Which pedal appeals to you?

monquixote

It occurs to me that as a younger man if I'd been presented with the following pedals:

http://www.jimdunlop.com/images/products/AnalogChorus-5.5.png

http://www.jimdunlop.com/images/products/MicroChorus-5.5.png

It would have been obvious without looking at them that the first one was going to be the best one because it has lots of knobs, but now I find the idea of the second one much more appealing. 

Ignoring your actual experience with these two pedals which style appeals to you more?

mike_l

Same as you, when younger the first with loads of variables would have appealed more, but these days less variables  would be my pick.

I have got rid of pedals with too many variables (IE Boss chorus, flange and phase) and replaced them with simpler pedals (MXR microchorus/microflanger and phase 90)

vasselmeyer

Actually, it would be neither of them. I'd have the blue one with just the bottom row of knobs.

meltedbuzzbox

When I was younger the ultimate chorus to me was the small clone. That was one knob of goodnes. 

So I would probably have leaned towards the micro. 

fretmeister

Difficult.

I already have a yellow pedal on my board so it would have to be the light blue one. I haven't got that colour.

The LED colours might change my mind though.

randomhandclaps

I was thinking about this recently and the balance that pedal designs have to strike between a decisive sound and flexibility.  In ways it depends on the pedal but a lot of the time I prefer fewer knobs for the aspect that the circuit designer is saying 'We made a definite decision on how this pedal sounds', whereas I find lots of adjustable parameters can seem a bit 'Well I'm sure you can find a good sound in there somewhere and if not you probably haven't tweaked it enough'.

mike_l

fretmeister said:

Difficult.

I already have a yellow pedal on my board so it would have to be the light blue one. I haven't got that colour.

I shall rename you "Rainbow board"

hubobulous

It depends if we're talking live or home/recording usage. Live, the fewer the options the better. At home, probably the opposite in terms of inspiring creativity, though there comes a threshold where too many options means more time reading a manual than playing.

mike_l

I'm finding more and more that I'm finding one sound in a pedal which I love, and don't use any others.

Even when I had all those variables available, I didn't use 95% of them.

frankus

Mostly I dislike lots of knobs - Catlinbread Semaphore - knock it slightly and you'll never find those settings again...

But mostly I dislike pedals that give me dials that don't vary much - Voodoolabs chorus - great sounds but nowhere near the range of the Small Clone.

Generally I prefer pedals with one or two good sounds - it's all my brain can handle. Ideally those sounds should be reasonably discrete and should exist either end of a switch or a pot.

Small Clone - depth switch.
Bear Hug/LoveSqueeze - compression knob.
CE-2 Rate pot.
Zendrive - Voice
Whirlwind Orange Box - speed
Ibanez PT-999 - speed


DIY Stuff like the tremulus, umble and such have loads of great sounds but one that you'll always return to ... so  I think trim pots are a very acceptable solution, trying to build a tremulus atm where the 35mm knob comes off to reveal 4 trim pots (ideally 3 trim pots and 1 LED but anyway).

What I'm liking about MIDI is how you just set that stuff and forget it. The TC pedals are taking that on board on the minis where the one knob (if I understand it) acts like an expression knob.

stickyfiddle

I love fiddling with knobs and dials and parameters in menus, but when playing live or even in the studio (if trying to get something done fast at least) I'd rather have simplicity and limitation. It's much easier to stick with whatever you've got and work around it to connect to the music itself if you have no other choice. Getting to the point where the only variable is your own hands is really good sometimes.

thermionic

The blue one. All chorus pedals are supposed to blue. When I hear a nice chorus sound I see the exact shade of the CE-2 in my head.

Don't mess with the colour codes, like when Walkers got blue and green mixed up for Cheese & Onion and Salt & Vinegar. YELLOW IS FOR OVERDRIVE!

not_the_dj

thermionic said:

The blue one. All chorus pedals are supposed to blue. When I hear a nice chorus sound I see the exact shade of the CE-2 in my head.

Don't mess with the colour codes, like when Walkers got blue and green mixed for Cheese & Onion and Salt & Vinegar.

Wisdom, for all of that (especially the crisps bit).

hubobulous

stickyfiddle said:

I love fiddling with knobs

Aw come on. What was I supposed to do?

monquixote

I actually quite like trimpots and dip switches.

For example with the Carbon Copy it's nice to be able to pop it open and select exactly the right amount of modulation and then know that it will never change.

samzadgan

i use to have the Black Label Chorus, which i believe the analog chorus is based on, and although it was really nice...it was too many knobs for me. I prefer (and own) the yellow one.

@monquixote I didnt even know the CC had trim pot inside...i've owned one for almost 5 years and its been on my board the whole time. I will have to look inside on the weekend!

monquixote

Yeah it has width and speed. 

not_the_dj

samzadgan said:

i use to have the Black Label Chorus, which i believe the analog chorus is based on, and although it was really nice...it was too many knobs for me. I prefer (and own) the yellow one.

AFAIK It's exactly the same, but without the signature tie-in, so non Zakk Whatsis fans won't be put off.

samzadgan

what does AFAIK mean???

hubobulous

As far as I know it means As Far as I know

paulnb57

I am increasingly drawn to simpler stuff, single pickups , few knob pedals like HOF mini 1 knob, EHX chorus 1 knob, 2 drives with  Gain Tone & Level, sometimes I feel more is less and gets in the way of use, forever fiddling…..however Im drawn to a Tc Electronic Nova Multi Effects unit in Stompbox mode…………...