Boss CE-5 Chorus Ensemble

No manual needed. Easy to turn the knobs, not to get a good sound of it.

First, i mainly play jazz and blues, with clean or slightly overdriven sound ( Boss OD3 )on an old and reliable Yamaha G100 amp. I was looking for a subtile chorus that wouldn't kill the bottom end and add some depth to the sound without burying it. I bought a second hand Dod Ice Box , that has a treble cut and a dry/wet mix :keeping the mix knob lower than 12 o'clock preserves the punch of the dry signal.I was satisfied with it , but it gets a midrangey nasally sound when settings are too high . I then wanted to try the famous Boss CE5. How disappointing ! The CE5 has a low and treble filter : what's the low filter for ? It cuts and doesn't add ! The chorus by itself already cuts enough bass ...With settings too low, the effect is hardly noticeable. With settings too high, it releases an awful high digital harmonic, think virtual mosquito or something...The result is a sterile lifeless sound. What's more, the stereo out is a lie ! It's all dry on one side, all wet on the other ... I finally will keep the Dod Ice box, which is true stereo, and has a much better warm sound. The CE5 is one of my biggest disappointments with boss pedals ( even more than with the " wasp swarm box ", ie MT2 Metal ZZZZZone ).

Unfortunately, it's a boss ... will kill guitar sounds for ever and ever ....

Who's ever dealt with Boss customer support ?

I play jazz and blues and this box is worse than Dod Ice Box for these styles IMHO, period. Can't say for other styles.

Four knobs : Effect Level, Rate, Depth, and Filter. Takes some time and tweakability, but it's worth it in the end.

This pedal is very versatile in creating spacious sounds. You can get anything from a very soft pulsing vibrato to a metallic flanging. What lies inbetween those two is lush, spacey chorus. I've been able to get many different sounds out of this, and although I don't use chorus THAT often, it still has it's place on my pedal board.

I'd also like to add that this pedal is SILENT. No noise, no hiss, no tone suckage. That is what counts.

I'm glad I chose the CE-5, because it has much more options over the CH-1 and the DOD Ice Box (two other chorus pedals I considered purchasing). This pedal can replicate the nice, lush, spacey chorus of a vintage CE-2, and still have enough tweakability to cover flanging and vibrato effects.

I use this mainly to give my sound a shimmer. I can get a light chorus (rate : 10 o' clock, depth : 2 o' clock), an 80's CE-2 shimmering chorus (rate : 2 o clock, depth : 10 o' clock), I can also achieve what I like to call "tape slur", in other words, the kind of chorus you hear on old porn movies that are all beat up and are worn out. I can achieve this by setting the rate to 1 o'clock and the depth on full. Great warbling shimmery sound.

And who could forget the martian language? crank both the rate and the depth and you can talk in tongues that are out of this world.

VERY versatile pedal, I certainly do not regret purchasing this.

Boss.

*belch*

If you're considering buying a nice, lush, digital chorus, look no further. If you're looking for warm, analog chorus, I suggest the EH Small Clone or the Boss CH-1. It is rumor that the CE-5 was made with an analog chip, but I have yet to hear confirmation on this.

If you play 80s music, this is for you. If you play 90s alternative/rock, this is for you. If you do chicken-pickin' and country licks, this is for you. If you play anything with chorus at all, this is for you! Simply a great pedal, one of my favorites.

The ONLY Pedal I would rule this out with is the EH Poly Chorus, because that pedal is simply the BEST chorus on the market. If you're on a strict budget though, and don't feel like paying $230 for the Poly Chorus, then the CE-5 is your best bet.

Once again, great pedal. Job well done, Boss.

Very easy to use as long as you know what the "rate" & "depth" do.
Learn some basic physics about sound & sine waves before using any modulation effects!
If you dont, then you could plug a blank patch cord into one of the Outputs... You hear just the effect with no original sound.

Excellent - VERY quiet.
Works with any amp IN the FX loop, or best AFTER a distortion box.
Superb with clean, distorted, and acoustic sounds (even vocals).
Once your get used to the sound, you'll here it in most popular music.
It's one of those pedals that you can't really be without.

No backup ever used, or needed.

Never used.

It was the first type of guitar effect I bought many years ago. It was replaced when it was stolen with the same model... it's that good.
Like I said above, before you embark on your "chain of effects" make sure you know what it is they will do to your sound waves. That way you also get to know which order of the chain is correct for your style (some people still don't know!!!!!).

I don't know a whole lot about chorus, but it was kinda easy once I fiddled around with it.

