Boss CE-20 Chorus Ensemble

very easy to use and program , however there are some knobs that don't function in some modes so when all else fails read the manual

great chorus sounds, however it was a little noisy but it was minimal, wish boss would get on the true bypass wagon though,there was some volume drop and tone loss, in regards to an earlier review a person (won't name names)said that us combo users with anything cheaper than a mesa wouldn't notice.....wrong i've been playing peaveys and fenders and other "cheap" amps for 43 yrs.my tone is on the money, cause guess what guys, its 80% player, 10% attitude,10% gear so yeah, i'm gonna notice any change in MY tone, however it was passable. used the pedal for 2 yrs.

built to last, never a glitch in reliability.

never needed it

iv'e been playing 43 yrs. own a mexican strat, and a nashville deluxe tele, i'm currently using a modded peavey classic 30, i play country, blues, blues rock,swing, southern rock,beach(oldies),gospel, and christian rock. i used the pedal for 2yrs. in front of the amp for a while, then i got wise to the tone loss and started using it through the effects loop, problem solved.liked it enough to keep it in my line up. use what you got to the best of your ability. some folks can't afford boutique junk cause, sorry guys, its just an over priced fender ,marshall, or mesa.boss makes real good stuff at workin man prices.they have a few bugs but nothing major.if stolen i'd be angry but i would either replace it or get someting else in its place when i could , it's not the heart of my sound it's just icing.

Not sooo hard to figure out, but be aware some knobs either change functions or don't work in certain modes. Boss website has manuals in Acrobat for free, but they force you to make a user account... boo.

I really only liked the CE-1 setting, the brilliance sounded awful, and the pseudo-reverb ambience (Boss can't even spell Ambiance!) was wimpy at best. Tone circuit seemed to work fine at least,

However...
After revamping my board with a MXR/CAE OD/Boost and a little Guyatone Compressor, I wondered if my VOX Wah reissue (modded with a TB switch) had grown into a whirling dervish when it was on. It turns out that the CE-20's oscillator does an end run around the FET buffered bypass output circuit. So much so that spinning the rate knob actually changes the alien whirring sound, cool if you're into electronic music, not so much if you're not. Of course this was really only noticeable when I had the compressor and the boost running. Every mode does this, zeroing all the controls doesn't cut it off either! It was even doing it when I unplugged from the board!

Come on Boss, off should mean OFF!

Boss always puts in an effort to make their gear withstand a truck running over it, I wouldn't know if it could survive a tank running over it though. Too bad they refuse to true bypass the actual effect...

Aside from the whole creating a user account to access the manual archive (using a phony e-mail address) I've never talked to them.

Thankfully I got this on ebay, and back onto ebay it shall go, I figured this was as good as the DD-20, I was wrong.

The unit is very easy to use, I almost did not need the manual, I was up and running in a few minutes. I like the design of the control surface, it's very easy to use, and way easy to connect up. Led's are cool. I love the 4 storage locations. I wish there were more, or there was a way to offload the settings onto my computer so I can make 'setups' on my PC and load them into the 4 locations for a show (how 'bout a USB port?). But, 4 locations are better than one, so that's why I bought it. So I could have more than one chorus on tap for a show.

I think the choruses are very nice. I get a fabulous selection of available chorus tones out of the unit, and I truly love the lushness and openess of the sound. I think the engineers have done a nice job on the chorus offerings on this box.

However! I have a major bone to pick about the lack of a true bypass on this unit! If you intend to market this box to guitar players, you have to provide transparent tone! I'm not unlike a lot of guitarists. I am seeking a professional grade tone. I have spent a ton of time and money on my amps and speakers. I know exactly what my amps sound like with just a guitar and amp. Then, when I add an efx, I listen for any changes to the fullness of the tone, and just about every efx unit I have tried, subtracts 'something' even when bypassed. That's why I never use them in front of the amp, only in the EFX loop. They just screw with the guitar signal too much. I didn't spend thousands on guitars and amps only to give up that holy tone to a 200 buck efx box!

For starters, the chorus sound subtracts a noticable portion of the low end of my guitar tone. At the mid point of the CE-20 EQ settings, where I have it set, it changes my tone, and that should not be the case. Even worse for me is that I get effect bleed through when I bypass the unit! I always have some slight amount of chorus in the efx chain even when the unit is off. To test this, I disconnected the unit completely out of my EXF loop, then added it back. The sound is noticably different (better) without the chorus in my EFX loop. Even bypassed, the unit makes my sound brighter (subtracts some of the low to mid low end), and I get a swirling even with the unit bypassed. I grant you that this change to my tone is subtle, but it is there none the less.

