Rocktron Deep Blue Chorus

As long as the "intensity" knob is turned up, you can get a great eerie-spacy-unsettled-ethereal sound from a wide range of "rate" and "depth" settings.

This is a great-sounding chorus pedal. I was looking for a chorus to add some eerie spaciness a la the sounds Liz Phair applied to her guitars on a lot of the songs from her early albums. Of course, having stereo outs makes it a true chorus pedal, and it just sounds great. Running my SH-101 through it, it kind of makes the synth sound like it's on quaaludes. Vocals sound spacy and...I don't know, "bohemian" or something. Very nice. It doesn't seem to add noise or suck tone or level at all. I run it DI into my recorder. The only setting I don't like is a fast "rate" setting, but that applies to all chorus and phaser effect; personal preference. But you can get a "deep," "lush," "sick," "ill" sound from this thing at whim.

Made of extruded aluminum. Solid kick-button. The chicken-head knobs give me pause, but I've never had an issue with them. Works every time, all the time. I would have no problem with taking this on the road.

I use this for my acid and ambient projects. Some kind of chorus is just essential sometimes, and this one is as good as it gets. Compared to a $260 Maxon CS-9, there is no appreciable difference. I am so glad I went with reason instead of elitism when I made the decision to purchase this one. I've been playing about 5 years. I have a variety of distortion effects, the synth, a Boss DR-670, an Ibanez PM-7, an FMR RNC, Boss DD-6, etc. Those are the core of my sound, along with the Deep Blue.
My favorite feature is the stereo outs, along with THE SOUND which is absolutely spot-on. I would get another one in an instant if something happened to mine. It's a classic. My least favorite part of this thing is the INSANELY BRIGHT blue LED. It's funny, OK guys, ha ha, I get it, you found an insanely bright LED, but come on. I've tried it, and that light can illuminate a room all by itself. On a board, it's simply blinding. I have a piece of masking tape over it and it's still by far the brightest LED on all my equipment. Anyway, that's a pretty minor nit to pick.
It has everything a chorus pedal needs; it's a complete and perfected device. Unless you collect chorus pedals, this is the only one you'll need.

Easy to use, just pop in a 9-volt or use an adapter and throw it in your chain. 3 knobs, Rate, Depth, and Intensity (which is just a mix knob)

The sound quality is better then the chorus's i have on my gfx-5(there's 2 types of chorus on there) and is a lot more noticeable as intensity knob is heightened. I like it around 80-95%ish. Original sound still gets through at that level making it more dynamic. I have been using it after fuzz and it sounds great, but I've recently have been using it before fuzz as it gives a richer sound to the distortion and when notes are sustained the chorus effect slowly comes through the longer the note is held and sounds really cool. I've messed around with it a bit before and have gotten some phasey sorta sounds from it as well.

One down side to this pedal is that the battery seems to die fast, and if the battery is not in and there is no adapter you cannot bypass. The sound won't come through at all. There always needs to be some sort of power supply for the unit in order for bypass and on mode to work. So whilst doing a gig i would have a new battery in the sucker just incase the adapter cable comes loose or fails or you will be having to remove the unit from your setup.

Never had to deal with them.

I've been playing for just over 2 years and I picked up this pedal at Berlin Guitars in Berlin this year whilst visiting family. I got it more of a useful souvenir then getting a piece of the Berlin wall which well just sits collecting dust. Plus all my beer and liqs well they didn't last very long :p . I think i was ripped off in price but again this was more a souvenir then anything and it was IMO worth it.

3 knobs. Not much to it. I'd like to state that all of my adapters work fine with my unit. The pin isn't any bigger than the pins on my other pedals(DanEcho, Fab Chorus, Bad Monkey, Morley). Maybe they changed the power jack recently or something?

This pedal sounds pretty good. It seems a little linear to me though. I have a Danelectro Fab chorus that has a very round chimey sound to it and this one just doesn't have the same fullness but it still sounds pretty good for what it does. What I've actually been doing is running them both in my effects loop with the mix turned down to about 2 or 3 on each pedal so I get a multi-voiced chorus. It sounds awesome. Chorus pedals don't really produce much noise anyway so this setup is very quiet. It doesn't change my sound at all when bypassed. The intensity knob is simply a mix knob.

No opinion yet.

No opinion yet.

