Tag Archives: analogue

MXR Analog Chorus Pedal

Written by admin on December 21, 2011 — Leave a Comment

Who hasn’t heard the “syrupy and liquid, sparkly and lush” sounds of a chorus pedal?  There might be a few of you saying “I haven’t… – well, I don’t think I have!” The Chorus effect has been around for ages and is most associated with the music of the 80s. While you may not be familiar with the effect itself, I’m pretty sure you have heard it used in a number of songs.

From Metallica’s “Nothing else matters” to almost every Nirvana song, a large number of The Police songs and The Cure, Chorus has been used to great affect in many songs.

“The chorus effect is something that you would normally find in string instruments. When you actually listen to a string ensemble, the instrument would sound like they are a choir of angels singing, thus the name of the effect”. – EzineArticles.com

So, what is it exactly a Chorus effect?
From Wikipedia: “In music, a chorus effect (sometimes chorusing or chorused effect) occurs when individual sounds with roughly the same timbre and nearly (but never exactly) the same pitch converge and are perceived as one. While similar sounds coming from multiple sources can occur naturally (as in the case of a choir or string orchestra), it can also be simulated using an electronic effects unit or signal processing device”.

Chorus occurs when a slightly detuned and delayed “clone” of a guitar signal is played back with the original, producing a subtle (or sometimes not-so-subtle) doubling effect, which creates a thicker, lusher tone.

The original effect was produced by the Boss CE-1 Chorus Ensemble, though later effects would add multiple detunings and delays to produce a rich, glossy animation and MXR Analog Chorus is probably doing the best Chorus effect right now.

MXR has brought back the classic sound of the analog chorus with the predictably named but lovely sounding Analog Chorus.

Perhaps the pedal by itself could look weak for some, and of course, simple! I think is is simple but it is a nice pedal and it looks very friendly on its aqua blue color.

What does this pedal feautures?

The MXR Analog Chorus has five control layout featuring Low and High EQ controls, Level, Rate, and Depth for maximum flexibility. And if you want to grab crowd´s attention, You will need this pedal, not just because how good it sounds but because of the brightness of its blue LED – some guitarists say is the brightest blue LED on the planet! But hey, if Andy Summers didn´t mind using this MXR pedals for a while, Why would you?

What about the sound?
With the MXR Analog Chorus You will be able to move from Robbie Blunt’s tone on Robert Plant’s “Big Log” sounds to the deeper undulations of Nirvana’s “Come As You Are” with just a few tweaks of the Level and Depth control. In between that You might notice Andy Summers-inspired lushness and even a convincing “Black Hole Sun”.

The magic and simplicity of this pedal is that it is all about the Level and Depth controls – By tweaking these ones, you will go on trip from the underground to galaxy! Period!

If you are looking for the Classic 80′s chorus sound, this pedal is for you!

Posted by Luis Tovar

Posted in Electric Guitars, gear, guitar effects / pedals | Tagged , , ,

Analogue versus Digital

Written by Jamorama on March 19, 2009 — 1 Comment

This is a hot topic. Maybe there`s no right or wrong? Maybe some applications are more suited to one medium than the other. Here are the facts and make of them what you will.

An analog recording is one where the original sound signal is modulated onto another physical medium or substrate such as the groove of a gramophone disc or the iron oxide surface of a magnetic tape. A physical quality in the medium (e.g., the intensity of the magnetic field or the path of a record groove) is directly related, or analogous, to the physical properties of the original sound (e.g., the amplitude, phase, etc.)

A digital recording is produced by converting the physical properties of the original sound into a sequence of numbers, which can then be stored and played back for reproduction. The accuracy of the conversion process depends on the sampling rate and depth. However, unlike analog recording which depends critically on the long-term durability of the fidelity of the waveforms recorded on the medium, the physical medium storing digital samples is essentially immaterial in playback of the encoded information so long as the original sequence of numbers can be recovered.

There`s a fundamental difference here obviously. When it comes to guitar it`s a worthwhile practice to consider your hands, guitar, strings, lead, and amp as the instrument – as a holistic whole, and it is this which gives the instrument its oneness, dynamism and character. Take a zen approach and aim for the guitar to be playing you rather than the other way around. The most natural-sounding overdrive devices are vacuum tubes – a natural-sounding overdrive will make use of playing dynamics and will respond to different string attacks with varying tones and levels of distortion. I like Mesa amplifiers and Soldano, but I rely upon some particular transistor amplifiers because built correctly they sound just as tasty. There`s a really good article here about speakers, transistors, valves, distortion and more.

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