I doubt that you guys with smaller combo amps might notice mostly because you may never have had the opportunity to take a really nice guitar (say, a Les Paul for exapmle) and plug it into a amp like a Mesa, Marshall, Bogner or something, and just hear what a rocking sound you can get from just the guitar and amp turned way up. Once you learn to appreciate a good guitar and amp combination (for the type of music you like), and learn how to work it without effects, you really notice when an EFX box gets it's tinny little arse in the mix.

Now don't misunderstand me, I am not saying that the CE-20 is a bad unit. Far from it! I love the noise that I get from this box! It totally works for my sound. But I want it gone when I turn it off! In my opinion the engineers have missed hitting what the pro guitar player market needs in their BOSS efx, which is TRANSPARENCY! This box should not color my sound what-so-ever when it is off. The mere act of putting it in my loop changed my sound. Further, the flat EQ settings should reproduce my guitar sound exactly, just with efx mixed in, and that is not the case.

Now, yes, I do have an EFX bypass on my amp to use. But I have a chain of several boxes in the loop and that takes all my boxes out of the loop (which I dont want) and furthermore, that changes the sound still again. When the loop is in, one type of sound, when the loop is out, another.

Bottom line for me is that the chorus is heavenly, and deliciously useful to me. However Roland/Boss, you need to make this unit and every other EFX stomper you make transparent! Please do not delude yourself that you have engineered D/A and A/D conversion to the degree fine enough to fool a trained ear into hearing unity sound. It just ain't so! Digital is very good today, but the 'good guitar'/'good amp' setup is very sensitive to EQ altering EFX! You need to do more work on this!

Overall, this box is a fine product, and the chorus is some of the best I've ever had, especially on clean tones. My toes curl when I am playing a phased pickup strat sound into this chorus. Boss just needs to work on that bypass, and balance the EQ so it doesn't rob the low end when you turn it on.

It's only 4 months old, so not worries yet. It looks very well built, and the styling is really nice. I like the big pedals and the rubber pads. You can tweek the knobs with your toe in a pinch. No gripes about the construction.

Never called them.

I play mostly electric rock, country twicking and metal through this box, and have been fingering guitars for about 30 years. In recent memory, I've had the chance to sample many of the highest end amps out there, and I can tell you there is a definate and remarkable difference between a 1x12 combo to a 2x12 combo to a 4x12 closed back.

You just can't hear all the nuances of a tone chain when you have a 1x12 combo amp. The reproduction of the guitar is too colored to begin with by any 1x12 amp and speaker (not to say that's bad, just different - look at Neil Young!). So, if you are using this box on a 1x12 or 2x12 combo, it should sound like God to you.

However, if you are using a high end or boutique amp head (with a nice series EFX loop) into a 4x12, you will notice that the box pilfers some of your tone on the low side. You might try an EQ to bring it back, but in my opinion that's a waste if you have a guitar and amp you like already and are only trying to find good effects to make it better.

So overall, I give the CE-20 a 10 for chorus tone. It's lush and useful to the max. And I give it a 6 for tone sucking pilferage. The blended score is therefore an 8 due to tone theft. A to D and D to A conversion just doesn't cut it in the electric guitar world as far as I am concerned, unless you can provide me with a true - analog - bypass so I can take the unit out of the chain and sill maintain my analog signal chain, unmolested.

It would also be nice if it had a midi input so I could hook it into a performance oriented system and switch the channels. This might be asking a little much from a stomp box though!

Furthermore, there is no usable combination of settings that I can use and still sound good, and get that damn peak light to stop flashing. I don't really expect any peak indicator on an expensive box like this. I have this box connected to two other Ensamble pedals and they don't have peak indicators! The EFX loop sound level into my DD-20 Giga Delay doesn't peak the DD-20, but it does peak the CE-20 which comes after it! That's.....just.....stupid!

I didn't get a manual with mine, but you really shouldn't need one. This is a very easy pedal to operate and program. Programming in my opinion is the ce-20's main strength, because switching your chorus settings on fly is impossible without it.

Sounds great, but of course it isn't the best sounding chorus in the world. I really like the rich, standard, and ce-1 settings, but the others are ok as well. I am mainly an acoustic guitar player, so some of the settings really don't work on my martin like they would an electric. My pedalboard goes like this

Martin -> BBE Acoustimax -> BD-2 -> CE-20 -> ART Tube mp -> PA/Fishman Loudbox

Has worked like a charm so far, and I doubt that it ever breaks on my pedalboard.

never dealt with them

This pedal really suits my guitar style like a charm. I like switching chorus sounds during a song to change the dynamics and to keep things interesting. I have been playing for about 8 years and most of my gear revolves around my martin. If it were lost or stolen I would absolutely purchase again, or hunt down the guy who stole it. My favorite feature is being able to change chorus settings on the fly without bending down to physically change them.

