- Published: 05 February 2020 05 February 2020
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Hello Effects Fans!
If you like chorus effects, then you are probably well aware of the famous Roland SDD-320 Dimension D rack chorus. When it was in production back in the 80’s, it seemed almost everyone used it live and/or in the studio. Many are still in use today, although they cost considerably more than most pedals and sometimes need some service to return them to top operating form. In 1985, Boss released the Dimension C DC-2 Chorus pedal. It was very similar in design and sound, but came in the normal Boss pedal format – sort of the “little brother” to the rack version of the circuit. Used ones in good shape fetch stiff prices. They went out of production in 1989, but have recently been revived in the Boss Waza pedal line. Today we announce our Stereo Chorus module, which compares to these great chorus effects, most closely to the Boss Dimension C DC-2 pedal.
Both the SDD-320 and DC-2 are simple to operate. They have push-button settings. The DC-2 pedal had four of them. No knobs, no options – just 4 well-chosen presets and an on/off stomp switch. The cool thing about these chorus units is that they are “motionless”. If you are used to more common chorus effects, you know that changing up the standard Rate and Depth controls will give you variations in the “wobble”, from subtle thickening to wild and spacey “seasick” motion. Motionless chorus doesn’t do that. It operates by having two separate delay channels out of phase with each other. The effect is much more subtle, but very pleasing. Pleasing enough to be an “always on” effect. It’s almost like two chorus circuits in one effect, making for a complex and (sorry!) more expensive circuit to build. At first you may think the presets aren’t working if you haven’t used a motionless chorus before. But listening more carefully, you’ll “get it”. Some think it is the ultimate in chorus, avoiding the over-the-top settings. All presets are extremely usable. If you like the bigger and wobblier chorus, or a more Leslie-like rotary speaker feel, there’s nothing wrong with that, but this may not be what you want. If you want that subtler, always-on, thickness and depth, this design delivers like no other.
Our implementation stays very close to the DC-2 design, using the same MN3207/MN3102 BBB/clock chip pairs. The elaborate filtering and companding in the circuit design can result in a relatively low-noise chorus effect. We use toggle switches instead of push buttons, giving you 6 presets instead of 4, with 4 of them being identical to the originals. We also offer up standard Rate and Depth controls instead of the toggles if you prefer to dial in your own settings. Or if you can't decide, you can have both the toggles and the controls and switch between them. The circuit has a number of transistors and diodes in the control portion of the circuit that are not in the audio path. They aren’t special in any way, but some of them are now very expensive and difficult to find. We use better and more affordable parts for those instead, with no impact at all on the tone of the circuit.
Like the DC-2 pedal, you can run the module in mono or stereo mode. Some feel that stereo mode makes the motionless chorus seem bigger, but you still won’t get anywhere near the wobble or separation of other chorus designs. That’s just not what this chorus does, thankfully! Not only is it good to have a great variety of effect choices, it’s good to have great choices!
You can see the details about our Stereo Chorus at: Stereo Chorus. Or look for it in our list of modules in the Chorus section, along with our great VibraChorus configurations, Small Chorus, and Black Pearl chorus modules.
BTW... For those of you who have used Search on the Home page of our website, you’ll find the results are displayed much better now. They used to be displayed at the bottom of the page, which made them difficult to find. Now they are at the top, easily seen, like they should be.