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BOSS
ES8 Effects Switching System
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FOOT-STOMPING CREATIVITY
The ES-8 Effects Switching System begins life with a sharp and clear mission: to provide pro and high-end users with cool and creative solutions. The new and innovative ES-8 is a system that represents a major leap out of the box from the standard individual stomp box utility. It is a whole new way of providing unprecedented capability without sacrificing sound quality. The ES-8 combines far-reaching flexibility with total freedom of expression. All this, in one cool device.
Not just another utility tool, the ES-8 kicks down the door to unlimited possibilities in the universe of musical expression. From this day on, the use of stomp boxes will never be the same. Using BOSS advanced technology the ES-8 is designed for spontaneity on the stage.So, go ahead. Jump out of the box. Take the plunge into a whole new world of musical expression. Celebrate the birth of the cool at BOSS with the hot new ES-8 Effects Switching System. Its a total game changer that will take you to places no musician has ever gone before.
Features:
• The ES-8 scratches all the itchy points of today's discriminating artists which no other switching system has yet been able to reach.
• Programmable switching system with eight loops (plus an additional loop)
• Analog circuit design to protect your pure tone
• Unprecedented routing flexibility with the ability to change the routing order and create parallel effect chains
• Onboard memory for storing external control parameters such as delay time for each patch
• Buffers can be turned on/off individually each for input and output and stored in each patch; level variability for output buffer
• Highly-reliable footswitches with switch-noise mute capability
• LCD and 7-segment LED display show detailed information at a glance
• 800 patch memories provide unmatched capability for touring musicians
• Completely customizable pedal function assignments
Specifications:
Loops: 8 (Effect loop), 1 (Volume loop)
Patch Memory: 800
Pedals:
• Number switch x 8
• BANK switch x 2
• MEMORY/MANUAL switch
• MUTE switch
Nominal Input Level: IN 1, 2: -10 dBu; RTN 1-6, RTN 7L, RTN 7R, RTN 8L, RTN 8R, RTN VOL: -10 dBu
Input Impedance: IN 1, 2: 1 M ohms
Nominal Output Level: SEND 1-7, SEND 8L, SEND 8R, SEND VOL, OUT 1/L, OUT 2/R, TUNER: -10 dBu
Output Impedance: OUT 1/L, OUT 2/R, TUNER: 1 k ohms or greater
Recommended Load Impedance: 10 k ohms or greater
Display: 7 segments, 3 characters (LED); 16 characters, 2 lines (backlit LCD)
Connectors:
• IN 1, 2 jacks: 1/4-inch phone type
• SEND 1-7, SEND 8L, SEND 8R, SEND VOL jacks: 1/4-inch phone type
• RTN 1-6, RTN 7L, RTN 7R, RTN 8L, RTN 8R, RTN VOL jacks: 1/4-inch phone type
• OUT 1/L, OUT 2/R jacks: 1/4-inch phone type
• TUNER jack: 1/4-inch phone type
• EXT CTL CTL 1/2, CTL 3/4, CTL 5/6 jacks: 1/4-inch TRS phone type
• EXT CTL EXP 1, EXP 2 jacks: 1/4-inch TRS phone type
• CTL IN EXP 1 CTL 1/2, EXP 2 CTL 3/4 jacks: 1/4-inch TRS phone type
• MIDI connectors (IN, OUT/THRU)
• DC IN jack
Power Supply: AC adaptor
Current Draw: 400 mA
Accessories: AC adaptor, Owner's manual, Leaflet "USING THE UNIT SAFELY", Rubber foot x 5, Screw x 2
SIZE AND WEIGHT
Width: 439 mm (17-5/16 inches)
Depth: 137 mm (5-7/16 inches)
Height: 65 mm (2-9/16 inches)
Weight: 2.5 kg (5 lbs 9 oz.)
