cwirus88's Reviews

Best Boss Dirt Pedal

Boss hidden gem; truly great pedal. Its name might be confusing and discouraging, so let me clear - this is a two-circuit pedal. Analog for distortion, digital for chorus and doubling feature. Starting with distortion: MZ-2 stands quite close to DS-2 since they were released in almost the same time. Heavy, saturated and lots of gain available. Fav settings so far: LEVEL: 3:00 TONE: 11:00 DIST: 2:00.

However the biggest fun starts with MODE Knob. SGL: "single" distortion, so you get ONLY distorted signal. DOUB I: here starts the doubling. In fact this mode does not give much difference, the signal is just a little bit fattier. You need to play 5 minutes in this mode, then switch back to single in order to feel the difference. DOUB II: Call me stupid, but quite close to Black Album tone (put a SD-1 in front MZ-2 to get even more). Fat, heavy, addictive. DOUB III: too much, sounds more like very loud digital slap back delay. Not very useful. CHO I: subtle chorus, CE-2 simulation with rate and depth on 10:00. CHO II: more audible chorus, CE-2 simulation with rate on 10:00, depth at 2:00.

Stereo is awesome and this is what makes MZ-2 shine. Absolutely love MZ-2, worth getting!

Needs a decent amp

Like all Boss distortions, MD-2 works best in front of a decent tube amp to push it into limits. I had it for some time in the past and it worked fine to get heavy, saturated distortion from cranked up tubes. Does not sound too good as a standalone unit. Fun to mess around, worth checking!

Excellent chorus with vintage vibe for funny price

CE-3 had to be a successor for CE-2, but it sounds totally different. In comparison to CE-2, CE-3 is a bit cold, metallic and sterile and that is a shame unless you want your chorus to sounds so. It sucks tone a lot, bypass seems to be terrible. Definately the weakest chorus in Boss' line up. It can be found quite cheap (I got mine for 10$), so it is worth checking just for fun.

EDIT: I got my CE-3 modded - simple mod, just cut R18 resistor. That removes horrible volume drop and adds LOTS of headroom. Now CE-3 sings, seems to be more "alive" than even CE-2. 5 stars this time!

Why the heck is it so big?

I gave 4 of 5 stars just because of its size. Way too big Orange, way too big. Takes a lot of space on pedalboard, Orange should consider a mini-footswitch. Besides that works pretty well - durable and solid.

All glorious X4

I bought it about two years ago, played it around and sold it. Why? That's a miliion dollar question, apparently I was being stupid at that moment. Anyway I ordered it again few days ago and now I know it will stay with me forever. This thing is fabulous; countless delay combinations, perfect tone quality, three independent banks, built-in looper and... top secret weapon: modulation. Flanger, Chorus, Vibrato can be accessed via toneprint editor when you connect your pedal to PC. Wonderful device, no doubt about it. Worth the money for sure.

As good as pedaltrain

It does the job. Very similar to Pedaltrain JR, but much cheaper. Comes with Gigbag, velcro and other useful accessories.

Great tuner, probably the best!

Perfectly visible display, true bypass, small footprint, powering capability - those things make Polytune probably the best tuner out there. It is so damn accurate and fast that I will never let it go, without any doubt. I dig the black version!

Best in its price range

Sure, you can find better wahs on the market and they will probably sound a bit better, but let's be honest - standard Cry Baby is no boutique unit. Just an ordinary wah wah pedal which serves perfectly for occasional use. Does what it should do pretty well. Some folks complain about tone suck - I did not notice that. Great pedal in general!

Great tones for reasonable price

This distortion pedal is probably the best in its price range. Offers really wide palette of tones - from mild and warm overdrive to harsh, classic,aggresive and vintage-voiced distortion. Three simple controls and additional "crunch" (for a little more grit) make this box quite simple to use so an average player will get a desired tone pretty easily. I'm really pleased to have it in my board!

End of the chorus journey

I've reached the end of my little chorus trip for that perfect 80s / 90s tone by getting this CE-2. I have quite early one, 1983 from Japan (Black Label) with MN3002 chip. Funny how two controls are enough to get that perfect tone which cannot simply be described in any words here. You need to hear it to understand why some many people hype about CE-2. Sounds just astonishing on cleans, kicks a** on dirts. Do not bother about CH-1, CE-5, Small Clone, MXRs etc - just get CE-2, period.

DD-2 for the win!

I have Boss DD-3 from 1988 with the same "long chip" that DD-2. Yesterday I finally acquired DD-2 from 1984 and what can I say... the best digital delay on this planet, period. Very bright, pristine and warm - kind of perfect potion of digital and analog delay in one box. DD-2 becomes quite pricy these days, so if you are looking for the same circuit but much cheaper, then get Japanese DD-3 / DSD-2 / DSD-3. They all sounds the same.

