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To read the written review, visit: http://bit.ly/VisualSoundH2Oreview

The guys at Visual Sound have built some pretty cool dual-mode pedals in their time, the most famous being the Jekyll & Hyde Overdrive/Distortion and Route 66 Overdrive/Compressor. The success of these designs is due to practicality, not gimmickry—they co-package cool-sounding, commonly used effects to save gigging players headaches and hassle. On the surface, the new V3 H2O Echo/Chorus might seem a little less practical than an overdrive/compressor, but the beauty of the third version of the H2O is that the two effects work together in a cohesive manner that makes the echo/chorus effect feel like a natural—even essential—addition to your effect array.

A New Form for Sonic Evolution
Visual Sound has scrapped the old shield-shaped enclosure used for the first incarnation of the H20 in favor of a roughly 5" x 4.5" x 2" rectangular housing that's about as wide as two conventional Boss pedals. And because the V3 has top-mounted jacks, it actually takes up less space than two Bosses wired together.

The control set is a fairly busy affair, though it's mostly very intuitive and easy to navigate. The six topmost knobs are familiar enough: The chorus section has speed, width, and depth knobs, while the delay section has delay, repeats, and level knobs, as well as a short/long switch for toggling between 10--225 ms or 225--450 ms delay ranges. The newest additions are two smaller knobs—tone and "chor-vib," the latter of which lets you select either chorus (a mix of your dry and wet signal) or vibrato (the wet signal exclusively)—or a blend of the two.

There's also a new switch for choosing three levels of modulation intensity, and a detune switch that adds a crazed pitch-shifting texture to the modulations. Underneath the hood you'll find two on/off switches for each effect's "Pure Tone" signal buffer. Visual Sound recommends leaving these switches in the on position, but if you prefer true-bypass, the option is there.

Gear freaks love the ability to control every aspect of their rig, and the H20's separate in and out jacks for each effect means you can route your signal in any of the same configurations as you would with individual pedals: Put chorus before delay, delay before chorus—or patch pedals in between the two.

To continue reading the written review, visit: http://bit.ly/VisualSoundH2Oreview