Boss AD-5 Acoustic Instrument Processor

I found this easy to set up for a decent sound. The manual is very simple to understand. With the variety of input/output options you have a lot of choices when using it as a DI, or pre-amp, for performance or recording.

The sound is great out of this little box with a little adjustment. you have a lot of control by using the 4-band EQ, level knobs on each of the two channels and a master level. There are also two knobs for the sound "processing" - Body & Mic Placement, which have a radical effect on the sound. (Basically, you either love it or hate it.)
One thing I did NOT like is the noise in the signal when the "Effects Bypass" button is on. Otherwise the unit is quiet. I have used it as a DI to my SoundBlaster Live for PC-based recording. It provides a clean sound. I also use it as a DI to a PA. The stereo outputs (both XLR and quarter-inch) are nice to have. You can switch to mono out.

Solid metal housing. The knobs seem solid and firm. Very well built. Boss seems to build quality product.

Never had to worry about it.

This is a well-designed, solid little unit for performance. I use it less for recording but just because I prefer a mic, or a ART Tube Channel as a DI to get added warmth and a more "vintage" tone. I like the two channels in because my guitar has an EMG stereo jack connected to the two pickups in my guitar, an EMG ACS (mag) and EMG bridge piezo. I use a Y-cable to split the signal. The AD-5 lets me control the level of each signal. There are separate optional footswitchs for reverb and chorus. Overall, this unit provides a lot of control over the sound and tone. The hiss can be controlled by the EQ. And it's well built. Except for the noise when you turn on the Effects Bypass I think it's excellent value.
If this was lost or stolen I think I would look around for something else first. There are so many new products coming out every year.

Very intuitive. Select your pickup style, set a good level, dial out any overbearing or unwanted frequency, reverb and chorus to taste and you are all set.

Buzz Feiten actually demonstrated this unit to me. When I first heard his I thought it must be some thousand dollar unit because it sounded so good. I use RMC equipped guitars and I often go between a VG-8 tone or the pure acoustic tone of the AD-5. This unit adds an immense depth and warmth but generally sounds very natural. The chorus isn't a TC, and the sound doesn't beat a mic'ed up acoustic in the studio, but for the money it sounds great, is easy to use and has been 100% reliable. Every single time I play out with this rig, someone comments on the full tone I am getting and they ask how I an getting it.

Has never once failed. I have used it every week for the past three years without one burp, hiccup, or blip. 100% rock solid.

Have not had to use customer support.

Hands down best value out there. I do wish it has footswitchable defeats for the reverb and chorus, but I'm not complaining. Been playing acoustic since 1971, this is as easy and good as it gets for the money.

Easy to use because everything is reduced to a volume pot. The whole device is designed to simplify adjustments to moving 1 or 2 pots.

The manual is far to simplified.

I used acoustic guitar into a small recording rig.

The AD-5 was incredibly noisy for a "professional unit". I was stunned. The guitar line by itself was silent in comparison. The AD-5 by itself with no guitar connected had a lot of hiss and any changes in the controls from the home position increased the noise level. It is unusable for recording.

The unit is solidly built. It is not setup to use live. Accessories such as a stand and footswitches might make it more applicable for live stuff but it is not able to be battery powered which makes quick live setup difficult.

I am taking the unit back today. Will let you know how it goes.

World acoustic music for 20 years.

Suits style but way too noisy.

Easy to use, if you know your way around a mixing desk.
the manual is good. All the contols make sense.

I'm using the unit with a taylor 412 with a sunrise and a piezo mixed together.
It's fairly noisy (I'm not sure if there is a problem with this unit too,see below) You have to run the gain fairly high to get a good S/N. There is a hiss present even with the volume turned all the way down.
The body and mike features are good. But a swept mid control would be far more useful. The two inputs are a good feature as you can blend a mag pickup with a piezo. The reverb is useful. I didn't like the chorus, my TC unit sounds better. The feedback control works well but if you have two notes that take off (say D and A) you can only tune one of them out.
The unit is a compromise. Not the "professional" unit it is made out to be. It will give you a good sound in most situtations but through a good P.A. the short comings make it average.

this is my second unit.
The first unit did exactly the same as the review below.It made a poping noise then just quit, on the first gig I went to use it at!!(not a good start).
I feel if two of the units reviewed here do the same it's not rare.
The box is well made like all boss stuff, but should work more than once!!
Also I'm about to get the second unit checked out, as with a good P.A. the unit is to noisy. Also on some settings the Mid control will send out a high pitched squeel, another rare problem???

The shop I bought it from gave me a new one to replace the first lemon.I did not deal with Roland.

Overall the unit is OK. It's a good for getting a good sound though average P.A.'s.
The fact my first unit was so unreliable leaves me a little dissapointed in the unit.
I would not buy this unit again I think I would go for a pocket blender or the baggs para DI.

