Boss VE-8 Acoustic Singer Effects Processor Pedal Reviews

I am a one man band and love this . It is easy to use and I am learning new things each use. Recommend this product.

As a singing guitarist, this little box has it all. -almost. I love the vocal effects and harmonies, and it sends out great sound for the guitar as well. I can plug my BeatBuddy into the aux and it sends the sound as well. The looper part is something that takes practice because it doesn't sync with the BeatBuddy or adjust if you press a millisecond out of time, so after 10 or so loops around the timing is off. For that reason don't use the looper yet in gigs, but I practice with it, and it's loads of fun. If I were to request a feature, it would be the ability to sync with midi for more accurate looping, then it would be an absolute 12/10 rating from me.

I boughtone when they first came out...total game changer.

Used this pedal literally every single show for years..never had an issue, always worked great, looper was so easy to use, and the harmony when dialed in about 15% or so sounds amazing.
I recently had a show and a storm came...yea I kept playing and water got in and fried it...but I just bought anotjer one. I seriously would buy 3 more and save them for the future if I could...I don't see any acoustic pedal beating this on tone, options, ease of use, snd reliability.

I really like this unit. Received as a Christmas gift, I have used it every day since. It first the setup appeared to be overwhelming, but then I realized the "English" instructions where only the first 16 pages. So I cut them out of the instruction manual and went from there. I followed, step-by-step and within a short time I had the VE-8 set up just the way I wanted. For a solo performer this replaces the vocal mixer and the guitar preamp along with effects. Lets not forget the excellent BOSS harmonizer. When I play out I bring this, my TRIO plus, line array speaker along with mic, guitar, stands, and cables. That's it! great tone for acoustic or archtop guitar. It saves my back and sounds great. What more could one ask for?

This is the most versatile pedal for live performances I have ever come across. It's really two pedals in one, a guitar preamp and a vocal processor. The guitar preamp section includes controls for reverb, a selection of effects, and a notch filter. The vocal processor includes auto pitch, reverb, and several effects such as doubling, various harmony effects, and some off the wall effects I don't use. It's easy to dial in your guitar's sound and great some good vocals. The harmony effects require some tweaking to get them sounding natural but it can be done. The third section of the pedal allows you to mix the guitar and vocal signals. It also has a looper that I haven't used much yet but I will. All in all, this is a fun pedal and one that allows you to get professional sounds with a minimum of equipment.

This pedal thickens everything up in a way similar to what effects do for electric guitar. The reverb works great with voice and guitar and the boss guitar effects do what we have become accustomed to them doing. The harmony effect tracks very well. Adds that little something extra to playing and singing through PA. A+ on ease of use!

I don't use the looper on this pedal; that's because I have a TRIO+ unit that is connected to as the final pedal before the powered speaker. Works very well this way.

Additionally, it took some time to adjust the tone just to my liking. However, changes are quick and easy once one gets the hang of it.

All in all, I like this pedal and can recommend it wholeheartedly.

Vast improvement over my previous setup. I was using a pedal board consisting of A BOSS VE-2 (fine device) to BODYREZ to BOSS chorus to SansAmp Blonde, then, to a mixing platform with a Trio+ and Mackie PROFX4 mixer then to a powered speaker. Quite a lot to carry for a 71 y/o man for each gig (approx. 35lbs with cases plus the speaker and stands). This one device cuts that weight down to 4 lbs.! Plus, a speaker or house PA. fantastic!

But the real bonus is it sounds great, very tunable and, of course BOSS reliable. Don't know though, the platform, pedalboard and allll of the cables had become part of the schtick LOL.

Hats off to Havid Hess for his "as usual" prompt, professional service

"At a street price of just under $, this is not the cheapest pedal out there, but it may be the only one you need, and you may not realize just how true that is. The Boss VE-8 Acoustic Singer is essentially the proper way to mate a good voice and good guitar to a PA system; don't let its lack of spaghetti-like wires and aggravating little menus throw you off. It's all here. I think one of these belongs in every rig!"

I love this unit!

I love the multiple different vocal settings in addition to the looping feature for both vocals & guitar!

I have been using the VE-8 for two years (at least...) now. As another review noted, it IS simple to use and reliable. I drag it out to gigs and jams. I tried leaving it at home for just recording; then, taking something else for gigs and jams in order to protect it. But, nothing else is quite its equal. I have a line of 6 pedals that do a FAIR job for the guitar. Six pedals vs. the VE-8??? And, I still prefer the VE-8 for guitar. It really does the job and is also a good, clean pre-amp. For the vocal part, I cannot get anything to do the same work. Now, I don't care about the "fake harmonies". You may like such things, I don't. I don't even like a drum machine. Let's keep it organic. I went through a bunch of pedals for the vocal part (mostly TC Helicon products like Mic Mechanic 2, and a few others). Biggest problems: First, none of the other voice doublers (slap) have a vocal volume control. The VE-8 does. The voice 'slap back' is good, and very adjustable. Second, those "voice pedals" by TC Helicon were breaking constantly. The VE-8 is a rock. As I said, I don't use the harmony function on the VE-8, nor on any other product. It does loop, but I don't do that either. Just make my guitar (Martins) sound good, and make my voice sound good (slap / doubler, with a bit of pitch correction). It is reliable and where other units have gone zilch either quickly or later, the VE-8 just keeps right on perkin'. Nice.

The Ve-8 pedal is a real upgrade to your sound. I tried 2 other harmonizing pedals before choosing this one. There is a learning curve to setting up this pedal such as choosing which jacks you want the output to go through but once you've done that it's fairly simple. The battery power was a must for me because I play at outdoor markets and there's usually no power available. The harmonies sound great and the guitar effects have allowed me to get rid of four pedals. For an acoustic guitarist this pedal is a must have.

