Strymon Ultraviolet Review
Our Verdict and Review Summary
The Strymon UltraViolet is a very musical and somewhat subtle chorus/vibrato pedal that's great for dressing up and layering clean tones. While we'd like to see a wet/dry mix knob (mix is set automatically depending on the mode you choose), it's still a very solid and highly usable pedal, great for a wide variety of situations. Note that you can use chorus, vibrato, or blend both together. The blended mode sounds particularly good.
Every chorus pedal needs to provide layering and subtlety, but with some flexibility and variety. Moreover, it needs to make more intense and detuned settings usable and engaging. The UltraViolet checks off all these boxes in typical Strymon fashion, giving you a digital chorus and vibrato that's hard to distinguish from similar analog pedals. I have very little to complain about, but read ahead for the full Strymon UltraViolet review if you want all the details.
Compare the UltraViolet to other Chorus Pedals
You can use this comparison chart to look at ratings, prices, and specs of other similar chorus pedals we've tested. Note that pricing is updated in real time and usually pulled from Sweetwater's database.
Chorus | Name | Rate | Buy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Strymon UltraViolet | 91.8 | |
 | Eventide TriceraChorus | 88.7 | |
 | Boss CE-2w | 90.5 | |
 | MXR M234 | 92.4 |
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The Strymon UltraViolet ready for testing and review in my music room/office/studio/my wife kicked me out of the spare bedroom.
Strymon UltraViolet Review Card
BEST FOR: Anyone who likes the "warble" sound, subtle modulation layers, clean tones, and MIDI controllers (300 presets?)
TONE
90
CONTROL
93
VERSATILITY
93
PRICE/VALUE
91
- Blend mode sounds great
- Very good at gussying up a clean tone
- Intense settings give you some detune sounds but are still musical and usable
- MIDI/expression input
- 300 presets (through MIDI I would assume)
- Not really a negative, but can't fathom using 300 presets.
- Wet/dry mix is set at 70/30 when blend is selected, which is fine, but would be nice to have a knob so I could fine tune it. Chorus-only mode is 50-50.
Strymon UltraViolet Price Guide
Price updated Fri, August 21st, 2026.
Sound and Tone Quality of the UltraViolet
Blend mode sounded the best to my ear, even on more intense settings. As I've mentioned in the opening paragraph, it's a very warble-ish and watery sound, which does a good job of layering a clean tone. It can also get really subtle, especially with the chorus only mode selected, which is a 50/50 wet/dry mix. Strymon digital modulation algorithms are always exceptionally good, which is true of the UltraViolet as well. I have no complaints about the tone.
The UltraViolet sounds great on a wide spectrum of intensity levels.
UltraViolet's Controls and Flexibility
My only complaint about the controls would be the lack of a wet/dry mix knob, which I briefly mentioned earlier, in the pros/cons section. The Blend mode is set at 70/30 (wet/dry) and the chorus mode is 50/50. That said, between the speed, intensity, and bias controls, there's plenty of variety to work with and the volume control helps tame the vibrato if you want something more subtle. Another nice add-on would be a tap tempo, but that would make it harder to maintain the smaller form of the pedal.
Is the Strymon UltraViolet a high-value pedal?
At the time of writing our review, the UltraViolet was $260 on Sweetwater (check the price guide above for updated numbers). Given the smaller size, I'd like to see that come down a bit, maybe 10 percent or so, but it's a fairly common price point for Strymon pedals in a smaller form. This is true of other brands as well. For example, the Boss CE-2w, an analog chorus pedal in the Waza Craft series, is $220. But overall, we don't mind the asking price of the UltraViolet, given the reputation of Strymon as one of the single best digital guitar pedal builders.
The UltraViolet could be a little cheaper, but we still don't mind the asking price.
Review Wrap Up
The UltraViolet has a ton of applications and potential good fits. It'll certainly save you some pedalboard space (the thing is pretty small) and can help make any clean signal a lot more interesting. I like it for church/worship electric guitarists, and could even be a good fit for acoustic guitars since it does such a good job with subtle layering.
Making it into the 90s in our rating system isn't particularly easy, but the Strymon UltraViolet definitely deserves its spot.
If you don't care about the blend knob or the slightly higher price tag, add a few percentage points onto the final score.
Leave questions about our Strymon UltraViolet review in the comments section below.
I'll help out as much as possible.
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