Boss MS3 - for guitar AND bass

[phatbass]

What's the compressor like on this? I'm not interested in compression as an effect; I purely want it for subtle, transparent control of dynamics. And it's probably the most important thing to me. If it's just a digital version of a two-knob compressor it's pretty useless to me. I'd be wanting to run This unit by itself, rather than as a controller, to replace my pedal board. I'm assuming the delays/chorus/o'drive/etc. are okay.

 

[gumtown]

What's the compressor like on this? I'm not interested in compression as an effect; I purely want it for subtle, transparent control of dynamics. And it's probably the most important thing to me. If it's just a digital version of a two-knob compressor it's pretty useless to me. I'd be wanting to run This unit by itself, rather than as a controller, to replace my pedal board. I'm assuming the delays/chorus/o'drive/etc. are okay.

You get 8 compressor models to choose from, and each has
Attack,
Sustain,
Tone,
Level.
Controls

There are also 3 limiter models
with
Attack,
Release,
threshold,
Ratio,
Level.
Controls

You have those in both FX1 and FX2.

 

[sirvill]

Compressor is absolutely fine for my needs - run one on all my bass patches.

 

[simotek]

What's the compressor like on this? I'm not interested in compression as an effect; I purely want it for subtle, transparent control of dynamics. And it's probably the most important thing to me. If it's just a digital version of a two-knob compressor it's pretty useless to me. I'd be wanting to run This unit by itself, rather than as a controller, to replace my pedal board. I'm assuming the delays/chorus/o'drive/etc. are okay.

I really like the light compressor, I use it first in chain so its almost always compressing just a little bit, I still have the MXR Bass comp on my board as my main compressor later in chain though, partly because I use a EQ on most patches so EQ + compressor would leave no room for other effects and my compressor has a nice reduction meter which is really helpful

 

[sirvill]

Check out the sound samples on the soundcloud here for the MS-3 in action: Link Removed

Compressor on all bass, Ode has the bass overdrive, and Tacklebox has the flanger, reverb and delay involved.

Still really happy with it for sounds and for ease of use.

 

[Smashcraaft]

Is it possible to use the FX-loop-returns as additional guitar-inputs and use them as a AB-Y switch (or Master-In + ABCD-Y)?

 

[gumtown]

Is it possible to use the FX-loop-returns as additional guitar-inputs and use them as a AB-Y switch (or Master-In + ABCD-Y)?

I suppose you could, but the guitars in the 3 returns would need to run through active buffers, as the return impedance would be too low for guitar input.

 

[simotek]

Is it possible to use the FX-loop-returns as additional guitar-inputs and use them as a AB-Y switch (or Master-In + ABCD-Y)?

Running this at the front would be better, you'd also get seperate volume controls for each guitar / bass if they have different output levels The GigRig | Guitar Effects Switching and Modular Power Solutions

 

[Anemic_SluG]

So I don't really tap dance on my pedals too much, but really looking for a multi effect unit that has decent whammy capability and bass synth sounds. The pedal switching is a bonus and would clean up my board a lot.
Anyone try out those style patches? I have heard the basic reverb chorus and delay stuff and it sounds plenty doable.

 

[feliperigby]

I had ordered one ms3 for me, but I live in Brazil and the shipping (us to brazil) takes 1 month drool

Those the ms3 sounds like the others digital units from boss (a long the years)? Or they changed the ms3 and it sounds more natural?

About the distortions on the unit. How are they sounding in bass (of course I'm not comparing them with the darkglass pedals)? And about the wahs and modulations?

 

[simotek]

I had ordered one ms3 for me, but I live in Brazil and the shipping (us to brazil) takes 1 month drool

Those the ms3 sounds like the others digital units from boss (a long the years)? Or they changed the ms3 and it sounds more natural?

About the distortions on the unit. How are they sounding in bass (of course I'm not comparing them with the darkglass pedals)? And about the wahs and modulations?

Some of the guitar drives sound really good on bass, they all have a blend (D.Level) and bottom control which means they can be tweeked to work well with bass. I haven't really tried the overdrives much because I have a good pedal. I don't use much Wah but i've messed around and got a sound I really like similarly the Trem is the only modulation I really use, and its good.

 

[superheavyfunk]

Has anybody has any issues with their MS3 not playing well with certain power supplies?

At a show recently, I forgot the OEM supply and tried using both my multi supply and a 1 spot... With the multi, the MS-3 turned itself off after 10 mins - I assume because it wasn't getting enough juice. With the 1-spot, it stayed on but the effects wouldn't work. I could change banks, tune up, and the device seemed to work as normal, except that no effects would work.

None of this happens when I use the OEM power supply. Have any of you had issues like this? Do you use the OEM supply, or do you use a power bank? If it's a power bank, which do you use? Thanks

 

[superheavyfunk]

Has anybody has any issues with their MS3 not playing well with certain power supplies?

At a show recently, I forgot the OEM supply and tried using both my multi supply and a 1 spot... With the multi, the MS-3 turned itself off after 10 mins - I assume because it wasn't getting enough juice. With the 1-spot, it stayed on but the effects wouldn't work. I could change banks, tune up, and the device seemed to work as normal, except that no effects would work.

