[Fulltone]

First off there are a few things I want to cover before I dive right into a review or anything associated with it.

1. I am NOT a professional gigging musician. I am just a guitarist who plays because I want to. I am NOT being paid by Boss or any other pedal manufacture to do this. I am simply doing this so that others who are curious or want to know the potential of this pedal can get an unbias opinion (good and or bad).

2. This comparison is done with the actual counterparts or as close to the same type of pedal that I could find. Thanks to my buddy for lending me his pedal board to compare from and his time to help.

3. I will include what types of sounds you can get out of the pedal. If I say I like or dislike it I will tell you why it doesn't work for me. Keep in mind what works or doesn't for me might be the opposite for you.

4. Do to time and the fact I am still tweaking and learning setups this will be done a little each time. I will review at least 3 functions per post. After each of my post I encourage feed back and or what part you would like me to explain or go in more depth with.

5. When I refer to a review I read it was not on this site. (I hunted for reviews before consideration of this pedal). The only reason I hunted down reviews was because I felt I wanted to know more and I wanted to get a feel as to if this was a pedal for me.

Oh and one last thing I want to thank Stratrat for giving me a heads up on the initial setup. You were spot on with setting the knobs straight up it makes all initial setups much easier.

Thank You.

Here is a list of my gear the pedal is hooked to (so you get an idea):
Guitar – Johnson Strat – Replica 2005 Model – No longer in production
Amp – Behringer GM108 (You would be surprised with how it sounds!!) Everything sounds bad on it but the clean setting is crystal clear and really sounds like an amp twice the cost. (It is all I could afford at the time and for this purpose it really shines and was a shock to me).
Cables are Gig Lines from amp to pedal and from guitar to pedal I have a Peavey Cable.
I am using a Dunlop Tortex .73mm pick.

**The pedal is equipped with the optional external momentary switch.

The first score is my score with things like ease of use and actual functionallity and the second is how I feel it stacks up against its real counterpart.

Review Part 1.

I think I am going to start with my favorite, which has to be the distortion.

Ibanez (TS808) Tubescreamer (goes by Screamer on the board) - This kind of took me by surprise I guess you could say. I could not believe just how close it is to the real deal. It is not 100% dead on but it is so close I think it could fool a trained ear. If you set every know straight up and then turn the tone knob to the 3 o’clock setting and turn the noise suppressor all the way up with the tone modify to mild you get a perfect Los Lonely Boys Heaven sound. It also supports a wonderfull SRV tone as well and does it surprisingly well.

Ibanez TS808 (Screamer) – 9.75 out of 10 (Nearly perfect).
Ibanez TS808 (Screamer) – 9.5 out of 10

BD2 (Blues Driver 2) – I have to say this one was ok, I think tweaking it definitely makes a difference. I also was kind of disappointed with this one for a while it didn’t really have that creamy go for the gusto like I thought it should. It took a lot of fine tweaks and adjustments before I could actually get used to it. The blues driver was not something I had a lot of experience with and after awhile it grew on me. This could really crank out a fair amount of blues sounds, it just requires some tweaking and some adjustments of the other piggyback effects (such as the Noise Suppressor, compressor and tone modify). After tweaking it developed into it real life counterpart but still fell a little short compared to its counterpart. Time will tell though maybe it will grow with me even more. I think they could have worked a little harder on this one.

BD2 (Blues Driver) – 7.0 out of 10 (Needs some work on my end).
BD2 (Blues Driver) – 7.25 out 10.


DS1 (Distortion) – This one like the Screamer was really good out of the box with the settings all at 12 o’clock. Just a few tweaks and it really does well especially with that rock type music where an all out assault distortion is not needed. I was able to pick it up and get a Kid Rock sound (referring to his mild stuff). It also held its own very well when compared to its counterpart. This one I feel is more apt to be used much more by myself it fits with the rock music I listen to and feel as though they did good with this one. There isn’t a whole lot I can say here because it’s a basic distortion and it works and works well for those who could use it.

