Boss XS100 Poly Shift Pedal

[Al Krow]

46 minutes ago, neepheid said:

 

That's a good point, I made the mistake of going 50:50 blend on an octave up and it was a bit to piercing for my liking.  It's seasoning, not the main flavour.  My previous pitch shifter (TC Electronic Brainwaves) had two voices, so for the "fake guitar" thing I did +7 and +12 combined 50:50 wet dry which worked well, as I guess the combination of the two higher pitches perhaps mellowed each other out?  With the octave alone, it's a bit too shrill at 50:50.  Lesson learned.

 

Oh I've done worse and had it set to 100% wet for octave up, as I was too distracted by other things to remember mid set to also change the wet/dry!

 

However, someome on TB has pointed out I can access 3 different settings on the XS-1 using an external footswitch so I may not need to upgrade to the XS-100 after all!

[neepheid]

1 minute ago, Al Krow said:

 

Oh I've done worse and had it set to 100% wet for octave up, as I was too distracted by other things to remember mid set to also change the wet/dry!

 

However, someome on TB has pointed out I can access 3 different settings on the XS-1 using an external footswitch so I may not need to upgrade to the XS-100 after all!

 

I was going to mention that - wasn't sure how clever the settings store/recall thing was, but hopefully you can make it work for your needs.  Me, I don't mind reaching down to sort out the settings between songs - I use it in maybe 6-8 songs in the entire gig so it's not too bad, and the controls are big, chunky and clearly labelled, so I'm good.  Plus no room on my pedalboard for footswitches.  I had a shottie of an exp pedal and while it was fun making stupid noises for half an hour, I couldn't see it being particularly useful for the music I play.

[Al Krow]

1 hour ago, neepheid said:

 

I was going to mention that - wasn't sure how clever the settings store/recall thing was, but hopefully you can make it work for your needs.  Me, I don't mind reaching down to sort out the settings between songs - I use it in maybe 6-8 songs in the entire gig so it's not too bad, and the controls are big, chunky and clearly labelled, so I'm good.  Plus no room on my pedalboard for footswitches.  I had a shottie of an exp pedal and while it was fun making stupid noises for half an hour, I couldn't see it being particularly useful for the music I play.

 

Gotcha. What I'm feeling is a really neat live effect (just from home use so far) is sliding in the octave up rather than punching it in so it's simply off/on. Bringing a smile to my face which kinda would be sufficient, but I suspect my bandmates will have a grin on too!

[neepheid]

Just now, Al Krow said:

 

Gotcha. What I'm feeling is a really neat live effect (just from home use so far) is sliding in the octave up rather than punching it in so it's simply off/on. Bringing a smile to my face which kinda would be sufficient, but I suspect my bandmates will have a grin on too!

 

That was the most practical thing I could think of, but I got the feeling I'd need to find an exp pedal I like and stick with it then take a lot of practice to get used to its feel and travel to be able to do those slides, exactly how and when I want.  I was just using a borrowed exp pedal I'd never used in my life before, so maybe there's that.

[Al Krow]

8 minutes ago, neepheid said:

 

That was the most practical thing I could think of, but I got the feeling I'd need to find an exp pedal I like and stick with it then take a lot of practice to get used to its feel and travel to be able to do those slides, exactly how and when I want.  I was just using a borrowed exp pedal I'd never used in my life before, so maybe there's that.

 

Did you not like the Boss EV30 (which is also my one as it happens)? I've not really had reason to use it much before, but am liking it so far - well built and very cool that it has dual output!

[neepheid]

22 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

 

Did you not like the Boss EV30 (which is also my one as it happens)? I've not really had reason to use it much before, but am liking it so far - well built and very cool that it has dual output!

 

Exp pedals I've really hardly touched at all, so I can't honestly say what I like and don't like about any of them.

[Woodinblack]

4 hours ago, Al Krow said:

The issue I've now got, is that I'm seriously thinking about upgrading the XS-1 to the XS-100, as I want to be able to quickly switch between songs from:

• 100% wet, detuned to -2semis or -3semis (depending on the song)
• 40% wet for octave up
• 60% wet for octave down 

And as the XS-100 has it's own expression pedal, possibly either taking the expression pedal off board to free up space or use the dual output with a couple of other pedals.

 

Does it have an Midi capability to allow it to do that?

<looks>

Oh how irritating is that. No it doesn't have midi to change that, but the XS-100 does!

 

I think the XS-100 is out of my range, currently too expensive but probably more significantly too big to put on a board!

 

[Al Krow]

14 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

 

Does it have an Midi capability to allow it to do that?

<looks>

Oh how irritating is that. No it doesn't have midi to change that, but the XS-100 does!

 

I think the XS-100 is out of my range, currently too expensive but probably more significantly too big to put on a board!

 

 

I'm leaning towards the getting the XS-100 for its ease of use, presets and built-in expression pedal and have just realised I'm still within the 30 day exchange period at Andertons. It is pricey, but the octave up is an unexpected boon on the pedal and in a 4 piece outfit with just one guitar as the other instrument, I can see this getting quite a lot of use to fill out the sound when the guitarist is soloing.

[Woodinblack]

1 hour ago, Al Krow said:

I'm leaning towards the getting the XS-100 for its ease of use, presets and built-in expression pedal and have just realised I'm still within the 30 day exchange period at Andertons. It is pricey, but the octave up is an unexpected boon on the pedal and in a 4 piece outfit with just one guitar as the other instrument, I can see this getting quite a lot of use to fill out the sound when the guitarist is soloing.

 

Apart from the presets does it actually do more than the XS1 then? Its a shame that they didn't do it like the SY1 and SY200, really my big problem with it is the size - I don't want a foot pedal, so it is a pain having to make enough room to have one - if I could get something the XS1 size with midi, it would be about as perfect as it could be. Maybe they will make an XS50 at some point for people like me!

[Al Krow]

20 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

 

Apart from the presets does it actually do more than the XS1 then? Its a shame that they didn't do it like the SY1 and SY200, really my big problem with it is the size - I don't want a foot pedal, so it is a pain having to make enough room to have one - if I could get something the XS1 size with midi, it would be about as perfect as it could be. Maybe they will make an XS50 at some point for people like me!

 

XS-100: 30 presets - of which I'll likely need no more than 5 or 6, but be very handy for quick changes to keep songflow going mid-set. The ability to combine with an expression pedal to e.g. glide in octave up is a very nice to have. Midi could be useful

 

XS-1: You get to choose 3 presets OR expression pedal from what I understand. But XS-1 plus expression pedal ain't too far off the pedal board acreage of the XS-100 (although I may just wait a while and see if one comes up used once the first movers have decided they don't need theirs!) 

 

Presets do make all the difference for me where you have more than one setting on a pedal you want to use live - the exact same reason for switching from the SY-1 -> SY-200, although the SY-200 does have 50 more built-in sound options than its smaller sibling. I was originally thinking this would be just a (finally!) decent detuning pedal, but already finding I'm wanting to use it in different ways to what I had originally intended. 

 

Edited 23 minutes ago by Al Krow

[pantherairsoft]

I’ve ordered an XS-1, despite my gut telling me to go for the 100.

 

Features wise, the 100 is simply the better pedal, and the point above about the 1 + expression being pretty much the same real estate is valid. However, that last point is mitigated as I use a 4-way expression pedal splitter (so one expression for 4 pedals).

 

Given that I expect to be using this predominantly in a single way, and am pretty used to live knob twiddling, I think I can get away with the 1. 
 

If I’m wrong, but it performs as I hope, then I’ll upgrade to the 100 in time.