It is fairly easy to get a decent sound out of this pedal straight out of the box with the default settings. One should review the manual for details on making changes to the defaults as the manual identifies which type of chorus is associated with each of the 4 memory settings. You can also modify the memory display so you can see which patch you are in if you are performing in a dark setting. The manual is pretty good for configuring the pedal itself.

I have this at the end of my signal path and have it connected to a Radial Engineering effects loop switch because it is not true bypass. My setup is Guitar (strat, EB Luke or Steinberger Snyapse) BOSS TU-2 Tuner -> FullTone Clyde Deluxe Wah -> EHX Holy Stain -> FullTone OCD -> Bypass Switch -> CE-20 -> MXR 10 Band Eq - > BOSS NS1 Noise Suppressor -> Marshall JCM 900. I can get some pretty decent sounds out of standard chorus, the CE-1 is a nice wet chorus sound and sounds nice with or without the Overdrive. I don't use the Dimension D too much, I'm not a big fan of the sound it provides. The one thing that I definitely do not like about this pedal is that it sounds very overdriven and the peak light comes on a lot even at low settings with all my guitars. The manual says to tweak the ambiance and brilliance settings until the peak light doesn't come on. In my setup, I have to turn these settings way back which defeats the purpose of having the effect. Also, if you daisy chain the power connections, there is an audible whirring sound. So you must provide individual power to this pedal.

The pedal build quality seems good. I think I could gig with this pedal without worrying about it dropping off on me. In hindsight though, I wish I had tried a few different pedals before buying this one.

When I first got this pedal, I tried to daisy chain the power with a couple of other BOSS pedals using a PSA120 and I got a noticeable whirring sound out of the pedal through my effects chain. When I sent a query to BOSS about the noise, they never mentioned to me not to daisy chain the power, they only said "The pedal has been on the market for 6 years and nobody has ever complained of noise." Which I found very unhelpful. I did a search on the Internet and found that others had the same problem and that it was because I was daisy chaining the power. I sent a follow-up to my original request for support and the response I got was "Oh yeah, we don't recommend that you daisy chain the power to this pedal because of noise." I didn't see that mentioned anywhere in the documents either. I did see that it says that Cell phones used in close proximity to this pedal may cause noise but who uses their cell phone while they are playing?

I play blues and classic rock and have been playing since the 70's. If this pedal were stolen, broken, lost or otherwise not available to me anymore, I would probably try some boutique Chorus pedals like the Retro-Sonic before I would buy another one of these. I bought this pedal based on the reviews I read without trying it first. I was replacing a multi-effects unit that I had but got tired of where I used the chorus a lot (chorus was actually the only good effect on that pedal) but I am overall neutral on this BOSS Chorus pedal and I won't buy another one for sure.

One glance at the manual (online) will show how simple it is to program the memory settings. The rest is as simple as any other pedal w/ numerous dials.

I only use the Dimension D & CE-1 settings, which are superb. The others are mediocre, but again I bought it only for the two sounds that I knew were great. The ambiance parameter adds metallic awfulness & should be dialed off or on just a touch.

Never had major problems w/Boss pedals & I've had many on & off for 25 yrs.

Their website should have most of what people need. Have never phoned them.

It's a great pedal & value to buy used (115 incl. shipping). Mine was in very good condition & cost less than half of retail. I got it to replace an old CE-3 which I didn't like, but tolerated for far too long.

The unit is easy to tweak to get the sound you are looking for. I played through a different amp recently and had to turn the high or treble nob up for the first time and I was really impressed. It fixed my sound and gave me just enough highs. I have tweaked with all the nobs and I can find all the sounds I need.

I suggest being conservative with the brilliance nob. Little to none at all works best. You can go more if you are clear but not when distorted.

I like this pedal. It is quite versatle and tweakable. It is like having 5 pedals in one. I like switching between songs for different sounds.
Rich - is full and thick sounding
Bass - is simular to a slight flange - you can get the Stranglehold bass sound out of this with a bass -COOL!
Acoustic - sounds great with electric. Haven't tried with acoustic yet.
Dimention D - COOL affect esp with two amps or recording! A must for recording!!!!
CE 1 cool versatle effect

It's a boss their built Ford Tough

Never had to deal with the fine folks

I play gospel, classic rock, harder rock, and jazz.
I have been playing roughly 30 years. I am currently using a boss NS-2 Noise Suppressor, Crybaby 535 Q, Jekyll and Hyde distortion, Route 66 overdrive, Boss CE 20 Chorus, Boss DD -20 digital delay, and BBE Sonic Stomp. Guitars Les Paul Standard and Strat custom classic.
I like this pedal because of it's versatility. I hate the boring chorus sound that never changes. I can set this any way I like and change it for every song!