DS1 (Distortion) - 10 out of 10.
DS1 (Distortion) – 9.5 out of 10.

More Review Comming Soon!!

[Fulltone]

The next thing I am going to cover is a couple of the modulations.

Uni-Vibe (modeled after the Vox Uni-Vibe) - It does quite well I have to say. It was like the second one I tried and it was really pretty close to spot one when compared to its real life counterpart. When I first turned it on I tried it with absolutely no adjustment, it sounded ok but back to the tweaking. So I tweaked a little and played a few parts of a Robin Trower song I know and it came alive. It really sounded good and pure like a real Uni-Vibe. I have to say it was well worth adding to this unit. Would I change anything? Probably not I thought it was usefull the way it is.

Uni-Vibe - 9.75 out of 10
Uni-Vibe - 9.75 out of 10.

Rotary (modeled after a Rotating speaker) - This one proved to be a tough call. My friend and I both tried it. We also hooked this one up to a larger Vox Tube amp to see if there was a difference and the end result was we honestly could not tell. This was the only one so far that we broke down and changed the rules for of the head to head. The reason behind it was we wanted to see if it was because of the small amp. Like I said this one is a take it or leave it for me it wasn't an initial make it or break it on whether or not I was going to purchase the pedal anyway. I think my friend hit the nail on the head when he said "Somethings, this being included there just isn't a substitute for the original".
Now with the score. I also know how things work, with the right amp and the right setup it could be ok or even a valueable piece of the pedal if someone that has used one knows how to set it up.
Rotary - 5.5 out of 10.
Rotary - 5.0 out of 10.

Reverb - (Models a Room, Hall, Spring and Mod type of reverb) - Overall for what I use the reverbs for they are not that bad but like a few other things in this pedal it could have recieved more attention I think. If you play SRV songs such as "Lenny" it works enough to satisfy. The other instance I found a valid use for it was with the acoustic sim. It added a little extra bounce. The best of all the reverbs I would have to say would be the Room it gives a small amp a nice adjustable reverb that is quite useable. The Hall is also quite nice given you need that much. The spring is kind of a how should I put this? Maybe a surfer type sound which I don't care for that type of music so it posses no real use to me at this point and it also turned up to a higher level has a space type ping off of lower notes which I think detracts from a reverb stand point (strictly my opinion maybe someone could use it).
The mod I thought was really almost kind of cool. It was like an insane reverb that really sounds like a you are in a tunnel.
So does the reverb stack up to the real life counterparts, yes with a fair amount of tweaking you could make it work for almost any situation I think.

Noise Suppressor - This one for my setup worked as it should. I believe that it could possibly change with a different setup. It did take all the noise away and what can I say that is what it is supposed to do right?
Now looking at the score you are probably thinking 10 out of 10 what? Well you have to consider that it only has one job. Unlike the effectors or mods it only has to eliminate sound I worked exactly like it should and it did no better or no worse than the real life counterpart so in my book it is deserving of a perfect score.

Noise Suppressor - 10 out of 10.
Noise Suppressor - 10 out of 10.

More Review Comming Soon.

[Fulltone]

Something I almost forgot to comment on that I feel should be addressed before I go any further. It has been mentioned before some reviews on other sites that there is a tone robbing problem with this type of pedal that when in bypass mode (when all the effects are off) the pedal has a tendancy to either change the tone and or make it very quiet. I assure you that it doesn't I tried this pedal in two different stores and didn't see a difference. The first store this pedal was tried it was hooked to a Marshall Half Stack with the all clean settings on. The second store was a large combo and if memory serves me correct it was a Fender combo not sure which one though (sorry)!

Now mine has been tried with a Vox Tube Amp (specifically an AC30CC2 30W 2x12 Tube Amp) Buy Vox AC30CC2 30W 2x12 Custom Classic Combo online at Musician's Friend
Then it was tried with my cheap practice amp. With both amps on the clean channels and or settings, I don't believe it changes a darn thing other than either you have an effect mod or a reverb setting on or off. There is no indication that it is changing tone or a volume change - I think it is a myth with this type of pedal at least with this one anyway. I have my amp set to clean and the master volume is on 4 and with the pedal switches off or on the volume is consistant. The only difference which is normal is if you switch on a distortion or turn the reverb up you will certainly know it is on.

