Does anyone have experience with both the Boss SYB-3 and SYB-5 bass synth pedals? I used to have the SYB-3 and I liked the wide variety of sounds I got out of it, and I especially liked that it had auto-wah settings! So I didn’t have to get yet another pedal for auto-wah stuff. So when I went online to look one up and see if I wanted to buy one I found that they don’t make the 3 anymore and now only make the 5 new, but you can get the 3’s second hand. The 5 looks like they took away the two auto-wah settings! At least that’s what it looks like by looking at pictures of the controls. Does anyone know if this is true, that they removed those settings? Or is it just labeled differently and the 5 can do everything the 3 could, hopefully better since it’s newer?
thanks in advance!
Hi!
I think you’re right and the SYB-5 doesn’t have the auto wah settings. The settings 10 and 11 of the SYB-5 are described as synth modulating the direct sound of the bass, and all the other settings are internal sounds.
The SYB-3 has 2 auto-wah settings (which either wah’s up or down) and 2 more direct synth sounds, the rest being internal sounds triggered by your playing.
I own an SYB-3. It’s a fun pedal I’ll keep. Writing this makes me want to plug it back in for fun… It doesn’t get a permanent spot on my pedalboard, but it’s one of the few pedals I kept, up to know, for the fun of it… the auto-wah up setting sounds nice, but I wouldn’t buy an SYB-3 just for that setting. To be honest, it’s not all that reactive (compared to, say, the classic MXR Bass envelope filter). The wah down setting was something I was excited about experimenting with, but I never found a sound I could really use with it. The 2 non-internal sounds are a bit of an envelope square wave mix which might have their use. Cool sounds if you need them. As far as internal sounds go, well, tracking is far from perfect, there’s latency and you’ve got to know what you’re asking the pedal to do. I’ve you use a setting where you dial in a long synth sweep, don’t expect to play a fast run! The pedal will track 1 out of 10 notes you play because you don’t let it enough time to do the job you asked it to do! A bit of an odd feeling, ain’t it? It does have a bit of a mind of its own with the internal sounds, son you either play along with its glitches or get a lot of frustration out of that pedal.
One thing a lot of people don’t know is that, on both the SYB-3 and 5, you can sustain a note when you use internal synth sounds by keeping your foot on the pedal. Some people think that feature only exists on the SYB-5 because it’s written on the pedal, but it also works on the SYB-3. You can play clean parts over the sustained synth note, which is probably the most useful feature of that pedal.
Personally, I wouldn’t buy an SYB-3 for its envelope filter feature. I wouldn’t pay the price, new, of either the 3 or the 5. Buying either, used, for fun, could be a thing. I don’t regret getting a used SYB-3 a few years ago when I came across a used one for cheap. It made me realize that I’m not going to seriously use synth sounds, so buying a C4 or anything fancy like that is useless for me (not saying it is in general, just not for me). But honestly, if it’s an envelope filter you’re after, get and envelope filter! I really love the MXR, even though it’s too common for many.
