What BOSS pedals would you recommend

I'll admit I am biased against multi effects due to experience with much earlier units. Still, things fail. I recently sent out a pedal for replacement of a defective stomp switch. Annoying, but it was only one pedal. If your multi unit throws a rod, you are SOL. Do you have a spare, or do you drag out your old board? Or plug straight into your SS amp and wish you still had a tube amp?
 
GomezAddams said:
Why would anyone spend several hundred bucks on pedals (and maybe board and power supply) when you could get a pod go, stomp hx, or even helix lt? Then, you'd have an almost infinite assortment of pedals. (and amps/speakers too with the pod go or LT).
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If I was just starting out or If I got robbed, I would probably go that route at this point. I do like my board with all of its individual pedals but it has been built up over many years.
 
sleewell said:
yea, agreed. I still have all my pedals. when we are just messing around I might try them but quickly go back to the helix and its not even a question of what I will be using live. its just so powerful and sounds exactly like how I hear things in my head.

I wrote this riff the other day and randomly was like hey a flanger might sound good there. I don't really ever use a flanger and never had one when I used pedals but hey look I have about 13 to choose from now and maybe its not flanger but uni vibe or some strange chorus that might fit better - I never had that many pedals laying around to try and experiment. But the flanger fit the riff perfectly. I didn't have to buy a new pedal, hope I ordered the right one, wait for it to get here, re arrange all my pedals, maybe have to kick a pedal off my board, decide if I liked it or not, convince myself to try a different one, etc...

plus you can use them in so many different applications. live with your band either with a tube amp or direct, practicing at home at whisper lives direct into a studio monitor, recording because it has a built in interface.


I still got love for people who don't want to try one, at least we are all having fun playing music. but I think its great when people at least try them to see if these newer ones are better than maybe the previous generation of multi fx pedals they tried and really think its great when people realize how sweet they are now. the effects sound AMAZING.
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This has given me something to think about…
 
I’m a big fan of having a big pile of random pedals to root through. It’s a format I understand and it’s easy to tweak a couple pedals without having to do a bunch of interface nonsense or computer setup shit. For recording I’m usually casting around for a particular sound and it’s just easier to swap a couple pedals around until I hit on what I’m looking for. I can see the appeal of an all in one digital option if you’re doing regular cover gigs or something where you can set up your stuff and roll, but I like the process of getting a particular noise through experimentation.
 
Peen Simmons said:
I’m a big fan of having a big pile of random pedals to root through. It’s a format I understand and it’s easy to tweak a couple pedals without having to do a bunch of interface nonsense or computer setup shit. For recording I’m usually casting around for a particular sound and it’s just easier to swap a couple pedals around until I hit on what I’m looking for. I can see the appeal of an all in one digital option if you’re doing regular cover gigs or something where you can set up your stuff and roll, but I like the process of getting a particular noise through experimentation.
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I totally get that. I have a few old-school pedals, and I like the analogue less-is-more way of working. I don't use them very often, but if I need a particular sound I can grab one and record it without spending hours of fooling around with settings.

To me the digital multi-effects route is a postmodern nightmare of endless options. I have a RL friend, let's call him Alex because Alex set out to explore and conquer the world of recording. Alex is indeed a proficient guitar player, much, much better than me, and he bought this state-of -the-art multi-FX thingy. Two years on Alex hasn't recorded a single track, not even a take but Alex is still busy tweaking the damn thing.
 
335clone said:
I'll admit I am biased against multi effects due to experience with much earlier units. Still, things fail. I recently sent out a pedal for replacement of a defective stomp switch. Annoying, but it was only one pedal. If your multi unit throws a rod, you are SOL. Do you have a spare, or do you drag out your old board? Or plug straight into your SS amp and wish you still had a tube amp?
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I've been thinking about this, actually. Options:

  1. Buy a Katana 50 or 100 to keep as a spare. They are relatively light weight, and they are readily available used for cheap (at least the 50).
  2. Build a small pedal board with a tuner and eq (which I already have), overdrive and amp simulator.
  3. Buy a spare pod go.

Option one is my most likely because that covers not only a failure of the go, but also a failure of the amp or speaker cabinet. That would also provide a spare for another guitar player to use.
 
