Boss AC-2 Acoustic Simulator

4 knobs: Volume, Body, Top, Mode (standard, jumbo, enhance, piezo)
You can get some nice tones out of it, but you got to take some time to find a real nice tone. The knobs are pretty much self-explanating.

my setup: SG-Copy or Fender Strat -> CryBaby -> AC-2 -> SD-1 -> DOD Volume Pedal -> Marshall TSL 100 (Loop: CE-2 -> PS-3)
Positive: you can get some nice sounds out of it, depending on the pickups. If you use single-coils it's sounds really nice, humbuckers don't really make it in my opinion. It doesn't sound like a real acustic and never will! Remember it's a simulation, BUT it can come close and it can give you a lot of tonal variety!
Negative: this pedal is just too silent! I cranked the volume all the way up and I still have to turn the volume on my amp at at least another quarter up in order to have the same volume as I have when the pedal is off!!!
As I have read in other reviews, people are complaining about noise! Can't say that, ALTHOUGH I cranked it all the way up! (You guys must have shitty equipment!)
Would give it a 9, but the silence of this pedal is a big concern in my eys so I have to give it a 6, unfortunately! This pedal is really great and I love it, but this error makes me hate it. I always have to go to my amp and turn it up when I use the pedal!

Haven't had it for long! Have many other Boss pedals though and as you should all know, you'll never have much problems with Boss pedals. At least I had never problems with it, just minor things like losing a plastic knob and then Boss will replace it for a small change!

As I said before never had problems. Just lost a plastic knob of my PS-3. I wrote an email and they answered within a couple of days how much the cost of the knob would be. Very fast and easy!

I play in a cover band with music from german folk songs, oldies, rock classics to new stuff. You can guess I need a great tonal variety. We play like 20-30 gigs a year. Bought this pedal so I wouldn't need to bring an acustic and another amp with me for just a couple of songs! Used it this weekend for the first time live and was quite satisfied with it. As I said before the only negative thing about it is it's volume! It's just darn to silent!!!
Might buy it again if it were stolen.
Favorite feature is the piezo mode. Have never tried a similar product of another company but as much as I have heard it's supposed to better anyways than the others.
If anybody can tell me how to solve the volume problem please tell me! This would make me give the pedal a 10!!!

Well at first when I tried it, I didn't like it because I just wasn't impressed using this with normal guitar speakers. You have to spend sometime tweaking it. It sounds the best going to fullrange speakers but, I know how to make it sound like it is full range using my gear with 4 x 12 cabs.

I use rack gear ADA MP-1 Tubeworks Realtube II and Rocktron Replifex, Intellifex and a Boss SE-50. My secret is how I use the parametric eq and the full range simulation in the Replifex and my Mulitvalve in my other RIG. I have two clone set ups. My Rig is very clean. The ADA has a great solid state clean channel that has compression. It gets complex but the sound is excellent. I don't like this pedal with just plugging into a clean channel on an amp, because it greatly depends on how clean your amp gets. It gets a little noisey if you aren't careful. I notice the sound qualtiy varies alot from guitar to guitar. My seven strings sound the best with it so far. I have never tried to play my acoustic seven string through it.

I can't really say I have any worries about this pedal. I don't have a back up. This is a backup for my acoustic seven string. I don't have to bring it unless, I really want to.

Never had any issues. Once Roland/ Boss helped me locate a PN-2 after learning they were dropping it from their line. That was before the internet was common and EBAY was ingraved in our hearts.

I love this thing. I'm glad I ended up rediscovering it. I would hunt down the thief and beat them up with the BOSS pedal!
I hear Behringer makes a clone of this and I heard a little about the yamaha has a acoustic magic stomp now for acoustic. BOSS was first! NA NA NA NA NA NA! maybe they will have a talent simulator for pop stars. Called the BS-2

VERY EASY TO USE JUST NEED 30 MINUTES TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO GET THE TONE(S) YOU LIKE.

I AM USING A FENDER STRATOCASTER DELUXE ALL SINGLE COILS. I RUN THE AC2 THROUGH MY GT6 (NO PRE-AMP/EQ ADJUSTED/PATCH AT 100 AND OUTPUT AT 11:00. THE SELECTOR ON THE STRAT IS SET TO THE BRIDGE PICK-UP. AC VOLUME IS AT 4:00, BODY 12:00, Top @ 12:00, ENHANCE IS SET TO STANDARD. I RUN THIS SET-UP THROUGH A P.A. AND IT SOUNDS VERY GOOD FOR A ACOUSTIC SIMULATOR. MY PARKER WITH THE PIEZO IN IT WITH THE SAME AC2 & GT6 SETTNGS SOUNDS EVEN BETTER THAN THE STRAT ACOUSTICALLY. YOU WOULD SWEAR I WAS PLAYING A REAL ELECTRIC ACOUSTIC. THOSE OF YOU WHO SAY THE AC2 IS NOT A GOOD SIMULATOR NEED TO REVISE YOUR SET-UP THROUGH P.A. SYSTEM. YOU NEED THE HORN OR TWEETER TO GET THE REAL ACOUSTIC TONE. MOST PROFESSIONALS USE A ACOUSTIC GUITAR THROUGH A P.A. SYSTEM.

