Recent User Experience-Boss Acoustic Singer Live

[dgimcmillan]

I got my Boss Acoustic Singer Live about a month ago.

I use it about once a week when a friend comes over to play. He plays a D-28 with a pick, and I play a 00 with my fingers, so I like to have an equalizer for his volume. The Boss works perfectly for that.

When I set up to play with my friend, I usually take the time to do some playing with the looper feature. It's taken me a while to get comfortable with the looper, but it's definitely a fun tool and convenient for developing some lead lines with various progressions.

On Friday night, I went to a song circle and took my amp with me. I set it up with my guitar plugged in as well as a Samson Q8 vocal mic. I used the Boss FS-6 pedal set and plugged it into the vocal pedal link. With the FS-6 plugged in, I could select the harmony vocal function AND the mute function.

I also used the line out to the host's PA - a little Peavey portable system.

The mute function was especially important, because nobody else was plugged in, and they only used the PA for vocals. So, I made sure that I was muted and playing acoustic only when it wasn't my turn. Very convenient AND polite to the others!

When it was my turn, I just umuted and played. The amp was a great monitor for me, and the DI worked perfectly! I also used the harmony function a couple of times, and people really liked it! They kept looking around trying to find the other singer!

All in all, the Boss Acoustic Singer Live was perfect. The big surprise for me was how effective having a foot pedal for muting was in this setting.

[menhir]

Thanks for the review.

Now that Carvin has gone belly up, the Boss Acoustic Singer is one of the amps that have moved nearer to the top of my list.

[dgimcmillan]

The Boss is my 3rd acoustic amp.

My first one was a Genz-Benz 60LT. It had a great sound but the electronics didn't hold up, and the repairs didn't get it working properly, either.

So, I traded it for an ElectroVoice EV 12ZLP powered speaker, and an Allen&Heath ZED10fx mixer. That gave me huge power and headroom along with a very natural, clean sound. It also gave me a huge back ache whenever I had to carry it anywhere. Too heavy.

Then I traded the speaker/mixer combo for a Roland AC-33. No problem picking that amp up.... Unfortunately, the Roland was very anemic when it came to volume. The tone was good, and the looper was handy once in a while.

Enter the Boss.

Even though the Boss speakers are smaller than the Genz-Benz, I find the sound is very close. I'm putting that down to the modern electronics in the Boss. As far as the AC-33 goes, the Boss sound is as good, the volume is better, and the Boss feature set knocks the Roland right out of the studio.

The Carvins all sounded good on paper, to me, but I could never get anywhere to hear one in action. You won't go wrong with the Boss series, though.

[Marty C]

Congrats on this purchase. I love the idea and concept they put together. It would fit several scenarios for me. Not to mention practicing.

When you hook this up to another source (say di out to a powered speaker),does it kill the internal speaker? Just wondering if this could be used as a monitor and some sort of mixer prior to heading out to a larger amplification system. Seems like a mixer, pedal board and speaker all in one.

[dgimcmillan]

When I plugged it into the PA system last week, I still got sound through the amp speakers too. It was a very effective monitor for me.

[EmirSavas]

Hi,

When I record a loop by pressing the button on the guitar amplifier, there is no problem in switching between the loops.

But when I start with the footswitch and record the time between loops, I wait about 1 second and then start again, which breaks the rhythm. What would be the reason?

[meb]

I also picked up an AS Live about a month ago. I had just purchased a Boss
VE-8 and wasenjoying its features. I used the ASLive at an Art Gallery
gig in a big lively space where soft to medium volumes were needed. I
sounded great. I used it in place of my usual Bose L1c.

It was fun to throw in an occasional harmony via the FS-5u pedal. I used
the looper for sound check. The amp was right next to me and I just
reached over if I needed to mute it for breaks.

When I try to use it as a mixer/monitor in test mode at home, the hookup
options are fine, but I get a very tiny hiss out of my L1C. I suspect it has
something to do with going from xlr to the required trs on the L1C.
Surely I can figure out a solution. The EQ combinations on the panel are
thorough and all manual....unlike the deep dive you take on the VE-8
to get to the EQ settings

All in all, I am pleased with the Boss A.S. Live.

[ohiopicker]

Originally Posted by meb

I also picked up an AS Live about a month ago. I had just purchased a Boss
VE-8 and wasenjoying its features. I used the ASLive at an Art Gallery
gig in a big lively space where soft to medium volumes were needed. I
sounded great. I used it in place of my usual Bose L1c.

It was fun to throw in an occasional harmony via the FS-5u pedal. I used
the looper for sound check. The amp was right next to me and I just
reached over if I needed to mute it for breaks.

When I try to use it as a mixer/monitor in test mode at home, the hookup
options are fine, but I get a very tiny hiss out of my L1C. I suspect it has
something to do with going from xlr to the required trs on the L1C.
Surely I can figure out a solution. The EQ combinations on the panel are
thorough and all manual....unlike the deep dive you take on the VE-8
to get to the EQ settings

All in all, I am pleased with the Boss A.S. Live.

Hi,

I saw your comments on the Boss Acoustic Singer Live. I was wondering if you could tell me what mic you use, and if possible recommend a cardioid vocal mic that has a "forgiving" polar pattern, allowing me to be a little off- axis when singing. Thanks!

[meb]

Since my last post, I used the AS Live as mixer/monitor out put straight to
my Bose L1 Compact at one of my gigs. The sound was superb, and I
got no hiss whatsoever via the 'mix out' thru an xlr/trs converter to
the L1C. It seemed to be a cleaner setup than using my VE-8. Using
the AS Live gives me manual EQ without having to use the 'dreaded'
VE-8 'Hidden menu'. I
have no idea what I was doing when I got the 'hiss'.

As to mics, I used the Shure Beta 58A super-cardiod for live. I also
have a Sennheiser e835 cardioid that I happened to plug in a few
days ago for a practice session, and it did fine.

[seannx]

I got an Acoustic Singer Pro about a month ago and am really enjoying it. The vocal harmony feature is great.

[ohiopicker]

Originally Posted by seannx

I got an Acoustic Singer Pro about a month ago and am really enjoying it. The vocal harmony feature is great.

What mic are you using? Where are you setting the gain knob?

[seannx]

Originally Posted by ohiopicker

What mic are you using? Where are you setting the gain knob?

Am traveling, and will check when I'm home later next week.

[meb]

With the Beta 58A, about 11:00 on both mic volume and Master volume is
plenty.

[Birdbrain]

I haven't delved into the looping features yet, but so far this is a chunky little box of joy. My biggest surprise is how well it performs with electric guitar. The Chorus feature gives a nice impression of early Pat Metheny tones. The Acoustic Resonance seems to virtually deepen the thin body of my Godin Montreal Premiere Supreme, making it a nice strummer. Played clean, it barks with strong volume, too. Really, it seems to give you everything but distortion (and delay, but Boss has a pedal for that...).

In one word, versatile!

[Birdbrain]

By the way, my real name is McMillin.