Boss CE-2 Chorus

very easy to use-only two knobs-just about any setting sounds good.
no manual- it is old!!.
unit has not been altered, apart from me replacing the worn out battery conector.
made in japan,black label,metal screw,fatter font of letter C (of chorus),serial number in black ink (9200)inside battery compartment. a nice very early ce-2.
10 because 2 knobs require very little twiddling allowing me to concentrate on the important things in life, like becoming a fab guitar player.

My great strat through a fender champ valve amp (well what could be better for the house????)
no more noise with pedal on, than off.
Classy,thick chorus.can sound like a tremelo(ish),
Sounds like the artists who I understood to have used the earlier boss ce-1, ie police, chillies!!!!!!!!!!!
Does not sound cheezy, it's obvious but subtle too(yes I know that is a contradiction).

It is at least 22 years old so it could fail due to the old components but I have found a chap who used to work for roland who mends boss pedals and other boss stuff for a living. Here is his website www.delatronics.co.uk roland authorised repairs too!!!!!
I would use it in a gig (if only somebody would play with me and if I had more time)without a backup because I could survive with a chorus pedal dying as far as sound goes.
I am not going to rate it as I only got it today, and a new one would last a hell of a long time for sure (well 22 years is ok)

Rolands UK head office is in Swansea (read "the centre of the universe") so they give good jobs to the people of Swansea(where I was born and live)so they are fab.
I rang them (01792 515023)to ask about the discontinued aca adaptors which you MUST use with the OLD boss pedals, they said "you can not buy them in the shops anymore, but they have them and will sell them to you directly 22 pounds plus postage", I live down the road a little from them, so I will call in there when I get chance and buy the adaptor(I do not want to wear out that lovely metal battery compartment screw!)
They stock a lot of discontinued bits, I may ask for one of those old unwanted ce-1 units they don't want anymore he-he.

For what I was lucky enough to pay for this "First series vintage Classic" you could not buy a poor new chorus, so I am more than pleased.26 british pounds is about $40 !!!!!!!!!.
If it were lost or stolen I would have to satisfy myself with a later Japan model at best, I do not think I would be lucky enough to find another one of this period and would not be willing to spend enough on a chorus to buy a boutique makers example.
I have heard some more modern chorus pedals and they tend to sound thinner and cheezier than this one.Honestly.
"look out for those little silver screws".

I purchased my vintage Boss CE-2 Chorus Pedal, with the Black Label,& long dash and the silver thumb screw,Made in Japan, Used, for $159.00 (plus Shipping), just a month ago, but I absolutely love it! It is one of the sweetest sounding chorus pedals ever, actually this is the sweetest of them all!It is the original version of the legendary organic swirling, syrupy chorus, and adds anything from a subtle dimensional thickening depth, to a warbly vigrato. With only 2 knobs, it is very easy to use. It did not have a manual with it, but anyone can easily set it to the sound preferred by them. My pedal has all of the original screws, rubber backing, etc.,but has some wear from prior use by its original owner, which in no way diminishes the playability of it.

I use this with my Fender Telecaster and my Fender Frontman Amp (38w amp). Since I want to emulate the sound of my favorite Blues Player, Johnny Winter, I set the Rate knob at 10 o'clock, and the Depth knob at 2 o'clock, which is how he sets his knobs on the old Boss CE-2 pedal which he still uses. It is not traditionally a blues pedal, but sounds good on the blues. However, the knobs can be adjusted to get anywhere from an organic swirling, syrupy chorus, to a subtle dimensional thickening depth, on up to a warbly, warpy vibrato.I use a Boss Metal Zone pedal for Hard Rock and Heavy Metal, but this CE-2 can also be used for that type of music also.This CE-2 sounds great on whatever setting is used, in my opinion!

Because this Boss CE-2 pedal is made to withstand years and years of use, it is definitely a pedal which can be depended on. After years of use by its original owner, it still has that "new" sound and playability about it. I would certainly use it on a gig without a backup, as I have confidence in the reliability of this pedal.

