Boss CE-1 Chorus Ensemble

The Boss CE-1 Chorus Ensemble (sometimes referred to as the Roland Chorus) was a chorus effects pedal from Boss from 1976 - a division of the Roland Corporation company.

Being the first of the Boss effects pedals, it was enclosed in a large, grey plastic case with options for both mono and stereo outputs, and knobs for adjusting chorus intensity & vibrato depth and rate as well as the output level. Obviously this predated the ubiquitous Boss compact effects pedals line (1977-onwards). The circuitry employed is identical to that of the iconic Jazz Chorus series solid-state amplifiers from Roland (which preceded the Boss chorus).

Mike Rutherford's Boss CE-1
Mike Rutherford used the Boss CE-1 Chorus a lot for thickening the sound of his guitars (including guitar synths) since the time of Wind And Wuthering in 1976. In one interview he mentioned using it on A Trick Of The Tail, but this was recorded and released months before the CE-1's June 1976 release, therefore W&W seems more likely.

Tony Banks' Boss CE-1
The Boss CE-1 was one of Tony Banks' key effects devices on his keyboards during the late 1970s, to add thickness and depth to their sound. He began using it as early as the Wind And Wuthering album & tour on the RMI Electra 368, replacing the Leslie speaker. He later liked using the CE-1 on the Yamaha CP-70, and also the Hammond T-102 organ with an MXR Phase 100 to simulate the Leslie rotating speaker sound.

Around the time of Duke & Abacab, Tony seemed to prefer the MXR MX-134 Stereo Chorus for most other synths but continued to use the Boss on the CP-70 for a straight mono sound live. Most Genesis tour programs from around the early 80s list the generic 'MXR/Roland and Boss effects pedals' for Tony, which implies he probably did have the Boss Chorus around.

Peter Gabriel's Boss CE-1
Peter Gabriel was a significant user of the Boss CE-1 Chorus Ensemble pedal during his career, of which he had two units. He used them a lot for the distinctive tone on the Yamaha CP-70 and other synthesizers from the Scratch tour in 1978 up until the Us album in 1992 at least. Photos from the So album show the CE-3 pedal as well, but Peter seemed to stick with the CE-1's for their sound which none of the newer effects pedals matched.

At one point, Peter also plugged his CP-70 into a Roland JC-120 amp for similar chorusing.