Chorus Hunt

I’m no good with chorus but always just used the Boss pedal.
Like about any pedal short of a Wah, Noise gate or Overdrive? I really don't know how to use them myself lol I just dial around until something sounds good to me. As far as chorus goes? I seem to like it in stereo to two amps, sort of a micro delay and its not really dialed heavy, just a lil bit of width. Right now, I'm using it mono in the loop and i honestly dont like it that much lol. It's cool enough, but just sounds like any chorus you'd get built into an amp. Going into the front, at the end of the chain to two amps has a fuller fatter sound to me. But again, that's just me
 
I remember the late '80s when it was mandatory to have a chorus on your sound. Even Nirvana took advantage of this. Dry tone was just too dull and old fashioned sounding for the times then. Stereo chorus amps where running rampant at the time as well.
 
I remember the late '80s when it was mandatory to have a chorus on your sound. Even Nirvana took advantage of this. Dry tone was just too dull and old fashioned sounding for the times then. Stereo chorus amps where running rampant at the time as well.
Yeah, most people, especially in the 80s were leaning on the Roland Jazz Chorus JC-120 amp, ranging from The Police to Joe Satriani. Pedals like the Boss CE-2 dominated the pedal scene and then you had the rack mount stuff like the A/DA MP-1 and Yamaha SPX90 that filled the rest of the landscape. Ironically, it was Grunge that killed the Chorus-filled sound but not before, as you mentioned, Nirvana used it on Come As You Are which was probably the last time it was popular, until a rebirth in it, starting around the time of Black Label Society began gaining bigger popularity ( despite the fact Zakk had used one heavily throughout his entire career way back with Ozzy in the 80s)
 
Yeah, most people, especially in the 80s were leaning on the Roland Jazz Chorus JC-120 amp, ranging from The Police to Joe Satriani. Pedals like the Boss CE-2 dominated the pedal scene and then you had the rack mount stuff like the A/DA MP-1 and Yamaha SPX90 that filled the rest of the landscape. Ironically, it was Grunge that killed the Chorus-filled sound but not before, as you mentioned, Nirvana used it on Come As You Are which was probably the last time it was popular, until a rebirth in it, starting around the time of Black Label Society began gaining bigger popularity ( despite the fact Zakk had used one heavily throughout his entire career way back with Ozzy in the 80s)
Yup - you nailed it. :yesway::dood:
 
Alright then…with the chorus plugged into the loop of your main amp:
Maybe try running the second output of the chorus pedal to the effects return of the second amp(as long as the second amp has a “series” effects loop, and nothing is plugged into the amps actual input).
You know that isn't a bad idea at all! What you're suggesting then, if I'm correct: is using amp 1 to feed into amp 2 via the Fx Return only, basically turning amp 1 into a preamp of amp 2? I used to run that Line 6 X3 into the FX Return only of both of the amps and created a master preamp

According to the Mode Four's paperwork, it has a parallel and series FX loop. It says that the loop becomes series as long as the FX loop control is turned to the maximum setting. So, according to this and what I used to do: should work!
 
You know that isn't a bad idea at all!
I do it a lot lately…well some version of it. Ground loops can be an annoyance. If you get hum, there are inexpensive ways to fix it easily. Feel free to hit me up, if you have any questions or difficulties.
What you're suggesting then, if I'm correct: is using amp 1 to feed into amp 2 via the Fx Return only, basically turning amp 1 into a preamp of amp 2?
Yes. Precisely. You will be splitting the signal with the chorus…using its mono to stereo capability. It will already be carrying the preamp signal from the main amp, so…there will be no need to run it through another preamp. It will be ready to go directly into a power amp.
According to the Mode Four's paperwork, it has a parallel and series FX loop. It says that the loop becomes series as long as the FX loop control is turned to the maximum setting. So, according to this and what I used to do: should work!
On paper this will work. My DualRec has a similar type of wording, but I have not yet tried it. I don’t have its effect send and returns routed to the patchbay (that I like to use for this type of stuff) to fire it up quick, right now. But yeah, it should work fine.

