blackhatboojum
Well-known member
- Build Rating
When I started this hobby a few years ago, there were certain pedal builders whose work really stood out to me. Among those individuals is @Bio77 . The quality of work, the enclosure aesthetics, and the circuits themselves, were things I took notice of and I aspired to be somewhat on John’s level. Having come as far as I have, and considering myself somewhat of a competent pedal builder now, I decided to reach out to John and confess my admiration. After several messages back and forth, we ended up sending each other pcbs.
What he sent me, is a mono only Ibanez CS9 with a dry cut switch. Ironically, this chorus was something I was going to try and do a layout for but, now I don’t have to. Keeping with my Tombstone silver mine theme, I named this one the Lucky Cuss Chorus. Another fitting name because I’m lucky to have so many cool people on the forums send me cool shit to build.
Like so many of the Ibanez 9 series, there is a Boss pedal of similar nature that can be used for comparison, and at the top of the list… The Boss CE-2. Comparing these two circuits seems pretty fair at first but, if you start studying the schematics, you’ll notice there’s a lot more going on electronically with the CS9 compared to the CE-2. They’re pretty different sonically as well. The CS9 has a lot more depth and the LFO rate can go faster than the CE-2. My typical setting on the CE-2 is to max out the depth knob and set the rate knob around 9:00 o’clock. Do that with the CS9 though and it’s a deep wobbly beast. Nowhere near the sound of the CE-2. It took quite a bit of knob tweaking to get them to sound similar but even then, they’re different sounding. The CS9 has more sparkle, shimmer, and just an overall cleaner feel to it. That’s something I greatly appreciate and enjoy with this chorus. Throw in the fact that it also has built in noise gate circuitry and suddenly it’s at the front of the line for the chorus spot on my pedal board.
Overall this was a fun, pleasant, and great experience with this build. I love how it sounds and I love that John was able to squeeze everything into a 125B enclosure. So, in closing… huge thanks @Bio77 . I’m really digging this chorus.
What he sent me, is a mono only Ibanez CS9 with a dry cut switch. Ironically, this chorus was something I was going to try and do a layout for but, now I don’t have to. Keeping with my Tombstone silver mine theme, I named this one the Lucky Cuss Chorus. Another fitting name because I’m lucky to have so many cool people on the forums send me cool shit to build.
Like so many of the Ibanez 9 series, there is a Boss pedal of similar nature that can be used for comparison, and at the top of the list… The Boss CE-2. Comparing these two circuits seems pretty fair at first but, if you start studying the schematics, you’ll notice there’s a lot more going on electronically with the CS9 compared to the CE-2. They’re pretty different sonically as well. The CS9 has a lot more depth and the LFO rate can go faster than the CE-2. My typical setting on the CE-2 is to max out the depth knob and set the rate knob around 9:00 o’clock. Do that with the CS9 though and it’s a deep wobbly beast. Nowhere near the sound of the CE-2. It took quite a bit of knob tweaking to get them to sound similar but even then, they’re different sounding. The CS9 has more sparkle, shimmer, and just an overall cleaner feel to it. That’s something I greatly appreciate and enjoy with this chorus. Throw in the fact that it also has built in noise gate circuitry and suddenly it’s at the front of the line for the chorus spot on my pedal board.
Overall this was a fun, pleasant, and great experience with this build. I love how it sounds and I love that John was able to squeeze everything into a 125B enclosure. So, in closing… huge thanks @Bio77 . I’m really digging this chorus.
Last edited:
