The Halo Chorus is a combination delay/pitch modulation/phase modulation chorus design with autoconfigurable I/O for mono, mono in/stereo out, and stereo in/stereo out operation. The combination of pitch and phase modulation can be used together or individually for traditional chorus sounds or unique, spatial tones.

In addition to the top mounted controls there are two user adjustable internal controls (delay time and LFO wave shape) that allow for fine tuning of the chorus from deep and syrupy to light and airy and all points in between.

The stereo ins and outs with independent pitch and phase modulation signal paths allow for a wide variety of parallel and serial configuration options.

Click here for our first MP3 clip of the Halo Chorus, demonstrating Halo controls all set at around 1 to 2 o'clock on the dials. The guitar used is a new American 70's Strat, info the Halo Chorus, then left channel out to a Fender Custom Shop Vibroverb reissue and right channel to a Marshall 1974x reissue. The sample starts with a stereo recording of the two dry amps, then the Halo switches in for the remainder of the sample.

This second MP3 sample demonstrates the Halo with a Boss EV-5 expression pedal controlling the LFO speed. This sample used a Tele into the Halo into a silver face Fender Princeton Reverb and the Marshall 1974x reissue. This sample has the Halo on throughout its duration.

Download the Halo Chorus user manual here.

New Halo Bass Samples! Italian bassist, studio musician and educator Michele Tacchi sent us these clips demonstrating the Halo being used with bass. Michele's clips were recorded in stereo and demonstrate a variety of settings.

Clean

Thick and Liquid

The Final Frontier

Michele's Mood

A good friend of ours guitarist Jamie Oakes has sent us the following Halo Chorus samples (all samples consist of a section with the Halo in true stereo bypass, followed by the Halo effect in):

Sample 1: Classis stereo chorus

Sample 2: 'Faux rotary' chorus

Sample 3: 'Funeral parlor organ' chorus

Sample 4: Distortion + chorus

The following stereo samples were recorded using a Fender Custom Shop '64 Vibroverb reissue on the left and a Marshall hand wired series 1974x reissue on the right. You can really hear the early breakup of the Marshall on the right channel compared to the higher clean headroom of the Vibroverb on the left. Also, the Vibroverb and 1974x are naturally out of phase with each other, so setting the phase switch on the Halo to 180 deg brings them back into phase when the Halo kicks in (some of the samples below show this). The Vibroverb was mic'd with a Shure SM7B, the 1974x with a Sennheiser MD421 II, all into an API 3124+ mic preamp and directly into an Alesis HD24XR recorder. The MP3 samples were encoded at 320 kbps using Adobe Audition.

Sample 1: Les Paul into the new J-Drive MK3, then Halo, phase switch set to zero (the amps remain out of phase when the Halo comes in). No effect section to start, followed by the Halo.

Sample 2: Les Paul into the Halo, with the phase switch set to 180 deg (this puts the amps back into phase when the Halo comes in). No effect section to start, followed by the Halo.

Sample 3: Les Paul into the Halo, faster LFO speed, phase switch set to zero (the amps remain out of phase when the Halo comes in). No effect section to start, followed by the Halo. You can really hear how the sine wave LFO gives a rotary feel on this one.

Sample 4: Strat into the Diamond Compressor (compression set at around 4 PM, EQ at noon), then Halo, phase switch set to zero (the amps remain out of phase when the Halo comes in). No effect section to start, followed by the Halo.

Sample 5: Strat into the Diamond Compressor (compression set at around 4 PM, EQ at noon), then Halo. Two effect sections in this sample: in the first, the phase switch on the Halo is set to bring the amps into phase, in the second, the phase switch is set for the amps to remain out of phase.

Halo Chorus Features:

- parallel combination of delay / pitch modulation and phase modulation gives versatile control over modulation effects from light chorusing to deep 'vibey' swirl
 - stereo operation gives wide stereo image spread while preserving the original guitar tone
- NOS MN3007 analog bucket brigade chip running at 15V rails for extended headroom
- dual opto 'vibe' phase modulation path also running at 15V rails
 - all analog circuitry
 - autoconfigures for mono, mono in / stereo out, and stereo in / stereo out operation
 - pure sinusoidal LFO using a dedicated function generator IC for smooth modulation with variable 'SPEED' and chorus pitch modulation depth 'CH DEPTH'
 - 'CH MIX' and 'PM MIX' controls allows independent control of chorus and phase modulation mix levels in both mono and stereo configurations
 - kill-dry switch for parallel FX loop operation or use of chorus path for pure vibrato
 - mono input signal passed through to both outputs on bypass
 - phase switch to invert phase of right channel output relative to left
 - LED indication of LFO speed
 - expression pedal control of LFO speed
 - same Vishay JFET / audiophile BurrBrown opamp signal path as in Memory Lane delay
 - telecom grade relay switched true bypass operation on all inputs and outputs
 - internally regulated to 15V, can be run from provided 24V adapter or from 18V pedal board power supply outputs (including Y-cable powering from 2 9V outputs on the Voodoo Labs Pedal Power 2 Plus, Burkey Flatliner or other compatible power supply)
 - genuine Hammond cast aluminium 4.7 x 4.7 x 1.0 inch case