Boss created the “first” of a variety of effects, and was certainly the first to offer many types in compact boxes. However, one such pedal is a stone-cold all-time classic despite never being offered in Boss’s trademark compact enclosure. That pedal is the CE-1 Chorus Ensemble.
The period in question is the so-called “lawsuit era,” circa ‘77–’88, and it was fueled by a slice of Japan’s technology sector with a rugged determinism to enter the musical instrument market at a lower price point than its immediate competitors.
As musicians, we owe it to ourselves to reach past the guitar, the pedals, and the amp, into the toy chest. Anything that makes noise is and should be on the table.
Though the contents of the cabinet are filled with pedals of every sort, we have a surprising lack of vintage fuzz. There are a few, sure, and we’ll definitely get to those, but we need to talk about a fuzz pedal of a different kind first.
Only three effects that I personally know of are part of an actual museum exhibit, positioned for patrons to recognize their contributions to music as a whole.
With real synthesizer controls, the Micro Synthesizer lived up to its name and then some. Players were given full, expansive control over every parameter of the filter sweep and other synth fixings, including triggering parameters and some rudimentary ADSR functions.
As one might expect, prices quickly exploded and haven’t calmed down since. But what’s so special about a distortion pedal with just volume, distortion and a two-band tone stack?
There are some boxes in the depths of the cabinet that are tiny slivers in the effects timeline; among the certified classics, there are the pedals nobody remembers but should, or other pieces you may have never known.
No other pedal really looks like one inside or out; the components used differ from unit to unit, with some examples having some truly otherworldly-looking Soviet tech inside.
46 years ago, Keith Barr and Terry Sherwood incorporated MXR and released five pedals that would go on to define a legacy brand. Just ten short years later, MXR folded and Keith Barr founded Alesis in the same year, 1984.
As far as its modern practicality is concerned, there’s a reason you don’t see any on any pedalboard anywhere, beyond the pedal’s insane price point and collectibility.
