Boss BF-3

It takes a bit of noodling to find the right sound. It's faster if you're familiar with the way flangers function. The manual is very good and to the point. It provides sample settings, and you can use those as a starting point to find your own.

Mais ou menos facil para usar. Tinha que mexer um pouco para achar o tom que eu quis, mas depois era facil. O manual ajuda.

I play Fender guitars. It's a little noisy, but no more than most flangers. It seems to brighten up your tone a bit, so if you're already playing with a very quacky, bright tone setting, this might take it into ear-piercing territory. But for my normal tone presets this works fine.

Flanging can be very transparent, rich, or extremely pronounced, and all the gradations between. Nice and 3-dimensional, not boring at all like a lot of flangers. At times can feel a bit digital, but in a good way, somehow. Mostly it feels very analog and interesting. Nice and compact, too. It's hard to get bored with it because with the four main sound controls (not to mention to mode switching) there are a lot of sound options. Sounds good with overdrive.

O tom e muito rico e misterioso. E caro, com certeza. Custa mais do que salario minimo. Mas e muito legal. Tem muitos tons que voce pode achar. O som tem tres dimensoes.

Appears very reliable.

Confiavel.

No experience.

Nao tenho experiencia.

I play a lot of 80's stuff and 2000's stuff. It's a great product. Probably the most solidly good flanger around.

Eu toco musica dos anos 80's e musica moderna. Este produto e otimo. Provavelmente e o "flanger" mais solido e bom que pode se achar.

It's actually a bit tricky to get the right sound out of it initially. It's not highly intuitive... like, say, the Electro Harmonix flanger, but once you find out where the "sweet spots" are located, it's fairly simple.

I use this with a Telecaster and a Stratocaster. I actually own another flanger, the EH Delux Electric Mistress. Of all the flangers on the market today, the BF-3 (and BF-2 for that matter) and the Mistress are among the most chorus-like. The BF-3 is a bit more flangy and extreme than the Mistress, but sometimes you want that. I love the mysterious sort of early Cure sounds that it produces. "A Forest" is a good example of this, though I like set it a little deeper than that generally. Brilliant! The flanger sounds on the first "Neu" album are also acheivable. I can get an almost believable live Police sound out of it, but it's just a bit too modern-sounding on some of the sweeps to exactly match it... that's where the Mistress comes in to assist.

Flanger is a great sound when done tastefully. I prefer it to chorus any day. The BF-3 is a great all-purpose flanger. It has a wider variety of tones than the Mistress, at the cost of the liquid, almost milky quality that the Mistress offers. The BF-3 has a bit of a darker sound to it, while the mistress is a bit lighter.

There is a slight volume boost to the pedal. The changes from the old BF-2 format are hit and miss. The "Ultra" mode is too extreme for my tastes - I would never use it. I would have preferred and expression pedal option. It can get extreme enough in the regular setting, in my opinion (though it can also of course be very subtle). The gate/pan effect is interesting enough, although I don't have two amplifiers. If you plug into the stereo and not the mono out plug, instead of a gate effect the volume slowly rises and falls, but never cuts out completely. The "momentary" setting is nice if you just want to add a smattering of flange here and there in a song, as in "Roxanne."

I've only had this model for five months with no problems. I used to own the BF-2, which was problem-free.

I don't use flanger exclusively, but it is one of my favorite effects. I often just play clean with reverb or delay. I also enjoy overdrive and tremolo effects. In my opinion the BF-3 (and BF-2, which is identical except for the "Ultra" "Gate/Pan" "Momentary" and "Tap-Tempo" options), is one of the best flangers on the market. A very solid flanger. Much preferrable to MXR or similar sort of Van Halen big hair flangers. This one is for moody people and sensative artists and the like. Lots of wonderfully dark sounds are available - very mysterious and three-dimensional. I would love to try it in stereo. The Delux Electric Mistress is superior in smoothness - it's probably the most chorus-like and analog-sounding flanger available. However, the BF-3 is more flexible and has it's own unique voice. They are equal in quality but slightly different in flavour.

This is really easy to use if your familiar with flanger "lingo" i.e manual rez depth etc. But if your not the manual explains it very clearly and even gives you some settings to try out.
very easy to get a good flanging sound out of it!

