As usual BOSS is the boss. Where the competition is fragile and can’t even allow batteries, BOSS always brings out a quality-sounding tank that’s easy to open to replace batteries and takes little space.
I like this demo, but I can't stop giggling because the letters showing on his t-shirt say "twat". Sorry! Nice demo, GREAT pedal, next time go with the basic black t-shirt...
This is why I love Sweetwater. In-depth product demos that you wish you could get from the manufacturer. Informative, instructional, engaging. Boss's demo video of this pedal is really cool, but it offers nothing in the way of explanation. It makes me want to get an Ibanez and make some 80s concept art rock.
Pure fun and the ability to use an expression pedal makes it a proper synth. Gives EHX a real competitor. Mitch is the most competent presenter I think I've ever seen; he really takes the time to learn about the product before the camera rolls.
Chris helped me at Sweetwater and today my pedal arrived. I'll have fun with it later. Thanks Chris and Sweetwater. You folks have earned my future business.
Totally agree. Unfortunately it also shows some glaring weaknesses, like others mentioned a preponderance of 80’s synth sounds. Well done, but must KEYBOARDISTS even don’t consider those sounds as classics.. The pedal is worth the money, but it is so puzzling why waste time on those cheesy 80’s Synths. Even the actual guitar synths have this vexing problem, way overproccesed tones. Never heard of anyone asking for that great Thompson Twins sound. If you have 150 presets, sure, up the price $75 or so.
Fantastic demo of a fantastic pedal. My brother brought over my early birthday present in, you guessed it, a Sweetwater box. It was this pedal. We then spent about three hours noodling with the his thing and honestly didn't scratch the surface. Want to unison synth and guitar lines ala Yngwie or Dream Theater? You can nail it with this pedal. I can now okay Highway Star and do both solos. This thing rocks!
Coming up as a guitarist in the 80s , I was digging the synthesizer sounds but wasn't a competent keyboardist so I was utilizing chorus, flanger, envelope pedals and even tried the Roland guitar synthesizer but felt it wasn't keeping a real time feel with the guitar. After 40 years, in discovering the Boss SY1 and this video, I am going to buy it. Thanks for the inspiration!
I wish someone would make a synth pedal like this loaded with monophonic voices for soloing. All the synth pedals I know of on the market have sounds which are stacked octaves with fuzz and harmonized 5ths, choppy rhythmic sequences, etc. It's like a shortcut to making EDM. For a soloist just wanting an electronic voice like Allan Holdsworth got with his violin, oboe, etc patches from old school Oberheim synths on the Synthaxe, there's basically nothing, and it seems that would be simpler than all of what this pedal does, which makes it strange it's so hard to find.
@@satyanpatel6403 I have the Mel9 and have tried the organ ones. The problem with all of them is they don't track well enough to keep up with fast playing, no matter how clean. They sound great with chords and simple lines but trying to be really precise with syncopated rhythms is a mess. The POG series is better but the tones are limited.
I ordered one in August 2019 - received word today - January 6, 2020 that it has shipped. Long wait but I think will be worth it. My guitar synth has been the old Roland GR-1 that required lots of extraneous stuff to get it up and running. It sounded real nice but is large, cumbersome and was very expensive. This current device is seemingly much better in terms of cost, footprint and ease of use. Boss/Roland have superb products always.
@@tj03297 It's great! However I tend to use only a couple settings on it - though there are many to choose from. I tend to stay in the pads and leave it on as a subtle addition to clean, delay, overdrive, or distortion and it fits perfectly in al situations. I love it! Well worth the money.
It's fantastic. I couldn't get a better synth. The only drawback is that the dry signal is killed when the unit is switched off. That means you need two separate outputs from your guitar if you want to switch off the synth while playing guitar. The other thing is that you need a compressor, because some sounds are uneven - that's not a big issue, most if not all effects units suffer from it.
If not for all the cool things you can do with this small beast I'd buy this pedal just for the "Lead 1" that resembles the nicest tone of the iconic Roland GR-300 synth guitar from the 80s. Dude, how I love this tone! I NEED this pedal badly.
