Boss BF-3

too much tweaking for me to get the sound I want out of a flanger :(

not bad sound but very stero sounding and I dont even know what old-school flange sounds like. but the boomarang flanger sound gets a bit crumbling sounding or something in the bass end. or maybe i need to tweak with it more :( who knows. my first flanger was the dano diner flanger and this one second.

its made for a fat foot like yours

i own a tele with fender deville 212 and various other pedals...
i like alternative rock been playing 12 years.

ive owned it for months and still havent found the sound im looking for out of it. im thinking because its got too many options in the 4 knob sound ratio. its expensive as hell too, the color is cool though... the sound is good and decent and is fair with other pedals but its made for flanger tweakers or something not a flange noob... im thinking about getting the MXR flanger to replace this with.

I wasn't really sure about the "momentary" mode at first but overall, it's easy to use.

Very good. Very versatile. Can be as present or transparent as you want. Pretty quite overall ...Basically, all the things you want in a flanger. The thing that sets this pedal apart is the "manual" knob that allows you to change the range that the pedal operates in. You can get a low wooshing sound or a higher swirling sound.

Boss is supposed to be bulletproof.

Wouldn't know.

It's a good pedal. It's more versatile than anything else I've tried and has a "stronger" effect than the DOD flangers I've owned in the past (FX-75B, FX-75C, and GS30.)

Lots of different sounds at your disposal, and quite a few knobs to tweak, it can be quite daunting at first.

I love this pedal. It sounds very smooth, there isn't too much noise except with really heavy distortion, but I have a noise suppressor for that. There is a wide variety of sounds available, and the inclusion of the gate mode is a great idea, tremolo as well! I actually like the volume boost now as well, at least you can hear the effect, I'd rather have a volume boost than a volume drop. It's only slight anyway.

Had it for nearly a year, no problems. After all, it is a Boss. *groan*

N/A

For the money, this is fanstastic. In fact I'd say this is the best damn flanger on the market, for versatility and sound. It doesn't sound digital - unless you want it to. Hell, Joe Satriani even used one in his live rig from 2002-2005. Yep, this pedal is awesome.

With 5 adjustable knobs, this pedal is very easy to change the sound you want to get out of it with the flip of a knob. Also it allowes you to set your own tempo just by holding down the step pedal... very fun to work with... Also it has a bass and guitar input (wont work with both pluged in), and a stero output...-

With this BF-3 Flanger, I power it with my One Spot, and then i run my Ibanez RG-7321 to a DS-1 Distortion, MT-2 Metal zone, BF-3 Flanger, NS-2 Noise Supressor... Aslong as the MT-2 and the DS-1 are not on at the same time this pedal is amazing. Gives you a real Van Halen sound (Aint talkin about love)... Id give it a 9

The only 3 things to survive a nucular war are polititions, cockroatches and boss effect pedals.

Guitar Center hooked me up. VERY GOOD

Over all ill give it a 9, its a damn good pedal very happy with it. Gives you a good flange sound...

It's easy to get a good sound out of this once you know what you can adjust, and know what you're looking for. It has Res, Manual, Depth, Rate, and Mode. You get 4 choices for modes. It's very fun to mess around with until you know what you want.

I'm giving this a 10 because, well, what else can you expect?

I think the effects are great, my only complaint with this pedal is there is no volume knob, because if you have the wrong settings on the amp, the volume will increase 2000% when you turn it on.

Well, maybe not 2000%...

I use it with my distortion usually, which sounds awesome. In the Ultra mode, this gives you a very strong flanger sound, which is awesome.

I use the Standard mode too, which is great, as well as the Gate/Pan.

I'm giving this a 9 because it could use a volume knob, although if you get the right settings it says at or close to the same volume.

I can throw this off of a overpass onto the freeway and it would probably still survive. This thing can take more of a beating than I can.

I've never had any problems with it.

Even if I did, I can trust BOSS because since they were around since the invention of the wheel.

