Boss SY-1 Guitar Synthesizer Pedal Reviews

Works great, great product. Sounds just like a synthesizer, hammond organ, strings, you name it!

Boss SY-1 Guitar Synthesizer Pedal is amazing. I don't have the time or interest in a device that requires programming or a lot of set up. My pedal arrived on Sunday afternoon, I plugged it in and immediately began using it to add additional flavor to songs. I mainly am a solo performer and When I'm performing I cover a lot of genres. With Boss SY-1 I was able to quickly pick types and variations of sound that would add another dimension to my performance. It was so easy I took it out with me and used it the next day at a gig. I know I just hit touched the tip of the iceberg with this pedal and I'm looking forward to the learning all the different ways I can use it to add to my performances. PS> In addition to this pedal I use a Boss OC-5 to add bass and an octave above on my first three strings for a 12 string guitar effect, I also us an Alesis SR-18 for drum back up and have 10 other pedals I use for additional coloring.

This pedal looks simple enough, but there are so many different sounds and effects it can produce that it is a little more complex than I expected - but in a good way. If you are willing to put in the time to explore the multitude of variations while thoroughly entertaining yourself at the same time, I think this pedal is well worth your attention. Just be prepared for a range of beautiful and dynamic sounds to some wild, synthesized arpeggios, organ and bell effects....be sure to watch the Don Carr demo, and thanks to Nick Dutiel for always useful advice.

I really like this pedal. I'm praise and worship leader at my church, so I use this pedal for intro/end of song or between songs to ad more presence to my over all sound. Sense it is just me and a bass guitarist, I like that it makes the over all sound, sound bigger. I have it set where you can hear my guitar, yet still have a keyboard sound/pad underneath. So it is a great way to have no dead air between songs, also at the end of a set, I can use it to give whomever is going to be speaking time to get to the podium. Easy to use, but not always easy to settle on which sound you like the best. They all sound great, it just depends on which sound your looking for. Awesome pedal D.

Within a few minutes of opening the box, I found a great sound and sent a sound snippet to my daughter and she thought I learned to play the synthesizer. This has like 8 distinct sounds with each having 11 different variations... I'm not blown away easily, but this is the best thing I've heard in a long time.

If youre looking for something to get the creative juices flowing this is a good place to look. Its a polyphonic synth with, Id say zero latency really that allows you to just start playing and if you come across something you like, hold down the foot switch. I dont think that works across all modes, like if you play organ and say strum an A, then hit the pedal, pretty sure it doesnt sustain for ever, and why would you really want that. But if you're in some other modes and its looping a little snippet, hold down the pedal and you've got yourself a little synth rhythm section. There are some solid videos out there that demo this, Andertons I think. You're really getting a lot of sounds out of this. You wont see someone demo all of them.... because there are a lot.

Compact. Quick learning curve. Reasonable price point.

I liked this pedal so much I bought a second one to really create havoc!

Want to take guitar to a whole new level? This is the tool. The SY-1 has multiple sounds, and variations of those sounds for a wide pallet of tones. The controls can also change the effects from bass to treble, fast to slow, and how much mix between the effect and guitar you may have. Add a favorite pedal to the loop and create endless other tones. Nonstop inspiration!

So many cool synth sounds in this. I love that it is polyphonic so it expands on what you can do. Only synth pedal you will ever need.

I bought it for the pads and strings using acoustic guitar. Love it!

Great organ sound! I've used it with a Korg Minilogue to the benefit of both! Get this while you can!

Love it in combination with other pedals

I'm sure l will never hit all the bells and whistles this unit has to offer. The no-lag multi-keyboard polyphonic effects I have used so far have gone beyond my expectations.

This machine is fun and helps me sound like I know what I'm doing!

Bought this pedal with my new guitar, This is my first time playing around with this pedal but I really like it very much. I've had this for about a month or so, and I have to say it's pretty easy to get your sound you want and with a little practice It is easy to use. Great Pedal , well made.

