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So I take it boss pedals arent that great?

#61
I have a Boss OC-3 with an OC-2 switch position. Is this pedal (OC-3 set for OC-2) as good as a real OC-2? It seems I read a lot of threads where folks mention the OC-2 more often than the OC-3 and it may be because the OC-2 is older and hence there are more in circulation.

I've found Boss pedals to be just fine for live playing and practise but I have not done enough recording to know if they are as OK for that use.
 
#62
hmm...

like a lot of other people on here, i've owned a lot of Boss pedals in the past and i'm still using some.

ODB-3: could never dial this in right. sold it.
TU-2: replaced with a rackmount tuner
CEB-3: been on my board since before i had a board. i've got it dialed in just enough to give me a little bit more fullness to the sound, without being an overbearing chorus. i always have it on.
OC-2(x2): traded out for a MicroPog (which i love)
BF-2: my guitarist has it right now, i used it in my last band.
DD-3: sold when i got a DD-5.
DD-5: stolen off my board at a gig.
DD-7: replacement for the DD-5 (still on the board)
RPS-10: a microrack pitch-shifter/delay from the early 80's. currently out of commission and i'm really missing it (it makes some of the strangest sounds sometimes, and i love it)

it's not for everybody.
there are boss pedals that i love. the delay is really easy to use, but i like a variety of delays anyways. i love my chorus pedal and i'd like a boss bass synth pedal... but other than that... i'd rather shy away from them.

i'll give them this though: you really can give them a serious beating and they'll keep working.
 
#63
I've had a Boss BF2-B Flanger and an ODB-3 since the mid-90s, and I still love them both. When I bought my ODB-3, I hooked up a Blue Tube, an Ibanez Tube Screamer (NOT an original 70's one, but a repro they were selling at Guitar Center), a ProCo Rat and a Russian Big Muff, and the ODB-3 gave me the sound I was looking for. (I WANTED to want one of the other ones! I didn't WANT to have an ugly-ass yellow Boss pedal on my board! But, I'll be damned if that ODB-3 didn't give me that John Deacon-esque sound that I wanted.)

Now, keep in mind, this was before the days of the $200-$300 boutique pedal. I will freely admit that I have not tried any of these (I pretty much gave up playing for a few years and am now getting back into it, and meanwhile things have changed a LOT!), so there's a good chance there's something new out there that I may like even better, and I'm planning on playing with some very soon.

Here's a little history lesson for you to keep in mind, though. When I first started playing in '88, where I lived, Boss was the ****--if you had old, analog pedals, people thought you were lame. Then, it was all about rack mountable MIDI multi effects processors--if you had pedals, you were lame. Then Nirvana and the Pumpkins broke and it was all about 70's analog pedals--if you had Boss or digital effects, you were lame. In other words, there's a certain level of "what's cool right now" that can affect people if you let it. So, the bottom line is that if it sound good to YOU, that's all that really matters.
 
#64
I hate BOSS.

005-5.jpg


:hiding:
 
#65
I've had mixed experiences with Boss-pedals:

- OC-2 tracked poorly. Not slow or anything, but the octave seemed to be out of tune! Replaced it with an MXR BOD.
- AW-3 sucked all my low-end, so I replaced it with an MXR BEF.
- CEB-3 was decent for the price, but don't use chorus anymore.

The two Boss-pedals that are on my board is the TU-3 and the LS-2... love 'em both!
 
#67
I don't know anyone who HASN'T at one point had a boss in their rig. They are pretty solid, inexpensive pedals that are very easy to find and operate. They are rarely at the top of the pack tone wise, but you are usually getting your money's worth.
 
#71
My signal chain *always* has at least one Boss pedal.

My signal chains which I use most commonly are at least 50% Boss.

It's not that the Boss pedals I run are cheap or easy to replace. It's that nothing else makes certain particular sounds, or has a particular function....
 
#76
dra6n said:
The Pedals I wanted to get were:
• Chorus CEB-3
• OverDrive ODB-3
• Flanger BF-3
• Wah - AW-3
• Chromatic Tuner
Click to expand...

I have and use both the CEB-3 and ODB-3 on my board. i went with the korg pitchblack instead of the TU series tuners tho.

i have the ODB set very low, so it actually acts more as an overdrive instead of a distortion, but still has the background grit.

the CEB i use sparingly, and i set the depth of the chorus low. just on enough to hear the effect.

i dont think boss is bad. they make solid, well built, sturdy pedals in flavors pretty much everyone can enjoy and at a decent price. they might not be everyones bag but to each their own.
 
#77
I like Boss products in general, and at times every piece of outboard gear I've owned was Boss. ATM, I only have a Boss BCB-60 board and a TU-2, with a Punch Factory compressor and a Line 6 wireless receiver on it. If I were to go back out on the road, the BCB-60 would stay home though.
 
#78
thread tl;dr , but here's my take:

I've used lots of them, and I think they work great, sound good and are priced nicely. However, I have an issue with their design.

All the controls- no matter how many- are confined to only 1/3 or less of their usable interface area. This is fine for an OC-2 or any other 2-3 knob pedal, but when we get down to smart shifters and super phasers/flangers, the stacked controls are too close together to be used comfortably and quickly and I CANNOT READ THE FREAKIN SILVER-ON-BLACK PRINT!!!!

(at this point I'd like to pause to wish a plague upon every electronics maker since the early 80's who decided that tiny little grey-on-black print or black-on-black Jacquard lettering was ideal for products that were designed to be used in a dimly-lit room. May a cruel pestilence of rabid cockroaches fall upon them all.)

If you'll notice in the effects threads featuring pedal porn, the overall preference is for heavy-duty industrial boxes with simple stomp button switches. Durable, simple, elegant, inexpensive to produce, easy to repair and/or modify and leaves lots of room for pots and switches. If Roland Corp had any sense at all they would look at their competition and say "hey, wait... they're not trying to copy us any more...why not?..."
 
#80
I had a whole pile of Boss pedals up until 8-10 months ago (see previous post) and now I'm down to Tu-2 (2 of'em), a LMB-3 and a RC-3, which makes me say I only have utility pedals. I sold some effects because they were useless to me and sold some others just because I wanted something different. That being said, I always found Boss pedals reliable, sturdy and consistent. You always get quality stuff with Boss and would not hesitate to buy another one if it would fit in my set-up.
 

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