Boss AC-2 Acoustic Simulator

This unit is not "plug and play". It's easy to got horrible sounds unless you use it with the right setup. They key is to use both outputs and send the acoustic simulation to a full-range rig, just as if you were plugging in an acoustic guitar. Have you ever plugged your favourite acoustic into a Marshall valve amp? It'll sound dire, and so will this if you stick it through your stack. But through an acoustic instrument combo or a PA it does a simulation that most listeners will think is a real acoustic guitar. It doesn't sound like my Taylor, but...

The AC-2 gives excellent sounds when used properly, although perhaps tending too much to the bottom end and needing additional eq. The setup I'm using is to have the AC-2 before my pedalboard and split the output so the "wet" acoustic simulation goes straight to the instrument input of my Torque acoustic full-range combo. The "dry" signal goes through the pedalboard then out to my Univalve, which in turn goes through a speaker simulator and into the other channel on the Torque. This covers all the sounds I need playing with the function bands I work with, through a single amp. I can use the AC-2 to toggle between acoustic rhythm and electric lead with a single push of the foot - perfect! I use it with a Gibson 335 and a Gibson Spirit II - it can be very boomy with the 335 hence the need for extra eq.

It's a Boss stomp box - I've never had one fail in 25+ years of using them.

Very helpful here in the UK. No idea on repairs as they're all still working!

This is a great bit of kit for a lot of the live work I do, and I'd buy another tomorrow if I lost this one.

This unit is very easy to use. You'll have it mastered in 5 min.

I use this unit as one of 2 stomp boxes I use ( The rest of my effects are controlled thru midi) with a Jackson KV-2 And ESP MH-301. I use it thru a rack system with a Mosvalve 1160 power amp and Rocktron Pirhana pre-amp. This unit sounds great for those acoustic into's and such that we play in our set. It does the job very well. Beats getting an acoustic guitar and stand that you have to kick out of the way (unless you can afford your roadies to do that for you). Sounds great for what we play...METAL.

I've found that I can always rely on Boss products. If it failed during a gig, I would just play thru the amp clean.

Never had to deal with them.

We play 80's metal, and this unit is just right for what we play. Been playing for just over 20 years and if it were lost I would get another one.

too easy. self explanatory

It depends on the stuff you use, but with the right combo, you can pass of some good simulated tone. I think it is best to use single coil neck pickups for this pedal as they are warmer and mellower.

Second, it appears that the cure to the "crackling" or "scratchy" noise when strumming, is two fold:

1. use a compressor before the pedal. that crackling is the ac-2 acoustifying the peaks in the signal paths, making it "clip" (though it's not a speaker)

2. if you don't have a compressor, don't turn the "top" knob up past 9 o'clock, and you should be fine.

the "top" knob is what can kill everything. keep it low, or use a compressor, and you shouldn't experience those strumming crackles.

also, the thing with using the ac-2 with an acoustic set up really works. i compared the sound of my acoustic-electric on an amp with the ac-2 versus a carvin acoustic amp, and switched off between the two with a footswitch. the ac-2 thing actually sounded better. really. that's why boss uses acoustic simulation in the ad-3,5, and 8.

tank solid.

boss is actually pretty cool to call. they'll help you out.

it's a great pedal, but it's no substitute for an acoustic by any means. it's a great sound novelty if you want to try some cool clean sounds. but for acoustic users, this thing might be a new gigging pedal.

This pedal is very easy to use out of the box. The manual is brief and offers some sample settings. You probably won't even need it.

I tried this box out in the store at low volume and it was very easy to get a good SIMULATED accoustic sound. I was careful to pick out my exact guitar and amp also. It was great. Then when I got it home and actually turned up the volume, I wasn't as happy with it. It produced a pretty noticeable hissing noise when I turned it on. Also as I have read in other reviews, this thing will really accentuate any fret buzz that you might have. I have a little bit of a buzz on my second fret and this amplified it about a hundred times. If I strummed hard at all, I got a loud crackling noise. If I strummed soft it cleaned up a bit. Also if I strummed a chord once very hard you can hear the effect trail off. It almost sounded like chorus pedal with every knob set to max. Here is the rig I use: Gibson Les Paul Studio- Boss Tuner - CryBaby Wah - Boss DS-1 - Ibanez SD-9 - DOD EQ - Boss CH-1 - MXR 90 - Boss DD-3 - Marshall 250 DFX Needless to say, I returned the pedal the day after I bought it. It seemed to be a little bit better on my Ibanez which has singe coil pickups but that is not my main guitar. I am basing this rating on what happened to me. I am sure with the right equipment and settings this thing can sound good.

I own many Boss pedals and they all seem to be reliable. I always gig without backups and haven't had a problem yet.

