Maxon CS-9 Pro

Four knobs, whereas the Ibanez CS-9 just has two.

I used this pedal with a Schecter C-1 with Duncan Distortion pickups, and evidently Maxon pedals cannot be used with pedals with high output pickups. There was a clipping/distorted unpleasant noise along with the chorus sound. The Maxon Phase Tone did this too.

I don't know what rating to give them - they did respond, but I was amazed that they would tell me that there was nothing wrong with the pedal, I was just using pickups that it couldn't handle.

It's unfathomable to me that a $260 pedal (new) can only be used with low output pickups. Any $80 Boss pedal is better than this. Like I said, the Maxon Phase Tone pedal had the same problem. I will avoid Maxon pedals like the plague.

No change.

This is to update my earlier review on 12/30/2003; I am "Anonymous" at the bottom of the page. I've since sold this pedal, bought another one, and finally sold the second one for good. So I don't feel bad about adding a second comment since I've owned it twice.

This pedal is still miles ahead of anything digital, but I've always felt that the effect was never thick enough. Now I've got an Analogman Chorus--a modified, less fragile EHX Small Clone copy--and wow, it's perfect. It makes the Maxon sound thin and sterile, more like a doubler. Plus the Maxon didn't get along with my Duncan TB-5 Custom very well, it got very harsh to listen to because the Maxon boosts the mids. The Analogman is more even and natural.

Here's the scary thing...in between my turns of owning CS-9Pros, I had a Boss CE-5, which didn't sound half bad at all, and I'd still use one in a pinch. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know. But my point is that the Maxon sounded better than the Boss, of course, but not *that* much better. Not $150 better. The Analogman truly does. I'm one of those people who wanted thick-but-natural chorusing, and the Maxon was, in the end, *too transparent*, even with the blend all the way up. It's versatile, and subtle, and can shape sound in precise ways, but I wanted more of a sledgehammer than a screwdriver.

This may be still what you're looking for, but I thought I'd let you know about the 3 years' perspective I've had on this pedal in the meantime. I've given it a "7" here to balance out my previous rating of "10". That averages out to "8.5", which is exactly what I think of this pedal: 85%, or B+. The Boss would be "7.3", a solid "C", and the Analogman would be an "A+". Hope this helps.

No change.

No change.

See above under "Sound Quality".

It has 4 knobs like all the others said. The Mix option is simply wonderful. I dont think any sane person would require a manual to use this.

The Chorus is lush and is better than a few racks I have played through. No processor or pedal beats this beautiful chorus. I use a Keeley Modified with this and I get pretty neat sound to play Floyd. I dont sound like Gilmour but it gives that sort of tone. 10 for the Chorus.

I am gonna cut 3 points now. When I switch on the Chorus, there's a very noticeable volume boost. If I have to switch on / off chorus in the middle of a song it's very embarrasing to have some loud noticeable volume difference. I wish somebody helps me to modify and cut down this volume boost. Otherwise it's a great pedal and probably the best sounding chorus ever.

Always using it without a backup. Didn't even think about it.

Get this.

Pretty much straight forward here, doenst take long to survey all the tones this unit has to offer, also has two outputs one inverted the other normal which gives slight variations of tone.

Play a dillion thinline copy equiped with rio grande muy grande pickups(which consequently sound quite nice) and a mex strat also w/ rio grande pickups for a nice glassy fender tone,radial tonebone classic OD/D, digitech pds 1002 2 second delay, digitech digiverb reverb pedal, all into a 66' fender black face champ.

Ive lined this pedal up against, a tc electronics stereo chorus, a boss super chorus(too noisy for me and papery sounding) a fulltone choralflange, and this one is the one Im going to keep.

Its tone is the thickest without being overly warm, maintains airyness along with girth for lack of better word. ease back on the blend knob and you get transparency as well. the only issue ive noticed is w/ the blend knob cranked you get a slight breakup, this is slight though to be sure. the delay time knob is verry nice and realy does ad more for versatality when backed off and on, balane this out with the width and you get two largely distinct chorus flavors, probably the final selling factor for me along with its lush all around tone. this is a lush stomp box for sure!

