Mr. Black Analog Chorus/Vibrato Deluxe

The Mr. Black Analog Chorus/Vibrato Deluxe is a chorus and vibrato pedal built on bucket-brigade device (BBD) chips, the same technology behind the vintage analog chorus units of the late 1970s. Mr. Black describes it as having a 100% pure-analog signal path with 100% pure-analog BBD modulation, while the control side is digital, which is what makes tap tempo and waveform switching possible¹².

It was announced in late 2020 as a fully featured expansion of Mr. Black's limited three-knob Analog Chorus/Vibrato, adding tap tempo, a fourth waveform and extra tone-shaping controls³⁴. Note that Mr. Black has since discontinued production; the product page marks it as discontinued with all sales final, and remaining stock was still listed at its regular price of $329.95 as of October 2026¹.

What it does: analog BBD chorus and vibrato

Chorus and vibrato are both modulation effects: a low-frequency oscillator (LFO) wobbles the pitch of a delayed copy of your signal. With that delayed copy mixed against your dry signal you get chorus; run it wet and the pitch movement on its own is vibrato. The Deluxe does both in one pedal, with a full wet/dry mix control so you can set any blend between the two¹².

What sets it apart from most BBD pedals is the fidelity of the implementation. Delicious Audio called it "one HELL of a BBD-modulation pedal, with incredible fidelity, headroom, and dynamic content"⁵, and gearnews reported that Mr. Black designed it to give the feel and quality of a studio rack effect, with the warmth of an old vintage BBD chorus/vibrato unit². The dry path is wide, with a frequency response of 22KHz to 15Hz¹.

The LFO itself has a pure analog output, which MusicRadar noted can be configured for "tight and crisp" studio chorus effects through to warm, dark and organic vibrato³.

The controls

The Deluxe carries five knobs: the traditional Width and Rate controls, a full Wet/Dry mix control, plus Shine and Lag¹³⁴.

The Lag control is worth understanding if you are new to BBD pedals: the base delay time is what separates a chorus from a vibrato. Shorter delay times push the effect toward pitch wobble, longer ones toward the doubled-signal feel of chorus, so the 4 to 12 mS range gives you a wide span of characters before you even touch the mix knob¹.

Tap tempo and the four waveforms

A second footswitch handles tap tempo, with a dedicated real-time LED indicator that shows both the waveform and the rate as you play¹. Tapping extends the slow end of the Rate knob's range considerably: the tap-tempo footswitch reaches down to a 0.076Hz cycle, which MusicRadar pointed out is 13 seconds per sweep¹³⁶. gearnews also noted a useful detail: a second press of the footswitch restarts the waveform at the beginning of its cycle, so you can sync the sweep's phase to the music².

The same Tap[Wave] footswitch selects between four true-analog LFO waveforms¹:

• Triangle: the standard shape of most classic chorus pedals
• Square: abrupt shifts between two values
• Sine: smooth, continuous pitch movement
• Glitch/Random: unpredictable jumps

MusicRadar described the Glitch setting's result as "drunk auto-tune" madness, while the Sine wave gives smooth pitch vibrato³. Mr. Black's own summary of the pedal's tone runs from pure, clean and natural at conservative settings to those extremes at the outer ones¹.

Power and connections

The Deluxe runs on 9VDC to 18VDC through a 2.1mm center-negative jack, drawing about 62mA, with Mr. Black recommending a supply rated at 100mA or more¹. MusicRadar noted that running it at 18V instead of 9V gives extra headroom³.

For comparison, the Walrus Audio Julia Analog Chorus/Vibrato V2 Platinum Edition, another analog chorus/vibrato pedal with a similar wet/dry mix approach, runs on 9VDC only⁷. The Deluxe's wider voltage range and tap tempo are the main practical differences on paper.

A deluxe version of the three-knob Analog Chorus/Vibrato

The Deluxe is an expansion of Mr. Black's earlier three-knob Analog Chorus/Vibrato, a limited and highly coveted pedal¹. MusicRadar called the Deluxe a fully featured version of that three-knob original³, and Guitar World described it the same way when covering the launch⁴. The five-knob format adds the Shine and Lag controls along with the tap-tempo footswitch and its four waveforms⁵⁴.

The pedal sits in a longer line of Mr. Black BBD chorus designs. The company's chorus work stretches back through the 2015 Vintage Ensemble, the limited-run Black LTD. Vintage Chorus of 2016, the 2018 Stereo Vintage Ensemble, and the 2019 Mini Vintage Chorus, a $99.95 compact BBD chorus modeled after the Boss CE-1.

Questions