Boss CH-1 or CE-5 or neither?

[TOStudent]

looking for a chorus pedal.
Or should I just wait and get a CE-2?

 

[Death by Uberschall]

AnalogMan Bi-Chorus or Clone Chorus

 

[EXPcustom]

Get a older analog CE-5 and mod it.

http://www.bossarea.com/loadpage.asp?file=boxes/ce5.xml

Dan Wiley mod:

http://reviews.harmony-central.com/revi ... emble/10/4

MODS: I immediately found a schematic for the CE-5 to try to figure out how to improve the depth of the effect. After several hours of fiddling I found the magic bullet: Change C22 from 5pF to 22pF (or just solder a 22 pF across C22 on the back of the board). Increasing C22 increases the amount of delay through the bucket-brigade IC (analog delay). Increasing C22 to 22pF has a dramatic and wonderful effect on the depth of the chorus effect.

If you fell inspired, try 22pF or other values until you get the sound you want. Radio Shack sells a nice assortment of ceramic capacitors that includes useful values for this mod. (RS part number 272-809). Email me if you have questions.

END RESULT: With this C22 mod, I LOVE the CE-5! It has the great range and versatility in the tone and rate controls plus a great depth in the chorus effect. I am keeping the CE-5 and selling the CH-1.

RATING: Without mod: 8 With mod: 10

 

[Capulin Overdrive]

i've got a CE2 i'd sell, it's supposed to be a good one. i studied up on screw color and label color etc. at the time!


holler if you're interested, and i'll try and figure out what i've got in it.

 

[TOStudent]

i've got a CE2 i'd sell, it's supposed to be a good one. i studied up on screw color and label color etc. at the time!


holler if you're interested, and i'll try and figure out what i've got in it.

PM me what your looking to get for it.

 

[Shask]

I like the CE-5 better out of those 2. It is the more hi-fi, subtle effect one. The CH-1 is more of the seasick warble one.

Obviously, if you open it up to all Chorus pedals, that is a thread that could go on for hours...

 

[TOStudent]

I'm open to others. I just have a $25 coupon for GC and they have both.

But if there are others that are faar superior with out hitting triple plus digits I'm open

 

[Shask]

I'm open to others. I just have a $25 coupon for GC and they have both.

But if there are others that are faar superior with out hitting triple plus digits I'm open

I think your first question should be which style of Chorus do you like? There are 2 main types, the hi-fi subtle type, and the thick, analog, underwater type.

I still think the cheap EH Small Clone does the thick underwater type best.

I have an old DOD for the hi-fi type, but I think if I bought new, I would really give the Digitech Hardwire a hard look.

 

[petejt]

I'm open to others. I just have a $25 coupon for GC and they have both.

But if there are others that are faar superior with out hitting triple plus digits I'm open

I highly recommend the Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo. Get the older version with the simpler graphic design & white-tipped knobs.

The Speed has a very large range- this thing really does ripple like water. It will shimmer and ripple like a single raindrop, to bobbing like a boat on a rough stormy sea.
Also it has a Delay Time control which has a very large influence on the depth of the effect- hence the 22pF capacitor mod for the Boss CE-5.

This thing has a very rich, warm sound that sounds great. But with dirt it can get a little "washy"- great for some things when you want that swishy sound but can murk up the sound a bit for straight playing. This pedal sure makes itself known when turned on!



One thing that might be a little different, and worth a try, is the old Boss DC-2. It does a criss-cross pair of modulating waves that gets this gooey-sounding spacial effect, but still doesn't seem over the top. It's weird because it pitches the signal up on one side while pitching it down on the other side, then alternates. It's almost like you can't hear the cycles moving. A lot of people that don't like chorus, love this thing. There's an awesome clone of it too called the Fromel Seraph.

The cool thing too about the DC-2 is that when you just run the wet signal, it does through-zero flanging.
It's based on its big sister version the Roland SDD-320, a big rack unit from 1979 and used all through the 1980s.....

It sounds like this- used very strongly for the clean rhythm guitar, just wet (through-zero flanging) on the heavy guitar during the choruses, and really really light on the clean lead guitar sound in the solo:

 

[Shiny_Surface]

There are two versions of the CE-5. The first version is old school and close to the older models.


http://www.bossarea.com/loadpage.asp?fi ... s/ce-5.xml

 

[The Luke]

The MXR Black Label Chorus Zakk Wylde signature thing seems to be an old analog Boss CE-5 with a proper bucket brigade chip and true bypass. I've not personally tried one, but the demos sound great.
(I use a CE-2 I've had for a while, but if I was going new I'd be looking at the MXR)

 

[petejt]

The MXR Black Label Chorus Zakk Wylde signature thing seems to be an old analog Boss CE-5 with a proper bucket brigade chip and true bypass. I've not personally tried one, but the demos sound great.
(I use a CE-2 I've had for a while, but if I was going new I'd be looking at the MXR)

Which demos in particular?

The ProGuitarShop & GearWire etc. demos that I heard sounded bloody terrible- I'd rather listen to Michael Bolton while sticking a wire brush in my ears......

 

[The Luke]

The MXR Black Label Chorus Zakk Wylde signature thing seems to be an old analog Boss CE-5 with a proper bucket brigade chip and true bypass. I've not personally tried one, but the demos sound great.
(I use a CE-2 I've had for a while, but if I was going new I'd be looking at the MXR)

Which demos in particular?

The ProGuitarShop & GearWire etc. demos that I heard sounded bloody terrible- I'd rather listen to Michael Bolton while sticking a wire brush in my ears......

