Ibanez CS9 is it for me. I've tried a lot of chorus pedals but the CS9 nails the sound I want without any fuss.
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Chorus For Bass. Am I Insane?
- Thread starter Auspuff
- Start date
I have had many and the only one I kept was the Keeley Seafoam. Just works for me and sounds great with my other pedals.
There are so many great ones to choose from. These days I only use chorus for a few songs at most, so I have a Boos CEB-3 and really like it. Chorus was always my favorite effect as I would do alot of chordal stuff and tons of melodies with harmonics (even before I heard of Jaco). Sounds so sweet with chorus.
I've never had a reason to stray from my TC Electronic Stereo Chorus Flanger, which I've used for over 40 years!
Depends on what you're looking for in a chorus and what your budget is.
If you're going for that Peter Hook sound and don't want to spend a lot, the EHX Bass Clone is the way to go. $68 new, so crazy cheap. Buy three!
If you want the chorus from the rest of the 80s, then you probably want a Boss. The CEB-3 is $130 new.
For a slightly more modern chorus, the usual suspects for this question are all well-represented in this thread: MXR Bass Chorus Deluxe, the Tech21 Bass Boost Chorus, and the Walrus Julia. IIRC the Tech21 has been discontinued so it's harder to find. The MXR is $170 and the Julia is $200 (new).
Personally I have the EHX Bass Clone and I'm happy with it. If I upgrade it'll probably be a Julia.
If you're going for that Peter Hook sound and don't want to spend a lot, the EHX Bass Clone is the way to go. $68 new, so crazy cheap. Buy three!
If you want the chorus from the rest of the 80s, then you probably want a Boss. The CEB-3 is $130 new.
For a slightly more modern chorus, the usual suspects for this question are all well-represented in this thread: MXR Bass Chorus Deluxe, the Tech21 Bass Boost Chorus, and the Walrus Julia. IIRC the Tech21 has been discontinued so it's harder to find. The MXR is $170 and the Julia is $200 (new).
Personally I have the EHX Bass Clone and I'm happy with it. If I upgrade it'll probably be a Julia.
Clear winner for bass for me is the Mr. Black Analog Chorus/Vibrato but that's a kinda limited availability pedal. Somehow it winds up being simultaneously syrupy & super clean & detailed.
I've liked both the Moog MiniFooger & the Walrus Julia too.
I've liked both the Moog MiniFooger & the Walrus Julia too.
If I were to use a chorus on bass, I would use it in a bi-amp or Ric-O-Sound manner, with the neck pickup going straight to keep the foundation clean, and run the bridge pickup through the chorus or other processing separately, with a little bit of low end roll off to avoid the signal blurring.
It does that 80's sound really well, which coming from a Boss, isn't a big surprise. But, that's what I was after. I generally used it in a certain project, with my Jazz Bass when I roll off the neck volume. I hope to need it again sometime, as it's a fun pedal. It also has a good boost to it, which helps a lot, especially if I'm rolling off the neck, which is where a lot of the volume seems to come from on a Jazz.
I had a TC Electronic Corona Mini and it wasn't bad. But I always have a tough time finding TonePrints I like enough to use and editing and using my own custom TonePrints is more tedious than I want to deal with, so I've been selling off my TonePrint capable pedals. That being said, I ended up putting the Corona mini on a small guitar pedal board I built.
I then bought an MXR Bass Chorus Deluxe and a Providence Anadime Bass Chorus. I like both a lot but ended up keeping the Providence and sold the MXR. The MXR did have a switchable HPF that worked very well, leaving your lows unaffected for better clarity (it also has a flanger, though I didn't have a need for it I still thought it was a nice touch). But I ultimately decided I liked the adjustable HPF on the Providence better so I kept that one.
Both sounded very nice to me.
I then bought an MXR Bass Chorus Deluxe and a Providence Anadime Bass Chorus. I like both a lot but ended up keeping the Providence and sold the MXR. The MXR did have a switchable HPF that worked very well, leaving your lows unaffected for better clarity (it also has a flanger, though I didn't have a need for it I still thought it was a nice touch). But I ultimately decided I liked the adjustable HPF on the Providence better so I kept that one.
Both sounded very nice to me.
Had a Corona, not bad at all but toneprints and usb are not for me on a pedal... tried the June 60, which I liked, but it's a one trick pony. Once accepted the idea of the very inconvenient power supply, I was ready for the real thing:
Boss CE-2 is my favorite chorus. It loses a little bottom end, so I boost it with my solidgoldfx beta.
- Dec 21, 2007
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Surprised no one has mentioned the Way Huge Blue Hippo. Very, very nice.
It's a key part of my sound in my Joy Division tribute band. I tracked down a vintage EHX Clone Theory and couldn't be happier
Yeah, it does. You can also get more traditional chorus sounds by dialing back the feedback. I actually have it at zero most of the time, but sometimes it is quite useful, like here.
There's a lot of good ones out there and I've bought a few different ones over the years but my mainstay these days is the EHX Bass Clone. It's super affordable, a bit more simple and to the point which just works for me better than other chorus effects that have a bunch of knobs and switches to them that can cost in the hundreds of dollars.
