Boss PS-5 Super Shifter

This is a tricky, tricky pedal to get the hang of. But, considering how many things it can do and the small size of the unit, this is understandable. I prefer this tiny box with a few tiny knobs to a big clunky Whammy anyday. (Granted, this doesn't have a footpedal.)

My setup Ibanez>Dyna Comp>Big Muff>PS-5>Dano Delay>Fender Princeton 65. No noise that I can tell. Slight volume boost when you harmonize, but hey, you're essentially adding another guitar when you do this. Slight, slight loss of tone (warmth).

Ok now- this is an effect pedal- not an extra guitarist in the room with you, not a tremolo arm, not a detuning machine- it's an effect. It sounds like an effect. You should have no problem discerning a solo harmonized with this and harmonized with two actual guitars. If you can't, you have hearing problems. Given that, it sounds very good.Harmonizer-
It HARMONIZES IN TUNE. But you must play in tune, fairly cleanly, and select the right key. If you don't know how to do this, don't buy this pedal. Running it after my Big Muff produces suprisingly good results, with little tracking problems.
Pitch Shifter- Nice. I use it mainly for a simulated bass sound, which it does far better than the OC-3. Also use it for a few tunes where I need to go up to the 24th fret or so, but I only have a 22 fret guitar. Works well, sounds good. Not perfect, but perfectly acceptable.
Detune-
Don't know why this is even included. Sounds like a shimmery, fairly bland chorus. I hate chorus, don't use it.
Tremolo Arm-
Nifty novelty effect, though without the expression pedal it's hard to give a good analysis. Sounds pretty realistic, except for its unusual precision given that tremolo-type activity has a natural sloppiness to it . Probably will never use it.
Flutter-
Very cool. Again, because of it's precision, it sounds like an effect. But it is passable for surf-type trem action. Just be sure to hit the pedal right BEFORE you hit your note/chord. Otherwise you get a very unnatural shift into tremolo mode that ruins the effect, making it sound very fake.

It's a BOSS. Never owned one, but from what I hear they are built to last.

I play mostly classic rock. I use a looper as well, and like the PS-5 for it's bass-simulating features. I'd buy another if stolen or lost since it works well and there's nothing else quite like it, except maybe a Whammy, but I like its compact design.
I tried the OC-3 out as a bass simulator, and good god- that thing was junk. Not just for simulating bass, but for anything.
Overall this pedal had all the features I wanted, plus a few more, and performs as I'd hoped.

for a stompbox, it can be tricky. reason it gets a 4 is because i consider something with 3 knobs (volume, tone, and gain) to be a 10. this has numerous settings, and if you dont know what you're doing, it could very easily be used improperly.

id like to start by saying it is a pitch shifter. there is no reason that this should be getting a rating of 1. i can see if its a distortion and it all boils down to personal taste, then give it a 1 if its not your cup of tea. but a pitch shifter CANT sound bad unless you aren't using it right.

anyone giving this pedal a rating of 1
a)is out of tune
b)has it in the wrong spot in their chain
c)is sloppy and is playing more than 1 note at a time
d)is under the impression that harmonizers can track chords
e)got this pedal 10 minutes ago, and didnt take time to learn how it works
f)doesnt understand basic music theory of keys and intervals.
or
g)is a drummer

now lets get down to a review. firstly ive been playing for 8 years. ive owned oodles of pedals, mostly by boss. i have an Agile Hornet, and a Jackson Soloist SL-1 running through many other pedals to a Kustom II Lead.

the first option is just a regualar, straight up pitch shifter. nothing special here, fun to play with.

then we have the harmonize mode. here you can get a second voice from -2 to +2 octaves or anywhere in between. the harmonizer must be used with single notes only. if you play chords, all you will hear is scrambling. ALSO, YOU MUST MAKE SURE THAT YOU SELECT THE CORRECT KEY!!! if not, it will sound off, and you will come on here and give a crappy rating. WONT YOU!!

then we have the detuner mode. i rarely use this, but it sounds neat when i do

then theres the T-Arm. this is fun. it will shift up or down to the selected pitch when you depress the pedal. it even has speed control so you can make it shift fast or slow. think Tom Morello on Know YOur Enemy or Killing In The Name Of.

