Boss TAE Core - Did Boss just release the perfect amp top box?

allen

This looks like it fills in the gaps and combines the features that pretty much no other box on the market has:


- record direct to usb from speaker out
- built in delay/verb/comp/eq
- remote mobile editor app
- effects loop
- a lot more

I will be reading the manual to double check it does everything.

Usual downside of Boss stuff is that the app user-interface is a bit pants, but they have even updated that a little bit.

Petepassion

Looks good, I had the TAE but it was big and heavy

stickyfiddle

If it’s like the last one it’s going to cost £40,000

allen

stickyfiddle said:

If it’s like the last one it’s going to cost £40,000

£595 at Thomann and Andertons

https://thmn.to/thoprod/606760

Revolutions

It’s ugly. The Ox Box set a standard of visual design that I don’t want to deviate from.

dindude

If I’ve read it right - if connected between amp and speaker and you bring the speaker volume up, it’s basically loading down your valve amp fully and then revamping it through the internal 30w amp. This bit makes no sense to me. 

The recording part looks good though, but a just a variation on the Ox or Captur X. 

mrkb

dindude said:

If I’ve read it right - if connected between amp and speaker and you bring the speaker volume up, it’s basically loading down your valve amp fully and then revamping it through the internal 30w amp. This bit makes no sense to me. 

The recording part looks good though, but a just a variation on the Ox or Captur X. 

If you have a 5W amp you can turn it into a 30w version.
But you can also send the sound with IR sim to FOH, or a recording desk.
The much vaunted Fryette Power Station does the same thing.

Modulus_Amps

dindude said:

If I’ve read it right - if connected between amp and speaker and you bring the speaker volume up, it’s basically loading down your valve amp fully and then revamping it through the internal 30w amp. This bit makes no sense to me. 

If you have a loud valve amp this is the best way to get it in the sweet spot at room levels.
Forget attenuators.

tomajoha

I have the original version and its hands down the best piece of kit for taming loud valve amps that I've ever used. Recommended

dindude

Modulus_Amps said:

dindude said:

If I’ve read it right - if connected between amp and speaker and you bring the speaker volume up, it’s basically loading down your valve amp fully and then revamping it through the internal 30w amp. This bit makes no sense to me. 

If you have a loud valve amp this is the best way to get it in the sweet spot at room levels.
Forget attenuators.

That makes more sense when you put it like that. 

monquixote

I find these devices completely pointless. 

You remove the connection between the amp and the speaker which is supposedly the important thing and then end up being powered by a solid state amp. 

It's just adding a load more wires and complexity and things to go wrong. I'd either use an attenuator or just use a modeller, or get an amp with a sensible master volume of which there are loads. 

Petepassion

monquixote said:

I find these devices completely pointless. 

You remove the connection between the amp and the speaker which is supposedly the important thing and then end up being powered by a solid state amp. 

It's just adding a load more wires and complexity and things to go wrong. I'd either use an attenuator or just use a modeller, or get an amp with a sensible master volume of which there are loads. 

Speaking from personal experience, the best guitar sounds I’ve had were a Marshall 1959SLP and my current Vox AC50, pretty much cranked into an attenuator then into a decent 4x12 cab.
  I’ve tried a fair few attenuators, the best/most transparent being my Marshall Powerbrake and the Boss TAE.
   I can get very close with pedals into a clean amp, but not quite as good. I’ve yet to use a gain control for drive with the master volume low that can better an attenuated cranked amp. 

   Plus the Boss TAE can do so much more if you want to, EQ, compression, reverb, delay, solo boost, plus it has multiple foot switchable channels each with their own flavour of the above.
   Here’s a comparison I recorded on YouTube…

https://youtu.be/KtFSClcPD8c?si=OjxtVhIu4Q8YElWU

The difference is subtle but you also feel it as a player.
   

tomajoha

Petepassion said:

monquixote said:

I find these devices completely pointless. 

You remove the connection between the amp and the speaker which is supposedly the important thing and then end up being powered by a solid state amp. 

It's just adding a load more wires and complexity and things to go wrong. I'd either use an attenuator or just use a modeller, or get an amp with a sensible master volume of which there are loads. 

Speaking from personal experience, the best guitar sounds I’ve had were a Marshall 1959SLP and my current Vox AC50, pretty much cranked into an attenuator then into a decent 4x12 cab.
  I’ve tried a fair few attenuators, the best/most transparent being my Marshall Powerbrake and the Boss TAE.
   I can get very close with pedals into a clean amp, but not quite as good. I’ve yet to use a gain control for drive with the master volume low that can better an attenuated cranked amp. 

