That fact that you guys are showcasing a direct competitor's products for the sheer purpose of helping us all find more cool stuff, is just awesome. You guys are truly the best.
Dude, this channel is effing rad! Something about this dude's whole shtick is just wildly entertaining; maybe it's the juxtaposition between the enthusiasm and the deadpan. I love the nerding out on these obscure pedals, the jams, and free music. Thank you.
My first pedal was a Metal Zone, and i thought it was the coolest sound ever, then everyone told me how terrible that sound was. You, sir, have really brought me back to loving Boss. I thank you for it, every time I buy a Boss pedal, I feel a ton of pride. Thanks Josh!!
Keeping the gain control low makes it sound better! It's a high gain pedal by "birth" so it sounds better with almost the lowest amount of gain. This from my personal experience (I have one).
@@_fabio1978 The Mid control was also very misunderstood by a lot of people (myself included, at the beginning). People instinctively cut the mids for the "chug" sound and promptly lost themselves in the mix with their recordings/bands, and neutralized a lot of the MT-2's natural tonal character to boot
I discovered this guy through Paul Gilbert. Watching an interview he did with him about his pedal, and am so glad I found him. His sense of humor alone makes it worthwhile to watch!
I own the terra echo but then again I buy all the boss echo/delay pedals. Gotta have em all. I also have the combo drive. I didn't buy it myself and its the last christmas gift I got from my mom before she passed away so I am never ever getting rid of it. Great show as always, have a nice weekend and stay safe everyone
@@banyarling lol, can't say it has made me seasick but there is a eerie character to a lot of the sounds. It conjours the feeling of what I imagine tumbling away from earth in a space suit would sound like if it was a pedal. Peace
My moms bought me a pedal for Christmas too. Great moms buy their sons pedals for Christmas... Josh can use that on a T Shirt (don't say I never contributed to the channel). You like the Combo Drive, I've always seen it, but never knew it was an AC clone? AC's were NEVER on my radar until I recently discovered their sound, I know, I know, I'm really, really stupid and that has been pointed out to me on a surprisingly regular basis, but now I'm head over heals for AC's, they're perfect for me, like an angry, strung out Fender that somehow still has hope, which pretty much sums me up. I always thought they were, like, a Beatles' amp, so just nostalgic old timeey guitar wankery keeping them alive. Anyway, how's that Combo Driver? Lol, sorry for the tangency.
I agree with what you said about not letting people on guitar forums decide your pedals for you. Forums can be helpful to understand the pros and cons of certain pedals, but everyone has different tastes and you should always get the pedals YOU want, not what someone else thinks is best. A good example of this is my Boss AC-2 Acoustic simulator. After a year of hesitation (caused by haters of that pedal on forums), I finally got it and it's absolutely fantastic! Turns out the reason it gets hated is because everyone just plugs them into guitar amps which isn't what it's designed for, they're for acoustic/bass amps or PA's, and for switching to acoustic tones mid-song, rather than a permanent replacement of an acoustic guitar.
I liked the one I used with a solid state Fender amp; a Stage 100(original, no DSP one). I agree with everything you said, and I would add that many are expecting too much from it. If one goes by your tips for use, it works really well, and the sound will be great.
I've bought a bunch of pedals recently based in part on forum opinions and videos by various peeps on youtube. And the one I enjoy the most is the the "officially bad" Boss Metal Zone because it makes fun noises.
Yeah, that AC-2 is an interesting one. It's cool going into a really clean amp, but not much good for other purposes. And yes, it's for switching to an acoustic part or one song. I plan to sell mine since I only use it with chorus for a faux mandolin sound. It doesn't work with my rig.
hmm guitar players using gear improperly and blaming an entire pedigree of gear (digital) ? nawwww ... could never happen . guitar players going all over the internet proclaiming every single piece of gear thats i not presently on their board as "total garbage" nooo , that could never happen . guitar players acting like they own vintage tube analog gear and knowing the difference between a vintage tube amp and a 20 year old 20 dollar digitech doorstop well yes , most of the guys online who go on and on about how great tube gear is , i would be surprised if they ever saw a tube amp . the players who understand gear know it does not define us as musicians. yes it is important to some extent but its not something you JUDGE other people on . someone can have great tone and that might not have much to do with what they play thru , they may just be the type who knows how to make any rig sound good . thats the player i strive to be . also , putting others down online because they dont use the same gear you do is not going to get you a sexual partner , and if thats why you started making music well no wonder i dont have anything in common with these a-holes .
I used to use that pedal way back in the day. i thought it was great. I connected it to the PA system through a DI box. Very handy from changing to electric to acoustic guitar sounds and back again on the fly. Then I sold it because I got a guitar with the piezo pickups in it which I thought sounded better than the pedal did.
My very first pedal was the FB-2. I love it. It was really fun being able to get feedback from my tiny fender amp at age 13 without driving my parents nuts
the pw-2 is my "clean tone" in my band, it's all over our record. it's SO unique, the EQ is almost like the HM-2, but has this... glassiness to the high end, i love it.
The Tera Echo was my first and only pedal for my first 5 years of learning. I think it is pretty popular with film audio people because you can make Scifi folly sounds with it like laser blasters etc.
Sorry I missed that. Was there a good local music scene here then? Only been in Jax since 2007 and it’s been a while since I saw any actual local bands- long before covid.
@@naturaljoe759 the mid 90s to early 2000s was a really healthy time for jax indie/post hardcore. einstein a go go, the theory shop and stripmine records really were the glue around those times. there were also some really cool house venues. unfortunately, it ain't what it was but, there are some youngsters doing the dang thang these days.
The XT-2 Xtortion needs to be added to this list. Produced for less than a year, came out around the same time as the PW-2. Also the XT-2 has a red sparkle finish
@@Crodon We all have different tastes. I should mention I was using it in parallel so that could easily be the difference. I actually don't have it on my pedal board. I use the Double Barrel. Right now I use the Morning Glory side as a clean drive always on and the Moonshine side for dirty drive.
