f  x   -   colours & shape

not shown: MIJ BF-2, BF-3, CE-3, DSD-2, EH-2, GE-7, HF-2, LS-2, PH-2, PS-2

• Boss BF-2 Flanger
  Bought in fall '95 specifically for part of a song I'd written (to capture a sound I'd heard in my head), and I was able to dial in that sound perfectly. Other than the modded SD-1s, this is the only effect pedal I've ever bought new, and was my second pedal overall. Unusual among my Taiwan-made Boss pedals, my BF-2 has an orange label sticker on the bottom and is powered by an ACA-series AC adapter. Since then, I've also found a MIJ silver-screw BF-2, from its first year of production (1980).
  SN DH13103, made in Taiwan; batch no. 0300, made in Japan.
  
  
• Boss BF-3 Flanger
  The BF-3 is the heir to the BF-2, offering separate guitar and bass inputs and many new settings to tweeze your flanging needs. However, I've been somewhat disappointed with mine as a guitar flanger (I couldn't easily dial in my two favorite BF-2 sounds on the BF-3), perhaps because it's all-digital. On the bass, I've gotten an odd high-frequency ring modulation sound out of this pedal; maybe I'll eventually be able to coax Thurston Moore's modulated tone from Sonic Youth's "The Diamond Sea" out of this pedal.
  SN ZP76297, made in Taiwan.
  
  
• Boss CE-2 Chorus
  Bought used off eBay, this pedal is likely one of my oldest, dating from the early 1980s (does anyone know how to 'date' Boss pedals, given its serial no.?). It supposedly boasts the same exact chorus circuit as in Roland's excellent JC-120 Jazz Chorus amplifier, and a peek under the hood revealed the same JRC 4558DD chip used in my MIJ SD-1. Although it has only two knobs (Rate and Depth), indeed it sounds great for thickening up yr sound!
  SN 560400, made in Japan (green label).
  
  
• Boss CE-3 Chorus
  The CE-3 offers the same chorus circuit in the CE-2, but with your choice of a mono or stereo output. A dry minus wet signal is also an option in mono, but sounds really odd. I haven't tested the chorus effect in stereo (feeding two amps) yet, but a friend of mine swears by it.
  SN 270400, made in Japan (black label).
  
  
• Boss CE-5 Chorus Ensemble
  Bought used off eBay, mostly in a vain attempt to approximate Andy Summers' JC-120 sound (but my MIJ CE-2 (see above) sounds much better).
  SN IM78212, made in Taiwan.
  
  
• Boss DC-3 Digital Dimension
  Bought used off eBay, I really like the way the DC-3 thickens up a clean guitar or bass. Others have denigrated this pedal as a weak chorus pedal, but the DC-3 really makes a clean guitar or bass line sound better and thicker without the detuned wobble of a traditional chorus pedal. Too bad it also eats batteries so quickly. Supposedly, Adrian Belew used this pedal, and SRV used a similar rackmount version of this effect (actually the analog Roland SDD-320?) on his great instrumental "Riviera Paradise".
  SN 906626, made in Japan (blue label).
  
  
• Boss DD-3 Digital Delay
  The DD-3 provides up to 800 ms of delay time, and is the favorite delay pedal of Dave Navarro/Janes's Addiction (however, his theory of a delay setting that's wrong for every song in a live set somehow becomes "right" is complete horsesh!t -- buy a DD-5 or a DD-6 with tap tempo capability, Dave). Mine was bought used at a Memphis pawn shop in summer 2001, and it sucked batteries dry so quickly that I bought the 9V adapter later that year. The DD-3 is great for when I want to approximate old U2 songs or the Echoplex'd surf/punk guitar created by East Bay Ray/Dead Kennedys. Plus, its "sample and hold" function is great for providing a constant wall of riffage (albeit no chord changes) to practice lead guitar over. Finally, the DD-3 has a direct output for stereo separation of wet/dry signals.
  SN CF48037, made in Taiwan.
  
  
• Boss DSD-2 Digital Sampler/Delay
  The DSD-2 debuted in 1985, a few years after the DD-2 Digital Delay, and like the DD-2 was rechristened with a new model number (as the DSD-3) in 1986 merely to reflect a drop in chip prices. It has the same 800 ms maximum delay time, but instead of a direct (stereo) output like the DD-2/3, it has a trigger input (e.g., fed from a drum machine, or maybe the BP-1) to repeat a sample like a metronome. An internet bargain(?) at $50, I've only scratched the surface of this pedal's capability so far.
  SN 562600, made in Japan (blue label).
  
  
• Boss EH-2 Enhancer
  Boss' answer to the BBE Sonic Maximizer, my EH-2 has been somewhat difficult to set up properly so far. Ideally, it should quietly enhance the overall sound by tweaking the upper harmonics, and the "Sensitivity" control is great for determining just how subtle it is. I've found that it's easier to dial in a lo-fi bees-in-a-Coke-can sound rather than actually "enhancing" the sound, but it would have a role as a recording tool.
  SN ZB54077, made in Taiwan.
  
  
• Boss GE-7 Equalizer
  I'm a big fan of the PQ-4 parametric eq, but not so much this GE-7. Graphic equalizers are a little bit easier to set from an intuitive standpoint, but my GE-7 is pretty noisy.
  SN 170600, made in Japan (black label).
  