I play alternative rock, much like Nirvana or The Foo Fighters.

I love this pedal a lot.

In fact, I actually lost my old BF-3 a while ago, and guess what? I purchased another. It's that good.

To sum it up, this pedal is everything awesome in existence.

It has 5 knobs. The best way to set this pedal is to listen for it.

This is the coolest modulation stompbox ever built. It revisits and sums up all of Boss's previous Flanger incarnations. In adition to that, the knobs can be stretched in all directions to create a wide variety of modulation sounds. This thing covers phase shifter, flanger, chorus, vibrato, tremolo, and ring modulator sounds effectively, and all without a bit of background noise. I have close to 50 effect processors, and this pedal works well when layered up with distortion, reverb, and delay, etc. I have an all tube 35 watt "custom" 5F6 Bassman head and a 2x12 cab with Eminence Red Coat speakers. The BF-3 sounds really alive through this rig.

I bought it used, and it was in perfect condition. I don't do any shows, as I am just a hobbyist, so none of my gear is put through strenuous physical challenges. But I do own some Boss pedals that are almost as old as me, and they are still perfect.

I have never had to deal with Boss customer support, but in that sense, their website is a great resource for questions and contact information.

My main musical interests are grunge rock and techno (but not at the same time). This pedal goes great with any style. I've even hooked it up to my DJ setup with favorable results. Of all the pedals I own, this is the one I consistently recommend to anyone looking for modulation to put into their sound signal chain. One pedal that is almost as versatile and a little cheaper is the Ibanez CF-7. Of the simulated effects I mentioned earlier, the CF-7 is just not able to create tremolo effects as the BF-3 can. Also, there are a lot of complaints that the CF-7 and other from the Ibanez Tone-Lok series sound unnatural (I love them for this reason). With it's wide sonic capabilities, the Boss BF-3 sounds consistently natural and clean on any setting. Even when dialing in a ring modulator setting, the tone can be tuned like with a real ring modulator.

Let me begin this review by reminding you that I just VERY recently got this pedal (last night to be exact). I figured it wouldn't really matter, seeing as I've already managed to find the good parts of this pedal, and it shorting out on me isn't an issue-it's a Boss! It's not that easy to get a good sound out of it right off. In fact, for me it seemed damn near impossible. Thanks to the well-presented manual and a lot of trial and error on my part, I've managed to get a lot of good sounds out of it. This is the first flanger I've ever played or owned, so yeah, it took me a little extra time to figure out what everything did even with the manual's help. If you're familiar with flangers this will probably be a cakewalk to figure out.

God I was unsure about this thing at first. I started off with this pedal getting like 90% flange, 10% original note. If it wasn't that, it was too subtle. I didn't buy a flanger to get a chorus sound. If I wanted chorus, I'd buy a chorus pedal or use my amp's built-in chorus. Thankfully, after tweaking the knobs enough, I've found a few really good but note-discernable lush, deep, flanging sounds. I'm sure there are more in there. Be aware (at least in my case) with the depth knob up, when the flange is at and around its crest, it will distort the note HORRIBLY, and at and around the trough, it'll make this god-awful buzz. I have gotten no volume boost like many people here speak of, none whatsoever, with or without distortion. A little noise, but it's a flanger, you're gonna hear a little background flange. I should be getting a noise suppressor soon, thank god (need to tame my MXR ZW-44 Overdrive. Nice pedal but noisy with amp distortion)


Standard

Very nice flanging sound, but not quite deep enough for what I want to use the pedal for. I've gotten a number of good flanging sounds out of it so far. It'll probably suit most peoples' flanging needs very well though.

Ultra

This is what draws me back to this pedal when I try to keep it turned off. It sounds very deep, lush, NOT CHORUS-Y! Just what I wanted out of this flanger.

