Fulltone CF-1 Choralflange

It's easy to turn the knobs and flick the switches and it's not much more complicated than most flangers, certainly a little bit confusing if you are only used to a chorus pedal. It's certainly usable imediately unlike massive menu scrolling press this button and that button digital abortions.

Hmmm, it's difficult to answer without making it sound bad. The chorus sounds it makes are very clear and airy rather than thick and rich like a CE-1. THis isn't the most chewy sounding chorus and kind of lacks a distinct character of it's own, but still a very good chorus. As for flanging well it's pretty poor. This is really just a chorus pedal with a switch to change the fixed delay value making it much shorter like a flanger uses. It doesn't quite work because without having a resonance knob you are limited in what a flanger should be able to do. Maybe the new chorus/flange/vibrato will be better but I feel now that it won't be. I think this guy only makes things that are copies of other stuff. Mainly simple distortions and fuzz and basically this circuit is too complicated for him to make it work properly. If you want a flanger anything else would crap all over this. As far as chorus, well it makes chorus sounds, you can vary the delay time which makes it go from subtle to more noticibly detuned. I don't think it's bad, but it's overpriced for what it sounds like.


I have owned a lot of chorus pedals. If I had to name an alternative, it depends, but probably the Ibanez CS-5 (or Arion SFC-1) for a chorus and the Nady FL-10 for a Flanger. Sometimes it's not about how much things cost, it's how they sound. This doesn't sound good.

There was a website called Mike Fuller sucks but it's gone now. Basically it was being too kind.

Not helpful at all, basically worthless <-absolutely the case here

It might be ok it you like having Fulltone written on your pedals and you have not owned many chorus pedals. As a flanger it's rubbish. As a chorus it's every bit as good as anything else that's analog.

This pedal is easy to get a good sound out of. Everything that comes out of it sounds great, even the "non-musical" sounds. I'm not going to confuse useability with depath of features here. It's one of those things that's easy to get into but difficult to master. Very important to read the manual and understand what all the settings do then run through the suggested settings to get a better feel for what each dial actually does. The manual is brilliant, this is my first Fulltone product and the manual for this is better than any other effects pedal manual I've ever owned - even the more details ones such as you get with TC electronic's pedals... It's easy to access the DIP switches and the battery compartment but I wouldn't reccommend using anything other than a regulated 9V DC adapter... I bought an American one so I couldn't use the Fulltone adapter that came with it but it slots nicely into the voodoo lab PP2 I bought today!

Sound quality, In one word, stellar. I'm not going to ramble on, this is simply THE modulation pedal.

I tried it in the effects loop before my delay pedal, where I would usually put modulation... That didn't seem to work well with the flanger. I've settled with it as the last thing in my instrument level effects chain. I don't use a distortion pedal, I use the amp's overdrive, but right in front of it I have a fuzzbox and it works very well with the Choralflange for certain sounds.

I can't comment as I haven't gigged with it yet.

Haven't had to use them but if anything did go wrong, given the fact they're based in the States, this is the US model, and I've heard some horror-stories about Fulltone's support department I'd probably take it to the guys at my local guitar shop.

I won't bore anyone by trying to describe the sound of my band but this pedal on certain settings in combination with another pedal are the secret ingredients in my personal sound.

This is one of those few pedals you can really pull something unique out of as well as replicating all the classic chorus, flanger, univibe and leslie sounds.

I wish it had separate dials for chorus and flange and a footwitch to choose between them... But I suspect that's just me being lazy

I'm pretty sure this is the first 10 I've ever given.

Very Easy to use.

This is where this pedal is kind of confusing. I liked it at first but got tired of the chorus rather quickly. It was a tad weak but also It was a bit too shimmery.
Same went for the flange.

It's not bad, it just doesn't really seem to have a voice of it's own...and I'm not talking transparency, I'm talking sweetness.
My old dod mini-chorus is way better sounding...I know that's probably not a fair comparison as the mini-chorus was one of the best ever made...but regardless..the price is high for the CF...although the box it's housed in is very pretty...nice paint job...looks cool.
The pedal is quiet.

fulltone does some nice pedals but I think Bob would have been wiser to just do a really sweet chorus, instead of a combo...just my opinion..
I'm sure some disagree..and guess what..that's OK !!

This one just wasn't for me.

I play G Lp gold top 1960's..Wolfgang USA archtop etc.
Mesa, Fender, JSX Peavey.

No problems with the pedal.

I've been playing since I was 12..that's a while..haha.
I play Rock / worship...etc.

I did like the pedal at first but it got pulled from my rig within 2 weeks as it was not my cup of tea at all. Kind of cheesy sounding to me.
I suppose I am spoiled some as I've played the boss vintage stuff..old ibanez ..etc and they're hard to beat.

It would be nicer if it had a footswitch to go between chorus and flange..even though they sound a lot alike anywayz...

I'm confused by this one. Typically Rob fulltone does a great job and I think just a nice chorus would have been better.