Update on the previous review.

We'll see. This is a replacement for the lemon I had before. I've been assured that this is a rarity, and that it's a very sturdy unit.

As I said, this one is a replacement. I'd bought it in November of 1998, and it spent most of 1999 back in California at the service center. It had made the trip twice. Well, it was now early 2000, and about 3 months past the warranty. Roland sent me a brand new one, charging only the shipping.

Thanks Roland for the new unit...I'll take one off for the $8.00 <grin>.

Great to have this unit back! It's replacing the Fishman Pro EQ I bought in a pinch (which is a great unit, but not as flexible or as powerful as the AD-5). I missed the tone this unit has, both recording quick acoustic parts, and live using my Fishman Matrix 1 equipped Taylor 612C, Rare Earth humbucker equipped Martin 0001, and especially my Powerbridge equipped Carvin DC135T electric.

The unit is a breeze to use. Set your levels and start tweaking. Every knob basically explains itself. There is a very helpful manual, and there are some important warnings about using the unit with phantom power (. . .don't) and the like.
There are two inputs, one for a piezo, and one for a magnetic pickup, both with individual volume controls. There are a phase inversion switch if needed (nice touch), a stereo/mono switch, dual stereo 1/4 inch, and XLR output jacks.
The EQ. section includes 4 knobs: Bass, Mid, Treble, and an ultra high Presence knob. Feedback elimination includes a frequency knob and an attenuation amount knob. The Reverb and Chorus effects knobs explain themselves. It is easy to hear a large change in tone with a large knob turn. There are also 2 Tip-Ring-Sleeve 1/4 inch jacks, one for two FS-5U footswitches to control Reverb and Chorus, and one for an effects loop.

I'm using this unit with a Taylor 612C with their stock Fishman piezo pickup, a Martin 0001 with a Fishman Rare Earth humbucker magnetic soundhole pickup, and a Carvin DC135 solidbody electric with a Fishman VS-100P PowerBridge (Wilkinson tremolo style).
I originally bought this unit for the PowerBridge equipped electric. I had the chance to demo it against the Sans Amp Acoustic DI through the 125 watt Crate Acoustic Amp. The SansAmp took care of the impedence problems and their effect on the tone, and helped with the high end piezo problems, but the minuite I plugged the AD-5 in, the change in the actual "character" of the tone was immediate!
It made the PowerBridge sound almost as if it was on a guitar with resonance chambers at least, and not solid metal attatched to solid koa through tremolo strings. There was a very strong bottom "thump" whenever I hit the strings, and between the bass and mic placement controls, I was able to dial out the problem, and add some "shimmeriness" and "air" to the sound of the guitar. This went a very long way to adding more of an acoustic impression to the PowerBridge. It still wasn't going to replace my acoustics, but it went a very long way to improve the sound. It seems that the trick is to address the major tonal problems with the eq. first, and then add the "resonance" and "mic placement" effects next, otherwise, you can tend to chase after a sound that keeps eluding your ears, and never find it! . . . So a small amount of tweaking goes a long way.
With the RareEarth eqipped Martin, the presence knob causes a lot of hiss with the pickup's bright switch engaged. The guitar, and the pickup's tone tends to be warm, with alot of strength in the midrange area. The AD-5 is not equipped to really center down on that particular frequency range, and the RareEarth/Martin combination sounds pretty good going direct to the board, but it does make the guitar sound more "musical." It filled out the bottom end that was missing a bit from this guitar/pickup setup.
The Taylor/piezo combination was almost "magical" through the unit. Again, starting with a rather good direct sound, the AD-5 was able to pull out that bottom "thunk" that piezos have (as I've mentioned above with the PowerBridge), and pull out the piezo high end "quack." With just a touch of resonance, I was able to get a tone that I would be rather happy recording with.
I've even tried this unit with my ES-335 going into the magnetic pickup input. Add some resonance and it starts to sound like that ES-335 has gotten fatter and turned into an ES-175! Lot's of interesting possibilities. Add a volume pedal to the insert, and you have total control over your own sound. This was also important for the PowerBridge as you run into a large drop in the bass response as you lower the piezo's volume at the guitar (non active volume pot).
This is usually sent direct to a PA, or to the board of my mixer for quick, down and dirty direct recording. I recently picked up a Fender Acoustasonic Jr. but would still split the signal between the amp for the stage, and the AD-5 for the house.
As to the bi-level chorus and reverb, I found the chorus sounded best to me when it was set very light to add a touch of "shimmer" to the sound. Too much tended to get tiresome rather quickly. The reverb also sounded best when used subtly. Too much, and you get a "chirp" with the high end attack on the strings. You really couldn't get the sound bathed in the reverb to my liking without the above problems.

