Ibanez CF-7 Chorus/Flanger

Seemed to be easy to use. didn't get a manual with it.
set it up in my fx chain in a live situation got one quick
chorus sound and waited to use it.

That one quick setting i dialed up sounded good. but as soon as i went to use it live it died! had to unplug and bypass it. tried to get it working after we finished playing and the only sounds i got out of it were the tapping noises of my fingers tapping the pedal trying to get it to work. icould drop it from about four inches and it sounded like a train wrecking!
finally got it working again! for bout two minutes
sounded good when it was working though.

not at all!!! dealer took it back and is getting me another one. i may have to pay him a visit and pick out another pedal first.

didn't mess with ibanez yet hope it doens't get that far
hope dealer will work it out

i will have to enter another review when i get the second one. after reading how this thing sucks batteries dry not sure i want one
may have to try and get him to fix me up with a boss super chorus!

I've chosen to post a review on the Tone-Lok pedal series instead on one pedal in particular. Not difficult to use, just spend some time on the controls and find the sound you like the most.

I've owned two, the CF7 (Chorus-Flanger) and the DS7 (distortion). Also if not the best sound around, for example like the CS-505 or CS 9, the sound of the pedals I've owned is pretty good. On the DS7 you have to keep the tone control to zero to have a sound closer to the real one you have bypassing the effect. It only cuts some little low frequency.

I've got a used CS 505 lately, and I think it's the better Chorus around, no matter what. But the CF7 is not that far to the old pedal. If you have the chance to change the latter for the old one, do it. If not, keep this one. It has a great sound, expecially for the price you pay for it.

This is not on the customer support, but on the overall quality of the Tone-Lok serie. I really don't know how Ibanez might had put these pedals on the market. The quality is close to zero. In 41 years of life I've never, and say never seen so many units going back to the customer support because of the defects. I've bought the CF7 first, and changed it three times because it didn't work mehanically or electronically. It's really a shame. Maybe the people at Ibanez put on the market again the 9 serie because of the great, great lack of quality of the Tone-Loks. I really hope they'll improve the quality because the pedals on sale right now are aweful.
Anyways I've got the chance to have the pedal changed three times. In the end I gave it back and partially traded with a guitar.

Good sound but aweful overall quality. Even if "cheap", also if I don't know why they call 50 euros a cheap price, the construction sucks completely. I don't think they have a quality control at all. I really can tell on... say 10 pedals, 7 came back because of the defects.

I had a bit of problem founding a good sound first, so I tried the manual settings. Deep chorus and Classic Flanger were pretty good, but I didn't like the Whack'd vibe and the other vibe thing at all. Too out-of-tune for me. Ring mod was good. Let's put it other way. It was WEIRD, which is what ring mods should sound like, so I guess it's good. After a while of playing I got bored with the Deep chorus' (IMO) over-deep sound. I also got bored with flanger. And I don't have a real use for a ring mod. Time to twiddle the knobs and get *my* sound. I got really great sound after a while, and it works in chorus-normal, flanger-normal and flanger-whack'd as well. Speed 5, Depth 2, Delay time 5 and Regen 8.

I'm using it with an ESP guitar, Orange amp, Fuzz Face, Dunlop DB-01 Dimebag custom wah, Ibanez SM-7 smashbox, LF-7 Low Fidelity Filter and DE-7 Delay/echo.
Lots of people are complaining about chorus not being deep enough. I don't think so. I like my chorus with depth set at 2. Also the flanger SHOULD sound metallic. I don't find it noisy.

Dependable, at least has been for the year I've had it. Switch looks flimsy.

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I play metal, funk, Hendrix-y stuff and experimental and prog rock. Suits my style and was cheap. Try one before buying, this is not for everyone.

It's easy to use... it's a pedal... got knobs... a switch. It does some odd stuff in the whackd. DON'T USE THE WHACKD!

I also could never get it to whoosh in and out with the beat. It's very random. points off in sound quality though, it's still easy to use.