This is just incredible the synth sounds that you can get from a pedal! I have a Roland GR55, and this keeps up at a much lower price!

Boss has really done the job here! There is no end of variety here... the one and only thing I can't do is grow a third arm, so an expression pedal is now in my future. Wish they made this back in the 80s! This much versatility will require some know-how, so spend some time (you won't mind) and make some sounds!

THIS I AN AWESOME PEDAL ! YOU CAN DO ALMOST ANYTHING WITH IT, 121 SOUND VARIANTS ! CHECK IT OUT ONLINE & WATCH THE VIDEO !

I have had all of these types of pedals over the years. I play bass with friends and would like to have a different sound that will track great on my low strings. I won't go into the physics. Usually upper register
frets track the best on a bass. On this pedal it tracks great all around on my 4 string bass low E standard.
I am not sure about extended range basses with low B to low F#. I haven't tried the expression pedal input. I have exactly what I wanted, with 80s synth sounds to organ and more I am sure. It will be a lot of fun messing with all the switches and knobs. And the price is reasonable. It has a switch for bass or guitar. You can loan it to your guitar player friend so he/she can try it and want one for themselves. thanks steve s

A seriously awesome pedal!!! Love it. Has some fun and unique sounds. Personally love the sequencer and SFX sounds.

Pedal is great

I originally got this because I wanted a new toy that would expand the enjoyment of playing guitar. It has some crazy sounds ( like any synth device does ) , but also has plenty of beautiful and colorful effects as well.
I've had this for about 2 months now and haven't even scratched the surface of all the sounds and effects it is capable of. 11 settings with 11 options on each one, then changes even more by adjusting the other knobs to enhance or change the settings. I have gone down the rabbit hole several times playing with all the sounds for hours at a time. It seems to have endless possibilities.
It does have a few crazy synth sounds and patterns that you may never use, but this pedal is more fun to play with than any other pedal I own. I play the guitar to have fun and sometimes a new toy just brightens up a whole new world of sounds. This pedal increases the fun-factor and really does open up a ton of new sounds and effects. Be careful of the rabbit hole though, you may find yourself several hours later wondering where the time went.

This pedal is great. Tracking is pretty much flawless. I have mine set up with the SEND (Direct Out) going into a Zoom CDR and then into a second amp, and it's like having another person in the band. The sound shaping options are so simple, yet incredibly useful and musical. My favorite sound right now is the PAD setting 11 with the pitch set to a 3rd up. Can't say enough good things about it, and I have yet to dig deep into the possibilities

This pedal is different than any other pedal I own. There are endless tonal possibilities and it is really opening up my playing and enabling me to be more creative. Great product by BOSS. As always great support and assistance from Sweetwater.

I'm looking forward to going more in depth with this pedal. It's pretty cool so far. Where would the world be without Boss?

It works great my brother loves it. It takes the boredom out of playing alone. He does amazing grace that sounds like bagpipes. He loves the sound of the organ . The sounds that come from it are unbelievable. Thanks for asking.

Great response, no latency. Tons of good, useful sounds.

This pedal is so much fun. Right off the bat, there is a lot of diversity without even having to fiddle with the settings. The options seem endless. I have plugged in my guitar and bass and had the same amount of enjoyment out of this pedal.

Plus, customer service was fantastic. Eric gave me a call and confirmed my purchase and shipping. Honestly, I didn't mind, it was forward thinking. I prefer this kind of attention to a community. It makes it personal and stands the company out. Great job, Sweetwater.

During this quarantine I have gone down the deep rabbit hole of effects pedals. This new Guitar Synth, the SY-1, from Boss kept popping up. After pulling together the $... I got this thing. I have to try really hard to stop playing with it. It is fun! Its almost too much in terms of sound options- Can get lost with the 121 different settings! Plus I got an exp pedal to easily adjust the tones and rates, etc. Now, some of them I will never use. Some are really harsh sounding or just too weird. But like with any pedal you find the tones that work for you. I found there are at least 50 that are killer. Organ #5 stands out, and several of the strings and bass ones are really cool. Wild stuff. There is a LOT to this little machine- give yourself time to explore and get funky!

