Boss Waza Air now available for bass. Personal Amp System.

[SumOne]

3 hours ago, Shiveringbass said:

Hello,

 

I've just got one of those gems second hand.

 

One question : the descriptions talk about a audio tuner included in the waza (not the one on BTS app).

 

The owner manual don't speak about it and I can't find it. Is there realy a built in tuner ?

 

Thanks

As far as I know you need to use the app. 

[Shiveringbass]

It seems you're right.

 

On this link, the differences between waza air and waza air bass

https://rolandus.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4406799368347-WAZA-AIR-WAZA-AIR-BASS-Difference-between-WAZA-AIR-and-WAZA-AIR-BASS

 

For tuner it says built in in waza air and only via app for waza air bass.

 

Very disapointing...

[Bunion]

19 minutes ago, Shiveringbass said:

For tuner it says built in in waza air and only via app for waza air bass.

There is some kind of audible tuner in the Waza Air, you still need the App though for the visual tuner. 
As I’m using my phone 99% of the time to play along with music I don’t find it a bind to have the app. 
 

[Shiveringbass]

The audible tuner is the only way for me to tune. I have another solution so it's not a big deal but still, I looked foward this function and was disapointed to see that it is present on the waza air and not on the bass version.

[Bunion]

I know it’s an extra expense but would a cheap clip on tuner fill the void? 

[AndyTravis]

39 minutes ago, Bunion said:

I know it’s an extra expense but would a cheap clip on tuner fill the void? 

I only have a clip on tuner - it’s been called names and all sorts by guitarists who were swiftly sacked 😂

[Shiveringbass]

3 hours ago, Bunion said:

I know it’s an extra expense but would a cheap clip on tuner fill the void? 

 

Thanks for the idea. No worry, I already have another solution to tune but I just find it weird that the waza air benefits from the audible tuner and not our bass version...

[SumOne]

Is anyone here successfully using a new (S22) Samsung Bluetooth with the Waza? It worked with my old note 9 but with the S22 I'm having issues: it connects to the app and sends & receives the signal (e.g. use as tuner and adjust fx) but playing music doesn't send as that part of the phone is set so it's not paired as need to have that un paired then pair via the app rather than usual Bluetooth pairing method. If I try pairing via the app and then the usual route it says you need to use the app for this Waza device. 

[CameronJ]

Just bought one of these from a fellow basschatter and wow…they’re phenomenal. I’ve got everything set completely flat. No effects, just bass and Bluetooth audio streaming. The quality of sound is top notch, no farting out even when maxing the bass volume - plus to my surprise the cans themselves are actually very comfortable! I wasn’t sure what to expect with the rectangular cups but I’m very pleasantly surprised.

 

I haven’t touched a manual, just unboxed the kit, downloaded the app and worked it all out. I was up and running within 5 minutes.

 

Without doubt the best headphone practice amp I’ve ever tried. The previous holder of that title was the Phil Jones BigHead, which will now be up for sale I suspect. Bravo, Boss!

Edited May 1, 2022 by CameronJ

[Muppet]

29 minutes ago, CameronJ said:

Without doubt the best headphone practice amp I’ve ever tried. The previous holder of that title was the Phil Jones BigHead, which will now be up for sale I suspect. Bravo, Boss!

Agree completely. I was using an Ashdown Tonepocket which is still a great bit of kit but these headphones are just brilliant. I like the spatial or whatever it is effect and the sound is very natural. 

It’s got me looking at the new Boss Katana practice amps too…..

[Shiveringbass]

16 hours ago, CameronJ said:

Just bought one of these from a fellow basschatter and wow…they’re phenomenal. I’ve got everything set completely flat. No effects, just bass and Bluetooth audio streaming. The quality of sound is top notch, no farting out even when maxing the bass volume - plus to my surprise the cans themselves are actually very comfortable! I wasn’t sure what to expect with the rectangular cups but I’m very pleasantly surprised.

 

I haven’t touched a manual, just unboxed the kit, downloaded the app and worked it all out. I was up and running within 5 minutes.

 

Without doubt the best headphone practice amp I’ve ever tried. The previous holder of that title was the Phil Jones BigHead, which will now be up for sale I suspect. Bravo, Boss!

Exactly how I use mine.

 

Now, only wish would be to be able to record what I ear... the sound is so good.

[CameronJ]

18 minutes ago, Shiveringbass said:

Exactly how I use mine.

 

Now, only wish would be to be able to record what I ear... the sound is so good.

I know what you mean.
 

In a roundabout way I can record what I hear as the sound I’ve set up in the WAZA is basically the same as I use when playing through my Helix Stomp (or Helix Native software) using my in ear monitors with my audio interface. Boss have just allowed me to take that setup with me wherever I go without a single cable in sight.
 

Now if I ever dive into the spatial head tracking stuff that’s where I’ll be in irreplicable territory…

[Bunion]

I had one for a good while now, I take it with me when I go to try out basses as I know how my own gear sounds through it. 
I’ve also used it on more than 1 occasion for a lay-by/services pick up from the marketplace 😄

[CameronJ]

I hadn’t even thought of that but it will be such a great tool for trying out new basses! Not that I’ll be buying new basses any time soon of course.