I used a dyna drive as my always on pedal on bass for a very long time. Not on high settings in an alice cooper tribute band. Just did something to the overall sound that worked well.
Another rare boss pedal from the same era as the pw-2, is the xt-2 xtortion. Was also produced less than a year, meant for the grunge scene. it's a distortion/fuzz like sound with something that resembles a fixed wah. pretty unique
I am absolutely in love with the BC-2. I bought it almost by accident because I originally wanted to buy a Tera Echo from a second hand shop but before sending it to me they realised that the power input wasn't working properly. So they offered me a discount to anything they had, and they didn't have many pedals so I settled for that one because BOSS and they were offering it for dirt cheap. I didn't expect it to be so damn versatile, it can go from just offering a warmer tone to a full on Brian May-esque distortion. Cannot recommend it enough if you have the opportunity to get one for cheap.
I've been trying to hype the Tera echo since it came out. It is imo one of the best BOSS pedals ever, you can get so many amazing sounds with it! I'm very glad to see you giving this one some exposure. Such an underrated pedal!
4 in japanese is close to the word 'death' in japanese, so makes sense that there is superstition around the number making it even weirder that this is the only boss pedal (according to josh) with the number
Yeah, 士 (shi) "four" is a homophone of 死 (shi) "death", so it's avoided kinda like 13 is in the West. (Japanese people usually pronounce four as "yon" when it can't be avoided.)
Some trivia: Boss compact pedals began to use a different font for the number in the model number and the arrows for the input & output jacks beginning with the BC-2 & FB-2 (Waza models excluded). Regarding the number four, the PQ-4 is the only Boss compact pedal to use that number so far, but it has been used elsewhere in the Boss product line. In Japanese, 4 can be pronounced as yon or shi, but shi is also the word for death, hence the superstition. I also commented earlier that I have all of these. I commented too soon. In all these years, I haven't purchased a PW-2 yet. If thw DB-5creferenxe counts, I don't have one of those yet, either. Bonus trivia: the XT-2 also had a short production life and was available around the time of the PW-2. I don't have one, but IMO, it's one of the best-looking Boss pedals. The XT-2's color scheme is similar to what was originally planned for the DS-2. The DS-1 was almost going to be called "Red Zone".
I love the Tera Echo and the Multi Overtone. The Multi-Dimensional Processing line is pretty fantastic all around. The Adaptive Distortion is very worth checking out from that series. Thanks for another great episode!
The jams in this video BLEW ME AWAY!!! Josh you are an inspiring shoegazer. Holy cow the sounds that are possible. What would Mozart or Chopin have created if they had access to tone like this??
The FB-2 is the absolute favorite pedal in my board. The clean boost is great, the character knob allows for great mid boosts, and the feedback function is a great plus!
I have the FB2 as well and have just started to use it as the lead channel on the board - I "re-discovered" after having it sit in the cupboard for like 5 years. It's an excellent boost and the tweakable mid-hump makes it a great lead channel without massively changing tone.
@@JeffreyTheTaylor I guess the marketing was heavily focused on the feedback functionality, but they failed to show it was a great clean/mid boost as well.
@@felipevasconcellos4662 Yeah, it is hard to get guitarists to listen with their ears sometimes. But the thing is the feedback circuit DID work. So chalk it up to wrong place, wrong time.
One of the things that impresses me about Josh is the way he can keep a straight face while saying the most bizarre funny things I’ve ever heard. So it is a super special treat to me when he loses it and laughs at his own comments… precious. Jhs should make a reel of just those snippets.
When I was 18 (in 1993) I got a little Boss catalogue in English from a dealer. I studied it front to back and I asked constantly to my english teachers about the words I didn't know. Google Translate wasn't invented yet. Some of these pedals appeared on that catalogue and I remember seeing some of them in the store. I became a pedal freak. I was more attracted to pedals and processors than the guitars or basses I played while they were playable, sounded good and stayed in tune..but man I have a drawer full of pedals and multifx... Including my first Boss DS1 bought in 1992. BTW I know a store in Barcelona where you can find the Tera Echo and the Multi Overtone.
I bought an FB-2 years and years ago and never really got a lot out of it. Partly because I had a massive 2x12 Blues Deville that was already obscenely loud, and partly because my gig at the time was on bass. Fast forward to this year, and I'm writing and recording a solo album. I saw this video, saw your Why You Need Boost Pedals vid, and put the sumbitch back in my signal chain. It runs after an EQD Gray Channel and before a Walrus 385, and the quality and variety of tones I can get out of that drive stage (through a Supro Black Magick combo) is simply astonishing. Thanks for reminding me about this lovely hidden gem!
PQ-4 user here. Essential part of the guitar rig. It's the "finisher" - after the octave, pitch shifter and fuzz, before the filter, chorus, reverb, final boost, and delay.
If you think the fz3 was good you should look out for the fz2 from the early 90’s two different fuzz settings (mod/vintage) and it had a separate clean(ish) boost setting. Best pedal I ever owned.
@@spoke4N Not hugely comparable; the FZ-2 is an octave fuzz, which is a really love-or-hate-it sound. The FZ-3 is a plain ol' fuzz face, but which doesn't freak out with buffers or active pickups. Very different pedals and liking one doesn't mean someone will like the other.
Boss pq4 is an amazing boost /eq to add to an old Marshall . It’s the perfect match. Instead of modding it can be the trick . I love it . Only parametric eq pedal I’ve enjoyed to be honest
Now I understand how the dispatch master added more warbly modulation the harder I played through it. That's super helpful to know, thanks! Knowing stuff is fun.
Your Production Team is amazing. The accompanying pics while you were describing Jonny Greenwood's tone is why I love this channel. Knowledge and humor!
We need a semi-ironic bumper for every time Josh says, "I could care less" so we can do some kind of Pavlovian/aversion therapy to change the behavior.
