What are your views on Boss pedals - specifically the more "Vanilla" ones?

lasermonkey

I love the BF-2, HF-2, CE-3 (especially in stereo), PH-2 and DC-3. I had a CS-2 which I liked and foolishly let that go. I have just built an HM-2 clone for someone and while it's not my cuppa for guitar, I liked it a lot on bass. I may well have to build one of those for myself.

EricTheWeary

http://proguitarshop.com/media/cms/blog/gear.jpg This was Prince's set up a couple of years ago.

kelvinburn

Instead of an SD1 and a DS1 just by a 2nd hand Jeckyll and Hyde

monquixote

Jekyll and Hyde is a TS and a Shredmaster. 

Bloody great though!

Dave_Mc

monquixote said:

If you can get a ds1 for peanuts there are a number of people who could keeley mod it for you.

Robert Keeley?

joeyowen said:

mike_l said:

Personally I like the Bad Monkey best as a boost into a dirty amp. I like the SD-1 too, but find they're different.

The Bad Monkey is (to my ear, and amp/settings) grittier, a little less smooth, a bit dirtier. Whereas the SD-1 is smoother, a little less gritty, a bit cleaner.

Both are good, depending on what you want.

I found the BM to make everything sound kinda dull, the SD1 is defo more bright, but changes the tone a lot more than the BM

it is a fine like, the BM with the SD1 eq would be perfect for me

Yeah. I'd say the BM is closer to a TS, which is a bit smoother than the SD1 to my ears. And the BM itself has a little bit of "blanket over the speaker" syndrome, even compared to most TS-types.

monquixote

There are a number of people who can Keeley mod it for less than Keeley would charge.

Dave_Mc

I know that, it was a crap joke (as usual)

xSkarloey

lasermonkey;316389" said:

I love the BF-2, HF-2, CE-3 (especially in stereo), PH-2 and DC-3.

I had a CS-2 which I liked and foolishly let that go.

I have just built an HM-2 clone for someone and while it's not my cuppa for guitar, I liked it a lot on bass. I may well have to build one of those for myself.

Hm-2 is fun on bass.

Thing I always found with it for my tastes was that it can sound harsh and trebly at high gain settings. Winding the high tone control back can make it sound sludgy.

So one way I found around it is to set the gain at about 9 o clock and use the Super Overdrive to boost it for higher gain. The SD does its stuff by smoothing out the harsher frequencies.

Jeremiah

I have quite liked the Boss multi-fx units I have used, but if I wanted a cheap pedal I'd rather go with Mooer or Joyo.

mike_l

joeyowen said:

mike_l said:

Personally I like the Bad Monkey best as a boost into a dirty amp. I like the SD-1 too, but find they're different.

The Bad Monkey is (to my ear, and amp/settings) grittier, a little less smooth, a bit dirtier. Whereas the SD-1 is smoother, a little less gritty, a bit cleaner.

Both are good, depending on what you want.

I found the BM to make everything sound kinda dull, the SD1 is defo more bright, but changes the tone a lot more than the BM

it is a fine like, the BM with the SD1 eq would be perfect for me

I found the BD into a SS amp (Marshall Valvestate) was pretty dull, and lifeless. Into my DSL (clean) the pedal sounded better, but as a boost of a dirty valve amp, it sounds best (all subjective). It was a bit more like a distortion than an overdrive, IE dirtier, grittier than the SD-1.

The SD-1 is my go anywhere pedal, which works better with any amp than the Bad Monkey.

If I was going for a dirtier, less smooth amp boost I'd go for the Bad monkey, for a smoother amp boost then SD-1.

Going to a jam, and wanting to know I'd get a good sound, without knowing what amp I'd be using, I'd pick the SD-1.

timmysoft

I think the ds1 is a great pedal, it gets a bad rep because it's cheap, but it can sound formidable in the right hands

iseverynamegone

I had a CE-5. Sounded really great tbh but it wasn't expensive enough so I sold it on.

hugbot

The OD3 is a great pedal, it sounds too me like a nice middle ground between a tube screamer and a BD2 I find the BD can be a bit too flat but tube screamers too mid hockey, the OD3 is great.

Beexter

I guess I'm a Boss Fan and own the following:

BF-2 - Very nice - went through a load of flangers and this and the Mooer ElecLady were the only one that stayed.

CE-2 Chorus - still have it, lovely rich chorus but wish it had a "Mix" control which is why I also have a:

CE-5 Chorus - There are two versions of the CE-5 - the earlier analogue one and the later digital one. Mine's the analogue and I can get it sounding spot on to the CE-2 but the additional mix control is great for making it a subtle effect.

SD-1 - mine is fitted with a Monte Allums GT mod which allows you to switch between symmetric and asymmetric clipping. I cant remember which is which but one is Stock SD1 and the other is what the Tubescreamer uses. Best of both worlds.

OD-3 - Very nice OD that doesn't drop the bass out of the signal. Excellent clean up/ dynamics with guitar volume.

TU-2 - Industry standard tuner.

GE-7 - Great tone-shaper/ boost. Mine seems quiet enough to me so I guess I'm lucky.

LS-2 - Swiss army tool of a pedal - invaluable.Boost, AB, looper. Loads of uses.

NS-2 - Reduces noise effectively without choking notes.

TR-2 - Soft to hard waveform, lovely.

DD-7 - Fantastic delay pedal with great range of options.

RC20 XL and RC-3 Loopers - they're just intuitive and work well.

The only Boss Pedals I've had and sold are the PH-2 Phaser - just didn't like it. BD-2 - I just don't get what the fuss is about with this one - it's really shrill. The OD-3 does it much better.

Touch wood, I've never had a Boss pedal go bad. They are uber-reliable, easily replaceable if anything did happen and get the job done efficiently and cost effectively. No wonder you see them in so many pro rigs.

joeyowen

You sure have had a few.  I agree with you on all of the pedals you have said that I have owned:

SD1, Tu2, Ge7,Ls2,RC20xl

Although I loved my Keeley BD2, and when I compared Keeley to a standard, not thaaat much difference but it was defo an improvement.

I also, have never had a boss pedal go bad on me

mike_l

IIRC Billy Duffy from The Cult uses Boss exclusively for 2 reasons,

1 they rarely go wrong.

2 it's easy to get hold of replacements if/when they do.