15 Boss pedals in one. New PX-1 Plugout.

[Saul Goodman]

Only one pedal at a time. Not sure if it would be for me but kind of cool.

 

[Dave Scepter]

If only someone "just someone" would have posted this earlier 😒

[Rich_S]

… for example, before I bought an HX One as my Swiss army pedal.  

[bruce919]

Wait 6 months and the market will be flooded with used ones. 

[Hbom]

Sweetwater's run down was easier to understand for me.

Boss PX-1 Plugout FX Pedal | Sweetwater

16 effects for $250 seems fair. 

[Saul Goodman]

3 hours ago, Hbom said:

Sweetwater's run down was easier to understand for me.

Boss PX-1 Plugout FX Pedal | Sweetwater

16 effects for $250 seems fair. 

He's playing a nice guitar too. 

[RobB]

The idea has a lot of potential, but dialing up one effect at a time seems limiting. I guess you could put two on your board, but by that point, why not just have the actual pedals?

Plus, it is brand new. Buying V1 of something like this could be sketchy. Is it upgradeable?

[Dave Scepter]

Here's a skinny jeans wearing nerd's counter point... he quickly got on my nerves 🤣

personally, I think $10 per effects download is extremely reasonable... I personally think I'd like this pedal as I like the tones of most Boss pedals... I'd have it sitting on my desktop and as an example, you can have a Tweed/Vox type overdrive out of output A and a Marshal distortion out of output B

 

 

 

[Disturber]

21 hours ago, Hbom said:

Sweetwater's run down was easier to understand for me.

Boss PX-1 Plugout FX Pedal | Sweetwater

16 effects for $250 seems fair. 

I am dumb and I hate small window menu programming. I got lost the minute he started about assigning a separate footswitch, or double footswitches or whatever you can do. Perhaps I'm dyslectic, but I hate shifting through menus and then you have to push button "B" and then button "D" to exit and then buttone "F" to execute and then button "A" to get back to where you started. By then I have forgotten what the fuck it was that I wanted to do.

And you can program double functions for the footswitch and tripple functions for the velcro underneath the pedal and use the stereo output to connect to the midi input and switch the switch to blip the blip to get the first sound of the second option. 

[hamerhead]

The size is the thing. I have most of the Boss pedals I want already and an old GT-3 that has EVERY Boss pedal (at that time) in it. Where this works is on a small grab-and-go board where you could add some color pedals (Flanger, chorus, phaser, etc....) next to your gotta-have-it pedals (tuner, OD, etc) and have a much wider palette in a much smaller footprint.

If they added a tuner, a way to chain effects, and a way to step through those chains, it could be very handy.

[Saul Goodman]

50 minutes ago, Disturber said:

I am dumb and I hate small window menu programming. I got lost the minute he started about assigning a separate footswitch, or double footswitches or whatever you can do. Perhaps I'm dyslectic, but I hate shifting through menus and then you have to push button "B" and then button "D" to exit and then buttone "F" to execute and then button "A" to get back to where you started. By then I have forgotten what the fuck it was that I wanted to do.

And you can program double functions for the footswitch and tripple functions for the velcro underneath the pedal and use the stereo output to connect to the midi input and switch the switch to blip the blip to get the first sound of the second option. 

I agree with you so much. I like knobs. No screens. No "press enter" to save. 

[Brooks]

On 8/29/2025 at 9:06 AM, hamerhead said:

The size is the thing. Where this works is on a small grab-and-go board where you could add some color pedals (Flanger, chorus, phaser, etc....) next to your gotta-have-it pedals (tuner, OD, etc) and have a much wider palette in a much smaller footprint.

If they added a tuner, a way to chain effects, and a way to step through those chains, it could be very handy.

I have the Zoom unit (MS50?), it does all of this. I use it mostly for  tuner & delay, but sometimes I'll throw in some trem or comp. It has a cool reverse echo too.

[hamerhead]

1 hour ago, Brooks said:

I have the Zoom unit (MS50?), it does all of this. I use it mostly for  tuner & delay, but sometimes I'll throw in some trem or comp. It has a cool reverse echo too.

Never seen one (never looked...). Does a lot more for $110. How does it sound?

[Brooks]

TBH, I'm not a big FX guy, so all trems/phasers/flangers/delays basically sound the same to me. I am picky about OD/distortion, & like most multi FX units, they don't sound great to me here. Their Optical Comp is very usable for my clean sound. There are some cool wacky FX (like the reverse echo, very Are You Experienced?), some synthy tones, slicer, EQ, amp sims w/ selectable cabs, etc, again 80% of it is not something I use but it is a super handy pedal for me (tuner/delay/comp/phase/trem/reverse).