I use a Ibanez GAX50 running through dod eq pedal the flanger then a psm-5 power supply unit and then into an Marshall avt50 amp.
Line noise is virtually nothing with the BF-3, and i dont get any at all unless i crank my amp all the way which the slight fuzzing sound is probably just because my amp is cranked all the way up :P
I play lots of Tool and it matches that flanging sound almost dead on. Very good flanger very smooth. The most used setting i use is the standard flange. Pan u cant really use unless you have two amps. Gate seems to just to turn the volume off and on over the set amount of measures. Ultra basically kicks the flanger into high gear and the flange effect is more intense.

OF course its a boss.
would gig without a backup

never dealt with them

I play mostly Tool and this seems to fit right in there/
Been playing for about a year and a half, if it where lost or stolen i definetly get another one!!
I tried a lot of flangers and this one seems to be the one for me, and i cant really think of anything i hate about it.
all in all a great flanger

This pedal is easy enough to use. Just play around until you find a sound you like. One thing I can?t get is the tap tempo feature; quite often I will turn the pedal on and rest my foot on it for a while. Then the next time I turn it on and get some strange sound and think something is stuffed inside. So I usually just use the momentary mode

Well? This thing surprised me. I had read reviews about the BF-2 that said some pretty strange sounds could be achieved; I wasted no time in seeing for my self. My chain goes like this: Guitar (Piece of Shit, I really cannot tell you how bad my guitar is) > original Crybaby > Marshall JH-1 Jackhammer (The BF-3 makes this sound kinda like a metal zone) > Boss BF-3 > Peavey Envoy 110.
If you turn everything down and crank the RES it will sound like every note is coming out of a metal pole, kinda like steel drums. If you crank everything it will sound like it?s under water or something. If you crank everything but keep the RATE right down and add some distortion you get this real metallic sound (imagine tearing corrugated iron). If you have a low rate setting on the GATE/PAN mode the sound will come then go away then come back again. If you do the same thing but plug it in through the MONO output it will sound like a tremolo. If you have MANUAL at ?, RES at ?, DEPTH at ? and RATE at just over ? and add distortion individual notes will sound like whacked out harmonies (try playing a harmonic like this). Have the MANUAL and RES at ? DEPTH at ? and RATE at ? and add distortion for a jet plane effect. I use this after my distortion to get these sounds I can hardly notice it when I put it before. ULTRA mode is a bit to over the top for me, I rarely use it.
Of course you can do much more subtle things with it with great results. Sounds great clean. My favourite setting would have to be the ? Jet Plane?.

Well you know how you read reviews that say, ?I could drop this thing of a 10 story building and it would still work fine?. I actually tried; the only thing that happened was a small chip in the paint. I would play live without a back-up any day ?WARNING? this thing is a battery-eating Beast, make sure you have spare batteries when playing live (this is of course unless you want to here strange clicks and hums through your sound). When the Check light fails to work, be prepared.

Well I bought this second hand so I need not apply, but you would not need it on a machine like this.

I don?t really have a set style. A some times play old favourites, some times I play more modern tunes. In the tunes I write myself I can always find a use for this cool pedal (usually for strange sections of sound to capture attention). People just love it when I dial in a strange sound and use it to play whacked out versions of well-known covers.
I did not get a chance to play around with the BF-2 because they are not sold anymore were I live so I cannot really compare it to similar flangers but I would imagine that it would be better then a BF-2 simply because it is much newer (20 years or so) and has more features to play around with. This Is a great pedal for people experimenting with different sounds and looking something new.

Easy to use, manual simple but satisfactory. I did not buy this unit for flanging - an effect I really don't have much use for - but for the gated effect. There is also a nice touch with this pedal (you might miss it unless you read the manual). In Gate/Pan mode you get a usable tremolo effect by using the right output only (mono). I am experimenting with finding a tone similar to a univibe here...not quite there yet.
Controls all do what they are meant to - 'Manual' is a strange name for this knob though...it seems to adjust the frequency range of the effect.

