REVIEW: MXR M-134 Stereo Chorus

I’ve been after a chorus pedal for a long, long time but I was never 100% happy with any chorus I tried. They were usually too hi-fi for my tastes – I hate that slick 80s studio sound with chorus on everything. My ideal chorus tone is something like what Steve Vai sometimes uses. Y’know, a warm analog warble beefing up the notes before they hit the amp, rather than a sterile hi-fi zing applied in the effects loop. I’ve tried a few pedals that got close, real close, but I’ve finally found my chorus of choice in the MXR M-134 Stereo Chorus.

Let’s look at the features first. You’ve got your typical rate, width and intensity controls, just as you would expect. But what’s that to the left? Treble and bass controls, so you can tailor the frequency response of the chorus effect while leaving the dry guitar sound unaltered? Awesome! Furthermore there’s a little switch which drops the bass frequencies out of the chorus effect altogether, so you maintain note definition and pitch clarity while still getting that ethereal shimmer. Great idea. And naturally, it's stereo. I don't have two amps that are similar enough to really get down to business with this feature, so I tried it through two amp sim programs on my computer and the results were suitably wide and lush. But it's not really fair to test a pedal using amp sims, so bare with me and next time I'm around a pair of suitable amps I'll amend the review. Aaah, the luxury of writing for a blog compared to a magazine!

The pedal runs on 18v so you’ll either need two 9v batteries or a Dunlop ECB-004 18-volt AC Adapter.

My preferred placement for chorus may be a little unusual compared to some players. I’ve placed it after my other modulation effects (phaser and flanger), and before distortion (Marshall DSL50’s Lead channel, sometimes beefed up with an MXR CAE Boost/Overdrive). My theory here is that the chorus works its magic on the phaser and flanger, and doesn’t sound so dang digital like if it was placed after distortion. There are two exceptions though: I have a Way Huge Swollen Pickle and a Dunlop Jimi Hendrix Octave Fuzz (one of my most cherished eBay finds) placed before the flanger and phaser. I don’t use fuzz as a main sound but rather a cool embellishment now and then, and I find it to be more stable if I’m not changing the input signal all the time with different effects. I also like the psychedelic effect of chorus, phaser or flanger applied after fuzz. It reminds me of stuff like ‘Itchykoo Park’ or something. Yet I simply will not abide the sound of phaser, flanger or chorus on a modern distortion or overdrive tone, dagnabbit! Yes, I’m a complex man.

I pretty quickly found my ideal setting with the MXR Stereo Chorus, and perhaps not surprisingly it’s with the width, rate and intensity controls all set somewhere around 5, give or take a little. This is where I find the best mix of sparkle, fatness and warmth. Check out Steve Vai’s tone on ‘Frank’ from The Ultra Zone for an idea of the kind of sound I’m going for with this setting. I use the filter button to zap out the chorus effect on the low end, which seems to maintain the thump of lower notes while increasing the zing of higher ones.

Sometimes though I leave the switch out and increase the width for a bit of a Joe Satriani Surfing With The Alien sound. This is an especially cool trick when I kick in the wah wah, then feed the whole shebang into a distorted amp setting.

You can also get some great vintage vibrato sounds by cranking the rate and width controls and mixing the intensity to taste. I like this for David Gilmour-esque wobbles, especially combined with a chorus effect.

So there ya have it: my long search for a chorus pedal is finally over. I wonder what pedal I’ll start lusting over next…

Check out JimDunlop.com for sound samples. I’ll record my own next week too and add them to the review.

LINK: Jim Dunlop online store