A Tour de Chorus

I've been talking a lot about chorus on my mastodon, like, A LOT. - So I thought it would be fun to explore my chorus pedals a bit and - present this information in some shareable way, since no one wants to - listen to 18 minutes of audio in a row.

What's on display

So I have three chorus pedals to show off today:

Boss CE-20
Warlus Audio Julia
Multivox CB-1 Chorus Box

The other gear

I will be playing each of these pedals through my THR-100HD (see - my previous music blog post in which I deep dive a - bit into this amp). It's running on the crunch channel, just at - the edge of breakup, with little to no reverb.

As for guitar - I am using my Reverend Descent RA Baritone.

The demos

For each of these demos I will be playing the same loop (mostly). I - recorded a loop into my Boss RC-3 to remove any playing bias towards the - more warbely chorus tones, and to make it easier for me! Each demo is - about 48s long (depending on how good my trimming was). I added a bit of - EQ in post to cut out some digital hum introduced when pairing my CE-20 - with my RC-3 so sorry about that...

Let's start with the clean tone:

- This loop is something I had been noodling on all week, while on - my chorus kick. I feel it's actually a decent demo because it calls - on a lot of classic chorus sounds. Individually picked notes, bright open - strings, and then at the end some Nirvana-like dark power chord picking. - All classic chorus sounds to me. -

CE-20

Next we can go through the CE-20. The CE-20 has 4 modes we'll be - demoing, but there are a total of 6. We are demoing the "Rich", - "Standard", "Dimensional D", and "CE-1" - settings. I skipped the "Acoustic" and "Bass" - settings as they've always felt like some slight EQ on the - "standard" mode.

Standard

We can start with "Standard" as it's the most "boss - chorus". Though I personally feel it lacks a bit of the bite the - CE-1 and CE-2 offer. But it wouldn't surprise me if - "Standard" was just a CE-2.

- CE-20 Standard Mode - Rate 10 o'clock, Depth 2 o'clock -

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- CE-20 Standard Mode - Rate 2 o'clock, Depth 10 o'clock -

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Rich

Let's compare this with the "Rich" mode. And keep in - mind the only settings I will be changing between these CE-20 modes is - the rate and depth. There is actually quite a bit of tone controlling you - get in the CE-20. But I generally keep those fairly static based on my - guitar and amp settings, and for the purposes of these demos are - static.

- CE-20 Rich Mode - Rate 10 o'clock, Depth 2 o'clock -

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Dimensional D

This mode is a recreation of the SDD-320 Dimension D effects unit, - later made into the Boss DC-2. This effect is one of my favorite - choruses. It's so unique. On the CE-20 there are 7 modes: 1 - 4, as - well as 3 "combo" modes: 1+4, 2+4, and 3+4. These map directly - to their SDD-320 counterparts, which also let you stack the modes - together. This really shines in stereo, but since the Julia is mono, I - felt it's only fair to use these how I use them on my board.

- CE-20 Dimensional D Mode - Mode 3 -

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- CE-20 Dimensional D Mode - Mode 4 -

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- CE-20 Dimensional D Mode - Mode 3+4 -

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These are always so cool to hear. When you get into the combo modes - you start getting more "chorus" and less just - "width/movement". But these are interesting to listen to - compared to the clean. There is subtle differences - but they're - there! It's almost like it is now less stark and smoother. Like the - notes are lathered in butter, mmm!