After having used the Boss SY-1 for the past week I really like it. The sounds you can get from this synthesizer are terrific and they really add to your sound with minimal coloring of the original signal. It feel like a layer added as the signal passes through the SY-1. I found it very easy to use and with over 100+ sound combinations it was easy to dial in the sound I liked best. It supports 4-Wire Send/Return Loop, Guitar in and Out to Amp and you can add an Expression Pedal. I tried a few others which I will not mention and found the Boss to be the most flexible and best sounding synth.

Incredible! Tons of flexibility and tone. Find exactly what your looking for with multiple presets and variances to the oscillators. I have only had this pedal a few days now and cant stop using it. I find something new and very pleasing every time I use it. I would strongly recommend this pedal for so many applications. I use it straight in the line and also in my effects loop.

First let me start by saying what a fun pedal this is, that it does everything its advertised to do, and that if you're interested in pulling synth sounds from your guitar that you should go ahead and buy it. But now I want to go into more detail about how an already impressive pedal can become so much more impressive depending on how you're using it.

I'm using a tube combo amp and this is how my current setup looks like with the SY-1 in my signal chain: guitar > SY-1 (with a Ram's Head Big Muff in the SY-1 effects loop) > Wah pedal > Amp [FX loop send] > Big Sky reverb > Timeline delay > Amp [FX loop return]


This pedal sounds great by itself but once you start running it along side other pedals is where you'll see it really start to shine. For example, if you run the SY-1 with some good reverb sounds, it turns it into an entirely different beast. Without adding reverb to the SY-1, it still sounds good, but quality reverb adds so much to the SY-1's potential that I never play it without some form of reverb behind it. Also, the SY-1 having its on onboard effects loop is super handy. I had seen videos of people putting overdrive pedals into the SY-1 effects loop, and while I don't have any OD pedals, I did have a Ram's Head Big Muff so I threw that into the SY-1 FX loop... Super cool! When I have the SY-1 disengaged, I can still turn on the Ram's Head and it do what it does, but when the SY-1 is engaged with the Ram's Head it brings in that fuzz sound where your dry signal would normally be. And the direct knob on the SY-1 acts as a volume pedal for whatever is in the SY-1's FX loop, so you can subdue what's in your FX loop or bring it out in force. And all of this adds color and variety to the quality of sounds you're able to get. I think of it as having more "colors to paint with." And depending on how I have the volume and direct knobs set up, sometimes it feels like the SY-1 is coloring the fuzz, and sometimes it can feel like the fuzz is coloring the SY-1... And this is only with me using a Ram's Head in the SY-1 FX loop, let alone if I were to put anything else in that loop which would only expand my tonal options.

As far as the types of synth sounds on the SY-1, you get a lot to play with. You get 11 synth types and 11 variations. If you want to see the full list then go to Google and type in "SY-1 Sound List" and it'll be the first link you see. There are also a lot of YouTube videos that showcase a lot of these sounds so you can get a good idea of them before you go to buy it. And know that with each variation you have a tone and depth knob that control the parameters of that sound, so each variation has quite a bit of tweakability. For example, one of my favoriate variations is Lead 1/Variation 3 (square synth), and if I have the tone knob dialed back, it's a very mellow and subdued sound, whereas with the tone dialed up it takes on that full, punchy synth sound. I've had this pedal for about 5-6 weeks now and it still feels pretty new to me and I'm always playing around with it in ways I hadn't before. I mean, when a pedal gives you this many options then you'll be discovering new sounds for a long time. Lots of fun.

