stewblack Posted May 10 Share Posted May 10 Wow. Basschat loved that reply so much it posted it many times! 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lidl e Posted May 10 Share Posted May 10 1 minute ago, stewblack said: Wow. Basschat loved that reply so much it posted it many times! i read all 4! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uk_lefty Posted May 10 Share Posted May 10 6 minutes ago, stewblack said: Wow. Basschat loved that reply so much it posted it many times! I just thought you'd stepped on a delay 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
funkydoug Posted May 10 Share Posted May 10 26 minutes ago, uk_lefty said: Great stuff! Curious to know whether it does come with any preset sounds? The old GT10-B had some excellent presets to give you amp and EQ settings to sound like Cream, Level 42, among others. Yes I think it comes with 9 banks of 4 presets which you call up / scroll through. You can add your own or download more if you connect to the web. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
funkydoug Posted May 10 Share Posted May 10 15 minutes ago, stewblack said: I think it looks great. A breath of fresh air for pedal lovers who want the convenience of a single unit. However, an entire 1/4 of the unit dedicated to delays and reverbs makes it a no from Stew! I literally have no use for them. Unless I can reprogram that section. Can I? Yes. The final slot in each block can be changed to one of a pre-determined list of other effects. I put a chorus pedal on that block so that I can use the mod block for compression and the the compression block for octave, which is how I’ve set it up to use in manual mode. Writing that took me longer than actually doing it! Only caveat is that you need the Boss Bluetooth thingy to do it. But that is worth getting anyway so you can stream music from your phone or tablet to play along to, and I baked that into my buying decision. 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted May 10 Share Posted May 10 7 minutes ago, funkydoug said: Only caveat is that you need the Boss Bluetooth thingy to do it. Boss go to all that trouble to make the device as hands on and user friendly as possible with all those knobs and then make one of the key features accessible only via an unreliable protocol that requires extra hardware to achieve. While the Helix might not be quite as immediate and hands on, there's nothing you can't do from the actual user interface. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
funkydoug Posted May 10 Share Posted May 10 Yeah thats a fair comment. I'd also much prefer to be able to make changes like that on the unit itself but, its a minor grumble. Do it once and that's it. Bluetooth streaming - I like it, mainly because phones don't come with proper outputs these days and that's where my music is - but it could have been built in. Again, minor grumble. Once you've got the Bluetooth thingy though, it screws in place and is effectively bolted-on, if not built-in. I suspect that is a commercial decision on their part. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodinblack Posted May 10 Share Posted May 10 1 hour ago, BigRedX said: While the Helix might not be quite as immediate and hands on, there's nothing you can't do from the actual user interface. Software update. You can't do that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodinblack Posted May 10 Share Posted May 10 1 hour ago, funkydoug said: Only caveat is that you need the Boss Bluetooth thingy to do it. But that is worth getting anyway so you can stream music from your phone or tablet to play along to, and I baked that into my buying decision. you can use straight USB cable without bluetooth if you want to connect it to a computer. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eude Posted May 10 Share Posted May 10 37 minutes ago, funkydoug said: I suspect that is a commercial decision on their part. I'm pretty sure that's a large contributor, however, it also can work with multiple other units, and means they don't have to worry about building Bluetooth into the circuit board. I need to order one of those too though, as I'm sure it'll come in handy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted May 10 Share Posted May 10 1 hour ago, Woodinblack said: Software update. You can't do that. True. But you don't need to. The Helix isn't going to suddenly stop working if you don't update the firmware. The functionality on the Boss unit that requires Bluetooth or a computer connection seems like it might be quite important to some people. Having been bitten in the past by products that promised additional functionality through firmware/software updates that never materialised (Tascam I'm looking at you), I will only make my purchasing decisions based on what the product will do at the moment I buy it. I would still be as happy with my Helix even if it was still on the firmware it came with 6 years ago. All those updates are just a bonus IMO. