ilovefuzz.com

I'm curious. I know the technical differences between chorus, vibrato and flanger but there is a particular sound I'm sussing:

I've seen Earth live for the 2nd time now, and both times I saw them the only modulation on Dylan Carlson's board is an old MXR Micro Chorus. The issue is that it somehow sounds like it "phases", rather than "choruses" and for the longest time I thought all the modulation on Hex was actually a phaser. I can also confirm two things: A) that the reissue Micro Chorus sounds nothing like Dylan's and B) that it's definitely the same pedal on the recording and live

After a relatively small amount of testing I believe that adjustable delay time has a lot to do with getting the "phasing" sound.

TLDR:

What are some decent chorus pedal that have specific control of the delay time? Does anyone happen to know anything about the vintage Micro Chorus? What are some cool choruses to look into if I want something geared towards non-detuning sounds?


As an aside, I've never actually owned a chorus pedal, but I've played one on TV.

Maybe it's because I'm not the biggest expert in the field of modulation peds, but I can't for the life of me imagine what you mean by a control for the 'delay time' on a chorus pedal

Also, you're 100% sure about his recording gear? No studio trickery of any sort? And you're also sure you didn't miss a Phase 90 that was also on his live board?

Anyway, I've been through a couple chorus pedals myself because I wanted something simple, compact and affordable, that didn't have any of the typical digital metallic artifacts. So I went with a Boss CE-2. Lush and warm, doesn't kill my tone...It's all I need in a chorus, I don't need something like a Whetstone, whoich is obviously the bees knees if you're into sometjhing more tweakable and crazy. A Maestro Stage Phaser would've been sweet as well, but that's just totally out of my league.

Chorus is created by creating a delayed copy of your signal, then varying the delay time with an lfo. As you change the delay time you get a change in pitch. If you combine that with the dry signal you get chorus. Kill the dry and you get vibrato.

Afaik most of the mxr reissues are pretty close to the originals - I'd be really surprised if the ri micro chorus was leagues apart in terms of sound than the original. Maybe trim pots have been tweaked...dunno. You can get chorus to sound flangey easy enough but phasey... Hmm. Not so sure.

Dr scientist gives you extensive control over the delay time on the Cosmichorus, but that's the only one I can think of off hand that does. Sea machine? Pitch pirate is not what you are after but has crazy delay time.

??

Chorus, yeah, there's some that are more special than others.
As for the delay time knob question I remember that quite a few Ibanez (CCL, CF7, CS5, PC10, RC99, SC10) and Maxon (CS-550, CS-9 Pro) chorus pedals have this control, like goroth said the Dr Scientist Cosmichorus has it as well and is known for its ability to give more swirly or metallic flanger type textures.
Other chorus pedals that I'd recommend which sound a bit different from the rest are the Boss CE-1, Electro Harmonix Small Clone, Ibanez BC9 and MXR Stereo Chorus.

Just go Cosmi and forget all other options.

frigid midget wrote:Also, you're 100% sure about his recording gear? No studio trickery of any sort? And you're also sure you didn't miss a Phase 90 that was also on his live board?

Anyway, I've been through a couple chorus pedals myself because I wanted something simple, compact and affordable, that didn't have any of the typical digital metallic artifacts. So I went with a Boss CE-2. Lush and warm, doesn't kill my tone...It's all I need in a chorus, I don't need something like a Whetstone, whoich is obviously the bees knees if you're into sometjhing more tweakable and crazy. A Maestro Stage Phaser would've been sweet as well, but that's just totally out of my league.

I'm almost 100% certain it was the same setup. I was at the edge of the stage both shows and took a nice long 2 and a half hour look at his pedalboard. It's such a bizarre thing, because before I saw them live I would have sworn up and down it was phaser.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNgN5QO_8oI[/youtube]

I have heard that the old MXR Micro Chorus had internal trims that the reissues don't. I cannot, however confirm THAT.

Perhaps for that particular sound I'd be better off just looking at phasers that do subtle instead....

