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King Loudness « Great hard rock tones »
Published on 10/12/11 at 07:41The BOSS Power Stack ST2 is a more recent offering in the company's group of various and sundry dirt boxes. It's basically designed to ape the classic tones out of a driven amp stack such as a Marshall or Mesa Boogie but in a convenient stompbox package. It features all of the standard controls such as level, EQ controls, and drive. It's housed in the standard BOSS chassis and can powered by 9v battery or by an adaptor. It's a very typical and easy to use setup and it has worked for the company for many years.
UTILIZATION
Getting a good tone out of this pedal is simple and effective thanks to the layout BOSS provides. The controls do exactly what you would expect and there is no surprise learning curve like with some other drive pedals on the market today. I found the Power Stack to sound pretty awesome regardless of what I set the controls to. The drive control has a nice sweep to go from lower gain Led Zeppelin or Cream type tones to some awesome high intensity modern rock and metal textures. Very cool.
SOUND QUALITY
I've tried the Power Stack with various guitars and I can definitely say I prefer it with humbuckers for the extra sizzle and crunch factor that it gets. I found that using it with single coils sounded a tad anemic and underpowered for a killer biting rock tone. However when I introduced some humbuckers onto the equation, that's when the pedal really came alive and into its element. Whether I was playing rhythm or lead, rock or metal, the ST2 kept up with vigor and drive to spare. It has a surprisingly tubelike feel and response and lacked the compression of many other pedals that claim to emulate that cranked amp sound, but fall short.
OVERALL OPINION
All in all I think the BOSS ST2 Power Stack is a definite step in the right direction for the company. It combines a great and classic interface with excellent tubelike tone and feel. Add to this a low price and the backing of the pedal by the storied BOSS name and you're onto a real winner for sure. Definitely check one out if you get the chance!
UTILIZATION
Getting a good tone out of this pedal is simple and effective thanks to the layout BOSS provides. The controls do exactly what you would expect and there is no surprise learning curve like with some other drive pedals on the market today. I found the Power Stack to sound pretty awesome regardless of what I set the controls to. The drive control has a nice sweep to go from lower gain Led Zeppelin or Cream type tones to some awesome high intensity modern rock and metal textures. Very cool.
SOUND QUALITY
I've tried the Power Stack with various guitars and I can definitely say I prefer it with humbuckers for the extra sizzle and crunch factor that it gets. I found that using it with single coils sounded a tad anemic and underpowered for a killer biting rock tone. However when I introduced some humbuckers onto the equation, that's when the pedal really came alive and into its element. Whether I was playing rhythm or lead, rock or metal, the ST2 kept up with vigor and drive to spare. It has a surprisingly tubelike feel and response and lacked the compression of many other pedals that claim to emulate that cranked amp sound, but fall short.
OVERALL OPINION
All in all I think the BOSS ST2 Power Stack is a definite step in the right direction for the company. It combines a great and classic interface with excellent tubelike tone and feel. Add to this a low price and the backing of the pedal by the storied BOSS name and you're onto a real winner for sure. Definitely check one out if you get the chance!