Ibanez CS5 Chorus

Like ALL 5 series Ibanez Soundtanks, 3 knods. My belief is that the only reason it has the 3rd knob for Delay-time, is because there was only one mold for all those 5 series soundtanks, so they had to stick something in there. All its predacessors only had 2 knobs, so they were actually 1/3 easier to use. Plus it's not stereo, so there's one simple in, one simple out. AC in and the battery is quite accessible.

I had gotten this pedal in a trade (for a DD5) and gave it to my guitarist. Since then I've had some really nice analog chorus' such as an EH Small Clone, and a Rockman Stereo Chorus unit. I also had a Boss CH-1. Now i need a chorus pedal again, and my guitarist gave me back the CS5. Oh the irony...

I'm a snob when it comes to analog effects. I have yet to find a digital chorus that sounds anywhere near as good as ANY analog chorus. The CS5 sounds quite similar to the EH. Great chorus sound from such a crappy little pedal. As far as noise, you're just gonna expierence some noise in chorus, it's just gonna happen. The only reasons I can see not liking this pedal soundwise are the fact that it's not stereo, and it's not true bypass.

Most CS5 pedals are seen as junk, because they're built that way. I have to give this one a 7 though, because after 16 years, it's still going. The switch is starting to wear out, but I just need it for one show in the next month here.

I currently play bass in a pop-punk band, but I've done jass groups, rock, metal, andI'm currently using it for a reunion show for a prog/alternative band I was in. My main hope is that this pedal gets me through the one show. My goalis to have my entire board be truebypass this summer, and I'm thinking I'll replace the old CS5 with a Maxon CS9 (truebypass, and similar to Ibanez CS9, but with 2 extra knobs), which is kinda funny because Maxon originally made the CS5 for Ibanez.

The pedal is eay to use, speed/width/d-time.

I run a Classic Player Strat, and a 50's Mex
T sTrat, w. Texas Specials, into a POD2, and Fostex PM0.5's. The pedal is incredibly quiet, in use or on bypass, it doesnt appear to suck any tone at all. The effect is easily variable from quite thin, to a full bodied, quite heavy chorus.
When tried into a squire sp10 amp, strangely odd 70's Pink Floyd came through.
The pedal can almost create a univibe sound, if d-time is set 3/4, as well as width, and speed around 1/2, it is almost Trower-like.
Fast chorus is also obtainable, so theres the fast leslie type sound tere too.

The construction is plastic, but does appear to be quite solid. It has been opend up, and the layout is fairly strong. I would chance it without a backup, but i wouldnt like to abuse it, as some may.

n/a

The pedal is a simple great little device. The sounds are amazing, and i think people should be put off by the plastic housing. With careful fiddling of controlls, which is needed wth most pedals, a whole range of sounds can be caoxed.
one sight point is that the on/off treddle is place specific, if you dont hit it right, it dont change.
in all an amazing peice of electronics

Basic setup of a stomp box so of course its easy. Haven't changed mine at all and everythign is still working.

It was cheap so you get what you pay for. Its always annoying when someone says it doesn't sound as good as my 500 dollars rack mounted chorus system. Of course its sound isn't as good...but for the thrifty musician it works. I play it with a '71 stratocaster and peavey express 112. I'm not exaclty a nut for perfect tone...i like things a little on the rough and unrefined side. With that in mind...it fits in perfect.

Its not too bad. My only beef with it is the foot switch itself. Sometimes when I step on it, it doesn't turn on and i hvae to tap it just right to get it to go...so that kinda scratches the "stomp" box title. Eventually I'm going to upgrade to either an amp with built in chorus, or a Boss.

Never dealt with them about this pedal but I did work at music store for a while and had to deal with ibanez (hoshino). It was relativley irritaing but things did finally work out.

Good for a beginners effects setup. I wouldn't recommending for a musician who is out playing shows. The flakey footswitch isn't worth messin with.

It's pretty easy to use. I've just purchased it so I don't know what it will be like in a tense gigging situation...but it's designed like all the others in that it has smallish knobs to turn.

I use a Fender American Strat with a Traynor Custom Valve 40watt. The CS5 is not noisy on any pickup or on either the clean or boost channels. The effects are fairly well rounded. I used to use a Boss Chorus but that was a long time ago. The chorus effect is good; sounds like chorus to me.

I am hoping to be able to depend on it. I bought it used and it looks like it has been kept in pretty good shape; only time will tell. Also, I'd have to use it on a gig without a backup; it's the only chorus box I have.

Don't know yet.

I play light rockish sounding stuff with a feel for the 80s. I've been playing for about 25 years, but not professionally. After all these years I'm still trying to get "my sound." Now, finally, I think I'm on the right track.

