Boss XT-2 Xtortion

Four knobs... Level, Countour, punch, and distortion. Sometimes it takes me a while to find my sound though.

I use a gibson les paul junior green day edition with a marshall mg. Now, if you're lookin to get the sounds of your favorite artists, this is NOT the pedal for you. But if you play your OWN music, you may find this a great pedal, like me. But in general, it is great, ALWAYS on my pedal board, very full and brutal distortion and I love the "punch" setting.

It's a boss. What else is there to say?

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Now I play punk rock with HEAVY distortion. So far this is the best pedal ive come across. I have other ones, but this is my favorite. My current line up is EH russian big muff from the 80s, boss oc-2 octaver/ce-2 chorus MIT, boss hm-3 hyper metal, and the xt-2. Now I have more pedals than this, and Im always switching them out. But not this one. It always stays. If it was stolen or lost, I'd buy another one on ebay. As I mentioned before, I love the punch setting, and it is ALWAYS all the way up. I have compared it to other pedals, but this one blows them away! I have already made 4 songs with this, and I am very happy with this purchase.

It's really easy to use it, each pot driving one function.
<level> output level
<contour> tone section, bend the tone curve from medium-less thrash sound, to high medium noisy sound.
<punch> light autowah giving an interresting punchy sound
<dist> distortion level
Manual available at rolandus.com

This is a thrash distortion, a clean sister of the MT-2 metal Zone, less noisy, clearer. As its sister it likes high output pickups.
I used it in a wide range of amps and its less sensitive to the amp than the MT-2.
Because of the wah effect, it is somehow a "thrash funk" pedal, I use it to play "Killing in the name" of RATM.
I was first disappointed when I got it because I found the sound really thin while I was waiting for a louder MT-2 because of Xtortion name.
It is softer indeed than MT-2, with much less harmonics, a harsh nasal distortion making the sound not muddy at all but very aggressive.
If you play alone at home, the sound maybe too thin while the MT-2 give this gorgeous full sound.
But playing loud in a group, during noisy parts it will give you he punch necessary to cut the mix.

It's a Boss ! Never had a problem but always have a backup.

Rolandus.com has online manual.

The Xtortion XT-2 must be considered as a second choice distortion in your pedal board.
It's not a versatile all purpose distortion like the DS-1 for instance. But it is not an anonymous one and offers a peculiar sound, very personal that has a tremendous added value for the guitarist who needs something different.
I use it as a counterpart of the MT-2 Metal Zone, each time I need a harsh distortion but want to keep clear.

This is probably the least intuitive pedal Boss has ever released.
The contour and punch knobs are tone and midrange-tone knobs respectively, but they also have substantial effects apon the gain
structure of the device. I wouldn't call it hard to use. It just takes a little more tweaking than a DS-1 or an MT-2. The only real
reason it's hard to use is because it was marketed wrong, and it won't do what you would expect it would do - it won't sound like
a family member of an MT-2 Metal Zone. The manual doesn't help at all.

If you are looking for Metallica, or Cannibal Corpse, or Napalm Death, look elsewere. If you are looking to craft sounds that are unique to you and your band, you could be very happy. This just might be the most wide ranging distortion pedal boss has ever made. I can get everything from 70's rock OD to old school fuzz out of my XT-2. But the fun only starts there. The punch control can produce cool notched wah and filter effects when maxed out clock-wise - think
Mark Knoffler playing "Money for Nothing". You just have to get passed the fact that the pedal is misnamed. You have to listen with your ears and not your eyes. This pedal produces a wicked variety of cool distortion tones, many that cannnot be reproduced by other devices. Had they called this pedal the Fuzztortion, or the Altfuzz
it would probably still be in production.

Yet another member of the almost indestructable boss pedal line...

I tried (once) to get hold of Boss through one of the local Roland Rep one time to order some knobs for missing parts on a couple of pawnshop prizes. I found then really hard to get in touch with. I never recieved those knobs even though they were supposedly ordered.

I'm a fuzz-o-holic. I've got scores of distortion/OD/Fuzz pedals. I really like this one because it produces alot of unique tonal textures. I'm already looking for a second unit, because at under $65, in the durable Boss production format, you just can't go wrong.
Except of course for the name; the name is totally wrong. It doesn't
matter what cool sounds you produce with this Fuzz-box, some
"Eye-listeners" will mock you for yeilding to xtortion.