You can hear all the sounds I use on it here;

 

Edited August 30, 2025 by Brooks

[Saul Goodman]

4 hours ago, Brooks said:

TBH, I'm not a big FX guy, so all trems/phasers/flangers/delays basically sound the same to me. I am picky about OD/distortion, & like most multi FX units, they don't sound great to me here. Their Optical Comp is very usable for my clean sound. There are some cool wacky FX (like the reverse echo, very Are You Experienced?), some synthy tones, slicer, EQ, amp sims w/ selectable cabs, etc, again 80% of it is not something I use but it is a super handy pedal for me (tuner/delay/comp/phase/trem/reverse).

You can hear all the sounds I use on it here;

 

Man, that was awesome!!!

[Brooks]

Thanks, you are too kind

[jwhitcomb3]

Cool toy for the menu averse. Boss multi-effects have been the core of my rig for years (MS-3, GT-1000, GT-1000CORE, now VG-800).  

[geoff_hartwell]

I didn’t know about the Plethora X3 and now I’m super curious;

I love tc stuff to begin with, but that looks like a crazy flexible FX loop pedal for a FlyRig pedalboard. And it comes with No Dirt options (because they assume you’ll BYO) and a F-Ton of their modulation, pitch and ambience options.

I hate the HX stomp bc of the interface, the TC is wildly better for me. Apparently it’s a few years old already lol

Anybody use one?

Edited September 1, 2025 by geoff_hartwell

[jwhitcomb3]

18 hours ago, geoff_hartwell said:

I didn’t know about the Plethora X3 and now I’m super curious;

I love tc stuff to begin with, but that looks like a crazy flexible FX loop pedal for a FlyRig pedalboard. And it comes with No Dirt options (because they assume you’ll BYO) and a F-Ton of their modulation, pitch and ambience options.

I hate the HX stomp bc of the interface, the TC is wildly better for me. Apparently it’s a few years old already lol

Anybody use one?

I looked into the Plethora X5 and X3 when they were announced. I'd owned some tc toneprint pedals and thought they sounded good and were very flexible, but t.c. electronic really botched the tools for editing and restoring toneprints - you could only back them up to a specific computer, phone, or tablet, and there was no way to transfer those backups to another device. So unless you keep the same phone forever, you'll eventually lose any of your toneprints. While individual slots could have a tap tempo, it was on a per-block basis. And their documentation and support was terrible. So if you are happy with the toneprints that ship with the unit and don't want to use the editor, go for it. I decided to steer clear. 

[geoff_hartwell]

Eh, I don’t edit patches and depend on where they’re stored, The HX is for when I need to load Band or Song patches; this is so I can have a few different flavors of mod in the loop, nothing too demanding.

For tap tempo, what do you mean per block basis?

[LucSulla]

On 8/29/2025 at 7:25 AM, Dave Scepter said:

Here's a skinny jeans wearing nerd's counter point... he quickly got on my nerves 🤣

personally, I think $10 per effects download is extremely reasonable... I personally think I'd like this pedal as I like the tones of most Boss pedals... I'd have it sitting on my desktop and as an example, you can have a Tweed/Vox type overdrive out of output A and a Marshal distortion out of output B

 

 

 

I like KDH. He's probably the only person on guitar tube that does really good research and will wade into a shitstorm if it means calling out some BS. It takes balls to call out Anderton's and (at the time he did it) Rob Chapman. 

He also unironically plays in a hair metal band and loves pointy guitars, so the hipster allegations aren't going to stick. There's not even a single Jazzmaster behind him!

I haven't watched this particular video, but the problem is that this opens the door to turning your pedalboard into a monthly subscription via this DLC model. This started in the software world with video games and programs like Adobe CS, but it has crossed over into hardware. First motorcycles and now cars require premium DLCs and, in some cases, subscriptions to access all the things the vehicle can actually do. Companies have been lusting after ways to apply these DLC models to tangible goods for years, and in the last few years, it's starting to creep into everything. 

Likewise, we've also become accustomed to not owning any media. If you only stream music, you don't own any music. If you only buy books on Kindle, you don't own any books. 

So with this, you get a free six month subscription to the Roland Cloud. Then what? So you are allowed to keep the effects for "lifetime of ownership?" 

