Boss Micro BR

Quite easy to use, but there are many functions and quite a small screen to navigate through them

Great for electric guitar plugged straight in.

Very poor for external mic plugged in - much much more hiss than I get through a minidisc recorder. In built mic also produces hiss.

I play acoustic guitar 80% of time and electric guitar 20% of time. This unit covers recording the electric guitar very well, but not the acoustic (hiss even when using a good quality mic)

I have owned my Micro BR for about three months now. I have found that if I have a specific task to do and read the manual for that task, it is pretty easy to figure out. Once you figure out a process and the menu system, the Micro BR becomes rather intuitive.

This is an impressive little piece of work, especially considering the low cost. I do recording thru both a full-blown ProTools home studio and thru an Apple Garage Band setup. I bought this to do demos at home so I could present ideas to my bands. I have been most impressed at the sophistication and quality of the demos that I have produced. The sound quality is top notch. I am especially impressed with the rhythm generator. The built-in microphone is better than expected. Of course, being this small the unit has it's limitations but it is amazing what it can do for the money. SO COMPACT! It is an ideal choice for making home demos.

So far so good! It would probably not withstand abuse and I wouldn't want to spill adrink on it. I would by another in a heartbeat if I broke this one.

I would expect Boss to have decent customer service

Boss has hit a home run with this one. My friend with the ProTools system is slightly snobbish about his home studio (as he should be) but even he was impressed with what I was able to wring out of this
little machine. A good ProTools system can set you back several thousand, an MBox or Lexicon Omega will cost more than this and you have to have a decent computer. You can keep this complete portable studio in your guitar case with your picks if you want to. There is really nothing else quite like it. It started out being a cool toy, but I find it to be much more than a toy.

The unit has suprisingly great sound,through my amp and with the headphones.It has features over and above what I require. It's function editing is to be applauded. The user manual requires
a lot more thought as far as organization and instruction is concerned. It requires the user to look all over for some simple
procedures. I'm assuming it was translated which never works.

I'm using the Micro BR with a Fender HotRod Deluxe and a 1973 Traynor
Custom Reverb. My guitars are a Hamer Monaco,Fender American Deluxe Strat and a Gibson Les Paul. The affects and rythym patches are amazingly exact with loads of tweaking. Each guitar changes the BR's
character and requires added adjustments. I'm just a basement dweller
guitar player and my needs are simple I've been waiting for a unit like this for a long time. I intend to buy a Traveller guitar and use the BR with headphones and power supply/batteries when I'm away.

I bought it in Dec/2006 it worked fine until Feb/2007 when one afternoon while using it my living room filled with the tell tale odor of a failed component. An output coupling capacitor blew and the unit got hot. Took it to Roland Canada the people who market Boss here and they fixed it within 24hrs of me dropping it off to them. Kudos!

Excellent!

For the price and quality you can't go wrong. If it were stolen I would buy another. Also I own other Boss equipment and am very satisfied with the reliability of their products

Following the instructionsin the manual (which sometimes get a bit complex), the unit is easy enough to operate. The onboard patches are good to excellent and there is enough room to experiment with creating your own. One problem, however, this is a quick noodling, impluse unit (albeit, a dynamic near studio grade mini-unit) which really could use a real-time monitoring of adjustments to the effects and rhythms. Within most DAW apps. and the hand held Pandora (as well as in others) you can audition the changes to the effects, tempo, etc. in the guitar effects and the drum kits/patterns. This is important to a vast range of players who set a beat, or experiment with an effect to drive a new idea on the guitar. With the Micro BR, the parameters have to be guessed at, set, and then they are audible. It is dead air during the creative process; hope that Boss takes this into consideration for the Micro BR 2. Otherwise, this is a wonderful and fun tool to carry around in your pocket or gear bag to explore your creative abilities.

The sounds range from Very Good to Excellent. Yes, indeed, we are definitely into the 21st Century here. I use it with earphones in a Manhattan apartment. It is beyond perfect at 3 a.m.
with the neighbors fast asleep. The demo video on the Boss website has a dude playing with it through an amp. Sounds impressive there too.

Time will tell. It appears to be extemely well made.

Boss (a.k.a. "Roland") is one of the biggies; no sweat with support here.

For the clean multi-tracking abilities of creation through a neat, beautiful hand held elegant and powerful recording device, anywhere, anytime-this is the one to have now.