This pedal took the place of a small pedal board for my acoustic and a harmony pedal for my vocals. Excellent sound and control over guitar and vocals with one simple easy to operate unit. My cockpit onstage was getting to large and complicated. Perfect answer for my needs. Boss quality can't be beat.

I watch a lot of YT videos when not playing and happened across this jewel. I am just a home and family player but love to sing along with my acoustic playing and backing tracks. I have only had this for two weeks but I can't believe the difference it has made in the sound of my voice. I am not a great vocalist, although I give it my best and know my range limit, but I am having so much fun with this. It can replace several of the pedals that I had previously purchased. Acoustically, this is all I really need. I can see where if a solo acoustic performer this would work great for using the memory for a set list. Well made product, as I have found Boss products to be. If on the fence about this, it is well worth the money for all the features it provides.

I bought the VE-8 out of curiosity if a harmonizer could be of value to my acoustic singing act. I have a pedal board with 6 effects (All Boss) and the thought of reducing that footprint and adding a harmonizer was interesting. I am happy overall with the VE-8. The vocal and guitar paths are both rich and have a very nice sound. Complete with reverb, and other options, its fully capable of replacing my chorus pedal and efx on my board or Street Cube EX. The harmonizer is taking a little more time to dial in, but I think Im on the right road with it. The choice of how much to use and how many voices is taking some time, but its getting better with each use. The only tricky issue for me has been the foot switches. Ive been using the Boss looper and the design inside the classic stomp box is second nature now. The VE-8 has the three switches on the front of the box at a 45 degree angle, and its quite a bit different. So resting my foot nearby and getting the precise moment to hit it is a bit of a practice issue. I encountered the same thing when I tried a Ditto looper. That seems to be my only situation with the VE-8. All n all its a great sounding, compact, and fun unit. Give it a try, as it is a nice way to get several jobs done in a multi-box.

Could have saved a truck load of money over the years had this been around and had I known earlier. Honestly? I'm an old schooler and quite allergic to most effects processors of about any kind other than a tad of reverb or delay. However, I won't bore you with the details, but the removal of a one and a half pound tumor dramatically changed my natural vocals tremendously. After 7 years of just making zero effort to sing other than at home with disappointment, then the last three years slowly working things up to still inadequate, I just caved in and accepted my vocals would never really hold up at all.
However, I had tried a bucket load of this and that's to help. None would. Most ended up in the trash or sold for pennies on the dollar to to rid myself of it.

I'd been eyeing the Boss VE8 for a while and watching great performers and not so great performers use the thing. So I finally pulled the trigger on the VE8 early last week. Oh me, another learning curve is NOT what I need/want. But.... Why remain without vocals and or remain ignorant? Out of the box, it looked great and built like a tank. Stainless steel 1/4 inputs and all. But not to heavy. The default setup was not my cuppa. To much chorus, to much reverb. So after several hours of dinkering with and beginning to like it, I decided to delve into the owners manual. WHEW, lot's to learn. But WAY WAY WAY worth it. The thing is CRAZY feature rich. The adjustments actually taper quite nicely and very smoothly without all those typical big spans in effects with each tiny touch of a knob. The taper is way way smooth and I can really dial in dead on what I need. I am certainly a dedicated acoustic only player and can be found very fussy and picky about to much digital processing being obvious. You know, that kinda choppy clicky and without warmth and lacking saturation crappy audio.

Well, with thing, and trust me when I say I am no genius, I can meet both my needs and demands. I'll never have powerful and well controlled vocals ever again. However, the VE8 gives me just that smidge of advantage to actually smile again when I sing and play. Not forgetting that if you really want to go all out psychodelic and or Inde Pop culture, not a problem. IMHO, surely almost anyone could find plenty of multiple uses and enjoyment whether a porch picker or touring acoustic player/singer. It really is quite nice. But for real, prepare yourself for a multi function button learning curve. Me, I need to get back after it, so there ya have it. Much to learn and great warmth whether via my L-20 board, my Roland Street Cube EX, or my Trace Elliot TA 100, or my AER, and or simply through my headphones.
But do know this. The onboard headphone outs is not near as strong as the mic out for output volume, but adequate.
Also..... HEED the book when it tells you to have your output levels at ZERO when you turn it on and turn your mic sensitivity on the back all the way down. Work up from there or end up DEAF. You'll see. lol.

So so so glad I didn't do the TC Helicon 'Play'. So so so glad of that. Helicon Play is way to glitchy and by the time you swim through the TC Helicon sub-menus, the gig is over. Kinda would like a little longer loop time. But probably wouldn't use more anyway.

I really needed something to fill out my vocals more than just simple reverb on my acoustic amp and this did the trick. The enhancement feature, really more like compression, works well enough and the added delay helped fill the vocals out and added just the right amount of space. The harmony's are somewhat choppy, but maybe I need to just dig in deeper to the sub menus to fiddle around. I also have a Boss AD-10 that I use for my acoustic guitars and bass and having these both really works well. For that reason I don't really find use much use for the phasers effect, etc. on the guitar side, but to simply travel light to hangout and jam it does the job. Also, because I am familiar with these Boss units and their sub menus, it may be somewhat easier for me to use than say someone who is completely unfamiliar with them and they are certainly not "on the fly" type units for stage performance. More like set it and forget it. Gave it 5 stars and as always, my Sales Engineer Ryan Wittermood was spot on with the help.

This is a phenomenal unit. Straight forward, plug and play pedal. I'm not a great singer but the harmonies are spot on. The guitar affects are perfect. Even works well with my archtop with P90. I run it straight into to mixer and out to PA. Bo amp needed. Simple.

