Boss CEB-3 Bass Chorus

It's pretty easy to use - basic standard chorus controls.

I've very picky about the pedals I use - I like clean pedals that don't add noise. I tried two other chorus pedals before buying this one. Both were a lot more noisy than this one. This one does have a bit of hiss at low levels, but it's mostly masked. While it's not as quiet as my other pedals (Aphex compressor, Ashdown distortion), it's pretty close. Also, when I first put this on my power supply, it had a slight hum. This isn't the first time I've seen a Boss pedal hum a bit from an unnder-filtered power supply. Since then, I've custom built a 2A 9V linear well filtered power supply, and all hint of the hum is gone. If you use Boss pedals, you can't use a cheap wall wart to power it. I believe that this is probably the best sounding chorus under $200 (EBS range). The chorus sound is good - not overbearing at most settings, but not too subtle either. Overall, I like it.

It seems built fairly well - standard Boss build. I've only had one issue in the past with a Boss pedal, so this will probably do well.

I've never had to use them.

Overall, this is a good pedal and works well for my application. After trying out 2 others, this one is the keeper and probably the best overall bass chorus for less than $200.

Four knobs, three of which are standard on any chorus pedal: level, depth and rate. The fourth is a Low Filter knob, which is pretty intuitive once you learn what it does; basically as you turn it off full it stops applying the chorus effect to the lower frequencies. At minimum only the G-string gets much of the effect. If you want a clean low groove but some character in your upper noodling, you'll want to play with this knob. I find that even with it on full I don't lose any low end, so I don't mess with it much unless I turn the rate way up.

Depth and rate are pretty easy; depth controls how present the synthesized voices produced by the effect are, while rate controls the speed at which the effect's waves align and misalign with your bass' clean tone. Technically, it does this my adjusting how far out of tune the waves are with your bass. Be careful when adjusting rate, as it will very quickly start sounding like "beats" which makes you sound out of tune. You can use faster rates to great effect if you turn down the depth to about 9 o'clock; then the effect becomes a vibrato.

It takes a little experimentation to find settings that work well if you've never played with a chorus before, but once you get the hang of twiddling the knobs it becomes very easy to dial in the sound you're looking for.

Some reviewers have really dumped on this pedal saying it's not aggressive enough. I'll tell you right now that this effect is not and will never be a bass flanger or phaser. The Boss guitar versions of both those pedals work just fine for bass if you want an edgier sound. This chorus is a very subtle effect; that said, it is quite flexible, and definitely audible. It adds a softening, ethereal quality at lower rates and high depth; at higher rates/lower depth, you get a range of vibrato effects. Turn them both up too much and it sounds out of tune as mentioned before.

This pedal is on a board that I use with both guitars and basses, and includes, in signal-chain order, a Boss TU-2, LMB-3 limiter, CS-3 compressor, ODB-3 OD/dist, and the CEB-3. I use this rig with an Ibanez SG clone as well as a Yamaha BB-404 J-bass clone (the only one where I use the enhancer part of the LMB-3), a Fender Mexi Jazz with Dimarzio Ultra Jazz pickups and independent volume/tone (this thing is PUNCHY), and a Yamaha TRB-1005 5-string active, all piped through a Peavey 210TX 200W 2x10+h combo.

For both guitar and bass, this pedal is outstanding as a single effect. Mixing it with distortion/OD can have mixed results, but produces some interesting sounds especially for bass. It might be interesting to try this with an octave pedal, or in an effects loop after true tube overdrive.

This pedal adds very little noise at any setting, being a modulation effect as opposed to a gain-boosting effect. If you use the level control to boost signal, you might notice a little more noise, but that's just as likely to be your axe or amp as anything else.

Plenty of good words about Boss durability, and this pedal's no exception. One thing that will kill this pedal dead, though, is reverse polarity or too much amps. You don't have to use the Boss PSA adapter, but the one you do use MUST be 200Ma and negative tip polarity.

Never dealt with Boss customer support. Never had a Boss pedal die.

Overall, this is a very subtle effect, but perfect for acoustic rock (helps your electric bass blend with the guitars; bass lines in Jars of Clay songs usually use a bit of chorus) to alternative (this thing does a great 3 Doors Down impression) to some of the tamer classic rock/metal passages calling for bass chorus. If I had it to do over, I'd probably pick one up on eBay or otherwise used, but I have no regrets buying this thing new.

Fool-proof! Four knobs: level, low cut, rate and depth. Takes 30 seconds to figure out what each one does.

