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Thread: Boss RT-20 - any love?

  1. #1
    Forum Member gibsonjunkie's Avatar
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    Boss RT-20 - any love?

    I am really thinking of this thing for my Roland keyboard, but it looks like it would be an interesting pedal for guitar as well. Anybody had any experience with it?

  2. #2
    Forum Member Kap'n's Avatar
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    Re: Boss RT-20 - any love?

    I heard somebody at NAMM demo it when it was introduced, and it sounded great....but then again everything does there.

    They haven't caught on with keys players, AFAIK. They seem to prefer the Rotosphere. I'm not sure why.
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  3. #3
    Forum Member ziess's Avatar
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    Re: Boss RT-20 - any love?

    What does the "dazzling", Boss' words not mine, display do? Rotate?

  4. #4
    Forum Member gibsonjunkie's Avatar
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    Re: Boss RT-20 - any love?

    It has two colors that spin around representing the speed of the treble and bass "rotators".

    It's groovy!

  5. #5
    Forum Member gibsonjunkie's Avatar
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    Re: Boss RT-20 - any love?

    Quote Originally Posted by Kap'n View Post
    I heard somebody at NAMM demo it when it was introduced, and it sounded great....but then again everything does there.

    They haven't caught on with keys players, AFAIK. They seem to prefer the Rotosphere. I'm not sure why.
    Big difference in price - for the amount I'd use it I can't justify the difference.

  6. #6
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    Re: Boss RT-20 - any love?

    I had one for a couple days. It sounded pretty good with my strat into the srri, but once it was combined with the TS9 or FD2 it sounded really brittle, muddy and synthetic so I returned it. I don't know if this helps at all for a keyboard but I figured I would give my opinion. BTW if this pedal was a little cheaper I would consider buying it just for the pretty lights .

    Matt

  7. #7
    Forum Member stratcat62's Avatar
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    Re: Boss RT-20 - any love?

    If you don't mind the single speaker leslie, Option 5 Destination Rotation Single works quite well. Sounds great, is very adjustable with high and low speed controls (they are hard to use but work) and works well with a TS9 or 808. Also less money than a rotosphere. I've been using mine for several month and am very satisfied. Switch to slow speed and you're in univibe territory, high speed very much a leslie sound (think Nimmo Brothers especially when used in conjunction with an OD pedal).

    Just my 2cents worth and in fairness I haven't tried a Boss RT-20.
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  8. #8
    Forum Member slunky's Avatar
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    Re: Boss RT-20 - any love?

    I've owned one for about 9 months. As was mentioned before it can sound very synthetic as a stand alone effect, a problem which I found to be more prominent when using the onboard distortion. This problem is also made worse if you play with a very clean trebly amp sound.
    I've gotten the best results out of mine by using it as a straight modulation pedal and putting a warm mild overdrive in front of it (a Crowther Hot Cake pedal in this case). I tend to use the leslie simulation exclusively, but the uni-vibe side is pretty convincing for a bit of "Machine Gun" type stuff.
    My main disappointment with it is the fact that there is no master volume for the pedal, so when you turn the distortion up there is no way to balance the output with any other effects you might have in your signal chain. Otherwise I'm really happy with it - and it looks way cooler than anything else on my board!
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  9. #9
    Forum Member gibsonjunkie's Avatar
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    Re: Boss RT-20 - any love?

    Well, I bit the bullet. I had a credit at MF so I ordered one. Should be delivered today... I'll post a review when I get a chance to thrash it about for a bit.

  10. #10
    Forum Member Don's Avatar
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    Re: Boss RT-20 - any love?

    I'm a Rotosphere user, but bought it well before this pedal came out.

    The Rotosphere is a great sounding pedal, especially in an effects loop and used in stereo. It compares very well to my Leslie 145, though it's big, can be noisy and requires 12 vac. I keep it on top of my amp when I play.

    There are more options available now and I'd try them all if I was shopping. Though I doubt there's anything better, something more convenient would be nice if there wasn't too much of a tonal compromise.

    However, as I said elseware, my Rotosphere is paid for!

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