I have owned this pedal for a little over two years and it has broken on me three times. Shame on me for going back hopefully this one

I'm quite happy with the Emperor V2. The waveform selector is great, and provides three different, very useful options, with either chorus or vibrato. It's a great pedal, and my go-to chorus sound.
The controls are very good, too. Minor tweaks go a long way.

This pedal is the one that I wish I still had. I bought from sweetwater- best dang company on the face of the earth - and recorded a bunch of stuff with it. I started getting into different pedals and I sold it. Looking back I really miss the analog sounds. It's like a milkshake of analog low end chorus sounds- it's beautiful in a "float tank" sort of way, almost rhythmic. Probably one of the most lush analog pedals I've ever had. The tap tempo was a big plus, tho I think making the tap tempo accessible by a basic midi sync could be beneficial. I would have preferred that. I def would have kept it.

Wonderful Chorus pedal! Great Vibrato pedal! A great tool to make experimental sounds.
At 42 years old, I have owned almost every popular chorus pedal and this is my favorite (along with a Boss CE-1 which recently died).
If you're looking for a good simple chorus pedal, this will more than do the job. If you like getting strange sounds and "happy accidents" you get that too. I can't say enough good stuff about this pedal.
(I have a duel expression pedal which I use with the Emperor V2. I recommend getting one for yourself)

You know that chorus sound on those Nirvana records, those police records, pretty much the stereotypical chorus sound? This pedal nails it with greater controllability than anything else and tap tempo. Also has a fantastic vibrato mode so it does 2 things in 1 spot on the board. Just buy it it's built great, sounds amazing and made in the USA

Here's what I love about the pedal: Stereo out (via TRS cable, and I need stereo chorus), the Speed (rate) actually goes slow enough that I can use the vibrato mode to induce slow (lofi) pitch movement, selectable wave - this is a difference maker for me in vibrato mode where the triangle wave appears to have more sadness on tap than the sine wave, Volume and EQ - you're going to need volume in the vibrato mode as you're cutting the dry signal and the EQ can tone down the happiness on single coils (or you can rotate the dust out of your guitar's tone knob instead - for those that do this already, please forgive my patrician comments)

When you need to dial up sadness with paced pitch effects look no further than the Emperor (or look a little further at the Shallow Water by Fairfield Circuitry or the Chase Bliss Warped Vinyl - but the money you pay for those may make you sad for reals).

As a big Walrus Audio fan, I always struggled to connect with the Julia. I'm not a huge chorus fan, but I so badly wanted to like their (arguably) most famous pedal. Then I heard this JHS gem in a demo. This thing is so versatile. I can't get over how good of an idea the EQ knob is. This pedal can sparkle or it can warm up your tone. It does what I always hoped a chorus pedal would do: thicken my signal while having tone options. The vibrato is great, too. I could leave it on all the time. The waveform options are a cool idea but not too useful for the average sine-lover, but I'm not going to dock any stars for that. Totally underrated in the chorus world!

As some people say, this pedal is relatively subtle. The fact that this pedal has switchable waveforms and tap tempo in super useful and the pedal is very compact. The chorus itself sounds really good, too. I think the designs sacrifices overall intensity for a wider variety of sounds, and I doubt I will ever get another chorus pedal. This one does it all.

The Emperor is the best pedal I have bought for some time now. Apart from the awesome looks, leaving this pedal on adds some seriously beautiful movement & texture I had been missing in my signal chain. I tend to play it on the chorus setting, with most knobs around noon-2 o'clock, on a bright 1968 Fender amp. The clean tones are beautifully carried through the speakers & pair well with the spring reverb. When pairing with OD, fuzz, or amps with more gain, the clarity is still there. Very happy with the purchase & this will be a mainstay for years to come.

If you're looking for a solid vibrato pedal that won't color your tone in some odd, boxy way, or make you spend countless hours trying to find a sweet spot between "too subtle to be noticeable" & "a warbly detuned mess", then look elsewhere. This pedal is outclassed by other vibe pedals that sell for 1/4th its price tag.

