player opinions
Boss BR-8
Name: Keith Mc Adam
Band: -----
Model Year: -----
Price Paid: £400
Performance
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This is a great machine but after 12 months it has gone faulty. Switch the machine on, zip drive fires up but machine doesn't boot up. The back light on the display lights up and several red track LEDs light up but that’ s it. It has done this before but after resetting it would eventually work. Now it's just dead meat.
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Performance Rating: 8
Sound Quality
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Sound Quality Rating: 8
Construction
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Construction Rating: 1
Name: Richard
Band: Redemptions Call
Model Year: -----
Price Paid: $700
Performance
When I started my band, I realized the need for a good recorder, but not one that would break us. I talked to some of the people at the music store where I buy my equipment, and they referred the Boss BR-8. So I bought it, and have found it to be all that the band, or just me, needs. It does everything promised. I noticed some were complaining about disk space and the fact that you can't put the zip disk into a normal zip drive on the computer. Well problem solved! The BR-8, like a computer program, can be updated! The version you buy is the 1.2 version. I upgraded mine to the 1.4 version, and with it you can use 250 mg size zip disks, plus other things. And for the burn to CD, you can download a program that when you put the zip disk into a computer drive, it will convert the .prg (BR-8 audio) data into a CD quality .wav file. Then just burn away! If you would like to get an update and .prg to .wav converter, e-mail me at RichyChuck@Yahoo.com and I'll hook you up. Also, in case you didn't know, you can buy an expression peddle, and use it just as an effects peddle! Which makes it so much easier! And you have over 200 effects! The possibilities are endless!
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Performance Rating: 10
Sound Quality
I have found that the effects are great! And what's great, is that if you think, let's say... the overdrive, if you think its not hard enough, you can use the insert effect to change it to however you want! You can even create your own effects and save them! But, some of the effects are a bit off, but as said, can be changed. Other than that, it sounds over all pretty dang good.
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Sound Quality Rating: 8
Construction
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Overall, I think it was well worth what I paid for it. I would recommend it to anyone. The body is very sturdy, and well put together! If you're looking for a good, but not TOO EXPENSIVE recorder, effects machine, tuner, guitar riff trainer, and EVERYTHING ELSE, BUY THIS MACHINE! Its the BOSS BR-8.
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Construction Rating: 10
Name: Andrew Ceccon
Band: Very Very
Model Year: -----
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Price Paid: $700
Performance
The BR-8 makes it very easy for someone to begin recording out of the box. It's especially well-suited for guitarists. While the product's interface is fairly self-explanatory, like most Roland/Boss products, the manuals are poorly written, lacking real-world examples that might make it easier to follow. I also found that relying on only a 100 Mb Zip disk, with no hard drive memory, is extremely risky business. I mysteriously lost tracks and precious time on three songs before I decided to drop kick (not literally) this machine and move up to a better digital recorder with hard disk and CD burner.
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Performance Rating: 5
Sound Quality
At first I was impressed with the COSM guitar effects, but you will quickly tire of their obviously digital cheesiness. What's worse is that every time you plug in an instrument or mic, it assumes you want an effects patch. Sounds trivial, but turning off the patch is an unnecessary hassle. The compression applied to the signal diminishes the natural head room on your input. I used a good condenser mic and tube preamp, but almost never could strike the right spot between a weak signal and overloading.
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Sound Quality Rating: 7
Construction
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The encasement is sturdy, relatively light and portable. Boss certainly packed a lot into a little box. As for reliability, I abandoned this machine because I grew very leary of its ability to save my work. I lost about 20 hours of my recording life to the BR-8 with nothing to show for it. Zip disks are a ridiculously inadequate and expensive way to store your work. And, you will realize how quickly you will run out of space with retakes and overdubs. You are forced to optimize your disk space constantly. All this takes your mind off what this is all about — capturing a great performance.
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Construction Rating: 2
Name: Zac
Band: -----
Model Year: -----
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Price Paid: $700
Performance
I am a new player, self-taught and only play at home. My needs and understanding of things musical are both minimal. Still, the BR-8 was as easy to use as a VCR or stereo system. It instantly helped me become a better player (recording at set tempos, hearing myself sing and play, etc.) My one complaint is that the Zip drive on the BR-8 formats in a proprietary manner so I cannot just pop the BR-8 Zips into my computer and burn a CD. This fact is not clear from the packaging/sales literature, but is very clear in the instructions.
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Performance Rating: 8
Sound Quality
Like they say — garbage in garbage out! Perhaps I am not qualified to judge this one. The BR-8 has hundreds of built in effects for guitar, vocals and bass. They all seem to make me sound better. My only complaint is that the drum kit sounds mechanical.
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Sound Quality Rating: 8
Construction
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It's a home/studio device and seems quite reliable. The view screen is very small, but works well. With reasonable care, it will last a long time. Nothing internal has failed in 8 months of use averaging 1 hour per day.
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Construction Rating: 8
links
Average Ratings
- Performance: 7.6
- Sound Quality: 7.6
- Construction: 6.6
Ratings Key
- 10: Excellent
- 0: Useless
Company
- Boss