SFW":1ixffpbd said:
I recently joined an STP tribute band. It's been pretty fun learning songs from my college days again. I can cover most of the base tones using my Spawn QuickRod and my Les Paul. What I am struggling with is the chorus sounds. Songs like Plush have a thick chorus to them. In fact, the entire Core album has a slight chorus effect on all of the songs. I know that Dean uses an Intellifex in his live rig and in the studio. I've also read that he uses an old Boss CE-1. So what chorus pedal can I use to get close to the tones that he gets? I currently have a TC Corona, but I really don't care for it. To my ears it just meh... I'd like to get that thick lush chorusing that doesn't overpower the core tone. I don't really want to drop the kinda money that original CE-1s are now commanding. So what do y'all suggest? Thanks in advance.
There's a bit of confusion I think when it comes to the Core sound, mainly that the Boss CE-1 was used for it's chorusing. The CE-1 was mainly for splitting the signals to two amps, with the exception of a few songs that made use of the pedal's Vibrato side. However anytime you hear that signature overdriven chorus sound on songs like Sin, Plush, ect, it's always the Rocktron Intelliverb.
One of the reasons I never could get pedals to do this sound, is because the Rocktron is much more psychadelic in nature due its presets having multiple choruses, swirling around each other. I never got to try a pedal that has this feature. Not to mention there's a particular setting on the Rocktron that gives the chorus a bit of a flangey bite to it that is pretty unique and further distances itself from pedals.
The other part is the Demeter TGP3, in it's own right is a very unique sounding piece of gear and accounts for a lot of that tone. The sound of the TGP3's gain stage hitting a modulation effect is pretty special, but even moreso when it's the Intelliverb. For whatever reason these 2 were made for each other. I've tried my Rocktron with other Marshally style amps and it just doesn't have that mojo. Probably close enough to make most people happy but I was a bit OCD about chasing that tone so the pairing of the 2 really did it for me.
My advice would be to buy / save up for an Intelliverb when one pops up if you're really trying to nail that sound. Maybe the Intellifex is another decent option? I've never tried one but I hear they're close. Otherwise look for some kind of multi-voiced chorus preferably with control over the depths of each chorus.
Here's Dean in a live setting, back in the day when he made a lot more use of the effect. Compare that to what you hear in the demos of most pedals and I'd say there's a difference.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgrS3fwLUiM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FEdYQUUgzA&feature=youtu.be&t=77
Personally I settled on this, found it to be the best tool for the job.