Seven Chorus and Three Phaser Comparison

[600 Ohms]

Some Fretless Wetness for ya. With sincere apologies to the GLW (Greatest Living Welshman).

Terraform Chorus & Dimension


Keeley Seafoam + Chorus & Dimension


Walrus Audio Julia


MXR Analog Chorus


JAM Waterfall — & +


MXR Bass Chorus Deluxe

 

[600 Ohms]

Some slow fretless with a mild chorusing. If there was a way to HPF the effect, I did it. If there was a mix knob, I used it. If there weren't either of those, I tried to mellow the pedal out so you wouldn't necessarily track the effect right away:

Terraform Chorus & Dim


Seafoam + (I used the reverb on this example)


Julia


Analog Chorus


Bass Chorus Deluxe


Waterfall Bass — & +


Lunar

 

[600 Ohms]

I'm starting to make a clear judgment in the Chorus department. The only chorus that I really want to try is the Anadime Bass Chorus, but there seem to be not a single one sold anywhere (except a gouge on eBay right now—no thanks, and bunch of double-price purple ones for ever 500 bucks).

MXR Bass Chorus Deluxe: I had it out for this thing when I heard it distorting, and its relatively cheap feel, but it's really not a bad little bass chorus. I personally find it too apologetic, and the x-over leaves nearly no chorus effect left over, plus it mysteriously adds gain to the overall signal. But the fact is it has a number of helpful controls to dial OUT the effect. I didn't find much of a need for its EQ, but someone must get the benefit. It may have been my least favorite of the bunch, and I think it needs a mkII update, but I found a number of times thinking how much I liked how it subtly imparted its sound.

MXR Analog Chorus: Like many have said, this is maybe the better bass chorus than its eponymous sister above. It's a bit more strong than the BCD, though not that much. And I wish MXR would get a consistent design philosophy going: This one has a Level control (adds effect to dry signal) whereas the BCD has an Intensity control that seems to do the same thing, but then one has boost EQ while the other has cut EQ. But then you can't ever really tell, even from the manual where flat is, even though it says "flat" on the case, but it probably isn't, and they tell you to start with all knobs at noon. Too loosey-goosey for my taste. But I like the way it sounds for a mellow chorus.

Lunar: I'm going to wait to pass full judgment on this because I haven't done the phasers yet, but I found this pedal's chorus effects took a lot more tweaking to get them where I wanted them to be. I own three other SA pedals, and have always been impressed, but I'm having trouble loving this one so far... as a chorus anyway.

Keeley Seafoam +: I'm pretty impressed with this one. For a start, it sounds great. It packs a lot of good stuff into a little case and the tones are solid examples of their type. You get a Dimension, a BBD-type chorus, a flanger, a reverb, and a dual chorus I found a little unintuitive, but also a Bass Mode, so they thought about us knuckleheads. My problem with Seafoam + is that Bass Mode should have been simply a global crossover setting for all the available effects, and the shift in the EQs available. This pedal is my #3.

Walrus Audio Julia: I love this chorus. It has a beautiful, open sound, and great control. The Lag knob is a really nice return to the "delay" knob on a chorus, and you can get a lot of variation. It's nearly the complete package, with the mix knob, dry to chorus to vibrato. If I had to gripe, it's the noisiest of all the pedals I tried. There isn't a HPF, but I personally think it sounds fantastic on bass regardless. It's a close call, but julia is #2.

JAM Pedals Waterfall Bass: Sometimes a designer is so thoughtful in the way she or he will limit your choices, but just provide you with the experience of choosing between "brilliant" or "awesome". That's the Waterfall Bass in my opinion. There are none of the things I felt were so important, like an HPF and a mix knob and all mod cons. From a sonic standpoint, this pedal does what I hear in my head. Instead of a Lag knob, you get two perfectly-chosen positions of modulation delay, a little or a lot. Instead of a mix knob or a crossover circuit, the modulation has been tweaked to sound great on a bass, and I agree. The downside is, I can't really use it for "barely there" chorus, but because the pedal has nothing to apologize for, I think I can live with that.

The question now, is... do I go with the Ripply Fall and combine it with a 2-stage phaser and be done with it? I also would really like to hear the Anadime. Any body have one they'd let me borrow for a day?

