Amped Bitesize Review: Boss ST-2 Power Stack

A stack of high gain distortion   28-Mar-13

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We are doing a bitesize review of a Boss pedal every day for a month, and today it's the turn of the Boss ST-2 Power Stack - a pedal designed to emulate the sounds of high gain stack amplifiers.

We're looking at 30 pedals this month, and then on the final day of March, we'll be doing a round up of our favourites. The idea being that you can quickly watch our bitesize reviews and compare one Boss pedal to another, and quickly see if you like the sound.

The Boss ST-2 Power Stack aims to emulate the sounds of classic stack amplifiers such as the Super Lead, JCM 900, and early Mesa amps.

Rich's verdict - "I really like the sound of this pedal when the drive knob is set to about 3 o'clock (or on 3/4 tilt). It has a very distinctive drive tone, very reminiscent of 1980s style high gain guitar tone, and I'm a big fan of that.

"It would be great for thrash, groove metal, EVH style stuff, and for the kind of tones Gary Moore was getting during his Stratocaster days. Take the gain down a bit and you can even get his smoother tones from the early 90s.

"But whether it does the 'ultra' distortion it says it can do is the only thing I'm not so sure about. In terms of modern high gain, it just doesn't get thick enough in the low end. Modern high gain distortion is sound ever more polished and synthetic, and the ST-2 doesn't do those tones, but I think it's a better pedal for not doing those tones!"

RRP - £110

More info - Boss ST-2 Power Stack info page