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Boss VF1 24-Bit Digital Effects Processor
24-bit A/D and D/A conversion with 30-bit internal processing. Powerful COSM-based Guitar Amp and Microphone Modeling. 400 effects Patches for applications ranging from guitar to digital recording to DJ/remixer setups.
"Great amp modeling!"
Quality:
The only problem I had was with the flash update, but once I got the right program to load it (from the France Roland site, since it's not available on the US site), it was simple and all my presets were still there.
Value:
For all the things this does, it's a great price. I bought the first one new for around $350 a few years ago, and the second one used for $200.00 about a month ago.
Desirability:
I tried the Boss GX-700 and didn't like it near as much. I did like that that GX-700 was easier to program and you could tell at a glance what effects were on, but the VF-1 has a lot more going for it including pickup sims, acoustic guitar sims, nice bass effects, and a ton of other effects that I rarely use now, but may use later. I also have a Behringer V-Amp 2. It sounds great, but it doesn't have as many effects, and it's not rack-mountable, so I don't use it much.
Sound:
Very versatile. I use one just for guitar and another just for bass. The amp sims are great. The fretless bass simulator is very nice as are the bass amp models and octaver.
Support:
As mentioned, the US web site didn't have the software loader.
Overall:
The VF-1 is just what I needed for my single act. No more carrying a guitar amp and effects pedals. I change patches fast by means of my Guitar Synth, and change level, effects, etc. by means of a couple of footswitches. There is a slight delay when changing patches, so I usually use one patch per song and change the gain, effects, etc by means of switches to avoid the delay.
The only problem I had was with the flash update, but once I got the right program to load it (from the France Roland site, since it's not available on the US site), it was simple and all my presets were still there.
Value:
For all the things this does, it's a great price. I bought the first one new for around $350 a few years ago, and the second one used for $200.00 about a month ago.
Desirability:
I tried the Boss GX-700 and didn't like it near as much. I did like that that GX-700 was easier to program and you could tell at a glance what effects were on, but the VF-1 has a lot more going for it including pickup sims, acoustic guitar sims, nice bass effects, and a ton of other effects that I rarely use now, but may use later. I also have a Behringer V-Amp 2. It sounds great, but it doesn't have as many effects, and it's not rack-mountable, so I don't use it much.
Sound:
Very versatile. I use one just for guitar and another just for bass. The amp sims are great. The fretless bass simulator is very nice as are the bass amp models and octaver.
Support:
As mentioned, the US web site didn't have the software loader.
Overall:
The VF-1 is just what I needed for my single act. No more carrying a guitar amp and effects pedals. I change patches fast by means of my Guitar Synth, and change level, effects, etc. by means of a couple of footswitches. There is a slight delay when changing patches, so I usually use one patch per song and change the gain, effects, etc by means of switches to avoid the delay.
"The Amazing Little Red Boxes."
Feature:
The only drawback is the wall wart.
Quality:
Never had a problem. Would rather have an internal switching power supply.
Value:
You won't find a better guitar pre/FX for the money. For versatility, you won't find a better guitar pre/FX PERIOD.
Desirability:
I call them my "little red boxes". The look good and sound GREAT.
Sound:
Although TC, Eventide and Lexicon still has an edge in the reverb department, this little box does it all in spades. The 1st thing to go in my guitar rig was a TC Electronic GFORCE. I use midi "pedal wah" and the Gforce was noisy. The VF1 fixed that. I took the money from the Gforce and bought 2 more VF1s. After a year of tweaking, I found that I could get roughly the same sound from a VF1 as my Marshall JMP1 preamp with a lot more consistency and a lot less hassle. The JMP1 will be up for auction soon.
Support:
Never needed it.
Overall:
Until somebody comes out with something better in a rack mount.
The only drawback is the wall wart.
Quality:
Never had a problem. Would rather have an internal switching power supply.
Value:
You won't find a better guitar pre/FX for the money. For versatility, you won't find a better guitar pre/FX PERIOD.
Desirability:
I call them my "little red boxes". The look good and sound GREAT.
Sound:
Although TC, Eventide and Lexicon still has an edge in the reverb department, this little box does it all in spades. The 1st thing to go in my guitar rig was a TC Electronic GFORCE. I use midi "pedal wah" and the Gforce was noisy. The VF1 fixed that. I took the money from the Gforce and bought 2 more VF1s. After a year of tweaking, I found that I could get roughly the same sound from a VF1 as my Marshall JMP1 preamp with a lot more consistency and a lot less hassle. The JMP1 will be up for auction soon.
Support:
Never needed it.
Overall:
Until somebody comes out with something better in a rack mount.
"Tuns o' Fun"
zZounds has verified that this customer bought this product from us.
The VF-1 has a buttload of features. The amp sims are excellent as are most of the effects. There are some truly bizarre gems in this box, like a working vocoder and "lo-fi" effects. MIDI in/out and expression capabilities add to the fun.Drawbacks: no headphone output, expression changes on some effects (like pitch shift) are not smooth.
"Excellent secondary processor"
Bear in mind that nearly every time variant parameter in this box can be locked to MIDI clock, with no limit on the numer of them or the subdivisions (pan to quarter notes, delaying to dotted eights and flange cycling across one bar - all at once) and this becomes a real gem for sound desgin. ALSO, the lofi algorithm actually allows bitscaling with a variable decimation filter! Abosolutely beautiful. Simple to use with a large, graphically driven LCD, complete with RSS and a 'global tempo' parameter - butt simple to edit and up to four MIDI CCs can be simply assigned to parameters for real time control (filter sweeps, for example). Given that it's a half rack, this box shreds many full single-space boxes in its price range. Intelligent harmonizer, 20-tap delay and a huge selection of amp & cabinet models that beat any input signal silly. The algorithms might seem limited at first, but there is in fact an elegance to them which lends itself to efficient inspiration. RE201 simulator, anyone? Dimension D? It's all here. Imagine those groovy SP808 and MC505 'slicer' and 'isolator' effects in an outboard box - they're here too! NOT an all-in-one box, but as a secondary processor this will provide polish far beyond its diminutive size and price range imply. it's a bit like using the hardware version of a fancy TDM plug-in. And it has GRAPHICS to edit by. Highly recommended.
"Excellent value even if it was twice the money"
This effects unit has some of the cleanest digital effects Ive ever heard outside of $1,000 plus studio effects. Highly recommended, intuitive controls and easy to tailor effects.
"the best multi effect rack i've ever used"
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