Gear set-up as follows: Fender 1979 (25th Anniversary) Strat - Crowther Hotcake (great pedal)- Ibanez TK999 Tube King (adds Marshall-esque distortion that Fender amps can't do - great pedal, IMHO), Morley Little Alligator volume to Fender 2x12 Deville Amp. In the effects loop - BF3 to (old but adequate) Boss ME5 - Delay and chorus and subtle EQ-ing only used).
The BF3 is not noisy, and there is a good range with all parameters. What is missing is an overall effect volume control...the only major drawback for me personally. The standard Flange setting is good, and the Manual control is useful in 'sculpting' the tonality (phew!...that was a big word!). Ultra Flange is no use to me whatsoever. I just don't like the ringy, swooshy Flange thing myself...always sounds too artificial to me.
The Gate/Pan takes the cake for me, though. I strongly suggest you listen to the sound sample that Boss provides on their website...then you will get inspired re. it's application. The stereo panned sound also very usable, as is the tremolo...only you can't attenuate the effect level, so you can't get subtle tremolo.
If you're into normal Flanging sounds though, this is a very versatile unit, albeit very expensive in my country (New Zealand). Not really Boss' fault though...we have a weak currency.

Only use it 'in small doses' so no back-up needed, Being Boss I expect it to be very reliable. Hungry on batteries though, so will need power pack. I was not prepared to buy the proprietry Boss one though...again too expensive here!

Have found them quite friendly here. No local website though. The dealer network here is sewn up by one retail chain so no price competetion. I mark them lower because of this, but probably not a big deal.

I have been playing over 30 years, some semi-professionally, some teaching.I play blues/rock/ fusion styles - a lyrical lead emphasis.
The BF3 is used sparingly for sustained chordal sections.
I am very happy with my current set-up, and do a lot of live playing.I seek a distinctive sound (don't we all). I also use (again sparingly) an EBow plus (great toy!), and love the Hotcake...does what the o/drive channels on the De Ville DON'T do well. DeVille is a good workhorse though. The Tube King is great, IMHO, for getting a more Marshall-esque distortion sound, and works nicely with the Hotcake which I use for gain boost, although they both separately have quite diferent tonality.
I hope it isn't stolen...I won't be able to justify buying another! I had to sneak this one past my wife!!!
Again, I really brought this for 1 specific effect. I am not aware of another stomp box that does the flanging gate thing. Boss also are known to do the pitch modulation effects well, so will stick with this unit.

Thx for reading...this is my first submission...sorry it ws a bit long!!

takes a while,
but if you are not stupid

my setup is: guitar-->535q wah wah-->maxon od9-->rocktron rampage-->big muff us-->BOSS BF3-->marshall vt1-->boss ce20-->akai head rush delay-->amp

sound is great BUT not much more valueable than it costs.
flanger should be most trancparent and this one is not so.
my opinion, becouse theie is a problem finding a good flanger today is to buy the MAXON FL9 which costs about 250$ but it worth it.
and it eats up your tone a bit, not big deal

will never brake - but sound quality is more important issue

no need

ok value, second best flanger

Once you have a quick look at the manual for about five minutes (I read it on the bus home after buying it) you should get sounds you want out of it pretty quickly.

I use a Trace Elliot Boxer 65 for my Warwick Streamer Standard bass and out of the amp it sounds gorgeous but when we miked the amp for recording it sounded a bit icky (although I'd preferably line out of a bass amp but there's no line out on my amp).

An earlier review stated that using the gate/pan mode in mono sounded awful but I found you can get some great sounds out of it.

Also, try manipulating feedback on a mike through it, my friend was messing about and managed to get the French national anthem out of it.

I've been using this pedal for over a year now and not one second of trouble have I had (although I recommend an AC adaptor, batteries get eaten up quite quickly)

No need ever for my Boss pedals

Fits perfectly with what I play (somewhere between Sigur Ros and Tool). I'd definitely buy it again if anything happened to it, it really is a nice pedal. The only thing I will say is that the tempo tap setting is a bit tricky to use at first. I much prefer it to my guitarist's Digitech Turbo Flanger. Don't even look at other brands or models

Hola! Recibi un Flanger como regalo de cumplea?os.
Recomiendo que utilizes un eliminador de baterias durante tus ensayos, porque el BF-3 se come una bateria de 9V en menos de 3 horas. El manual..... que te digo.... Hay que leerlo varias veces si es que es tu primer contacto con los manuales de BOSS. En general el manual es bueno. Te recomiendo pruebes los ejemplos del manual para que descubras las posibilidades del Flanger. Un 8 porque el Flanger exige trabajo hasta encontrar el sonido que buscas.