I bought it mainly because of price and availability. Now that I have it, I like it and I like the price I paid too. I'm looking forward to using it the next time I play.

I haven't found a pedal yet that was hard to figure out,
so yeah, it's easy like Sunday Morning. Just has 3 knobs,more than I can say for my lst girl friend.

Sounds real nice. It's the only chorus pedal I've ever played,except for an old electro-harmonix stomp box, so it sounds good to me.
It can sound like a rich beautiful chorus, or a crazy psycho "black hole sun" sounding chorus. It even sounds like a phaser when you adjust the delay time. With distortion in "phaser" mode, it sounds like a jet plane flying in the air. I use a Boss MT-2 metal zone with it, sounds great.

I'd trust my life with it. It does cut off sometimes if you don't step on it right though. But hey, it's no big deal. I play guitar at my church for the youth group(i'm 18) and it hasn't failed me yet. I don't use a backup, cause it's the only chorus I have, except for the old electro-harmonix, which belongs in a retirement home.

Haven't called them. But I like Ibanez, so 5.

I play any kind of rock except punk rock and crappy garage rock. After all, the garage rock bands like the white stripes don't believe in using effects pedals(it's sacri-ligious to their music). I play hard rock and soft atmospherical rock. It's a very inspirational pedal, it helps me write the pretty stuff. If it were lost or stolen I'd probably get choke slammed six feet into the ground cause it's not mine. I love the simplicity and efficientcy of this pedal, it's sweet and addictive. It helps me make music. I've been playing for 2 years now. I started writing after I'd been playing like 2 or 3 months though. My favorite effects pedal is a phaser, I don't have one yet, but this chorus pedal can flange baby, oh yes, it can flange.

3 knobs, an input jack and an output jack. Not too difficult

Doesn't have as much chorus as I would like, if that makes any sense. Not a thick chorus

Works well but sometimes skips out and doesn't send to amp. Very annoying. I have to bash it to make it work again.

Never had to deal with them

Go for Boss. It costs more but it is worth it. It doesn't have the traditional chorus sound, so if you want something a little different, this is probably what you are going to want, but if you want a standard chorus pedal, Boss is the answer.

Very easy. Come on three knobs!!! Either you use low rate hight depth or high rate low dapth both with the presence at around five o clock

Although the sound quality is a little noisey (Background whoosh) You won't notice it while you are playing.

Most of the comments below are about the plastic housing, something that I have no problems with. My only concerns are about the cable connection and the fact that if you are to quick or too slow with the stomp it may cut on for a second and then cut off.

I have never dealt with them

I play a little of every thing and so far I have found it very usefull. It is thick enough to mimic a small clone only I wish it have a more univibe like capability maby a phase switch or something.

its easy.. how hard could it get??

it sounds too digital.. I dont like it.

I repaired the led and battery place myself.. I'm not pretty sure if I can depend on it.

This pedal doesn't match with my sound. At first I bought a chorus pedal to get a better solo sound. But this idiot pedal even do not have a effect level knob!!! Dont think that I could not managed to use the pedal, it really sucks. Now I use a BOSS CE-5 and it is muchmuchmuch better. I sold the damn thing for 50$. It waited in an store 1 year. At last I get rid of it thank god!

Easy as pie! There's only three knobs--can't be too difficult, can it?

I use this peddle through a 35-Watt Crate amp while playing either Standard Fender Stratocaster or an Ovation 6-string(sorry, don't know the model #).This peddle gives you a nice, clean sound--a little on the thin side, but it should do. I was looking for a sound reminicent of The Smiths(most especially Jonny Marr's guitar sound on their live recording "Rank")and this does the job perfecly! It also has a graet sound mixed with a little reverb(or any other modulation effects).With some equalizer tweaking on my amp I can also get a pretty good Pretenders sound(from their earlier records).Also can get many of Robin Guthrie's sounds(from the Cocteau Twins) on acoustic guitar most especially.

The peddle is made out of pretty durable plastic and is pretty responsive when you step on it. However, I would not recomend stomping on it--it doesn't seem THAT durable.I just use it for playing with friends and at home, so I don't gig with it at all.

Like I've said, it is good for some lighter, cleaner sounds. I recently used it with afriends overdrive pedal and it gave it a nice anbient touch (sorta' sounded close to Rush in their early 80s'stuff).If you know the few bands I mentioned and the sounds they get, this peddle could very well be a good addition to your setup.Also sounds pretty good with a good acoustic guitar,most especially with some reverb(otherwise. it just sounds a little synthetic with an acoustic).Overall, I have been pleased with this pedal. It was given to me by a friend of my mother's, so it has been a welcome gift.

