Chorus pedal recommendations?

[holdsworth]

I'm looking for a good chorus pedal to add to my set-up. I'll be playing it through a Mark IV combo and I'm after something that will give me one of two things, A) a great clean chorus tone (e.g.Pink Floyd), and b) add sheen to my distorted rhythm and lead tones to get that 80s lead harmony vibe (ala Passion and Warfare).

Perhaps it's too much of a tall order to ask for both of these things in one pedal, if so which two pedals will serve best for these applications? I've been looking at the Boss ce-5 and ch-1, the EH Small Clone, the MXR stereo chorus, the Boss CE-2 (pricey), and the Analogman Chorus (VERY pricey).

Any recommendations?

 

[Pinweaver]

For 80s chorus, I prefer the TC Electronic SCF, but overall I love the Fulltone Choralflange which I use all the time on a very mild setting. Both are pricey though.

 

[holdsworth]

I've heard some good things about that pedal, and also the Analogman chorus pedal, which I believe Eric Johnson is using at the moment. It's so hard to find samples of these pedals though.

How about the Arion pedals, do they stand up to the ce-2s and the like?

 

[holdsworth]

FYI I went with a Carl Martin xII stereo chorus on ebay. I hope I made the right decision.

 

[Guitarzan]

Visual Sound H2O.

 

[PHYX]

The best chorus pedal to me is the Retro-Sonic Chorus. Very rich sound.
Jim

 

[holdsworth]

The best chorus pedal to me is the Retro-Sonic Chorus. Very rich sound.
Jim

That's the clone of the Boss CE-1 isn't it? On the Analogman site Mike talks about the ce-1 not being designed for guitars, and that it's main application was for keyboards. The Retro-Sonic might be modified with guitars in mind though?

 

[ThunderMonkey]

I love my BOSS CE-2, warm analog, it doesn't color my sound like my old CH-1 (too brassy). Yeah, it's a bit pricey but it's a nice simple analog Chorus.
I've also heard good things about the visual sound H20 but haven't personally heard it.

+1 for the CE-2 8)

 

[Silverwulf]

I use a Boss CH-1 on occasion with my set-up. It serves all of my purposes just fine, especially for the $40 used I gave for it. It's reliable, and unless you've got some real sticklers in your audience, 99% of the crowd won't know if you've dropped $40 or $400 on a chorus pedal because they won't even be able to hear a difference. Get whichever you like best and you're comfortable with, because the audience won't know the difference unless you use a total piece of garbage.

 

[ursinus]

There are two that I like: HBE THC Chorus and the Analog Man bi-chorus (my dream one!)

 

[holdsworth]

I use a Boss CH-1 on occasion with my set-up. It serves all of my purposes just fine, especially for the $40 used I gave for it. It's reliable, and unless you've got some real sticklers in your audience, 99% of the crowd won't know if you've dropped $40 or $400 on a chorus pedal because they won't even be able to hear a difference. Get whichever you like best and you're comfortable with, because the audience won't know the difference unless you use a total piece of garbage.

Thanks, I actually bought a CH-1 for £35 the other week and I was surprised how effective it was. Is there much of a difference between the MIT and MIJ CH-1 models, like the DS-1?

 

[scottkahn]

We have reviewed a few different chorus pedals at MusicPlayers.com.

If you like the LA Sound with chorus on your distortion, I would recommend staying away from pedals built around the circuitry of a classic BOSS CE-1. You'll hear too much flanging in the tone. You'll most likely prefer pedals built around digital delay circuits.

Some of the pedals worth reading up on that we have reviewed include the Visual Sound H20, Rocktron Deep Blue, Marshall RG-1, and you can read up on the Voodo Lab Analog Chorus for an example of a pedal that won't sound right for this particular application.

http://www.musicplayers.com/reviews/index-Guitars.php

 

[scottywompas]

I just picked up the Digitech CF7 Chorus factory. It will do anything you desire. It is a great pedal for $100.00.

http://www.digitech.com/flash/CF7Demo.php


Scott

 

[petejt]

We have reviewed a few different chorus pedals at MusicPlayers.com.

