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Archive for October 27th, 2007

Ig wrote a great article last week, and challenged his readers to write letters to themselves that they’d read some time in the future; a lot like Marty did for Doc in “Back to the Future.” So I’m going to take a crack at this.

Hey!

Looks like you’ve come a long way. I know you were thinking about giving up playing, but knowing you, you just couldn’t keep away from your passion. Hopefully, you’ve kept driving towards incorporating different kinds of styles into your playing. I know you started a bit late with improvisation on the guitar, but I’m hopeful that you are now a master of it; or short of that, can work your way around the fretboard instinctively, switching modes to suit the musical phrasing.

Speaking of musical phrasing, you must have written a few hundred songs by now. I wonder what style of music you’re writing? It’s a good bet that rock and roll is still your staple, but I hope you haven’t given up your dream of finishing your concerto. I can only imaging what it would be like to combine a full orchestra with a rock band, and a huge choir. While I know that you originally thought that you’d hire a big name to play lead guitar, at the rate you’re going, I hope you decided to play that role yourself.

You’re probably not a shredder – that’s not something that you ever aspired to being. Though I know that learning various techniques to incorporate into your playing have always been one of the earmarks of your learning experience on the guitar. Never forget though, you always need to sound like yourself, be it on guitar, or vocally.

I know it has been a rough road to get to where you are. But what’s life without struggle? How can you learn without making mistakes? But just keep doing what you’re doing. Keep pushing the envelope with your skills. Be happy with all you’ve accomplished, but don’t settle with where you are. Complacency leads to boredom, both inside and out; and you are far from being boring.

Cheers!

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BOSS CE-5 Chorus EnsembleWhen it comes to chorus sounds, Roland/BOSS is pretty much the standard for the last twenty or so years. The CE-2 has especially been very sought-after used pedal 1) for its simplicity and; 2) for it’s analog design. I owned a CE-2 back in the 80’s, and have since kicked myself since I traded it for other hardware – that I don’t use at all anymore! Since then, BOSS has gone through a couple of renditions with the Chorus Ensemble line, and now offers the CE-5 Chorus Ensemble. A pedal that even though digital, sounds pretty darn good.

The CE-2 was a simple affair: Just two knobs for rate and depth, and a single output. With the CE-3, Boss introduced a “stereo-like” affair with two outputs, and three knobs, introducing a “Stereo Mode” knob to control how the outputs generated their sound. The CE-5 does away with the Stereo Mode knob and replaces it with an Effect Level knob, and a dual knob used for Hi- and Lo-cut filters.

In my opinion, the Hi/Lo Cut knob is what makes this pedal special. With it you can really shape your chorus sound from bright and smooth to dripping wet. All in all, you can’t go wrong with this pedal; and for less than $80, it’s a deal.

Starting with this review, I’m going to start giving summary ratings at the bottom of each review, similar to what you’d see in one of the trade rags.

BOSS CE-5 Chorus

  • Price: $129 (<$80 street)
  • Pros: Very versatile. Can produce a wide range of sounds
  • Cons: Can take awhile to dial in the sound you want
  • Summary: Great sounding chorus at a great price

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