Boss PS-2

This thing is so easy to use that i had it worked out before i even got home. i just plugged it in for a test at the shop, and after 2 or so minutes had it worked out, it was THAT simple, and this is coming from a guy who is used to using nothing but distortion and treble boosters.

Very very good sound quality. when using extremely outlandish shifts it can sound a little processed though, and it has got quite alot of excess noise, which is kinda bothersome with the modelling vox amp that i use which has a built in noise gate, cutting in and out etc, but the quality of the effects makes up for all this, so i give it an 8.

of course i can rely on it to work no matter what, its boss, boss is forever :P

Never had to deal with BOSS for anything, the pedals are of such a high quality.

for the price i paid for this, you couldnt get a pitch shifter anywhere near this quality. it has broadened my horizons as far as instrumental guitar prog/ rock/ metal composing goes and i couldnt live without it. if it were stolen or lost i would hunt down the guy who stole it and tolchock him with my cut-throat britva :)

Fairly easy to come to grips with. The delay time knob works backwards compared to every other delay I've used (CCW increases delay time), but everything is is pretty self explanatory. This is a pretty primative pitch shifter, so there's not much to learn.

This is quite possibly the noisiest digital pedal I've heard. The effects produced are literally immersed in a sea of hiss that would make an analogue delay blush. This isn't too obnoxious when the blend is set at 50% or less, but over this mark you'd want some sort of noise gate if you were recording.

As a delay its pretty versatile. 30ms-2000ms of delay time, which was pretty long back in 1988 when there was only the DD-3 with 800ms as competition. I've just come off an Ibanez AD100 analogue delay, and quite frankly the quality doesn't compare. This doesn't sound remotely analogue. It sounds like 70% DD-3 repeats and 30% hiss. There's nothing special about the tone, and it's quite disappointing unless you're intentially going for a low quality sound. If you don't have your delay level more than 50-70% of the volume of your dry, it's probably ok. Any more than that and you'd probably want to look at something cleaner. Yes, it's one of the few Boss delays that will self oscillate, so you can do infinite repeats. It also has a blend knob rather than an effects level, so you can set the delay louder than the dry signal, a feature ruined by the hhiiiissssss.

The pitch shifter is very primitive, but we are talking about something from the embryonic years of digital effects here. This is more a special effects box than anything else. Anyone looking for a serious octave or harmonist box should look elsewhere. The only redeeming part of this box is setting it to manual mode, cranking the feedback and seeing what kind of weird noises you can create with your guitar and the frequency knob. There's all sort of B-grade 50s sci-fi sounds to be found, as well as steel drum and bell like chimes. In the eyes of a bluesman it's probably a toy, but experamentalists could no doubt find an application for it. I'd like to give 6.5.

The hiss certainly makes a somewhat good pedal into a mediocre one. If the delay were as clean as a DD-3 it would be fantastic, but I suppose the technology constraints at the time meant 2000ms came at the cost of sound quality, and frankly I'd prefer 800ms of clean delay over 2000ms of hissy, slightly warbly delay. I'm all for crazy delay and loved both the Ibanez DML10II and Boss RDD-10 modulated delays I had, but they could also do an acceptable standard delay sound as well. There are some interesting sounds in the pitch shift modes, but all come across as a bit toyish and certainly not quality enough to include in traditional music styles today. For a noise band in might be satsifactory. C+

This is a pedal with 6 modes. The first three modes control delay time up to a max of 2 seconds, there is a manual pitchshifting mode and an octave up and octave down. The feedback knob controls how shifted the pitchshifting note is which adds to something. You can use manual mode 4 and shift to a fifth or a third up or down in theory, but it's extremely difficult to get it exactly in tune and make it sound good - even with the tuner out option and fine tuning with the feedback knob. It is impossible to fine tune live, but the octave up is easy enough to use. The delay time knob is backwards to normal. The effect level knob is actually a wet/dry balance so you can have 100% delayed or shifted signal rather than your signal with varying amounts of delay. This is an extremely useful option to have.

Live I use a Fender Telecaster with a Colorsound Volume pedal, an EH Frequency Analyser, a fuzzbox, a Boss DM2, a Proco RAT2, a Boss BD2, a Boss CH5, the PS2, a Circuit Bent HM2 and a Boss DD3 into a mixer. I also use a sampler and other bits and pieces. I play experimental and cinematic music with lots of electronics. I don't care about getting a conventional guitar sound.