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodinblack Posted May 10 Share Posted May 10 1 hour ago, BigRedX said: True. But you don't need to. The Helix isn't going to suddenly stop working if you don't update the firmware. The functionality on the Boss unit that requires Bluetooth or a computer connection seems like it might be quite important to some people. I agree with your point that there is additional functionality that requires a computer to use, but I am not sure it is functionality that would matter to almost anyone who would be in the market to buy a device like this, so don't really see it as an issue. Certainly wouldn't be for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owen Posted May 12 Share Posted May 12 Does anyone have a list of what "pedals" are actually in there? I have looked, honest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fmb Posted May 13 Share Posted May 13 @Owen Look for "Boss ME-90B Parameter Guide" 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markbunney Posted May 13 Share Posted May 13 Can anyone who has one of these comment on the quality of the drop tune effect? I need to get something to drop me down half a step and am looking between the Digitech drop or maybe ME90b Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eude Posted May 14 Share Posted May 14 My ME 90B arrived today. No time to even unpack it yet, but soon, hopefully tomorrow... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eude Posted May 15 Share Posted May 15 (edited) I managed to steal a few moments for some playing this morning between meetings, and I'm very pleased. Size isn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be, not much bigger than 1/2 my pedalboard, so that worry has totally gone. Build quality, as with all Boss stuff I guess, is very solid and workmanlike. I only played around in manual mode so far, there's obviously a load of pre programmed stuff in there, but I wanted to see what this will be like in real life for me. The natural tone of the unit is lovely flat, I assume it's not doing much, if anything, but it sounds nice. The amp sims are good, a good range of options which all seem to be quite different. The myriad of effects all seem to be very useable, the range of some is limited a little compared to separates, by the limits of the physical controls, but there is plenty there and it's all useable. Everything I use for my regular tone is there, plus all the extras I use when nobody is looking, like Delays and Reverbs, the Slicer is well cool, and the Synths are really musical, and again, thanks to the limits to some of the settings, it's hard to find a Synth that's unusable, which in my experience is very easy with the likes of an EHX Microsynth. The regular Octaver is VERY OC-2-like, the Polyphonic has a similar vibe too, but tracks properly, which was cool as often the polyphonic ones sound a bit pants. The compressors all sounds different, which was a surprise, but lots to explore for someone that rarely gets on with compressors, unless it's in the studio with someone who knows how to operate an expensive one. The filters, autowah etcs, all very nice, and easier to set up than my MXR, plus there's 4 different core options, unlike the single one on that pedal. I was worried about the ability to stack drives, but as the core tone is so nice, I can achieve that by setting an amp sim to be overdriven and then use the drive section for more drive. Perfect. The different drives and distortions are cool too, will need a proper play to really dial those in. Of course, there is more you can do under the hood to make all the above more cleverer, but from just using the physical controls I can do everything I need and want to do. I'm impressed, very impressed. Does anyone want to buy some pedals?... Edited May 15 by eude typos, lots of typos 11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
funkydoug Posted May 15 Share Posted May 15 Glad you’re enjoying it, I’d have felt a bit guilty if not 🤣 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eude Posted May 15 Share Posted May 15 2 hours ago, funkydoug said: Glad you’re enjoying it, I’d have felt a bit guilty if not 🤣 I absolutely love it! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markbunney Posted May 15 Share Posted May 15 2 minutes ago, eude said: I absolutely love it! What is the drop tune effect like? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eude Posted May 16 Share Posted May 16 9 hours ago, markbunney said: What is the drop tune effect like? I haven't had a play with that yet, but I will hopefully get some more time today and I'll let you know. I wasn't kidding about being time poor! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eude Posted May 16 Share Posted May 16 11 hours ago, markbunney said: What is the drop tune effect like? OK, I'm not going to lie, the drop tune function wasn't great. My active basses and me hitting quite hard might not help, but it seems too laggy to be of any use to me. This is the only chink in the armour I have found so far... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted May 16 Share Posted May 16 If the drop tune is done by digital processing, the laws of physics are going to be against you no matter how or what you play. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markbunney Posted May 16 Share Posted May 16 9 minutes ago, eude said: OK, I'm not going to lie, the drop tune function wasn't great. My active basses and me hitting quite hard might not help, but it seems too laggy to be of any use to me. This is the only chink in the armour I have found so far... Thanks for letting me know. The rest of the pedal does look & sound great from all the videos I’ve seen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eude Posted May 16 Share Posted May 16 5 minutes ago, BigRedX said: If the drop tune is done by digital processing, the laws of physics are going to be against you no matter how or what you play. Yup, it's definitely fighting itself. I wonder if the Digitech DropTune pedal works any better? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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