Boss AD-3

I bought the AD-3 for a specific reason, and that was that I did not trust my band’s sound guy. We were starting to do acoustic gigs, and the sound of my guitar out of the mixing board was less than stellar. I did not want to get an amp since there was a lack of space, and the mixing board and speakers were taking up quite a bit of real estate. I knew that the way to take back control of my sound was going to be at my feet in the form of a pedal (so typical of me to think a pedal could solve a sonic problem).

There are plenty of acoustic preamp pedals out there, but I had very specific needs. I am not an acoustic player in the sense that I have a repertoire of sing-a-long songs, and other acoustic friendly material. My band simply takes our electric show, and with some minor changes plays it on acoustic. My needs at an acoustic show are different that your typical player, but the basics are the same. I am also playing in a band (two guitars, bass, and singer) which requires different sonic necessities. I initially thought about ripping into my electric pedalboard, and stealing an iStomp or two and reprogram them for a 3-band EQ and whatever else I thought I could use. Pulling pedals off my board just wasn’t the best way to go.

I was using a guitar with piezo pick-ups with very little onboard tonal controls- just a volume and tone knob. I needed something to expand my control, and the AD line of Boss acoustic preamps caught my eye. The AD-8 had more bells and whistles than I needed. I settled on the AD-3 since it had enough features for what I was looking for plus a couple of extras. It was designed to work with piezo pick-ups so it seemed like a no brainer to buy the pedal.

Building a pedalboard just for the acoustic shows was where I was heading with the AD-3 anchoring it. I am really impressed with some of the features of this pedal. The anti-feedback is brilliant, the controls are intuitive, and the battery saving measures are excellent. It has a long battery life, but I plugged it in during a live situation to try and take battery failure out of the equation (there is enough to worry about already). The AC adaptor is not included, and must be purchased separately.

The pedal is not without its problems, and those are the things that weigh it down. The reverb is not the best in my opinion, but is workable. The chorus is also workable, but not a stellar effect. Instead of a chorus I’d rather have a delay or a boost feature. I’m not the biggest fan of the chorus effect (I got my fill of it in the 80’s), and I only use it once or twice in a set. When I have a solo I need to cut through other instruments to be heard so I’d rather have a footswitch activated boost instead of chorus. The tone shaping is designed around use with a piezo pick-up, so keep that in mind when checking this pedal out.

Since buying the AD-3 I have upgraded my acoustic guitar to a Breedlove Pursuit Concert Ebony loaded with a Fishman ISYS pick-up. This upgrade in electronics has made the AD-3 obsolete in my live acoustic rig. It is too bulky to add to my electric rig for use with my piezo loaded Telecaster.

In conjunction with a piezo loaded guitar this is a great pedal, but it is not for everyone. Chorus and reverb are not necessarily the effects I would choose to go with an acoustic guitar. The anti-feedback is great, and works well without having to stop playing to take care of the issue. It is well designed, but has a very specific target audience that it can be used by.

This is an acoustic-electric processing pedal. It basically is designed to give your amplified acoustic guitar a better sounding tone than the generally harsh, bright sound that usually occurs. It's not a rackable device, it can't be edited in a computer at all. It uses a typical 1/4" instrument cable input, and has two 1/4" outputs. It uses a power supply that should come with it, but also works on a 9-volt battery.

UTILIZATION

The editing of the effects on this pedal are difficult at first glance for someone who doesn't know what all the terms mean. After a good half hour spent figuring out what each button and switch does, the box becomes pretty easy to use. It's really a matter of finding the sound you want initially and then just leaving it out. The box has two tone knobs (bottom and top), chorus and reverb effect knobs, and an anti-feedback knob. There is also a switch that can activate the automatic anti-feedback option, which tries to eliminate feedback without any manual input on your part. I don't like to read manuals in general, and didn't for this, but having glanced it, I can tell that it is pretty easy to read and understand. It doesn't go into detail describing the sounds, but I'm guessing the sounds describe themselves.

SOUND QUALITY

I only use this with acoustic guitar, and more often than not myself or my bandmate who plays acoustic will run it through a PA. On the off chance we can borrow an amp, we will, and preferably it'll be a Fender Twin. The great thing about this pedal is the fact that it doesn't color the sound in any way that makes it sound inauthentic. In fact, it's not even really possible to EQ it in a really unnatural way. It's main purpose is to reduce the extraneous and unnecessary low and high end that comes with plugging into a PA, or to add enough EQ to make it sound more natural. As far as the anti-feedback effect goes, it's really effective. I would say that taking the time to do it manually is more effective than hitting the auto switch, but the auto switch is handy if you don't have the time to fix the problem. I tend to avoid the chorus effect for the most part, as I don't really use it to get sounds. I use it to more faithfully recreate the sound that my guitar produces when I play it without amplification. I would say that it succeeds as much as I would ever need it to. On occasion I will use the reverb on it however, and while the reverb isn't spectacular, it's hardly bad.

