Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Guitars, Amps and Effects => Topic started by: Floyd Pepper on November 28, 2005, 11:14:29 AM
-
I'm after a chorus for my son for Christmas. I've currently got a Boss CE-1 like this http://guitargeek.com/gearview/40/ and an Ibanez Bi-Mode like this http://guitargeek.com/gearview/164/
I don't like either of them. The CE-1 is supposed to be the best Chorus ever but it looses too much treble. The Bi-Mode is just nuts. It has 2 simultaneous choruses running. It has 4 knobs. 2 knobs for each chorus. You can get them out of in/out of sync so you get big peek and troughs. It's just too difficult to control.
Does anyone have any opionions on Boss CE-2 or the current Boss Chorus pedals. How do they compare to the Electro Harmonix Small Clone Chorus? Are the modern Harmonix pedals any good?
-
:D Have used the CE2 it`s very good you should get a power supply with it as it can be noisy when battery operated. I`ve never had aproblem with them. The digital Boss one i think it`s the CE3 that was excellent & i thought it was better than the CE2. Have never used a EH chorus so i can`t compare them i`m affraid.
:D 8)
-
I have an old Ibanez CS-9. I don't use it very often but I think the sound is pretty good. It's a simple device, just two knobs. They're currently reissueing them.
I used the CS-9 on the intro of my Suicide Warpig clip.
If you like the chorus sounds of the Police and the Cult, you'll like the CS-9.
-
I have the analogman mini-chorus, its easily the best chorus i've ever heard...its basically an improved and tweaked original Small Clone circuit. Its a beautiful pedal.
There is a wealth of information on what analogman was thinking when he created the pedal, here:
http://www.analogman.com/clone.htm
Personally, I can't recommend this pedal highly enough. However, with shipping costs & time from the USA, it may be easier to just buy something from the shops. In which case, the Voodoo Labs Micro Chorus sounded really nice to me. And they have them for sale in that new guitar shop in town, GuitarGuitar (its in the Newgate Shoppinh centre), so you could always go and try it and see what you think.
-
I have a BOSS CE5 Chorus Ensemble. It's nothing special but gets the job done when I need it :)
-
Thanks for the feedback. The Analogman's look very good and I've only ever heard good things about them but I'm after something cheap as he'll be taking it into school.
Interesting that you think the Boss CE-3 is better than as CE-2 as the CE-3 tend to be a bit cheaper.
I hadn't considered an Ibanez but I'll take a look at them.
Thanks
-
HomeBrew Electronics has a chorus pedal called the THC that's supposed to be very cool. What I like about HBE pedals is that I don't lose any of my precious hi freq's (riiight, Phil? ;) LOL ), so the tone still cuts like a knife.
www.homebrewelectronics.com
-
I've got an EH Small Clone, which IMO, is a really nice, lush sounding pedal. The BOSS pedals have always sounded really "wrong" to me for guitar for some reason, although when I played bass through a S/S Ampeg combo, they sounded really good. Ho hum. http://www.hotroxuk.com in Nottingham are currently selling them for £49.00.
The Small Stone / Poly Chorus / EH is the one you hear on the intro to "Come As You Are" by some band from Seattle (who nicked the riff from Killing Joke's "Nighttime").
I had a Sovtek Small Stone phaser which had a dry solder joint and needed "warming up" before it worked, but when it did work, it sounded really lush, with a wide "jet plane" sweep. Loved the tone, so I bought an NYC reissue instead.
-
who nicked the riff from Killing Joke's "Nighttime"
Its from Killing Joke's track Eighties although come as you are is slowed down.
With EH pedals don't be tempted to go for the Russian made ones as they are so badly made. EH have never really had great quality control, but the Russian made pedals push it into a new realm of poorness. I've got the black Russian Big Muff and the components aren't good - one of the jacks cracked after being used twice. The old green Sovtek pedals were good though - David Gilmour still uses one.
I would go for the EH pedal over the Boss pedal, even if EH pedals can be a little noisy at times. It's true bypass rather than buffered in the case of the Boss pedal so the signal won't sound dull when its off.
