Opinions On Truetone V3H2O Liquid Chorus?

Bruce Reed

Bruce Reed

New member
While checking out various chorus pedals I stumbled on a pedal that appears to look very tempting. It also has a separate echo and I was also looking at those, too.

Does anyone have one of these? What are your thoughts. Have I found a great 2-in-1 option?
 
I have the Tap Delay, which is the reverse - a delay with more control and a simpler chorus. But either way, Truetone's stuff is really stellar. Sounds like a million-dollar recording. Easily competes with the rack gear I used in the 80's.
 
I have a V2 - LOVE it.

The V3 is just a lot more routing options etc....go for it. Great chorus. So good they sell it as a solo.
 
The V3 pedal is really sweet. I've played through all of them at various times and out of all of them, V3 is my favorite. I like that there is the option with a patch cable or two to route the echo before the chorus if you feel so inclined. Really great stuff. I wish they sold the chorus by itself still but once the V3 pedal line came out, they discontinued them. There's always used but I don't see them pop up very often.
 
The only thing I dislike about the V2 is that I like running chorus into the front of my amp and echo in the loop. But the chorus sounds phenomenal. Sounds like the V3 solves this problem.
 
Great feedback, just what I was looking for. I bought one of the original Roland CE-1's back in the day and it has pretty-much biased my ear against most other chorus pedals. I still have it but is too big & impractical for a player like me. I wish it only had a slower option on the vibrato, then I could use it as a Leslie sin as well. Oh, well.

I am setting up a second, smaller pedalboard and don't have as much room, so the H2O sounds like the ticket.
 
Aceman said:
I have a V2 - LOVE it.

The V3 is just a lot more routing options etc....go for it. Great chorus. So good they sell it as a solo.
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Could you elaborate any more on the V2 vs. V3 versions? I must admit I appreciate simpler pedals, so to get a sweet chorus and a nice slapback or reverb-type delay would be nice.

Also, I have not been able to find the delay time specs on either pedal. Any idea?
 
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Bruce Reed said:
Could you elaborate any more on the V2 vs. V3 versions? I must admit I appreciate simpler pedals, so to get a sweet chorus and a nice slapback or reverb-type delay would be nice.

Also, I have not been able to find the delay time specs on either pedal. Any idea?
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Great questions - and why I wanted the V2

V1 = Chorus (Rate/Depth/Delay - no level) and a Delay Time/FB/Level + a long and short switch, so the time can run from a nice slap to a long echo or whatever. Kind for analog voiced, but digital.

V2 ADDS: Lush mode to the chorus. Lush is exactly that. Standard is pretty much the same as the V1 - which is pretty freaking awesome as-is. Delay is the same

V3 ADDS: Intensity (Formerly Standard/Lush), Depth (Level?) instead of Delay, a Detune option, a Tone knob, a Chorus or Vibrato option, and there are options to reverse the effect order as well as separate out options for each. Only played this once. Bonus - Square pedal, so might work on your board better.

The Chorus - in all of them, is analog to the best of my knowledge. The Delays, again as far as I know are digital but analog voiced. I don't know how long long goes but I'm thinking around 500ms. Way more than I ever use I know....

For me, the two levels of chorus and long short delay hit the spot. Flexible enough, but not over done. Most of the big woo-hoo on V3 is for detune/vibrato/chorus nuts, and just added a bunch of extra business to the pedal.

I run mine in the loop of an H&K Tubemeister18 and that is sort of it H&K + H2Ov2 and I'm good for whatever.
 
Bought a V2 when it first came out and really appreciate the pedal. when the V3 came out, I went to a local dealer and tried the pedal. First up, Truetone folks redesigned the V3 series to rectangular shaped enclosures. Next, Side by side, the V3 sounds clearer and smother. Yes, I bought the V3 version and kept the V2.

v3-01.jpg
 
It's really too bad the V3 series did away with the footswitches that the V2 had. Those have the best feel of any pedal I've ever played, including Boss.
 
When I talked with R.G. Keen at the Dallas Guitar Show last, it was when V3 hit the market, he said it was a mix of reliability and vendor related. I want to say the vendor simply stopped making them so TT had to change or it may have been reliability issues. But yes, the V2 footswitches were great feeling.
 
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misterwhizzy said:
......It's really too bad the V3 series did away with the footswitches .....
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In watching Bob Weil's demo video he was quite excited about the durability of the new "10,000 stomps" foot switches. I am going to grab a V3 as soon as funds become available.

Great input, folks. Thanks a lot!
 
Never tried a V1 or V2. I got my V3 because I love Eric Johnson's clean sound which is Chorus+Echo and this was a good value for the money, fits better in my pedal board and really helps me avoid pedal dancing because I can turn both effects on/off with a single movement. The max echo time is gotta be something between 500-600 msec. The switches are super super smooth so if you need to do some tap dancing in our pedal board these help to make it easier. Interesting notes about Stereo operations: It is not just Left Dry + Right Tremolo, it is actually Left Chorus + Right Chorus which I think gives it a deep chorus sound. The echo however is dual mono,there is no ping-pong, that is my only complain but then that is how EJ I guess it is ok :). Other than the dual mono thing I think it is a great combo for the money. If Truetone could come up with a V3 Reverb + Digital delay with tap tempo for ambient sounds I would put it in my wish list for sure.
 
IMENATOR said:
Never tried a V1 or V2. I got my V3 because I love Eric Johnson's clean sound which is Chorus+Echo and this was a good value for the money, fits better in my pedal board and really helps me avoid pedal dancing because I can turn both effects on/off with a single movement. The max echo time is gotta be something between 500-600 msec. The switches are super super smooth so if you need to do some tap dancing in our pedal board these help to make it easier. Interesting notes about Stereo operations: It is not just Left Dry + Right Tremolo, it is actually Left Chorus + Right Chorus which I think gives it a deep chorus sound. The echo however is dual mono,there is no ping-pong, that is my only complain but then that is how EJ I guess it is ok :). Other than the dual mono thing I think it is a great combo for the money. If Truetone could come up with a V3 Reverb + Digital delay with tap tempo for ambient sounds I would put it in my wish list for sure.
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So, basically, you want a different Chorus/Delay with reverb? :scratchch
 
They are nice pedals but not my thing. I prefer a warmer chorus with less zing in the high end and have been running the Rocktron Deep Blue for years. However am now looking HARD at the Neunaber Inspire right now. Rivals the rack tri chorus set ups used n the studio by many session players in a small compact pedal. Never heard anything like this pedal in a small affordable chorus pedal!
 
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