I love how affordable unknown pedals that I could find for $30-$75 on the used market jump to over $150, $200, and even $300 when they are featured on your show. Awesome! Liked and subscribed!
@@Guitarwolfluke yea the combo drive has plenty of listings on reverb under $100 and the tera echo for about $150, honestly I’m probly gonna grab a tera echo it seems like a fun pedal
The dirt pedals on here are all very thin. I’ve owned a few and have known many others who tried using them. Everyone always goes back to one of the Boss standards(BD, DS-1, etc., or to a different company.
Great demos. My kinda sound!! Great jams. Exactly the type of channel I have been looking for. I have been looking for a channel that shows how the pedals ROCK!! Thanks Josh!!
Parametric EQ’s are fantastic… in the right hands. But when accessible to those who don’t understand what they do, it can get real ugly in a hurry! Easily the worst bass tones I’ve ever heard in my live sound days were from players who had multiple EQs in their chain, which almost always included a parametric with the bass cranked, mids scooped, and the ‘frequency’ knobs all over the place. Definitely experiment with EQ in your practice space. Not on stage.
I'm surprised the FB-2 is so rare/special. In fact i bought this pedal 10years ago, it was my first Booster and also my first Boss pedal and has remained on my pedalboard since, also used the feedback function a lot!
I used to have the PQ-4 Parametric EQ! I loved that thing! Being an audio engineer by trade, I always gravitated towards parametric eq so I could dial tones in at the frequencies I wanted.
The rarest Boss pedal is surely the flood damaged PS-2 that I salvaged from a studio and never managed to fix that lives dismantled in a sandwich bag in my projects box?
Great video guys, I have played through and sold most of these at the store I work at. I own the MO-2 and it's one of the best pedals I have ever owned, really unique and cool.
That Power Driver was the only one I haven't seen. It rules! I played in a college band with a guy who had an 80s DF-2. The Feedback function was super cool. The distortion was a DS-1.
Quote of the Episode... "The guy on the gear page never heard of the Dyna-Drive... Be you, don't be them..." Josh always comes up with really funny things to say off the cuff. My favourite quote so far (coming from a working/performing/recording musician, this means so much:) "Cool isn't cool...GOOD is cool." So true... so true.
I heard a demo of the Super Distortion Feedbacker before it hit the shops over here when the Roland Roadshow landed in Liverpool back then. Stuck in my mind ever since and last year I bought one, the Super Feedbacker Distortion: I like it.
New subscriber here. Your channel is self evidently a labor of the love you have for our hobby, rather than a vehicle for shameless self promotion. I like you. I will eventually buy one of your pedals. I am sure i will get what i pay for.
I've had a DF-2 for years and it's become a great arrow in my quiver, i use it fairly often when i play live and people love the singing tone of it when I use the hold function. It's really great for adding another dimension of expression to one's playing. It works best with a single clean note or harmonic and will let one sustain the note infinitely. One thing though, if you turn to feedback function up too high it can make your tone quite shrill so i keep it at about noon. Highly recommend. Other guitarists are most likely to make comments on it and those who are not guitarists don't even know what it's doing or realize it.
Boss needs to bring back the Parametric EQ - seriously, Waza needs to get on this. I played one after seeing it hanging out in the used section at a GC. They're perfect and a great way for modern players to "visualize" EQ. Mind you - I have several modded Boss GE7s though the fact that Boss gave up on the Para - I can't even begin to understand why.
I think furman had a problem with it being called pq4 like their parametric eq . And it didn’t sell good . I love mine . It’s a rare bird and a cool club we are in with this lil beast
@@techdeathhippie6319 Thank you for the info. That's a shame - change the name and keep it in business. I've learned to really use the GE7 so I've bought like several of them - on guitar and bass boards and "loosies". Though, in a perfect world, these would all be Parametric EQs. Maybe it'll make a comeback.
I have the BC-2 and it is a fantastic pedal. Stacking it with an eq really takes it to another level and i actually bought it over a nano muff pedal (eventually got) at a music store and never looked back. Pedal sounds amazing
Josh, Boss might not have made a dedicated boost--I'll have to take your word on that--but the Hyper Fuzz has a dedicated boost function on it. IDK if you were factoring that into what you said about them never making a boost.
The TE-2 and the MO-2 where the first pedals I ever bought without trying them first. I heard the demos and preordered right then and there. Amazing pairing with my Strymon El Capistan and BlueSky.
The Dyna Drive and Combo Drive both got my attention, I sort of live in clean Fender and slightly broken up Vox land, would be nice to get that without hauling around a bunch of amps. As always, super fun and informative show, thanks.
the FB-2 is cool for lofi guitar sounds too, held down the footswitch and play one note for set the resonance.. low feedback and level settings and then play
Oh man. Love your videos. There is something about your narrative delivery and your playing ability that really highlights the pedals you’re demo’ing. This particular video wants me to go out and get another Terra Echo and that Dyna Drive which I’ve never heard of. And kudos to Nick for his back beat.
Josh: Boss Micro-Rack series? Please tell me you’re familiar with these. I don’t want to let the cat out of the bag, but RBF-10 and RPH-10 are things you need to know and experiment with. I’ll even tell you why if you wanna know why...
@cc c the flanger and phasor not only can cover any sound you want out of pretty much any other analog flanger or phasor (including 100% wet vibrato on the flanger) but they have a C/V jack to sync LFOs, blend two LFO rates, invert LFOs, drive with an external envelope control or even feed a C/V from a synth sequencer/arpeggiator. It’s ridiculously powerful and if I didn’t already have one of each, I would hate myself for letting this secret out.
PQ-4 is for 4 band eq. Bass, Middle, Treble and Presence. Great eq pedal. Bought that one from a demo board in the music store for less than 50€ (2000 Bfr = Belgian francs). The Tera Echo is in my DD-500 delay from BOSS. And my first distortion pedal is a DF-2 SUPER feedbacker & Distortion. 😀
I tried the Tera Echo at the local music store but i was like: "Nah that's not worth it" Then i bought the Boss DD-200 and ended up using the Tera Echo mode a lot, it's absolutely awesome
The ''fat" and "muscle" knobs on the PW-2 sounds like a nod to the Lamb series pedals from DOD, especially given it was released in '96. I've heard of the Dyna Drive. I've seen several demos of it, and I really want one.