If you like the LA Sound with chorus on your distortion, I would recommend staying away from pedals built around the circuitry of a classic BOSS CE-1. You'll hear too much flanging in the tone. You'll most likely prefer pedals built around digital delay circuits.

Some of the pedals worth reading up on that we have reviewed include the Visual Sound H20, Rocktron Deep Blue, Marshall RG-1, and you can read up on the Voodo Lab Analog Chorus for an example of a pedal that won't sound right for this particular application.

http://www.musicplayers.com/reviews/index-Guitars.php

Thanks for providing the website link, Scott.

I had a read of the review of the Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo- the unit seems pretty good.


"When placed in a signal chain using a distortion/overdrive pedal preceding the H2O pedal, the effect provided a wet chorusing effect, but also had an increased amount of flanger effect present in the mix. This is common in the sound of vintage chorus effects, and will be appealing to some players, but not the desired effect if you are after more of the ‘80s L.A. sound."

I'm not really familiar with what the " '80s L.A. sound" is (I feel embarressed asking that). What is it exactly? And what particular chorus units is actually used to get that type of sound? (and location in the signal chain, and settings? slow speed? fast?)


Honestly I do feel dumb asking these questions, since I used a chorus pedal (cheap modelling pedal, a Line6 ToneCore chorus I think) when testing speakers with my MarkIV. I liked the effect it made but it kind of brightened the tone a bit and took away from the bottom end (link)

 

[scottkahn]

Generally speaking, the "LA Sound" was heard in chorus used with distortion. Probably the two most widely used chorus pedals in that scenario were the TC Electronic SCF (stereo chorus/flanger) and a BOSS CE-2.

Another element of the "LA Sound" to some people may be the layering of a Marshall and Mesa/Boogie tone together for one sound -- guys like Dan Huff did stuff like that if I remember correctly.

But mostly, it's the distinct tone of hearing chorus on distortion, and depending on the circuit in the chorus, it will come through the distortion either sounding a bit like a flanger or remaining true to the chorus tone. Digital Delay-circuit-based chorus pedals definitely sound different layered with distortion than analog signal and LED-based pedals.

I'm sure some other folks here will jump in with comments about the LA Sound, too.

Scott

 

[petejt]

Generally speaking, the "LA Sound" was heard in chorus used with distortion. Probably the two most widely used chorus pedals in that scenario were the TC Electronic SCF (stereo chorus/flanger) and a BOSS CE-2.

Another element of the "LA Sound" to some people may be the layering of a Marshall and Mesa/Boogie tone together for one sound -- guys like Dan Huff did stuff like that if I remember correctly.

But mostly, it's the distinct tone of hearing chorus on distortion, and depending on the circuit in the chorus, it will come through the distortion either sounding a bit like a flanger or remaining true to the chorus tone. Digital Delay-circuit-based chorus pedals definitely sound different layered with distortion than analog signal and LED-based pedals.

I'm sure some other folks here will jump in with comments about the LA Sound, too.

Scott

Cool, thanks for your reply Scott! 8) I look forward to other people's comments on the "LA Sound" too.


Are you familiar with Mercyful Fate & King Diamond? I've noticed that they have used chorus with distortion a fair bit, but I thought that was particularly unique to them. You can really hear the chorus during songs like Desecration of Souls, Fatal Portrait, Black Horsemen, Melissa, and A Mansion in Darkness. But I don't know how they did or what they did it with. But, your new information does help explain how they possibly did that.


This kind of seems contradictory, but I happen to like the sound of Marshall & Mesa/Boogie tones together, and yet I hate a majority of 80s music! wierd hey.... :?

 

[petejt]

Here's a part of a song I demoed (rough track), last year I think. It was with my ol' Line6 FlextoneII combo, using the in-built chorus (chorus2), and an EQ in the effects loop.

I really like the "swirl" that happens on the C chord, hence the title of the track.

http://www.supload.com/listen?s=S0t62xFMetK



Is this like that "LA Sound"?

 

[petejt]

^^ is it? :?:

 

[petejt]

bump

 

[Pinweaver]

The macromedia flash applet is there, but the music file doesn't load for me.
(or it takes more than 5 minutes before it starts playing, which is longer than my attention span :wink: )