Boss LS-2 Line Selector - a blessing and a curse for the pedal user

ICBM

A blessing because it enables you to directly and accurately compare two pedals or FX units on the fly, with level controls so there's no 'louder is better' issue, at the tap of a switch while you're actually playing.

A curse for exactly the same reason… because you don't always find what you expected, or thought you wanted! And then you wonder why you bother with expensive/cool things when something much cheaper sounds the same, or worse, better.

english_bob

I smells a controversial opinion. What have you knocked off its pedestal?

benmurray85

I honestly think the LS2 is one of the most underrated, useful pedals that a guitarist can own. 

ICBM

english_bob said:

I smells a controversial opinion. What have you knocked off its pedestal?

An analogue all-Boss (apart from the wah, which is a Dunlop) pedalboard vs a Boss ME-50 .

Some of the analogue pedals do sound marginally better - but not much. Most sound very close to the same, or actually not as good - and all are noticeably noisier, especially with more than one on (with the noise suppressor deliberately turned off on the ME-50).

The only analogue pedal which is much better than its digital equivalent is the OC-2 Octaver, and that's because on the ME-50 you can only have full pitch shift, not mixing the octave and the direct signal.

The biggest shock (horror) is that the distortion on the ME-50 is actually marginally better than my favourite distortion pedal ever, the DF-2. And it's digital. Not all the models are good, but the good ones really are.

Hmmm…!

english_bob

ICBM said:

The only analogue pedal which is much better than its digital equivalent is the OC-2 Octaver, and that's because on the ME-50 you can only have full pitch shift, not mixing the octave and the direct signal.

I think there's a lot to be said for being able to do more stuff with one pedal than another, or at least to have the right feature set. 

IMO analogue octavers tend to sound better than digital regardless (even though analogue does less stuff than digital), although I haven't tried most of the latest generation of pitch / octave pedals. 

ICBM

Yes, I'd agree with that. The OC-2 is in no danger of being sold - in fact, being realistic none of the pedals are - but it's certainly made me think hard about whether I really want to build a fully-wired analogue pedalboard again - currently it's just all loose in the case following a previous clear-out. I'm actually more likely to just keep them for recording and messing about individually, and use the ME-50 if I ever get back in a gigging band again, maybe with the OC-2 and the DF-2 (it still has the feedbacker function, and it would let me use a different model on the ME-50 for a second drive sound) alongside.

UnclePsychosis

I love the LS-2 but the fact that the send/return on it are the wrong way round annoys me way more than it should annoy any rational human being. Its such an obvious fuckup on what is an otherwise excellent pedal.

clarkefan

I wish it had a loops-in-series series option but still, such a useful thing.

roberty

So versatile - I use an LS2 for blending in modulation effects (wet/dry)

thecolourbox

I find it a blessing and a curse in the way it enables you to do so much weird parallel effect stuff that you spend time thinking more about what mixes of sounds would be good than actually playing them.

My other issue was that there was a switching combination I wanted but wasn't included, can't recall for certain what it was but I think it was switching between A and A+B (A would be drive for rhythm, B would whack on top a fuzz for lead). Probably could have been done by some magic cabling but I never got there

Marktigere1

I have the ME-70 and whilst it is a very good multi (and much maligned) the drives do have a slight digital after effect when the note decays.

My analogue BOSS board simply sounds much better, especially on the clean stuff.

However, if my band reforms I'm sure I would grab the ME-70 for security

ICBM

Marktigere1 said:

I have the ME-70 and whilst it is a very good multi (and much maligned) the drives do have a slight digital after effect when the note decays.

My analogue BOSS board simply sounds much better, especially on the clean stuff.

However, if my band reforms I'm sure I would grab the ME-70 for security

Interestingly I didn't like the ME-70 quite as much as the ME-50 - I thought it did sound slightly 'artificial' somehow, I'm not sure exactly why.

The 'after affect' (buzz at the end of the note) when comparing the distortion on the ME-50 to the analogue DF-2 is… on the DF-2 but not the ME-50 - that's what was so shocking! Not all the models on the ME-50 are as good, but the Natural Overdrive, DS-1 emulation and Big Muff emulation are really great, and the Octave Fuzz isn't bad. The Natural Overdrive can actually get very close to my 'holy grail' clipped-clean Mesa King Snake sound - I also A/B'd it with my Mesa V-Twin pedal and they were as close to indistinguishable as makes no practical difference.

If I hadn't had the LS-2 and the ability to instantly flip back and forth and tweak the ME-50 until they were that close, I would never have believed it either…

Of course what I should now do is get an ME-70, use the LS-2 to A/B it with the 50 and find out if I was actually right .

Marktigere1

ICBM said:

Of course what I should now do is get an ME-70, use the LS-2 to A/B it with the 50 and find out if I was actually right .

You should, I really rate it.

Not all the drives suffer the slight 'Buzz' and you do have to dial it in, but there are some fantastic sounds in it.

I have used mine since 2009 and still use it today, often for headphone practise.

I don't however use the COSM amps as I have not got on with those.  If you ignore them then I think its a great sounding unit.

Used with a Blackheart BH15H mainly.

Marktigere1

PS.  Never tried an ME-50.

guitarfishbay

I can believe it.  A lot of digital distortions actually sound quite good these days.  I find the models in my Fractal are good enough to not worry about differences, if not better than the originals in some cases.  I genuinely prefer the Muff in the Axe FX to any real one I've owned.

I think the last frontier for tone/response is really the power amp, which is a major factor in why many people prefer valve amps.  But as for effects pedals - I can totally see why so many people go for digital setups these days.

LS2s are really useful for blending tones on bass too.

ICBM

I just accidentally found this YouTube video comparing the ME-50 and ME-70 - warning, it's long-winded and you don't even get to hear the units! But it is interesting, if you can stick it out…



The bit near the end where he describes the sound characteristics when going into a guitar amp is exactly how I heard it as well, so I'm pleased to discover I'm not alone/imagining it - and he has actually done some frequency analysis on it so I think he's almost certainly right.

So although I may look for an ME-70 as well - I'm still possibly interested in some of the extra things it can do - I'm now sure I won't be selling my ME-50. Now I've learned to live with its lack of patch/manual-mode control it does just genuinely sound good.