It is noisy in all settings. and in an effects loop. the flange sounds better than the chorus, but it still is very metallic. Like somebody scraping around inside a tin can. Only with your guitar sound. The chorus is wimpy. it gets lost in distortion, and it makes your clean sounds very trebly. Don't use the whackd, not worth it. I'm noise-core and I can't do anything useful with it. yes it ring-mods, but terribly. it's literally impossible to create a harmony or even a nuetral note in the modulation. It does Korn... but wimpily, and I don't like Korn.

Now, I can't lie. I have another 7-series pedal and it's awesome. I'll buy more. Theyre hardcore. but not this one. At least it's built like a real pedal, though.

Who knows. I hear they'll trade you up for them older pedals with bad switches. Both mine have good switches.

Overall, huh? I play in two bands, one in church, the other doing rock and alt covers. And I write music on my own. Been on it for two years, but I've got a job and some time. I don't suck. I'm a music freak, and I wouldn't tell yall bout it if I had no skills to back it up.

I like the Ibanez 7s, but not this one. I've tried four of them, own the de7 too. I'll sell this one and buy a ph7, see if it agrees with me any better. If it was stolen, I'd want my battery back.

I've tried the boss flanger, I liked it more, but not for the extra $40. I don't need a flanger, thought it would start something creative. I found myself going out of the way to use it, and getting mad at it. Stay away, boys. peace.

a million different sounds can be found in this pedal. four different possible effect settings
chorus/normal
chorus/whack'd
flanger/normal
flanger/whack'd

very nice.

sound is good especially the normal modes. i play alot of crazy noise-core stuff with it.

hasn't let me down or caused alot of problems.. but ibanez pedals suck the shit out of batteries really fast so i use it with a power supply.

never had to deal with them

good versitile pedal of high quality. if you don't have a power supply... get one. i used to have to change the battery like every 2-3 hours.

It's your basic pedal, and thus fairly easy to use. Finding usable sounds is pretty easy, though you probably will be dissapointed the overall sound quality. As they say, though, you get what you pay for.
The manual is average, gives a few cool settings - but otherwise it's nothing special.

Current setup is Schecter C1+ --> Marshall ED-1 Compresser --> Art FX-1 or Alesis Nanoverb (I can't use them both until I get a noise gate)
--> HAO Rust Driver --> Crate V-Series 1512 (Class A All-Tube) Amp.
I no longer use this pedal, but tried it in various positions/combinations before I sold it.

The chorus effect is fairly weak. It doesn't sound horrible, but it is way too thin. A chorus is supposed to fill sounds out - the CF7 is simply too weak to do this. Again, it doesn't sound bad, per se - but it doesn't act like a chorus should. Tweaking the knobs, and using the "wack'd" (stupid name) switch can get you some cool vibrato-type chorus, which is kinda neat as a sound effect that you might wanna insert into an interlude of some sort. Overall, however, the chorus is not something you are going to wanna write songs with.

Now, the flanger. Things get even worse here. It's noisier than a flanger should be, for one. It sounds too harsh and robotic, almost. If I didn't know better, I'd assume it was coming from some antique, low-budget, low-quality digital proccessor. Which is not to say you can't get ANY usable sounds out of it, you can - but there are so many better flangers around - using this one as a primary flanger effect would be ridiculous. As a beginner flange, it isn't too bad I suppose, but there are still better flangers for similiar prices. Oh yeah, and the flange KILLS tube tone. If you're a tone freak, stay far away.

The most dead-on effect in this pedal is actually the ring modulator. No, it doesn't include a ring modulator - but if you use the "wack'd" mode, and tweak the settings right - you will get a spot-on ring modulator sound. But when a Chorus/Flanger pedal's best sounding effect is ring modulation, well - you know something's just not right.

As for emulating artists, I dunno - I aim to create my own sound, and don't really wanna sound like someone else. I believe ex-Limp Bizkit guitarist Wes whoever used one of these though, so maybe you can sound like him? Why anyone would WANT to sound like Limp Bizkit... I don't know.

One more thing, noise. The flanger is the noisiest, as I mentioned earlier. Also, all these Ibanes Tone-Lok pedals create hiss and buzz when you aren't playing.