There's 3 knobs: Rate, Depth, and Delay Time. The controls are intuitive, but don't confuse Depth and Delay Time, because they're totally different. Depth controls how wide the sweep is, and Delay Time controls the center chorusing frequency. But other than that, it's just "turn the knobs till you like what you hear"

Easy!

I use this in my chain like this: Univox Hi-Flyer guitar > Boss SD-2 Dual Overdrive > Boss BF-2 Flanger > CS5 > Arion Digital Delay > Peavey KB/A 100 or Danelectro Nifty Fifty. I've also used this with a Crate G40C+ but that has chorus on it, so it would be pointless to use another external chorus. I think that this pedal is the most awesome sounding chorus:

The pedal is never noisy on any setting, even if I have distortion on. Well, okay, when I'm not playing anything but the dist is on, I hear the hum being chorused, but that sounds cool anyway.

The chorus on the pedal is always great. It gives me a small gain boost when it's on, and a slight treble boost when it's off. I usually have the delay all the way up and the other 2 at halfway. That's usually a warbly sound. I think you're best off with the delay all the way up. When you turn all the knobs up to max, there's a weird vibrato effect that's reminiscent of the sound in "Radio Friendly Unit Shifter", but other than that, it's pretty useless. The best vibrato comes with the delay and rate all the way, and the depth at about 11 o'clock. When I use the bridge pickup on that setting, it sounds like I'm playing through a Leslie. It's a beautiful sound.

Okay, here's where the negative stuff comes in. I bought this used, and so I don't know what the last guy did to it, but sometimes I'll press the pedal and it will be on and then go off when I release it. I think this is inherent in Soundtanks but it still makes me mad. Also, I have a very weak LED. I think I'll put in a high-intensity green one in sometime, but wow. Even if I have a brand new battery in it, it will be a dim red light. It sometimes is difficult to know whether I need a new battery or the light is being stupid again.

As for gigging, I am not worried. I used this on my voice for the whole show once and I forgot to unplug it during a break. When I came back it was still working great. It is very frugal about batteries; I haven't needed to change this one in two months. It's not a Boss, but who cares!!!!

Don't know. I've never needed to have it fixed.

I play alt-rock music and this adds a nice animation to my guitar. I like it a lot. If it were stolen, I would be just a little more than extremely pissed. I would definitely buy it again, as my flanger can't do chorus and flange at the same time! I like this pedal because it's a Soundtank (a lot of people hate them for the same reason.), but I think that because it's so warbly and warm and transparent... wow. It's just great.

I tried a bunch of choruses (chori?): DOD Ice Box, DOD FX65-B Stereo Chorus, Boss Super Chorus, Boss Chorus Ensemble. I liked the Ice Box, but it wasn't to be had cheap. And therefore I bought this off of Harmony Central, and I was totally blown away. I thought that the FX65B was terrible; it was like a weak volume pedal. When I tried this, I was like "holy shit!"

I dunno, if I wanted to add anything to it, I would put a little switch so that I could have an inverted signal instead of a normal signal. Inverted chorus is cool sounding shit!

To anyone who wants a chorus: Get this pedal. It works wonderfully for guitar/voice. I don't know about bass but I'm sure it's just as good. And to top it off, it's cheap!!

Peace Out!

This is easy to use; all you have to do is tweak the knobs with your ear as your guide.

I used to use this with my Marshall jtm 60 2x12 tube amp with an Ibanez Roadstar and have since used it with a 335, a Yairi acoustic direct into PA, and the 335 and a strat into a Vibrolux(the new version). I must say that it never did completely satisfy me - it made my signal too fat at first but lately I've tried it and through my acoustic and Vibrolux it sounds like I'm playing inside a tin can. By way of comparison, the chorus on my Boss ME-30 sounds good no matter what guitar or amp/PA I use. I bought the sound tank a couple of years ago when I was just starting to get serious about playing again and since then, I've been able to upgrade my gear a bit and have also developed a better ear for what sounds good for my applications. If you're into noise textures, then this unit is good.

It's never given me problems in this category, but after about four months after I started using it, I got the ME-30 multi-effect unit, and since then have only used the cs5 a handful of times.

I play a wide variety of styles, but use chorus on mostly mellower type stuff. Like I said it makes the guitar sound like its coming out of a tin can. I'd never buy it again. I think Ibanez has discontinued the sound tank series, if this chorus is representative of the series, I can see why.

This damn thing only has 3 knobs. How much harder can it be? If you can't use this pedal, well then you must be stupider than Cletus the Slack-Jawed yokel. The manual sucks but you won't be needing it anyways.....maybe on directions where they hide the battery compartment.