I love you guys. this pedal seems the best of the bunch not getting the sy1000 which is a thousand dollars and the pickup is like 270 and the cable is like 80 bucks. WOW even with payments that is too rich for my blood this one is just plug and go and a good price. wish it had a release/decay knob that is a big misstep
just saying, the pedal is more useful then what others say, you just have to put in the time to find cool tones that you can use. Every once in a while i'll go through it, find a cool setting to mess around with and even use my acoustic on it, i'll keep it there for a month or so then i'll switch it a while later for something new. Helps in creating new types of music and really fun. Definitely a cool pedal to add to your board.
Great review. Finally there is a pedal that will replicate that flatulence sound after eating kung pow chicken! Really an amazing catalog of sound and versatility in this pedal. Reminds me of the Electro Harmonix "Super Ego" in many ways, but this pedal seems much more versatile. My initial reaction is that it seems to have excellent tracking. Also, since there is no stereo output or input I guess it would have to go at the beginning of the signal chain and then into a pedal or pedals to expand the synthesized sound into true stereo, which is okay I guess. As Mitch Gallagher points out, you can get an expansive sound by running the dry signal with the effect signal. It would be interesting to run it through an amp effects loop, too. A great review by the two best reviewers in the business. Love the Space Truckin' sound Don got in the loop with the distortion.
You'd want it near the end of your signal chain (although in front might be better, maybe because of tracking issues) into something like a TC Electronic Mimiq, HOF, Flashback, or an Arion SCH-1 stereo chorus if you want some stereo separation. But this isn't a stereo pedal so it's always going to be wet/dry. I'd just get an ABY and run it in wet/dry as I do with many mods and most of my delay/trem/reverb. FX loop would be like placing it towards the end or middle of your effects chain, after gain.
What a great, sensible review. I wouldn't buy the pedal, myself, because I think most of the tones are cheesy and too digital, but you presented it in a much more musical way than some of your RU-vid competitors.
While I disagree with your opinion, I respect it, but you essentially said why this pedal is fun and great, it’s cheesy, it’s got the sounds of 1980’s keyboards and synthesizers which you can just have fun for hours playing around with. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have effects that are 100% pointless and don’t add anything in terms of musicality but they are fun to play with for hours. I mean I have a Kermit the frog pedal called a “Frog wah”, cost me $150, I’ve never been able to use it anywhere in the music I play, but I’d also be lying if I said if I didn’t smile having fun with it for hours.
Okay. So, mine’s fresh out the box. Cord from guitar to input. Chord from output to amp. Send and receive linked by small cable. No effect. Clicked away and nothin. Didn’t come with a Bose DC adapter and the battery that came with it is supposed to be brand new. Stumped. Any input is most appreciated. I feel this pedal with a reverb and DDL will make for some cool new territory to explore.
At some sounds I was hoping you were going to play the theme tune to Rhubarb and custard kids show America was probably never blessed with such an awesome airing
After a month-and-a-half of waiting I finally received mine today. Straight Out of the box looks great. It's has a royal blue flake paint looks looks beautiful. First impressions tracking is incredible, tones are wonderful. Having said that it comes with the caveat. The tones alone are lacking focus. I watch many reviews where the person was always playing the patches with the guitar and the effect together and everyone would ask for the FX only. Now I see why guitar was always present. Without the guitar there is now true mid highs and top end even with the resonance sweep. Overall great gear!
Need a way to store each different sound to play with each live song; that combines all the sounds available. All the sounds selectable by a foot switch for each song- LIVE
I’m a musician who loves experimenting with new sounds every session, I’m considering buying this pedal and I’d like to know how can you set a tempo for the arpeggiated notes if that’s possible?
Hey, Jace. Thanks for your question. Hope you and yours are safe and well. Using an external footswitch, you gain access to tap tempo in the SY-1. You can't control the sequence of the arpeggiator nor can you save settings as a preset. Still a really cool feature. Please contact me direct for more information. Robert Williams, Senior Sweetwater Sales engineer, (800) 222-4700 ext. 2371, robert_williams@sweetwater.com
Goodness, is there any synth pedal that doesn’t sound like cats fighting. I gave up trying to get a quality synth sound from my guitar and I just bought a synth.
