Boss CE-2 Chorus

I bought this pedal from a Pawn shop for $27 because the guy didn't know what he had.

This pedal is pretty easy to use and get a good chorus sound out of. Two knobs - Rate and Depth. Pretty straight ahead. I don't have a manual and there's no need for it. This one is a Japanese model with the green tag.

Setup - 73 Ibanez Les Paul mod w Seymour Duncan 59 and Pearly Gates w 10s, 84 American Fender Strat w Noiseless single coils w 10s, Crate V32 Palomino 212 w custom mods to pre amp. Pedal is plugged into a Carl Martin Combinator with the rest of my pedals.

Sound - It can go from subtle effect at the lower settings to a nice lush deep chorus with the Depth knob cranked up. If you are looking for a fast speed on the Rate knob, this pedal won't get you a tremolo type effect.

You can use it for country / slow ballads, funk, jazz, and rock. I really like this one over the CH-1 I have.

Its a Boss so its built like a tank. I could gig without it but it would be a shame.

n/a

I play a variety of styles in my band. We play soul, r&b, 50s, disco, funk, rock, latin, and jazz. This pedal has been great for all these styles.

I have been playing for over 25 years. I own Boss, Carl Martin, Aphex, BBE, RMC, DOD, Dunlop, Ernie Ball, Ibanez, Line 6, Morley, Digitech, Radial Engineering, and Rocktron pedals. Yes I'm a gear whore.

If it were lost or stolen, I would definitely be upset. This is the best chorus I purchased.

I just love the analog sound. It sounds so lush and deep. Its warm and not overpowering. The CH-1 is sterile and has a lot of highs compared to the CE-2. It has been a great addition to my arsenal.

I have tried other chorus effect pedals - DOD, CH-1, Alesis rack effect, POD, Digitech - the Alesis was the only one that is comparible. Great pedal.

really really really really easy to use, only two controls.

i used a musicman guitar into a marshall AVT half stack, the other pedals i use are a boss DD-3, LS-2, TU-2, proco rat 2, electroharmoix little big muff and a holy grail reverb.

no noise from it i have noticed sounds amazing just what i was expecting, thick, full sounding chorus.

IT'S A BOSS as everyone always says, BUILT LIKE A TANK is another one.

don't know never had to bother

i love it! if it was stolen i would get another if i could find one at an affordable price. i managed to get this off some bloke in a second hand guitar shop, that didn't seem to have much of a clue to be fair, for ??20 so it was more than worth the money!

i used to own a boss super chorus but i sold it my mate when i got this, new chorus pedals can't really compete with the CE-2 as far as my ears are concerned.

Very easy to use.

I use a 5150ii half stack with a Schecter C-1 Blackjak. The pedal sounds great. I use it in my effects loop.

There are 2 reasons I'm not giving it a 10. First, it isn't the clearest chorus. But the reason is becase it's an analog chorus from 1982! Thusly, it is warm and lush, but not the clearest... Secondly, it sucks tone. All Boss pedals seem to attenuate the highs pretty good, and it is very annoying. Thus, true bypass looper!

Also, there is a very slight volume boost when engaged but not very noticeable. (much less than say a CE-5 or Ibanez cs-9).

Sturdy, has some paint chips, worked flawlessly since 1982.

Was slightly confusing to find the manual online, but then when I found it I felt dumb.

Have to give this a 10, no doubt about it. I play rock, I love rush and Tool. I've been playing for 10 years. I own a lot of gear and this pedal is tops in the list.

It's one of the simplest out there. Easy.

Well, I never really loved chorus but I'll be fair anyway (or try, at least). It did sound lush and very natural. No noise to speak of. I used it with Fender Japan strat and Fender Cyclones, mainly through a 70s Vase Trendsetter valve head and Marshall 210 cab. I could emulate other artists. If you like thick, natural chorus, this is for you. if you shy away from that, like me, maybe try something more sutble, like a Boss CH-1, which is what I have gone to. Much more subtle and is stereo. (Interestingly, lots of reviews mark the CH-1 down for being subtle...c'mon fellas...horses for courses.) Anywho, the CE-2 is excellent, just not for me.

