Guitar Processor Advice - Boss GT

[treyhaislip]

I'm looking for a new guitar processor and am really interested in the Boss GTs. Does anyone have any experience with these? Any recommendations?

Thanks!

 

[Johtosotku]

Re: Guitar Processor Advice - Boss GT

I bougjt me a GT3 about fifteen years ago. I really liked it at the time. I only used it for some years and haven't fired it up since I got a better amp. I should try it out again some day. Even if I can't say anything about the sound quality I can still say it was well built and took some abuse with no problems.

 

[Phantasmagoria]

Re: Guitar Processor Advice - Boss GT

I've got a brand new shiny GT-6 that's been lying in it's box pretty much untouched since I bought it new 10+ years ago. I could 'nt find a usable high gain preset I liked (the clean/modulation stuff was OK though..) & tweaking was a nightmare with all the parameters & sub-parameters. I'd had a Zoom (forget which one but it was OLD) before that & it was a lot easier to dial in. It also sounded a lot better than anything I could get from the Boss.. (albeit pretty digital sounding..but as I said it was OLD haha).

Frankly I think Zoom's always been miles ahead of Boss for high gain sounds in their MultiFx.. & my experience with the little G1Xon I just bought for kicks & practice confirms it...almost every preset I've tried sounds awesome out of the box. If you are'nt stuck on Boss I'd give the Zoom G5 (big brother of my G1Xon) a listen/try first ... it's quite a bit cheaper too.. (cleans, modulation..everything sounds great..not just the high gain)

EDIT: I have no experience with the more recent Boss stuff ....it might be better. Though I will add that I've shared the stage with bands whose guitarists' use GT10's straight to the PA & they sound awful (fizzy/thin/noisy..lacking weight & presence) ..one guy even had his go totally dead on stage & had to finish his set with another that someone lent him....not j/k.

 

[treyhaislip]

Re: Guitar Processor Advice - Boss GT

Thanks for the heads up! I'm more of a crunch sound than a high gain...I like high gain but mainly use crunch.

I love my old POD but just feel that I keep dialing in the same tones and it seems one-dimensional.

 

[Johtosotku]

Re: Guitar Processor Advice - Boss GT

What I liked about the GT3 compared to the PodXT I had was that with the GT3 I could create some rwally crazy yet fun sounds.

 

[treyhaislip]

Re: Guitar Processor Advice - Boss GT

What I liked about the GT3 compared to the PodXT I had was that with the GT3 I could create some rwally crazy yet fun sounds.

That's good to hear! I just bought a GT-3 with manuals and power chord on eBay for right under $90 after shipping. I thought under a $100 was not bad at all and the YouTube videos show it gets some cool tones.

I've never used any Boss products before, if I like it then I may save up for one of the newer ones like the GT-10 or GT-100.

 

[koshikas]

Re: Guitar Processor Advice - Boss GT

i cannot comment on the latest BOSS GT offerings (GT-10 and GT-100), but i ve used Gt-8 and use to-date GT-6 extensively. i have my share of love and hate with them, but after getting to know that two of my influential acts (opeth, neal schon) used them live (for convenience), i knew there was lot of tweaking that could be done to get what i want. Really in the realm of multi-fx there are those with few parameters that either give u the sound or not and then there are those that have countless parameters to get what u want. The BOSS Gt series including GT-6 belongs to the latter group. with so many parameter tweaks, it is so easy to mess up things and endup frustrated with tones that are far from usable. so if u have lots of time for tweaking BOSS GTs are for u, they do require considerable experience in getting to know what work with what (specially which overdrives/distortions go well with which pre-amp sims). the constant whining in forums about the cocked wah sounds, are mostly results of improper matching. I do employ software for tweaking, or i get lazy and end up with nothing. effects wise all of them have very usable quality effects. i dont fancy goin straight into FOH with them, because the speaker emulation featured are an absolute mess. in the few patches where i got it right, i always employed a quality DI box between the GT and FOH board to get get acceptable sounds. I have always fancied running it into a clean amp channel or even better direct into the effects return to skip the pre-amp for less coloring of the tones.

I agree with all the clean amp sims being of quality. getting mildly overdriven sound is tricky with very limited options, though i ve found a few that works to my taste. same goes for genuine crunch sounds. and it is no outstanding substitute for the real thing. but i have created enough patches to stay afloat, and i use those over driven and crunch sounds regularly.

for alternate recommendations, if u can get ur hands on an old digitech GNX4, there are these alternative amp sims created for it called MFX SuperModels. I have a friend who gets awesome studio sounds good for recording with it. We have not yet checked out how good it is live though.

