Boss PS-6 Harmonist

The Boss PS-6 can produce muti guitar sounds to emulate two or even three guitars playing at once. It has jacks for stereo use and even a jack to utilze an expression pedal with this unit. You can set your harmonies for major or minor keys and with the Key knob pick your exact key. The pitch shifter and detune option is also available for selection with the mode button. It also comes with a very detailed owners manual.

UTILIZATION

The utilization of this unit and how easy it is depends on what your use will be. I have found the Harmonist features to be a bit difficult to master. I also feel that this is maybe too much functionality for a stomp box. It gets hard to keep track of the different modes within this small unit as the knobs do different things depending on which mode you are in. The manual is detailed but this still seems a bit complex for a stomp box.

SOUND QUALITY

The sound quality is ok but I have played better Harmonists and better units that emulate Harmony a bit better than this unit. That being said, there may be those that can dial this in better than I can which speaks to the ease of use I referenced above. I think something like the GT-10 is much better for simulating multi-guitar scenarios that sound realistic and is easier to figure out.

OVERALL OPINION

The one shining feature of this unit is the detune setting which basically simulates a whammy bar. I play a Les Paul and play in a cover band so every now and then need to do a dive bomb and for that, this is perfect! I suppose if you are looking for a basic Harmonist that can do the job, this is sufficient but I have played and gigged with better units for simulating multiple guitars, the GT-10 for one. If you want to simulate a dive bomb on a fixed bridge guitar, go and get one today and you won't be sorry. The other thing that is tough with this unit is that when transporting, it is so easy to twist up the knobs and figuring out where your settings were can be a pain. As I said the complexity built into this little unit makes for a lot of choices on the 4 knobs which is a minus in the ease of use category. All in all does the job but there are better options for Harmonists.

Boss recently released the PS-6 Harmonist Pitch Shifter. This unit picks up where the PS-4 and PS-5 have left off.

I was in my local guitar shop and thought I'd check this out. I always loved the guitar work of Boston and Queen and thought this would get me into the ballpark. New the pedal is $139.

So many options in this tiny pedal. You can go down 3 octaves or up 4, add that in with your current instruments range and you are covering a whole lot of ground!

Other options are harmony based on keys. Enter in whatever key you are in with the option of major or minor and choose the interval you'd like harmonized.

There is a blend knob to adjust how much effected and dry signal you want.

Stereo outputs, mono input and an option expression pedal out (I have not tried this, but image it does what the Digitech Whammy does)

Saved presets would be an amazing feature to be added, but in reality are you going to use harmony guitar on EVERY song?

The standard, you gotta be doing something absolutely crazy to break this construction that has been offered by Boss for years.

The finish is a bright blue and has the same jack locations and power input as most Boss pedals

Add a new dimension and range to your instrument. Easy to use out of the box and the tracking is exceptional.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

The Boss PS-6 Harmonist is a very simple, but highly effective octave pedal. The pedal has a pretty standard make up in terms of it's general characteristics, consisting of 1/4" connections for your input and output, and requiring power from a nine volt battery or power supply. The pedal has true bypass, so you won't get any signal loss when the pedal is disengaged. The PS-6 Harmonist isn't rackable as it's a stomp box.


UTILIZATION

The make up of the PS-6 Harmonist really couldn't be any simpler. The three parameters that the pedal has are for controlling the direct level, octave up level, and octave down level. You can blend the three of these any which way you like, which can give you a variety of results. I've never seen the manual for PS-6 Harmonist , nor do I think I ever will.


SOUND QUALITY

The overall sound of the PS-6 Harmonist makes it one of the cleanest sounding octave pedals that I've used to date. Most of this has to do with the tracking, as it's got awesome tracking that doesn't break up unless you try to play too many notes at once. I like both the octave down and octave up sounds equally, but I do think that the tracking is slightly better on the octave down. It's great that you can also blend the two of them, with or without the original signal in there.


OVERALL OPINION

If you're looking for an awesome octave pedal for guitar, the PS-6 Harmonist is probably the pedal I'd recommend you check out first. There is a newer version of the Octron, the Octron 2, which is a bit more in depth, but I like this simpler one just fine. It's not going to be the cheapest pedal on the market, but I do think it's reasonably priced considering the high quality the pedal is made at. This is one of my favorite octave pedals that is currently available new for sure...

This is the digital
Several very nice effects:
- A pitch shifter
- The ability to add harmonies to the notes (a third, a fifth, a seventh, an octave above or above) and even harmonies 3 ratings
- The detuned, very friendly, giving an effect of tune as its name suggests, makes great
- My favorite, the S-Bend or Great Bend down or up a shot of one or more octaves (like early Black Keys Lonely Boy for example)

UTILIZATION

Use not necessarily obvious at first, except for the S-bend, you tame!

SOUND QUALITY

The pitch sounds and harmony sound a bit artificial, but it looks good!
The S-Bend is great, and the detuned
I use it with or without distortion (with a good fuzz on the S-Bend, slap!)

OVERALL OPINION

I use it for over a year now, I'm glad I did not change.
I would have tried the expression pedal with the most precision.
It is a bit pricey, but worth it I think