Boss AD-5 Acoustic Instrument Processor

Very easy to use the basic functions. Reuires more testing to make functions as the anti-feedback work.

I'm using it on a Seagull steel stringed guitar with a built in piezo (no preamp). The natural sound of the guitar without amplifiing it is great, but the sound that comes from the piezo microphone is dull. Running it through the AD-5 really makes the sound shine. Absolutely great. I also use it (the second input is nice to have here) on a classical (30 years old) TAMA guitar with a contact microphone. The AD-5 improves the sound also for this guitar but not as much as for the steel stringed guitar.

Solid metal, have had no problems whatsoever. Use it both on stage and at home.

N/A, haven't had any reason to contact them.

Very good product. Since I sometimes use it for 2 guitar it would be nice to be able to save preset sounds for the differens guitars. But I guess I'll just have to go for the AD-8 to get that.

I found the AD-5 to be very easy to use. The instruction manual was easy to understand, and, as always, playing with it is the best way to get to know it. It really doesn't take much time. There is an AD-8 pedal with aettings for guitar body (like the AC-2) and a tuner, but I don't see a need to upgrade. I have all that I want.

I use the AD-5 with a Martin DC-16RGTE and a Washburn "Cumberland" Jumbo. I also have a Martin HD-28 custom on order, and will use it with the new guitar when it arrives. The Martins have Fishman Prefix Pro Blender pre-amps that pretty much takes care of themselves. I use outside effects (Boss CE-20 Chorus Ensemble, Peterson Strobo-stomp tuner) because I like the sound better than the AD-5 effects. The Washburn, does not have a pre-amp that is as good, and is very mid-rangy. I scoop the mids some on the AD-5 and totally on the pre-amp. It really makes a difference in the amplified sound of this guitar. I recently went to an XLR cable from the AD-5 to the soundboard, making the AD-5 a DI box. What a difference in signal strength! I can barely use any pre-amp volume. The anti-feedback circuitry is also excellent.

The feedback prevention is excellent, and I use the "Mic Distance" setting to really round out the sound.

As with all Boss pedals is is very well made. The case is metal, but this is not s "stompbox". There is an effects bypass switch that I feel could be a bit stronger, but I think that it will last for many years to come. I don't have a backup, but I don't plan on ever needing one.

When I went to the XLR cord, I called Boss to get some info on using a DI box. The representative was very helpful, and all of his info was on target. Have not needed it other than that.

I have been playing for 20 years, and am the happiest with my sound that I have ever been. I play on the worship team at church three times each week, and the AD-5 has not let me down. I recently purchased a Fishman "AURA" pedal, and found that the sound was good, but it required more tweak time than I had. I returned the Aura, and went back to the AD-5 and am very happy with it. I play Christian music, blues and rock.

It's very easy to use. I plug in and play. There are a few knobs to fiddle with, but it sounds good without changing anything.

Fantastic. I use this box professionally on a concert stage. People always give me good comments about my sound.

I have dropped it on the face plate and broken some of the knobs. The circuit board is right below the knobs, so it broke too. I went to the Roland website and ordered the broken part and was back in business in a week or two. But be careful not to drop it on the face plate.

If you know a little about electronics the website can help you.

I love this unit. I own two of them. One for my studio and one for the road. It also works great for a direct bass recording box in the studio. I record clean electric guitar parts with it too.

its prety easy to get an ausome sound out of it with some tweeking. only problem i had with that is that in front of a monitor it sounds VERY diffrent than out in the auidence(couls jst be dat im using a crapy monitor)

amazing, again it takes some time to set it up but when you get it there it is amazing. i use it with my g series takamine and it raelly turnes its sound quality into a taylor or larrviee!!(and No im not exerating trust me i compared it with my friends 714 taylor and a d-10 larrviee and with time i can make it sound exatley like just about any guitar out there!!!!!!

i herd that the buttons are mounted to the breadboard so you cant push the buttons in, but ive had it about a year and had no problems of any kind

never had to contact them

ausome but it

This is easy to use and very diverse in sound settings. Did not need to refer to the manual. If you have no experience using a pre amp it may be more difficult.

