BOSS FENDER PEDALS

FENDER BOSS PEDALS

These three beauties were the result of a collaboration between Boss and Fender, in 2007, with the former using COSM to model the sounds of the legendary units they imitate. Do they sound close to the originals? In short not really, but they do a nice job and are really cool collectibles now that they discontinued. Each unit has custom Fender plate and colours unique to the units they copy. I'm certainly not a COSM man, more of an analog nut in reality and a Fender fanboy too unashamedly, but the very uniqueness of a Fender branded Boss pedal is an eyebrow raiser, and now I own all three, which are becoming increasingly sought after and expensive. Luckily all three here cost me far less than the current market value. Jammy or what, but at the end of the day whether you like them or not or whether I'd use them that often or not you have to admit they do look rather beautiful indeed.

FBM-1 Fender '59 Bassman

The Boss Bassman 'amp in a box' certainly makes your amp bloom and it's got that creamy vintage tube whack, novel but very cool and quite collectable now. It also offers 'Bright' input as well as normal just like the Bassman amp. Ideal for retro Blues when combined with an analog delay. Again can it compare with the real deal? Obviously not but it's less back-breaking and ideal for getting the ballpark tone for live work.

FDR-1 Fender '65 Deluxe Reverb Amp

The '65 Deluxe is a legend without question so does this COSM modelling unit come close? Again not really, and while this one is packed with features it can never replicate the real deal, it's only a pedal after all but it gives you a taste for sure. There's even vibrato in this which is a nice touch for that Sixties style.

FRV-1 '63 Reverb Fender 

This baby tackles the surf-rock favourites, tube spring reverb that is the sound of the Sixties in it's own right. While it's a three knob affair it's much easier to use than the other two units in the series. Just dial in the Dwell which drives the reverb and mix it to taste with the original signal, tweak the tone and your off. It is probably the pick of the bunch for its simplicity and sound which may be digital but it's still pretty magical in it's own binary way!