Boss CE-2 How Much? !!

ElectricXII

monquixote said:

I have had a Mooer Ensemble King along with various other chorus pedals and I'm not usually one for cork sniffery, but there is something about the Waza CE-2W which just takes it to another level. 

It also won the Andertons blind Chorus shootout which suggests there is something in it. 

That said in a pub you probably won't appreciate the difference, but it's a pedal that's never come off my board and I don't regret splashing out on for one second.

In an ideal world I'd buy the Waza version, as I have a Boss FZ-1W and it's worth it. But for 2 songs out of 3 sets of 15, at >£200 the CE-2W is too expensive, The Mooer will fit my over-populated board better too.

rze99

Get a used ME-50 for £100 and use the effects on that

victorludorum

Got a Zoom G3? The CE-1 chorus model on that isn't bad either.

Boromedic

DefaultM said:

Gassage said:

Metal Screw Long Dash or GTFO.

I got one of these in September for £100. Bargain I thought. Unfortunately it doesn't work and the seller doesn't seem to want to refund me for a return.  
Light turns on but no effect comes out with the dials in any position.

Random question, and I hope I'm not teaching you to suck eggs, but are you powering it with a proper Boss supply (Boss ACA) or using a 12v isolated output? The older boss pedals need 12v to work properly that's all. You may know this already of course..... 

Strangely enough I think that they still work off a 9v daisy chain however?

I remember getting a CE2 back in the early 2000s and having the same issue.

chrisj1602

I got a CE-5 for about £40, did the job fine.

thermionic

Boromedic said:

DefaultM said:

Gassage said:

Metal Screw Long Dash or GTFO.

I got one of these in September for £100. Bargain I thought. Unfortunately it doesn't work and the seller doesn't seem to want to refund me for a return.  
Light turns on but no effect comes out with the dials in any position.

Random question, and I hope I'm not teaching you to suck eggs, but are you powering it with a proper Boss supply (Boss ACA) or using a 12v isolated output? The older boss pedals need 12v to work properly that's all. You may know this already of course..... 

Strangely enough I think that they still work off a 9v daisy chain however?

I remember getting a CE2 back in the early 2000s and having the same issue.

It’s usually the other way round iirc - the pedal works but the light doesn’t come on. Either way, powering it with a PP3 should settle the issue.

hollywoodrox

CE2’s have been quite a bit more expensive at least for the last 20 years . It was a pedal used by iconic players including Andy Summers and sought after by pedal freaks in its various guises 

dano

ElectricXII said:

 a cheap used Boss CE-2 

2002 is calling, it wants its CE-2 back.

ElectricXII

dano said:

ElectricXII said:

 a cheap used Boss CE-2 

2002 is calling, it wants its CE-2 back.

Yeah I know now, but I haven't had one, or needed one, since the 80s! They hadn't exactly been the pedal du jour for a long time.

ElectricXII

Thanks for all the comments and suggestions, including the ludicrous ones, where people have suggested I try to fit a massive multi FX unit on my already crowded pedalboard. I've just bought a Mooer Ensemble King from @mattismetal. ;;

Danny1969

When I was 16 in the eighties I brought an Ibanez chorus pedal. A few years later I was into VH and heavy rock and sell the pedal to a mate. Fast forward nearly 40 years and the mate finds this chorus pedal in his loft along with an old Marshall Wah pedal and gives them to me to check out before selling them. I service the Chorus pedal and do a gig with it on my board and now I don't want to part with it .. I've  had an Angel Wing chorus and used a Pod Go chorus on loads of recent gigs but they aren't a patch on this pedal for that eighties chorus sound. 

impmann

Danny1969 said:

When I was 16 in the eighties I brought an Ibanez chorus pedal. A few years later I was into VH and heavy rock and sell the pedal to a mate. Fast forward nearly 40 years and the mate finds this chorus pedal in his loft along with an old Marshall Wah pedal and gives them to me to check out before selling them. I service the Chorus pedal and do a gig with it on my board and now I don't want to part with it .. I've  had an Angel Wing chorus and used a Pod Go chorus on loads of recent gigs but they aren't a patch on this pedal for that eighties chorus sound. 

One of these?



To my ears, these sound *remarkably* similar to the old CE2 but with a little bit more 'wobble' at high settings. Great units and a lot cheaper than the Boss - the mini versions sound great too, IMHO.

stickyfiddle

If we're doing alternatives, then the MXR Micro Chorus has always been a favourite in the reasonable price bucket - sounds great and usually under 100 quid.

fretmeister

Whistler said:

fretmeister said:

... you don't need chorus because it's not 1985 anymore.

Funny but perhaps you missed what the OP said:

ElectricXII said:

Our covers band has added a couple of 80s songs which really need an 80s chorus sound.

I didn't.

There is absolutely no circumstance where swapping a Chorus to a Phaser would not be a good idea.

fretmeister

Anyway, I thought the price increases were because Zakk Wylde had bought the entire Chorus consignment for the next 30 years?

CaseOfAce

fretmeister said:

Whistler said:

fretmeister said:

... you don't need chorus because it's not 1985 anymore.

Funny but perhaps you missed what the OP said:

ElectricXII said:

Our covers band has added a couple of 80s songs which really need an 80s chorus sound.

I didn't.

There is absolutely no circumstance where swapping a Chorus to a Phaser would not be a good idea.

But it's not the '70s anymore? 

monquixote

ElectricXII said:

Thanks for all the comments and suggestions, including the ludicrous ones, where people have suggested I try to fit a massive multi FX unit on my already crowded pedalboard. I've just bought a Mooer Ensemble King from @mattismetal. ;;

Indeed. 

Multi modulation and multi FX pedals for modulation are like the Douglas Adams machine that can theoretically make anything, but ends up making a drink that tastes almost, but not quite like tea.

You spend hours farting about with them to get something that doesn't sound quite like a Boss CE-2 or an MXR Phase 90, or just get one or both of those and job done without any nonsense. 

Whistler

fretmeister said:
There is absolutely no circumstance where swapping a Chorus to a Phaser would not be a good idea.

It is funny you say that as just recently I haven been experimenting with a phaser instead of a chorus and I am liking both the similarities and the differences.

monquixote

Whistler said:

fretmeister said:
There is absolutely no circumstance where swapping a Chorus to a Phaser would not be a good idea.

It is funny you say that as just recently I haven been experimenting with a phaser instead of a chorus and I am liking both the similarities and the differences.

Or the Boss Dimension which sounds somewhere between the two.

ICBM

rze99 said:

Get a used ME-50 for £100 and use the effects on that

Damn, I should have said that!

monquixote said:

Multi modulation and multi FX pedals for modulation are like the Douglas Adams machine that can theoretically make anything, but ends up making a drink that tastes almost, but not quite like tea.

You spend hours farting about with them to get something that doesn't sound quite like a Boss CE-2 or an MXR Phase 90, or just get one or both of those and job done without any nonsense. 

Actually not so. I sold my long-dash, silver screw CE-2 because firstly I didn't like it all that much (I really do prefer the CE-3) and secondly because if I do want the sound, the ME-50 can nail it exactly... as in, you can't tell which is which if you put them both in the loops of an LS-2.

That said, the ME-50 is about ten times the size of a CE-2 (or 3).