Harley Benton Classic Chorus

First off if you are considering buying this pedal but you are worried about structural integrity and whether it sound good or one, don't be worried as Harley Benton are more or less like Joyo of which replicate and produce a lot of extremely good pedals to the quality of the big brands such as Ibanez,Boss and EHX. Although this pedal doesn't offer a lot of features it is far from bad, in fact it is extremely good,both knobs are very responsive and you can notice a difference in the sound with even the slightest of adjustments. The structural integrity of this pedal is brilliant, the case is a good and solid metal, the switch does not feel like its going to break and the battery compartment is nice and sturdy. Sound wise this pedal is amazing, it is a really nice crisp chorus of which doesn't diminish any guitar tone so you get a wonderful chorus effect. This is an absolute must if you need a decent chorus but don't want to break the bank, in fact i would strongly recommend any of the Harley Benton pedals as from what i have seen/tried they are all extremely well built and sound ace.

This pedal does have a nice warm chorus effect and I wanted to like this pedal a lot but it had three issues: first, it lowers the signal between the guitar and amp a bit more than a single pedal should and rolls off the high end of the tone when in bypass; second, it adds a bit more white noise than I would expect - not just as a general hum as it is otherwise quiet - but to the background of the chorus effect. I didn't notice this at first as I originally set it up in my pedal board going through a loud and somewhat noisy tube amp. But it's quite present when isolated going through a clean channel on my solid state practice amp; third; it wasn't able to run at full power when using a battery (new 9V with full charge). The biggest issue for me though was the volume/tone when on bypass. Given the price though, its an alright pedal.

You just can't get a bad sound out of this pedal, truly the controls are set, I would say within the 'sweet' spot of a classic chorus. So even with the rate and width at full it's a usable effect. From light 'chorusing which just lets your chords 'sparkle' to heavy or maybe better described as 'light flanging' at the top end, but all usable. from Dave Gilmore to Neal Schon lead tones, just great stuff. Price just makes you smile all the more when you hear the sounds. Robust little case. wouldn't like to test the chicken head knobs for strength if they got knocked, but I try to keep my pedals on a board and cased anyway. And 'true' by pass, not just effect off. Great! Quick edit The above was with my (shall we say) ST style guitar, single coil PUP's, when I switched to humbuckers I felt that the sound was...... Not muted,I think dark is the word I'm looking for. I personally felt the classic chorus would benefit from a 'tone' control for HB PUP's for the best results. I kept wanting to turn the treble up. Could be just me.

At such a modest price I wasn't expecting much from this pedal, and it suits my needs in a live environment most of the time, but unfortunately I'll probably return or pass it on soon.

The casing and graphic are nice, and the controls easy to use, but the 'rate' doesn't really make a difference except around the 8-10 mark. I find it difficult to hear any chorus on my guitar unless I crank the rate up, so it's sort of all or nothing. Also, the pedal seems to suck away some bottom end so using bass through this isn't a good idea, and guitars will sound a little thinner than usual.