Although I like different styles of music, at the present time, I prefer Blues/Rock. This is a perfect match for the Johnny Winter sound which I love, since it is the same type of pedal which he uses. My favorite feature about it, is that it is so easy to use. The ONLY thing I would prefer, is that the battery wires are a little shorter than the ones in the newer pedals,and it would be even easier to connect the battery if the battery wires were longer. Nevertheless, that is just a little minor annoyance which is really of no real consequence. I rated this category a nine, only because of this one minor inconvenience. I really LOVE this pedal, and do not plan to ever part with it!!!

two knobs and trimpot inside. You may have some noise problems, but fine tuning the trim pot inside is the key to leveling it out. It is more less a level pot.

Gary Moore Sig Les Paul - boss tuner - bad horsie - ce-2 - dd5 - Mesa DC-5 Head - 1960 4x12

I own the Tawain model (latest). I had trouble using a regulated power supply (modern powersupply). So I had my pedal sent to Robert Keeley @ Keeley Electronics to have the HI_FI mod done.

It not only corrected the power supply problem but the tone of this thing is nothing i have ever heard. Oh yea, lush organic tone. I have a hard time not using it. I sounds very real, not digitally fake. It really meshes with your guitar tone, as apposed of adding on top of it or taking away. It does boost a little, but who doesn't want that?

The pedal was great before the mod, but i would highly recommend the mod. I would probably go insane if I put one of the these things before a tape echo unit.

Oh yea don't buy into that hype about the different labels on the back either. Like i said I have the green label tawian unit, and it sounds the same as the others to me.

boss pedals last longer than its comp Ibanez for sure. Paint may come off , but there build like a tank.

Always liked the way that boss pedals *always* give a great sound with the knobs all pointing straight up. That's easy. And then you can tweak a bit from there.

Lush. Rich. Sparkles. Definitely analog. I've heard a couple of digital models of this pedal, and none of them come close.

An interesting effect, in that it is -- in fact -- a Chorus Ensemble, not a pure Chorus.

I was so curious about what gives this pedal it's unique sound, so I plugged a scope on it and reverse engineered the effect.

The answer: it's two short delays (about 4 and 7ms), and two swept delays in opposite phase that sweep across the delay rails. Why this works is a mystery to me, but the sound is stunning. Pure magic. And you can't replicate this sound with a more conventional chorus.

Built like a brick. When civilization comes to an end, all that will be left is cockroaches and Boss effect pedals.

Really boss would add decent support sections and online manuals for *current* effects (I can forgive them for not having a manual for this one on line).

Jazz. An instant foolproof way to pretty up a clean jazz tone.

I've just recently switched over to a multi-effect unit (a GT-6), but I still keep this pedal in the effect loop, because there is no substitute for the sound of a real CE-2. Allegedly, the GT-6 has a CE emulation, but it doesn't compare. The Line-6 Modulation Modeller also has a CE-1 emulation, but the non-virtual CE-2 is better than the Line-6 CE as well.

every setting, except ones that have a high rate sound good.

i use a few old tube amps with this pedal, also other pedals that i use with it are boss tu-2, dm-2 , modded sd-1 and sometimes another ce-2 or a dc-2.

if you use tinny high gain amps, you will get a mild hum/buzz.

i get no sounds that i dont like.

this is a strong effect, in that its thick.
I dont use this pedal as a chorus, rather, i use it like a tone 'conditioner'.
i set the rate all the way down, and the depth all the way up.
Hard to describe the effect here, its like it makes the signal 'glow'...it also has this swirly slow thick sound to it, which is the best thing actually.
this ones going to be an expensive classic soon, whichever one you have.
I have one of the original long dash silver screw ce-2's as well as a two japanese green label ce-2's.

The differences are interesting.

The long dash ce-2 has i. an NEC 4558 op amp

ii. a different casing. it has a thicker case, as well as a differently moulded battery compartment from any of my other boss pedals (i have about 25 of the bastards). It also has the siver metal battery compartment screw.

iii. the serial number is stamped in red ink right next to the switch, in the battery compartment.. the serial of the long dash is a very low 200.

iv. a different logo. the silver screw also has a longer dash in the logo.

