Used with a number of other effects between a JJ Blue Special and an ampeg valve amp.
I must admit to being very skeptical about its reputation as the 'holy grail' of chorus effects. What did excite me was that it is the same circuit from the JC 120; I love the sound of this amp.
There is no noise what so ever from the unit - it is utterly silent in operation and no extraneous noise when used in a chain into the front end of the amp.
It does colour the tone in use, slightly cutting the high frequencies (tested on its own and when switched out of the chain)and it also appears to add a deeper bass to the overall sound. This has worked extremely well for me with a double cutaway guitar and a stock bridge humbucker that gets a bit too brittle for me at times. Now the bridge p/u sounds just fine with the chorus on and off.
I have to say, despite the pedal's shortcomings given the current choice, the sound really is superb from this unit. I have tried many (but not all) chorus effects over a 25 year career. I have used an old CS9 (actually , the earlier model CS505 sounds even better than the CS9) and this has worked for me for years; the Chorus Ensemble CE1 is in another league entirely. It is the most musical and atmospheric chorus effect I have used so far. I generally use the chorus at the 10 o'clock position. It's a strong effect. I do cover some old songs such those from The Pretenders, The Police and The Smiths and the sound from this unit harks straight back to that era. I can also more reliably approximate the sound of one of my guitar heroes Ali Farka Toure - used with the bridge pickup. The vibrato section is rather good too, but I don't have much use for it. I've never considered chorus effects as sounding beautiful; but this one simply does and really stands out today.
Reliability/Durability:
I could certainly rely on this unit in the studio. It would certainly work brillilantly live and would like to use this as my main chorus for studio and live; but given the high likelihood of having it half-inched fom my board, it will probably see very few gigs.
Ease of Use:
One knob for the chorus and two for vibrato section. Easier than most pedals. No manual or box for this - I got it as a gift. It's got a few superficial paint scrapes and scratches but otherwise looks little used. I like the way the light for the chorus/vibrato section blinks in time the to the intensity/rate that's been set. The other light only comes to warn that the unit is overloaded. The other other useful control is the level knob. This works for setting the unit level to the amp level to overcome the drop in level when switching it on. I believe it uses the same circuit as the Jazz chorus rather than BB chips. Although easy to use, it has a very large footprint and not particularly practical for gigs - not less so that this unit would probably get lifted from your pedal board if you're not keeping an eye on it, given it's percieved value.
Customer Support:
No opinion. I understand Roland are making an effort to put schematics for most of their obsolete pedals on the internet, however.
Overall Rating:
It's a stunning chorus sound. Very, very musical and atmospheric without swamping the core sound (although it is of course capable of doing so if you want it to). As far as the sound goes, it is very special.
The hype is justified by the sound of this effect. But there are others that can come close. The current price for these units is ridiculous, however. I would not recommend purchasing one of these unless you really want a really specific chorus sound; it's so subjective. Don't bother buying this if you're happy with a good, standard chorus that will fit fine on your board and is more practical. Get this if you do want something special for the studio.