Positives:
1) Neat pedal artwork. JHS pedals always deliver on this front, even with the 3 Series' minimalist aesthetic.
2) I appreciate giving the option to select either true & buffered bypass (though I wish it would've been an external switch.)
3) Tap tempo is a nice feature, as is the option to add an expression pedal (though as over-engineered as this pedal feels, I'm not sure why they didn't just add a TRS MIDI In minijack while they were at it.)
4) There's also the option to use a TRS splitter on the output for stereo chorus/vibe effects. As someone who uses multi-amp setup, I appreciate it (even if you have to dig through the manual to find out that's even an option.)

Negatives:
1) Finding unity volume is oddly tricky. With my EQ setting at 12 o'clock, I have to put my volume knob at anywhere between 2-to-3 o'clock just to match my signal output in bypass mode. This leads to a much bigger problem...
2) The active EQ knob colors your tone in unexpected & (IMHO) undesirable ways. 12 o'clock is most assuredly not "flat", as the manual claims, and there is a very noticeable tone suck, with a decrease in volume to boot. I cannot fathom why Josh Scott et al felt that a $200+ chorus/vibrato pedal - something which every single guitarist is going to put in their effects loop - needs a glorified boost function. For all of the knobs & switches, you think they could've added a way to bypass the tone circuit without modding an already-ovepriced, over-engineered pedal. As it is, thanks to the "tilt" design inherent to the EQ, you're forced to sacrifice tonal clarity and choose between a muddy or tinny sound.

There are some positives about the pedal's design, but the EQ & Volume knobs simply don't function as advertised. Maybe JHS will do a stripped-down version, a la their 3 Series, which sidesteps the massive loss of tone by the "active EQ" feature which nobody asked for? Fingers crossed. As it is, I'd heartily recommend looking elsewhere; the Walrus Audio Julia/Julianna pedals offer similarly expansive features at roughly the same price, and bare-bones vibrato pedals like the TC Electronics Tailspin or the Behringer UV300 will give you the sound you want without radically altering your tone.

I never thought I'd enjoy this pedal as much as I do. I already had a chorus pedal but I was searching for a more complex and deep tone. I don't crank the depth up much, but it still provides exactly what I'm looking for. The tap tempo feature is an added bonus. I haven't really played around with the vibrato feature much as I mostly use it for the chorus effect which is stellar.

After repairing my vintage chorus pedal, I determined that even though it had a great sound, it had a pretty high noise floor and a low bandwidth. My more modern chorus pedal was very generic And slightly swirly. This one gives you the option of type of chorus (sine/square/sawtooth wave) with quiet operation. You may have to turn up the treble and/or select sine wave to get it to sound like some of the vintage models.

The JHS YouTube channel has helped me learn so much about instrument pedals and how to build out a pedal board. Their pedals offer tons of value for the price and offer unique features. The chorus effect sounds great and is flexible and easy to dial in. When you turn the depth and speed down in almost becomes a Leslie speaker effect. Tap tempo, stereo output and the EQ dial makes this a very powerful pedal.

Far and away the best chorus I've ever played. I've heard it criticized as being too subtle. It's not, though. It's TASTEFUL. I can't get a bad sound out of it, and that goes for the vibrato side too; it can get weird but stays musical. If you hate chorus effects, at least plug into one of these before your next anti-chorus tirade. You'll realize how wrong you've been.

Great work, JHS (it's about time I bought one; Josh taught me almost everything I know about effects, so I felt like I owed him one), and thanks as always to Nick Rice, Sweetwater Sales Engineer par excellance.

Chorus is basically the only modulation effect I use regularly so I wanted to get a premium pedal to upgrade from my MXR Analog Chorus. As soon as I clicked it on the first time I thought oh it sounds better; now twice as much money better is debatable though of course. I'm not much for Vibrato but I'm glad that it is on there. Like every other JHS pedal that I have, all the knobs do really good stuff. I still have my MXR at the ready but I have no regrets about this one. Oh yeah, it's purple and it has a penguin on it.

Wow, a very nice pedal indeed. It is a sturdy little purple box with an emperor penguin on it! What's not to love? Anyway, this is one of the more functional and option-packed pedals that I own. I'm a simple guy and don't like fiddling around with interfaces and the like too much, but I also want tonal options available. What a conundrum. This pedal solves that issue.