-
I have played the Boss CS-1 at Guitar Center thru a marshall DFX100 or something like that, I have to say that I wasn't impressed.
Currently I am using a DOD FX-64 "Icebox" chourus and I have to say that the tone that i get from it is amazing. I cannot think of a band off the top of my head but with it turned up all the way it sounds otherworldly :D. The only downsides that I have found to this is that it chews through batteries. Also I have found that it is hard to find, and mine was fairly expensive.
Hope it helps :)
-
Its from Killing Joke's track Eighties
Duh... What was I thinking... It is the riff from "Eighties" from the album "Nighttime"...
Thankfully, the Small Clone didn't get a Sovtek reissue, where the Small Stone did. The Sovtek built BigMuffPi would be the only Sovtek I'd ever have, again, I had a Sovtek then a reissue, the Sovtek was a nasty 'orrible sounding animal, where the US reissue was unimpressive (IMO o'course...). I kind of wish I'd kept the Sovtek one... ;)
-
I've got a Frantone The Sweet pedal instead now. Fran designed the US reissue, although they took a design prior to her being totally happy with the result. It's got such a huge amount of gain for a fuzz pedal, but its much better than the stuff EH put out. The Russian one I have is just for me to mess around with changing the parts etc.
-
I've just bought a DLS Chorus Vib, great sound and built like a tank. I was recommended it over the HBE THC, it is more versatile as you get Vibrato and Leslie type effects too. www.dlseffects.com
Don't think you can get them in UK, got mine shipped from US www.supersoundmusic.com
Pete
-
My favourite chorus is the Boss Dimension C, which is as simple as f**k to use as it just has four preset buttons on the top, and is full of analogue goodness despite a lot of people saying it is digital.
The only problem is - they don't make them any more, and if you find one second hand they may want quite a bit of dosh for it.
So I'll shut up then, as this is probably no use to you at all :roll:
-
The Fulltone Choralflange is great - you can get them imported for about £150 ouch...and teh Analogman Clone is great. The Analogman is a bit warmer and more vintage sounding, the Choralflange is more versatile and can get more modern tones too. They're both fun to have around though!
-
The Ibanez CS9 is an excellent chorus, imco, they will get you closer to the 'come as you are' tone than the EH Small Clone reissue,
it's a dead ringer for that sweet 'Angry Chair' tone too,
on a tech note the Electroharmonix pedal is considerably easier to make true bypass than the Ibanez, not impossible tho' and for me, the tone is superior with a CS9
-
The Ibanez CS9 is an excellent chorus, imco, they will get you closer to the 'come as you are' tone than the EH Small Clone reissue,
it's a dead ringer for that sweet 'Angry Chair' tone too,
on a tech note the Electroharmonix pedal is considerably easier to make true bypass than the Ibanez, not impossible tho' and for me, the tone is superior with a CS9
+1
-
Anyone ever tried an Electro Harmonix Q-Tron Envelope Filter? Are they any good?
-
I've heard some clips on www.musictoyz.com I believe. very whacky thing. Auto wha's and auws, laser fights and what not and an integrated hot tubes pedal.
-
Has anyone tried the Visual Sound Liquid chorus and echo? I have heard great things about them and am curious. I really do like the DOD tho.
-
who nicked the riff from Killing Joke's "Nighttime"
Its from Killing Joke's track Eighties although come as you are is slowed down.
With EH pedals don't be tempted to go for the Russian made ones as they are so badly made. EH have never really had great quality control, but the Russian made pedals push it into a new realm of poorness. I've got the black Russian Big Muff and the components aren't good - one of the jacks cracked after being used twice. The old green Sovtek pedals were good though - David Gilmour still uses one.
I would go for the EH pedal over the Boss pedal, even if EH pedals can be a little noisy at times. It's true bypass rather than buffered in the case of the Boss pedal so the signal won't sound dull when its off.
:lol: :lol: :lol: at your sig!!!
-
from todays holy moly mailout :)
-
Thanks for the advice. I'm now the proud owner (until Christmas when my son gets it) of an EH Small Clone. And very nice it is too.
