Walrus Audio Releases Julianna Deluxe Chorus with added Stereo Soundstage, Second Tap-Tempo Footswitch and Smart Alternative Functions

You may have noticed that I skipped featuring the last Iterative Julia Release - the one with the new prettier Artwork (above right) as it simply just swapped to top-mounted jacks and soft-touch footswitch. I didn’t consider that a particularly newsworthy event as the changes were largely just superficial - and the circuit really stayed the same.

The new Julianna though is a whole new beast - and is actually the chorus I always wanted the Julia to be. Considering how many of Walrus Audio’s pedals are dual footswitch / with onboard tap-tempo - like indeed that other modulation pedal of theirs - the Tap Tempo Monument Tremolo - I never understood why Walrus didn’t roll that feature out for all applicable pedals as standard.

So when the then new Julia Chorus and Lillian Phaser materialised without tap-tempo and unlike the Monument. I felt Walrus had really missed a beat as such. I could not help but be a little disappointed that the newer Walrus Audio modulation pedals were nowhere near as technically formidable as the Monument. I really thought that the Monument would set the pace and the pattern for future development - so I don’t really get why they didn’t do this to the Julia earlier - and the Lillian for that matter. I can only assume we will also now get a Deluxe Lillian at some stage - with similar changes - Tap-Tempo and some cool extra features and alternative settings.

In fact in my recent 28-Strong Chorus pedal roundup I stated that the Julia was still an amazing sounding Chorus - but had not really kept pace with the most recent innovations and developments and thus didn’t quite qualify for my own preferred top tier 6 or 7 candidates. Most will know by now that I have a soft-spot for dual footswitch compact enclosures - so the Julia finally morphing into what I fully expected it to be is quite a big event for me. I feel that had I not snapped up the superb VS Audio Alchemy Chorus this year - which has very similar settings to the Julia but comes with onboard foot-switchable presets - I would very much be immediately looking to add one of these to my collection.

I really like the Julianna now and it’s definitely very near to or even at the top of my Chorus acquisition list. The one downside here being the loss of the top-mounted jacks - but you would be churlish to make an issue of that when the pedal introduces so many killer new features.

The controls of the new pedal look very similar to its predecessor - Rate, Depth, and Lag (Centre Delay Time for LFO) across the top, and the D-C-V Blend Knob (Dry>Chorus>Vibrato) are the same. For the Wave Shape toggle-switch the Julia has a choice of Sine and Triangle, while the Julianna also adds a Random stepped shape. New on the Julianna is also a 3-way Tap Divisions toggle-switch to go with the Tap-Tempo footswitch - and a couple of hidden extra features revealed below.

Walrus Audio has done its usual Big Bang thing - and near every pedal-demoer you’ve ever heard of has released a demo today - I’ve had to be a little selective below - as there must be around two dozen examples already. So props to Walrus for being so strong on the roll-out again. I do wonder at the wisdom of having quite so many demos go live at the same time - part of me feels this operation would be better served by a more staggered approach!

Several Units are in store with most dealers already and imminent elsewhere. Andertons already has its in store - UK price ia a pretty reasonable £225. This truly is one of the great Choruses - its predecessors already had the sound down, but now it’s got the technical prowess and a few extra cool features to really separate itself from the competition. I really need to give Colt Westbrook and Jason Stulce a little more of my attention - I’ve got quite a number of Walrus pedals on my wishlist backlog - but I’m only one guy and I can only concentrate on so much at one time.

For sure I will be adding the Julianna to the collection some day relatively soon - I just need to get through the rest of my 2020 backlog. The Julianna joins the 385, Ages, Kangra, Monument and Slö on my backlog - I need to start making some headway on those - obviously other priorities pop up all the time - but it’s probably time I made a concerted effort in the direction of Walrus Audio. The full details on the Julianna can of course be found on the Walrus Audio Site - I feel this one’s going to do particularly well for them!