MXR ® first entered the chorus market in 1980 with big, yellow, three-knob box simply called the Stereo Chorus. Since then, artists from all over the stylistic map have embraced the effect, from Alex Lifeson and Andy Summers to Eddie Van Halen and Slash. Pedal versions followed shortly after, but it wasn’t until the ’80s that chorus really found its place in popular music. Guitar players first got their hands on the chorus effect in 1975 as a feature of Roland’s Jazz Chorus Amp.
This pitch shifting mimics the slightly off-key sound created by a choir of singers-even though they’re singing the same piece of music at the same time, no one person is singing with exactly the same pitch and intonation as any of the others. Varying the duplicate signal’s delay time causes pitch shifting thanks to the Doppler effect. How does it work? Chorus pedals double your signal and then delay the duplicate at a constantly varying rate-usually with an LFO, or low-frequency oscillator-before mixing it back into the original signal. You can use chorus to fatten up your sound at lower settings, add depth and fluidity at moderate settings, and go full on space age at extreme settings.
BASS FREQ’S EP22: JUSTIN MELDAL-JOHNSEN.