Let's talk chorus first. You have the ability to change the type of chorus (sine/square/sawtooth wave), each with its own unique characteristics, and the ability to change the frequency, depth, eq, and volume. SO many options already. You can achieve that shimmering chorus sound of the 80's, add to a grungy 90's distortion, or just add a tiny touch of flair to your sound. It can do a back and forth waddle of sound between your original pitch and the shifted pitch, which can be super subtle or up to approximately a half step away! I've been using this towards the end of my effects chain, right after my pitch shifter pedal but before the reverb. When clean, it adds a smooth and rippling glisten to the tone. With dirt and crunch, it thickens the sound a bit and adds depth and wetness. Very functional and I really like what it does. The tap tempo on the right makes it very easy to dial in the rate of chorus sweeps without having to play with the knob. Something I never thought I needed in a chorus pedal, but now I think it's a requirement!

Now let's talk vibrato. I'm not too well versed with vibrato pedals, as I'm used to creating vibrato with my fingers. Like the chorus, we have 3 types and the ability to change all the aforementioned parameters. You can dial in something SUPER subtle that mimics a very gentle and relaxed vibrato all the way to what I think of as a ping pong effect. I haven't done too much with the vibrato function just yet, as I've only had the pedal for 2 days and it's already earning a permanent place on my board. Will report back and update once I've had a little more time with it.

Build: Sturdy, metal, durable. But I'm also one who is extremely careful with my stuff, so I don't throw and bang my gear around, so I can't say whether it'll survive being launched across a room, but I wager it might survive that!
Excess noise: very low, one of the lowest I've experienced. Excellent, but not perfect. But SUPER low noise compared to every other tone modulating pedal I've ever used. Noiseless when off.
Ease of use: very easy. Plug, dial in, play.
Functionality: lots of easy to change options, adaptable to a very wide spectrum of music. Tap tempo option is the secret of chorus pedals you never knew you needed. Or at least, for me lol.
Tone: Beautiful enhancements, keeps the original sound but adds to it, or if you turn everything up, you can get pretty spacey and crazy.
Aesthetics: purple and penguins. I love it.
Overall: so far, it's definitely earning a permanent place on my pedal board.

My favorite pedal on my board. Will not disappoint.

The Emperor V2 is a very good chorus pedal, not perfect, but good enough to remain on my board. First, the pros: great build quality, low noise, excellent tap tempo functionality, warm analog tone. Now, the cons: the chorus effect is more subtle than many others I have tried (not quite as lush), the square wave mode is useless unless you like wacky space noise, vibrato mode requires a large volume boost to achieve perceived unity level (at least on my unit).

At times I wish the chorus effect was a bit more "lush" or "wet", but the unit does produce some nice tones. The eq seems subtle at first, but it does work well - especially when switching amps and guitars. It may seem like I'm being overly critical here, but I do like this unit and it has earned a place on my board. It's not "perfect", but it's very good. I don't really use the vibrato, I would probably just purchase a Boss VB-2W for that purpose if vibrato became a necessity for me.
I do think this pedal has a unique tone that doesn't sound exactly like anything else I have used - and that's why I kept it. One last note, this unit works exceptionally well with overdrive pedals (in chorus mode) - it's one of the best I have ever used in this application.

You might have to slightly turn up the effect and the EQ knobs, but you should be able to get the classic sound you're looking for with this pedal. Plus, because it has a sine wave you might be able to get something similar to the old Rockman pedals

