Remember when...

57Deluxe

...in the 80s the only pedals you ever really wanted was a BOSS... 

Were always so many to choose from and many hinted at bizzare sonic landscapes far away...

I bet they well gutted at what has happened since!

http://files.effectsdatabase.com/gear/pics/boss_bf-1_004.jpg

joeyowen

I wonder if in years to come people will say, remember the 2010s, where you could buy cheap, tiny version of every pedal you ever wanted for a low low price?

I was born 1990, so I feel I missed out on some fun pedal days... although I love what is available now

gubble

57Deluxe said:

...in the 80s the only pedals you ever really wanted was a BOSS... 

 

Well you say that, but in 2014 i've suddenly got this urge to have an entire pedalboard of only boss pedals.

xSkarloey

@joeyowen To coin a phrase I reckon we've never had it so good. It's definitely a buyer's market.
Pedals at all price points and pedals of every kind. GGreat for all kinds of player.

dogload

The thing that amazes me is how much (in real terms) they used to cost. I remember paying over £60 for my Boss BF2 in 1982 or 83. It must have taken me weeks to save up for from my Saturday job.

That's probably over a million pounds in today's money.

richardhomer

In their heyday Boss were major innovators. The design itself - which allowed you to see where the knobs were pointing yet made them a hard to move or damage accidentally, 'pop'-free switching, LEDs so you knew whether it was 'on' before you played, ease of powering, etc.

They pioneered many effects - the parent company invented chorus, the first company to make a compact digital delay pedal. And most of what they made sounded great (CE-2s and DD-2s were ubiquitous in professional set-ups).

It seems to me that much of that innovation was driven - as in the guitar world at the time - by the Japanese having their American competition firmly in their sights (specifically MXR in the case of Boss). I suspect their R & D budgets were massive as Roland dominated the fast-growing hi-tech market.

Yet now, Boss seems to be looked down on. Things like the DD-7 are still widely used but owning a Boss pedal just doesn't seem flashy enough in the 'boutique' world we now live in - where people pay silly money for what are often mildly-tweaked versions of older pedals.

May be what the pedal market needs, is to stop treating the signal from an electric guitar like it is full of nuance like a Stradivarius and start doing radical things to it, by inventing new effects that make things sound fresh again....

Heartfeltdawn

And what do humans do with all these options? Rehash the past. The expensive overdrives go to the blues revivalists, the shoegaze kids buy all manner of delays yet can't get anything that sounds more inventive than Kevin Shields screwing with a Midiverb, the Swedish death metal crowd go bonkers for the HM-2, I've heard no Axe-FX demos that go beyond rehashing what has gone before despite all that power. 

Too many people play their pedal collections rather than their instrument. They make sounds rather than creating music, riffs, etc utilising those sounds. There's a fair amount of people who scoff at Jack White but in Seven Nation Army he created a sound and a riff that you know instantly to be him. There's precious few guitarists like that out there now whereas the guitarists I grew up with as a kid, people like John Squire, Bernard Butler, Johnny Marr, Graham Coxon, they all had their own style. You might hate the music but Tom Morello would be another. Sonic Youth, Pavement... 

I'm a great believer that the most innovative stuff comes up when you apply restrictions. Limitless experimentation with more and more pedals or plugins is great but the full creative potential is seldom reached before the latest greatest thing ends up on the pedalboard or computer screen and the process starts over again. 

I love Boss pedals. I have my HM-2, will be rebuying the DD-7 and CE-2B later in the year, and still utter gasps of prayer in the hope of finding a reasonably priced VB-2 one day. 

JDE

^ lot of wisdom in that thar post ^

Fwiw, I think a lot of modern players are "shitter" (can't think of the right word, tbh) than those listed, or shitter than most of the players that have been around the past 20 years or so. I know you did pick some true modern greats - I don't expect the guitarist in, say, Pigeon Detectives (lol) to be as good as Graham Coxon, but the fact there's so little fresh playing around is pretty sad.

