Hey there,

I am trying to decide on adding a chorus pedal or a phaser pedal to my home-made pedalboard. But, I have a certain clean tone, gently picked, arpeggio that I am thinking of using either a chorus pedal or a slow phaser pedal on.

Em(sus 7) to a Cmaj7(sus 9)
(i.e. put your pinky on the B string 3rd fret, and take it off at the end)

Arpeggio/Tab goes like this:
Em(sus 7th)
E(low), A(2nd fret), B(3rd fret), G, E(high), D(2nd fret), B(now open), G
Cmaj7(sus 9)
A(3rd fret), D(2nd fret), B(3rd fret), G, E(high), D(2nd fret), B(now open), G

PLAY THIS THREE TIMES, THEN SWITCH TO Am and B7th FOR A TURNAROUND...

Am
A, D(2nd fret), B(1st fret), G(2nd fret)
B7th
A(2nd fret), D(1st fret), B, G(2nd fret)

AND REPEAT THE Em(sus 7th) AND CMaj7(sus 9th) ARPEGGIO

Please try this with a chorus pedal or a slow phaser (since I have neither) and tell me what you think, and/or which one would sound better for this particular type of clean arpeggio...

Hi Butch. You may find writing it out like this makes it easier for people to follow, and so give their opinions:

e -------------0-----------l-------------0-----------
B -------3-----------0-----l-------3----------0------
G ----------0-----------0--l----------0-----------0-- repeat twice
D ----------------2--------l----2-----------2--------
A ----2--------------------l-3-----------------------
E -0-----------------------l-------------------------

e ----------------l----------------
B ---------1------l-----------0----
G -------------2--l--------------2-
D -----2----------l------1---------
A -0--------------l--2-------------
E ----------------l----------------

(Have I done that right?)

So. Just for shucks I have indeed tried that through a Boss phaser and a Digitech chorus. But I absolutely cannot tell you which sounds "best" because that depends on the sound that fits the song you have in your head, and on the rest of the arrangement you want to put with it.

If what you are really trying to do is decide which you should shell out your hard won cash on right now then as a general guide I'd suggest a chorus has more uses, especially if you want some '80s type sounds in your playing, a la Andy Summers or whoever. And it can be interesting to put an acoustic guitar through a chorus too - it can make the whole sound more spacious, though don't overdo it.

To my ears a phaser is one of those effects you need to use very sparingly: it might belong on one or two numbers in a set, but it's the sort of thing people get sick of hearing very quickly. (Though too much chorus can soon get old as well, so go easy with either.)

Of course, there are fans of certain '80s players who'd disagree and feel you just can't have too much phaser in your life.

You pays your money you takes your choice.

Good luck - C

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Unless cash is really tight you could pick up a Danoelectro Chicken Salad (Univibe) for $30 and a used Boss Chorus for about the same price.

P.S. That's a nice tune you got there. Personally I wouldn't use any effects it sounds so nice but like Ceri said, you have your own "vision" for it.

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Tune Low, Play Hard & Floor it!

Wow, thanks!!

Ceri, thank you big time, for your work on taking my idea and putting it into tab. That's what I was thinking, but never did it. You nailed it exactly. That's the clean arpeggio intro to a song I am working on.

I was looking for a certain subtle tone to give the clean arpeggio intro a little extra flavor.

Hi again Butch: I have a number that absolutely requires a phaser on a simple rhythm guitar vamp under the main verse and chorus, and then beneath a twangy '60s-ish lead guitar playout. For that track it is the only sound that works.

But I also find I use that pedal for nothing else whatsoever. There are some FX that are like that: they are essential for one specific occasion, but if you try and use them again - yuk, too much, man!

If it's the right sound for your track then you have to go for it. But if chorus will do then you'll probably have more use for that pedal later on.

BTW: this is just the sort of time an affordable multi-FX pedal comes into its own - for all those odd sounds you only need once. A thought...

Good luck - C

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for strummed chords or slow rakes and strums i prefer a phaser and for picked notes and solos i like a nice chorus for color so going by this i would probably be drawn to a chorus. But this is completely a matter of what YOU want to hear for the song. Maybe you could go to the shop and try the riff out on a few variations of both FX and see what suits best.

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YMMV

Chont's Mustang Presets

Just my personal feelings on the two effects themselves (not specifically related to your song);

I detest chorus in most cases. This is probably due to the oversaturation/ridiculous over-use of the effect in the eighties, as well as the fact that I was afflicted with a guitarist/band mate who clicked the effect on for every (1) slow song, (2) fast song, (3) mid-paced song, (4) rhythm line he played, (5) solo/lead he played, and (6) the breaks between sets. I took the pedal out of his effects chain during a performance one time and I thought he was going to cry.

