Dawner Prince spins out its potent evolved Eclipsa Triple Rotary Speaker Emulator

While this new Eclipsa is based on a different model to the Pulse predecessor - Dawner’s two iterations of rotary effect devices do have a fair amount in common (at least superficially), with the newer device being the more evolved, granular, and refined - with additional controls - while both have the same 5 key controls - Slow Speed, Fast Speed, Distance, Intertia, and Blend / Mix.

Both devices also have two footswitches - with similar functionality. While the Eclipsa has an additional Inst / Line switch, and mini controls for Volume, Bass, Middle, and Treble. The older Pulse has separate Left and Right Output volume controls on the left edge of the pedal.

The Pulse was based on the Maestro Rover RO-1, while the Eclipsa is an emulation of the Yamaha RA-200 - as famously used by Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour. This is considered a significant part of the middle era Floyd / Gilmour sound.

There’s no question the new unit is more capable and refined - it benefits from an an Alembic F-2B–style JFET preamp which combines with the rotary speaker effect, and a static 4x12" Cabinet emulation. The Volume knob sets the intensity / saturation of the preamp - and the Blend knob mixes the rotary speaker effect with the static 4x12" cabinet.

Controls - Instrument / Life switch on left side, Slow Speed, Fast Speed, Distance, Inertia (Ramp Time), Blend (Effect / Cab Mix), Bright Switch, Volume (Preamp), Bass, Middle, Treble, Fast/Slow Footswitch - Hold for Brake, On/Off Footswitch, Hold for Bypass type (True/Buffered).

Ports - MIDI In, MIDI Thru, Mono TS In, EXT / EXP TRS In, 9V DC [-] 150mA, Left TS Out, Right TS Out.

The newer device looks much refined compared to the original Pulse - I really like the metal surrounds on the Mini Dials - the overall artwork / graphics and construction look significantly improved.

Of course there is a price differential too - where the Pulse goes for $399.95 and the Eclipsa is nearly $200 more at $589.95 - both available on the Dawner Prince Store - and should be at international dealers real soon.

There’s much to like here - the new ones looks gorgeous for sure - pricing is as is - I rarely criticise that unless there is a high degrees of inflation. Obviously a lot of work has gone into this pedal - so the price is not an eliminator for me here. For this style of effect this is possibly a little larger than I’m comfortable with - I never say never - while I’m currently very satisfied with the recent Boss RT-2.

So the price is not unsurmountable - the look and sound are phenomenal - the only hold out for me though is the MISO nature of the effect. You can only have one MISO pedal in the signal chain - and this one is quite large to sit among my middle-section. I would prefer to have my Rotary Speaker fully stereo capable - so you have more flexibility in where you place it in your chain.

For people who have a large number of stereo pedals at the end of the chain the Eclipsa limits its efficacy by that one limitation. I really loved my Boss DM-101 Analog Delay - but that one was also MISO - and kind of messed up the flow of my signal chain - you can’t have end of chain pedals appearing in the middle of the stack - I could accommodate those with my Parallelarator parallel blender - I still have a spare loop on that - that could be a solution for me.

I need to think about how I feel about placing that one at the end - within my parallel blender - that’s actually a really workable solution - perhaps this pedal is a go after all - but $600 is a major investment - it’s definley sounding more likely now.

Tune in a few months from now to see where I’ve ended up - as there are smart ways to incorporate this Eclipsa within my setup - so now the biggest challenge is the price point - and what my various other priorities are over the coming months! Really cool pedal though - and a definite significant improvement over its predecessor Pulse sibling!

Props to my friend Zoran for another fantastic creation! Really well considered.