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Boss AD-3
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Boss AD-3

Multi-Effect for Acoustic Guitar from Boss belonging to the AD series

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« Some Brilliant Features Couple With Some Underwhelming Additions »

Published on 05/06/15 at 14:09
Value For Money : Correct
Audience: Anyone
I bought the AD-3 for a specific reason, and that was that I did not trust my band’s sound guy. We were starting to do acoustic gigs, and the sound of my guitar out of the mixing board was less than stellar. I did not want to get an amp since there was a lack of space, and the mixing board and speakers were taking up quite a bit of real estate. I knew that the way to take back control of my sound was going to be at my feet in the form of a pedal (so typical of me to think a pedal could solve a sonic problem).

There are plenty of acoustic preamp pedals out there, but I had very specific needs. I am not an acoustic player in the sense that I have a repertoire of sing-a-long songs, and other acoustic friendly material. My band simply takes our electric show, and with some minor changes plays it on acoustic. My needs at an acoustic show are different that your typical player, but the basics are the same. I am also playing in a band (two guitars, bass, and singer) which requires different sonic necessities. I initially thought about ripping into my electric pedalboard, and stealing an iStomp or two and reprogram them for a 3-band EQ and whatever else I thought I could use. Pulling pedals off my board just wasn’t the best way to go.

I was using a guitar with piezo pick-ups with very little onboard tonal controls- just a volume and tone knob. I needed something to expand my control, and the AD line of Boss acoustic preamps caught my eye. The AD-8 had more bells and whistles than I needed. I settled on the AD-3 since it had enough features for what I was looking for plus a couple of extras. It was designed to work with piezo pick-ups so it seemed like a no brainer to buy the pedal.

Building a pedalboard just for the acoustic shows was where I was heading with the AD-3 anchoring it. I am really impressed with some of the features of this pedal. The anti-feedback is brilliant, the controls are intuitive, and the battery saving measures are excellent. It has a long battery life, but I plugged it in during a live situation to try and take battery failure out of the equation (there is enough to worry about already). The AC adaptor is not included, and must be purchased separately.

The pedal is not without its problems, and those are the things that weigh it down. The reverb is not the best in my opinion, but is workable. The chorus is also workable, but not a stellar effect. Instead of a chorus I’d rather have a delay or a boost feature. I’m not the biggest fan of the chorus effect (I got my fill of it in the 80’s), and I only use it once or twice in a set. When I have a solo I need to cut through other instruments to be heard so I’d rather have a footswitch activated boost instead of chorus. The tone shaping is designed around use with a piezo pick-up, so keep that in mind when checking this pedal out.

Since buying the AD-3 I have upgraded my acoustic guitar to a Breedlove Pursuit Concert Ebony loaded with a Fishman ISYS pick-up. This upgrade in electronics has made the AD-3 obsolete in my live acoustic rig. It is too bulky to add to my electric rig for use with my piezo loaded Telecaster.

In conjunction with a piezo loaded guitar this is a great pedal, but it is not for everyone. Chorus and reverb are not necessarily the effects I would choose to go with an acoustic guitar. The anti-feedback is great, and works well without having to stop playing to take care of the issue. It is well designed, but has a very specific target audience that it can be used by.