Boss 10/10. I've probably had 40 Boss pedals ove years and not one has ever given me trouble. I've had 3 Washburn pedals- all had reliability issues. Zoom, likewise. Korg, ditto. DOD/Digitech...the same. Boss are just unbelieveable.

They've started publishing their manuals online (about time) but they're not especially supportive. The bossarea.com site is the best resource (but it's not run by Boss, just by Boss fans). Bossarea is very cool. Boss are fortunate that their products are such high quality, support is very rarely needed. Although, I'm sure they factored that in to their business plan...

Like I said, I cringed when I played it because it was that classic chorus tone. While I don't love chorus, if you get a chorus, this is what you expect (and, yes, I am a clown for getting a guitar pedal I didn't really like but it was cheap and definitely worth giving a go.) Great, thick tone but not for me.

The CE-2 is pretty easy to use: rate and depth knobs, and every setting sounds nice, really nothing to it; just plug and play.

Setup (I'm just getting into the effects world, but starting with the best of course). Carvin CT6M > Boss TU-2 > Morley W/V/D II > Boss CE-2 > Boss RC-2 > headphones & soundcard or cheap amp. I love this thing, if you're really into a heavy chorus it can pull it off, with a rotating speaker sound or without, either way it's pretty thick. That is especially sweet for pulling off a John Frusciante sound although he has a CE-1, which is another point to be made, I think the CE-2 has the best features of the CE-1 in a compact package from what I've heard of the CE-1. It's a truly classic effect, I'm looking forward to getting a Tom Petty sound as well (he uses one). You can get so many great sounds out of only two knobs, which is one of the best things about this pedal.

Well, I just bought it, but everything in it is original and has lasted almost 30 years so I'd say it's pretty damn reliable. Plus it's a Boss.

I've talked with them before, not about this product though, and they were very helpful.

It's still kind of new for me as I just got it, but so far I love it and I'm pretty sure that if it were lost or stolen I'd get another one, but I'm not sure I could get such a good deal on the original silver screw again :). I've been playing for over 4 years, and it's truly a great addition to my sound, I love it and because of this am looking forward to getting more vintage analog effects. This pedal meshes with all styles of music, whether it's funk, rock, alternative, classic, etc. I chose this pedal after making numerous comparisons through online sounds and videos, and also played the newer pedals in stores, like the ce-5 and ch-1, those just didn't compare. I look forward to comparing it to more pedals, as I am sure it will come out on top, it has that mojo.

Super simple and with two knobs several cool settings.

I bought it the late 80s and tried several times to find better pedal perhaps slightly cleaner with true bypass and more versatile but never came close to the beauty and depth of this unit. Others I purchased in my search were the H20, TC Electronics,Carl Martin. Carl Marin was the best but it was not compatible with my amp switchbone pedal.So back to the trusted CE2 it can nail the classic Robin Trower tones and does a great hidden treble boost plus a good over the top chorus but no real leslie setting. I use strats, marshalls, fenders,vox amps pedals include TS9,BuddaWAh,Goodie delay,switchbone.

20 years no problems yet.

I give it a 9 only becuse it does not do a good leslie but maybe a second pedal is best for that anyways. As a pure chorus it is the best period.

Two controls - rate and depth. Since this is a somewhat subtle effect, even full depth is not overwhelming, in fact thats where I leave mine set all the time. Set rate control to taste, to my ear it sounds best in the slow range, around 9 o'clock.

I've never cared for chorus modulation - until I got one of these. With depth set full and rate slow, it adds a something special to your basic tone. This is probably the all time champ Boss effects pedal - they really got it right with the CE-2. Of course they later had to "improve" the sound and the result was the CE-3 which sounds totally sterile by comparison. I have a Japanese black label in perfect condition and a later model from Taiwan. I would say the MIJ unit is preferable but not by much, so if you get a chance to own either one by all means don't be picky.

Both of my CE-2's are approaching twenty five years of age. Everything's still tight, working perfectly.

I would never call Roland to ask for help. Plenty of people are doing outstanding repair and modifications to Boss pedals. Hello? Robert?

CE-2's add a very pleasing organic sweep to your sound. I play through the clean channel of a Mesa Express 5:50, which is beautiful tone in the first place, and allows me to set chorus, gain, and compression from my pedal board and keep a very low noise floor. It's right at the edge of distortion - amp volume does the rest. Every time I hear a jacked up Marshall amp hissing like an air hose I just smile :) I'm so glad I don't own one.

