Boss SL-20 Slicer Audio Pattern Processor Pedal

Turn your instrument into a percussive, groove-making machine with this pedal. It features 50 slice patterns onboard with adjustable attack and duration.

Overall User Ratings (based on 5 ratings)
  • Overall:
    3.5 out of 5 stars
  • Sound:
    3.5 out of 5 stars
  • Features:
    2.5 out of 5 stars
  • Ease of Use:
    3.5 out of 5 stars
  • Quality:
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Value:
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Manufacturer Support:
    4.5 out of 5 stars
  • The Wow Factor:
    4 out of 5 stars
Overall: 3.5 out of 5 stars
(5) (see rating details)
Submitted July 13, 2009 by Jason

"Fun but limited."

Overall: 3.5 out of 5 stars
(see rating details)
Verified Customer zZounds has verified that this reviewer made a purchase from us.
Written by one of our gear experts!
Overall, it's not a bad unit. It does what is claims to do, but I found it limited musically. Maybe if I'd had a chance to use it with an expression pedal I might have been more impressed, but probably not. In the end it was fun to play with, but I'm not sure it would contribute much to my music overall.
Sound
The sound quality on the unit itself is good. I wish it had an option to switch impedance levels - the device is obviously designed with low impedance keyboards in mind as well as high impedance guitars, but the inputs are all high impedance (and therefor the sound is a little distorted when using a low impedance source).
Features
The features on this unit are lacking. I would have to recommend purchasing the recommended expression pedal to go with it, to control attack or "duty" (release). That would make the unit much more musical, but even still you can't manipulate those options on looped tracks. There are a good number of preset arpeggio patterns, but if I was to use an arpeggiator I would want to be able to make my own. I realize this a bit much to ask of this unit, but it is still a feature I would like which this unit lacks.
Ease of Use
Very easy and straightforward to use.
Quality
Built like a tank, like all Boss pedals.
Value
I feel that the price of the physical components is justified, but in terms of practicality it isn't worth the cost.
The Wow Factor
It's a sexy unit. The black and green colors look sleek, and the tempo LED is effective and looks cool. Definitely stands out on a pedal board.

Musical Background:

Film Composer

Musical Style:

Electronic, Classical
3 of 3 people (100%) people found this review helpful. Did you?
Thanks for your opinion!

Submitted July 28, 2009 by Julian

"Less is more."

Overall: 4.5 out of 5 stars
(see rating details)
Verified Customer zZounds has verified that this reviewer made a purchase from us.
Written by one of our gear experts!
Any guitarist should use this product if they feel like trying something different and would especially like to make a guitar sound less like a guitar and more like something electronic.
Sound
The best way to use this pedal is to not overplay on an instrument because it can create a lot of effected notes or sounds from a note or chord you are playing. The less you play on an instrument, the better it works at what it does. If you end up playing a lot on an instrument with the effect on, the sound can get muddy, unless that is what you would want to hear.
Features
The ability to adjust your tempo of the effect in three different ways; the tap tempo, the strobe light rotary knob, and a MIDI IN clock.
Ease of Use
Plug in and turn the knobs to get what you would want. Let your ears be your guide. The flexibility in changing the tempo also makes this pedal really easy to use.
Quality
Well made, as every BOSS pedal is.
Value
Due to the fact this is a large, well made pedal from BOSS and is a bit of a novelty item, its price makes sense.
Manufacturer Support
I haven't made usage of it for any BOSS products but Roland, which is the parent company, has always been helpful whenever I had questions about their gear.
The Wow Factor
The best way to use this pedal is to not overplay on an instrument because it can create a lot of effected notes or sounds from a note or chord you are playing. The less you play on an instrument, the better it works at what it does. If you end up playing a lot on an instrument with the effect on, the sound can get muddy, unless that is what you would want to hear.

Musical Background:

Active Musician

Musical Style:

Rock, electro, techno, house, juke, ambient, classical, jazz, etc.
3 of 4 people (75%) people found this review helpful. Did you?
Thanks for your opinion!

Submitted June 24, 2008 by a customer from hotmail.com

"Cute toy"

Overall: 2 out of 5 stars
(see rating details)
Verified Customer zZounds has verified that this reviewer made a purchase from us.
it's a gimmick. a toy.
Sound
It is nice bossy quality hi def clear sound you put in, hi def clear sound you get out, after being recombobulated by the 'effect'. The Harmonizer effect is nice, seems a bit like the Zoom 'step' auto harmonic effect, just sliced through a midi tremolo too, which is cool because it is doing it all in one pedal. I recommend stamping on it in an intense jam session climax, but not relying on it throughout a song or your guitar will begin to sound so rhythmically precise. like a cheesy backing pattern from a casio synth after a few minutes. If you are playing in U2, that's just fine, but a delay and a linked tremolo at the same tempo accomplish te same thing. I can't call it 'bad' because it is nice and clear and does what it says it will, but after a while (for anyone who has ever experienced the 'insistance' of drum machines curbing their groove, you will understand.) it gets kind of like it is bludgeoning the way you play into its little beat pattern. Keep it off most of the time, and engage it for some power climax crazyness, dont bass a whole song off of its rhythm patterns.
Features
Meh... a book and a wall wart... The features in it, like the extra effects, and the possibility of switching between mono and ping-pong and so on are kinda cool. But seriously folks... look at what this thing is... it turns an audio signal into a preprogrammed beat loop. You could play a kazoo into it, or hum incoherently into it, and it would come out like a preprogrammed techno riff. If you want robot music, then there's plenty of features on this to make it that you don't even have to know how to play chords to sound all awesome and 'in the pocket'. It's like the guitarist's version of the 'auto-accompaniment' on beginner keyboards. I could sneeze into it and get a cool rhythm track. But after a while the rhythm gets old and you really should just use this guy as a 'icing on the cake' kind of effect or it will drone on and on and on until it becomes annoying. On the plus side, I messed with the 'hold' looping stuff and that became the basis of the song we were jamming, when I just turned the loop recorder off and played over it in the 'input level', but you have to remember to turn the loop off when you want to play a change or it will start to drive everyone nuts.
Ease of Use
I am not a big fan of tap tempo or tempo knobs. I want a definite number in milliseconds to work with, this way I can configure ALL my effects and stuff to the same beat. I don't like that the only way for exact sync is through MIDI in. especially with a machine intended to turn any audio source into a beat pattern, you would think they would let you dial in an exact tempo, instead of the human-error approach of tapping it in or twisting a knob.
Quality
It's solid chassis. The knobs are sticking out a bit so they may get busted off if you lug it around with gear though.
Value
honestly, although a cool toy, it doesn't do much more than add a gimmicky sound to your live act. Anything you want to do in a studio (even a home studio) setup you can emulate by chopping and pasting in audio editor programs. As for live jamming... yeah it's a fun little toy on par with a digitech whammy or a bassballs for just adding something wierd and intense for a second in a song. If you want to design your sound around this thing though, then guitar playing as an art form has become as punked out and pathetic as drum machine pattern switching. Now anyone can sound like they got groove, without even having to strum in tempo, the machine can do it for you.
Manufacturer Support
boss is cool
The Wow Factor
I think it's a copout. An excuse to dumb down guitar playing even further. However, if one was handed to me, I would add it to my toy box

Musical Background:

pro, semi-pro, hobbyist, engineer, etc

Musical Style:

alternafunkadeathtechghettorockgarageskungeternative
10 of 20 people (50%) people found this review helpful. Did you?
Thanks for your opinion!
Please wait.