Buzzing Bugs' BB03 Lo-Fi Chorus is a proper ambience chameleon - covering classic Chorus and Vibrato, as well as more tastefully mangled Lo-Fi and Ambient tones

The BB03 is a great classic chorus right from the get-go - start with Room and Age all the way down, Depth and Time at Noon, and Mix at circa 3 o’c for the perfect classic chorus sounds. You can then wind the Mix back for vibrato, and bring in the Room (Ambience / Reverb), and Age (Warble / Wow & Flutter) controls for more Lo-Fi and Ambient tones. At its peak the Room control delivers a sort of slapback echo too.

I like my modulations quite flavoursome - so I tend to have the Depth / Intensity quite high - typically around 3 o’c on this device. The Room control which is a kind of Room sounding reverb really - comes on quite gently, but impacts progressively more as you dial it up. In fact similar to the Age / Warble / Mangle control - which has a beautiful sweep that gradually and increasingly disrupts the uniformity of the sound.

Note that there is a reason that the Modulation Rate controls is labeled Time, rather than Rate or Speed - as it starts off Fast, and slows-down clockwise - so you’re literally increasing the time interval. Most Choruses tend to have this as a more conventional LFO Speed control - which gets progressive faster - while here it’s the other way around.

It’s really a very simple pedal to deploy and incredibly easy to dial in - while it delivers a properly extended range of variations. I enjoy the Time super slow, middling and fluttery fast - and then you can play around with the Room, Mix, and Age to find all your personal in-between sweet spots. This one sounds pretty great to me every which way!

Controls - Room (Reverb > Slapback Echo), Depth (Intensity), Time (Fast > Slow), Mix (Dry Blend), Age (Warble / Mangle / Lo-Fi).

I did an article last year on ’Killer Lo-Fi Modulators’ which featured the Chase Bliss Generation Loss and Warped Vinyl, a version of the Fairfield Shallow Water, Hungry Robot Wardenclyffe, and Zvex Instant Lo-Fi Junky - and the BB03 sits very comfortably alongside the best of those.

The BB03 is available from the Buzzing Bugs FX Webstore - where it goes for a very reasonable £149. Oh and it glows in the dark too!

I think the big advantage of this pedal is just how many sounds there are onboard, and how easy those are to dial in!