time. I was using the One-spot power supply with it at the time. That is the recommended power for the unit.
Customer Support
:
7
I went to the website for information once and it was helpful.
Overall Rating
:
3
I've been playing professionally for about 20 years; not big time, just local jobs and limited travel. I bought this unit because I really like the idea of having chorus and echo in one unit. I don't use either effect very often, but I like to have them available when I need it. After I discovered the fault with the "active" bypass, I tried to 1) Live with it, and get used to it and 2) use a loop pedal to bypass it when not in use. Neither option has worked out very well and I think I am going to look for something else. Incidentally, it is a bit annoying when companies use marketing spin like calling a signal buffer an "active bypass". It is not a bypass at all, it is a BUFFER and it will definitely AFFECT YOUR TONE. Not for the better in my opinion.
If anyone out there knows of a combination chorus/echo that would suit my needs better, true bypass perhaps, I'd love to hear your suggestions.
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: US $100.00 used
Submitted 05/04/2004
at 11:28am
by Scott Minchk
Email: kombokrank at hotmail<dot>com
Ease of Use
:
8
Fairly easy pedal to use...although i've tried for a while to get a good Leslie-esque sound, no dice...it sounds a bit too "processed".
I now only use it for some ambient delay, in fact, I leave it on all the time!
Sound Quality
:
9
Great echo, very little coloration of the original sound. I never turn it off.
Reliability
:
5
Here's where I ran into some problems...I was playing an outdoor gig in central California (warm day, not hot...September), and the pedal quit after being in the sun for about 45 minutes...no led's, no signal. So, I covered the pedal for about an hour, and when I soundchecked it again it worked...I have real fear about playing hot summer festival gigs with this pedal...i'll be looking for a backup.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
I haven't contacted them yet...perhaps in the future regarding the heat issue.
Overall Rating
:
7
Sonically, this pedal is great...my concerns are with the overheating I mentioned before...i'm going on tour this summer, so I guess i'll find out.
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: US $150
Submitted 04/10/2004
at 11:49am
by Len
Email: dailey at colfax<dot>com
Ease of Use
:
9
The knobs are logically laid out and give you the control you need to dial in a good sound - actually, there are no BAD sounds on the unit - but the knobs are small and small incremental changes can yield a substantial sonic change. It may take a while to adjust the unit to the exact sound you're after. I give it a nine only because it takes a little fiddling to get the chorus and echo just so.
The fact that this is really three (yes three - keep reading) pedals in one, means you only have one battery to change - or one power supply to connect, only one spot on your already cluttered pedal board to find, and only one additional patch cable to connect. Certainly simplifies setup and maintenance.
Sound Quality
:
10
I am thoughly impressed with the sound quality. The chorus is smooth and adds sonic interest and texture no matter how fast or slow, wide or narrow you set the sweep. It does not go to extremes so if you're looking for totally wacked - upsidedowninsideout - phaserflanger on steroids and speed, this is not your pedal. If you want to add movement, depth and enhancement to your tone, this is bliss.
The echo is echo. It is not reverb (don't get me wrong, I love reverb) and it is not really delay (certainly not the sterile, scientific sounds of most digital delays, at any rate). The echo is simply a reproduction of the orginal sound - bouncing back to you as though from a nearly accoustically perfect wall. You control how quickly it bounces, how many times it bounces and how loudly it bounces.
Throw in the Pure Tone buffer (see Overall Rating for more on this) and you've a simply great pedal.
Reliability
:
10
The pedal is built like a brick. Metal housing, quality components. I'm confident it's quite reliable.
Customer Support
:
10
I emailed a couple questions and Bob replied within a few hours. Very nice. Also, do youself a favor and visit visualsound.net. Click on the Real Answers to Life's Questions link. These are good people.
Overall Rating
:
10
What can you say about a pedal that not only sounds great at essentially any setting, but makes the rest of your pedal chain sound better EVEN WHEN IT'S TURNED OFF? Visual Sound used to make a pedal they called Pure Tone. It was designed to counter the tone-sucking propensities of other pedals. If you've plugged in a pedal (certain wah-wahs are notorious for this) and noticed, when the effect is off, your guitar sound has turned wimpy and thin, you know what I'm refering to. (This is why some manufacturers make such a big deal about "true by-pass" circuitry.) The Pure Tone pedal put the tone back in. Such a deal! Then Visual Sound put the Pure Tone buffer in their Route 66 and Jekyl & Hyde pedals, and recently, the H2O as well. You're actually getting THREE pedals in one. This is a superb product and an indispensible part of my effects chain.
I've been playng for a number of decades - touring, teaching and session work - and this is truly one of the best pedals I've come across. I'm usually pretty cynical and critical and I hate to gush about a product, but the H2O really is that good.
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: US $149
Submitted 03/25/2004
at 11:24pm
by Anonymous
Ease of Use
:
10
Excellent. Definitely tuned to be in the right range from full CCW to full CW. Even the extreme chorus settings are musical and useful. Someone did a lot fiddling/testing to come up with the right component values on these.
Sound Quality
:
10
My H2O goes in the effects loop. The only other effects I have in this stage are Phaser and the amp's gorgeous spring reverb. I don't use any of them too much, including the H2O. When the chorus is on, it's that Small Clone type (like the 80's band The Police, if you are familiar with them) - lush, beautiful, refreshingly non-gaudy. Delay sounds like a very expensive vintage delay. There is no comparison between this unit and the best digital multi-FX box I've heard. I now use my all-in-one floor dealy just for wacky special effects like octave and whammy.
Reliability
:
10
Looks and feels solid. You can tell from how the pedal is voiced that the people who built it are passionate about guitar sound, so I'm guessing they'd be cool to talk to if you needed something.
Customer Support
:
10
Bought it at Mass St. Music in Lawrence, KS, which is as good a shop for electric guitar stuff as there is, AFAIK.
Overall Rating
:
10
No brainer. This is the perfect middle ground between cheap digital effects that you are better off without, and on the other end the very expensive vintage/boutique stuff. If you break it down by cost per effect, you are down in DOD/Dano territory, and this is a pro quality pair of effects. If you happen to need both of these effects and you appreciate bang-for-the-buck, there is nothing else even close. Even if you only use the chorus it is a good deal compared to a Small Clone reissue with a crummy bypass circuit - or very expensive AnalogMan chorus. The quality in Visual Sound pedals that impresses me most is how they combine the build quality and value of a mass-production company with the savvy guitar player's sensibility of a boutique maker. And the H2O is their greatest achievement so far, IMHO.
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: US $139
Submitted 03/09/2004
at 02:54pm
by NMK
Email: nmk<at>flash dot net
Ease of Use
:
10
Very straightforward & simple. Nice red & green lights to indicate effect status, and a standard 9V jack on front of the pedal for outboard power.
Sound Quality
:
9
I'm primarily an acoustic guitarist, using this effect to add a slight amount of air and width to my acoustic tone. I had been using a TC Chorus, which is of course the best chorus pedal made, but it was stolen, and quite frankly it had become quite a pain to run AC power out to my pedal board just for the TC Chorus, so I was glad when I found this pedal that I could link into my 9V rig and eliminate the AC requirement.
I think the sound is pretty much as they described it in the advertising, and for my situation works perfectly. The addition of the delay is nice as well, just a touch of that added adds a bit more dimension to the sound. My only criticism here is that it seems like I can't quite get as think a chorus tone out of the H2O without it starting to warble a little (a very subtle flange effect); the old TC would get nice and fat (when I wanted it) without that effect. Other than that, no complaints about the H2O; I'm completely satisfied with it.
Reliability
:
10
So far no issues, and it's built incredibly rugged, so I don't anticipate any either.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
N/A
Overall Rating
:
10
Overall, I think this will work nicely in either my acoustic or electric rigs, but I make my money playing acoustic, so there it shall stay. Been playing guitar now for about 27 years, and other than the TC Chorus, this is the best sounding unit I've heard. I'd buy it again if it were stolen.
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: US $150
Submitted 02/16/2004
at 07:46pm
by Greg
Ease of Use
:
8
Comes with a sheet of paper that gets you started and you can tweak it from there. Pretty versatile with 3 control knobs per side (chorus & echo) plus long/short echo switch.
Sound Quality
:
8
I use a tele w/Rio Grande pu's and a Les Paul Jr. into Tech 21 Double Drive>H2O>Boss CS-3 (which I'm looking to upgrade)>Fender Hot Rod Deluxe with a Guyatone TR-2? tremolo in the effects loop. Surprisingly, it isn't noisy. You can get pretty cool Leslie sounds, slapback echo, colorful choruses of all flavors, etc.
Reliability
:
9
Seems pretty solid.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Overall Rating
:
9
I bought this to add some color to my sound at times. Also considered Voodoo Labs Analog Chorus and AnalogMan Clone Chorus but went with this one for the added echo feature. I play rock, country, altcountry, etc. and this is perfect for occasional use. The fact that you can use them both simultaneously is a big plus.
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: Bartered for it
Submitted 02/05/2004
at 01:40am
by wes
Ease of Use
:
10
I find extremely irritating so much so I want to strangle the owner....oh wait, sorry. That was the review for AOL. I hate it! Anyway about The H2O pedal. Very easy. Just start w/ one of the recommended settings and tweak to Your liking.