Well,it appears sturdy, and it worked fine for about 4 months, and then, it began to act up. I would turn it off and then back on and it would work fine. I figured, "no problem," but I kept an eye on it. Then at a gig, it basically died, almost as if there were a short somewhere (continuous "popping" noise). I sent it back to Roland via my local music store. They repaired it and sent it back no charge as it was still under warranty. 3 days ago, it went out again.
I don't know if it is a flaw with the design in general, or if I just have a bad unit, but I find it to be rather unreliable at this point, which, to my experience, is very unusual for Boss gear.

As I mentioned above, I sent it in, they sent it back no charge. I've heard horror stories about their poor customer support, but I called them up, mentioned the problem, they saidf "send it in," and all this rather quickly.
It didn't work for long after I got it back, so I have to take some points off for this.

I've been playing for 26 years, just about every style imaginable. Acoustically, I play fusion, progressive rock, folk, and fingerstyle, and some jazz and the occaisional bluegrass tune thrown in.
I've had the unit for awhile, so I've had a chance to live with it, and let that "first blush" wear off. The feedback elimination section works very nicely, allowing you to dial in the frequency as well as the amount of attenuation you need. Very nice! My favorite features are the resonance and mic placement knobs. These arethe secret weapon for the unit. I would like to see Boss come up with a unit that expands upon this feature, allowing for settings for different kinds of wood, room ambience, and a selection of resonating body sizes (would be nice to be able to plug a Taylor acoustic bass guitar or a mandolin into this unit too).
I took 3 off for the technical problems, and 1 off just because the PowerBridge is just so hard to get a good, convincing sound direct anyway. I also took one off for the unit not having a ground lift switch. Being that it is equipped with 2 XLR outs, and I've used it in a church with a ground problem, this seems like a rather important feature to include. Otherwise, you have to add a direct box between it and the house. Also, it would have been nice to have a 3 pronged detachable cord rather than a flimsy wall wart. . . oh well, I guess you can't be perfect.
Soundwise, I prefer it to the SansAmp (which has a ground lift, if I remember). It's a very "musical" unit. you can "set and forget" it. Add a volume pedal, and he footswitches for the reverb and chorus, and you can fully concentrate on making music, and except for feedback problems and the set list, you don't have to look at your feet again.
Well, if it weren't for the technical problems, this unit would get a strong 8. As it is, it gets a very weak 5.

This unit is extremely easy to use, every function is controlled by movable knobs, the only buttons on it are an effects bypass button and the power on button, there are only two tiny switches, one which operates the the magnetic pickup phase setting and one that operates the balanced stereo and mono outputs.
The manual is clear and very easy to understand offering visual diagrams of how to use the AD-5 in different situations with different equipment, there are also clear and simple explanations of the functions of each of the controls.
Basically an Idiot could operate this, the beauty of this almost retro styling is that you can see at a glance all the settings, this is strangely liberating, especially for those of us who are 'tweaka maniacs' constantly staring into screens and menus and ever forgetting the settings on the parameters we are adjusting.

I have to say that this device is a 'GOD SEND' for us Devoted acousticians, Now I am going to rant on about why.
I have been playing acoustic and electric guitar for many years, but I fell in love with the beautiful sound and feel of the Nylon strung guitar, so called 'Classical guitar' way before I began to appreciate the tone and beauty a good electric can offer - I am a professional and I play in acoustic Guitar Duo's and electric bands I am also very fussy about my sound.
The endless frustration I have felt when endeavouring to amplify my Electro Classical acoustic, and the inadequte sound replication even the most expensive and sophisticated acoustic Pickups can offer (I use an RMC six individual saddle system, believe me the best out there). My system is powerful and clean it's acually excellent, but all it can really do is amplify the Flat top of my guitar it can never capture the true acoustic Beauty of my hand made Nylon Cutaway, and of course after spending such a packet on my guitar I naturaly want to hear some of it's acoustic beauty in an amplified form and environment.
It is impossible to get the actual sound of an acoustic guitar unless you use a good condenser microphone, but when you are in a live & LOUD electric Gig a microphone is just not feasable, (feedback hell!, who needs a Fender and Marshall Stacks when you have an acoustic onstage with a mic trying to play loud - the last thing you want your pure, virginal, delicate acoustic to do is start yellin' in weird dog tones while you are trying to emote the most beautiful passage you spent hours trying to perfect at home. Hmmm.
So along come Boss the Saviours of the old and hopefully new millenium with this practical intuitive desperately needed device THANKS THANKS THANKS! The beauty of the AD-5 is the fact that it allows you to amlify your guitar very loudly in loud situations, you can eliminate the feedback using the two knobs to isolate the particular frequency and it's depth that is causing the problem I tried this in a situation where I was actually sat on top of my Amp, in this particular instance a 150 watt keyboard amp, with the other three musicians Drums, Keyboards and Bass literally right next to me (an acoustic nightmare, a comlete no go area for the electro to be used at any significant volume without major problems and heavy looks from the other muso's), in this case the only looks I got were where did that sound come from, primarily because before the AD-5 I just could not previously get the volume to make a real impression with my guitar, so everyone just got used to it being very quiet and a bit apologetic - not any more.
O.k. so that is that problem sorted out what about that horrble plexi, 'thud' 'thud' percusive 'duff' 'duff' you get when playing single note lines, you know that sound of the string on the pickup, well with this device you are able to greatly reduce it, infact I was able to remove it to such a level that I was no longer concerned about it because it was so minimal by tweaking the e.q. settings in the pre amp section of this box (I must confess however that I also used the e.q. and reverb from a Boss Gt-5 guitar processor to further soften and balance the sound). You may need to reduce the presence setting a little because it tends to boost the highs so much that you can hear a hiissing sound but if the presence is kept low then there is no problemo.
Also there is a seperate input that allows you to get the appropriate setting for whatever pickup you have, Magnetic or piezo, I have Piezo pickups and Have tried my guitar through the mgnetic input aswell but could not notice any discernable sound difference, I will however experiment some more to see if there is any as I've not had this unit all that long yet.
This baby has a left and right balaced outputs for use with a P.A. system... excellent, what more can I say?
Finally those two exciting and rather sexy knobs that allow you to recreate the natural ambience of an acoust

