Boss BC2 Combo Drive?

[sausage fingers]

Anyone tried the Boss BC2, it looks like another ac amp simulator pedal. I have a joyo ac type pedal but wondering if the boss brings anything else to the table?
Thanks
Rob

[Stu's Dad]

Rob,

I've been considering one of these myself, but I don't think they do the same job as the Joyo. Like you, I've got a Joyo, and it's an amp sim pedal, rather like the control in a modelling amp. As it happens, there's a long discussion going on on the Charlie Hall forum at the moment about the best way to use a Joyo, and the one thing they all agree on is that you don't use it into a guitar amp. It can go into a PA or a DAW, but if you feed it into a guitar amp you're doubling up on the pre-amp.

I fancy the BC2 because it seems to give some nice subtle drive to your tone, but I don't think it can magically reproduce Shadows tones.

Hope that makes sense to you,

Regards,

Len

[Garystrat]

Hi Len

There seems to be a lot of misconceptions generally regarding this type of pedal, certainly the information in the manual regarding a Tech 21 “Liverpool” states that it can be used in front of an amp. Notionally the Joyo is a similar pedal, so one would expect there to be commonality, although I can’t find a specification or manual for it. I think the logic is that this would not normally be the case as most would get a amp suitable for their musical tastes, but at a pinch could be used for tone shaping on the odd number or two, direct to PA or a recording setup would seem to be the norm.

The recommendation for the “Liverpool” is that it goes into the low input socket and controls on the amp are set neutral with possibly the high reduced if it sounds a little too bright. They say it can also go into the effects loop return, which will disable (by pass) the pre-amp of the amplifier.

Here is a link to the instructional manual for Sans Amp Character Series (the “Liverpool” is part of this range)

http://www.tech21nyc.com/support/manual ... 010-OM.pdf

The “Liverpool” type 2 also has a button to defeat speaker simulation, the previous version didn’t. Again, they say that if this is defeated there is a 6dB per octave roll off, which will provide a more natural pre-amp sound when going in front of the amp. With the previous model and probably the Joyo one would possibly need to reduce any brightness on the amp via treble reduction.

Some, including myself, have found that it can also make difference as to where it is placed in the chain for best signal path matching, I personally have found that that the analogy of trying to reconcile it with an actual amp is not necessarily the best in this respect. People have have had success by placing it before and after an echo, in my case I’m using a Catlinbread Echorec (Anologue) and found it took the edge off it, but others get excellent results the other way around.

The Wampler “AC Thirty Something” is another pedal that may be suitable, whilst not a budget range, this as a newer product that has very interesting control over tonal features:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_woiequaPw

Hope this helps.

Regards

Gary

[cockroach]

I've always been of the opinion (possibly technically wrong!) that any type of external pedal or effects unit with it's own pre-amp (they nearly all have or had battery power or AC power pre-amps) should be used via an effects loop on the guitar amp- although many amps do not have such a facility.

That was why amp makers started including effects loops in their products.

However, many/most guitarists tend to be conservative and traditionalists, and always plug the guitar into effects etc then into the main amp input- which would surely tend to overdrive or overload the guitar amplifier pre-amp and/or at least colour the sound...

BUT...this is what people seem to want!- because that's the way Hank and everybody else did it back then in the '60's, when nobody knew anything about such stuff! And because those were the 'vintage' 'classic' sounds they wanted, they still do it!

[Garystrat]

Hi John

This might explain things better than I could:

http://proguitarshop.com/andyscorner/fx-loops-explained

I have a Laney Lionheart which has a parallel loop, so you as you will see not all FX loops are equal!

Regards

Gary