
An undersung rhythmic vibe enhancer gets a compact and capable reissue.
Unique, inspiring, and fun effect. Stereo functions open up lots of potential. Works well with other effects.
Compact footprint makes it hard to access some essential functions. Can be confusing to learn.
$169
Boss Slicer
boss.info
One of my favorite gear discoveries in recent years is the original Boss Slicer SL-20. A friend hipped me to its wild percussive magic and what I call “big vibe.” When the first dual-pedal version came out as part of the company’s 20 series, I was under the impression it was a fancy tremolo. That might be the closest classic guitar effect, but the Slicer lives in its own world: The effect chops a signal into preset rhythmic patterns and applies filters and pitch shifters to create everything from propulsive grooves and melodies to glitchy, warbled tones.
Lead parts played in the single and dual settings with the tempo cranked and a lower attack setting evoke a broken-Leslie kind of sound, especially in 3D modes.
The Slicer is a unique effect that’s more in line with what you might find on synths and drum machines than a pedalboard. That, plus an original production run that lasted just a few years, has made it kind of a deep-cut, sleeper favorite. What a surprise, then, that Boss is reissuing the effect in their standard—and much more compact—enclosure.. Even better, the new SL-2 features deeper functionality. So, does it live up to the hype surrounding the original?
Clip 1 – High attack and duty settings, single type.
Clip 2 – High attack and low duty settings, full wet, harmonic type.
Clip 3 – Low attack and high duty settings, tremolo type.
Clip 4 –High attack and low duty, various tempo settings, sfx type.
Clip 5 – Example of how the Slicer can fit into a track. Recorded with two guitars (each with various other effects) each with different Slicer modes (rhythm is stereo, lead is mono).
Deep Functionality, Limited Space
The SL-2 fits a lot of functionality in very little space. It would be impressive just to squeeze all the features of the much larger original unit into the new one. Yet the SL-2’s 88 preset rhythms exceed the original’s 50, and they can be swapped out via USB with Boss’ Tone Studio app. Two stacked knobs cover balance (mix) and tempo as well as attack and duty (sample length). Another single-function knob selects effect type. These include options for a single signal-slicing path, dual signal-slicing paths, tremolo, a harmonic mode (pitch modulated rhythmic patterns), and an SFX mode (multiple effects on each pattern). Another knob selects 11 possible variations on each effect. The Slicer also features dual-jack stereo ins and outs, a MIDI input for syncing with external devices, and an expression/footswitch input.
That extensive list still doesn’t cover all the Slicer’s functions. And to access the rest, things get trickier. Using the pedal’s stereo functionality is critical to making the most of the effect, but to access those seven settings, you may need to keep the manual nearby. For example, if you turn the first four knobs to the right, the type knob to the eighth position, and power up while holding down the footswitch, you can use the variation knob to choose a corresponding stereo setting. Sound confusing? It can be. And there are several of those footswitch tricks to master. Another example: you can set the output volume can range from -7 dB to a very hot 20 dB, which is helpful. But as I learned the hard way, you can easily set the too hot, and it can only be adjusted by holding down the footswitch and turning the tempo knob, which gives you no visual reference for the setting. You’ll also do a lot of footswitch tapping to access tap-tempo settings.
Flying Blind Is Fun
The best way to understand what the Slicer is capable of is to try everything. It’s not particularly intuitive, and it can feel hard to discern differences in some sounds. But there’s some method to the madness. Starting with the relatively straightforward single setting—which chops the signal without additional effects—and trying each variation explains a lot. But there’s no comprehensive list of what effects or rhythms each setting will feature, so you’re flying blind when you work through the variation and type knobs. This led to lots of fun discoveries, though. And I rarely failed to find a pattern that inspired something new in my playing.
Plugging into a stereo rig opens up the Slicer’s capabilities. There are seven stereo settings: fixed (both amps get the same signal), efx/dir (wet/dry), random, ping-pong, auto (which pans across the stereo field), 3D cross, and 3D rotation. The two 3D settings are the most psychedelic, creating the illusion of a forward/backward kind of movement as sounds pan across the field. Any of these settings can change the feel and impact of a pattern or setting, so there’s a lot of room for experimentation.
Inspiration Machine
With such a wide range of capabilities, the Slicer is an inspiration machine, and it can be used in a lot of ways. For the most part, I found myself playing sparsely and letting the Slicer do most of the work, especially when using delay or reverb.
Each effect type offers a wide range of fun. Using harmonic and tremolo effects with slow to medium tempos creates lots of ambient space. Using the ping-pong stereo setting, sometimes feels like multiple guitars. Lead parts played in the single and dual settings with the tempo cranked and a lower attack setting evokes a broken-Leslie kind of sound, especially in 3D modes. But for recording, I preferred this kind of sound in mono, where I captured more direct, glitchy sounds.
