What was my impression of this pedal?? Bloody fantastic!!!!!!!
Now for some of you who know me will know that I am a Boss fan. Always have been, and probably always will. Boss really does make some excellent equipment and I have never been let down. BUT, after playing with this machine I am totally blown away! When people talk about the HD500 there is always one thing they all have in common...crazy amp modulation. And I can tell you the same thing, it’s crazy good, you won’t even know the difference between solid state amp or tube amp, in fact you will probably try to find the hidden valve amp in the room. Before we continue, this is what I am talking about.
Now the only thing I must admit is that you pretty much need a degree to work this thing... But once you get the hang of it, there’s nothing to it!
If you look at the top image you will see a set of 12 heavy duty stomp box type switches, very nice touch and easy to access. The display is a bit small but you can still see what’s cooking down below. Now basically in a nutshell without going in too much detail (which btw I can't) the whole pedal works on a stomp box type system. The display actually shows you images of stomp boxes which are being used at that specific time.
Just to explain this better; the two left side switches (one bottom, one top) are the bank switches. Within these banks you have 4 either pre-sets or effects which you can save to (these are the bottom 4 after the bank switch). There are a lot of banks so more than enough space. The top four switches after the top bank switch are effects, amp modes or whatever which are assigned to that specific patch you are using within a bank. SO, let’s say you are within a patch that has a Marshall stack, Distortion and delay effects assigned to it but you also have a reverb and tremolo effect which is assigned but not activated at the moment. You can play using the patch and whenever you need your reverb, tremolo or even both you can just step on the switch and Bobs' your aunty! Just like activating or de-activating stomp boxes!
It's a mouth full yes, so I hope that made sense.
It has an expression pedal with a toe switch for easy switching between volume, wah or whatever you would like to assign to it. It has a jack for an additional foot switch so you don’t have to use the toe switch but that’s up to you.
Above that all you have a loop machine, built in tuner and you can even have more than one amp model assigned at the same time! OR you can switch between amp models within the same patch....the possibilities are endless. This pedal really does stand out compared to the big boys out there, and for the price it’s a steal. In SA you are looking at a retail of about R7-8k.
There is so much in this pedal that it would make it impossible to cover all the insane features it has but the above are just a few that I found appealing.
If you are looking for some more info on the pedal check out their website. For more reviews and sound, check out the below video from Line 6 at a NAMM demonstration.
Happy Rocking!
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