I have been meaning to add a Chorus pedal to my pedal entourage for some time now. I was looking for a pedal that had plenty of features, was durable, and sounded good. JHS knocked it out of the park with the emperor. The Chorus has a nice can be very subtle of insanely wet. I feel like I can hear running water in my amp this pedal is so wet. The tap tempo feature is HUGE. Having a tap tempo on en effect such as a delay is almost needed but with modulation it allows the player and audience to melt into the music. The EQ knob is such a cool feature...it allows me to make the chorus effect super dark or super bright and cheery. One of the biggest perks, however, is the ability to choose what waveform the effect is oscillating at. Because of this toggle switch and the chorus/vibrato switch, there are essentially 6 different unique effects in the emperor. Speaking of the vibrato, I didn't think I would use the vibrato much (not familiar with the effect, doesn't fit into the style I play, etc.)....but.....I love it. I set the depth just before noon, the eq more on the dark side, and with the triangle waveform selected. I just want to have it on all the time haha. Mr. Josh Scott, you have made a wonderfully delicious pedal. Sweetwater, again as always, was wonderfully guiding and quick. I ordered this pedal, a TC Electronic, sentry noise gate, and some patch cables on a Friday. The expected delivery was on Monday. It arrived the next day, on a SATURDAY! Terrific pedal...if you don't buy it at least try it out at a local music shop. The sounds are impeccable. Again thanks to Sweetwater and their glorious support staff!

My old chorus was ok, but not really lush enough. I wanted something that sounded better, was quick and easy to fine tune on stage, and was reasonably compact. My search finally settled on the JHS Emperor V2. The size was right, there was plenty of easy access adjustability, the tap tempo is perfect with the band, and it has generally exceeded my expectations. Dislikes? The sissy color and dorky penguin are, uh, the low points of it for me. Really? A violet pedal with a penguin?

As far as I know this one of the "Only" chorus pedals with a volume control instead of a mix knob. There have been many guitarist on forums complaining about an unwanted boost when engaging their chorus pedals.

This is great!!! I can set it so when used with m overdrive pedal there is no bump in volume. JHS solved my little Pet Peeve I have with chorus pedals....Loving it!

It should be a 4 star because of the EQ...which I'll get to, but I like the rest of it so much that taste makes up for the other .5 star. I really like the chorus on it. The Vibrato is awesome too, but as you can imagine, it gets less features than the chorus does. I'm not really sure why the eq is even on there because the effect it has, even when dialed to it's most extreme settings is barely noticeable...at best. The Depths Pedal for instance, on the other hand has an eq you can bank on. Either way, this thing excels at making vintage Chorus and Vibrato sounds. The volume pre-amp is a nice touch and very handy between all the different amps in the house I use. I didn't like how it sounded running through the FX loop on my Mark 5, but going straight into the front brought some highs back. It can also get some great modern Chorus/Vibrato sounds too. Being able to choose which wave I want is killer! I' like it a lot and I can't see myself not using it. Just get it, I doubt you'll sell it.

This pedal is such a well built great quality pedal
I use it for the chorus effect and I"ll say the cleanest/noiseless chorus I have ever used and with the tap tempo feature it helps so much
The vibrato is great also but I don"t use it with my style of music but there is room for me to learn how to incorporate in my songs
All in all great pedal and worth the price especially because I couldn"t find any used on reverb because it"s such a great pedal and I usually buy my pedals used but worth the buy on sweetwater for the 36 months no interest

I have really enjoyed playing with the Emperor. I got it to replace a CE-2 which is too annoying to power and run on my board. The options on this pedal are great, and I have also had a good time playing around with the vibrato section. The tap tempo is also a plus. I also appreciate the fact that JHS makes pedals with a clean look and fun graphics which reflect my feelings on playing the guitar - it should be fun and enjoyable and positive.

Love this chorus. The sound is lush and dynamic. And having Tap Tempo on a Chorus in a compact size is the main reason I purchased this model. Best chorus pedal I have owned and I have gone through quite a few. A keeper for sure.

I'm really pleased with this pedal. The EQ, Speed and Depth controls all have a definite affect and give a lot of control over the effect produced. I like the fact that it has a Volume control. The Chorus is nice and lush and the Tap Tempo is a nice feature; as well as the waveform switch. The Vibrato is ok but I probably won't use it that much. I don't like it that the Tempo light is always on and strobing. But I really like the JHS Emperor V2 and highly recommend it.

Love this pedal ! JHS really nailed it with lush chorus and funky vibrato . The tap tempo is a awesome feature that most chorus pedals don"t have . It"s build quality is great (built like a tank). With the many switches and parameters , it"s really hard to not a get a good sound of this pedal , it"s very musical ! I"m in love .