From the original immutable set of 8 – I would only choose to retain 3! The PH-1 Phaser, SG-1 Slow Gear, and TW-1 T-Wah. For the second set I would want to retain the BF-2 Flanger, CE-2 Chorus, DD-2 Digital Delay, OC-2 Octaver, PN-2 Tremolo/Pan, PS-2 Pitch Shifter/Delay, and VB-2 Vibrato – in fact all but the DF-2 SUPER Feedbacker & Distortion – which I have in original / modded and enhanced formats.
For the 2026 January and May Model Passes – I would want the DM-2 Delay and DC-2 Dimension C – which gives me an issue – as I only have one slot on my pedal that I can and am willing to sacrifice!
As I mentioned above – some of those effects are intended and optimised for front-of-chain action and operation – and others are rear-of-chain optimised – it doesn’t make sense to have such a restrictive ecosystem where you can’t freely move around the Models you actually need and want to use – that’s the main brunt of my argument here. And it has been since I first reviewed the PX-1 in considerable depth!
I know Boss sold a tonne of these, while for me although the actual core functional aspects of the pedal are great (like how the pedal saves your settings on-the-fly!) – and it’s capable of some really great outputs – particularly with those classic modulations. The admin and overall organisational aspect of the pedal is not right in my opinion – and that firmware needs to be updated – so that you can move things around on the pedal – and ditch those Models you no longer want / need to use – and including the original 8!
Of the 2 2026 Model Passes – the January release is the more appealing for me personally – and you can get 3 for the price of 2 as I understand – but in truth I only want 2 of those – so it’s no savings for me really – and I don’t wish to download a Model which I already have in pedal format!
For me the PX-1 was always about picking up those rarer early Boss Modulations, Delays and Reverbs – to be used near the end of the chain in Stereo! I own near enough all the original Overdrive, Fuzz and Distortion pedals – some of them in multiple iterations and modded variants. Those models would only be useful for me if I could have a second unit – with just those front of chain Gain and Dynamics effects – but there I would need to be able to separate out all the end-of-chain ones!
So much about this pedal doesn’t entirely make sense to me. It’s a cool idea with some great algorithms – but there are too many shortcomings on the admin side!
The XT-2 Xtortion seems like a very unusual choice – there are many more early Boss pedals which are more loved and in higher demand! I never really vibed with that one – even though it’s still in my collection. It gets back in the rotation every now and again – but doesn’t impress me really compared to all the other great Boss Distortions! The PW-2 is much more my sort of thing – even though the Tone Stacks on both pedals aren’t quite right – and could do with being Waza-Crafted!
I still like most of what the PX-1 is about – but I’m still annoyed by those unnecessary limitations. 16 Models onboard is really too few – and you should be able to freely select which ones you have on the pedal and in which order – I still feel Boss have to fix that. Even though the upper limite stays at 16 – we need to be able to just select the ones we want to have on that pedal – and ditch the rest!