Boss Poly Shift XS-1 and XS-100 Official Thread™ With Video(s)

[JiveTurkey]

Obligatory I need to eat supper reaction. I assume you wouldn't expect anything less from me.


1. Pedal feels super solid. Could have been an extension of the SY1000 chassis. Good.

2. Down a single halfstep is good. Whole step is good. Even down 3 is good. Beyond that; it is completely a victim of Boss pitch shifting where there is this weird thing with the low E. It's like a cocked wah stuck in a low "wow" setting. I haven't played a tuned down guitar in forever so maybe I am wrong and this is an experience with a physically downtuned guitar as well but I don't think so. Latency seems to be noticable around 5 down. Doable; but noticable. Weird low end is also exacerbated by different drives. SD-1 was TERRIBLE with it. GT-OD was there but not as bad. MXR Micro Amp 2 was probably best sounding with it?

3. Detune mode is not audible. Unless I am so used to hearing either the MXR stereo chorus or the FAS stuff where it's lush AF? I don't think so. I might be missing something in the menu system they've included.

4. Whammy is kind of neat? I would probably never use it in retrospect. I bought it mainly for presets with the whammy being a sort of add-on item.

5. Up 2 semitones is solid. It definitely has a "fake" sheen to it but with a bass in a mix; it would be fine for that (AKA tune baritone or 7 up to C# for LB riffs)

6. I think I am probably the worst "new to me piece of gear" person I have ever met If I had to rate it now; I would buy the single stomp and organize songs and change tunings on the fly per group vs. this piece.

I can see using this with my 6 string and whatever 7 or baritone for the wrestling metal stuff. I would absolutely not use it to go down or up for anything more than 3.

 

[Blix]

3. Detune mode is not audible.

Mix is set at 100% probably :)

 

[JiveTurkey]

Mix is set at 100% probably :)

Detune is set to on, shift is set to +9. SW1 set to engage detune. There is a direct level and and effect level. I think it's much more subtle than I am used to. Probably going to drop the idea of using that effect in here altogether.

 

[AlbertA]

Are you able to input a DI track into the pedal? I'm curious if we could compare using the DI track I uploaded here against the Axe-Fx pitch block:

Axe-Fx III Firmware 29.01 Public Beta

Not a bug per se, but a slight audible anomaly: in factory preset FUZZ TWEED (Bank A), switch between scenes 2, 3 and 4. The switch goes along with a low-frequency thump that's quite noticeable, especially at gigging volume level. It doesn't seem to be caused by impedance switching, because I...

forum.fractalaudio.com

 

[JiveTurkey]

Are you able to input a DI track into the pedal? I'm curious if we could compare using the DI track I uploaded here against the Axe-Fx pitch block:

Axe-Fx III Firmware 29.01 Public Beta

Not a bug per se, but a slight audible anomaly: in factory preset FUZZ TWEED (Bank A), switch between scenes 2, 3 and 4. The switch goes along with a low-frequency thump that's quite noticeable, especially at gigging volume level. It doesn't seem to be caused by impedance switching, because I...

forum.fractalaudio.com

Maybe? My brain is broken at the moment I'd say it's probably going to go back and I will shift that money to a guitar in a closer tuning to what I am wanting.

 

[holoholo]

Amazon free gear trials returns wins again!

 

[JiveTurkey]

Amazon free gear trials returns wins again!

I didn't buy it from Amazon unfortunately I'll eat the shipping costs.

 

[2dor]

Obligatory I need to eat supper reaction. I assume you wouldn't expect anything less from me.


1. Pedal feels super solid. Could have been an extension of the SY1000 chassis. Good.

2. Down a single halfstep is good. Whole step is good. Even down 3 is good. Beyond that; it is completely a victim of Boss pitch shifting where there is this weird thing with the low E. It's like a cocked wah stuck in a low "wow" setting. I haven't played a tuned down guitar in forever so maybe I am wrong and this is an experience with a physically downtuned guitar as well but I don't think so. Latency seems to be noticable around 5 down. Doable; but noticable. Weird low end is also exacerbated by different drives. SD-1 was TERRIBLE with it. GT-OD was there but not as bad. MXR Micro Amp 2 was probably best sounding with it?

3. Detune mode is not audible. Unless I am so used to hearing either the MXR stereo chorus or the FAS stuff where it's lush AF? I don't think so. I might be missing something in the menu system they've included.

4. Whammy is kind of neat? I would probably never use it in retrospect. I bought it mainly for presets with the whammy being a sort of add-on item.

