CE-5 Chorus Review

The CE5 chorus covers a wide frequency range and features high- and low-cut filters. This lets you create any kind of chorus effect from a mild, natural chorus to the clear and penetrating stereo chorus effect popular in contemporary music.

Ease of Use:	9.2
Sound:	9.6
Reliability:	10
Impression:	9.6
Overall rating:	9.6
Users rating:	7.4
Comments:	9

overall: 10

Featured review by: sonixon, on november 01, 2004

Price paid: $ 63.2

Purchased from: Local pawn shop.

Ease of Use: The moment I tried this effect, I fell in love with it. It came with no manual, but I figured it out easily, trying different pre-sets at a time. There's very little excess noise and it's very easy to modify the sound, as this pedal covers a very wide variety of modulation. // 10

Sound: I'm currently using this pedal with a Squier stratocastor, and with the proper pre-sets, it can make the distortion in my Peavey Rage 158 sound like sex-in-a-box. The effects always sound terrific, although when doubled with my Dano compressor, I get occasional feedback. But that may be due to just technical flaws in my setup. This pedal is great for playing multiple Metallica songs, among others. // 10

Reliability & Durability: Definitly reliable, as it is made of thick metal, and is built to last. I'd give this category a six if I could. // 10

Impression: This pedal is great for the style of music play, which is classic rock distorted hard rock type stuff (Iron Maiden, Led Zeppelin, etc.) With the settings on low this can give the distortion a very metal feel to it. I would definitly buy another if this thing fell out of my hands, and considering I only payed half price for this at a pawn shop, I'm extremely lucky. This pedal has pretty much everything I could ask for in a chorus pedal, and is perfect the way it is. // 10

overall: 9

Reviewed by: StratPlayer15, on june 12, 2009

Price paid: $ 89.00

Purchased from: Guitar Center

Ease of Use: The pedal is quite simple to use, once you expirement with it for a short while. The Pedal has an E. Level (Wet/Dry signal), Rate (Vibrato effect), Depth (Level of Chorus), and a Filter. The unique thing about this chorus, over the Boss Super Chorus, is its Filter. Its a two-stage filter, so basicly you can filter your Hi's and Lo's (Bass & Treble). The filter is really the reason i chose this pedal, because you can achieve alot more sounds w/ it. // 8

Sound: This pedal can make a large variaty of sounds. I can tweak this pedal to perfection at times. Currently I'm playing a MIM Stratocaster along w/ a Peavey Classic 30, and the pedal can achieve the sound of my favorite artists like RHCP, Janes Addiction, and Jimi Hendrix. This is my personal favorite Chorus pedal, and I've owned a EHX small clone, and I think its a great pedal as well, but I prefer this over it, simply because you can tweak this Boss to sound exactly how you like. // 9

Reliability & Durability: I highly doubt this thing would break on me. Its hard as a rock, so unless I drop it from the roof, I should be good. Besides, if it does have an issue, when you purchase this, Boss includes a 5 year warranty. Also, I would deff gig w/ it. Another thing I like about Boss pedals, is there exremely easy to press, when I'm giging and it comes a time to press one of my MXR pedals, I have to pause and make sure my foots in the right place to press that little button, but these Boss pedals are just a breeze to see and press. // 10

Impression: Overall, this is an amazing chorus. W/ all the tweaking you can do, its one of the top of the line choruses, as far an indivisual stompboxes are concerned. Also, the Boss Super Chorus, is really the same thing without the filter, just an EQ knob. Personally I think the 2-stage filter is the way to go, there-fore i recomend this over the super chorus. If you can afford the $89, deffinatly go try one of these out, great pedal! // 9

overall: 9.5

Reviewed by: MillerTime91, on march 22, 2007

Purchased from: Ponier Music

Ease of Use: Incredibly easy to use. I got it home, and within a couple of minutes I had it on my board and had a great sound coming out of. However, you have to really crank some of the knobs to be able to hear the effect. It definetly produces a top notch chorus sound though. // 9

Sound: At the store, I ran it through a Johnson stratocaster (their cheapest guitar) through a Johnson 10 watt amp (Their cheapest amp), and the sound was still pretty good. I got it home, and I ran my Fender Yngwie Malmsteen Stratocaster through it, into a Crate XT120, and the sound was great. My board is very noisey, and this is the only effect that doesn't produce any excess feedback or noise. I can get the sound perfect for Nirvana songs (Come as you are, Smells like Teen Spirit, Breed, etc.), and I like to use that as a measure of a chorus, becuase I thought if there was one good thing about Kurt Cobain, it was his ability to integrate the chorus into his sound frequently. Everything about it is aweesome. // 10

Reliability & Durability: I feel like I could definetly depend on this, and would gig without a backup. It's a Boss, and like all Boss pedals that I have encountered, it's built like a tank. I bought it used also, and even after someone else had beaten it up, it still holds up amazingly. // 10