BOSS WHAT MORE CAN YOU SAY!

I HAVE USED BOSS FOR YEARS, GREAT SOUND AND VERY DEPENDABLE. NO SERVICE REQUIRED TO DATE.

I PLAY WEDDINGS AND THIS GIVES ME THE VERSATILITY FOR ACOUSTIC SONGS THAT I NEED. I WOULD DEFINITELY BUY ONE AGAIN IF LOST. GREAT VALUE FOR THE MONEY.

It has 4 settings on it and it's kind of hard to decide which one to use, since they all sound pretty much the same but slightly different. After that though the controls are pretty easy to figure out.

I play this through my home stereo which is pretty much the equivalent of a keyboard amp, and the acoustic sound is very believable. I record onto my computer and when I do acoustic I often like to use this pedal instead of my actual acoustic. It doesnt sound as good through the clean channel of an electric amp. It would sound great if you put it through an acoustic amp. A really nice feature is the E.G. out. You can connect it to an electric amp and connect the actual output to an acoustic amp and when you hit the pedal, it will only play through the acoustic amp for that nice, undistorted sound. (Basiclly, the E.G. out stops sending a signal once the pedal is activated)

Virtually unbreakable, decent battery life.

All boss products come with a 5 year factory warranty. I've never seen one break down after 5 years though.

If I lost this I would replace it right away. Its a valuble peice of my armada of effect pedals.

This Pedal is incrediable easy to use. You won't need the manual for this effect.

I am using a Mesa Boogie Caliber 50 head and Mesa Boogie 4x12 speaker cab loaded with Black Shadows. The guitar I was using is a 2004 Gibson SG Standard. The acoustic guitar sounds I am getting from this pedal are incredible. I have owned some really nice Acoustic guitars in the past my most recent was a Martin 000r, and I have to say I can get a pretty close acoustic sound from my SG using the AC-2

It ia a boss pedal, and they are very dependable

Never had to use them..

I play Alternative Rock. This pedal absolutely suits my style. I have been playing for 22yrs. If this pedal were stolen I would buy another one.

Ease of use. I agree with most posters, including simon. Frankly there is very little difference in the Standard, Jumbo settings. The enhance and piezo sounds are a bit different but not to my liking.

Manual is okay.

Out of the box I was not real impressed. Made my dual humbucker guitar sound like an ES-335. Not a bad thing, but not what I was looking for.

I found that the pedal sound quality greatly depends on the guitar you are using. I have discovered that it sounds best with my Tele in the bridge position.

I disagree with posters regarding DI usage. I ran it directly into my Behringer and Mackie boards and it sounds just fine.

Now for the best part. If you have an enhancer it will make all the difference in the world. I run the AC-2 through the mixer and setup the aux send/return to the Behringer DSP with the Enhancer effect. Dial in the EQ and you have a light string acoustic, nashville sound, or twelve string. Still have not acheived the Martin Jumbo sound, but it certainly makes the pedal worth having.

I get best results with the Jumbo setting, level set to "5", body set to "8".

I disagree with the posters regarding noise. Unless you crank the level past "6" there is no noise, no hiss.

It will last forever. I have a zillion year old Boss chorus, same design, same lifetime reliability.

Have not tried them

The first 30 minutes with the pedal I was looking for the box, instructions, etc. to pack it up and return it. Like Simon says, it made chords sound a little better, but was no where near an acoustic guitar sound.

I ran it through a PA, Crate combo, and was not very satisfied.

Then I tried it DI into the mixer and with a little help from the Behringer Enhancer effect, got some really great acoustic sounds, though on the trebly light string side.

I also found that strumming chords with a large light pic makes a difference.

This sound affected my clean sound in a good way immediately, it doesn't make my set up sound like an acoustic guitar, but it changes the characteristics of the sound in that kind of direction, it wasn't hard to quickly set it up exactly how I wanted.

