Description
Boss hit the ground running with the original Uber-Chorus, the legendary Boss CE-1, and has created many desirable chorus effects since
The RCE-10 Digital Chorus Ensemble is a half-width rack unit from the 1980s Boss Micro Rack range. It uses 12-Bit digital circuitry so has that proper 80s sound. It can be setup to create effects from a mild chorusing to deep & swirly flanging, and everything in between
It has one input and two outputs. Unlike most effects pedals, where the stereo effect is created by phase inverting one output, the RCE-10 has two outputs with a true “stereo” signal generated by separate outputs from the delay line. When using the RCE-10 for recording or mixing I’d recommend feeding it from an effects send and returning it to two channels, to create a stereo mix with the original signal, or record to separate tracks
When you look harder at the RCE-10 it becomes clear that a lot of thought went into the design of the Micro Rack series. The power supply has a loop-through connector so units can be daisy-chained. There’s a footswitch socket for effect bypass. Inputs & outputs are on phonos as well as mono jacks and there’s a rear-panel switch to shift the nominal operating level between -10 and -20 dBm
Front panel controls are simple: Predelay sets the initial delay, Rate and Depth control Modulation and there’s a simple lo / hi EQ control and an Effect Level control sets the balance of direct & effect. There’s an effect bypass switch and a power switch
Keys to the depth of the chorus effect are pre-delay and the modulation section. By adjusting these it’s possible to create very subtle effects with movement but very little pitch modulation, or you can wind up the depth to get a traditional chorus with lots of detuning. Unlike simple stomp boxes, there’s lots of opportunity to shape the effect through experimentation