I have had this effect for the past 2 years. I use a Taylor and a Martin both with the Fishman Rare Earth and transductors to take full advantage of the dual input. The Boss AD 5 is then plugged into 2 channels of my SWR California Blonde. Works great for gigs. The effects work fine (like all effects). It takes some adjusting to set the EQ when going from soft volumes to loud volumes (i.e., turn up the volume = adjust the EQ). I sometimes use the pickups straight to the amp's 2 channels. The ability to blend the mag and the piezo is what makes this great.

Never failed in over 2 years of playing.

"I've heard things" about this company's support.

I do fingerpicking with acoustic steel string guitars. I own/have owned many guitars an equipment over the past 30 years. I like the two inputs and the ability to blend the mic & piezo, and manipulate the body & depth of the sound. I hate the power cord (much to thin), a thick cord would be great for the stage. If lost, stolen, or sold; I would consider the Boss AD-8 (I had this one for over 2 years).

This requires some tweaking to get the best sound but I only had to play around for a few minutes before I got good sound.
The manual is good with all options for pedals and some good examples of settings.

The Boss AD-5 can achieve a similar sound to the Sansamp and the LRBaggs and more. With the Mic Distance control off it has a similar frequency response as the LRBaggs. With the Mic Distance at full it has a similar sound as the SansAmp (I usually have the Mic Distance at full). The Body control is supposed to give a resonant fullness but I think it gives it sort of a weird flange sound so I don?t use it. The anti-feedback notch filter helps but doesn?t completely stop the offending string like the Sansamp or LRBaggs (or the onboard Fishman on the Taylor). The chorus sounds pretty good only if you use the stereo output. The reverb is OK on low settings, but I am not a big fan of reverb so I don?t use it. This uses a 300 mA power supply which is different than most of the other Boss pedals. The unit has a little hiss at high volumes so I have to cut the highest frequency back a bit. This unit is pretty versatile because of the pizeo and magnetic inputs. This works great for both my Martin 12 string guitar and the Zambrano tiple.

I haven't had it too long but so far it works consistently.

I have several acoustic instruments that I need to amplify when I play in a band. A microphone would not give me the volume I need, and I was very unhappy with the un-natural sound when I plugged in using the piezo or magnetic pickups.

I have a Martin D-12 (12 string) with a factory installed Fishman Prefix (with onboard EQ), Taylor 310ce (6 string) with a factory installed Fishman Prefix Pro (with onboard EQ), an Alvarez Silverbelle 5 string banjo with an aftermarket Fishman Rare Earth Banjo pickup, and a recently acquired Colombian Zambrano tiple with an aftermarket Fishman Rare Earth magnetic sound-hole pickup (I got the tiple from rumillajta.com ? check it out if you are interested in South American instruments). I am not the biggest Fishman fan but that is what was available and the stuff is pretty reliable.

I reviewed a lot of information and ended up buying 3 boxes - LRBaggs Para Acoustic DI, Tec21 Sansamp Acoustic DI, and a Boss AD-5. I compared the sound using each of my instruments with a Boss LS-2 to switch to the 3 different boxes while I was playing. I have used all these with acoustic amplifiers and directly into PA systems.

Although I liked what the Yamaha AG Stomp had to offer, it required removing the 9v battery in the on-board pickup and replacing with a 9V battery dummy. That was too much bother with multiple instruments.

See reviews of the other products under their section.


I would definately buy another one of these even though it is a little pricey because this is the only one of the 3 I tried that gave a natural sound for the Zambrano tiple. It would be nice if it would use phantom power but the current draw may be too high for that. There are some features that I don't use because they don't render a good sound (to me) so it could be built cheaper, simpler and smaller from my perspective.

Pretty easy! Lot's of quality tone controls. Except I'm not really familier with using the feedback controls. I found that if you have a real acoustic, this unit really doesn't help a whole lot.

Great! Makes my artificial accoustics sound really good! And it also helps out in a more mysterious way as well. I'll get into that a little further down.