@Monson it could just be a personality type/issue for your friend rather than the gear's fault. was he recording lots of music before he got the new multi fx unit or no? getting new gear can certainly come with learning curves but its not going to fix or provide someone's drive to accomplish stuff if it was never there in the first place. yes there are lots of options and stuff to tweak if you want to but you can also be really happy with a few core sounds and use it basically set it and forget it / plug and play style if you want to go that route.

I don't have any issues going down to practice or write new riffs and just turning on my helix and playing with no tweaking at all. its just the mindset I have going in. course there are times when I spend time exploring and finding new sounds and experimenting with my signal path but I don't let it take over my time if I initially had set out to practice and write.
 
I have a DS-1 and CE-2 that we’re bought new in 1986. Distortion and chorus...covers most everything you can imagine. My other pedals are from other companies, but these two stop me from buying new dirt or chorus pedals...there’s just no need for me.
 
To everyone I want to thank you for all the good discussion on this. I think what I will do is kind of a hybrid of both ideas. I have joyo pedals now, but will pick up an ME80 (seems to be the simplest to navigate) and as I get more familiar with that will look at upgrading. I will also invest in the various BOSS pedals mentioned in the thread if for no other reason that they are the the best and should be a good back up. Its also the same reason I have a Harley and not a Honda. lol
Again thanks a lot you helped this "older" guy move closer to the current century. lol
 
If you’re looking for a boss drive and a boss modulation pedal, the blues driver is good for drive. I also like the SD-1 which is similar to but different than a Tubescreamer.

For modulation, the BF-2 flanger does all the flanger stuff and can get you some rad chorusy tones.
 
sleewell said:
@Monson it could just be a personality type/issue for your friend rather than the gear's fault. was he recording lots of music before he got the new multi fx unit or no? getting new gear can certainly come with learning curves but its not going to fix or provide someone's drive to accomplish stuff if it was never there in the first place. yes there are lots of options and stuff to tweak if you want to but you can also be really happy with a few core sounds and use it basically set it and forget it / plug and play style if you want to go that route.

I don't have any issues going down to practice or write new riffs and just turning on my helix and playing with no tweaking at all. its just the mindset I have going in. course there are times when I spend time exploring and finding new sounds and experimenting with my signal path but I don't let it take over my time if I initially had set out to practice and write.
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That's a fair point. I'm not faulting the gear as such and I can see the appeal, it just takes some discipline having all these options available, or as you say, a certain mindset.

The way I see it, any creative endeavour is a lot more about taking away stuff than it's about adding stuff. So if for example you want to play or record rock songs and you have, say, a late '60s vibe in your head, you're already in the process of excluding a lot of things that you don't need.

So for some people, having many options only means there's more to exclude, and that's how I often feel about multi-FX units or amp software that can do too much. All I usually need for recording is something that can sound like an AC30 and occasionally a bit of drive and I'm done with the guitars for that track.
 
To everyone that gave advice here I want to thank you all. I have purchased the BOSS ME-80 and I also started getting a few BOSS pedals (at this point one anyway) TU-3w. Your advice and input was very helpful... thank you all. I will be slowing building my BOSS pedal library with the advice you all gave.
 
Monson said:
Love his last comment!

:bigg:
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I like Johnny Marr. He always comes across as thoughtful and articulate, and very dedicated to music.

Have you seen the video for Fender where he talks about his signature Jag? He really thought out every little detail of those guitars, and has a great rationale for all of the decisions.
 
Motorik said:
I like Johnny Marr. He always comes across as thoughtful and articulate, and very dedicated to music.

Have you seen the video for Fender where he talks about his signature Jag? He really thought out every little detail of those guitars, and has a great rationale for all of the decisions.
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Oh yes, I remember him going through the specs. I think a lot of his idiosyncrasies make sense to a lot of people who find the Jag sound desirable but are perhaps a bit intimidated or even put off by the quirkiness of the original design. Out of the box his sig model is just a good and very useful guitar.

I enjoy his inputs on song writing, arrangement and production as well. To me he comes across as a guy who is genuinely pleasant company and great to work with. I love it when people take themselves and what they do seriously and still maintain a humble approach, if that makes any sense.
 
wok said:
The king of Boss pedals of course

boss-hm-2-heavy-metal-7211.jpg
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yer knobs seem to be in the wrong positions tho.. :wink:
 
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