Do you have any other stereo pedals in the loop?
Do you have any other pedals in the loop that need to go after chorus?
 
Twenty-one or Twenty-two

View attachment 96936

Alright then…with the chorus plugged into the loop of your main amp:
Maybe try running the second output of the chorus pedal to the effects return of the second amp(as long as the second amp has a “series” effects loop, and nothing is plugged into the amps actual input).
My light Bulb went off in my head
Thanks !
So i can run the 2nd out to the return of my boss katana head and have a stero out put if im reading you correctly?
 
My light Bulb went off in my head
Thanks !
So i can run the 2nd out to the return of my boss katana head and have a stero out put if im reading you correctly?
Stereo-ish. Yes. As long as the katana has a “series effects loop”.

To you and @Clockworkmike (or anyone else reading)…

edit:
I use a small patchbay to do this “wet/dry” setup…the patchbay still loops signal, pre-effects, back to the main amp effects return.
This one:


set to “half normal”
1704584918380.gif
See above gif.
The main amps effects send is plugged into the upper/back jack.
The main amps effects return is plugged into the lower/back jack.
A cable is plugged into the upper/front jack, and run to the effects chain.
The outputs from the effects chain can be routed to the effects return(s) of the other amp(s).
Ground loops can cause some hum when running like this. A simple transformer isolated ground lift box can be had, fairly cheaply, to cure this…if a ground lift switch isn’t available on the amp(s), or is ineffective.
I have two of these:


end edit

You can also try out a ”wet/dry” rig using a similar sort of setup…or a “wet/dry/wet” rig if you have the amps for it.
The main amp would be the “dry”…you can run pedals in front of the main amp though (boost/dirt/fuzz/wah…whatever), if you wish..you would run a cable from the main amp effects send out to a string of effects for your wet processing(delay, reverb, chorus and such)…the output of that chain would go to the effects return of the secondary/wet amp…if you’re processing converts to stereo, you could run the right signal to one amps effects return, and the left signal to another, third amp effects return.

It can sound pretty wild, and engulfing.
 
Last edited:
I do it a lot lately…well some version of it. Ground loops can be an annoyance. If you get hum, there are inexpensive ways to fix it easily. Feel free to hit me up, if you have any questions or difficulties.

Yes. Precisely. You will be splitting the signal with the chorus…using its mono to stereo capability. It will already be carrying the preamp signal from the main amp, so…there will be no need to run it through another preamp. It will be ready to go directly into a power amp.

On paper this will work. My DualRec has a similar type of wording, but I have not yet tried it. I don’t have its effect send and returns routed to the patchbay (that I like to use for this type of stuff) to fire it up quick, right now. But yeah, it should work fine.

Do you have any other stereo pedals in the loop?
Do you have any other pedals in the loop that need to go after chorus?
Thank you so much for all the suggestions, I will give it a whirl tomorrow and I appreciate this entirely!

The Chorus is the only one I currently have that's stereo. In the loop, I currently just have it and a 7band EQ that's mono. So it's Fx Send to EQ-Chorus to Fx Return at the moment

The Mode Four is kinda weird when you first try to go FX Return only, as it won't work that way on its own. I did some research years ago and found that you have to rig a dummy cable into the front input and it then allows you to do this with zero issues. I have a 1/4 cable adapter I use to plug into the input to do this and voila!
 
Thank you so much for all the suggestions, I will give it a whirl tomorrow and I appreciate this entirely!

The Chorus is the only one I currently have that's stereo. In the loop, I currently just have it and a 7band EQ that's mono. So it's Fx Send to EQ-Chorus to Fx Return at the moment
Please reread my previous post, as I’ve edited it for clarity, and my taking for granted full prior knowledge of setup.
 
Back
Top