I have been playing rock and metal for 20 years. Overall, this pedal is not as full of a chorus sound as I like but that is just my personal preference. It has a good sound to it and most people will be happy with it I would expect.

it is easy. just realise that the intensity control is not always found on chorus pedals. if you want it to as sound full and "deep" like a boss ce-2 you must leave the intensity on 10 otherwise it is not as lush as some other two knob chorus pedals.

I think the sound is incredible. i think some of these reviewers are leaving the intensity at mid and wondering why it doesn't sound like other chorus pedals. like i said if you want that sound put the intensity at 10.

peresonaly i like to be able to dail in subtle sounds that doen't scream "i'm using a chorus pedal now!" as soon as you step on it.

it has no self noise and doesn't mess with you original tone when engaged or bypassed.

it is less versatile that the tsunami chorus. i own both, but the tsunami isn't stereo like this one and isn't as pleasing to my ear.

for even twice the price it's a definite 10. i've owned about 20 chorus pedals so i speak from experience.

I can only fault the plastic shafts on the knobs.

I think think pedal has a fantastic sound and is a fantastic overall value. it's not the sort of thing that will make your guitar glow in the dark. it is a mature and tastefull sound for a serious player, but it doesn't go into instant 80's shmaltz mode like most chorus pedals. may be more suited to pop, jazz and country than teen angst.

3 knobs, DUH!

This pedal isn't as transparent as I would like it to be. It seems like there are 2 types of chorus out there. You have the Boss chorus which sort of washes out the sound completely and drastically colors your tone (not a bad thing), and you have a boutique chorus which is much more transparent and does not color the sound as much. I personally prefer the more transparent chorus. I can't say that this pedal sounds bad it just isn't what I was expecting. It was cheap so I'll definitely be keeping it.

It looks pretty rugged. It also has a hardwire bypass. That is a very quality feature.

don't know

It isn't the best chorus I have ever heard (the EHX small clone holds that title), but it is functional and for as little as I use a chorus, it's good enough.

Unit is easy to use.
Three knobs, as stated below.

I have to agree, for something called "Deep Blue," the unit is not terribly deep, of course compared to an EHX chorus, everything sounds thin. This aside however, the pedal does sound nice IMO. Very rarely do i want to use heavy chorused tones, so this lightness of this pedal comes in handy. I have not noticed any issues with hiss or popping. I do not know what the hell the guy who said it doesnt take standard adaptors was smoking. I use a Singal-Flex pedal power unit, and the supplied cables work fine with my Boss, DOD, Ibanez, Rocktron etc.. pedals. I like the pedal's tone, even if i wish one could dial it in a little thicker occasionally.

The unit is sturdy. I am quite sure I could use the pedal as a bludgeon with no adverse effects. Have never gigged with the deep blue, but she has not let me down on any of my weekly jams.

I have never had to contact Rocktron, so thats a good thing.

never had to contact rocktron.

Overall, the pedal is fine with me. I am sure there are other chorus pedals out there that sound better, but i have played many that sounded worse. I have been at this since around '96, and a complete pedal whore for the last three years. I use this with either a '72 Les Paul Deluxe or Hamer Echotone guitar into a variety of other pedals into a Marshall JMP 2x12 combo amp. IF stolen, i would probably try another chorus pedal, especially a Guyatone.. the small size of those is attractive. In my opinion, if you need a utility chorus, try one of these as they are not prohibitively expensive, have stereo outs, and are analog (if you get off on the analog thing.)

Like every chorus it has depth and rate knobs. One thing I like that is lacking on a number of other chorus pedals is the level knob, so that you can mix in a small amount of chorus when you want to be subtle.

It's a decent sounding chorus--not as deep as the name implies though. More brittle than robust. I think it's too 80's hair-rock sounding, which would suit many people just fine, but not what I was after.

I didn't like this pedal because I wanted something more "Boss-like." My mistake. I should've just bought a Boss, but I thought it would be neat to have something different, and since the Tsunami has a decent reputation I thought Rocktron a good choice. Unfortunately I wasn't able to try it, so ordered having only heard the web page sound clip. That is a pretty good indicator of how it sounds.

Seems pretty reliable and well built.

They quickly replied to an email I once sent them. That's the extent of my interaction with the company.

So I didn't like the sound--but that's a subjective call, and it doesn't mean you won't like it. I play vintage rock and blues, and this sounded more modern and metal.