[PepticDust]

Seems like an impressive pedal you have. I take it is a multi-effect unit? Hope to see the overall score soon.

[Fulltone]

Yeah, it is a Boss ME-50 Multi-effects unit.
Buy Boss ME-50 Guitar Multi Effects Processor online at Musician's Friend

Oh and it sounds much better than the sound bites let on. If you go to Bosses official website the sound clips are slightly better but I sill feel it gives it no justice.

[Fulltone]

Well I figure you are wanting more and wondering how my new toy is going well it still am working on it.

Wah Pedal - Well I thought it was a mid pack average and it really is a usefull tool, although it did not stand up to the Vox Wah 847A like I was hoping it would. It is supposed to modeled after the Vox 847A but I don't think the attention to accuracy is quite there. It did sound ok but the lack of sweep range. I must admit though it is one of those things that I really don't mess with all that much. I use it for a few SRV songs and a few other songs I play but there isn't much of a use for it with me. I would have to say it is ok but could use some work here and there.

Remember the first score is ease of use and functionallity.
Wah - (modeled after the Vox 847A) - 6.75 out of 10.
Wah - (modeled after the Vox 847A) - 5.0 out of 10.

This one for me really fell short in my expectations, of course like everything else as I continue to right this and or update it my opinion might change I may figure out a new setting that makes it come alive. I have only had this thing about 2 weeks and the fact that due to work and a few other on going situations as of late that are out of my controll I don't have the time to set all day on my days off so the review is kind of slow right now and for those following my progress I am sorry. If you are really curious about something I have not covered please send me a PM and I will try to skip ahead to that and post it here.

On with the rest of the expression effects.

Ring Mod - On this one I am ok with. Personally I don't have a use for it as it is more of an effect I think you would couple with a delay or another pan type effect to do like a space type sound with. The sound I guess is what it is supposed to be. Althought I have know comparison and I am not going to rate this one because with out a proper comparison and without proper knowledge of what it is actually suppose to be I don't think it is justly fair to rate it. The only part of this that I went well thats cool was when somehow I stumbled on a combanation of effects that made it sound like an ecoplex - or space sound kind of remanisant of what Steve Miller would have used.

Resonance - Kind of the same type of effect as the wah but with a more ringing rebound as the regular wah. Again I am not going to rate this because of the lack of comparison and I have not had an experience which makes me feel not able to pass a good judgement on this one.

Voice Mod - This one was just flat out cool. I was greatly impressed. At first I was like oh, well, maybe. Kind of unsure what I was going to do with this. It does have a few drawbacks that like the lack of sweep (kind of along the same lines as the other effects in this lineup). Where I found myself going wow was when I set it up in a chain and played parts of Peter Frampton's - "Do You Feel Like I Do" it was awesome, it wasn't 100 percent spot on but I could get really close with the notes to emulate the talkbox in this song. Like I said it is all personal preference for this setup but I thought it was close enought that it filled in this dead spot in the song if you had nothing to put there. The effect when used properly can very much replicate at least closer than some that of a talkbox.

Voice Mod - 7.5 out of 10. (Worked for me).
Voice Mod - I can't rate this because I don't have nor do I thing it has a counterpart. The closest thing to it would be a Heil Talkbox. Which this is not.

The Octave up and down were compared to a boost pedal set up to be like these are.

Octave +1 - This is a tool that is great and works like it should. This is pretty self explanitory so I am not going to go into detail. The only down side is the lack of sweep.

Octave +1 / -1 - 8.5 out of 10.
Octave +1 / -1 - 8.0 out of 10.

Since the Octave -1 is the opposite of the +1 it did nearly the same as the other therefore I feel it will get the same score.

More To Come Soon.