Sound Quality
:
10
My setup is a Fernandes Decade J1 w/ Pearly Gates and two Van Zandt singles thru a Zoom PD01 into a Peavey Deltablues 2x10 w/ Mojo MP10RHD's. The H2O sets in the effects loop. I am not a pedal guru, so I base My opinion on how it sounds relative to what I've heard on recordings. First the chorus side. I read other reviewers saying that this effect is too subtle. I prefer effects to enhance My tone not take over. This chorus really sounds best for clean stuff IMO. I don't use chorus for overdriven sounds. It's very lush sounding and not thin w/ My setup as stated in other reviews. The delay is the effect I use the most. Can't do without it for playing "Red House". I had a boss Digital Reverb/Delay that was irritating for this type of use or any use for that matter. This delay doesn't have that "too clean" sound that I don't care for. I used to have a boss CE-1 and an Echoplex (soid state). This pedal is smaller than either one of them and sounds as good to My ears. It'll be around My rig for awhile!
Reliability
:
10
Sure I'd use it on a gig. It hasn't given Me any trouble in the year and a half that I've had it.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Haven't had to deal w/ the company so far.
Overall Rating
:
10
I play blues, classic rock and gospel. I've been playing for 27 years. I really dig this pedal and would replace it if it were lost or stolen. I guess I like that it's 2 pedals in one box making things less complicated and it sounds so good to boot. Highly recommended!!
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: US $149.99
Submitted 01/28/2004
at 09:42pm
by Karl Fisher
Email: karl<at>MBYS dot net
Ease of Use
:
10
Incredibly easy to use. I found the 3 parameters of each effect to be more than enough to dial in a great sound. This was one of my first analog pedals since breaking away from the digital modeling craze, and it's a blessing. The knobs aren't quite large enough to safely adjust while playing, but they are a very comfortable size. The included spec sheet had great starting places for specific sounds. The two footswitches are located close enough to engage at the same time, which is a fabulous idea, as the two effects compliment each other so well.
Sound Quality
:
10
I am using this in my acoustic set-up which runs: Rigel A+ Deluxe mandolin - Korg DT-10 - Morley Little Alligator Volume - George Dennis Wah - H2O - all in the effects loop of a LR Baggs Para DI - split to the board and my Line 6 Flextone (v.1).
I was very pleased with the response to my piezo equipped mandolin. Both the chorus and echo of the H2O sounds heavenly. I have not noticed any problem with noise. I was amazed at how much the pedal did not alter the tone of my mando, nor add unstable amounts of mids or highs, which can be a problem with piezos.
Reliability
:
No Opinion
I can't in good judgement give a rating here, since I've only had the pedal for some days. What I will say is that the pedal is absolutely solid. I love showing it off just to show how beefy it is. I have no worries about it becoming damaged. If you use your head, it'll last for years.
Customer Support
:
10
Visual Sound has some of the best customer support I have ever worked with. My first time calling the company, I spoke with Bob Weil, head of Visual Sound. Every email I have sent has been replied to within two days. It doesn't get better than these guys.
Overall Rating
:
10
I play in a rock/folkish band, with influences from U2 to Bela Fleck to the David Crowder Band. Our band has done everything from rock festivals to Sunday morning worship. I've been playing for 15 years, and play mando, guitar, violin, banjo, and bass.
I would buy another H2O in a heartbeat. The chorus adds a beautiful width to my sound, without the annoying wash, over combed sound so many pedals give. The echo also suits my music much better than a digital delay, as I don't like how precise some delays can be. I played a Danecho and a DD-3 and 6 before purchasing the H2O. I feel the sound quality, at least at preserving my acoustic tone, was superior with the H2O.
Plus, both of these effects for $150 new is a steal.
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: US $149
Submitted 01/26/2004
at 10:52am
by Norm Hammer
Email: ElectGumbo at aol<dot>com
Ease of Use
:
10
Using the manual you can get some good sounds easily. With some tweaking you can find several usable sounds of your own.
Sound Quality
:
10
Really like the Chorus effect. At first it may sound a little weak but at volume it seems to be just right. Has a very old school analog sound. Reminds me of old Boss CE-1's alot. Does a great Leslie imitation with the speed knob turned full up and I slow down the speed on the fly with the side of my foot. It's not perfect but it sounds a lot like my Fender Vibratone cab which is the best chrous sound you can get. Nothing beats a real moving speaker cab for Chrous. Sounds great with distortion for leads also. Also there is a slight volume boost when you kick in the Chorus effect. I doesn't bother me that it does that.
I had a harder time getting the echo to do what I wanted but I think that was just me thinking to much instead of using my ears. Now I have it sounding pretty darn good. I find the echo much better sounding then the Dan Echo I was using before I got the H2O. Never ever got that thing sounding right. In referencing back to the manuals suggested setting I have found a few setting that I can use on my gig with out much changes. I mostly leave it set where I get a close approximation of Eric Johnson's sound and I leave it alone. If you get net picky the delays seem to stop abruptly instead of trail off like you would think they should. Just play your ass off and nobody well notice. I own old 70's Memeory Man and a reissue Memory Man which I like the delays and over all sound of alot. But they are noisy and tone vampires when ever i try to use them. So they set in the closet. The H2O's echo being digitial does not have any harshness that I find in most digitial delay. The short slapback delays are easy to get I had trouble with longer ambient type sounds..but I got them now.
I own several strats but the one that goes to work the most is a "Mutt Frankenstrat" made from a Peavey Strat style body..Birdseye Maple/Rosewood fingerboard Warmonth neck, Dimarzio Virtual Vintage pickups, Shecter Vibrato, Roland GK-1 pickup that drives a old Roland GR-1 synth. I don't send the guitar signal thru the GR-1 cause that ruins the overall sound and tone completely. The guitar signal goes into a Clyde Wah, Deja-Vibe, FD-2, Distorton Pro, Ultimate Octiave, 69', H2O, Little Laneli Spring Reverb....all this goes in to a Reissue Bluesbreaker combo or Soldano Decatone driving a Marshall 4X12 cab depending on the size of the gig. The output of the GR-1 goes straight to the board and I hear it through a floor monitor. Other guitars used are 68' Strat, 90' SRV, Jimi Woodstock Strat, 68' Tele or either a Les Paul Standard or PRS Custom 22 which are used when you got to have a humbucking sound.
I was all hot to get another delay soon. A line6 DL4 or something else. But instead I took the time to set the delays correctly and now I am pleased beyond words. May save up my pennies for a Fulltone Tube Tape Echo but that's gonna take a while.
Reliability
:
9
Had the echo side switch fail. It worked if you pressed on it very slowly where you could feel it catch. That was a pain. But at the time I only used the echo a few times a night so i worked around it. I had other delays at home but I never even brought one to a gig I just used the H2O as is and took my time turning it off after use. So I have to give it a 9 for that bad switch.
Customer Support
:
10
Bob was very helpful when the echo side switch failed. I told him I could change it myself so he sent me one "For Free". The warranty had expired over a year ago and he still sent me a switch. Ya gotta love that.
Overall Rating
:
10
Pop, Rock, R&B, Funk, Jazz, whatever I can get away with. Over 30 years of fooling around with guitars. Over the years I've had a UniVOx tape echo, 3 Memory Mans, little Boss Analog Delay don't know the model...it was reddish/pink and sounded real good, a Yamaha SPX 90, Digitech DP-21 I think it was, and that Dan Echo.
I think the H2O is a great product for the price. It sounds great and is nice to have these 2 effects in one unit of you want to take it off your pedal board for a jam. It's echo side will eat batteries up pretty quickly so carry a few with you if your not going to power it with and adapter/power supply.
Overall I'm very pleased with the H2O, the service of Visual Sound and well continue to use it on my gig.
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: US $149
Submitted 01/20/2004
at 11:31am
by Anonymous
Ease of Use
:
9
Anyone who has ever used a chorus or delay pedal before should have no problem dialing up a few sounds. The "width" control on the chorus is really a feedback control. They include an instruction booklet with a few settings to get you started. I also like the fact that I can step on both triggers at the same time or just one.
Sound Quality
:
8
I'm using this pedal for vocals but I tried it out on guitar. (Schecter S-1 Elite, 1977 Marshall JMP 100 watt head, Marshall 4x12 cab.) The chorus is very lush, complete with that analog "warm, buzzy" sound. With the rate Knob turned up, It does a jelly-like vibrato which was very weird. The delay section was also great. Digital Delay voiced to sound like analog. What will they think of next? I was using a EHX Deluxe Memory Man chorus/delay before, and both the chorus and the delay are better. The H2o had more delay time
and unlike the Memory man, you could tell there was chorus. Anyway, with the chorus turned up halfway and about a 470 ms delay, my vocals shimmer.
Reliability
:
No Opinion
Just got it so no telling how dependable it is. Sturdy Construction, good I/O jacks, and the familiar chrome footswitch clickers.
Time will tell if it holds up, but the fact that nothing is plastic is good. I would definitley gig without a backup.
