Amazing!

It's so amazing. I seriously have not
Stopped playing it since I've got it.
Amazing amazing amazing!!

Boss eBand JS-8

Very good for in home practice,great sounds. Very impressed with my purchase.

Clearing the air...

Okay, why don't we just get down to it. I've read every possible review on this, and watched all available Youtube vidoe's regarding this unit. With that being said, I now own it and I will clear up any questions you might have. I've seen multiple comments & complaints about the enormous owner's manual. The manual is EXTREMELY user friendly and is only that big because it is written in 7 languages. No big deal at all, don't sweat it. Number two, I have also read complaints about the speakers. The speakers are very nice and clear, but make no mistake, this is not an AMP! This is a bedroom/desktop practice and recording tool only. I mention recording because it has the same effects as the Boss GT-10 and has convenient outs to go straight into a recording device or mixer. The chain of effects and levels can be changed in seconds! This little machine is the next wave of practice devices for guitar player's of ALL ages. The Eband is very impressive for being so small, and the sound blows the Line 6 Spider Jam totally away! I have that as well so I can speak intelligently and compare without being biased. I can't imagine someone not enjoying this product. Take time to look over the manual, watch some Youtube video's, and have a blast!

Great for midi single acts or small groups

Just got this great little baby. I use it for a midi based single, duo, or trio. I transfered my midi sequences from my lap top (which I was using on gigs) to the JS-8.
Sounds great. EZ song selection, quick load time.
I call it my R.R.C.R. which stands for Rock and Roll Clock Radio.

Great Learning Tool!

This is a great piece of equipment for training and learning new songs. The tracks available in different keys allows you to practice for any type of music. I also purchased the Hal Leonard eBand books with thumb drives that accompany this JS-8, it greatly enhanced the learning effectiveness. This is a very good device for increasing your guitar skills.

pitch control weak

If you like to learn and play alot of older music where tuning may be anything but standard the pitch control is good for LEARNING songs but not for playing along with songs. The warbling sound that comes as a result of using the pitch control will not be music to your ears. This problem I believe is inherent of all devices of this type that I know of(in this price range). So keep that in mind. The effects are excellent when played through a p.a.(good enough to gig with). If you are not changing the pitch wav files sound pretty good too

Great Device But Don't Be Confused By Other Reviews

I agree with all of the positive comments in the other reviews. This is an awesome practice tool that has improved my guitar playing considerably. The speakers could definitely be a little nicer (louder) for the price, but they are certainly ok for practicing in hotel rooms, bedrooms, dens, etc. Feed the output into a stereo or decent powered speakers (I use Audioengine) and the sound is awesome. The quality of the tracks definitely deteriorate when slowed down for practice purposes, but the quality is adequate.

One of the reviews on this site talks about using it to download midi sequences and calls it a rock and roll clock radio. I don't know why. It doesn't have a clock. It doesn't have a radio. It doesn't have an alarm. And it can't play midi files. It DOES play MP3 and WAV files. And it is an awesome guitar practice device.

js8 eband, any good for gigging

THIS IS A GREAT PRACTICE TOOL WITH GREAT SOUNDS AND EFFECTS BUT HAS ANY ONE USED IT FOR LIVE GIGS OR WHAT WOULD BE THE MOST APPROPRIATE WAY IN THIS REGARD. CAN YOU PLUG IT INTO A PA TO GET THE SAME RESULTS UNDER ORDINARY CONDITIONS. ANY ADVICE WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED. I WOULD GIVE IT FIVE STARS IF YOU COULD GIG WITH IT

Very Good Practice Tool

i've had this thing for more than a year now and it's gotten a lot of play time. firing up the mega rig for practice is unpractical at times, and this thing fills that gap. it has most of the features you'd expect from a practice tool (tuner, metronome, backing tracks, mp3 player, slow-downer, recorder) and the sounds are pretty good. the little speakers actually do a decent job at low volumes, plus you can use headphones or run it into a home stereo or other larger speaker system to get a bigger sound. they did a good job with the physical design, the way it sits on a table surface is very user-friendly. the only thing i wish it did better was looping. it would be nice if you could set it to record a loop based on a tempo, time signature and number of bars. as it is you have to loop based on hours, minutes, seconds. if it could loop in musical time i would have given it five stars.

Not eneough power

It is really very nice gadget, it has great sound, i know it is not an amp.
but speakers power are not enough

Pros and Cons

I have to say the other reviewer's are correct in that it need's more volume however, it was intended for BEDROOM volume's. I got an adapter to plug into my Vibro-King and I can get all the volume I want and then some !! The Boss people should consider this adapter as a part of the package. I have yet to do recording and other thing's but for a guitarist that need's to play along , learn passage's and improvise
this is a MUST have !! When put thru an amp it's very good. You will NOT be disappointed. The effect's are good as you'd expect from Boss. The manual has got a lot of thing's to learn and seem's overwhelming at first but the actual control's are very user friendly and easy to follow. After using the JS-8 even people that are computer challenged will be using it with no problem.

Good and Bad

The speakers do not generate enough volume. This applies to the music being generated by the eBand and the guitar plugged into it. You have to turn you guitar to 10 and the 2 volume controls on the eBand as far as they will go to barely be heard. Even then, played clean, the speakers begin to distort without generating much volume. Headphones don't help. If you are practicing some rhythm with an acoustic guitar, it will drown out the eBand even without being plugged in.

I found that the only solution is to plug the headphone jack to my Orange Crush practice amp. Only then can you hear the music played by the eBand, your guitar in the mix, either through the practice amp's speaker or its headphone jack.

Given the incredible amount of effects, it would seem that the emphasis was for learning lead guitar licks. Played clean, it will provide accompaniment for voice, harmonica, and mandolin. I can also play an acoustic dobro with or without distortion using the eBand. I have not tried it but I would guess that an electric keyboard could be used with the eBand.

The tempo controls are more useful than pitch, at least for me. I have not used this for recording though it claims to be able to work with recording software.

I use my eBand exclusively for practice. If I am gigging, I will take a scratch recording and play along with it. I will also buy a book/CD songbook or lesson book, rip the CD to a USB Stick, and play along.

One other niggle is that the eBand will scroll through an SD card or a USB stick only in the sequence that you loaded a track onto the device. It ignores numerical or alphabetical sequence.

Knowing now what I do about the eBand, I would still buy it. I would give it a pass if you don't have a way to amplify the output.

Yes or No

Everything is good but speakers are not enough which is very BAD