Squier (barata)+ DS-2 + BF-3 + amp. Como muchos pedales de BOSS, si el eliminador de baterias es ruidoso, pues el BF-3 trabaja ese sonido tambien. El BF-3 tiene dos salidas una que produce estereo y otra que no. Tiene dos entradas, una para bajo y una para guitarra.
Dependiendo de cual salida utilizas puedes ademas variar los efectos.
El controlador de modo a la derecha es una maravilla, pues dependiendo de la eleccion ahi, varian los sonidos en las salidas de mono y estereo. Sin embargo (algo menos positivo tiene que haber) el modo Turbo.... el modo Turbo es cualquier cosa menos lo que tu crees que es. Turbo no significa ni fuerza ni rapidez, en este pedal significa un poco mas alla. Con un buen amp. este pedal es una maravilla.

Como todo los BOSS la caja aguanta cualquier cosa. Como el pedal no esta en funcion todo el tiempo en mi caso, lo utilizo con eliminador de bateria y bateria incluida, por si el eliminador muere a mitad de actuacion.

Todavia no he necesitado hacer uso ni de la garantia ni de tomar contacto con el fabricante.

Aunque no lo crean, este pedal lo utilizo en los solos.
Le doy a la guitarra desde los 16 anos (comenze con una acustica) y ya tengo 50.
Si este BF-3 se perdiera o lo robaran.... compraria otro BF-3!
Lo que no me gusta, ya lo dije, es cierta tendencia a producir ruidos de fondo. Lo que me gusta mas: te obliga a llevar bien el tiempo. Lo utilizo siempre en la posicion de Flanger standard.
No lo he comprado con otros y como ya lo dije, no lo elegi.
Si ayuda a hacer musica? No. Ayuda a darle variacion al sonido de tu musica.
Eso si, este pedal exige HORAS de prueba, hasta que encuentras el sonido para tu guitarra, otros efectos y tu amp.
Un 9 porque este pedal exige.

Like all good effects it takes a bit to fine-tune one's taste. The 8 i gave this pedal on ease of use, is not a bad thing, all good equipment is hard to use at first.

Though a wider range of sound than the BF-2, the BF-3 only really has about 4 things on the old one... Tap Tempo, Modes, and Stereo sound. They both sound about the same (seeing that they are the same effect), but the BF-3 offers an extra boost (and ultra mode) and a gateing in and out effect. The Gate effect is really cool if you have this pedal setup to go stereo.

Boss... that explains it all

Never needed it

For a flanger this thing is as good as it gets.
Boss will never let you down.
It was worth it to me, but ultimately you'll just have to wander down to your nearest music store and check it out for yourself.

5 knobs, got a quality sound out of it in a matter of minutes. Rate and depth are self explanatory, res goes from dreamy swirl to a roaring swoosh, manual sounds better when set quite low, although it's a bit subtle. standard setting is good enough for me, ultra is insanely good. The momentary is useful, but i havent needed the set tempo or gate/pan mode yet. nice to know its there. all you need from a stompbox really.

I play a '77 ibanez thru an old boss ce-3 -> electro harmonix big muff reissue -> BF-3 -> marshall DSL 401. The amp's being repaired at the mo (see my review on that), but the flanger sounds awesome! on clean, it gives a gorgeous AIC swirl up to the usual sonic whoosh, and a quavering vintage tremolo with the rate cranked up. with the distortion on, there's another load of sounds you can get out of it. sounds like concorde in yer bedroom.

It's a boss with all the reliability that goes with it. this thing will not let you down. just bring a spare battery if you're not using the adaptor socket.

never had to deal with them.

I play a load of 90s alternative/grunge stuff and it's perfect. Tried the BF-3 and the BF-2 in the shop, but the BF-2 sounded a bit thin and weak so i paid the extra #10 and damn it was worth it. i've pinned down the warble on soundgarden's 'black hole sun', the whoosh of alice in chains circa 'dirt' and with my big muff got the sound of the smashing pumpkins 'love'. been playing for bout 5 years, and if it got stolen, i'd replace it straight away. apart from not being able to alter the gate/pan rate independently to the flange rate, the only thing i don't like is the naff purple colour...