Revisiting Boss pedals

[Torturedzen]

Having gone down the overpriced-boutique-true bypass pedal road many times, I was pleasantly surprised recently when I tried out this Boss ST-2 Power Stack. Heard it came out sometime last year but never paid attention to it, favoring my Fulltones, Wamplers and Lovepedals instead. But I gotta say this pedal has some seriously ballsy tones in it. Running it thru a Rebel 30 head and 2x12 cab I can get it doing those chunky cranked Plexi tones.
Stays articulate rolling off the guitar vol and it LOVES '57 Classics! I would describe is as EVH's Beautiful Girls tone.

I know I'm late to the game discovering this pedal and there's most assuredly the cork sniffer crowd (I was one) that hate on it for some reason...but this ST-2 has earned it's place on my board. Boss did it right with this distortion.

 

[gibsonguitar1988]

You know I've never been a very big BOSS pedal guy - mainly for their fizzy tone in their drive pedals. The OD-3 "Overdrive" is the exception. Although I haven't checked out the new Power Stack or Combo Drive so it's probably better but the stock DS-1, SD-1, BD-2 etc are all fizzy to my ears unmodded. I do love a good modded one though.

I hope to pick up a stock BOSS OD-3 Overdrive and a Keeley-modded BOSS BD-2 Blues Driver soon to add to the pedal collection. I really love the OD-3. It's the needle in the haystack of BOSS dirt pedals. It doesn't have that harshness to it the others have. It's fat sounding.

So I do like some BOSS pedals - especially those that have been modded. I'll try the new ones!

 

[Penny Dreadful]

I have a love/hate relationship with Boss pedals. I found most of their pedals to be tone suckers. But, having said that I really like their chorus pedals and the RT20 is a sweet rotary pedal. The only Boss I have now is from the early '90s. The EH-2 Enhancer. They don't even make them any more.

 

[lunchbox]

The TU-X tuner series are great. I have a TU-3 and love it.

Other than a Morley wah, I don't use pedals, so I don't know anything about Boss compared to the boutique brands.

 

[Torturedzen]

I'm still curious as to why they haven't jumped on the TB wagon like their competitor DigiTech. Til then, I'll just use a looper in my signal chain.

 

[fastdave]

I think your fans, or your audience will take all of these things into consideration, and it could be the making or breaking of your career. If they know that you use boutique pedals, you should be ok - perhaps put it on the drums, as BOSS or BOUTY, to indicate your bias.
God knows how we got famous before technology reached the point that Wampler became synonymous with Calvin Kline - Thank you lord, for commercialism, and for making the way I play be less important than the gear I buy.
Your amicable friend,
Dave.

 

[Mookakian]

Boss make some great pedals

OD3 - Over drive
PS5 Pitch shifter (for those without a whammy )
BD-2 - Blues Drive (bright and sparkly OD in a good way)
TU-2 (great tuner)
NS-2 (noise Supressor with loop)
Etc...

Some good stuff to be found in boss's, just gotta try em and there are lots Japanese models seem to be a bit more on the ball to me, especially with swirly effects

Some suck to my ears but not every color will be my slice of muffin

 

[Thumpalumpacus]

The only Boss I ever owned was a CH-1, which was a decent chorus pedal.

 

[CHUNKYNECK]

I still use a boss (japan) psm-5 master power supply i bought 26 years ago. Had a ch-1 but lost it. More recently the boss fender 65 deluxe reverb pedal and the 59 bassman pedal have sparked my interest! Think the later 2 are taiwan made but i have heard some good reviews!

 

[fastdave]

Wow, was that a blanked SEP or what????

 

[CHUNKYNECK]

Wow, was that a blanked SEP or what????

Was that regarding my post Dave? If so im not shure i know what a blanked SEP is!

 

[Smedley Smorganoff]

I used to have a bunch of Boss pedals. I'm pretty much anti-pedals now (sold most of them and kept one Boss, an OD-2r Turbo Overdrive). For their purposes and how I used them, they were reliable and got the job done.

Sure, all the fancy boutique pedals may have a little more mojo to them. But on a stage with a loud band, all of that goes out the window.

If I'm going to a jam session or an open mic and I'm not sure what amps will be available, I bring my OD-2r just in case. Not fizzy at all. Actually very smooth and I prefer it to the OD-3 (which is a great pedal too).

 

[zontar]

I like Boss--most of my pedals are Boss pedals--the ones that aren't I got for free (A co-worker gave me a DOD FX-53 Classic Tube and I won a Strymon Brigadier pedal (Delay/echo))

I rarely use the Flanger & Phaser these days--not that they're bad pedals, but they don't fit what I'm playing these days.

I do love my DS-1 & DF-2.
I don't find them fizzy on all settings--there are several usable settings on them--that's what the knobs are for--to set it to where you like it--I have them set differently, and use them by themselves, both together or with the DOD.
I also have an AW-3 Dynamic Wah--lots of fun--especially with my bass.

Hmm, maybe I should sell the Flanger & Phaser & put that towards something else...

But I like Boss pedals. I'd have no problem getting other Boss pedals.