The Verdict
The Slicer is a fun effect, and if you’re into exploring ambient ideas, glitchy rhythms, minimalism, or any other kinds of sounds with room for movement, you’ll probably find sounds you love. You also might find new ideas to refresh your playing, like I did, which I think is the ultimate reward. The many pedal and knob combinations that you’ll need to remember in order to access key features can make the SL-2 confusing. I’d prefer the larger footprint of the original with the added functionality of the new model. But at $169, there’s not much room for complaint. The SL-2 is a powerful, creative effect that delivers.
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The country virtuoso closes out this season of Wong Notes with a fascinating, career-spanning interview.
We’ve saved one of the best for last: Brad Paisley.The celebrated shredder and seasoned fisherman joins host Cory Wong for one of this season’s most interesting episodes. Paisley talks his earliest guitar-playing influences, which came from his grandfather’s love of country music, and his first days in Nashville—as a student at Belmont University, studying the music industry.
The behind-the-curtain knowledge he picked up at Belmont made him a good match for industry suits trying to force bad contracts on him.
Wong and Paisley swap notes on fishing and a mutual love of Phish—Paisley envies the jam-band scene, which he thinks has more leeway in live contexts than country. And with a new signature Fender Telecaster hitting the market in a rare blue paisley finish, Paisley discusses his iconic namesake pattern—which some might describe as “hippie puke”—and its surprising origin with Elvis’ guitarist James Burton.
Plus, hear how Paisley assembled his rig over the years, the state of shredding on mainstream radio, when it might be good to hallucinogenic drugs in a set, and the only negative thing about country-music audiences.
Tom Bedell in the Relic Music acoustic room, holding a custom Seed to Song Parlor with a stunning ocean sinker redwood top and milagro Brazilian rosewood back and sides.
As head of Breedlove and Bedell Guitars, he’s championed sustainability and environmental causes—and he wants to tell you about it.
As the owner of the Breedlove and Bedell guitar companies, Tom Bedell has been a passionate advocate for sustainable practices in acoustic guitar manufacturing. Listening to him talk, it’s clear that the preservation of the Earth’s forests are just as important to Bedell as the sound of his guitars. You’ll know just how big of a statement that is if you’ve ever had the opportunity to spend time with one of his excellently crafted high-end acoustics, which are among the finest you’ll find. Over the course of his career, Bedell has championed the use of alternative tonewoods and traveled the world to get a firsthand look at his wood sources and their harvesting practices. When you buy a Bedell, you can rest assured that no clear-cut woods were used.
A born storyteller, Bedell doesn’t keep his passion to himself. On Friday, May 12, at New Jersey boutique guitar outpost Relic Music, Bedell shared some of the stories he’s collected during his life and travels as part of a three-city clinic trip. At Relic—and stops at Crossroads Guitar and Art in Gilbertsville, Pennsylvania, and Chuck Levin’s Washington Music Center in Wheaton, Maryland—he discussed his guitars and what makes them so special, why sustainability is such an important cause, and how he’s putting it into practice.
Before his talk, we sat in Relic’s cozy, plush acoustic room, surrounded by a host of high-end instruments. We took a look at a few of the store’s house-spec’d Bedell parlors while we chatted.
“The story of this guitar is the story of the world,” Bedell explained to me, holding a Seed to Song Parlor. He painted a picture of a milagro tree growing on a hillside in northeastern Brazil some 500 years ago, deprived of water and growing in stressful conditions during its early life. That tree was eventually harvested, and in the 1950s, it was shipped to Spain by a company that specialized in church ornaments. They recognized this unique specimen and set it aside until it was imported to the U.S. and reached Oregon. Now, it makes the back and sides of this unique guitar.
A Bedell Fireside Parlor with a buckskin redwood top and cocobolo back and sides.
As for the ocean sinker redwood top, “I’m gonna make up the story,” Bedell said, as he approximated the life cycle of the tree, which floated in the ocean, soaking up minerals for years and years, and washed ashore on northern Oregon’s Manzanita Beach. The two woods were paired and built into a small run of exquisitely outfitted guitars using the Bedell/Breedlove Sound Optimization process—in which the building team fine-tunes each instrument’s voice by hand-shaping individual braces to target resonant frequencies using acoustic analysis—and Bedell and his team fell in love.
Playing it while we spoke, I was smitten by this guitar’s warm, responsive tone and even articulation and attack across the fretboard; it strikes a perfect tonal balance between a tight low-end and bright top, with a wide dynamic range that made it sympathetic to anything I offered. And as I swapped guitars, whether picking up a Fireside Parlor with a buckskin redwood top and cocobolo back and sides or one with an Adirondack spruce top and Brazilian rosewood back and sides, the character and the elements of each instrument changed, but that perfect balance remained. Each of these acoustics—and of any Bedell I’ve had the pleasure to play—delivers their own experiential thumbprint.
