The Analog Man Mini Chorus is a fabulously warm, shimmery chorus with a distinct voice. Sure, digital chorus pedals offer more versatility for your money, not to mention crystalline clarity, but if you’ve got the means and you’re looking for a vintage sound you could pick out of a lineup, you should track down the Mini Chorus.
Since the Mini Chorus is handmade and can be ordered directly from Analog Man, you can customize it (Analog Man can also customize a wide range of pedals you probably already own). The review model had two optional extras, the depth toggle switch and a wet/dry mix control knob, each adding $25 to the Mini Chorus’s $225 base price. The depth toggle is nice—sometimes you want a more intense chorus, sometimes you don’t—but unless you really want super-subtle chorus, the wet/dry mix control is something you can live without. Analog Man will set the pedal to a fixed deep setting for free if you opt for the standard package without additional frills, but until you’ve tried both it would be hard to guess which one you’ll like better. It’s hard to understand why this useful dual-mode functionality isn’t part of the basic package.
It’s easy to dial in whatever preference you have in speed and depth. Somewhere in the middle sounds pretty sweet for everything from clean picking to fuzzed out chords and solo strings; the most useful modifier is the depth toggle, which adds heft to quiet strings and can cut unwanted boom from loud ones.
Mini Chorus is a winner for anyone looking for something a little special in their chorus and can shrug off the wide range of features offered by more modern mainstream pedals. But if you’re in the market, do yourself a favor and tick the box for the toggle switch. – Howard Stock
Try the Analog Man’s Mini Chorus at the Brooklyn Stompbox Exhibit 2013. Here’s a video demo of the basic version (no depth and mix knobs).
Analog Man Mini Chorus, Builder’s Notes
Analog Man offers the Mini Chorus. The MINI-CHORUS is the same as our normal chorus, but in a smaller, hand stamped box. It is the same size as our small comprossors/juicers. Another MUST HAVE for your pedal board!
Features
For more detailed info on our chorus pedals, and recommended voltages (see MAX HEADROOM picture) check out analogman.comThe MINI-CHORUS is the same as our normal chorus, but in a smaller, hand stamped box. It is the same size as our small comprossors/juicers:
2.5″ x 4.75″ x 1.5″ not including jacks, switch, etc
Same price as the normal Chorus, as the box is a little cheaper but the extra labor to build the pedal into the small box is a lot more than the box savings. These have both battery and DC adapter jack standard, and the same board inside for the same sounds as the normal Chorus. It’s a great, simple, small chorus pedal with awesome tone! It is available with an external MIX (BLEND) knob or depth toggle for $25 more each. The boxes on the mini chorus pedals came out looking great, really nice blue textured color. In 2019, now available with Stereo option (side jacks only, no battery room). LED on the Mini Chorus is standard.
We now have over 19 different versions of our chorus pedals available if you count all the various options. We build them to order to your spec in just a few days. I don’t think anyone else offers more than one or two versions of a chorus, so this is pretty unique and something that we can do since we are in effect a custom shop.
These have true bypass and a depth knob which allows any setting from no chorus to full-on chorus. The true bypass switch is designed for quiet switching with just a slight pop as in any true bypass pedal. Stop losing your tone with your non-true bypass Boss, digitech, line6 etc chorus pedals.
We chose this design for our Chorus pedal because it could have separate Depth and Speed controls. This will allow my two favorite settings: medium depth / high speed for a LESLIE simulation, and high depth / low speed for a rich, thick chorusing. I also like a medium depth / low speed setting sometimes- this setting fills out your sound without really being noticeable until you turn it off, then you notice something is missing. The old Boss CE-1 Chorus Ensemble has a cool sound, but with one knob controlling both speed and depth of the Chorus, it cannot be dialed in to my favorite sounds. And it is not really designed to be used with guitar level signals, the CE-1 works a lot better at line level (keyboards, effects loops, etc).
On the left you can see a closeup view of the circuit board. The circuit board is double sided with plated through-holes as used by the military, this keeps the components perfectly attached to the board.
Why does our chorus sound better than the others that are made today? Both the MN3207 and MN3007 are rated for 2.5% maximum Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) at a certain input voltage level. For the MN3007, this level is 0.78V RMS. For the MN3207, it’s 0.25V RMS!! This means that our MN3007 that we use can take a much higher input signal level, which means much more dynamic range, and less noise. Think of it as trying to play your stereo at the same clean loud volume through a 78 watt solid state amp or a 25 watt S.S. amp. The 78 watt amp will have less distortion and noise, and sound much better at higher levels.
These, like all our chorus pedals, are made to order to your specs so they usually take a few days to build. This one has the STEREO option:
Starting in 2015 we will offer a TOP JACKS option for people who prefer jacks on top. We are using metal jacks and nuts on these now in both side and top jacks versions.
