Ibanez BC10 Bass Chorus

Has one more knob than most conventional chorus pedals buts it's very easy to find a usuable sound.

I'm not a bassist. I use this pedal with a guitar. I bought this unit as a cheaper alternative to the Maxon CS-550 chorus. It's made by the same company, with the same controls, and using the same Panasonic MN3207 BBD chip. Originally I tried the SC10 guitar version, but found it had a presence boost that made it too icepicky on the bridge. This unit sounds very similar to the SC10 - it's been a while since I've had the latter unit but this one doesn't seem to have as much of a presence boost. It's still a bright, airy type of chorus typical of the 80s rather than the darker, swampy 70s style chorus. The delay time knob is fantastic as it lets you dial in the chorus "character" that you want. Personally I like a little shimmer, and hate that spacious chorus sound reminiscent of 80s power ballads. With most chorus pedals that have a fixed delay time it's a bit hit or miss as to whether it's going to sound ok to your ears, but with this unit I can dial the delay time right back to avoid that dated 80s sound. Sounds fantastic in stereo.

The pedal has two main faults. First, it seems the designers at Maxon took the 'it's like an ensemble of guitars' literally when designing this effect as there's a significant volume boost when the pedal is engaged. Not huge, but noticeable, particularly if you turn it on after a distortion. This may be a positive for some users. The second fault is it can be noisy, particularly with the delay time above half way on the dial and excessively so after 8. The unit has a built in noise gate that supresses the BBD hiss when you're not playing, but if you have the delay time maxed then, depending on the strength of your signal, it can be awash with hiss. It's not a huge loss for me as I tend to have the delay time right down, but it's a bit of a shame as there's a lot of pitch shift with the delay time maxed, making a good vibrato sound, so takes away from the versatility of the unit somewhat. The noise would probably be inaudiable in a band mix. I don't remember the SC10 being noisy at all. This may be explained due to this unit having more delay time than the SC10, being made for bass.

Seems solid enough, although the 10 switches are notorious for failing. This one, however, works perfectly.

Great chorus for the price. I'm guessing the extra money spent on the Maxon CS-550 would get you noiseless operation even with the delay time maxed. But this unit cost me $50 and I probably overpaid somewhat. They're not common, but usually only go for $30-50. The Maxon CS-550 sells for $220 new (or $150 used), is bigger and I think requires a 12v adapter. I don't lust after the CS-550 after picking up this one.

I don't usually do these review things, but this is a GREAT pedal (and I'm using it for guitar, not bass, I like the fuller sound a bass chorus gets with a Strat), at least for what I?m using it for, thought I?d put in my 2 cents. Hey, 3 knobs.....dead simple. One input, 2 outs for stereo, battery compartment (avoid this, kinda tight), power supply jack (use this). Good sound, easy to work. Straight up 12 o?clock on all settings , believe it or not, is a real good place to start from, can?t hardly let get a bad sound.

Nice quiet sound (using a Boss power supply, center ground), this thing has what I want...it can also get the much-sought after Leslie sound too with the twist of one knob. Gets a little airy (slight white noise) when cranked, almost like a reverb, but then why crank it unless that?s the sound you want? I can get even close to a flanger sound, but I don?t need to, just an FYI. Nice and transparent, at moderate to lower settings, this thing sounds almost as good as an Arion SCH-1 I had (BOUGHT NEW about 10 years ago before every idiot and his brother started jacking the prices on used, falling apart junked out broken left-overs, you guys ought to be ashamed of yourselves, definitely not musicians), very transparent at medium to lower settings, you can actually hear your guitar. Nice, and I buy from the ear, not the price or notoriety, kids. Use your ears, not your peer pressure. And remember: anything is gonna sound like crap around fluorescent lights or plugged into wiring with a bad ground or reversed hot and neutral. Remember one other thing: MY AMP AIN?T THE SAME AS YOURS, IT?S GONNA SOUND A LITTLE DIFFERENT!

