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Thread: A Chorus Question

  1. #1
    Forum Member Coque's Avatar
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    A Chorus Question

    Greetings All,

    I have recently seen my old T.C. Electronics Chorus bite the dust and have been on a subtle yet steady quest for something good but not too expensive; I REALLY don't want to shell out $300 for T.C. especially when the other went belly up for no reason and TC will not fix it or support it!

    I have been looking into the Boss CE-2 and wanted to know what you all thought. They run about $100 or so online so I thought I would ask you all if you could either put your stamp of approval on the Boss CE-2 or recommend something else.

    Thanks!

  2. #2
    Forum Member Rickenjangle's Avatar
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    Re: A Chorus Question

    Why not try a bunch before you buy? There are tons of them out there. If I were a chorus user, I'd buy the H2O by Visual Sound because its chorus is nice and analog sounding and it also comes with echo. But there are so many choices, I'd try to hear several before deciding.

    "I'm gonna find myself a girl
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  3. #3
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    Re: A Chorus Question

    My personal opinion after having used both (and many others): The Boss chorus, after using a TC SCF, will sound really awful. Check out the newly reissued MXR (Dunlop) stereo chorus. About half the price of the TC and really nice.

    The TC remains my favorite, but there others that are decent. The Boss (again, IMO), is not.

  4. #4
    Forum Member curtisstetka's Avatar
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    Re: A Chorus Question

    This is the chorus pedal I use:
    http://www.johnsongtr.com/Stereo_Chorus.292.0.html

    Check the HC reviews:
    http://www.harmony-central.com/Effec..._Chorus-1.html

    I've had a lot of chorus effects. This guy gets the job done, seems fairly solid and I got it for about $40 off ebay. I don't know how you could do better without spending the big bucks for a boutique pedal.

    The controls are well thought-out and extremely versatile. The most useful is the effect level control that allows you to easily match output levels or give yourself a slight boost - whatever your fancy. There's a seperate tone control for the lows and highs so you can readily adjust the sound to your taste and the guitar you're putting through it.

    For the cheap-o price it's a fantastic value.
    s'all goof.

  5. #5
    Forum Member Kap'n's Avatar
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    Re: A Chorus Question

    The TC is uber-clean. Anything analog will be vastly different.
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  6. #6
    Forum Member chuckocaster's Avatar
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    Re: A Chorus Question

    i personally don't dig boss pedals. they are kind of the peavey of effects, not great but they always work.
    "don't worry, i'm a professional!"

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    Re: A Chorus Question

    Quote Originally Posted by Kap'n
    The TC is uber-clean. Anything analog will be vastly different.

    Common misconception that I too shared until one of the guys from TC in Denmark corrected me on a different forum. The TC is 100% analog signal path.

    TC themselves are responsible for skewing the facts, because they always claim that their digital multi-fx rack pieces (G-Force, G-Major, G-System) have "that famous TC chorus," but the fact is that the SCF floor-pedal is all analog.

  8. #8
    Forum Member Kap'n's Avatar
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    Re: A Chorus Question

    Quote Originally Posted by pc
    Common misconception that I too shared until one of the guys from TC in Denmark corrected me on a different forum. The TC is 100% analog signal path. .
    Really? Then again, I prefer grungy chorus. TC is way too "Eric Johnson" for me.:lol
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  9. #9
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    Re: A Chorus Question

    Yup, really. Funny that our only language to describe chorus that crisp and clean is "digital." :lol But, like I said, I thought the exact same thing at one time. I guess if I'd really paid attention to the fact that they've made that same chorus pedal from long before there was digital anything, I might have thought twice.

    On another forum I said, "I know digital is a bad word, but the one piece of digital gear I can't do without is the TC SCF. A guy who works for TC (Niels) posted and set me straight. I did a little more research to verify (I'm a damn lawyer after all), but yup, too true.

  10. #10
    Forum Member grito's Avatar
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    Re: A Chorus Question

    I tried:

    two different Boss CE-2
    Boss CE-1
    TC Electronic Stereo Chorus Flanger
    Electro-Harmonix Small Clone
    Voodoo Lab Analos Chorus
    AnalogMan Clone Chorus

    My favorite, and the one I kept, was the AnalogMan. Of course, it all depends on what you are looking for, but I was after a chorus that I could leave on to add a little shimmer to my clean tones. Not asking a lot, but it seems like every other chorus out there was over-bearing. FYI, the Clone Chorus as does the normal intense chorus work.
    "Power don't come from a badge or a gun. Power comes from lying. Lying big and gettin' the whole damn world to play along with you. Once you've got everybody agreeing with what they know in their hearts ain't true, you've got 'em by the balls."
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  11. #11
    Forum Member Coque's Avatar
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    Re: A Chorus Question

    It's funny, I thought my TC was a little to clean and sterile and was looking for something a little more dirty. I was looking into a an Analogman Chorus but, as with replacing the TC, it was a wee bit out of my price range; I have an Analogman modded TS-9/808 and I love it.
    I just bought a Japanese CE-2 through Amazon because the price was pretty low for an effect in good shape ($75). However, I still would appreciate any other models you may all have to reccomend as I will sell the CE-2 if it does not do the trick.
    I agree with many of you that the digi chorus setups sound, like the TC (although, yes,we have establised it's NOT digital), a bit too clean; hence the recent analog CE-2 purchase. Any others you guys think would fit the bill?

