Chorus Pedals

A chorus pedal takes one guitar and makes it sound like several playing together, slightly out of tune with each other in a pleasing way. The effect thickens and shimmers: Behringer describes its UC200 as making the guitar "sound super-thick" with a rich, spacious quality¹. It is one of the most widely used modulation effects, spanning compact mini pedals like the TC Electronic Corona Mini Chorus and the NUX Ukiyo-E Chorus, analog classics, and stereo ensemble units.

The core idea is simple. As Lehle's technical analysis puts it, a chorus pedal "basically works like a delay: it doubles the signal, but delays the copy for a few milliseconds, pitches it up and down a few cents and merges them back together"². Because the delayed copy drifts slightly sharp and flat against the original, your ear hears two instruments that almost, but never quite, match. That near-match is the chorus sound.

How chorus works

Every chorus pedal, analog or digital, follows the same signal path:

The pitch wobble comes from varying the delay time. Analog Man describes its chorus pedal as doing "true time-delay based chorusing, by delaying your signal and mixing it back into the original signal, varying the delay time slightly at the speed set with the SPEED knob"³. When the delay time shortens, the pitch of the copy rises; when it lengthens, the pitch falls. The result is a copy that slides a few cents sharp and flat around the original note.

How much of that copy you hear matters as much as the wobble itself. Analog Man sets a "standard setting on all our chorus pedals is 50% wet and 50% dry, for a normal chorus sound"³. A 50/50 blend of dry and modulated signal is the classic chorus balance: less wet signal gives a subtler thickening, more pushes the effect toward seasick extremes.

The character of the effect also depends on the circuit doing the delaying. GuitarPCB's MINI-ME chorus circuit, for example, "is based on the warm analog sound of the vintage 70's chorus pedals"⁴, which points to the bucket-brigade chips that defined that era, covered below under BBD chorus.

History and landmark chorus pedals

Chorus as a guitar effect begins in 1976. BOSS's own history describes "the success of 1976's CE-1 Chorus Ensemble, the world's first chorus pedal"⁵. The Boss CE-1 Chorus Ensemble put the chorus sound of the Roland Jazz Chorus amplifier into a floor unit, and Behringer's history of its Chorus Symphony traces the same lineage: the effect was "a thick, syrupy and multidimensional sound found in the highly popular Jazz Chorus amplifier and was soon placed in a pedal"⁶⁵.

The CE-1's circuit has stayed alive in modern recreations. PastFx builds its flagship PastFx Chorus Ensemble MN3007 as "a faithful, meticulously crafted recreation of the classic BOSS CE-1 chorus/vibrato"⁷, and NUX's Reissue Series Analog Chorus "brings back the legendary chorus sound from the 80's"⁸.

Chorus has been a steady category ever since, with makers building their own takes across every price point. Nobels "has a history of building chorus units" and developed its Nobels CHO-mini for maximum versatility in a compact box⁹. Red Witch's original chrome Empress chorus units are documented on the maker's own site¹⁰.

Analog, digital, dimension and ensemble styles

Chorus pedals divide first by how they create the delay, and second by how many voices and outputs they use.

Analog chorus and the BBD

Analog chorus uses a bucket-brigade device (BBD), a chip that passes your signal along a chain of internal capacitors step by step, creating a short analog delay. Behringer notes that the original circuitry behind its Behringer Chorus Symphony "was one of the first of its kind to use a BBD circuit"⁶. Analog Man's chorus pedals are "100% analog, using NOS high voltage MN3007 Panasonic bucket brigade chips"³, the same chip family the CE-1 lineage used, which is why the MN3007 appears by name in recreations like the PastFx pedal⁷.

Current analog chorus pedals include the MXR M234 Analog Chorus¹¹, the Way Huge Smalls Blue Hippo Analog Chorus¹², the Joyo JF-37 Analog Chorus¹³, the Effects Bakery Melon Pan Chorus, a compact analog chorus¹¹¹²¹³, and the SONICAKE Cloud Chorus, an analog chorus effects pedal¹¹¹²¹³. Diamond Pedals lists its Comp/EQ circuit type as analog¹⁴.

Digital chorus

Digital chorus performs the same delay-and-modulate operation in software, which allows extras like presets, multiple modes and tap tempo that analog circuits cannot easily offer. The DigiTech X-Series CF-7 Chorus Factory is an example of a chorus pedal built around multiple modeled voices¹⁵. Makers do not always state the circuit type, so a pedal's manual or product page is the place to confirm whether it is analog or digital.