I have played for many years, recently I have been into small jigs playing for friends and I started to get a lot of gear, I ended up carrying over 40 pounds of equipment around. I was looking for something where my voice sounds decent (since I am not a professional singer) and my guitar can also be controlled in the same unit. Problem is that I was carrying a mixer, mic, guitar, effects pedals, looper and recently a few drum pads. In the end the sound was decent but not perfect, since I needed more voices to back me up while I sing. I found this on the internet and started to dig into it, the more I read the more I wanted it, finally I bought it and I can tell you that even my wife that does not sign is using it along with me. This is one of the best products I have acquired in my life. I love it! although I have not had a chance to use it live yet, but I will definitely bring it into my next party. When you sing, this thing makes the job and it makes you sound like you have a complete band behind you. My voice sounds so in tune now and with the enhancer I can make singing effortless, I basically speak and the pedal will sound just nice!

This things works like a charm. My ibanez baritone sounds rich and full. No clipping or distortion on the guitar whatsoever. I recommend this unit over the other boss acoustic preamp. Excellent effects. The reverb chorus and delay just sound better on this unit. I can finally piece together my songs with some lyrics. Boss keeping the dream alive.

A very fine piece of equipment. I have not had enough time with my busy schedule to really work with it as much as I have wanted to, but it is amazing what technology has done in the past few years. I come from old school where you just plugged in your guitar and started singing. This takes it way beyond that with the capabilities. I look forward to having more time to really work with it, I could review it better in a few weeks. Thank you once again Sweetwater for all of your help!

After all, it is a Boss and I love their stuff. Wasn't sure how well the vocal effects would be because I heard TC Helicon had the best. Got this to fatten up my acoustic guitar sound in church. Just wasn't happy with the thin sound through a DI box into the PA. And, I need to start singing and need a little help with that. This puppy fits the bill. My Taylor sounds freakin' awesome with some acoustic resonance and chorus added. The vocal effects even make my voice sound great. The harmony feature is awesome, too. This box/pedal is probably not quite as extensive as the TC Helicon, but I like the fact that this box has knobs, basically WYSIWYG. I don't like having to go through layers and layers of menus.

I"ve played professional for years mainly lead guitar on a Strat with multi foot processors. Finally bought myself a Martin acoustic but needed a better sound through my Pa and amp setup. After talking extensively with Bob Furlong at Sweetwater I decided to try the Boss Ve-8 unit and all I can say is this unit is awesome with the guitar and vocals!! The sounds with the guitar sounds so clean and incredible!! Bob Furlong was very patient with me and actually listened to my questions and steered me in the direction he felt I needed to go!! He actually advised which processor he felt I needed instead of trying to use sales tactics to sell me just any processor for profit like pretty much every other music stores!! All I can say is buy this unit and only deal with Sweetwater and I promise you will not be disappointed!!

This is the best piece of gear I've purchased in a very long time. It actually does what they say it will do! The Harmony and pitch correction is right on.

Had a real challenge in researching a number of great options for vocal processors sand acoustic guitar EFX. Kept coming back to this one and my Sweetwater Sales Engineer, Jon, was so incredibly patient and helpful in sharing some great insights and asking me all the important questions that enabled me to decide upon this one. Certainly glad that I did, too.

Expecting it would sound great live through my Fishman Artist LoudBox Amp, but equally impressed with how well it works recording direct-in (when you download necessary Boss drivers). There may possibly be better Acoustic Guitar enhancement pedals and boxes and/or better vocal EFX processors, but I doubt there are any that do both so well in one unit at this price. Only caution those who perform in low lit conditions to consider the navigation challenges that may present, but I personally like the layout and cool backlit colors and all the knobs. Of course, if you create and save presets, you can just toggle through them. As with anything, there's a bit of a learning curve. The Vocal Harmonies, alone, combined with the resonance and shaping it offers an Acoustic Guitar with onboard or installed electronics more than met my expectations. Built like as Tank, too. All Metal - Boss quality. Glad I chose this Boss 'Box". Thanks, Jon, and Thank You, Sweetwater!!!

Been looking at the VE-8 for a couple of years and finally pulled the trigger. I've only had this pedal about a week, but I love it. Can't wait to figure it all out and learn to use it more effectively. Pretty simple to use the three main functions and the loop function is awesome. Had a little trouble with shipping (mostly my fault) Mac stepped up to the plate and took care of it. Thanks Mac. Love Sweetwater.

Just received my new Boss VE-8. This pedal is undeniably the best tool for the acoustic guitarist/singer. Plugged into my Fishman Loudbox Artist and was blown away.

I'm still playing around with the guitar side on the VE-8 to determine if I like the effects better than my amp's on-board effects.

However, the vocal processor side of this pedal is INCREDIBLE!! Played for several people last night and everyone was dazzled by the different harmonies you can get. I played for about seven hours yesterday trying the pedal on a variety of songs. I enjoyed the pedal so much I didn't want to stop. Can't wait to hear this through PA.

This pedal is easy to understand and the manual (for a change) is fairly comprehensive.

As always, I give kudos to my sales engineer Nick Schenkel and Sweetwater for a great product, fast shipping, and outstanding customer service. They are so good that I find myself feeling guilty if I buy anything musical from any place other than Sweetwater.

Buy this pedal. You will not regret the purchase.

An incredible piece of equipment. Easy to use. Was a little difficult to figure out how to change the outputs to single for guitar and vocal, but once i got the hang of it all was well. I love this and it's a ton to my solo shows with the loops and harmony vocals. Makes a one man band sound like a whole lot more. I highly suggest this pedal if you are a solo performer!! (I highly suggest Sweetwater to everyone I talk to.)

Outstanding product. This will absolutely take you to your next level no matter what level your on. You can be your own band. Grab one, you won't be sorry.

