<< 1 >>
Rating: 
Summary: Guess who's BOSS
Review: Just like my title says "Guess who's BOSS." Roland (the makers of Boss effects out did themselves with this book, it is must read or look at for anyone wanting to know the history of Boss effects and the accompaning CD (samples) is just beyond excellent.
Rating:
Summary: Guess who's BOSS
Review: Just like my title says "Guess who's BOSS." Roland (the makers of Boss effects out did themselves with this book, it is must read or look at for anyone wanting to know the history of Boss effects and the accompaning CD (samples) is just beyond excellent.
Rating: 
Summary: A solid, well illustrated history and explanation...
Review: of all Boss pedals. You have to be a little obsessive to buy a book like this but effects are so poorly documented and described in general that I can see the need for this quite thorough document. Boss pedals were made in Japan (but now Taiwan) and enjoyed a reputation for quality sound and design and contruction. They are now battling (and involved in creating) large, low-cost, high-value multi-effects -- the book does a good job of pointing out the attractive simplicity of the earlier 2 and 3 control models over the new over-packed feature overloaded models and multi-effect units. This book does a good job including personal accounts, reviews, lots of color and black and white pictures. Descriptions of each effect -- by model, not just type! There are also terse descriptions of Boss effects used by big name stars during different period (this struck me as rather superficial and not as interesting as I had expected). Have you ever wondered how Overdrive differs from Distortion -- well the tables, graphs but especially the large number oscilliscope snap shots give you a pretty good idea of not only that but also how an OD1 differs from and OD2! They cover all of the main effects and some at several settings --- quite thorough. However, the actual implementation details are not discussed -- a serious oversight but perhaps understandable as this is their intellectual property. For example, I happen to know Boss use 3 diodes to produce their characteristic asymmetrical overdrive wave forms and the people looking for this type of book will often want to know such things, and that ODs put the voltage-clamping diodes into the feedback loop of an op-amp circuit for a subtle effect while a Distortion puts the voltage-clamping diodes across the output of an op-amp circuit to product hard signal clipping -- but you will not find that hear, instead you would need to go to the web (a guy in Australia has a great site but there are numerous others). The other neat feature of this book is the enclosed *CD* which is great if you ever wondered what a particular effect sounds like (some Boss effects are now rare and some are fairly valuable -- supposedly). By the way, my favourite Boss effect is current the OS2 Overdrive/Distortion which you can set at either an overdrive, a distortion or something in between. The only drawback -- it actually costs as much as a distortion pedal plus an overdrive pedal(come on, offer us some real value!). The other thing is, with a Marshall tube amp, I find it hard to justify paying for a solid state distortion/ overdrive -- the amp does it all, at least as good and usually better. Most modern practice amps have distortion and OD capability built in - increasingly they offer reverb, chorus, delay and reverb too. There will always be some market for these discrete pedals though -- they contribute so much to rock and pop over the years. You would probably be better off experimenting with the effects in a store but even larger stores rarely have a full choice available, so if you really must have effects (it could be argued that a good amp and a good guitar and is all that is needed) and Boss is your thing, then this is a really good book. It seems most guitarists consider at least one OD or distortion to be essential equipment (to allow the amp to be run for long periods without excessive "amp noise" but still allwoing it to kicked-up with the pedal for that big solo!). I would personally add a simple wah-wah (not covered in this book) to the list of essentials.
Rating:
Summary: A solid, well illustrated history and explanation...
Review: of all Boss pedals. You have to be a little obsessive to buy a book like this but effects are so poorly documented and described in general that I can see the need for this quite thorough document. Boss pedals were made in Japan (but now Taiwan) and enjoyed a reputation for quality sound and design and contruction. They are now battling (and involved in creating) large, low-cost, high-value multi-effects -- the book does a good job of pointing out the attractive simplicity of the earlier 2 and 3 control models over the new over-packed feature overloaded models and multi-effect units. This book does a good job including personal accounts, reviews, lots of color and black and white pictures. Descriptions of each effect -- by model, not just type! There are also terse descriptions of Boss effects used by big name stars during different period (this struck me as rather superficial and not as interesting as I had expected). Have you ever wondered how Overdrive differs from Distortion -- well the tables, graphs but especially the large number oscilliscope snap shots give you a pretty good idea of not only that but also how an OD1 differs from and OD2! They cover all of the main effects and some at several settings --- quite thorough. However, the actual implementation details are not discussed -- a serious oversight but perhaps understandable as this is their intellectual property. For example, I happen to know Boss use 3 diodes to produce their characteristic asymmetrical overdrive wave forms and the people looking for this type of book will often want to know such things, and that ODs put the voltage-clamping diodes into the feedback loop of an op-amp circuit for a subtle effect while a Distortion puts the voltage-clamping diodes across the output of an op-amp circuit to product hard signal clipping -- but you will not find that hear, instead you would need to go to the web (a guy in Australia has a great site but there are numerous others). The other neat feature of this book is the enclosed *CD* which is great if you ever wondered what a particular effect sounds like (some Boss effects are now rare and some are fairly valuable -- supposedly). By the way, my favourite Boss effect is current the OS2 Overdrive/Distortion which you can set at either an overdrive, a distortion or something in between. The only drawback -- it actually costs as much as a distortion pedal plus an overdrive pedal(come on, offer us some real value!). The other thing is, with a Marshall tube amp, I find it hard to justify paying for a solid state distortion/ overdrive -- the amp does it all, at least as good and usually better. Most modern practice amps have distortion and OD capability built in - increasingly they offer reverb, chorus, delay and reverb too. There will always be some market for these discrete pedals though -- they contribute so much to rock and pop over the years. You would probably be better off experimenting with the effects in a store but even larger stores rarely have a full choice available, so if you really must have effects (it could be argued that a good amp and a good guitar and is all that is needed) and Boss is your thing, then this is a really good book. It seems most guitarists consider at least one OD or distortion to be essential equipment (to allow the amp to be run for long periods without excessive "amp noise" but still allwoing it to kicked-up with the pedal for that big solo!). I would personally add a simple wah-wah (not covered in this book) to the list of essentials.
Rating:
Summary: Great book, very informative, tons of photos
Review: This book is for any guitarist, bassist or collector of BOSS effect pedals. This book reviews every Boss pedal ever made and gives information on dating Boss pedals. This book has interviews with the founder of Boss and a CD featuring the sounds of the pedals. If you're a pedal junkie like me, this book is for you. Now if Hal Leonard would only publish a book on Electro-Harmonix!!!!!!!
Rating:
Summary: Great book, very informative, tons of photos
Review: This book is for any guitarist, bassist or collector of BOSS effect pedals. This book reviews every Boss pedal ever made and gives information on dating Boss pedals. This book has interviews with the founder of Boss and a CD featuring the sounds of the pedals. If you're a pedal junkie like me, this book is for you. Now if Hal Leonard would only publish a book on Electro-Harmonix!!!!!!!
<< 1 >>
| 
