WALRUS AUDIO JULIANNA

102
GUITARIST DECEMBER 2020
Julianna
Julia’s big sister mixes up chorus and vibrato in stereo
MANUFACTURER
WALRUS AUDIO
MODEL
JULIANNA
CONTACT
FACE BVBA [phone] WWW.WALRUSAUDIO.COM
PRICE
£225
PEDALBOARD
PROS Stereo operation; adjustable dry
blend offers many options between dry,
chorus and vibrato; unusual adjustable
parameters’ LFO-sync’d LED; tap tempo;
momentary rate change
CONS Onboard preset slots would have
been the icing, but it’s still a very tasty cake
Words Trevor Curwen Photography Olly Curtis
W
hen we took a look at Walrus
Audio’s Julia pedal back in
issue 442, our only regret was
that it wasn’t a stereo pedal. That appears
to have been remedied now with the
release of the Julianna Deluxe Chorus/
Vibrato pedal, which is not only stereo but
also adds to the Julia’s feature set with a
tap-tempo footswitch, a connection for an
external expression pedal and more.
The key to dialling in a sound here is
the D-C-V knob that runs from totally
dry (D) to totally wet (V for vibrato) with
traditional chorus around the middle and
nuanced blends throughout the travel.
This is what makes the Julianna such
a prospect for dialling in new sounds
against rivals, which simply offer a
toggle-switched choice between chorus
and vibrato. That knob is complemented
by a choice of sine, triangle and a new
quirky random waveform. There is also
Lag, a knob that determines the centre
delay time the LFO modulates from,
widening the pitch shift for a richer effect.
If you wish to run in stereo, the D-C-V
knob turned fully counter-clockwise will
send your dry signal to the one output
and wet to the other for a two amp wet/
dry setup, but you can turn it to adjust the
stereo image.
The tap-tempo footswitch would
be a useful asset on its own, but it has a
secondary function: you can set two values
for the Rate knob and hold the footswitch
to toggle between the two rates with the
transition ramping very naturally, rotary
speaker-style. Likewise, there’s a Drift
feature that gently speeds up and slows
down the LFO rate between two user-set
values when the Bypass footswitch is held
down. In addition, an Expression pedal
can control depth, rate or both.
VERDICT
While the Julia remains a great pedal,
the Julianna – with the same well-
rounded warm tone – opens up a lot more
possibilities, both in the sound variations
available and the extra foot-operable
options to enhance a performance. It will
do traditional chorus and vibrato, but its
intrigue lies in the way it fills in all the
hybrid shades between those two primary
colours to zero in on the exact bespoke
modulation you need.
The original Boss CE-1 and CE-2 units are the
much-revered pedals that started the whole
chorus thing off, and this CE-2W recreates their
original chorus and vibrato tones with ease.
This pedal lets you switch between two
independent chorus sections, each with Rate
and Depth controls. A Sensitivity control offers
dynamic control of modulation rate.
Bubbler £109
Based on the sound of the vintage Arion SCH-1,
this analogue chorus/vibrato with a tap-tempo
footswitch features three selectable waveforms
and an expression pedal input.
Emperor V2 £195
ALSO TRY...
CE-2W Waza £169
WALRUS AUDIO
JHS PEDALS BOSS FENDER
JHS PEDALS
VIDEO DEMO http://bit.ly/guitaristextra
GIT466.peds_walrus.indd 102 29/10/2020 13:54