The FB-2 Feedbacker/Booster is the secret sauce pedal on my board: it can do hands free ebow/sustainer type sounds in edition to feedback and when you play new notes while it is feedbacking you can get some wild harmonic overtone type sounds. I put it before a fuzz pedal which makes all of the above even more convincing.
I have a Combo Drive. And I love it. The comment I always hear from people who see it is "I've never seen that." So I've seen it, but I can confirm from experience that your assertion that almost no one has seen it is correct.
Ok, this is probably the first time I have to admit that I indeed didn't know any of these pedals, except for the Feedback Booster, but the one I had was orange and it was a long time ago. And then I realized I was wrong, because it was a Feedbacker/Distortion. There are tons of clips on YT with titles like "5/10/20 things you didn't knew about (just fill in) Stratocasters, Les Pauls, Dolly Parton(I know two things about Dolly actually!) etc. and usually it's nothing new, give or take one or two. So, once again, hats off, Josh!! You did it again!! :)
That fact that you guys are showcasing a direct competitor's products for the sheer purpose of helping us all find more cool stuff, is just awesome. You guys are truly the best.
What I understand is most (if not all) pedal brands are friendly to one another since they assume most people play on multiple brands anyway.
@@jeremyryannoelMe with a board full of Boss pedals😂
Over 30 years of playing guitar, and I never knew that the AC in Vox AC30 stood for Amplifier Combo.
I playing over 40 years and I didn’t know it!
what is a AC100 Head a abnormal combo 100
I’m gonna take a wild guess it’s 30 watts also?
I used to joke that it stood for "Air Conditioner" because the tones are...cool...
Me either and I’ve played through them for 20-years. 😂
“Be you, don’t be them.” That’s the pedal quote of the year, at least for me.
Dude, this channel is effing rad! Something about this dude's whole shtick is just wildly entertaining; maybe it's the juxtaposition between the enthusiasm and the deadpan. I love the nerding out on these obscure pedals, the jams, and free music. Thank you.
Thank you!!
Its cause you can see how much he loves doing this. Its really cool to see.
@@stoneysdead689 😂
He's the best at what he does. A combination of a knowledge of guitar sound and comedy!
When I worked at a music store, I would show EVERYONE the Dyna Drive (the piano teachers didn't care for it). It is a FANTASTIC drive pedal.
I always had fun playing with the Dyna Drive channel on my old Cube 40XL.
I have one turns every amp into a doom amp
I remember you! You did not shut up about the Dyna Drive! 😄 Jk ✌🏻
It’s a better fuzz than the Tone Bender!
I enjoy my dyna drive pedal.
My first pedal was a Metal Zone, and i thought it was the coolest sound ever, then everyone told me how terrible that sound was. You, sir, have really brought me back to loving Boss. I thank you for it, every time I buy a Boss pedal, I feel a ton of pride. Thanks Josh!!
I heard that routing the metal zone through the effects loop fixes that issue.
Boss pedals have always rocked, tbh
Keeping the gain control low makes it sound better! It's a high gain pedal by "birth" so it sounds better with almost the lowest amount of gain. This from my personal experience (I have one).
@@_fabio1978 The Mid control was also very misunderstood by a lot of people (myself included, at the beginning). People instinctively cut the mids for the "chug" sound and promptly lost themselves in the mix with their recordings/bands, and neutralized a lot of the MT-2's natural tonal character to boot
Boss is boss.
I'm here to complain that a pedal I knew nothing about yesterday, just became too expensive for my pedal budget
I discovered this guy through Paul Gilbert. Watching an interview he did with him about his pedal, and am so glad I found him. His sense of humor alone makes it worthwhile to watch!
Welcome, good sir. Enjoy the binge of past episodes
I would put Josh far above Gilbert. Josh actually MAKES pedals!
I own the terra echo but then again I buy all the boss echo/delay pedals. Gotta have em all. I also have the combo drive. I didn't buy it myself and its the last christmas gift I got from my mom before she passed away so I am never ever getting rid of it.
Great show as always, have a nice weekend and stay safe everyone
Aww, that's a touching story. My condolences. The combo drive is a great pedal.
Tera Echo is the only pedal or effect that has ever made me seasick. How awesome is that.
@@bboyzagy thank you!
@@banyarling lol, can't say it has made me seasick but there is a eerie character to a lot of the sounds. It conjours the feeling of what I imagine tumbling away from earth in a space suit would sound like if it was a pedal.
Peace
My moms bought me a pedal for Christmas too. Great moms buy their sons pedals for Christmas... Josh can use that on a T Shirt (don't say I never contributed to the channel).
You like the Combo Drive, I've always seen it, but never knew it was an AC clone? AC's were NEVER on my radar until I recently discovered their sound, I know, I know, I'm really, really stupid and that has been pointed out to me on a surprisingly regular basis, but now I'm head over heals for AC's, they're perfect for me, like an angry, strung out Fender that somehow still has hope, which pretty much sums me up. I always thought they were, like, a Beatles' amp, so just nostalgic old timeey guitar wankery keeping them alive.
Anyway, how's that Combo Driver? Lol, sorry for the tangency.
"Be you. Don't be them."
Words to live by. Thank you, Josh.
I agree with what you said about not letting people on guitar forums decide your pedals for you. Forums can be helpful to understand the pros and cons of certain pedals, but everyone has different tastes and you should always get the pedals YOU want, not what someone else thinks is best. A good example of this is my Boss AC-2 Acoustic simulator. After a year of hesitation (caused by haters of that pedal on forums), I finally got it and it's absolutely fantastic! Turns out the reason it gets hated is because everyone just plugs them into guitar amps which isn't what it's designed for, they're for acoustic/bass amps or PA's, and for switching to acoustic tones mid-song, rather than a permanent replacement of an acoustic guitar.
