My interpretation of a classic chorus pedal

[Ch0jin]

Here we go, hot off the bench, my new favourite pedal

Based on a project (and a PCB) over at tonepad.com I decided to scrounge up the bits to make an nice analog chorus. Based on the Boss CE-2 pedal, this one has rate and depth control as usual, but the depth range has been substantially increased and there's a toggle switch that doubles the rate for insane wiggling. Add to that the CE-2B spec 'effect level' control and a toggle between "Bass" and "Guitar" mix curves and it's got a fair bit of tweakability.

It was a bit of a tight squeeze, so no battery in this one.

It looks kind of naked compared to my others because whilst the powdercoated case from pedal parts plus IS super awesome, I chose a dark colour and now I can't use decal paper or anything (cant print white.....)

I had a few headaches with a dodgy pot and some shorting issues, but got those sorted eventually.

Anyway, have a look.


Lava Chorus by Ch0jiN, on Flickr


Lava Chorus Guts by Ch0jiN, on Flickr

 

[Retro Hound]

I love chorus, and this pedal sounds especially sweet!

 

[bcdon]

Really nice work! Sorry to hear about the dodgy pot, next time go to a more reputable dealer. ;-) :dude

 

[Ch0jin]

Thanks guys, I really love the sound of this thing. I had a pretty nice clean tone before, but the chorus is like stepping on a box of awesome.

Re: dealers, funny you should say that. I've been ordering up piles of components from futurlec (who have an Australian website, but are actually in Taiwan) as they have insano-cheap pricing for components, and whilst the dodgy pot didn't actually come from futurlec, I received a package from them today that had this random extra packet of fuses....I didn't order any fuses, but now I have fuses for some reason...

One other thing. There are a few build reports of this design where guys complain of "ticking" or LFO bleeding into the signal. Sometimes even in bypass. This one does none of that. It's completely quiet. I ended up using shielded cable for the inputs and outputs 'cause the Internet made me paranoid, but before I added those, when it was all just bits hanging off a pcb, it still didn't "tick" or hum or anything. Perhaps there's something to the theory of using low power op amps as LFO's (I used LM358), perhaps I was just lucky

 

[bcdon]

Hey Ch0jin,

Are you still happy with this pedal? I'm thinking about getting a chorus pedal and perhaps even building one. I haven't built a pedal before but I'm pretty handy with a soldering iron. Do you still recommend this kit?

don

 

[Ch0jin]

Hey dude,
This chorus wasn't really a kit. I bought a PCB from Tonepad and then a bunch of components. That in itself makes it a little more advanced, but it does sound great. I've recently modified it to have the status LED pulse in time with the LFO, which looks great, but the extra current draw causes LFO ticking in bypass, so now I have it set up that stomping on the bypass actually kills power to the LFO. Now it's basically perfect.

If you decide to try a "build from scratch" I think I still have the spreadsheet I used to plan all the component buying and I can certainly help you out with mods and assembly and stuff. As you can see from the gut shot, there's a fair amount of components and that kind of build is not typically a "first" pedal, but there's no reason someone who can solder and comprehend component layouts couldn't do it.