Sure don't mean to offend anyone..it's still...Just MY opinion !!

Merry Christmas !!

Very simple pedal to use. Plug it in and go for it!

Great sounds abound in this pedal. The chorus and flange are world class.

I've owned 5 Fulltone pedals. This was the first one to die on me. First sign of death was a weaker signal output along with higher noise output.

This where things got dicey. I've read in forums that it takes a while for the fellas at Fulltone to respond to customers who need support. That proved true in my case as well. It's been over a year with a dead pedal and sending over 10 emails and no response....it's pretty discouraging to spend premium money for a boutique pedal and to get zero response when it dies.

I am full time player and have replaced all of my Fulltone pedals. I won't support a company who ditches me when I have supported them over the years.

OK- This is not an out of the box, plug in and play unit. It's a sophisticated device that deserves careful listening and adjusting to get your desired sound.
If you're going to pay this much dough for a modualtion pedal then why not take your time and get the best out of it?
The manual is excellent and the recommended settings truly gives optimal examples of what this machine can do.

My goal with this pedal was to be able to dial in 3 usable chorus/leslie sounds and make quick changes on stage.
I love the clean shimmery chorus sound EJ gets or the warble of Mike Stern and vibey sound of Robin Trower.
Can one pedal really get those? Well, after using a TCE Chorus/Flange, Fulltone DejaVibe, and VoodooLabs Micro Vibe, I can truly say the CF1 comes close to all the sounds I got with those units. I don't use chorus/modulation a lot, never use flanging but when you want those sounds this thing does them in top notch fashion.
I use it in a pedalboard setup into a Boogie MKIIB or Rivera Chubster with Gibson ES 335. I find there is slight noise at extreme settings but no more so than the above mentioned pedals.
I have not tried it in stereo mode yet but plan to soon. Has the neat option of switching from true bypass to buffered output- cool!

If it's anything like the rest of Fulltone products it should be pretty much bullet proof. I've had a few issues with their footswitches in the past which were taken care of (see below.)

I've read the various posts about Mike Fuller and Fulltone reliability/customer service. Here's my take- Back in 1998 I bought an FD2 for myself and Soul Bender for my son.
The Soul Bender has never had any problems and has survived stage torture from my son's alt rock band.
The FD2 had a faulty footswitch, I called, Mike Fuller personally took care of it, no charge (I paid shipping.) He was helpful and very courteous. A couple years later, one of the LED's stopped working which was traced to a short in one of the replaced footswtiches. I called, this time got a customer service guy who was very helpful and after I explained the problem, sent two new switches (Fulltone brand, just released at the time)at no charge.
I replaced the fauly one, no problems since.

I use the CF1 in a function/cover band so really comes in handy for replicating various guitar parts. Best of all are the Leslie type sounds I can get out of the CF1 when I play blues/jazz.
The four knob layout needs to be explored and pay attention as to how the controls interact with each other. These are the keys to getting the most out of it. I have mine set so with minimal knob changes I can quickly get 3 excellent sounds to cover my modulation needs. I would definitley replace it if lost or stolen.
My pedalboard setup goes: Keeley Compressor (2 knob,) Fulltone 10th anniversary FD2 Mosfet, older blue FD2, Barber DD & Small Fry,
Fulltone Choralflange, Boss D5, EH Holy Grail.
Bottom line- I've played through an old Roland Chorus Ensemble and owned an original EH Clone Theory. I think these are good examples of vintage chorus sound. The CF1 doesn't pretend to be an exact replica of a vintage unit, but for my 2 cents, those sounds are in it and with better circuitry and lower noise.
If you want a variety of high quality chorus/modulation sounds in pedal format, this is the best.

I agree with everyone who says this is not the easiest pedal to use. Most good pedals that aren't one-trick ponies need a fair bit of time in order to get the most out of them and this is certainly true of the CF-1. Someone who has never used a chorus or flanger before might struggle initially, but I guess most people buying this will already be modulation devotees so shouldn't find it too hard.

This is a difficult one and, I think, really depends on what your expectations are of what a good chorus/flnager should sound like.
For me, when I think of chorus, I think of early Police (in fact the same is true of flanging) so I was actually pretty disappointed with the sounds this unit produces.
To put it into context: over the last year or so I have owned a load of vintage and boutique choruses/flangers, as well as 2 different choralflanges, one from '05 and one from '06.
Compared with these other pedals the chorus is most definitely incredibly versatile, incredibly 'pro' sounding and very quiet. The flanging is pretty crap - nowhere near as deep or versatile enough as even the old Boss BF-2. As for the rotary-type sounds - they're OK, but nothing outstanding.
My main problem with the chorus is that is just isn't lush or warm enough. If you think you can get CE-1 tones out of the CF-1 you've obviously never played through a CE-1.
Finally, there was a significant difference between my two CF-1s, the later one being much more intense sounding than the other. I don't know whether this was due to circuit-differences, or inaccessible, internal controls being set differently, but it was pretty remarkable.

