Designed for electric guitar players and bassists, the Boss SY-1 is a pedal intended to give you many classic synth tones in a compact pedal. Thanks to the Type and Variation knobs, you can instantly transform your sound into a classic pad, lead, synth bass, bell organ, or rhythmic synth pattern; 121 different sounds are at your disposal.
Depth and Tone/Rate knobs are on hand to tailor your sound further. Function of the Tone/Rate knob changes depending on the effect you've selected—you can even change pitch on certain notes.
The pedal can easily fit into most stompbox setups. With built-in send and return jacks, the SY-1 lets you blend your other pedals in a parallel chain with the synth effect. You can even use this parallel path to output synth tone to its own, dedicated destination, such as a separate amplifier. Independent Direct/Effect knobs allow you to achieve any desired blend between processed and unprocessed signal.
With a buffered bypass for preserving your signal over long cable runs, the BOSS SY-1 can be powered with a single 9V battery or an AC adapter. A battery is included. An AC adapter is available separately.
- Authentic BOSS polyphonic guitar synth in a compact pedal
- No special pickup required—play rich, dynamic synth tones with any guitar or bass
- 121 total sounds (11 types and 11 variations), all ready to play with no programming knowledge needed
- Includes a wide variety of analog-style synth sounds, from leads, basses, and layered organs to sweeping pads and arpeggiated sequences
- Latency-free performance
- Quickly adjust sounds to taste with Tone/Rate and Depth controls
- Hold function for playing normal guitar over sustained synth voices
- Blend synth and normal guitar sounds with independent level controls
- Parallel send/return loop for easy integration with other pedals on your board
- Mode switch optimizes the synth engine for guitar or bass
- Supports extended control with an external footswitch or expression pedal
- LEAD 1/2: A wide range of sounds suitable for single-note soloing.
- PAD: Full tones that work great with chords, from layered pads to synth brass and more.
- BASS: Fat synth bass sounds, including filtered and sub-octave tones.
- STR: Classic analog-style strings, including layered voices and sweeping textures.
- ORGAN: A large selection of organ sounds, including many with rotary-style modulation.
- BELL: Percussive synth sounds with metallic resonance.
- SFX 1/2: A variety of synth sound effects, including explosive one-shot sounds, animated pitch/filter voices, and more.
- SEQ 1/2: Pulsating sounds with rhythmic pitch or filter changes.