You have to be willing to spend a little time tinkering to get a sound that works for you. This thing makes a million different distortions, and a lot of them are only usable if you're purposely being obnoxious, and a lot of others have a boxy fixed-wah narrow-band-mids effect that is only cool if it happens to be what you're going for. It's not intuitively obvious what the "countour" and "punch" knobs actually do, and what's worse is that their effects don't seem totally independent, but they actually effect each other in weird ways, like helicopter controls. The trick is to just adjust a little at a time, play a riff or two, and adjust a little more to taste.

Idiosyncratic, unconventional, temperamental, versatile. It's like this pedal and I are soulmates. I first picked it up in the mid-90s after my old DOD Classic Fuzz broke. It was a drastic change in sound, but it was just right change for the direction the noise-rock/artpunk band I was in at the time was taking: as our songs were becoming tighter, faster, and more technical, the nervy industrial sound of this pedal seemed to just fit right in. Later we added another guitarist who played a Laney half-stack with more of a traditional Marshall-stack-like rhythm sound, and I was able to get a great Boston-eque tone out of my pawn-shop-special Westone Spectrum using this pedal and a Carvin head with a graphic EQ set to pull some mids out. When I'd go for lead lines, it would cut through loud and clear, and when I went for purposely dissonant chords, this pedal would actually play up the dissonance beautifully.

I used it for a couple more years after that but then lost it, and seemed to recall that it was broken. After something like 10 years without it, the other day I went to visit a friend, and he had found it in his house and gave it back to me. I took it home and was pleasantly surprised to find that it still works, with one minor glitch (see below). These days I play one of those Les-Paul-ish DeArmonds through a Music Man combo with a single 15", so having a pretty bass-heavy tone to begin with, I wasn't missing any with this pedal active. At first I tried for the kind of metallic tones I used to use this pedal for, but then after tinkering a little more I was able to dial in something very reminiscent of the fuzz that Jack White uses a lot for leads these days (see "Ball and Biscuit"), something which I hadn't expected at all to stumble into. This box is full of surprises.

I'm having one problem that I suspect may be a short in the input jack, and when it shorts out, a piercing microphonic-feedback-like sound comes out. This happens occasionally when I step to turn it on, or when the cable wiggles just the wrong way. I suspect this was what caused me to conclude it was broken all those years ago. In several years of playing interspersed with several years of kicking around neglected in someone's basement however, that's the only trouble I've had with it. Hopefully it will be easy for someone with a soldering iron to find and fix.

I've dealt with Boss with respect to other pedals besides this one, needing a repair or two, and they've been the kid of solid and efficient outfit that is notable for how little you notice it. Very good.

I'm glad to have this back again. In the meantime I obtained a Rat that I also dearly love, but sometimes you just wish for something different, and I've often reminisced about this pedal and seriously considered picking one up on eBay, where they appear to be going for more than I paid for this thing new -- I guess they're seeing a revival, and being out of production for some years now they're considered "rare."

It's pretty straight forward, like most pedals...
It will take a bit of fine tuning to get what you want, but all you're doing is turning 4 knobs... I keep it mostly maxed out, except I change the level and distortion knobs around a fair amount.

I got mine used, so there wasn't a manual.

I like this pedal... I use it in combination with my Danelectro Fab Metal distortion. By themselves they're not the greatest, but together, the pedals sound really great... I can get something similar to a Trey Azagthoth solo with them and a little chorus and delay after that sounds nice. It's an interesting effect... It's more of a post-distortion enhancer/shaper in my rig, and I use it as my main distortion in combination with the Danelectro pedal.

The pedal does sound kind of noisy, but you can't hear it when playing, and I use a lot of effects which contributes to the problem... a noise gate, and possibly a hum eliminator could fix it.

Like I said, I got this used. It's working perfectly still... I am guessing this effect is *roughly* 10 years old now, and it's still working perfectly. (Boss... duh)

I don't know... never had to talk to them.

