Lucky Cuss Chorus (Bio77 999 chorus)

blackhatboojum

Well-known member
Build Rating
5.00 star(s)
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.

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Whoa! That looks great! This made my day. 😎

I've got your FL9 boxed up and awaiting calibration. Build report soon.

Glad you like it, it's my favorite chorus. Some other differences between the CS9 and the CE-2 is the ability to set the clock frequency in the CS9. You can make it sound more like a CE-2 by setting that the same (but why would you?). CE-2 has other design quarks like the bias trim sets the op-amp reference voltages. Also, the gate, which is amazing once you notice it.
 
Glad you got to build one of these too! I love mine. It's definitely more so what I was looking for with a chorus. Like you, I prefer mine to come after delay. I think it will sound great with the DM-3!
 
Whoa! That looks great! This made my day. 😎

I've got your FL9 boxed up and awaiting calibration. Build report soon.

Glad you like it, it's my favorite chorus. Some other differences between the CS9 and the CE-2 is the ability to set the clock frequency in the CS9. You can make it sound more like a CE-2 by setting that the same (but why would you?). CE-2 has other design quarks like the bias trim sets the op-amp reference voltages. Also, the gate, which is amazing once you notice it.
Huge thanks and I’m glad you think I did it justice! I can’t wait to see that FL9 build report. The more I play around with this chorus, the more I’m loving it and yeah… I’m pretty sure this is my favorite chorus now.

Gotta love a good love build.
100% 🤘

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Great job to the both of you!
Many thanks Rob!

Glad you got to build one of these too! I love mine. It's definitely more so what I was looking for with a chorus. Like you, I prefer mine to come after delay. I think it will sound great with the DM-3!
Absolutely! It sounds excellent after the dm-3. Sounds damn good after my AD9 as well. *fist bump to a fellow chorus after delay homie*
 
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