Grateful

I'm always grateful to colleagues who remember me for who I am; someone who is very gear-inclined. Guitar spoon: Was given by a colleague who was away in Japan for a holiday. She thought of me the instant she saw this. Clip-on tuner: My previous clip-on tuner which I kept at work had become dodgy over time. My colleague acknowledged the situation & secretly bought me this BOSS version. This was given to me during the end-of-year / Xmas gift exchange event before I said goodbye to the organization. It's good to have such colleagues.

What's the FUZZ about?

I'm not a fuzz fan. Don't see myself embracing 'em fuzz pedals & abandoning distortions & drives. Yes, I understand the fact that drives, distortion & fuzzes are the products of signal clipping. The music genre that I'm inclined to, renders some of these clippings unsuitable. So why the FZ-5?

Currently, I'm on a doom itch & nothing supplements doom better than the fuzz. In the mean time, I own fuzz pedals by EHX & Seymour Duncan but my current fav is the RAT pedal. Purists would argue that the RAT is a distortion that sounds fuzzy so it's not a bona fide fuzz unit. Whatever your perspective on the matter, I needed more tone references to finally decide what works best. I still believe BOSS is the standard to beat when it comes to drives, distortions & fuzzes hence the FZ-5 acquisition. Still testing it with some guitars in the mean time. 

Shift

A new one by BOSS but not entirely new. We've come across various pitch-shifting pedals by BOSS & they were great, to say the least. I used to have the Pitch Shifter (PS-5) before moving on to the Harmonist (PS-6). All these because I decided to try a friend's PS-2 which he used for delay applications more than pitch shifting. The buy-in here is the absence of latency issues which should be the primary considerations before buying any pitch shifting pedals because these are not cheap. Also, forget about using batteries for these units, the power will last about 15min at best. 

The XS-1 appeals on grounds of simplicity. Just two knobs controlling how much shifted notes are in the mix (BALANCE) & what type of shifting takes place - upwards / downwards displacement (SHIFT). Also, for those of us who are quickly dazed by terminologies, the XS-1 keeps references in the average Joe territory; how much shifting do you want - a semitone / two semitones / three semitones? Unlike key references of the previous iterations. 

Pic: BOSS

Rotating BOSS

Didn't realize this was new. It won't be a hit with someone like your truly here who doesn't give a hoot about creating a panned tremolo effect for guitar. That's how I understand the rotating speaker effect to be for want of a deeper appreciation of this effect type. Anyway, there's will definitely be fans of this pedal if Hendrix & Pink Floyd are your thing. Some contextual understanding here:

Pic: BOSS

D-Trio

After years of living dangerously with high gain amps, I still include a distortion pedal in my set up. I have this trio out most of the time. 

The Malmsteen is the newest in the group. It's been labelled as an overdrive my the manufacturer & Malmsteen himself refers to it as one. I hear very hard clippings coming out of this one so calling it an OD is a little deceiving. 

The Dragon Hound is a good catch at SV's closing down sale, it was on 40% discount if memory serves me right. Also, this is the second gen illustration, the initial iteration featured a dragon / canine graphic befitting of the name but this comical edition does not make it a lesser pedal; it's one of the best 2-in-1 distortion unit I own. 

Of coure, the distortion that started it all - BOSS' DS-1 - is still a constant reference for my needs. This dilapidated pedal is the prized Japanese version which I received as a supplementary unit when purchasing a used guitar back in my pre-cancer days.

There's no firm favourite, I will deploy the preferred pedal according to my needs.

Dual DL

If you are waiting for this to debut here then be informed that it's now available at Swee Lee: $329. I'm not a delay fan & after trying this one out briefly, I personally feel I can make do with the DD-3 / DD-7. I don't own any more BOSS delay pedals in the mean time & this did not entice me to want a delay pedal per se.

Pic: BOSS USA

BOSS cables

OK... so the BOSS camp is wary of our need for coloured cables, especially the ones that match our BOSS pedals. As such, pertinent time & resources went into the production of the BIC-10A cables offered in the various colour iterations you see above. In the mean time, some of us are still holding on to our vintage neon Spectraflex cables.

Pic: BOSS 

Chorus-ing

Will be away form guitars for a while.

I don't like my bass tones distorted / driven. I feel that the chorus gives bass notes more definition while maintaining the lower frequency boom. In any case, bass is not my main instrument, it's there to trigger ideas.

Mini X

In this age where portability is synonymous with plug-ins, BOSS decided they would wanna keep this aspect analog & spruce up its Katana Mini into the Katana Mini-X (above). Folks, this is a strict practice grade amp devoid of any plugin access via phone / computer. It also runs on an internal battery so charging is a must before use. This time, all controls are located in front as opposed to the previous iteration where these were on top.

