Boss AD-2 Acoustic Preamp

Acoustic-electric guitarists may now enjoy natural, professional-quality sound on any stage thanks to the AD-2 Acoustic Preamp. This small pedal has sophisticated processing power that belies its compact size and simple, intuitive interface, thanks to an advanced BOSS sound engine. Ambience offers pro-level reverberation ideal for acoustic guitar, whereas Acoustic Resonance captures the intricate resonance qualities of your unplugged tone. A notch filter for feedback control, a direct connection to a PA, and a convenient mute function are also available on the AD-2, as are essential stage tools such as an notch filter.

I overlooked this pedal at first, assuming I needed a pedal from a specifically “acoustic” oriented brand. In the end I was drawn to the simplicity of this product and took a chance and I’m glad I did! For it’s price you’ll be hard pressed to find a better way to enhance your acoustic sound. The ambiance/reverb is the function I’m most drawn to and it sounds better than any PA reverb I own. I think of this as a glorified reverb pedal that improves the sound of my acoustic with both soundhole pickups and built in. Even with all knobs turned left your guitar will sound good.

Despite being called a “preamp” this is more of a really nice “conditioner” of your acoustic pickup signal. Not a real increase in level but with 10mohm input impedance, it’ll buffer a passive or active signal adequately. No DI out but you can use a TRS to XLR as an optional direct input.

The Ambience is a subtle reverb that adds some space to the sound but can’t really drown it out, even cranked up. The Resonance applies some EQ (mid-cut, primarily), some gentle compression, and possibly an exciter effect on bass and treble frequencies. Assuming you have a good pickup system, this is a really nice solution to just polish it up without getting too many gain stages in your chain or over-EQing your signal.

I find setting the resonance around 10 or 11 o’clock makes everything sound a little bit nicer and I can leave my amp flat. Very underrated pedal.

Conclusion

You cannot get simpler than the Boss AD-2 with three controls – acoustic resonance that adds depth to the sound, ambience that adds reverb and a notch filter for feedback. If you have a preamp controls on your acoustic it’s all you need. If , however, you only have a sound hole pick up you may wish to add an EQ pedal to the signal chain. I’m extremely pleased with this pedal I run a silent stage rig for both acoustic and electric guitars . Previously I ran the Zoom and a Helix stomp into a two channel looper via an AB switch. Now I run the Boss into the Helix with “amp free” patches to allow me to add chorus and delay to the acoustic signal – perfect! I highly recommend this pedal – it takes up little room on your board and is great for getting a decent sound at an open mic night – run off batteries pop it into your guitar case and set up in seconds to avoid that acoustic quack you normally get through the bars PA