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BOSS GT-8 (or 6 or 5 or 3) USERS thread


dkitts2002

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There are a bunch of GT-8 threads out there now and the ToneLab and POD guys are probably sick of 'em, so I thought I'd try to start one of those long term threads like the Agile thread in the guitar section or the Tonelab one here.

 

POST UR GT questions comments here.

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Have any of you Boss GT guys ever tried running the Boss through a flat response SS power amp into a guitar cab?

 

Just curious...I think it would be cool to ditch my pedals and amp and just be able to run something like this. It would be a nice clean setup with an endless array of tones.

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Originally posted by Dirt

Have any of you Boss GT guys ever tried running the Boss through a flat response SS power amp into a guitar cab?


Just curious...I think it would be cool to ditch my pedals and amp and just be able to run something like this. It would be a nice clean setup with an endless array of tones.

 

 

I've run straight into mixers, recorders, keyboard amps and other 'flat response' devices with my GT-6 for years and the GT-8 is working just as well. Not sure about using a guitar cab though with all that. I've always ran with full range speakers.

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My GT-3 is still on my pedalboard. I use it pretty much just for stereo delay and reverb these days. But the ability to program it so that I can expand the delay and reverb perameters with the expression pedal still blows me (and crowd at my shows) away.

 

I'm surprised someone dosen't make a delay with an expression pedal that can do what this thing does.

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I got a question for you gt-8 owners, they say you can place any effect anywhere in the chain. Ok, does it also allow you to have certain effects in parallel with each other? Like for example, a chorus and a reverb in para instead of series all the time? I was just wondering if they took it this far.

 

Thanks,

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Not that I know of at this time. I think alot of us are still learning though. My old Johnson Millenium would allow parallel effect chains. You could pick from multiple effect chains patterns and some of them were parallel effects chains. But the Boss allows only two amplifiers to be run in parallel and then the external effect loop can run in parallel with the signal going into the loop. You can also manipulate the regular Delay to treat L/R differently. It also allows one of the preamps to be delayed from the other.

 

Now the honest truth is even though the Millenium amp would allow parallel effects chains, and it was pretty easy to use, I never used it as it pretty much becomes garbled sounding really quickly. I've heard a rule of thumb is that more than 4 effects at a time is probably overkill, and I think two at time hits limits too. I think the most effective combinations are to run clean over distorted tones, and the GT-8 does that.

 

I do hope to play with stereo effects on the GT-8 soon but haven't had a chance yet...my job, the one that lets me afford to get a GT-8, keeps getting in the way.

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When I had the g-major, it would allow you to have a chorus or delay in parallel with the reverb only at the end of the effect chain. I thought it sounded better this way instead of series all the way thru.

 

I'm planning on checking out the gt pro as soon as it starts shipping. I'll probably be using it mostly for effects so that's why my concern.

 

Thanks for your reply,

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Well the short answer is NO.

 

The longer answer is that there is SOME paralell processing available in the GT-8.

For example you can run the delay in "Dual Delay" mode and run those two delays either in series or paralell

 

You can also run two preamp models in paralell.

 

And the External Effects loop can be set to run in paralell with the unit and the effects chain.

 

So- there is is SOME, but it is not a fully featured paralell processor.

 

B

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Well, I'm not discouraged yet, still going to check it out. The book said the reason the g-major had this capability was so that you could use a delay and a reverb together without getting some kind of weird warbling effect. When you put those two in parallel with each other, it stops that.

 

Maybe boss already figured this out ahead of time or maybe they had to leave some room for software upgrades:D

 

Whatever the case, it looks like it might suprize those expecting it to be just another gimmick peice. I know I've seen people bitchin' that nobody makes an fx processor that has a straight usb to usb computer interface let alone lets you record thru it. Here is a device that's giving people more of what they asked for and nobody seems too interested. Maybe it's not taken seriously because it has the modeling preamp in it? The cool thing is you don't have to use the modeling all the time or at all.