Overall, the sound quality is fairly poor for the actual effects, but if you're looking to create some odd modulation sounds, then the sound quality is OK.

It seems pretty well-built, certainly not a BOSS or anything, but better than most lower-end pedals. However, the foot pedal is horrible! It's very finnicky, sometimes the effect comes on, sometimes it doesn't. You usually have to figure out how to press it just right to make it work - either that or step on it 3 or 4 times. This is just unacceptable, and would be a disaster in a live situation. I'm taking off 4 points for that. This pedal also sucks batteries worse than any other pedal I own - I shouldn't have to buy a 20 dollar adapter for a so-so pedal, so I'm knocking it down another couple points for that.

I play lots of styles - blues, metal, punk, garage rock, etc. I've been playing for about 5 years or so.
I wouldn't buy it again, in fact I sold it to a friend of mine who is less picky than me.
The only way I would reccomend this pedal, is if you like to insert weird sounds and such in your songs, then it might be ok. Otherwise, stay away. There are better sounding pedals at affordable prices. Rocktron, Guyatone, Boss, Digitech, etc.

This thing is not too complicated. You may have to mess with it for a bit to get the sound you're looking for but that goes for most pedals.

The chorus sound is good. There are no suprises here. If you are looking for a heavy chorus sound you may want to try something else. I use it to get that trippy water effect that gives your sound and tone that little bit extra of pimpness. A lot of people hate on the flange. I agree that it is not very powerful but again, if you want an effect pedal that doesn't drown out your tones this is the one. My only gripe is with the Krazy switch. You WILL lose tone when it is on wack'd mode and have distortion on. You don't notice the tone deteriation too much when the distortion is off. I don't know of another way to duplicate that weird sound so unless you know of one, this pedal is the only way to get that krazy korn vibe.

It eats batteries so get an adapter or power supply (but that goes without saying).

My type of music is a cross between Shadows Fall, Fear Factory, Korn, and Deftones. The CF7 is ideal for this sound. I've been playing for about 10 years an played all types of rock with all types of sound and the sound I have now is my favorite. I use an LTD guitar with duo humbuckers, the DOD death metal distortion pedal(I don't care what you say, it friggin shreds!) the Boss Noise gate and the Boss delay /reverb. If I lost my CF7 I would buy it again because it has exactly what I need, nothing more, nothing less. What I love about it is that it is that it allows me to incorporate what a lot of nu metal bands are doing now into my own style. I'm not going lie...I like being able to finnaly duplicate a sound I have been trying to achieve since '96-'97. I only wish the wac'd switch didn't take out so much tone. This pedal by far has opened doors and changed my sound in a way I've always wanted.

This pedal is pretty easy to use, its not too difficult to find some good sounds. The manual helps a lot to get you going and show you what knob does what.

I was in a Police cover band for 2 years and I needed a good chorus pedal I decided on this one becuase the other ones I tried sucked.
I used mine with a Marshall JCM 2000 DSL 100, Les Paul, and a Strat.
The sound quality was pretty good. The chorus mode adds a really nice brightness to your tone but its weak overall and does not give you the expansive feel that a better chorus will give. The flanger is nice but its very noisy, if your not playing and its on, it hisses like crazy. I never found a use for the "wackd" mode, you cant use it unless you want to cover a Korn song or let people know that you can make the "Korn sound". This is a great pedal for a beginner or someone looking for a nice combo pedal. If you really want THE BEST chorus pedal get a Boss Chorus Ensemble. Its unbelievable and hands down the best, most powerful chorus pedal I've ever heard.

What can I say, it crapped out on me during many gigs. We gigged about 3-4 times a month and our shows were about 4 hours long. This piece of shit would "die" out of nowhere and kill my whole effects chain and therefore all of my sound! It had plently of power from a daisy chain so it wasnt the battery. I would have to jump to the front of the stage and slam it up and down till it lit back up and made a loud popping sound. It wasnt the cables or connections either I tested the shit out of them after the first time it died. The bitch of it all was that it would perform just fine through hours and days of practice but go to shit at the gigs. I ended up buying a Boss Chorus Ensemble and throwing the Ibanez in the trash.