Customer Support
:
10
I called their phone # after getting it from their website, and actually talked to the main man for about 25 minutes. He told me all about the design and effects, and was also very helpful in locating one for me. Very cool and customer oriented.
Overall Rating
:
9
I'd buy it again if it were stolen. I went through 3 different pedals until I settled on this one. There are instructions in the manual for wiring it in stereo. Pretty simple, just un soldering one wire and re soldering it to another connector. I wish they had included a power supply. Other than that, this is a great pedal for guitar or vocals.
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: N/A
Submitted 11/27/2003
at 12:22am
by Anonymous
Ease of Use
:
10
three knobs for each effect, you know the deal.
Sound Quality
:
10
I play through a big rack system (marshall jmp1, marshall 9100, bbe 362, gcx switcher, korg dtr 1, furman pl 8, nady wireless, gcx ground control, marshall 1960a). But i as far as effects go i like to stick with boxes and route them through my gcx (ibanez ts9, akai p1, line 6 dl4, crybaby wah, ibanez fl9, visual sound h2o). I use the h20 mostly on my clean channels and let em tell you, it has completly revolutionized my tone. On stage i probably use this thing in 75% or more of my bands sets. It has pretty much be come my overall clean tone. The chorus effect in my opinion is the best of the 2. If set right it does sound like your under water (hense the h20 name). It has speed control, width and delay time. All knobs have a very wide range making the pedal extra versitile. The echo part of the pedal is good too. I've heard people say that its functions are some what limited, but thats because they are judging it as if it were a delay. The fact is its not, and in my opinion, its there to add an interesting touch to the chorus effect.
Reliability
:
10
never had any trouble
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Overall Rating
:
10
great pedal, if your thinking of getting one, do it! you'll be glad you did. you can see my set up and how i use this pedal at: www.epicenterrock.com
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: US $149
Submitted 10/01/2003
at 12:15am
by sherry
Ease of Use
:
9
it is a pedal with a very simple design
3 knobs for each effect. maybe the delay knob in chorus is not so familiar for some players but that's all
Sound Quality
:
7
I tied the pedal in a guitar shop with a vintage gibson SG through a 1965 fender twin reverb (Beautiful amp.) my regular setup is Gibson SG special faded, Big muff, EHX poly chorus, Boss DD-6 and Marshall AVT 20.
the general sound quality of the H2O is good, I liked the chorus. very warm nice liquid like chorus. but you cannot adjust it so much. it has a nice sound but that's it. it isn't versatile enough.
or maybe it's because of my crazy chorus pedal Poly Chorus which is a pedal totally out of the standard range of all chorus pedals!
it has this spooky chorus with extreme versatility which H2O definitely didn't
but the chorus effect on H2O is very nice and warm
echo is a dissapointment
before I try the pedal I already knew that there's not enough repeats
but the number of repeats really suprized me
maximum repeat number is like 5 or maybe 6, but the audible number is like 4. I didn't really feel the echo during playing
echo on this pedal is really poor
I give it a 7 just because of the great sounding chorus, but still has to be more versatile than that
Reliability
:
8
looks OK to me but I don't abuse the pedals at all
housing is thick metal, bypass knobs are standard heavy duty stuff
the knobs are look really like crap, little plastic knobs don't go with such heavy housing
but over all looks like it can survive many gigs
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
I checked the web site but looked so cheesy to me
Overall Rating
:
5
if you need both delay and chorus and can spend around $150, you should try this pedal
for me it's too vintage style. echo/delay isn't definitely enough for me. it's so simple yet nice and warm. I need much longer delay times and repeats (DD-6 is right for me)
Chorus is awesome but still not very useful for everything. i.e. you can't get a vibrating chorus effect out of it. it has a very little range of options of chorus effect but the little part it has is so warm and nice that I can accept this pedal as a great chorus pedal
but still can't be compared to electro harmonix poly chorus.
for the money ($149) it is a good pedal I guess if you will use the echo feature which is in my opinion almost useless
and it's too expensive to spend $150 only for this chorus
you have to try it out and see if it fits you or not
I would buy this if I didn't have my poly chorus, but still I would need a better delay, so forget it
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: US $149
Submitted 08/23/2003
at 10:07pm
by Anonymous
Ease of Use
:
9
If you know your way around these types of pedals or rackmounts, everything will be very familiar. Speed, Width, Time, Repeats, Effect all with twist knobbies, turned fingerlike to and fro.
Sound Quality
:
9
I'm using a Gibson with P90's to get everything from Andy Summers to Keith Richards to Afropop. I've been shooting back to the 80's for fun, and this thing is a major ingredient. As far as I can tell it generates no extra noises on its own, I've been using it with the VS "One Spot" power ditty which is pretty sweet, if pricey.
Reliability
:
10
I would use it on a gig. It's a friggin metal box, and the stomp switches are courteously placed together as if you had to double-clutch both at the same time, to go for the David Gilmour lead in some imaginary stage fiasco. Sure seems strong enough, use shoes or it will cut your toes to ribbons. Pointy.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Never, but they seem like such a bunch of geeks, I'm sure they'd kiss your butt.
Overall Rating
:
9
A Space Echo for those who want to take advantage of everything that's happened in the last 30 years -- the sounds are rich, breathy and tweakable, the delay is irresponsibly long for a stomp box (I played it for an hour before noticing it had a LONG switch) and it has none of the vintage hassles of the old sh#t (never mind the actual tape loop of a real Space Echo). Expensive, but for guitar usage, plenty of delay and a really playable effect. I remember "back in the day" being disappointed with the brick-wall sound of digital delay. This seems to me a perfect blend; mirroring classic analog sounds while new technology removes all hassle. Dig it, big time.
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: US $140.00
Submitted 07/04/2003
at 01:13pm
by Anonymous
Ease of Use
:
9
2 effects Chorus and echo 3 knobs each. you can find great sounds pretty easy with this pedal. The manual has some prettyt good setting to get you started
Sound Quality
:
10
I'm going with a 10 here cause I have tried many chorus's and analog delays and this two in one nails them both very well. the chorus is is versitile to get leslie type sounds to lush round analog chorusing that is not over done or muddy. very prestine but not in your face. The echo side is digital but is voiced for analog, and again nails the echo plex type sounds very well and changes with your playing dynamics.
Reliability
:
10
Most definatly, built very solid
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Have not had to deal with them but I've heard they have good support
Overall Rating
:
10
This pedal is a great value! I will definatly replace it if something were to happen to it. I've been playing for 30+ years, have had most of and still own what are "vintage analog" pedals and echoplexes and this box is one of the best thats come around in a while. The route 66 is another great. Buy it, you won't regret it at all.
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: US $80 used
Submitted 05/28/2003
at 02:19pm
by Joel
Email: guitarman967 at aol<dot>com
Ease of Use
:
10
This is the best chorus I have ever played. Although it is rather large (takes up the space of two boss pedals on pedalboard) it is two effects in one box and Visual sound has the right idea in putting the two switches close together so the effects can be engaged simultaneously. I also found the manual to be real helpful. All example settings are usable. This manual can be downloaded off Visual sound's Web site.
Sound Quality
:
10
This replaced a Voodoo lab analog chorus that I wasn't that thrilled with. It wasn't nearly as versatile as this pedal. I really lucked out on this thing because the minute I plugged it in I found the elusive chourus sound I was hoping to find Inother pedals I've tried. The sound is vey clearprecise an at one setting reminds me of the Andy summers Police sound. With some tweaking you canget that beautiful detuned pulsing sound found on the Sought after Boss CE-1 chorus. I've had alotof chorus pedals and this one does it for me. It also does a decent Leslie rotating speaker simulation. Never found a pedal that was this versatile and every sound was usable. As happy as the chorus made me the delay was an added bonus. I use a digital delay(which I love) and this definitely sounds a little more organic. I like to have both delay on to get a unique ping pong delay sound. It is also nice to have the chorus and delay on with the delay level down a bit for a subtle effect that makes the chorus sound come alive.
Reliability
:
No Opinion
Built very sturdy. No problems
Customer Support
:
8
I like when company's alow you to download info such as product manuals online for those who may of bought it used and want to understand it's capabilities.
Overall Rating
:
10
This pedal should be versatile enough for any style of music. I finally have ended my search for the perfect chorus pedal. It's kind of funny because I hadn't even considered this product when I was auditioning chorus pedals because it seemed big to fit on my board. I saw it used at a music shop for $80 and figured that was a good price to give it a try. I'm very glad I picked it up. I've tried justabout all the better known Chorus pedals except the Fulltone Choral/flange and I can't imagine a better product for the flexibility it provides. Highly recommended.
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: US $130.00
Submitted 05/05/2003
at 10:48am
by Anonymous
Ease of Use
:
10
It's extremely easy to use, as are all analog pedals. The manual gives good ideas for the chorus & echo settings, which gives you a good starting point for finding your favorite sounds.
Sound Quality
:
10
It sounds great. I own a Roland Space Echo that I purchased in the late 70's, the H20's echo sounds every bit as warm as the tape echo, without the hiss & changing tapes. The chorus is nice & has a pretty wide array of settings. My gear is simple, my strat through a Fender Super Reverb 65 reissue, and a Boss super overdrive. The nice thing about the H20 is that it doesn't squash the signal. When the pedals are off, my amp still sounds big, warm & full.
