• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join freeLog in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

New EHX Bass Clone Chorus

Mine showed up today and got a few minutes of playing time with it. I have a modest home board, doing double duty for both bass and acoustic guitar and after a little research, I figured this pedal would do a decent job for both at a price inside my current comfort zone.

Sounds good on bass, with both the X-over switch on or off. I'm finding a little low-end loss with the switch on (up), so I have to jack the bass knob at around 2 oc-ish. There's also an internal trim pot, but since the manual doesn't refer to it, I didn't touch it.

You guys finding the same low-end issue with yours ? Any fooled around with the trim pot ?
I find unity-gain for the bass (with crossover up (engaged)) is indeed around 2 o'clock. I always play with with the crossover on, otherwise the low-end is too warbly to be usable as a functional bass sound. I imagine it would be significantly more usable with guitar though! I love this pedal, my chorus of choice and one of the longest-lived on my board.
 
I find unity-gain for the bass (with crossover up (engaged)) is indeed around 2 o'clock. I always play with with the crossover on, otherwise the low-end is too warbly to be usable as a functional bass sound.
Exactly the same experience.
I wonder what was the intended purpose of having the crossover down, in my case it is useless as it make my B, E and A strings sound like there were some phase cancellation happening...
 
  • Like
Reactions: Spidey2112
I find unity-gain for the bass (with crossover up (engaged)) is indeed around 2 o'clock. I always play with with the crossover on, otherwise the low-end is too warbly to be usable as a functional bass sound. I imagine it would be significantly more usable with guitar though! I love this pedal, my chorus of choice and one of the longest-lived on my board.

Thx for the unity gain input. On my end I'm finding it slightly varies from bass to bass (all Jazzes: 2 Squiers, 1 Aerodyne and 1 American Special), so its certainly related to each bass's output.

I'm really glad I went for this pedal. Years ago, I had a Neo Clone and was so impressed I started a thread with clips (EHX Neo Clone clips !), but eventually tired of the (minimal) loss of low-end and flipped the pedal. When this one came out, they were tough to find around here, but the year-or-so was well worth the wait.
 
Last edited:
Has anyone A/B'd the Bass Clone against the MXR Bass Chorus Deluxe?
Yes. They are both great but very different. The MXR Bass Chorus has much more expanded capabilities (it does Flanger as well). Meanwhile the EH Bass Clone does not thing but it does it really well.

After 2/3 years I am still enjoying my Bass Clone and rely on a Boss BF-2 for my flanger.
 
Magic, pure magic, Electro Harmonix aced the Bass Clone. This new pedal nails the vintage Clone Theory tone like no other pedal I have tested before.
This includes some expensive vintage Clone Theory pedals I bought and resold. With controls at noon, and a little bass added you have that perfect, Peter Hook tone in all its glory!
As mentioned before, I am not a big chorus fan but this pedal is different, it just excels at delivering the watery and glimmering late 70's early 80's tone and it does this while being super bass friendly.

Often with reissues or pedals inspired by "famous vintage pedals" the results are disappointing, they are 80% marketing and 20% tone, the Bass Clone is different. I've been waiting for this tone for a very long time and here it is, affordable, and with a form factor that is perfect. In fact, I try to find flaws with this pedals and could not.

The Bass Clone's tone controls are great and do what they're supposed to. The crossover also works well and offers different flavors to your chorus. In fact, one could argue that it's a chorus that does not sound like your typical chorus and that's perhaps why arguably, I like it so much. The speed and depth controls also do their thing offering a wide range of, well speed and depth appropriately. Size is your nano size, small, it takes battery or 9 volts, graphic are OK to good. So where is the catch!? In fact there is none. A great pedal, pure and simple. The value of this pedal is also amazing. It was truly inexpensive and it's oh so beautiful sounding. Highly recommended. This one will stay on my pedal board for a very long time.
Thank you Electro Harmonix for landing another great one.

I've owned over 200 different pedals in the past; I am down to a handful but as my taste in pedals and my ears have matured, I find myself liking Electro Harmonix products more and more. They have a musicality and an untamed character that often escape more corporate and "safer" products. That company has to be close to being 50 years old and they have kept the spirit and particularly of late have issued and amazing array of super creative and singular sounding pedals. Their energy and creativity seem to be on overdrive at a time when companies often rest on their laurels and go corporate. Kudos to them.

Hi - one of my first few posts so forgive me...I'm lurking on an old post here I know - but I have this pedal and agree with everything you've said...

You said you'd tried many pedals and have decided on a handful... I'd love to hear what else you had/have on your board!

Best,
Adam
 
Does anyone understand why there would be this big volume increase when moving the Chorus around other pedals:
  1. Remove all other pedals from signal chain so it's just: Aguilar Octamizer>MXR Brown Acid>EHX Chorus
  2. Set all at unity with bypassed volume:
  • Click on any single pedal and volume stays at unity.
  • Click on Octamizer and Chorus and volume stays at unity.
  • Click on Octamizer and Brown Acid and volume stays at unity.
  • .....but click on Brown Acid followed by Chorus and there is a massive volume boost (like double the volume) which even putting all Chorus settings right down to zero won't get to unity.
I can't figure it out - the same volume signal from the Brown Acid on/off makes the Chorus react in a hugely different way. I guess perhaps it's the type of signal that the Brown Acid is putting out? It sounds good having Chorus before the Brown Acid so it's no big deal but it's confusing me!

Does it mean that if I want Chorus after the Brown Acid I would need a different Chorus pedal (perhaps with clean/effect volume controls) to get unity? Even then though I guess it would mean changing the Chorus levels when the Brown Acid was used before it vs when a just a clean signal is used before it. Would something like separate Brown Acid and Chorus effects loops blended through an LS-2 type pedal help?
 
Last edited:
Hey gang, picked up one of these Bass Clone pedals and it sounded amazing. An hour later, after putting it back in the chain, it sounds super noisy and I get a lot of volume drop. Could it have flaked out? I reckon I'll send it back to EHX, which stinks, because it sounded glorious for a few minutes.
 
Hey gang, picked up one of these Bass Clone pedals and it sounded amazing. An hour later, after putting it back in the chain, it sounds super noisy and I get a lot of volume drop. Could it have flaked out? I reckon I'll send it back to EHX, which stinks, because it sounded glorious for a few minutes.

Sounds similar to what mine did - it got very loud as I moved it around the chain with certain pedals before it, turned it off, went back to it a few hours later and it did a noisy/crackly sort of thing and got quiet before stopping completely. This was all just from a 9v power supply so it didn't get over-powered but perhaps plugging/un-plugging to move around the chain while the power is still on kills them (I've since learned my lesson and turned everything off at the wall before plugging/un-plugging pedals).

I returned mine for a refund and got a Boss CEB-3, which is a milder and slightly less interesting effect - but does have low filter control which is more adjustable than just the x-over switch, and it seems very solid and reliable.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: nashsnazzy
Hey gang, picked up one of these Bass Clone pedals and it sounded amazing. An hour later, after putting it back in the chain, it sounds super noisy and I get a lot of volume drop. Could it have flaked out? I reckon I'll send it back to EHX, which stinks, because it sounded glorious for a few minutes.

Definitely defective. There’s no volume drop with my Bass Clone. No crackling noise, no issues whatsoever. How where you powering it?