 

[600 Ohms]

One more thing about the difference between the Julia and the Waterfall. Julia has a little midrange bump in it somewhere, so it comes off a little shinier. It's subtle. Waterfall doesn't have that, and I'm pretty sure the circuit is filtered, so I felt like you get back more of the natural sound of the bass through Waterfall.

Is this all enough to replace a Terraform? I'll have to do some more head-to-heads with those two, but I think it might be good enough.

 

[EitherOr]

Listening to a number of clips confirms the Julia was the right choice for me. These all seem to be in what I comsider a clone theory kinda style. Have you considered the Boss CE-2W? I tend to prefer the old school boss style for guitar (JC120 FTW on guitar for clean), but CT style for bass typically, but if you are trying a bunch of options I think you should consider it.

 

[600 Ohms]

Listening to a number of clips confirms the Julia was the right choice for me. These all seem to be in what I comsider a clone theory kinda style. Have you considered the Boss CE-2W? I tend to prefer the old school boss style for guitar (JC120 FTW on guitar for clean), but CT style for bass typically, but if you are trying a bunch of options I think you should consider it.

No, I haven't tried any of the Waza stuff, but they seem really great. I'll look into that one. I had a JC120 back in the day, and I did always like that chorus, although I thought the JC was the most metallic-sounding amp I've ever played so I may have some damage! But thank you for the recommendation, will consider.

 

[Rolling Thunder]

I finally got a Julia after years of lurking. The Santa Fe paint job did it for me. I figured with their new Julianna, it was a matter of time before the Julia is discontinued. I currently have it in the sidechain of my Seymour Duncan Vapor Trail delay but am considering letting it go on it's own.

So far my favorite modulation pedal is the Deja Vibe CS-MDV3 (the little silver boxed one). You'll get Tool tone right out of the box. Set it to vintage/chorus with intensity turned up and the rate to a slooooow throb. It was one of those magic pedals that earned a spot on my board in under 5 minutes.

 

[Rolling Thunder]

There is a disease that is causing bad decision making to occur among pedal designers. I'm talking, of course, of the dreadful "put the power jack right next to the input or output, but not on the top where it belongs, but on the damned side of the pedal" phenomenon:

View attachment 4163831
View attachment 4163832

Only Julia gets it right, of this bunch:

View attachment 4163833

Seriously, guys. Knock it off.

Yeah, cramming the power input between the 2 input/output jacks is a middle finger in my book.

 

[600 Ohms]

I finally got a Julia after years of lurking. The Santa Fe paint job did it for me. I figured with their new Julianna, it was a matter of time before the Julia is discontinued. I currently have it in the sidechain of my Seymour Duncan Vapor Trail delay but am considering letting it go on it's own.

So far my favorite modulation pedal is the Deja Vibe CS-MDV3 (the little silver boxed one). You'll get Tool tone right out of the box. Set it to vintage/chorus with intensity turned up and the rate to a slooooow throb. It was one of those magic pedals that earned a spot on my board in under 5 minutes.

I have a real soft spot for the Deja Vibe. It's on the list.

 

[600 Ohms]

With Waterfall Bass and Julia next to each other (all others back in their boxes), it became apparent very quickly which I preferred and why. These pedals are both winners. Here are my findings, which ultimately sealed the deal:

• Julia is more midrange-y. If I played more often with a pick, I would choose the Julia in a heartbeat. It's just voiced more aggressively and would excel there.
• Waterfall has deeper bass. I hear that now that the others are out of the running. It has an extended low end that Julia doesn't.
• Waterfall is the warmer chorus, both in the bass and on the high end. There is also less noise as a result.
• Julia wins design: top mounted jacks, mix knob, light that follows the speed. Coolest artwork. Waterfall only has the artwork.
• Julia's Lag knob is a cool feature. But I don't really like the sound of it much below full-on, as I start to hear a sort of flanger feedback-type resonance. In order to solve this, I keep Julia's Lag full and drop the Depth knob instead. Someone else's sound might really benefit from this, but not mine. Waterfall doesn't do this.
• To use a metaphor I think sums it up: Julia is a 10" speaker, and Waterfall Bass is a 15". Julia is punchy, Waterfall is warm and full.

