Good chorus for a delay's effects loop?

[hipfan]

I know this will sound like a strange question, but here goes. I'm not a "chorus guy" by any stretch. Standalone chorus effects always have left me cold for my type of music and tones. I like listening to other players use chorus, just not me.

HOWEVER, I love modulated delay where the repeats have a chorus effect to them. It just seems to make the overall sound more interesting and ethereal to me. I've had a DMM before and currently use a DD20 for this effect. My typical delay time is around 330-410 ms with a few repeats and fairly present modulation on the repeats. Not crazy deep sounding, but certainly audible.

I have a Retroman KopyKat on order because I'd like to get more control over the character of the modulation on the repeats. The built-in effects loop of the KopyKat should allow just that ... at least with the right chorus pedal! I'm thinking that something analog and warm sounding would be best for this kind of purpose - maybe a VL Analog Chorus??? Priorities for this mission include pedalboard-friendly size and not a break-the-bank price. Biggest priority, as always, is tone.

Any thoughts?

[josh27]

I love standalone chorus but for modulated delay I would recommend vibrato. Chorus on the repeats sounded strange to me, but vibrato sounds great. I have modded my small clone with a switch for vibrato (just one resistor clipped, really easy) or there is the BBE Mindbender which switches between chorus and vibrato.

[frankfalbo]

I agree with above, you need a "chorus" pedal that can go 100% wet. Some have wet outputs that mute the wet signal to the main output, those will do fine. Otherwise you'd want one were the wet/dry knob goes all the way to "vibrato" meaning there is no dry signal.

[hipfan]

Interesting...thanks for the input, fellas.

A follow up question: on my old DMM, I always preferred the "chorus" modulation setting to the "vibrato" setting. Not by a large margin, but a definite preference. That's kind of why my original question centered around that effect.

Is the modulation selection on the DMM that's called "chorus" not really chorus, but rather just a different flavor of vibrato?

[josh27]

Originally Posted by hipfan

Interesting...thanks for the input, fellas.

A follow up question: on my old DMM, I always preferred the "chorus" modulation setting to the "vibrato" setting. Not by a large margin, but a definite preference. That's kind of why my original question centered around that effect.

Is the modulation selection on the DMM that's called "chorus" not really chorus, but rather just a different flavor of vibrato?

The DMM has a switch for chorus and vibrato, both are actually vibrato though. The "chorus" side is a slower vibrato, and the "vibrato" side has a faster rate.

[hipfan]

Very cool! Thanks for the info.

[lv]

Hey Tony,

I don't care for chorus, or vibrato as a stand alone effect, but I absolutely need one or the other on clean delay repeats. I think both can sound nice. The modulation you get with a tape echo is vibrato - the pitch of the entire repeat modulates in and out of tune. The Empress Superdelay does the same. At one point I was running a boss dd-2, full wet, into a boss ce-2 chorus, and using an xotic x-blender to blend in the chorused repeats into my clean tone - really wonderful tones.

I'll be interested to know what you end up with.

[gnugear]

Cool info. I just got a DMM and was wondering what setting to use. Everyone seems to suggest the chorus mode but I actually prefer vibrato.

[jfromel]

I would try a CE-2B, all analog, has a mix control, same circuit as the CE-2 with one component changed to accentuate the high's, can be had for about $30 on evil-bay. I also just picked up a vintage CS-9, the more I play with it the more I like it.

[hipfan]

Lou and jfromel - Thanks! I decided to start cheap - Cool Cat CC1 chorus - and go from there. That pedal seems to get a lot of good reviews for tone and versatility, so I figured it's a good starting point. I'll post some impressions once the two pedals are together on my board.

[hipfan]

Alright, as an update, I purchased the Cool Cat for the loop of the Kopy Kat (seems appropriate, right? haha). I decided to start with that one because it not only is a chorus, but appeared to be able to go to full vibrato mode with the mix knob set to 100%.

I'm going to have to keep looking. Consistent with the recommendations above, it certainly sounds best when in full vibrato mode. However, when set that way, it has a clickiness that I don't like. I think it functions much better as a chorus pedal.

I might check out an EH Worm or a dedicated, actual pitch-shifting vibrato pedal of some sort.

[hipfan]

Update! A dedicated vibrato pedal is where it's at! I picked up a Behringer UV300, stuck it in the KK's loop, and now I'm in modulated repeats heaven.Thanks again to all who helped me in this quest. This is the best delay sound I've ever had.