Can you guys educate me on Boss pedals?

[Noise...]

I've never really learned a lot about Boss pedals - even though they're so popular. I've only tried a few before, and I've never owned any - not even a DS1.

 

Now, I'm curious about them. Cheap dirt pedals, lots of delay pedals, and a few others that look interesting.

 

First off, tell me about this buffered bypass. I know some buffers are really transparent and don't alter tone at all. Are the Boss buffers like that? Do any Boss pedals suck tone?

 

Next, what are the good current models? I know modded versions of many exist, and I'm not against getting a pedal modded to make it better.

 

Can anyone teach me a bit about Boss pedals?

[booher]

Even if you don't like the Boss pedals, there are a {censored}load of great, cheap DIY mods or mods that people will do for you out there. Tons.

 

TR-2 is a great trem. I've heard good things about the RV-5, yet, personally, I'm not greatly impressed with the one I picked up. The DS-1 has great mods, as does the BD-2, the SD-1, and the OD-3. The DD-3 is a great, great delay with some awesome features. And the DD-20 is all of the delay you'll ever need, in my opinion, in one pedal.

 

I'm sure others have their opinions to add on some of the other pedals out there from them.

[homestar_kevin]

www.bossarea.com


the buffers are fine.

[MadPsyance]

It's funny, everyone always says Boss is the best yet whenever I ask what is a good pedal for some particular effect, everyone suggests a different brand.

[L6Sguy]

It's funny, everyone always says Boss is the best yet whenever I ask what is a good pedal for some particular effect, everyone suggests a different brand.

boss, in almost every instance, puts out a solid product, both sonically and (of course) build-wise. their prices are reasonable, they can be found and fixed all over the world.

however, once a few other things are figured in, ie:


they are just another brand out there. doesnt mean that their stuff aint great, but theres a lot of greatness out there these days


Anti, you may wanna consider the option of used boss stock as well. their past offerings have lots of winners, in almost every category.

[hangwire]

I found that they generally only sound good with humbuckers, they have a very "tin" overtone with single coils, even with the guitar tone rolled back...

[Liberty Belle]

I've never really learned a lot about Boss pedals - even though they're so popular. I've only tried a few before, and I've never owned any - not even a DS1. Now, I'm curious about them. Cheap dirt pedals, lots of delay pedals, and a few others that look interesting. First off, tell me about this buffered bypass. I know some buffers are really transparent and don't alter tone at all. Are the Boss buffers like that? Do any Boss pedals suck tone? Next, what are the good current models? I know modded versions of many exist, and I'm not against getting a pedal modded to make it better. Can anyone teach me a bit about Boss pedals?

 

yes,they used to be good and made in japan now they suck and are made in taiwan!

this is my true, educated sentiment re:boss.

[amaleelake]

I couldn't be happier with the Boss pedals that I now own. I have been through a few of them and have only kept the best ones.

So as far as good models go:

RV3: Great sounding reverb. Allows you to go 100% wet and cut out the attack completely (which is important to me). Also includes delay wich is usable at any of the 4 different reverb settings. Very versatile.

PS3: The normal pitch shifting settings on this pedal could be better (the tracking isn't very good) but it is still useable. It also includes a good sounding delay and a setting that produces some of the best chorus sounds that I have ever heard out of a pedal. The reason that this pedal is indispensible to me is for the inverse setting (#7) which basically pitch shifts the note that you play up or down 2 octaves in a cascading effect and then also reverses that entire process before hitting your amp. It produces really other wordly sounds, especially when coupled with delay and reverb. I have 2 of these because they are so useful.

DC2: Classic pedal. I am not much of a chorus fan, but this is unlike any chorus I have ever heard, very spatial and shimmering, but not "warbling".

RC2: Tons of looping time (16 mins.) with 11 possible presets, great quality playback (what you play - it plays exactly without messing with the time) and a small footprint. I can't recommend this enough. I also have 2 of these: one for the end of my chain and one for the beginning so that I can modulate the loops with the rest of my board as they are being played through.

Boss is definitely worth checking out, hope this helps!

[vulcaniza P]

i really dig the dd-6 delay pedal. nice lil amount of time for a noise type loop
(5.2 sec) or good for a short stutter/ sample and hold (gotta be quick on the tap for that). a reverse feature where you can dial in the amount of the effect..... and a nice little "warp" feature to get the delays to sorta feedback on itself. if ya like tap tempo it has that as well.