The ES-8 Effects Switching System begins life with a sharp and clear mission: to provide pro and high-end users with cool and creative solutions. The new and innovative ES-8 is a system that represents a major leap out of the box from the standard individual stomp box utility. It is a whole new way of providing unprecedented capability without sacrificing sound quality. The ES-8 combines far-reaching flexibility with total freedom of expression. All this, in one cool device.
Not just another utility tool, the ES-8 kicks down the door to unlimited possibilities in the universe of musical expression. From this day on, the use of stomp boxes will never be the same. Using BOSS advanced technology the ES-8 is designed for spontaneity on the stage.So, go ahead. Jump out of the box. Take the plunge into a whole new world of musical expression. Celebrate the birth of the cool at BOSS with the hot new ES-8 Effects Switching System. Its a total game changer that will take you to places no musician has ever gone before.
Features:
• The ES-8 scratches all the itchy points of today's discriminating artists which no other switching system has yet been able to reach.
• Programmable switching system with eight loops (plus an additional loop)
• Analog circuit design to protect your pure tone
• Unprecedented routing flexibility with the ability to change the routing order and create parallel effect chains
• Onboard memory for storing external control parameters such as delay time for each patch
• Buffers can be turned on/off individually each for input and output and stored in each patch; level variability for output buffer
• Highly-reliable footswitches with switch-noise mute capability
• LCD and 7-segment LED display show detailed information at a glance
• 800 patch memories provide unmatched capability for touring musicians
• Completely customizable pedal function assignments
Specifications:
Loops: 8 (Effect loop), 1 (Volume loop)
Patch Memory: 800
Pedals:
• Number switch x 8
• BANK switch x 2
• MEMORY/MANUAL switch
• MUTE switch
Nominal Input Level: IN 1, 2: -10 dBu; RTN 1-6, RTN 7L, RTN 7R, RTN 8L, RTN 8R, RTN VOL: -10 dBu
Input Impedance: IN 1, 2: 1 M ohms
Nominal Output Level: SEND 1-7, SEND 8L, SEND 8R, SEND VOL, OUT 1/L, OUT 2/R, TUNER: -10 dBu
Output Impedance: OUT 1/L, OUT 2/R, TUNER: 1 k ohms or greater
Recommended Load Impedance: 10 k ohms or greater
Display: 7 segments, 3 characters (LED); 16 characters, 2 lines (backlit LCD)
Connectors:
• IN 1, 2 jacks: 1/4-inch phone type
• SEND 1-7, SEND 8L, SEND 8R, SEND VOL jacks: 1/4-inch phone type
• RTN 1-6, RTN 7L, RTN 7R, RTN 8L, RTN 8R, RTN VOL jacks: 1/4-inch phone type
• OUT 1/L, OUT 2/R jacks: 1/4-inch phone type
• TUNER jack: 1/4-inch phone type
• EXT CTL CTL 1/2, CTL 3/4, CTL 5/6 jacks: 1/4-inch TRS phone type
• EXT CTL EXP 1, EXP 2 jacks: 1/4-inch TRS phone type
• CTL IN EXP 1 CTL 1/2, EXP 2 CTL 3/4 jacks: 1/4-inch TRS phone type
• MIDI connectors (IN, OUT/THRU)
• DC IN jack
Power Supply: AC adaptor
Current Draw: 400 mA
Accessories: AC adaptor, Owner's manual, Leaflet "USING THE UNIT SAFELY", Rubber foot x 5, Screw x 2
SIZE AND WEIGHT
Width: 439 mm (17-5/16 inches)
Depth: 137 mm (5-7/16 inches)
Height: 65 mm (2-9/16 inches)
Weight: 2.5 kg (5 lbs 9 oz.)
Q & A
There are currently no questions for this product.
Reviews
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Amazing capabilities. You can do anything! Just make sure you have a PHD 13 of 13 customers found this review helpful
Features
Quality
Value
Overall
Product Experience I own it
Closest Store Kanata, Ontario
I bought this in the spring of 2017 and all I can say is wow. Best $1K I ever spent. I figured most people use their computers everyday, whats $1k on what becomes the command center of your entire rig?
