What Chorus Pedal Should I Get??

  • Thread starter Thread starter CalebMcC
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+1 on the Boss CE-5. In addition to the effect level, there's also the EQ settings that someone mentioned earlier in the thread about another pedal.
 
Any opinions on an Arion SCH-1 Stereo Chorus MIJ version? I bagged one at a yard sale a few years ago for $15. Seems to get good reviews at HC and ebay prices on the MIJ ones are pretty well up there. Sounds good to my ears, but I haven't compared it too much else.

I used to own one of those. It was a workhorse. Only pedal I've ever regretted getting rid of....
 
The TC is nice if you like going digital, but for those that don't want to do the A/D/A conversions...what's everyone's favorite pick for an analog chorus pedal?


Easy....

Voodoo Lab - Analog Chorus :D
 
The TC is nice if you like going digital, but for those that don't want to do the A/D/A conversions...what's everyone's favorite pick for an analog chorus pedal?

On the contrary - the TC Electronic SCF pedal is fully analog, and is quieter than most digital pedals on the market (quieter than any 16 bit pedal, at any rate - 20 and 24 bit are a whole other thing). Back when it came out (25 years ago), most digital effects just weren't up to par - certainly, no cheap ones were.

And of course, it sounds better than any digital chorus I've ever heard. Well, maybe not the Lexicon 224, but it's in that league.


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M.K. Gandhi
 
Not looking to get into a digital/analog debate here...I agree that if you are happy with your sound, it matters not how you get it.
But there are guitar players who don't want to have their signal converted to digital and back again before hitting the amp because they can hear a difference in the sound after it's been converted.
Plus...imagine 5 digital pedals strung together…that's 10 conversions total…back-n-forth!

I too can hear an all-digital pedal changing the signal, so I prefer to use all-analog pedals unless they are digital w/parallel processing.
YMMV….

I'm not trying to get into the digital/analog debate either. But I'm surprised when you say "there are guitar players who don't want their signal converted to digital and back again before hitting an amp becuase they can hear a difference in the sound."

Well, yeah. I think any guitarist worth his salt can tell the difference in the sound—at least outside of pop-punk—but it depends on what you're trying to do. Guitar tones are merely colors on a palette, to be arranged how you like. If you're going for a 'pure' guitar tone—all analog signal path into a tube amp—then yeah, get that digital shit out of the way. But when someone's asking about a chorus pedal, or a delay, or something like that, I think it's much more worthwhile to ask what is it you want to do? Are you going for blown-out 80's digital feak out? Post-rock stuff? Shoegaze? Phil Collins Cover Band? What?

So the five digi pedals and the 10 ADA conversions might actually be what you want. I've seen crazier shit. One of my noise rigs has a couple of cascading behringer digital delays into the font end with a big muff russian in the effects loop. It makes.... noise.
 
Not looking to get into a digital/analog debate here...I agree that if you are happy with your sound, it matters not how you get it.

{snip}

I'm not trying to get into the digital/analog debate either.

{snip}

One of my noise rigs has a couple of cascading behringer digital delays into the font end with a big muff russian in the effects loop. It makes.... noise.



None of which really matters, as the pedal in question is analog.


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Get a H20 pedal (Visual Sounds)

That chorus is tha shit......and plus the delay is no slouch either. Two pedals in one, and both sound amazing.
 
Keep saving and try the Roger Mayer VoodooVibe. It does a spectacular chorus, as well as tremelo and vibrato. All the parameters are adjustable, and you can even use an Ernie Ball volume pedal as a speed controller.

The newer ones even offer pulse wave in addition to the original sine and triangle waves for the modulation.
 
None of which really matters, as the pedal in question is analog.


I checked out the TC website link...I read the specs...I read the manual...and they do a great job of NOT clearly stating if it is digital or analog... :)

...however, if you look on page 24 of the manual on the Notes section it states "This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits of a Class B Digital device"...so I dunno’...it looks to me like it does have digital components.
Not sure why they would include that if it's all-analog...it just makes people wonder about it.

Has anyone asked TC?
I sent them an email...waiting for a reply.

Anyway, if this new version is all-analog like the original...then that's great. :cool:
I will have to check it out, since I am interested in getting an analog chorus pedal.
 
On page 26 of the TC Electronics SCF pedal user's manual, it states:

"This Class B Digital apparatus meets all requirements of the
Canadian Interference-Causing Equipment Regulations."

Additionally, given that the technical specs claim a dynamic range of >100dB, it's almost certain to be digital.
 
There are IC's used in the device used for switching and possibly clock signals.

Almost certainly what they are talking about. And while that is digital in the electronic design sense of the word, it is in no way "digital" in the sense that the signal is at all digitized. There are no ADC's or DAC's, no micro processors, or anything like that.

I just looked it up - the 570 is a "digital" clock chip.

It is an analog pedal. Count on it.

Oh, and the 100dB s/n ratio is to do with 1) a REALLY well designed pedal, 2) a extremely robust power supply that no effect using a wall wart could ever match. It is, in point of fact, one of the things that show it is analog, and really good analog at that. With Digital, 16 bit's best possible S/N ratio is 96dB, and at 20 or 24 bit it would be higher than 100 dB.


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"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
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Oh, and the 100dB s/n ratio is to do with 1) a REALLY well designed pedal, 2) a extremely robust power supply that no effect using a wall wart could ever match. It is, in point of fact, one of the things that show it is analog, and really good analog at that. With Digital, 16 bit's best possible S/N ratio is 96dB, and at 20 or 24 bit it would be higher than 100 dB.
If TC Electronics is getting a 100dB S/N ratio from analog processing, my hat's off to them. :) Very impressive.
 
If TC Electronics is getting a 100dB S/N ratio from analog processing, my hat's off to them. :) Very impressive.


Eh, it's pretty common with high end studio gear. You'll never get it with a wall wart, but with a properly designed circuit and a good robust power supply, no problem.


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"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandni
 
Not sure where you found that info on the 570. Most of what I had found related to the 570 or NE570 was that it is a compander IC. Evidently the NE570 is used in a good number of music effect devices, enough so that it had a book written on it.

http://www.lulu.com/content/paperback-book/making-music-with-the-ne570-compander/3638873

Here's a stomp box that uses the NE570....
http://www.adirondackguitar.com/effects/maxon/ad80.htm

Mouser, but I'm more than happy to be wrong on that one. I'm a wood guy, not an electronics guy (though I'm trying. slowly, to change that).


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"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
well, after reading the numerous sugggestions and researching them, ive decided i think i like the Sound of the Voodoo Lab the best, although im worried that it doesnt have enough different sounds to dial in to. I would say the Arion also sounds very good, and so does the V2 Liquid Chorus, so im considering those. Anyone have any suggestions for those few??
 
Forget that junk and get the Mayer. You can thank me later.
 
Just step up and get the only "must have" ss amp: The Roland Jazz Chorus.
 
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