57Deluxe

/\ the collective noun for SHIT is 'Shittier'

meltedbuzzbox

richardhomer said:

In their heyday Boss were major innovators. The design itself - which allowed you to see where the knobs were pointing yet made them a hard to move or damage accidentally, 'pop'-free switching, LEDs so you knew whether it was 'on' before you played, ease of powering, etc.

They pioneered many effects - the parent company invented chorus, the first company to make a compact digital delay pedal. And most of what they made sounded great (CE-2s and DD-2s were ubiquitous in professional set-ups).

It seems to me that much of that innovation was driven - as in the guitar world at the time - by the Japanese having their American competition firmly in their sights (specifically MXR in the case of Boss). I suspect their R & D budgets were massive as Roland dominated the fast-growing hi-tech market.

Yet now, Boss seems to be looked down on. Things like the DD-7 are still widely used but owning a Boss pedal just doesn't seem flashy enough in the 'boutique' world we now live in - where people pay silly money for what are often mildly-tweaked versions of older pedals.

May be what the pedal market needs, is to stop treating the signal from an electric guitar like it is full of nuance like a Stradivarius and start doing radical things to it, by inventing new effects that make things sound fresh again....

so much truth in this post. I am particularly annoyed at this boutique pedal crap that is being shoveled at us at premium rates for someone just to churn out a copy in a different box.

JDE

57Deluxe;327537" said:

/\ the collective noun for SHIT is 'Shittier'

Wisdom awarded. I could've written "more shit" I suppose, but it was so late last night, I'd already written enough of that.

gubble

so much truth in this post. I am particularly annoyed at this boutique pedal crap that is being shoveled at us at premium rates for someone just to churn out a copy in a different box.

Well done for saying this sir. I'm sure 90% of the boutqieu market is smoke and mirrors combined with cork sniffing.

I was interested (and pleased) to read the "which overdrive is your favourite" thread where so many people were saying either an SD-1 or a Bad Monkey. I own both, i also own some other overdrives which cost a lot more. What's on my board for gigging each week though - the Boss SD-1. It does everything I want, i know it will not break, i'm also not afraid in case some horrible person steals it.

Forge

meltedbuzzbox said:

richardhomer said:

In their heyday Boss were major innovators. The design itself - which allowed you to see where the knobs were pointing yet made them a hard to move or damage accidentally, 'pop'-free switching, LEDs so you knew whether it was 'on' before you played, ease of powering, etc.

They pioneered many effects - the parent company invented chorus, the first company to make a compact digital delay pedal. And most of what they made sounded great (CE-2s and DD-2s were ubiquitous in professional set-ups).

It seems to me that much of that innovation was driven - as in the guitar world at the time - by the Japanese having their American competition firmly in their sights (specifically MXR in the case of Boss). I suspect their R & D budgets were massive as Roland dominated the fast-growing hi-tech market.

Yet now, Boss seems to be looked down on. Things like the DD-7 are still widely used but owning a Boss pedal just doesn't seem flashy enough in the 'boutique' world we now live in - where people pay silly money for what are often mildly-tweaked versions of older pedals.

May be what the pedal market needs, is to stop treating the signal from an electric guitar like it is full of nuance like a Stradivarius and start doing radical things to it, by inventing new effects that make things sound fresh again....

so much truth in this post. I am particularly annoyed at this boutique pedal crap that is being shoveled at us at premium rates for someone just to churn out a copy in a different box.

There is some truth in what you say. I consider Boss as a road worthy no thrill yet good alternative, the Ronseal of the pedal world but I get some of the boutique pedals too. Anyone building a pedal with care and checking the end product before shipping has my vote, particularly for Germanium fuzzes. That's why Dunlops are hit and miss and Sunfaces/Sunbenders are consistent.

ROOG

I remember in the 70's when electronics was a popular hobby, and guitar effects were a staple of their content. Not a microprocessor in sight, just transistor Fuzz, OD, Wah and BBD's.

I don't ever remember being happy with any of the pedals I built though!

ICBM

I get particularly annoyed that Boss get put down because they're not "true bypass". Yes, I admit that their buffered bypass is not perfect and has its faults - and could do with being updated and improved. But it's worth remembering that it was developed to *cure* the many and very real problems with "true bypass" (let alone "half-arsed bypass" ©Sporky), and which it does very well - certainly by the standards of its day.