Don't know never called them. The fucker died 2 months after the warranty expired.

I bought it becuase it was cheap and had 2 sounds. The chorus is pretty good and sounds different from all other choruses. It broke at the worst possible times. It would be great for someone who only plays at home becuase you get 2 quality effects in one box and its cheap. The tone lock knobs are a really nice touch. If you want a really good, "watery" sounding, professional chorus DON'T get this one.

It's pretty easy to get a alright chorus sound. The flange, however, is okay - I'm not big on flange because I have a small amp, and the whoosh overpowers it, thus turning the sound to shit. The "Wack'd" switch gives me what I bought this pedal for: weird stuff. Yeah, yeah, yeah, "it's that Korn shit again" - well, what if you twist it to your liking? I liked the fucked-up tremelo-esque sounds because it's creepy. Especially in the middle of a song [like Korn, of course] when those unnatural, eerie tones pierce the distortion-driven riffing - just cool.

The switches [to switch between modes] appear to be off-set, but they work just fine. The push/lock knob idea was a genius one, as I tend to get a sound I like, and I'd like to keep the settings while I'm playing.

The main on/off switch is variable, however. You gotta give it a quick, hard tap to make sure it's on/off - if you tap halfway, it flicks on and off quickly, and screws you up.

Other than that, it's pretty easy to configure.

I'd rather not reveal my setup, as it's a bit "low-tech".

It isn't quiet at all times - during flange mode [or any mode that sounds like it's "moving"], you can hear a background "white" noise, like static on a TV, and it gets annoying.

The effects are pretty good as far as sound quality goes, and you can get pretty chorus and flange sounds from 70's/80
's metal bands. As far as the "Wack'd" sounds go, the only band I can think of that utilizes these tones is Korn.

Due to the dodgy on/off switch, it probably won't be reliable unless one is wary. I would use it on a gig without a backup, because these Ibanez 7-series pedals are of high-quality physical design, and the sound is exactly the same every time.

Haven't dealt with Ibanez as of yet. My only real issue with them is that they tend to keep up with the top trends, i.e. "Wack'd" switch = Korn, heavy-duty shells = heavy-metal slammin', etc. Not like I mind - just that it seems they don't want to be completely original at times.

I play whatever I feel like playing - this pedal helps out with those different tones, and helps me escape from the natural guitar tone, although I do like it. If it were stolen or lost, I'd at least want to get my money's worth back, whether it be replaced with another or refund.

One thing I wish this pedal had is a better switch.

Unlike a lot of other chorus pedals currently on the market, the CF-7 is much more configurable. The time setting alone allows for a wide range of chorus sounds, while a lot of other similar pedals have one specific chorus sound that can be manipulated. In terms of the flanger effects, it is about as configurable as most other similar units. If you take some time and sit down with this pedal and learn how its controls work, you will be rewarded.

I use the CF-7 with a number of different guitars including Strats. Along with other pedals, I play it into a Digitech Genesis 3 which outputs to a Mackie mixer, an amp and studio monitors.

Just like the other Ibanez (DE-7 Delay/Echo) pedal that I use, I find the CF-7 to be very quiet.

In terms of the sound quality, I would rate it has excellent, especially as compared to other similar pedals on the market. I also own and use a Boss CE-5 Chorus Ensemble which has a great sound but is very one-dimensional compared to this unit. The "wacked" switch opens up all kinds of sonic possibilities (including ring modulation) that are far beyond what most chorus/flangers are capable of.

This unit looks to be extremely well-built with a metal case. It looks like it would be very reliable. My other Tone-Lok series pedal has been.

I haveb't had to deal with Ibanez.

I think that the CF-7 would be a good match for anyone looking for a wide range of chorus/flange/modulation effects from a single pedal. I think the sound quality is great and with the right knob adjustments, you you will be amazed at the range of sounds that are available. It does require a bit of work to learn it and unleash its full potential, however. There are other pedals on the market that may offer more recognizable and distinctive sounds, but this pedal covers all of the bases pretty well. If I was buying just one chorus/flanger pedal, this would be the one I would get.