Boss Power Stack ST-2
WINNER
GROUPTEST
IF
we were giving points for
nostalgia, the Power Stack
ST-2 would romp home: it’s the
same iconic Boss brickette from
our garage days, and even
now it feels like the most
roadworthy of the contenders.
Still, £100 for a standalone,
sole-purpose pedal is hardly
an olde-world price, and the ST-2
needs to blitz its claims of “power
akin to coveted tube amps and
professional stacks”.
Pedalboard junkies will be
frustrated by the lack
of true bypass, but the
ST-2 gives a strong
performance while the
red LED glows. In Boss
tradition, the controls
are perfunctory – just
a Level dial and two-
band EQ – and the
one you’ll focus on
is the Sound shaper,
which takes your gain
by increments from
vintage fuzz to modern grind.
We’d go along with Boss’ claims
that this pedal responds to picking
intensity: stroke the strings and
notes ring out clean, dig in and
they break round the edges, and
that’s something we didn’t get
from all these pedals. It will suit
expressive players, then, rather
than robotic virtuosi.
As for tone, it’s a non-committal
thumbs-up. There’s a killer
performance at lower gain stages,
with the ST-2 giving humbucker-
equipped guitars that fat, frayed
‘brown sound’ of 60s Brit blues.
That said, the “ultra-high gain
modern distortion” touted when
you crank the dial hard clockwise
isn’t savage enough (and makes
singlecoils scream like a bitch). All
in, the ST-2 is wholly professional
and turns in a quality sound,
but at £100, it’s a purchase that
won’t stack up for everyone.
THE
distortion market has
plenty of workhorses.
You get the feeling that Akai’s
Deluxe Distortion fancies itself
as a thoroughbred: a pampered
pompadour that’s too swanky to
share a gigbag with the rest of your
ghastly, plebeian pedals. And you
must admit, the features do look
top-drawer, with an analogue
format, true bypass, array of tone-
shaping dials, and even a Direct
Rec switch that emulates amp
output when you’re going straight
to the desk. But there’s a twist:
Akai has managed to keep this
little lot under £70. For us plebs,
things are looking up.
All those switches look like a
headache – and they might be a
little flimsy and fiddly for rough
or dark venues – but operation
in a controlled environment is
surprisingly intuitive,
with your first choice
being the EQ mode
(Modern, Normal
or Classic) and fine-
tuning done via the
Tri-Mode and High
Cut switches and
detailed EQ. You
won’t spend long
chasing a cracking
tone, though, as
wherever you
point the dials, this
unit’s output is coloured
by innate class. From the
brown vintage warmth of
the Classic setting, to the
mid-scooped mentalism of
Modern, this is both the best
and the most versatile pedal
we’ve seen today.
Don’t be fooled by the
pseudo-elitism. The features
of this pedal might scream
‘it’s too good for the road!’,
but the competitive price tag
whispers, ‘Oh bugger it, it’ll be
fine’. A worthy winner.
BOSS POWER
STACK ST-2
£100
AKAI DELUXE
DISTORTION
£69.99
FEATURES
SOUND QUALITY
VALUE FOR MONEY
BUILD QUALITY
USEABILITY
OVERALL RATING
S U M M A R Y
FEATURES
SOUND QUALITY
VALUE FOR MONEY
BUILD QUALITY
USEABILITY
OVERALL RATING
S U M M A R Y
AT A GLANCE
TYPE: Distortion pedal
CONTROLS: Level, Bass,
Treble, Sound
SOCKETS: Input, Output, Power
TRUE BYPASS: No
POWER: Battery, PSU
(sold separately)
CONTACT: Roland UK 01792
702701 roland.co.uk
AT A GLANCE
TYPE: Distortion pedal
CONTROLS: Level, Low, Mid
Freq, Mid, High, Dist, Dir Rec, EQ,
High Cut, Tri-Mode
SOCKETS: Input, Output, Power
TRUE BYPASS: Yes
POWER: Battery, PSU
(sold separately)
CONTACT: Numark-Alesis
01252 896000 akaipro.com
GROUP TEST GEAR
MAY 2011 159
TGR214.gear_test 159 3/29/11 11:01:56 AM