Had originally tried the TC Helicon Play Acoustic Pedal finding it to have more features than needed for my "vanilla" music tastes. After returning that Pedal I took a hard look at the Boss VE-8 finding it to be more to my liking. Upon receiving and set up I found the VE8 to work well with my Ovation Guitars and Fishman Loudbox Mini. I'm one who prefers "just a tint" of any effect this pedal has, the VE-8 dials it up just as one likes. Sales Engineer Dave Snow passed on connection tips which with one slight deviation worked well end resulting in one happy customer.

Unbelievable! I first purchased the Boss 'VE 20 for my vocal processor and I loved it for it's sound and capability. The only problem was, I needed to change the key manually for harmony parts, which was a real drag. Then I discovered the VE 8, which does auto key detection from my acoustic guitar. Suddenly, my performance became much less complicated.

The added bonus is that this is also a guitar processing unit, offering resonance enhancements making my acoustic sound awesome. It also has a multitude of both vocal and guitar effects as only Boss can do. VERY satisfied with this purchase.

I was torn between this unit and the Helicon acoustic. The Boss looked a little easier to use during live performances so I ordered it. It arrived yesterday and it has totally occupied me since. I have not had this much fun making music in years! This is an amazing unit. I can't wait to use it in a live performance. The vocal harmonies are great and the mix sounds very good through my Mackie Reach. The loop on off is a little cumbersome to operate on the fly (have to tap twice to turn off). This is remedied by adding an external foot switch. Operation is smooth, sound is solid, I am sure the Helicon is a fine unit for the same price, but I can't imagine being more pleased with my purchase.

I have bought thousands of dollars of equipment from Sweetwater and have always been a satisfied customer. My sales rep is Matt Alexander and he always gives me exceptional service.

Buying from Sweetwater I have received great service and excellent products that live up to highest standards! I have purchased around $20000 total items and have not had problems with any of the products.
Engineers and service representatives are always professional and knowledgeable with any questions and products.
I want to highly recommend Sweetwater to anyone wanting musical equipment along with technical support.
I would like to highly recommend Delvin Wolf
For his excellent service, knowledge, and personal assistance as a sales engineer!
Thanks to all at Sweetwater, everyone is always courteous and helpful!

I have a TC Helicon Perform V which is similar but doesn't have background vocal harmonies or all the parameters the VE-8 has. I feel like the user manual should have a lot more detail. It took me a couple of weeks to tweak it the way I wanted it. I discovered that I couldn't use background vocals in manual mode, you have to be in a harmony preset mode, I finally figured out how to use the pedals, that aside, it is a fantastic product. I won't be sending it back, that's for sure! I am looking forward to doing some recording with it.

I have used this for recording with the xlr and 1/4" outputs. Everything records really well. I've also used the USB for recording and while the normal effects and sounds record well, the vocal harmonizer doesn't record well through USB.

I use the Ve-8 live with a Bose L1 compact. It sounds as good as any mixer and the effects (both vocal and acoustic guitar) are stellar. The looper on this is very easy to use and responsive, pretty much like any other Boss guitar pedal. This is the perfect setup for a solo guitar/vocalist.
This thing is nothing short of amazing. I've owned the TC-Helicon Voice Play 3 units and they are hard to use, effects aren't the best and harmonies tend to be a bit brittle. Not to mention it had to be sent back for repairs on several occasions in the first year.

Do yourself a favor and get one.

I have been looking for this baby all of my acoustic life. I just wish they had made these 20 years ago but so much for water under the bridge. I bought this mainly for the possibilities it offered me for harmonies since during my many years of playing acoustic guitar and singing there were many times that I did not have a person to accompany me on vocals. I quickly discovered the many other functions of the Boss VE-8 like 80 second looping , quality guitar effects , vocal layering and pitch correction. I didn't know there was something this good on the market and I can't imagine being without it.Its brought a whole new excitement to playing. Lastly but equally as important my salesman Lucas Anderson never fails to provide top notch professional service and input providing the best customer service I have ever received bar none. They are changing the game in a good way for sure from the salesman through tech support and on.Thanks for doing it right Sweetwater !!

All you need to practice your guitar and vocal skills. Plenty of options.

What can I say?! This pedal is truly remarkable! A ton of cool features for a bargain price. Thus far I've only scratched the surface of what its capablilities are. It also works well with electric guitars in addition to electric-acoustic. And the tone contouring really brings out the sonics of my Martin acoustic.
Even if you only use a fraction of what this amazing pedal can do, I can highly recommended it.

Amazing, works better than advertised. I am a worship leader and use this at church to fill out my acoustic and vocals as well as provide on demand harmony. It has made a huge difference.

OK boys and girls the good bad and the ugly. First if you us your guitar tuned correctly all the harmonies will work. But if you tune your guitar down 1/2 step like I do the harmonies will not work.
But other than that I love this pedal. But I cannot use it because of that reason. But when my guitar is in tune like everyone else you will find the guitar effects unsurpassed. I mean just great. And the the harmonies work very well. But there is just one tiny glitch in the vocals. When you use the enhance knob the further you turn it to the right the better pitch correction you get but I find I am getting some excess doubling effect when doing that that irritates me.
Over all if you tune your guitar 440 correctly and dont tune it down a half note like I do I thing you will love this thing. Especially for the guitar effects. The guitar effects are stellar.

I've had this unit for a couple of years now replacing the digitech 3 and I love it. Having one pedal with is so much easier than an entire pedal board and I get all the results I need to put on a great solo show. Ive used the looper to lay down a bass line and sang over that playing an occasional lead or accentuating chords. I like the harmony once you set it properly and it adds a lot to many of my songs. Actually it can do more than I need it to so Im always adding. Unless you're willing to pay a backup singer or join a band this works.