Wow I love this thing. You've got to remember this is about the size of a nintendo DS. You cant expect abbey road studios here. It is what it is and that is a scratch pad. and an exceptional one at that.

its very easy to use as long as you contain your exciement for half an hour and read a bit of the manual to get started.

Functionality is great there is not too much and not too little. there are enough fx etc to get your ideas down. thats what its for. its a song writters tool and it doesnt stiffle creativity by giving four million options. your not going to cut a record with it. your just getting some ideas down while the inspiration hits. top class.

Good sound quality for what it is. I especially love the mic sound. it is very clear. i expected that to be rubbish but it is very good. again for what this machine is. the only thing is that there is no pop shield. how could there be?? I think ill stick a bit of cloth or something over it next time.

i wont give it a 10 even though im tempted to. maybe it could be better but its hard to see how.

i guess if it would shoot out wav files to burn to cd that we be awesome.

well it doesnt look as rugged as a boss pedal. its made of plastic. put it this way. i woulnt toss it around but if you look after it it should be fine. i wont be lending it to anybody either. you know how people are with things that arent theirs. hammer hands abound.

who knows how long it will last. im not going to rate it.

well i sent a mail asking about SD cards. i bought 2 seprate 2GB cards and neither work.

Im trying to find out what the story is there. maybe you can only go as high as 1 GB. but who can tell me?????

I love it. a dream come true. ive heard that you cant burn songs to cd and if that is true then im going to be a bit peed off with it.

that to me is ESSENTIAL.

When i got it i had a song thats been in brewing in my head for weeks recording within an hour of openning the box. not bad at all.

one realy cool feature i should mention is to do with the drum track. as you build a drum track you can preview all the patterns as you go. so if you are say up to verse 2. the machine automatically jumps back to that spot as you press play to preview the drums. a f----g awesome idea. and very very useful.


Im giving it a 10 because for what it is it is fantastic. i love it. you wont make a hit record out of it but you might just find it lights the spark.

It is what it is. Do you expect superb functionality from a product designed to be a portable stratch pad device? If you have ever owned anything which uses "multi-function" buttons, e.g. from a scientific calculator - through a digital watch - to any multi-fx unit, you should have no problem, as it is Easy-Peasy, lemon squeesy to use. very user friendly. If you haven't, then it may be a little frustrating to use at the start. This unit does however remind you to press stop when accessing features that need the player to be on stop, so it doesn't leave you guessing. Nice touch.

Sound is ok. I am used to the quality of the BR-1600CD, (which I sold to buy a house) and so this is a little FX are much better than the early Zoom stuff, and a whole lot quieter.

I am using headphones, my hi-fi and I am yet to use it in my valve amp (ONLY BECAUSE I CAN'T FIND MY ADAPTOR!)

The stereo effect on an chorus is not "get at-able" as far as I can see.

VERY dependable, as all Boss stuff is, but as for quote "road tough", the buttons don't appear to be as solid as their compact pedals.

3 year guarantee.

Can you get better? You'll get bored of it by then (or have bought the next latest gizmo!)

For my music, I enjoy like a woman tone This device is less felexible than the BR-1600CD v2, but how can you compare ??140 with ??840?

Easy to use. Don't really need the manual to get it up and running the first time. But if we want to access certain features, the manual is necessary. Plugging it to computer for data transfer is also very easy. No need for specific drivers to be installed.

The effects with simplistic setup are surprisingly good for a small unit. It can produce various type of sound including spacey-out-of-this-world sound, so it is quite versatile for any kind of music. The MP3 playback quality is also better than IPOD in my opinion. I recorded a song from external player and the quality is amazing. I have the BR-1180CD and the sound quality is no different or even better with the 24 bit quantization (BR-1180 has 16 bit). I had a Tascam PS-5 before, it has a MIDI tone generator, but the effects sound awfully bad. Never tried the Zoom or Korg portable recorder, but I think the Korg PXR is overpriced.

Seems reliable but I won't drop it. An aluminium casing will make the design more sleek. I wonder if BOSS sell a wrap case for this so I can carry it and still can play. The pouch is nice but I can use the button while the unit is in the pouch.

Never dealt with them. But they have too many web sites, the international, the US, etc and all contains almost the same information but not standardized. I think they should have one but contain all that we need. Just like Line6 Websites, it's awesome.

