Amped Bitesize Review: Boss AC-3 Acoustic Simulator

Designed to make your electric sound like and acoustic   23-Mar-13

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We are doing a bitesize review of a Boss pedal every day for a month, and today it's the turn of the Boss AC-3 Acoustic Simulator - designed for people who don't want to take their electro acoustic guitars on the road with them.

We're looking at 30 pedals this month, and then on the final day of March, we'll be doing a round up of our favourites. The idea being that you can quickly watch our bitesize reviews and compare one Boss pedal to another, and quickly see if you like the sound.

The Boss AC-3 Acoustic Simulator processes the signal of your electric guitar, and aims to give you an output signal that sounds like an electric, but does it work?

Rich's verdict - "Emulating an acoustic guitar with the signal of an electric guitar is no mean feat, and I must say that I think it might be an impossible one. Boss have essentially made a good EQ pedal with presets and a touch of reverb.

"It has the ability to flavour your sound in such a way in that it sounds more 'produced' than just a dry clean signal, but it doesn't 'sound like' an acoustic guitar.

"If you are in a bit of a pickle, and you don't want to take your prized acoustic on the road with you, then this might help you out of a tight spot. I've personally heard The Subways use this pedal in their live rig to good effect, but I'd prefer to make some extra space in the back of my car and just buy a relatively cheap electro-acoustic if I'm honest. Also, there's a part in the review where I said that I thought the wet signal was better than the dry signal, I've subsequently changed my mind after hearing it back!"

RRP - £115

More info - Boss AC-3 Acoustic Simulator info page