I have dropped this unit 3 times which is unlike me, maybe its born from some subconscious desire to validate the stories I hear all Boss last forever and are built like tanks. Yes it still works fine. I would use it without a backup. It is built like a TANK.

No comment as I've had no dealings as yet with Boss

I Play Jazz fusion and spanish music, I own a lot of gear including electric guitars and guitar synths (Roland gr-30, Boss Gt-5 Godin lgx-sa and Ibanez S-Classic, Fender strat).
I have had the AD-5 a couple of months, I am going to buy another one, something I never usually do.
I would replace this in a heartbeat if it were lost or stolen, there is nothing else like this on the market, at least not that I'm aware of.
This Is a liberating piece of gear for the acoustic muso who wants to pack a tight quality sound in a live electric environment.

This is a straight forward easy to use piece of equipment. The manual left a little to be desired but that is typical of this industry.

I play a Martin J65M (Jumbo body, Maple back and sides) which has a Martin "thinline" pickup in it that I installed. I plug into the band PA for the best sound I have found yet.

When I purchased my unit I found that there was no warranty card inside the box. I also have a problem with the "middle" eq adjustment (it is noisy when off of the center detent, makes a hissing sound). I tried their web site which has no provisions for email, and called without any luck. Perhaps someone who can help will read this and respond.

I have been playing 6 string (started out on bass) for about 20 years. I am self taught and learn mostly by ear. The band I'm in plays mostly classic rock and plugging in before I bought this unit was horrible. The sound was thin and sounded like a cheap electric. After buying and plugging into the PA I can now hear most of the tone that this beautiful sounding guitart can generate. I say most because in any electric situation you can't always hear everything. I didn't compare this unit to any other preamps as locally no one had them to try. But playing through this unit 1 time convinced me that it was worth the price. As far as other gear goes I also own an Ibanez strat knockoff (circa 70's) and plug that into a Roland amp. Thats how I get to play alot of the classic tunes that an acoustic just doesn't fit on. I would definately buy this unit again despite the lack of support. I don't know how I did without it for so long!

I'm using a Martin M36 equipped with the Fishman Goldplus under-saddle pick-up and have found the sound directed into the board too"brittle" without the fullness of a miked guitar. I don't want the hassle of the mike and thought this pick-up would be the answer...I've EQed, chorused, reverbed without being satisfied. The AD-5 replaces a lot of pedals and gives this set up the most "acoustic" sound yet.

The Ad-5 sends a very hot signal so the sound tech may need warning. The EQ is self explanitory yet I eliminate the "presence" which gives the piezo pick-up the thin/brittle quality (some may call that clarity...) It's easy to dial out an annoying feedback from a monitored stage environment and the chorus and reverb sound very BOSS/ROLAND. I use them minimally I direct the output to a GK 200MV as a personal monitor and use the XLR output direct to the PA. It sounds great, I can hear over fiddles and mondolin and an electric bass and the PA sound is very acoustic.

I've never had problems with any BOSS pedals including this one.

The AD-5 seems right for a stage monitored enviroment when I want to hear and be heard with other instruments for folk-dancing and celtic-eclectic music. If it were stolen I'd buy another though it seems pricey it does replace alot of other pedals (which I sold to get this)...I'd give it two thumbs up but I'm busy playing guitar and not fiddling with knobs, pedals, mics et.al.