5. Up 2 semitones is solid. It definitely has a "fake" sheen to it but with a bass in a mix; it would be fine for that (AKA tune baritone or 7 up to C# for LB riffs)

6. I think I am probably the worst "new to me piece of gear" person I have ever met If I had to rate it now; I would buy the single stomp and organize songs and change tunings on the fly per group vs. this piece.

I can see using this with my 6 string and whatever 7 or baritone for the wrestling metal stuff. I would absolutely not use it to go down or up for anything more than 3.

Does it track well when bending slow or doing vibrato?

 

[JiveTurkey]

Does it track well when bending slow or doing vibrato?

I will be give that a go over the weekend. I came off fairly harsh on it in my first post after receiving it, unsurprising given how I am not good at time restricted first impressions fresh out of work. The tracking was great at 3, maybe 4 semitones. It's really just the low end that gets a bit weird? Past that is a bit sketchy if you are still trying to sound like a guitar vs. octave down or whatever absurdity mode beyond that. Past 2 semitones it gets a bit more fake sounding as well.

I'm curious how it's going to do with the baritone guitar.

 

[Dave Lewis]

I watched Leon’s video again and ordered one.

 

[Dave Lewis]

It arrived earlier

 

[JiveTurkey]

Going back today. Too much money wrapped up in something I don't like the sound of. The small form factor Boss would be what I would go with if I need some down tuning on the fly. I am still an advocate for just tuning a standard 6 string guitar down. Or getting one for that purpose. If I wanted a Whammy; I'd just get a Digitech.

 

[2dor]

Damn, the Boss craps the bed with vibrato big time.. good otherwise but bends artifact pretty noticeably using a 1 semitone shifting.

 

[mbenigni]

I'm confused by the promo copy (and a couple of comments in this thread): Does this thing actually do drop tunings in real time with a single 1/4" input? For instance, will it take input from a guitar tuned in E standard and produce output as if it were tuned DADGBE? (This seems very unlikely to me. Detuning to DGCFAD, sure. Maybe I'm just being too strict with my semantics here?)

 

[JiveTurkey]

I'm confused by the promo copy (and a couple of comments in this thread): Does this thing actually do drop tunings in real time with a single 1/4" input? For instance, will it take input from a guitar tuned in E standard and produce output as if it were tuned DADGBE? (This seems very unlikely to me. Detuning to DGCFAD, sure. Maybe I'm just being too strict with my semantics here?)

No. It tunes the whole guitar down. So if it's set to -1; it tunes the whole guitar to Eb (assuming A440 physical tuning).

 

[mbenigni]

No. It tunes the whole guitar down. So if it's set to -1; it tunes the whole guitar to Eb (assuming A440 physical tuning).

That's what I figured. And this being the case - we guitarists really need to make our minds up as far as what "drop tuning" means. I'd call what you're describing "detuning". (And I already have a hundred ways to do that, paid for. Or at least two LOL.)

 

[[Nathan]]

That's what I figured. And this being the case - we guitarists really need to make our minds up as far as what "drop tuning" means. I'd call what you're describing "detuning". (And I already have a hundred ways to do that, paid for. Or at least two LOL.)

View attachment 53069

As far as I'm aware they've always been called pitch shifting pedals (or polyshift). Digitech "the drop" is probably where the crossover in wording has come from, blame them

 

[mbenigni]

As far as I'm aware they've always been called pitch shifting pedals (or polyshift). Digitech "the drop" is probably where the crossover in wording has come from, blame them

Yeah, I did think about the Drop pedal before I posted. Digitech is wrong. (Should have called it the De pedal?)

In their promo copy, Boss refers to "pitching", "pitch shifting", "detuning", "retuning", and "drop tuning" - perhaps even a couple of others... as if these were actually different things LOL.

 

[JiveTurkey]

That's what I figured. And this being the case - we guitarists really need to make our minds up as far as what "drop tuning" means. I'd call what you're describing "detuning". (And I already have a hundred ways to do that, paid for. Or at least two LOL.)

View attachment 53069

I'm pedantic but not that pedantic

 

[[Nathan]]

Damn, the Boss craps the bed with vibrato big time.. good otherwise but bends artifact pretty noticeably using a 1 semitone shifting.

I dont think I've ever really bashed Kemper tones but damn this sounds funky and dare I say cocked wah-ish. Add any level of pitch shifting into the mix is double trouble. I'd heard some stuff about vibrato on the boss, wonder if they can do some kind of update to address it.