Boss CE-3 Schematic?

[Joe Kramer]

Hi!

Me search but no find.  You got?  Big thanks!

Joe

[TheBigMan]

Dunno if there is one on the net.  I've got the pedal, planning to trace it out when I get time.  :?

[Marcos - Munky]

I have the CE-2 and CE-300. If those helps, e-mail me.

[Joe Kramer]

Hey, you guys, thanks for the replies.  I have some ideas to turn the CE-3 into a pitch-bending, nausea-inducing vibrato monster, which I'll be happy to post if anybody's interested.  Guess I'll have to fly blind for now.

Joe

[Geoff Hunter]

(My First Post!)

I've been looking for the CE-3 Schematic to do a similar thing so I can pack my lovely VB-2 into a glass case!

I'd be happy to use my CE-3 as a guinea pig!

Geoff

[MartyMart]

(My First Post!)

I've been looking for the CE-3 Schematic to do a similar thing so I can pack my lovely VB-2 into a glass case!

I'd be happy to use my CE-3 as a guinea pig!

Geoff

Welcome Geoff  
Nice to have another "London guy" here ...
I'm out near Twickenham, where are you ?
Here's a tip: Get yourself the "Line 6 Space Chorus" - it nails the VB-2 sound totally, then sell yours on Ebay and have a short holiday with the
proceeds !!! :lol:

Marty.

[Geoff Hunter]

Thanks! I've been lurking for....... well far too long anyway, thought I would show my face!

I'm *cough* Croydon born and bred, but don't let that put you off.

I couldn't sell my VB-2! Got it for £70 in Denmark St in London, about the only time I saw a bargain!   If you've never heard a VB-2 in action you'll never appriciate why they cost so much! Its L.U.S.H!

On the other hand you can pick up a CE-3 for £40 or so.  I think they use the same BBD, so I guess its just a matter of messing about with the LFO!

Geoff

[Joe Kramer]

The VB-2 schem doesn't seem to be in cyber circulation either, at least by my search attempts.   A modded CE-3 would probably serve well enough to save your VB-2 from wear and tear.  On the other hand, a VB-2 clone would be ideal.  Seems like a super-collectible like that one would be among the top clone candidates. . . .

[Geoff Hunter]

From an old thread:

http://www.diystompboxes.com/sboxforum/viewtopic.php?t=29991&highlight=vb2

Link to this schematic site seems to be working ok!

http://www.godiksennet.com/default.asp?main=Schematics

I don't think the LFO on the VB-2 is anything like the CE-3, Probably based on the CE-2 (Anyone?).

I would reckon its more of a sign modulation on the VB-2 which gives that lovely seasick sound, but the CE-3 etc sounds more triangle like to me.

Thats as far as my knowlege goes, no idea how easy it is to mod the circuit!

[Joe Kramer]

Thanks for the link Geoff!  You're right, the VB-2 LFO is considerably different  in form from the typical chorus-type LFO.  I'd have to look at it for a while and maybe redraw it to understand exactly what's going on there.  The CE-3 LFO sound like a triangle wave to me too.  I have a CE-2 and it sounds a little deeper and more warbly than the CE-3.  Have to get a hold of the CE-3 schem and compare . . . still looking.

[puretube]

looks like a L*slie-type "spin-up/dwn" thing to me...

[Geoff Hunter]

I started to trace the LFO for the CE-3 last night, Its definitely not the same as the CE-2!

I'm damn slow at tracing circuits (I'm still halfway through tracing a DOD classic Fuzz!), I'll try and complete it tonight.

Sorry Joe I think I have taken over your thread!  :oops:   Like to see your ideas that you've already done!

Geoff

[Geoff Hunter]

Borrowed a scope of a friend of mine so I could see what the LFO waveforms look like.  

You can find them here:

http://photobucket.com/albums/y41/jolem/

I had a look at the CE-2,CE-3 and VB-2 at the same place on each board - in the case of the CE-2 its the base of Q4, base of Q6 for the VB-2.

For the VB-2 i set the depth to max and varied the rate
for the CE-2 and CE-3 I set the rate to a value and varied the depth.

Oh, and the LFO for the CE-3 is actually very similar to the CE-2 just a couple of components added on, still trying to trace the damn thing!

phew! after all that i'm not really any closer!  :?

[Joe Kramer]

Nice work Geoff!  No worries about taking over the thread--all contributions welcome!

Very, very interesting.  The VB is obviously a sinewave, which corresponds to the LFO circuit differences between it and the CEs.  The similarity between the waveshapes of the CE-2 and -3 is a surprise--I have both and the CE-2 is by far richer-sounding.  But then you're finding that the two LFO circuits are different?  It's going to be informative to find out why these sound so unlike each other.  .  .  .

I haven't jumped into any mods on the CE-3 yet.  I plan to call Roland today and cough up for the service papers.  I might be able to have them scanned by a friend and then attach them to an email to you, but that'll probably be longer than it'll take you to trace out. . . .  Thanks for posting the pics!

Joe

[puretube]

any easter-progress yet?

[Fret Wire]

CE-2 mod.
http://www.pedaldoctor.com/BossCE2.html

[Geoff Hunter]

Thanks for the link     Looks very professional!

Been working with Joe Kramer to get things going, got a WIP schematic but no time to put the component values down.

If you are interested you can have a peek here:

http://photobucket.com/albums/y41/jolem/Pedal%20Info/ to see how far we've got.

Actually theres just been a recent thread which might point the way!

http://www.diystompboxes.com/sboxforum/viewtopic.php?t=31635

Geoff

[Geoff Hunter]

Had a (very) little luck in 'signing' up the LFO.

I tried a larger decoupling cap on the output of the LFO to try and smooth it out (from 10n to 100n).  It did help but really reduced the size of the waveform.

I tried to compensate by messing with the transistor just after the LFO to try and restore the size, by changing the bias on the two resistors on the emitter of the tranny (wish i knew what i was doing!)



The two resistors were both 4.7k.

With the mod as long as you keep the depth no more than halfway you do hear more of a 'wobble' in the signal which does sound much more VB-2 like.

You will have to increase the LFO speed in order to appreciate the change.

Oh I've cleared up my scan of the sch if anyone is interested (still some values missing though)

Schematic: http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y41/jolem/Pedal%20Info/BOSS_CE3.jpg (~150k)

PCB Picture:

[puretube]

anybody got a full schematic by now?
it`s needed here:
http://diystompboxes.com/sboxforum/viewtopic.php?t=34379

[Geoff Hunter]

anybody got a full schematic by now?
it`s needed here:
http://diystompboxes.com/sboxforum/viewtopic.php?t=34379

Hey

Afraid i've had no time to continue with the drawing (easy to lurk during office hours but a bit tricky to trace pedals )

The missing bits on the schematic are: the BBD section, and the switching section.

I'm pretty sure the BBD bit is the same as the VB2 (the BBD section seem to be pretty much the same on all Boss BBD pedals. normally one cap difference.....)

The switching is unique to the CE-3 because of the Mono/Stereo switch, but I think the logic should be quite easy to work out by looking at the FETS signals:

Normally

OUTA = IN
OUTB = IN

When in Stereo Mode
OUTA = IN + Effect
OUTB = IN + (-Effect)

When in Mono Mode
OUTA = Effect
OUTB = IN

Sorry I can't be of any more help!

Geoff