  12. #12
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    Re: A Chorus Question

    Quote Originally Posted by pc
    My personal opinion after having used both (and many others): The Boss chorus, after using a TC SCF, will sound really awful. Check out the newly reissued MXR (Dunlop) stereo chorus. About half the price of the TC and really nice.

    The TC remains my favorite, but there others that are decent. The Boss (again, IMO), is not.
    I want to add something here because I realized I had my head paritally in my wazoo. I kept referring to "The Boss Chorus" and when I did, I was generally referring to the CH-1, or "Super Chorus." I hate this pedal. I've picked up a few here and there in trades, and they all just grated on me.

    I know Coque was referring to the CE-2, which is no longer made, and I have to admit I've never owned one. More importantly, which I didn't realize until two days ago, Boss does still make a second chorus pedal (aside from their CE-20 Twin Pedal that I know zip about), called the "Chorus Ensemble" (CE-5). I can only guess it's the later version of the CE-2, although I'd be willing to bet it's completely digital in design.

    Anyway, I played a CE-5 two days ago and was seriously impressed for a Boss pedal--it had WAY more shimmer and subtlety than the CH-1, and that tinny, high-midrange honk the CH-1 adds was wholly absent. In short, it was far better at creating a middle ground between the TC sound and the vintage Boss/Ibanez/Maxon stuff.

    Just wanted to clear up my own confusion.

  13. #13
    Forum Member Rickenjangle's Avatar
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    Re: A Chorus Question

    I had a CE-2, back in the day, I think. It was a 2-knob chorus that sounded way thick and rich and much much better than many of the modern chorus boxes.

    "I'm gonna find myself a girl
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    In each other's paint-by-number dreams..."

  14. #14
    Forum Member Kap'n's Avatar
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    Re: A Chorus Question

    Quote Originally Posted by pc
    their CE-20 Twin Pedal that I know zip about
    I had a CE-20 for a while. Four programmable presets, plus a fifth, which is whatever the knobs are set at. Left pedal turns it on and off, right one scrolls through the presets.

    The only good "model" or whatever they called it, was the one that modeled the original Chorus Ensemble. That was cool, but the pedal itself was pretty noisy. Between that and the Echo Park, there was way too much noise for any sane person to deal with, so I dumped both.

    The only modulation I use now is my DejaVibe 2. Giant, but quiet as a graveyard.
    Several guitars in different colors
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  15. #15
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    Re: A Chorus Question

    Thanks Kap'n. I was wondering what the deal was with the CE-20.

    I really liked the CE-5 I played, and the price was right at $49 at Music-Go-Round.

    I've gone back to a stereo stage set up right now, and I've just been using a Morley A/B box to split the signal. I decided to use the CE-5 as the splitter instead, and then for the rare occasions I want some stereo chorus, I can kick it in.

    At least it has the good buffers of the recent Boss stuff so it doesn't suck tone. Not as nice as wired bypass of course, but good enough for crappy bars & clubs. :)

  16. #16
    Forum Member Offshore Angler's Avatar
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    Re: A Chorus Question

    The best clean chorus is a trem amp! Unfortunately, "chorus" has lately become "mild flange and phasing" which is synonymous with DGS*.


    *Dissappearing Guitar Syndrome
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  17. #17
    Forum Member Kap'n's Avatar
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    Re: A Chorus Question

    Quote Originally Posted by Offshore Angler
    The best clean chorus is a trem amp!
    If you've got a bias-modulating tremolo on your amp, like on a brown vibroverb or princeton, it's a thing of beauty. It's not just volume change, there's tonal change as well.
    Several guitars in different colors
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  18. #18
    Forum Member Offshore Angler's Avatar
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    Re: A Chorus Question

    Is there anything a Vibroverb can't do? Wait I know - be carried up a flight of stairs.
    "No harmonic knowledge, no sense of time, a ghastly tone, unskilled vibrato, and so on. Chuck is one of the worst guitar players I know" -Gravity Jim

  19. #19
    Forum Member Rickenjangle's Avatar
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    Re: A Chorus Question

    I'll bet the VV is lighter than my AC15. That lil' sucker is HEAVY!

    I keep thinking about finding a VVRI. Used to play the one in Music Lover's Shoppe every chance I got.

    "I'm gonna find myself a girl
    that can show me what laughter means
    And we'll fill in the missing colors
    In each other's paint-by-number dreams..."

  20. #20
    Forum Member Kap'n's Avatar
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    Re: A Chorus Question

    Quote Originally Posted by Rickenjangle
    I keep thinking about finding a VVRI. Used to play the one in Music Lover's Shoppe every chance I got.
    I think that's the best non handwired amp FMIC has built. Right size, right weight, right volume level. Me being me, I'd change the tubes and speakers, but that's still way above anything else out there, except maybe the DRRI.
    Several guitars in different colors
    Things to make them fuzzy
    Things to make them louder
    orange picks

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