Maxon CS-550 Vintage Series

Three knobs and a trim pot. Trim pot should stick out more. But all in all its very simple.

SImple can you say CE-1. With any guitar any amp. I have 3 amps now had to sell the other 3 the wife was getting tired of tripping over my gear. I 'm a pedal whore and this thing is truely godlyke in tone. Its quiet and very warm. I have a Fulltone Choralflange. It sounds very good but the Maxon edges it out in the chorus department.

Very, Very, Very well built.

Never spoke with them but have never heard anything bad about them.

Overall this is without a doubt one of the two best chorus pedals on the market. It is suitable for any style of music. Been playing for 25+ years. I would replace it if lost or stolen. I've heard just about every chorus out there including the holy grail CE-1 and to my ears in my honest opinion the maxon is just as good as the Ce-1.

the only reason i gave it a 9 is the M-level knob on the front side doesn't stick out to far. it's hard to get my fingures around it.this makes it difficult for fine tuning. the manual is basic. it gives 2 example setting.(both of which i don't use) the three knobs on top, speed depth and d-time are great.it was easy to find my sound after i got past the m- level

this is the best sounding chorus i've ever heard.i sample many chorus pedals before i tried this one.i was sold after a couple minutes of playing.it is just a chorus though.it has nothing else.i run a fender strat with fender 50' reissue single coil pick-ups to the chorus to either a marshall vs102r or a mesa sub way rocket(which for a 22 watt amp has killer tone)

so far no problems but i've had it for about 4 months now. it requires a wall wart though(a outlet plug)this is a draw back in my opinion, but you don't have to worry about batteries.

never neaded

although i'm strongly influenced in the blues, i'm working on my own rock sound.it does work for a lot of blues rock.i've been playing for almost a decade and try to stay awy from to many effects.although the price is up there, it's due to the quality.if you love tone and want real sound, and are willing to pay for it than this is the pedal to own.i woul;d replace it if something were to happen to it.the day i purchased this i tried a fulltone choral flange and something like the red tornado.not to mention many other lower end chorus pedals.this one is it.

Excellent ease of use, 3 knobs on top Speed depth and delay.
Good manual and it comes with AC adaptor included.

Set up I use 2 Marshall JCM 800s and 2 Sunn Model T combos and a total of 8 1x12 isolated speaker(basically 2 indentical combos on each side Marshalls are heads and sunn speakers.
No noise and its extremely quiet with sutle transparent nuances for each adjustment.
I use a vintage ebony walnut The SG, ES-335 stereo Lucille, BC rich Slash model Mochingbird, PRS Mc Carty, Rickenbacker VIntage 69, Seagull Rosewood Artist with LR Baggs I beam. Fender Fotoflame Strat.
It gets the Chris Issack, Cobain,sounds.
The chorus is Lush, Watery dripping and stays that way up till the high end. I thought the Analog Man stereo was great but this beats it IMO. ITs not as dark in the upper regions as Analog Man stereo and has delay and effect control on the back for Bass players also. A cool feature! I rate it Numero Uno in Chorus next to the Ibanez BiPhase chorus and over the Analog Man JMO. It can get Warbly good and Leslie good with the Knobs. A Lush transparent flowing waterfall sound that doesnt degrade in high or low range is the best way to describe this. Everything the 505 Maxon was and more.

I have a big foot Size 15s and this is made like the big boxes of yesterday! no wimpy little shits! Comes with an adaptor supplied or you can use Dc power also(you dont have to buy it extra) Built for Professional Use, Fits in great with my old ADA vintage flanger.
I would be comfortable using this on a gig without a backup.

I talked to Kevin at Godlyke(Maxon) and he returned my call within a short time. I wanted to know if this was true stereo and he talked me through every contingency possible. These are warranteed and he told me that unless there was extreme abuse( like dropping off a bridge) that they stand behind there products and take extreme pride in how these are built. Great people and a great company!

I play stereo Accoustic music and this gets the Chris Issac tone, It is a good match with sustaining Humbuckers, I play mostly PAF type tones and it doesnt cloud or over color, very tranparent tone to effect ratio. I am 50 and been playing music for years(Old Fart).
I own ADA Flanger, Maxon AD80 delay, Maxon Stereo Phaser, Maxon Compressor, Analog Man Stereo Chorus, Guyatone VT-X stereo Trem, Teese RMC-3, Sans amp Gt-2, Sans amp accoustic DI, Voodoo Pedal power box, Sweetsound Vibe, Guyatone Wah Rocker, Maxon 808 Overdrive,Guyatone MD-3 Digital delay.
If it were lost or stolen Id buy it again, These New Vintage series boxes are keepers
I love its Transparent Lush sound and tweakablity,My favorite feature is the Delay, and effect on the back for Bass use also, True stereo outs and inverted mono also. Can think of anything bad to say and it gives me more knobs than others since its a Chorus, the delay is not noisy and doesn't interfere with my analog delay pedal. I compared it to Boss which stunk, Liguid H2O which is nice buy doesnt give me the stereo option, Analogman which is good in stereo but darker sounding in the higher range and only two knobs, I also liked the Maxon Stereo 505 but its effect and delay are fixed compared to the Vintage Stereo 550. The Ibanez Bipase is nice but different.
I would rate this One, Analogman, Maxon 505, Ibanez Biphase, and Visual sound liguid H20 in that order. the (Visual sound is a great value, no true stereo and the Maxon 505 true stereo but delay and effect set, the H20 also has digital delay,Best for the Buck) Price wasnt the Object but I wanted the best quality stereo with ajustment for the price.
For about $230 the CS550 produces some great chorus with more headroom or options for contouring your sound than others. I dont generally give 10s, but until I find another better Stereo chorus without the noise like some of the electro harmonix stuff Ill stick to this. This was designed by Professional guitarists for the pros. I think it lives up to this claim. Ive heard TC chorus, Polychorus, Clones, Fulltone, etc. and THis was the best in the Chorus and Stereo option in my opinion. A different sound than the Analogman, but more lush and transparent and not as dark sounding to me IMO.