Hmm, yeah, I didn't use the 100 for years before switching, oh wait, I did... With any modeler I never use any factory presets, I always start mine from scratch, the person that wrote the preset doesn't play like I do, and doesn't "work" like I do.
Is the 1000 better, yes, the new models are really good, is it a night and day difference, no, it's still a modeler. I still love analog and enjoy playing through my AMT preamp and some pedals as much or more a lot of the time, and I wish I had a place to use a tube amp, but neither is as versatile of a setup.
I picked up a 1000 tonight at local GC. Have both the 100 and 1000 in my possession. Probably won't get to play it until tomorrow night.
What is sad about it, was that I was playing with the floor model for 15 minutes and almost walked out without buying it, even though I know they have a generous return policy. I kept thinking "This is the same damn thing as the 100, except with smaller text." What boggles the mind is that this came out three years after the Helix, and its basically the same UI as the 100 with a few added features. I understand that they are recouping their investment from prior R&D, and this makes it easy to put it in other devices like the Core, and probably a GT-1 successor. But c'mon.
From tweaking in the store, what I DISLIKE is that when you are scrolling through a list of effects to select one, it doesn't show you a LIST, so you have to remember what order they are in. On the 100 it shows you a pop up list. And all the text is just plain small, just so they can show you a larger portion of the chain. The GT100, everything was larger, easier to read, but you only got to see a small window on the chain.
The Helix doesn't get a pass either. I spent about ten minutes with the Helix LT and its another level of UI complexity. I admit I am familiar with Boss GT, but the Helix has multiple unneccesary controls and weird context switching. Sometimes you are interacting with the chain, sometimes there is a drop down. When the drop down appears, its completely unintuitive how you interact with it. Its like getting in a car and seeing a flight stick instead of a steering wheel. Its just a car, don't pretend you're a fighter jet.
That said, if they are equal price, I don't see anyone picking the GT1000 over the Helix based on aesthetics alone. The Helix hardware gives the illusion that it is more tweakable, but the UI is just unnessarily complex. I spent a month with Helix Native and I wouldn't say the Helix is any more tweakable than the GT. Those devils raised the price $200 since the LT came out 3-4 years ago. I have no idea what they are smoking.