   Plus the Boss TAE can do so much more if you want to, EQ, compression, reverb, delay, solo boost, plus it has multiple foot switchable channels each with their own flavour of the above.
   Here’s a comparison I recorded on YouTube…

https://youtu.be/KtFSClcPD8c?si=OjxtVhIu4Q8YElWU

The difference is subtle but you also feel it as a player.
   

I agree you are adding more complexity but i find the TAE the only solution that can actually achieve that interaction between guitar, a loud amp and speaker via the resonance controls. 

I would change the stock IR to York or Ownhammer though if you using a Daw or headphones.

impmann

monquixote said:

I find these devices completely pointless. 

You remove the connection between the amp and the speaker which is supposedly the important thing and then end up being powered by a solid state amp. 

It's just adding a load more wires and complexity and things to go wrong. I'd either use an attenuator or just use a modeller, or get an amp with a sensible master volume of which there are loads. 

Why do folks think that it’s going to go wrong? Statistically, the chances of it failing are *very* low - and I say that as someone who compiles Quality/Return data for trend analysis for a major manufacturer (and have done this work for the thick end of 20years). The chances, genuinely, are more likely of you getting hit by a bus…

Secondly, I’ve yet to hear a master volume equipped AC30 that sounds even remotely similar to a real Dartford Road amp for what I use it for. So no, it’s not an option. And modellers are a bit hit n miss in my experience - because they can’t produce the randomness of the real thing. And often they replicate sounds that are cliches rather than the breadth of timbre a real old amp can and will provide - it’s the sonic equivalent of Rory Bremner’s impressions… very impressive and very close but occasionally there is something that is exaggerated.

Im not interested in a solid state power stage. I’m interested in using some older kit in a studio setting where volume is an issue. And that is where this, the Ox, the Palmer et al are going to win over any master volume or modeller… *for me*. 

My only concern with the Boss is their GUI/menu systems on a lot of their products are over complicated and not massively intuitive. I’d like to borrow one for a week or two before committing… so it isn’t going to happen! 

pt22

Boss never lets you down. 

This looks like an amazing piece of kit, and I’m torn on whether or not to pull the trigger. I JUST built a stereo headphone board as I wasn’t happy with the ability to both attenuate and run my tube combo with headphones when needed. There was always something missing. Either it was poorly attenuated, attenuation was stepped, or the FX weren’t stereo. This nails it all, and the reamping is a huge bonus. 

If these FX look to be decent, I’ll probably move to sell the headphone board and pick this up sometime this year. I hope we won’t run into the same supply issues as the IR-2. 

Hmmm do I need the BT adapter to run backing tracks line in? 

Danny1969

The valve amp output feeding a load that is then tapped to feed a solid state power amp is a Van Halen thing from the late seventies. He used an H&H amp which then fed 4 speakers. 

The most important thing about a valve amp is the output transformer and how it responds in a non linear fashion when saturated and how it reacts (literally) to the reactive load of the speaker.  If it wasn't for this we could just take a feed directly from a load resistor on the  output valves. 

So having a solidstate amp in the path is fine sonically and no different than what happens with listening back to a studio recording but may not feel like the real thing and here's another reason why. At high volume the amp and guitar become one instrument. There's a positive feedback loop and you can do all kinds of things with harmonics and clean sustained notes that you can't at lower volume. When I was running 2020 I used to run Marshalls and Fender Twins at insane volume in the live rooms  to experience this. There's nothing on the market that can get you that because it's caused by the sheer volume of the amp feeding back into the pickups and resonating as one circuit. There's No means of experiencing that without using volume. 

Maak

It's interesting that it states it's not compatible with dual/triple rectifiers.  I wonder what it is about those amps that it doesn't like?

monquixote

Danny1969 said:

The valve amp output feeding a load that is then tapped to feed a solid state power amp is a Van Halen thing from the late seventies. He used an H&H amp which then fed 4 speakers. 

The most important thing about a valve amp is the output transformer and how it responds in a non linear fashion when saturated and how it reacts (literally) to the reactive load of the speaker.  If it wasn't for this we could just take a feed directly from a load resistor on the  output valves. 

