How to Dial in a Killer Chorus Pedal

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

I’ve always treated my chorus pedal like a Crock-Pot: set it and forget it.

I got my most recent chorus pedal, a Boss CH-1, a number of years ago. I found a decent enough setting, turned the effect way down for fear of bringing the 1980s back to life, and left it at that.

But lately I’ve been wondering…how can I actually make use of this as a tool? What kind of tones might I be able to get from it that I’m missing out on?

To answer those questions, I had to go on a journey to discover more about the chorus effect, how it began, what it does, and how to dial in the right tones.

Here’s what I learned.

A brief history of chorus effects

The idea of chorus as an electronic effect dates back to 1975. This was the year Roland introduced the Jazz Chorus amplifier.

The Jazz Chorus had two speakers, and when the onboard chorus effect was enabled, one of the speakers would be slightly delayed and modulated, while the other continued to play the unadulterated sound.

The number of guitar-centric chorus pedals in the marketplace has skyrocketed, but they all perform in basically the same way.