# Considering buying a Boss BR1200!



## Swee_tone (Mar 23, 2009)

I used to own the BR600 and my frustrations were with the memory cards or should I say the lack of. All in all, it was a good unit, and I miss it.

Anyhow, in checking out all the other recording multitrackers , I feel this one will suit my needs, as a drum kit is a must for me, and the hard drive is a good addition too.

If you have one, do you recommend it?
Is there another you prefered for some reason?


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## alphasports (Jul 14, 2008)

I have a 600 and understand your frustrations with the cards, but they can be found on ebay for $10. Ridiculous that they don't release a fix to allow for newer cards, esp since the unit is still a current product. The 900 or 1200 are both great machines but the 600's portability and lack of spinning, whirring parts is an advantage, not to mention the price!


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## fretboard (May 31, 2006)

I have a BR1600CD and use it pretty much every day. Earlier this summer the hard drive went and I couldn't do anything but boot it up - no effects, nothing to be found on the hard drive, etc. I tried to contact Boss a couple times and they never got back to me*. I spent $80 at Best Buy to get a 80GB compatable drive, drove to a friends place (IT geek/guru) and he replaced the drive and had it up and running in under 20 minutes. We never could get anything off the old drive, but I'd backed up 80% of the stuff that was on there at the time of melt down.

*About 5 weeks after this, I got a call from Roland Corp (in BC this time) asking if anyone in Mississauga had ever gotten back to me. Told them they hadn't and they sent me another disc to load all the loop samples back in.

Considering I bought mine back in 2003 or so (when they were pretty new at the time), I've certainly gotten my money out of it so far - and I still use it almost daily. Replacing the hard drive increased the memory on it (2 partitions of approx. 65 hours each). It does make a little more noise when it's loading now, but that's the only blip I've noticed since the replacement.

For my needs, it's great and I've had it for so long that there's not much I need to consult the manual for at this point. If I couldn't have repaired it, I would likely have bought another. They're a little cheaper now than they were when they first came out...

Try calling around to a few shops for prices - I noticed a enough of a difference when I called around while waiting for Roland Corp to call me back.


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## Andy (Sep 23, 2007)

Have you considered a computer-based system? Even if you don't have a suitable comp, you can get one plus a good interface for barely more money than the BR. They're much more flexible and produce better results.


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## neogardguitar (Dec 6, 2007)

I also Have a BR1600CD. 

I like that it is all in one. Works for me. Sound is good. It has some quirks but once you get the hang of it you can make it do whatever you want. 

I don't really care for the guitar effects. They work in a pinch, but mostly I just find my POD easier to get good sounds on. 

I would, and have recommended it.

My two cents ... if that helps

N


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## Swee_tone (Mar 23, 2009)

Thanks for the responses guys. It's been a while since I first posted this.

Well I bought the BR1200cd. It's a little more complicated than the 600, and i'm still trying to figure out the programming etc. The manual is massive and all over the place, it's going to take some time.

I noticed Boss has a 1 year warranty on parts and a 90 day warranty on labour.

Do you guys know if I can plug my *guitar-------> Digitech RP --------> guitar input of Boss recorder*?
Will that be bad for the circuitry or mess things up in any way? I dont just want to use Boss models / effects only.

I'm going to look for a user group next, to find some FAQ on the programming dilemas.


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## shoretyus (Jan 6, 2007)

probably ok .. as long as it's a line signal


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

I had a BR900CD. I sold it after a couple of months.

I realize that some people have great results with these devices but frankly the operation is really unintuitive to me. With some devices you can take it out of the box and make sense out of it without even cracking the manual. I'm not opposed to reading and learning to use technical products, but I found this one annoying and frustrating.


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## Starbuck (Jun 15, 2007)

Milkman said:


> I had a BR900CD. I sold it after a couple of months.
> 
> I realize that some people have great results with these devices but frankly the operation is really unintuitive to me. With some devices you can take it out of the box and make sense out of it without even cracking the manual. I'm not opposed to reading and learning to use technical products, but I found this one annoying and frustrating.


I have an earlier model the BR-600, while it really is perfect for what I want, for me, it's been really tricky to get the hang of. If you have time to devote? By all means, but I still struggle getting the hang of it.


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## Swee_tone (Mar 23, 2009)

Yea, darn it, it's frustrating that they can't make the instructions on these things a little better. I had to order the tutorial dvd which is another $40. I think the dvd should be included in the package, heck raise the price and include the dvd! It's a little overwhelming at the moment.

One other thing that annoys me is that the 1200 doesn't have any built in condenser mics like my 600 had. So now I have to spend on a mic and cable to record my acoustic.
I guess I overlooked that when I was checking out the specs, I just assumed it would have everything the 600 had and more.

Dont get me wrong, I did a fair amount of research before I bought this, reading reviews , etc.

It has alot of features, and if and when I figure them all out, it should be good. Oh, and as well as long as the hard drive doesn't die.

I'm a little nervous about plugging the digitech rp into the front guitar input, so I think i'll just stick to the Boss effects until I get a mic to record the unit through my amp.

So if you decide to buy one, put aside some $$ for the other necessities you will need.

I would love to know how the quality of this unit compares to other brands in it's class.


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## keto (May 23, 2006)

Can't help with the last question, or even directly with the main thread. I have an older BR864, which has been a good machine and produced some excellent results. It has a glaring weakness, which is that the input preamp can NOT handle much volume...so if I want to record guitar cranked, live drums, etc, I have to put another preamp in front of it. I read somewhere that this had been rectified in some of the later models, though I couldn't tell you which ones.


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## Swee_tone (Mar 23, 2009)

I emailed tech support about plugging a multi- effects unit into the front end , and they said no problem.


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