Bought A New Stomp Box

[ProfessorGAC]

My wife and i both bought a post-Christmas present yesterday. I got the Boss PS-5 Super Shifter. Most excellent!

It's a pitch shifter/harmonizer in a neat little, normal Boss-sized package. But, it has one REALLY cool mode. It turns the pedal into a momentary switch so it works when depressed, but as soon as it's released, it goes back to normal. So, you don't have to turn it on, then turn it off in a hurry if you want just one note to jump in. I set it for one octave up, then in the middle of a repeating riff, will step on it for a moment. Suddenly, two or three notes jump up one octave and then comes right back down. It's a really neat effect.

The tracking is OUTSTANDING! The tone of the guitar and the accuracy of the pitch are both essentially perfect! And, the speed of the pitch change can be changed from slow (not too useful) to instantaneous. I would guess i have it set to about 10 milliseconds, so it's fast but not instantaneous.

I haven't tried it yet, but it also has a key sensitive harmonizing feature. You can set the key, major or minor, and then adjust the number of half steps above the normal note. (There's obviously a blend control to balance dry and wet.) I looked at the key charts in the manual, and it seems like it would be really fun to play with, just haven't done that yet.

Lastly, it has a modulated detune mode which will give a sort of chorus/phase shift. I haven't tried that yet either. I didn't buy it for these other two functions, but the price was right for something that did this much in a tiny package.

It's not something i needed. Not sure even how often i'll use it. But, it's fun!
The Professor

[XNASA]

1. Neato.

Santa got James a DigiTech Whammy Pedal. It makes everyone sound like Robert Fripp.

Key sensitive harmonizing? That's bizarre. They should call it a Dickey Betts pedal.

[ProfessorGAC]

2. Funny You Mentioned That

I went to get the Whammy Pedal. But that thing is huge and butt-ugly. This thing is really cool in that it's just the standard size Boss pedal. And, it does have a CV pedal input, so if i wanted to have pedal control i could have it.

I did try the harmony feature last night. It's outstanding. I was really having fun, especially since that's not why i bought it. It's like getting two pedals but paying for one! The pitch shifting/harmonizing is pretty much as good as on my TC Electronics rack mount. The noise level is higher than the rack mount, but not bad.

Big fun!
The Professor