Boss AC-2 Acoustic Simulator

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).

Plugged it in and it turned on. Switches very easy to turn. Manual was easy to use. Very brief. Very cool that you can have it dedicate to another amp set to take a "acoustic" sound while muting you main amp.

Running it through a Crate G-212 that I use for stereo off of a Laney 50 pro tube amp. First I tried it with a Strat which I thought would be the best choice because of the non-distorted sound of the Strat but it sounded bad. Like a Strat that was really bright. Then I tried a Les Paul and guess what, it sounded like a Les Paul. I was getting very ticked off and had all but re-packed it to send it back and I tried a Jackson Dinky with it and it sounded pretty good! Not good like you could pick your way through a Foglberg song or Dust in the wind with it but not bad. I have been messing with it picking some stuff out with it I found it sounds rotten on the "Standard" setting, muddy on the "jumbo", best on "enhanced" and so-so on "piezo". I think this pedal might do wonders for a real acoustic and really make it awesome. Just when I think the pedal really sucks I'll turn it off and that wakes me back up because when you turn it off the Acoustic piece that you were trying to play really sucks. Go figure Duncan distortion pickups playing Neil Young. Not bad. If you have a guitar with a blank sound and non-distorted pickup this might sound very good.

ALWAYS DEPEND ON THE BOSS.

Who knows. Anybody ever sent a Boss pedal back yet?

For what it is, a SIMULATION, it's pretty cool. Lots of songs I play need a little acoustic whipped in once and a while. If I had to play a whole acoustic ballad I would use a regular old acoustic, unless it was a strummer. It really is pretty handy to have and would buy another one if my fat ass cousin sat on it and somehow broke it.

I borrowed this petal from my guitarist to see just what it would be like for the BASS. It's a Boss, no manual is need to figure it out.

I own two basses one is a Washburn Bantum and the other is a Epiphone EB-1 Fretless. For the Bantum I wasn't over impressed by this effect but on the fretless it does some WONDERS. It filters out some of the harsh tones of the electic and gave a deep warm feel. I bought the fretless mainly for jazz and this petal helps make my electric fretless sound closer to an upright (double bass), which is the sound I desire from it. All by turning the body up around 60-70%, the top down to 30% and the setting on jumbo. Vary cool effect with no loss on the low end!!! In fact I was able to enhance the low end via the body control.

10+++

n/a

Well, I mainly play rock, funk, punk in bands and jazz and other experimental styles alone. For my Epi I would concider buying this petal if I could find one used and cheap. If I start a playing in a JAZZ band I feel this would be a MUST HAVE, but for indie/rock bands I'll spend my else where.

This is a very easy unit to figure out. Like most boss products within minutes after out of the box you are a master.
The manual is good.

i use this unit on humbuker and single coil guitars.
the single coil sounded like a martin somewhat. About 85 %.
Its not noisy, and sounds better than you would expect.
I have th VF-1 effects unit with abuilt in siulator by Boss, and this unit sonds better!
I was able emulate most early acoutic recordings with no problem. When it comes to the more rescent stuff I came close.
this is definitley a versatile addtion for electric users. If you have a clean amp you will be please with what this baby does. Look at 80 bucks, and aclean amp and single coil guitar you have basically saved on a ovation or martin acoustic electric guitar. thats about 700 buck saved.

i play a whole lot of styles. Bottom line is if you need the versatilty this will give it to you. If it were stolen I would but it again. What i like most is the acoustical sound it produces. that's what I am suppose to like. There was no way to compare it.
It will help me from this day forward to always know I have that edge in my arsenal of effects. that makes it a staple for guitarist in my opinion.
I t has everything it needs and more. Buy it.

Pretty straight forward....directions (like you need them) say it all.

Well people do not make the mistake of attempting to run this thing thru a effects processor. Your wasting your time. Alot of peeps wrote reviews here stating that they get alot of hissing and what not...and the only way I got that effect was running it thru a digitech 2120 -> alesis EQ -> sonic maximizer into a Mesa Triple Rec and Mesaa 4x12 cab. It sounds like shit...but running it on a seperate channel by itself thru a Gibson Explorer with a EMG 85/81 config I was really impressed with its results. No of course it doesnt get the Martin tones but like whats been said earlier this is a SIMULATOR pedal not the real damn thing. And for what it does Its really worth the money.

Its a BOSS pedal. Get mad at it and chuck it accross the room. It'll never die

never dealt with them before

Again for what it does people its just a little miracle. I was really impressed of the tones that an EMG 85 gave it.