I'm going to pull a few things out of the Roland Cloud EULA/TOS 

 

Quote

c. Lifetime Membership Keys. You may elect to purchase “lifetime” access for certain instruments, instrument groupings or other sound data offerings (“Lifetime Membership Keys”). If you subscribe and pay for Lifetime Membership Keys, the license to the Lifetime Membership Keys granted below (including all other restrictions and obligations in the Agreement) will continue during the life of you, the individual Account holder, provided that (i) you maintain an Account and compliance with this Agreement, and (ii) Roland continues to offer the applicable Lifetime Membership Keys to users through the Roland Cloud Service. For clarity, references to “lifetime” or the “life of the Account holder” under this Agreement mean the natural life of the individual who registered for the Account, and such rights are not transferable, descendible, or inheritable. You do not need a Subscription to purchase a Lifetime Membership Key.

d. Termination of Lifetime Membership Keys. If you remove, cancel or terminate your Account, or if your Account is terminated by Roland for violation of the Terms of Use or other policies or conditions provided to you, you will not be able to use the Lifetime Membership Keys you have purchased. There will be no refunds.

Quote

5. Restrictions and Obligations.

a. Modification to the Roland Cloud Service. Roland may at any time and from time to time, and without notice or liability, (i) revise, supplement, suspend, or discontinue, temporarily or permanently, the Roland Cloud Service (or any part or functionality thereof), (ii) terminate any or all licenses granted in this Agreement in accordance with the terms of this Agreement, and/or (iii) change the equipment, hardware or software necessary to use the Roland Cloud Service and access the Product Content. You agree that neither Roland nor any of its licensors, agents, or employees are liable to you or any third party for any revision, supplement, suspension, or discontinuation for the activities described in this section.

b. Updates; Upgrades. Roland has no obligation to provide any updates or upgrades to the Roland Cloud Service, but in the event that it does, any such updates or upgrades will be deemed part of the Roland Cloud Service, and will be subject to this Agreement. Any support provided by Roland is at the discretion of Roland and we make no support guarantees or commitments for the Roland Cloud Service.

c. Grants. Provided you are in compliance with the terms of this Agreement:

i. Roland grants you a revocable, non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable limited right to access and use the Roland Cloud Service, solely for your personal use and solely as provided in this Agreement, on up to five computing devices that you own. The term of and features available for your access to the Roland Cloud Service is based on your Subscription.

ii. Roland grants you a revocable, non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable limited right to access and use the Product Content, and to download any Product Content that Roland makes available for download, solely for your personal use and solely as provided in this Agreement, on up to five computing devices that you own. With the exception of Lifetime Membership Keys, the foregoing license is valid solely during the applicable Subscription term. Purchasing Lifetime Membership Keys does not increase the number of computing devices allowed.

 

Quote

8. Ownership.

a. All rights not specifically granted in this Agreement are reserved by Roland (including its affiliates) and, as applicable, its licensors. You acknowledge that you do not acquire any ownership rights in the Roland Cloud Service, including any of the Product Content, as a result of this Agreement or your use of the Roland Cloud Service and that you have no rights to access the Roland Cloud Service except as expressly provided by the terms of this Agreement.

b. ROLAND, ROLAND CLOUD, DRUM WORKSHOP, DW, DW DRUMS, and DW SOUNDWORKS are trademarks or registered trademarks of Roland and/or Drum Workshop. You may not use these or any other Roland trademarks or trade dress in any manner that is likely to cause confusion among customers or subscribers, or in any manner that disparages Roland or its licensors.

 

Then you see stories like this one: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c98825z8330o

 

That's gonna be a hard no from me, dog. 

[jwhitcomb3]

22 hours ago, geoff_hartwell said:

Eh, I don’t edit patches and depend on where they’re stored, The HX is for when I need to load Band or Song patches; this is so I can have a few different flavors of mod in the loop, nothing too demanding.

For tap tempo, what do you mean per block basis?

So if you have the Plethora X3, you have three effect slots/blocks available. Say you have a delay in block 1, a tremolo in block 2, and a phaser in block 3. You have to set the tap tempo for each of these individually which is a hassle, and then it is nearly impossible to get the same tap tempo for all 3. Not a big deal if you set and forget, but it is if you need to change the tempo for each song (for example, to match to the drummer's tempo).

For me the frustration is that while the capabilities of the toneprint effects are amazing, most of the really cool stuff is under the hood and only accessible via the editor, where there are a TON of parameters, and you can set up each knob to do exactly what you want (set a single knob to crossfade two parameters, and set the whole range of the knob to be useful). For example, the HyperGravity compressor lets you do things like 3-band compression, and is one of the few pedal compressors that lets you control or defeat automatic makeup gain (so it acts like a real studio compressor rather than a noisy sustainer). Here you can boost and compress the midrange for a solo without getting a fizzy high end or a farty bass. I've dialed in some great sounds on it, but the editor interface is much better on the computer than on the phone. So if you edit and save your toneprint on your computer, you cannot transfer that toneprint to your phone, and even if you only use one device, you can't move your toneprints to your next phone when you upgrade. 