[adamthemute]

So as far as good models go: RV3: Great sounding reverb. Allows you to go 100% wet and cut out the attack completely (which is important to me). Also includes delay wich is usable at any of the 4 different reverb settings. Very versatile. PS3: The normal pitch shifting settings on this pedal could be better (the tracking isn't very good) but it is still useable. It also includes a good sounding delay and a setting that produces some of the best chorus sounds that I have ever heard out of a pedal. The reason that this pedal is indispensible to me is for the inverse setting (#7) which basically pitch shifts the note that you play up or down 2 octaves in a cascading effect and then also reverses that entire process before hitting your amp. It produces really other wordly sounds, especially when coupled with delay and reverb. I have 2 of these because they are so useful. DC2: Classic pedal. I am not much of a chorus fan, but this is unlike any chorus I have ever heard, very spatial and shimmering, but not "warbling". RC2: Tons of looping time (16 mins.) with 11 possible presets, great quality playback (what you play - it plays exactly without messing with the time) and a small footprint. I can't recommend this enough. I also have 2 of these: one for the end of my chain and one for the beginning so that I can modulate the loops with the rest of my board as they are being played through. Boss is definitely worth checking out, hope this helps!

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Boss PH-1r is pretty nice.

[phyrexia]

The Boss PH-1r is pretty nice.

+1. I miss mine but my foot phaser is neato too.

How can we forget the TU-2?
Even the FS-x stuff is built better than what you get with some amps.

[tocs100]

Well, it's common knowledge the stock MT-2 Metal Zone does not sound good--at least by itself. Even with the eq, it gets lost in the mix (and the Dano Fab Metal sounds the same, minus even the eq).

My sig shows how I use mine, in parallel.

It's essential that both my first dirt (a fuzz-modded MT-2, maybe I'll replace with an OD-3) and my parallel dirt have those nice, big Boss switches so I can easily hit them at once.
With bass though, my parallel dirt is a Dano Fab Distortion, always on, and more dynamic than anything else I've tried there, even an Ibanez TS9DX. Do not get the Boss bass ODB-3, as the parallel overdrive is as hated as the stock MT-2.

Besides the custom amp sim, my other 4 pedals are Boss-variants that work fine for cheap: Arion tuner and phaser, Dano Fish 'n' Chips Eq, and Behringer reverb.

3 other cool Boss pedals I've had/tried were the parametric eq, FT-2 Dynamic filter (only worked well with amp dirt rather than pedal dirt for some odd reason), and the PS-2 Pitch-Shifter Delay whose self-oscillating delay is sorely missed. The acoustic simulator blows donkeys imho, adding nothing but a bit of tinny fizz.

[ShortScaleMike]

Here's some video demos I've made of various Boss pedals, I think they're pretty damn good for the money:

 

OD-3 Overdrive - Really great pedal, I don't think it needs modding

[YOUTUBE]urTPqEU71PA[/YOUTUBE]

 

DD-3 Digital Delay - proper workhorse, great pedal

[YOUTUBE]nmpg4j4Is68[/YOUTUBE]

 

CH-1 Super Chorus - I'm not a huge Chorus fan but this pedal does the job

[YOUTUBE]IR6D0Qp2S50[/YOUTUBE]

 

BD-2 Blues Driver - Great overdrive, pretty cruddy tone control Stock

[YOUTUBE]CziED7dILbw[/YOUTUBE]

 

And after the Monte Allums H20 mod I did to it:

[YOUTUBE]d5aZ6K8drm8[/YOUTUBE]

 

CS-3 Compression Sustainer - a little noisy but pretty useful

[YOUTUBE]jtFauGUHnW4[/YOUTUBE]

[ninjaaron]

I generally prefer Boss' digital pedals over their analog stuff. I don't really know why... I think it's because tons of people make great analog pedals, but Boss has one of the largest selections of good digital pedals out there (and they are bread and butter effects, not crazy stuff). I also like that the bypass is analog no matter what. Digital bypass is stupid, especially if your like me, and use a lot of digital effects.

 

I also like that Boss Pedals are generic sounding. Sometimes you want to have an effect that is recognizable as particular pedal (ie: HOG), but with Boss stuff, You don't focus so much on the effect unit itself, because it sounds normal. It leaves focus more on the music, I think. Not that I don't love going effect crazy every now and then, but in the vast majority of what I play, the emphasis is supposed to be on the notes and chords, getting across the musical idea, rather than playing with texture. The textures, for me, are just fluff, not content. Boss pedals are good for fluff. It's almost the opposite of EHX pedals, many of which are immediately recognizable on recordings (which is good sometimes as well, just not as often, for me at least).

