34 thoughts on “Request: Boss CE-2 Chorus Ensemble”

  1. Hi Harald,
    I just finished the circuit a few days ago. Unfortunately it’s not working properly, i can’t hear any chorus when activated, but there I a whistling of the LFO in the background which reacts on changes of the rate and depth potis (frequency and intensity changes) . The tremolo switch causes a volume drop and adds some „crunch“, bass and intensity don’t change anything worth to mention, same counts for the blend poti.
    I adjusted the voltage at vr to 4,5v, which is half of vSource.
    The other voltages are looking fine at first sight.
    (Pin1….Pin8)
    IC1 – 4,52/4,53/4,46/0/4,51/4,53/4,53/9,07
    IC2 – 4,49/4,27/4,55/0/4,53/4,56/4,56/9,06
    IC3 – 9,07/4,51/3,80/0,6/0/4,58/3,36/3,36
    IC4 – 9,08/4,58/0/4,60/0,19/8,18/2,92/0,60

    (C/B/E)
    Q1 – 9,07/2,92/3,57
    Q2 – 9,06/3,9/3,8
    Q3 – 9,07/3,18/3,65
    Q4 – 9,08/3,30/3,24
    Q5 – 8,19/0,25/0

    It would be great if someone could double check these values.
    Thanks!

  2. Hi, Damien.
    Sorry to say, but I’d say this would be pretty hard to pull off unless you know quite a bit about circuit design etc. It’s probably not going to be anything like straight forward.

  3. Hi Harald, thank you for your expertise and very useful step by step tutorial, I’m a beginner in diy pedal and it really help ! I might try to make this CE2 clone, I really like chorus effects (particularly the Roland chorus), and I have a question. I want to use it with synth, I’m not a guitar player (sorryyyy). And as many synth gives stereo output, I wonder if there is a way to add stereo to the CE2 (like on ce3 if I’m right, but they sounds different two…) first I though to make two models, one for each channel, but the interest of stereo chorus is the synchronicity and phasing effects between channels… so, is there a way to make the two iteration linked (a knob to act on the clock speed or something like that ?). Maybe it’s not the best (or even the worst…) way to do it. Tell me please ! Thank you for all the sharing, it’s really interesting. And sorry for the poor English speaking, I live in France… Damien

  4. Ok, I confirm the volume loss becomes acceptable with trom72’s fixes.
    Also I want to add the blinking led edit (it’s tested, it works, no distortions, no problems with this feature) you should take the + of the led in the L row between 24 and 28. Enjoy and thank you for this amazing schematic.

  5. I’m afraid you’ll have to cross-reference those documents to find out how to do it. I don’t know, sorry.

  6. I’ve a question. I’ve found different schematics with possibility to have a blinking led sensitive to depth and rate values. Is it possible to connect the + of led somewhere to have the same result with this schematic?
    Thanks a lot anyway.

  7. Once again thanks a lot for another great layout. It sound awesome.

    If someone is interested, I tweak a bit some value. I lower C19 to increase the speed (68nf). I also change R24 (56K) and R22 (27K) to reduce the volume loss in vibrato mod.

    Thanks again for all your work.

  8. Hi dave,
    Sounds like there’s an issue with the LFO section. Since this is a fairly complex circuit it’s a bit hard to direct you to the problem area, but it’s likely there’s a mistake in the lower right-hand part of the circuit board since that’s where the LFO is happening. It could be something simple as a missed cut/component, or a bit more complicated like mis-biasing. If it doesn’t work after some basic debugging (see the “debugging” section) can you do some voltage readings?

  9. Hi

    I have built this pedal twice now, and both times I have the same problem.
    I have checked everything; and all seems ok. Here is the problem I am experiencing.

    When the rate pot is turned to 0, the chorus effect disappears, and when the depth pot is at the max, the chorus disappears too.
    It is as if it’s out of range, and I cannot understand why. In order for this pedal to work, I have to put the depth and rate pots at half, and wait some seconds.
    I can’t think of anything else I can do.
    I am looking for someone to help me with this.

    I love this chorus and I am anxious to get it to work properly.

    Thanks so much!!

  10. Hi John,
    You did a really a good job on your Boss ce-2 pedal .Iam just wondering how did you make your final logo on it . I want to do it on mine too!!
    More appreciated John!
    Latif

  13. Hi John,
    When i look to your final component image , there’s a cap on the top right at 2.7nF and some components are shifted back in the same erea wich i ve found it different fom the layout.. any help plz?

  14. You’ll do perfectly fine with a B250k. The taper will be a bit different, but you’ll still be able to get all of the same sounds.

  15. hello! I cannot find 250KC pot. On Ebay it’s very expensive!
    Is there any possibility to substitute it?

  20. The distortion I get is not because of the trimmer.
    I tried 3 diffrent ones, still distorted.

  23. BTW, I even calibrated the trim pot as per the instructions spec with a scope. (200Hz sine wave and adjusted the trimmer until the sine wave had slightly squared off peaks evenly on both sides measured at the base of Q3).

  25. finally i succed built this.. change PCB with the same part and its work.. hahaha..
    i think my mistake is bad solder, If someone have distortsi, just tweak the trimmer
    to get your taste..
    Next want to build little angel to know the different
    Thx harald for this site

  26. I got it working perfect now (YAY!). I also modded it for a wider speed range and there’s no volume drop when switched into the vibrato mode.

  27. I built this one yesterday. mine isn’t working yet. all i’m getting is a clean signal at a lower level than bypassed right now. I’ve checked my board and every component on it for any errors (i.e. misplaced or wrong value component, wiring, or solder bridges etc) many times now and can’t find anything wrong with it. if someone has built a working unit for this layout and could post their voltages on the IC’s and transistors, I would really appreciate it. i’ll try to put mine on the scope tonight and start probing it.

  28. Hi Mortua,
    Could be the 2N5088’s, but really I have no idea. I’m thinking an audio probe would be an excellent tool for this problem. Print out the vero layout and the schematic from tonepad, then start listening in on the audio signal right from the beginning of the circuit. Hopefully you’ll find the place where this happens to your signal and you’ll be much closer to finding the problem.

  29. I got som ugly distortion, it sounds almost like the input signal is to high. The unit works perfectly, the chorus is real nice but it distorts after. can it be one of the 5088 thats broken or do you have an another idea?

    Regards Mortua

  30. Hi harry. Sorry to hear it’s not working. I have a general debugging section that could be of some help.

  31. hello harald, i have problem to build this
    do you have debugging for this pedal?
    Im really2 stuck in here, thx harald.. Great site!!

  32. Sorry, Tim.
    I don’t think there’s any substitute out there. These delay chips are all out of production and getting harder and harder to find, which is part of the difficulty of a build like this. smallbear have them and I’m not sure you’ll find them any cheaper elsewhere.

  33. I am having problems sourcing IC3 and IC4.

    Can you recommend any substitutes?

  34. One of the best chorus!!!! I have arion sch-1 grey box. Is very good too!!

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