SeriesBoss Twin Pedals

The Boss SL-20 Slicer is a somewhat unique and definitely unique pedal for use with electric guitar and other electric instruments. The name doesn’t give away too much, but essentially it’s a pedal that chops your sound and turns it into kind of a percussive groove. If you’re seriously interested in the pedal, check out some videos as hearing it for yourself will do better than any description. The pedal is the dual foot switch design rather than the compact pedals that most Boss pedals are. It’s got ¼” connections for inputs and stereo outputs, while it’s powered up by a nine volt power supply (or batteries). It’s not a rack mountable piece of gear. UTILIZATION Using the pedal isn’t too hard, but there’s a ton that can be achieved with it, so there is in turn a lot to know about. I’ve really only scratched the surface when it comes to the SL-20 as I’ve only used limitedly since I don’t own it. I haven’t delved into everything the pedal has to offer, but it’s got 50 different slice patterns with a tap tempo option, looping, and all sorts of effects. You can also do a great deal with panning with the pedal. A manual might be a good idea for new users, but I haven’t seen it so I don’t know how well put together it is. SOUND QUALITY The sounds possible with the Boss SL-20 Slicer are definitely unlike that you’ll find on many pedals out there. In fact, I can’t really think of any other pedals that can do quite what this one does. It’s a really fun pedal to mess around with and I think if you owned one, you’d be using it in a lot of songs since it can really add a lot. For me, it’s not the kind of effect I’d be using very often at all, but it’s certainly cool to have around in the studio. OVERALL OPINION The Boss SL-20 Slicer is a pretty awesome pedal overall. It’s not the most practical effect for me, but I can definitely see how players would get a lot of mileage from it. It’s not very cheap since it’s one of these larger Boss pedals, but it’s still not too expensive and it’s built incredibly well, as is the case with all Boss pedals. I’d recommend checking out the SL-20 since it’s a unique and interesting effect, but I don’t think most people are going to be needing it very often and therefore probably won’t need to buy it, but it’s a very cool effect to have around in the studio at least.

What Roland Boss tells you that you get, is what you get. In this case, it's a graphic equalizer for guitar with 10 bands and nine memory slots along with a single setting you can change as you like. The bands on the pedal are predetermined, as with all other graphic equalizers. The technology utilized in this one, is a mix between analog and digital, as you set the bands with physical faders, but store the presets on a chip. If the presets then run out through an analog fader or use a digital circuit to recreate the EQ settings. Although it is part digital, you can't program it through a computer. UTILIZATION The general setup and editing of the parameters on the equalizer is simple. So simple in fact, that you should not need to have a look at the manual and a young kid would be able to do it (granted, the new generation is schooled with computers in general!) The problems arise, when you want to use a preset. You need to change preset with your fingers, as there are no footswitch for this function. This is a huge problem, if you want/need to change the preset during a performance. It's a big drawback, and you can have as many memory options as you want, but if you're not able to access them, when you need them - what does it help then? SOUND QUALITY The quality of the equalized signal is good. As with other pedals changing the level of your signal (i.e overdrive and distortion effects), remember to balance out the input and output! From the factory, they give you six presets for guitar, and three for bass. These are a good staring point, if you are not sure how to use the pedal in the right way. OVERALL OPINION It's a fine pedal, but not one that I will recommend to much, as you have the huge issue of not being able to access the presets in an easy way, during a performance. Look at the baby brother like the GE-7 or the MXR products. They cost a bit more compared to what you get, but the quality and simplicity is much better. If you don't have any issues changing presets with your hands, go for it.

# BOSS' most powerful delay pedal with up to 23 seconds of delay # 11 delay modes including classic tape delay and sound-on-sound recording # New “Smooth” and “Twist” modes for subtle or radical delay effects # Memory function for changing delay modes seamlessly # New push-button knob for setting delay time in fine or coarse adjustments * E. LEVEL/F. BACK/TONE knobs are set to the center position Display Custom LCD (with backlit) Controls ON/OFF Pedal, MEMORY/TAP Pedal, DELAY TIME Knob, E.LEVEL Knob, F. BACK Knob, TONE Knob, MODE Knob, TAP Button, TEMPO Button, MEMORY WRITE Button, MEMORY SELECT Button Connectors INPUT A (MONO) Jack (1/4 inch phone type) INPUT B Jack (1/4 inch phone type) PHONES Jack (stereo 1/4 inch phone type) CTL PEDAL Jack (1/4 inch phone type) OUTPUT A (MONO) Jack (1/4 inch phone type) OUTPUT B Jack (1/4 inch phone type) AC Adaptor Jack This is a pretty well thought out digital delay pedal. It's sort of meant to be the all-in-one delay pedal with everything included. Meaning all types of delay effects including a tap tempo as well as 4 banks that you can have your preset delays set to. It also has spillover, so when you turn it off or on you'll hear the left over echo. UTILIZATION Not TOO simple to use, since it's a dual pedal it's got quite a few functions so it'll take a little longer to properly figure out. But after a few twists and turns and experimenting, any guitar player should be able to figure out how to work it on a regular basis! The manual is very necessary to understand all the little things that you might not get from just playing around with it. EG for the presets, you can change the how the lighting pattern is, things like that. You can run the pedal as a stereo setup or mono setup, it has enough ins and outs for both depending on what kind of rig you have and whatnot. SOUND QUALITY I think it sounds great. I've heard this used live and used it live myself and haven't had many problems with it. The LED screen is big and legible, though the brightness could be brighter as I always prefer it to be brighter for live stage use. Otherwise majority of the delay sounds are quite good. I use the regular digital, analog and tape echo quite a few times. The SOS not so much, it seemed to be more of an afterthought idea to add onto the pedal so it isn't very tweakable. The tone is generally very crisp and clear, and thus 'digital' however there's also the tone knob available on the unit so you can actually EQ it a bit to make it sound warmer, duller or brighter and even more pristine! How cool is that? OVERALL OPINION Overall, great all-in-one delay pedal. Loads of variety, and good sounding overall delay. A lot of thought has been put into this to make this a programmable and usable live pedal as well. There are lots of functions and lots to go through, if you want to get the best out of this I'd definitely recommend skimming through the manual.