CE -1

Okay, now on to the real show, the CE-1. Not much to say about this - one. It's a CE-1, you have an "intensity" knob, and - it's so rich. The delay rate is much slower than you would expect, - almost logarithmic. But when you get past noon it starts to get quite - seasick.
- Editors note: 7 o'clock may be a bit higher than 7. None - of these pedals have freaking numbers on their knobs, so it's all a - guess. But it's a bit up from off

- CE-20 CE-1 Mode - Intensity 7 o'clock -

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- CE-20 CE-1 Mode - Intensity 10 o'clock -

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Multivox CB-1 Chorus Box

The Multivox CB-1 Chorus Box is a CE-1 clone, according to the gear - page, it's literally just the same circuit and components. I got my 5 - years ago because, well, I love chorus. Currently, a part of my rack unit - to be used with my synths, this chorus is just so smooth. But the biggest - trouble is dialing in the right level. You'll notice for the CB-1 - demos it's a different demo recording. I had to move my setup and I - accidentally wiped the RC-3. But because the CB-1 can be a bit tricky to - dial in, it's a bit quieter than the other demo tracks. But the level - control is one of my favorites, as it can add some crunch to the tone on - the peaks, adding a lot of flavor. I am running my guitar through the - "hi" input, because it gives me a bit more play with the input - level.

Chorus

- CB-1 Chorus Mode - Intensity 7 o'clock -

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- CB-1 Chorus Mode - Intensity 10 o'clock -

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- CB-1 Chorus Mode - Intensity 2 o'clock -

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Vibrato

While this is mono, so it's acting like a straight vibrato. When - playing in stereo this creates it's own chorus, the stereo outs are - "dry" and "wet". This differs from the CE-1 chorus - too, so it's like 2 chorus pedals in one. These demos are in - mono.

- CB-1 Vibrato Mode - Rate 10 o'clock, Depth 2 o'clock -

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- CB-1 Vibrato Mode - Rate 2 o'clock, Depth 10 o'clock -

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CB-1 Off with Level Boost

The CB-1 when over driven (just by the guitar itself) gets really warm - crunch to signal, and it's a lot of fun. I usually run my Model D - through this and I love it.

- CB-1 Off - Level to a point where when I dig in it clips heavily -

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Walrus Audio Julia

I picked up the Julia because it's such a versatile chorus: giving - you control over the rate, depth, lag, waveform, and mix. This lets you - craft basically ANY chorus sound you want. Exploring sounds, I've - noticed the major limiter being the rate. The Julia is just SO fast. Even - at min rate, it's still faster than like 1/3 of the Boss rates. But - the sounds are still amazing!

- Julia - Triangle Wave, Rate 7 o'clock, Depth 2 o'clock, Lag 3 - o'clock, Mix 12 o'clock (chorus) -

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- Julia - Sine Wave, Rate 10 o'clock, Depth 2 o'clock, Lag 9 - o'clock, Mix 12 o'clock (chorus) -

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- Julia - Sine Wave, Rate 9 o'clock, Depth 3 o'clock, Lag 9 - o'clock, Mix 12 o'clock (chorus) -

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- Julia - Triangle Wave, Rate 8 o'clock, Depth 12 o'clock, Lag - 12 o'clock, Mix 5 o'clock (vibrato, max) -

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Thoughts

Realistically? I love every single one of these choruses. It's - such an amazing effect, and I was messing around with the dirty channel - too, which still sounded great! The CB-1 was by no means a steal, but - it's my favorite chorus tone. But it comes with some quirks being a - late 70, early 80s device. The CE-20 is amazing but very much a "mid - 00s digital pedal" giving some of that digital-ness to it, - especially when mixing with other digital pedals. I'm sure you heard - the high pitched wine in the background. I EQ'd it out, but it's - there, and it bothers me. I think getting a CE-2w would give me a lot of - the options I want from this, without those digital artifacts. The CE-20 - would be perfect if it had a vibrato mode, given the CE-1 has one, and - really make it the perfect all-in-one. But given I've had this pedal - for at least 12 years (probably closer to 13. I can dig out the box and - see if I kept the receipt). I got in in college as my first ever chorus. - I was enamoured with it. I'd be on my board today if it wasn't so - big. The Julia is the perfect multi-tool chorus, and I've been really - happy with it. But it lacks that really SLOW rate that the Boss pedals - have, making it a BIT harder to really dial in the CE-1 tones.

I joked on mastodon that I was did this to convince myself I don't - NEED a CE-2w or DC-2w...and now I want them even more!