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All Tube Chorus pedal hunt...

A

Acquistapace

Feb 28, 2009
48
1
#1
Recently I've been expanding my rig for a doom/drone project (yeah, I know) and I've got the amps perfect now. Everything's coming together... except I'm needing a chorus pedal that won't throttle my tone, and the solid state choruses I'd owned/used/demo'd have all left me wanting for low-end boom and high-end clarity. I'm playing a short-scale 6, and responsible for a great deal of the tone. My plan is thus:

Hellcat 6 -> A/B/Y---> Orange Rockerverb 100 - Orange 4x12
|
------> tube chorus - Acoustic 450 - Acoustic 301 18" folded cab

The chorus is really alluding me. I've searched here and poked around on Youtube for something that'll really open up the low end to an enigmatic otherplanar rumble. Effectrode makes an all tube chorus and I'm betting it smokes, but it costs more than my bass OR my amp, and I haven't even heard it yet (videos on their Tube Vibe are impressive though, to be fair).

Any ideas on something warm, perhaps more tuned to bass? :confused:
 
#2
I wouldn't limit yourself to all-tube chorus pedals. Almost every chorus pedal out there is non-tube, and the lack of tubes has no bearing on whether or not a chorus pedal can sound great.

My favorite chorus pedals have been "non-bass" ones (for example, the EHX Stereo Electric Mistress, whose parallel chorus can be used by itself for a warm, liquidy, and spacious effect).

Hmm... is there a particular bassist's chorus sound which you've become enamored with? A lot of famous bassists have used chorus at some point or another.

Also, what have you tried so far that you can remember? Giving us a stronger background on what you've used and why you didn't like them will help us a lot.
 
#3
-Analogman clone chorus (just got it, sounds great, can't describe it yet)
-Fulltone CF-1 (loved this chorus pedal, low end retention, kind of metallic, can find em used)
-Diamond Halo (has a cool phase tone along with the chorus, they sound great blended)

I've tried and owned all three, I think they all are great on bass, each with its own flavor.
 
#5
bassteban said:
I'm intrigued- I have not heard of a tube chorus.
Click to expand...

IIRC, you almost never see them because the tubes aren't part of the actual effect circuit. I remember reading an article by Howard Davis on how tubes can't generate an audio delay, and thus can't be used to create chorus, echo, reverb, flanging, and other similar effects.

The tubes in Effectrode's chorus pedal are most likely just preamp tubes and nothing more. They're "warming up" your tone before they hit the chorus circuit. The actual chorus effect is still created using solid-state components, like any other chorus pedal.

Plus, I find it hilarious how they're advertising the use of the tubes in that particular pedal... it's misleading to a surprising degree. It's not entirely false, but they're certainly catering to uninformed tube fanatics.
 
#7
MysticBoo said:
IIRC, you almost never see them because the tubes aren't part of the actual effect circuit. I remember reading an article by Howard Davis on how tubes can't generate an audio delay, and thus can't be used to create chorus, echo, reverb, flanging, and other similar effects.

The tubes in Effectrode's chorus pedal are most likely just preamp tubes and nothing more. They're "warming up" your tone before they hit the chorus circuit. The actual chorus effect is still created using solid-state components, like any other chorus pedal.

Plus, I find it hilarious how they're advertising the use of the tubes in that particular pedal... it's misleading to a surprising degree. It's not entirely false, but they're certainly catering to uninformed tube fanatics.
Click to expand...

I've never heard of tube chorus either, but yeah...lots of hype out there. I use the Boss bass chorus and it does me just fine (it leaves my low end alone). If chorus means that much, I'd do a road trip to some music stores and let my ears do the thinking. Ya never know...might save some bucks.
 
#17
I hit a home run back in 1979 when I forked out $75 for a new MXR Stereo Chorus pedal. That one had a hardwired power cable on it. I believe they use a separate power supply on the current model, and the controls are different. You see the originals bringing around double their original price when they come up for sale online.

Also, I'm not sure that higher price is always a guarantee that you'll get a better pedal. It all comes down to personal taste, what you're trying to achieve, etc. I'm currently using an Arion Bass Chorus that does a nice job.
 
#19
roflol said:
you'd be wrong ;< the input buffer on any circuit can have a huge affect on the tone!
Click to expand...
Can but very often DOES NOT have a "beneficial" and noticeably "tubey" tone effect in the case of cheaply-designed toob preamp stages. If you think I haven't owned about three dozen tube preamps and A/B'ed them carefully against each other, and against clean solid state preamps, then you'd be wrong. :) And this wouldn't be the first time you've said something both hostile and ignorant about electronics here.
 

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