Klark Teknik 3rd Dimension BBD-320 Review: The Dimension Effect Returns

Anyone who spent time in recording studios during the 1980s will recognize immediately what the Klark Teknik 3rd Dimension BBD-320 is intended to do. It recreates the basic idea of the Roland Dimension D, one of those processors that appeared on an extraordinary number of records during the 1980s and 1990s.

We worked with the original Roland in the 1980s. Those machines were exceptional.

The BBD-320 is not exactly the same. To our ears, the original has a little more fullness and thickness. But vintage originals are expensive, aging pieces of equipment. The Klark Teknik costs a small fraction of that and gives you a new hardware unit that captures the essential character remarkably well.

Not quite chorus, not reverb

The Dimension effect occupies an interesting space. It widens and enlarges a source without the obvious pitch movement we associate with conventional chorus, and it does not create the audible space or decay of a reverb.

That subtlety is the point.

We use our BBD-320s on guitars, backing vocals and keyboards. On guitar it can make a part considerably wider without announcing that an effect has been switched on. On backing vocals it can spread the stack around the lead. Keyboards benefit for much the same reason.

Four buttons are enough

The front panel is refreshingly simple. Four Dimension mode buttons provide the basic variations, and combinations of the buttons provide additional possibilities. There are no menus and no temptation to spend twenty minutes adjusting modulation depth by tenths of a percent.

Push buttons until the source sits where you want it.

Our units are completely stock. There are modifications available for the BBD-320, but we have never felt compelled to modify ours.

Compared with the Roland

If the question is whether the BBD-320 completely duplicates a good original Dimension D, our answer is no. The vintage Roland we remember had more weight and richness.

But that is not the most useful comparison. The practical question is whether the difference justifies buying and maintaining an expensive vintage original when a BBD-320 gets this close.

For us, it does not.

Verdict

The Klark Teknik 3rd Dimension BBD-320 delivers the essential Dimension effect in an inexpensive, readily usable hardware processor. It is subtle, distinctive and exceptionally useful when conventional chorus is simply too obvious.

We like it enough that there are two of them in our rack.

Highly recommended.

Specifications

• Type: Analog stereo multi-dimensional / chorus processor
• Signal path: Pure analog with bucket-brigade (BBD) technology
• Modes: Four front-panel Dimension buttons; modes can be combined
• Operation: Stereo or mono
• Connections: Servo-balanced 1/4-inch TRS and gold-plated XLR inputs and outputs
• Metering: 10-segment LED output meter
• Remote: Front-panel 1/4-inch footswitch connection for effect on/off

Manufacturer: Klark Teknik