Oh, and as everyone had already mentioned, for all intents and purposes this pedal tracks your playing perfectly. No matter how fast I'm playing, it tracks every note. But I do want to mention that this pedal rewards articulate playing. If you're playing fast and sloppy then you might be fooled into thinking this pedal isn't tracking you very well, but if you're playing articulate and allowing each note to actually get hit before you try to move onto the next one, you'll be rewarded... But don't let this worry you at all because it's not like you have to re-learn how to play guitar; you'll just see that the more articulate and accurate you are in your playing, the more responsive the SY-1 will be.

And as far as this pedal being "useful" depends on how you plan to use it. If you're in some kind of strict cover band where you're only playing country music cover songs, you might think the SY-1 was useless. But if you're more into the creative spaces where you just like to create music and pull it out of thin air then the SY-1 is up your alley because it gives you an incredible amount of sounds to play with. Or if you're in a band where synth sounds are wanted or could be applied, even better! It just depends on how you think and how you play that determines how useful this pedal will be to you. I mean, if you're floating around in the middle of the ocean in a raft and you have a hammer, that hammer is going to be totally useless whereas the raft is absolutely essential. Meanwile if you're trying to build a house, the hammer will be enormously handy whereas the raft would be practically useless. I'm just trying to draw an analogy that shows how "useful" musical equipment is depends on how you plan to use it.... Oh, and get a 9v DC adapter if you plan on buying one of these (or any pedal for that matter). People complaining about battery life in pedals is super silly to me. I mean, batteries can probably power your pedals for one or two gig's worth of time but if you're jamming around at home and using batteries in your pedals, you need a power adapter. It'll also save you money in the end because using batteries to power pedals will burn through a lot of batteries very quickly.

I was trying to replicate a very specific studio effect on one of our tracks from a studio recording (ambient drone with a descending line). This pedal nails it almost perfectly. I haven't had a chance to explore its other features but it seems to have way more versatility than I probably have the skills to utilize. Unbeatable at this price point.

I've wanted the SY-1 since it was introduced last year at NAMM 2019. It never became available and I didn't receive mine until January 2020 from Sweetwater; and I was on their waiting list for a month. My application is rather far fetched, I play an electric double-neck Strat that's a mandocello and guitar. I use the mandocello as a bass in fifths. It took me about 30-min just to surf through all eleven variations of each FX type and kinda tweak them as I went through them. As with any pedal like this that contains a whole slew of effects, I have to begin memorizing the patches that I will be able to realistically use. Now that I have integrated the SY-1 into as small mobile pedalboard with an Analog Alien Rumble Seat & Joe Walsh pedals, that I run into the SY-1's effects loop, I now have an amazing simple array of tonal variations at my immediate disposal. I love that the Analog Alien pedals are "Analog." They operate very efficiently and, because they are both made by the same company, they interact fluidly and homogeneously. The SY-1 is very transparent when engaged. There is no wall of hum or excess noise that I hear when I engage it. I have my homework ahead of me as I flush through the various effects to find those that will benefit me most in live performance. But, what I immediately noticed is that the tracking is accurate with no latency whatsoever. The sustain remains for an infinite time without farting out like a gate. I use a FS-6 pedal, set to latch mode, to bypass the SY-1 or hold a slice to solo over. I pulled out my MXR Bass Octave Deluxe to compare the octave tracking capability and the SY-1 tracks flawlessly whereas the MXR Bass Octave breaks up and sputters out while the SY-1 keeps sustaining. Before, I was only able to achieve this sort of tracking with an Eventide Eclipse. It's taken a long time for technology to be able to perform this simple request. Therefore, I find this pedal one that's very musical to use which integrates nicely with other pedals. I won't be using all of the effects types, that's for sure. You never find many that serve you completely, and the SY-1 is no exception. But, what this pedal offers is a solid base of operation that is easy to manipulate and tweak under the stress of live performance. And that's all I need.

I've used the SY-1 in my setup for a couple hours, and it is a magical device. One of Boss's best that I've ever seen. Tracks insanely well. The sequencer mode is out of this world. I'm going to be recording a lot of keyboard and organ parts, at long last, without needing a keys player. It's basically a General MIDI synth module in pedal format and a Boss interface for selecting synth patches.

