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Before the list, the thing that trips up almost everyone shopping for this sound: a large part of the CE-2’s character is what it does not have.
The original has two knobs — Rate and Depth — and no mix control. The wet and dry blend is fixed, in mono, at a ratio Boss chose in 1979. That fixed blend is not a limitation someone forgot to remove; it is a big slice of the sound people are chasing. Most modern “CE-2 style” pedals add a mix knob and stereo outputs, which makes them more useful and means they do not sound like a CE-2 with everything at noon. You have to dial the mix back deliberately, usually further than feels right.
The second thing is what actually makes it warm. It is a bucket-brigade delay chip — an analogue chip that passes the signal down a chain of capacitors — plus the filtering around it, which rolls off high end on the wet side. That soft top is why an analogue chorus sits under a clean chord instead of shimmering on top of it. Digital choruses can model this, and some do it well, but if you want the real mechanism, look for the letters BBD in the spec.
And the honest option most lists leave out: buy a used original. Boss made the CE-2 in enormous numbers between 1979 and 1991. They are plentiful, they are simple, and a working one is often cheaper than the boutique pedals built to imitate it. If you want the sound rather than the features, that is the shortest route.
Ten options below, from Boss’s own official reissue to the $40 clone that gets surprisingly close.
| # | Product | Price | Where to buy |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Boss CE-2W Waza Craft Chorus | $180–$250 | Amazon · eBay |
| 2 | Boss CE-2 (Used Original) | $130–$300 | Amazon · eBay |
| 3 | Electro-Harmonix Small Clone | $90–$130 | Amazon · eBay |
| 4 | Electro-Harmonix Neo Clone | $70–$100 | Amazon · eBay |
| 5 | MXR M234 Analog Chorus | $130–$180 | Amazon · eBay |
| 6 | Ibanez CS9 Stereo Chorus | $140–$200 | Amazon · eBay |
| 7 | JHS Emperor V2 Chorus/Vibrato | $230–$300 | Amazon · eBay |
| 8 | Walrus Audio Julia V2 Chorus/Vibrato | $200–$280 | Amazon · eBay |
| 9 | Catalinbread Callisto Chorus/Vibrato | $180–$240 | Amazon · eBay |
| 10 | Behringer UC200 Ultra Chorus | $35–$60 | Amazon · eBay |
The picks, in detail
Boss CE-2W Waza Craft Chorus
Boss’s own official reissue, and the closest thing to a definitive answer. The circuit is all analogue with real bucket-brigade chips, and the mode switch gives you the CE-2 voice, the bigger CE-1 swirl, and a standalone vibrato the original never had. Adds a stereo output too. If your goal is simply to have the sound with no compromises, buy this and stop reading.
- All-analogue circuit with bucket-brigade delay chips
- CE-2, CE-1 and vibrato modes
- Mono and stereo outputs
- Standard Boss enclosure and reliability
- Made by the company that made the original, to the original circuit
- Three usable voices rather than one
- Boss build quality and resale value
- Most expensive Boss compact pedal by some margin
- CE-1 mode is a different, wider sound — easy to conflate the two
Boss CE-2 (Used Original)
The honest recommendation nobody makes, because there is no margin in it. Boss built the CE-2 for twelve years and the used market is deep. It has two knobs, mono output, and the exact circuit everything else on this list is trying to approximate. Check that the footswitch is quiet and the pot travel is smooth; there is very little else on it to go wrong.
- Original 1979–1991 production
- Rate and Depth only, fixed wet/dry blend
- Mono output
- MN3007-family bucket-brigade circuit
- Literally the sound, not an approximation
- Often cheaper than boutique clones
- Simple enough that repairs are straightforward
- No mix control, no stereo, no vibrato
- Condition varies enormously — buy from a seller who demonstrates it
- Early Japanese units carry a collector premium for the same circuit
Electro-Harmonix Small Clone
The other classic analogue chorus, and a genuinely different flavour rather than a CE-2 imitation — deeper, wetter and more obviously modulated, with one Rate knob and a depth switch. If the CE-2 is a gentle shimmer under a chord, the Small Clone is the one you can hear from the back of the room. Cheap, simple and famous for good reason.
- Analogue bucket-brigade circuit
- Single Rate knob plus a depth toggle
- True bypass on current production
- Runs on 9V battery or adapter
- Very inexpensive for a real analogue chorus
- Instantly recognisable, characterful voice
- Almost nothing to dial in wrong
- Deeper and more obvious than a CE-2 — not a substitute
- Larger enclosure than a Boss compact
- No stereo output
Electro-Harmonix Neo Clone
The Small Clone squeezed into a small enclosure with a single Rate knob and a depth switch, at a lower price. Buy it if pedalboard space is the constraint and you want an analogue chorus that is impossible to set badly. The trade is that there is no fine control at all — you get the one voice, fast or slow.
- Analogue chorus in a compact enclosure
- Single Rate knob with a depth toggle
- True bypass
- Small footprint
- Cheapest EHX route to the analogue chorus sound
- Takes almost no board space
- Genuinely hard to dial in badly
- One voice only — no depth or mix control
- Not a CE-2 tone, an EHX one
MXR M234 Analog Chorus
The most practical pedal on this list. Genuine bucket-brigade analogue circuitry, but with Level, Rate, Width and separate bass and treble controls — so you can roll the high end off the wet signal and get much closer to a CE-2’s soft top than most clones manage, or leave it bright for a more modern shimmer. Standard MXR enclosure, standard MXR toughness.