N/A

Overall I think this is a good pedal if you have equipment that works well with it. I suppose if I get my guitar setup and get rid of the buzz it might be a little better. I don't know if I could deal with the hiss though. I play in a top 40 cover band and am still looking for an alternative to carrying an accoustic guitar to all my shows as we do a limited amount of songs that could use an accoustic. I tried to get out of this dilemma cheap but that didn't seem to work. My one peice of advice is to bring your own guitar to the store when you try it and make sure to turn it up loud and give it a good strum to make sure it does what you want it to do. I did tend to favor the enhanced setting when I played it at low volumes. It sounded close to an electric accoustic.

"Plug and play" , switch between the 4 settings and dial in the other controls to taste, very simple.

if you use both outputs from this unit so that the EG output goes to your guitar amp and the other out goes to PA, then you will get a very effective acoustic sound. If you only use one output to your guitar amp then as other revues have suggested, you will get a very noisy un-acoustic din.In no way is it as nice sounding as an acoustic or quality guitar like the Parker fly, but it is very usable.

A 1000 years after the next nuclear holocaust, surviving musicians will dig through the rubble of music shops, wrestle with the only other living survivors(woodlice,scorpions and crocodiles)find a battered and bruised Boss stomp box and find it still works perfectly. BAck-up, yeah right, there goes a flying pig!

Although i've only had it a few weeks I can't imagine ever having to call on customer services regarding a Boss Stomp Box. I do however know that in the UK many Music stores are unhappy with BOss (Roland UK) who are quite unhelpfull, and Full of it!

I play in a rock pop and cheese cover band,(Sweet Child/Teen Spirit to Walking on Sunshine/BrownEyed Girl)and what i was looking for was a usable sound with easy switching. The AC2 gives me exactly that. This pedal allows me to use my weapon of choice (Les Paul) for the rock songs and still have a convincing acoustic sound on tap, whenever i need it. Before this, i used to use a parker fly deluxe which has the best acoustic sound you are ever gonna get from an electric guitar, and is an absolute joy to play. But the rock sounds are just too weak, and lets face it all guitarists wanna rock. Also switching was done by hand(very fiddly). The Ac2 gives you instant, silent foot control, especially good for a front-man.I have also recently bought the Line6 Variax, which also has fantastic sounds but again requires hand switching with simultaneous foot-switching, (even more fiddly) and i still prefer the compromise in sound that the AC2 gives me, because it is so easy to use.
As A front-man/rhythm guitarist I dont have time to check on what settings i have selected,and sometimes the monitoring is so bad that i can't even hear what settings i am on, so the simplicity of looking at the pedal to see wether i am electric or acoustic is just perfect for me.
Prior to buying the AC2 I did email Zoom to see if they had a simple pedal that could switch outputs between electric and acoustic simulator but they don't. If only Boss would give us a pedal that switched outputs and gave us all the effects that are handy for electric and acoustic sounds separateley, with on-board tuner(aaaahhhh shangri-La, for a front-man/Rhythm guitarist).
If my AC2 goes missing I will order another immediately.
I am still happy with my Line6 Variax purchase, a really nice gig guitar(it really rocks) and i Still love the weight/feel/playability and tuning dependability of my ParkerFlyDeluxe. The AC2 really has opened my options to which guitar set-up I take in the road. However the tuning stabilty of the ParkerFlyDeluxe was exeptional.so I have had to buy A stage tuner for use with my LesPaul,Variax and Ibanez Blazer.

Too easy. just tweak and turn.....

ok, now here's the kicker! unless you have good equipment (guitar and amp) already, the ac-2 won't be of much use, since it will just "acoustify" the input from your guitar. make sure you have good tone in your guitar in the first place and great tone from your amp with hopefully a 12" speaker. then you'll be pleased with the simulation.


I had been using this AC-2 with my Carvin dc127. It sounded great.


BUT HERE'S A COOL TIP!

I randomly put the AC-2 into my signal path from my ACOUSTIC (yamaha cpx7- nice guitar) to an elctric amp, and it sounded AWESOME! as you may know, piezo pick ups in acoustic eletric guitars are very brash sounded with the signature "quacking" feel of the sound. however, the ac-2 really tightens the sound and makes it sound as if it were a MIC'ed guitar! I'm serious, go to your local guitar store and try it!

after some research, I and others determined that the "ACOUSTIC" function on the AD-5, Boss's processor for acoustic guitars, may very well be the ac-2's effects chip in disguise. therefore, the idea of using an acoustic simulator is not new with boss. check it out. it makes a huge difference.


I brought this particular rig to some musicians and they were shocked an the results as well. If you go

guitar> compressor> ac-2> chorus> to amp, you'll find a nice surprise!

never broke

na.

it's a good pedal, unless your gear isn't that good.

Definitely easy to use. You can manipulate it even without a manual! As most of the users have commented, there're only four knobs on it, and you should find any difficulty in dealing with them.