Things get real interesting really fast with the sequencer and Bell categories. I've barely dipped into this thing but I'm finding it much more approachable than the Source Audio C4, although it doesn't support presets. Some of the organ parts are pretty shrill, but you can use EQ and the tone knobs on your guitar to take care of that.

Its performance is spectacular. The patches I've pulled up that sound good, REALLY sound good. It is hard to get this device to drop a note. I have not managed to do that. True polyphony and it never drops a note on the guitar. It's uncanny. To replicate some of the instruments most effectively, like keys and organ, you will need to change your technique (and be super accurate). Dynamics will change and things you do in normal guitar passages may not be as effective. Spend time exploring the various instrument patches and you will find many that work extremely well. I can't wait to try out the expression pedal with it. Also, pressing the pedal sustains the current tone. Awesome.

Using the effects loop is a whole different animal. You can get more of a 'guitar-y' tone doing it this way. It still sounds incredible and can fatten up your sound. The Effect and Direct knobs interact a lot with the effects loop. I also find that using humbuckers gives a more saturated keyboard sound than single-coils. I've already started recording with this, two hours after I set it up on my board. The photo shows my second board hooked up to the SY-1 effects loop.

Two big thumbs up from me. Highest recommendation.

I waited a long time for this pedal and it was worth the wait. Shipping from Sweetwater could have been better. I think they should use US Postal Service and drop FedEx.

Very expressive and versatile. Interacts well with other pedals in the effects loop or run solo directly into an amp. Definitely worth waiting from my initial preorder. This is the pedal I didn’t know I was waiting on, but I’m so glad I jumped the gun. It’s stupid how organically this interacts with your tone. I find myself playing differently after adding this to my tool belt.

Finally, after years of waiting, the technology has arrived on the scene for Bass! Pandora's Box? No, but there are so many useful colors in this box that the creative can find sonic space to fill in several colorful ways.

Tracking? Forget about it!!

I have decided that the footswitch makes more sense for me (Bass) than the expression pedal function. The A/B footswitch controls the HOLD and the other controls Octave Up/Tap Tempo functions.

I have the Kelley Dark Side with expression pedal and TC Hall of Fame Mini Reverb in the loop. Nice! It is then into a TC Ditto and back to the effects return. All of this processing sits on a 14" Nano board.

I feel that any Bassist interested in low end high quality synth type processing with an imagination and reasonable expectations for size, ease of use, cost and usability of sound will not be disappointed at all...

Thanks to Sweetwater and Carl B. the best sales engineer on the planet!

I've been playing guitar since 1981.I originally wanted to play synths, but gravitated to guitar. Ever since, I wanted to take my 2 years of piano lessons and be able to combine them with Moogs, Oberheims, Arps, Rolands ;) etc. This pedal tracks like a dream with no mods needed on your guitar. This is a game changing pedal. I do wish it had presets - but it's hard not to find a good sound, and they are endless. Listen to the demos. If you are into combining synth with guitar - this is your pedal.

In the past to get the effects and sounds this pedal cranks out in gobs I had to turn to my ARP 2600, ARP Sequencer, Moog Minimoogs, four racks of my Roland System 100M, a Novation SuperNova, a Korg Triton Pro and two rare Line 6 Filter Pro racks, ... and a baby's arm holding an apple. The pedal is very intuitive with 11 variations of 11 synth types. Bells and organ were not bad although for organs ala guitar I would prefer the EHX B9 and C9 or my Roland midi rack triggering multiple real organ samples. I was awesomized by the authentic Moog tones that would have made Keith Emerson proud. I just finished going through all 121 sounds and my ears are still ringing and one window cracked and some plaster is falling down. Nearly blew out the PA I was auditioning this on. What is really cool is while playing a chord is to manipulate the tone/rate/depth control getting some real nice synth notes and sweeps - much like a "real" synthesizer. This really sounded like analog Heaven ... I Dream of Wires. If you are a Who fan you can approximate the Wont Get Fooled Again and Baba O'Riley sequences. If you are a Todd Rundgren Utopia fan then you will come very close to your dream of playing .... you guessed it .... City in my head....(Utopia Theme Part 1). Keith Emerson fan? I am and have been since I heard Lucky Man. I was able to quickly whip up that well known chord progression on Manticore (Tarkus). Happy camper? Yes Mam'm! Kef would be happy.