I was however at one point curious about pedals that are vibrato/chorus based on a blend knob rather than a switch. I'm pretty sure the polytope does this, but at this point they're a little expensive for my tastes and needs.

goroth wrote:Chorus is created by creating a delayed copy of your signal, then varying the delay time with an lfo. As you change the delay time you get a change in pitch. If you combine that with the dry signal you get chorus. Kill the dry and you get vibrato.

Afaik most of the mxr reissues are pretty close to the originals - I'd be really surprised if the ri micro chorus was leagues apart in terms of sound than the original. Maybe trim pots have been tweaked...dunno. You can get chorus to sound flangey easy enough but phasey... Hmm. Not so sure.

Dr scientist gives you extensive control over the delay time on the Cosmichorus, but that's the only one I can think of off hand that does. Sea machine? Pitch pirate is not what you are after but has crazy delay time.

??

The MXR reissues (Micro and full sized chorus/flanger) are totally different in design, soundwise, I couldn't say though.

But... try a big box small clone on the minimum depth setting and with a slow sweep, adds a nice colour and i've used on as my only pedal and had great feedback on tone, not obvious chorus, just a 'thickening'.

In that vid you posted it definitely sounds like phaser to me and the other guitar has a tremolo of course.

The only modulation on my board is a DOD FX65 chorus, it has a delay time control: http://www.americaspedal.net/fx65/

I'm likewise a huge fan of Earth and Dylan's sound and it'll definitely get very close to that kind of lush, phasey, somewhat pulsing chorus with a longer delay time and some dirt.

They're often ridiculously cheap too, I picked up mine for $40 on eBay (and that's Australian dollars).

I should point out that Dylan's gear has changed a lot over the years, the Micro Chorus has only been regularly used for the last year or two I think (I hadn't seen it much before that).

He used to have a Phase 90 at one point and has used other chorus pedals in the past.

Here's a recent video where you can really hear the Micro Chorus:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhBlmgqAwCc[/youtube]

If you want adjustable LFO/delay time that will net you chorus/flange, and more, look at any of the old digital rack delays that added the LFO to be sold as "can do all three!" in an era when just one was blisteringly expensive.

Boss DE-200, Digitech RDS 1900/3600 are dirt cheap if you shop around and are patient.

But if you want a phase-type sound, just go straight to a phaser and don't look back.

rfurtkamp wrote:If you want adjustable LFO/delay time that will net you chorus/flange, and more, look at any of the old digital rack delays that added the LFO to be sold as "can do all three!" in an era when just one was blisteringly expensive.

Boss DE-200, Digitech RDS 1900/3600 are dirt cheap if you shop around and are patient.

But if you want a phase-type sound, just go straight to a phaser and don't look back.

Ya, I think that's what I'll aim at. I've already got a PM-7, but something about it just isn't quite "there". But I'm probably splitting hairs here and need to settle the fuck down.

I love how I titled this thread thinking I was looking for a chorus, but ended up just talking about how to cop Dylan's sound.

I've always had the best luck with non boutique choruses. Not that there aren't some good ones, but I've never wanted a lot of control for chorus and sometimes cheaper comes with less controls.
Faves I've tried are Small Clone (big box) and CH-1.
But if you're wanting a flanger or phaser, thats a different story

Scruffie wrote: The MXR reissues (Micro and full sized chorus/flanger) are totally different in design, soundwise, I couldn't say though.

Sorry. Unfounded speculation proven unfounded.

scruffie knows.

I have the MXR M234 analog chorus. It has good controls and can go complete fruitcakes, especially if you have a cable in the Thru jack as well, which will turn your chorus into vibrato as well-described by goroth up there. A way-pitched seasick vibrato. However the Detune function on the Mooer Pitch Box is actually a sweeter-sounding chorus effect, in no small part due to the chromatic control of the pitch deviation. There are no other controls so you have to like the rate, which I do. It's digital, so maybe the tone of the sampled audio is what sets it apart. I can't speak for the detune effects on the Boss pitch shifters but I'd bet they are similar.