- Analogue bucket-brigade circuit
- Level, Rate and Width controls
- Separate bass and treble EQ on the effect
- Stereo output
- The EQ controls let you shape toward a CE-2 voice
- More flexible than any two-knob pedal here
- Reliable and reasonably priced
- More knobs means more ways to get it wrong
- Not a circuit-level CE-2 copy
Ibanez CS9 Stereo Chorus
The period-correct alternative. Ibanez were making analogue chorus pedals at the same time as Boss and the CS9 is the reissue of that line — same bucket-brigade principle, slightly different voicing, stereo outputs. Worth trying against a CE-2 rather than assuming: plenty of players prefer the Ibanez, and it usually costs less than the Waza Craft.
- Analogue bucket-brigade circuit
- Speed, Width and Delay Time controls
- Stereo outputs
- Reissue of the original 9-series design
- Genuine period-correct alternative voice
- Delay Time control changes the character meaningfully
- Usually cheaper than the CE-2W
- A different voice, not a CE-2 clone
- Ibanez enclosure is less rugged than Boss or MXR
JHS Emperor V2 Chorus/Vibrato
The boutique option that keeps the classic bucket-brigade design and then adds what you actually want: a tap-tempo-adjustable rate, a ramp control, tone shaping, and a switch from chorus to full vibrato. Effectively a CE-2 lineage pedal with the controls the original could not have had in 1979. If you want vintage circuitry with modern usability, this is the pick.
- Classic bucket-brigade device design
- Chorus and vibrato modes
- Ramp control for gradual speed change
- Tone shaping on the wet signal
- Analogue circuit with genuinely useful modern controls
- Vibrato mode is a real second pedal
- Excellent build quality
- Boutique price
- More feature-rich than the vintage voice needs
Walrus Audio Julia V2 Chorus/Vibrato
An analogue chorus and vibrato with a Lag control that shifts the delay time — which is the parameter that separates a watery 80s chorus from a subtle thickening — and a dial that sweeps continuously from dry through chorus to full vibrato. The most tweakable pedal here, and the one that can get closest to a fixed CE-2-like blend precisely because the blend is adjustable.
- Analogue chorus and vibrato
- Continuous dry-to-vibrato blend control
- Lag control for delay time
- Rate, Depth and waveform shaping
- The blend control lets you set a CE-2-like fixed ratio by ear
- Lag control reaches sounds the two-knob pedals cannot
- Beautifully built
- Boutique pricing
- Enough controls to get lost in
Catalinbread Callisto Chorus/Vibrato
An analogue chorus and vibrato built around the classic bucket-brigade approach with a deliberately vintage voicing — the goal here is warmth and subtlety rather than a wide modern swirl. A good choice if your complaint about most chorus pedals is that they are too obvious, which is usually what sends people looking for a CE-2 in the first place.
- Analogue bucket-brigade circuit
- Chorus and vibrato modes
- Vintage-voiced, subtle by design
- Compact enclosure
- Subtle voicing close in spirit to the original
- Vibrato mode included
- Small footprint
- Deliberately restrained — will not do wide 80s swirl
- Boutique price for a simple feature set
Behringer UC200 Ultra Chorus
The unglamorous budget answer, and the one worth knowing about. It is a plastic-enclosure copy of a Boss chorus layout at roughly a tenth of the price, and it sounds far better than it has any right to. Buy it to find out whether chorus belongs on your board at all before spending real money — and if it does, you have lost almost nothing.
- Boss-style layout and controls
- Stereo output
- Very low price
- Standard 9V power
- Cheapest way to test whether you want a chorus at all
- Sounds genuinely usable, especially in a mix
- Nothing lost if you move on
- Plastic enclosure and switch — not a gigging pedal
- Not an analogue bucket-brigade circuit
- No resale value
Buying tips
- If your new pedal has a mix or level control, start it well below noon. A CE-2’s fixed blend is subtler than most people set a variable one.
- Look for the letters BBD or “bucket brigade” in the specification. That is the analogue mechanism; everything else is a model of it.
- The soft high end is half the sound. If your pedal has a treble or tone control on the wet signal, rolling it down gets you closer than any rate adjustment will.
- Chorus goes after drive and before delay and reverb in most rigs. Try it in the effects loop if your amp has one — chorus in front of a cranked amp gets muddy.
- Stereo is a studio feature, not a gig feature. In mono the two outputs collapse and some of the width disappears; do not buy for stereo you will never run.
- Check a used CE-2 for a scratchy footswitch and stiff pots. Those are the two things that actually fail, and both are repairable.
- Slow and shallow is the classic setting. Fast and deep is a different, much more obvious effect that dates a recording immediately.
- Analogue chorus adds a small amount of noise. That is normal for a bucket-brigade circuit and not a fault in the pedal.
As an Amazon Associate and eBay Partner, toptenpick.com earns from qualifying purchases. Prices and availability are subject to change.