This compact box is a monster tone generator, with a dozen analog-synth-based core sounds and 171 variable presets, plus expansive tweakability.
A staggering amount of classic and otherworldly sounds that are easy to shape. Compact enclosure. Easy to use.
Really? There’s 171 preset voices and they’re not listed in the manual?
$299
Boss SY-200
boss.info
Roland produced the first guitar synthesizer, the GR-500, in 1977. It was cumbersome—requiring multiple rack spaces or a tabletop stand, and a special guitar outfitted with hexaphonic pickups. Problems with latency and tracking were all too real, as anyone who tried bending a note learned. But, with the right coddling, they sounded heavenly. Check out David Bowie’s “Ashes to Ashes” to hear the GR-500 at its best.
Many generations later, Roland subsidiary Boss delivers the SY-200. Inside its vault-like 5" x 4" x 2 " metal enclosure dwells all the processing for 171 sounds spread over a dozen core analog-style synth voices, 128 preset variations on those sounds, MIDI, and a deep but simple set of controls that put a variety of ferocious-and-twisted, elegant, and classic-synth-cheesy sounds at my fingertips.
- Lead Synth Mode, Oct Lead 1 setting—all dials at noon except guitar level at 63 and effect level at 30. Zuzu guitar on Zuzu neck humbucker and Porter bridge humbucker, through Carr Vincent 1x12 combo: volume 8 o’clock, treble 2 o’clock, mid boost mode, bass 9 o’clock, reverb 10 o’clock, drive 10 o’clock, 33W.
- Pad Synth Mode, Slow Sweep setting—all dials at noon except guitar level at 88, effect level at 44, resonance at 78, tone at 100; Zuzu guitar on Porter bridge single-coil, through Carr Vincent 1x12 combo: volume 8 o’clock, treble 2 o’clock, mid boost mode, bass 9 o’clock, reverb 10 o’clock, drive 10 o’clock, 33W.
- Pad Synth Mode, Soft Pad setting—all dials at noon except guitar level at 60, effect level at 50, resonance at 70,; Zuzu guitar on Porter bridge single-coil, through Carr Vincent 1x12 combo: volume 8 o’clock, treble 2 o’clock, mid boost mode, bass 9 o’clock, reverb 10 o’clock, drive 10 o’clock, 33W.
- Sequencer Synth Mode, Seq + Noise Lead setting—all dials at noon except guitar level at 65, effect level at 50, tempo at 120,; Zuzu guitar on Porter bridge single-coil, through Carr Vincent 1x12 combo: volume 8 o’clock, treble 2 o’clock, mid boost mode, bass 9 o’clock, reverb 10 o’clock, drive 10 o’clock, 33W.
- Organ Synth Mode, Layered Organ setting—all dials at noon except guitar level at 50, effect level at 70, variation 8,; Zuzu guitar on bridge humbucker, through Carr Vincent 1x12 combo: volume 8 o’clock, treble 2 o’clock, mid boost mode, bass 9 o’clock, reverb 10 o’clock, drive 10 o’clock, 33W.
- Arpeggio, then Lead Synth Mode, Touch Filter setting: all dials at noon, except tone at 45 variation 1,; Zuzu guitar on bridge humbucker, through Carr Vincent 1x12 combo: volume 8 o’clock, treble 2 o’clock, mid boost mode, bass 9 o’clock, reverb 10 o’clock, drive 10 o’clock, 33W.
The James Cagney of Guitar Synthesis
This tough little guy is the kid cousin of Roland’s SY-1000, a 13" x 20" stomp synth issued in 2019 that brought ’80s GR-300-flavored synth sounds and more to any guitar or bass for a grand. At a third of the price, the SY-200 offers a lot to any guitarist or bassist with a taste for adventure. There’s zero latency, the dynamic response is excellent, and the control set is so simple and intuitive that you almost don’t need a manual—which is good, because the manual explains little more than the device’s exterior anatomy. (Failing to include a list of those 171 sounds is a major omission. A Google search for a PDF of the manual brought up a downloadable list.) The SY-200 runs on three AA alkaline batteries or a Boss PSA series 500ma adaptor.