So having a solidstate amp in the path is fine sonically and no different than what happens with listening back to a studio recording but may not feel like the real thing and here's another reason why. At high volume the amp and guitar become one instrument. There's a positive feedback loop and you can do all kinds of things with harmonics and clean sustained notes that you can't at lower volume. When I was running 2020 I used to run Marshalls and Fender Twins at insane volume in the live rooms  to experience this. There's nothing on the market that can get you that because it's caused by the sheer volume of the amp feeding back into the pickups and resonating as one circuit. There's No means of experiencing that without using volume. 

Totally agreed this is one of the reasons I see it as somewhat pointless to use something like a TAE

Loud amps sound good because they are loud not because they are running flat out. If you blast a modeller through guitar speakers and you are in the room with it, it sounds instantly way more like a real amp. 

The whole thing about "power amp distortion" is largely bunk, most valve amps being run on ten actually sound mushy and a bit shit for most practical purposes.

In terms of the reliability it's one more box so it's more cables, one more thing to go wrong. (The chance of your rig failing is the chance of all of the components multiplied together so adding one more box is always worse)

I have been in the situation where I had a non MV amp that was a bit hair trigger in small venues, but I don't see why a TAE or a Fryette should be any better than a an attenuator other than the ability to add reverb which I don't really care about in a live situation or can be added via the desk.

Petepassion

monquixote said:

Danny1969 said:

The valve amp output feeding a load that is then tapped to feed a solid state power amp is a Van Halen thing from the late seventies. He used an H&H amp which then fed 4 speakers. 

The most important thing about a valve amp is the output transformer and how it responds in a non linear fashion when saturated and how it reacts (literally) to the reactive load of the speaker.  If it wasn't for this we could just take a feed directly from a load resistor on the  output valves. 

So having a solidstate amp in the path is fine sonically and no different than what happens with listening back to a studio recording but may not feel like the real thing and here's another reason why. At high volume the amp and guitar become one instrument. There's a positive feedback loop and you can do all kinds of things with harmonics and clean sustained notes that you can't at lower volume. When I was running 2020 I used to run Marshalls and Fender Twins at insane volume in the live rooms  to experience this. There's nothing on the market that can get you that because it's caused by the sheer volume of the amp feeding back into the pickups and resonating as one circuit. There's No means of experiencing that without using volume. 

Totally agreed this is one of the reasons I see it as somewhat pointless to use something like a TAE

Loud amps sound good because they are loud not because they are running flat out. If you blast a modeller through guitar speakers and you are in the room with it, it sounds instantly way more like a real amp. 

The whole thing about "power amp distortion" is largely bunk, most valve amps being run on ten actually sound mushy and a bit shit for most practical purposes.

In terms of the reliability it's one more box so it's more cables, one more thing to go wrong. (The chance of your rig failing is the chance of all of the components multiplied together so adding one more box is always worse)

I have been in the situation where I had a non MV amp that was a bit hair trigger in small venues, but I don't see why a TAE or a Fryette should be any better than a an attenuator other than the ability to add reverb which I don't really care about in a live situation or can be added via the desk.

Reasons why the TAE can better a traditional attenuator...

1. EQ
2. Compression
3. Reverb
4. Delay
5. Solo boost
6. Multiple rig options
7. It can boost a smaller amp for live use.

Don't know about you, but I think that's a fair few advantages.

On the downside, for live work I would say it's relatively big and heavy, plus the 100w isn't as loud as I was expecting, but loud enough, so I think this latest model would struggle if used to boost a small amp for gigs and rehearsal.

Obviously it will be pointless to many people, including yourself, but it will also be a great asset for some.
My Powerbrake was great, but I went to the TAE as a cranked amp through a traditional attenuator can't be boosted volume wise.

I'm currently using pedals into a clean amp and getting a pretty good sound...but it isn't quite as good as when I use a form of attenuation, but the pedal route is less hassle.
Horses for courses as they say.

EDIT, I have used the Powerbrake, the TAE and also just pedals live and can say from personal experience that the attenuators work great.

allen

I feel like the conversation has gone off topic a bit (it's an internet forum so who would've guessed).

If you don't like attenuators or re-ampers this product is not for you.

newi123

I bought the big one when it came out - thought it was a great idea badly executed. Mainly the used interface / adjustability of the `extras` (delay, reverb, boost, eq etc) was all in the software, which needed a pc connection. 

Good to see this one looks like it might have bluetooth - albeit Boss manage to implement that in their mid noughties add on way instead of doing it properly! :-)

I think the real challenge to all of these is the rapid improvement of modelling - both digital and analog options. For a more flexible / quieter solution when needed I now drag a UA lion to gigs rather than a big valve amp, big cab, and big attenuator. And tbh, I prob get better results.