Boss AC-2 Acoustic Simulator

Straight forward to use. Like most Boss Pedals.

I use mainly Ibanez Guitars with a Valvestate amp. I use the pedal with the EG lead going straight through the mixer and out the speakers. One stomp and you change from your amp to the PA. Sounds more realistic than my Semi-Accustic Applause, and because the Electric has a flat back, does not ride up my body during gigs.

Use it regualaly while gigging, although the singer has taken a liking to it with the Applause (gives a deeper, richer sound), I am concidering making him buy another one so we can both use it.

Not had to use it.

I play in a cover band so do lots of different sounds, from Distorted Rock to Clear Accustic. Just what I needed and a lot cheaper than a decent accoustic guitar.

I wish I could lock the knobs to prevent an accidental change in my setting.

It offers 4 modes, a body and a top knob (for bass and treble)
and a knob for level matching

I use my LesPaul's EMG85(neck position) with vol turned to max.
On the ac-2 I use the 'enhance' setting.
I've had to turn up the level to max and the body knob down to min,
top is set to 2 o'clock.

I am amazed. It reaches 90% of an acoustic sound.
I add bass to the lower strings by hitting them near the neck PU and add treble to the higher strings by hitting them near the saddle.

I use 10-46 strings. I'm convinced that if I used a bigger gauge,
the ac-2 acoustic sound would reach 100%.

The unit works absolutely silent.

It's 100% reliable - no doubt about that.
(Don't use batteries!)

The ac-2 acoustic simulator replaces my electric-acoustic guitar whenever I gig!

This little stomp box looks strange in front of my rack (Dunlop DCR-1SR, Sansamp PSA-1 and tc electronics G-FORCE),
but it produces a real acoustic sound and surpassed my expectations.

Sure, playing an acoustic feels different BUT at least it doesn't sound different!

If you look for more comfort and less luggage,
I urge you to try it!

quite easy to get a good sound out of, the manual is a bunch of crud no one ever reads. my unit has hasnt been upgraded.

i use this with my ibanez iceman ( Duncan Invader @ neck and soon a Custom Custom @ bridge). i've 14 other pedals i use but never all in one chain-that would turn tone into mud. this does not work well with the neck pickup-too much bass. mid selected is good buy use the bridge humbucker for the best sounds. this has a very full, mellow, warm sound. i turned it on started playing and thought i was hearing an acoustic. why do you fools ask so many questions, im not answering all these little nitpicky things!
i play thru a marshall combo-i love you jim marshall

HELL-FREAKIN'-O!!!! its a boss. its indestructable!!!

dont know dont care is that good enough for you

ive been playing bedroom rock for 2 years. if anyone stole it.... oh the things id do lets just say thered be visegrips involved with someone gonads if this turned up missing. and thats all im typing, except for finishing this sentence.

Very easy to use. Good manual. The body control sound better in the middle more or less, and the top control at 7 or 9 o'clock.

You get a very good acpustic sound. I use Jerzy Drozd Custom Guitars (jerzydrozdbasses.com/guitarras.htm) with JB and '59 Seymour Duncan. The '59 in the neck (in humbucker position) sounds great. A very good sound with my JMP-1, peavey classic 60/60 (6L6) power amp, and 4x12 Marshall cabinet. The JMP is in clean 2 sound, volume 18, gain 15, bass -3 or -4, middle -5 or -6, treble 3, presence 3. With Jumbo or Standar sound.
With this configuration i have not change the single/humbucker for soloing. I switch off the Boss and i switch on the solo preset.
With the chorus sound better. I use Gmajor: Avanced chorus, low rate, depth 90%, mix 50%, fase on.
Sounds very well.
For a sound fatter and spaciouser i use a dual delay, with total pan L and R and delayed signal 50% 10ms right channel and 15 or 20 ms left cahnnel.
My acoustic guitar (Alhambra) sound like an acoustic guitar because this it is, but the Boss simulator in the live performances it is great.
A good purchase.

Total reliability.
It is a Boss.

I play rock and pop. I play heavy metal too.
www.melodicca.com
My music and my web.

You would have to be legaly retarted not to use this pedal. Turn to knobs until your happy, and play away.

