The MS-3 makes you rethink your entire pedalboard concept! This is an exceptional product and packs in a lot of features. With that said I will go into its limitations briefly after I describe my current setup with the MS-3. Guitar>Wah>Boss MS-3(Lovepedal Kalamazoo L1, JHS @ AT Drive L2, Friedman BE-OD L3, Boss FV-500L CNTRL 1, Amp Channel switching CNTRL 2)>Stereo Outputs, Left Output > Orange Dark Terror. Right Output > Laney 30w (vintage tube). Both amp heads are into a Marshall 1960av cab in stereo 8ohm. The FX Send on the Laney Goes to a TC Electronic Triple Delay> JHS Panther Cub > FX return. Wet/Dry mix. Sometimes I use the Dark Terror's FX loop and set up a Wet/Wet mix. This setup takes a lot of cables But sounds fantastic. I never thought of Bi-amping before the MS-3! Great. If you are ready to set this up beyond the basic presets, I suggest you plug into a laptop and use the app. This speeds up the naming process. As far as usability options and limitations go. I wish they included a 4 cable method option without using one of the three loops. Right now All time-based FX are in front of the preamp without any option to go through an amps FX loop. This may not be a big deal to some but others will miss this feature. Also, a simple software option to control more parameters of the FX with the expression pedal would be amazing!!! Other than that this thing is great. Just plan to buy more cables and expression pedals/ABswitch. You'll be rethinking your whole rig! Cheers
@@EinerVonDenen but my question was in a sound like that - a crack or a shot in the speaker. (I didn't ask for the type of effect) But it doesn't matter 11 months after my question, the pandemic ended and "WW3" came .. so thanks for the answer ..:-D
“There's also a global EQ you can use to shape the overall sound of your rig. It's extremely helpful when you're trying to get a consistent sound in different venues, allowing you to compensate for the sound of any room without having to adjust your preferred guitar, pedal, or amp settings.”
I use a tech21 blonde at the last slot preceded by drives and distortion that the gt/ms3 doesn’t do well, like a colorbox or fuzz. A compressor and a boost pedal in front of the ms3 round out the chain.
4:24 is it really THAT noisy? I'm losing interest.....the inbuilt effects sound a little bit shit in this demo, especially when compared to the 3 external ones.
Convoluted mess of lameness.. U have to spend hours and ours of trial and error volume settings to result in an even output signal across all of your presets... Give me a good old pedal board with all my favorites any day.
Pretty convenient that these products happen to be manufactured by Roland, isn’t it Derek Glowacki? I don’t have the first idea what any of you are talking about, anyway. These effects sound just about as believable as the ones in the original boxes they are emulating.
Hi really interested in this product, just one question though. I am planning to use this for my overdrive , fuzz and modulation effects while using physical effects for my delay and reverb pedals. How many expression pedal inputs are there in this thing? All tips and suggestions are welcome , I am totally new in pedal and effects chain ;any help would be very much appreciated
You probably got an answer by now, but yes there are a ton of banks in memory mode for the ES-5. There are a total of 200 presets you can have in the ES-5.
I'm assuming you mean the ES-5 and ES-8. It's not really an improvement one way or the other. It's kind of a different hybrid thing. The MS-3 is halfway between an ES-5/8 and a GT100. There's aren't any effects in the ES-5/8, but they have more loops.
Hi! I´ve finally bought it, but I can´t adjust the whammy efect. What do I have to do? What´s the sequence? I also would like to use the expression pedal as a volume booster. How can I do it too? Thanks a lot!!!!!!!!!
The Boss MS3 cuts off the Delay spillover ("trails") whenever you change presets. This is quite annoying (try to play a U2 song that has 5 different sound changes). Other devices have "snapshots" or "scenes" that do not cut the trails of Delays and Reverbs when you change a preset/sound. How can you do this with the MS3? Obviously when you use the Curnum fuction it does not cut off trails but here we talk about only 2 snapshots! This is not enough.
You can do all the above. If you have an effects loop, you could put it there and just run the modulation, delay, tremolo, and reverb from the MS-3. I run mine in the front because I don't have a loop.
