• Simply a simple, great Bass Chorus

  

  As reviewed by Ian Perge on 6/22/2010

  After reading many a review, asking the opinions of several professional and semi-pro bassists that I've come to know, and finally trying it in person (with my own bass, of course - as a general rule if purchasing a substantial or important piece of gear I bring one of my custom or highly-modified basses with me so that I know what the item will sound like using *my bass* as opposed to one pulled off the store wall that's not close to what I use, I made the decision to replace my "Ultra-Large DIGItal Effects Corporation?" Bass Chorus (which, to be fair I got during a promotion after purchasing another, far better and usable product) with T-Rex's "The Sweeper" Bass Chorus... and I've been incredibly happy with my decision since and for the following reasons... I've found over the years and during the ever-increasing growth of my "tonal palate" that it's far better to purchase an item that does *1* thing excellent rather then a *multitude* of things with mediocre success. In this case, I was replacing a Bass Chorus that had just under *20* "Chorus Voices", built-in "Voice Randomization" that automatically increases with the number of voices you are using, and dual outputs that let you either run your effected signal straight through to your amp or add speaker emulation for connecting directly to a mixing board in recording situations. ...except that none of these so-called "features" were of actual help in Real World situations. The combination of the multitude of "Chorus Voices" and "Voice Randomization" and increase with the amount of voices selected simply served to muddy the sound of my bass in a band setting to the point where notes were blurry, indistinct, and of no use whatsoever. The "Speaker Emulation" sounded like no Speaker Cabinet I'd ever owned, use or tried as well as the fact that any recording situation that has you plugging into a mixing board from a pedal not *specifically* made for that purpose will be a recording barely usable for demo purposes, nevermind any type of professional or releasable recording. To add insult to sonic injury, there was a decent amount of noise emanating from the pedal: what is generally known as "digital noise" when engaged as well as a general low-level "hum" when off and in my signal path. Now compare "The Sweeper" to the above pedal. It doesn't have double-digit "Chorus Voices", automatic Voice Randomization, or Speaker Emulation for recording Direct. What it DOES have is the relative simplicity of 3 knobs (Depth, Rate, and Volume) and the ability to go from a minor amount of "doubling" to a thick, lush chorus that still lets you be heard through the sonics of a heavy rock band. No hum or "digital noise", just a great chorus when engaged and a crystal clean "True Bypass" when not. And instead of a fairly unusable set of mono signal & "direct" outputs, the T-Rex gives to two honest-to-goodness outputs for Stereo Chorus if needed or a solid mono output if you're not running a stereo setup. Add an input jack and make sure that the pedal is built solidly which is is highly and that's far better than a load of functions that you'll end up not using and end up spoiling the one function it *should* do properly. That function is what the T-Rex "The Sweeper" Bass Chorus gives you, simply and with fantastic sonic quality. Some players might think one is trading down by removing all of the "functions" of the first chorus... however, after hearing The Sweeper most if not all will realize that choosing quality over quantity is the ultimate in trading up.

  12 of 12 people found this review helpful.

  Was this review helpful?

  Thank You for rating this review!

• Simplicity + Functionality = Great sounding device!

  

  As reviewed by Mike Hamer on 6/17/2011

  I have owned this pedal for about two weeks now, and it sounds so good, I find myself eager to find situations where I can use it! It's incredibly quiet and really easy to use, by virtue of the fact that there are only three controls to manipulate. My bandmates were impressed, and even a bit inspired, when I used it. It's ruggedly built. I would recommend it to any bass player whose looking to add chorus to his "sound pallet". The reasons that I gave it 4 stars instead of 5: 1. T-Rex should include a power supply with it. A 1/2 to 1 hour battery life is just about useless in most cases. The logic of "emergency use only" (which is labeled near the battery compartment) escapes me! (If you've got no power to run your pedal, your amplification is most likely not going to be working either.) I would suggest making the pedal more versatile with regard to what kind of power supply you use with it. (like the "Aphex Bass Xciter" for example) 2. The manual could use a little more detail with regard to the specifications and suggested settings. Mind you, neither of these things, mentioned above, have anything to do with how well this device is built, or the quality of the sound. (both of which I found impecable!) Again, I highly recommend this chorus for use with bass guitar.

  1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

  Was this review helpful?

  Thank You for rating this review!

• Nice upgrade

  

  As reviewed by WormtownBass on 6/16/2011

  I have the Boss Bass Chorus, but wanted to go analog. T Rex has a much crisper, cleaner chorus. Boss sounds great too, but darker

  1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

  Was this review helpful?

  Thank You for rating this review!

You must be logged in to write a review. Please click here to login.