I got a hold of a Maxon CS-9 Pro Chorus of eBay the other day. Great condition and looks like new. I quickly opened it up to look inside to make sure it was genuine. All good there. So... It was time to A/B it with my Ibanez CS9.
This is what I wanted out of the Maxon: I wanted a Chorus that sounds just as good as the Ibanez CS9, but with less noise, with true-bypass and without the annoying volume boost the Ibanez produces when engaged. The Maxon provided all this.
The one thing I like about the Ibanez is that no matter how you set it, it sounds good. The sweep of the pots is very gradual, so fine tuning is easy. On the other hand, the Maxon is very sensitive to adjustments. The sweep (range) of the pots is very drastic. This means it can do extreme warble sounds that the Ibanez cannot reproduce. But it also, means that it's much harder to set right and very easy to mess up just by the slight movement of a knob.
One feature I did like about the Maxon, is the blend knob. You can add as much wet signal as you want. The Maxon won't boost your level when engaged, the Ibanez will raise the volume a bit. Another plus for the Maxon.
I'm keeping the Maxon. I don't need the really extreme settings and I wish it had a broader sweet spot like the Ibanez, but still, it's a better pedal.