Just played some gigs with this pedal & I gotta say, WELL DONE! The band was freaked right out when they heard B3 chord comps & there was no keyboardist on stage.
The 'Hold' feature is the key. Hold for backing, & release for unity runs.
The tracking is spot on & if you run it with some distortion or delay, you can broaden any show you're playing.
Thanks so much!

wow! it is here.8 10 19 a sweetwater box was on my kitchen table a month early then I expected with the boss sy 1 synthesizer. this guitar synth pedal is a game changer for all of us synth lovers. now the guitarist can create beautiful music,write wonderfull soundscapes and play real oscillators with adsr,filters lfo's and white noise generators like are key boards buddies. the tracking on the boss sy 1 is instant and the sound is unbelievable like it's big brother the boss sy 300 witch I purchased at sweetwater the new game changer...

I have this on pre-order. thanks to my great Sales Engineer Ken Davis. I was able to play this for quite a while at Summer NAMM. I have owned or played all of the non-pickup synth pedals. I was not happy with the quality of sounds, except for the Boss SY-300. While the SY-300 can achieve decent sounds, I did not like the presets and it required a lot of editing. The price and size ruled it out for me. I am happy to say that this pedal delivers. The presets are usable, it tracks very well without needing a special pickup, and pulling up sounds is fast and easy- no deep editing needed. I plan to run a separate effects chain for the loop, which is a big plus and can further sculpt my sounds. I guess the only downside is that it is not stereo, and you can't store user presets (which could be a challenge for someone that needs to recall multiple sounds is a live setting). But I guess that is the trade off for the small footprint. For the price and simplicity - this pedal is a home run.

RUN A COMPRESSOR AND EQ INTO THIS THING TO MAKE IT FULLY SHINE

Throwing the link in here to show how much the EQ will help bring out the higher register.

Also run a compressor before this pedal, helps sustain more than you will ever know!

This thing has a LOT of different settings that can be overwhelming at first but playing around with it and adjusting the stacked knobs make for a fun time to dial some crazy sounds.

If you're a synth nerd this pedal may be a bore for you but any guitarist looking for a change up in your conventional sound will more than likely have a blast toying around with this thing.

Must have pedal, if you are looking for something different! This is it ! Watch the videos you will see what i mean! So many cool sounds! Wish I bought this sooner! Thank You RAY and sweetwater for being there!

It's amazing how the concept of guitar synths have evolved over the decades. This compact pedal offers a gateway into great polyphonic synth sounds. For the base series it's easy to use and dial in great sounds. Of course some presets are just plain silly, but you get really dial in some lead sounds close to Pat Metheny and other artists.
Great thanks to Will Newbill, Sales Engineer!

After seeing multiple reviews and demos on YT, I finally got one of these after waiting and reviewing a year or so.

Great tracking!! Good sounds, not for everyone's musicality. Depends on what kind of sound you want to create.

I use it for pads and soundscapes to jam over with a looper pedal. (Sounds amazing with some chorus and delay with a looper!!) It has has helped me expand musical ideas. I would call it a versatile tool to have. Not "necessary" so to speak, but I would recommend any guitar OR BASS player (works on both) grab one of these to play around with and I bet you'll like it. Honestly, It IS worth it for what you get. One to hang on to.

The Boss SY-1 is a truly incredible pedal. Every tone you get out of this thing is usable, and there’s such a wide range of variety in a single setting.

