Unbiased Reviews by Real People
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Unbiased Reviews by Real People
One stop opinion for Boss effects pedals!Oct 2, 2001 Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line Great effects pedals from a pretty notable company.
I've always wanted to do opinions on guitar effect pedals but epinions doesn't have any. So one day upon my browsing through I found this topic on member opinions on Roland products. So since epinions only lets you write about their keyboards and such I'm being forced to write about all the effects pedals they make in this one opinion. I've decided to make this more informative than opinionated though. There will still be a lot of my opinion in it but it will also have a lot of information that I've gathered about the products in this review. This simply means this is going to be really long. I've also decided since this was going to be long that I would try something new. If I'm writing about something that I think deserves more detail I'll write a note about it at the end of the review which will be marked with an asteriks and a number (ex. *6). If anyone has any comments on this opinion I'd love to hear them. Happy reading. Well first I'm going to try and describe guitar effects pedals in general for those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about. Electric guitars have basically three main things to get that finished product of "noise" that you the listener hear. The first is well the guitar (call me Dr. Genius). The second are effects pedals, what these do is modify the sound of the guitar and therefore unlocking a world of limitless possibilities of sound (cool huh?). And the third and final part is the amp which shoots all this out and at your ears. Now mind you I left some things out to help simplify this all (like rack effects and processors and all that), but all and all you can play almost any song with those three things and some talent. Alright so where does Roland come in you ask? Well Roland makes one of the most well known line of guitar effect pedals more commonly known as Boss. And that is what this review is going to be all about. Boss pedals to me are the best all around pedal out there. Anyone who has read my guitar reviews knows I'm a large Ibanez(*1) fan. But I would not recommend their effects pedals as they're very plasticy (I know I'm making up words) and break pretty easy under normal playing abuse. Boss pedals have a steel case and stand up quite well. I've jumped on, kicked, and even fallen on my Boss DS-1 Distortion pedal and it's still as good as new. Would I consider it a stompbox(*2)? No, but it's close. They can take the abuse but I just wouldn't consider them that sort of pedal. Another thing that can go on with a lot of pedals is what I call deadspotting, no it's not a technical term I made it up because it fits. But this to me is when you step on (or activate) a pedal and there's a short delay before the effect itself kicks in. This can seriously limit the use of a pedal. You have to write breaks in the guitar part to accompany that one second silence before the flange part. All of the Boss pedals I have used have been 100% free of this problem. The switching is not only instantaneous but noiseless as well. Definitely a good thing. Now I'm going to give information on pedals of the four main types from Boss. Most of this is off of their website and I'm just putting it in here to make it easy on the epinioners hoping to find info about certain pedals. The first of the four types are -Overdrive/distortion pedals BD-2 Blues Driver Features- Classic "blues" guitar tones with tube amp simulation Level, Gain, and tone controls Warm distortion and overdrive Responds to nuance and volume changes AC adaptor or 9V battery operation Five year warranty About this pedal- A Blues Driver is basically a mellow distortion pedal. They're generally made to have a bit more of a retro sound and also have a lot of sustain(*3). DS-1 Distortion Features- Classic Distortion pedal Tone, Level, and Distortion controls AC adaptor or 9V battery operation About this pedal- This pedal has been the choice for distortion pedals for many musicians for a long time. When I first started playing guitar I asked around to try and figure out which distortion pedal I should get and 9 times out of 10 this one was the one recommended. It's cheap (you can usually find it for around $40), it's durable, and it has a wide range of quality sounds. DS-2 Turbo Distortion Features- Level, Tone, and