PastFx Chorus Ensemble Mini

The PastFx Chorus Ensemble Mini (CEM) is a recreation of the Boss CE-1 Chorus Ensemble, the 1970s chorus and vibrato pedal that PastFx calls the "Holy Grail of Chorus pedals"¹. What sets the Mini apart is its size: it is approximately one quarter of the size and weight of an original CE-1, in a 1590B style enclosure measuring 112 x 60 x 53mm, and PastFx describes it as currently the smallest recreation of the CE-1 available¹. Like the original, it offers both chorus and vibrato modes, and it uses an obsolete 512-stage 1970s bucket brigade chip, the MN3002, for its analog delay line¹²³.

What it does: a CE-1 recreation at a quarter of the size

The CE-1 was a large floor unit, and stereo outputs were a feature not common in effects pedals at the time it appeared⁵. The Mini compresses that circuit into a standard compact pedal enclosure while keeping the CE-1's core character: a triangle wave LFO for chorus and a sine wave LFO for vibrato, the same waveforms the original used². The manual notes one behavior carried over from the CE-1: with the Level control set high and the signal heavily clipped, on some amps it can almost sound like a fuzz, and on others a more traditional crunch sound, which PastFx says is the same experience as the original².

Guitar Pedal X's Stefan Karlsson reviewed the Mini in his November 2024 survey of the PastFX range and found it faithful to its source⁴³:

The Mini is not the only compact CE-1 recreation on the market. Behringer announced a CE-1 clone employing the same Chorus Intensity, Vibrato Depth and Rate, and Level controls as the original, along with the high and low preamp sliders⁶. The Behringer unit keeps the original's slider layout, while the Mini reworks the controls into knobs and toggle switches on a small PCB.

The controls

The Mini keeps the CE-1's two-mode structure but simplifies the control set. A Vibrato/Chorus toggle switch selects the mode, and a Normal/effect footswitch turns the effect on and off².

Two internal modifications expand on the stock design:

• Depth Mod: allows the Vibrato Depth knob to control the chorus depth. With the mod inactive, the stock chorus depth is achieved by turning the Vibrato Depth knob fully clockwise².
• Buffer Mod: the CEM comes with an inbuilt buffer circuit which can be added or removed as desired. When activated, the buffer is always on².

The single Intensity knob for chorus is a CE-1 trait: the original tied rate and depth together for its chorus mode, and the Mini preserves that behavior rather than splitting them into separate controls¹.

Power and connections

The Mini runs on an industry-standard 9V DC supply with a negative tip and a 2.1mm jack¹². Current draw is approximately 110 to 130 mA, which is high for a compact pedal and rules out casual battery use¹.

The Mini has stereo and mono outputs. In a stereo setup, the wet signal is directed to the stereo jack and the dry signal to the mono output jack², the same wet/dry split the original CE-1 used. Bypass is not true bypass: the pedal uses JFET switching, as the original CE-1 did².

History and versions: MN3002 and MN3007

The standard Mini uses the MN3002, an obsolete 512-stage 1970s bucket brigade chip¹³. Because NOS MN3002 chips are scarce, PastFx also built the Chorus Ensemble MN3007 Mini (CE-7 Mini), a modified Chorus Ensemble Mini using the less obsolete NOS MN3007 BBD⁷³. The CE-7 Mini uses the same PCB as the Mini, is almost identical in components, and is attractively priced⁸. Its chorus is controlled by the Intensity knob plus a Depth control (a built-in Depth Mod), and it adds a switchable Buffer Mod⁸.

The CE-7 Mini itself is a compact version of the full-size Chorus Ensemble MN3007, which in turn is a modified Chorus Ensemble Deluxe⁷. The MN3007 versions share the Mini's triangle wave LFO for chorus and sine wave LFO for vibrato⁷.

Guitar Pedal X's 2024 range survey listed the Mini at $201 USD for the MN3002 version and $349 USD for the MN3007 version⁴. For comparison, the same survey listed the full-size Chorus Ensemble Deluxe at $489 AUD for non-USA customers and $549 AUD for USA customers on PastFx's own site⁹.

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