Product Review – Analog.Man Chorus

I’ve had a Boss CE-2 on my main board for a while now. I picked up a used made in Japan 1980 model a couple of years ago with the black label, silver screw and long dash. Supposedly these are the best sounding of the many versions available.

I liked this chorus pedal a lot. Its sound was thick and rich and not surprisingly, it excels at the ‘80s chorus tones. But over time, one thing really started to bug me: the rate control. This control dictates the speed of the chorus “sweep” and pedals like the CE-2 are often used to replicate a rotating Leslie speaker. The problem is the rate/speed never went high enough for my liking. Just as you were starting to get into Leslie territory the control maxed out, which was frustrating and sent me searching for another unit (although Robert Keeley does have a mod to fix this issue).

After trying a few different options at different price points, I chose the Analogman Chorus. If the Boss CE-2 was the go to chorus of the ‘80s, Analog Man could claim to be the same for the current decade. It’s on the boards of many quality players including Guthrie Govan and Kenny Wayne Sheppard. I picked up a used 2006 version for $150, which is expensive, but you get what you pay for.

Build quality is exceptional and the work under the hood is very clean. Like the CE-2 it has depth and speed controls, but unlike the CE-2 it is true bypass. According to the Analogman web site, the pedal uses “the highest quality USA made circuit boards, double-sided to isolate the signal from any noise, and professionally soldered for perfect, reliable circuitry. These also have more shielding, less jumpers, and no volume drop when the pedal is switched ON.”

All of these technicalities translate into superb chorus tones. This is a rich, transparent chorus with many more sounds available than the CE-2 due to the wider ranges of the speed and depth controls. You can easily find many sweet spots and it does the rotating Leslie simulation very well. As my unit was built in 2006, it does not have the “deep switch” option, but I like a subtle chorus so this is not something that’s critical for me.

So after a long run on my board I’ve decided to let the CE-2 go. I also have the DOD FX65 Stereo Chorus and this is a very, very close imitation of the Boss unit so I am going to keep that for my bargain basement board while the Analogman is the king of chorus on my main board.

Product Review: Area 51 Wah [The Dunlop JH-1 Cry Baby Saga – Part Two]

Last year posted about the horrible (to my ears) Dunlop JH-1 Cry Baby pedal [http://tonewarrior.blogspot.com/2009/06/dunlop-jh-1-crybaby-saga-part-one.html]. After researching a lot of pedals I decided to purchase the Italian Drop In Kit from Area 51 Tube Audio Designs.

What a difference!

Now I have a very sweet sounding wah with a nice wide sweep. The tone is superb: not shrill or nasal at all, rich without being muddy, and usable tones all across the sweep.

In addition to the Italian Drop In Kit ($139.95) I also ordered the pre-wired Buffer ($40) as I have a fuzz pedal in my chain and this enables the wah to be placed before fuzz and sound more natural. I also ordered the pre-wired DC jack ($15) so I can run the pedal off of a 9V power supply and can leave my cable permanently plugged in as there’s no battery to run down.

The kit arrived within a week and was easy to install. As the name suggests, it does indeed “drop in” as it comes pre-wired. All you have to do is remove your old wah circuit board and jacks then screw in the new jacks that come pre-wired with the drop in kit. If you order the buffer, owner Dan Albrecht will solder that for you as part of your “kit” so you can be up and wahing in 30 minutes. Because he had to build the kit especially for me (he did not have any already built with the pre-wired buffer) he also kindly offered to wire up the DC jack as well at no charge. GREAT customer service!

I thought about buying a Fulltone Clyde Deluxe from Michael Fuller or a Picture Wah or Wizard Wah from Geoffrey Teese – all excellent choices. But those work out to be a little bit more expensive and in the end, the tone of this wah convinced me to give it a try. I am really glad I did and think I’ll be happy with it for a while. It’s great for spicing up solos with gain and also works well with clean tones. As a nice little surprise, it also records exceptionally well.

If you have an old wah casing lying around gathering dust, you could do a lot worse than bringing it back to life with the Italian Drop In Kit.