finally we have the flutter. like the detuner i rarely use this. ive never used a Boss vibrato pedal, but i imagine the flutter mode sounding a lot like a VB-2.

i should also mention that this pedal IS stereo! and really quite digital.

i dont think its true bypass but im not a tone junky on a magical quest to find the "perfect organic tone." try looking in your garden.

i now own 16 boss pedals, some new, some used. i have never had one die, spit, sputter, gurgle, gargle, deny, or disobey me...EVER. 100% quality.

ive never had to contact the company ...n/a

i bought this pretty much for harmonized metal solos a la Dragonforce and A7X too. it sounds perfect, but like i mentioned above, it is crucial that you take the time to make sure it is set up correctly. it is quite the hefty price tag for a single effect, but youll understand when you plug this beautiful sparkly, turqouise baby in. The manual has handy suggested settings that sound nice. it also has expression in option, although i have never used it. enjoy

It's pretty simple. My only qualm is that I'll have to start carrying a flashlight to gigs to change its settings between tunes. The knobs are small and there are a *lot* of settings. Then again I would expect that from a pedal with this much capability. Other than that, I am surprised how quickly I am able to switch between radically different settings with this thing. It's not brain surgery...

Look, I can see how operating this can be overwhelming for some. What you have to understand is that the "mode" control basically gives you 5 different pedals in one. Once you understand how the controls work for ea "mode", it's really pretty easy.

I mainly got this for the stereo chorus "detune" function. It is the best chorus I have ever heard in a pedal. There is no wobbly pitch modulation (except in extreme pitch shift settings) and no perception of "speed". Instead it is just a very wide, deep, and lush stereo-expanded chorus sound that works well for clean or dirty tones. The delay and balance controls are effective at adjusting the depth and "wetness" of the effect. The pitch shift can go from subtle expansion through "police-like" sounds to exaggerated queasy "plastic" chorus sounds. For me, it was worth the $150 for the detune function alone.

I have been playing with the harmonizer and starting to love it too. It was startling the first time I fired it up in stereo- one guitar on one side and one on the other. The timbre of the synthesized guitar is less than perfect. But the balance control is effective for mixing the dry sound in the foreground and the harmony in the background. Used this way, it sounds very natural. The tracking is flawless and it works well with distortion pedals in front of it - nice clear harmonies with 2 distinct voices. Dialing up major/minor modes with the "H.R. Key" control is a breeze. Set it where you want, pick your interval and go. To harmonize in other modes (mixolydian e.g.) you will need to understand how mode/key relationships work. A little basic music theory goes a long way here. Yes, your guitar needs to be in tune for the harmonizer to work correctly, blah, blah, does anyone really need to say that? Other fun things to do with the harmonizer are to dial up octaves, balance it 100% wet and there are "guitar synth lead" sounds galore.

The pitch shifter is a blast too. In addition to the typical octave-dividing and fixed interval fun, you can dial up a nice 12-string sound or bell like overtones using 4ths or 5ths and use it all with chords. Again, prudent use of the balance control will allow you to dial up "natural" vs. "alien" type tones, depending on what you want.

I don't really use the 2 whammy bar functions on it although I have played with them and they work well.

I have some Boss pedals that are nearly 25 years old and they still work well. I expect this one will last at least as long.

Like I mentioned before, for the chorus alone this was well worth the price. Everything else is icing as far as I'm concerned. What I love about this pedal the most is that every day I discover something new to do with it. There is a lot of depth to it and I'm sure I'll be learning new things to do with it for a long time.

Look, I don't really know what people mean when they say something "sounds digital" other than there are a lot of misconceptions about sound and how it relates to technology. Bottom line is if you want "natural" or "normal" sounds out of it use the balance control prudently and judiciously. If you like making noise and funny sounds, it can certainly do that too. Take your time, learn how to use the tool. There is a lot to learn with this guy.

I'm glad I got this and would easily buy it again.

