Brand

Boss

BOSS began in Osaka in 1973 as MEG Electronics, a company dedicated to effects. Its first BOSS-branded effect was the CE-1 Chorus Ensemble in 1976; the OD-1, SP-1 and PH-1 launched the compact-effects series in 1977. The JustPedals catalogue includes familiar overdrives and distortions such as the OD-3, SD-1, BD-2, DS-1 and MT-2 Metal Zone, as well as utility items such as the PCS-20A cable. BOSS now spans compact pedals, multi-effects, loopers, tuners and controllers. Manufacturing origin should be checked by model rather than inferred from the brand’s Japanese history.

Category

Wah & Filter Pedals

Wah effects sweep a resonant band-pass or related filter through the frequency spectrum, creating the vowel-like movement associated with the treadle. Envelope filters move automatically in response to picking level, while fixed and sequenced filters use other control sources. Sweep range, resonance, direction, sensitivity and input loading determine whether the response is vocal, percussive, smooth or sharply synthetic.

Tags

Bass

Voiced or equipped to retain low-frequency fundamentals and the higher headroom of a bass signal. Clean blends, crossovers and bass-specific filter ranges can preserve weight and articulation while the effected portion adds harmonics, movement or ambience.

Vocal

Designed for microphone-level signals and the frequency, dynamics and feedback behaviour of the human voice. Input gain, balanced connections, phantom power and pitch tracking may be provided so effects respond correctly before the signal reaches a mixer or PA.