  
• Boss HF-2 Hi Band Flanger
  The HF-2 is similar to the BF-2, but the flanged signal is delayed and shifted up by one octave before being combined with the original signal. As such, it produces a more subtle flanging effect, and is probably better than the BF-2 for rhythm guitar. I've also gotten a nice "tremolo" (as in similar to the TR-2) sound out of it.
  SN 664800, made in Japan (green label).
  
  
• Boss LS-2 Line Selector
  Good for pre-setting entire tone loops to mix with your direct signal, and can power other Boss pedals when fed from a PSA adapter.
  SN ZD64650, made in Taiwan.
  
  
• Boss PH-1R Phaser
  After being somewhat disappointed with the complexity of my PH-3 (see below), I bought a MIJ PH-1R off eBay in 2003. My PH-1R definitely has a more "organic" (analog) sound, if that makes any sense, but it still sounds kind of harsh at some settings.
  SN 262900, made in Japan (black label).
  
  
• Boss PH-2 Super Phaser
  Another eBay "bargain", advertised as MIJ but the seller had no clue. I'll probably keep it until I acquire a real MIJ PH-2.
  SN unknown (no label), but code on compander(?) chip probably dates it to mid-late 1999 (made in Taiwan).
  
  
• Boss PH-3 Phase Shifter
  As my first phaser, I was excited to get this like-new-in-the-box pedal off eBay. However, if you ever buy one make sure it comes with the manual, because you'll need it. I prefer individual floor effects pedals vs. rack-mounted effects because pedals are usually much more simple and intuitive to tweak, but the complexity of this pedal is ridiculous (too much of a good thing?). To my ears, the sterile-sounding "digital"-ness of the phase effects doesn't help either.
  SN AO81557, made in Taiwan.
  
  
• Boss PQ-4 Parametric EQ
  I first became interested in this pedal as an EQ tweak and boost for lead guitar (sure, me talking about lead guitar is like George W. Bush talking about fiscal restraint or a humble foreign policy, but bear with me). I tend to favor guitars with two pickups (neck single-coil and bridge humbucker) and master volume and tone controls: I use the bridge pickup for rhythm guitar, and switch to the neck pickup for leads while simultaneously turning down the guitar's tone knob (which is not easy to do cleanly or quickly). The PQ-4 has proven to be the perfect solution; used to roll off the high frequencies and slightly boost the input of my Boss SD-1 ("FRAG") for leads, the PQ-4 has vastly exceeded my expectations so far. One day I might seek out the PQ-4's godfather (the venerable SP-1 Spectrum).
  SN ZC89350, made in Taiwan.
  
  
• Boss PS-2 Pitch Shifter/Delay
  Initially bought in an attempt to approximate the sound of a twelve-string bass (but using a 4-string bass), the PS-2 can provide basically the same delay settings available in the Boss DD-2/DD-3, or it can blend a pitch shifted sound (manual, a wobbly octave up, or an octave down) with the original signal. A tuner out jack allows one to dial in a 'perfectly'-tuned manual pitch-shift setting and keeps the tuner out of the signal chain. Because the PS-2 can self-oscillate, you can truly get some "mysterious sounds" as well as almost an organ-like timbre out of this pedal. Unfortunately, the inherent "wobble" in its sound severely limits its usefullness as an "octave up" pitch shifter to my ears.
  SN 846970, made in Japan (blue label).
  
  
• Boss RV-2 Reverb
  Bought used off eBay, this pedal offers some of the most sopping wet, lush reverb I've ever heard. (Think thunder-like distortion rolling across your basement.) It can't really achieve the sound of spring reverb, and some modes are kind of noisy (not necessary a bad thing), but I can hear great possibilities with this pedal. The RV-2 was the only Boss pedal to ever be sold with a 9V power adapter; it draws so much current (130 mA!), the RV-2 doesn't even have an internal battery clip!).
  SN 800018, made in Japan (grey label).
  
  
• Boss TR-2 Tremolo
  Bought used off eBay, mostly to try to get that great trem effect in Soundgarden's "Blow Up the Outside World," et al. Although the C4 and R19 mods mentioned at harmony-central.com sound pretty easy, and my TR-2 isn't very noisy at all, I'll eventually just send it to Analog Man for modification (basically, replacing stock parts with higher-quality components for a better trem sound). (I wonder if Analog Man replaces or simply removes the C4 cap?)
  SN BM14580, made in Taiwan.
  
  
  
• Dunlop Crybaby QZ-1 Q Zone
  What, a non-Boss pedal? Since it's unlikely that I'd ever be able to afford a Boss SP-1 Spectrum, I viewed this as the next best thing (and even better, from a tweaking point of view). The QZ-1 is basically a Dunlop Crybaby 95Q wah with a knob to replace the rocker footpedal and another knob to set the wah's center frequency, to get that so-called "cocked wah" sound that Michael Schenker and others have used to great effect (and without having to jam a piece of cardboard in the rocker footpedal to hold it in place). Thus far, I think the Boss PQ-4 can do the same thing better, though I'm really impressed with the QZ-1's build quality.
  SN AA49B953, made in USA?.