None of this happens when I use the OEM power supply. Have any of you had issues like this? Do you use the OEM supply, or do you use a power bank? If it's a power bank, which do you use? Thanks

I guess nobody has had this issue...

I think I'm gonna sell this thing and go back to individual effects. I can't blend my clean bass in with any of my external pedals and now this power issue presents a potential disaster at some point down the road if my OEM supply ever dies on me... It's just not worth the risk or the hassle. Maybe I'll just buy a regular, non-programmable bypass looper from American Loopers or something.

 

[Modulus 96]

I'm using a behringer line mixer on my boss synth/wha to get a blend of wet and dry signal. Wet and dry signal to the mixer then set the individual volumes going back to the ms3.

 

[thehornedone]

Apologies for bumping an old thread.

Question for ms-3 owners: Could I use two different dirt pedals in the external loops and configure a stereo chain to send each loop to a different amp using the same built in effects after the loop?

 

[MuttThud]

Apologies for bumping an old thread.

Question for ms-3 owners: Could I use two different dirt pedals in the external loops and configure a stereo chain to send each loop to a different amp using the same built in effects after the loop?

No, I don't think so. I think what you're describing is a parallel path, but the MS-3 is a linear single path (so you can reorder the FX, MOD, external loops etc but they're all in series one after the other). From memory (haven't got mine in front of me) I don't think there is the option to pan a stereo signal at any point in the chain either, so you wouldn't be able to split the two loops to the L and R outputs. My guess is you'd be better off with a Helix (HX or Stomp) as both offer parallel paths (although the Stomp has fewer options for external loops than the rest of the Helix range).

 

[superheavyfunk]

Apologies for bumping an old thread.

Question for ms-3 owners: Could I use two different dirt pedals in the external loops and configure a stereo chain to send each loop to a different amp using the same built in effects after the loop?

No, I don't think so. I think what you're describing is a parallel path, but the MS-3 is a linear single path (so you can reorder the FX, MOD, external loops etc but they're all in series one after the other). From memory (haven't got mine in front of me) I don't think there is the option to pan a stereo signal at any point in the chain either, so you wouldn't be able to split the two loops to the L and R outputs. My guess is you'd be better off with a Helix (HX or Stomp) as both offer parallel paths (although the Stomp has fewer options for external loops than the rest of the Helix range).

I spoke to a Roland rep about this and the lack of a global clean blend thing a couple of days ago. He and I went thru the MS-3 together and confirmed that true parallel processing is not possible -- I was asking him about it in the context of bi-amping. He did say that he was going to send a message up the line to the software developers, as he agreed with me that neither of these issues can really require much more than a software update, and that he'd email me when he heard some news.

So *fingers crossed* maybe Roland will push a little update out soon and make the MS-3 a proper bass players dream!

 

[JesterJoker010]

For me the Boss effects and drives in particular have always sounded much better then the Zoom ones, although i've always thought the Boss drives aren't as good as the Darkglass or Two Notes ones, particularly because until now you haven't been able to blend the dry sound in. Having read the MS-3 guide given it seems to have a bass boost and a blend for the dry signal these boss ones should be much more useful.

Not sure if you are comparing the analog Boss dirt pedals to the digital Zoom ones?
If so it's not really a fair comparison.
In regards of other digital effects though, the newest Boss digital multi effect GT-1B vs. Zoom's newest B3n, the Zoom wins in my book.
Also the drives and amp emulations are considerable better in the B3n than in the older B3, though I would never use digital dirt effects anyway.
To me the digital Boss effects sounds much more generic and sterile than the Zoom ones, and that even if the B3n is slightly cheaper than the GT-1B.
For the same reason the overpriced MS-3 has no interest to me, I'd rather use my money to buy the new Line6 HX Stomp then, which is a digital multi effect of proper high quality (levels above both Boss and Zoom digital multi effects) with an amazing amount of routing options, and have it replace all my analog pedals all together.

 

[gumtown]

For parallel paths, the new Boss GT-1000, which has better drives and the new 'generic' amps are great with bass, or look at the Line6 HX FX.
Both do IR (impulse response cabinets) loading too.

 

[superheavyfunk]

Not sure if you are comparing the analog Boss dirt pedals to the digital Zoom ones?
If so it's not really a fair comparison.
In regards of other digital effects though, the newest Boss digital multi effect GT-1B vs. Zoom's newest B3n, the Zoom wins in my book.
Also the drives and amp emulations are considerable better in the B3n than in the older B3, though I would never use digital dirt effects anyway.
To me the digital Boss effects sounds much more generic and sterile than the Zoom ones, and that even if the B3n is slightly cheaper than the GT-1B.
For the same reason the overpriced MS-3 has no interest to me, I'd rather use my money to buy the new Line6 HX Stomp then, which is a digital multi effect of proper high quality (levels above both Boss and Zoom multi effects) with an amazing amount of routing options, and have it replace all my analog pedals once and for all.

Comparing the MS-3 to the Line6 isn't a fair comparison either. On top of the differences mentioned, their prices differ by more than $200