Boss CH-1 Super Chorus

Quite easy to get a good sound, if you don't overdo it. Mine is a later made in taiwan model.

Sound quality is excellent for what I play. I don't want a huge swirly chorus sound, I want my otherwise dry Les Paul to sound a little lush. The CH-1 is perfect for that. It doesn't overdo the chorus effect. I play with all settings around 12 o'clock. Sounds perfect on stage and at home.

Never had a problem since early 2000.

Never used 'em.

This is a great chorus, and you can tweak it with some mods to make it sound really weird. It works perfectly well for me, since I don't need those swirly watery weird sounds. I use it all the time to add some depth and richness to my tone. I don't need anything better.

If you have used chorus pedals before, you can get the picture.
If you have not, read the manual, you paid for it!

Ok, I've had Small Clones and everything. I would not say this is the best chorus of all time but it suits perfectly to me.

I must make something clear for all tha young amateurs and begginers out there, who know nothing yeat about stompboxes:

This pedal was launched in 1989 as an analog pedal, and until October 2001 it was. In that month, the CH-1 Schematic suffered a big change and from that date on, the CH-1's are digital as they changed some analog components for digital (cheaper) ones.

So this is the story. Mine is a early 90's and sounds pretty good to me and to the music im into right now.

If your CH-1 is October 2001 or older, Im sorry for you men, you have the wrong guy.

Cliche Answer: "ITS A BOSS"

There are many types of music and many types of chorus pedals, before choosing any of them, first try to find out which sound you want and go to the store and let the sales guy show you the material hes got.

When I was young I bought a Small Clone just because this guy Cobain used it before he patheticaly shot himself. And the real story is that I was not after his sound, so my ears got mature and when I found out I wanted something else, I sold it to another iwannabecobain kid.

So my advice is: Be your selves and try to sound like your selves!

P.S: Kurt Cobain shot himself, he is not a model to any of you kids. Im ashamed he used strats and DS-1 as I do.

It takes a while to get THE perfect sound you are looking for, but once you've fiddled with the knobs the desired sound is easy to make.

The manual is as straight forward as it gets.

This may not get the deep, swirling, watery chorus you may get out of the CE-2. I tend to find the CH-1 is for achieving effects mixed with others. This pedal sounds fantastic with distortion and overdrive, achieved the sounds captured by artists such as Omar Rodriguez Lopez and Dean Deleo from the Stone temple Pilots. For a general chorus pedal this wouldnt be as high as an 8, but for the distinctive sound this pedal captures it is a very high mark.

The only problem is, is that unless the E.LEVEL is turned above halfway the effect is barely hearable.

It's a boss. You buy it. You use it. It doesn't go wrong. It won't break.

I play grunge, progressive and post hardcore music, and this pedal is great for all. Mixed with lots of different effects is this pedal's biggest strength, and doesn't drown out or get drownwed by other sounds. I play a les paul with an overdrive and distortion OS-2. If i was to lose this pedal, I would definitly purchase this same pedal. My favourite feature on this pedal is the EQ; turned all the way up it sounds like no other chorus available.

Go ahead and buy one, you'll be disappointed at first, but get to know it and you'll love it.

Easy to use. Fiddle with the dials and you quickly get the range of this box.

First -- this will not make you sound like Kurt Cobain. It's not a deep, sweeping chorus. Second -- it's meant for live performance or high-volume practice. It sounds weak and almost indescernable at low volumes. However at live volumes it really comes through and colors your tone just right. This is one of two chorus pedals I own -- the other is the MXR M-134 stereo chorus. The MXR is overpowering, and I use it for times when I want my tone to sound like it's immersed in chorus, just dripping effect.

No probs. Works great.

Never dealt with them.

This pedal is good at fattening up your tone with a nice volume boost. I like it just for that, and I feel that this is what Roland/Boss was shooting for when they designed it. Very few pro players want a chorus that dominates the tone. It takes away from solid, aunthentic tube tone, and sounds synthetic. If you want to sound like Kurt Cobain or Zakk Wylde, use what they used (Electroharmonix Small Stone for KC, and MXR stereo chorus for Zakk Wylde). In any case, ALWAYS try the unit out before you buy. If you don't, it's your fault if you don't like the effect.

Fairly easy to use, not amazingly versatile, but that's the effects fault not the pedal.

Signal chain: Cort G290 (EMG SAs and 89)>TU-2>Whammy>Cry Baby>NS-2>OD-20>Zoom PD-01>CH-1>PH-3>BF-3>DD-6
I was looking for a fairly subtle effect mostly for use on clean, and I found it, a beautiful shimmery sound, perfect for chords with delay. A little noisy with distortion though.

It's a Boss.

N/A

I play all kinds of stuff, mostly alternative rock kinda stuff. I like creating textured and interesting guitar sounds and this is great. Satriani has used this in his rig for at least 10 years, although his is probably analogue. Still, this ounds great, even though it's digital. I spent a long time comparing this the the Chorus Ensemble, the CE-5, and found the CH-1 to be far warmer and less sterile. A great buy, especially at this price!

