Why don’t pedal makers add a mix knob to every pedal?

  • Thread starter Thread starter psychodave
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skoora said:
Would never need one on a chorus,
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Well, if a chorus pedal has an inherent mid-boost or volume boost, like the Boss CE-2 has, then a mix-knob, like the clone of it -Mooer Ensemble King- has is actually very useful.
Same with my Ibanez Mini Chorus, which I can make more subtle than my vintage CS9;
you'd think turning down the Depth control will lessen the chorus effect; sure, but it also makes it more flangy, which is something you don't always want.
So higher Depth value + lower Mix value makes the chorus juicy, but (more) subtle if you want that.
 
EyesOfTheSouth! said:
Amen. Still waiting for a decent sounding chorus ... with a mix knob.
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Providence Anadime ADC-4 comes to mind.
1716810563901.png

http://www.providence-ltd.com/pedals_02.html

Mooer Ensemble King; (although it's called 'Level') I have it on two boards, as I tried a gazillion choruses, and this one is the best CE-2 alike one.

MXR Analog Chorus (the light blue one) sounds great, BUT, the bypass is really sucky and cuts high-end of your signal.

Ibanez CS Mini also has a Mix (Level) control. Works wonders.
https://www.ibanez.com/usa/products/detail/csmini_01.html
 
Speeddemon said:
Well, if a chorus pedal has an inherent mid-boost or volume boost, like the Boss CE-2 has, then a mix-knob, like the clone of it -Mooer Ensemble King- has is actually very useful.
Same with my Ibanez Mini Chorus, which I can make more subtle than my vintage CS9;
you'd think turning down the Depth control will lessen the chorus effect; sure, but it also makes it more flangy, which is something you don't always want.
So higher Depth value + lower Mix value makes the chorus juicy, but (more) subtle if you want that.
Click to expand...
But I don’t want that! 🙂
I have a CE2 (newer waza one) and love everything about it. For me if I want the effect to be subtle I just turn the knobs down. If it had characteristics I didn’t like at certain settings I would have bought a different pedal. I prefer using effects as being more obvious anyway so don’t care so much for subtle, barely on. Once it’s recorded I find subtle settings just don’t translate that well for the music I like.
 
Speeddemon said:
Well, if a chorus pedal has an inherent mid-boost or volume boost, like the Boss CE-2 has, then a mix-knob, like the clone of it -Mooer Ensemble King- has is actually very useful.
Same with my Ibanez Mini Chorus, which I can make more subtle than my vintage CS9;
you'd think turning down the Depth control will lessen the chorus effect; sure, but it also makes it more flangy, which is something you don't always want.
So higher Depth value + lower Mix value makes the chorus juicy, but (more) subtle if you want that.
Click to expand...
Yep, low rate, low mix, high depth, does a good job at doubling and widening, without making it sound weird.
 
skoora said:
But I don’t want that! 🙂
I have a CE2 (newer waza one) and love everything about it. For me if I want the effect to be subtle I just turn the knobs down. If it had characteristics I didn’t like at certain settings I would have bought a different pedal. I prefer using effects as being more obvious anyway so don’t care so much for subtle, barely on. Once it’s recorded I find subtle settings just don’t translate that well for the music I like.
Click to expand...
I got two original CE-2's myself (one silver screw and one long-dash, both black label MIJ) and while it's the benchmark for me in chorus tones, especially in a true bypass-loop or footswitchable fx-loop the mid-boost/volume boost is quite there.
And I've been searching high and low how to improve on that, since it needs to be a chorus that works well with clean stuff as well as (80's) high gain stuff. And while most choruses fare well with cleans, they fall apart under heavy gain (in an amp's fx-loop).
Tried and sold some Chinese cheapies, like the Ammoon, Donner Metric Bender (horrible pedal!), but also both Anadimes (ADC-3 and ADC-4), vintage DOD 690 (with the 2 rates, that ramp up and down), DOD FX-60 (really good, but fragile), EHX Neo-Clone (seemed to be in the 'wrong phase' with gain, so it neutered your tone), MXR Analog Chorus, Bass Chorus Deluxe (because of the better bypass, but it was a bit stale sounding) and many more...

So far, only the vintage MXR Micro Chorus, big yellow Chorus and Ibanez BC9 have come close to what I'm looking for. But for practicality reasons with gigging and wanting a pedalboard that's not too heavy, the Mooer Ensemble King does the job the best.
 

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Beyond pedals, I want a mix knob on my amp. Blend in the clean channel with the dirt channel.
 
7704A said:
Beyond pedals, I want a mix knob on my amp. Blend in the clean channel with the dirt channel.
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I would use a blend knob on the amp to blend in stems of Gary Moore from 1984. You know just for a little sweetener.
 
BeZo said:
I agree. I play bass.
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What's frustrating is the vast majority of blend circuits in bass pedals just take whatever is on the input and send it straight to the output while claiming to "retain low end" when all it does is keep clank in the mix to cut through the (usually) dirt and sound awful. So many brands including the big ones have these low effort blend controls and they're just not at all what an engineer is doing in the studio to blend a clean signal with a drive signal.
 
EyesOfTheSouth! said:
Amen. Still waiting for a decent sounding chorus or phaser with a mix knob.
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I just got rid of the Analogman chorus, didnt like the sound but enjoyed the blend knob.
Bought an old CE-2 and wish it had the blend knob.
My Memory lane Jr also has a mix knob.
I find them useful, I like subtle effect.
 
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