I liked the one I used with a solid state Fender amp; a Stage 100(original, no DSP one).
I agree with everything you said, and I would add that many are expecting too much from it.
If one goes by your tips for use, it works really well, and the sound will be great.
I've bought a bunch of pedals recently based in part on forum opinions and videos by various peeps on youtube. And the one I enjoy the most is the the "officially bad" Boss Metal Zone because it makes fun noises.
Yeah, that AC-2 is an interesting one. It's cool going into a really clean amp, but not much good for other purposes. And yes, it's for switching to an acoustic part or one song. I plan to sell mine since I only use it with chorus for a faux mandolin sound. It doesn't work with my rig.
hmm guitar players using gear improperly and blaming an entire pedigree of gear (digital) ? nawwww ... could never happen . guitar players going all over the internet proclaiming every single piece of gear thats i not presently on their board as "total garbage" nooo , that could never happen . guitar players acting like they own vintage tube analog gear and knowing the difference between a vintage tube amp and a 20 year old 20 dollar digitech doorstop well yes , most of the guys online who go on and on about how great tube gear is , i would be surprised if they ever saw a tube amp . the players who understand gear know it does not define us as musicians. yes it is important to some extent but its not something you JUDGE other people on . someone can have great tone and that might not have much to do with what they play thru , they may just be the type who knows how to make any rig sound good . thats the player i strive to be . also , putting others down online because they dont use the same gear you do is not going to get you a sexual partner , and if thats why you started making music well no wonder i dont have anything in common with these a-holes .
I used to use that pedal way back in the day. i thought it was great. I connected it to the PA system through a DI box. Very handy from changing to electric to acoustic guitar sounds and back again on the fly. Then I sold it because I got a guitar with the piezo pickups in it which I thought sounded better than the pedal did.
The Combo Drive is absolutely incredible. Beatles in a box but with the ability to go full on treble booster fuzz
Would you say its a good AC30 alike?
@@dyangordon6151 definitely. It sounds very much like a Vox
combo drive and power driver are THE best Boss dirt pedals IMO
My very first pedal was the FB-2. I love it. It was really fun being able to get feedback from my tiny fender amp at age 13 without driving my parents nuts
Same!
the tones in this video really make me believe that you can get pretty much any sound you want with exclusively boss pedals.
Good conclusion.
Well they make hundreds of different ones. So yeah it seems that way.
as much as i wanted not to believe this i find myself constantly like damn i should’ve bought a boss
the pw-2 is my "clean tone" in my band, it's all over our record. it's SO unique, the EQ is almost like the HM-2, but has this... glassiness to the high end, i love it.
Haha. Right. Pw2 and hm-2 was my Thing for years.
What’s ur band called
@@killerinstinctstudios9065 we're called Miserable Things, we're streaming everywhere.
The Tera Echo was my first and only pedal for my first 5 years of learning. I think it is pretty popular with film audio people because you can make Scifi folly sounds with it like laser blasters etc.
The super feedback distortion was the sound of the mid 90s Jacksonville, FL indie rock scene. Still got one.
This was my first BOSS pedal. Wish I still had it.
Sorry I missed that. Was there a good local music scene here then? Only been in Jax since 2007 and it’s been a while since I saw any actual local bands- long before covid.
It really was (from Tallahassee)
Love mine
@@naturaljoe759 the mid 90s to early 2000s was a really healthy time for jax indie/post hardcore. einstein a go go, the theory shop and stripmine records really were the glue around those times. there were also some really cool house venues. unfortunately, it ain't what it was but, there are some youngsters doing the dang thang these days.
The XT-2 Xtortion needs to be added to this list. Produced for less than a year, came out around the same time as the PW-2. Also the XT-2 has a red sparkle finish
Love the xt2 in front of a ts9dx on the hot setting. Sounds amazing
The Dyna Drive actually makes for a good Bass drive pedal. Can be used for a clean boost or as a light drive that responds to how hard you play.
It's the one drive i didnt like on bass, all of the other ones he listed in here are a bit better imho
@@Crodon We all have different tastes. I should mention I was using it in parallel so that could easily be the difference. I actually don't have it on my pedal board. I use the Double Barrel. Right now I use the Morning Glory side as a clean drive always on and the Moonshine side for dirty drive.
Now I need to find a dyna drive to play like Cliff Burton on my bass.
I used a dyna drive as my always on pedal on bass for a very long time. Not on high settings in an alice cooper tribute band. Just did something to the overall sound that worked well.
I've owned a DN-2 for many years. I got it for $35 at a music store clearance. It's one of my favorite drive pedals. Glad to see it getting some love.
The Tera Echo delay seemed really interesting and then I found it on the BOSS GT-1 and it’s a really fun and great effect.
That effect on the GT-1 is what made me get the TE-2 for my main board.
Another rare boss pedal from the same era as the pw-2, is the xt-2 xtortion. Was also produced less than a year, meant for the grunge scene. it's a distortion/fuzz like sound with something that resembles a fixed wah. pretty unique
@@joeking433 I'm not Josh nor do I pretend to be, if that's what you mean 🙂
I have both. The xt-2 with low gain is like a compressed boost
I am absolutely in love with the BC-2. I bought it almost by accident because I originally wanted to buy a Tera Echo from a second hand shop but before sending it to me they realised that the power input wasn't working properly. So they offered me a discount to anything they had, and they didn't have many pedals so I settled for that one because BOSS and they were offering it for dirt cheap. I didn't expect it to be so damn versatile, it can go from just offering a warmer tone to a full on Brian May-esque distortion. Cannot recommend it enough if you have the opportunity to get one for cheap.
I've been trying to hype the Tera echo since it came out. It is imo one of the best BOSS pedals ever, you can get so many amazing sounds with it! I'm very glad to see you giving this one some exposure. Such an underrated pedal!