I play all kinds of noise, experimental stuff, ambient, shoe gaze, black-ish/death-ish metal, rock, etc. etc. and this pedal is pretty usable for most of these. Just don't expect a monumental effect on it's own. try combining it with other OD/Dist. and see what you can do with it. Either way, it's one of the most used effects on my board right now.

I think it's funny that this pedal seems to be used for almost everything it was NOT advertised for being "Slash Medal". I agree that it can take a while to find your sound on XT-2 but that would mean that there is quite the verity of sound wouldn't it?

As I said everything but metal. If you wanted one distortion pedal and you MIGHT play SOME metal you may get away with it but if it's an exclusive metal pedal that you seek I would go with the Boss Metal Zone MT-2. Besides that, I play mostly punk rock and I live for the punchy mids so it's right up my alley. As someone else said turning the distortion low makes for some good classic rock tones which I also use on occasion.

I've had mine for 10 years, beat the shit out of it at gigs, practice, guitars and amps dropped on it (hey what can you do?) and it's in the same shape I bought it in minus the odd paint chip. It's a Boss pedal
If you manage to break one I'll be thoroughly impressed.

What for?

This pedal has caught a bad rap because Boss advertised it wrong. Maybe they made my favorite pedal by mistake. Being aware of what it is will determine whether or not your satisfied with it. Those I know who like it tend to swear by it including myself. I also have a number of other pedals, some for medal however this is still my work horse for what I play and I get what I need out of it. I'm sure if you buy this pedal knowing what it is best suited for you will probably be satisfied. It's unique in it's own right and if you like it you'll probably love it.

very easy to use if you know what the knobs do. level, contour, punch, and distortion. the contour and punch knobs are the ones you need to experiment with the most. but its very straight forward what they do once you mess with them. have to tweak slowly to get your sound, small moves.

first off, alot of people have the wrong idea about what this pedal actually does. this isn't one of those pedals with one distortion type where you adjust the amount of distortion and then how much treble and bass. its not that kind of pedal. its more of a distortion shaper tool if that makes any sense. with the contour and punch knobs you can create soft, bluesy distortion to harsh scratching madness. however these knobs do nothing to adjust how much bass or treble is in the tone, they just shape the style of distortion. the distortion knob when turned up gives a pretty unique type of grind. not quite distortion, not quite fuzz, but a careful combo of both. i have only tried it with a gibson les paul special and a vintage musicman amp 65w. i can get alot of distortion variety with this pedal. the noise is also quite minimal, unless you turn up the distortion all the way, then you get a little bit of a hum, but not that bad. some reviewer say it sucks out bass, but its really only taking you clean sound and distorting it without adding any highs or lows. if you think its not bassy enough, then your clean sound isn't bassy enough and you need to turn up the knob on your amp. you can get some very usable distortions from this. you can also get some very strange and experimental sounds too.

i have never broken a boss pedal and i have plenty of them that get used all the time. i would trust them to stop a bullet from someone trying to assassinate me.

never dealt with them cause ive never had any problems

i for one love this pedal. im sick of reviewer saying its crap. they just don't know what its supposed to do. its a distortion shaper. if you want to change the tone you need to either adjust it on your amp or have an EQ pedal in your rig. this pedal is quite a handy tool. remember, its NOT a straight distortion pedal, you CANNOT adjust the highs and lows with it. it is for shaping your distortion style. the only music i would not recommend it for is heavy slasher and thrasher type metal. it doesn't have the thumpy palm muting sound for that. but most any other type of music it could probably fit just fine. if it were lost or stolen i would get another one. its given me alot of different styles of distortion in one small little package. a must have for anyone who loves tone and experimenting.

Not terribly hard to get a good sound out of it, just keep the levels down. Contour up = added bass and highs, contour down = cut highs, punch up = added narrowband mids. Level, distortion = duh.

My setting:
Level: 12:00
Contour: 11:00
Punch: 1:00
Drive: 8:00

I usually don't like BOSS distortions, but this one is different....

I think a lot of people misunderstand this pedal because it claims to do "slash metal". I tried to get a good thrash (Metallica, Anthrax, etc.) sound out of it and I couldn't. Perhaps the people who understood it least were the BOSS marketing people. It does eat most of the bass in your sound as a previous reviewer said. And I'm using it with bass-heavy pickups (Duncan TB-5, SH-1n). So for that kind of music I couldn't possibly recommend it at all. However, I didn't get it for "slash metal" or whatever. I plugged it in, and...

