Vintage 80's chorus with low end preserved

[gordonfreemanjr]

So, I'm on a hunt for the ultimate 80's vintage chorus. I don't care about the brand: all that matters is the tone... and the low end preserved. Generally speaking, pedals from this time period don't come with X-overs, so I need something that doesn't steal the low frequency.

I really like the sound of these two guys:
*DOD FX62 Bass Chorus
*DOD FX63 Deep Freeze

Both sound great, but what about the low end? Is it preserved with these two?

Also, I hear about this killer Arion vintage bass chorus. I own one Arion pedal and I like it, so - who knows?

Guide me, please!

 

[Feral Feline]

Arion was what first came to my mind, even though I have the Boss CE-2B.

 

[gordonfreemanjr]

Arion was what first came to my mind, even though I have the Boss CE-2B.

Thanks, but which model was that? Can you remember?

 

[AlexanderB]

So, I'm on a hunt for the ultimate 80's vintage chorus. I don't care about the brand: all that matters is the tone... and the low end preserved. Generally speaking, pedals from this time period don't come with X-overs, so I need something that doesn't steal the low frequency.

I really like the sound of these two guys:
*DOD FX62 Bass Chorus
*DOD FX63 Deep Freeze

Both sound great, but what about the low end? Is it preserved with these two?

Also, I hear about this killer Arion vintage bass chorus. I own one Arion pedal and I like it, so - who knows?

Guide me, please!

I have used Ibanez sound tank chorus for bass. I did not notice any low end loss. To me, it also sounded better than ie EBS chorus pedal.

 

[Bob_Ross]

I've had an Ibanez CE-9 since ~1982 and have never found any issues with low end robbing...nor, frankly, any reason to get another chorus pedal, as this one does everything I want/need a chorus pedal to do. If they're no longer made I'll bet there's an equivalent from Maxon.

 

[RJ]

The current offering from Boss does exactly what youre describing. They can be had pretty cheap too.

 

[Inconnu]

I have used Ibanez sound tank chorus for bass. I did not notice any low end loss. To me, it also sounded better than ie EBS chorus pedal.

Yup! The soundtank doesn’t eat any lows. Still got one. Compared to my Bass Clone (which has the crossover feature), it’s as full as it gets in terms of lows. The bypass of that pedal is not too clean though, it does affect your tone when bypassed.

 

[Jason Hollar]

I’m not a pedal guy but I’ve been experimenting with the Source Audio pedals and ended up with the Gemini Chorus.

The stock sounds are great and the community patches are amazing. Plenty of editing available with EQ & quasi-crossover under the hood.

 

[4Mal]

Way above the price point one but... HX stomp. Insert a crossover split in the path and put the modulation on the highs. Do something lease with the lows. In my case I have a bass bump and mild grind on the lows. Trying for a kinda B15 being pushed on the lows. detune style chorus on the highs with a presence boost. There's gobs of fun in the HX stuff.

 

[seedokebass]

@gordonfreemanjr Have you tried a CE2? I love those on bass, not a big swooshy stereo chorus being mono and all but I was always happy with it and never felt like it sucked out the low end enough to be a problem. I did use it mostly with a bright sounding Thumb bolt on though.

 

[Lesfunk]

I have an EHX bass clone that seems to retain the bass quite well and it was not expensive

 

[Feral Feline]

Thanks, but which model was that? Can you remember?

Friend had it, but alas I cannot remember it exactly — about 30 years ago.

I just took a spin online and don't see anything like how I (barely) remember it.



Another butcher's, here 'tis...

Very little info about it. I can't say whether it loses bass or not, but it sounded good to my younger self way back when.


PS: I'd hunt down the MCH-2 Bass Chorus, or the Fat Chorus from Arion.

 

[Derek Williams]

I’m currently using a Boss GT 1000 Core with a crossover, and the Boss CE-1 sim on the high side sounds great. A bit expensive for just a chorus though

 

[Karlo.kc]

My Ibanez BC10 doesn't lose any low end (as far as I can tell). I think BC5 Soundtank has the same circuit.