As a delay pedal the PS2 is unique - It's not an analog delay but it's like no other digital delay either. This delay is dark, gritty and nasty. It's nothing like the dark repeats of an analog delay or the cold presision of a digital either. The delay modes self oscillate at any delay time and you can change the pitch with the delay time. It's a digital self oscillation, utterly different from an analog delay pedal, cascades of digital noise. For an example of this pedal in full self-ossilating fury listen to the end of Souvlaki Space Station by Slowdive. This is THE slowdive pedal and if you want to sound like them, check this pedal out.
The shifting modes are digital and nasty, but then I've never heard a nice Pitchshifter. They always sound synthetic and it's just the nature of the beast. I've found that the octave up is useful when covered with delay, chorus and reverb. I would never use it alone on a clean sound because it doesn't sound very good. The octave down adds a distorted rumble and the manual mode I've found nearly impossible to tune live because the knob is too small. Mode four also self oscillates if you turn the feedback up. Turn the feedback knob up and you get a sound almost exactly like the whale spacecraft in Star Trek 4.

Incidentally the tuner out socket is an oscillator. You can plug it into a mixer and get a useful drone which you can tune using the pitch knob. A limited but sometimes useful sound source if you want a simple drone to beef the sound up.

Sometimes the delay sound quietly bleeds through the bypass if you've left it on an extreme setting, but I suspect that this is due to it's age.

This is a boss pedal. It's nearly 15 years old, covered in dents and it still works. The knobs are coming loose because I twiddle them so much, but there is nothing really wrong with it.

Never contacted Boss, never thought they'd help. Never needed to.

As a Pitchshifter this is a very dated pedal by today's standards. It can be useful, but very limited and the newer PS3 or PS5 or a Digitech Whammy will sound far far better if you want to tune to anything more than an octave up or have spot on shifting. I'm considering getting a second more modern pitchshifter with more versility. This pedal has remained on my board for years and will continue to do so. I see this as a unique and unrepeatable delay pedal, with some added shifting options to use occasionally. I'd highly recommend to all experimentalists and noisemakers. I've tried many delay pedals from compact digital delays, to the Memory Man to tape echos. There is NOTHING that sounds like the delay modes of this pedal. If it broke I'd track down another one from ebay immediately. I use this pedal on nearly every song and it's vital to my sound. Plus it's probably the cheapest pitchshifter on ebay if you need something basic.

Pretty straight forward to use, I bought mine off ebay about 2 years ago, there were no instructions but there is enough information on the pedal itself to get you through and sites like Harmony Central.

To say this is a digital delay the sound is a very warm analogue type. I also have an Electro-Harmonix deluxe memory man, although the memory man is better, the PS2 is a very good second choice and the delay times are longer, upto 2 seconds which means I can switch pedals for alternative delay settings.
I have a Vox AC30CC and I put some of my pedals including the PS2 through the effects loop which I think gives better sound quality as there is very little loss of tone and it is also very quiet. But you might prefer it in front of your amp, It's all about trial and error and personal opinions.
One of my favourite bands are U2, and getting The Edge type of delay is easy enough with this pedal.
I bought this pedal just for the delay, I've messed about a bit with the pitch shifting but it's not a sound I'm keen on so I can't see myself ever using it.
My rating of 9 is purely for the delay side of this pedal.

I've had it about 2 years, no problems so far and it's a fair few years old. The battery is quick and easy to replace, so I wouldn't hesitate to use it without a back up.

I've been playing guitar for about 16 years, and when I play U2 covers the PS2 along with the Memory man are the only delay pedals I need, no more cruising ebay for delay pedals that only fail to impress. I like to play mainly rock and alternative music and this pedal is very versatile although there is no tap-tempo or loops or samples, it is very basic but I think that is in its favour, some of the best things are simple.
As I said earlier I never use the pitch shifting because I don't like it. If Boss created the same delay pedal without the pitch shifting would it sound as good? (would that be the Boss dd2 or dd3?)
These things are becoming rare and expensive but if mine was stolen I would get another one

There are two effects on this pedal. Harmonizer and delay.

The harmonizer is pretty straight forward.

- Octave up, octave down, and manual modes are available.
- The controls are somewhat obvious: balance (blends between the actual and generated signals), Feedback (a bizarre control, makes the pitch shifting all crazy), and manual (for manual pitch harmony settings).

