Boss releases XS-100 and XS-1 Poly Shifter pitch pedals

November 1, 2025 · 2 sources

Boss announced the XS-100 and XS-1 Poly Shifter pedals in September 2025, with both launching in October 2025 at $349.99 and $199.99 respectively¹. Guitar World described the release as Boss moving in on DigiTech's pitch-shifting territory¹.

The XS-100 is the larger of the two, built around an expression pedal with an integrated toe switch. Boss says the pedal provides linear pitch control across plus or minus four octaves, with fixed pitch settings in semitone steps across eight octaves for drop tunings and capo effects². It also lists a detune function of plus or minus 50 cents, an adjustable pedal curve and response, a display, and 30 memories for storing setups². The toe switch and footswitches can be reassigned, and Boss says independent pitch-change speeds for each pedal direction make it easy to produce motor revving tones².

Connections on the XS-100 include a dedicated analog output that mirrors the input signal, support for up to two footswitches or an expression pedal, TRS MIDI I/O, and a USB connector for system updates². Boss says the pedal is "powered by finely tuned algorithms and a specially selected DSP platform" for balanced polyphonic performance². Guitar World reported that two effects can be run simultaneously, such as detuning the whole signal by an octave while keeping expressive sweeps available, and that the pedal supports all frequencies, so bass players can use it too¹.

The compact XS-1 has no expression pedal. Guitar World reported that pitch can be changed across plus or minus seven semitones or plus or minus three octaves, that its detune function works across plus or minus 20 cents, and that it is not MIDI compatible¹. The XS-1 offers a Balance control, and its pedal switch can be assigned for momentary shifts, with up to two external footswitches for alternate tuning modes and an optional external expression pedal¹.