The most important difference here folks is of course the op amps.
the other differences mean nothing except for maybe the thicker casing which will alow you to run it over with a hummer.

the japanese green label has a jrc4558dd op amp.

on a website called www.modezero.com , there is a ce-2 long dash with its guts spilt out, and it too has an NEC 4558 op amp in it.

keeley modifies these pedals. One mod that he does is to put burrell brown op amps in them.
i would never get this done to my ce2's because ,again, it makes them clearer, more hi-fi.
for me, the beauty in these things is that they THICKEN the tone, not thin it out just like all the shitty digital effects do. thats right, every single digital effect ive ever heard thins the tone.
it seems that with these pedals there is always some kind of bullshit hype. and of the course, the oldest one is the best one blah blah ....not in this case folks. if you after a nice thick lush tone, the green label is the hands down winner.

the long dash has more of a hi-fi sound (thinner, yet clearer ). It sounds more like my dc-2, although not quite as 'hi-fi'as the dc-2, which i feel is the chorus's chorus, the king of em all.

there has been some talk regarding the trimpot, but depending on which op-amp you have, the effect the trimpot has less or more impact.

if you open your ce-2 up and turn the trimpot all the way clockwise, and then back it off just a bit, you will find your sweet spot.
Again, depending on which op-amp you have, the trimpot will have more or less of an effect.

This pedal folks is an analog as it gets.

the current trend that sees old analog pedals getting top dollar isnt just because of the romance of it all, the old pedals have a thicker tone, they are much much sweeter than new pedals..another good one is the dm-2 delay.

get one.

n/a

there is no upgrade for this pedal.

ive got lots of pedals, most of them crap of course.
i play whatever the lads want to play, and am happy as long as there are girls around the place...

Very easy to use - only two knobs. However, I got the Taiwanese model. Being (1) the picky person I am and (2) wary of the current state of the pedal since I bought it very used, I wanted to mess with the internal potentiometer to adjust the sound. Didn't end up changing it by much, but the fact that I had to think about messing with it was a slight negative.

Very quiet - it doesn't add any noise that I can detect. One thing that I didn't like about it is that it seems to distort high level input. I have a Fender guitar on which the pickups tend to be pretty hot. There's a bit of distortion when I turn the CE-2 on, but usable. Going through my Stage 185 amp it's almost negligible. The cheap Kustom I sometimes use doesn't like the high output very much.

I could be the 100th owner. It lasted this long, my goodness, what do I have to worry about?

I own tons of Boss pedals and none have ever failed me. I never keep a backup of anything, although I do have a multi-effects pedal I keep with me just in case.

Who knows! No one needs to contact them!

My music is a combination of '80s new wave and Nirvana-like modern rock. It works well with that. I've used the EH Small Clone several times and I didn't feel like it had any significant "magic" that the Boss CE-2 didn't have. I'll definitely be keeping it for a long time.

It's vintage, so you have to live with a few obvious issues related to age and wear. Other than that, it's good.

Very easy. Two knobs.

gibson sg standard> boss tu-2> boss-dd6> boss ce-2> bbe 360 sonic maximizer. no noise. i plug everything into a furman power conditioner. i have yet to find a bad setting. the chorus is very thick and warm. no overwhelming shwooshing noise. i have had many chorus pedals. some that cost around $300.00. this 29.00 used box is better than anything else i've tried. full tone, mxr, boss ce-5, eh poly chorus reissue. I could never get the chorus i was looking for until now. this pedal accentuates your sound. it doesn't take it over. sounds good on most speeds.

i've only had it for a few days but no problems yet. i opened it up and found that the momentary switch is scotch taped to hold it in. the unit seems to work fine though. for 29$ i don't care if i need to get it fixed. i will send it to analog man if needed. the sound is worth it. i will never part with this. mine is made in taiwan with a magenta sticker on the back. the power supply is on the very bottom of the unit instead of in the middle for those of you trying to find out what year this was made.

best i've had. cheapest i've had

easy to use.

excellent sound quality.
very quiet.
hi -fi ish.
i use this pedal with a blackface bandmaster and a marshall jcm 900.
difficult pedal to describe..i have a ce-2 chorus, which is amazing. The ce-2 is thicker !
but the dc-2 shouldnt really be compared to other pedals..its kind of on its own. Im very glad to own one of these little purple gems.
sometimes i play with it with the first button pressed down all the time. sometimes i kick it in with the third or fourth button pressed.
this pedal is three d. its lush, it shines..really, its more than a chorus. i reckon this pedal is very special indeed.
the effect is much more obvious in stereo.
i havent been very helpful here..try and get to hear one somewhere if you havent got one.
its got twelve(!) chips inside it and a couple of variable pots on the circuit board..im going to find out what they do.

i can depend on it.
what is it with lugging around a backup? if the thing doesnt work on gig night..just play without it.

boss must be a cool company, after all, they built these interesting and seemingly indestructable pedals for us in the first place.

