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“It just inspires me as I play” how BOSS’s XS-100 is inspiring a new generation of pitch-shifting guitar wizards

November 13, 2025

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For 30 years, pedal-based pitch-shifting pedals have been utilised by some of the greatest and most influential guitar players of the modern era to create unique and interesting sounds that simply didn’t exist before.
But so impactful has the venerable Whammy been in this sphere, it’s been a long time since anyone has offered something truly new in that world – until now. It’s fitting that BOSS, would be the one to bring something new and exciting to the table in the shape of the XS-100 Poly Shifter and it’s little brother the stompbox-sized XS-1. Bringing five decades of bleeding-edge expertise to bear, the Poly Shifters have been years in the making – and it’s more than worth the wait.
The Poly Shifters are more than just pedals, they’re advanced pitch-shifting workstations that reimagine pitch shifting for the modern player – courtesy of advanced technology that offers a more natural, precise and smooth tracking than ever seen before.

The full-sized XS-100 lets you glide a whopping four octaves up or down with ease, while the pedal itself offers deep customisation to ensure the sound is all your own. You can program the pedal switches to enable momentary drops or rises. The dedicated retune switch also enables you to digitally change the tuning of your instrument in a heartbeat, with a wealth of drop tuning and simulated capo options. All with the natural and precise note tracking the likes of which has never been seen on a pedal before.
And the best part is, once you’ve found the sound that inspires you most of all, you can save it to one of the 30 onboard memories to recall at your leisure, and thanks to the clear and concise built-in display you never need to worry about what’s gonna happen when you step on it in the heat of battle.

Image: BOSS
The Artist’s Choice
Given the game-changing evolutionary leap that the Poly Shifter represents, it’s hardly surprising that just weeks after its launch, artists are already starting to take advantage of its remarkable capabilities to push them into new musical territories.
“I’ve tried out a few popular choices in the market, but they’ve always had trouble tracking the note, and seem limited to doing only one thing.” explains Jonathan Jourdan, guitarist in Wolfgang Van Halen’s Mammoth band. “With the XS-1 I feel like the tracking is immediate and just inspires me as I play.”
Another artist to extoll the Poly Shifter’s virtues is Night Verses’ Nick DePirro. “I’ve used several forms of pitch shifters as part of my playing for a long time, some with expression pedals and some without,” he explains. “I’ve always liked how they allow you to extend the range of your notes by adding more octaves and harmonies, as well as being able to make sounds you wouldn’t be able to do without an expression pedal.”
For Nick, the XS-100’s treadle-based pitch-shifting is a dream, and has immediately carved out a place as its own thing.
“The travel distance from up to down position on the expression seems shorter than others, which gives it its own feel,” he observes. “Also, having both the effect and drop switch right next to each other in that amount of space is nice. Sound wise, I think the pitch sounds very clean between both low and high octaves – it has a bit of its own pitch tone to it in that regard.”
Image: BOSS
The transposition effects on the Poly Shifter is something that really appeals to Snarky Puppy guitar maestro Mark Lettieri, who’s been having fun with the XS-1.
“It does a pretty stellar job at transposing in half-steps,” Mark tells us. “Where I’ve found it really shines is in its harmonization features – particularly in 4ths and 5ths – which can be used to create some cool, almost synth-like chords.”
It’s not just heavy guitarists who are finding the XS-100 a remarkable and inspirational new tool – modern blues virtuoso Eric Gales has spent some time with the pedal and has come away suitably impressed.
“I love how clean it is being able to shift keys and not have that computerized sound like others do,” he reveals. “I’ve been so blown away by that feature alone.”
Another unique feature of the XS-100 that DePirro has already made use of is the ability to set the pitch travel in increments of half a step.
“My favorite thing is that you can specifically set the pitch in increments of half step, single note movements, which provides a very smooth and consistent bend/expressive motion,” Nick reflects. “While there is some nuance and character to discovering those positions manually, it’s nice to have a consistent, more guaranteed option as well.
I’m currently working on a new Night Verses record and so far, that half step incremental option has inspired me quite a bit. I like to bend harmonics and chords with pitch effects, and having the ability to do it in a way that I can repeat consistently, especially when double tracking guitars with the same riff, makes it pretty inspiring.”
Image: BOSS
Transposition is another key part of any pitch-shifting pedal worth its salt, and the XS-1 has already excelled for Nick in this regard as part of his Mammoth touring rig – and he admits he’s barely scratched the surface.
“I think there’s a lot to unpack with XS1,” he enthuses. “I currently use it as a lower octave blend, but the detuning options are out of this world and extremely accurate compared to other options I’ve tried. I can see myself exploring new tunings with that feature.”
There’s something exciting and reassuring about seeing a name as storied, trusted and innovative as BOSS bring something truly new to the pitch-shifting world, and it’s clear our artists felt the same having spent some time with the Poly Shifter in both its forms.
“I think BOSS have always put out quality and well executed effect pedals, built like tanks on top of that,” DePirro explains. “It’s exciting to see them create a new pitch effect in this form.”
If you’re curious about how the Poly Shifter can shift your perceptions of what a pitch shifter is capable of, don’t listen to us – listen to the artists using it, and check one out now.
Find out more about the XS-100 and XS-1 pedals at boss.info
Image: BOSS
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