I Play many kind of music. For travel purpose, this is what I need. I'm gonna get myself a travel guitar to go with this one. If it were stolen, I would wait for the new series, I think BOSS will come up with something that is even better than this. I think it's the best affordable portable recorder yet.

The MicroBR is pretty easy to use right out of the box. I played with it in the store for about 10 minutes before I bought it, and had already figured out how to create a loop (press the A<>B button where you want to begin and end the loop), and slow the loop down (cursor over to the speed % and press + or -). Recording is just as simple.

The buttons on this recorder are well marked, and appropriately named.

I also give it high marks for the input and output volume being controlled by thumb wheels instead of by buttons. I always prefer volume knobs over volume buttons because then I can go from full volume to 50% volume to 0, or anywhere in between, with the flick of a thumb instead of by pressing a button numerous times.

The manual is pretty well done. It is fairly thick, but seems to be complete. The information is laid out logically, and the manual explains each function of the unit and how to control that function step by step, button by button, and with numerous visual aids to make using the unit easier.

The unit has many preset effects patches for use with guitar, and they sound pretty good when the guitar is plugged straight into the input. There are also 80 user editable effects patches, which is far more than I'll ever use.

Each patch is pretty easy to edit. You can choose from many different amplifier, speaker, and effects types to dial in a usable sound, and then save it to a user patch with the touch of only a few buttons.

For me, this recorder is very easy to use, but I'm also a computer/electronics guy, so sometimes using electronics comes easier for me than for others. However, spending 20 minutes with the manual in one hand and the MicroBR in the other should get anybody using it without any problems.

First, I generally use the MicroBR by plugging the guitar straight into it, selecting an effects patch, and playing through headphones.

The sound quality on this unit is good, if you consider its intended purpose. This is not a studio multi-effects unit. This is not a guitar processor intended for playing live shows with a band.

The effects sound good, but they're not going to compare to playing through dedicated effects into a tube amp with a 4x12 speaker cabinet in front of you. However, for using the unit late at night through headphones, and being able to record those sounds as musical ideas, or to work out parts of a song, it sounds great.

The patches are not noisy at all either. There is a built in noise suppressor that is part of the effects chain of each patch, and it does its job. Even with the high-gain "metal" style patches, there is no excessive background hiss/noise.

The recording works very well, and is not noisy at all. The sound you hear in the headphones when you are playing is the sound that you'll hear when playing back the recording.

I have also used the unit to record some old tapes of a now-deceased family member telling stories so I could put the tape on CD. I hooked the headphone out of the tape player to the line input of the MicroBR, set the recording input to line, with a flat EQ, and recorded directly to MP3 format (very easy to do using this recorder). It worked beautifully, and introduced no noise to the recording. The CD sounds almost exactly like the tape.

The thing to remember is this is basically a home-level four track for scratching down musical ideas, or personal recording, which is much more powerful and easier to use than tape.

I have not used internal/external microphones with this unit, so I cannot comment on the sound quality with a microphone.

About the phrase trainer/slowing down the music: This unit works 100% as advertised when used as a phrase trainer. One reviewer mentioned the sound quality was poor when slowing down an MP3 - this is the nature of the beast. It is impossible to slow down a song (or speed it up) without degrading the sound quality (It's like playing a 33 rpm record at the wrong speed). The important thing is the pitch of the notes stay the same, which is what you really need when trying to learn music by ear. No matter how much the MP3 is slowed down or sped up, the notes of the guitar are the same as at normal speed, which is really important.

I've only had one very minor problem with this unit. I primarily use the MicroBR as a phrase trainer to play along with MP3's. I have noticed that occasionally when skipping through an MP3 song to get to a specific section, the unit will display "Unsupported Format". It has only happened a few times, and has been easily overcome by turning the unit off and back on again.

As for gigging/etc... this unit is not intended for gigging, so that is N/A.

I have no experience with Boss telephone/email customer support as I have not had reason to contact them yet. I have used numerous Boss products for years without problems though.

However, when I opened the box to the MicroBR and took out the manual, I also noticed a separate "Owner's Manual Corrections" addendum, which shows the incorrect wording of the manual and the corrected version (there were only a few errors - nothing major). This could have been done through the world wide web, but Boss chose to print up this correction sheet and include it with the recorder, so I'll give them some customer service points for that.