First, I have used this with a Parker P38. The acoustic sound was fabulous. I used an a/b switch to change from my accoustic sound to my electric which I used to use a V-AMP for. I had a really neat set up. I'm sorry to report that the Parker was in my Fiance's appartment when it got hit by lightning and bruned to the ground. :-(

Second, I since then bought a GNX3. I use a fantastic sounding Valley Arts Samick Strat style guitar. The GNX3 provides a very good but not quite good enough sounding Accoustic guitar simulation. The AD-5, however, turns this sound into a very rich and vibrant Accoustic sound especially with the jack plugged into the peizo input of the AD-5. The only problem is that when I go to my normal electric amp sound from the GNX3, I'm left with the AD-5 still in the loop proccessing as if I'm trying to get an acoustic sound. Which leads me right in to the third point. :-)

Third, wanna know a secret to great tone from an amp in the box? Yep! I discovered that when I leave the output from my GNX3 into the peizo input of the AD-5 with the bass straight up and down, the mids slightly cut, the trebble stightly increased, the pressence straight up and down, the body set on about one notch from off, the mic position set to about one notch from off, and the chorus about straight up and down, I GET A REALLY WARM SOUNDING TUBE AMP SOUND!!!! COOL! :-) To sum up, that problem I talked about in point number two, is not a problem at all! :-D

No problems

Unknown...

I would recomend this to anyone. You can even improve your vocals a little if need be. Although I don't know if I would recomend paying as much as I did just for vocals. But this a is a great unit and you will probably get some use out of it. But it can be a little pricy. But, if you do get one of these, try it with your amp in a box (POD, V-AMP, GNX, etc...)

This unit sounds great. I have owned it for a number of years (4?)You can get nice tones with a minimal amount of tweaking, and you can find some very nice sounds once you spend some more time with it.

I use this with a Seagull guitar equipped with a piezo pickup (passive). This guitar by itself sounds horrible plugged in. The AD-5 really morphed this guitar into a usable instrument. The 2x2 chorus is excellent. The reverb is passable.

Also, I used on a number of occasions as a direct box with a electric bass guitar. I found some decent woody tones using the EQ.

This thing is solid.

This box does wonders for bringing a piezo pickup to life. If your acoustic/electric is equipped with only a piezo pickup, consider this piece of gear.

If you have a more sophisticated pickup system (i.e. - Blender) you may find the AD-5 to have a minimal improvement on your tone.

Don't forget you can bypass the effect in this unit. This comes in handy as an emergency direct box for whatever instrument you may need it for.

Pretty easy to use - didn't take much fiddling and didn't really require reference to the manual - I read it once when unit was new, and that was it

This really adds alot to the sound of my Yamaha APX. Get the settings right and it's very good. EQ is important, as it's quite easy to overdo the middle but it really adds depth and warmth. The Body and Mic Distance settings do make a difference. You'll have to fiddle the settings if you move to different amp though - I've used with Trace Elliot acoustic amps, direct into PA's and with a Roland keyboard amp and got good results every time. I personally find the reverb a bit "digital" if you overdo it, but the chorus is good - subtle and hard to overcook.

Well, I've had it for 3/4 years without problem, but this week it died! A quick look round inside revealed the following. All the pots are mounted directly onto the upper pcb and simply poke up through the top of the case, so undue pressure on the knobs can crack the pcb, which is what happened to mine. I have no recollection of any incident that may have done this, and I am pretty careful with my gear, but it is clearly what has happened. So, BE WARNED - the case is really robust and the build quality is excellent, but if you drop it, stand on it or drop something on it there is a clear risk of major internal damage. Even jamming it inside a bag/case with other gear could do this. I wouldn't say this is a fault, but it is a major vulnerability. So, a middling score here, as it did perform faultlessly up to this week.

Don't know yet. It's off warranty so it may not be worth getting a repair done - I'll see what Roland in the UK say.

Play mainly folk/pop sytle on acoustic, and for longer than I care to remember. For a piezo-loaded electroacoustic I'd say this is almost invaluable. I really was pleased with it. At the time I got it there didn't really seem to be any comparable alternatives on the market. If it's not fixable for a reasonable cost I will definitely replace, but will probably look at the new Yamaha unit as a possible alternative.

Easy to hook up and use. The manual is adequate.

I just got this thing and played an Alvarez artist with a Dimarzio soundhole pu direct into PA. Sounds very good. The chorus and reverb have usable sound throughout the whole range of adjustment. The plate reverb is especially nice.

A little noisy though.

Not sure - just got it.

i play a blues country classic tracks hybrid. I like this thang