Well I have used some nice chorus boxes before, but I dunno, maybe I have just grown out of chorus sound. I find it kinda bland sounding. I mean it gets a great Nirvana chorus sound and a smooth slow chorus sound, but I don't find it has a bright enough sound. But it's great for cranking all the controls to 10 and ripping in some feedback through a distortion. Really noisey really cool. Great for some coo grunge music.

I have never broken it. It is rarley used.

Never had to call them.

It's an OK pedal in my opinion. But go ahead and try it, it might be for you. I just havent found a good chorus that realy made me go wow!

is not easy for set up. You can choose any preset from the manual. But , when you learn how set this product, you can achieve from a subtle chorus to an extremely vibrato effect. Very versatile

a lush chorus, absolutely no noise at all. I use this pedal with a customized Fender Stratocaster, Gibson Les Paul or Ibanez S,cry baby pedal-->Ibanez Tubescreamer-->(sometimes Boss Ds1 or Ds2)-->Boss CE 5 (to the loop effect) and DOD Valve guitar system (for delays, flanger, phaser and pitch shifter).
If you can, run this chorus stero, here you can apreciate how good is this pedal

I need a chorus. I have a Yamaha and an Ibanez, but this is better

Is a Boss!! I have a DS1, DS2, CE5 and a Heavy Metal pedals. Built like a rock

I suppose its easy to use, however... I cant seem to get a good sound out of it for electric stuff, no matter how I tweak it. I suppose Im just not a fan of the dryness of digital effects. But it sounds great on my Ovation Legend.

Yuck. Sounds dry, cold and digital. However, it is extremely quiet. The pots dont make any noise either. I use a custom strat and a les paul special, into a Marshall TS122 (all tube) amp. The chorus kills "That Marshall Sound". But like I said, its great with an acoustic into the PA.

Its a boss. It always works.

Its a BOSS. It never breaks.

If you want true warmth, go analog. Id suggest the Ibanez cs-9. If you want over produced, techno/rave/kiddie rock, this pedal has zero warmth, and would work well for you.

Blah blah super easy to use, even though the last set of stacked knobs have always confused me

Does the job, isnt very lush though. I'd get something a little balsier like a super chorus or Visual Sound chorus.

Ok heres where we have a problem. Since i got this pedal used on ebay, it has worked wonderfully like my other 10 boss pedals that i bought used on ebay. But recently, after sitting for 10 months on a pedalboard, it decided to stop working. It bypasses perfectly, but theres no effect being added to my signal. What the FUCK is up with that? Everythings intact as far as i can tell, and i know what im talking about since i self-modded an Ibanez TS-9 Tubescreamer to TS-808 specs. This makes me furious!!! Boss built like a tank? Yeah maybe the outer shell!

hah

It does the job, not too impressive though and it FUCKING broke!

This pedal can be easy to use, basicly i dont really know what the knobs do (except for the filter), i just go by the reconmendations and tweak them a bit for the sound i want.

I use an epiphone g-400(SG copy into a boss mt2 meatlzone (shut up) into the CE 5 Chorus ensemble then nto a marshall practise amp.

Ii dont suggest using the chorus while playing rythem with distortion becasue it starts to sound like a flanger. but it sonds great for leads.

Its fine anythime on clean.

If the batery runs too low on this pedal then basicly it makes no changes, i'ms aving all my money for a new amp so i can afford an AC adadpter jsut yet but i plan to get one.

Its a boss, its made to last and it will do so.

Haven't delt with them.

I pklay punk metal and rock. I wouldn't use this pedal for punk but for most other stuff i would. I can get a real metallica sound on clean with this pedal. If it were stolen i would beat the bugger to a pulp and get my pedal back. I compared it to a CH-2 and like them both, but Ce-5 had a better sound for me and i better EQ system.

I wish it came with am an AC adapter!

Very easy to use. I has know trouble getting the exact sound i wanted.

I use a crate gx-212 with it and it sound great. You can get a metallica clean sound out of it. You can turn it into a tremolo or vibrato effect. Extremely good sound quality

Very well made with good construction

The people i talked to were very helpful, i got a lot of individual help.

I play whatever sounds good to me. If you're looking for a good chorus pedal than look no further.

Very simple, the manual give a few recomended setings with are very cool turning all the knobs up full gives a fuckin' trippy sound. I was expecting a very one dimentional sound. far from with this pedal even though it's only one effect the range is incredible.

Very Very good. Would sound better with a delay pedal

this is the second pedal from boss i have the other is the Xt-2 and i've used it at plently of gigs and never needed a back-up so i expect this to be the same since boss = tank

never delt with them

Brilliant sound
ease of use
very robust