Came to the same idea. This one is a "GT-100 without amp modelling" - so it's perfect to work together with live amp. GT-100 is too big and heavy, GX-100 is quite good, but expensive for just gigging - so this one has become a game changer for me. I use Marshall 8240 for live play and this FX unit has stereo output that perfectly matches Marshall's ideology. It works as a FX floorboard and footswitch same time, so my pedalboard just contains my favourite booster, JOYO Multi-Wah and BOSS FS-3.
It is essentially a multi effects processor with switching built in. I run drive pedals into the MS-3 input and use the MS-3 for modulation, delay, tremolo, and reverb. I currently haven't placed anything in the loops, but I plan to put an EQ and a volume pedal in 2 of the loops. You could use this for everything though since there are about 21 different drive, distortion, and fuzz options also.
Great vid. By the way, is the sound of the real Rat processed and sort of digitalized when passing through the MS-3? I'm asking because this is the feeling when plugging analog pedals before the GT-001, which has the same effects and the processor as the MS-3, but it does not go though a loop
I don't believe it can receive MIDI, but you can use an external switch (like the FS-7 or a smaller version from a different builder) to set tap tempo that can be sent via MIDI. Or it can be sent through the CTL OUTs to a pedal that has tap-in. At least that's how the ES-5 works, and I'd imagine it would be the same with this.
Michael Battista I think not , it just has ctl out 1/2 but with midi functions you can buy a looper expander or an amp switching device which can be controlled via midi .
I just wish this could delay trails on and the ability to move the loops whatever order you want them to just like my es-8, this wouldve been the perfect compact rig controller
Please explaIn, I use two Boss SD-1 and one EH big muff as overdrives. I think about buying a MS-3 and replace my pedals by internal overdrives. Are-the internal drives not good?
If your amp has a loop itself you can actually do that. Guitar > MS-3 Input, Amp Input > MS-3 Loop X Send, Amp Loop Send > MS-3 Loop Return, Amp Return > MS-3 Output and a cable for channel switching, the amps preamp sits between the amps input and loop send, the amps loop return goes to the powerstage. MS-3 Loop X needs of course always to be included in presets to use the amps preamp.
Doesnt seem there is the ability to incorporate it with an effects loop. That's always the Achilles heal of these multi effects units, no ability to choose what goes in the front and what goes in the loop.
@@davidkeller9345 Pretty sure you can set any of the buttons as a one tap tuner/mute. But fair enough that would use up one button which could be a deal breaker for a lot of people.
Interesting functionality. Does it actually sound that bad or is it just this video? That’s a very dissonant, scratchy, muddy, unpleasant guitar sound…
Give it 8 loops, with 8 switches in line (yes, it will be twice as long.) Then I would consider it. Or add some expansion units for more loops that are plug and play and can talk to each other without me having to jump through all the midi programming hoops. The ES-8 is there, but it has no effects, and it is WAYYYY overpriced at $699. And I'm skeptical about these effects. Are these from the RV-500 and DD-500, and MD-500s? They don't appear to be. And I couldn't care less about those digital drives. That's what the loops are for, people. Really all i want the effects for are to add some pre/post gain to even out my patches, some eq, compression, and maybe a few alt effects that don't get used very often. This thing is promising, I do like the form factor, if it were twice as long with 8 switches to go along the front of the pedalboard. But as is, this doesn't go far enough.
This was a great rundown of the unit, exactly what I wanted to see in terms of features and effects
The MS-3 makes you rethink your entire pedalboard concept! This is an exceptional product and packs in a lot of features. With that said I will go into its limitations briefly after I describe my current setup with the MS-3.
Guitar>Wah>Boss MS-3(Lovepedal Kalamazoo L1, JHS @ AT Drive L2, Friedman BE-OD L3, Boss FV-500L CNTRL 1, Amp Channel switching CNTRL 2)>Stereo Outputs, Left Output > Orange Dark Terror. Right Output > Laney 30w (vintage tube). Both amp heads are into a Marshall 1960av cab in stereo 8ohm. The FX Send on the Laney Goes to a TC Electronic Triple Delay> JHS Panther Cub > FX return. Wet/Dry mix. Sometimes I use the Dark Terror's FX loop and set up a Wet/Wet mix.