The Boss RT-20 Rotary Ensemble is a digital guitar effects pedal that emulates a rotary effect. It has 1/4 inch inputs and outputs and is powered by the power supply that comes with it. It is not a rackable unit as it is a guitar stomp box. UTILIZATION The general configuration of the pedal is pretty simple, but takes a little time to get used to it as there are a lot of different parameters to control different things. The knobs it has includes one to choose between four different modes, one for effect level, one for direct signal level, one for rise time, one to balance between the bass and horn level, which is kind of like tone, one for overdrive, and one each to control either slow or fast, referring to the speed. The manual is complete and helpful when learning this pedal. SOUND QUALITY The sound quality of the Boss RT-20 is pretty awesome. It basically emulates all types of rotary sounds like a sound from a leslie speaker or a chorus like sound. I have only used this with guitar, as that is what I play, but it would definitely work well with other electronic instruments like an electric piano, or even an organ that needs a leslie simulator. The overall sound is rich and full and the variety of effects is pretty outstanding. The many different modes and parameters allows for this to be a pretty versatile pedal. OVERALL OPINION I've been using the Boss RT-20 Rotary Ensemble for about a year and I have found it to be a great tool when looking for rotary type effects. It is built extremely well, and has the Boss seal that I have come to trust. Once you learn what everything does on this pedal, the possibilities are pretty much endless. While it isn't the cheapest Boss pedal, it is reasonable considering how much you are getting with this pedal. It probably isn't as good as the Hughes & Ketner Rotosphere, but it will cost you less and probably has a wider array of tones. All in all, if you're looking for a leslie simulator or a rotary type sound, definitely check out this pedal.

I bought this unit at a local music stor for $400 (canadian), the price seems a bit high, but this little box lets you have 5 different types of distortion (4 memories and whatever you have the knobs set to), and to buy 5 different distortion stompboxes (even cheap ones) would cost more, plus i live in a fairly rural area, so if you live a city it would probably cost alot less. I like just about everything about this effect. you can choose between 22 base types of distortion that you can make you 5 settings from, so no matter what style you play, this things got it covered. this box gives you alot more freedom to explore and find the sound you want than a single effect does. i would definatly recommend it to anyone who is looking to buy a distortion effect, especially if, like me you would prefere to have more than one type of distorion available. the fact that you have to cycle through all five settings in a certain order can be anoying, but you can set it on a different memory mode that gets around this, or you can just be quick with your foot, but besides that its an amazing pedal if you've been looking at any reviews of boss products they all say that their built like tanks. its true, boss made this unit to take what ever kind of abuse you give it, tho I dont see why anyone would want to try and break it, I'm betting nothing short of a large sledge hammer/axe and a body builder with anger problems could evn sratch this thing. if your looking for quality construction in guitar efects, ur honestly not gonna find any thing that beats boss, ask anyone. bottom line: the tone quality of the efects is amazing, which is the most important part. the thing won't break under anything close to normal use. the price is kinda high, but its well worth it, and to buy 5 effects of this quality would put yoor wallet quite a bit farther into the gutter. also I would recommend buying the ac adaptor for it, since it takes 6 batteries at a time, and I've heard they dont last too long. all-in-all, this is an amazing product and if you can afford it I would highly recommend it. This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

If you like having effects on your should you probably want to have a tape delay unit. Real tape delay units are becoming very expensive. They require constant maintenence and replacement tape is getting hard to find. With technology now you are able to get a pedal that can simulate all the nuances of a real tape delay in a digital unit. With the RE-20 Boss has been able to replicate the classic Roland RE-201 SPace Echo in digital form. If you remember the old RE-201 it was a big monster of a unit full of delicate electronics and tape. The RE-20 is a twin pedal unit with 8 knobs on the front. The pedals control the on and off of the delay and the tap function. The 8 knobs are Bass, Treble, Reverb volume, Repeat Rate, Intensity and Echo volume. There is also a large 12 mode selector. The unit also had twin inputs and outputs. It also has a jack for an expression pedal UTILIZATION The win pedals are large but they are not labeled. All the knobs are large and labeled. The knobs are big enough to where you can adjust the settings on the fly. The peak level LED is nice so you can see how hard you are pushing the pedal. The tap tempo pedal does what it says. It allows you to tap out a tempo for the delay. If you hold down the tap pedal it also allows you to change the intensity of the delay. You can use batteries but I would not recommend it. A pedal this large will go through batteries very fast. SOUND QUALITY It has a normal mode and long mode. Normal mode gets you up to 3 seconds of delay while long mode gets you up to 6 seconds of delay. The 12 mode selector replicates the 12 modes the original tape delay had. The RE-201 had different modes that used the different tape heads to get different sounds from the delay. The RE-20 simulates this digitally. Some of these different modes are a bit noisy. This may also be on purpose replicating the extra noise you would get from a real tape delay unit. At subtle setting it can act like a reverb pedal and at extreme settings the sound is extreme. Turning up the reverb can get you some crazy sounds. You can even get some wah sounds with this. OVERALL OPINION If you want or had an old Roland RE-201 tape delay and are looking for something cheaper and more reliable this could be the unit for you. It has a ton of features more than anyone should need from just a delay pedal and with its modern design it should last you a long time.