One word: Poor! Turn depth up to 10 and you still barely hear the chorus effect. Rate is fine (as far as it's audible) below 7, higher than that and it gets wobbly and sounds like you're out of tune. Low cut and level do what they're supposed to, but the chorus effect is so weak, it's only useful as a permanent flavouring of your tone, and for that it's far to expensive. I play an Epiphone EBM-5 into a Hartke 3500 with a Harmonic Design 4x10", so it's not that the frequencies are too low to be processed. Know the Manics' "Of walking abortion" or just about any Rush tune? No way you even get close to that with this thing. Avoid it as you would the plague!

Haven't gigged with it (wouldn't dare to...), but unfortunately it will probably last longer than me.

I have been playing hard rock for 5 years and I am constantly looking for something to liven up certain passages of our songs, but not with this. All you get is an - albeit certainly ear-pleasing, were it there to be heard - horribly soft chorus, which is all but inaudible on the lower strings. I bought this because it's a BOSS. Do not trust brand names! Trust your ears!

Very easy to use. 1 of my two BOSS pedals. Manual very good, especially as it provided four basic settings. Tweak until beautiful.

My Lineup Is:
Peavey Fury IV >> Boss AW-3 Dynamic Wah >> Boss CEB-3 Bass Chorus >> Fender Rumble 60 Bass Combo

No noise issues. Effects sound great, but tone tweaking needed as extreme bass frequencies either crap out or (if level is too high) blow the windows out. Try 'Tears in Heaven' - that's my no.1 song for this effect.

Probably used by hundreds of pros, dunno who they are. Rarely heard alone.

You could break down doors with this thing. I once got a bit over-exited and 6ft 3inch me jumped on to it!
Still grand. As another review says, get a power supply. Having said that, the Boss Dynamic Wah is worse. (Anybody know why?)

Never used customer support. Boss is an industry leader, so crap support would be surprising, to say the least.

Not a rock effect - but great with mellow, reflective music. Opened my eyes to a whole new style of playing when I bought it. Quite a tasteful understated colour as well. Just like the effect, really - tasteful and understated!
Hate the Low Filter - finding that sweet spot between complete volume drop and super-overcharged bass frequencies takes time and needs changed according to EQ changes.

To repeat what everybody else has said, it's pretty much a no brainer to use this effect. My default setting is all knobs at 12:00. Sometimes I'll cut the chorus effect out of the LFs to get a more solid bottom.

I use this pedal with an active Jazz. The chorus effect is pleasing to the ears as long as the rate is set to reasonable levels. Too much and it's too ripply and sounds fake.

No problems.

Never had to contact Boss about this pedal.

One thing I noticed about this pedal is it takes very little effort to stomp it on or off compared to my Digitechs. It's a small matter but I thought I'd throw it out there.

Get a power supply. It eats batteries.

Like most Boss pedals, very easy to use. The low filter can get a bit of getting used to, esp. when testing at low volumes.

Setup is a Ric 4003->Boss OC2->DOD FX25B->Sansamp TriAC->EH smallstone->Boss CEB3->Ibanez DL3 (delay)->Boss DD6->Boss TU2->any number of tube or hybrid heads into an 8x10. There's also a Boss Percussion Synth pedal linked in there for blips squeeks and blurts when required.

Well, it's Boss-like smooth...maybe a little too smooth. Kinda like comparing a Boss phaser to the EH smallstone - the EH has more grit and presence. That said, it's a lovely effect, and with distortion sounds quite brutal. Fattens up the sound no end. Not as wiggy as I would like, my EH Electric Mistress sounds more organic and delicious (but it's bloody huge and the volume drop when on kills me).

Doesn't make you sound like Peter Hook doing a lead break when it's on, which is a good thing...the world only needs one band with a hugely prominent chorused bass lead sound! :)

It's a Boss. I've never had heard or seen a Boss pedal shit itsself. You could hammer nails with it.

Never needed to, don't really care to be honest. I'd rather pay my tech to fix things pronto rather than deal with a corporation.

I play an off-kilter style of alternative rock, "a cross between Kyuss and HDU (intense and brooding NZ ambient/noise band)" to quote a listener. We've a 3-piece, so effects feature prominently. This effect fits in nicely.
Would I buy it again? Dunno - I think i'd rather try something else for a laugh, but then again I rearrange my pedalboard so often...
As a previous reviewer mentioned more depth would be primo...as would some kind of presence control to get a little more bite.

uhm it has 4 knobs... set the level, low EQ, rate and depth, and that's about it... Like all BOSS pedals, spend 15 minutes or so tweaking knobs and you'll find your sound.