The 1" x 2 1/2" LCD screen is a godsend. Running the SY-200 on the floor with my pedalboard running through the SY-200’s effects loop, I could read the effect names clearly and switch through presets readily with the Memory/CTL 1 stomp button. However, I ultimately decided to place the SY-200 on a stand to better make changes on the fly—like changing the guitar/effect balance of my 017 bubble sound preset (video-games, anyone?), or adding resonance to my favorite voice, the 109 touch filter (raging, dynamically sensitive, attenuated fuzz).
The best place to start building tones is the right-side dial, with 12 analog synth sound options.
You start building tones on the right-side dial, by selecting from one of 12 core analog synth sound options. They are lead, pad, string, bell, organ, bass, dual (beefy tones), sweep, noise, SFX, sequence, and arpeggio. Some, like arpeggio and pad, are self-explanatory. Others have characteristics associated with their organic equivalent. Bell, for example, is bright and metallic, while lead is tightly focused for soloing. Noise and SFX yield modulations and octave-type sounds that are fairly unpredictable from setting to setting but very cool as trail tones at dryer settings. And I swear that I could hear the keys clicking in 074 layered organ, where I got my Jon Lord on.
Re-set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun
Tone, resonance, and depth knobs are situated directly under the LCD screen and provide control of EQ and dimensionality. D. level and E. level are separate controls for balancing the organic guitar tone and the selected effect. The variation dial, meanwhile, lets you blend in additional voices from each sound category. For example, 074 layered organ has 13 additional variations within its sonic spectrum. The number of variations per sound varies. All the controls have detents, and the tone, resonance, depth, D. level, and E. level dials each have 100 subdivisions for ultra-precise tweaking. Sometimes the change of a few detents was imperceptible, to my ears, at least. In other settings, the arpeggio and pad, for example, very small changes could be significant.
Pushing the menu button activates the control menu and expression pedal functions and enables access to MIDI capabilities. The memory control button also works as a tap tempo, and you can control pitch shifting effects or envelope parameters via an expression pedal (not included). Want to save a particularly interstellar sound? Simply hit the menu and exit buttons at the same time, and then press down the memory dial. Bingo! It’s there in the preset bank, waiting to be called up via the Memory CTL/1 switch.
As with any synth pedal, there are occasionally unpredictable results. In a few settings, like 041 bubble, bent notes peter out a bit. And in some sweep, noise, and SFX settings, fast runs and chording got a bit sticky. But dialing back the effect level usually yielded a balance where clusters of noise sat comfortably below the core guitar tone, providing a foundation for the chaos. Some sounds, like 109 Touch Filter, had more boldness and character on the lower strings.
The Verdict
It’s hard to imagine a more sonically diverse pedal than the SY-200—especially for its size. Whether I used humbuckers, single-coils, or effects like delay and overdrive—the SY-200 was a delight to play. Even sounds that didn’t please my ear—like some chirpy classic synth tones—were intriguing and authentic. And at $299 it’s a bargain, particularly when you consider the vast number of tones and the ease with which they can be sculpted. Some players might even find that the SY-200 renders their flanger, phase shifter, organ emulator, shimmer delay, or other pedals redundant. Needless to say, there’s plenty in Boss’ latest synth to please both guitar synth newcomers and veterans.
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Join PG contributor Tom Butwin as he explores all-new versions of the Framus Hootenanny 12-string and 6-string acoustics—made famous by John Lennon and now available with modern upgrades. From vintage-inspired tone to unique features, these guitars are built to spark creativity.
Neil Young’s ’70s hits are some of the most recognizable radio rock jams of all time. But Neil’s guitar playing continued to grow over the ensuing decades, as he traversed styles from blues to country to electronic to rockabilly and beyond, eventually developing one of the most tonally decadent, fully formed improvisational voices in the entire guitar universe.
Neil Young’s ’70s hits are some of the most recognizable radio rock jams of all time. But Neil’s guitar playing continued to grow over the ensuing decades, as he traversed styles from blues to country to electronic to rockabilly and beyond, eventually developing one of the most tonally decadent, fully formed improvisational voices in the entire guitar universe.
Like any discography that’s been growing over the course of more than half a century, it can be hard to decode Young’s work. And with such an adventurous spirit, it could be easy to make some missteps and miss out on his best guitar works. In this episode, Nick guides Jason through some of his hero’s finest moments.
More news from Neil always seems to be on the horizon, so here’s your chance to catch up.