I have a very odd setup for this pedal it seem...since a lot of other people have it at the end/start of thier chain. I play either a Danelectro Hodad, Danelectro 56-U2, Epiphone ES-225, Vantage Avenger, BC Rich (1 humbucker, strat style body), or a Fender Telecaster though a pedal chain (from guitar to amp) including: Dunlop Crybaby, Blues Driver, Acoustic Sim - Bypass Channel: Danelectro Black Coffee, Boss Tremelo, Danelectro Cool Cat, Fender 80's Red Knob Twin reverb amp distorted channel. The effect channel of the acoustic sim runs straight into the Amp's clean channel.

So far I have found that to get the best sound out of the AC-2, is to use my Danelectro Hodad with the coil tap on, the Dano 56-U2, or the Telecaster. Mostly because the humbuckers seem to produce a lot of bassy tones into the amp that just makes it sound muddy and wrong on any setting. Also, I have to have the reverb up on my amp (to about 5) to get the sustain/resonance effect so I can effectivley simulate the sound of my Takamini (don't know the exact model... but it ran for about $1,200 when my dad bought it back in '79).

I hav also used this pedal with my Ibanez SGR5 bass and my Yorkville 400 bass head running a Hartke 410 cab. It dosn't got the sustain or the resonance sound I desire, but it still makes for some nice effects.

I give it a 9 because it sounds too "dead" going straight into a solid state amp without any other effects.

Boss has to make some of the most durable products to date! I'm still trying to decided what's stronger... my boss pedals or my cool cat chrous pedal.

The only thing I recomend is a AC adaptor...but I recomend that with any pedal.

I always do a lot of research on a product before I buy it. So I sent them an E-mail and asked some information on the sim, like impedance, average battery life, etc. I got a reply within the week, with a few sound bytes and the manual in pdf format. Best customer service I have received from any coporatation!

I play a wide range of musical styles across my three bands and solo projects; I mostly play surf, ska, punk, alternative styles, and I can usually find a place for this pedal. It has to be my second favorite pedal sitting right behind my Danelectro Cool Cat, the king of Chorus.

However, I wish that it had a steel body resonator effect built into it... as well as a more "real" sound, it really can have a digital sound at times...

Oh, and I use it at every show, never had a problem, and if it got stolen, I would hunt down the bastard, casterate him, then go out and buy a new one!

I work at a job where I answer the phone and read numbers the whole day. The last thing I want to do is come home from work or school and spend hours with programming worthless effects. I am very happy with the entire Boss line's ease of use. I press the pedal and can get the effect I want, when I want, and not have to worry about digital displays or cacophonic presets. The manual is great as well, although using it is practically irrelavent.

I have my AC-2 routed through several other Boss pedals with it at the forefront, allowing certain effects to be applied after the acoustic sound has already been simulated. When combined with my CH-1 Super chorus it sounds absolutely beautiful. From the pedals I run the sound through a Peavey Bandit 112 which sounds great for a solid state setup. I play an Epiphone Scroll 550 which comes with coil-tap so I can use either single coils or humbuckers. Personally I prefer the humbuckers, It sounds cleaner and more symphonic. The single coils almost kill the tone and make it to twangy for my taste. The jumbo setting has a lot of bass and tends to mix with my bassists sound, but it can be fixed easily by EQ the amp. Overall the tone is great. The enhanced setting works best. Although nothing can replace a great acoustic-electric tone, this comes close and it does it for a fourth the price.

Like all Boss it's built like a tank. Enough said.

I've only had mine for a few weeks, but still love it.

I play mainly hard rock and metal, but some days just playing softer pretty music is more appealing and this pedal works great for that.If you want a genuine acoustic sound, buy an acoustic, but if you're not going to use an acoustic a lot or have little money this pedal is fantastic.

I wanted a different sound the other night, just tried the knobs back and forth until I got one I liked.

I got this to use with my basses (one six-string tuned to low A, and one fretless). The typical setting I have it on is Jumbo, with all the other dials pointing the same direction as the Jumbo dial...
I like using effects and put it at the end of the signal chain. I doubt if anyone else consciously notices it - it's not an acoustic sound with my setup - but it takes a certain electrical/artificial edge off of the effected sound making it warmer and more pleasant.
Usually I use a crossover network, then I put it at the end of the treble signal chain, but it works fine for the low bass notes too.