 

[DoctorZee]

I picked up a TC Electronics Afterglow to use on guitar, and from time to time I’ll throw it on the bass board, too. I don’t notice any major low end loss, if you’re judicious with the blend knob.

 

[Spectrum]

Arion was what first came to my mind, even though I have the Boss CE-2B.

Thanks, but which model was that? Can you remember?

I have an 80s Arion SCH-1 chorus pedal. It's a great chorus effect and you can find them used out there, but I only use it at home these days because it has a plastic case and I'm afraid if I take it on stage it'll get broken.

JHS Emperor is supposed to be a clone of the SCH-1: [Invalid or Expired Link Removed] I haven't tried it out but at least it looks physically more sturdy.

 

[NoiseNinja]

I really love my Valeton Aquaflow Vintage Chorus, which is based on the legendary Boss CE-1, but unlike the original unit equipped with separate controls for depth and rate, as well as a clean blend and a tone control for the affected part of the signal (in that a chorus is per definition basically a vibrato effect blended with clean signal).

It's a cheap budget pedal produced in China, but it seems to actually be really sturdily build and it sounds not short of awesome, only quirks that really reveal it's cheap nature is the taper of the depth and mix knob, as in the effect seems to get really really subtle with the depth knob bellow around the 11th o'clock position or so and/or the mix bellow around the 2 o'clock position or so (the mix control in max position really seems to be about at the "unity" standard clean/affected signal blend ratio for a regular Boss CE-1, so in reality you can only dial in as or less prominent than standard CE-1 chorus and not more, like you are not really able to go all wet to a pure vibrato effect, which is a bit of a shame, and in my opinion a missed opportunity), but otherwise beyond that those two controls are still perfectly functional and it is still perfectly possible to dial in anything from a really subtle, barely there, chorus effect to the rich lush and beautifully shimmering chorus that the CE-1 is famous for, and everything in between, and the rate and tone controls seems to function exactly as you would normally expect them to.

Unfortunately I think this pedal might have been discontinued, but you might be lucky to find a store who still have some units in stock, or a used one cheap.

I think I payed what equals about just bellow 60$ for mine from new, about 8 month ago when Thomann still had them in stock, which means that if they indeed has been discontinued, as I suspect, it must have been relatively recently, and therefor there should still be a fair chance to find stores who still got some brand new units in stock.

Looks like this (about standard mini 1590A pedal size format) :

 

[disssa]

"Vintage"-Chorus tone? I like the older Invalid Link Removed:

Be sure, that it is the 18Volt version. It sound a little bit different to the 9Volt version.

The onBoard-Chorus of the Invalid Link Removed sounds also really vintage-like:

But for a chorus only it could be a bit "oversized"...

 

[groooooove]

I have the DOD FX65 (meant for guitar) stereo chorus, as well as its counterpart the bass stereo chorus FX62

both preserve low end just fine. the difference is that the bass version is much more "effected" in the low notes. both work really, really well and are honestly the best sounding chorus pedals i've ever owned.

at least on bass, they do have different character. the FX62 does a really surprisingly accurate fast leslie sound. the FX65 has a really beautiful lush but much more subtle effect, at least when used on bass.

this is an example of the FX65 on 6 string bass, recorded in stereo:

 

[gordonfreemanjr]

I have the DOD FX65 (meant for guitar) stereo chorus, as well as its counterpart the bass stereo chorus FX62

both preserve low end just fine. the difference is that the bass version is much more "effected" in the low notes. both work really, really well and are honestly the best sounding chorus pedals i've ever owned.

at least on bass, they do have different character. the FX62 does a really surprisingly accurate fast leslie sound. the FX65 has a really beautiful lush but much more subtle effect, at least when used on bass.

this is an example of the FX65 on 6 string bass, recorded in stereo:

What a coincidence: I just ordered an FX62 from Japan!