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Boss ST-2 Power Stack
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From fat crunch to ultra high-gain distortion, the ST-2 Power Stack delivers famous BOSS distortion with a stunning amount of power that?s akin to coveted tube amps and professional amp stacks. The SOUND knob simultaneously blends gain amount and sound character, so you can quickly dial up anything from vintage crunch and punchy drive to full-assault distortion. To...
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Searched Boss ST-2 Power Stack in Reviews
Fills a gap 
| Ease Of Use |
I got the Power Stack as i felt something was missing between my overdrive and my distortion. As I like to use different sounds for different songs, the Power Stack seemed to fit my bill. The knobs are very intuitive and the EQ is very responsive. The right knob is where the action lives, named "Sound". Turn it all the way to the left and you will get a crispy, nice overdriven sound. As you turn it clockwise the sound changes dramatically and the amount of gain delivered is astonishing when you set it to max.
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| Sound |
On its own, the Power Stack is an admirable little stomp box that had more variety and sounded better than I had hoped for. In a crowded pedal board it does however cause a bit of a headache.
But first, here's my set up:
Ibanez USA Custom->Tuner->Whammy->Wah->Micro POG->Ice9->PowerStack->Satchurator->MXR EQ->MicroAmp->SmartGate->Flanger->Delay->Reverb->VolumePedal->Marshall LM6100 with Marshal 1960 cabinet. All pedals powered by power supply, no batteries used. Cables are Klotz and Planet Waves.
When the Sound knob is anywhere between 7 and 12 o'clock it sounds great but if I activate the MXR MicroAmp for a solo boost the sound turns cleaner. Like what i get in volume boost is lost in gain.
The Power Stack gives me a second headache when I turn the Sound knob past 12 o'clock. From 1 o'clock and beyond I get tons of hiss, hum and feedback despite an active noise gate in the chain. Do bear in mind that this review is only based on the PowerStack being one of many pedals in a chain so it might work a lot better in a smaller crowd.
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| Reliability |
Stomp boxes now a day would probably survive a nuclear war, and this is no different.
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| Customer Support |
Not dealt with Boss.
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| Liked about it |
- Great variety of OD/distorted sounds.
- Impressive EQ.
- Affordable
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| Didn't like |
- The mentioned hissing and feedback.
- The loss of gain when used with a booster.
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| Overall satisfaction: |
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3.5 |
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The latest must-have guitar tool from BOSS
| Ease Of Use |
Extremely easy to use and almost impossible to make sound bad.
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| Sound |
The BOSS ST-2 Power Stack compact pedal is a new and I would dare say revolutionary compact pedal. Not necessarily an overdrive, not necessarily a distortion, it is a pedal that can serve as the overdrive/gain channel to a single-channel amp, or an amp that has a lacking overdrive/gain channel.
The BOSS ST-2 Power Stack has four knobs: Level, Bass, Treble, and "Sound" knob, which controls the level of gain the ST-2 delivers. The range of the Sound knob goes from "Crunch" at 7 o'clock, to "Drive" at noon, to "Ultra" at 5 o'clock.
Again, I have to stress that this pedal REALLY makes it seem like there's another, different channel to your amp. I've played this pedal with multiple amps, both Tube and Solid-State, and it makes both sound just stunning. At lower "Sound" settings, the pedal makes the amp compress slightly and break up in the vein of classic blues-type amps. Bring the "Sound" knob up around 10 o'clock and you get a nice, gritty break-up. At noon the pedal gives off the sound of a classic crunch amp. Push the knob past 2 o'clock towards the "Ultra" setting and you get everything from classic 80's rock sounds to modern metal--it's all right there at your fingertips. The on-board EQ settings allow you to sculpt the tone to your exact needs.
I could write for days and days about the great tone of this pedal, but you really need to hear it for yourself. I've done a short review and will do a more throrough review when I get more time.
The BOSS ST-2 pedal is an EXCELLENT alternative for those who don't want to compromise on their clean channel, but need a great drive channel.
BOSS_ST-2_Power_Stack (video)
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| Reliability |
BOSS solid!
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| Customer Support |
Never had to deal with them.
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| Liked about it |
Excellent tone.
Built solid.
Easy to dial in.
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| Didn't like |
Hard to say anything bad about this one!
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| Overall satisfaction: |
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5.0 |
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internal use: spec24 spec231
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