Well I bit the bullet and dropped just over 300 clams on one of these babies yesterday without even trying it out. I have been looking for a good chorus forever and was never sure if I would ever spend this kind of cash on a single pedal. I took her home and here are some initial impressions after messing with it over the weekend:
Size:
Although it seems quite large, the Halo Chorus takes up no more room on my PT Jr then any standard XO size pedal that sits longways. For example, the MXR bass Auto Q, MXR Flanger or similar sized pedal. The build quality of these things is amazing and the paint is gorgeous.
Powering the pedal:
I powered it up with an old 15v center positive ac adaptor that was used for a keyboard, just to try her out as soon as I got home and the Halo is amazingly quiet. This adaptor is big and clunky and my goal was to use 2 inputs from my Voodoo Labs Pedal Power2 Plus. The owners manual for the Halo chorus specifies that it can run from 15-24 volts and that it will work perfectly with the Pedal Power 2.
I used a Godlyke Y cable that is designed for this purpose and hooked it up to slots 5 and 6 on the Voodoo unit. These 2 slots are listed as having the highest current and I switched the Dipp switches so each jack puts out 12 v. This would provide 24v with lots of current available for the pedal.
I then used a reverse polarity jumper cable that came with the Voodoo Labs unit to attach to the Y cable as the Diamond has a positive center tip.
The pedal powered up fine and sounded great but there was a loud hum from the speakers when turned on and you could actually hear the LFO sweep going back and forth. Somthing was clearly wrong as there were no issues with the 15v ac adaptor.
I am not sure what to do hear but sent an email to Diamond to hopefully get it sorted out.
Sound:
The Halo chorus sounds very lush and rich. Its a very simple pedal with depth, speed and then a mix knob for the amount of chorus and a mix knob for the amount of Phase. The little toggle switch is for reversing the phase when using the pedal in stereo.
You can actually use this pedal for a straight chorus, as a phaser or blend the two. The phase effect is subtle but really becomes noticable with a little drive added in. I a/b'd the phase effect to my block logo MXR Phase90 and although its a lot more subtle, I really liked the phaser sound and could see it being very useful.
The chorus is just flat out gorgeous. Its so warm and rich sounding without a hint of noise, no loss of low end, no muddyness and no volume drop or boost when activated.
Blending the two together sounded really good and I could see using both effects together on a regular basis. This pedal made me realize that I'm a little tired of the Phase90's mid boost and slight volume boost when activated. Its a very blatant effect and the more subtle Phase from the Halo was very refreshing to hear.
Extra Controls:
Inside the pedal, there is a jumper to change the LFO wave format. I tried it out but the effect was too intense and not smooth enough so I switched it back. Kind of made the sweep to hard like a vibrato or something.
There is a switch to make the effect more usable in effects loops. I tried it out and the pedal became a bit quieter so I didn't need to use that.
The last control is an intensity trip pot that is marked for various settings. I turned it up to the recommended 20ms setting and the pedal became even more lush and rich sounding. I left it set there!
Bottom Line:
I don't think I can not have this pedal on my board! I need to get the power situation sorted out but other then that, its pretty much flawless and may actually replace my Phase90 as it works great as both a chorus and a phaser. It was expensive but the quality is amazing, there are no tonal issues, it works beautifully on bass and is really simple to use.
My fretless bass tone is to die for with this type of chorus as well. I a/b'd it with my MXR stereo chorus and although the MXR sounds great on guitar, it just doesn't have the warmth and lush texture that the Diamond has on bass.
I would love to hear from others who have this pedal and sort out the powering issue.