This is really a tricky effect --- You need to have a nice amp in order to get the expected sound. I've got the nice acoustic sound in the music store when I was trying on it, but afterwards, when I was using it at home, it sounded terrible!

At first, I thought that it has some problem, but when I tried to used it in my friend's home with the same guitar (my friend has got a better amp), I found that the AC-2 is functioning properly!

Therefore, don't eapect too much from it if you don't have a good amp,but I'm sure that if you've got the right gears, you'll get the lovely acoustic sound.

You can always trust BOSS.

Never contacted them.

No doubt that AC-2 is a great acoustic simulator. If you have a nice amp, the AC-2 should offer you what you've expected; otherwise, better spend the money on a more powerful amp before investing on this effect.

Not too bad, I tend to fiddle quite a lot to get the sound I'm after - it's not a matter of plugging and playing for me.

It does exactly what it's meant to: it simulates an acoustic sound. Obviously it doesn't turn your guitar into an acoustic, but it does a fine job and it's so convenient.
I was initially interested because I saw Stone Gossard using something similar onstage. He'd just get this acoustic sound from no where, so i went looking for a pedal to do that, and this is what i chose.
I love the crisp sound it makes - not totally acoustic sounding but great none the less.
I have had minimal noise from this pedal - nothing to worry about at all.
My setup is Strat -> PSM-5 -> AC-2 -> DM-3 -> NF-1 -> Marshall VS65.

So far nothing to complain about. Although it's second hand, it's in top condition. I would gig with it without a backup, but it's not something I would be too concerned about if it failed. But I've never had a Boss break on me.

Never dealt with them

All round a good pedal, and worth the money. I play a wide range of music and it suits every situation I need it for. It's great for recording with my inexpensive setup - I can get a good recording with this pedal whereas I would not with my acoustic.
Having said all this, if the pedal were stolen, I might be more temped to upgrade my acoustic gear. Nice to have it around though and it's good what what it does.

Very easy to use. 4 knobs. One Level, one bass, one high and the style selector.

This pedal is brilliant. My band plays a style much like that of Hoobastank, hence remember the song Running away. Well use this pedal, in line with a BOSS Ge-7 EQ Pedal and you will get a brilliant Acoustic sound. I've noticed people have said, you get a replacement sound. When used with the correct combination (ie the GE-7) you get a perfect acoustic sound which you can mold. Im using it with a peavey Bandit amp along with a range of Ibanez pedals and the sound is brilliant. I truly recommend this pedal, as long as you buy it along with the GE -7 Eq.

This is a boss. i use all my boss pedals without backup on a gig. i have no hesitation.

Never Dealt.

I would buy this pedal again, if it broke if it got stolen etc. this pedal is brilliant. AS LONG AS IT IS USED WITH THE GE-7
otherwise, its not so good.

A fairly easy piece of gear to use, manual was relatively clear save for a few Japanese/English transliteration problems. The manual also gave some decent starting points in setting the controls.

OK - here we go...out of the 4 main settings, I found that "Enhanced" produced the most noticable effect; the others just seemed weak to me.

Other reviews on this product have noted that the realistic nature of the effect will vary from guitar-to-guitar, pickup-to-pickup. I whole heartedly agree with this assesment. A Duncan Duckbucker sounds pretty good but a Duncan JB sounds "eh". Single coils will vary in effect realism depending on the combination selected, as on a Strat.

Does the AC-2 allow an electric guitar to sound like an acoustic? Mmmmm, well, maybe...a little. There is definitely an affected sound and I found it useful in a limited way. An earlier reviewer remarked that for the amount of acoustic guitar required by his band (meaning little), the AC-2 met his need. I play in my church's worship band and there is the occasional need for acoustic guitar and that's what prompeted me to buy the AC-2. I believe it has a use. And, now...on to what's transpired...

I've sent the unit back. Why? Because, at least on this particular unit, the output volume of the AC-2 has to be set at +3 o'clock before the volume level of the effect matches the volume level of the bypassed guitar signal. Totally unacceptable due to the amount of noise that the AC-2 generates at this setting. It's too bad as I kinda liked the way the thing sounds. BUT, I can't justify $90+ for a noisy effect. This is why I've given it a "2". The sound of the effect is interesting, but too noisy.

My other Boss pedals have held up very well, but can't say how this one will.

Never dealt with Boss/Roland.

As mentioned above, I play in the church worship band and the style of music ranges from light rock to funk, to big band, to Motown, to contemplative. I've been playing for 30+ years and also build tube driven guitar amps.

Guitars: '64 Duo-Sonic, '72 SG Special, '95 Strat, '97 C.B. Perkins Custom Plus, '99 Godin SD, '00 Warmoth SG-O-Caster, '75 Takamine F385, '00 S&P Pro-Flame.

Effects: Dyna-Comp, Tri-AC, CE-5, DD-5, FX-65, Cab Tone (these are currently on the pedal board, there're others stuffed away in the closet...)