PRODUCT REVIEW
Red Witch
Empress Chorus Review
BY JAMES EGOLF
Quite a bit of thought has gone into the
design of Red Witch’s latest chorus/vibrato
pedal, the Empress. Offering an amazing
amount of flexibility, the Empress isn’t limited
to one or two schools of chorusing. Instead,
its Voice control gives the pedal the ability
to go from uptown, sophisticated chorusing to vintage, grungy warble by offering a
wide range of delay time adjustment. This
enables the Empress to approximate the flavor of several classic choruses while including
thoroughly modern touches like true bypass
switching and a sturdy, die-cast enclosure.
The Empress’s main knobs include Mix,
which controls the wet/dry mix sent to the
output; Depth; the magic Voice control; and
Velocity, which controls the speed. Above
the knobs are two mini-switches; the first
controls switching from Vibrato to Chorus,
while the second selects bright or normal
operation, which only really comes into play
when the Voice control is below noon by
adding a touch of high-end to the warmer,
more subtle settings. There is also an internal dip switch controlling the input level. Its
stock setting offers the input staging of the
Empress’ predecessor, the Medusa. Flipping
the switch offers higher gain, which is useful
for counteracting the perceived volume drop
when running less intense settings with clean
tones. When distortion or overdrive is available, the switch adds a not-altogether-pleas-ant graininess to the upper-mids, but once
the Voice control is turned up past 11 o’clock
or so, the stock setting is golden.
The choruses available run the gamut from
CE- 1 and CE- 2 thickness to Kurt Cobain – or
better yet, John McGeoch – approved liquid
warble. The Voice control really allows the
user to dial in just the perfect amount of
chorus, and it quickly makes you wonder why
this control isn’t more widespread. Coupled
with the Mix control, pretty much anything
is possible and I delighted in nailing some
old Banshees and PiL sounds. Of course, the
Empress can do the “Crossfire” thing well
enough, but its real forte is the more spaced
out sounds – think vintage EH PolyChorus
without the noise. By the same token, the
Empress is capable of delivering subtle, dare
I say tasteful, chorusing, making it useful for
jazz or pop duties.
The Vibrato effects were cake, capable of
everything from subtle, vintage wiggle to
downright nasty seasick sounds. This is easily
one of the more musical implementations of
this effect in a pedal. I enjoyed it most staying closer to the old-school tones it provided, rather than the really out-of-tune sounds,
but even those would be perfect for inflicting
some art-school damage.
The Final Mojo
Ben Fulton, the man behind Red Witch,
has succeeded in designing a chorus pedal
that is capable of dialing in pretty much
any chorus sound you may have floating in
your head while not relying on past sounds
to get you there. Sure, there are some
sonic benchmarks, but the Empress made
it remarkably easy to spend a moment or
two dialing in the perfect chorus sound for
the situation, rather than simply busting out
a “fast Leslie” or “vintage Boss” sound. If
you want to stick with the tried and true, go
pick up a modeling pedal and save yourself
some grief. If you want to dial in your tones,
give the Empress a go.
Buy If...
you’re looking for a versatile
chorus with a useable vibrato
Skip If...
you want two knobs and an
on/off switch
Rating... 4.0
Red Witch Analog Ltd.
MSRP $ 379.95
redwitchanalogpedals.com
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