I think I used to have a couple of the 10 series Ibanez pedals ( and a SoundTank, those are cheap crappy circuits and don?t work well) on the road in the 80's when I did the MTV hair band thing with the big hair, feather earrings, leather pants and electric orange tiger stripe bandanas around the knees (pretty stupid now that I look back, but hey, it was what was paying money at the time and beat the heck out of going disco DJ), they worked fine then, they work fine now (unless some banger decides to dive on it from the top of the PA, don't know what that's about). Sturdy, metal, works fine. Don?t forget though, EVERYTHING BREAKS SOONER OR LATER! The trick is to not break it through sheer stupidity?

It's old, nuff said. Don?t know why I even wrote anything here?.although I?ve never tried to contact them, always fix my own stuff, or if I can?t I buy a replacement. Keep it simple.

I have played almost every kind of music there is for a living from country, to rock to (REAL) blues to ragtime jazz to space tripping Hawkwind (the REAL Hawkwind from the early 70?s, right now gigging classic rock and blues, the old retro cliche, but it pays the bills) and I have 2 pedals I HAVE TO HAVE? chorus and heavy distortion. With my hands, volume and tone controls and the clean and OD channel on my amp, I do everything else, learn to do it, it?s a nice amount of freedom from the ?Boutique Thieves? who?ll steal your hard earned $ for a name. You don?t have to have the best pedals to sound good, and it?s ALSO ok to buy a bunch of stuff, whatever works for you, just make sure it?s FOR YOU. Started play at 4-1/2 years old, I'm almost 47, spent 17 on the road, now I'm an old fat retired short haired hippy weekend warrior (someday you will be too), 5 ? 8 gigs a month, do the math. Pedal works great, I use bass choruses most of the time (when one breaks down I fix it or move on and buy a replacement), makes a fatter sound, that's just "my sound" isn't that what everybody's looking for? I haven't been a wannabe for at least 30 years....Yeah; I'd buy it again in a heartbeat...Dano Cool Cat comes close, but no even tempered Leslie sound like the Ibanez. Get one if you can find it cheap, it's a good deal. Get one if it costs you a few bucks, it's worth the try out, never can tell.....hope this review actually helps somebody?I didn?t come here to blow about all my pedals, guitars, and who my heroes are, just happened to really think this was a good find. Buy cheap and go long till you find something that work, guys?and just be a musician, not a another ?guitar player?. REMEMBER: BUY CHEAP AND GO LONG! Never can tell what might turn out to be YOUR Holy Grail, kids. One more thing?DON?T BE A PEDAL WHORE! If you got something for sale, be fair. Some day it will come back to you in a good way and you?ll get that pedal you?ve been dying for, for a song. And always remember what the butler said to Eddie Murphy in Trading Places: ?Just be yourself, no matter what happens, they can?t take THAT away from you??..
Email me if you got questions, glad to help, just don?t be silly about it.
Peace & Blessings
Doc
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The Chorus has 3 knobs. That's all you need to get every possible sound from a Crazy Chorus to a warm, slow chorus. THe manual shows a few good examples. It has "stereo-Outs" so you could pluck in 2 AMPs if you want

I'm useing an Gallien Krueger Top and and a 250W JBL Bassbox. It's just a little bit noisy at my Cheepamp at home. BUt i won't play with tahat AMP anyway on stage. I can get every Chorus from Metallica to Nirvana to.......whatever. It's amazing what you can do with only 3 knobs. Great sound! I also use it with a MORLEY PRO SERIES 2 WAH?. So I get a very crazy flanger-like sound!! Ty it!!! it's a great pedal!!!

metal casing, plastic pedal. Sometimes it get on and suddenly off again when I stepped to hart onto the pedal. Can't compare it with Boss quality but it will work!!!

bought it used but it was brand new. I never needed it!

I'm someeone who lieks to play with a different styles of sounds and who likes to use a lot of different effekts. We play a stange stil of "melodic mEtal-Core". But with this pedal I fit in all off the styles. I Can play dark melodies like gothic or can use a warm chorus for songs like "the thing that should not be". Just the plastikpedal sucks......but that's all.
I'm glad that I bought this one and would buy it again immediately!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can't belief that there Choruseffekts with a better sound!