This setup takes a lot of cables But sounds fantastic. I never thought of Bi-amping before the MS-3! Great.
If you are ready to set this up beyond the basic presets, I suggest you plug into a laptop and use the app. This speeds up the naming process. As far as usability options and limitations go. I wish they included a 4 cable method option without using one of the three loops. Right now All time-based FX are in front of the preamp without any option to go through an amps FX loop. This may not be a big deal to some but others will miss this feature.
Also, a simple software option to control more parameters of the FX with the expression pedal would be amazing!!!
Other than that this thing is great. Just plan to buy more cables and expression pedals/ABswitch. You'll be rethinking your whole rig!
Cheers
Here is how to use the Four Cable Method using one of the loops, depending upon your preference. www.boss.info/us/support/knowledge_base/115002871046/
I think you forgot the guitar...but with all those effects, who needs one right?
Awesome review! First really thorough but not overwhelming review!
Does this have any kind of synth effect?
I wish it had some power outputs on it to power the external pedals.
what a sound it is in the moment ( 5:31 ) ? it's similar to shot from a speaker
Spring reverb
@@EinerVonDenen but my question was in a sound like that - a crack or a shot in the speaker. (I didn't ask for the type of effect)
But it doesn't matter 11 months after my question, the pandemic ended and "WW3" came .. so thanks for the answer ..:-D
@@T0MH0LME5 The pandemic ended? Are you a traveller from the future?
@@EinerVonDenen yes, goodbye :D
Does anyone know if this MS-3 has a looper inside?
And how bout EQ graphical or parametric somewhere in the chain
“There's also a global EQ you can use to shape the overall sound of your rig. It's extremely helpful when you're trying to get a consistent sound in different venues, allowing you to compensate for the sound of any room without having to adjust your preferred guitar, pedal, or amp settings.”
How do you think this would work through a bass amp???
it has some bass specific effects in it.
They need to make a big version of this
It's called TC Electronic G System.
It is called Boss ES-8
@@8Junio76 not even close. ES-8 has no effects
I use a tech21 blonde at the last slot preceded by drives and distortion that the gt/ms3 doesn’t do well, like a colorbox or fuzz. A compressor and a boost pedal in front of the ms3 round out the chain.
4:24 is it really THAT noisy? I'm losing interest.....the inbuilt effects sound a little bit shit in this demo, especially when compared to the 3 external ones.
I dont know, first I was amazed, but some of the effects sound too synthetic dont you think so?
totally agree. they seem to sound worst than a GT multifx..
I agree. Boss has a sweet little item here. However, it reminds of when I would play patches on a Roland. None of the tones sound natural.
Convoluted mess of lameness..
U have to spend hours and ours of trial and error volume settings to result in an even output signal across all of your presets...
Give me a good old pedal board with all my favorites any day.
Reminds me of the old ME50
Pretty convenient that these products happen to be manufactured by Roland, isn’t it Derek Glowacki?
I don’t have the first idea what any of you are talking about, anyway. These effects sound just about as believable as the ones in the original boxes they are emulating.
Is there a larger one????
Yes, Boss ES-8
not exactly, the ES-5/ES-8 is a dedicated Patch/Loop/MIDI switcher with no built in effects.
Good point. No built in effects in the larger one. My bad.
mdonchek no worries 👌
That's what she said!
Hi, does it have a center, left and right delay effect?
Hi really interested in this product, just one question though. I am planning to use this for my overdrive , fuzz and modulation effects while using physical effects for my delay and reverb pedals. How many expression pedal inputs are there in this thing? All tips and suggestions are welcome , I am totally new in pedal and effects chain ;any help would be very much appreciated
3 loops that you can use to add one or more pedals into, usually you only add one for each since you turn the entire loop on/off
You can plug in 2 expression pedals on the back
Totally random but kind of on topic. Does anyone know if the boss es-5 has multiple banks in memory mode?
You probably got an answer by now, but yes there are a ton of banks in memory mode for the ES-5. There are a total of 200 presets you can have in the ES-5.
What has improved in this since MS5 and. MS8 ?