4 in japanese is close to the word 'death' in japanese, so makes sense that there is superstition around the number making it even weirder that this is the only boss pedal (according to josh) with the number
This applies to chinese too..
Parametric Death would be an awesome band name…
@@joermnyc truly haunting mids
Yeah, 士 (shi) "four" is a homophone of 死 (shi) "death", so it's avoided kinda like 13 is in the West. (Japanese people usually pronounce four as "yon" when it can't be avoided.)
4 no Uta - Babymetal
th-cam.com/video/XAT1pGKsVso/w-d-xo.html
Some trivia: Boss compact pedals began to use a different font for the number in the model number and the arrows for the input & output jacks beginning with the BC-2 & FB-2 (Waza models excluded). Regarding the number four, the PQ-4 is the only Boss compact pedal to use that number so far, but it has been used elsewhere in the Boss product line. In Japanese, 4 can be pronounced as yon or shi, but shi is also the word for death, hence the superstition.
I also commented earlier that I have all of these. I commented too soon. In all these years, I haven't purchased a PW-2 yet. If thw DB-5creferenxe counts, I don't have one of those yet, either.
Bonus trivia: the XT-2 also had a short production life and was available around the time of the PW-2. I don't have one, but IMO, it's one of the best-looking Boss pedals. The XT-2's color scheme is similar to what was originally planned for the DS-2. The DS-1 was almost going to be called "Red Zone".
I love the Tera Echo and the Multi Overtone. The Multi-Dimensional Processing line is pretty fantastic all around. The Adaptive Distortion is very worth checking out from that series. Thanks for another great episode!
Honorable mention for the OC-3. All of TH-cam acted like there was never a multi feature boss octave pedal when the OC-5 came out. Crazy.
The jams in this video BLEW ME AWAY!!! Josh you are an inspiring shoegazer. Holy cow the sounds that are possible. What would Mozart or Chopin have created if they had access to tone like this??
Probably just some pointless self-indulgent shit on TH-cam.
@@fdfsdfsvsfgsg4888 sick burn!
One of the cool things about the Boss MS-3 (it's a multi FX but also a mini pedal switcher) is that it has the Tera Echo built in.
The FB-2 is the absolute favorite pedal in my board. The clean boost is great, the character knob allows for great mid boosts, and the feedback function is a great plus!
I have the FB2 as well and have just started to use it as the lead channel on the board - I "re-discovered" after having it sit in the cupboard for like 5 years. It's an excellent boost and the tweakable mid-hump makes it a great lead channel without massively changing tone.
The FB2 is my secret weapon. It is a seriously excellent boost pedal. The feedback is just icing on the cake.
I have no idea why the FB-2 did not catch on. Very unique and functional pedal.
@@JeffreyTheTaylor I guess the marketing was heavily focused on the feedback functionality, but they failed to show it was a great clean/mid boost as well.
@@felipevasconcellos4662 Yeah, it is hard to get guitarists to listen with their ears sometimes. But the thing is the feedback circuit DID work. So chalk it up to wrong place, wrong time.
One of the things that impresses me about Josh is the way he can keep a straight face while saying the most bizarre funny things I’ve ever heard. So it is a super special treat to me when he loses it and laughs at his own comments… precious. Jhs should make a reel of just those snippets.
When I was 18 (in 1993) I got a little Boss catalogue in English from a dealer. I studied it front to back and I asked constantly to my english teachers about the words I didn't know. Google Translate wasn't invented yet. Some of these pedals appeared on that catalogue and I remember seeing some of them in the store.
I became a pedal freak. I was more attracted to pedals and processors than the guitars or basses I played while they were playable, sounded good and stayed in tune..but man I have a drawer full of pedals and multifx... Including my first Boss DS1 bought in 1992.
BTW I know a store in Barcelona where you can find the Tera Echo and the Multi Overtone.
I bought an FB-2 years and years ago and never really got a lot out of it. Partly because I had a massive 2x12 Blues Deville that was already obscenely loud, and partly because my gig at the time was on bass. Fast forward to this year, and I'm writing and recording a solo album. I saw this video, saw your Why You Need Boost Pedals vid, and put the sumbitch back in my signal chain. It runs after an EQD Gray Channel and before a Walrus 385, and the quality and variety of tones I can get out of that drive stage (through a Supro Black Magick combo) is simply astonishing. Thanks for reminding me about this lovely hidden gem!
Almost every shoegaze and ambient guitarist I know either owns/has owned/wants to own a Tera Echo. Thanks for letting that cat out of the bag Josh 😂
Ive had my Combo Drive for a couple of years and i really like it. Has a permanent spot on my pedalboard
I’d love to see a video where Josh tells about pedals that he actually doesn’t like. Are there any?
'Sound Destroyed?"
The flerb setting on the holy grail reverb
He hates the ones he has to pay full price for. 😆
He hates combo volume/wah pedals.
He’s too “woke” to offend anyone in the open. He secretly thinks these pedals are garbage.
PQ-4 user here. Essential part of the guitar rig. It's the "finisher" - after the octave, pitch shifter and fuzz, before the filter, chorus, reverb, final boost, and delay.
One of my favorite pedals from Boss was FZ-3 Fuzz from a few years ago. A good fuzz, and it didn’t care where in the signal chain it was.
If you think the fz3 was good you should look out for the fz2 from the early 90’s two different fuzz settings (mod/vintage) and it had a separate clean(ish) boost setting. Best pedal I ever owned.
@@spoke4N Not hugely comparable; the FZ-2 is an octave fuzz, which is a really love-or-hate-it sound. The FZ-3 is a plain ol' fuzz face, but which doesn't freak out with buffers or active pickups. Very different pedals and liking one doesn't mean someone will like the other.
Love that you did DB-5 + MO-2! Two of my favorites. So good.