It would be much better to improve the buffers rather than throw the baby out with the bathwater and go back to crude, unreliable, popping, cable-load-prone "true" bypass. Especially as the majority of makers don't even seem to know how to wire true bypass correctly, and so maximise unreliability.

And that they're "mass produced" - yes, they are. So were all classic guitars, all classic amps, all classic pedals etc. They were certainly assembled by hand, but on production lines. There's actually quite a lot of hand assembly in a Boss pedal, in fact - at least as much as some so-called "boutique" pedals.

shady

Boss have come up with a couple of 'fresh' effects though...the Tera Echo is different, as is the Slicer.  I have a Space Echo and PS-6 Harmonist, both of which I'm very happy with. 

I am in complete agreement with the whole application of science and fuckaboutery to the guitar signal - but you have to draw a line somewhere....where does that line exist though?  When does innovation become too invasive or reach it's usefullness?  If your focus shifts from, "Fuck me lads - I came up with this riff last night, take a listen!" to "I gotta make this riff sound good with my new mega-saturated-filter-delayed-mind-bender-buggery-box!" then you've probably crossed said line.

I like geeking up on new gear, but I'm happy with my fx choices and my signal path is as complicated as it's gonna get.  

Option paralysis is the demon, it's much easier to come up with good shit when you have a limited choice of...er...turds... 

Dave_Mc

ICBM said:

I get particularly annoyed that Boss get put down because they're not "true bypass". Yes, I admit that their buffered bypass is not perfect and has its faults - and could do with being updated and improved. But it's worth remembering that it was developed to *cure* the many and very real problems with "true bypass" (let alone "half-arsed bypass" ©Sporky), and which it does very well - certainly by the standards of its day.

It would be much better to improve the buffers rather than throw the baby out with the bathwater and go back to crude, unreliable, popping, cable-load-prone "true" bypass. Especially as the majority of makers don't even seem to know how to wire true bypass correctly, and so maximise unreliability.

And that they're "mass produced" - yes, they are. So were all classic guitars, all classic amps, all classic pedals etc. They were certainly assembled by hand, but on production lines. There's actually quite a lot of hand assembly in a Boss pedal, in fact - at least as much as some so-called "boutique" pedals.

Yeah, agreed. They really should just put actually-unity-gain buffers in there. It's very annoying when you have a pedal which sounds good, is easily and readily available, which is reasonably priced and reliable, and the bypass sounds poor for the sake of a few cents.

UnclePsychosis

I'd quite happily rock a whole pedal board of them. At the risk of sounding silly, to me they look really industrial and futuristic and in many ways a lot cooler than many of the fancy boutique pedals out there.

stonevibe

There was a time when I was buying HM-2 pedals for a tenner and every time I would flip them within a month as I though they sounded shit compared to my RAT.

Now idiots are spending a fortune on them.

ROOG

No denying, Boss pedals are a neat package. 

impmann

I still love the Boss switch arrangement - its still the best feeling switch out there when you are on stage. Just spongey enough and big enough not to miss, with enough movement to feel "positive". 

The true bypass hyperbole was mainly BS - and mainly driven by bat-eared bedroom players, or those trying to sell you their own "boutique" pedals, IMHO. Yes there are issues when using fuzz boxes and some wah pedals, but when you understand the reasons why you can do something about it.

My pedal board still has a Boss DSD3 on it - there has been one on my board since 1993 when I got my first one. Its still my fave live delay pedal. I love the CS3 compressor - IMHO, there isn't much that sounds better than it for what I want a compressor to do. I'd love another VB2, but I refuse to pay the ludicrous prices - come on Boss, how about a reissue? Likewise, I'd love Dimension C (four switch one) but the prices have crept recently.

For me Boss pedals have always been great sounding creative tools - and also somehow timeless. Its a shame that some belittle them in favour of the latest Emperors New Clothes pedals, that often are relegated to the back of the cupboard after a few weeks honeymoon period. That's certainly my experience of some modern 'boutique' nonsense I've bought.