On delay they are slightly different:

- balance - same as above
- feedback - number of delay repeats
- Manual - delay time

Octave up and octave down is really straight forward. Just use the balance knob to get a good mix between the 2 signals. On manual it is a challange to get the proper harmonized note. There is an output jack designated for a tuner which helps.

The delay is really unique. I want to say bad, but it's not at all. I have a DD-3 which makes these pristine repeats, but the PS-2 is very dirty. it's a nice alternative to more modern delays, but it's still digital. I found it challenging at first to adjust the delay. For example the Manual Knob which controls delay time, is backwards to the DD-3. And the feedback control i find is very sensitive. With little effort i was creative terrible feedback, but with some time i got a useable delay sound.

When i first plugged it in i was worried about tracking, so i put it first in my chain of pedals (more below). Bad idea, this unit almost has to be after the distortion. And do not worry about tracking, it's fine.

I will give this a 7 because it is more of an advanced effect. Not a plug and play type effect, it takes some time to get to know it.

Setup:

Guitar -> Digitech Synth Wah -> Dunlop Crybaby -> Boss SD-1 Overdrive -> Ibanez SC10 Chorus -> Boss PS-2 -> Behringer UT100 Tremolo -> Boss DD-3 Delay -> Line 6 Spider 210.

I use a Les Paul and a 1976 Explorer.

No noise to report, but my board is noisy anyways. So, it does not noticeably contribute to the hash coming from my amp.

I wanted this pedal for the harmonizer. When i first started learning guitar unique sounds were most interesting to me. My favorite guitarists are The Edge and Tom Morello. So i got a multi-FX pedal and used that in my band for a few years. During this period i started defining my own style and prefences for effects. I whittled down the 20 or so effects on the GFX707 down to what is on the floor in front of me today.

I initially wanted this pedal for Know Your Enemy type sounds. I quickly realised that this pedal isn't that good for it. but i have become addicted to the octave up setting. Completely overwhelmed with it in fact. I have recorded some songs with solos where i dub in a guitar playing an octave up...i can sort of replicate those now with this pedal. it's not perfect, but like i described the delay...very good.

I also had an old song from the GFX days that used 2 delays. One EXTREMELY short delay, and another more U2ish rymthic delay. I revived that song with this pedal. That is the only delay i use this pedal for, but through getting to know it i got those same u2ish delays as well. But again, that feedback knob is just wierd. It never seems to be right. for delay only go with something else...

So to sum up and be more to the point...

The harmonizer is good. No Whammy pedal, but i love the octave up setting, and after some fiddling i got the Know Your Enemy sound (sort of) on the Manual setting. The octave down setting has been touched very little. It seemed dirty and kinda worbly. so i ditched it. On the manual setting you can create a pleasing chorus sound by setting the "fine" control to 12:00. Very musical sound.

The delay is not as pristine as my DD-3, but it's a good thing. Not as easily set up as the DD-3, but i don't hold that against the pedal because it's a harmonizer first. The delay is flexible. 3 different settings ranging from uber short to 2 seconds of delay! My DD-3 only goes to 800ms...why i would use 2 seconds of delay...i don't know. but it's there.

It's the same as other harmonizers i have tried in terms of cleanliness. It worbles accasionally on the octave down setting and the Manual setup is a pain to get exact. The octave up setting is beautiful but not something you would use in every song. The delay is dirty and never seems hard to play along with rythmically speaking. I give this an 8 for it's uniqueness.

this pedal was made before 1989. the paint is a little (alot) chipped. but it switches cleanly, and the knobs are smooth. no warranty, no complaints.

I just got the pedal BTW, i haven't had it since the late 80's :)

i play in an originals rock band, and i like to pull out alot of different sounds. I have a few songs that have that Tom Morello harmonizer tone, but i feel that this pedal isn't all too good in that arena. I love the octave up setting, and by playing with that finnicky feedback knob you can get some very VERY unique and musical sounds.

The delay is unorthadox, but more of a secondary feature anyways.

I would recommend this pedal to someone who owns a studio before a guitarist looking for a harmonizer. This pedal has some crazy sounds hidden away inside that are very musical. Couple it with pretty much ANY pedal and you can get some unique sounds that would compliment alot of special recordings. for example my Synth Wah. I set it to the filter down mode (4 for the owners of this pedal), and the sensitivity to zero. Using the octave up mode, and simply fretting notes hard (do not pick), i can make an organ-like sound come from my amp. I tried it with a brass slide with similar results. I bet an Ebow would be truly amazing with this setup.