There are a couple of other factors besides the sound that made me really dislike the pedal (so I sold it):
1) The AC power input did not fit a standard size barrel-plug. I run all my pedals off a daisy chain What a pain that this one didn't fit. It must run on batteries, or buy a whole another wall wart. Not worth it. All my other pedals use the same standard size--Rocktron should really get on board.
2) It made a loud "thump" whenever I turned it on or off. No other pedal I've used does that. It makes turning this pedal on mid-song impractical. Not only that, the thump is so loud I thought it might damage my amp and speaker.
3) It's a bit bulky, but that's a minor issue.

3 knobs - rate-depth-intensity. piece of cake, no? The labels for the mono and stereo outputs are a bit misaligned when looking down on the unit. A little picky here I admit.

LP Custom>>morley bad horsie>>boss tu-2>>Ibanez turbo TS>>Deep Blue>>Boss dd-6>>marshall jcm2000 tsl100>>4x12 w/celestion V30s.
I've been using this pedal for 6 months now. No noise really. I have a few pedals in the chain so i do have a little hiss. No noticeable noise when on and not playing.
OK . . . I am not here to shred this pedal or rocktron 'cause I do like their products. However, I am no fan of this pedal. No matter how much I fiddle with the knobs, I cannot get a 'deep' chorus sound from this thing. I suppose it is unfair, but I am comparing the end result here with other choruses I've used. I just need more depth and intensity in my chorus and this one does not deliver. This does give a nice subtle chorusing effect when all knobs are dimed. But drop the levels and the effect thins RIGHT OUT. Oh yeah, this unit definitely adds a noticeable punch of treble when engaged. Lately, I've stopped using is as a 'traditional' chorus and kick it on for a solo boost from time to time. Sounds pretty damn ok in the right solo boost situation (got a Randy Rhoads type vibe), however I'm not getting rid of the tube screamer anytime soon. Bottom line; For a chorus, this pedal gets a 4. For a solo boost, this gets a 5. "4" overall. They've got a sound clip on their website so you can hear this for yourself. Sounds like they've got the unit dimed for the clip.

Totally dependable. No problems yet. Very well constructed. Built like a military field communicator. Or something. High-quality knobs and jacks and switches. I never gig with back-up pedals so that's that.

n/a - doubt I'll ever contact them about this pedal.

Not my cup of whisky. I've been playing since I was 9. That was 24 years ago. I can hold my own in any playing situation, but the bands I find my self in are 'hard rock/classic rock/80s metal/modern rock/nu-metal' type bands. I just believe that I need a more intense chorus effect for this shite i'm playin'. Tone and effects are of personal taste, so take this as just one player's humble review. This thing is rad lookin' though. Cool blue metal box - angled switch panel - ol'skool chicken-head knobs - BRIGHT-AZZ BLUE LED. Who needs stage lights when this thing is on LOL!!! If it were stolen or lost i would not get another. I'm actually lookin' to sell this thing and get something else. Damn, I wish I still still had my boss ce-2 from back in the day. That focker was the sweetest.

Easy to get a good sound, simple layout, three knobs, self explanatory. Had no use for the manual. Noticed the same thing as the previous reviewer regarding the A/C adapter jack, but I use batteries most of the time so its no biggie.

I use a Les Paul Classic and a Gretsch through a Fender Silverface Deluxe Reverb amp. Pedal is not too noisy. Initially, I thought the tones were good. The pedal can give you deep chorus sounds, and some weird sounds. However, as I played with this pedal I noticed two things. First, if you get the depth or intensity too low, the pedal sounds very thin, almost digital (I emailed Rocktron and the pedal is an analog chorus, not digital). Pedal seems to sound best with rate and depth at moderate settings, too low sounds digital, too high sounds too strange and weird. The second thing is this pedal seems to give a slight volume boost, and distorts my clean signal. I tried rolling the volume off on my pickups, and that just made the effect too weak and muddy. I got rid of this pedal and purchased a Small Clone chorus by Electro Harmonix, and the Small Clone does NOT distort my clean signal and it sounds much better across the board. In my opinion, the Rocktron pedal has a sweet spot, and in that sweet spot it sounds great, but that just doesnt cut it for me. My Small Clone sounds great on just about any setting. I dont think this pedal is terrible, I just dont think its that good. Maybe it would work better with single coils, I dont know, its just not my cup of tea. I think I would even purchase the digital Boss chorus pedals before I would purchase another Rocktron chorus. I also have an issue with reliability, which Ill touch on later, but for sound its just average.