I'm assuming you mean the ES-5 and ES-8. It's not really an improvement one way or the other. It's kind of a different hybrid thing. The MS-3 is halfway between an ES-5/8 and a GT100. There's aren't any effects in the ES-5/8, but they have more loops.
Want one for my small board :)
Hi! I´ve finally bought it, but I can´t adjust the whammy efect. What do I have to do? What´s the sequence? I also would like to use the expression pedal as a volume booster. How can I do it too? Thanks a lot!!!!!!!!!
The Boss MS3 cuts off the Delay spillover ("trails") whenever you change presets. This is quite annoying (try to play a U2 song that has 5 different sound changes). Other devices have "snapshots" or "scenes" that do not cut the trails of Delays and Reverbs when you change a preset/sound. How can you do this with the MS3? Obviously when you use the Curnum fuction it does not cut off trails but here we talk about only 2 snapshots! This is not enough.
Here's how:
Step 1 - get a device built for that instead of finding workarounds.
What is the signal chain here ? The MS3 is on the front of the amp ? Or on the FX loop ? Do you have to run it always on a clean amp ?
You can do all the above. If you have an effects loop, you could put it there and just run the modulation, delay, tremolo, and reverb from the MS-3. I run mine in the front because I don't have a loop.
does it have amp sims & speaker emulation?
no
Are the Drive tones comparable to new technology like the Axe Fx or Kemper? Or just same old Multieffect dull sound?
Dull
Had the boss gt100 and it was too much. This looks more up my alley
Came to the same idea. This one is a "GT-100 without amp modelling" - so it's perfect to work together with live amp. GT-100 is too big and heavy, GX-100 is quite good, but expensive for just gigging - so this one has become a game changer for me. I use Marshall 8240 for live play and this FX unit has stereo output that perfectly matches Marshall's ideology. It works as a FX floorboard and footswitch same time, so my pedalboard just contains my favourite booster, JOYO Multi-Wah and BOSS FS-3.
Is it true bypass? Analog dry through?
What is the brand / model of that little amp on the right side? Anyone know?
Maybe a Little Walter? Can't tell much unfortunately
Can you use all 3 differnt pedals at the same time?
Yes.
Can you use this unit as a stand-alone multi Effects processors?
yes
It is essentially a multi effects processor with switching built in. I run drive pedals into the MS-3 input and use the MS-3 for modulation, delay, tremolo, and reverb. I currently haven't placed anything in the loops, but I plan to put an EQ and a volume pedal in 2 of the loops. You could use this for everything though since there are about 21 different drive, distortion, and fuzz options also.
Great vid. By the way, is the sound of the real Rat processed and sort of digitalized when passing through the MS-3? I'm asking because this is the feeling when plugging analog pedals before the GT-001, which has the same effects and the processor as the MS-3, but it does not go though a loop
Can it be a MIDI control pedal for another device?
Yes, I use mine to send PC and CC changes to my Strymon Timeline + BigSky
but can it receive midi, like a midi-clock for delays?
Unfortunately, no. Only MIDI out, no MIDI in.
I don't believe it can receive MIDI, but you can use an external switch (like the FS-7 or a smaller version from a different builder) to set tap tempo that can be sent via MIDI. Or it can be sent through the CTL OUTs to a pedal that has tap-in. At least that's how the ES-5 works, and I'd imagine it would be the same with this.
That boss spring verb is hard to dial out that spring whipping sound. At first it sounded cool but then it gets annoying.
So why would you want a spring reverb with no spring? Go with a plate instead.
Can it switch an amp with more than 2 channels?
Michael Battista I think not , it just has ctl out 1/2 but with midi functions you can buy a looper expander or an amp switching device which can be controlled via midi .
"Equipped with numerous jacks for amp channel switching, effects control, and more"
Yes it can.
Cool pedal
Does it have a tuner?
Yes
Is this better than the GT100? And why?
Two different things. A GT-100 is an all-in-one. This is a hybrid between a pedal switcher/MIDI controller and an all-in-one.
Perhaps I missed this from the video, but does this act like a USB audio interface so you can record directly with it to your computer?
NO.
