Jacques Meistersinger
The Jacques Meistersinger has been
somewhat of a sleeper for many years
now. The tiny characterful European
analog chorus makes some very
large claims and backs them up with
Napoleonic vigor. Jacques created
a BBD Frankenstein monster using
all the best attributes of his favorite
classic choruses and distilled them into
a silently true-bypass-able box. The
silent switching and low noise of the
TC SCF, the seasick ebbs and flows of
the original EHX Small Clone and the
dreamy detuned delicacy of the CE
and Dimension series BOSS pedals
are all apparent. But, there is one
chorus unit inspiration that might be
the secret recipe for the near peerless
Meistersinger’s tasty tones… the
Roland SH09. That’s right, an analog
string and organ emulator from the
28
TONE TALK //
early 80s. I happen to have one. I can
attest to the fact that plugging a guitar
into the external audio in and playing
an arpeggio is one of the most blissful
stereo modulation experiences known
to man. The Meistersinger gets really
close to the RS09 ensemble modes with
a sinewy sine wave detuned shifting
that seems to blur the lines of phasing,
flanging, pitch-vibrato and chorus.
This begs the question: Why is the
Meistersinger limited to mono? That
aside, this is truly the chorus pedal for
people who typically don’t like chorus.
PROTONE PEDALS RAVEN
DIRTY CHORUS
Paul Vincent Raven was a four-string
phenomenon, whose reductionist,
crushing and metronomically perfect
bass playing helped lay the foundation
for industrial music. His menacing
undulations will resound forever
Chorus Pedals That are Hard to Hate