Reliability
:
No Opinion
I just purchased it 2 days ago.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
I haven't had any contact as of yet.
Overall Rating
:
10
I've been playing approximately 37 years. My style is kind of a mish mash of rock,pop country,fusion,blues,motown, whatever it takes. The H20 is pretty diverse, from the subtle slap echo to the more ambient overdriven sound of David Gilmore. I would definately replace this pedal.
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: US $85
Submitted 04/28/2003
at 06:46am
by nelson
Email: worshipfire<at>integrity dot com
Ease of Use
:
8
Sound Quality
:
9
I play a guild m75 bluesbird, earnie ball volume, keeley modded rat landgraf boost, visual sound h20 silverface princeton. it is whisper quiet. fantastic WARM sounding delay and nice conservative chorus, there is a slight boost when this pedal is switched on which i do not mind, it degrades the signal slightly but it is worth it for the great sounding effects.
Reliability
:
No Opinion
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Overall Rating
:
10
I play praise and worship music,and I think God smiles when I turn this pedal on and so does everyone who hears it
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: US $107.50 used
Submitted 04/18/2003
at 11:25pm
by Anonymous
Ease of Use
:
9
Straight forward to use...no harder than any other pedal! The chorus is excellent for my use, I'm not looking for an over the top chorus, just for flavoring, as it were. Delay is nice and simple, good sounding. No loss of gain when on or off, not noisy at all.
Sound Quality
:
10
My set-up is fairly simple: My Strat or Telecaster into Morley A/B switch>Morley Wah>Stamps "DrivOmatic">Visual Sound "H2O">BOSS Phaser> Fender "Blues Deluxe" tube 1X12. The H2O is virtually noise free in my rig, quiet switching. The Chorus and Delay are both very nice analog effects and after a minimal amount of tweeking I found my "spots". I'm using it through a Fender Tube amp and get great results.
Reliability
:
10
Built like a tank! The case is well made and hefty. All the pots and switches are top shelf and have a great "feel" to them...a quality feel. I've had no problems with it at all and think it's 100% reliable. I have backup chorus pedals, but no backup delay but I don't think I'll ever need them!!!
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
No idea, haven't had to use them at all....
Overall Rating
:
10
I play primarily Blues, R&B, some classic rock and some Country...this pedal fits in nicely. I've been playing 30+ years and have owned more gear than I care to list here!! lol
if it was lost or stolen I would replace it with one of the same, or a Clone Chorus from analogman.com (which may be my first choice next time only because analogman is THE BEST)
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: US $230
Submitted 03/03/2003
at 08:21pm
by Chris Venter
Ease of Use
:
10
I've only had it for a few days but I find it extremely easy to use, also the included sound settings guide helps to give you a good idea of where you can hit certain sounds in the knobs.
Sound Quality
:
9
I'm using the following setup at the moment (strat is in for enhancements).
Gibson SG -> Morley Pro Series II -> Big Muff NYC -> Boss EQ -> H2O -> Zoom RFX 300 (for Compresion) -> Peavey KB 60 Amp
I've got to say, when i heard the sound clips for this online I really wanted to have it instantly. Now that I have it I'm not dissappointed at all. This pedal really has a very well matched pair of effects that compliment each other well.
While I have to deduct a point for the chorus having a slight hum to it, the tone is great. The chorus is not for someone who wants an in-your-face, "hey check it out I'm massively chorused" sound, however so if you're looking for a pedal for your 80's hair metal cover band you might want something a little more exaggerated. For me, however this is perfect. I can get great, non-cheesy sounding spacey tones from it. My major gripe with most chorus pedals is that they just sound like an out of tune effect to me, this however, does not. This chorus thickens things up beautifully while not overdoing it. The echo sounds even better than the chorus. It's dead quiet, has a very large range of finely tunable delay times (due to the long/short switch) and has a nice warm sound to it. Again it's not an in-your-face effect as the repeats trail off fairly quickly but add lots of atmosphere nonetheless. Perfect compliment for the Chorus to make for a great Psychadelic sounding pedal.
Reliability
:
10
this thing appears to be built like a tank encased in cement. very sturdy build, much like a big muff but even stronger because it has more right angles.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Not sure, haven't needed it so far
Overall Rating
:
9
this pedal is great for a psychadelic-spacey or just subtlely thicker sound. i can forsee it working in most types of rock and probably jazz as well. I myself play in a fairly diversely influenced rock band and i can see this working well in alot of clean songs and possibly on a few heavier ones. I love the look of this pedal, the sound it produces, and the durability of it. Definately would invest in another one if it was lost or stolen. My favorite chorus and echo effects so far.
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: US $100.00 used
Submitted 02/12/2003
at 06:34am
by Anonymous
Ease of Use
:
10
Very easy to use. Same as any other chorus or delay.
Sound Quality
:
7
The delay sound is good, but it does add a slight volume boost. The
chorus is very over rated. You must use extreme settings to really
hear it. I believe you are better off with an Ibanez CS-9, which
can be had on ebay for around $50.00-$70.00. It does have a few spots
that sound pretty good, but not as good as advertised.
Reliability
:
10
All Visual Sound products are very well made. I've had a Jeckyl &
Hyde Overdrive for about a year and never had a problem.
Customer Support
:
10
Very easy to contact. Good website.
Overall Rating
:
7
I really like Visual Sound effects overall. I do think this is their
weakest one. Even with an Ibanez CS 9 and a LocoBox analog delay I
got much better sounds. I used this with a Reverend Rocco and Hellhound 1*12 Combo.
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: US $120
Submitted 02/11/2003
at 08:51am
by Anonymous
Ease of Use
:
10
Very easy. This is analog and you get what you do, i.e. turn knobs and just listen. The manual is good enough to get anyone started but with the basic intuition and experience of using stomp boxes it will be completely unnecessary to even look at the manual.
Sound Quality
:
9
That's a matter of taste and what you're after. I think both effects are are top analog effects in this price category. The delay does what it is supposed to do and does it well with a warm sound. The chorus is probably the best I've tried myself. It alters the guitar's tone a bit towards enhancing highs but not tremendously. It is in fact a very warm sounding, lush chorus (as advertised). It has delay time control, and that's te real difference to other chorus pedals which only have speed and depth. It can generate more radical effects or more conventional chorus. With long delay time it moves close to a flanger in sound. I don't think this will depend too greatly on the guitar you play. Personally, I like the chorus best when palyed clean. You can get the Rush sound when played distorted but that reminds me too much of the 80's. Like I said, it's a matter of taste. The delay sounds good no matter if without or with distortion. I have not tried this pedal in stereo with two amps but have a feeling it would sound pretty good.
Reliability
:
No Opinion
I've only used it at home. It's a big battery hog, the delay that is. I bought the pedal and put in a new battery. Very soon, the delay stopped while the chorus still worked. I've not had any problem after using an AC adapter. I don't feel qualified to rate the reliability numerically since I used this effect only in my living room. It seems built quite sturdy with its metal housing and industrial strength stomp switches.
Customer Support
:
10
When the delay failed I emailed them and got answer back the same day from the CEO himself suggesting I should check the battery. I insisted it was a new battery and that couldn't be it. He offered to fix it for free. I then tried an AC adapter and felt pretty stupid because it turned out it was the battery.
Overall Rating
:
9
I bought this new when Mars Music went out of business. Therefore the good price. I've played since the early 80's and grew up with Van Halen. I'm probably retro with my gear, i.e. no racks, Fender amp, Tele and Strat guitars. I don't think this matters. If you play aggressive this pedal will sound aggressive. If you play love songs, the chorus will enhance that also.
I feel effects won't make you play better but they can be fun. They can be just as much a pain if they're not used right. This thing can get you the sounds of your heroes and it can get to your nerve just the same. I think it's a reasonable effect with potential and not just a gimmick. I had several other choruses in the 80's from Ibanez, Boss, DOD, but must say this is probably the best. I couldn't say the delay is so much different to a digital delay except for the time and repeat rate. I mean I don't see that it's so much warmer except for the subjective feeling one connects with the word "analog". Bottom line is that it's still you playing. The best effects alone won't make you sound like Andy Summers or John Frusciante. If an analog delay and chorus is what you're after then this won't disappoint you.
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: US $120.00
Submitted 02/10/2003
at 10:44pm
by Ian
Email: deftband at hotmail<dot>com
Ease of Use
:
10
Very easy to tweek good/useable settings. Three knobs per effect(2X) with a short/long switch on the delay side. Very, very simple.
Sound Quality
:
9
A solid stompbox. I am very particular about what affects my tone and this unit passed my tests. My rig is as follows: '91 Gibson LesPaul Classic Plus >> VHT ValvulatorI >> Donlop 535Q Wah >> Line6 FM-4 >> MXR P-90 >> ElectroHarmonix Q-Tron >> VisualSound H20 LiquidChorus&Echo >> Line6 DL-4 >> ElectroHarmonix Deluxe ElectricMistress >> EH HolyGrail >> MXR Noise Gate >> Mesa/Boogie Trem-o-Verb 100 watt head >> Marshall 1960A cab(4x12)
In some of the reviews here people complain about the chorus sounding thin or weak. I see where they could be coming from but the whole idea is to add flavor to your sound NOT simply become the flavoring altogether! It does this with taste and tact. The chorus is not as full-bodied as an ElectroHarmonix Small Clone but it has a differnt-equally rewarding-flavor of it's own. I conjured up sounds akin to Billy Howardell(A Perfect Circle), Billy Corogan (SmashingPumpkins), and David Gilmore(Pink Floyd) with ease.
