By far my favorite guitar effect pedal is the chorus. I love the lushness it adds to any guitar/amp combo, the swirling overtones, the chime…every pedalboard I’ve built has had one of these on it.
And my all time favorite chorus is the DOD FX-64 IceBox stereo chorus. Not only is it a monster-sounding pedal, it also provides the branching I need to run my usual two-Vox-Pathfinder stereo set up.
Over the years, I added a number of additional choruses, including the Electro-Harmonix Small Clone (the full size one, circa mid-90s) and an Arion Stereo Chorus. Combining the choruses with delays and reverbs gives me a sound I find intoxicating.
So one night, I decided to create a Chorus of Choruses. Using my three chorus pedals, an Ibanez AD-4 delay, the Stereo Memory Man and a Holy Grail Reverb, I wired everything up to run four amps — my two Vox Pathfinders, an Orange Micro Terror driving a Marshall 4×12 and an Epiphany Valve Junior. The sound was remarkable. Take a look (note: this was recorded on my iPhone; one day, I’ll mic all four amps and do a proper sound recording…)
Since I made this recording, I’ve added a NUX NCH-5 Chorus and a Behringer Ultra Chorus (a Boss CH-1 Super Chorus clone). Both super-budget models, but will be fun to play with when I create an even bigger Chorus of Choruses…