You might be right there - I just listened to the tone factor demo and they made it sound like arse. Their dry tone sounded crap as well to be fair. Just watched the Pro Guitarshop one as well and they made it sound quite metallic and weird. Not a good sound either.
I thought Dunlop's own demo made it sound exactly as you would expect a Zakk Wylde chorus to sound though. Like an analog CE-5. Whether you like the CE-5 tone or not I suppose is another matter.

Can't say chorus with distortion is my thing though. Or chorus on clean either. I am not really a fan of chorus.

 

[petejt]

The MXR Black Label Chorus Zakk Wylde signature thing seems to be an old analog Boss CE-5 with a proper bucket brigade chip and true bypass. I've not personally tried one, but the demos sound great.
(I use a CE-2 I've had for a while, but if I was going new I'd be looking at the MXR)

Which demos in particular?

The ProGuitarShop & GearWire etc. demos that I heard sounded bloody terrible- I'd rather listen to Michael Bolton while sticking a wire brush in my ears......

You might be right there - I just listened to the tone factor demo and they made it sound like arse. Their dry tone sounded crap as well to be fair. Just watched the Pro Guitarshop one as well and they made it sound quite metallic and weird. Not a good sound either.
I thought Dunlop's own demo made it sound exactly as you would expect a Zakk Wylde chorus to sound though. Like an analog CE-5. Whether you like the CE-5 tone or not I suppose is another matter.

Can't say chorus with distortion is my thing though. Or chorus on clean either. I am not really a fan of chorus.

Oh ok then, cool. I'll have to check out Dunlop's demo then, as I really like how Zakk just uses a regular MXR Stereo Chorus or his older analogue CE-5, like in Ozzy's Budokan show back in 2002. Sounds rich and full without being seasick like a lot of "chorus with distortion" sounds.

And also, Jake with Ozzy at the US Festival in May 1983.

And the guitarists from the Divinyls- haha it's the exact same festival same year...

 

[The Luke]

The whole live at Budokan is probably some of the best Zakk tone going. I love it when the guitar kicks in for Mr Crowley. Sounds huge. Get's Me Through is another stand out track on that for me. His chorus is never over the top on that album. Probably helped by the fact it's in a stereo setup.

I only really have the CE-2 because I got a hell of a deal on it (it's one of the 'good' black label made in Japan ones), but I've just never managed to bond with chorus so never bothered looking in to trying to make it work for me.

 

[The Luke]

 

[petejt]

Yup, that's the one. I finally got round to checking it out- it's not bad at all. The tone itself sounded a little buzzy to me (Zakk's own sounded warmer) which would have affected how the effect pedal sounded, but it wasn't too bad. Some extra tweaking of the control knobs would have been nice- but still it was a hell of a lot better than the PGS and other demos I watched! fuck I can't believe they were so horrible! And usually PGS do good demos. To me the biggest factor about the Black Label Chorus is the low cut filter, and the high cut filter. Yeah, I reckon Dunlop's own demo did the best job so far of showing what the pedal can do.

 

[petejt]

The whole live at Budokan is probably some of the best Zakk tone going. I love it when the guitar kicks in for Mr Crowley. Sounds huge. Get's Me Through is another stand out track on that for me. His chorus is never over the top on that album. Probably helped by the fact it's in a stereo setup.

Yep- the stereo setup is a major factor. A chorus effect is the mix of a Doppler wave going up & down in pitch, with the straight signal. Amplifying that signal a lot will exaggerate the "up-and-downness" so to speak, so it all gets stirred up and muddy. If you amplify the effected signal separately, it stays "clean" (doesn't get squished & stirred up), and so you get a more natural-sounding chorus by just running it in stereo and letting the chorusing happen in the air

I only really have the CE-2 because I got a hell of a deal on it (it's one of the 'good' black label made in Japan ones), but I've just never managed to bond with chorus so never bothered looking in to trying to make it work for me.

You've got a hell of a chorus pedal then! The CE-2 is one of, if not almost the best. I've got the CE-3, which is the stereo version. It was also made in Japan and released in 1984, then stayed under some war veteran's bed for the next 2 decades or so until it ended up in a music shop- then I bought it . Tbe CE-3 is supposed to be the worst of all sterile 80s-sounding bright chorus pedals, but mine in particular ain't that bad! I found that it too sounds a lot better when run in stereo though (Mode 2), so the sound effect doesn't get mucked up when run into a cranked amp. Also when using distortion I like a much darker, deeper sound for the chorus effect as it sounds more growly, and not so over-the-top, rather than that harsh screech you get on old songs where they used chorus with distortion.

And also, I use an old flanger when I want a chorus effect on clean tones, rather than use an actual chorus pedal. It sounds warmer and more liquid.

 

[EXPcustom]

The consensus seams to be the older analog ce5, I got mine on Ebay for like 40 bucks.

 

[D-Rock]

I really find it hard to believe that players are still trying to incorperate the chorus effect into new music. I find it to sound so dated, weak and cheesy sounding. Obviously a lot of players feel differently, but as soon as I hear chorus in new music, I tune right out.

I just traded my MIJ, black label, silver screw, long dash Boss CE-2.
"OMG why did you get rid of it? That is THE chorus pedal. They are worth tonnes. Ever see what they go for on ebay?"

Yes, but you've got to be pretty thick in the head to pay what they are selling for on ebay. They do not sell for $200 used!
$80-$90 max is the reality. Most times the seller won't get rid of it for anything less than $200. So the pedal just sits like some sort of acquired shrine.
It sounded good...for a chorus that is. But in the end, it is just another cheesy effect that I don't need or want in my signal path. Noisy as shit too.