Oh dear, how do I put this. Boss couldn't have made this thing anymore complicated. You should be able to tell how it works just looking at it. Fail

If you want a pitch shifted hamony than this is the pedal for you. However if you want it in tune then look else where. It sounds like a cat being drowned (not that I've heard a cat drown I'm just guessing). Fail Hardcore

No, unless you are reallying on it to sound bad.

Awful sound, extremly over priced and overcomplicated. I have never sen a worse pedal.

Simple. Point the knobs in the right directions and its away. If you are like me and don't really know one scale from another when you're playing, just fiddle with each different scale setting and you will soon find the right one. Each of the other effects are straight forward.

Like many, i have found this box to alter the tone ever so slightly but c'mon what do you expect when the poor little thing especially when its got to put up with the likes of fuzz boxes and distortion galore. (put this unit first in line for your effects if the trackin is a little off.)

One thing, when this unit loses its power it will let you know about it. It causes alot of extra noise!. I have it powered with the DC brick now and no probs.

You could lob this thing into a herd of oncoming wilderbeast and it'll survive. The army should make their tanks out of boss pedals!

Took it to shop once cos i thought it was faulty. turns out just wanted a new battery. (Dumb i know)

Very nice addition to the effects collection. Not something i would use regularly but can certainly add an extra something to those solos!

I'm only reviewing this for the harmonizer, as i rarely use the other settings. This really is NOT rocket science here, if you're playing in C#min, set the key to C#min, and choose which interval it is. I'm sort of braindead when it comes to complicated things, and i was doing some nice harmonies in a few minutes without reading the manual.

Like I said, i'm pretty much only reviewing the harmonizer. I didn't buy the expression pedal, so the other things are of no use to me. I was really nervous about buying this pedal after all the crap reviews it got. Here's the deal. I'm not some vintage tone seeking snob who badmouths anything that's not hand built, doesn't have true bypass, or comes from some company i've never heard of. I'm just a regular guy who plays regular equipment in a slightly abnormal band. I play a Fender Mexican strat with dimarzio HS-3 pickups into a marshall VS100 half stack with some other pedals, and i sound fine. I put this thing in the fx loop and to my ears, it sounds good. I don't understand how people can have problems with this thing. Like i said, i got nice harmonies after a few minutes of playing around with it, and upon looking in the manual, found that EVERYTHING that people had problems with is clearly explained in the manual. If your gear is in tune (and set up properly), you don't play sloppily, and you understand the basics of keys and intervals, you should have no trouble with this pedal. Also, i downtune to Eb, and there's absolutely no problem. This was one of the big things that worried me, as people said that they need to be in A440 for it to work right. As long as you're in tune it'll track fine. If i play fast it tracks fine. if i do big bends, it tracks fine. But don't take my word for it. This is a video of me test driving it.

http://www.acidplanet.com/artist.asp?PID=590984&t=2190

Like i said, this is only in regards to the harmonizer. The other effects are ok, but i don't use them much. The whammy and Pitch shift are also in the video, if you are interested. I like the harmonies and they sound quite good for riffing and soloing.

I'm also using a several year old beaten to shit boss Noise Suppressor. I've NEVER seen a boss pedal die on me.

I would not have bought this based on many of the reviews here. I bought this because i got it so cheap from a sale at Sam Ash, and believe me, it was worth every penny. I play proggressive rock/metal a la Dream Theater, Frank Zappa, Death, Opeth, Rush, Pink Floyd, etc. and am also influenced by bands like Iron Maiden, Metallica, Yngwie Malmsteen, Jimi Hendrix, Rage Against the Machine and Radiohead, a combination of heavy shreddy shit, pretty ballads, and experimental slop. There aren't many guitarists out there that play in that vein of music around me, so i bought this just for playing harmonies live. This box does that for me. I like it for a few reasons, the obvious being that it sounds good. Also, it gives me inspiration to play more and come up with new parts. There's just something about the way a nice harmonized lick sounds, and this pedal does it.

Although this is quite a small effect unit there's lots of knobs and settings you an change.
But don't worry, after a short time you'll understand how it works, what the knobs are for and how to get cool sounds with it.
I agree with what other reviewers said: it's kind of tricky to get the right key for the harmonizer, but that's okay.

