Visual Sound Liquid Chorus

The Visual Sound Liquid Chorus is an analog chorus pedal, sold as the chorus half of the company's better-known H2O two-in-one taken out on its own. Where the H2O packs a chorus and an echo into one box, the Liquid Chorus gives you just the chorus, with stereo outputs for what MusicRadar called "maximum lushness"¹. Premier Guitar described it as a true stereo design: rather than one output carrying a dry signal, the second output emits a fully chorused sound 180 degrees out of phase with the first².

Visual Sound itself no longer exists. The company is defunct and was replaced by a new company called Truetone, which now lists the V2 Liquid Chorus in its V2 Series archive³. Truetone describes the pedal as "True stereo chorus with pure analog circuitry," compatible with electric, acoustic, or bass⁴.

What it does: analog stereo chorus

The Liquid Chorus is a chorus pedal, full stop. MusicRadar frames its origin plainly: "The H2O is now available in V2 form, but you can also get just the chorus part in this Liquid Chorus"¹. Premier Guitar likewise notes it is "derived from the H2O"².

The stereo implementation is the pedal's distinguishing feature. Truetone's pitch for it is width: "Spread across two amps or feed a stereo PA and the Liquid Chorus produces a width that mono pedals simply cannot replicate"⁴. Premier Guitar's reviewer explained the technical side: the Liquid Chorus is true stereo, with the second output carrying a fully chorused signal 180 degrees out of phase with the first output's effect, rather than a dry pass-through².

The chorus circuit itself is analog, built on Visual Sound's own bucket brigade chips. Premier Guitar reported that these chips were "created using the same process as the legendary Panasonic Bucket Brigade Delay (BBD) chips," and that producing its own chips rather than using rare, expensive New Old Stock parts is what let Visual Sound build the pedals at all². The earlier H2O told a similar story: MusicPlayers.com noted in 2007 that the chorus used classic bucket brigade chips, and that Visual Sound had acquired manufacturing rights to some discontinued Panasonic chips rather than relying on NOS stock⁵.

The controls

The control set is the standard chorus trio. On the H2O's chorus section, MusicPlayers.com listed Speed, Width, and Delay Time as the three basic functions⁵. MusicRadar's Liquid Chorus review describes the depth control as setting "the basic character of the chorus effect"¹, and Truetone's page says the Depth control "moves from barely-there shimmer to full, immersive motion"⁴.

Premier Guitar put the control count in context: "Some chorus pedals offer only two controls, Speed and Depth"².

There is also an internal option. MusicRadar found "a small switch on the circuit board in case you prefer the wet/dry output configuration of the H2O"¹. In other words, the pedal ships in true stereo mode, with both outputs carrying a chorused signal, but a player who wants one wet and one dry output, as on the H2O, can flip that switch.

History and versions: from the H2O to the V2 and V3

The Liquid Chorus began as half of the H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo, a dual-function pedal that MusicPlayers.com described as "one part Chorus and one part Echo"⁵. That pedal's chorus section had its own mono input and two outputs for mono or stereo signals, and Visual Sound even provided instructions for custom wiring both outputs to deliver an effected signal, though that made the pedal dual-mono rather than stereo⁵.

The standalone Liquid Chorus appeared in the V2 range, and Premier Guitar reviewed it with an MSRP of $207 and a street price under $150². The H2O continued alongside it in V2 form, which Truetone lists as an analog chorus and echo pedal⁶.

In 2014 Visual Sound announced a new and improved H2O, which became the V3 Series H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo. Guitar World's review of that pedal described independent hybrid analog/digital echo and analog chorus circuits, with the chorus section carrying full-size knobs for speed, width and depth, smaller knobs for tone and chorus/vibrato, a three-position intensity switch and a detune on/off switch⁷. The chorus controls could dial in classic chorus, vibrato and rotating speaker effects, and the section kept two outputs for mono or stereo signals⁷. Truetone still lists the V3 H2O as a current dual-channel analog chorus/vibrato and echo pedal⁸.

What reviewers said

Reviewers were positive about the chorus sound across every generation of the pedal.

• MusicRadar, on the Liquid Chorus: "Creative uses of some high quality tones in every function," with "'lush', 'rich' and 'custard' (no, really)" as the first words that came to mind¹.
• Premier Guitar, on the V2 Liquid Chorus: "The Liquid Chorus offers dead quiet operation, lots of low-end and rich analog sound"².
• Guitar World, on the V3 H2O in 2014: "The Liquid Chorus section is especially impressive"⁷.

MusicPlayers.com gave the original H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo an overall rating of 3.1 in 2007⁵.

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