If you are a guitarist looking at this pedal i just want to tell you that it is not a whammy. This pedal requires patience and vision to tap it's potential.

The one thing i would change is the Manual control. on my GFX it had specific settings for the harmonies. Which i miss. if i wanted a 5th i just turned the control until "5" appeared on the display. All that the PS-2 would have needed would be notches drawn onto the label. Since this was a very early pitch shifter design i can't take away marks for lack of this feature. They make up for it with the tuner output which is an innovative solution.

I give this pedal a 10. It has load of different (unique) sounds, it has 2 seconds of delay, and manual harmonization. More than useful.

The PS-2 is pretty simple to use. The only control that caused me a litle bit of trouble was the 'fine manual' knob.

I use a Gibson Sg Special going into any amp that comes my way. this is the only pedal i use, because most amps i use are moddeling units anyway. this sounds great with any amp i play on, apart from when the batteries start to go (it will soon sound muddy and horrid)

I always depend on this pedal when ever i play gigs. i use it with out a back up, simply due to the fact that i do not have another pedal that is a Delay pedal ASWELL as a Pitchshifter - great idea!!

I have only good experience with Boss, they dont try to coat the truth with lies, they tell you exactly what is wrong with the pedal. i have never had to send it off to get repaired, but if i did have to, i would not worry because you know...its Boss...

Well, i baught it from my close friend who doesnt know anything about guitars. so i wasnt expecting the nest pedal, but it is very good! i play anthing that comes under 'rock' - Grunge, Punk Rock, Classic Rock, Alternative etc etc and this pedal is great for anything! if it were stolen, i would be pretty upset, coz apparently it is out of production now...but i will probably by the seperate pedals Boss has brought out for these models.

This pedal is a "multieffect" stompbox, so maybe you'll spend some time tweaking your tone, BUT it's very acceptable by considering its lot of features. I bought this pedal used in Brazil, so it had no manual however there are instructions on the label where the knobs are placed. The price that I payed appears to be expensive in some countries, but in Brazil it's price is very fair compared with other options.

I'm a really guitar effect enthusiast and have more than the necessary for everyday-playing, so I never use all of them into my setup. Recently, a have used a Doctor Drive (a brazilian tube overdrive pedal like Mesa V-Twin) and the PS2 after. The amps usually are a Fender Princeton 112 Plus or a Laney TF320. My guitars are a Epiphone G400 and a Tagima TG635 (stratocaster-like).

Its noise is very acceptable and does not represent a problem. To be specific, the delay function presents some white noise and hi-cuts when increasing repetitions, which reminds me to a "vintage feeling" very likely. It sounds organic like analog with the plus of 2s delay. In comparison with DD3, the PS2 sounds much more classic, good to play Pink Floyd and 80's rock.

The picth shifter feature isn't too good (it's not a harmonist) and doesn't sound great with the mix knob at the center (there is some "flickering" because pitch shifter uses the feedback control to setup the shift rate). However, when I placed the mix knob about 9 o'clock and low feedbacks I got amazing - although a little subtle - sounds. The octave function (specifically 1 octave higher) sounds cool and can simulate a 12 strings guitar. Another useful feature when pitch shifting is a chorus simulation. To get that, turn the pitch knob very slightly to the right (or left) until you get a detuned sound. I really like that chorus sound.

PS2 is really a 3-effect pedal where delay is the main feature, chorus is very useful and the octave not to bad, featuring an uncommon "octave higher than the original sound". Impressive!

I will not say that old quote "It's a Boss, that's all" because I had a Boss RV3 which stop working. However, this fact appears to be very rare and I really trust in Boss products. It's built like a tank, although digital products deserve more care than the analog ones. It's a japanese pedal, so it's at least 10 to 15 years old. If it never broken along this time, I think it's reliable.

I never dealt with the company.

I play rock and pop from eighties. This pedal really has the feeling that I was looking for. I have been playing for 10 years and this is the best delay I had on my feet (I know RV3 and DD3 and low-cost models from other manufacturers). It could sound better when pitch shifting. That "flickering" when the mix knob is set to the center (or higher effect output) is annoying, but for the price it was a really good buy.

Three main features (in my opinion), although just the delay effect would be fine too.

