Chorus/Flanger: Empress Nebulus or…?

Hi,

(Sorry for being verbose. I’ll put a summary at the end with my specific questions. )

I’m thinking of adding a chorus and/or flanger to my effects chain.
I’ve played a little bit with such effects many, many years ago when I was into experimenting with multi-effects pedals and other weird units. But I’ve never had dedicated pedals for chorus or flanger, so I’m not very familiar with them.

Now so you can understand what I’m after, please consider that I rarely use effects. In fact, I’ve gone without any at all for most of my jamming/gigging years (bar a compressor and a SansAmp DI).
It is in recent years that my playing has evolved (as in crawling out of the sea) in a way that effects sometimes become very useful in shaping the overall band’s sound. My main influences as a bassist have always been post-punk (Simon Gallup!!!) and grunge music (Breeders!!!). And the music we’ve been playing gives the bass that type of presence in the mix.

This said, I still rely on the bass alone most of the time. So I’m not really interested in having 15 different pedals around. This has led me these last years to acquire 3 pedals, all by Empress: A Compressor, a Multidrive and lately a Tape Delay. I’ve gone with Empress because they are extremely well-built, they react super well to my G&L L2500’s hot active output and they are very versatile. I especially like the idea that 3-4 easy to carry little boxes can answer pretty much any sound fancy that I can have.

Logically, I’m now looking at an Empress Nebulus to complete my chain. Only problem is, they are quite expensive on the local 2nd-hand market and I’m cash-strapped.
In all the ads that I’ve seen in the last couple of weeks, the sellers were asking for CAD300$. I find this surprising because I bought the previous 3 pedals for CAD200$ each… And a new Nebulus would cost me minimally CAD365$ with taxes included (if I order from the “Scratch & Dents” section at Empress).

So I’m thinking that another option could be an EHX Bass Clone, which I can get new for less than CAD100$, and possibly add a flanger. Or buy a flanger and possibly add a chorus… Again, not knowing the possibilities of both effects, I find it hard to gauge, and this is why a Nebulus would be a sure bet, having both and more!

…
So, assuming that you’ve read this far, here’s what I’d like advice on:

1- Is the Empress Nebulus worth the extra $$$ ? It’s advantages being: -versatility and quality (plus the esthetic pleasure of having an only Empress effects chain )
My worry is if I pay more for the Nebulus, I’ll actually be paying for too much versatility: I.e., a lot of the effect’s potential would be great on guitar, but only limited settings will prove really useful for bass…?

2- If I go the cheaper route, are chorus AND flanger necessary? Or do you find one to be enough mostly? And if so which one?

3- What flanger units should I look at in the same price range as the Bass Clone? And on which can I count to not crumble under the mightiness of my L2500 output?

Thanks a lot in advance !

 

It does chorus?

My experience with BOSS pedals is that they were noisy. But more especially, since I plan to use it sparingly, I'd rather a true bypass unit.

 

...Looking it up.

 

Oooohhhh... Reading and listening to it... Very, very interesting! It's in my price range 2nd-hand, and it has lots of options exactly where I need them. Thanks!

 

Very interesting demo video: MXR VS BOSS.
(They don't seem to fully understand what the low filter on the BOSS is all about though...)

Wow, I think I'm in love, and this love expresses itself through gas...


...

PS- I really dig that bass he's playing. An Ibanez Ergodyne if I'm not mistaken. I played one of those for many years. And as far as industrially produced instruments go, it was a very well designed and crafted instrument! Mine was an Ibanez EDA 905, and it rocked balls under my fingers!
As much as I nowadays prefer a precise but beefy wooden "rumbler" of a bass, like my G&L, I remember fondly playing a bass that played itself a little bit more. An instrument that was more forgiving. And the 905 was it.

 

They are stupid expensive though. I had a Keeley Compressor for 10 years, with the added switch for bass. It worked extraordinary with my 1st passive bass. But it crumbled and saturated when I plugged my later active 5 stringer basses into them; including my present L2500.

 

At this point, I'm salivating.

 

I'll have a closer look then. But I checked some ad and the Keeley was significantly more expensive... Maybe it's a Canadian thing.