No manual, but no problem. Gain, Bass, Treble, Mode. Pretty easy, but more tweaking than usual to dial in a sound.

I ran the following guitars into the following amps: Telecaster Plus, Hamer mystery model (as in, I don't know what model it is), and a Takamine acoustic/electric through a JC-120 and an Acoustasonic Jr. At first attempt, all configurations made the sound extremely muddy and sucked out all tone. The key to making it sound respectable is cranking the volume on your amp. The electrics sounded very similar, perhaps a bit better on the Hamer w/ the humbuckers, but the Takamine was atrocious. Unlike a previous reviewer, who said it would make a cheap acoustic sound like a Taylor, it took my decent acoustic and made it sound like crap. Try for yourself I guess. I found too much treble made it very noisy, and not enough made the sound muddy.

To me overall rating = sound rating. The other crap is just what it takes to get there. This is my first HC review, although I've been playing for 10+ years and own lots of gear. I was prompted to write because of all the glowing reviews. I was greatly looking forward to this pedal, saw them fetching legitimate prices on ebay, and jumped at the chance to get one "cheap". I wasn't impressed at all. At this point I won't be adding it to my rig. The sounds are just plain muddy or hissy. I'd much rather play any "acoustic" song clean through my current setup than through this thing. But all you rawkers with your BC Rich going into your Marshall stack can use this pedal to play your power ballads. Besides, I've only got so much room on my peadalboard.

This is a COMPARISON & FIRST IMPRESSION review... for a while I've had my Rockman Accoustic Pedal and I absolutely love it. I'd heard about the Boss version of it and decided to give it a try out of curiosity. Both are very easy to use, but the Rockman is easier. The Rockman has a gain knob which the Boss doesn't have. The gain will add a bit of bite to your sound and I kinda like it on my accoustic but I hate it when used with an electric. Most people don't like the gain on the Rockman though. Both units have a "Level","Top" and
"Body" knob on them. The Boss has a mode selector which gives you different types of sounds, though I didn't find there was a huge difference between the modes. The feature I really like on the Boss is the dual outputs... they were really thinking smart here. One output for when the pedal is on and the other for when the pedal
is off. So when the pedal is on you can send the output to your accoustic amp. When the pedal is off, you can send the output to your Marshall stack! Wish the Rockman had that. The manual is well written, but I doubt you'll need it.

Last night I played both the Rockman and Boss back and forth for about a half an hour. I tried it with my electric guitar (humbuckers) as well as my Takamine accoustic straight into a Yorkville PA system.
It was clear to me that the Rockman was much more authentic sounding, but minutes after I came to that conclusion my friend came into my studio and gave the exact OPPOSITE oppinion! I found the Boss to give
a very tinny sound compared to the Rockman. Both units will do an ok
job of making your electric guitar sound like an accoustic, but I have found they are more appropriately used to make your $200 accoustic guitar sound like a Taylor! Both pedals will do that folks... they will do to your accoustic sound what a BBE Sonic Maximizer will do to your distortion... when you turn it off, you feel like all the life is sucked out of your sound. I should also add that these things can be used on other instruments. I use the Rockman to transform my crappy $50 "cardboard sounding" mandolin into something I can actually record. I normally play classical guitar, but I do play steel stringed instruments too. Both units are quiet and I get no hum from them. I give the Rockman a 9 for sound and this thing a 7.

Both the Rockman and Boss get a perfect 10 here.
Metal casings and sturdy footswitches. They'll never die folks!

Never dealt with Boss. Rockman no longer exists but you might be able to deal with Dunlop.

At first I'd have to say the Rockman sounds better than this thing. I'll use it for the next few months and if I change my mind, then I'll leave another review. I wish I could combine the two units into one... a unit which has the Rockman sound, the gain knob of the Rockman, dual outputs of the Boss, 9V DC power of the Boss (Rockman uses 18V DC - a very hard to find adapter) and the mode selector of the Boss. Perhaps I'll play around with them and see how they sound when connected together.

There are 3 self explanatory knobs. Easy to tweak.

Here's a tip: it would be best to use this pedal with a quality (eliminating Squier, rogue,harmony and other lower end guitars) electric through a quality amp that is at least 25watts or has a speaker at least 10" in diameter in order to get the widest frequency output. I've tried it in a 15watt, 8" Fender practice amp and the Princeton 112 with 65w and 12", and there is a clear and extreme difference! I've also used it with my Carvin and a nice Fender Tele, and the Carvin, with its active/passive electronics, gave such a clarity and boominess to the sound on the single coil select neck pick up that it could be used for recording phrases. The Tele made it sound wussy. True, not a replacement for a real acoustic, but it very convincing. If if sounds like cheese, it's probably the guitar or the amp.