Reliability
:
10
Seems as sturdy as a Brick S--thouse. I would and do gig without a backup.
Customer Support
:
10
Never had any problems yet but I hear their customer support is great. On their website they say if your pedal ever breaks you just send it to them and they will fix it for no more than ten dollars max charge! Pretty Rad!
Overall Rating
:
9
I play Heavy/Alt/Industrial/Grunge Rock. I have been playing for 14 years. If it were stolen or lost I would replace it promptly. I like this pedal. It's kind of a happy medium between analog and digital chorus/echo. Works well, I employ it in some songs my band has and have only rehersed with it once. It is a very useable pedal. Not too overpowering but not too subtle.
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: US $150
Submitted 01/05/2003
at 03:28am
by Kevin
Email: s8936 at cherry<dot>cs<dot>nccu<dot>edu<dot>tw
Ease of Use
:
10
Very easy to use
As long as you know how to control a chorus pedal or delay pedal
That's piece of a cake
Sound Quality
:
10
My gear:Fender Telecaster->TS-9->Vintage Rat->Maxon PT-999->H2O
This effector is very good at both chorus and delay
It has a lush chorus sound and a good sounding delay
I can't find a bad sound out of it
Reliability
:
10
It's built like a tank:)
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Never delt with them
Overall Rating
:
10
I play blue rock to hard rock
This product is fantastic and I think it's the best
combination pedal in the market
If you don't have a chorus pedal and a delay pedal and wanna have both of them
Go and get a H2O!
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: US $150
Submitted 12/24/2002
at 05:24pm
by Anonymous
Ease of Use
:
No Opinion
Sound Quality
:
8
i use a strat with a seymour duncan jb and coil splitter, and a les paul with stock alnico pickups, and into a fender deville 4x10. for the most part my pickups aren't really high-output, yet the H2O's delayed sinal sounds slightly overdriven. i find this odd because the original signal is squeaky clen. the delay is digital but visual sound says it's analog-voiced, so maybe the grit is intended to warm up the sound a little bit. don't worry though, it is just a pleasant touch of drive on the repeats. as others have said, the repeats don't taper off as smoothly as i would like, but i can overlook it. the only real complain i have is that the "short" delay setting sounds really digital if the delay time knob is below 12 o'clock. the chorus is very warm as well, i suppose it isn't as "extreme" as some people might want, but why would you want the effect to overpower what you're playing? i really like this pedal, and it is a perfect match for the jeckyll and hyde. i've discovered that the distortion needs to come before the chorus in the effects chain for the best sound. tons of sounds are available, but i get a kick out of the "young lust" (pink floyd) sound i can dial in. it sounds great, of course the delay isn't quite as good as a much more expensive analog delay, but i'm very satisfied.
Reliability
:
10
i thought my jeckyll and hyde was big, but the H2O is just as big but almost twice as tall! it amuses me. i'm not sure how well its inerds would hold up to a fall, but the casing can sure take a beating. if i dropped me amp on it i might worry about the knobs, but other than that this thing is very tough.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Overall Rating
:
8
i play jazz, blues, hard rock, alternative, classic rock, funk, classical, and weird ambient stuff. i never imagined that chorus would work so well with blues rythem or leads because i was so used to really digital crap. it works wherever chorus and delay works. i compared it to an old maxon analog delay and the maxon was a little better, but a used one was $200 and of course didn't have built in chorus. if it was stolen i might shop around for some used analog stuff instead, but for the money this pedal is a great buy.
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: US $150 ish
Submitted 12/08/2002
at 08:44pm
by Jeremy Duvall
Email: gtg302h2prism dot gatech dot edu
Ease of Use
:
8
This pedal is extemely easy to use. Its a little tough to change things on stage, but thats a thing with almost every single FX box on the market. I really havent seen one that is easy to change (unless your using a floor processer...yuk). Dialing in sounds is really easy on this rig, and I love the two in one design. I was really looking for a chorus pedal, but instead I got a delay unit. The chorus is definatly usable, and the delay is amazing yet not as versatile as I would like it to be.
Sound Quality
:
8
I have run this thing through a Marshall Valvestate VS-100 cab combo with a Warrior Isabella Custom on board and it sounded Amazing. The chorus was hardly noticable with a jekyll and hyde overdrive after it during my shredding tests but it did add slightly to my already ungodly sustain (warriors rock). Clean, this unit shines through. I hooked it up to my Washburn DS-10 Acoustic/Electric and it produced soft bluegrass would make you cry. Finally I hooked it up to the old Fender Fat Strat and tried out Where The Streets Have No Name by U2. This pedal does the trick! The chorus could use a boost, but other than that this unit rocks! I would split this up into say a 7 for the chorus and a 9 for the delay, so average the two.
Reliability
:
10
You could hit this thing with a sledgehammer. Okay maybe not, but do you get my point?
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Never had to deal with that. Thats a good thing
Overall Rating
:
10
In my opinion, this is probably the best combination box you can buy on the market. I HATE floor processors, but putting two effects in one box is okay ;). Its awesome for Acoustical uses, great for clean electric applications, and usable (due to the delay) for Distorted applications. My view is kinda bias though, seeing as how this is the only chorus or delay unit I have ever owned, and I am hearing good things about the Boss series. The only thing I wish this thing had would be a more lush chorus, but for what I play (OLD SCHOOL aka back-when-people-could-actually-play-things-other-than-power-chords-and-gay-little-riffs *cough Incubus cough*, none of this new effects-cameoflaged CRAP)this unit doesnt get in the way of the guitars tone. It actually accents it without ruining anything.
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: US $120
Submitted 10/15/2002
at 06:05pm
by Cary
Ease of Use
:
7
I've used this pedal for about 300 gigs/sessions. It is easy to get a good sound from this unit, but would be a lot better if the knobs were big enough to adjust with your feet, like MXR boxes. This is a more realistic solution for the live arena, unless you want to resort to a hive of tone sucking microchips that has a tap function, or a bunch of presets.
Sound Quality
:
6
The main problem with this unit, is that it's easy to overdrive the echo if you use thick strings, or an overdrive pedal. A Fulldrive 2, for instance, will straight up wreck your sound if you follow it with this pedal. If you don't hack at the strings like you're chopping wood, or use a blast-off type of preamp, or strings heavier than 10-46, it sounds fantastic. This pedal mates very well with a Route 66, as the compressor can help tame the distorted echo effect. This is a killer pedal, but you've gotta be careful of the above mentioned stuff.
Reliability
:
9
This pedal has withstood many stomps, and a couple of times, drunk chicks falling down smack on top of it. It still sounds good, but looks like hell.
Customer Support
:
9
I have had limited contact with Bob Weil, and he has been very helpful, and seems like a straight shooter. The company seems to still be small enough to care about individual customers. This is a very cool thing.
Overall Rating
:
8
I like this box. Great slap echo sounds. The chorus is fun. It's built like a brick shithouse. If you don't mind bending over to change settings, and are careful with your input volume, I don't know of a better pedal for the money.
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: US $105.00 used
Submitted 10/01/2002
at 01:26pm
by Anonymous
Ease of Use
:
10
Same controls as most chorus and delay pedals. Chorus also has delay
time control that a lot of other chorus pedals don't have. East to
use.
Sound Quality
:
7
I am using this with a Reverend Avenger TL and a Reverend Rocco
through a Reverend Hellhound Combo. My other effects are a Vox Clyde
Reissue, Visual Sound Jeckyl & Hyde Overdrive, Voodoo Lab Sparkledrive (for clean boost), and the H20. The H20 is fairly quiet. The delay is very good. It is warm and goes from a slapback
to long atmospheric delays. The chorus is not as "lush" as the
literature states on this product. If you want a subtle chorus, it
is fine. It does sound better with a little overdrive.
Reliability
:
10
All of the Visual Sound boxes are built very well. I have had my
Jeckyl & Hyde Overdrive for 6 Mo. with no problems. So far, no
problems with the H20.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
N/A
Overall Rating
:
No Opinion
I play blues, rock, and some jazz for 25 yrs. This product is a good
match for my style. I really like the delay, and the chorus works for me. I like a pretty dry signal. I would buy it again. I would
love to have a Fulltone Choralflange and a Maxon AD900, but for the
price the H20 delivers a good sound.
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: US $125.00
Submitted 07/24/2002
at 11:37am
by Anonymous
Ease of Use
:
10
10
Sound Quality
:
10
10. This is hands down the best delay pedal avaialable, Becuse it sounds great on and off. That is unlike most digital and all analog pedals it does not suck town in the bypass mode. I have owned or tried every name and noanme new and vintage pedal out there so belive me. Chorus is usable but not as warm as boss ce-2 etc.
