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

[Dave Lewis]

I’ve not had a lot of time with the Boss yet (More over the weekend with a friend)
I am still leaning towards this. Probably because I know it so well??

 

[JiveTurkey]

And yet, we all know that e.g. D standard is not a drop tuning.



(Of course, I can look at a pedal like this, being familiar with the technology and all the competing products, and say, "Yeah, it probably can't do what it's saying it does.". But I shouldn't have to.)

The "extras" the 100 brings to the table (whammy, detune) for me weren't worth it, either. There is also an inherent sexiness of the Digitech whammy that is 1000% NOT there in the Boss. Unsurprisingly. Trying to wrap my head around how it worked on device was also definitely a Boss experience where I needed to have it front of me to see how it worked.

 

[Dave Lewis]

The "extras" the 100 brings to the table (whammy, detune) for me weren't worth it, either. There is also an inherent sexiness of the Digitech whammy that is 1000% NOT there in the Boss. Unsurprisingly. Trying to wrap my head around how it worked on device was also definitely a Boss experience where I needed to have it front of me to see how it worked.

Did the digital display do anything for you ?

 

[Dave Lewis]

Boss have obviously shifted a few units because I couldn’t find any online retailer in the UK Holland and Germany that hadn’t sold out last Wednesday except for

down in Bournemouth

 

[Dave Lewis]

I’m used to these .
So Boss has big boots to fill here with XS- 100

 

[JiveTurkey]

Did the digital display do anything for you ?

Not really. Very bare bones and clunky in usual Boss style. Like I said; I feel like the smaller pedal makes more sense with dials showing you exactly where you are at and no one unneeded complexity that doesn't seem necessary? I know they are selling a boatload from what I see online as well and good for them either way!

 

[Dave Lewis]

Having had a few hours on the Boss this weekend ,I like it so far.
Think they could of made the screen a bit bigger though.

 

[Iron1]

Almost bought the 1 when I first saw the propaganda. Then came here, sifted thru the comments, watched some videos and once again found myself assured the Digitech Drop is the undisputed King of this hill.

Now to go find some other bit of gear to waste money on…

 

[JiveTurkey]

Almost bought the 1 when I first saw the propaganda. Then came here, sifted thru the comments, watched some videos and once again found myself assured the Digitech Drop is the undisputed King of this hill.

Now to go find some other bit of gear to waste money on…

Have you tried the Stomp for this? How does it do? The Boss is nowhere near as dull sounding as the Drop. But it also imparts a Boss tonality to things.

 

[2dor]

Have you tried the Stomp for this? How does it do? The Boss is nowhere near as dull sounding as the Drop. But it also imparts a Boss tonality to things.

 

[GuitarJon]

Here's my video! Also compared it to my DT:

 

[Iron1]

Have you tried the Stomp for this? How does it do? The Boss is nowhere near as dull sounding as the Drop. But it also imparts a Boss tonality to things.

I tried it on my Helix Rack years ago and the Drop was way better. Haven’t given the Stomp a shot at it in several firmware updates.

 

[JiveTurkey]

I tried it on my Helix Rack years ago and the Drop was way better. Haven’t given the Stomp a shot at it in several firmware updates.

The Poly stuff was supposedly a big upgrade over simple pitch.

 

[2dor]

The Poly stuff was supposedly a big upgrade over simple pitch.

Every time I tried L6's Poly Capo block and compared it against Fractal or the Neural DSP transpose (both in the QC and plugins) or with the Drop, the L6 Poly Capo always came out on top. Haven't tried the XS1 yet though - was itching to get one but with the recent reports ... not so sure... maybe Digitech will come out with a response product hopefully. The pitch stuff in the L6 Helix is based on the Digitech stuff IIRC anyway.

 

[JiveTurkey]

Every time I tried L6's Poly Capo block and compared it against Fractal or the Neural DSP transpose (both in the QC and plugins) or with the Drop, the L6 Poly Capo always came out on top. Haven't tried the XS1 yet though - was itching to get one but with the recent reports ... not so sure... maybe Digitech will come out with a response product hopefully. The pitch stuff in the L6 Helix is based on the Digitech stuff IIRC anyway.

Good to know! I almost grabbed a Stomp yesterday because Burning and Learning but decided to irrationally pivot those "funds" to the Stadium.

 

[Iron1]

Good to know! I almost grabbed a Stomp yesterday because Burning and Learning but decided to irrationally pivot those "funds" to the Stadium.

Always invest in Stompbucks when the opportunity arises.

 

[Dave Lewis]

Here's my video! Also compared it to my DT:

Jon,
I Just finished watching your excellent video.
I enjoyed it and think you covered everything on the Boss.

 

[Iron1]

Here's my video! Also compared it to my DT:

Good vid as usual.

So, which one are you reaching for first? The Boss or the Digitech?

 

[[Nathan]]

Ive been using the smaller XS1 for a couple weeks now and I'm a bit of a convert honestly. When you listen back to some software solutions they almost sound the same but when I play through it the boss seems to win. There's the tiniest bit of latency that doesnt really bother me even on fast riffs and tempos but its like they've paid attention to not choking the upper freq transients or something which makes it feel better than other solutions.

I havent even really changed guitars I've been using a Kiesel in drop C and I've been playing tons of stuff in Drop F#/G#/A# and also upto D effortlessly. There's also something really gratifying about having the hardware there doing one thing, no messing around with a plugin, no multifx unit changing patches having to add in a pitch block. The chain is just guitar --> XS1 --> interface (or amp/digital unit). I'm temped to keep this and chuck it in the rack and leave it permanently connected, still deciding.

I'll chip away at a video soon and I think the obvious comparisons are Helix, Polychrome Hypertune & NDSP. If theres any other standouts in the software realm I'll check them out.

 

[GuitarJon]

Good vid as usual.

So, which one are you reaching for first? The Boss or the Digitech?

I have a large collection of Digitech Whammies so I'll always keep using those. However, I have been using the Boss as well here and there because it does the job really well too!