Whats up with the Boss FZ-2

Edgecrusher

Edgecrusher

New member
The other day I got the bug in my head that I wanted to own this pedal again, so I started to search it out on the used sites here locally, I found prices to be at the low end 285 euro going up to 577 euro!!! I thought ok maybe its just an Italy thing. I checked reverb and other places in the states an nope everywhere its at least 250 bills. What gives? My google-fu failed to come up with a acceptable answer. I get it, its been discontinued for awhile but the one I had before I bought in 2012 if memory serves and I paid 75 euro for it and sold it a year or so later for 60.

Are there any alternatives or clones around? Its a cool pedal but not 285 euro cool.
 
The market for old Boss stuff is booming right now.
You'd think after the Waza releases it would lower the used-prices for models like the original CE-2 chorus, but it didn't.

There are FZ-2 clones like the sf300 for cheap, but it's not nearly as well built and arguably not as good sounding.
Many say it sounds identical, but I've never compared them straight-up against each other.
 
CaptainWhizz said:
This is a clone of the FZ-2, but much cheaper.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestion guys, I didnt know the behringer was a clone and for the price you cant lose in trying it.

Its funny how in ways the pedal world has come complete circle, wasnt that long ago that you couldnt give away boss pedals if it wasnt boutique people wouldnt touch it. Guys were shelling out 500 bucks for Landgraff tubescreamers. Now i guess they've gone nuts for the FZ2
 
Edgecrusher said:
Thanks for the suggestion guys, I didnt know the behringer was a clone and for the price you cant lose in trying it.

Its funny how in ways the pedal world has come complete circle, wasnt that long ago that you couldnt give away boss pedals if it wasnt boutique people wouldnt touch it. Guys were shelling out 500 bucks for Landgraff tubescreamers. Now i guess they've gone nuts for the FZ2
Click to expand...

Yes exactly.
 
I think that Electric Wizard and the stoner/ doom crowd are partially responsible for the FZ-2’s popularity.
I have a Behringer tuner, a copy of the Boss TU-2 I think, and it was fine apart from the switch kept dislocating. I don’t know if it was an isolated problem, but it could probably be sorted pretty easily. Or lived with if you’re not playing live.
 
I have the sf300 and I'm glad because it told me I wouldn't want to pay big $ for the FZ-2.

For a fuzz it's OK, fuzz not normally being my thing. It has the three modes and as a boost+EQ it's actually good.
Build-quality on it sucks though, but it was only $20 after my total-order discount.
Nothing has broke yet but I've only played with it a couple times so we will see. One of the knobs is very hard to turn but it functions fine atm.
 
I feel your pain, back in the early 90s I bought a "real 80s" TS-9 used for $35 or so, I think I sold it to a guy within the year or so for $25 - $30, then, a couple of years later they are the hot ticket and going for stoopid $. Such is the fickle pedal world.
 
devastone said:
I feel your pain, back in the early 90s I bought a "real 80s" TS-9 used for $35 or so, I think I sold it to a guy within the year or so for $25 - $30, then, a couple of years later they are the hot ticket and going for stoopid $. Such is the fickle pedal world.
Click to expand...

Right there besid you, Ive had it happen with a lot of guitar stuff, When i was kid my grandparents' hobby was combing yard sales after them bringing me a few silvertones and kents I asked them to buy anything that had Fender on it. Over the years I had acquired 4 mustangs 2 duo sonics and a musicmaster that way. I decided that since they were short scale I wouldnt play them so I unloaded them all, the most I got for any of them was 200 bucks Most I sold for 75 or 100. The next year Nirvana released Nevermind and the prices went nuts.

Same deal with all the hair metal guitars and amps i used to have, Have you seen Ironbird prices lately? I had the old Lee jackson metaltronix in the mid 90s, Took me over a year to sell it and i got 400 bucks. Now they hit over 2k.

If only I had a crystal ball....
 
Edgecrusher said:
Right there besid you, Ive had it happen with a lot of guitar stuff, When i was kid my grandparents' hobby was combing yard sales after them bringing me a few silvertones and kents I asked them to buy anything that had Fender on it. Over the years I had acquired 4 mustangs 2 duo sonics and a musicmaster that way. I decided that since they were short scale I wouldnt play them so I unloaded them all, the most I got for any of them was 200 bucks Most I sold for 75 or 100. The next year Nirvana released Nevermind and the prices went nuts.

Same deal with all the hair metal guitars and amps i used to have, Have you seen Ironbird prices lately? I had the old Lee jackson metaltronix in the mid 90s, Took me over a year to sell it and i got 400 bucks. Now they hit over 2k.

If only I had a crystal ball....
Click to expand...

Dude, where have you seen a Metaltronix hit 2k?

I only ask because I’ve been playing my M1000/Killer Kab for 20yrs and I never see them come close to that! Maybe it’s time to sell...
 
Last edited:
It's based off the shin-ei fuzz in a way but more modern sounding. Perhaps getting some Ge diodes in there could bring some mojo, apart from the Electric Wizard association I can't see the appeal about it. Boss doesn't make an analog fuzz in its lineup, the fz3 wasn't well received either.

The price they go for now, the behringer clone is preferably a better option to try out the fz2 sound, although the clone is better at solos while the fz2 works best for rhythm parts(less honky).
 
I didn't know the waza version had been confirmed on this one. Usually there isn't any warning, although the HM-2W is an exception because they wanted feedback/hype IMO.

Waza version didn't make much difference in the price of the original CE-2 on the used market,,,,not saying it couldn't on others though.
 
The FZ-2 and HM-2 were rejected by the boomer / gen-x crowd that dominated forums in the late 90s and early 00s while bands like Converge and Electric Wizard were recording legendary albums with those pedals. Now boomers are dying and some millennials have a little bit of money so they're spending too much on the gear they want. 59 Gibson Les Pauls were pretty affordable before a few players made a a few million boomers want one.
 
formula73 said:
Dude, where have you seen a Metaltronix hit 2k?

I only ask because I’ve been playing my M1000/Killer Kab for 20yrs and I never see them come close to that! Maybe it’s time to sell...
Click to expand...

Ive been looking for another one for a couple of years and the last few ive seen on Ebay or Reverb were priced that high. Maybe i just saw the over priced ones that werent selling, I know the prices were enough that I havent picked another one up.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top