New BOSS pedals!

[Pepe]

Picked up an RC-3 today for USD$80. Well used - paint is pretty well chipped - but works 100%

Great little looper! I had the RC-20XL before, that can only store 11 tracks and has no way to save them. The RC-3 is so much better.

[laurie]

It is a bit beaten up. Lots of chips and marks, and the potentiometer shaft was slightly bent. Perfect inside.

The price was right!

This pic is after full disassembly and a through clean in soapy water.
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rc-3.jpg (386.5 KiB) Viewed 1463 times

[Pepe]

Wow, it looks like it had some great time during an extensive band tour in the 80s. But the RC-3 wasn't introduced before 2011 ...

[chromandre]

that looks killer!

I recommend doing the software 1.60 update, seemed to fix some random failure issues I was having with the pedal.

[laurie]

that looks killer!

I recommend doing the software 1.60 update, seemed to fix some random failure issues I was having with the pedal.

Thanks! Done. Surprisingly painless.

[bigtone23]

It is a bit beaten up. Lots of chips and marks, and the potentiometer shaft was slightly bent. Perfect inside.

The price was right!

This pic is after full disassembly and a through clean in soapy water.
.
rc-3.jpg

Love the beat up exterior. It has looped a lot.
...and probably not properly mounted on a pedalboard, getting toted and beat up in a duffle bag or backpack inbetween performances!


Which begs the question: why hasn't 'relic' pedals become a thing?
Oh... because the gold standard is with the box/manual/sticker...?
BOSS Waza SD-1WR, with 40 year relic treatment. Add the MXR Dist +, EHX Ram's Head Big Muff, et al that saw lots of use when pedalboards were mostly for the touring guitarist...
haha. That's not far off from the 'Custom Shop/Murphy Lab" guitars that have heavy relic... Shoot, Fender has released tweed amps with fray and stains...

[laurie]

...and probably not properly mounted on a pedalboard, getting toted and beat up in a duffle bag or backpack inbetween performances!

Yep. As a realtor would say "the patina of age"

[bigtone23]

Grabbed a MT-2W for a steal, virtually brand new in the box with all the paperwork. I have zero use for a high gain, metal pedal, but this was both Made and Inspected IJ from 01/2022, would be an easy flip if I chose to sell, so why not jump? I sold dozens upon dozens of these in the 90s to all the metal kids and players, so I knew what the stock sound is all about. Not my thing, too compressed and has that focused, nearly nasal bite to it.

Gotta say, Custom mode is pretty cool, though! With the gain nearly backed all the way off and a little tweak to the tone controls (using ears, not eyes), I was able to coax a pretty cool and usable dirt tone out of it! Played it through my Mesa MKIIA, Fender Bassman Ten, Peavey Special 130 and Marshall DSL50 ( all amps were in clean mode) and it worked and sounded great in all of them. Those 4 amps will pretty much test the 'friendliness' of any dirt pedal, and the flexible EQ on the MT2W made it fall in nicely with all the amps.

Not convinced it's a keeper, but hey, a BOSS pedal is small and stores nicely. I used to have a BOSS ML3 Metal Core, but sold it as it was also pointless for me. On a similar note, I have held on to my 83 Ibanez SM9 Super Metal, as it's legit old, and despite having a lot of gain, it has a pretty cool EQ and I can dial in a dirt tone I like, too. Plus, it's part of the 3 Amigos with my 82 TS9 and 83 SD9.

[laurie]

Nice! I haven't ever tried a Waza pedal. I'll grab one if it comes up.

[bigtone23]

Nice! I haven't ever tried a Waza pedal. I'll grab one if it comes up.

I will say that the Waza pedals are quite nice. This MT2W is my first personal Waza, but I have played though all the Waza pedals at some point. I'd suggest getting the W version if you don't already have the original version. The Custom modes are cool to have (though not something you are more than capable of modding into the originals yourself) and the overall build quality, buffers and noise floor are on point.

I already have a MIJ CE2, VB2, DM2, SD1 and DC3 (Digital Space D version), as well as a MIT BD2 (with a Keeley-ish phat mod I did) and TU2 & TU3. I can justify not needing the Waza versions for the added Custom modes on most of these, as I only use the originals for their inherent, original scope, the W versions in Standard mode are pretty dead on to the originals, so they would be mostly redundancy, which is not my thing now. I didn't already have a MT2, so the MT2W made some sort of sense to my warped mind. haha.

The DM2W does have longer delay times, the TU3W is really cool looking in black and has a nice buffer (I would get one of these if they pop up for cheap and dump the TU2), and if one uses a SD1 or BD2 as a stand alone drive, the Custom modes are nice for the extra low end support and smoother high end.