A holy grail of phase shifters

There are lots of phasers around, but somehow almost everyone ends up with Phase90. No other phaser sounds so natural, lush, warm and sits so great in the mix on cleans, overdrive or hi-gain distortions. Single knob control makes it extremely easy to use and offers lots of tones just right away - from subtle phasing to extreme psychodelic sounds.

However there is one minor flaw - current version, A.K.A. block logo has an awful volume boost which is quite annoying in some circumstances. Some people just get along with it, some do not. For those who do not a simple mod can be done - literally 5 minutes of work. Open up the pedal, find the R28 capacitor (manual on the web) and snip it. Problem will be gone, no more boost, just pure phase shifting.

Safe bet? Get the TS-9!

It will be quite hard to write something new and shocking about TS-9, because it's been here for 30+ years and did its time on countless pedalboards & recordings. Anyways - I'll give it a shot. TS-9 is a safe bet. If you want pedal that sounds great as a standalone unit and serves even better as a little extra boost for already cranked amp then you should not look any further than this green buddy. Three knobs make it extremely easy to dial into your tone. Build as a tank, ready to go and last on any gig. It isn't true bypass... but who cares? It's TS-9!

Flanger for a classic tones

So, here we have something what Boss decided to discontinue. Why? That is a million dollar question, because that flanger is absolutely great. It can give you delicate chorus, little detune, classic flanging or extreme sweeps for EVH stuff. Very tweakable; analog circuit sounds warm, lush, natural and deep. On the other hand I find BF-2 a little metallic when compared to HF-2. Nevertheless it is definately worth the money and yes - it can be found cheap. I have the MiJ version with silver screw - got it for 20$. Fav settings: Manual: minimum, Depth 2:00, Rate 2:00, Res: minimum.

Best strings, period!

Bright tone, incredible sustain, long-lasting and very comfortable - this is what you get with 9-42 Elixir Strings. Do not waste money on cheaper ones, these are worth the price!

The last flanger you'll probably own

This pedal is awesome, period. I've tried lots of popular flangers (Boss BF-2/3, HF-2, EHX, Ibanez, TC, other iterations of MXR, too) and EVH version - as far as I can tell from my humble experience - is the best flanger I've played so far. Very little noise, tweakable as hell and sound quality is brilliant. Useful settings I found so far: 1) Subtle chorus into flanger (Manual 10:00 Width 10:00 Speed 9:00 Regen 7:00), 2) Intense swoosh (Manual 10:00 Width 2:00 Speed 3:00 Regen 4:00) Of course there is this "Unchained" button which gives you that unique evh tone; I like it but it is not definately the best setting that you can get from this unit.

Do not hesitate to get it - you will not regret it.

Just a good VP

I always considered volume pedals more as a tool, less an effect itself. And tool has to be durable, reliable and smoothly working. DVP3 does it all, without any doubt. I use it before delays in amp's effects loop to make an occasional swells, but most of the time it is my master volume control. No tone suck, no cracking, no any other problems. It is the best VP on the market, period. Plus a quite reasonable footprint.

Look no further than DD-3

There are tons of delays on the market these days but only one with outstanding tone, simplicity, durability and decent price. This is of course Boss DD-3. It's been on countless pedalboards, records, gigs and discussed'n'tested everywhere. I have two DD-3s - one with the long chip from 1988 (Japan), the other one from >2010 era. Old DD-3s with mentioned long chip sound much warmer and pristine; a digital delay with analog characteristics, so if you are willing to experiment then find 1986-1990 DD-3 with Blue Label from Japan. Of course I am not saying that newer DD-3 are bad; quite the contrary - still great units!

Hidden gem of flanger family

If you are willing to get a flanger then forget about the most popular units which are available on market nowadays. Just get a HF-2 because it simply beats out: Boss (BF-2 / BF-3), MXR all iterations including famous EVH Signature Flanger, Strymons, A/DA, Ibanez, Maxon and any other flanger you know.

Yes, it's been hiding in Boss line since it was introduced and I often wonder how come Boss decided to discontinue it in 1995. I have the MiJ version from 1986; it is so warm, natural, lush, noiseless and tweakable. No other flanger does what HF-2 is capable of, really. It's not that expensive, too - I got my in mint condition for 50$.

Shocked and amazed by MXR Distortion III

I've been through all popular tubescreamer type pedals (TS-9, TS-808, SD-1, OD-1 etc.) and each of them in fact was lacking that "something". And just by accident I bought for few bucks this Distortion III. Since this pedal is not that popular and rather sits in 10th row at the show, I really had no big expectations. Guess what? This pedal amazed me. Not only this pedal sounds great while boosting already cranked amp, but also does job perfectly when used as standalone overdrive unit. And do not get fooled by its name, because "Distortion" here means definately too much. It is rather moderate heavy overdrive that can get from subtle and delicate to really hardcore. I think that it will stay for ever on my board.