This episode is sponsored by Gibson.
This Japan-made Guyatone brings back memories of hitchin’ rides around the U.S.
This oddball vintage Guyatone has a streak of Jack Kerouac’s adventurous, thumbing spirit.
The other day, I saw something I hadn’t noticed in quite some time. Driving home from work, I saw an interesting-looking fellow hitchhiking. When I was a kid, “hitchers” seemed much more common, but, then again, the world didn’t seem as dangerous as today. Heck, I can remember hitching to my uncle’s cabin in Bradford, Pennsylvania—home of Zippo lighters—and riding almost 200 miles while I sat in a spare tire in the open bed of a pickup truck! Yes, safety wasn’t a big concern for kids back in the day.
So, as I’m prone to do, I started digging around hitchhiking culture and stories. Surprisingly, there are organized groups that embrace the hitching life, but the practice remains on the fringe in the U.S. Back in the 1950s, writer Jack Kerouac wrote the novel On the Road, which celebrated hitchhiking and exposed readers to the thrill of maverick travel. Heck, even Mike Dugan (the guitarist in all my videos) hitched his way to California in the 1960s. But seeing that fellow on the side of the road also sparked another image in my brain: Yep, it always comes back to guitars.
Let me present to you a guitar that’s ready to go hitching: the Guyatone LG-180T, hailing from 1966. The “thumbs-up” headstock and the big “thumb” on the upper bout always made me think of thumbing a ride, and I bought and sold this guitar so long ago that I had forgotten about it, until I saw that hitchhiking dude. Guyatone was an interesting Japanese company because they were primarily an electronics company, and most of their guitars had their wooden parts produced by other factories. In the case of the LG-180T, the bodies were made by Yamaha in Hamamatsu, Japan. At that time, Yamaha was arguably making the finest Japanese guitars, and the wood on this Guyatone model is outstanding. We don’t often see Guyatone-branded guitars here in the U.S., but a lot of players recognize the early ’60s label Kent—a brand name used by an American importer for Guyatone guitars.
With a bit of imagination, the LG-180T’s “thumbs up” headstock seems to be looking for a roadside ride.
Kent guitars were extremely popular from the early ’60s until around 1966. The U.S. importer B&J fed the American need for electric guitars with several nice Kent models, but when the Guyatone contract ended, so did most of the Kent guitars. After that, Guyatone primarily sold guitars in Japan, so this example is a rare model in the U.S.
“Unless you are a master at guitar setups, this would be a difficult player.”
This headstock is either the ugliest or the coolest of the Guyatone designs. I can’t decide which. I will say, no other Japanese guitar company ever put out anything like this. You have to give the Guyatone designers a thumbs up for trying to stand out in the crowd! Guyatone decided to forgo an adjustable truss rod in this model, opting instead for a light alloy non-adjustable core to reinforce the neck. Speaking of the neck, this instrument features the most odd-feeling neck. It’s very thin but has a deep shoulder (if that makes any sense). Totally strange!
Another strange feature is the bridge, which offers very little adjustment because of the three large saddles, which sort of rock back and forth with the tremolo. It’s a shame because these pickups sound great! They’re very crisp and have plenty of zing, but unless you are a master at guitar set-ups, this would be a difficult player.
This could be why the LG-180T only appeared in the 1966 and 1967 catalogs. After that, it disappeared along with all the other Yamaha-made Guyatone electrics. By 1969, Guyatone had gone bankrupt for the first time, and thus ended guitar production for a few decades. At least we were blessed with some wacky guitar designs we can marvel at while remembering the days when you could play in the back end of an explosive 1973 AMC Gremlin while your mom raced around town. Two thumbs up for surviving our childhoods! PG
There's a lot of musical gold inside the scales.
Intermediate
Intermediate
• Develop a deeper improvisational vocabulary.
• Combine pentatonic scales to create new colors.
• Understand the beauty of diatonic harmony.Improvising over one chord for long stretches of time can be a musician's best friend or worst nightmare. With no harmonic variation, we are left to generate interest through our lines, phrasing, and creativity. When I started learning to improvise, a minor 7 chord and a Dorian mode were the only sounds that I wanted to hear at the time. I found it tremendously helpful to have the harmony stay in one spot while I mined for new ideas to play. Playing over a static chord was crucial in developing my sense of time and phrasing.