I am really getting to the point I really enjoy the VE-8! I am the kind who, tries reading the manual, but just enjoy tweaking the settings to see what each knob or setting actually does. I love the way it's in a compact design, yet, at the same time, it's built like a tank. Has a lot of things I probably won't use all the time, yet, it performs very well with every way I have tried to use it. Go ahead and invest in it! I sounds wonderful thru my Fishman LB Performer with either my Martin, OR my Fender Acoustasonic Tele.

This is a great vocal and acoustic guitar processor that can be used for live playing connected to a PA system, for recording using the USB computer interface, and for practice sessions for yourself or with a band. The vocal processing includes multiple reverb, delay, multiple harmonies, and pitch correction enhancement. They all sound great and the effects can be mixed with the lead vocal as needed.

The acoustic guitar sound processing can be adjusted to get a realistic acoustic guitar sound. There are guitar effects for reverb, delay, chorus, octaves, and more that also sound great. My only comment is that the acoustic guitar loudness was very low out of the box. After searching the manual for quite a while, I was able to find that input sensitivity could be turned up using Advanced settings in the Appendix. The manual should explain this feature as one of the first possible adjustments because I may have sent the pedal back if I had not found this.

It is physically well made like all Boss pedals. It provides a lot of value and quality for the price.

I've had this for at least a couple years now and it's been great for my use: solo acoustic act in small local bars. The guitar and vocal effects sound great. I've been using it almost every weekend and it works as well as it did on day one. My set up is simple. I have one pre-set with a little reverb and chorus on the guitar. A little of the "vocal enhancer" and reverb on the voice. The harmony effect may be slightly less natural sounding then what is available from TC Helicon (I have a Harmony Singer as well) but nothing your average bar patron will notice. I use the harmony feature sparingly so you can barely hear it but it adds a little punch to a chorus. I will loop my guitar a few times a night. Once I had it dialed in where I wanted it's been plug-and-pay every time.

I like the convenience. All I need is a small PA, a mic/stand, guitar cord and two mic cables (short one mic to unit, another from unit to PA. Using the batteries, I don't even need to run a power cable to it.

Es muy bueno, practico y fácil de usar!!!

This is a follow up review to my out-of-the-box review.

I'm an acoustic solo performer that has been in search of the perfect setup and sound for years now and I think I finally found what I was looking for and this pedal is part of it. So many other pedals, especially the TC-Helicon models, sound too digital and slightly robotic. This pedal has a pure clean natural sound.

I paired this with the Fishman Platinum Pro for the guitar and the TC-Helicon Correct for the vocal mainly for the auto-shape and auto-dynamics. (The auto-tune sucks.)

I would give this pedal trio 5 stars if you're looking for a clean natural transparent sound. I've tried so many other setups and was never happy. This setup fills every gap and makes me happy without a feeling that something better is out there.

Highly recommend. You will not be sorry. Only reason I didnt give it a 5 star is because nothing is perfect.

I'm running this guitar and vocal effect through a Roland AC 33 amplifier as well as a Roland mobile AC amplifier. I think the key point is you can definitely notice a boost in your guitar and vocal sound. It also mixes really well together. Your acoustic guitar sounds more like an acoustic guitar. That's the acoustic resonance function. I especially bought the pedal for the vocal effects and it really enhances your voice. There is pitch correction as well as harmonizing. I have a very low voice so I use mainly hi and double High. It sounds great. There are a lot of functions as well as a loop pedal and many functions for guitar effects which I haven't fully explored yet. But this is a great pedal. I think it is very strong and still small enough to fit in my backpack for street performance.

Really a nice unit. Super sound for Acoustic guitar. Vocals processed really nice as well. Pitch correction can sound a little strange, but all in all a very nice processor for vocals, and acoustic guitar. Fairly priced, and good quality, as is all of Boss products.

I've barely scratched the surface with my new boss ve-8 pedal, but I'm already super pleased! Having guitar, vocal and looping effects all in one setup is perfect!

Technology never simplifies my life but it does enhance it some times. This is one of those times.

It takes some dialing in and I did have to refer to the users manual a few times but, once you get it set, you know exactly what you are going to get at the gig. Having backup harmony singers ready to go at the press of a foot switch is extremely cool.

The effects are very nice and the harmony is dead-on-the-money correct. Lots and lots of harmony options. Great technology and well worth a little complication to my life.

I would very much like the option of having the foot switches on the floor with all of the cable plugins and the box up where I can deal with it. You can pre-program setups and switch between them but I would like to be able to change things up (like the harmony profile) on the fly since my sets don't always go as planned. When you are in your 60s, it is not as easy to get down on the floor and mess with things. The only reason it did not get a full 5 stars

so far i really love this device...i do have a little trouble sometimes stepping on the two stomps both at the same time.... and a little trouble understanding some of the user manual .... i love the pre-amps and the sound i can get acoustically and vocally.....the harmony is great too .

Really nice for the solo performer. Still learning how to use it. Upside, this has incredible features that will take my performance to the next level. Downside, which may be due to my ignorance, is that I don't think some of the features will be useful very often for more acoustic sets. So the WORST thing I can say is I may not use everything on it. Otherwise love, love, love it! The other WORST thing is that I am already thinking of buying a few more pedals and a pedal board to hold it all. I can see using the looper and combining that with a volume pedal and other effects to do guitar solos during choruses. This can be done because of the separate inputs and outputs for vocals and guitar and how you can record a loop of one or the other or both. Crazy versatility for separate setups. And it has a memory function that will let me program different effect combinations that can be changed in real time during a song. The only change I would wish for is that loops could be saved in memory too with the memory function, which they can't. So you can't preset a loop then punch it in to do a lead during a chorus in advance as there is no loop memory when the VE-8 is turned off.

