Love for boss pedals

frictionfraction

playing live you just can't beat those great big square foot switches. Why can't someone else come up with something  similar (besides digitech). Any poxy little switch pedals on the back row of your board are so difficult to stomp on and off quickly that any perceived sonic improvements over your average boss offering is out weighed ten times over by the boss useability. Agree? 

timmysoft

Totally agree, boss make great effects and drives, it's why they're always on the boards of the pros.  There's so many great pedal options these days, but I'm yet to find any brand as consistent and reliable as boss. 

ICBM

Yes. I'm on the verge of getting rid of all my pedals with metal click footswitches. I really hate them.

TTBZ

Likewise considering replacing all my stuff with Boss alternatives. They look good, are bombproof and I like the switch. I wish they did a good fuzz though, the FZ5 doesn't sound amazing in clips.

ICBM

TTBZ said:

Likewise considering replacing all my stuff with Boss alternatives. They look good, are bombproof and I like the switch. I wish they did a good fuzz though, the FZ5 doesn't sound amazing in clips.

But the FZ-2 does.

My favourite fuzz - not that rare, and tend to sell for £70-£80 in good used condition I think.

mellowsun

They are not that bombproof. I had a Japanese made CS2 that stopped working after 18 months. Also it was a crappy sounding compressor.

agree about their drives though.

Teetonetal

Only issue with boss, is that if you have them two close together, it's very easy to switch on the neighbor pedal as well due to the massive switch area.

Spread them out though and they are the best switches around.Seems everyone is moving away from them though.

Richardj

We are all being told that a 'boutique' pedal costing at least twice as much is better.  Yes, it possibly has higher quality components and an interesting name and paintjob, but there is still a relatively small genepool for pedals and a lot of times they are jut subtle variations. 

Don't get me wrong, I buy into it as well, but I cannot see me being without at least a couple of Boss pedals on my board.

Sassafras

And the controls are well protected from inadvertent setting changes.
Probably the best pedal design in the world and they mostly sound bloody great. 

BintyTwanger77

There is a reason why about 95% of professional gigging guitarist use at least one Boss pedal on their board. They're bomb-proof and they do the job very well.

dogload

I could probably get by with a pedal board that was completely Boss if only their choruses and flangers weren't so naff.

impmann

I've been around the houses on a Delay buying odyssey... I've spent a fortune (way in excess of £500 all told) and I've come back to the Boss DSD3 as my favourite. Yes, the other units sound *very* nice and some (such as the Echorec by Catlinbread) do things the Boss can't do. However, in a mix with other things going on the Boss sits there without being dominating but still manages to be heard and be musical.
I'm still not 100% sold on Boss Distortion units, though - I detest the DS1 with a passion and yet I know some of my favourite guitar sounds were recorded with it... how Steve Rothery gets that smooth sound using one, I'll never know - each time I've owned one it ends up sounding like a flatulent wasp caught in a milk bottle. I've always prefered a RAT for proper distortion - an in fact, when I bought my original RAT in 1987, the DS-1 was auditioned along with the HM-2... the HM-2 was better but somehow sounded lacking compared to the RAT.
I totally agree on the Boss Flanger (the purple thing) being a bit naff - its just not a patch on EHX's offerings. And Chorus... lets just not go there, eh?
The Boss Rotary simulator has been a permanent fixture on my board since I bought it - gorgeous sounding. The best I've owned of its type.
I keep buying and then selling Boss compressors because of getting sidetracked by "boutique" bollocks that rarely improve on the sound. That reminds me... (scuttles off to eBay to buy another Boss compressor)

Winny_Pooh

I really like the idea of Boss stuff and have a CS-2 & DM2 on my board, however their musical frame of reference seems a bit dated to the late 90's and their layout restricts the controls to 4 knobs
What I would like to see:

-Single pedal tape delay emulator like the EP103
-Nicer compressor
-Nicer Tremolo
-Non emulated Fuzzes - Compared to Skreddy's offerings they are in a modelling stone age.
-Analog octaver ala MXR & Foxrox
-A distortion that sounds like a Marshall. The OD-1W is alright (still beaten by a Zendrive) and the OD-3 is ok (little mids,what do you use it for? Rhythym perhaps?) but noting sounds 3D or organic and is frankly shit compared to the Blackstone & Buffalo TD-X I'm using.

More analog basically. 

FWIW the DM-2W, CE-2W, DD500 and ES-8 are great new products

TTBZ

@Winny_Pooh  have you checked out the Power Stack ST2 ? I'm tempted to give one a go if/when one comes up cheap. Have seen a few people on TGP who have owned plexis etc saying they do a very good job and don't feel like a modelling pedal. 

sgosden

Although its been side lined by the timeline (due to midi and more dedicated song presets), I'll never sell my DD-20. Its stupidly versatile, and easy to use.

Tube screamer into a dirty amp, with the DD-20 in the loop, could get me through a set Im fairly sure. It does me nicely if I'm going out for a jam and cba to take my rack set up.

Chalky

Speaking to my cousin the other day, a chap of 20 years on the road pro gigging, followed by 20 years local gigging and still going, to him only two words  of description matter when it comes to gear - lightweight and reliable.  Even he says its a bit sad that such practical matters completely outweigh his enthusiam for the sound of new gear. 

Dave_Mc

frictionfraction said:

playing live you just can't beat those great big square foot switches. Why can't someone else come up with something  similar (besides digitech).

While I really like the digitech pedals I have (in quite a few cases they're nicer than Boss, though Boss has a bunch of nice effects too), I always feel the switches aren't just as nice as the boss ones- if you don't have a battery in the digitech, if you're not careful you can hit the switch in such a way that the effect doesn't activate

steamabacus

Dave_Mc said:

frictionfraction said:

playing live you just can't beat those great big square foot switches. Why can't someone else come up with something  similar (besides digitech).

While I really like the digitech pedals I have (in quite a few cases they're nicer than Boss, though Boss has a bunch of nice effects too), I always feel the switches aren't just as nice as the boss ones- if you don't have a battery in the digitech, if you're not careful you can hit the switch in such a way that the effect doesn't activate

Those Digitech pedals have a small rubber block that actually presses the switch held in only by friction. They can get knocked or even lost when opening them up to change batteries. There is a spare block in there which is helpful (I've had one 'go missing' before)

Sassafras

Digitech Hardwire series are like Boss footswitch.

Dave_Mc

steamabacus said:

Dave_Mc said:

frictionfraction said:

playing live you just can't beat those great big square foot switches. Why can't someone else come up with something  similar (besides digitech).

While I really like the digitech pedals I have (in quite a few cases they're nicer than Boss, though Boss has a bunch of nice effects too), I always feel the switches aren't just as nice as the boss ones- if you don't have a battery in the digitech, if you're not careful you can hit the switch in such a way that the effect doesn't activate

Those Digitech pedals have a small rubber block that actually presses the switch held in only by friction. They can get knocked or even lost when opening them up to change batteries. There is a spare block in there which is helpful (I've had one 'go missing' before)

yeah i think i remember seeing that. i don't think it was missing in mine.

JezWynd

I'm a big fan of Boss pedals, esp. their series 1 and 2 modulation and delay boxes. The drive and distortion boxes I'm not so sold on - they often have a slightly synthetic edge to the sound to my ears. That said the SD-2 sounds very organic and I love the DA-2 Adaptive Distortion which, while having that synthetic sound, does so in a very appealing fashion.

I hope the guy who designed the pedal format is on a percentage cos he's a genius.