Dimension and ensemble chorus

"Ensemble" comes straight from the CE-1's full name, Chorus Ensemble, and pedals using the word are usually reaching for that thick, multi-voice 1970s character. Dimension chorus refers to a subtler, wider stereo style of the effect. The clearest modern expression of the stereo ensemble idea is the Jackson Audio New Wave Stereo Analog Chorus/Vibrato, which RockBoard's PedalPedia describes as "the best sounding and versatile 100% analog, stereo chorus/vibrato pedal"¹⁶. The MXR Stereo Chorus "delivers lush analog chorus" with several controls to shape the effect's tone and preserve low end¹⁷, and the vintage DOD FX65 Stereo Chorus is an analog stereo chorus pedal¹⁸.

The usual controls: rate, depth and mix

Most chorus pedals, whatever their circuit, come down to three controls, sometimes with tone shaping added.

The MXR Wylde Audio Chorus shows the typical expanded layout: "controls for Level, Rate, and Depth as well as High-cut and Low-cut filters to tailor the effect's tone"¹⁹. The high-cut and low-cut filters let you remove the effect from the frequency ranges where it can thin out your sound, the same thinking behind bass chorus designs that leave the lows untouched.

Some pedals add a second mode. JHS Pedals' 3 Series Chorus "offers classic chorus and vibrato sounds, with straightforward controls"²⁰: vibrato is the wet-only end of the same circuit, with the dry signal removed so only the pitch-wobbled copy remains.

Where chorus goes in the signal chain

For stereo, a chorus pedal "often has an input and 2 outputs for stereo"². Two outputs into two amps spread the effect across the room, which is where the dimension and ensemble styles are at their most spacious. Lehle's analysis of dual amp rigs notes that stereo setups bring phase considerations that a player should understand before committing to two amps².

Choosing a chorus: what to ask

The questions below are the ones the FAQ answers in detail, but they frame any comparison:

• Circuit type: analog BBD for vintage character, digital for presets and flexibility⁶³.
• Mono or stereo: two outputs only matter if you run a stereo rig²¹⁷.
• Bass or guitar: a bass chorus pedal protects your low end²¹.
• Control set: rate, depth and mix cover the basics; tone filters and a vibrato mode add range¹⁹²⁰.
• Size: mini pedals like the Corona Mini Chorus²² and the NUX Ukiyo-E Chorus²³ trade knob space for board space.

Questions players ask

What is the difference between chorus and flanger?

Both effects delay a copy of your signal and modulate its pitch². The difference is degree: chorus uses a delay of a few milliseconds and a gentle pitch wobble to suggest several instruments, while a flanger uses a much shorter delay, producing a resonant, sweeping jet-like sound. The two are close enough that some pedals combine them: Behringer's Pedal Flanger packs "chorus, flange, Leslie and vibe in one stomp"²⁴. See the Flanger Pedals page for that effect in full.

Is analog chorus better than digital chorus?

Makers of analog chorus make strong claims for the format: Analog Man credits its NOS MN3007 bucket brigade chips³, and Jackson Audio built the New Wave as a "100% analog" stereo pedal¹⁶. Digital chorus answers with flexibility: multiple voices, presets and modes, as in the DigiTech CF-7 Chorus Factory¹⁵. Neither is objectively better; the analog claim is warmth and vintage accuracy, the digital claim is control. Judge each pedal on its own, and check the maker's spec sheet for the circuit type, since not every chorus pedal states it.

Should chorus go before or after distortion?

After. BOSS's guide stacks drives from lightest to heaviest after the tuner, pitch, compression and wah section, and places time-based effects after distortion, where delay delivers "cleaner and more even repeats"²⁵. Chorus sits in that post-drive region, before reverb. The Overdrive Pedals and Distortion Pedals pages cover the drive side of the chain.

Can you use a chorus pedal on bass?

Yes, with a caveat. Analog Man advises that "a chorus pedal is not as strong on bass, so you have to turn the DEPTH knob up higher, especially at slower speeds," and recommends its Deep option for bass³. Dedicated bass chorus pedals solve the problem at the circuit level: the Boss CEB-3 Bass Chorus "offers a split-frequency chorus effect capable of applying warm, rich chorusing to the higher frequencies without muddying up the lows"²¹, and Aguilar's Chorusaurus is an "all-analog bucket-brigade bass chorus pedal"²⁶. The Bass Pedals page collects these.

What is a BBD chorus?

A chorus whose delay comes from a bucket-brigade device, an analog chip that hands the signal down a chain of capacitors one step at a time. Varying the delay time produces the pitch wobble. Behringer notes this circuitry "was one of the first of its kind"⁶, and the MN3007 chip Analog Man uses³ is the classic example, so much so that PastFx names its CE-1 recreation after it⁷.

Do I need a stereo chorus pedal?

Only if you run two amps or a stereo rig. Chorus pedals often have one input and two outputs², and stereo is where the effect spreads widest, which is the whole appeal of designs like the MXR Stereo Chorus¹⁷, the DOD FX65¹⁸ and the Jackson Audio New Wave²¹⁷¹⁸. Into a single amp, a stereo pedal works perfectly well in mono; you simply do not use the second output.

Questions