On October 6, 2008, I was handed, after an exhaustive search, a brown box from a man in brown shorts. Inside, a new-in-box Stereo Polychorus, fresh from next-day shipping, courtesy of Music123, was beckoning. After a week of research, I decided that the Polychorus was incredibly hard to handle, and not exactly a proper chorus. In the years that followed, I acquired a Stereo Clone Theory, rid myself of a Danelectro Cool Cat (18v), and traded for a modded Small Clone. Oh, and my amplifier, a Roland Jazz Chorus 55, has THE chorus sound. But, I could never get the Polychorus to act right. It was always a bit of a handful, in a noisy, interesting way. While a cool-sounding box, I had no immediate use for it, so it was, for the most part, shelved, save for a few days out of the year. Tonight, though, I figured it out: Sweep Filter On, Width at 8:40, Rate at 9:00, Tune/Delay at 8:00, Mode set to Chorus, and Feedback at 10:00. I’ve found it. This is the chorus sound I knew a Polychorus could give. And, best of all, I am no longer tethered to the JC-55, which, while still my favorite chorus of all, is without a footswitch. There is a custom-made one that controls distortion, reverb and chorus, but I can’t be bothered to spend $300 on eBay to get one. So, I have the portable chorus I want. I have the setting that works for my Ibanez bass. I have something that will get other bizarre sounds, without really trying.

I now have to alter my recommendation for the Polychorus, which I previously mentioned on TalkBass (search ‘Polychorus’ and ‘andvari7’ for a thread I wrote about this; I refuse to name it, as its title had to be edited from one that made a whole lot more sense, and one that I am proud to tell you, upon request). I previously stated that it was only for crazy people, people without friends, those who have no prospects for intimate relationships, or those who wanted something that is fantastic, albeit mislabeled, but that if you wanted a proper chorus, that there were probably better options. I now have to say that all of that is still true, but that it is a proper chorus. It’s the best chorus pedal you can buy. Get it. Make Mike and the crew a lot of money.