I use different settings and arrangements everytime I play. (I play in a praise/worship band, so the sound doesn't have to be the same twice in a row like for most music.) Sometimes a favorite pedal doesn't sound right and I pull it out or bypass it for the evening. This one is subtle enough I've never had to do that.

Started playing hard rock, some lead guitar and some bass, in a garage band 29 years ago. Prefer alternative progressive rock now, which I infuse into the praise/worship band (as much as I can). If this were stolen I probably wouldn't replace it for a long time until I got tired of trying other things to improve my sound. Even though I don't often change the settings, I like the amount of variance you can give the sound. I haven't compared it to other acoustic simulators.

I posted the last review, and just figured something out...many reviewers say this pedal does little to no good for their electric guitar, though I've read quite a few that claim it enhances their cheaper A/E guitars, and I think I figured out why. Strings. The reason this pedal (and other acoustic sims) don't really turn an electric around is because you're starting with nickel or steel strings. My mando, which is strung with elixir strings, some sort of bronze alloy, sounds really natural through this pedal, but my electric just sounds a bit more airy, and I think it is because I use nickel strings on it. Not that I would start running bronze strings on my electric, but if you're not happy with your AC-2, the strings you're using might play a big part.

Three dials (level, body, top), one switch (looks like a dial but just toggles between standard, jumbo, enhance, and piezo), and a footswitch. I was able to get a decent sound just by leaving everything at 12 o'clock with the switch on standard. I'll probably tweak settings a bit more, but basically it's plug-in-and-play. The manual is brief but effective, and as with all boss maunals, gives a few ideas for starting points.

It's a simluator pedal. This will not replace your acoustic guitar, and it will not make your cheap Fender A/E sound like a Taylor, but if you need an acoustic sound for a bridge, or want to make your cheap Fender A/E sound a bit better, give this a try. Reviewers for this and the Rockman simulator tend to polarize, saying that it makes no difference in sound, or that the AC-2 is Christ incarnate in a pedal and does your taxes too, but the reality is somewhere in the middle.

I bought this pedal to enhance the sound of my Rogue A/E mandolin. So right there you know that I can't plug my mando into something that would make it sound WORSE, but the AC-2 really helps. I can play lead stuff and it comes out crisp, and when I do chop chords it sounds very natural. It won't stop me from saving up for a real mandolin, but it'll keep me content until then.

It's a Boss. Every other brand, on this review board, starts with "well, it's not a Boss, but..." Boss is the standard by which reliable is defined. The only thing I'm not sure about is its battery life. Some Bosses are very efficient, others (like my DD5) will eat a Duracell Ultra in one day of solid playing. But you should always have a few extra strings and 9Vs during a gig anyway; keep those around and you'll be ok.

I want a job doing customer support for Boss. Easiest job in the world, as nobody ever has to take anything back.

Like I said before, it's a simulator. If you have that mindset, you'll be ok. If you expect it to replace your Taylor, or you think it has, then I'll trade my AC-2 for your Taylor, straight up. And like I said before, it won't stop me from saving for a new mandolin, but it will stop me from smashing my Rogue. If it were stolen, replacing it would depend on whether or not I had a new mandolin yet.

OKAY... I went to Mars today and tested out some pedals. What I'm going to say is going to sound a bit ludicrous and even blashpemous to some people. Anyway, here's the thing. On my Zoom 3030, my favorite sound of all is to get the Acoustic sound pre-set, and then add a lot of fuzz or blues OD. Well, I tried that today with the AC-2 and a Boss Blues Driver and Distortion. To tell you the truth, I can't tell too much of a difference between the two distortion units when I put them on my favorite setting (full gain). However, with the AC-2 on, it gets me that "murder by scraping your face off with a rusty machete while listening to the Jesus And Mary Chain's early recordings". Really, sharp disgusting stuff. I could actually tell the difference between the two distortions at full. The Blues Driver sounded better with a sharper cut, warmer sound, and less sustain. Ideal for rhythm only.

I don't know, I don't own it.

If you like Psychocandy, try this with a good distortion unit (fuzz or Blues OD).