Even if you don't edit the individual effects, the real power of the Plethora X3 is being able to have a different set of 3 effects available for any particular song or gig. If you spend any time setting this up, it can't be backed up and restored from your phone/computer. So if your X3 needs a factory reset (and these things are buggy), or if you replace a broken unit, you have to set up the whole fucking thing again from scratch. 

Note that these were limitations of the devices when I looked into them when they were released. I don't know if t.c. electronic (now owned by Behringer) ever addressed these problems. But the Sweetwater reviews of the Plethora X1 (released earlier this year) are a shit show. 

 

Edit: It looks like this spring they released an update that addressed some of the tap tempo issues.

Edited September 3, 2025 by jwhitcomb3

[RobB]

The above is why I’ve sworn off digital all-in-ones. Sometimes too much choice is a prison in itself. 

In a moment of weakness I ALMOST purchased a TONE-X floor pedal due to Jim Gausted’s amazing video demos. Knowing myself, I’m sure that would be a gateway drug into getting a Kemper. 

I know how to get a great sound from my amps/fx. The last thing I need is to be tweaking parameters/mics/cabs, etc., all day. Digital modeling is not useful or pleasing to my ears. I’m content with the simple GUI of my IR-X if I want to go direct. 

Edited September 3, 2025 by RobB

[jwhitcomb3]

44 minutes ago, RobB said:

The above is why I’ve sworn off digital all-in-ones. Sometimes too much choice is a prison in itself. 

In a moment of weakness I ALMOST purchased a TONE-X floor pedal due to Jim Gausted’s amazing video demos. Knowing myself, I’m sure that would be a gateway drug into getting a Kemper. 

I know how to get a great sound from my amps/fx. The last thing I need is to be tweaking parameters/mics/cabs, etc., all day. Digital modeling is not useful or pleasing to my ears. I’m content with the simple GUI of my IR-X if I want to go direct. 

I hear you. On the other hand, my nightmare is a huge pedalboard with each device only delivering one sound (without fiddling with the knobs), and then having to re-organize and re-wire the whole setup when I make changes. I want a small board with a maximum of 5 foot switches that perform the same kind of function for each song so I can sing and play without having to tap dance or otherwise think about my gear while performing. The trade-off is it requires much more thought and setup ahead of time. I just want to think about my performance at a gig - and a small footprint (battery powered) for small stages and fast setup/teardown for multi-band gigs. My choice if I want to use my amp of just go front of house with the same foot rig. 

[geoff_hartwell]

4 hours ago, jwhitcomb3 said:

So if you have the Plethora X3, you have three effect slots/blocks available. Say you have a delay in block 1, a tremolo in block 2, and a phaser in block 3. You have to set the tap tempo for each of these individually which is a hassle, and then it is nearly impossible to get the same tap tempo for all 3. Not a big deal if you set and forget, but it is if you need to change the tempo for each song (for example, to match to the drummer's tempo).

For me the frustration is that while the capabilities of the toneprint effects are amazing, most of the really cool stuff is under the hood and only accessible via the editor, where there are a TON of parameters, and you can set up each knob to do exactly what you want (set a single knob to crossfade two parameters, and set the whole range of the knob to be useful). For example, the HyperGravity compressor lets you do things like 3-band compression, and is one of the few pedal compressors that lets you control or defeat automatic makeup gain (so it acts like a real studio compressor rather than a noisy sustainer). Here you can boost and compress the midrange for a solo without getting a fizzy high end or a farty bass. I've dialed in some great sounds on it, but the editor interface is much better on the computer than on the phone. So if you edit and save your toneprint on your computer, you cannot transfer that toneprint to your phone, and even if you only use one device, you can't move your toneprints to your next phone when you upgrade. 

Even if you don't edit the individual effects, the real power of the Plethora X3 is being able to have a different set of 3 effects available for any particular song or gig. If you spend any time setting this up, it can't be backed up and restored from your phone/computer. 

Edit: It looks like this spring they released an update that addressed some of the tap tempo issues.

I already have a tap tempo delay on the Flyrig I like a lot, but for syncing other fx nice to know that problems already solved.

Is it possible to edit on iPad? I have several iPads I almost never use. iPad Air etc All the way back to ipad2. Could you use an iPad that’s already in a drawer as an editor and legacy device? Basically like a hard drive for patches? Maybe the tech needs a phone not an ipad to sync? Idk Tia!

Edited September 3, 2025 by geoff_hartwell