I run a pretty mean set-up:
Ibanez GSR-100 w/ Bartolini P-bass Humbuckers and 2-band EQ (9 volt) --> BOSS TU-2 --> Dunlop 105Q Bass Crybaby --> CEB-3 --> Boss ODB-3 --> Ebtek Hum Eliminator --> BOSS GEB-7 --> Morely PVO Volume --> Crate BX115 --> sometimes a Mackie Sound Board.

The sound is incredibly clean and sublte. It choruses without adding a tone of noise or distorting (that's what the ODB-3 is for). I normally keep my Low EQ about 2/3 up, my level all the way up, and my rate and depth about half-way. It ads a nice depth to my toen that blends well into the other effects, as well.

Like All BOSS pedals, it's a tank. I DO gig without a backup

Never dealt with them. Their WWW site is alot of marketing and little technical support so *shrugs* who knows.

I play too wide a variety to list. but it works well in all of them. the guitarists I play with all run chorus, so it makes a 2 axe band sopund bigger *L*

Fairly easy to use. It took me about a half an hour to figure out what was going on and to get it dialed in. The pedal has 4 knobs. The far left adjust the output of the effect so you can match that to your instrument. The next knob adds or takes away the chorus on the low end. I personally like the chorus on the low end so i leave it all the way up. Next is the rate. Or how fast the chorus-ing goes. And then the depth or how far the chorus choruses

I'm running either a homemade fretless squier through a digitech synth wah then boss chourus to a swr 2004 and goliath jr III. OR an Ibanez Ergodyne through the same pedals and amp. The pedal sounds great. With the fretless I can come pretty close to Jaco's tone on "A Remark You Made." Great pedal. Love it.

I use it on gigs without backup all the time. Very reliable.

never had to deal with them

I play mostly Jazz, Fusion, etc. I love to use it on ballads. It sounds great. I have been playing electric bass for about 7 years and the last 1/2 of a year I startedd getting effects. This was the first one i got and i love it. If i lost it or it got stolen i would deffinately replace it. Though i might try a couple other chorus pedals out first. The pedal it great. I suggest it to anyone who is looking for a useful effect that doesnt get in the way as long as you dont leave it on all the time

This is a very easy-to-use bass chorus pedal but then I've never found it difficult to use a Boss pedal. 4 control knobs, all explained in the easy to read manual.

I run the pedal through the post EQ fx loop on a Peavey TKO 115 and use a Yamaha RBX 760A bass. The pedal provides a deep warm chorus sound. The only problem i could find was that sometimes it got a bit muddy if I was looking for a very deep chorus effect. But that was easily fixed with a bit of tweaking.

Come on. It's a Boss pedal. Solid as a brick. You can expect Boss pedals to last for years and years. I always use an adaptor when playing live as it tends to eat up the battery fairly quickly. The box demands you use a Boss PSA series adaptor. I just bought a cheap alternative which works fine.

Boss may as well shut down their customer service department. I don't think anything could ever go wrong with a Boss pedal. And as for a warranty....... doesn't have one, doesn't need one.

I play funk rock and it sounds great. I've only ever bought two effects pedals (both Boss, the other being the Dynamic Wah) and they sounds awesome. I'd only ever recommend Boss for stompboxes. The only improvement Boss could possibly make would be to have an onboard EQ. Great pedal all up though.

Simple enough to figure out, even without a manual. If you've done your homework and know what "Chorus" really is, you'll figure it out in 3 seconds flat.

I run an active Fender Jazz -> Bass Chorus -> Boss Bass Synth -> Tech 21 bass compactor -> SWR350 head into a hartke 4x10 cab. Be careful using this with a compressor. (Actually, don't do it at all.) That's the only time it gets noisy, just because the compressor will amplify that noise. Otherwise, its very quiet, and keep the low filter all the way clockwise, and it won't lose any bottom end. I only wish that it had even greater depth to it...mine is always cranked, sometimes I wish I could go further.

I bought it used, and I'm hard on my pedals, and have not had a single problem yet. Carry extra batteries though, that's the only thing I need to do to keep this tank running well. Not that it really sucks them up, but if you use it a lot for long sets, it's always a good idea. Or buy the adapter.

Making solid products IS good customer support. So they get a 10.

I play heavy rock and alternative with a jazzy funk feel to it at times. I use this pedal mainly on big, open parts where the guitar is clean, just to get that big-as-a-house and shimmery sound. It does the trick well. Or, crank up the depth, and it'll give you that nice 46&2 shimmery echo that sounds like its 2 basses in a big ampitheater. Every pedal is going to sound different, and this one might not be for everyone, but it's one of the most versatile ones I've tried, especially for the price range. (Do not buy the DOD, it sucks. The Ibanez SoundTank, though hard to find now, is also a cool one, but I liked the solidness of the Boss better.)