 

[treyhaislip]

Re: Guitar Processor Advice - Boss GT

i cannot comment on the latest BOSS GT offerings (GT-10 and GT-100), but i ve used Gt-8 and use to-date GT-6 extensively. i have my share of love and hate with them, but after getting to know that two of my influential acts (opeth, neal schon) used them live (for convenience), i knew there was lot of tweaking that could be done to get what i want. Really in the realm of multi-fx there are those with few parameters that either give u the sound or not and then there are those that have countless parameters to get what u want. The BOSS Gt series including GT-6 belongs to the latter group. with so many parameter tweaks, it is so easy to mess up things and endup frustrated with tones that are far from usable. so if u have lots of time for tweaking BOSS GTs are for u, they do require considerable experience in getting to know what work with what (specially which overdrives/distortions go well with which pre-amp sims). the constant whining in forums about the cocked wah sounds, are mostly results of improper matching. I do employ software for tweaking, or i get lazy and end up with nothing. effects wise all of them have very usable quality effects. i dont fancy goin straight into FOH with them, because the speaker emulation featured are an absolute mess. in the few patches where i got it right, i always employed a quality DI box between the GT and FOH board to get get acceptable sounds. I have always fancied running it into a clean amp channel or even better direct into the effects return to skip the pre-amp for less coloring of the tones.

I agree with all the clean amp sims being of quality. getting mildly overdriven sound is tricky with very limited options, though i ve found a few that works to my taste. same goes for genuine crunch sounds. and it is no outstanding substitute for the real thing. but i have created enough patches to stay afloat, and i use those over driven and crunch sounds regularly.

for alternate recommendations, if u can get ur hands on an old digitech GNX4, there are these alternative amp sims created for it called MFX SuperModels. I have a friend who gets awesome studio sounds good for recording with it. We have not yet checked out how good it is live though.

Thank you for the heads up! I am looking forward to getting my GT-3. I just feel that no matter how I tweak the Line 6 I end up with a set of similar sounds. I have 2 channels (A, B, C, & D) that I love but am looking to get something different that I can't out of my POD. I don't mind digging in deep and taking time to tweak...I don't play live anymore as of right now so its all practice time in my music room.

I've used some Digitech gear that was awesome–my first board was a Digitech RP7. My dad has an old Zoom that gets some awesome tone. The used prices on those GNX4 are pretty high so it seems like they have a good following/market.

Thanks again!

 

[Hank-]

Re: Guitar Processor Advice - Boss GT

With the GT's the only way the inbuilt preamps sound good are when you run them through a guitar speaker, better yet a tube poweramp & guitar cab. Otherwise they just don't sound all that great. I'm not sure whether the GT3 or GT5 or both had analog OD/Dist section. In any case, the effects section is very good. The newest gt100 has a very good UI compared to most other floor units out there. The cocked wah was only related to the gt10, not the others.

I have the gt10, haven't felt the need to update to the gt100. Boss preamps(except clean) are no good for me, I use it as an fx processor mainly. It's very powerful in that regard. It has had some annoying cons like super bright leds & bright blue lcd screen. It would lead to purple vision after awhile of looking at it, took care of that with some tape & yellow transparent sheet.

Anyways, I'd consider something like SGear program if recording, it's cheap, effective, sounds great, doesn't require alot of pc resources either. The demo is available for 30 uses(or days), you can check out all features of it. Give it a try if you can.

 

[mamm]

Re: Guitar Processor Advice - Boss GT

With the GT's the only way the inbuilt preamps sound good are when you run them through a guitar speaker, better yet a tube poweramp & guitar cab.

I don't know if it's the ONLY way, but that's exactly what I do live:

GT-100 -> power amp of a Laney 50 watter (2 x 6L6) -> 4 x 12"

With that, I can fill the stage of clubs with good sounds, good effects and all the flexibility I need for covering lots of ground in my cover band. Crunchy plexi AC/DC on a song, scooped recto Metallica on the next? No problem.

When recording, I run the GT trough the power amp of a Fender 2 x 12" 100W SS combo and use a 57 in front of the best speaker. Works fine too.

Both live and recording, the cabinet simulations of the GT are always off. Never liked them. Try as I might, I never had success running the GT straight trough a FRFR system.