This is the sweetest chorus pedal I have ever played on. Forget the Cool Cat. This thing only takes 1 battery and lasts pretty long on it. I gave my Cool Cat out once i plugged in this bad boy. I'm using my Crate CR-212 with reverb.....not much to it but this sucker sounds sweet and makes no annoying noise at all.

It's made out of plastic and you probably should be weighing 500 lbs. and jumping on it. But you probably can throw this thing throught the wall for enjoyment and it will still be in working condition. I wouldn't dream of bringing a backup chorus pedal because I'd rather use my Ibanez rather than anything else. If there were no Ibanez, I'd just use clean sounds then.

If Ibanez puts out good crap like this, then the only reason I'd call them is to compliment on their products. But other than that, I never had to deal with customer support

I'm a little bit of "G" funk music, Metal, Hip-Hop, but all hardcore and for good, clean sounds, this pedal pushes the sound to the limit. I own a DOD Death Metal Distortion and with the right settings on this pedal, you can make some really wicked sounds with it. If it were stolen, I'd find the stupid f*cker and throw my DOD at his head. Because this thing might break, and I don't wanna drive 40 mins to Guitar Center in my hooptie car to buy another one. I wish AC adapters came with every pedal that you can buy because pedals eat up batteries and batteries suck ass.

quite easy... there's only 3 knobs... you can get THE sound you want pretty easy...

I'm using the effect with tons of other pedals and it runs almost last after my delay and b4 my tremolo and reverb... i use a yamaha 12-string and a washburn hb-30 and play thro whatever amp that i can get my hands on...
sound wise this chorus is the ONE that i'll use... i've compared it side by side with the new BOSS super chorus... it was too clean.. to clear and sounds weak... compared it with an old boss chorus... can't remember the model but its a 2 knob version... the sound of the 2 knobs BOSS sound pretty good... but i'll choose the Ibanez CS-5...
It sounds WARM... and you can get really odd sounds with that delay knob... like what the rest of the users here said...

its okie... done a few gigs with it... chuck it together with loads of other effects in a duffle bag... no problems...
only thing that i totally hate about soundtanks are their jack sockets... they oxidise pretty fast inside and requires cleaning... maybe its due to the weather here in Singapore... extremely humid and rain in a minute and scorching in the other...

never talked to them... never need to.... mind you i own 5 soundtanks and none have given me problems...

I play noise pop with lotsa sound layering... have played guitar seriously for around 5 years... and this chorus is the one for me... try it and you may like it... and its CHEAP compared to other brands....

Only 3 nobs, very easy to use. Rate- how fast, Depth- how deep, and D-time (my FAV!!!!!!!!!!!) delay of chorus. Just sit down, you will find a good sound.

I am really picky with my chorus sound, so thi spedal getting a 7 is REALLY good. What makes this a great pedal is that it has the delay time control that most choruses don't offer. That makes the pedal very adaptable to the style you want it to be. Most choruses have a set delay time, and that is why most guitar players "get close enough" to the sound they want and buy that chorus. A delat time control allows for total sonic chorus control. I only took off some points because it still wasn't perfect. Roto-vibe is the 9 in my scale!

It's plastic, and I was reluctant to buy it, but it has held up better than my BOSS DD-3. I just don't slam on it, so it should be fine.

Never dealt with them

This is a great pedal! To hell with the Cool cat, this pedal can do that and go into a nice TC flange/chorus sound with a twist of that wonderful dealy nob. Great find, just be careful with it and you'll be happy!

easy to use, no hassle. 3 knobs. easy to get sound.

I personally cannot tell the difference between a T.C. Electronics chorus and an Ibanez Soundtank. One chorus is as good as another. Al l you're buying is the name.

It's made out of plastic.......I dunno. I don't abuse my gear so I have no doubt that this thing would be ok.

Never dealt with them.

As I said, one chorus is as good as another. I would defenitely buy this again, it's got a great sound (and the input/output jacks are placed better than DOD's or BOSS). Check this one out. great value.

This pedal is extemely easy to use. it has the standard rate,depth,and delay controls.

If you run direct from your guitar it is very quiet. I run it through the effects loop of my amp becuse if you run the chourus first it tends to muddle up the sound on the the solid-state/lead channel(crate gt-80). This increased signal level tends to add a bit of noise. Also this unit produces very long delays for a chorus. This lets you add some interesting effects. Turning the width control past 8 and the delay in the 3-5 range gives an almost flanger type sound with the flanger feedback at 0. Turning width and delay past 8 and varying the speed gives a tremlo/vibrato sound.

Owned the thing for 3 years no problems.

I love it.