Seemed really easy to me. the presets and the manual are worth going through. there are some cool pedal set-up options for switching sounds and changing the LEDs to reflect what patch you are on. also when you want to edit your patch from memory the pots may be in a diff place than when you fist set them but the CE-20 want make any changes to the sound until the pot matches the original value you left it at, once this happens the LED starts to flash. i thought that was a nice touch.

People have mentioned the power problems. i am running this in a BCB-60. this has a special power supply with a 1000mA capacity. i am running the BD-2, CE-20, DD-20 and RV-5 with no problems so its about 50% capacity.

sound qaulity is great, i love this pedal, no noise. my set up is as follows

Gibson SG Standard -> BD-2 -> CE-20 -> DD-20 -> RV-5 -> x2 Roland Cube 60s (set to JC Clean, EQ all @ 12 oclock, presence = off)

when i first started using this i was so inspired i wrote 2 new songs :)

seems solid enough to me

dont know

i kinda play/write, nu rock / jazz fusion. clean effects nice delays. occational distortion but not harsh. i had a GT 8 before this set-up, which is a great unit but way to complicated for what i need plus i think the tonal quality of seperates is much better than a MFX Pedal.

its easy. its a guitar pedal. if you cant figure it out you are an idiot. the interface is easy and obvious as well.

im not a total purist and im no expert at chorus, but i'd say a few things here
-NO noise whatsoever. i dont screw around with 'daisy chaining' or whatever so i cant speak for improper power connections but with an adapter this thing is outer space quiet.

-the standard chorus is a bit boring, but does the job as expected with high quality and no noise
-the RICH is basically the same, but just more effect. you can get a bit wilder sounds here, but nothing too funky, just very icy.
-BASS chorus i think it really cool. i only use regular guitar but this has like an air of phaser or leslie or flanger in it. its a deeper swirl than a regular chorus. really stands out with distortion on. wonder how it sounds with a bass...
-DIMENSION D i never knew what this thing was, still dont, but i think its great on here because you can actually get a different sound out of this than from the regular chorus settings. differences also stand out with distortion on. i dont know how to describe the difference but its just different than standard. maybe a differnt kind of LFO for the chorusing. sounds cool.
-CE-1 i have only played with earphones so far and this sounds like crap with them but its another very different chorus sounds and ill bet it sounds great through an amp proper. dont know yet though.

all sounds are crystal clear. sometimes the differences in sound are a bit too sublte to hear to the untrained ear, but sometimes not. you have to tweak it. I give this a 10, but it probably deserves a 9 because there are so many knobs but no way to get real funky sounds out of it, which im always partial to try to do (like you can with a flanger or phaser, but i suppose chorus is just a different more subtle entity).

brilliance knob just makes it sound like tin, and makes this thing very noisey. turn it on, sounds like crap, and adds noise to a pedal which is dead quiet. i wont use it but you can if you like.

ambience is just a "room" setting reverb. kinda pointless since i have a reverb pedal, but whatever. sounds fine i guess just not so useful.

of course. boss tank

why do you need them. its boss

i think it does all. i wouldnt buy it new though... i got a big discount

It's very easy to get a sweet sound. the "Rich" selection is very potent and can be customized pretty easily. Dimensional D is a great smooth chorus, definately easy on the ears. OF course I give it an 8 because certain knobs are not used with certain selection. You will probably have to read the manual for full use.

Well first DON"T daisy chain it...which is probably what that other guy did. I had it on a chain at first which created so much hiss it was ridiculous. That's because this pedal has the biggest electric consumption I've seen out of any pedal thus far. The CE-20 puts out 165mA...the standard boss PSA adapter only provides 200mA. If the effects that are daisy chained together exceed 200...yes, you will have a lot of hiss. Of course no one worries about this because most pedals are under 40mA especially the custom boutique ones (which run 10 mA usually). But besides foolhardy rigging the sound is amazing this IS the only chorus pedal you will need. Anything from smooth to shimmering and all the tones in between. The rate is customizable as well.

Oh yeah, Boss pedals are made like tanks...and show it through weight.

Never really dealt with them...but the corporations are bad with this kind of stuff anyway...also I had to consult somebody completely unaffiliated with boss to find out why the hiss was there...

I play basically anything and everything with a guitar in it...except emo! I went with this pedal because of the customization one can make with the chorus sound...and because I was impressed with the smooth Dimensional D sample I heard. It's very easy to find a shimmering chorus, a smooth one is often harder to find. If it was stolen I might consider something different (just to get something new feeling) but most likely I'd come back to the CE-20...its hard to imagine a chorus that can top it. 200 is A little expensive for a guitar pedal...buy a used one for $100 if you can.