I bought this pedal really cheap off a guy who was selling all his stuff, and giving up music. At first, I just stuck it on the pedalboard, turned all the knobs to the middle, decided that sounded OK, and left it. After a while, I started getting annoyed by the drop in level and seemingly "thin" quality of the tone. I contemplated buying another chorus pedal, but I decided to sit down and mess with this one. I turned the level up more, and messed with the depth, and messed with the placement in my pedal setup. After a while, I found the sounds I was looking for, and now I'm really impressed by this pedal.

It's not analog, it's digital. Don't expect it to sound analog. However, with that said, it doesn't sound bad. Pretty shimmery. Can sound very full if you have the right amp and settings. The guitar you play is obviously important too. Playing a guitar with humbuckers through this made a huge difference. I'm into King Crimson and The Police as far as chorus sounds reference, and this will do those sounds easily. It doesn't get as freaky as some other choruses, but for the price Boss charges for these things, it's pretty versatile in my opinion.

I dunno much about the "correct" way to run pedals in a configuration, but I have this set as such: Line 6 DL4 > Boss PH3 Phase Shifter > Danelectro Daddy-O overdrive > Boss DD2 delay > Boss CH1 Super Chorus > Line 6 Verbzilla reverb > Akai Headrush E2 > Boss TU2 tuner. It works pretty damn well in that setup. It's perfect for enhancing the sound of modulation effects.

Seems dependable. Boss pedals seem to be very good overall in this area, though I may be having an issue with a PH3 I just bought. Still, I've never had a Boss pedal crap out on me, so that's a good thing.

I dunno. I've never called them.

It's a good chorus pedal. It's not the Holy Grail of chorus pedals, but it's worth it if you put some time into it. Why the hell would you want to spend $100 on a chorus pedal anyway? If this got stolen, I'd probably try a few other pedals, but decide that this was the one and come back to it. Go for it.

This is pretty easy to dial up a good sound. Ive never had the manual but roland has some great info on settings.

At first I thought the sound was very weak and to pop chorusy for me. I went on the roland site and found the tech doc. and looked through the effects guide. I found 2 setting that are great that I never even thought I could do with this pedal. The first is the "arpeggios" setting, it sounds great for jazz and shimmer, kinda of analogish to me with a little swirl. The next is the vibrato setting, little weak but really cool sound. I like those two settings the best. These pedals are cheap and are very versitile.

works great. boss is built like a tank.

never dealt with

This was given to me by a keyboardist and has not been used untill I found those two new setting. Go to the boss website and try those settings. They can also be found on the audio demos. Overall a great versatile chorus. If your looking for one sound like Analog players might want to check the ce-2 and the robert keeley mod at www.robertkeeley.com I dont use chorus enough to warrant buying best but this pedal is a very useable chorus.

If you can't figure this out, you're probably deaf. It's an effect pedal afterall. Just twirl the knobs 'til is sounds good.

I used it with a Fender American Standard Strat w/after market (Seymour Duncan) pickups into a Marshall amp. Sounds warm and subtle, sort of "delicate" to me. I liked it a lot. Even with the dials maxed out it has usable sound (although not for my playing style). The EQ knob really does make a difference (which I had doubted before trying it). I think it sounds really good--not metallic sounding to me, which is one thing that I HATE in any effect except distortion (where it belongs).

Boooooo!
Everyone says they're built like tanks. Well, maybe the outside is. I bought mine used (my bad) and the A Output wasn't working after I got it home. Had it evaluated by a professional electronics tech. He said it's probably a factory defect. At his shop, we called Roland/Boss. They verified it sounded like it was not working properly--since it was in Like New condition (but still used) they wouldn't even give me any help or suggestions. I took it home, I opened it up and fixed it myself. It worked fine for another week...then neither output works. The jacks are mounted to PCM boards an held to the case via washers and nuts. The boards inside the unit are NOT secured to anything but are free-floating. Anyway it probably shouldn't have had this problem.

Pffftttt! whatever!
I bought a used pistol once that turned out to have a flaw. I sent it back to the manufacturer (Beretta) they sent me a NEW one no problem.
Boss?! No way. Unless you bought it new, from an authorized dealer, and have the original receipt...you're outta luck. No flexibility on their part--they don't even want to hear it. They rest on the reputation of their pedals and not on the reputation of the company's customer service.
If you buy one of these (or any Boss pedal!), you'd better hope it never breaks. 5 year warranty IF you buy NEW from an authorized dealer only (better check your guitar store's status!) and you'd better keep that receipt. No if/and/or buts.

The design is decent and the sound is really good. I can't really fault the pedal--just the company for lack of customer service/care. The pedal has a pretty good sound to it--but it won't really give you any "weird" effect. You might try the Boss CE-5 for that or another effect altogether (like a flange). The CH-1 has more of an old skool vibe, as opposed to a digital/metal vibe. The box is solid and the dials are pretty solid too. The insides are NOT secured to anything and are fragile PCM boards.
The companies customer service is worthless! Bottom line on that: They won't back up their product. The will only fulfill their legal obligation...period.
If I can find the replacement parts (maybe guts from another CH-1), I'm willing to repair it. The pedal DOES sound good.
--but--
If it breaks would I replace it? Funny...
It DID! And I'm replacing it with something else...probably a Danelectro Cool Cat (a NEW one!).