Distortion controls 2 Turbo Modes Built-in remote jack for foot switch use between turbo modes I and II AC adaptor or 9V battery operation About this pedal- This is basically a DS-1 with an extra option of Turbo Modes. Turbo Mode I has a softer and easier distortion with a flat frequency response, while Turbo Mode II is a harsher distortion with a mid-range boost. All in all this pedal is a tad bit more versatile than the DS-1 and can be used more as two pedals than one. MT-2 Metal Zone Features- Level, 3 band equalizer, and Distortion controls dual gain circuit AC adaptor or 9V battery operation About this pedal- This is basically a DS-1 on crack. With dual gain circuits you can get basically all the distortion you'll ever need (at least I'd hope so). One of my friends has this pedal and he was simply amazed by it and it's a rare occasion anything really impresses him. So if you're looking for serious amounts of distortion this is your best bet. OD-2R Turbo Overdrive w/ Remote Jack Features- Level, Tone, and Distortion Controls Turbo Mode (with optional foot switch) 5 year warranty AC adaptor or 9V battery operation About this pedal- This pedal is basically the same as the DS-2 but in an overdrive package. Overdrive pedals are basically distortion pedals with a little less distortion. So if you just want to rock a little without blasting your windows out this would be a good pedal. OD-3 Overdrive Features- Dual Stage Overdrive Circuit Level, Tone, and Drive controls 5 year warranty AC adaptor or 9V battery operation About this pedal- This is a revamped version of Boss' old OD-1 pedal. It's basically the overdrive form of the MT-2. OS-2 Overdrive/Distortion Features- Level, Tone, Drive, and Color controls Overdrive and Distortion capabilities AC adaptor or 9V battery operation About this pedal- Well you're not sure if you want to make some serious noise or just rock the boat then this pedal is the one to buy. You can kick it back with the overdrive or blow your speakers with the distortion. A very versatile pedal. SD-1 Super Overdrive Features- Level, Tone, and Drive controls Unique asymmetric overdrive circuitry AC adaptor or 9V battery operation About this pedal- A revamped overdrive pedal with more of a classic sound. If you're into the old rock you should try one of these out. SD-2 Dual Overdrive Features- Level, Tone, and Drive controls Lead and Crunch modes Independent circuits Modes can be switched w/ optional foot switch AC adaptor or 9V battery operation About this pedal- This is basically two different sounding overdrive pedals rolled into one. On Lead mode you get more of a smooth silky distorted sound, and on Crunchy mode you get well........a more "crunchy" sound. Well onto the second of the four types -Compression/EQ/Noise Suppresion/Wah Effects AC-2 Acoustic Simulator Features- Four acoustic modes (Standard, Jumbo, Enhance, Piezo) Level, Body, and Top controls Outputs for effected and un-effected signals 5 year warranty AC adaptor or 9V battery operation About this pedal- The acoustic simulator is a very cool pedal. If you play mostly electric guitar and don't play enough acoustic to make it worth buying a quality acoustic guitar this pedal will pretty much solve your problems. And not only that it's basically four quality acoustics in one giving you even more bang for your buck. CS-3 Compression Sustainer Features- Level, Tone, Attack, and Sustain controls Low input boost/High input compression AC adaptor or 9V battery operation About this pedal- Well it compresses what's too much and gives what not quite enough a little boost. All in all this pedal is pretty useful. Plus it saves the hassle of buying a good compression pedal and a good sustain pedal. GE-7 Equalizer Features- 7 band equalizing capabilities Range from 100Hz to 6.4 kHz Level control AC adaptor or 9V battery operation About this pedal- This pedal basically works the same way an equalizer on a stereo works. Allowing you to customize your sound. It can also help eliminate unwanted feedback. NS-2 Noise Suppressor Features- Threshold, Decay controls Input, Output, Send, and Return jacks AC adaptor or 9V battery operation About this pedal- This pedal takes out all that noise from your signal that you really don't want when it comes out of your guitar. Very useful especially with older guitars with slightly worn pickups. TR-2 Tremelo Features- Rate, Depth, and Wave controls 5 year warranty AC adaptor or 9V battery operation About this pedal- Tremelo pedals were made famous by the surf-music era. With this pedal