Second, far be it from me to disagree with Ceri (he's much wiser than I), but I find a phase shifter (specifically the MXR Phase 90, especially the Script Logo models) to be a very useful tool. I do not turn it on for every song or solo (that would be as bad as my chorus-addicted sidekick mentioned above), but I use the effect to great effect ( ) for about four to five songs during a thirty song (three set) performance.

One reason behind our (Ceri and I) difference of opinions may be due to his choice of phase shifter. He mentioned his use of a Boss phase pedal; I personally found that pedal to be overpowering in it's influence for most songs, as well as very dated/80's sounding.

I personally use a late 70's "transition" MXR Phase 90 pedal (I don't know if that's the proper name for my particular pedal, but I call it that because it has the MXR "block" logo on the enclosure, but has the circuit board/electronics of a "script" logo Phase 90 pedal). The Script circuit is less "in-your-face" and has a subtlety not found in many phase shifters.

Although the BOSS has more controls/knobs than the MXR, I found the simplicity of a single ("Speed") knob to actually be more versatile. I'll set the knob to an achingly slow sweep for a particular rhythm line, and it adds an ethereal texture that wasn't there before. A mid-speed setting is great for a funky rhythm line, and speeding it almost to the max has a cool faux-Leslie Cabinet effect.

The new (standard) MXR Phase 90 pedals aren't bad, but I prefer the subtlety of the Script circuitry (which is available both in a MXR Custom Shop pedal and in the EVH Phase 90 (with the "script" button).

Of course, this is just my humble opinion, and you can disregard everything I just wrote, if you like.

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Good Vibes To Y'all!



Screamin' Armadillos
Texas Roadhouse Music
Guitar/Slide Guitar/Harp/Vocals

Uh - whatever the reason, it is not only allowed, it is encouraged!

Ultimately, it matters not a tinker's cuss whether people do the same thing or not so long as there's good, intelligent thinking behind it. I'm seeing plenty of that here - which is the essence of what the Forum is about.

Cheers - C

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PS: I so-o-o-o agree about the over use of choruses in the '80s!

Cheers - C

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+1. And the one thing I don't particularly like about Antonio Forcione's sound. He is a child of the 80's!

Phaser get's my vote. Or, as Ceri suggested, a "reasonably priced" multiFX unit.

Cheers all

Nutter

Here's an update... I plugged my Strat directly into my laptop's mic jack (1/4" plug to 1/8" plug - cheap crappy cable from Radio Shack ). I opened up Cool Edit Pro http://emusician.com/editing/emusic_syntrillium_cool_edit/ and did a quick record of the intro, as seen above (Thank you again, Ceri! ). After the B7th in the turnaround, I played the Em(sus7) & Cmaj7(sus9) arpeggio and right after the open B string note, I did a upstroke sweep of all the strings, letting the Cmaj7 ring out. I let it ring and sustain and then stopped the recording.

I selected (highlighted) the whole track, and went into Cool Edit Pro's onboard tools and effects (Cool Edit Pro allows you to record clean, and then add effects afterwards). I chose Phaser, and played with it a few times, carefully listening through a pair of quality headphones. The Phaser does sound really neat when used very very lightly, very slowly, and with a very subtle approach.

I clicked "Undo" and went back to a clean, 100% original track. Again I selected the whole track, and chose Chorus this time. Again, I played with the settings, and carefully listened to the track through headphones. The chorus sounds nice, but it sounds too "80's" and sounds too common. It sounds like what you'd expect to hear on a pop record from a group like Air Supply or something.

The sound I hear in my head whenever I play that arpeggio, is a gently sweeping, very slow, swirling tone. Sort of like a Leslie rotating speaker, but real slow.

Long story short.... I like the Phaser sound, but yet very very subtle, and only for the intro.

As a lot of the circuitry is so similar, you can buy pedals now that do both, so you wouldn't have to choose one or the other. Probably a bit expensive though.

Am I the only person who finds phasers to be absolute tone-suckers?

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Fender Highway & Classic 60s Strats, Fender Toronado, Telecaster, Gretsch Projet, Charvel 3, PRS SE Soapbar II & Custom 24, Burns Batwing and many others!

I prefer the Phaser

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"Life is like eating jalapenos. What you do today may burn your arse tomorrow"

Yes, you are...

It truly does depend on the phaser. I found the Boss and Ibanez Phasers to be overpowering and tone depleting, but not so with the MXR or Electro-Harmonix phase shifters.

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Good Vibes To Y'all!



Screamin' Armadillos
Texas Roadhouse Music
Guitar/Slide Guitar/Harp/Vocals

I'm a child of the 80s, and the first rock album I ever owned was the Police's 'Synchronicity.' So I'm a little more partial to chorus. I think it's a bit more of an all-purpose effect. Phasers sound great, but I feel they have a more 'extreme' sound, and thus should be used a little more sporadically. This, of course, is all a matter of personal taste.

I'd suggest going on ebay and looking for some used pedals. For under $100, you can probably get both a phaser and a chorus. But I'd go for chorus, if you're only going to pick one.