Well if you want a lush, deep, good chorus sound this is not the unit for you - don't even bother. Impossible to get a saturated chorus sound - no usable tones here - you can barely even hear an effect in mono. I wanted something like my DOD FX 65 stereo chorus which i got in 1995 - but this was sooooo disappointing. For the $100 i paid i felt totally ripped off - for the sound it produces, it should cost $25 out the door with the ac adaptor included - for $99 it is a piece of crap - not worthy of its price tag. I returned it after about 2 or 3 days and exchanged it for an Ibanez TS9 for the same price - now there is an effect unit worthy of a $99 price tag. My opinion is that for $99 an effect unit should completely satisfy your wants/needs and it should leave you not even wanting another effect unit - it shouldn't make you regret buying it after a day or two of casual jamming. Piece of crap! I have a better chorus effect in my Digitech Desktop Guitar Processor which i bought for $99. This box is awful enough sounding to scare me away from ever buying or even testing/using/borrowing-for-just-one-show any other Roland/Boss pedal. How hard is it to get down a chorus effect? Take one signal, then split into two, then adjust the amount of signal number two, and the delay time and rate of signal number two. Whatever this pedal does, it doesn't turn the two signals into lush stereo magic, so what did i pay $99 for if not lush stereo magic? Nothing.

I am using a '73 Fender Bassman 100 tube amp head which sounds good at any setting - also noiseless - playing through celestion speakers in a marshall cab - all good gear - clear and noiseles - guitar is mahogany (e.g. gibson explorer/thunderbird). Both guitar and amp are near-flawless and in perfect states of repair. By all means, my rig will allow the best to come out in a pedal. If it doesnt' sound good in this amp it won't sound good anywhere - well, it just doesn't get the job done even with a good tube amp. Its a chorus for amatuer musicians only - even if you are a pro and are on a budget and you really need a chorus you wouldn't want anyone to hear you using this thing - this is a toy chorus to be toyed around with, no serious musician would use this in front of an audience or for recording. If i had a gig on the beach in the sand then i would use it because i wouldn't care if it got sand in it and got ruined. I wanted that big lush chorus sound like Kurt Cobain on Nevermind - the dreamy watery like shimmering wall of glass chorus - this is just some el-cheapo mimmicking box. And the guy who said he can get the Bryan Adams tone is an amatuer too if he thinks this thing sounds even half-way decent or close to the 'run to you' tone. Bryan Adams' tone on 'Run To You' is not attainable with this unit - Bryan Adams' has a much richer, more-proper, lush, penetrating, and obviously higher-quality chorus tone on that song that Roland only wishes this unit could mimmick. Don't be fooled, these guys are just stoked on a new unit, they would probably rave about anything after 5 minutes out of the box. This is a very low-quality chorus - if you are serious about your chorus tone save your money and buy something like a TC-Chorus or an Electro-Harmonix Poly Chorus.

No, you can't even depend on it to deliver ok-sounding chorusing effects, this is only the second pedal i have ever wanted to return, and its the first pedal i actually have returned. Its a terrible value.

After this piece of crap, i will never use another Roland/Boss effect unit (or any gear) again. Boss sucks, Roland sucks. The lesson? Always go boutique, if you can't afford to go boutique, just save your money until you can afford to go boutique. You will be happier to use no pedals for another month rather than affording this 'compromise' now. Go boutique, mass produced pedals are always crap.

I am into rock, Hendrix, Clapton, Beatles, Nirvana, Weezer, Modern rock, Emo, indie, i wanted a Cobain-esque watery warble for a chorus - i got some lame looking pedal that sounds like a patch effect i downloaded for free from some crappy website - you know those really cheap patch mods for your pc? this would be like an ok patch effect. this chorus sound is so weak you can barely notice it is on or off (perhaps what you want), if you want the goooood chorus sound try something three times the price.

Very easy to use, just step on it.
It will take time to find the ideal chorus tone you want as it has 4 dials.

My setup is Ibanez RG350 > Boss Ds-1 > Boss Ch-1 > Marshall combo.
The CH-1 is noiseless and I can get classic tones from it like Bryan Adams - Run To You, Joe Satriani - Crystal Planet and Joe Satriani's - Crushing Day.

Very useful pedal.

The construction of the CH-1 is masterful but the reason im giving this a 6 as the battery life isnt very long, its about 2 weeks before i have to replace the batteries.
I would gig without a backup but i would remember to bring a set of batteries just incase the unfortunate happens.

Havnt dealed with boss.

I play shred and instrumental rock.
I would definatly buy other Boss products as they rule. The CH-1 adds much more colour to my clean sounds and makes them sound very dream like.
I would reccomend this to anyone.
I think the CH-1 could be improved by making it more distortion friendly and one less dial.