The other chorus pedals are also quite nice (besides the boss, didnt do it for me)I was leaning more towards the fulltone for its ethereal nature but once I heard the maxon it stood out to me for the fullness of tone and airyness, though it all remains subtle in differences they are all quite nice but this one is simply more to my ears.

cant imagine any problems is a solid pedal, thats the thing I didnt like about the choralflange was the wieght it was quite light and that made me nervous though I dont think Ive ever read one bad thing about a fulltone pedal, was more a mind thing.

cant imagine ill need them

My music varies from reverbed post rock, alt. country, ambient space, to classic 70's vibe rock. playing 14 yrs, Id replace it after surveying all the others though my pockets arent that deep.

Very, very easy to get a large variety of great sounds out of. In fact, the hardest part is deciding on one to use! Much of this is due to the BLEND knob, which allows you to blend the wet and dry signals together. Excellent feature that VERY FEW chorus pedals have. The manual is decent and has some sample settings which do a good job of showing this units versitility.

I play through a class A tube amp with both a Gibson SG (duncan humbuckers) and a Fender Cyclone II (jaguar single coils), and this pedal sounds great with both. Very quiet, even at crazy settings. This chorus pedals sounds incredibly analog and sparkly at the same time... just awesome. With the blend knob all the way up you can get deep lush warbly CE-1 sounds, yet by rolling the blend knob back you can add a nice subtle shimmer to your sound. Also, I'm not sure why but this pedal sounds SO GOOD with my overdrive pedals!!!

Maxon 9-Series pedals are the most solid built pedals I have ever used (yes, even more solid than Boss). Some people complain about the switch being awkward, but I don't really mind. True Bypass... MUST HAVE. I know people over-exaggerate true bypass, but honestly going all TB with my pedal board made an enormous difference! I will never go back.

Maxon has very good customer support. I have emailed them numerous times with questions and almost always get an honest response with a couple of hours!

I have owned almost every chorus pedal out there. I found this pedal about 6 months ago and have had no desire to look anymore. This pedal is light years beyond any digital chorus, and still better than all other analogs I have tried. I have also owned Maxon's CS550 Vintage Series chorus pedal. It was awesome, and many say better, but I prefer the CS-9. The CS550 was a tad darker. I like the tiny extra bit of shimmer I get from this one. Also, the blend knob on this is easier to access and it is true bypass. I only post reviews for pedals that I truly love (about 4 so far), and I have never given all 10's before... this is the first.

Not so easy to use ....you gotta spend time checking ALL the potential of this box

i like to keep it simple: effects i use: od, dist, delay and chorus
using it on a twin reverb;
...pretty nice...you can get some flanger , tremolo alike with this chorus pedal.

it adds great color to the clean tone.

true py passed;

and it looks killer...love is purple color

looks and sounds very reliable

never dealed with them

i like to keep my chain small and invest on high quality pedals;

don't use a lot of chorus but this one is a keeper for sure...
i compared to an ch1 from boss( also cool ) and i think this one is more warmer..but it's also more expensive..you pay what you got

it can go from standard chorus to extreme crazy sounds an higher settings;tue by pass is great as you know

for alternative indie styles..you guys gotta try this one

I agree with everything the reviewer before this review said. And I too am in my honeymoon with my thistle colored chorus pedal.

This pedal is difficult to use only because the slightest movement of any of the four interdependent knobs will alter the sound pretty significantly. Easy is not always best, I'm coming to find out. Intution dictates, "if it plugs and plays and sounds great, it should be good." Pedals of this nature turn out to be a one trick pony. Eventually, anyway.

This is no one trick pony. The chorus is professional. I'm intimidated. I sound good! I hope I play as well as I should play for sounding the way I do. If that makes sense.

I intend to use this live. I will have to practice a lot with it in order to intuit the sweet spots in order to make the changes from Leslie speaker-esque to smooth chorus shimmer to little green men from mars, etc., on the fly.