The only reason I'm giving the boss ve 8 a 4 star review is only because I personally would've liked one more feature. Otherwise it would be a 5 star!
I just wished it had some compression inside somewhere, don't get me wrong however, it's a great little unit on many many levels.
Real time harmony with my voice plus vocal effects and guitar effects galore.
Just know this, you will have to do some programming, maybe a lot depending on your needs. It will be well worth the while to spend some time tweaking it however.
This is the second ve 8 I've owned because I basically wore the first out performing live very often with it.
Boss does make some very rugged equipment and I have been a big fan of boss for many many years.
Buy this unit and spend time getting to know it and it will be your best friend.
The VE 8 will make your solo performing more full sounding with the harmonies and the guitar effects will enhance your show as well.
Very pleased with my ve 8!!!!!
It rocks , I bought a small carrying case at harbor freight for it that works well for transport.
I hope you enjoy your boss ve 8 as much as I do.

The Boss VE 8 is a really useful pedal obviously for solo acoustic musicians. I purchased so I could combine functions and reduce the number of pedals and the inherent issue that can arise from multiple pedals in the signal chain etc. I went from 5 pedals down to the Boss VE 8. If you are gigging you need the fs6 AB switch and assign it to the looper to stop with one tap. You will thank yourself. Double tapping a looper in a live setting can be a challenge. Overall it functions well. The harmonizer to me is the weakest part. The algorithm is better in other harmonizer but the trade off to have it all combined is worth it.

Here's the Cons:
1. It does require you to spend time familiarizing yourself with the functions and it can be a bit tedious but there are some great YouTube videos on functional specifics that are helpful

2. This is my biggest issue with the pedal it is very easy to inadvertently hit the chorus and harmony buttons at the same time during a performance. This will send it into memory mode and can train wreck a performance as you will literally have to stop and depress both buttons at the same time to get out of the menu. And trust me it's easy to make that mistake as you will most likely have the chorus button active during a song and punch in harmonies during the song. I perform seated so it's not as bad because you can see the pedal clearly but if you are standing the likelihood of a misstep goes up.

3. If you want to mono out and split the signal you will need to go in and configure the out put to split guitar and vocals or you will have a blended signal. Ie if you want to send the guitar signal to a channel on the mixer and another channel for vocals you need to configure a split. I think Boss should have made that a default. It's easy to do but you have to go deeper into the menu so it's great you have the flexibility but you have to know how to do it.

So I have used it in about 10 gigs this past month and have had some problems a long the way but I learned quickly how to resolve so I am more comfortable with it. Would I buy it again…yes. The good outweighs the bad and once you get it dialed in it's a great tool for live gigs.

I have only had my VE-8 for a couple of weeks. I had been using an older vocal processor for several years for solo gigs and recording. I was intrigued by what I read about The VE-8 and decided to take a serious look at ho this technology had Evolved over the years.
I was immediately impressed with the superior layout pf the controls. In short order I fell in love with this box. The sound is great! The harmony programming is much better than my old box. There are far more programming options for both the voice and guitar and much better mixing control. When I play solo, this box is my only mixing tool.
While there are several aspects of the VE-8 that I haven't gotten onto yet, (combination effects and looping), I am already very excited about this addition to my live sound and recording inventory. My one complaint is with the thin documentation to guide ne users onto the programming capabilities of the device. I would have gone for five-stars if not for this shortcoming.

First off, the harmony settings on this are trash. If you think you"re going to get out-of-the-box natural harmonies out of this, it isn"t for you. Luckily with the vocal loop option you can harmonize with yourself which is great for working on ideas/and live performance. I was surprised most by how well the pedal thickened up my acoustic sound without sounding overdone. Same goes for vocals. The thing I dislike most about this pedal is the ridiculous design on the power supply. Im sure there is one reason or another for it to be the way it is, but it makes for somewhat of a messy and cumbersome setup onstage. All and all it"s a decent pedal. It"s a preamp, a vocal processor, a tuner, and two independent loop pedals all in one. I think i"ll get the optional footswitch to really explore this things potential. 4/5. Decent purchase.

Out of the box review = 3 stars.
Pro's
- clean preamps with little to no hum.
- good mix between vocal and guitar.
- small and lightweight
- smooth dials and gain
- Sounds natural not overprocessed
- Basic functions are intuitive
Con's
- Looper is double step to stop
- Sound is ok at best. Not a real wow factor.
- Advanced functions are not so intuitive and require the manual.
- No headphones volume. What?

All in all, 4 stars out of the box. It might grow on me but I would gig with this with no problem.

I’m an independent solo acoustic musician/singer-songwriter mainly with corporate worship settings. I got this pedal based upon the combined guitar and vocal-harmony effects with the diverse output settings.

I absolutely love the sound of this pedal and definitely surpasses my live performance expectations for the price! Very efficient and easy to use.

However not very suitable for recording as the drive or output signal is very high and sensitive making it extremely difficult to get appropriate levels set without any peaking or clipping. I have tried every way possible with all of the output setting through various interfaces and still having same issues. I can’t seem to find much feedback on the output settings and recording. Overall-worth the purchase!

I like the harmonies delivered but do not like the way the pitch correction changes my sound. As I normally don't use it…no problem….I like the freedom of battery powered. All considered a good purchase….

I would've given this five stars, but the effects for the vocal channel (radio/electric/distortion) won't work. It's not a huge deal, as I really use this for the harmonies, interface, and for the acoustic resonance feature...all are great. The acoustic resonance feature really does make the guitars I play through it come to life. It helps to buffer the "plastic" piezo sound.
I don't loop much, but 80 seconds is a fair amount of time to mess around with. The reverb is usable, the chorus is nice and full sounding...but don't use chorus much with my acoustic set-up.
I own several boss/Roland products and they are all top quality.
I would recommend this to a friend. If this got stolen, I'd definitely get another one.