O.K., this pedal comes in a large aluminum case, which seems indestructible, but the knobs are VERY loose and feel cheap. By the way, this pedal is made in CHINA. Shortly after I purchased the pedal, the blue LED light started to flicker, then it started to go on and off, and before I got rid of it, it rarely came on at all. The pedal still worked, but I started to have my doubts about the build quality. Bottom line: I didnt trust it.

I emailed Rocktron and asked them if the pedal was digital or analog, and they emailed back the next day. So, for me anyway, they were very helpful.

Been playing for a while now, wanted a good sounding chorus pedal that would be reliable. This pedal was just too quirky for me, with the limited useable sounds and the suspect build quality. I think that the Small Clone is much better, and I also think the Boss pedals are better, even though they are digital. I gave this pedal a chance, I wanted to try something new, but there are better products out there. Ill stick with my Small Clone for all of my chorus sounds.

Easy to get a good sound out of, just turn the knobs and let your ears guide you. There are only three knobs: rate, depth, and intensity. Getting a good sound is not the problem here. I purchased this pedal because I liked the tone, and because it could be powered by my SKB pedalboard. I dont like batteries, I like to put my effects on the board and leave them there. This pedal has a Boss style 9 volt AC adapter jack on it, so I figured it could be powered by my pedalboard. As it turns out, the little pin inside the AC adapter jack is larger than the same pin in a Boss/Ibanez/Digitech/MXR pedal. For those who like batteries, this is not a problem. For those who are looking to use AC power, this is a BIG problem. None of the AC adapters that I had would work - and the manual states "Use 9 volt AC adapter". I had a special cord that came with my pedalboard that connects to the battery leads on the pedal, so I was able to use that and get by, but if you have no such cord then batteries may be your only option. For some this may not matter, but I dont have time to keep changing dead batteries, so this was an issue for me. Rocktron needs to change their AC adapter jack so it is uniform with the other pedals. Dont advertise that it can be used with any Boss style 9 volt adapter if in fact it wont. I have had other Rocktron pedals in the past and have not had this problem. Because of this, I am giving the pedal a 6 in this area.

Now, on to the sound. I use Fender tube amps and Heritage H-150CM guitars. I have tried or owned most of the chorus pedals out there, both analog and digital. I liked the Rocktron Tsunami chorus pedals, but they are just a tad too big for the pedalboard. I saw this one, and its smaller than a Tsunami, so I decided to try it out. I A/B'd the pedal against a Guyatone Micro Chorus, which is a nice analog chorus pedal. The Deep Blue chorus had much more range, and many more sounds. You can get anything from a subtle chorus to all out leslie like warble. The chorus effect also sounded deeper, and more intense. On most settings I had to keep the intensity knob turned down or the chorus was too deep for my tastes. I was told by the store owner that the pedal is analog, not digital. I have not confirmed this, but when I compared the Deep Blue chorus to the Guyatone analog chorus, it sounded better. This pedal is VERY flexable, dont let the three knobs fool you, they give you A TON of sounds. To my ears, the sound is full and warm, and you can get a very nice "pulse" by turning the rate knob up. At very low rate and depth settings, the pedal can sound a little thin, but it quickly fattens up as you turn the knobs. This chorus also blends very well with my Visual Sound Ultimate Overdrive and my Boss Mega Distortion. Im very pleased with the tone, its much better than the Boss and Digitech pedals. I think this pedal is analog, but Im not sure. Im going to email Rocktron and see if I can find out. This pedal enhances my clean tone, and sounds great. Im giving it a 9 because nothings perfect in this world.

So far, so good. Aluminum chassis is rock solid, and the switch feels good. The knobs are a little flimsy, they feel like they could break off if you bumped them hard enough. This pedal was made in China, Rocktron pedals used to be made in the USA, then they moved production to Korea, and I guess now they are making them in China. Only time will tell if the Chinese can make a good stomp box. Be careful with those knobs!!

I use this pedal to enhance my clean tone. I play overdriven/distorted most of the time, but when Im in the mood I go clean, and thats when the Deep Blue chorus shines. Bottom line is that I like the tone, and it fits on my pedalboard. I dont like the AC adapter setup as mentioned earlier, but the sound of the pedal is great. I like the range of chorus sounds that I can get out of it, from subtle to over the top. I have been playing for 9 years and have owned LOTS of chorus pedals, both vintage and new. This one is a keeper.