For years I have hated chorus. Loved it at first...finally a modulation effect that sounded good on bass without washing you out of the mix. Had a Boss CE-3 for years and it got a ton of use in the 80's. Once the 90's hit, every time I heard a chorus it sounded completely dated to me and still does to a large degree. I played with a guitarist at that time who used chorus as an always-on pedal, and he was great and still is, but his sounds could have been so much better if he'd turn it off once in a while, and he refused. Grated on my nerves after a while. And every time I heard it, all I could think was 80's...gated drums, digital synths (blech!), and lots of chorus on everything, including sax. Dropped chorus after that band split up, never used it again.
Cut to last week when I got one of those new MXR Bass Distortions, and remembered how one of the best distorted tones I ever got was in that old band using a vintage Rat 2 and my Boss chorus into channel 2 of my 69 SVT, and blending it with the clean sound of channel 1. Ended up writing the music to what I thought was a very cool song we used to do around that sound. Fortunately, bass pedals have come a long way, and the Bass D is a Rat modded for bass use with its own wet and dry knobs, so that greatly simplifies the process of making a Rat work with bass. But I'd play with that pedal and start remembering that tone I had on that song, so I set my EHX Pitch Fork on detune to see how close it got, and it wasn't quite the same but it wasn't bad. I started using it on gigs as a pseudo chorus and I liked it there, too. Didn't like the too-fast rate and not being able to adjust the intensity, but it did make me think maybe I shouldn't give up on chorus.
And now I must get another one, as the Boss got sold long ago. My only big requirement is it has to be a 1590a (EDIT: totally meant to say 1590b, not a...my apologies) or smaller. I see no reason to buy big pedals anymore when they can cram pedals that are just as good in much smaller boxes. Went and tried a few at the store. The newest Boss choruses weren't bad, but there's something grindy about the sound of Boss choruses that gets on my nerves. Small Clones are cool but I never thought they gave me enough control. For me, the standard has been the original TC chorus. If all choruses sounded that good, I doubt I'd have grown to hate it. That's why I was quite shocked at how little I liked the Corona. Sounded digital to me. I guess that's because it is
but still, I was hoping for a miracle.
So far the one leading the pack for me is the MXR Bass Chorus Deluxe. Really wanted to like the MXR Analog Chorus because it's a lot cheaper, but while I could have done fine with the Analog Chorus if chorus was all I wanted, the Bass Chorus Deluxe has a pretty sick flanger built into it that's pretty gnarly at very slow rates. Always a bonus if a pedal can pull off legit double duty. But they both had a nice smooth sound that wasn't all grindy chorus-y, but still got pretty intense on higher knob settings. I've heard stories of the BCD having a boost when you kick it on, but it didn't come across that way to me. Maybe a very slight one at worst, but so slight that it seemed immaterial to me.
Looking at the boutique stuff, seems like the Iron Ether Polytope is a sick little puppy. I would probably enjoy it if my band was more experimental, but for my situation, it's a lot of stuff I'll never be able to use and a whole lot more money than I wanted to spend. But while I haven't done an exhaustive search of boutique choruses, the ones I've seen aren't giving me a compelling reason to go with them over the BCD.
Just wanted to see what you all thought since you're all probably way ahead of the curve. Probably going to go with the BCD anyway but if I'm missing something I should be investigating, let me know.
And if any of you hard-ons tell me to do a search, why I'll...
Cut to last week when I got one of those new MXR Bass Distortions, and remembered how one of the best distorted tones I ever got was in that old band using a vintage Rat 2 and my Boss chorus into channel 2 of my 69 SVT, and blending it with the clean sound of channel 1. Ended up writing the music to what I thought was a very cool song we used to do around that sound. Fortunately, bass pedals have come a long way, and the Bass D is a Rat modded for bass use with its own wet and dry knobs, so that greatly simplifies the process of making a Rat work with bass. But I'd play with that pedal and start remembering that tone I had on that song, so I set my EHX Pitch Fork on detune to see how close it got, and it wasn't quite the same but it wasn't bad. I started using it on gigs as a pseudo chorus and I liked it there, too. Didn't like the too-fast rate and not being able to adjust the intensity, but it did make me think maybe I shouldn't give up on chorus.
And now I must get another one, as the Boss got sold long ago. My only big requirement is it has to be a 1590a (EDIT: totally meant to say 1590b, not a...my apologies) or smaller. I see no reason to buy big pedals anymore when they can cram pedals that are just as good in much smaller boxes. Went and tried a few at the store. The newest Boss choruses weren't bad, but there's something grindy about the sound of Boss choruses that gets on my nerves. Small Clones are cool but I never thought they gave me enough control. For me, the standard has been the original TC chorus. If all choruses sounded that good, I doubt I'd have grown to hate it. That's why I was quite shocked at how little I liked the Corona. Sounded digital to me. I guess that's because it is
but still, I was hoping for a miracle.So far the one leading the pack for me is the MXR Bass Chorus Deluxe. Really wanted to like the MXR Analog Chorus because it's a lot cheaper, but while I could have done fine with the Analog Chorus if chorus was all I wanted, the Bass Chorus Deluxe has a pretty sick flanger built into it that's pretty gnarly at very slow rates. Always a bonus if a pedal can pull off legit double duty. But they both had a nice smooth sound that wasn't all grindy chorus-y, but still got pretty intense on higher knob settings. I've heard stories of the BCD having a boost when you kick it on, but it didn't come across that way to me. Maybe a very slight one at worst, but so slight that it seemed immaterial to me.
Looking at the boutique stuff, seems like the Iron Ether Polytope is a sick little puppy. I would probably enjoy it if my band was more experimental, but for my situation, it's a lot of stuff I'll never be able to use and a whole lot more money than I wanted to spend. But while I haven't done an exhaustive search of boutique choruses, the ones I've seen aren't giving me a compelling reason to go with them over the BCD.
Just wanted to see what you all thought since you're all probably way ahead of the curve. Probably going to go with the BCD anyway
but if I'm missing something I should be investigating, let me know.And if any of you hard-ons tell me to do a search, why I'll...
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