Reliability
:
9
so far it is built like a truck.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Have not had to use and hopefully won't.
Overall Rating
:
10
Again the delay is great, very warm and it does not eat your tone when off. The chorus is Ok and a bonus at this price.
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: 118 (Pounds)
Submitted 06/26/2002
at 07:54am
by chris
Email: cbtlr2 at msn<dot>com
Ease of Use
:
10
Hi bought this about 3 weeks ago and so far so good - i love it, bought a Route66 as heard The Strokes were using it and wanted to kind of find that sound.
H2O is lovely has a real 70s analogue sound - doesnt sound digital which is cool for me as that digital sound is over for now, we want retro analogue - well i do anyway.
The Echo side rocks, noticed a few people remarked that it "Pops" its a chorus most do but jeez its ever so slight, if you're looking for it you'll hear it but its nothing, these pedals are beasts man, they are awesome, chorus is great well worth the #118 I paid, i love the build of these things as does everybody judging by the other reviews, havent gigged with it yet but have rehearsed and it never lets me down
dont know how this reviewing thing works but hey - 10 build, 9 sound, customer service - dont know(working fine) and sounds lovelly with my tele. Also check out the Route 66 thats is the greatest pedal ever !
Sound Quality
:
9
lovely analogue sound on both - REtro 70's think Springsteen, Lou Reed, Strokes.
Reliability
:
10
so far so good - dont see how anything could ever go wrong with this Tank !
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
heard its excellent - I wont need customer support, I can buy batteries anywhere.
Overall Rating
:
10
9.5 rating - trust me forget any negative comments on this and comparisons - its amazing value and its wicked - almost hand made compared to that factory crap, i cant tell you how much i love these visual sound pedals, I dont want to go on about what efforts guitars amps Im playing with as whats the point of that - If you want a delay and a chorus with a real distinctive sound to give your band - grab this beast use it on a couple of songs you'll love - plus it looks so chunky so blue so tough - trust me a kiwi fella giging in London this pedal is value for money - this pedal is you. sorry about the spelling grammar etc in a hurry - did I mention my Route 66 ?
I love it man
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: US $130
Submitted 03/22/2002
at 11:23am
by Tim Brennan
Ease of Use
:
9
The unit combines an analog chorus unit with a digital delay, each with its own footswitch. The chorus has the usual speed, width, and delay controls; the echo has time, number of repeats, and level controls. The unit also has a switch that varies the delay range from short to long intervals. "Long" is good for real echo effects; short works for rockabilly slap-back and as an enhancement to the amp's reverb.
Sound Quality
:
8
The chorus is never extremely intense, so if you're looking for something that covers flanging and a Leslie sound, you may need to look elsewhere. But for a straight chorus effect, the H20 provides a very sweet tone. Almost every time I turn it on, I find myself hitting the chords to the chorus in "Badge." Like the compressor on the Visual Sound Route 66, the voicing of the chorus is pleasantly bright. There is also a slight volume boost when it kicks in, so it works as an enhancement for solos as well.
The echo unit is very useful as well. I don't think it is quite in the category of the chorus side tone-wise, in that it has a very slight metallic edge to the echo to me, warmer than but a little like the "plate" settings on an Alesis. But it compares very well to other echo units I've heard on both stand-alone pedals and multi-effect devices. It also is quite versatile. I find that long echo sounds are a lot of fun when one's noodling around at home, but tend not to work well with a band. I leave it on a fairly quick setting, to give a stronger reverb and rockabilly feel. For that, it's excellent, and those looking for spacier sounds will be happy, too.
Reliability
:
9
Seems extremely solid.
Customer Support
:
10
Bob Weil is fabulous. I got the H2O in the mail from Musician's Friend before his One Spot AC adapters arrived. I had some minor incompatibility problems with other adapters, generating some noise in the unit. Bob was great at responding to emails and helping me to check various possibilities. The One Spot solved the problem. That, plus the 4-plug extension cable, fixed the problem, and now it (and the Route 66 I use with it) work fine.
Overall Rating
:
9
I mentioned in a review of the Route 66 that I like having separate pedals rather than a multieffects unit, so I can adjust tones, sounds, and levels as the context warrants. For those like me, this "two in one" pedal is an excellent deal. I am unaware of a comparable deal, where one gets a chorus unit and delay together for a price comparable to what one might pay for a decent separate unit. The combination of an H20 and a Route 66 (overdrive plus compressor) gives me four real-time adjustable pedals covering just about anything except wah or flanging that I could imagine using.
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: US $150.00
Submitted 02/25/2002
at 02:31pm
by davey
Email: dgboggs at earthlink<dot>net
Ease of Use
:
9
Pretty easy, self-explanitory
Sound Quality
:
7
I got the Visual sound H20 pedal in today. I've always wanted to try one, so I ordered it. The thing is bigger than I thought it'd be. Definitely the size of 2 pedals, and pretty tall and bulky too. (IMHO).
I compared the chorus to my Boss CE-2. I should pause here to tell you that when I review a pedal, I have no prejudices- I am looking for the one I will be keeping.
Anyway, the chorus IS very good sounding. I cracked open the Boss so that I'd be able to adjust the internal trim pot at will.
The H20 chorus is about the same sound quality as the Boss. The notable difference is the mid-boost. I tried several settings, and I always noticed that the H20's chorus is mid-boosted. In fact, I'd have to say it sounds like it has just a touch of flange in there. This mid-boost means that there is a slight volume-boost when the chorus is engaged. By slight, I mean VERY slight. But it is enough to make the chorus stand out. It is very liquid and smooth. But, with the mid-boost comes more noise. The chorus on the H2O is more noisy than the Boss CE-2. On more extreme settings, you can hear the "swoosh", as if a flanger is on somewhere in the background. I don't mean to say the chorus is noisy, it's not. But there is a minute amount of noise there.
The Boss doesn't have the mid-boost, and sounds more pristine, crystaline even. The Boss is REALLY REALLY quiet, and sounds fantastic. Again, I have to say that the H2O chorus is very competitive as far as sound quality. The Boss and the H2O's chorus's sound VERY MUCH ALIKE, except for the mid-boost.
The delay on the H2O is very good sounding. The delay is clear but has warmth. Of course, it doesn't touch my Boss DD-5, DD-3, or Guyatone MD-3, but it does sound good. As a matter of fact, I like the sound a little better than my esteemed DOD FX-96. But, that's were the positive ends for me.
The delay on the H2O does not come anywhere near self-oscillating, and really lacks repeats. The "trail-off" as I call it is pretty short. Even with all three knobs dimed in short mode, the trail only lasts 1.5 seconds. The first second it seems that the trail will go strong, and then in that last half-second, it suddenly drops out. I couldn't get the sounds I really like out of it. For example, I like spacey, ambient delay. The kind of delay that you almost don't realize you're even hearing a delay, but yet the sound is just expansive (like on the song "Comfortably Numb"). Not to say it can't do an ambient thing, but it decays kind of fast.
So I'd have to say that while the delay sounds really good, it REALLY lacks flexibility.
Reliability
:
8
Seems fairly sturdy
Customer Support
:
10
Has 800 number, which is really good!! I've heard very good things about the service
Overall Rating
:
8
Overall, it's a good pedal. But, for me personally, I wouldn't give 150.00 for it. I could pick up a used Boss CE-2 and a used Boss DD-3 for less, or even upgrade to a Boss DD-5 for about the same price.
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: US $149.00
Submitted 02/22/2002
at 12:29pm
by Kris
Ease of Use
:
10
The pedal is geniously designed and the gradual changes go from subtle to amazing and drastic. Most combo effect pedals, that usually have two in one effects, have a tendancy to override and pretty much conflict with each other. Not this pedal, it's two amazing effects compliment each other nicely, and easily does so with the simple tweak of the knob. The manual has some great patches, however, don't judge the pedal by its presets, use them to branch from and create your own sound. Every echo and chorus is in there, even a touch of phase, the H20 is one of the easiet to use and gets the most sensational sound.
Sound Quality
:
10
Where can I begin, my playing has simply skyrocketed. I mainly use a 1994 Fender Strat with a Seymour Duncan 59 in the neck and a Seymour Duncan Distortion in the bridge. I send this guit straight in the effects loop of a Peavey Ultra 212 Tube amp. There is no noise to this unit, no annoying buzz, it's smooth and clean. The chorus and the echo are both immaculate and really compliment eachother.
Reliability
:
10
This effect pedal is made exceptionaly well, the construction, the switches, and the knobs can definetly withstand heavy abuse. I can honestly say that I would gig without a backup, this pedal has been through numerous jam sessions, and not once has it shown any signs of falling apart. Heck, even the paint job is high quality.
Customer Support
:
10
I wrote Bob Weil an email, stating how great this effect really is, and he wrote me back the very next day. That really spoke volumes of how great this company is, and it definetly reflects in the quality of their effects.
