Normally I am not a great seeker of weird sounds or most modulation effects for that matter, I am a guitar, amp and distortion pedal kind of guy. And the only reason this pedal ended up in my collection is the fact the pedal I ordered was out of stock and I took this one for a substitute. And how did I end up picking the Vahlbruch Chorus? I saw a Youtube review for it, of course, and was blown away by how lovely it sounded for a chorus effect. Having it for a little while I’ve not regretted making the compromise.
Now, let’s dive into my thoughts on this stunning pedal. Sounds great with any decent guitar, humbuckers or single coils. For this review, I experimented with using the knobs in every possible position (some sounds pleasing, others like your stuck in an old Loony Toons cartoon). I began with the modulation parameters off and the mix all the way up (why not, right?). Surprisingly, this is an effect in itself; it gave me a weird spatial tone that gave the sound distance. Not like reverb or delay at all. Truly an illusion of sound like you were hearing your amp from another room, only it was right in front of you. Also with a tiny bit of gain, upon reading the brochure that was supplied with the pedal, I learned it has a built in unity gain buffer. Ok, real settings now. I dialed in a sound my ears want to hear, which is a very subtle coloration, Depth 1 o’clock, Speed at 9 and Mix at noon, this close to the recommended settings for a Deep Chorus. Blends well with fuzz or mild overdrive played through the 8 watt Dr. Z Maz8. Falls into place equally with my Mesa/ Boogie F30’s high gain channel, top notch.
Now I started playing with the speed knob which introduces the beginnings of a Leslie speaker sound, more so when you really dime the Speed knob and dropping the Depth( I’ll add now that this pedal features a stereo output to accentuate this effect if so desired). The pedal also features a rate L.E.D.( not a big fan, but whatever). The Mix knob blends the effect smoothly to taste at any setting. Backing off the Speed and dropping the Depth to 10 or 11 produces a sparkly shimmering chorus also very pleasing to the ears. I feel from my experience when the effect knobs are all about noon you get that really signature chorus sound heard on hundreds of recordings. Not really my taste, but I’ll add that a lower quality more digital, synthetic sounding chorus pedals don’t seem to shake that tin foil sound.
And now a few words from it’s creator: Made in Germany by hand. 100% analog. True bypass? Yep! Because of this there is no signal loss due to the stereo output which can also be used as a signal splitter, and yep mono works fine. Did I mention it can be used as a buffer? Apparently with the mix down (cutting the chorus effect) it acts as a high-quality unity gain buffer to preserve your signals integrity and the direct input signal is present in both outputs. It can be powered by a 9 volt power supply( no battery compartment, this pedal is thirsty and the designer wanted to keep it compact).
The Vahlbruch Stereo Chorus is organic, hi-fidelity, versatile and solidly built effect everyone should hear!