I tried an EH Holy Grail reverb in Guitar Guitar on Saturday. To cut a short story even shorter. I got one of them too. It sounds more like a spring reverb than some of the spring reverbs I've used.
-
The Small Clone is a very nice sound. I bet it won't be long before you are opening the box then using it before Christmas! Oh if you want a nice phaser try the Small Stone - I love mine, as it sounds awesome clean but even better with high gain sounds. I've not heard the Holy Grail, but I've got one of the Holier Grails - the Holiest Grail has far too many options but is supposed to be damn good.
-
Whoo i knew there was other EHX fans out there somewhere! I'd love to A/B/C the holy holier and holiest grails...
-
I was put off the Holy Grail's as I kept hearing about them being noisy. That and I'd need another 3.5mm jack for my pedal power supply (already sacrificed 3 leads to the 3.5mm pedal brigade!).
I've just got one of those Marshall Reflectors to add some reverb to my sound (another reverb-less 4104 user don't forget), and it's pretty good. Some of the settings are a bit OTT, but it does give a nice subtle reverb without noise. And best of all...it's cheap! ;)
-
Marshall reflectors?? REVERB ON THE 4104!? i'm excited - please explain to me what a reflector is?
*EDIT* i see, seems to be a new addition to the marshall pedal range! how do yu use that with the jcm800 (that doesnt have an effects loop)???
-
Apologies, assumed you knew about the new Marshall pedals, the other new ones are an Echo and a Digital Delay.
I've dropped it on the end of my pedal chain, using the Spring setting, low rev time & damping. Like I said, it can be set to give a real OTT reverb, such as a cavernous hall and the like, but for subtle, everything is set low (except the vol/level o' course). I did notice it clashing a bit with my Small Clone when I used that, but that'll just need tweaking (and I don't use the SC that much). Might play around with the placement of the pedal, just thought it'd be better at the end of the chain than anywhere else for now.
I bought a Digi Delay recently to try and "widen" my sound out a bit, but that just sounded too "digital" through the 4104 (well, just too "digital" full stop!), and I was looking at the Holy Grail instead when I noticed these mentioned in Guitarist a while back. Another EHX pedal was not an option as my PSU has 5 9v out's, and I've "adapted" 3 of the power leads to the 3.5mm mini jack connector that EHX use (Small Clone / Small Stone / Vintage RAT), and I had to buy one of those 5 connector leads to get some more "standard" connectors.
It's given the sound a bit more depth which is what I was after.
-
Whoo i knew there was other EHX fans out there somewhere! I'd love to A/B/C the holy holier and holiest grails...
I'm another fan of EHX, have a Big Muff and 2 Small Stones :D
I'd love to hear an original 70's Big Muff though, my band couldn't live without our Muff's :shock:
As for chorus', I have a Boss CE-2, I picked it up for £30, I like it, but don't use it often, not really a fan of chorus in general, but I like it for subtle flanging and very light chorus.
-
Remember that much of the Police / Andy Summers chorus sounds have now been attributed to the EH Electronic Mistress flanger.
I'm not a great fan of chorus (the amount of chorus used in 80s music can only be described as excessive), but I love a nice big phaser.
Personally the only current (read affordable to normal people) phaser is the EH one.
Rob...
-
the amount of chorus used in 80s music can only be described as excessive
And I say that the above is an understatement! ;)
Like Kilby, I love phaser's as well, tried an MXR Phase 90 and hated it, the sweep is quite narrow, where the sweep on a Small Stone is pretty wide. Sounds fantastic too.
-
I bought my Small Stone through Analogman. He makes some modifications so that there isn't a volume drop when it is switched on. He did the same thing to Memory Man pedal too.
As far as MXR are concerned, the current ones are made by Jim Dunlop and shouldn't really be badged as MXR. The build quality is supposed to be pretty poor, and they have everything mounted on the PCB unlike the original MXR's - obviously it makes it near impossible to repair if it goes wrong.
-
I've had 3 Dunlop MXR's, and they've all been rubbish. IMO o' course. ;)