Got my new Boss SY-1 and spent almost 3 hours twisting and turning knobs and enjoyed almost every second of it! I think there are a lot of usable sounds on this pedal and plan on combining this with some other sounds (exp pedal and other pedals) to see what happens. Kinda like a mad scientist mixing different potions and elements together. Haven't yet hooked this up to my board with other pedals running thru the loop. I can only imagine the types of sounds I'll discover. There are some harsh parts of some of the variations of sounds, depending on how you adjust the parameters, etc. But, that is not really an issue, as nobody will be dialing in those squeely, high pitched sounds anyway. Many thanks to my Sales Engineer, Stewart Hisey for taking great care of me along the way! Have only scratched a small itch with this pedal. Many more hours of experimentation shall yield some truly magical, mesmerizing sounds I'm sure!

Adjustments can be touchy. Also not a fan of stacked knobs. But I love using it for strings. It's got a great sound for a compact pedal.

The SY-1 comes basically as promised! Interesting and fun sounds. Used it in worship the first week I had it with a Tele / Marshall DSL40c rig. But i still have a lot to figure out in terms of selecting the types and variations of effects that work well in a worship setting and with my skill set. I want to see how it works with my Taylor acoustic. And I have not been able to figure out how to use it with the effects loop on the Marshall without it canceling out the other pedals that are also in the loop. Those are the reasons for 4 stars rather than 5. I am confident that Sweetwater will be able to help me out with the effects loop. Just haven't had time to call them yet.

Great pedal, very simple to use and has a wide range of sound choices. Perfect for my needs.

A hand full of sounds you could use all the time, a few you could use sometime, some are just for effect..... get the power cord it eats batteries for lunch.....smaller than a midi setup.........works with guitar, dulcimer, stick and ukulele fine

There's some solid uses for this with bass,
I play a Yamaha Attitude 3 LTD, and this pedal gives my mudbucker pickup some extra life,
The Organ , Strings, and Pad are very useful..
the others, not so much yet,
I play in a Black Sabbath Dio Years tribute, and it helps to beef up the background in the guitarists Solo parts, letting me play bass and sound like keys as well, ..
Solid tracking, - you just need to buy a power supply!
Thanks to Jim Watson for turning me on to this. the best salesman SW has!
Frankie Starz- bassist - Protectors of the Realm ( POTR )

I play in a cover band with no keyboard player. There are few songs we do that do which have synth solos or riffs for which I use this pedal. I insert it in the FX loop of my Line 6 Helix. I have found that it works best with electric standard guitars as opposed to the Line 6 Variax which also use occasionally.

The tracking is very good. I have tried many other synth pedals and have found this one to be my favorite as far as tracking with my guitar playing. Using an expression pedal with it really makes this thing cool, too.

The one thing I wish it had is memory banks to store a few presets. Each time I want to use a different sound I have to dial it in. That can tricky when playing a gig.

Overall, this is a nice addition to my pedalboard. The sounds are very usable. The expression pedal option opens up a lot of tonal variety too.

This pedal has tones of sick sounds, but it is very touchy if you put it in the wrong order of your FX loop, it kind of runs best before your gain pedals I've found - or it needs to be the first pedal in your FX loop. Running it in the loop I find that it buries the "synth" effect and you really only hear your raw guitar sound, even if you turn the input down and effect knob up. It is just a little touchy and can suffer from volume drop, so just play around with where it sits on your board, and eventually you'll get it in the right spot, and from there it is amazing. All the lead sounds are usable, most of the pads are great, strings are cool, some of the arps/time based pads are neat too. Run this into a boss harmonizer and you'll get some WILD sounds.