 

Can ya tell I'm gasing over this thing?:D

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Originally posted by BlueFusion

Well, I'm not discouraged yet, still going to check it out. The book said the reason the g-major had this capability was so that you could use a delay and a reverb together without getting some kind of weird warbling effect. When you put those two in parallel with each other, it stops that.


Maybe boss already figured this out ahead of time or maybe they had to leave some room for software upgrades:D


Whatever the case, it looks like it might suprize those expecting it to be just another gimmick peice. I know I've seen people bitchin' that nobody makes an fx processor that has a straight usb to usb computer interface let alone lets you record thru it. Here is a device that's giving people more of what they asked for and nobody seems too interested. Maybe it's not taken seriously because it has the modeling preamp in it? The cool thing is you don't have to use the modeling all the time or at all.


Can ya tell I'm gasing over this thing?
:D

 

I have come to the conclusion that digital modeling sounds fantastic when used in a recording environment and requires a different amplification system than a tradtitional guitar amp to get maximum audio quality live. I've also come to the conclusion that in most cases it just doesn't "feel" the same, but as far as the sound goes, it's fantastic.

 

If you want to run an external chorus in the loop and mix the outputs sepeately outside the Gt you can do that.

personally, chorus and reverb have worked fine together for almost 30 years in series, so I'm not too concerned about it.

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Maybe it was just a problem unique to the g major and isn't a big deal in other processors. Some people are starting to give their thoughts on the gt-8 in the user reviews section, some good and some bad. The problem is, which camp to believe? I'm not going pass any judgement until I hear it for myself.

 

I hope the rack version is going to be a bump up in quality from the floor version cause at nearly twice the price, it should be!

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Well let me tell you a few things about most of the reviews on HC.

First of all, if the people in this forum (which is the FX forum no less!) are any indication- most people don't read the manual and have no idea how anything more complicated than a Phase90 works.

Secondly, Compressors tend to give people fits- they can't figure it out because they don't really understand what a compressor is doing- and I'm talking using a PEDAL here, leave alone a compressor with more parameters in a digital FX processor!

Third, it all depends on what sound you are going for and your age/experience with other gear as to how you are going to react.

 

Now- on to some personal observations about Roland/Boss gear that I've amassed over the past 20 years...

 

1. ALL of the Presets SUCK in one way or another because they aren't accurate- What do I mean? Well ALL of the presets have the COMPRESSOR and NOISE GATES engaged and almost all of them are SOAKED in Chorus, delay, and reverb with Long decays.

They also all have way too much high end EQ to give them a crisp sound when demoing them in a noisy ass music store.

 

2. People that complain of "digital artifacts" are most likely (in my experience) hearing the compressors and noise gates competing with each other to decide whether or not the signal is noise or actual signal. You will get a little sputtering distortion as the signal decays and these two battle it out.

TURN THEM BOTH OFF AND ONLY ADD ONE OR THE OTHER IF YOU ABSOUTELY NEED IT!!!! You will aslo notice a decrease in noise with the compressor turned off since it is amplifying any noise present. This is not "digital aliasing or distortion" as many would label it- it is a result of having too many dynamic effects engaged.

 

3. Start from scratch. Turn off EVERYTHING in a patch- EVERYTHING. and add one piece at a time. There is a reason it is called "tweaking" it takes a bit of time to work with these things- it's the price you pay for all the options it gives you.

 

4. the SPRING reverb model in the GT is weird, I give you that- you get these little "spring" noises when you hit it too hard (and using a compressor and all that makes these more common, so does using certain EQ's etc... and hot pickups. But a real spring reverb kinda does that too. What I found was that you MUST MUST MUST decrease the density and use the DAMPING features to reduce the amount of "ring" and you can get a surprisingly NICE spring reverb sound that sounds (IMO) more like an AMP and less like a studio reverb. Once again, people in my estimation are NOT really adjusting all the parameters or understanding what they do.

