Boss AC-2 Acoustic Simulator

The Boss AC-2 is an attempt at trying to replicate that electrified acoustic sound with a guitar. To be honest, it doesn't really achieve that acoustic sound, but it does deliver an interesting clean tone if you're looking for something almost sitar-ish at points. The pedal is actually packed full of features. It has knobs for level, body, tone and has a four way rotary switch for different modes that you can choose from: standard, enhance, jumbo, and piezo.

UTILIZATION

Boss pedals are always built like tanks. I've seen these pedals go through hell and back, and they always seem to be able to survive. One cool thing about these pedals is that they're FET based, so if you are running a long chain of cable, this can help boost the signal. On the other hand, they kinda suck a little bit of tone, although some are worse than others. The manual for Boss pedals is always very clearly laid out, and they give different example tone settings that you can mess around with. I find that the pedals tend to be so easy to use that you don't even need to read the manual, but for those who want to know every little thing about the pedal, it's there for you.

SOUND QUALITY

The sound is where this kind of falls short. The pedal doesn't really turn the guitar into a convincing acoustic sound. About the only thing that'll truly make a guitar sound like an acoustic would be piezo equipped saddles, but those are pretty invasive if the guitar didn't already come installed with them. The pedal has four different modes you an choose from, and while they do sound a bit different from each other, I never found myself really caring which mode it was on. I normally just stuck it on the piezo mode and went from there. I was able to get a pretty cool sitar-like effect out of this, but it didn't have the sustain I was looking for.

OVERALL OPINION

The pedals are interesting, but if you're looking to turn your electric into an acoustic, look elsewhere. If you're looking to experiment with a different type of clean sound you normally wouldn't be able to get, this could be the pedal you're looking for. These go pretty cheap on the used market, so it's not a big deal to buy one just to mess with it.

When I first heard about the acoustic simulation pedals I was a little bit leery of how good the simulation would sound. Then I heard Slash from Velvet Revolver and Guns N Roses use one live in some gig I saw on tv. To my pleasant surprise it actually sounded pretty good. He was playing a Gibson Les Paul and those guitars can be very girthy and robust on tone and to get a guitar like that to sound like a wood hollow body it a big feat of strength.


Delivers amazing acoustic guitar simulation using a standard electric guitar
Four acoustic "modes" give guitarists distinct acoustic sounds: "Standard," "Jumbo," "Enhanced" and "Piezo"
"Top" knob adjusts the effect's overall brilliance and harmonics
"Body" adjusts the resonance of the simulated acoustic guitar body
Individual outputs for effected and un-effected sound allow for the use of separate signal chains and amplifiers

UTILIZATION

Specifications

Controls: Level, Body, Top, 4-way Mode switch
Connectors: Input, E.G. Out, Output, AC Adaptor
Current Draw: 18 mA (DC 9V)
Weight: 440 g (1 lb.)
Nominal Input Level: -20dBm
Input Impedance: 1Mohm
Nominal Output Level: -20dBm
Output Impedance: 1kohm
Residual Noise Level: -80dBm (IHF-A weighted, typ. BODY: center, Top:center)
Recommended AC Adaptor: PSA Series


SOUND QUALITY

This pedal does work and works very well. Let me be very clear, it will not replace the tone of a real acoustic guitar no matter how trashy a cheap acoustic guitar sounds. If you have a cheap acoustic guitar, that guitar will sound better and more natural than an electric guitar using this pedal. However, this is great for a gigging musician that has an acoustic part in a sound and needs to switch quickly to an electric part of a song.

The tone of this pedal is decent for the playing who doesn't want to carry an acoustic guitar to a gig and only use it for minimal parts. You can just bring this pedal and your favorite electric guitar and have that acoustic sound quickly and easily for live uses.

OVERALL OPINION

I would not recommend this pedal as a replacement for an acoustic guitar in a recording session. This pedal will not get the hollow tone or organic feeling of a real acoustic guitar.

These pedals have now been replaced with the AC-3 which is a little bit better because it has reverb in the pedal and that is the only difference.