BOSS WL20 WL20L or WL50

dcopper · #1 08-17-2018, 12:08 PM

Anyone give these a shot yet? I don’t think the WL20L which is supposed to have no cable simulation, is out yet. The WL20 and WL50 are on the shelves. The WL50 which is in a pedal format, runs on batteries and can power other pedals like the TU tuner, has a selector switch for “short cable, long cable or no cable simulation”. The WL20 has cable simulation.

Interested to see how they may work with K&K pickups, especially passive K&K pms.

I have an xVive that works OK with passive K&K and a Sunrise pickup which is passive. I am just not sure whether I am happy with it - sounds maybe just a little weak, but does work OK so far.

dcopper · #2 08-17-2018, 06:45 PM

I went to check out these today after my post. Curiosity got the best of me. I ended up with the WL50. It is in a pedal format but has the option to switch from no cable simulation to short cable and longer cable. OK, so that is just eq voodoo or something.

Comparing it to the xVive- louder, punchier and much more of everything coming through the S1. The WL 20L model without cable modeling is coming out shortly but has not hit the shelves yet. So it comes down to whether you want the pedal format with the cable/no cable option or want the bug type plug and play transmitter and receiver. The WL 50 requires the extra step of running a cable from the WL 50 into the amp/board. Otherwise the WL 20 series plugs right into the amp/board input.

The real issue that most people had with the xVive is that the xVive did not work well with active pickups. The BOSS WL 50 sounded fine with no noise/hum/whine etc. with a Baggs M80 which is active. My xVive whined like a sick cat when I plugged into the M80 on one of my guitars.

So my impression - the WL 50 is the most practical and versatile and only 20 bills more than the WL 20 models. The WL 20 even with the cable modeling may color your tone a bit but isn't that what cables do normally anyway?

my dos centavos on the WL series.

AeroUSA · #3 08-17-2018, 07:17 PM

I have the pedal format version and love it. The stereo jack still doesn’t work with the Anthem etc and it still suffers from interference from active preamps if they are in the end pin. This will be hard for wireless manufactures to solve. I have a comparison of the Xvive, G10 and Boss coming to my YouTube channel soon and I’ll be giving the G10 away to celebrate reaching 500 subscribers.