The traditional chorus effect has certainly seen its popularity ebb and flow over the years – with most of flow happening throughout the 1980s and 1990s when nearly ever musical genre jumped onto the modulated bandwagon with gleeful abandon. Everyone from New-Wavers to Metalheads to Country Twangers and Smooth Jazzers were drawn to the thickness and bright, heavenly-sounding shimmer of the chorus pedal. Problem was, the relentless sound of that wobbling rate pulse simply wore everyone out.
Subtlety wasn’t on the musical menu back then and many mellow chorus pedals from that era – like the Boss DC-2 Dimension C and Boss DC-3 Digital Dimension – were largely ignored and shortly discontinued – despite the fact that they delivered a wonderful richness without all the warble. The Neunaber Chroma Stereo Chorus takes off from where those vintage (and rather collectable) pastel-colored pedals left off – sound-wise – but adds a whole new host of thoughful options and near endless choices (as we’ll see as we delve into Neunaber’s Pedal Customizer Software).
Right out of the box, the Chroma Stereo Chorus looks like your standard modulation pedal with three mid-sized knobs, standard stereo in and out jacks and Boss-Style power jack. A closer examination around the edges of the pedal reveals some extra micro goodies in the form of a pair of mini 1/8″ expression pedal jacks and a tiny USB jack – very interesting.
It would be unfair at this point not to mention the gorgeous green graphics and clean understated layout of the Chroma; it’s really a handsome pedal to look down at. Geez, even the soft white ON/OFF status LED is easy on the eyes! With all the bright blinding laser-like LEDs that boutique pedal-makers and modders insist on installing in their pedals these days, the Chroma’s soft focus glow is a refreshing change.
With the stock software loaded, the three function knobs tackle Mix, Regeneration and Width duties. With the center Regeneration backed off and the Mix and Width settings fully max’ed out, you’ll experience a lushness that truly sounds as if you are playing with an extra guitarist or two – guitarists who can actually tune their guitars though! It’s one of those effects that is noticeably missed – with a sad “Ahhhhh” – when the pedal is switched off. All manner of knob twisting between the Mix and Depth settings yielded some very pleasing and perfectly delightful tones. Adding various amounts of regeneration is interesting in the sense that it introduces a small room-like reverb that definitely adds some depth and spacial placement. I know Neunaber calls this regeneration “pitch-transposed voices” but it just sounds like a cool tiled ‘verb thing to me.
The sounds of the Neunaber’s stock chorus is pretty amazing and would be totally worth the price of the pedal, but for those looking for options, the Pedal Customizer software (available for free on the Neunaber website) opens up the true potential of this pedal (or any of the Neunaber stereo pedals for that matter).
After a quick visit to the company’s website, I downloaded and installed the Pedal Customizer program without incident to an Intel-based Mac. The software interface is simple and super easy to use with plenty of concise explanations about the various effects and what each knobs will do once the new program is loaded. I powered up the Chroma and connected the included USB cable and within moments (we’re talking less than 15-20 seconds) I had completely replaced the stock chorus program with another that swapped out the Regeneration feature for a standard Tone knob. This particular “Tone Knob” program suited my sound and style better – giving me exactly what I really needed in a chorus pedal. In short, I was able add a bit of treble to my humbucker-equipped guitars and back off the brightness of my single coils. That kind of flexibility is nice!
For those looking for something more traditional, the “Speed Knob” program loads up a chorus that will be is more akin to the traditional pedal we all know and love (or hate as the case may be). The middle knob controls the Rate (aka Speed), while the Mix and Depth knob do their self-explanatory thing. While this particular program isn’t the flagship Neunaber chorus effect, it certainly blows away most chorus pedals out there in modulation land in terms of sonics. It’s lush, rich and brimming with a syrupy goodness that sounds great across all settings. The range of the rate can call up everything from smooth sweeps to pulsing Leslie-like throbs. To fine tune things even further, I loaded the “Swap Center/Right Knobs” feature that allowed me to swap the location of the speed knob and the mix knob so I could take advantage of an expression pedal to adjust the Speed knob (The two expression jacks only control the two upper knob’s parameters). These jacks located on the upper side of the unit and require 1/8″ to 1/4″ adapters (available on the Neunaber’s website for a nominal price). They work as advertised and open up the pedal’s possibilities – especially onstage.
Aside from the fantastic sounds you can expect to extract from the Chroma, the value in the Neunaber Stereo pedal lineup really rests in the fact that you can load ANY of the company’s other stereo pedal’s programs into the unit. This includes the remarkable Stereo Wet Reverb and the lovely Echelon Stereo – along with other bonus effects only available via the Customizer Software like the Shimmer Reverb (think The Edge) and Infinite Hold (similiar to the Electro Harmonix Freeze). While this review is focused on the Chroma, I will say that we loaded up ALL these other effects and were overwhelmingly floored by how stellar they sounded. Experimentalists and ambient-types obsessed with soundscapes and pad-like textures will find plenty to smile about here.
If you care to dig a little deeper, there are a few more software goodies in the Pedal Customizer that allow you to change the pedal’s functionality when operating in mono, dual mono or stereo which is great complex or crazy routing scenarios. The pedal also has the handy option to load completely different effect programs for when you are operating in mono or stereo. Want to use a Wet Reverb when you are hooked up in mono and the Chroma Chorus when you are in patch in for stereo? No problem.
The Chroma Stereo Chorus highlights a new breed of pedal as well as a new breed of independent pedal-maker. The sounds and features you’ll find in the Neunaber pedals are usually only reserved for pedals that are manufactured in mass by the bigger gear companies. The only difference is Neunaber is nimble and quick on its feet with a close ear to the ground on what most guitarists are looking for in terms of effects these days.