I use a Danelectro Fish&Chips EQ with this thing, and it makes a difference in shaping overall tone and getting rid of the hiss. I strongly recommend using an eq with it. Also, it is important to note that the eq settings should not look like the standard "v" but more like an "m". Go to the Boss ge-7 eq tips page to see what i'm talking about. makes strumming alot smoother sounding.

take some time to synchronize the guitar and pedal to get best sound. don't use it with a mutlifx because it will ruin the sound. instead, invest in a LS-2 line selector and create a separate acoustic signal loop and add a chorus or something to it. that way it'll be clean as a bell.

Solid. No back up.

Havent tried. Harmony Central pages and reviews probably do more to help though. Consulted this page before buying.

I'm a serious musician playing for almost 8 years. I am impressed with this pedal. I would absolutely replace it. Don't even consider getting the zoom acoustic pedal. This pedal stand alone as an accurate and adequate simulator. If you're like me, you are looking for a review to convince you to but it. Well, I'm telling you to try it and get it if it's what you're looking for. All the negative stuff about his and bad sound seem to be (according to their descriptions of themselves) a result of cheapy equipment. (No offense guys, I've been there too) Use good stuff and take time to tweak and add some modulation effects, and you'll be more than gig worthy.

Uh - turney-twisty knobs, well labeled, manual if necessary (helpful actually with regard to cabling options with the two output jacks...) pretty straightforward.

If you are not gettig great tone from this pedal... it's probably more to do with your pickups and amp than with the pedal. Having said that, this pedal is quite intolerant of imperfections in the signal path.

I can get a GREAT acoustic sound out of this thing. Just one mind you with minor variations... but that's what knobs are for... to dial in the sound you want. Sounds just like our Larrivee Orchestra model (truth). With properly wired single coils and a clean amp you can acheive a sound that will suffice for the occasional "acoustic" passages or even songs in a set. Frankly, I get such a great sound (rewired strat, B+M pickup) that I just use the pedal when I could just as easily reach for my acoustic. And I could play any acoustic I wanted to really... just an idea regarding the potential excellent sound with the right equipment.

This pedal in combination with a distortion pedal or crunch circuit of any discription sounds like hell. It needs to be clean. If you need a distorted acoustic sound look elsewhere.

Interested in a few simple modifications to improvide the sound of your stratocaster or telecaster - www.guitarnuts.com - "Quieting the Beast" took me, a soldering novice" about 2 hours to complete and I weep with joy every time I pick up my strat. All the bite and clarity of the single coil Texas Specials with zero hum (no 60Hz hum, no RF interference, nothing).

The point is, my guitar contributes to the success I'm having with this pedal.

They shoud just eliminate this category from the BOSS product reviews... I think if I dropped this into ten-ton press I'd have to buy the guy a new press.

I dunno... never had to talk to them... wait. let me think... nope, never thought about talking to them.

Play all styles... custom strat > (NS-2 used only with the OS-2) > 535q > CS-3 > OS-2 > AC-2 > various amps
Playing a long time. It's a bit odd that the gain has to be on "10" just to equal the untreated signal - unlike every other BASS pedal I own. The sound is great with chorus or reverb or both. In my humble opinion it works best with single coils and a clean channel. My experience with humbuckers and this pedal is limited though. Works well with a pick (plucked or strummed) and fantastic with fingerpicking styles.

Very easy to use, especially if you are familiar with acoustics and boss pedals. Has a level, bottom (low) top (high) and a mode that selects the type of acoustic you want to simulate, jumbo (deep body, more boomy) standard, or piezio type ac/elc. I tried this out in a store and was really impressed. It was very easy to use, no manual was available to me since it was the floor demo model. I sat and messed around with it for about 25 mins and had no problem dialing in the good sounds.