Thanks for this.cheers
I just wish this could delay trails on and the ability to move the loops whatever order you want them to just like my es-8, this wouldve been the perfect compact rig controller
this is exactly all i need. Very frustrating
Has anyone use this live-mixer-PA
with the overdrives? Instead of an amp?
You still need an amp, this is effects only
Probably wouldn't use overdrives but everything else sounds usable.
Please explaIn, I use two Boss SD-1 and one EH big muff as overdrives. I think about buying a MS-3 and replace my pedals by internal overdrives. Are-the internal drives not good?
Amazing
I would prefer a BOSS switcher with no effects built in. But lots of the BOSS deep editing features for routing and controlling amps.
Zachary Collins like the boss es 8
@@ingvi100 exactly ;)
and I can loop the amp here?
If your amp has a loop itself you can actually do that. Guitar > MS-3 Input, Amp Input > MS-3 Loop X Send, Amp Loop Send > MS-3 Loop Return, Amp Return > MS-3 Output and a cable for channel switching, the amps preamp sits between the amps input and loop send, the amps loop return goes to the powerstage.
MS-3 Loop X needs of course always to be included in presets to use the amps preamp.
super clear explanation! great video, thanks
Really really wish the loops were stereo
No TAP tempo on the BOSS MS3?
Any of the 5 switches can be set for tap tempo- you have to adjust that in the settings (using the software is easiest).
Doesnt seem there is the ability to incorporate it with an effects loop. That's always the Achilles heal of these multi effects units, no ability to choose what goes in the front and what goes in the loop.
Achille's HEEL, maybe.
If this thing had amp/cab sim it would be perfect! For both guitar/bass
Not for Caveman. Caveman need 5E7 Bandmaster and Les Paul Junior DC.
Too much thinking...hurts.
Bu pedal elimde olsa ben de güzel bir tanıtım yapardım. Bence daha iyi bir tanıtımı hak ediyor.
I am so sorry, but this sounds terrible!!! Like the GT10. Specially the drives! And you always have a great tone!!! So it's definetly not you!!!
Seems too fiddly - I would get it, dink around with it for a month and decide it just doesn’t add a lot for my needs and be looking to sell it.
Sounds good. You can sell it to me...
easy? use ?
I had to return this, my mind exploded, I'm ok though.
Any one watching this in 2021?
Sounds like crap drive wise
too bad it doesn't include a tuner...=)
It does though. Got rid of my polytune already.
@@spamspasm8183 I kept mine in the chain only so i have an instant mute button/not patient enough to wait 2 seconds.
@@davidkeller9345 Pretty sure you can set any of the buttons as a one tap tuner/mute. But fair enough that would use up one button which could be a deal breaker for a lot of people.
Interesting functionality. Does it actually sound that bad or is it just this video? That’s a very dissonant, scratchy, muddy, unpleasant guitar sound…
Give it 8 loops, with 8 switches in line (yes, it will be twice as long.) Then I would consider it. Or add some expansion units for more loops that are plug and play and can talk to each other without me having to jump through all the midi programming hoops. The ES-8 is there, but it has no effects, and it is WAYYYY overpriced at $699. And I'm skeptical about these effects. Are these from the RV-500 and DD-500, and MD-500s? They don't appear to be. And I couldn't care less about those digital drives. That's what the loops are for, people. Really all i want the effects for are to add some pre/post gain to even out my patches, some eq, compression, and maybe a few alt effects that don't get used very often. This thing is promising, I do like the form factor, if it were twice as long with 8 switches to go along the front of the pedalboard. But as is, this doesn't go far enough.
The moment he started using the built in effects I immediately remembered why I hate multi effect units.
Wow. Why?
Why does Joe always play in that brittle, staccato, stilted style?
Paul Rudd
Too many armbands/rings to be taken seriously ;)
The Antiquariat Says the guy with a hipster beard...
That guitar is painfully out of tune.
This is such a cool idea, but sounds kind of crappy, and the screen is from like 1996.
Aside from this guy playing like an amateur, I didn't hear one usable tone. A hard pass.....
NEVER !!!!!!!! i LOST MY NERVS AT ALL !