 

The buffers are reasonable, as far as buffers go. If you know what to do with a buffered pedal, they serve the purpose well enough, but already have too many in my chain, and I need to make a bunch of little TB loopers to get around some of the buffers. But I like to have one at the beginning and end of my chain.

 

Edit: they are also build like... well, their built like Boss pedals. Buy one, that's all you'll ever need (unless you want more than one in your chain).

[ninjaaron]

I found that they generally only sound good with humbuckers, they have a very "tin" overtone with single coils, even with the guitar tone rolled back...

I've not had such a problem, and I use mostly single coils. However, I don't use any Boss dirt pedals (the only one I would really consider is the SD-1. The Mega Drive sounds OK too, but I don't need it for what I play).

[Crxsh]

I've owned a number of them--TU-2, BD-2, SD-1, MT-2, RV-5, DD-6, DD-5, CE-2, PH-2, PH-3

 

Of those that I've owned... my current rig sports modded versions of the BD-2, SD-1 and a stock TU-2.

 

In a few instances, like with the delays, I've dumped them off for the versatility of my Line 6 DL4. But as far as distortion/overdrive goes, the BD-2 is one of my all time favorites. The TU-2 is all the road-tuner you'd ever need really.

 

I've ditched the PH-2 in favor ofa Phase 90 and the CE-2 for a Nano Clone. I have also traded in a Holy Grail reverb for a RV-5 however.

 

In my opinion, the mods help the overdrives a lot. The SD-1 sounds like a tubescreamer... and for about $60. The BD-2 is also a great overdrive... but I think it sounds tinny and splatty, so I got the bass boost and another mod to help it out. That's a great pedal.

 

I mean, they're all solid little pedals, but it all comes down to preference. Like the PH-2 vs. the Phase 90... it's just simpler. Plus, you get the benefit of looping with the DL-4 ... something you have to buy another pricey pedal for from BOSS. Preference is king...

[ShortScaleMike]

Plus, you get the benefit of looping with the DL-4 ... something you have to buy another pricey pedal for from BOSS. Preference is king...

 

Nope. DD-20 is the DL4's competitor and it has delay and looping.

[Kubenzi]

 

and the CE-2 for a Nano Clone

 

 

were you recently in an accident?

[Kittie Rose]

BOSS pedals used to be called MEG pedals, but they had to change the name to stop horny teenagers to stop getting aroused by the idea of twiddling around with Meg's Box.

[L6Sguy]

.......Boss-variants .....: Arion tuner.....

the arion tuner predated the boss by a little bit, maybe even a couple years.

[mookieunit]

I agree that BOSS pedals are built to last and most of them are pretty decent sounding but.........I've owned a few BOSS pedals over the years and I have to say that there's not a single one on my board today. I just think there are better options out there (and I'm not talking "boutique" stuff).

[Crxsh]

 

were you recently in an accident?

 

 

And as far as the CE-2 vs. Nano Clone ... I've still got the CE-2, it's just not on my board right now--I just wanted something different. I'm really into the simplicity of one knob right now. Actually, I've also got a Small Clone, but for space, I went Nano.

 

What is one guy doing with 3 chorus pedals anyway? Seems like overkill to me.

[Funky Chowder]

The DD-20 has a sound-on-sound feature, which is pretty cool but falls quite a bit short of the DL-4's looper.

There are a bunch of Boss pedals that I really dig, like the DC-2, PN-2, PS-3, and PH-1r.

[p3dalwh0re]

I've been through a large number of boutique pedalboard revisions, and have recently reverted to a mostly Boss/MXR board. Sure, on one end there's a Teese and on the other there's a couple of Eventide delays, but the guts of the board is '80s analog Boss. Sounds great, to me.

[eclipseall]

I have three boss pedals on my board righ now. TU 2 Tinner, DD6 Delay and RV 3 Reverb, they are all great pedlas and built to last. Im sure that are many boutique pedals that sound as good or better than boss, but honestly i just grew tired of spending too much money on boutique pedals, also Im tired of hunting down the perfect one, it just requires too much time...so Boss and MXR are the ones that I have stuck to. Sensible prices and great quality.