BossAreaForum

Hi,
I have just purchased a new Boss MS-3, but I am worried that I have made a big mistake in doing so!
When switching from one patch to another on the MS-3, the tail off sustain of the guitar signal is interrupted before the next patch kicks in. This is incredibly annoying!
Conversely, if you are switching from a patch that contains reverb or delay effects to another patch, with the guitar strings muted, there seems to be a continuation of the reverb/delay decay in the form of an audible ‘echoey thump’ into the next patch. Also, very annoying!
When you are the Lead Singer and Lead Guitarist in a band like myself, the last thing you need to be doing during a live performance is thinking about how to time the exact moment when to step on a foot switch to avoid any switching lag or audible glitches.
When using stand alone Boss pedals, if you switch to another pedal, it just adds the sound of that pedal to the guitar signal instantly. There is no interruption in the signal. It would seem that the ES-8 Switcher has a facility to combat the mute time/switching audibility? I can find no such facility on the MS-3.
I sincerely hope that there is a way to remedy this, as this would seem to be quite a serious design oversight?

Steve Webster

Hi Webby,
Welcome to the forum!
I've never used a MS-3, but that doesn't sound right.
Hopefully others will respond with something helpful to suggest.
All the best,
Sean.

I think with most boss multis I've ever used, you can change instantly from patch to patch only if the effect order and and effect types are the same. Settings and individual on/offs can change as much a you want. Personally I love boss multi effects but never change patches I tend to use a single patch for an entire setlist and 1 patch per song when recording.

Oh dear! It looks like I have indeed made a terrible mistake buying this (as I suspected).
I was hoping to use this unit in the simplest way possible, and that was:
Press button 1 to select crunch (rhythm) channel on my amp with a bit of background reverb added.
Press button 2 to select the same channel with a volume level increase for lead soloing (with reverb + delay).
Press button 3 to select high gain channel for lead soloing with more drive (with reverb + delay).
Press button 4 to select clean channel (with reverb + chorus).
I really wasn't expecting any kind of interruption in the guitar signal when switching between these patches. There’s no interruption in the guitar signal when using the simple 2 button latching foot switch that came with my amp, or when using stand alone effects pedals. I was hoping that this unit would replace the amp foot switch, and allow me to dispense with my stand alone pedals, but it clearly does not. Very disappointing!