No matter what guitars or amps you're using this with, it sounds very good. You can get some strange sounds and effects with it, and some nice harmonies. I really like the PS-5's sound and don't think it sounds TOO digital.
But don't expect to use this instead of tuning your guitar down or something like that ... it doesn't sound the same. But that's nothing but normal for a pitch shifter.

I've had mine for 3 years now, using it a lot, and there were never any problems. I think it's very reliable just like most or even all Boss products.

If you're looking for a pitch shifter/harmonizer for strange soloing (like Tom Morello of Audioslave / Rage Against The Machine does very often), classical guitar harmonies, bizarre sounding dissonances, strange dive-effects, etc. this one is for you.
It will probably work as long as you wanna use it and will always sound good.
There is nothing I'm missing about this.

As easy as any Boss pedal you own, that says it all really. The only thing thats tricky is making sure the harmonizer is in the correct key :-) - which means you have to know what key your in!

The reason why I wrote this review was I was completely wound up by the people who had said this pedal sounds "digital" and is therefore crap! OF COURSE ITS DIGITAL ITS A PITCH SHIFTER!!!

I've tried a lot of pitch shifters, including the digitech whammy and multi effects boxes and this is by far the most "musical" pitch shifter on the market. In particular the "T Arm" and "Flutter" settings are excellent and give a totally unique effect which makes you write great riffs around the sound of this pedal. You can also plug in an expression pedal to manually control the pitching which is useful

The "detune" setting is also great for producing a very non-cheesey chorus, which you can fine tune really well.

The harmoniser I dont really use so maybe thats what people are complaining about with the tracking, but when I've tried it it seems fine to me

I play indie/rock original stuff (www.revealonline.co.uk) and gig regularly, and this pedal is used in a couple of songs in the set, and really turns heads. Oh and noise isnt an issue as far as I've noticed

My kit is a Vox AC30 CCX using a Epiphone ES355 with P90's in it. I also have a Fender Jaguar I use it with too

Its Boss, its never broken ever. In fact none of my boss pedals have in 10 years

Dunno never needed them

I think this pedal is great if you are after a unique modern sounding effect to make a rock song stand out. If you're some old geezer playing through a tweed amp doing 60's covers, looking for the ultimate "analogue" tone, why are you buying this pedal?

Pitch shifters are by their very nature the most digital effects out there, so dont be suprised that the pedal warps your sound into something from another planet :-) but if your after some weird radiohead sqeaks and wails this will be right up your street

I guess folk should try before they buy, I immedialtely loved it. If it got lost I'd have to get another as I couldn't play some of our songs without it - I havent come across another pedal that sounds similar. The only negative is at over ?100 its a bit steep for a single pedal

Not very easy to use at the first time, but after spending some time in front of it you get the features. The manual is very good.

I am using the following setup: Yamaha RGX121D -> Onerr Wah -> Boss DS1 -> GT2 -> AMP Send -> Danelectro chilidog -> Boss PS5 -> DOD FX75 -> Boss CE5 -> Boss DD20 -> AMP return. The amp I am using is a Warm Music 112gt. There is no noise coming out of it.

Sometimes the harmonizer mode doesn't sound very good... I dont know if it is my guitar or something else, but at 90% of the time the unit works very well.

Very well built..

Never dealt with them

I think this pedal does it job very well. Sometimes there are some strange sounding coming from it but it is not always. Maybe it happens because of a string out of tune. If it were stolen I think I would buy another one, ore maybe the Whammy... but I still think the PS5 beats the Whammy anyway.... Maybe it should come with the expression pedal to control it, but it doesnt... and it costs 50 US$

Not very easy. If you want to adjust it: get on your knees and put your glasses on.

I work in a music store and a custumer orderred this pedal. I never played one so when it arived I tried it (like with every new thing that comes in to my hands). This is the most crapy sounding boss pedal I ever heard (and they have some). The harmonist doesn't even stay in tone. I put it in C and had it play a third above. Then I tremolo picked the C note and I heard the third (the E) drop in pitch. The setup was: guitar into the pedal, pedal into the amp. So there was nothing to interfere with the sound

It's a boss pedal. Good for replacement parts.

No complaints here. they give an exelent service