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I'm a sucker for modulation pedals - and my favourite chorus of all time is the Boss CE-1...which is the same for a lot of people! One of the defining characteristics of the original pedal is the unique preamp circuit, which breaks up when you dig into the guitar. I've got an original unit - but it's huge; heavy; mains powered; needs a buffered signal; and is over 40 years old, so prone to exploding into a thousand pieces.

Enter PastFX from Brisbane, Australia - who have designed a like-for-like version of the CE-1 - preamp and all - but crammed it into a tiny enclosure and given it 9v power. It uses the same vintage BBD chip to do the modulation - the MN3002 - and even has a switchable buffer on the circuit board to solve the need for a low-impedance input.

I wanted to find out how close it could get to the big-bucks original - so today I'll be putting it through its paces to see. Surely it can't sound as good as the old one...??

What do you think? A dead-on clone?? Or would you still seek out a vintage original? Comment below!

Guitars used:
Gronlund R16 Redeemer Jr. w/ TV Jones Ful-Fidelity Filter'Tron
Gretsch Duo Jet w/ TV Jones T-Armonds
Gibson ES330 '61 VOS Reissue w/ OX4 P90s
Gibson Les Paul Junior w/ Monty's '54 P90
Fender Strat w/ Fralin Real '54 Alnico III's
Gibson SG Standard w/ OX4 Low Wind A4 PAFs

Guitars recorded through a Dr Z Z-Wreck (Celestion AlNiCo Gold; Aston Spirit Condenser, sE RNR1 Ribbon and '70s Sennheiser MD441) with a Schoeps CMC6 room mic.


jp@joeperkins.co.uk

Vector images by freepik.com

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