Question: Your favorite Chorus pedal these days and why?

sunvalleylaw

sunvalleylaw

Yep.
That about says it all. I seem to like analog sounds, kinda dig the EHX Small Clone sound, interested in that Arion SCH-1 sound, Boss CE-2 seems to be popular. What do you guys like these days, and why?
 
Don't have much experience with chorus pedals.
I have fond memories of the Ibanez sound tank chorus I had 20 years ago, but that probably has a lot to do with nostalgia.
Had a Boss CE5, does the job, don't remember how useful the EQ knobs are.
Had a Marshall regenerator that had 2 cool chorus sounds, the same ones that were on the Valvestate amps I think, loaned that pedal to a friend years ago and never got it back.

These days the Keeley mod workstation takes care of most of my modulation needs.
The chorus there sounds good and I like that it lets you control the mix of the dry/modulated signal.

I don't think any of those were analog.
 
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naptorlsmyrufjtvhhkw.jpg

The original, not Waza. It's almost as old as I am.
It's simple and subtle and works.
 
MonkeyZero said:
naptorlsmyrufjtvhhkw.jpg

The original, not Waza. It's almost as old as I am.
It's simple and subtle and works.
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Ah, and then we can get into the black knob vs. Silver knob discussion. (J/k, that was something I heard Josh from JHS say when he was gushing about this one being the one from which most other analog choruses from this point forward sprang).
 
Had a 2nd hand DOD FX60 chorus as my first effects pedal. It made more hiss than anything musical. I then picked up a Boss CE-2 for £10 that was so much better and is still my only chorus pedal. I have had various multi fx rack units with chorus built in and my Alesis Quadraverb GT was particularly nice and worthy of mention.
 
Lerxst said:
Depends on what you want from your chorus...what are you after?
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I want it to be able to do lush, I want it to be able to have a vibrato-ish sound, I think I tend to like darker and deeper sounds better than more treble, I think I like round sounds better than square or pyramid. I tend to like my Small Clone a lot and would love a little more control over it.

I am trying a used Emperor from JHS I found, based kinda on the Arion SCH-1, which came from the CE-2. And I may end up keeping it and my old Small Clone I got cheap. I am going to sell my CE-5.

But still interested in what you guys like. I guess I am a chorus guy, and like some of the 80’s sounds, such as The Church, The Police, etc. (probably a bit brighter?), and then really like sounds like The Pumpkins, Cobain, etc. (darker?).

I have a couple emulations in my Line6 M9 also, and tend to go back to the Analog, which digital emulation I think is aimed at either the CE-1 or CE-2. (EDIT: CE-1).
 
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sunvalleylaw said:
I want it to be able to do lush, I want it to be able to have a vibrato-ish sound, I think I tend to like darker and deeper sounds better than more treble, I think I like round sounds better than square or pyramid. I tend to like my Small Clone a lot and would love a little more control over it.
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You'd probably really like the Visual Sound H20. You can snag them for under a 100 bucks off reverb if you're patient or somewhere just north of 100 if not.
 
I've never used chorus other than back in the early 80s when I had a Rockman with some chorus built into it.
But over the Covid times Ive experimented a bit and bought a bunch pedals out of boredom more than anything.
Ive bought 2 chorus pedals. No idea but I suspect both are digital since they are fairly modern pedals.
1. JHS 3Ser Chorus
2. Way Huge Blue Hippo, in the "smalls" format.
The 3Ser is brighter, the Blue Hippo is darker. I kinda prefer the brighter chorus on the 3Ser, and the darker sounding vibrato setting on the Blue Hippo, but that's just me. Im still not that much of a chorus user. Ive used the Blue Hippo most, before drives, for a mild vibrato. But it hasn't been on the board since I got the Ventura Vibe a couple of months back.
If you prefer a darker sounding chorus you might wanna give the Blue Hippo a try, its a good sounding pedal at a reasonable price.
 
Pine Apple Slim said:
I've never used chorus other than back in the early 80s when I had a Rockman with some chorus built into it.
But over the Covid times Ive experimented a bit and bought a bunch pedals out of boredom more than anything.
Ive bought 2 chorus pedals. No idea but I suspect both are digital since they are fairly modern pedals.
1. JHS 3Ser Chorus
2. Way Huge Blue Hippo, in the "smalls" format.
The 3Ser is brighter, the Blue Hippo is darker. I kinda prefer the brighter chorus on the 3Ser, and the darker sounding vibrato setting on the Blue Hippo, but that's just me. Im still not that much of a chorus user. Ive used the Blue Hippo most, before drives, for a mild vibrato. But it hasn't been on the board since I got the Ventura Vibe a couple of months back.
If you prefer a darker sounding chorus you might wanna give the Blue Hippo a try, its a good sounding pedal at a reasonable price.
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Was comparing that JHS 3 chorus to the JHS Emperor, and was thinking the Emperor was closer. Will check it out when it comes, compare it to my old beat up Small Clone that I am not going to get rid of because I got it so cheap and it has a butterfly sticker from the prior owner. (LOL!!) and it serves a purpose. And may take a look at that Visual Sound H20 @Lerxst was suggesting. There was one other one mentioned somewhere that was supposed to do the Small Clone thing with more control, but I will have to find that again.

Interesting that so many commenting have never been chorus types per se. I guess I have always liked it, and my CE-5 was like one of the first pedals I bought. But different sounds are what make this thing fun, so good to hear people’s experiences and what they like.
 
I don't use chorus often, but I have a small clone. For a time, I used a BBE Mind Bender. I actually have an Arion SCH-1 I bought back in the 80's, but it's just sitting in its box on a shelf...for now.
 
Well, since I seem to be a Chorus fan boi at the moment, I will keep both the JHSM for V2 and my old cheapo small clone on the board as they have slightly different things going on and I like them for different reasons. I really like the ability to switch waveforms on the emperor and play with different sounds. I haven’t found that total Small Clone sound out of it yet (was playing with it with rate and depth, and comparing the Small Clone, and the Small Clone just goes a little deeper/more seasick like that that Come as You Are solo riff) but maybe I just have to twiddle the knobs a while longer. Or maybe it doesn’t really have that sound in it as it is based off the Arion SCH-1 which is closer to the CE-2. I think it can do sounds of both of those two original petals easily. And it has the cool vibrato setting which is fun to mess with perhaps even in addition to the small clone, keeping the Emperor down stream and putting some vibrato on the chorus effect. And also for dialing in a Leslie and for when I don't want to sound like seasick Cobain. I also like that you can control the emperor with an expression pedal. And also tap tempo. So it might be fun to play with that.

since I am still trying to mess around with a wet dry rig, so I haven’t really done anything with that since before my mom was getting sick and I said everything aside for a while, I think it will be fun to keep these in the wet side for a while to experiment.

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Denverdave said:
This....
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The CE2 and the Waza craft modded version seems to be a good go to for quite a few people and also seems a no brainer. Seems to be a push as between the emperor and that one. And about a push in terms of price at least used also.
and I don’t have one to test, but from what I have read, the emperor can do pretty much what the CE2w do. so it kind of seems like either one is a good pick. And then the small clown is kind of its own thing at least for right now unless I can find a way to dial in that sound from the emperor. Good and bad.

Mine has that big pop that the small clones can tend to have when you first turn it on if you forget to power it on while the signal chain is silenced by the tuner for example. And the adjustments are pretty much from 0 to 60 with not much in between. But it does have that sound I enjoy messing around with in my 80s/90s vibe I tend to like to hang out in.
 
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