DEMO Lectric FX Karaoke Chorus (Boss CE-1)

This post contains an audio or video demo

MichaelW

Well-known member
Build Rating
5.00 star(s)
This pedal has been sitting completed except for the one blasted part I was missing, the DPDT Toggle. I could have sworn I had some but when I went to build it, I didn't have it. So I figured, the fastest way to get one was from Amazon. So I went ahead and built the pedal out waiting for my 2 day Ammy shipping....which turned into 4 days. Then when they dropped off the package it was........empty......:mad:. So then I had to wait another 4 days for the replacements.
In the meantime, I ordered some from Tayda and some from a different Amazon vendor. Of course they ALL showed up today, I have DPDT On-On-On toggles out the wazoo now hahah.

Also, when I went and looked at the build doc to pull the parts, I missed the part about 1/8th watt resistors and I obviously didn't look too closely at the board, until AFTER I had put together all the 1/4 watt resistors. The idea of putting all those resistors back into their baggies was just too much, so I built it out with then 1/4's standing up.

So aside from those two misadventures, the build went pretty smooth. The 4u7 caps I had were lo profile but slight fatter than normal and I could not fit them all into the pretty tight footprint so I had to mount one of them on the back of the board.

This is my first Lectric FX build and I've been wanting to build this pedal ever since @Fingolfen posted his build a ways back. I didn't know there was a DIY CE-1 (ish) project until I saw his build. This board is pretty modified for DIY and for guitar and does away with some of the elements of the Boss CE-1 but the result is a chorus pedal that sounds very close to the CE-1 but MUCH more DIY and guitar friendly.

Biasing it was dead simple and I had it up and running (after installing the toggle) in pretty short order. Totally nails the CE-1 sound on a strat.
It's a pretty "timeframed" sound in my opinion. It's kind of dated 80's type chorus as opposed to the more "timeless" character of some other chorus pedals like the CE-2 or Small Clone. Having said that, it sounds AWESOME. Very quiet operation too, unlike the original.

One of the things missing in this project is the pre-amp, which I think adds a little warmth and body. But lo and behold I have the Celsius Preamp, which is the preamp from the CE-1, Woohooo! Running the Celsius in front of the Karaoke was really the bees knees.

The 3 way toggle has a Vibrato setting, a Vibe+Chorus, and a Chorus.

I decided to create a down and dirty demo showing some of the sounds (even though @Guardians of the analog did one not too long ago).
So I tried to do some different sounds and put it into the context of a familiar guitar part.

Super cool pedal!

IMG_4217.JPG

IMG_4218.JPG

The choice of material for the demo is for @Fingolfen :)

 
Build looks awesome, and the demo is great. I just got his board in the other day, your demo inspired me to actually order the parts. 3 shipping charges so of course I had to justify the shipping with extra stuff :)
 
This pedal has been sitting completed except for the one blasted part I was missing, the DPDT Toggle. I could have sworn I had some but when I went to build it, I didn't have it. So I figured, the fastest way to get one was from Amazon. So I went ahead and built the pedal out waiting for my 2 day Ammy shipping....which turned into 4 days. Then when they dropped off the package it was........empty......:mad:. So then I had to wait another 4 days for the replacements.
In the meantime, I ordered some from Tayda and some from a different Amazon vendor. Of course they ALL showed up today, I have DPDT On-On-On toggles out the wazoo now hahah.

Also, when I went and looked at the build doc to pull the parts, I missed the part about 1/8th watt resistors and I obviously didn't look too closely at the board, until AFTER I had put together all the 1/4 watt resistors. The idea of putting all those resistors back into their baggies was just too much, so I built it out with then 1/4's standing up.

So aside from those two misadventures, the build went pretty smooth. The 4u7 caps I had were lo profile but slight fatter than normal and I could not fit them all into the pretty tight footprint so I had to mount one of them on the back of the board.

This is my first Lectric FX build and I've been wanting to build this pedal ever since @Fingolfen posted his build a ways back. I didn't know there was a DIY CE-1 (ish) project until I saw his build. This board is pretty modified for DIY and for guitar and does away with some of the elements of the Boss CE-1 but the result is a chorus pedal that sounds very close to the CE-1 but MUCH more DIY and guitar friendly.

Biasing it was dead simple and I had it up and running (after installing the toggle) in pretty short order. Totally nails the CE-1 sound on a strat.
It's a pretty "timeframed" sound in my opinion. It's kind of dated 80's type chorus as opposed to the more "timeless" character of some other chorus pedals like the CE-2 or Small Clone. Having said that, it sounds AWESOME. Very quiet operation too, unlike the original.

One of the things missing in this project is the pre-amp, which I think adds a little warmth and body. But lo and behold I have the Celsius Preamp, which is the preamp from the CE-1, Woohooo! Running the Celsius in front of the Karaoke was really the bees knees.

The 3 way toggle has a Vibrato setting, a Vibe+Chorus, and a Chorus.

I decided to create a down and dirty demo showing some of the sounds (even though @Guardians of the analog did one not too long ago).
So I tried to do some different sounds and put it into the context of a familiar guitar part.

Super cool pedal!

View attachment 41027

View attachment 41028

The choice of material for the demo is for @Fingolfen :)

I have this board coming as well.
Nice demo, I like the song you play at 1:15. Is that an original?
 
No, that's a Rush song called "Time Stand Still". I'm pretty sure Alex Lifeson uses a CE-1 on that tune which why I used it for the demo.

Edit: The video is a bit goofy and dated but not the song. One of my favorite Rush tunes, lyrically and harmonically.

And I just implied in another thread that I don't like Rush haha. I have to say, the guitar part is really cool, like many from the 80s. The video is even better, Aimee Mann!
 
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