Guitar Pedal Reviews: Fender Competition Chorus Pedal

Earlier this year Fender released their Competition Series of pedals. I highlighted the series in an previous post. However, today it’s all about their Competition Series Chorus Pedal. Chorus is an effect used to simulate the naturally occurring phenomenom that happens when individual sounds with roughly the same timbre and nearly (but never exactly) the same pitch converge and are perceived as one. This adds an nice shimmery sound to the source and is great for an arpeggiated chord or adding thickness to a strummed power chord.

Fender’s offering has a monophonic input with a choice between monophonic or stereo outputs. The pedal features controls for Depth (of modulation), Speed (of modulation), and Mix (of wet and dry signal). The more the Depth control is turned clockwise, the more rich the chorusing becomes. With the Speed set to lower settings the Chorused sound is a smooth, slowly undulated tone. At higher settings the source takes on more of a vibrato. The intensity of the effect is governed by the Mix control that gives you the ability to mix in the desired ratio of chorused versus dry signal.

I was very impressed with how quiet this analog chorus pedal operates. They made the noise level suitable for studio an/or live stage use. It is a very nice Chorus and gets by with just the basic controls. This just proves that you don’t need a plethora of weird and unique sounding parameters to make a good pedal. This pedal is what it says, nothing more and nothing less. It’s a Chorus that rivals that of all basic choruses. I love that they give you the option for mono and stereo output. This makes the pedal suitable for multi-amp setups or other instances when you need stereo. The indicator LED visually represents the speed of the modulating LFO, which is helpful when trying to set the Speed knob to gel with another rhythmical element of the song. The price tag is extremely modest as well which is why I absolutely recommend this pedal if you are looking for a “no frills” chorus pedal without breaking the bank. – Gus Green