Boss GT 8, SHOULD I??

sinjin_smythe

Well its been a while since i was last around this part of boards seeking advice from the guitar pros anyway ive been busy practising my guitar and now was wonderin if i should go for a nice effects pedal? it seems like a nice all rounder with tons of effectswhat you reckon yeah?? o yeah im thinkin i might get one for a cheap €400 if im lucky

Paladin

I got one. It can give good sounds. Im really annoyed about one feature. Bypass isnt even close to sounding like its bypassing. It has a massive effect on the signal.

Its really difficult to get the sounds that you want, but its possible. Personally I slightly regret it, but its because you need days of using it to eventually get it working the way you want. Im always busy so Ive not had that time yet.

Giblet

It's worth it if you want to spend time to understand it and have a general idea of what each effect and setting will do. I use it through the Effects Loop or sometimes with the 4 cable method. Using the 4 cable bypasses my preamp on the amp so you control everything with the GT8 preamp. Sometimes desirable, sometimes not. There is a balance to be found, just that it's never easy

Voodu Child

Ive got one as well. Id have to say its extremely complicated, but thats only a criticism if you want something simple. The stuff you can do with it is ridiculous, ive only ever touched the surface, but if you can put the time in, you can pretty much make it do anything you can imagine.

You can just use it simply, use the built in patches, or just set up a few of your own, or even just use it as though it was stand alone effects (chorus, delay, dist etc - ie one button for each effect). But if thats all you plan on doing, you may as well get something cheaper.

Quattroste

I recently picked up a Vox Tonelab for €235 on Ebay. I think its a great piece of kit. It comes with the presets but they are easily editable and storable to suit your own tastes. No bypass though, but that doesn't bother me too much. The amp modelling is pretty good and the addition of an actual output valve gives a nice warm tone. I have only brushed over it capabilities but its another option for ya and after reading the manual its not difficult to use!

Paladin

Giblet wrote:

Using the 4 cable bypasses my preamp on the amp so you control everything with the GT8 preamp. Sometimes desirable, sometimes not. There is a balance to be found, just that it's never easy

Whats potentially awesome is you can also use the preamp from your amp and bypass the pedal pre-amp in this setup.
Unfortunately the bypass just is not right. The bypassing of a combo's pre-amp can be desireable alright if you get your sounds set up correctly.

If the bypass was only done properly I would have been completely ecstatic with my buy.
So close...

jcoote

tbh i reckon a gt-6 is just as good and would be available at a much cheaper price..the extra features on the gt-8 are a bit gimmicky i think (even though they are impressive) with a good knowledge of the gt-6 you could nail great effects for less money

Giblet

I think the main problem with the bypass is that, it's not true bypass as you still control the volume with the little knob beside the jack input :S

Paladin

Giblet wrote:

I think the main problem with the bypass is that, it's not true bypass as you still control the volume with the little knob beside the jack input :S

Quite true. However its not even a proper digital bypass. There is no reason why the input signal cant be left unharmed digitally (to a finite but inaudible extent) but Boss chose to do something different.

You can get a seperate pedal to completely bypass it of course but thats more money...

Also what I *really* want is to have a proper bypass on the pre-amp in the pedal and have just the quality digital effects for some songs, and then be able to turn on the pre-amp for others.

In case you are wondering why you would want to bypass a pedal you paid big bucks for, its cause people with good amps often want the straight amp sounds for some songs in a gig, and want effects on others. With the bypass ****ed its never going to be the straight amp sound.

Giblet

Thats why I use the effects loop

Paladin

I know, its all swings and roundabouts isnt it

sinjin_smythe

right so maybe the gt6 is more up my alley , how much u think id get one for ??

jcoote

about €250 bud but the same problem exists on the gt-6 if u wanna call it a problem..its not true bypass either...but its the biggest deal in the world imho

crosstownk

The guitarist in our band got a GT-8 and sold it after 3 months and went back to his GT-6 - If thats of help to you.................... I know jack-sh1t about them - I play keys!

Voodu Child

Deciding between the GT6 and GT8 just comes down whether you want to go new or s/h really. You wont pick up a GT6 new anymore, and there wont be too many GT8s second hand yet. The few extra features the GT8 has dont make it hugely better, but they certainly dont make it any worse.

If you decide to go down this road, youd be happy with either.

kielbasa

Hi

I bought a GT8 a few months ago . I love BOSS pedals and , was too tight to spend the money on a decent floor unit (I had a Zoom GFX8 before )

The GT8 is a little overwhelming to say the least . I can imagine , its like learning to use windows or a computer for the first time . There are soooo many menus/ sub menus/ settings/ switches/ options that you do tend to just create very basic patches and not bother going any deeper.

BUT if you spend some time on it you can achieve just about any sound you want. Some nice touches I personally like are the two preamp channels , so you can have a clean and dirty sound on one pedal or two different overdrive sounds (one for rhythm one for solos) or you can have two completely different amp models.

Another nice feature is that you can have different effects on from the same banks which , as far as I know wasnt possible on previous pedals or it wasnt a feature (im probably wrong here), like you can have a Chorus , Flanger and Phaser effect all on at once.

You can also control the effects chain , and put the effects in any order you wish.

The WAH's are excellant also

There is a site dedicated to the GT range here http://www.bossgtcentral.com/ which has a lot of patches and tips.

There is also an excellant PC software GUI for your GT8 here http://www.bossgtcentral.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=3852

It takes a lot of the hassle and 'going in blind' approach from using the unit.

If you can afford it, get the GT8 in my opinion.

rgds
Kiel

sinjin_smythe

Well am after gettin the Gt6, and i gotta tell ya its packed with sounds now i just have to find the right ones, what do people think of the EZ Tone features?