I may try others, but Waterfall Bass wins.

 

[Rolling Thunder]

Julia's Lag knob is a cool feature. But I don't really like the sound of it much below full-on, as I start to hear a sort of flanger feedback-type resonance. In order to solve this, I keep Julia's Lag full and drop the Depth knob instead.

I do the same with the lag/depth

 

[600 Ohms]

I do the same with the lag/depth

Glad it's not just me!

 

[600 Ohms]

This phaser search is way easier and more cut-and-dry than the world of the chorus. It's just not that complicated. It may be over already, although I've yet to play a Grape, which seems to be very worthy. I'm interested in JAM's Ripple phaser, but I don't think a purely 2-stage will cover it.

Source Audio Lunar: Lots of people love this pedal, and I've had many recommendations for it here. The "Classic" phaser preset, based on the 4-stage phaser, does a very good Phase 90 impression. Also very nice sounding is the Orbital Factory 4-stage phaser preset, which was the de facto winner of a shootout on this site a while ago. The "Multi" selection gets you an 8-stage phaser, which for my taste sounds best when you slow the speed right down to nearly none. In Neuro, there are choices for 4-, 6-, 8- and 12-stage phaser, so a ton of options. I'm only really interested in a 2-stage and a 4-stage, so this pedal has gone the other direction. Of course, the magic of any SA effect is the control you have over tweakable parameters and extra effect types (There's also several choruses, flangers, resonators, a vibe, etc). I had hoped it would be the small, modern multi-mod for me, but I don't think we're there.

Earthquaker Devices Grand Orbiter: I really like this thing, what a character. The controls are a little unusual but make it able to do cool stuff. Putting the sweep around noon, and resonance around 1:00, you can get a pretty good Phase 90-type sound, but raise the Sweep knob and crank the Resonance knob, and you get some pretty wild effects and audible sweeping. Lots to like in general, with top-mounted jacks, a throbbing rate light separate from the on light, and the ability to slow the LFO down to mega-slow or stop it entirely. And you can get a vibrato going. Pretty full-featured and it sounds great. It can get a little lumpy if you're not careful, but you can dial it out in most occasions. If you like lumpy, or weird, or you just want to take it "out", this may be for you.

Terraform: The phaser on Terraform is very enjoyable to play. It has a lot of low end in it, and a depth and speed control, but for reasons I don't understand, there's no high end in it. It's mysteriously missing, both from the dry signal and the effect. It's a good phaser, but the no high end thing has always bothered me because it seems needless, and limiting.

MXR Phase 95: This thing is kinda perfect in its simplicity, and it's the smoothest one I've played. I can't think of anything not to like, within reason. The Phase 45 section is great, and I would use it for sure. In the Phase 90 modes, you can play longer notes that don't lump-out the way they do on the others (although you can often tweak to get close), and yet it doesn't make the effect any less chewy. It's a Phase 90, what do you expect?

If Jam's Ripple was a switchable 2- & 4-stage, I'd get one immediately. I can get a Grape here in about a week. Is there anything with genuine character, that isn't trying to be a Phase 90 that I should try? I kinda feel done, but I'm sure there's something special out there I don't know about.

 

[600 Ohms]

I'm interested in this: KEELEY Daniel Donato Artist Series Phaser, but it is sold out, possibly a limited run. But I'm attracted by a switchable 2-4-6 stages. Hard to find right now.

There is a GRAPE on its way.

 

[NoiseNinja]

As far as phasers goes in my opinion nothing really beats the original big box ultra simple EHX Small Stone phaser, which Behringer fortunately makes an ultra cheap very accurate clone of, the VP1 Vintage Phaser, since the more recent EHX reissue just doesn't sound as great as the original, even if EHX claim it to be the exact same circuit, not nearly as lush and swooshy, and with the Color switch set on deep sweep and high feedback on the reissue Small Stone, unlike the original, the sweep sweeps completely out of the audible range momentarily as it cycles through, creating big ugly sonic holes in the signal.