Boss pq4 is an amazing boost /eq to add to an old Marshall . It’s the perfect match. Instead of modding it can be the trick . I love it . Only parametric eq pedal I’ve enjoyed to be honest
Now I understand how the dispatch master added more warbly modulation the harder I played through it. That's super helpful to know, thanks! Knowing stuff is fun.
The boss BC2 is my go to Overdrive. Absolutely amazing sound.
Your Production Team is amazing. The accompanying pics while you were describing Jonny Greenwood's tone is why I love this channel. Knowledge and humor!
We need a semi-ironic bumper for every time Josh says, "I could care less" so we can do some kind of Pavlovian/aversion therapy to change the behavior.
I love how affordable unknown pedals that I could find for $30-$75 on the used market jump to over $150, $200, and even $300 when they are featured on your show. Awesome! Liked and subscribed!
So, for the second week in a row Josh is giving people GAS for nearly unobtainable pedals.
You can still buy quite a few of these.
I guarantee you can find tera echos and combo drives. I couldbt give these away at my store. also the slicer pedal
He wants to see bloodshed on reverb
@@Guitarwolfluke yea the combo drive has plenty of listings on reverb under $100 and the tera echo for about $150, honestly I’m probly gonna grab a tera echo it seems like a fun pedal
The dirt pedals on here are all very thin. I’ve owned a few and have known many others who tried using them. Everyone always goes back to one of the Boss standards(BD, DS-1, etc., or to a different company.
Great demos. My kinda sound!! Great jams. Exactly the type of channel I have been looking for. I have been looking for a channel that shows how the pedals ROCK!! Thanks Josh!!
Parametric EQ’s are fantastic… in the right hands. But when accessible to those who don’t understand what they do, it can get real ugly in a hurry!
Easily the worst bass tones I’ve ever heard in my live sound days were from players who had multiple EQs in their chain, which almost always included a parametric with the bass cranked, mids scooped, and the ‘frequency’ knobs all over the place.
Definitely experiment with EQ in your practice space. Not on stage.
Thanks for identifying my former bassist--he of the "cool looking V shape I can do on my amp! It looks so cool to the crowd, I bet!"
I'm surprised the FB-2 is so rare/special. In fact i bought this pedal 10years ago, it was my first Booster and also my first Boss pedal and has remained on my pedalboard since, also used the feedback function a lot!
Didn’t even finish’s the video before I had purchased a Boss Tera Echo. A sound I’ve been looking for.
Send one to Bono. Maybe that'll settle him down
@@mattgilbert7347 ?
I used to have the PQ-4 Parametric EQ! I loved that thing! Being an audio engineer by trade, I always gravitated towards parametric eq so I could dial tones in at the frequencies I wanted.
Early viewing means I get to watch the Reverb climb in real time lol. Cool stuff, big fan of the Power Driver and Combo Drive
"Be You, don't be them" or even better: "MUSIC FOR THE PEOPLE!" 'cause that's what its all about. Burning it down lately Josh. I like it.
The rarest Boss pedal is surely the flood damaged PS-2 that I salvaged from a studio and never managed to fix that lives dismantled in a sandwich bag in my projects box?
Great video guys, I have played through and sold most of these at the store I work at. I own the MO-2 and it's one of the best pedals I have ever owned, really unique and cool.
That Dyna Drive jam was the best you guys have ever done. Maybe it’s the “touch sensitivity”? Makes you feel it and play that way?
That was cool indeed!
So right about "not following the crowd"! It's good to experiment and find your own sound. Something I'm sure we all need to be reminded of sometimes.
That feedbacker is awesome. Makes me want to put in barely any effort to see if I can find one.
That Power Driver was the only one I haven't seen. It rules!
I played in a college band with a guy who had an 80s DF-2. The Feedback function was super cool. The distortion was a DS-1.
At this point I just want Josh to release an album of all of the short pedal demos he does in these episodes.
Quote of the Episode... "The guy on the gear page never heard of the Dyna-Drive... Be you, don't be them..." Josh always comes up with really funny things to say off the cuff. My favourite quote so far (coming from a working/performing/recording musician, this means so much:) "Cool isn't cool...GOOD is cool." So true... so true.
I think we need a rap album with Josh as "Lil Dumble" and all he raps about is nerdy guitar stuff.
Also lean, coke, crack, and dust.
I heard a demo of the Super Distortion Feedbacker before it hit the shops over here when the Roland Roadshow landed in Liverpool back then. Stuck in my mind ever since and last year I bought one, the Super Feedbacker Distortion: I like it.
It would make me happy if BOSS brought back that parametric eq.
They did in their Katana amps. It has both graphic and parametric EQ's.
@@mattnorthey4092 Thats cool, but that doesnt help my pedalboard. haha.
man. mr. jhs is so amazing at the guitar. I wish I could play with that creativity and precision.
The Fat and Muscle controls on the PW-2 are pretty much at 100hz and 1khz, about 10db cut/boost at the extremes. Glad to see it getting some love.
New subscriber here. Your channel is self evidently a labor of the love you have for our hobby, rather than a vehicle for shameless self promotion. I like you. I will eventually buy one of your pedals. I am sure i will get what i pay for.
New title: "Boss pedals that have already doubled in price"
I've had a DF-2 for years and it's become a great arrow in my quiver, i use it fairly often when i play live and people love the singing tone of it when I use the hold function. It's really great for adding another dimension of expression to one's playing. It works best with a single clean note or harmonic and will let one sustain the note infinitely. One thing though, if you turn to feedback function up too high it can make your tone quite shrill so i keep it at about noon. Highly recommend. Other guitarists are most likely to make comments on it and those who are not guitarists don't even know what it's doing or realize it.
Boss needs to bring back the Parametric EQ - seriously, Waza needs to get on this. I played one after seeing it hanging out in the used section at a GC. They're perfect and a great way for modern players to "visualize" EQ. Mind you - I have several modded Boss GE7s though the fact that Boss gave up on the Para - I can't even begin to understand why.