you can customize the speed, depth and form (triangle to square) of the wave. Time for the third type of pedal -Pitch/Time Delay Effects BF-2 Flanger Features- Manual, Rate, Depth, and Res controls AC adaptor or 9V battery operation About this pedal- Flanger is one of the all time classic guitar effects ranging right up there with distortion and wah pedals. This pedal is capable of producing short delay, vibrato, and chorus sounds. CE-5 Chorus Ensemble Features- Effect Level, Rate, Depth, and Filter controls Stereo capabilities AC adaptor or 9V battery operation About this pedal- A chorus pedal makes the sound that the name implies. It makes one guitar sound like a chorus of guitars. This pedal can go from a very soft, mild chorus to a very overbearing chorus. CH-1 Super Chorus Features- Effect level, EQ, Rate, and Depth controls Stereo capabilities AC adaptor or 9V battery operation About this pedal- This is basically a CE-5 with the added EQ knob for more control over tone. DD-3 Digital Delay Features- Effect level, Feedback, and Delay Time controls Three delay time modes Range of 12.5ms to 800ms Hold function AC adaptor or 9V battery operation About this pedal- This is pretty much your standard delay pedal. It has a Hold function that repeats the delay indefinitely which is kind of a cool thing. DD-5 Digital Delay Features- Effects level, Feedback, and Delay Time controls 11 delay modes Range of 1ms to 2000ms Tap Tempo Capabilities Reverse mode 5 year warranty AC adaptor or 9V battery operation About this pedal- This is definitely a better more tricked out version of the DD-3. A larger range of delay times and 8 more delay modes. You can even get it so you can tap in the tempo of the delay you want. It also has reverse mode which simulates playing everything backwards, kind of cool. OC-2 Octave Pedal Features- Octave1, Octave 2, and Direct Level controls Produces three different tones AC adaptor or 9V battery operation About this pedal- This pedal produces the original sound of the guitar and a sound an octave below and an octave above what was played. Each octave has a separate volume control allowing superior customizing capabilities. PH-2 Super Phaser Features- Rate, Depth, Res controls Two separate modes AC Adaptor or 9V battery operation About this pedal- A phaser produces a sort of swirling sound. This pedal has a mode for a standard phasing sound and one for a deeper funkier phasing sound PS-5 Super Shifter Features- Pitch Shifting, harmonist, and tremolo arm effects Key specific pitch shifting Detune effect Flutter effect 5 year Warranty AC adaptor or 9V battery operation About this pedal- This pedal can do pretty much anything that has to do with pitch shifting. It can drop the tone down, harmonize it, flutter it, you name it, it can do it basically. Definitely try one before buying because of the price but at least try one. RV-3 Digital Reverb/Delay Features- Combines Reverb and Delay Four Reverb modes Three Delay modes Delay times up to 2000ms AC adaptor or 9V battery operation About this pedal- This pedal is pretty much a standard delay pedal with one nice twist thrown in......it's also a reverb pedal. Making it a one time stop for two trips. Now to the fourth and final type of pedal -Tuners TU-2 Chromatic Tuner Features- TU series tuner technology Bass and Guitar tuning capabilities 11 point LED indicators 7 tuning modes AC adaptor or 9V battery operation About this pedal- This is a nice pedal because those of us with guitars and basses can use it for both instead of buying two different tuners and trying to keep track of them. Well that's my review of Boss pedals. I hope anyone who finds this finds it helpful and can find all the stuff they need to know here. You can also visit Roland's site at http://www.rolandus.com for more information on these products such as lists prices and dealers, as well as information on their other products. Thanks for reading if you made it all the way through there was a lot I know. (*1)Ibanez- A very very good guitar making company known for their quality of guitars and innovation in design. My personal favorite type of guitar as well to get a cheap shot in. (*2)Stompbox- An effect pedal made to take large amounts of abuse making it rather ideal for touring. Basically something that will work fine even after having Tiny Tim (your 300 lb. guitar tech) jump on it while rocking out on stage. (*3)Sustain- Sustain is how long a note will hold or carry after being initially played.  |
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