My Boss GT-100 Thread

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  • Drew_TNBDDrew_TNBD Frets: 22445
    I don't believe so, no.
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  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71963
    edited September 2013
    I know it's totally ridiculous, but my main complaint with all the Boss units is the damn switches - I just hate their lever-style switches, and vastly prefer the exposed-switch type ones on the Line6 gear.
    I vastly prefer the Boss switches to anything else out there. I find them much easier to press than any other type, and I like the way they don't break as much as any other type.
    Although, on balance, I refuse to have anything to do with a company that sells such a fucked-up product as the LS-2 and keep a straight face. Yes, it's perfectly irrational.
    I don't think it's fucked-up, I just think they made a poor design choice with the arrangement of the jacks - I would prefer the sends on the right and the returns on the left too - but I think that if you go back to what it was originally intended to do (the clue is in the name ;) ), it makes sense. My guess is that they added the loop-switching and mixing functions to something originally designed as a simple Line Selector.

    It is really a triumph of internal layout that they got six full-size jacks and two power jacks into a standard Boss casing, too... as long as you don't have to take it apart :).
    Whenever I've given the Boss units a chance, it's always been with the amp modelling - and, let's face it, their amp modelling is plain shit. Zoom managed to do it properly in units that are a third of the price, so as far as I'm concerned a company like Boss/Roland has absolutely no fucking excuse to get it that badly wrong.
    I also don't like the Roland/Boss COSM modelling - in fact, I think I largely blame it for my dislike of modelling in general. The first modelling products I used were the VG8 and the GP(not T)-100, which sounded pretty artificial, and I think somehow 'sensitised' me to the distinctive characteristic of digital, so that I hear it more in other products than I perhaps would if I'd come to them fresh.

    To be fair, there were a couple of settings on the ME-50 (COSM pedal modelling, not amp) which I actually liked, although I strongly disliked most of them - and the Zoom B3 is making me think again about it, although even there some of the models are much better than others and some still just don't sound right.

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

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  • So my big question is obviously...is it worth the upgrade from a GT-10?  I'm in a similar position in that I'm 4CM with no real use of amp sims.

    I had to spend quite a bit of time fiddling with send and return levels for 4CM (and its still not totally transparent) so interesting to find that with the GT-100 you just got it to just work first time.
    ဈǝᴉʇsɐoʇǝsǝǝɥɔဪቌ
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  • guitarfishbayguitarfishbay Frets: 7953
    edited September 2013
    I've been doing some reading on the Boss GT forums and it seems a few people have used preamp pedals in the S/R loop instead of an amp for a direct setup.

    Something like a HT Dual / Mesa V Twin / AMT Legend series could be all you need to get a best of both worlds/best compromise solution.  You could either use a GT clean amp sim and send in a distorted signal or you could use the emulated out from the distortion pedals and ignore the boss preamp/cab sims altogether (assuming they can be fully bypassed).  The clean sims on most FX units are passable for my needs if nothing special, but I can't stand bad digital distortion sims.

    I'm now strongly considering picking up a GT100 if the above setup would sound good as I already own a HT Dual.  I hated the GT8 interface and am selling it to my bandmate who is a total set and forget kind of guy and has no interest in much beyond tuner/noisegate/delay/chorus.  I'm currently using a normal pedalboard again but it is a bit tricky for certain changes, I intend to keep the real pedalboard for recording but an FX unit for live use would be great.  I have been watching videos on the GT100 and it looks far, far easier to use.

    I'd be putting it in 4cm with an amp most of the time but occasionally will be doing quick setup/tear down support slot gigs so a minimal, straight to desk setup that sounds good (GT100 with HT Dual for distortion in loop) would be far preferable to getting involved with a provided backline too.  I'd just leave the HT Dual on and patch change between the loop being active (for distortion) and to a separate clean patch with no use of the loop for cleans, so would still be controlling changes from the GT100 keeping tap dancing to a minimum.

    Hmm...
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  • Drew_TNBDDrew_TNBD Frets: 22445
    So my big question is obviously...is it worth the upgrade from a GT-10?  I'm in a similar position in that I'm 4CM with no real use of amp sims.

    I had to spend quite a bit of time fiddling with send and return levels for 4CM (and its still not totally transparent) so interesting to find that with the GT-100 you just got it to just work first time.
    Honestly guv I couldn't tell you. I never used the GT-10. But with this all I did was set it to stack return, put the send/return block into the chain and activated it. Worked fine, no change to the tone once I got the levels matched (you have to match the output knob against the amp with its FX loop disabled)

    What you might run into is the paralell loop being a bit dodgy on the regular JVM. I am using the Satch JVM as you know, and it has a series loop which is less prone to leakage and phasey nonsense.

