# chorus under 100



## definitelymaybe1991 (Dec 18, 2007)

i'm just building up my pedalboard.

I've got a crybaby wah, a ds-1 distortion, a bad monkey overdrive, and next on the list is a chorus pedal. 

I really don't want to spend more than 100 bucks. I will if i HAVE to, but I'd much rather not.

OTHER THAN the danelectro pedals, does anyone know of anything of good quality?

I don't very much care for subtle chorus. I love hte FULL ON depth and shimmering waves of a kurt cobain style small clone. 

what have ppl come across?


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## Stratin2traynor (Sep 27, 2006)

Well...my favourite chorus is by far the EHX Small Clone. It sounds great with everything...and it's cheap. You just can't lose.


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## suttree (Aug 17, 2007)

another to consider is the visual sounds H2O. it's more than $100, but you get a great lush chorus and a nice analog delay, and you can get them used for well under $200 (so, good deal for two pedals)


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

You can probably get a FAB Chorus for under $30 but then you have explicitly indicated anything BUT Danelectro. Analog Chorus pedals are a bit like those old 3-tube (12AX7-6V6-5Y3) amps that everyone and their cousin made in the 50's and early 60's. There are a bunch of things you HAVE to include to make them work, so the designs tend not to veer much in different directions. You may not like the packaging, but it WILL give you the sounds.

Very small shifts in delay-time range can often make the most audible difference between different chorus pedals. One may sweep from 2-6msec, while another sweeps from 4-12msec. Both of those are 3:1 delay sweeps, but the one that sweeps out to longer delay times will sound thicker.

Happily, you can easily mod just about any chorus to attain longer or shorter delay-time ranges by changing one single relatively risk-free component. The circuit will probably include a chipset consisting of a Matsushita MN3007+MN3101, or an MN3207+MN3102, or their equivalent (e.g., Cool Audio V3207). On occasion, you will see a Reticon chip like an SAD-1024, or R5106, or a Matshita chip with a different number of stages (512 or 2048), but the 3x07/310x chipset will dominate about 80% of what's out there.

Nestled up beside the chip that comprises the HF clock, be it an MN3101, MN3102 or a CMOS chip like a CD4046 or 4047, there will be a small-value capacitor, sometimes mica but most often ceramic, that has a value of .001uf/1000pf or less (usually 470pf or less). Making that capacitor value smaller/lower will shift the delay-range downwards (closer towards flanger range), and making it larger will shift the delay range upwards (thicker-sounding chorussing). If you find you'd like to increase the value, then nothing really needs to be removed. You can simply find the solder pads on the solder side of the board, and add a second cap in parallel, laying it flat against the board and making sure to keep the leads from touching anything they shouldn't. So, for instance, if the current value in there is 68pf, adding a 22pf cap in parallel would bump the overall delay range over by about 30%. If the stock delay range was 2-6msec, it would now be 2.6-8msec delay. May not seem like much but you'd notice it.


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## LowWatt (Jun 27, 2007)

suttree said:


> another to consider is the visual sounds H2O. it's more than $100, but you get a great lush chorus and a nice analog delay, and you can get them used for well under $200 (so, good deal for two pedals)


Small correction - The delay is an analog sounding digital delay. Great pedal for the price.


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## suttree (Aug 17, 2007)

LowWatt said:


> Small correction - The delay is an analog sounding digital delay. Great pedal for the price.


ah.. i stand (actually, i'm sitting) corrected. thanks james!


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

LowWatt said:


> Small correction - The delay is an analog sounding digital delay. Great pedal for the price.


And to add to the absolutely appropriate correction....
A big part of what people like about analog delays is the serendipitous by-product of the lowpass filtering required to make them work properly. Huh?

In English: if you don't deliberately dull the delay signal in an analog delay, you end up with too much noise and clock whine in the audio output. Happily, the deliberate dulling tends to put the delay in the background *psychologically*, which makes it easier for the listener to mentally organize what they hear. As it happens, echoes in the real world also have less bandwidth, especially top end, compared to the original source, so shaving the treble not only helps with noise and mental organization, but also better emulates the way real echoes normally occur.

Digital pedals do not *require* such stern lowpass filtering, largely because all the clock-related stuff happens at frequencies much much higher than with analog delay chips, and virtually entirely out of human hearing range. If one does not include the option to filter out the top end the way it is filtered out on analog pedals, digitals can sound harsh to some ears. However, use the same removal of treble content that is employed on analog pedals, and digital starts to sound very much like what we crave about analog.

Princeton Technologies has a really nice digital delay chip, called the PT2399, which will do what the chip traditionally used in delays like the Memory Man et al did for a fraction of the cost. Throw in some decent filtering (also cheap to do) and bingo bango you have a great sounding delay for peanuts.

The Danelectro FAB Echo uses a PT2399. Sadly, it is set for a single delay time (slapback). Happily, you can replace the single fixed resistor that sets the delay time, with a variable control, to get delay times out to 1/3 of a second.


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## SkyFire_ca (Jul 16, 2007)

... things i never knew about delays and chips, but very cool...

I'll throw my vote in on the Small Clone, got mine for about $80 new (falls into yer price range), is far from subtle and absolutely, positively, with no equivocation, nails that Cobain tone.

i find it's a very noticable chorus, but with out any odd sound artifacts. it adds a great shimmer to the notes that i really like. honestly, i bought it because i'd been listening to Plush by STP all day and walked into the store thinking "I want that sound". i tried all the choruses in there, including a voodoo labs chorus (nice but....) and a Diamond Halo chorus (/phase). i really prefered the sound of the halo, the mixing options and the phasing made from some amazing sounds, but it wasn't noticeable. when i finally got to the small clone, i was done. I spent the rest of the night at home playing Plush and come as you are.

and that's my story.... 

best of luck in your chorus search...


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## Solid_Gold_Soundlabs (Sep 20, 2006)

The small clone is great, boss ce-2 are awesome but can get a bit expensive...mij boss ce-3's are nice, plus they are stereo and can be used as a vibrato. I have a modded one in stock which sounds pretty close to the ce-2 and its under 100$ in case you're interested!

Cheers:food-smiley-004:
Greg


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## Clit Torres (Dec 14, 2007)

*Electro-Shine*

Just another option
http://righteoustones.com/electro_shine.html


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## devnulljp (Mar 18, 2008)

Clit Torres said:


> Just another option
> http://righteoustones.com/electro_shine.html


have you tried that? I bought one of his tubescreamers, with an eye to maybe getting some of the others too--I like to buy from Canadian makers if possible--but I just couldn't wait to get rid of it. YMMV of course.

For under $100, I'd scour ebay for a CE2/3/5 (although I can't remember at which point the boss pedals became digital?) or a small clone. Or BYOC of course...
in fact I just checked and Scott at axe and you shal receive has a couple of Boss CH-1s for around the $50 mark and a few old Ibanez too.
He's also got an old Tokai chorus, which is where I'd put my money if I needed that sound.


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## Solid_Gold_Soundlabs (Sep 20, 2006)

Forgot to mention the ibanez cs9 which is also a very nice chorus in that price range...


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## Clit Torres (Dec 14, 2007)

devnulljp said:


> have you tried that? I bought one of his tubescreamers, with an eye to maybe getting some of the others too--I like to buy from Canadian makers if possible--but I just couldn't wait to get rid of it. YMMV of course.


Haven't tried the distortions or tubescreamer type pedals Jeff at Righteous Tones has got. To be quite honest I was never impressed with any of the dirt pedal samples, which is why I never bought any. But I've got an Electro-shine and Electro-glide I'd had for some time and they are great pedals regardless of the price.


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