NPD: Boss PS-2 Digital Pitch Shifter/Delay

[MrShake]

I know we've all said this before, but I think I'm done for a little while. I've been overindulging the part of me working on developing his textural/ambient/experimental playing, and spending more than I'm justifying with writing/recording, even though I'm enjoying just some "me 'n' a drum machine" space jams daily. I'm not going cold turkey, but gonna try to ride out a month or two without any significant pedal purchases -- just mega-deals on clones if they pop up. Plus, between ordering this and its arrival, I had good motivation to end up buying a DOD DFX9 Digital Delay. Whatever my rationale, I've got that arena covered for a bit.

With all that in mind, this thing rules:



Had it for two days, posted a little over in the "Setup Of The Day" thread. Definitely need more time, but really enjoying it so far, even if not for exactly the reasons I expected. I wasn't lusting after one of these for years, but I love me some late-'80s Boss designs, and love the primitive sound of what Boss calls "vintage digital" these days. Dirty repeats, weird artifacts, all the strange early-frontier characteristics. I just couldn't get it off my mind, and when i saw one come up about $20-$30 below the average price, I was weak and bit on it.

So, as far as the delay modes, it sounds great, and I like it a lot. Do you like digital delays that can self-oscillate? Then this is the ****ing pedal for you.

A DD-5 will always be my favorite of the line -- I like a nice clear repeat. But the high-pass on these, with the dwindling low-end, makes it feel more like the repeats "evaporate" or something, just a little different from the way most delays decay. Seems like it will lend itself well to some of the more atmospheric, stretched-out stuff I play. Shorter times and higher feedback levels send it into a really cool oscillation, easily tweakable for you noise-merchants even more out-there than I am. And it feels like that "mostly highs" tonal characteristic has a big effect on that oscillation. Haven't even begun to play with feeding it back into itself via the tuner out, but seems like a good time, if not my usual creative workflow. It's a good and somewhat unique Boss digital delay, and you can get it to self-oscillate. What more can you really ask?

Octave up and down modes sound good, but "of their time", in a way i can't quite articulate. Great sounds, but if you want good, well-tracked pitch shifting, buy something modern. My little cheap Donner Harmonic Square does that for me just fine. This thing is for the "strange-but-usable" sounds it makes. It can go way out, but it doesn't have to.

Mode 4 is where it's at for me. The "manual adjust" detune. With the feedback up and the manual pitch knob just barely off noon, you can get a cool metallic trail, like a chromed chorus, kinda. Hard to put into words, but a weird cousin of a "modulation" effect. Sounds really cool and retro-modernist, all with that dirty low-bit sound I like so much. As I put it elsewhere, I wouldn't call it "shoegaze in a box", but everything I've added it to has taken on another level of shoegaze sheen.

So, like, is it earth shattering? No. Will it give me more new (usable) sounds to play with, unlike anything else I own? Absolutely. First or second in the chain, I can get that digital knife edge detune sound, strange octaves, weird warbles, and a classic Boss digital delay with up to 2sec and a character unlike the others.

It's a total win, and is going to get a lot of use on my "textural/ambience" board. For metallic pitch shifting and pre-dirt (and pre-reverb) delay. I like that it's not cut and dry for me, there are unexpected sounds to be discovered, since almost all of it is already out of the usual arena. And it's another somewhat unique example of my very favorite era of Boss pedals.

(For anyone that read this far, it's dated as an April 1992 MIT model, and I don't believe the hype about how what they did to "fix" the noise on the earliest ones hobbled oscillation on the later ones. I think there's some internet misconception floating around. Maybe they did fix the noise, but doesn't seem like they took away the oscillation. This MIT model still goes nuts when you ask it to.)

[cestlamort]

Very cool. I’ve long been curious about these. (I think m Dave from the Chameleons had one on his board for their 2001 tour. It was a great stand in for the whirring delay of his Roland RE501 on the records)
Lately I’ve been really enjoying the Micropitch delays on the Eventide H9 for many of the sounds you describe: slightly detuned delays that fade in ways different to other digital and analog delays, especially with the tone more on the high pass side of things. (Not the greatest for noise making though). Only funny in that most pitch shifting stuff gives me hives, but slightly detuned is really fun to explore.

[i love sharin foo]

I've owned a couple and have one currently. I love setting it to really long delay times with a bit less than infinite regeneration. It builds into a giant wall of sound-on-sound terribleness. Perfect! I like dialing in some really lofi octave tones, too. There's a lot you can do with that pedal. It's imperfection is what makes it so endearing to me. It surprises me with sounds and noises that I didn't expect. I really like that earlier digital delay tone too. I am a dyed in the wool analog and tape delay user, but these old Boss digital units are right up there for me. They hit a great balance between crisp and clunk, presence and atmospheric.

[Chippertheripper]

I played one for a few whiles as my main delay.
I have no idea how or why I ended up owning it. I remember being remarkably surprised at how good the delay sounded, and I remember being shocked it was about $150ish on the used market. So off it went!

Anecdotally, an echo park came and went briefly after that, and then the venerable mljr which I’ve used for the last 10-12yrs.

But the ps2 is a great delay. I’d give one another noodle for sure.

[clark]

To me, the PS2 and RV3 are two of the best delays Boss has ever made (Still love my re20 too).

[Paco]

One of the best pedals ever released by Boss, there's just nothing like the lo-fiesque quality of early digital <3.

Mine is also an old MIT, and it will go crazy as well Its delay capabilities are awesome, you can also do a fake 12 string that clangs and rings like a bell among other tricks. I bought a Rainbow Machine for that weird effect slot during recordings but I just prefer the wackiness on my ol' PS-2.

I agree on the RV-3, the hype will always be real for these babies. My trusty pink label RV-3 may not be on all my boards, but it will never leave my side. Much like the PS-2, actually. Boss for life.

@Cestlamort, I'm super interested on the Chameleons using the PS-2, any more info? any live video? It just sounds like an awesome use of a PS-2!