# Chorus Recomendation?



## kyle (Oct 18, 2008)

I'm currently looking for a good chorus pedal. I want a silky smooth chorus that is true bypass or easy to mod to true bypass. 

All of the pedals that I use now are true bypass. (Ibanez tuner--->Aphex compressor--->OCD and soon to be modded gcb95). 

I played the liquid chorus not too long ago and liked it, but it is not true bypass. Has anyone used this pedal and is it a big tone sucker?

Any other recomendations?


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## Stratin2traynor (Sep 27, 2006)

Try a Dr. scientist Cosmichorus. Sounds great and is TB.


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## guitarman2 (Aug 25, 2006)

I really like my Diamond Halo Chorus.


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## hollowbody (Jan 15, 2008)

Stratin2traynor said:


> Try a Dr. scientist Cosmichorus. Sounds great and is TB.


Haven't tried it, but I love my Dr. Scientist Radical Red Reverberator! Scott at Axeandyoushallreceive has a used one for sale.

I would have recommended the Boss CE-2, but You want a TB pedal. It can be modded for TB if you really want, but I haven't really found that it interferes with your tone all that much, to be honest.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Apparently, if you are near a Target store (boot it down to Jamestown?) they have these 6-knob chorus pedals for $12.48 that aren't too shabby. Not TB, mind you, but then very few of the great chorus pedals are. The vast majority simply lift the wet connection via a single FET. Been that way for almost 30 years. I have a half dozen or so choruses: commercial, repros, digital.

The way that analog chorus pedals work, there isn't really a lot of leeway in how they are designed, and consequently not all that much difference in them. Some of the most prized chorus pedals can be cheap plastic-box Japanese budget pedals, like the Arion. The principle differences between analog chorus pedals are:

1) Delay range: Bump the delay time a couple of msec this way or that and the tone will sound different. Given that delay range is a function of a single 10-cent capacitor whose value you can easily change (and I'll be happy to tell you how) to move time upwards or downwards, this is one of those factors that I tend to ignore, since I know I can make any chorus do what I want.

2) Speed range: Getting a chorus slow enough seems not to be a problem, but there is always someone whose needs involve juuuust a bit faster modulation than the pedal can provide. You really need to try them out to see which one nails the fast speeds you like.

3) Blend/Mix: Some folks like a thick obvious chorus, and some like it subtle. Helps if you can get one with a mix control to adjust the wet level, so that you can have it both ways. Whenever I build one, I always mod the design to include a blend control.

4) Tone control: Being able to cut out the bass on the wet side helps in reducing the obviousness of the pitch wobble. Personally I'm content to simply install a switch to cut the bass on the wet side, but if it comes with a variable bass-cut, that's good.

5) Noise: Chorus noise comes in three forms - audio path hiss, clock noise and hiss, and LFO tick. If it uses decent op-amps, audio path hiss will be low. Choruses that aim for longer delay times risk having more audible clock grime so they usually need to aim for more treble cut to reduce that. LFO tick is a combination of the luck of the draw and design. Some circuits which do not normally produce audible tick can result in annoying tick if the component tolerances line up against you. Fixable, but if you want to know what to buy, listen first.

6) Ins and outs: Some folks are only interested in mono in, mono out, while others like having separate dry/wet outs, or sum/difference outs. Note that ou are highly UNlikely to be able to locate a dual-output chorus pedal with TB. If it is any sort of dual-output chorus, it will have FET switching. That doesn't mean that mono pedals will be TB, just that stereo TB is a big deal and requires a lot of wiring and either foregoing a status LED or using a bigger and more expensive stomp switch.


Personally, the whole TB thing is way overblown. It's helpful for some things, but those things tend to be rarer and rarer. You'd be far better off to buy yourself a passive loop selector for complete bypassing, and then you'd have your pick of any chorus you want, even a $20 FAB chorus.


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## kyle (Oct 18, 2008)

Thanks for the quick replies, I'll go down to l&m to try the diamond halo. I actually have tried the fab chorus and it's not too bad, but it's a little dry for my taste.


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## zdogma (Mar 21, 2006)

If you can find one, the Analogman chorus with the mix knob is the best I've owned. They're not cheap, but they sound great, and the mix knob allows you to blend the wet signal to taste.

http://www.analogman.com/clone.htm


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## Scottone (Feb 10, 2006)

zdogma said:


> If you can find one, the Analogman chorus with the mix knob is the best I've owned. They're not cheap, but they sound great, and the mix knob allows you to blend the wet signal to taste.
> 
> http://www.analogman.com/clone.htm


I just picked up a AM mini-chorus with the mix knob and it's bumped my longtime favorite Ibanez BC-9 off the board


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## Ti-Ron (Mar 21, 2007)

I really loved the Small Clone unit, but depends on your tastes! The CH-1 wasn't that bad! I'm so bad I sold my small clone, someday I'll buy another one and have moded a little bit! Mine was too noisy and I hate the volume drop on those EHX. Hey MrHamer are you into moding business or you keep your talent for yourself?


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

I will happily mod things for people. Unfortunately, time doesn't permit me to get to my own stuff, let alone devote much time to stuff for other people. here is a small fraction of what is waiting for me. Mark


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## devnulljp (Mar 18, 2008)

mhammer said:


> I will happily mod things for people. Unfortunately, time doesn't permit me to get to my own stuff, let alone devote much time to stuff for other people. here is a small fraction of what is waiting for me. Mark


Best pedal board pic ever.


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