    Also with my Satch, the switching is instant. I was a bit worried that the GT-100 would re-introduce a gap. But it doesn't, so patch changes on this thing are instantaneous. So this really does tick all my boxes.

    Compared to the HD500, this was a doddle. Didn't need to adjust the send or return gains either. I couldn't stop grinning at how easy it was! Our other guitarist uses a Laney VH100R, I'm kinda interested in trying it out with his amp too, to see how the noise gates work. My amp has them built in, so I don't need the ones on the unit itself.

    I may give the preamps a go, see what they sound like through the return of my amp.

    My main criticisms, or if you prefer, feature requests:

    - Stop the reverse delay from getting 'pitchy' when being tapped from the master BPM
    - Scroll the preset names when you are changing the banks
    - Allow the ability to remove the effects blocks and exchange them for other blocks, particularly the amps and noise gates
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  • Drew_TNBDDrew_TNBD Frets: 22445
    So one thing I want to try with the internal wave pedal is assigning it to the hold parameter of the sound hold effect. Should be able to get held sampling of my guitar every bar, which could lead to some interesting sounds. All my footswitches are taken up thus far! I may add a sub ctrl pedal, and I *think* I will be able to add one of my DD7's into the mix, and tap its tempo from the amp control output jack. I can then assign the accel button to master BPM tap *and* amp control momentary output; so each time I tap it, it taps both units.
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  • I'm using the series loop as you say the parallel loop / switchable loop on the regular JVM has bleed even in 100% wet.

    I didn't think of only matching the output control, Ive been messing with the send / return levels. It was a while back but I think the default levels in my case introduced clipping if I had the channel volumes on the amp quite high.
    ဈǝᴉʇsɐoʇǝsǝǝɥɔဪቌ
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  • Drew_fx said:
    So one thing I want to try with the internal wave pedal is assigning it to the hold parameter of the sound hold effect. Should be able to get held sampling of my guitar every bar, which could lead to some interesting sounds. All my footswitches are taken up thus far! I may add a sub ctrl pedal, and I *think* I will be able to add one of my DD7's into the mix, and tap its tempo from the amp control output jack. I can then assign the accel button to master BPM tap *and* amp control momentary output; so each time I tap it, it taps both units.

    I couldnt get anything to happen with the sound hold effect, I didnt delve too deep though, didnt work immediately so I forgot about it :)
    ဈǝᴉʇsɐoʇǝsǝǝɥɔဪቌ
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  • Drew_TNBDDrew_TNBD Frets: 22445
    I'm using the series loop as you say the parallel loop / switchable loop on the regular JVM has bleed even in 100% wet.

    I didn't think of only matching the output control, Ive been messing with the send / return levels. It was a while back but I think the default levels in my case introduced clipping if I had the channel volumes on the amp quite high.
    Yeah the way I did it; play a chunky chord with amp FX loop disabled. Enable amp FX loop, play chunky chord... adjust output level... keep doing it till their even. Then all you need to do is worry about the master volumes on the amp.
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  • Drew_TNBDDrew_TNBD Frets: 22445
    edited September 2013
    Well... I'm kinda gutted really. Everything about this unit is great, apart from the pitch-shifting when doing tap-tempo on the delays!!

    Check this out:
    DD7 - https://soundcloud.com/drewvernon/sets/dd7-delay-tap-tempo-demo
    GT100 - https://soundcloud.com/drewvernon/sets/gt-100-delay-tap-tempo-demo

    Kind of annoying that the DD7 is absolutely fine in this respect. But the GT100 is both quite clicky on some models, and warbles like crazy! I couldn't use this live I don't think. :(

    Based on this, it's going back. Nearly perfect in all other ways, but I can't live with this and live is too short!
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  • I know it's totally ridiculous, but my main complaint with all the Boss units is the damn switches - I just hate their lever-style switches, and vastly prefer the exposed-switch type ones on the Line6 gear.

    Whenever I've given the Boss units a chance, it's always been with the amp modelling - and, let's face it, their amp modelling is plain shit. Zoom managed to do it properly in units that are a third of the price, so as far as I'm concerned a company like Boss/Roland has absolutely no fucking excuse to get it that badly wrong.

    Although, on balance, I refuse to have anything to do with a company that sells such a fucked-up product as the LS-2 and keep a straight face. Yes, it's perfectly irrational.
    That is ridiculous when the Boss switches are of a far better quality than the exposed Line 6 variety. 

    Boss amp modelling is indeed shit. I have been grumbling for years that Boss should do something like the M9 in terms of freedom of effects selection and position with no fecking amp shite to distract things. 



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  • Drew_TNBDDrew_TNBD Frets: 22445
    If they fixed these delay tap tempo issues (the clicking and the pitch shifting) then I can easily see myself using just a GT-100 for effects in a live setting. I'd sussed the phaser and got the sounds I was happy with, but I couldn't live with the delay issues.