I use this mothership to command a somewhat simple rig pedal wise. I have a Analogman KOT overdrive(2 channel seperate input), Xotic SP, Janglebox and Bitquest inside of the switch loops. Outside of the ES-8 loops I have the empress echosystem and the empress reverb.
I have one button programmed for my clean 1 - xotic sp compressor, KOT and a nice lush hall reverb(from the empress outside of the chain).
I have clean 2 - my janglebox with the same setup but a little more grit from the KOT, but a little less volume from the empress reverb outside of the chain. This is my psychedelic 12 string tone. Sounds super jangly. Very Byrds-esque.
I have a button that i can use to momentarily splash the bitquest into the signal and make it sound like a space ship taking off... or i can splash in some tape delay and do the "wuhhhuhhuhuu wuu wuuu wuuu" takeoff noise too but less alien... I can swap between different reverb layers too (hall/room/plate).
For me what set this apart from the other mega switchers on the market was this one's ability to re-order the actual sequence of the pedals within the loop. Above where I mentioned I splash in some effects I actually have that layer INFRONT of everything else, I can even re-adjust the volume of each channel, turn off the buffer or on(great for fuzz and wah pedals)...
Just recently I discovered you can basically plug in any type of footswitch with a TRS cable... and then inside the ES-8 send that signal to anything you want (ie: tap tempo, feedback ratio, mix knob etc.) Its really kind of like computer programming "when switch left side on, trigger xyz"
You have so much power with this thing you can really do anything. I love the idea you can have "sounds" with the push of a different button and you can have them trail or not, overflow into each other or not. Some switchers can probably do this now, but a lot of them are still just on/off even though you are switching multiple channels the 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8 config is the same, some of mine are like 8-2-2-1-3-4-5-6-7 (2 is in there twice cause you can literally do that).
I have mine setup pretty simple so I only really use it to control overdrive on/off and reverb delay... But they have lots of channel differences. With the ES-8 you could configure patches different, 0-999. If you have a multiple channel reverb and delay like the echosystem or reverb you in a way have like 20 pedals going at once if you call up all the patches at once.
The only negative thing I can say is that for owning for 3 years it is such a nightmare to configure, I talk really highly about it because I am blown away by its capabilities... but have fun programing some of them. Sometimes I don't even play guitar I just stare at my pedal board and imagine the sound... then spend a week trying to get there. The menu's are really hard to navigate and boss doesn't do the best in terms of documentation aside from "navigate here, pick your setting"... ok, but what do I pick? Fortunately there is tons of FB groups and internet posts from people being in the same position as you looking for answers. When this thing first came out I spent months on forums trying to figure stuff out... Then came the midi editor program and the 2.0 firmware. As a result I think now i just understand more about "signal" in general.
Sorry for the novel but this thing is really great! The user communities are great too! The boss ones are meh.. but I think for some people this is a workhorse and others its a "how many reverbs can i put on at one time" sort of device so there's tons of info on this from different audiences, pros and noobs too. If there was one item to force you track gear in a spreadsheet... this is the one!
Posted by Mike on Sep 30, 2019
Response from Long & McQuade
Awesome review Mike!!!!
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A warranty can be a very important factor when making a buying decision. Because repairs can be very expensive in terms of parts and labour costs, manufacturers usually only provide one year limited warranties that generally only cover items that malfunction due to a manufacturer’s defect. With an important purchase such as a musical
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Because of this, Long & McQuade provides our customers with a FREE one-year Performance Warranty on most of our products. The Long & McQuade Performance Warranty supplements the manufacturer’s warranty to ensure that our customers receive complete “no hassle” warranty coverage within their first year.
How does the Long & McQuade Performance Warranty differ from most manufacturers' warranties?
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| Product | SKU | Qty |
|---|---|---|
| ES8 Effects Switching System | 433490 |