Rosette and inlay detail on an Adirondack spruce top.
Ultimately, that’s what brought Bedell out to the East Coast on this short tour. “We have a totally different philosophy about how we approach guitar-building,” Bedell effused. “There are a lot of individuals who build maybe 12 guitars a year, who do some of the things that we do, but there’s nobody on a production level.” And he wants to spread that gospel.
“We want to reach people who really want something special,” he continued, pointing out that for the Bedell line, the company specifically wants to work with shops like Relic and the other stores he’s visited, “who have a clientele that says I want the best guitar I can possibly have, and they carry enough variety that we can give them that.”
A Fireside Parlor with a Western red cedar top and Brazilian rosewood back and sides.
A beautifully realized mashup of two iconic guitars.
Reader: Ward Powell
Hometown: Ontario, Canada
Guitar: ES-339 Junior
I’ve always liked unusual guitars. I think it started when I got my first guitar way back in 1976. I bought a '73 Telecaster Deluxe for $200 with money I saved from delivering newspapers.
I really got serious about playing in 1978, the same year the first Van Halen album was released. Eddie Van Halen was a huge influence on me, including how he built and modded guitars. Inspired by Eddie, I basically butchered that Tele. But keep in mind, there was once a time when every vintage guitar was just a used guitar—I still have that Tele, by the way.
I never lost that spirit of wanting guitars that were unique, and have built and modded a few dozen guitars since. When I started G.A.S.-ing simultaneously for a Les Paul Junior and a Casino, I came up with this concept. I found an Epiphone ES-339 locally at a great price. It already had upgraded CTS pots, Kluson tuners, and the frets had been PLEK’d. It even came with a hardshell case. It was cheap because it was a right-handed guitar that had been converted to left handed and all the controls had been moved to the opposite side, so it had five additional holes in the top.
Fortunately, I found a Duesenberg wraparound bridge that used the same post spacing as a Tune-o-matic. I used plug cutters to cut plugs out of baltic birch plywood to fill the 12 holes in the laminated top. I also reshaped the old-style Epiphone headstock. Then, I sanded off the original finish, taped the fretboard, and sprayed the finish using cans of nitro lacquer from Oxford Guitar Supply. Lots of wet sanding and buffing later, the finish was done.
I installed threaded insert bushings for the bridge, so it will never pull out. The pickup is a Mojotone Quiet Coil P-90 and I fabricated a shim from a DIY mold and tinted epoxy to raise the P-90 up closer to the strings. The shim also covers the original humbucker opening. I cut a pickguard out of a blank and heated it slightly to bend it to follow the curvature of the top.
All in all, I'm pretty happy how it turned out! It plays great and sounds even better. And I have something that is unique: an ES-339 Junior.
ENGL, renowned for its high-performance amplifiers, proudly introduces the EP635 Fireball IR Pedal, a revolutionary 2-channel preamp pedal designed to deliver the legendary Fireball tone in a compact and feature-rich format.
The EP635 Fireball IR Pedal brings the raw power and precision of the ENGL Fireball amplifier into a pedalboard-friendly enclosure, offering unmatched flexibility and tonal control for guitarists of all styles. This cutting-edge pedal is equipped with advanced features, making it a must-have for players seeking high-gain perfection with modern digital convenience.
Key Features:
- Authentic Fireball Tone – Designed after the renowned ENGL Fireball amplifier, the EP635 delivers the unmistakable high-gain aggression and clarity that ENGL fans love.
- Two Independent Channels – Easily switch between two distinct channels, with each channel’s knob settings saved independently, allowing for seamless transitions between tones.
- Built-in Midboost Function – Enhance your tone with the integrated Midboost switch, perfect for cutting through the mix with extra punch.
- Advanced Noise Gate – Eliminate unwanted noise and maintain articulate clarity, even with high-gain settings.
- IR (Impulse Response) Loading via USB-C – Customize your sound with user-loadable IRs using the included software, bringing studio-quality cab simulations to your pedalboard.
- Headphone Output – Silent practice has never been easier, with a dedicated headphone output for direct monitoring.
- Premium Build and Intuitive Controls – Featuring a rugged chassis and responsive controls for Volume, Gain, Bass, Middle, Treble, and Presence, ensuring precise tonal shaping.
SPECS:
- Input 1/4” (6,35mm) Jack
- Output 1/4” (6,35mm) Jack
- Headphone Output 1/8”(3,5mm) Jack
- 9V DC / 300mA (center negativ) / power supply, sold separately
- USB C