Beautiful. It's gorgeous. It is so gorgeous, it's intimidating. I run this chorus into one amp and leave the other dry. The delay time setting creates a wonderful, blooming stereo effect. One company calls its chorus the compound to create water. No comparison. None. Not in my book. This is what water would sound like if it could flow in waves through the air. It is subtle to outrageous. It is surprising when its forgotten and ON. It is obvious when engaged at other times. The blend function is nice. It can really cut back the effect level. I've tried it in stereo. Seems to work nicely.

Too soon to tell, but it seems solid.

Overall, I intend to dive deeply into the potential of this pedal. It's a warm bath or a heated pool or a muddy river or an oil smeared puddle. No words, just a really nice, slick set of liquid tones.

There are four knobs (speed, width, delay time, balance) and two outputs. You can use either output individually (one is inverted
phase) or both together for stereo. Granted, this is more than
most chorus pedals have, but the controls are easy to use and
fairly intuitive. It's easy to get a good sound out of, but you
can get some strange effects by maxing everything out. The manual
provided offers some suggested settings, which are designed to show
you what each control does (e.g., maxing out the "speed" knob gives
you a tremelo-like effect). One thing that's not intuitive is that
the controls are sort of ganged together--maxing out one knob gives
you more range on the others.

This is a reworking of the Ibanez 9-series CS-9 chorus, but with
two new controls (delay time, balance) that add a whole new dimension
to the possibilities. It uses vintange analog chips to create
the effects.

Granted, this is a honeymoon review, but the sound quality is
ASTOUNDING. I of course compared this to comparable BOSS products,
which didn't come close. This is simply the best sounding ANALOG
chorus that I've ever heard. Warm, shimmery, and with a wide range
of effects. You can get a beautiful, basic chorus sound, but you
can also max out the speed knob for tremelo, and if you max out all
the knobs, you get space-noises that almost sound like insane harmony
(major seconds!) Like all choruses, it adds just a bit of midrange,
but it colors the guitar tone far less than other choruses I've
tried. And the unit is very quiet; there's no noise. My setup:
<PRE>
1. Guitar (Schecter C1+ or Ibanez 470STB with Duncan Full Shred)=>
2. Maxon SD-9 (Also awesome) =>
3. Maxon CS-9Pro =>
4. 50 Watt Class A/B Tube Combo (Crate VFX5112)
</PRE>
...it blows away any digital units (including the built in effects
on the VFX, Spider 112 [had one, went analog, sold it] and ZOOM 505).
With such a wide range of chorus sounds, you can imitate any recorded
chorus. Most of all it has LIFE to it. It's expensive, but worth
it. I got a deal at EFFECTSFORLESS.com (saved $89 off list) Oh, yeah, it's True Bypass, too. For some reason, these are harder to
get than the first batch of Maxon 9-series re-releases, so if you
want one, you have to shop around.

Not sure about this one; Maxon made the Ibanez 9-series effects,
most of which are still working 20 years later, except for some
with bad switches. Physically, it's a big hunk of metal, and I
understand the connectors are much better than the Ibanez 10 or
L-series. I don't gig anymore, just home studio stuff, but it
seems dependable based on the company history and the unit's solid
metal construction. My amp has a built-in chorus, so I can't gig
without a backup for this, even if I wanted to. I don't, anyway.

I've asked questions of GODLYKE, who are Maxon's American distributor.
They answered quickly and courteously. I'll put 9, because I wasn't
asking about fixing a product or upgrading one. Rather, I wanted to
know what was in development--they're supposedly releasing a 9-series
Phaser, Compressor, and Super Metal (SM-9) in 2004!

I play rock, from Hendrix to icon to Foo Fighters. This sounds
great for any of it. I've been playing since 1985. If I lost this
unit or it got stolen, I'd get another one, but I'd have to save up
for a while! I love the smooth analog warm LIFE that this adds to
a clean guitar sound. I don't use it on distorted tones. This is
truly a great chorus, it becomes part of your instrument instead of
getting in the way. Maxon has re-released some great products,
improving on what were very good originals. This is the top of the
heap, in my opinion. I can't wait for the Phaser.