Overall, I enjoy this unit quite a bit and use it frequently. I've been playing guitar for right around 10 years now (Mostly clean/bluesy styles, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton/etc..), and I wish I had something like this when I was first starting out because I'd be a much better guitar player now if I had.

I first saw this unit in a guitar magazine several weeks ago, and knew I had to go buy it. I primarily use the unit as a song/phrase trainer, a musical scratch pad, and a headphone amp for late night playing without waking up the neighborhood.

I've used software in the past to do this, but found the interface to be a little clunky, not to mention having to sit in front of the computer while playing guitar. I've also used a few different software packages to record musical ideas and some guitar songs I wrote, but I like the ease of use of a four track recorder instead of the really complex computer software.

The MicroBR is exactly what I've been wanting for years - a four track that I can use to quickly record some guitar ideas or songs, and a phrase trainer to learn new songs with.

If it were lost or stolen, I would most certainly buy another one.

I'm giving a 10 in this category because for what I wanted it for, and what I use it for, it really is a "Fantastic value." A highly portable four track, with decent guitar amp modelling/effects built in, a phrase trainer, and a tuner, at an outstanding price point? What's not to like?

Once I had been through the Quick Guide, it all became apparent how the device operates. The manual is needed though in order to get the best out of the unit, because it can do so much. Like it is possible to record dry guitar even though you can opt to hear the effected sound when recording. You can also use MP3's and inport them into your four track recordings and vice versa. Manual is helpful/essential for those indepth features.
Basic stuff like editing patches is soon easy to do.

The sound quality is great for the price. I used it through a Roland KC550 and there was no noticeable hiss as with some portable effects units. The clean sounds are clean and the dirty sounds are dirty. I have not yet edited to alot so sound could be better. There is an effect noise suppressor on board.

OK up to now, but I had it for three weeks.

Never had a problem in the three weeks I have had it.

This unit is phenomenal. I can use on a live, but best of all it can be used for practice to great effect. You can use the drum machine which has metronome sounds to practice to. You can drag and drop MP3 files and practice along with those. You can slow it down to 25% to study lead licks. One can centre cancel the lead instrument that is in the centre or off centre. Four rack recorder with full editing features and the drum machine has parts like start, variation and ending which can be chained.
If you are at a rehearsal you can record with it at different qualities through the built-in mic and then rehearse with it later or drag the file on to your pc. Loads more...
Only two problems found so far:
1. The battery life is not so great only about three hours if that. Just turned the contrast down on the screen so that might help.
2. When playing MP3's to practice with it is difficult to get the incoming guitar sound at the same level as the MP3 because when you turn the MP3 down this also affects the guitar input.
Otherwise fantastic. This unit can be used live, but I will not totally store my VG88. I think Boss have overdone it this time. Great product. Email me for more info.

No faders for the mixer, but yes, it's this tiny !
It's very easy to handle (even without the faders).
All the menus are logical, most features can be used without the manual.
Editing patches, songs, effects all easy - the drum patterns can't be edited - that's bad - at least an PC editor would be fine.
There is no bass in the rhythm computer - only drums.

Drums and even the guitar effects are fine - guitar effects sound better than in all other small recorders - and even better that a lot of big modellers.

All the effects are fine - but one - the reverb is VERY bad - come on - we need an update for the reverb.

The inbuild mic is fine and almost noisless, to bad the mic preamp (for the external mic) is very noisy.

The overall recording quality is fine (Did I mention that the reverb sounds poor).

With a better reverb would it be a 10 for guitar use.
For recording with an external mic is it a 5 (to noisy).

For my business trips and holidays is this box perfect. I used to take my Zoom PS02/PS04 with me but now will the MicroBR travel with me.

It's fun to play with this one. Even the AB loop works seamless - so I can record some background parts and play along with the box.

Ther is a mp3 player included - nice for music stuff - e.g. background loops or phrase training. Not so nice as a replacement for an ipod - since the unit can't handle longer filenames (max 8 characters) and can't handle subfolder, no playlist ...

The mp3's can be played back with 25%..200% of the original speed - with poor sound quality - but nice to learn a lick from a recording.

The box is not perfect - Updates ? - but there is no other small recorder on the marked with this much features, easy of use and sound quality - and it locks cool