OVERALL OPINION

I like the fact that this pedal manages to give you a realistic acoustic sound in an amplified setting, a constant nightmare for the gigging acoustic player. I think that for the price, this thing can't be beaten. I have heard that there are better pedals that do the same thing out there, but the ones I looked up were crazy expensive. I think that they are probably unnecessarily so, considering how effective this unit is. I would highly recommend this pedal to anyone.

The Boss AD-3 is a digital acoustic instrument processor, best suited for use with acoustic guitar.  It has 1/4 inch connections and is powered by the 9 volt power supply that comes with it.  It isn't a rack mountable unit as it is a stomp box.



UTILIZATION

Using the Boss AD-3 isn't a complicated process at all as it only took me a few minutes to understand exactly what everything does on this unit.  The pedal has knobs for anti-feedback (with the ability to set the frequency), bottom and top (tone knobs), as well as chorus and reverb effects.  The unit has two separate foot switches - one for anti-feeback and one for the chorus effect, both of which come in handy.  The manual for the Boss AD-3 is pretty thorough and well put together, but isn't a necessary thing to have around as it is pretty easy to learn without it.


SOUND QUALITY

The sound quality of the Boss AD-3 is pretty good across the board, but isn't anything to write home about in my opinion.  The parameters certainly do their jobs and the effects are pretty realistic, but I just see myself getting too much out of this pedal at the end of the day.  This probably has to do with the fact that I don't like all that much processing on my acoustic instruments because I love the way they sound on their own!  However, if you are an acoustic guitar player looking for a little spice for your live shows, this will add to your sound.


OVERALL OPINION

I first used the Boss AD-3 about a year or two ago and while it is good at what it does, I'm not a huge fan of the unit in the end.  It is pretty versatile and the effects are nice sounding, but I've never seen myself using this too often.  I would never use this for recording and I really just see it as a live unit if you want a little extra processing to your acoustic sound.  If you are looking for a supplement for your acoustic guitar, I would encourage you to shop around, with the AD-3 being part of what you try out as it does have some things to offer.

This pedal can soften the sound of an electric acoustic guitar and add the trunk.
This is to overcome the sound a bit cold and sharp as obtained with a piezo.
There are two knobs on the pedal for these two functions:
-BOTTOM: add (or remove, depending on which direction you rotate) trunk
-TOP: to soften (or strengthen) the attack

There is also an anti feedback, chorus and reverb.

It's very easy to use.
The only point where we think it is at least 3 seconds on the back.
The connections for connecting the stereo output to a mixing desk or to use only one exit to the table and the other to an amplifier.
There is also a small volume pot (misplaced in fact, why so little and why it all behind?) To adjust the input volume. Loupiotte a light (on top) when the sound clip.
You can use the pedal on batteries (6 AA batteries) but I've never done (I use a power supply).
One button on / off (rear). It's pretty rare these days to be reported.

UTILIZATION

I use this pedal between a solid body nylon (GODIN ACS-SA) and a mixing desk (EDIROL M-10DX).
I do not use anti-feedback (no need: solid body) so I do not will note this point.
Frankly, it's simple to use.

SOUND QUALITY

I will note first the effects achieved with the knobs Bottom / Top, then the chorus and reverb.
Regarding the knobs Bottom / Top, I find it very persuasive.
There is a very good EQ on my Godin, and multiple options on the mixer, but I feel that the knobs Bottom and Top, are more than just fine in the three-band EQ.
The sound of my solid body actually takes the trunk (it does not hurt him) and I get to break a little cutting edge piezo sound. Better than with the EQ of the guitar or the table.

I can not tell you if formally when all knobs are at zero, it returns to its original ... I doubt it ...

on the other hand, chorus and reverb are downright crados.
Why add these super low-end effects on a pedal at 180 euros?
(Rest assured I paid it secondhand).
The chorus is supposed to be stereo but frankly I am perhaps hard of hearing, but not ... sorry to hear the stereo in there it takes at least 4 pairs of ears ...
Finally, it is not too bad it gives me the possibility to have two exits, so it can be used for the signal splitter ...
The worst thing is that the chorus cutting all the bass to your sound ... what's the point of breaking the Nenets to resolve the BOTTOM when the chorus cuts his grass underfoot?
The reverb is super ugly and digital, as soon as you attack the strings have just heard an old pop in echo.

The score given here emphasizes the Bottom / Top, chorus and reverb is useless gadgets.

OVERALL OPINION

The acoustic guitar preamp pedals are all expensive, very expensive, too expensive (BBE acoustimax, LRbaggs DI, etc ...).
Boss pedals are no exception to the rule.
I recommend this pedal anyway if you want to add some natural sound of your electro-acoustic ...

The result is efficient.

Last point: never used on an electric ... I do not ... This pedal you it will transform your Telecaster Archtop?