Easy to operate, only an idiot would struggle with this one as there are only 2 dials to operate.

Like many Boss fans, after reading all the hype about this pedal I just had to get one, well two actually. I bought a Taiwanese version at first, was quite disapointed (ok very pissed off and certainly not the Holy Grail of chorus effects!) so I bought a Japanese version, ok slightly better - or maybe I just want to think it sounds better as I spend the extra on it, but still not what I was expecting, its a bit of a tone sucker and at the same time tends to reduce both pinched harmonics and arpegios to mud. Sorry but my Ibanez CS9 does a better job, and sounds more organic, and preserves my ??2000 PRS tone! I'm being quite critical in this review, but only becase of how much I paid for each pedal considering the performace. There are many better analogue chorus pedals out there for the same or much less money.

Both quite old now, still working as you'd expect from Boss!

Never tried to contact them, if it broke I'd repair it myself as the components are generally still fairly easy to get hold of.

I play many styles, - other than Jazz, from fairly clean classical to thrash. If either were lost I'd be pissed as I spent to much on them, but maybe the insurace would pay for a couple of CS9's! This is a vastly over-rated pedal, think twice before you fall into the same trap as I did.

Rate and Depth, too easy.

This is the late 70s/early 80s Alex Lifeson Chorus tone in a box. Nails that classic subtle Chorus, which is EXACTLY what I wanted. Doesn't do the Leslie thing or super extreme sounds, which is great because I couldn't care less about getting those kinds of tones. It's NOT dark, soupy, watery or overbearing like most of the botique Chorus pedals I've tried. Not metallic or thin either, just a beautiful, shimmering, pristine sound that makes clean tones sparkle.

It's from around 80-81 and in great shape. Boss is the Toyota of pedals, they last forever.

I've been playing for 22 years, mostly Metal (Iron Maiden to Morbid Angel) and some Jazz. Most of my pedals are "botique" and true bypass, but so far nobody has made a better sounding Chorus pedal to my ears than the Boss CE-2. I tried a few other Chorus pedals before finding this one, Voodoo Lab (Too dark and only one usable setting), Fulltone (Too expensive, don't like Flanging or Mike Fuller), Home Brew (In for repairs so the jury is still out), Electro Harmonics (Too metallic and hollow), Ibanez (A 9 and 10 series, nice but too overbearing)etc. The Boss just sounds "right" to my ears, if you like that classic Rush Chorus sound then this pedal is HIGHLY recommended.

very easy

This is a subtle pedal and one of the best choruses I have ever heard. I use this through > Strat/Electra/Kramer/Carvin> Danelectro FAB Distortion> Boss Chorus> Ibanex FL9> Ibanez AD9> Ibanez Turbo Screamer> Boss Super Phaser> Boss noise Suppresor>Dunlop cry-baby> Boss stage tuner> Randall RG100SC/Randall 2x12 Cab. Silent Pedal. Through an effects loop it's less noisy ( it's not that noisy though) and from guitar dirset to amp it's more noticeable but you get that "analog scream" ( thing Prince- purple Rain solo).

I severly abused this pedal since 1982. This was my first pedal and it stopped working around 1997. I recently found an excelent Luthier and he repaired it in 2 days for $30. This was a mirical to me! Boss boxes are tough and can be used for commercial construction and endorsed by the DOT for any heavy machinery applications. An insider at Nasa's propulsion labs told me that unwanted Boss units are used as anti- heat tiles for re-enrry units. Boss pedals do suffer from exterior oxidation and this can eventually affect jacks.

u dun knu

metal/blues/prog 28 years - ebay sells these units for at least $120 in decent shape. I would succumb to that if the untimate sacrifice was made by this pedal. I love the subtile otherworldly-ness and organic realness of this unit. Choruses are definantly a pedal where there are differences in tastes. Do you want an obvious 1980's overload, a 1970's background flavor or a now and then swooshiness. The Boss CE-2 is classic in its subtleness and beauty. I own 15 pedals, some mentioned here and some I don't use that often and this is the classiest. I'm sorry but when it's the best, 10's are all around.