Lots to learn. I have watched many vids and it is only starting to open up to me. I like it very much.

First, let me say I am only a couple weeks into working with this pedal. I own a VE-2 which I may or may not be parting with, but I will get to that later.

The obvious advantage to this unit over VE-2 is the guitar processor and FX. This is a great feature and I am very satisfied with the sounds I can get and improvement in overall tone of my acoustic through the unit. The Looper is also excellent - but like most loopers (for me) it is difficult to get the timing right for phrases. I am still working that part sometimes successfully but most of the time I am not. The cool feature of the Looper is you can loop guitar/vox together or independently. This (will eventually) create more layering opportunities for me. I only wish I could save a phrase and bring it up anytime. The Vocal Harmonizer section - well I am really on the fence. I am having issues that I did not have on the VE-2 such as harmony level. I just can't seem to get the level correct. If it too high, the output peaks and is distorted. Too low and it sounds like poorly mic'd backup singers. Again, I am trying to work it out. Perhaps when I fully learn this pedal (and it's sub-parameters) I will feel a bit better about my purchase.

I've went through three off these in as many years. They're great but they break if you gig a lot. Make sure your shoes are dry! Sent one to Roland through my local shop to be fixed and never heard back, like it's still floating around somewhere after years. Whatever, it's great for sweetening up your sound.

Seriously.

Good sound and effects. Lots of inputs and outs, but the thing that makes this uncool is having NO MENU and not even a card that tells you what the machine does/will do when you push a button or move a knob. Just a simple red LED display to let you know where you are is not enough to know once you KNOW what you want to do, to be readily available to get there. You have to memorize your steps.

It's crazy also owhen you have mic and guitar split, as there are separate settings. You learn the thing, get your settings and memorized and put it up for a while, and BAM, you forget what the hell you just did and have to relearn the steps. Worse, the tutorials on YouTube are decent, but not for the beginner. There is some presupposition there, that you know this and that. WORKFLOW NIGHTMARE.

So this pedal is really based on the artist. I was looking for something to truly enhance my sound but still sound like me. This does not do that. I know many artists would like this but it just wasn't for me. Unfortunately, you would need to buy the item and spend some time with it to truly see if it's for you or not. I took mine back 5 days after I bought it.

This pedal does a TON of stuff, kudos for that. But for this much money I think Boss could provide more visual feedback than a tiny 2 digit led display. Just selecting the output is an exercise, and the display is so limited that you have to read the microscopic manual to figure out what's going on. In poor light. On stage. A decent display would be super helpful, and that's my primary complaint. Other issues: 2 presses to stop the looper is the least musical thing you can try and accomplish while playing music, and the time limit on the looper was problematic for me. There is a ton of sound control, but to me it always felt like it was hidden: There's just not enough visual reference to figure out what's going on. I could get great guitar sounds out of it, but had less success with vocals. I gave up on this pedal and moved to a TC Helicon product and while it's not perfect I find the vocals and harmonies in particular far more musical and the interface far more intuitive.

First the good. The Boss VE-8 has the best I/O of any pedal out on the market today. It has both Stereo/Mono XLR Vocal output and a separate Stereo/Mono TS/TSR Guitar output. And the outputs can be configured to your liking.

Now the not so good. The reverb for both Guitar and Vocals are weak. I use a touch of reverb on both, but there are several songs where I need to increase the Reverb for effect. But I can't. The VE-8's max Reverb is not much higher than my base reverb.

The Guitar Chorus and Delay are OK, but you can only use one or the other. Why? If you're going to give us three effects why can't we use all three. There are some songs where I want Rev, DLY and Chorus. Can't do it on the VE-8.

The vocals have a limited set of Harmonies. 9 total. For my needs there are only 3. And I can't use Doubling with Harmony. I have songs where I want Doubling on the whole song then add HIGH/HIGHER during the Chorus. Can't do it.
I'm comparing the VE-8 to the Original TC-Helicon Harmony G. I think the harmonies are more realistic (no one has realistic harmonies) on the Harmony G and that's a 12 year old pedal.

The only competition in this price range is the TC-Helicon Play Acoustic. I think the Play Acoustic excels with Guitar and Harmony features. but has limited I/O.

Why can't someone make a Pedal with the Play Acoustic Guitar and Vocal features with the I/O of the VE 8?

Good luck

David

The guitar effects are fine, but the vocal tracking leaves a lot to be desired. For most basic harmonies it's fine, but major 7th chords and other embellished chords confuse the heck out of it. I'm sticking with the Helicon Voicelive play acoustic.

I picked this over the TC-Helicon Play Acoustic because of the Boss name and reputation. The guitar tone is amazing and the feature set is impressive. The problem is that the interface is poorly designed and unnecessarily complex. Functionality is great, but for this sort of device ease of access to and controll of the features is just as critical. Intuitive controls that can be efficiently tweaked and manipulated in real-time performance environments are must-haves, not "nice-to-haves." That"s where the unit falls short. I returned it and have since tried the TC Helicon, which offers essentially the same feature set, at the same price point, but with a much more intuitive interface and control set. I"m very happy with that and would encourage folks to compare and ideally try out the two very carefully before purchasing.

Two stars only for the Boss customer service, not the pedal. Love the pedal!

First off, I love the pedal, it has been great since I have had it! The quality and functionality of the pedal for live music has been amazing! Willing to update the stars when there is a resolution to this issue, just need faith to be restored for this company first.