And as for chorus nothing really beat the Boss CE-1, one of the few choruses that manage to sound beautifully sparkly and shimmering while at the same time being incredible lush, usually it is one of those at the expense of the other, but not with the CE-1, though there are a couple of digital emulations of it that comes really close, for one the CE-1 model in the Zoom multi stompbox pedals, that is the G-50MS, B-60MS and CDR-70MS, actually is a pretty good emulation, and then of course the all analog CE-1 mode on the Boss CE-2w.

I would be very interested if any of the tested unites can get close to that phaser and that chorus tone, cause for me the popular, and in your review often referred to, Phase 90 phaser frankly sucks, way too polite for my taste, and to me it sounds weak and anemic in comparison to the original Small Stone.

 

[600 Ohms]

As far as phasers goes in my opinion nothing really beats the original big box ultra simple EHX Small Stone phaser, which Behringer fortunately makes an ultra cheap very accurate clone of, the VP1 Vintage Phaser, since the more recent EHX reissue just doesn't sound as great as the original, even if EHX claim it to be the exact same circuit, not nearly as lush and swooshy, and with the Color switch set on deep sweep and high feedback on the reissue Small Stone, unlike the original, the sweep sweeps completely out of the audible range momentarily as it cycles through, creating big ugly sonic holes in the signal.

And as for chorus nothing really beat the Boss CE-1, one of the few choruses that manage to sound beautifully sparkly and shimmering while at the same time being incredible lush, usually it is one of those at the expense of the other, but not with the CE-1, though there are a couple of digital emulations of it that comes really close, for one the CE-1 model in the Zoom multi stompbox pedals, that is the G-50MS, B-60MS and CDR-70MS, actually is a pretty good emulation, and then of course the all analog CE-1 mode on the Boss CE-2w.

I would be very interested if any of the tested unites can get close to that phaser and that chorus tone, cause for me the popular, and in your review often referred to, Phase 90 phaser frankly sucks, way too polite for my taste, and to me it sounds weak and anemic in comparison to the original Small Stone.

I have the CE-2W on my list to try, though I’m feeling settled, but I am determined to give it a go.

Anything with “Zoom” written on it is a non-starter.

As for the Big Box Small Stone... I’ve seen it’s popularity around here. I’ll grope around for some bass demos of any variant of it, since it seems to be a genuine “food group” of its own.

 

[600 Ohms]

Listening to a number of clips confirms the Julia was the right choice for me. These all seem to be in what I comsider a clone theory kinda style. Have you considered the Boss CE-2W? I tend to prefer the old school boss style for guitar (JC120 FTW on guitar for clean), but CT style for bass typically, but if you are trying a bunch of options I think you should consider it.

I went and listened to a bunch of demos of this pedal this morning, and I keep hearing the aspect of my old JC120 that I disliked. I know I should give it a fair shake, but I can already tell what I’m gonna get. The phasey/feedbacky tone of the Julia set to low Lag is akin to the JC tone and the CE-2w seems to serve that up in spades from what I’ve heard so far. We’ll see if I order or not...

I consider that “metallic”.

but I’m not being fair. I’ll likely have a crack at it.

 

[Feral Feline]

I used to dial a friend's flanger in with no whoosh, swirl, rise&fall — no movement whatsoever, just to get only and solely that metallic clang.

Tricky to do, as even a smidge movement of the feedback knob might send everything into howling literal feedback.

 

[theunknowndude]

I used to dial a friend's flanger in with no whoosh, swirl, rise&fall — no movement whatsoever, just to get only and solely that metallic clang.

Tricky to do, as even a smidge movement of the feedback knob might send everything into howling literal feedback.

I bought a mini flanger for that exact reason... I don’t overly like the full massive sweeps but a tiny bit of movement or for getting that metallic. Resonance it gets the job done

 

[600 Ohms]

I used to dial a friend's flanger in with no whoosh, swirl, rise&fall — no movement whatsoever, just to get only and solely that metallic clang.

Tricky to do, as even a smidge movement of the feedback knob might send everything into howling literal feedback.

The Grand Orbiter is great at doing this.

Also, this is one of the two main reasons why I chose the Waterfall Bass, for its near-absence of this effect. That, and it's super warm low end. Horses for courses and all that.