I play a fender jag-stang through a carlsbro cobra, the noise of the amp on clean channel is not particularly bad, just a little plain. The pedal makes the notes sparkle a bit more, with enhancement of the noise of the strings being plucked / strummed. The four preset guitar sounds are all suspiciously similar, i use jumbo, mostly because i like the idea of a big bodied acoustic, not because I notice it sounding any better than the others. It certainly doesn't suddenly make me sound like Neil Young or someone, but I don't think that can realistically be expected.
I have tried running this pedal with distortion too, (sometimes accidentally), the results depend on the distortion but you can get some weird noises that way.
One other good thing is that if necessary it could easily be used just to quieten the guitar.

I have used it in live situations for over 6 months now, im not sure anyone will ever say "your lean guitar sound is amazing" but little things like this can add up to a band sounding good overall. I don't have a backup, if it broke i woul just use the unadulterated clean channel.

For the quiet bits in my alt rock band (c.f, smashing pumkins, the smiths, pavement) this pedal fits in nicely, it makes strumming chords sound a little prettier but would be no great loss if i didn't have one.

Learning or figuring out how to use a pedal (stomp box) is pointless to comment on. Just play with the thing untill you find a decent setting.

Technically speaking, it doesn't produce a quality acoustic sound.
However, you can play the knobs and come up with an average acoustic sound. You may even have to change the settings on your amp to get a desired sound.

All Boss pedals are built like a tank, so yes, you can depend on it.

Again, Boss pedals are built like a tank and because of this, I've never had to contact customer support. There are exceptions (Ibanez tube screamer and etc.), but I mainly use Boss pedals and never have had any problems.

This pedal produced effect is average at best.
Still with some tweaking you can get an acceptable sound from it.
For my setup, the pedal will get used. For one, I don't like lugging around any more gear/equipment than necessary. The pedal does help me in that area, the acoustic guitar can stay home now. With that in mind, to you acoustic players that already have a decent to a very nice acoustic guitar, stick with that you will be better off.

It's pretty easy to use if you read the manual. Otherwise, what the heck to top and body mean?

As has been pointed out many times below, the quality of this thing depends on your setup. I use a Gibson Les Paul through a Boss noise gate through a Boss compressor to the Accoustic simulator...then to a Behringer 2X12 combo amp I bought for practice. The Behringer amp is one of the best I've ever bought. The pedal sounds cruddy with it. I was so bummed. Then I hooked the pedal to my JCM 2000 through a 1960AV (greenback loaded) half-stack and WHAM I was blown away. The simulation just kicked the heck out of my Ovation and I was jammin' Leo Kottke and Michael Hedges sounding fingerstyle out of my Les Paul instantly!!! I was floored. So the combo fails, but the half-stack was AWESOME. I even played it in both configs for my wife and brother (both non-musicians) and they agreed with my assessment. Marshall half-stack was good, Behringer was yucky. So there you go. Better buy a half-stack with the pedal ;-)

Buy it if you have a PA or a good, loud, wide dynamic range amp such as a half stack. Notice all the guys below with half or full stacks love it, and all the POD fiends hate it. I doubt you can get a good accoustic sound from a Fender Champ using a Parker Fly, so why expect this pedal to be able to do it? P.S. I've seen a lot of accoustic sets where the guys use JCM 900s or other Marshall heads with 1960A type cabs with very nice results...with Martins mainly...

Not hard to get interesting sounds out of it. 4 modes: Standard (regular acoustic tones), Jumbo (deep acoustic tones), Enhance (adds overtones and presence), and Piezo (compressed acoustic). "Top" knob works like a treble knob, and body changes mids.

It doesn't get you all the way to "Martin/Taylor with a professional mic'ing it" from an electric, but it certainly does a good job of enriching the tone of an electric to give it a very decent hollowbody dimension, or to REALLY enhance an acoustic-electric. With heavy strings, my electric can sound like an Ovation, and my Ovation can sound like a Taylor. Heavy strings are a must on electric, and they help ont he acoustic.

I use a Gibson Blueshawk (semi-hollowbody) and get much richer tone with this on...a lot of overtones. On my Ovation, it helps me shape the sound so that I can pull a decent Martin/Taylor imitation.

I often have it on "Enhance" with my electrics, because the overtones are nice, and my amp can do nifty things with them.

At an outdoor gig, I can kick it on and get enough of an acoustic simulation that the audience will ehar it as an acoustic.

It's a BOSS pedal.

For $14, it works for me! I play various Hawk-series Gibsons into a BadCat combo amp, with an ART tube compressor and occasionally another effect or two: jazz-rock and roadhouse-style blues-rock mostly. Very nice for adding tonal coloring and variation.