I would leave you to check out the other specs at your own time but the 3 channels + variation feature is by far my favourite revision. This means, in any channel, you can activate the VARIATION switch to get a differentiated tone for various applications. Here's the official promo clip: 

Pics: BOSS

Hot deals: BOSS FZ-1w

Folks, some of us are already in the market for good deals at this year end. Swee Lee's Hot Deals section has some stuff for your consideration. The pedal depicted above is one of them & I recommend it to players who are in search of a good fuzz unit (with a Japanese pedigree) without the obligations to embrace the Electro Harmonix name. Then again, EH is the standard to beat when it comes to all things fuzz. 😅

Heavy zone

I have a love-hate affair with DiMarzio's Tone Zone. In some guitars it sounds downright nasal with a semi-useless bass response. That fuzzed-out sound... I hate it. In others, it can really give a good punch to heavy distortion. Depicted above is the Tone Zone in my Ibanez SEW761. It sounds awful most of the time (in this guitar).

Today, I decided to pair it up with the Digital Metalizer (MZ-2). Outcome:

• the TZ has an excessive bass response so the MZ-2's EQ was set past midway to enhance treble
• overall tone was more usable in chorus modes. It seems that the TZ needs some kind of a top end booster to make the overall tone less nasal / fuzzy
• tone sounds more palatable when the drive was set to about 3/4 way. Implication - the TZ might be better for crunchy stuff rather than all out metal

Verdict: Nothing changes. The TZ is more of a miss than a hit for me. Strangely, I would want to hear it in action every now & then 😅

IR

Being an amp person, this BOSS IR-2 is an unnecessary acquisition. I need a new phone more than a new pedal but the funds went to the latter. I intend to bring this along for external use - 1) In the office where the current amp is a solid state Roland meant for keyboards 2) When trying out guitars in the store, so that my tone would be less wimpy. 

By the way, someone is not too pleased with the pre-breakfast photo shoot session. 

Katana GEN 3

Was at Swee Lee (Star Vista) yesterday but not specifically there to check this amp out but it was there  - BOSS Katana GEN 3 50W ($399).

My immediate interest was to see if the new PUSHED mode is something potent in terms of distortion / gain. If you are looking for a saturated distortion with a hint of fuzz, then you might like it. If you own the pre-GEN 3 version of the Katana, you are not missing much in this aspect. 

Pics: BOSS

GEN 3

There's a mixed reception when it comes to the new Katana GEN 3 amps. Those who already liked the previous iterations will continue to love this version while skeptics continue to question the minor addition in features. Whatever the case may be, I'm of the opinion that the amp per se is a good sounding amp with enough on board features to exclude additional pedals while in use. This is of course based on my experiences with the previous iterations. These amps are now available at Swee Lee less the head version you see here. 

A quick demo by Alex Hutchings to hear the amp's potential which may / may not be your thing. In any case, it gives you an idea of the amp's clean / driven applications.

Pic: BOSS

Metalizing

A friend was in Japan recently & he happened to be in a music store. He asked me if there's any guitar pedals that perhaps he could purchase on my behalf. Since the acquisition of an amp with the type of distortion / overdrive that I prefer, I have stopped looking & pedals. However, the MZ-2 (together with the HM-2) are some of the potent intense distortion type pedal back in its time.

To be continued...

New boost

A few days ago, I sold off one of my acoustic guitars in preparation for the upcoming unemployment days. It's insufficient to see things through but it's better than no money at all. There was an unexpected windfall along the way so I managed to get the BOSS BP-1w. These days, I'm more interested in acquiring (affordable) gear to beef up my tone so this, to me, was a good buy especially when I get to use accumulated Swee Lee membership points for discounts. Full appraisal soon.

Harmonizing

Another adventure out of the comfort zone. Got this for a good price, the former owner is not really a guitar person, more like a sonic experimentalist. So far, I'm using this to somehow make my solos more interesting. To me, it's not really suitable for extended riffs. A proper appraisal to come.

In synth

I had given up my EHX 9-Series pedals, you know, the ones that emulate organ, synth, etc. I'm sticking to this one for similar applications. Got this used. It's an OK pedal if you are not too explicit with your emulation requirements. Not battery friendly, though. 

More 50th

More 50th Anniversary BOSS pedals are now available at Swee Lee. If you are looking for a differentiated tone from something that is already available in the market for a good while, then don't bother. If you don't mind spending on something collectible, then these prices are good.

DS 50th

A totally unnecessary purchase - another DS-1. But this is a special one, released in a darker shade of orange.

Because it's an anniversary edition. By the way, it's 50th Anniversary not 50 Year Anniversary. Available at Swee Lee now (List: $129).