I didn’t even notice that my thread asking to trade XO for classic microsynths was also deleted. I actually found someone locally, but apologies for not paying attention to the rules. I personally am a-ok with commerce here, especially since there are many collectors present, but I can understand why people who own websites don’t want to get mixed up in transactions over the internet.

Cathedral is going to have to be the “Holiest Grail XO” for me to part with mine. And even then!

I fully understand the new XO series pedals and they have lots of great points. But frankly, the vintage enclosures will almost always look cooler. Plus they can be easily repaired or modified, something that’s very sadly gone from the new ones.

wild ones! I’m a bass player too. I mostly play lots of supportive, mellow bass stuff (the holiest grail is a wonderful ‘verb for bass) in my main band right now, but I’ve been writing a lot of weird things that I hope I can get recorded soon. I’m very into spacey sounds and the Polychorus / HoliestGrail combo is pretty great for that.

I think there is definitely room for having both. It’s good to having the individual pedal demonstrations by Dan Miller and Peter Stroud (my favorite of the video demo-ers) to show you what the pedal, on its own, is capable of (or to scratch the surface). And videos like Jack Conte and Bill Ruppert show you “combinations,” or rather, how the features of the pedal interact with other pedals in a band/song context. I don’t think videos can show you every single thing you could do, they just push your thinking and inspire ideas. Bill Ruppert’s “Mellotron” mp3s on his site blew my mind– that guy is a wizard.

ANYWAY, Q-Balls! I’m pumped about it.

There is a lot of personality generalizations I could suggest of the many EHX Choruses. Here’s my quick opinions/characterizations, but trust your own opinions over mine. I’m primarily a bass player.

Small Clone – A famous anecdote is that the United States space program spent millions of dollars developing a pen that could be used to write upside-down while in space. The Russians used a pencil. The Small Clone is the Soviet pencil– a brilliantly simple tool. It’s a very lush, juicy chorus effect. It’s more juicy with the color-switch down, and more “intense” with it up. It does a great vibrato with the rate knob maxed out and the color knob down. For “over the top” settings, you can get a kind of underwater effect.

Stereo Polychorus – I think the Polychorus should have always remained the “Echo Flanger.” It’s a much better description of what the pedal does. It’s a very bright flange/chorus thats built around this echo, faux-reverb kind of sound. Unlike the Small Clone, the Polychorus can’t do lush, juicy chorus. It accels at a very bright, chiming, kind of chorus. It stands out in a mix. The Flanger setting is very good. It’s a pedal that does have a learning curve, the knobs are very interactive. You’ll be tired of the “sea-sick” swirling it does when you’re figuring out how to shape the effect, but it’s worth it to learn. The “echo” aspects of it are what make it so unique, and it does a pretty awesome reverb-imitation on certain settings. It’s an awesome pedal, I use it and love it, but you have to decide if you want a chorus that is for texture, noise, and ambiance or one that is simply used to color a guitar signal.

Stereo Electric Mistress – The biggest difference between this and the aforementioned pedals, is the Stereo Electric Mistress is a digital effect. It does sound very good, but analog-purists always chafe at how clean and crisp digital effects sound. Personally, its up to you. It cuts through a mix very nicely, sounds good with distortion. Being able to dial in the chorus along with the flanger is a cool trick. I liked it on bass, very rich sounding.

I have played all three and own the first two. The Polychorus is on my board right now, and it’s my go-to effect when I want some modulation and textures, even if they aren’t always traditional. Your mileage may vary! Good luck!

Red Witch Empress Chorus / Vibrato