Boss CE1 Vs CE2

SidNewton

How does the Boss CE2 comparer to the chorus side of the CE1? I'm listening to a lot of Stone Temple Pilots at the moment and really like the sound the guitarist gets on the song 'Plush'. I know he uses the CE1 and I'm wondering how close the CE2 is to it.

Also does anyone have any experience of 'Boo'effects pedals? I see he sells a CE2 clone on ebay. You can usually pick them up at a reasonable price when he sells them as an auction.

Johnnyseven

If yuo want a CE2 for cheap, snap up a CE2B - there's only 1 component difference, plus the blend knob makes it much more versatile.

JDE

The CE-2 doesn't sound much like the 1, IMO. The CE-2 is much warmer/funkier to me, can also be a bit more "seasicky" at extreme depth.

The 5 knob MXR chorus is pretty good for STP sounds.

TimmyO

CE-1 is noisy and tone-sucky. I had one in a trade once

SidNewton

The CE1 is not really an option as it takes up too much space. If I went down that route I'd look for the Retro Sonic version. I have space for one standard sized stompbox left on my board. I like the look of the Boo CE2, it looks like a quality product and you can pick them up at a reasonable price through the ebay auctions. I think the Boss CE2 will get me close to the sound I want but am wondering how good a clone the Boo CE2 is. I'll have a look for youtube reviews of the MXR.

frankus

Voodoo Labs Chorus is meant to be a good "tribute" to the CE1 - I had one for a while - it sounded pretty awesome at all settings.

My all time favourite chorus is probably the EHX Full Clone, thick and lovely tone

dogload

I feel a little out on a limb in that I don't like Boss Chorus pedals. Although I've not had a CE-2, I've had a CE-2B on which I couldn't get a satisfactory sound, and a CE-5 which was borderline useless! 

I have a Mooer CE-2 'clone' and don't particularly like that either; too warbly.

Once again, I find myself preferring the first chorus I ever had, which is the Ibanez BC-9. I guess I'm not very flexible.

frankus

@dogload actually rthere's evidence to say the tone of things has a profound effect on stuff and especially first impressions.

I thinkk it's why we have this love of recreating sounds of previous decades.

lento

While the CE2 is nice and 'warm' it doesn't shimmer and shine like the CE1. The original has this hi-fi quality and spatial character that has only been bettered imho by the rackmounted SDD-20 Dimension D.

It's not true bypass and you have to be careful how you load it as it was designed with keys in mind, but when you get it right it's perfect. As with all these old analogue lovelies, their caps are well past their best, these days.

stonevibe

I had two CE-1s, they were okay for vintage kit. But a little noisy and old school.

I traded one and sold the other one.

But then I'm not really into chorus as an effect.

meltedbuzzbox

the only chorus I have ever liked is the small clone. 

I found the Boss stuff sounded watered down, a bit lifeless and very 80s

richardhomer

frankus;341180" said:

Voodoo Labs Chorus is meant to be a good "tribute" to the CE1 - I had one for a while - it sounded pretty awesome at all settings.

I used to have the Voodoo Lab one. It sounded really good but was noisy and hated being used in a loop (it didn't have enough headroom, so distorted very easily).

Otherwise, really impressive. I replaced it with an old CE-2 incidentally....

xSkarloey

@dogload I'm not really into chorus either, but a sound I'll always love is a CE-2 with the left knob (rate?) all the way off and the other knob (depth?) all the way up. It gives a very spacious effect and isn't 'wobbly' at all.

A friend has one and when I owned one of the original Danelectro Cool Cat chorus pedals I always thought it sounded more than a little similar when I compared them. This was before the concept of clones was as well known as it is now, so I suspect it could have been.

iseverynamegone

I have a retrosonic chorus and owned a voodoo labs chorus in the past . Never owned a Ce1 but have been listening to one all my life care of Alex Lifeson. The VL sounded good, maybe a touch more flangey than a Ce1 sounds imo and had an issue with volume drop so I sold it on and got a retro sonic . The retrosonic chorus is bang on the Ce1 money to me , but costs lots , isn't very flexible and is now rarely seen. Neither sound much like a Ce2 , but the Ce2 is also a great chorus.

mike_l

I've had a couple of Boss chorus pedals.

Not bad, but (for me) too many variables, and too many extreme settings. Possibly a bit noisey, but I tend to use a noisegate to reduce this anyway.

My own favourite is the Microchorus, which does a nice range of usable chorus sounds, and is nice and compact.

Or the Digitech multichorus, which is getting more like the Boss in the variables, but, so far, I haven't had a bad sound from it.

ThePrettyDamned

mike_l said:

I've had a couple of Boss chorus pedals.

Not bad, but (for me) too many variables, and too many extreme settings. Possibly a bit noisey, but I tend to use a noisegate to reduce this anyway.

My own favourite is the Microchorus, which does a nice range of usable chorus sounds, and is nice and compact.

Or the Digitech multichorus, which is getting more like the Boss in the variables, but, so far, I haven't had a bad sound from it.

If the micro chorus was stereo, it would be the best chorus pedal in the world.

I really enjoy the hardwire chorus I have, too, which probably sounds similar or the same as your digitech.  

jpfamps

Chorus is the work of the devil.

frankus

jpfamps said:

Chorus is the work of the delay.

mike_l

jpfamps said:

Chorus is the work of the 80's.

There, corrected.

ThePrettyDamned

jpfamps said:

Chorus is the best thing eva.

I know, it's brilliant for funk, metal, jazz, pop, fusion...

ICBM

I could be wrong, but of the Boss compact pedals I think it's the CH-1 which is supposed to sound more like the CE-1. It certainly sounds more airy and less "chorusy" (ie 80s) to me.