BOSS
VB-2W VIBRATO
REVIEW BY FLETCHER STEWART
STREET PRICE $199.00
SMURF AND TURF –
SLIPPERY SONICS
The Smurf-blue box of
wiggles goes Waza, folks.
Boss finally did it and I knew
it would. Though Boss is
almost always reluctant
to reissue, the demand
for DM-2 and VB-2 simply
couldn’t have been ignored.
This demand seems strange
in some ways considering
how many modern do-itall-devices and boutique
offerings can do what
these ‘80s classics can and
more. But, after a few hours
with the Waza line, even
a desensitized flirtatious
pedal maniac like me falls
right back in love with these
classic circuits. The VB-2W
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GEAR REVIEW
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offers everything sonically
that the cult classic does—
even aesthetically with
period-correct knobs—and
gives us more wiggle room
with a Custom setting. The
Custom mode is subtly
different and seems to offer
a bit more prominence of
the pitch deviation and a
slight frequency shift in the
modulation. We also have
the famous bypass options:
Latch, which routes the
signal through the BBD
even when bypassed but
allows smooth wiggle rise
when engaged, Bypass,
which takes the signal into
traditional Boss buffered
bypass and finally, Unlatch.
Unlatch is perhaps what
Boss VB-2W Vibrato
made the original VB-2
famous.
There is just something
musically magical about
ramping up into chilly
tremors of melancholy
and taking the toe off for
back-to-stable conditions.
One can even take foot
control further by adding
an expression pedal
to control the Depth.
True pitch vibrato is so
simple, yet so organic and
satisfying to employ. It is
like indulging that animalchildlike compulsion to bite
a strangely tasty looking
rubber ball. Yeah, everyone
knows what I am talking
about, right? Moving on,
let’s get slippy and trippy