 

Also remember that subtely is the word. A hint of spring reverb on an amp model brings it to life, too much sounds like an overprocessed mess. A hint of echo/delay with the top rolled off sounds like a studio recording of a great amp with a nice delay. Too much delay with too much high end sounds like a cheesy digital processor (i.e. overprocessed mess) Try using thegain and EQ's on the amp models or change the speaker model/mic placement before adding a distortion pedal and cranking up IT's EQ and gain or adding an EQ outside of the amp and using it. Or adding more bottom on the chorus effect. Each one of these effects has sooooo many parameters, start with a good BASIC sound and adjust the effects to it, not the other way around.

 

.02

 

B

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One fun thing in the GT-8 is the dynamic amp thing. When I was a kid, and didn't play guitar I just figured what I was hearing (distortion) was just from playing a guitar real hard...play it easier and it sounds cleaner. Well, there was some truth to that with tube amps but never as dramatic as full clean to full dirty, but with the dyanmic amp, you can kind of live that fantasy. I just set up a patch going from a JC-120 clean to a Rectifier sound...Pretty controllable and definately kind of the expressive experience I fantasized electric guitar would be before I actually played. It's triggered by VOLUME, so you cannot stay distorted if you are picking in my patch, but it's fun whamming out those big major chords and settling back down into a clean sound.

 

It's like "tube feel" on steroids.

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Good analysis BryanM.

 

A little "seasoning" reinforces the tone.

A lot of "seasoning" ruins the tone.

 

That being said, do you have some GT-8 starter patches that you have established as great foundation tones? Would you mind posting them for us?

 

~A~

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Originally posted by BryanMichael



2. People that complain of "digital artifacts" are most likely (in my experience) hearing the compressors and noise gates competing with each other to decide whether or not the signal is noise or actual signal. You will get a little sputtering distortion as the signal decays and these two battle it out.

TURN THEM BOTH OFF AND ONLY ADD ONE OR THE OTHER IF YOU ABSOUTELY NEED IT!!!! You will aslo notice a decrease in noise with the compressor turned off since it is amplifying any noise present. This is not "digital aliasing or distortion" as many would label it- it is a result of having too many dynamic effects engaged.


B

 

Although I agree with you, you must keep in mind that there are other artifacts that are more annoying.

 

I ran into a guy here who described exactly what my reason was to get rid of the GT-3;

if you used a distortion patch (preamp sim) and you'd make a long bend on the higher frets (>17) on the higher strings, you'd hear some FM-modulation type of sound. Like scanning for a radio channel. Very fake and annoying. If the GT-8 doesn't do this, I might be persuaded to buy one.

 

Also, as a direct recording tool the GT-3 was very good; I made some great tube-like patches (Deep Purple sound) that are still on some GT-3 patch site.

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Originally posted by Kewlpack

Good analysis BryanM.


A little "seasoning" reinforces the tone.

A lot of "seasoning" ruins the tone.


That being said, do you have some GT-8 starter patches that you have established as great foundation tones? Would you mind posting them for us?


~A~

 

Hi Guys=

Speeddemon- Glad you clarified that. I was only speaking from my personal experience in dealing with what SOME people have described- also it may be more noticable at different settings or with different amp models (e.g. very High Gain models, hot pickups, etc..) I know there can be REAL digital artifacts, I'm just saying that alot of what I've heard people describe can be attributed to those two things in many cases.

 

Kewelpack- I've only had the thing for 5 days and have not saved any patches yet, only gone through things and tried to see what all it can do. I'm thinking of swapping out the Duncan Humbuckers in my Godin for a new set of these:

 

Nashville_Chrome_SILO.jpg

 

so I haven't committed to any patches yet.

They seem to be getting very nice reviews and they are pretty cheap!

Check 'em out:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=22670&item=7300926711&rd=1&ssPageName=WD1V

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