Ok, there seem to be a lot of whiners here reviewing this pedal and saying "It was ok but it didn't sound like a $$$$ Martin or Takamine" Well no sh*t! The key word here is SIMULATOR. If you take this pedal for what it is you'll have no problems or complaints. Likewise...crap in equals crap out with guitars. I see complaints from people who say they used it with a Squier strat into a Crate practice amp. No offense to anyone...but I think you know what I mean. I used this with the "demo" setup they had in the store which was an Epi Les Paul Custom into their Boss pedal display and out into a Marshall VS amp. The EPI and Marshall VS aren't tops but they're certainly better than a Squier in a little Crate. I think I lot of people expect instant gratification here as well. You have to take time to tweak a little. I already knew the "jumbo" setting would have the fullest sound so that's what I dialed in first. Strummed a little...sat the body up about 75% rolled the Top back to about 25% and used the neck pickup. What I got was a nice acoustic electric guitar passable SIMULATION. Adding a little reverb and a bit of chorus really sweetened things up as well but the straight sound was nice too. The Standard setting yeilded a little more boxy tone with a tad more mids, a little less full sounding. The Piezio sound more "zingy" like if you were using one of those Fishman bridge setups on an electric...like Parker Fly's have. The bottom line again...is SIMULATION. Don't buy this expecting for it to take the place of a nice real accoustic. What you get is a nice accoustic electric sound that's a little processed. Its an EFFECTS pedal...what do you expect? I see it as a very useful tool especially for live work when you have a song that needs something special in the clean passages where switching to a real accoustic would be either impossible or impractical....Steve Howe is about the only who can get away with that haha. As far as the hiss that some are complaining about...why the hell are you cranking up the Top anyway?! Use your neck pickup and keep the Top rolled back a bit. Anything over 50% is just not neccessary! Also, again...if you're going to plug in with some Squier strat and try to use the bridge pickup and expect it to not sound hissy or zingy or whatever you're not using your head to begin with.

Its a Boss. I've NEVER seen a broken one.

Never had to deal with them...they usually never break.

Its a very good tool for SIMULATING a nice acoustic electric sound. It does what it does very well. As long as you aren't expecting it to replace your Martin, Takamine, or other $$$$ acoustic you shouldn't have too many complaints. Its a very cool pedal that does what its made to do, nothing more nothing less. I can't wait to get one for myself. Anyone got a used one they want to sell?

This is a pretty easy unit to use. It's just like a standard stompbox. The EG out is a pretty sweet feature. It lets you hook this baby up to 2 amps, and when its on, it will bypass the other effects in the chain, and just put itself through the 2nd amp. The manual does a good job in explaing the different modes.

Ok, here's the deal. This amp doesn't make your electric guitar sound like an acoustic. It lacks the hollow sound that an acoustic makes. But what this pedal does do, is make your clean channel sound beautiful. I cant really explain it, but it makes a sort of smooth glassy sound. Just watch out if any of your strings buzz. This thing picks up buzzing like nobody's business.

Don't throw it on the floor. you might wreck your floor. Its a tank!

I've heard not so good things about Boss support.

I bought this pedal without trying it. Lucky for me I like it. But that's just me. Some people really hate this thing. Try before you buy! If it were stolen, I'd get another one. I've been playing 7 years, and this one of the coolest effects I've used. I play prog rock, metal, folk, and jazz. This pedal is good for all these styles.

Easy to use, quite to find a sweet spot though. the manual is good enough

use a squire stratocaster, an aria pe dlx sd, a boss me30, marshall g80rcd. its quite hissy, and emphasises fret buzz. If you close your eyes, and actually forget that your playing an electric, it sounds very close to an electro acoustic being played through an amp. Good.
I actually compared it to a crafter "ovation" style guitar. Plugged in, they sounded about the same.

Would gig without back up.
It seems very strong, but here's something interesting: I dropped a capo on it, and it took two chips of paint off. I thought Boss were very sturdy in ALL aspects?
Batteries last quite a while.

Bought it off Goodwins in Capel Street, Dublin. Gave me #15 off it.

Sounds like an electro acoustic being played through an amp, and it does definitley sound better with higher gauge strings, just like a real acoustic. Worth checking out at least. Even for those who don't think it sounds like an acoustic, it does give a much more rounded, fuller smoother tone to your clean sounds. Nice pedal, but very expensive compared to other Boss FX.

A stompbox isn't too hard to figure out

I basically bought this pedal to see what it sounded like, I now have it up for sale on Ebay. Please don't buy it because you want your electric to sound just like an acoustic. The sounds are interesting, but very fake sounding. I ran it through my Crate GFX, and basically I could have gotten the same effect by switching to my neck pickup. (By the way, this pedal does NOT agree whatsoever with a seven string guitar) :)

Boss pedals are built like tanks, this one is no exception

didn't need

This pedal would be good for playing acoustic guitar interludes (short ones) live. But the sounds are not exactly pro as far as I'm concerned.

very simple; volume, 2 band EQ, mode. I got a nice strumming sound within seconds which works well for finger picking too.

