Roland Boss eBand - Review

Roland Boss eBand - Review

Roland Boss eBand Practice and Recording Machine Review

Ah the Boss eBand. Now this really does bring hope for a lot of guys out there - what do I mean? well read on.

You might think that someone like me has no use for a little playalong box like the eBand unit. After all, I have a Studio to work in, I have everything at my disposal, 24 track, soundproof, more kit than you can shake a stick at, no neighbour trouble (or wife trouble for that matter - she has been tamed over the years), and none of all those other problems you get when you play guitar (waking the kids etc.). Does it all sound familiar? You bet it does for a whole generation of guys (and gals) in this nandy pandy of 'it's too loud' world we all live in today. Someone will be blaming the climate warming next...

Personally I have little time for all of that way of life. I like it loud (what did you say) and I for one am not afraid to say so. After all... that's what ears are for. So why the hell did I ADVANCE ORDER one of these little ditties. Well it goes back a long way. About eight or ten years or so in fact. Any of you who have visited this site regularly over the years will know that I used to have a Boss JAM Man a Boss JS-5. I never saw another until now.

The JS-5 was for me a very useful bit of kit because it let me play guitar with great backing tracks and make 'arrangements' for music and that sort of stuff. I admit it was limited - very limited, but it was a great piece of technology that I did in fact use for a multitude of uses and reasons.

Now come back to today.

Boss in their infinite wisdom have launched this little box that can (in no particular order), Record CD quality for many hours, give you a humongous amount of backing tracks that can loop (and you can record on to), that allow you to put a 16Gb card in to and store up to 4000 tunes (yes that's right), that can slow music down so you can learn the hard bits, that can get rid of the guitar so you can play to the track instead of the original guitar, it has a tuner as standard, it has many amp and effects built right in, it can connect to a PC so you can arrange sounds etc... and on and on it goes.

Oh one last thing, if the output (its not that loud) is too high, you can connect your cans and turn those pesky speakers off. In that mode - trust me - you can become a rock god. And the cost? In the UK it has a street price of just £285.00 pounds.

This little black box is awesome and then some. I no longer have to go to the studio if I have an idea, I don't have to go anywhere to practice - and the list of things it can do for you too is endless. Learn that riff or solo to the real track at half speed. That alone is worth the money...

Do I like it? You bet I do - and everyone I have ever demonstrated this little device too also loves it. Buy one. And some people said I didn't like Roland and Boss...
Heres the best bits:

• CD Quality Recording
• USB to PC
• Takes regular SD Cards - I have a 16Gb in there
• Great Practice tool - check the videos page
• The Price - and really there are too many things to mention - its a great tool.

Listen, don't be a Pussy, get out there and buy one of these and say Tony sent ya.. you owe it to yourself to get better on this darned guitar, you've spent enough on that kit - now buy something that is going to take your playing to the next level buy this!

Check out the videos on this site for demonstrations of this eBand JS-8....

Heres a link to the Roland Site: www.roland.com

Tonys eBand at Home

The eBand media link

The eBand Media Card and Menu Views