Overall Rating
:
No Opinion
I have had the H20 pedal for approx. 4 months now, and I must say that I am very impressed with it. I've seen reviews for these pedals, and they have all scored 10's, and of course I was very skeptical of it. Most gear reviews are done the very day that people purchase them and it's hard to figure out whether or not it is accurate or not, I've had the pedal for so long, and believe me, this pedal is way beyond some "new gear love affair". When I first took it home and hooked it up I was amazed by what this pedal could actually do, but I immediatly thought it was an "attraction to novelty". Now 4 months have passed, and my opinion of this pedal has not changed, in fact the pedal has gained so much more approval from all my band buds, and most importantly myself. When I first lugged it to practice, all my buddies just said "Dude, you have enough pedals as it is, you are gonna sound like a F@#Ckin Circus Carousel", and when I played from it, all my buds did a double take. The pedals' chourus is lush, sweeping, thick, sweet, and vibrant, the echo is simply uncanny, words cannot express how great the echo is, quite simply the best pedal yet. This pedal has replaced so many, not to mention those hideous "multi effects processors", and even though it's a Chorus/Echo it's nearing the replacement of my MXR Phase 90, which for years has been a mainstay. Heck, even the Phase sound of this pedal is enough for me to put my MXR on consignment. Thank you for creating this pedal, it's definetly a "God in a Box".
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: US $149.00
Submitted 02/05/2002
at 02:41pm
by Anonymous
Ease of Use
:
9
Easy to use overall
Sound Quality
:
3
Fender Strat, SD replacement pickups, Fender Hot Rod Deville 60w amp. The unit is very noisy. It clicks like mad and it is distracting and totally unacceptable in a pro situation. I was also displeased with the "lush" chorus and echo sounds. They were very weak, terrible. It truly sounded like a kid's toy, despite it's great looks, my opinion is the sound quality is a 3 out of 10!
Reliability
:
9
Very strong, metal case, looks good.
Customer Support
:
9
Called for support on the click and the guy pretty much admitted that is normal. I told him that is unacceptable and he said that it only does it when you're not playing (volume on guitar at 0 - still clicks away). That would mean I can't ever stop playing on stage while this unit is on. No good! The guy was very nice and really tried to help though. He did what he could.
Overall Rating
:
4
I can't imagine this sounds good in any setup. Something is very thin and unpleasant about the tone it produces. Nothing can make up for that.
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: US $140
Submitted 01/10/2002
at 10:10pm
by Ben
Ease of Use
:
7
Well I give it a 7, because it was hard for me to find the right place for the pedal right away. I tried putting it after my wah. That didn't work because the delay wasn't clean with distortion. I tried a few different spots in my loop, until I found that after my eq, and before my noise gate or reverb, it sounded just fine. As for the pedal itself, its very easy to use. 3 knobs for each effect, and you get the hang of adjusting it very quickly
Sound Quality
:
8
Well there is the good and the bad. The good is that both effects sound great, esspecially for the price tag. You can't beat the price. I dislike that its not true-bypass. Visual sound calls their bypass "pure-bypass" or something similar. It means that your signal gets boosted after your cable goes through. This makes the high end tighter, but I lose some bass response. This is without ethier of the effects on. Of course with the chorus on, you lose a little low end too, but thats what most chorus's do. Let me break down the sound quality of both effects:
Chorus:Excellant sounding. Its not the typical super lush chorus, it sounds a lot more like a phaser a matter a fact. I use to own the Voodoo Lab Analog Chorus. That one unit costs exactly as much as this dual unit. Personally I like the H20 better. It has a more classic sound, and its clearer. The Voodoo Lab use to add a gain boost and was so lush that you couldn't hear the notes.
Echo: Best I have heard. Its even a better value than the chorus. It is so warm sounding. Tonight my guitar teacher came over, and he has had experience with a lot of echos, and he adored this one. We did a few experiments. For instance turining up the gain, and getting the longest delay possible, which was about a whole second. The sag of the notes was very nice, not harsh sounding at all. Then we tried the opposite. Switching on the short delay button, and messing with slap echo. It was pure rockabilly, it made everything sound huge. Yea it has 3 knobs, a short delay time, and a simple switch on it, but it gets everything done. The unit loses points for lack of true-bypass
Reliability
:
6
i don't know about reliability. This is the second H20 I have received. The first one was a dud, a broken echo channal. Many may like the metal box, but I'm not to fond of the switch, and the fact its made in taiwan. BTW, Voodoo Lab uses a cheaper switch on their american made Chorus. When will these companies realize that metal on metal switchs make clicking noise.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
I haven't dealth with Visual Sound, but I got a fair shake from Elderly Instruments who sold me the item.
Overall Rating
:
9
Well if I had the chance, would I buy it again... hmm getting a TC electronics chorus, and Maxon delay would be tempting, but that would cost me triple that I spent on this one pedal. I'm basically a hacky blues/rock guitarist. This pedal is great for my style. I'm a huge rush fan, and it really hits their sound perfectly. Alex Lifeson abused chorus in the 80's, and I could definetly comp his sound with this pedal. I bought this pedal, because I wanted to get rid of my Voodoo Lab Chorus, and I also wanted to supplement my Boss RV-3, and this did the trick perfectly
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: US $125
Submitted 01/07/2002
at 02:23pm
by Anonymous
Ease of Use
:
7
Manual is minimal with some helpful suggestions for basic approaches. Not a hard pedal to tweak but hard to get the echo to a point where the cutoff is not very drastic and noticeable --- very unnatural sounding. A little better for rockabilly. Chorus alternately sounded lush and nice, or a bit fizzy or digitally cold.
Sound Quality
:
7
Decent pedal if you want these 2 in one. My current delay (Ibanez DDL c. 1986) and chorus (Voodoo Lab Analog Chorus/ Ibanez CS-2) each do their thing better than the H20, though, so no advantage for me in keeping this to have them both in one pedal. Echo annoyingly cuts out very sharply at the end of the repeat cycle, not very natural sounding at all compared to the Ibanez DDL, for ex.
Reliability
:
No Opinion
I kept it for 3 days & returned it so I can't judge reliability: it worked when I had it.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Had no occassion to deal with them.
Overall Rating
:
7
Been playing 36 yrs., blues, swing, rock, r&B, some jazz, country... decent combo pedal but neither chorus nor echo alone were good enough to persuade me to keep this. If I had neither and wanted a decent place to start, this would be an OK pedal to start with though some of the limitations (sharp echo decay, very digital, either "on" or "off") were annoying.
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: US $189
Submitted 12/25/2001
at 08:27am
by Davor
Email: pavuna<at>bluewin dot ch
Ease of Use
:
10
Very easy - you just have to test it with your gear to find the optimum sounds for your styles.
Sound Quality
:
10
I play since 1960 and have tonns of top gear and this
sounds Divine. STOP READING:
Simply just order one now.
It is soooo good that all I can say is:
well 10 and justified 10.
I am laizy - read other reviews: it's fabulous.
Reliability
:
10
10 as Bob answers my calls - yet no rpoblems.
Customer Support
:
10
See above: the designer takes care of demanding customers !
Overall Rating
:
10
All top guitarists should buy one, period.
If you do not have one - buy one.
I play since 1960 and have all the best gear in the world
and this is THE BEST for chorus / delay:
STOP Reading - Go and Buy one - NOW !
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: N/A
Submitted 12/24/2001
at 11:02pm
by Anonymous
Email: blackser at aol<dot>com
Ease of Use
:
10
Easy or hard as any other pedal,depending on the users intelligence.
Sound Quality
:
6
The Chorus and delay shoot for that "Analog" sound,the Chorus is similar to a old Maxon chorus.
I found the H20chorus thin and weak,I had to crank the depth knob to get any happening chorus effects.I think this pedals good if you really want to keep your gtr tone unaltered,since the chorus sound is very subtle. Can get a decent 70s vibe to it,but Definetly not the pedal for the 80sLA studiosound,or 'Holdworth' lush chorus effects.
The Delay is also a simualted Analog delay. Nothing special here,though it does have a long delay time option which is good.Guess Im a digital delay guy,cause I think the Boss dd3 or dd5 kicks the h20s ass!
The Chorus is much to noisy!At performance levels theres that dreaded"swishh,chhh,shhhhww" sound when On,plus a slight pop when turned off.
The pedal is buffered ,which means it sound like crap though a FXloop,which is where I think Delay sound the best,oh well :(
Reliability
:
No Opinion
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Overall Rating
:
7
Its a good bang for the buck if you really need a Chorus AND Delay.
If you have on or the other already I say pass the H20 buy,theres better Choruses and Delays out there.Old bosses,ibanez,Ross ,Arion,Mazon ect...
I cant believe all the hype and "10s" this pedal gets! The delay is very good but the Chorus is plain and lack depth,and is to noisey for my tastes.A good concept of a pedal,though I think Flanger/chorus would be cooler.Plus I think the buffered bypass is not really necessary.
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: US $149.99
Submitted 12/23/2001
at 11:24pm
by Anonymous
Ease of Use
:
10
The sounds of the H20 unit are just spectacular. However, you don't have to spend hours screwing with the knobs. The changes are very subtle are as dramatic as you want them to be and finding the specific sound you are looking can take but only a minute. THe manual is helpful, and does list some great presets, however don't judge the pedal by the presets alone, try and find your own unique sound to be completely satisfied and amazed with it. Use the presets to branch from, and add a touch of depth there, slow the echo time down, turn the speed up, lower down the reapeats, shorten it, lengthen it, whatever you want to do, what ever you want it to sound like, it's in the box.