I play a Mexican standard Tele with a Duncan distortion neck humbucker and a rio grande muy grande bridge single coil, into a Marshall JCM900 SL-X Head. Some people said that it hisses when you put the "top" up too high, but it is very trebley anyway, there is no need to put it past about one o'clock ever. It is true that you need to max out the level to equal the unaffected sound, but why have it any louder?
The tone itself is excellent, from warm and rich to hard and bright, it really does mimic an acoustic tone in a way that no ordinary EQ pedal can. I think someone has already mentioned Weezer in this set of reviews and this is an excellent example of this pedal coming into it's own- acoustic intros and verses in otherwise distorted songs. I'm sure, as so many others have said, that this is not intended to replace a decent electro-acoustic. it cannot be done, but nor can swapping between electric and acoustic in a song. An excellent addition to any chain.

It's a boss. I tried to convince a friend to try dropping his metal zone on a concrete floor but he wont believe it's harmless- well, it is.

This is probably where I should mention the best feature and how I use it. As you can see by the photo it has two outputs, one for the affected sound and one for the unaffected sound. I route the unaffected signal through my line 6 DM-4 Distortion box and rejoin it to the affected sound, which both go to the amp. This means that now to change between clean and distortion I only stomp one switch, and I can have distortion only effects e.g. compression on the distortion line and clean/distortion effects e.g. chorus after the signals are rejoined.
I have been playing 2 and a half years, and I plan to implement my above examples with a Danelectro surf and turf and a Boss CE-3. This is an excellent pedal for me and well worth buying. I also use a Simon and Patrick electro-acoustic, which this pedal could never replace.

Very easy to use. Four knobs. "Standard" setting sounds the best to me. The manual is there, but if you're an actual musician, "we don't need no stinking manuals!"

I seem to have a slightly different take on this. I play in a 3 piece band. (27 yrs experience) I have several guitars, but who can swap during a song?! I have 2 acoustic electrics. A Gibson EC-20 and an Ovation Legend Custom. If I want acoustic, I play acoustic. But, I bought this pedal to do the songs that start off clean and acoustic but then rock later on. (Fuel, etc.) I primarily use a Gibson Les Paul Custom through a Marshall JCM2000 full stack. With the bridge pickup, this pedal gives me a nice "fake" acoustic sound that sounds really great. Don't buy this pedal expecting to replace an acoustic, but it's perfect for what I bought it for...flexibility within a song that requires both sounds. There is some slight hiss with too much top dialed in.

Boss is indestructible. I have an old CE-2 that is forever old and still is the only chorus that I take on the road.

Never a need for support. The pedals are tanks and are always easy to operate.

The people who expected a pure acoustic sound to start with were on the wrong track before they bought. This pedal is meant purely to accent parts of songs that require an acoustic, not play a whole night of Jimmy Buffet. If I were to lose mine somehow, I would definitely replace it with another.

Plenty easy.

I borrowed this to use with my Yamaha AEX-520 through a Crate acoustic amp while my acoustic-electric was down. I figured it would sound better with an acoustic amp than with my Hot Rod Deluxe. It didn't. The first thing I noticed was hiss and high-end noise. I had a really hard time getting a decent sound. No, I did not expect to get a perfect in every way acoustic sound, but I thought it could be a lot better.

It's a Boss.

Like I said, I didn't expect perfection from this pedal, but it's pretty disappointing. If I actually owned one, I would sell it to the nearest dupe, then I'd buy a cheap acoustic-electric for a backup guitar if mine ever conks out again. I would rather use a $200 poorly made acoustic-electric than the acoustic simulator.
I suppose this pedal might sound good if tweaked just right, but the amount of hiss it had was just terrible. I didn't really have the time or patience to mess with it too much, but any pedal that takes more than 5 minutes to get a good sound out of isn't worth beans.

Can you say "ABC"

I use a Gibson Les Paul studio with a Digitech RP-100 amp simulator plugged directly in my PC's Soundcard.

I bought this pedal mainly for recording. This is the best gadget I have in my collection.

A small hiss apears with to much "top".

Have you ever tried to kill a BOSS pedal ?

I play mainly hard rock in the same genre as Rush, Van Halen, Dream Theater, etc.

The AC-2 gave me the sound I was looking for !