Product: Boss CS-1
Price Paid: $20 (Australian) used
Submitted
05/28/2000
at
05:54am
by
Martin Van Veluwen
Email: vanvel<at>key dot net dot au
Ease of Use
:
10
7
9
0
8
Sound Quality
:
9
i rarely use this live anymore, but it comes out of "Moth balls"
for studio recording sessions for guitar work.
The CS1 has a slow attack, so it creates are real "percussive"
sound which sounds great when you're picking.
I use a takamine for effects pedal work, the preamp drives it well.
Reliability
:
10
Mines old but hey, it still works
Customer Support
:
5
boss gear is pretty reliable
Overall Rating
:
10
I play folk rock and use midi controlled effects these days.
I've been playing for over 20 years but have kept my prized
boss effects pedals for studio work, cause every brand has it's
"flavours" its own sound and gee, in a studio you need all the
help you can get. if it where stolen i'd get another one if i came
across one cheaply.The attacky sound led me to buy and modify the
BOSS CS3 (which has more gain) and changed some component values
to emulate my old pedals character. you gotta try these things...
Compression is pretty mandatory for guitar picking, to help control
peaks and smooth out your performance.
Product: Boss CS-1
Price Paid: US $49 used
Submitted
04/19/1999
at
07:45pm
by
Matt Borick
Email: mborick<at>icfkaiser dot com
Ease of Use
:
10
Very simple to use. The Level control adjusts the volume, the Sustain control adjusts the compression/sustain, and the mode switch toggles between normal sound and a slight treble boost. The only hard thing to get used to on this is the LED -- the pedal is from 1978 or so, and the LED on the very old Boss pedals only comes on when the pedal is actuallt depressed. Not a big problem, as you can definitely tell when the CS-1 is on!
Sound Quality
:
10
Recently I wrote a rave review of my Way Huge Saffron Squeeze compressor. That's still a nice compressor, but the Boss CS-1 BLOWS IT AWAY in my opinion. The CS-1 gives the coolest "squwking" tone I've ever heard. You can go from subtle compression to major squeeze, with cool pumping/swelling effects if you want them. Also, the CS-1 is extremely quiet, and has very little changes in noise as you crank the controls -- very interesting . . .
I've owned a lot of compressors in my lifetime -- Boss CS-2 and CS-3, DOD FX80, Ibanez CP-10, Way Huge, and Rockman Guitar Compressor. The CS-1 is my absolute favorite. I still have the Way Huge and Rockman units because they're both classics at this point, but the CS-1 gets the call in my signal (which goes ESP MII or Fender Strat into all sorts of pedals into Tech 21 TM60).
Reliability
:
7
Well, it's a Boss, and we all know what that means. However, the footswitch can be a little intermittent (sp?) sometimes. But that's just a design thing on the very old Boss pedals -- the later pedals have a structural change on the underside of the footswitch plate that fixes this.
Customer Support
:
1
Glad I never have to call Boss with technical questions!
Overall Rating
:
10
Awesome -- I will buy every CS-1 I come across from now on. I made the mistake two years ago of not buying one at a store for $40 used -- never again, my friends. If you want totally squashed/pumping/breathing compression, the CS-1 is your ticket!