I've been playing long enough to know what tone is. This is a very musical device. If you see one for sale(i never have except on ebay)..buy it. you wont regret it unless you are just a punk kid who cant hear anything except a constant ringing from practicing in or listening to some silly metal band for too long.

Pretty damn easy. I mean, speed knob, depth knob and a footswitch... If you've got problems using this pedal, I feel for you. The only reason it doesn't get a 10 is because I had kind of a hard time popping the footswitch open to get at the battery plugs. You've got to use some little pointy thing to push a latch and then it pops open.

Not THE BEST chorus out there, but for the price it's going for I'd say it's got the best sound/price ratio. It's a nice thick chorus with just the right amount of swirl to it. The reason I don't absolutely love it is that it's a bit of a cold sound, not very tubey like I like, but it's more than useable. My rig is sort of a keyboardist guitar rig. Rhodes Stage 73 -> Phase 90 -> CE-2 -> TS-7 Tubescreamer -> Twin Reverb. I also want to mention that this chorus sounds awesome with the phaser. For heavy-metal players, this is the perfect chorus to go with heavy distortion. It's really clean, really quiet (noise wise) and doesn't make a pop when you click it on.

It's Boss.

Once again, it's Boss.

Even though this isn't THE best sounding chorus out in that big wide world, it's the best for what it'll cost you and especially for what it cost me! Reliable, noise-free, thick sounding effect... Give it a ten!

Easy as pie comrade! 2 knobs!

I have one of the Japanese black logo silver screw boxes Panasonic MN3007BBD/MN3001driver circuits. When it was first given to me, I was a little disappointed by the lack of depth provided by the unit as I was used to more modern swirly digital chorusing. As it is an analog unit, yes, it is not the quietest thing to grace one's pedalboard, but not any noisier than the average tube amp, and definitely not distracting when perfoming or rehearsing. It has since grown on me quite a bit since demoing it with various other guitar/fuzz/amp combinations (the taste buds in my ears have improved as of late). Clean, it is a gorgeous doubling effect that turns a single guitar into a three dimensional wonder. Dirty (via a homemade NineVoltNirvana Skyripper>CS-2 into an Ampeg VL-1002), it really provides a Robin Trower-Esque tone (think the song "Bridge of Sighs"-I know, he recorded it with an RM Univibe-a subtle phase shifter, but it amazingly does it convincingly). All things considered-it's so very swampy and dredgy at maximum depth and slower speeds. I only recently heard (in this very string) that Andy Summers and David Gilmour also used this on certain classic recordings. Stylisically-I love blues from deep space. I keep the speed about 11:30 and the Depth dimed. Considering my uses of this box I feel with all of my heart that it is indispensible to my sound/playing tastes. Choruses are not supposed to sound like Leslie tone cabinets-do not ever expect one to do that trick. Having logged many hours with a 147 Cabinet, I don't ever let my expectations make me think anything would sound like that than the real acoustic Doppler Effect. At faster speeds, it does the "Come as You Are" trick-as previously mentioned. I have heard that Mr. Keeley provides a mod that makes it go even faster than stock. I'll give it a nine-when engaged, it shaves a bit of your top end- I dont know of a BBD based unit that doesnt.

I have depended on it for only a couple of years with only a Potentiometer replacement (NO BIG DEAL-happens all the time, regular wear and tear for an electronic device-easy fix) By the worn finish on it, I think quite a few others have too. I've gone without backup for awhile. I think if it died, I'd check into a chorus rehab clinic or spend a lot on another one.

Never have dealt with Boss.

I play surf/blues/funk/jazz/space rock/punk/metal/noise. Stellar value for a gift!!! Stunned! I have played guitar for 11 years/made effects for two years. I use this one in this config: Gibson SG Standard>Ernie Ball Vol (side jacks)>Modified Vox 847>Clean/Dirty A/B Box>NVN Skyripper>MXR Noise Gate>Back into A/B box>Boss CE-2>Boss PH-3>Korg AX-1>Ampeg VL1002. Priceless for what I'm doing! Probably prohibitively expensive on the open market as it is vintage and highly sought after.