Boss EQ20 Advanced EQ Twin Effects Pedal

Programmable 10-band graphic equalizer. 9 memory locations.

Overall User Ratings (based on 36 ratings)
  • Overall:
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Sound:
    4.5 out of 5 stars
  • Features:
    4.5 out of 5 stars
  • Ease of Use:
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Quality:
    4.5 out of 5 stars
  • Value:
    4.5 out of 5 stars
  • Manufacturer Support:
    4 out of 5 stars
  • The Wow Factor:
    5 out of 5 stars
Overall: 5 out of 5 stars
(36) (see rating details)
Submitted April 18, 2017 by Billy Bill B in Toronto, ON

"Solid purchase"

Overall: 5 out of 5 stars
(see rating details)
This review has been selected by our experts as particularly helpful.
Not a small pedal, but for tweak heads it's a useful bit of kit. Haters just are mad they bought it without bothering to check what it does first.
Sound
It's as decent sounding as you would expect from an analog BOSS pedal. Not pristine clarity like some $4000 studio gear, but definitely low enough noise and 'flat' enough compared to most other stuff on the market that guitarists use. All in all it sounds good enough to not piss most guitar players off and certainly isn't 'bad'. It sounds like any other BOSS pedal on bypass.
Features
Having 10 bands of EQ, with longer faders (for more precision) + a level control is a tweak heads dream for guitar. Add in the fact as a nice bonus that you can save settings over to a memory bank (which for those curious does not mean this pedal is 'digital' it just digitally saves the fader positions which are actually VCA's thus keeping it an analog signal path). Some people complain about the fact that there is no foot switch to cycle through the memory bank, but they're just being overly picky - the fact the pedal gives you 10 bands is reason to buy it alone. The fact that you can store some of the settings is a huge additional bonus. The fact that you can switch between two settings with the foot-switch is an even bigger bonus and really opens up some tonal options. If you really really are dead set on having the memory bank be toggled via foot switch, here is a link to a page that lets you mod the pedal to do that. Not super hard to do : http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=40509.0 The memory banks are primarily for you to be able to use different settings on different amps, not to have a different eq setting for every bar of your song. I personally have one setting for just general EQ on the manual side, and in the memory bank side I keep one setting loaded that's a filter (all band's at minimum except for one or two in the mids) to give me a narrow honking tone when I want it.
Ease of Use
If you know how to use an EQ, it's straight forward. Well designed. Only complaint is the peak light comes on well before +4dBu (1.228V) input so you need to trim down signal in the effects loop before it hits the pedal even thought it is rated for +4dBu (there is a switch on it). No big deal just pay attention you aren't clipping it. It's an easy to use piece of kit.
Quality
Solid. Stood up well to my years of use. Only complaint again is the fact it clips (peak light comes on) at a lower voltage than the manual says, but it still does its job so whatever.
Value
If you want an EQ for your guitar rig, it's a great purchase. Sure beats a BOSS GE-7 or something similar. It's a bit big for some pedal boards but for those the like to tweak, it's a good piece of gear.
Manufacturer Support
It's BOSS. I didn't have to contact them but I'm sure it would have been fine.
The Wow Factor
What can I say, it's an EQ. It's discontinued now but it's still a good piece. Was expensive when it first came out but now it can be found fairly cheap. Even though I bought it new when it was full price, for what options it offers, it was worth it and I'm still happy I bought it. Again, it's not digital so it actually sounds decent (no worse than a BOSS GE-7) and offers a ton of adjustment to your tone. Here again is the link to the mod incase you want to get extra goofy with it : http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=40509.0

Musical Background:

Pro - Bass, Guitar, Drums. Pro sound engineer, general nerd.

Musical Style:

Everything.
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Submitted November 25, 2015 by Joe Bonna in New York, NY

"Boss EQ-20"

Overall: 4.5 out of 5 stars
(see rating details)
If you have the knowledge on how to use a 10 band graphic equalizer, this is the pedal to have. You can correctly adjust your guitar sound and dynamics to suit any environment. Foot adjustable presets would be nice, as you have to change them buy hand. Saying that I only change presets when I change to a different guitar.
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Submitted January 6, 2011

"Do not buy this pedal!"

Overall: 0.5 out of 5 stars
(see rating details)
Sound
Who cares how this pedal sounds it is 100% useless in live applications. You can NOT change between any of your programmed eq settings with either of the 2 foot switches! You have to manually bend over and push a button to toggle between any of your presets!
Features
Completely useless! Who cares if you can program 100 different EQ settings if you cannot switch between any them on a device that has two foot switches! You have to bend over and push a little button every time you need a change! How is this a useful pedal worth $250 dollars! I feel 100% ripped off!
Ease of Use
This is now officially garbage to me! Why is it on my pedal board that has all my effects accessible by foot switch!
Quality
Garbage! DO NOT BUY THIS GARBAGE!!!!!!!!!!!!
Value
Worthless.
Manufacturer Support
They don't know why the didn't make either one of the foot switches for the most obvious function.
29 of 64 people (45%) people found this review helpful. Did you?
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