I think furman had a problem with it being called pq4 like their parametric eq . And it didn’t sell good . I love mine . It’s a rare bird and a cool club we are in with this lil beast
@@techdeathhippie6319 Thank you for the info. That's a shame - change the name and keep it in business. I've learned to really use the GE7 so I've bought like several of them - on guitar and bass boards and "loosies". Though, in a perfect world, these would all be Parametric EQs. Maybe it'll make a comeback.
@@jinjxmusic I’m shocked they haven’t reissued it yet . It’s very popular for boosting still
The Wampler EQuator has a similar concept.
@@clintmarvin7754 love eq pedals . I’d love to try it
I have the FB-2 [with the box] but I could never get a good sound out of it. you've inspired me to give it another chance.
HF-2 definitely needed to be featured, i love that pedal
Heavy Fetal
I have the BC-2 and it is a fantastic pedal. Stacking it with an eq really takes it to another level and i actually bought it over a nano muff pedal (eventually got) at a music store and never looked back. Pedal sounds amazing
Josh, Boss might not have made a dedicated boost--I'll have to take your word on that--but the Hyper Fuzz has a dedicated boost function on it. IDK if you were factoring that into what you said about them never making a boost.
I love my Behringer hyper fuzz clone. I use the boost mode almost always
@@undonesweater9112 sf300 is amazing
The TE-2 and the MO-2 where the first pedals I ever bought without trying them first. I heard the demos and preordered right then and there. Amazing pairing with my Strymon El Capistan and BlueSky.
I have both the Tera Echo & Feedbacker Distortion. Fun pedals … the Tera Echo is pretty amazing actually.
The Dyna Drive and Combo Drive both got my attention, I sort of live in clean Fender and slightly broken up Vox land, would be nice to get that without hauling around a bunch of amps. As always, super fun and informative show, thanks.
the FB-2 is cool for lofi guitar sounds too, held down the footswitch and play one note for set the resonance.. low feedback and level settings and then play
I have the tera echo, and it’s absolutely my favorite mess-about pedals. I love your collection of juicy boss pedals!
I REALLY want someone to make a clone of the BOSS PS-3, especially mode 7 or the "Cave In" sound
and call it "Seafrost"
Oh man. Love your videos. There is something about your narrative delivery and your playing ability that really highlights the pedals you’re demo’ing. This particular video wants me to go out and get another Terra Echo and that Dyna Drive which I’ve never heard of. And kudos to Nick for his back beat.
The combo drive is my favorite Boss pedal. It's awesome.
St. Cloud has been our #1 household album going strong for the last year. Never tire of it, even the three year old asks us to put it on.
The one with the 4 on it is pretty crazy. People probably don't really GET how taboo that number is to the Japanese.
I heard they don't even use it in elevators or license plates, lol.
Sounds like it got a three on it though, to me
@@m4ssee. That's right. They'll only use it if they absolutely HAVE to. And even then it's rare. Granted they are all about Custom and Tradition.
I always like your jams better than most of the music on the radio!
Josh: Boss Micro-Rack series? Please tell me you’re familiar with these. I don’t want to let the cat out of the bag, but RBF-10 and RPH-10 are things you need to know and experiment with. I’ll even tell you why if you wanna know why...
@cc c the flanger and phasor not only can cover any sound you want out of pretty much any other analog flanger or phasor (including 100% wet vibrato on the flanger) but they have a C/V jack to sync LFOs, blend two LFO rates, invert LFOs, drive with an external envelope control or even feed a C/V from a synth sequencer/arpeggiator. It’s ridiculously powerful and if I didn’t already have one of each, I would hate myself for letting this secret out.
I bought a combo drive 2 days before this video came out. Thanks for improving the resale value Josh! I owe you one.
At 7:22, Josh says that Boss have never made a boost… the FZ-2 Hyper Fuzz, by Boss, has a gain, “boost”mode on it… so… 🤔
My favourite TH-cam channel ! Thank you 🙏
First (God I can’t believe I’m that guy)
Embrace the "guyness"!
PQ-4 is for 4 band eq. Bass, Middle, Treble and Presence. Great eq pedal. Bought that one from a demo board in the music store for less than 50€ (2000 Bfr = Belgian francs). The Tera Echo is in my DD-500 delay from BOSS. And my first distortion pedal is a DF-2 SUPER feedbacker & Distortion. 😀
During "Blue Asteroid" when he kicked in the boost, my eyes popped. Instant "fuck yeah!" in a little metal box.
Fuck yeah, Josh. Fuck yeah.
I tried the Tera Echo at the local music store but i was like: "Nah that's not worth it"
Then i bought the Boss DD-200 and ended up using the Tera Echo mode a lot, it's absolutely awesome
DF-2 in the house! I bought mine new and have suffered much abuse over the years for how much I love it.
The ''fat" and "muscle" knobs on the PW-2 sounds like a nod to the Lamb series pedals from DOD, especially given it was released in '96.
I've heard of the Dyna Drive. I've seen several demos of it, and I really want one.
The FB-2 Feedbacker/Booster is the secret sauce pedal on my board: it can do hands free ebow/sustainer type sounds in edition to feedback and when you play new notes while it is feedbacking you can get some wild harmonic overtone type sounds.
I put it before a fuzz pedal which makes all of the above even more convincing.
I have a Combo Drive. And I love it. The comment I always hear from people who see it is "I've never seen that." So I've seen it, but I can confirm from experience that your assertion that almost no one has seen it is correct.
Ok, this is probably the first time I have to admit that I indeed didn't know any of these pedals, except for the Feedback Booster, but the one I had was orange and it was a long time ago. And then I realized I was wrong, because it was a Feedbacker/Distortion. There are tons of clips on YT with titles like "5/10/20 things you didn't knew about (just fill in) Stratocasters, Les Pauls, Dolly Parton(I know two things about Dolly actually!) etc. and usually it's nothing new, give or take one or two.
So, once again, hats off, Josh!! You did it again!! :)
at 17:00 he hit the "Unknown Mortal Orchestra solo sound" button!