    All they need to do is expand their tap tempo window for the delays to be an average across the last four taps, and add parameter smoothing to the delay times so that you don't get crazy pitches... and the kicker? They've done it before in the DD7!!

    Boggles the mind. I can't imagine any regular guitarist being happy with pitch wobbly crap coming out of his amp in the middle of a song... maybe if you're one of those crazy surf noize guitarists sure...

    Bah. Really depressing.
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  • Are you talking about the kind of scrathing artifact thing you get when you tap tempo? In practice Ive found on my GT-10 it only happens if you're significantly modifying the delay time via the tap. Im fairly sure my echo park used to do the same thing back when I used that too.
    ဈǝᴉʇsɐoʇǝsǝǝɥɔဪቌ
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  • Drew_TNBDDrew_TNBD Frets: 22445
    edited September 2013
    Two issues:

    1. The clicking you get with the Single and Reverse modes. Even when tapping with roughly the same region, say 100bpm-102bpm, it will glitch out and sound crappy.

    2. The pitch artifacts as you tap the tempo. Some people love that, but I really don't. It sounds amateur in a live setting, particularly with our kind of music.

    The key really is that the DD7 does not have either of these problems. That the GT-100 does seems slightly sloppy of them to be honest. In all other respects the GT-100 is perfect. A *really* good controller for the JVM and great sounding effects too. An excellent screen and tuner, and really good sounding AD/DA stages and easy to setup in 4-cable mode tops it all off.

    Line 6 HD500 is a no-go. Silence when switching patches. None of the Zoom units properly support midi. The earlier Boss units are the same as the GT-100 (AFAIK). Digitech makes iPad toy bullshit these days, and none of their units offer more than one delay at once. Nova System midi is limited, only offers one delay at a time, and the screen isn't as clear as the GT-100. M13 would potentially be a go-er, but I grew really tired of the Line 6 sound, so I ditched all of my Line 6 stuff months ago. Not going back. Fender Mustang Floor has the sounds from what I can tell, but still only one delay at once. It does do midi though.

    *sigh*

    Maybe someone will get it right someday. Hell, even the Axe-FX has a slither of silence between patches, enough to be off putting. I was incredibly surprised that the GT-100 didn't!!
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  • https://soundcloud.com/polarityman/gt-10-delay-demo-single-and

    Tapped throughout both of these, first one is single, second one is reverse.


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  • Drew_TNBDDrew_TNBD Frets: 22445
    Thanks dude. Single sounds way better on the GT-10 than the GT-100. They've got some bug there I think. Reverse sounds slightly different, but still has the same pitch issue. Perhaps it isn't as pervasive though? Hmm. Interesting; thanks again man!
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  • octatonicoctatonic Frets: 33725
    edited September 2013
    Drew_fx said:
    Hell, even the Axe-FX has a slither of silence between patches, enough to be off putting. I was incredibly surprised that the GT-100 didn't!!
    With the AFX there is a ~10ms drop when switching patches, but not when switching effects in or out, or switching scene- that is instantaneous.
    You can do an awful lot switching scenes- switch anything in the patch in or out with one button.
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  • Drew_TNBDDrew_TNBD Frets: 22445
    Yeah I knew all that Jim. It's not as limiting as some units, but still a fair bit.

    Y'know.... I was perfectly fine persevering with my tap dancing until I came back to the Musicradar crowd and The Gear Page crowd. Now I'm miserable again.

    I need to fucking finish some songs and stop obsessing about this shit :(
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  • Drew_fx said:
    Y'know.... I was perfectly fine persevering with my tap dancing until I came back to the Musicradar crowd and The Gear Page crowd. Now I'm miserable again.

    I need to fucking finish some songs and stop obsessing about this shit :(
    I hear ya. In the last month or so, I've started planning a new pedal/effects arrangement 3 times to solve a particular problem, and each time it's become incrementally more complex until I look at my current board and the songs we've got and realise that actually the problem never existed in the first place or could be easily solved by hitting pedals in a different order.
    <space for hire>
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  • Drew_TNBDDrew_TNBD Frets: 22445

    Drew_fx said:
    Y'know.... I was perfectly fine persevering with my tap dancing until I came back to the Musicradar crowd and The Gear Page crowd. Now I'm miserable again.

    I need to fucking finish some songs and stop obsessing about this shit :(
    I hear ya. In the last month or so, I've started planning a new pedal/effects arrangement 3 times to solve a particular problem, and each time it's become incrementally more complex until I look at my current board and the songs we've got and realise that actually the problem never existed in the first place or could be easily solved by hitting pedals in a different order.
    What's your current rig dude?
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