Boston in a box. "More Than a Feeling", "Piece of Mind". Wow. And this is on my clean channel, with the pedal distortion WAY DOWN. Turn it up and it gets unusable real quick. But at lower levels it can handle '70s/'80s rock just fine. It is far, far better than a Metal Zone for that particular application. I've played a Rockman and they suck. This is cool. Scorpions, Outfield, etc. "Money For Nothin'". I've had middy pedals and I've absolutely hated the way they destroyed my tone ("Tubescreamer", anyone?). This pulls out mids and highs, and yes it can be piercing. It flattens out my amp's drive channel a bit, but the quality of the distortion, the character, if you will, is really cool. And it does, in reality, sound a lot like a 1980's JCM800 with the mids cranked. "Bite", "Honk". Like the Metal Zone, there's no extra noise when it's engaged, but this has so much more midrange character. So I use it as a solo tone coloration, but it's nice to know it's there waiting as a backup for my rhythm drive channel.

My setup:
Ibanez SZ540
USA Duncans (TB-5, SH-1n)
Boss BCB-3 (XT-2, CE-2, PH-1r)
Crate VFX5112 Tube Combo

Do I have to say it....

N/A

'70s and '80s hard rockers, give this a second look. They're popping up for about $60 on eBay, and they're underrated because they were mismarketed. Thrashers, stay far, far away. It's a good sound, but you need the right pickups and a tube amp, IMHO. I really think it could've used a little more bass.

I've been playing more than 20 years and I've owned a lot of effects, some high-end (Xotic, Maxon), and FWIW, I want cheap, useable stuff. I've only got three spots on my pedalboard, and this owns one of them.....

As you might have read, it's a real headscratcher! Knobs named "Level" and "Distortion" are self-explanatory, but "contour" and "punch" can be a little misleading, especially the latter. Definitely requires some patience, and we're not talking about half an hour or so here; it took me days to set it to my taste. Be prepared!

Well... Firstly, I play bass. And secondly, I have this box in my rack as the effect is on all the time. It's amazing Boss never used the circuitry for a bass pedal. Would have been the ultimate enhancer. I tried to use it for bass distortion first which didn't work out, but when I fooled around with the distortion knob this thing just lit up! I use the following settings: level 10 (crank it!), contour 2, punch 8, dist 2. Result: a warm, cracking sound with tons of sustain, singing in the highs and ringing in the lows. The slight drop in bass frequencies associated with guitar pedals being misused is easily made up for by the EQ on my amp. I play an Epiphone EBM-5 and a Rickenbacker 4003 into a Hartke 3500 and a Warwick 4x10"/1x15" stack. Adds a tiny bit of hum, but then again it's not a Sansamp Bass Driver or any of that boutique stuff. Imagine "Lounge Act" with a wee bit more gain and you know what you're on to. Works fine on ballads, too.

Never had a backup; don't think I'll ever need one. I've used (and probably abused, judging by its appearance) this pedal for years and it never let me down.

I play hard rock with a touch of metal and punk. I've been playing for 6 years now and have had this thing permanently engaged in my rack for well over two years now. When trying out new equipment, I usually turn it off to have a neutral setting, but I'm always quick turning it on again because its sound is just so good. I only wish it was available as a 19" rack unit as it consumes two HUs.

Now, I've never compared it to any major bass driver/enhancer/tone shaper tool as I've always been totally satisfied with it, but if you can get your hands on one for a decent price, don't hesitate!

Easy to use, not many controls anyway.

What a joke. This is the nastiest metallic harsh sounding distortion I have ever used. It sounds awful with my gold top Gibson les paul, awful with my Jackson, awful with my Fender strat and awful with my cheap $60 no-name guitar, basically makes a $4000 guitar sound as bad as a $60 guitar.

It absolutely kills bass. Tone sounds thin and nasty.

it worked for as long as I had it, which was a couple of days.

Never used em.

The more I try out boss distortion units, I am convinced they were designed by hardware engieneers and not musicians. Have these guys ever played some of the pedals they designed? The DS-1 is another such nasty sounding pedal.