BOSS Waza-Air headphones

[jimi]

Good day to be working from home, these arrived today, thanks Rockshop.

Only had a short play, and they sound great. Ripped through half of a setlist and it was a great way to practice. The spacial thing is pretty freaky, as you turn around - great gimmick, might turn that off though.

I do have a couple of questions for those in the know ... Matt / Ed?

Bluetooth - Flicking between WAZA Bluetooth Midi and WAZA Bluetooth Audio is a bit hit and miss - would be nice to understand what triggers the mode shift on the headset.

Channels - mine just flicks between Clean and Lead as far as I can tell. Is that normal? I can see other channels in the tone editor, so how do I make them available?

Manual doesnt really say much about either of these.

[jeremyb]

Are you on windows? windows is terrible with bluetooth audio that has more than one mode

[jimi]

iPhone for Spotify and the waza app.

I think I’ve worked out the profiles thing - it has 6 loaded, but they’re 3x clean / lead with a different spacial setting for each.

At some point I’ll set them up properly, but had a good jam on it tonight, sounds very cool, and so easy to get practicing with no cables etc.

Pretty happy so far

[Basket Case]

I got mine the other day. I haven't had a chance to connect to the Waza app yet. They sound great! I agree about the directional thing- it's actually pretty annoying, especially as music Bluetoothed into seems to do the same thing. The manual is complete crap.

[slash-ed]

Sounds like you've figured it out, but if you have any more questions please give me a yell.

Yup the presets are just 3x clean and lead with each type of ambience setting. You can customise and add effects etc via the app.

BT Audio - connect as you would a normal BT headset. BT MIDI - connect via the app to control the unit and change settings etc.

Alex Hutchings did a good explainer video which is probably worth checking out too https://youtu.be/izs9DYbty6o

[slash-ed]

I got mine the other day. I haven't had a chance to connect to the Waza app yet. They sound great! I agree about the directional thing- it's actually pretty annoying, especially as music Bluetoothed into seems to do the same thing. The manual is complete crap.

Just use the presets that don't use the Gyro?

Also, check out the parameter guide if you haven't already.

https://www.boss.info/global/support/by ... 0be33be0e/

[Basket Case]

I got mine the other day. I haven't had a chance to connect to the Waza app yet. They sound great! I agree about the directional thing- it's actually pretty annoying, especially as music Bluetoothed into seems to do the same thing. The manual is complete crap.

Just use the presets that don't use the Gyro?

Also, check out the parameter guide if you haven't already.

https://www.boss.info/global/support/by ... 0be33be0e/

Didn't know there were presets that didn't use it since there doesn't seem to be a list of presets available anywhere. I'm sure it will make more sense once I get around to connecting to the app.

[slash-ed]

I got mine the other day. I haven't had a chance to connect to the Waza app yet. They sound great! I agree about the directional thing- it's actually pretty annoying, especially as music Bluetoothed into seems to do the same thing. The manual is complete crap.

Just use the presets that don't use the Gyro?

Also, check out the parameter guide if you haven't already.

https://www.boss.info/global/support/by ... 0be33be0e/

Didn't know there were presets that didn't use it since there doesn't seem to be a list of presets available anywhere. I'm sure it will make more sense once I get around to connecting to the app.

There are only 6 presets. 2x each for static, stage and surround. Flick through them, move your head around while playing and you'll get it pretty quickly.

Static places the amp in a specific location in the "room" so when you move your head it stays there.

Stage places the amp behind you like backline at a gig, so when you move your head you hear it over your shoulder (and same for backing tracks as you found, that's by design).

Surround is the one you'll probably use the most. It's just an amp in the virtual room but it's not tied to the gyros so there's no movement when you move your head.

[Michael]

for notification

Not their intended use I know, but how do they sound as just a normal set of BT headphones? I couldn't justify the price if it is just a practise tool.

and am I right in thinking that the included transmitter will work with other wireless systems, for when I want to plug into my board?

[slash-ed]

for notification

Not their intended use I know, but how do they sound as just a normal set of BT headphones? I couldn't justify the price if it is just a practise tool.

and am I right in thinking that the included transmitter will work with other wireless systems, for when I want to plug into my board?

They work really well actually! They're not noise cancelling but the cups actually sit well over your ears and are naturally very sound isolating. When I demoed these at NAMM earlier this year had hundreds of people yelling hilariously loudly at me while having these on their ears. And to my ears they sound good too, quite well balanced and not overly hyped.

The transmitter can be plugged into the end of your board, yes. And it's compatible with the receivers on our WL-20 and WL-50 systems, so in effect you get an extra transmitter if you've already got the WL.

[murky]

I’ve been eyeing these up for a while.

Then the Katana Air practice amp popped up on my feed today.

And I haven’t had a wireless for a while.

Then it strikes me you could run wireless into, and out of, your pedal board.

Which gets me to wondering: how good is the wireless transmission portion of the equation? Comparable to a 10m cable?

[jimi]

I’ve had a WL 50 for about 18 months now, and have used it for every gig / band practice since getting it.

If you’re a/b and you’re picky you’ll notice it’s not quite 100% of a lead, but close enough and the trade off is well worth it. It WiFi based I think, so range similar to that, I can walk anywhere in the house while playing. Just got to turn the amp up louder when I’m in the garage.

[jimi]

I got mine the other day. I haven't had a chance to connect to the Waza app yet. They sound great! I agree about the directional thing- it's actually pretty annoying, especially as music Bluetoothed into seems to do the same thing. The manual is complete crap.

Just use the presets that don't use the Gyro?

Also, check out the parameter guide if you haven't already.

https://www.boss.info/global/support/by ... 0be33be0e/

Thanks Ed for the links. Will watch the video, and knowing how the presets are set would have been nice to include in the manual.

BC is right though, the manual is not very helpful beyond getting plugged in and charged, the app manual is optimised for phone too, would prefer a version I can print and refer to (I’m old okay!), or at least read full screen on laptop or iPad. I guess these days were expected to go to forums for help, but they’re pretty new, so most of what I found was sales speak not how to... hence coming here to ask the local legends.

[Bg]

at 800 bucks, I'd be looking for a printed manual, and maybe free teeth whitening, for life.

[jimi]

Another Waza air question - or this might be more of a Katana question.

The Lead tone patch must have a few effects in there. A little bit of delay? some reverb? some compression? Without the obvious answer of Get a Katana, where do I get a rough breakdown of what I need to add to get a similar tone out of my pedal board?

Have had a great week using it, most nights I've ripped through a practice set (~15 songs) so I'll be gigging tomorrow night with the best practice leadup I've ever managed. Bit worried that the effects on patches are making me sound better than I am though, not sure how that will translate to my live sound on the night.