 

 

Now where was that Pinocchio emoji…?

[Bunion]

You may not have read back through the posts.
I’ve just purchased an electric drum kit and I use it with that too 😄

 

 

[CameronJ]

Glorious! Heresy, but glorious! 

[Woodinblack]

I just got mine yesterday, and spent some serious time with them last night. I also have a spark amp, so this is a mini review for people like me on the shelf.

 

So with the case (and I can't imagine using them without the case) it is a very neat package, zips up and keeps everything together and out of the way. If you don't have the case, seriously, get the case - cant believe at the price they go for they sell without it.

The sender itself is obviously one of the boss WL10/20 type senders, and is very handy and easy to use if you don't have an Ibanez SR. If you have an Ibanez SR, you need some kind of extension which kind of takes away from the self containedness of it, but still works ok.

The headphones themselves are very well made and look quality, although there are quite a few small knobs and buttons to break, another good reason for the case.

Cant comment on the battery life, I played for about 3 hours yesterday with what had come through the post without charging them.

Sound wise they are very clear and the sound is good - so much so I used it for comparing all my basses, and I am sure it showed more detail than anything else. They are easy to pair with your phone or whatever (once you read the instructions on line as it isn't immediately obvious how to do it). The big advantage is that it is easy to use it without any software, which is pretty good as the software is kind of the let down a bit.

As mentioned up there, there is a tuner in the app, which is frankly not very good at all - I used it a few times and then reached for my polytune clip, it can barely work out what your E is on, and your B (or is an F or a D?) well, it will let you know if it is on!

It has the directional thing mentioned, its an interesting gimmick and I can see it being good on a guitar but I really don't know what it is trying to do, If I am on stage with my amp and I starting turning round, it doesn't really go quiet in one ear when it is away from the bass as bass is fairly directionaless and normally pretty loud. But it is there and if people like it it then it is good and it is certianly fairly clever - I guess that is where a lot of the money goes.

It has a drum machine that is basic but functional. I used it from the app - the manual says I can use it with the little switches on the side by some combination, I didn't try that.

The software is functional, that is about what you can say. It lets you set a basic profile, an EQ and a series of effects in a way that is not immediately obvious. The advantage there is you can put them in the 6 patches that you can then change from the buttons on the side of the headphones so you can truly use it in a portable way. This is the weak point of this compared to the spark. In the software for that you have a set of 4 presets, and if you select those you can change amp type, alter the values on that amp, pick effects and the order of them visually, switch them on and off. You also have the supurb song selection packs, where not only do you have jam packs that you can jam along to, you can pick any song from your library and play it, and the software will work out the chords and structure for you and move along with the song, an excelent learning aid. There is nothing like that in the Waza airs.

This portability has to be the strong point of this, you can take it anywhere - it would be ideal if you want to go and pick up a bass (but don't forget your extension leads if it is an ibanez).

 

All in all for this you are paying for sound quaility and portability. And quality. If you are an experienced these are about as good as you can get for playing. If you are a beginner or intermediate, or aren't moving around much you would be far better off with the spark which loses on the portability (although they now make a battery one) and a bit of quality in exchange for much better software, eaiser to use and select effects, and auto tabbing of any song you want to select. As well as having a speaker for non quiet practice.

 

I am glad I got them, but they are expensive. I can see where the money goes although it is dissapointing they are so much more than the guitar ones when it is almost certainly the same hardware, it would have been nice if they had spent some of the money on some better software in the app, but you are largely paying for a total absense of wires, where the spark you need a headphone lead. Although if you have an SR, you need a guitar extension lead, so not entirely lead free

 

[stewblack]

Thank you Woody. Great review and answered all my questions.

[bassfan]

24 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

I just got mine yesterday, and spent some serious time with them last night. I also have a spark amp, so this is a mini review for people like me on the shelf.

 

So with the case (and I can't imagine using them without the case) it is a very neat package, zips up and keeps everything together and out of the way. If you don't have the case, seriously, get the case - cant believe at the price they go for they sell without it.

The sender itself is obviously one of the boss WL10/20 type senders, and is very handy and easy to use if you don't have an Ibanez SR. If you have an Ibanez SR, you need some kind of extension which kind of takes away from the self containedness of it, but still works ok.

The headphones themselves are very well made and look quality, although there are quite a few small knobs and buttons to break, another good reason for the case.

Cant comment on the battery life, I played for about 3 hours yesterday with what had come through the post without charging them.

Sound wise they are very clear and the sound is good - so much so I used it for comparing all my basses, and I am sure it showed more detail than anything else. They are easy to pair with your phone or whatever (once you read the instructions on line as it isn't immediately obvious how to do it). The big advantage is that it is easy to use it without any software, which is pretty good as the software is kind of the let down a bit.

As mentioned up there, there is a tuner in the app, which is frankly not very good at all - I used it a few times and then reached for my polytune clip, it can barely work out what your E is on, and your B (or is an F or a D?) well, it will let you know if it is on!