Gate

Cool little effect, but I wish the gate would actually start in sync with when I started playing and apparently not always be gating, even when I'm not playing. Put it on gate, start playing a phrase, and be amazed as you see what Ian sees. I'm sure I'll find a way around this sooner or later. And if not, that's why they make tremolo pedals, isn't it?

Pan

Can't really say, as I don't have another cable to run into my Epiphone Studio 10 Practice amp.

Momentary

I imagine it'd be very useful on stage or even otherwise. Just press and hold for as long as you want the Standard flange mode to be on. Release foot, goodbye flange. Not a big issue for me, seeing as I have enough time and room to press the pedal twice to turn it on and off.


Sounds very nice. This is my rig so far.

Gibson Les Paul Vintage Mahogany => MXR ZW-44 Overdrive => Boss BF-3 Flanger => Boss DD-6 Digital Delay => Fender Princeton Chorus (not the DSP one)

Can't say, haven't had it that long as I mentioned before. However, reliability-wise, I've heard nothing but good things about Boss. If I gigged, I'd do it without a backup.

Never dealt with them.

Style-wise, I'll play almost anything. I like everything from Duke Ellington to the Beatles to Steely Dan to Megadeth. Mostly, though, I play classic rock and thrash metal. I went CRAZY a few times improvising some thrash and rock solos and let me say, it adds some definite depth to it. Even in a metal rhythm setting, this pedal has a lot to offer to to the open-minded. What do I love about it? The ultra setting. Very rich, full flanging. Suits me very well. Hate about it? The fact I don't have 2 decent amps and another cable to try out the pan mode. If this thing got stolen, I'd be tracking him or her down and beating them down with the pedal. A little expensive, but in my opinion, worth it.

Not too hard, only four modes & one of those is momentary.

Apart from that you have you regular speed, depth, man & res controls

Im rating this pretty high for what it is, a digital flanger giving you a few options.

It is quite overpowering and doesn't sound as lush as an anolog flanger like my FL301, however i find this Boss flanger to go really well with distortion.

Standard mode is like a BF-2, the ultra mode is really full on for tripped out sounds etc. The gate mode give a panning effect & when you use it in mono it sounds like a flanged Tremelo.

Like i said it's pretty overpowering, so if your after a subtle flange to just do a light chorus effect i'd look elsewhere

Boss needs no words here

Again, no words needed

Great value flanger!

I use it in the effects loop & it works great, nice jet plane woosh with distortion.

If it were stolen i'd get another.

Once again Boss has falled to install a volume knob on their Flanger. My trust old BF-2 has the same problem in that when activated the volume shoots up a bit and I gotta turn my guitar down at the same time I activate the Flanger!

Has 4 different modes but only one foot switch!

It sure does more than the old BF-2 but at twice the price!

I returned the little gem to Guitar Center and stuck with my BF-2 as the price was just not warranted.

I'm giving this a lower score for ease of use cause I gotta bend over to switch modes and for $150 ....that's retarded!

Sounds exactly like the old BF-2 in regular mode.
The Ultra mode is cool.
The tremelo mode is cool for some things.
I didn't bother to hear the stereo option.

Hey, it's cool if you're limited on space but it's too impractical and expensive if you're not limited on space.

Why not just score another old BF-2 and a Tremelo pedal and for the same price you'll have tons of tonal variations AND THREE FOOTPEDALS!

I did use both flangers at the same time and got really cool sounds.

I've been playing for 35 years....everyday since 1979.

I have 5 old Marshall half stacks and a host of vintage Les Pauls and Stratocasters.

Too expensive!!!!!!

Easy enough just play with stuff until it makes sense,but i can see why new players or not "not very technicaly minded players" could have some trouble

Good i mainly use the Mono inputs but having the two choices is helpfull,but i did find some settings not very transulent and nice as i have on my Ibanez FL-9 or my Rocktron Hypno chick.

havent had any trouble

dont know

I feel its an over rated pedal,i prefer the Ibanez FL-9 much more