The following is the first improvisational device I ever came across. I want to say I got it from a Frank Gambale book. The idea is that there are three minor pentatonic scales "hiding" in any given major scale. If we're in the key of C (C–D–E–F–G–A–B) we can pluck out the D, E, and A minor pentatonic scales. If we frame them over a Dm7 chord, they give us different five-note combinations of the D Dorian mode. In short, we are building minor pentatonic scales off the 2, 3, and 6 of the C major scale.
Viewing this through the lens of D minor (a sibling of C major and the tonal center for this lesson), D minor pentatonic gives us the 1–b3–4–5–b7, E minor pentatonic gives us 2–4–5–6–1, and A minor pentatonic gives us 5–b7–1–2–4. This means you can use your favorite pentatonic licks in three different locations and there are three different sounds we can tap into from the same structure.
If you smashed all of them together, you would get the D Dorian scale (D–E–F–G–A–B–C) with notes in common between the D, E, and A minor pentatonic scales. Ex. 1 uses all three scales, so you can hear the different colors each one creates over the chord.
Ex. 1
Ex. 2 is how I improvise with them, usually weaving in and out using different positional shapes.
Ex. 2
The next idea is one I stole from a guitarist who often came into a music store I worked at. On the surface, it's very easy: Just take two triads (in our example it will be Dm and C) and ping-pong between them. The D minor triad (D–F–A) gives us 1–b3–5, which is very much rooted in the chord, and the C major triad (C–E–G) gives us the b7–9–4, which is much floatier. Also, if you smash these two triads together, you get 1–2–b3–4–5–b7, which is a minor pentatonic scale with an added 2 (or 9). Eric Johnson uses this sound all the time. Ex. 3 is the lick I stole years ago.
Ex. 3
Ex. 4 is how I would improvise with this concept. Many different fingerings work with these, so experiment until you find a layout that's comfortable for your own playing.
Ex. 4
If two triads work, why not seven? This next approach will take all the triads in the key of C (C–Dm–Em–F–G–Am–Bdim) and use them over a Dm7 chord (Ex. 5). Each triad highlights different three-note combinations from the Dorian scale, and all of them sound different. Triads are clear structures that sound strong to our ears, and they can generate nice linear interest when played over one chord. Once again, all of this is 100% inside the scale. Ex. 5 is how each triad sounds over the track, and Ex. 6 is my attempt to improvise with them.
Ex. 5
Ex. 6
If we could find all these possibilities with triads, it's logical to make the structure a little bigger and take a similar approach with 7 chords, or in this case, arpeggios. Naturally, all the diatonic chords will work, but I'll limit this next idea to just Dm7, Fmaj7, Am7, and Cmaj7. I love this approach because as you move further away from the Dm7 shape, each new structure takes out a chord tone and replaces it with an extension. I notice that I usually come up with different lines when I'm thinking about different chord shapes, and this approach is a decent way to facilitate that. Ex. 7 is a good way to get these under your fingers. Just ascend one shape, shift into the next shape on the highest string, then descend and shift to the next on the lowest string.
Ex. 7
Ex. 8 is my improvisation using all four shapes and sounds, but I lean pretty heavily on the Am7.
Ex. 8
This last concept has kept me busy on the fretboard for the last five years or so. Check it out: You can take any idea that works over Dm7 and move the other diatonic chords. The result is six variations of your original lick. In Ex. 9 I play a line that is 4–1–b3–5 over Dm7 and then walk it through the other chords in the key. These notes are still in the key of C, but it sounds drastically different from playing a scale.
Ex. 9
In Ex. 10, I try to think about the shapes from the previous example, but I break up the note order in a random but fun way. The ending line is random but felt good, so I left it in.
Ex. 10
While all these concepts have been presented over a minor chord, you can just as easily apply them to any chord quality, and they work just as well in harmonic or melodic minor. Rewarding sounds are available right inside the harmony, and I am still discovering new ideas through these concepts after many years.
Though the above ideas won't necessarily be appropriate for every style or situation, they will work in quite a few. Developing any approach to the point that it becomes a natural extension of your playing takes considerable work and patience, so just enjoy the process, experiment, and let your ear guide you to the sounds you like. Even over just one chord, there is always something new to find.