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Boss GT-10 Pedal
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Packed with killer tones, massive effects, sound-on-sound looping, and 24-bit sound quality. The Boss GT-10 is a multi-effect guitar pedal driven by the latest custom-made Boss DSP and their proprietary Composite Object Sound Modeling (COSM).
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Searched Boss GT-10 Pedal in Reviews
Boss GT-10 "One effects board to rule them all" 
| Ease Of Use |
If you have ever used an effects board before then using the GT-10 straight out of the box isn't to hard. You plug the guitar into the input and left/mono output into the input of your amp. Pedals 1,2,3,4 selects the saved effects in a patch. Patch up and down changes the effect etc... and your off and playing.
Want to tweak the sound your currently on just like a stompbox ? Then its easy, there are 4 knobs allowing just that. Creating your own effects, isn't to hard either. The blue LCD screen makes it easy to follow the software which is simplified for all user levels and picking the right kinds of effects for the type of music is easy.
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| Sound |
Only having owned the GT-10 for one week, I am able to get some fantastic sounds, with mostly factory presets. Creating the sounds I want as far as distortion is concerned is a little hard to tweak, but after half an hour familiarising myself with the system, I have so far created some of my own patches and am pleased.
Using it with my Mesa Nomad, I am able to select either the Boss's preamp or use the Preamp if my mesa. The preamp from my amp or the GT-10 can be selected, from patch to patch allowing a variety of different sounds and tones.
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| Reliability |
The GT-10 is built like tank, but I have owned other floorboards and I have had issues because of the delicate hardware inside. So if I were at a real important gig, Id make sure Id have a spare pedal for distortion and a delay.
I'm sure its very reliable, I'm just not a trustworthy guy when it comes to equipment, so a backup is important.
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| Liked about it |
So far its the easiest of the systems I have used so far, and editing, creating and tweaking is probably the best system around as far as all in one floorboard effects goes. Its built tough and the bright blue LCD screen is great for live situations when you need to see settings. On board tuner, RCA style digital output, USB connection, loop facilites and its recording facilities makes this a very strong unit.
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| Didn't like |
After searching the internet, I discovered a better way of connecting the GT-10 to my amp, using the 4CM method (four cable method) making use of the effects send and return features on my amp and the GT-10. Although this is a widely known way of connecting effects units like these, some novice users might never find out about it. Its almost secretly displayed in the manual, and if you dont know you just wont discover it. It would seem the smart thing to do, would be to put this in plain site in the manual, as it actually increases the sound quality of the system, especially at higher volumes.
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| Overall satisfaction: |
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4.0 |
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Best guitar effects unit I've purchased
| Ease Of Use |
I've owned one other Boss multi effects unit, the ME-10, from back in the mid 1990s. Even *that* unit had quite a bit of complexity for its time, but the user interface was pretty intuitive. And now, after about a month with my GT-10 I can say that while its capabilities are one hundred fold better than the ME-10, they have taken MANY steps to create an interface that is easy to navigate.
The "EZ Tone" feature is absolutely incredible. A press of that button takes you through various screens. The first asks you about kind of pickups you'll be using, as well as your output path (direct or into an amp). The next asks you to give the general style of sound you want (blues, funk, hard rock, metal, etc), as well as a sub-category style based on that selection. Next you're given a two axis graph, where you can move a pointer from soft to hard, and from solo to backing, using the knobs. This lets you design the type of sound in almost an instant, while it is tweaking various parameters behind the scenes that would take a LONG time to do manually.
All of the standard effects are brought out to select buttons on the unit, allowing you to go into the compressor, OD/DS, preamp, eq, delay, chorus, reverb, and two FX1 & FX2 multi-effect slots. In addition to the bank-up & bank-down pedals, you have four patch selection pedals for each bank, as well as a CTL-1 and CTL-2 pedal which can be assigned to turn on or off any of the effects you want, on a per-patch basis.
However, I've found that you really need to read the manual to get everything out of the GT-10. And it is a thick manual! There are so many parameters that can be tweaked for each effect that it would be easy to get lost without a reference. But this is expected, and I just can't see any way they could make it any simpler while retaining such an amazing set of features.
