Visual Sound H20: Possibly the very best deal in a chorus and delay pedal

I've been through a lot of gear over the years, yet there are some pieces of equipment that I have purchased and sold only to re-purchase because, come to find out, the item I let go really was the best of its kind. One example of this is the Visual Sound H20. I owned the original version, traded it, then purchased the V2 and sold that, then recently purchased another V2 because it served a number of purposes better than any other competitive pedal I could find, and I looked very hard. Here's what I mean:


Chorus
My primary use of the H20 is Chorus. I wanted an analog chorus, which it is, but got into the True Bypass craze and insisted on a TB chorus pedal. After agonizing over what the best choice would be I went with the Voodoo Lab Analog Chorus. This pedal is a truly great Boss CE-1 clone with wonderful chorus and vibe effects on a clean guitar, but put an overdrive pedal in front of it, even a very high quality one like my Xotic Effects BB+, and the pedal became un-usable; significant volume boost and just overall non articulate sound. So remembering that the only chorus pedal I ever really liked after a drive pedal was the H20, I then contemplated TB versus buffered, because the H20 is a buffered pedal (not True Bypass). Suffice it to say however that as a chorus pedal, the H20 is analog, appropriately warm yet transparent and extremely versatile; very tweakable to virtually any chorus effect you could be after. It doesn't boost your volume and remains intelligible even after drive and distortion pedals.


Delay

Even if you are looking at the H20 as a chorus pedal, it is equally as good as a delay pedal. Where the chorus side is analog, the delay side is a digital/analog hybrid bringing the best of both worlds; the warmth of an analog delay with the longer delay times available only in digital units along with a certain clarity that is not overly sterile like some very high end digital units I've owned in the past.

Two in One
Since I was after a chorus pedal, this was an added bonus, because I use my Deluxe Memory Man for longer delays, but now have another delay pedal in the H20 to setup for slap-back. The H20 costs as much or even less than some of the more boutique-like chorus-only pedals out there, so getting a great chorus and a great delay in one box makes good economic sense. While it is a big pedal, it is still smaller than two individual pedals connected with a patch cable thereby conserving valuable real estate on your pedal board and requiring one less power supply.

Buffered Signal
This was an interesting conundrum that ended up a revelation. I have recently been investing a lot of effort into my tone. My natural instinct was to ensure I went all True Bypass. The thing is, once you add a 12' guitar cable to your first pedal, seven more patch cables on your pedal board and then another 12' to 20' from your last pedal to amp, you end up with a lot more of what is called capacitance. The short version (and you can get the very long version with more technical details on some of the better forums, like The Gear Page), is that more than a certain amount of capacitance will suck the life out of your guitar signal. It not only sucks tone, but it alters the way your amp and effects respond to your playing technique. I realized this when I played a straight cable into my amp and then through my whole pedal board (pre the H20, which was all TB pedals at the time) and noticed a significant difference in the quality of my guitar signal. Once I put the H20 in the system and performed the same test, the difference to my ears between straight cable and pedal board was not detectable. I kid you not. A high quality buffer placed in the right place in your signal chain will reduce or eliminate the capacitance associated with long cumulative cable runs and a chain of TB pedals. And it turns out the H20 V2 (I don;t know about the original) contains the very same high quality buffer circuit that Visual Sound once sold as its own separate dedicated buffer pedal.

So in summary, whether you are looking for a top notch chorus pedal, a top notch delay pedal or both, you really should put the Visual Sound H20 on your list. The fact that it's not hand made in America by our industry's most elite boutiques should not necessarily dissuade you. It even has printed circuit boards inside, oh no! ;-) Try it and I think you might just agree. And to add a little more controversy to this post, the True Bypass thing isn't always all its cracked up to be. It has its place, but that doesn't mean its place is everywhere all the time!