Fulltone TERC TSC-618 - Manual

Congratulations on your purchase of the
If you are a session guitarist, you’re “not-quite A-List” until you have a Tri-Stereo-Chorus in your rack! It is the single most
identifiable and certainly the lushest stereo chorus ever made, heard on tons of recordings from Joni Mitchell to Don
Henley, Madonna to Eric Clapton...Lukather to Landau. Made for a brief time during the 80's and released under the
Dyno My Piano, Songbird, and Dytronics names, it went through many circuit changes. Just what is a Tri-Stereo-Chorus?
My Electronic Engineer John Greene and I are two of only a handful of people who can answer that. I own 6 of them and
have documented and repaired dozens more. TSC’s are actually three separate chorus circuits, each using a Panasonic
MN3007 Bucket Brigade (BBD) chip to create its delayed signal. These three choruses are treated with multiple modula-
tions and mixed together across the stereo output field in a way that, not only, creates complex images, but creates
Phasing artifacts as well. Add to this a 30 volt internal power supply, and you have a super high-headroom rack unit that
sounds warm, huge, and doesn’t distort when interfaced with high-level rack systems and studio patchbays.
Production of TSC’s ceased in the late 80’s, and since then the price of these on the used market has skyrocketed to
$4000 and more. The funny thing is, almost all of the ones that I’ve checked out were so poorly maintained that often
times one channel or more wasn’t even working! It’s all about the trimmer adjustment on the delay chips..if those are
adjusted improperly they can sound weak and noisy. And now along comes the Fulltone Custom Shop “That 80’s Rack
Chorus” (TERC for short) to save the day. Better constructed than the orginal but 100% the same circuit using better
quality parts such as metal film resistors in the power-related areas for less noise, and gold plated sockets on key
opamps that (should they ever fail) will be as simple as us mailing you a new part and you just popping it in.
I have sourced enough N.O.S. Panasonic MN3007 Delay chips to build a production run of around 3200 units of "That
80's Rack Chorus” and to service any in the future, if necessary. I have also produced many custom parts for this
project, including pots, switches, transformers, and photocells, but just the thought of only 3200 of these ever being made
with the T.E.R.C. logo one them... drawing heavily from my love of the vintage Looney Tunes cartoons "That's all Folks"
font... just puts a smile on my face. Enjoy!
Michael Fuller / President
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Model TSC-618