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| Sound |
I'm mainly using an Ibanez JS1200 and an Ibanez JEM7V guitars. I have a DAW setup in the studio with MOTU 24i audio interface, as well as a Blackheart 5W tube amp.
Quite frankly, I am *very* impressed with its amp simulation. I really believe the GT-10 sounds best going direct into a mixer or PA, than it does into an amp. I did turn off its preamp/simulation features and plugged it directly into my Blackheart 5W tube head, and I was able to get some good sounds through the amp after a ton of tweaking, however plugged directly into a PA or into my direct audio input to my DAW yields absolutely amazing results. At the moment I'm doing a lot of recording into my DAW in a home studio, and this unit seems idea for that situation as just about everything I want in terms of sound coloring can be designed right in the GT-10's parameters. In live situations I'll be plugging directly into a PA, or into a stereo keyboard amp like the Traynor K4 which doesn't add any coloring to the sound on its own.
What can I say about the sound? Well, in my opinion the presets stink. It was difficult to find a preset that had anything but a thin, ditital style of distortion. In fact, my initial opinion of this unit on the first day wasn't all that favorable as I was mainly just seeing what the presets have to offer. But then I started tweaking the patches and designing my own from scratch with MUCH better results. I've found that I can create nicely distorted sounds which are full and rich, and no fizz. Definitely a huge step up over my Digitech GNX3. The important point is this: You need to give yourself a few days to truly find the full potential. It takes that long to discover just how tweakable every part of the sound your designing truly is. Once you've given it the proper time, you'll find you can really get truly killer tone. If you're someone who just likes to play through presets, this unit is going disappoint you. If you're willing to spend some time editing and creating your own sounds, the GT-10 will sing for you. You'll get everything from a nicely chorused, clean sound, to the thickest of metal shredding tones without much hassle.
And then there's the effects loop! Why is it most other guitar multi-effects units lack this feature? You can send the sound out through the SEND jack into any of your favorite distortion, EQ, or other pedals, and then back into the GT-10 through the RETURN jack. I've successfully designed GREAT tones starting with clean settings in the GT-10, and then piping them into a Jemini distortion as well as the Satchurator.
Internal to the GT-10, uou also can change the virtual "ordering" of the internal effect chain as well as where the SEND/RETURN is ordered within the overall sound. The flexibility with this setup up amazing.
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| Reliability |
It seems very tough. There's even a bar which prevents you from accidentally kicking the knobs when you're hitting any of the patch select pedals.
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| Customer Support |
Thankfully I've not had to deal with any problems yet.
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| Liked about it |
I love the EZ Create feature. The ability to tweak the effects chain ordering is fantastic. And the SEND/RETURN effects loop makes this unit incredibly flexible.
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| Didn't like |
Why have a USB interface if you're not going to have some robust sound editing software on the PC? There's a patch librarian, but what I really wanted was something like what is available for the Line6 "Pod" units where any parameter is tweakable right from the PC while the unit is connected via USB. I'd also have liked to have a VST plug-in for my DAW.
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| Overall satisfaction: |
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5.0 |
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My Money's Worth
| Ease Of Use |
This is one of the downside of multi-fx unit. Compared to analog pedals, these type of effects really does require you to go through the entire manual for you to completely understand the unit and it's functions. But thanks this guy at Boss GT Central (TeeJay), cause he made our (GT-10 Owners) easier by creating a DVD dedicated to the unit, sure the manual will be of great help, But if you're too lazy to read those things i think watching a DVD is the way to go!.
If you already have an experience with multi-fx units before, it won't be THAT complicated anymore, but if don't read the manual or get the DVD. Or better yet do both!
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| Sound |
I'm using this unit to my Peavey Bandit 112 amp (When practicing at home) and Fender Twin Reverb(during performances), with the right amount of tweaking, you could get the most desirable tone you want out of it.
i don't think you need to add other FX to it's loop(unless you really want to use your favorite OD/DS pedal) cause like what i've said you could get the most desirable tone you want out of this baby!
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| Reliability |
Built Like a Tank!
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| Liked about it |
Versatility
Build
Phrase-Loop Function
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| Didn't like |
Fizz
Cocked-Wah
LED
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| Overall satisfaction: |
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5.0 |
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internal use: spec34 spec231 spec585
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