Seems pretty solid

I've never got an e-mail reply from Fulltone, despite many attempts. This amounts to 'basically worthless'. I'm sure if Mike had replied I'd be giving him a high score, but I've got to be factual here.

It's undoubtedly a superb unit, and the chorus sounds, at least, are excellent, but they are not up to par if you are after warm, vintage, CE-1 tones.
The flanging should be much better - as it is I'd still need a separate flanger (I use a Maxon FL-9) for my needs.
Plus it's very expensive. I'd strongly recommend something like the Retro-Sonic chorus, Jacques Meistersinger or Maxon CS550 before buying one of these as they cheaper, but much nicer sounding choruses.

|Well this is a tricky question regarding the CF-1. There are a lot of parameters to turn BUT this is not really an advantage. First of all is the live situation. In the heat of the moment it is hard to think clearly and I found that all these knobs did not help. Some are very small witch is not good. Secondly: the parameters are different when using the flanger or the chorus. Not cool.
Thirdly: you can't change from chorus to flanger by footswitch from one to another: unbelievable!

The sound of the chorus is OK. Better than Boss cs. But it never really satisfied me and sounded still somewhat metallic to me. Then I could lay my hands on a Clone Chorus from Analog Man and voilla: everything was perfect. With just two knobs to turn loads of wonderfull and very different sounds. The leslie sim of the Clone is unbelievable! At last I could nail the intro of Dutch Rock icon Herman Brood on the song Saturday Night.
The flanger side of the CF-1 is dissapointing. I own a 1975 MXR vintage flanger wich beats the hell out of the CF. The MXR is spacious and has more diffrent sounds. The CF flanger is metallic.

Not really; it broke down under normal conditions (at home with Pedal Power). Well: could happen. What cannot be happening is the fact that I had to wait one half tear for some spare part (not) being send. Shame on Fulltone.

See above.

Play classic rock in professional band. Have boutique gear and vintage Marshalls and good Gibsons. Play for 30 years now.
I cannot give it a good rating, especially as it costs quite some money. Now I have a 150 euro MXR and a 150 euro second hand Clone Chorus and am a lot happier.
And now something else: the service from Music Toys sucks: slow delivery (two moths!), no answer on e-mail.

Yeah i am in love with this pedal. Before i say anything else i first want to say that before this and its ok to laugh i had a boss chorus ensemble. There is absolutly no comparison as you probably already know. The tones that come out of this thing are amazing its rich full for both chorus and flanging modes. I bought it cuz i primarily wanted just a good chorus but the flanger is awsome and ill see my self using that alot. Anyone that complains about this pedal on here is either the most picky dumbass or just hates the sound of a chorus and flanger pedals. try one

Havent had it too long but it seems pretty tough

Overall ill have this pedal probably forever dont see a reason to need anything else. Sure now that i played it if anything were to happen to it id replace it as fast as i could.

The pedal is extremely versatile but A little bit more complicated than your average chorus or flange pedal but the flexibility of this pedal is amazing

The finest chorus and flanger I've ever heard in my life.........i pay my fender mustang + bk butler tube driver + tc electronics booster line driver distortion + fulltone choralflange + ibanez ad80 + '59 fender bassman ltd. I use chorus sparingly, so its most important feature is the buffered by-pass is totally transparent! When using chorus, the CF-1 (mono or stereo) is bright, full, rich and warm. i like also the flager......i've had the boss ce2 ( i like it too!!!!)but the choralflange i think it's better....

ok!!!!

ok!!!!

Best chorus in the world.............i love it....

Straight forward set up but not easy to get a good sound out of the unit because I don't think it has one to offer.

It should be renamed PussyFlange as the tones are weak. It is not noisy though and still better than any Major Brand name stuff Like Boss, etc. Those are a 1/10. I use it with other Fulltone pedals. Just not very inspiring to me. The Flanger is a joke. The problem I usually have with Flangers/Chorus type pedals is that they take over the tone and are therefore too much. Fulltone is excellent at not doing this and I generally think they get it right. However, I think they are just a bit too weak on this one. My least favorite Fulltone pedal except for maybe the first run Distortion Pro.

Fulltone uses quality componenets and the only trouble I have had with any of their pedals is sometimes when switching them on or off the signnal goes silent. I have to engage the switch on and off again to recover. I currently own all his stuff except the Bass stuff, limited editions, and the clean boost. The TTE is worth the grand too.

He must either suffer from shortman complex or be an only child. Maybe both as he his generally a standoffish jerk. He needs to get over it and smoke more weed or take a class on tolerance. Maybe he can't help it because he is so much smarted than the rest of us. I believe Hendrix would have been his polar opposite and probably would have laughed in his face.

I have been playing 27 years. I own mostly Gibsons and Fenders. Tube amps are my favorite. I prefer equipment that assist me in getting out of the way of the music. You can't control it or overthink it and it has taking me several years to realize it. Try Analogman's stuff too. He is a pleasure.