What CHORUS pedal to buy??? ... or build??? Fill me in

[iBANEZAce]

I've been wanting a nice chorus pedal for a while... In my search so far I have noticed a few that seem worthy: Boss CE-5, Maxon CS-9 Pro, Analogman's Bi-Chorus...

I am looking for something that will give me a deep, wide, rich, 'floydish' type sound. Something that can go beyond mild, but doesn't harshly affect my tone either. I'm not looking for a 'thin' or 'digital' sounding chorus.

Or... should I build? (Or, more accurately, add it to my list of builds... :lol: )

Any suggestions are welcomed, list the pros and cons if possible. Thanks all.  :wink:

[vanhansen]

Small Clone Chorus. Tonepad has a complete project file.

http://www.tonepad.com/project.asp?id=8

I haven't built this one yet but plan to when I get some more builds under my belt.  From what others have said here, it's a good one to build.

FWIW, the BOSS CH-1 isn't a bad chorus unit either.  I own that one now and have done a few mods to it.

[iBANEZAce]

I've read many good things about that project as well, forgot to mention it but it has a spot in my 'Possible Builds List'.

But I saw somewhere that the Small Clone Chorus can't do much more than mild chorusing...

Anyone here with a Small Clone that can testify?

[KORGULL]

Build the Small Clone - you won't regret it.
I made one with the cap switching mod. It is capable of producing some pretty wild sounds.

[Mark Hammer]

The circuit differences between the assorted chorus pedals that are commercially available are sometimes more cosmetic than anything else (i.e., intended to simply BE a different circuit rather than any sort of reinvention), and the sonic differences often a question of a few component-value changes, chiefly the timing/clock cap.

In this vein, if your intent is to get from circuit in hand to desired sound in the most expedient way possible, I would suggest buying any of the various cheap choruses that are widely available like those from Rocktek, Rogue, etc.  Just about anything that retails for less than $120 US will have pretty much the same circuit: an MN3207/MN3102 combo, a pair of 3-pole lowpass filters based around a bipolar tranny, a 2-opamp LFO, a FET-based bypass/cancellation switch, and an op-amp input and output stage.  You can bust a nut making it, or you can pay someone $20 + shipping and have the time to yourself to mod the thing.

On the other hand, if your intent is to LEARN, then the recommendations to build the Small Clone are justified.

[wampcat1]

The circuit differences between the assorted chorus pedals that are commercially available are sometimes more cosmetic than anything else (i.e., intended to simply BE a different circuit rather than any sort of reinvention), and the sonic differences often a question of a few component-value changes, chiefly the timing/clock cap.

In this vein, if your intent is to get from circuit in hand to desired sound in the most expedient way possible, I would suggest buying any of the various cheap choruses that are widely available like those from Rocktek, Rogue, etc.  Just about anything that retails for less than $120 US will have pretty much the same circuit: an MN3207/MN3102 combo, a pair of 3-pole lowpass filters based around a bipolar tranny, a 2-opamp LFO, a FET-based bypass/cancellation switch, and an op-amp input and output stage.  You can bust a nut making it, or you can pay someone $20 + shipping and have the time to yourself to mod the thing.

On the other hand, if your intent is to LEARN, then the recommendations to build the Small Clone are justified.

:arrow:
Good point Mark!!!

[Hal]

ce-2

[crawler486]

I built the Small Clone.
It's mild and doesnt do over the top chorusing.
But it' sounds great in clean or distorted. Highly recommended!

[crawler486]

I built the Small Clone.
It's mild and doesnt do over the top chorusing.
But it sounds great in clean or distorted. Highly recommended!

Rebote2Delay + Small Clone Chorus + BSIAB2 wonderful combo!!    

[MartyMart]

I have not built any "time based" effects as yet, the closest has been a
Phase 45/Univibe ......... "wonderful"  BTW  
I own an Ibanez BC-9 "Bi-Chorus" which is effectively 2X chorus circuits in one box.
That's about everything that I could wish for and does provide that rich
"Floyd" type sound  
"Pearl" chorus is also a lovely sound ..... so because of these two pedals,
I can't imagine finding a reason to spend a weekend trying to get a huge
chorus build de-bugged ....as Mark said unless you NEED that learning
process, just go buy one !!

Marty.

[aron]

What about the Arion Stereo Chorus? I think it's supposed to be good.

I tend to use digital for a lot of timed-based stuff except for my Deluxe Memory Man.

[LivingDeadPunk]

I've built the EH small clone from Tonepad  with the depth control mod and it's great especially with distortion. Just go for it.

[Ge_Whiz]

One to buy: AXL stereo chorus.

One to avoid buying: Rocktek.

[iBANEZAce]

I heard good things about the Arion too, only $45 on eBay...

I can pick up a DOD FX67 Stereo Turbo Chorus for dirt cheap... anyone ever heard this pedal? I noticed (from manufacturer specs) that the delay time is a set value from 5 ms to 8 ms... isn't that a value that you would want to adjust? If so, any way to mod that functionality in?

Ah heck, I'll probably just go buy the damn thing and be done with it, if I'm not satisfied I'll build the Small Clone.

Thanks all you guys for your input... I love this forum.  :wink:[/quote]

[Branimir]

few months ago, i decieded to buy myself a chorus pedal, since MNxxxx can't be bought in croatia...

i went to the shop and tried two boss'es units.

CE-5 and CH-1.

i tried it clean and went for the CH-1 altough i was entering the shop with an idea that CE-5 was the pedal for me..

CE-5 sounded too sterile and kinda like the chorus metal bands use, sort of synthesizer sound... and it was destroying the low end! i tried messing around with the toen controls and the chorus thing kept eating my lows...

i wasn't happy with that and gave CH-1 a shot.
now this is a sublte chorus... it doesn't go over the edge, it doesn't squash the sound to pieces, it's really... nice... if you're into subtle chorus, on the clean sounds, it'll deliever sweet sounds, with lots of lows passing, i tried it only with distortion after the chorus and it fattens the sound abit... there's audible volume increase and comes in handy for boosting your chorus solo's a bit

anyways, i don't want to sound like a commercial, but the latest homebrewed recordings were done with the CH-1.

my band: Crop Circle

CH-1 has been used on guitars solo's on the following songs:

Insipid Taste
Snuff In Line
His Night of Contentment
Dying (outro feedback, unfortunatly barealy audible)

amp used for the guitar recording was Hi-Octane through 2x12" vintage 30s

[hank reynolds 3rd]

if you have a few sad1024s, and you don't mind waiting a bit, I'm in the process of trying to redraw the schem for the echo flanger (eh) ...and i'm hoping (hint,hint) that someone could do a pcb for it....this thing does flange,chorus and slapback echo (i think)...


just a thought


ta
sam