It has the directional thing mentioned, its an interesting gimmick and I can see it being good on a guitar but I really don't know what it is trying to do, If I am on stage with my amp and I starting turning round, it doesn't really go quiet in one ear when it is away from the bass as bass is fairly directionaless and normally pretty loud. But it is there and if people like it it then it is good and it is certianly fairly clever - I guess that is where a lot of the money goes.

It has a drum machine that is basic but functional. I used it from the app - the manual says I can use it with the little switches on the side by some combination, I didn't try that.

The software is functional, that is about what you can say. It lets you set a basic profile, an EQ and a series of effects in a way that is not immediately obvious. The advantage there is you can put them in the 6 patches that you can then change from the buttons on the side of the headphones so you can truly use it in a portable way. This is the weak point of this compared to the spark. In the software for that you have a set of 4 presets, and if you select those you can change amp type, alter the values on that amp, pick effects and the order of them visually, switch them on and off. You also have the supurb song selection packs, where not only do you have jam packs that you can jam along to, you can pick any song from your library and play it, and the software will work out the chords and structure for you and move along with the song, an excelent learning aid. There is nothing like that in the Waza airs.

This portability has to be the strong point of this, you can take it anywhere - it would be ideal if you want to go and pick up a bass (but don't forget your extension leads if it is an ibanez).

 

All in all for this you are paying for sound quaility and portability. And quality. If you are an experienced these are about as good as you can get for playing. If you are a beginner or intermediate, or aren't moving around much you would be far better off with the spark which loses on the portability (although they now make a battery one) and a bit of quality in exchange for much better software, eaiser to use and select effects, and auto tabbing of any song you want to select. As well as having a speaker for non quiet practice.

 

I am glad I got them, but they are expensive. I can see where the money goes although it is dissapointing they are so much more than the guitar ones when it is almost certainly the same hardware, it would have been nice if they had spent some of the money on some better software in the app, but you are largely paying for a total absense of wires, where the spark you need a headphone lead. Although if you have an SR, you need a guitar extension lead, so not entirely lead free

 

Great review. Mine arrive tomorrow 🤞🏻
 

with any luck they’ll continue to develop the software 😃

[Woodinblack]

16 minutes ago, bassfan said:

Great review. Mine arrive tomorrow 🤞🏻

 

Yes, the one you missed on the marketplace is the one I have!

 

16 minutes ago, bassfan said:

with any luck they’ll continue to develop the software 😃

 

Would be nice, if they could come up with something like they have for spark it would be a killer product, I suspect it is not the market they are interested in, but as positive grid listened tto feedback and made a smaller, battery powered spark, they should do.

[bassfan]

1 hour ago, Woodinblack said:

 

Yes, the one you missed on the marketplace is the one I have!

 

 

Would be nice, if they could come up with something like they have for spark it would be a killer product, I suspect it is not the market they are interested in, but as positive grid listened tto feedback and made a smaller, battery powered spark, they should do.

Ha! Is it? Very good! 😂

 

id like to think boss stay on top of things with software.  You never know! 

[CameronJ]

Software is certainly easier to update than hardware - at least they got the build and sound quality right.
 

To be honest, I’ve not touched the app since my first day owning these. I simply set the bass EQ to flat, got rid of the reverb or whatever it was on the incoming music signal (why the hell that’s even an option is beyond me) and haven’t thought about it since.

[Woodinblack]

As a standalone thing if you don't want to use software (except maybe a music player), I think it is pretty hard to beat. Apart from the not plugging straight into SRs.

And the fact they only give you a single ended USB charging cable when you have two things to charge, the sender and the headphones. Either should be able to plug the sender into that nice big sender sized hole to charge it from one socket, or provide one of those two headed USB cables you get on budget wireless units so you could chanrge them both at the same time. Or wirelss charging in the case like some other cheap headphones I have!

Still, plenty of future options

[CameronJ]

25 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

As a standalone thing if you don't want to use software (except maybe a music player), I think it is pretty hard to beat. Apart from the not plugging straight into SRs.

And the fact they only give you a single ended USB charging cable when you have two things to charge, the sender and the headphones. Either should be able to plug the sender into that nice big sender sized hole to charge it from one socket, or provide one of those two headed USB cables you get on budget wireless units so you could chanrge them both at the same time. Or wirelss charging in the case like some other cheap headphones I have!

Still, plenty of future options

Agreed , they’ve missed a trick re: charging. Especially as the “normal” WL-20 bugs can be plugged into each other and then charged via one usb cable. For the price of the WAZA system you’d think it would be a feature they’d carry over from the vastly less expensive WL line.

[bassfan]

I’ve managed 20 minutes on my new ones and all I can say is wow. I echo everything above. The app is “ok” the charging I’m not so fussed about but the quality.. I’m impressed. I struggled to get the audio to play through my iPhone but the iPad was fine 🤷🏻‍♂️ They suit my practice needs well.. just all round marvellous!  😃

 

oh, and thanks to @Bigwan for selling me his! 😃👍🏻

Edited July 28, 2022 by bassfan