 

[NecroPolo]

Re: Guitar Processor Advice - Boss GT

I don't have those but I worked with bands using GT units in the studio a couple of times and I have a lot of friends who use them live. As far as my experience goes, they are awesome here:

- build quality
- superb reliability
- ambient and modulation effects, generally everything that is not distortion / overdrive / amp sim (bypass these and use the unit in the FX loop of your amp)
- good noise gate
- interface (they are really logical)
- they have their own sound

They don't shine here:

- organic sound (you can get more realistic driven sounds / cab sims than COSM these days)
- a little plastic taste (around the price TC Nova, Line6, Vox Tonelab or Stomplab does it more reallistically)
- they have their own sound


So they are for you if you:

- want a super reliable FX processor to use it in your FX loop but keep using the preamp of your amplifier
- use a lot of FX where raw guitar sound is not so important
- want to simplify your live setup
- don't mind much about the organic feel of your rig
- need zillions of different sounds with instant access
- like tweaking


They are not for you if you:

- need realistic amp response as much as possible
- have a playing attitude that is based on organic distortion / overdrive sounds
- have organic sound in mind and you want to rely completely on the amp sim of your multi FX unit
- need just one perfect tone
- need simplicity in general

 

[treyhaislip]

Re: Guitar Processor Advice - Boss GT

With the GT's the only way the inbuilt preamps sound good are when you run them through a guitar speaker, better yet a tube poweramp & guitar cab.

That's actually what I was planning on doing–so that is very good to hear!


Thank you all, lots of good advice here.

 

[Hank-]

Re: Guitar Processor Advice - Boss GT

I don't know if it's the ONLY way, but that's exactly what I do live:

GT-100 -> power amp of a Laney 50 watter (2 x 6L6) -> 4 x 12"

Dude, is it a Laney LC50? That's what I've done with the gt10 before as well, works well. One thing you can try is using the natural/advanced preamp with the gain level high up & using the volume knob on the guitar for cleaning it up or an assign trick. It's sounds good.

Apparently the gt100 has better input sensitivity, so the volume knob roll off on the guitar works much better than previous gt's. The cab sims are sucky throughout all gt's I feel, creating custom cab with odd parameters helps but meh. Lately I don't bother with the fx loop of the amp, I just run it straight into the front of the amp on the clean channel, can't deal with the cable spaghetti mess on the floor.

Another thing that can be done to use the gt direct to frfr is place a tech21 pedal (or a joyo clone of it) in the loop of the gt.

 

[mamm]

Re: Guitar Processor Advice - Boss GT

It's a VC50. I use the internal 2x12" (open back) plus a closed back 2x12" Laney extension cab.

One cable only, the GT output goes straight to the power amp input. I don't use 4CM. The half-dozen 12AX7 preamp tubes don't get to join the signal path party... lol

It's the first modeller I'm using live, I used to be an all-tube snob for decades.

IMHO, the GT-100 responds very well to the volume knob. The Plexi, Pro Reverb, Twin and Tube Screamer simulations work very well live. The Mesas aren't shabby, either.

 

[treyhaislip]

Re: Guitar Processor Advice - Boss GT

Thank you all for all of your help. Got a nicely used Boss GT-3 for under $100 and absolutely love it! It sounds amazing through my Marshall and gets the drive tone I was looking for.

There is alot it can do that I haven't wrapped my head around yet, but so far I really like it...wish I had gone this route awhile ago!

 

[koshikas]

Re: Guitar Processor Advice - Boss GT

one more thing to note. on GTs under global settings (usually) u will get to select "Output Setting" or "Output Select", which is meant to globally affect the sonic spectrum of patches depending on the kind of amplification u use (with possible available options being; JC-120, small amp, combo, stack, combo return, stack return, PA). some of them push different areas in the spectrum too much. anyways dont tie urself with the labels here, try them all and use the output type that sounds best to u. on my boss gt-6, i find that 'jc-120' setting gives me the most naturals sounding headroom, when i m going direct into a clean amp input at front, but tend to use the 'small amp' setting for heavy sets, which gives me sort of a more mid-push.

 

[treyhaislip]

Re: Guitar Processor Advice - Boss GT

one more thing to note. on GTs under global settings (usually) u will get to select "Output Setting" or "Output Select", which is meant to globally affect the sonic spectrum of patches depending on the kind of amplification u use (with possible available options being; JC-120, small amp, combo, stack, combo return, stack return, PA). some of them push different areas in the spectrum too much. anyways dont tie urself with the labels here, try them all and use the output type that sounds best to u. on my boss gt-6, i find that 'jc-120' setting gives me the most naturals sounding headroom, when i m going direct into a clean amp input at front, but tend to use the 'small amp' setting for heavy sets, which gives me sort of a more mid-push.

Thanks for the heads up! I haven't gotten too deep into it. I've tweaked a few things hear and there but ultimately have found several patches that get the drive tone I was going after. Thanks again!