Impression: I play a mix of everything, from Surf to Neoclassical to Grunge, and it can work for all of these great when put in the right spot. I've been playing near 4 years, and have been through several other pedals in my short time of playing. This is one of the few times though that I've been truly happy with the pedal weeks after it's purchase. If it were stolen or lost, I would probably be incredibly ticked, but I'd probably buy an effects processor, just because I use a wide array of effects, and I don't like having to buy seperate pedals at $100 each. Compared to the chorus on my Line 6, it is amazing. Compared to the chorus on my DigiTech RP80, it just destroys it. This is definetly one of the best chorus pedals out there, but I would also consider the Small Clone Chorus as well for you Grunge fans. I play a wider array of music, but if you're just into Grunge, then I'd probably consider the Small Clone. But anything else, look no further than this. // 9

overall: 9.5

Reviewed by: GuitarFreak1387, on september 30, 2008

Price paid: $ 80

Purchased from: Guitar Center

Ease of Use: After reading the manual it was easy to get the sounds that I had in my head. Just a few simple twists of the knobs and your set. It's not that hard to do what you want with it after you read a bit. It can range from a slight chorus to add a bit of mass to the sound to a wash of chorus that will allmost make you sea sick. To put it lightly if you are looking for a great chorus this is the pedal for you. // 9

Sound: I'm using this with a Dean avalanch ultra 7 string and a Jackson rr3 and Ibanez half stack and a slew of other pedals, and it complements my set up nicely. I have noticed that when useing overdriv/distortion that it can tend to get noisy with the high and low eq relitivly high. This pedal just sounds awsome to put it simply. It can go from a slight chorus to a sea sick kinda swooshing chorus. Right after getting the CE-5 i was able to get the clean chorus sound from a few Dream Theater songs. // 9

Reliability & Durability: As everyone says "Boss pedals are built like tanks" and for over 20 years now that statement is true. I have a few Boss pedals and have never had a problem with any of them. They just hold up so well. So it goes without saying that I can depend on it... even with my life. I could use this without haveing a back up or even another brands model. // 10

Impression: I play a range of music from rock to blues to metal to even jazz, and this pedal suits all them styles well. I have always found a place for it. I have been playing for around 10 years now and own a few guitars and pedals from Boss, Dunlop, and DigiTech. I love this pedal cus it can add so much useing so little, makes a boreing clean line sound so big, the only thing I don't like is the fx eq can get noisy like a washed out delay kinda sound when set to high. the only other pedal I compared it to was the Boss super chorus but got the CE-5 insted cus it had more features. // 10

Reviewed by: unregistered, on august 20, 2004

Price paid: $ 80

Purchased from: Musicians Friend

Ease of Use: This pedal rocks. Turning the knobs on this can change so much. The manual shows you everything you need. It also gives you some great sample settings, and a place to write down your own custom settings. // 10

Sound: I use a Crate GX-30 with a Schecter Diamond Series guitar. The chorus is just amazing. I havent got any noise out of it, but I do have the NS-2. The effects are strong always, but I heard that if your battery starts to die, the effect gets weaker. I can get so many of my favorite artists sounds out of this. I got Metallica's Enter Sandman intro, Sanitarium, The Thing That Should Not Be, and many more. I also got all of Linkin Parks songs. If you turn every knob to the right as far as it can go, you can get Korn's Freak On A Leash harmonics. The list goes on and on. I personally use chorus whenever I use clean guitar, it just really brightens up the effect. // 10

Reliability & Durability: This pedal is a Boss pedal, which means its built like a tank. I would use any Boss pedal without a back up. // 10

Impression: To sum up this pedal, it's just the perfect chorus pedal. I have used the super chorus pedal, and that was a nice pedal, but the sound on this one just owned the super chorus. I would buy this again in a second if it got stolen. This is my favorite pedal out of all my pedals. If you need a chorus pedal, this one is for you. // 10

Comments

[Nickleback1192]

I really want 1 i think i'll buy 1 for my B-day

[Click_Click]

i've played a few chorus pedals and I this is the best one in my openion. I got mine used and i've had it forever. you can set it to any style and run with it.The sound comes through clear with no extra noise. all Boss pedals are built like a tank and you need that when your stomping on them all the time.

[fenderdude0071]

best chorus pedal i ever used

[alex2201]

is this better than the boss super chorus?

[yourxtragedy]

Awesome pedal. Hands down.

[ItDestroyedMe]

I have this pedal as well as the DS-1, and I've run into the same problem with both of them. My cables work just fine, and the batteries in each pedal are working (the light turns on), but for some reason when I plug in the pedal, no sound comes out of my amp. Regardless of whether or not the pedal is on, nothing comes out. I think there might be an issue with the pedals' output.

Anyone else have similar issues with either of these pedals?

[[[BurnTheDusk]]]

ItDestroyedMe wrote:

I have this pedal as well as the DS-1, and I've run into the same problem with both of them. My cables work just fine, and the batteries in each pedal are working (the light turns on), but for some reason when I plug in the pedal, no sound comes out of my amp. Regardless of whether or not the pedal is on, nothing comes out. I think there might be an issue with the pedals' output.

Anyone else have similar issues with either of these pedals?

Turn volume to 5 on pedal, gain to 5, tone to 5
turn on amplifier
If this doesnt fix it, its a functionability issue.

[Duncan_amateur]

can I mod this to true-bypass?? how does is sound in comparison with mxr stereo chorus??

[olpaj]

anyone knows and can confirm where are these made?