My review and rating are completely from the point of view of a bass player needing a stomp box with bass synth sounds. After trying and being unsatisfied with the Electro-Harmonix Bass Mono Synth (good sounds, terrible tracking) and Boss SYB-5 (mediocre sounds, mediocre tracking), I took a chance on this box based on video demos and the high accolades for its tracking ability. It does track very well and unlike the other units I tried it is quite good at differentiating between notes and noise such as finger squeaks. The problem is that this unit is designed for guitarists, and even though there is a guitar-bass optimization switch, of the eleven sound types offered only one is for bass. Each of the eleven sound types has eleven hardwired variations plus the ability to tweak tone, rate and depth parameters, but after extensive experimentation I could only come up with one or two usable sounds making this unit a poor return on investment for bass players. I'm keeping it because I'm also a guitar player and if you watch the Sweetwater demo of this pedal with guitar it's really great. However, my search for a bass synth pedal continues. There are YouTube videos where all 122 combinations of sound type and variation are demonstrated so search them out and decide for yourself.

The good:
• The "organ" sounds are really excellent IMO, and that's all I wanted it for. (Paul Butterfield and Dylan blues tunes sound great with it).
• Its other sounds are pretty much useless in my 70's cover band, except for maybe some of the "lead" patches.

The bad:
• Battery life sucks. The instructions say "Approx. 3 hours", and that's generous. At least when it's in the pedalboard, I have a OneSpot.
• The signal may be "true bypass" but not the current. You have to pull out the cord after each use or else have stock in the Duracell Company.
• Design of the battery chamber insults the intelligence. The instructions have a drawing where the lid is open 90°, but it's FAKE NEWS! In reality the flange on the back restricts it -- you can barely get a finger in. The battery clip wire is flimsy and too short. And dont get me started on the fricking thumbscrew.

Bottom line:
I'm glad I bought it, but geez, Boss, join the 21st century and hire a sharp high school student to re-design it.

What an amazing unit. I know one other person who owns one and his has worked for over a year. I have purchased two so far, and each died within a month. I won't be buying any more. I hope Boss will do the right thing and replace the latest one.

I pre-ordered mine when they first came out, and had to wait to get one. I was so hyped for it. And when I got it, I had so much fun for an hour or so, but it left very much to be desired. About a year and a half later, it hasn't grown on me much at all. The bottom line is that a guitar and a synthesizer are two totally different worlds. And this pedal just feels clunky. I've used it for overdubbing organs and pads in my music, but other than that, it's pretty useless. Especially the sequencers, which cannot be synced with anything, and you cannot change the patterns. If you want a fun toy to fart around with, go for it. This pedal is impressive, and is pretty fun to play around with. But if you want something musical, just save your money and buy a real synthesizer.

I waited like 2mos to get one of these had in mind some cool string like pad tones but I just could not get anything musically useful out of it for me. Sent it back in a day. I have had a couple GR synths and they were amazing, this puppy is not a portion of what they can do or sound. If you can get something useful out of it then you're doing better than me.

In all honesty, I'm really disappointed in this particular pedal, I'm going to return it, I did not find any usable sounds in it,and trying to dial them in is a royal indever, my deepest regret is I was lead to believe that I would like this pedal. This pedal is not for just anyone or any application, Soory Boss you struck out here.

I waited a long time on this one and turned out a disappointment. Just not for me, the notion tones are "easy to get" or better yet the assumption they are "musical" and you can do something with them is perhaps the utmost misnomer I have encountered. Imagine how a ring mod can be terrible to get a usable tone then add a sequencer and there you have the SY1. I had a GR-55 a couple yrs ago and I loved that thing, but this little pedal born of the 300, not so much. Some may find it the pedal of their dreams, wasn't the case for me. Went right back the next day and there are few pedals that I have done that. I sort of got away from Boss a long time ago as my first pedals and indeed they were an amazing introduction to pedals. But these days w all the boutique stuff and high end stuff I really do not consider them much. I did try the Waza Dimension C and that was pretty sweet, better than the original by far. Maybe this one would have been better if done by the Waza branch but somehow the tones are just not anything I can use. Maybe you'll like it and it will ring the cow bell but for me a swing and a miss.