The power cord failed after about three months of owning it and immediately filed a warranty claim. Claim was answered, information relayed to the company...and have waited five months with no response or answer as to why it has taken so long to replace a plug under warranty, especially since I was told I would receive a new one. Mind you, I have all of the correspondence/receipts of this issue and the responses from Boss. They won't answer specific questions when filing warranty claims.
Additionally, the left XLR output cord retainer clip has pushed in and won't click to retain cord when plugged in...filed a warranty claim and now they are telling me I have to send it in for service, it has taken multiple back and forth to finally get a response from them to get a return authorization. Just want to get this thing fixed and back to the way it's supposed to be. Was not thinking that spending almost $ on a pedal would net this level of frustration to get simple things fixed.

If you just want to plug-n-play, this is actually a great sounding pedal.
But...
If you want something to function well in your home studio, consider something else.

1) There's no 1/4line/XLR option for mic input
2) No option to place the looper in front of the effects
3) No panning options for the harmonies
4) No USB interface option to separate the guitar/VOX

Admittedly, I bought this only for recording purposes. So, I'm not very happy with it...

I figured this would be a great one-man band thing - Set the down octave, lay down the 'bass' on the looper... that's as far as I got. The wet down octave blends with the dry note - there's no other setting but the blend. I'd like to be able to remove the dry guitar and just play the wet bass octave to simulate a bass, loop it, and add to it, but, no. Quite frankly, it sounds like a carnival to do it blended. It just doesn't suit me. I know a lot of people want the 12 string sound, but I can't imagine I'm the only one who wants to simulate a bass, in performance or practice...

I was initially excited, however that quickly went away. 1) The mic input distorts if you have a powerful voice. Currently, I run a Shure 87A into a Digitech Vocalist Live 3. I have absolutely ZERO issues, but I was looking for something newer and I liked that the Boss had separate effects for the vox and guitar. Nevertheless, I can't have my vocal distorting. 2) The vocal enhance. I do like SOME pitch correct. I found with this that if you want more "enhancement", mean EQ, compression, etc that is in the enhancement effect, you have to have more pitch correction. That is not acceptable, either. It needs more flexibility in adjustment.

The guitar sound was good, but not good enough to destroy my vocals. I returned it.

I was going to buy this unit for our acoustic duo. Boss has good products, and the VE-8 looks great except for ONE little detail. There are 2 outputs on it, and the unit handles both vocals AND acoustic guitar processing. Trouble is, there's no way to PAN the outs so you could run vocals to one channel of the PA mixer, and the guitar to another. (I.e., it mixes them on its own with the FX of the unit.) So the only way to maintain discreet signals is to have ONE pedal on vox, and the other on the axe. I opted for the vocal-only item (VE-20) strictly for the M vocals of the duo. Will probably need to get another unit (Boss AD-10 likely) for the guitar, so as to be able to keep things independent on the mixing console. (More accurately, run the post-FX guitar into the Marshall AS-100D, and that direct-out signal over to the PA.) If this unit had a pair of PAN controls (post-processing, to assign the outputs), then you could have a "mixed" signal if you wanted it, or discreet if you want it that way. Close -- but discreet is what we need. No sense sending a vox signal to a guitar amp, when a PA system is present.

I like it but admit adds are a little hyped. I don't need or use the looper or pitch correction I can sing in tune. What I really love is the harmonizer, and mixing features. I can plug my condenser mic in power it add reverb to vocals and guitar mix it and the send the signal to the church sound system. Getting the mix I want not what the unskilled church sound person thinks the mix should be.

Great guitar processor, Decent vocal processor,Looper is cool, horrible harmony processor.
I have, and have used a Digitech Vocalist live 3 for a a few years now, and it sounds great.
Harmonies are spot on, but the guitar side left me wanting a little more.
The VE-8 does not track pitch well at all when the harmony is activated.
Even in manual key mode, it is horrible.
If you are used to a different machine that does a good job with producing harmonies, do
not switch, not worth the hassle or the money.

Bought it. Caused feedback and cracking and popping in the sound system. Sent it back.

I recently purchased Roland Boss VE-8 "Acoustic singer" pedal controlled gadget which provides a variety of enhancements, including harmonizing, and reverb for vocals and guitar, and looping. There's only one problem with it, and that is that the sound of my Martin 000-30 with K&K mini pickup, sounds awful coming out of this thing. The sound is muddy, mid-range and treble muffled and there's no relevant adjustment to correct it. So I called Roland Boss to see if I was doing something wrong and I got some arrogant jerk who told me his product was not designed for my guitar and I should have known that when I bought it. Needless to say, I am not recommending this product.

I tried two brand new VE-8 from Sweetwater and both had very noisy outputs. Both were sent back. The quality of the preamps is very poor and it sounds horrible. I was hoping it would be a great addition to my pedalboard........NOPE!

Sweetwater and Aaron is always phenomenal to deal with and they worked with me on every aspect of the returns.

I bought one of these thinking it would be great to have for some Acoustic guitar FX and Vocal harmonies in one unit instead of having to shlep around my Zoom Pedal and my VE-20. Big mistake and a waste of money.
The instructions for editing patches are convoluted and simply don't work. The harmony cannot be switched off, in spite of what the manual claims about the harmony button acting as an on/off footswitch.
The harmonies themselves are horrible. No matter how you set the knob, they all sound the same--making the singer sound like Alvin and the Chipmunks.
I have a seven-year-old VE-20 that has never let me down and I am glad I kept it.
I'm asking for an RA to send this one back.

I'll make this review short. I'm a regular working musician, not a novice. The looper function sounded ok but the harmony functions sounded awful. They sounded robotic and didn't follow the melody and guitar very well. I used to own the Digitech Vocalist 5 and never had issues. I ended up returning and purchasing a TC Helicon harmony pedal and a Boss RC-1 looper. Gonna try my luck with that.