Sound Quality
:
10
I'm using this pedal with a 1981 Peavey T60 and a 40th Anniversary Amer. Custom Fender Strat with Seymour Duncans. I send it through the effects loop of my Peavey Ultra 212 Tube Amp. The sounds are terrific, the chorus is lush, sweet, thick, phasing, and mellow. However if you want it to be a lot stronger just tweak it a bit. The echo is great, to have it work with your distortion send it through the effects loop. My buddy borrowed the pedal and said when he kicked in the distortion it just sounded like noise and feedback. Simply put, to get the most out of effects...especially modulation effects send it through the loop so it is more intergral with the amps sound. It complements my amps distortion beautifly and makes the guitar sound and feel like a breathing beast.
Reliability
:
10
Excellent construction, rugged and built to be abused.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Probably won't find out
Overall Rating
:
10
I play a lot of intrumental/neoclassical rock, not to mention Poison, Def Leppard, Van Halen, Vai and Satriani. I've been playing for about 8 years now. This is the most own effect, simply the best value yet, two great efects for about 150 bucks!!!! Not to mention, much more high quality in both sound and versitility then any other pedal manufacturer out there. If it were lost, I'd replace the very next day. Beautifully designed in both structure and sound.
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: US $139.99
Submitted 12/22/2001
at 09:42am
by MK
Email: klotz<at>6gig dot com
Ease of Use
:
10
Mad easy operation. Find a setting, dont fuss with it again. Manual, unnecessary.
Sound Quality
:
9
So surprised that this pedal can sound SO GOOD. chorus=amazing, echo=damn cool..much different than digital delay. i'm partial to it for two reasons: it seems like no one else uses it (hard to find in stores) and it is ANALOGUE. i got this baby thru mailorder. chorus can add some hissing though, when used with distortion/overdrive, thats my only qualm.
Reliability
:
9
reliable no doubt, built solid.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
n/a
Overall Rating
:
10
i love it....i play in a modern rock original band that gets monthly gigs. i leave the chorus on in 90% of our songs, along with the Boss DF-2 Distortion/Feedbacker. sounds so good. creamy.
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: US $140
Submitted 09/27/2001
at 11:35pm
by Anonymous
Ease of Use
:
10
Very simple turn the nob and find the tone you need, manual is good but you really wont need it for sounds
Sound Quality
:
9
I'm running this along with a FD2 and A Teese RMC 3 wah pedal into a Fender RI 59 Bassman. The Chorus is lush and very nice best on the market right now. The delay is perfect! best sounding pedal delay I've ever had just dial in the setting and away you go. This pedal is a real set it and leave it and not worry type thing very cool.
The speed on the chorus speed is not quite fast enough to do a leslie type effect it falls just a little short but you can pull it off with in reason. It also has a bit a flange tinge to it which is cool, and you can dial in a bit a flange buy cutting back on the delay setting on the chorus very old school Van Halen kind of flange.
The best way to describe this unit with both chorus and delay working together is listen to the Def Leppard song hysteria lush analog chorus and delay sounds. I wish this pedal was around in the 80's it really nails that full sound.
The H2O is clean and does not muddy up the tone what so ever it really let's every chime and thump come through.
There is a little noise but its not bad its alot more quiet than my old Marshall supervibe chorus. The second out put is really cool for using a in line tuner like the boss TU2 a tone sucker in its own right. The second output of the H2O is a clean signal only so you can pop your tuner in there and it wont kill your tone to the amp very cool.
Reliability
:
7
Seems well built but not the best I've had, I have not had it long it long enough to really beat on it yet, time will tell
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
never dealt with them and I hope I never have to
Overall Rating
:
9
Why no one has put together a simple chorus and delay pedal like this in the past is beyond me??? In the day of all the modeling crap, and multi effect floor board jokes that suck the life out of your amp, its nice to see this pedal FINALLY. Keep it simple is the best way to pure tone. I'm looking forward to many years of use with this puppy.
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: US $139
Submitted 09/20/2001
at 07:36pm
by Anonymous
Ease of Use
:
10
You twista de knobs, you changa de sound. This is straightforward, and I didn't even glance at the manual: which is minimal, but clear and concise. Excellent out-of-the-box performance.
Sound Quality
:
10
I play a variety of guitars (Taylor acoustic, Schecter 7 string, Ibanez 6) through this, into a Tech21 PSA-1 modeler (also a killer unit) and thence into my digital recorder. My style is a mesh of metal, classic rock, funk, progressive, techno, and pop.
BEAUTIFUL chorus! Vivid tonal reproduction, great effect capability, etc. This is THE chorus pedal to own.
BEAUTIFUL echo! Very similar to tape delay/echoplex. I don't have much experience with that kind of delay box, but I doubt that any box under $500 could compete with this baby.
PURE, CRYSTAL CLEAR bypass setting. After numerous tests - through a guitar amp, a speaker system, and a recorder - I couldn't discern any coloration resulting from this box.
Three hits here.
Reliability
:
10
The switches are solidly made, and the pdeal itself is made to withstand nuclear winter: who puts screw-on battery cases on $150 items? Even the input/output jacks look to stand the test of time, and I am ever wary of those after owning a few Zoom units. I would gig without a backup, in the rain, beneath fireworks, during a hailstorm... you name it.
Customer Support
:
10
I bought this off of ebay (although new) and they are still willing to waste time talking to me about gear, even if not their gear. I haven't had a real problem yet, though, and it would also be difficult to ship to them. I give another ten, but it's a qualified ten.
Overall Rating
:
10
It doesn't matter what your style is: if you need a chorus and echo effect, this is the one to buy. There is NO competition in this price range. This is a killer buy. If someone broke into my house, he'd probably steal something else, but if he stole this I would have to beat him to death with instrument cables. I'm frankly amazed by the quality construction, programming, and programmability of this product, and I wish Visual Sound would get cracking and make some new products, because I would be a buyer. Buy this, and you will not regret it.
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: US $138
Submitted 08/30/2001
at 08:29am
by James
Email: fl_799<at>yahoo dot com
Ease of Use
:
10
Very easy to use... And very quick to get very useable sounds. The manual can get you started and show of some of the capabilities of the H2O. I like the fact that you can the switches are close together for 1 foot operation for both effects.
Sound Quality
:
10
This is the must have effect this year. From the first moment, it is obvious that there is alot of work and effort to make two spectacular effects. The chorus is very transparent as far as a "signature" coloring of the sound....only the effect is added and that effect wet and complex. In fact both effects do not add and noise or coloration in any way. The great thing about the chorus is the wide range of sounds you can get from the 3 knobs. From wet washes, Curt Kobain style waterfall effects, to smooth warbles, I can't imagine a chorus sound you could not get with this thing. The delay is without a doubt one of the best I've played in any form. Being a die hard Echoplex user for many years, I've never found a decent representative of that great sound in a pedel. The Delay has the warm repeat and organic decay similiar to a good tape effect unit. The great part is the effect does not increase/decrease nor color your original signal...only adds the repeat(s) to it. Best part is that there is no noise or tapes to replace.
Reliability
:
10
I have the Jeckyl and Hyde pedal for a while now and have had no problems with it. These Visual Sounds pedels are way overbuilt and I am sure they will stand the test of time.
Customer Support
:
10
The Owner will personally respond to your e-mails. Great company philosophy...
Overall Rating
:
10
Rating 10's across the board is rare for anything but this pedel certainly deserves the high rating. There is simply no other pedel with this quality of sound at this price PERIOD. It is a must have.
The great part.... this is the pedel that you or I would build for ourselves if we could possibly do it. I am glad someone is listening to us!
I am sure this pedel will have many more great reviews in this column.
Product: Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo
Price Paid: US $149.25
Submitted 08/17/2001
at 07:28pm
by Kevin
Email: KJStrat62 at aol<dot>com
Ease of Use
:
10
Pretty easy to get the sound I wanted. Just tweaked a little and was ready to play. Manaul is really helpful for those who need assistence.
Sound Quality
:
10
Sound quality is top notch. The chorus is just beautiful. Can also get a vibrato /leslie simulator and pretty close to a deja vibe thing. The echo is real cool. Sensitive on the level and just what I wanted. A little slap back echo.
Reliability
:
10
I have the JH pedal and this one from Visual Sound. They are built like a brick. Nice metal casing. Footswitches seem to be reliable.
Customer Support
:
10
I emailed Bob W of Visual Sound. He got back to me within 2 hours each time. Very helpful. Explained the warrenty on the Visual Sound pedals. Just send to him and repairs are 10$ max. Try that with Boss or Fulltone. Especially if you want to ship to West coast and you are from the east coast. See ya in about 5 weeks.
Overall Rating
:
10
I like this pedal so much I sold my Boss Japan made CH-2 and DD-3.The unit is very quite at high volumes. There is no volume difference when unit is engaged.Two quality effects at a press of the toes. I would recommend this pedal. I think better than the TC chorus and wetter than a echoplex. Give it a try. It's great stuff.
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