Four knobs. Only thing that could make it tricky is the Fine/Manual knob can be a little confusing to learn to use.

Pretty awesome. It's wicked fun to play around with. If the batteries are low, however, it'll sound kinda muddy, but otherwise it's great. I use this with a Les Paul Special and it's lots of fun. The delay function is not the best delay i've ever heard, and I don't know how you can go wrong with pitch shifting. It's a great deal if you can find a used one (since they're out of production now), because Boss made the two effects seperate and they now cost a lot more each.

In any case, I don't know of any other pedal where you can play around with the knobs and almost completely replicate the sounds from "On The Run" off Dark Side of the Moon.

It's a Boss. What do you think?

I play anything I like, and this is always fun and great to have around. If it were stolen, I'd be really sad because it's one of the older Japanese pedals and they're not too common. However, if it got stolen, I think I'd probably just buy a regular Delay pedal if I couldn't find one of these.

Lots of knobs, but Boss set this one up well, very intuitive!

I play a 1969 Les Paul through a Fulltone Fulldrive>Distortion Pro>Deja Vibe>Choralflange>Boss PS-2. This is a great setup that works perfect for me. This pedal is very quiet and clean sounding. Definitely the best Digital Delay Boss has ever produced! I've tried all of them. The DD5 & DD-6 are way too tinny for my ears. The DD2 & 3 both have kind of ugly sounding repeats. The DSD series & the PS-3 are OK but not inspiring. The Delay on the PS-2 is definitely my favorite, the repeats are very warm and very clear, absolutely no digital fuzziness here. It sounds as warm as my Boss DM-3 analog delay, but with much more delay time. It can also self-oscillate. The Pitch shifter is also amazing, it sounds much better than the Boss PS-3. The PS-2 is more natural sounding, while the PS-3 is very processed-sounding. The sub-octave is incredible with the Distortion Pro. The octave up can be very Hendrix-like when set to a subtle octave up. It can really go over the top if desired also. Tune it to a fifth up, and you can do a Brian May lead sound. The Tuner out is a plus, it keeps my tuner out of the effects chain. All in all, an amazing buy at around $100.00.

It's a Boss.

Never needed it.

As you can tell by the above review, I really dig this box, analog delay warmth for cheap $$$ with the added bonus of a very cool Pitch Shifter! I use this for alternative/hard rock. No metalheads please!

Overall, quite simple - rate, depth, resonance, and mode. Its very easy to get a specific sound out of it once you become familiar with what the knobs do. Gave it a 9 because I really wish the manual really described the knobs function a little better.

I have two electric guitars, a Jackson PS-4 Performer: has an alder body, 1-piece maple neck, rosewood fretboard, Floyd-Rose lic. trem., and H-S-H Jackson pickups. Then I have a Schecter S-1 elite, mahogany body and neck (set-neck), Duncan Design HB102 pickup config, and figured maple top.
My amps are a Marshall MG30RCD which I rarely use anymore, and a Peavey Classic 30 all tube amp.
There is absolutely no noise from this pedal, and it is an excellent quality circuit - no problems with quality of the sound at all. However, it does have far too much bass enhancement to be able to play lower notes, or most any notes on the low E string, with a decent amount of clarity. Its two modes are a good addition: mode 1 is mostly suited to vintage and typical modern phasing, while mode 2 is an odd, special effect like phase. Its particularly useful with heavy distortion for producing harmonic arpeggios while holding a chord, as the LFO sweeps up and down its range. Mode 1 is also excellent for thickening up your distortion tone substantially. A Leslie cabinet sound is not out of the question, but it is only somewhat convinving of the real thing. Overall, it offers a good range of sounds, with a few drawbacks.

This pedal is very dependable, was my first pedal, I've had it for about 3 and a half years or so, brought it around with me occasionally to performances, and nothing has broken. The paint is peeling a little, but oh well.

Haven't dealt with them.

I play every style imaginable - from metal to classical to jazz to techno to pop to unclassified stuff. My main creative style is probably some form of progressive rock, though when I work with other people, its usually just some kind of harder rock. I compared it to some other phasers at the time, and it was better than them, just because of its versatility. I find it can aid in creating music when I'm in a rut for ideas, but if you just leave it on too much, it starts to hinder your creativity and get quite annoying. If it was lost or stolen, I would probably buy the new Boss PH-3 phaser, as it has more features, and this one is now discontinued.