Boss answer to helix - fx 8 - headrush finally released

english_bob

BintyTwanger77 said:

I wonder if there's an option to bypass the amp sims on it and just use the effects into a tube amp.

I'd be very surprised if you couldn't use it like that. Considering how many people would want to use it like a multi-effects processor it would seem completely counterproductive to stop them ("No! you're doing it wrong! sell your amp and plug your GT-1000 straight in to the PA!")

Heartfeltdawn

dindude said:

Heartfeltdawn said:

  Exactly, can't call it a pro piece of kit with a nasty external power supply.

Yet we accept it with laptops with no problem. Personally I'd rather have a wallwart supply. If it fucks up, it's a damn sight easier to replace that an internal PSU. 

Laptops can run on batteries making them ultra portable when needed and can have a docking station when not so makes sense. They also don't go on a floor on a stage where the flimsy connection can be kicked about. Totally totally different. Fake news.

Rather than use an overused cliche, why not actually explain why a pedal with an external power supply is somehow unprofessional? I'm not aware of any particular gold standard that equates to 'professional'. 

Most people wouldn't place a floor unit such as this straight on a stage floor. They'd use a pedalboard. I managed to gig a GT-3 for a long time with such a PSU. If legions of floor units with external PSUs were getting smashed up, I've not seen them on Ebay. Equally if the connectors were so flimsy and prone to breaking whilst under warranty, wouldn't we have seen it online? When it comes to Boss gear with external PSUs, I've not seen the same coverage of breakage in the manner of, say, Line 6 footswitches. 

guitarfishbay

english_bob said:

BintyTwanger77 said:

I wonder if there's an option to bypass the amp sims on it and just use the effects into a tube amp.

I'd be very surprised if you couldn't use it like that. Considering how many people would want to use it like a multi-effects processor it would seem completely counterproductive to stop them ("No! you're doing it wrong! sell your amp and plug your GT-1000 straight in to the PA!")

I'm pretty sure you will be able to do that.

And actually given it has the DD500 / RV 500 / MD 500 sounds in it, it should be very competitive for that purpose.

digitalscream

dindude said:

£879 at PMT

https://www.pmtonline.co.uk/boss-gt-1000-multi-effects-processor

Wow. That's...a lot when trying to compete with relatively mature products in a price bracket.

And, lest we forget, that's nearly three times the cost of its predecessor.

Teetonetal

Musicman20 said:

Not cheap though

https://www.andertons.co.uk/boss-gt-1000-guitar-effects-processor-gt-1000

£879 hmm, that is a lot - it also remains to be seen if boss will do upgrades / additions like fractal and line 6 

BintyTwanger77

english_bob said:

BintyTwanger77 said:

I wonder if there's an option to bypass the amp sims on it and just use the effects into a tube amp.

I'd be very surprised if you couldn't use it like that. Considering how many people would want to use it like a multi-effects processor it would seem completely counterproductive to stop them ("No! you're doing it wrong! sell your amp and plug your GT-1000 straight in to the PA!")

Totally agree, I'm thinking how flexible it is compared to the Helix.

guitarfishbay

digitalscream said:

dindude said:

£879 at PMT

https://www.pmtonline.co.uk/boss-gt-1000-multi-effects-processor

Wow. That's...a lot when trying to compete with relatively mature products in a price bracket.

And, lest we forget, that's nearly three times the cost of its predecessor.

And lest we forget a similar price jump from HD500x to Helix.  Which doesn't have spillover.

HD500x in 2013 £429 http://www.musicradar.com/reviews/guitars/line-6-pod-hd500x-585453

Helix in 2016 £1211 http://www.musicradar.com/reviews/guitars/line-6-helix-636847

digitalscream

Heartfeltdawn said:

dindude said:

Heartfeltdawn said:

  Exactly, can't call it a pro piece of kit with a nasty external power supply.

Yet we accept it with laptops with no problem. Personally I'd rather have a wallwart supply. If it fucks up, it's a damn sight easier to replace that an internal PSU. 

Laptops can run on batteries making them ultra portable when needed and can have a docking station when not so makes sense. They also don't go on a floor on a stage where the flimsy connection can be kicked about. Totally totally different. Fake news.

Rather than use an overused cliche, why not actually explain why a pedal with an external power supply is somehow unprofessional? I'm not aware of any particular gold standard that equates to 'professional'. 

Most people wouldn't place a floor unit such as this straight on a stage floor. They'd use a pedalboard. I managed to gig a GT-3 for a long time with such a PSU. If legions of floor units with external PSUs were getting smashed up, I've not seen them on Ebay. 

It's mainly that external power supplies (with their flimsy leads) are usually the first things to break at a gig, and orders of magnitude more likely to fail than a kettle lead.

More to the point, if you have to use this with a pedalboard in order to save the PSU from breaking, then the size and weight reduction is meaningless because it'll likely make the whole package heavier than the competition.

The sensible thing to do is just to carry a spare power supply (weighing about 900g each, again negating the weight saving); it's an irritation, and will probably void the warranty if you don't get the Boss/Roland one, but probably simpler. 

Teetonetal

Heartfeltdawn said:

dindude said:

Heartfeltdawn said:

  Exactly, can't call it a pro piece of kit with a nasty external power supply.

Yet we accept it with laptops with no problem. Personally I'd rather have a wallwart supply. If it fucks up, it's a damn sight easier to replace that an internal PSU. 

Laptops can run on batteries making them ultra portable when needed and can have a docking station when not so makes sense. They also don't go on a floor on a stage where the flimsy connection can be kicked about. Totally totally different. Fake news.

Rather than use an overused cliche, why not actually explain why a pedal with an external power supply is somehow unprofessional? I'm not aware of any particular gold standard that equates to 'professional'. 

Most people wouldn't place a floor unit such as this straight on a stage floor. They'd use a pedalboard. I managed to gig a GT-3 for a long time with such a PSU. If legions of floor units with external PSUs were getting smashed up, I've not seen them on Ebay. Equally if the connectors were so flimsy and prone to breaking whilst under warranty, wouldn't we have seen it online? When it comes to Boss gear with external PSUs, I've not seen the same coverage of breakage in the manner of, say, Line 6 footswitches. 

My issue with external PSU is that often the wires are flimsy and easy to break (i'v been through 3 on my e-kit for example) however, if done properly, then they should be ok.

digitalscream

guitarfishbay said:

digitalscream said:

dindude said:

£879 at PMT

https://www.pmtonline.co.uk/boss-gt-1000-multi-effects-processor

Wow. That's...a lot when trying to compete with relatively mature products in a price bracket.

And, lest we forget, that's nearly three times the cost of its predecessor.

And lest we forget a similar price jump from HD500x to Helix.  Which doesn't have spillover.

HD500x £429 http://www.musicradar.com/reviews/guitars/line-6-pod-hd500x-585453

Helix £1211 http://www.musicradar.com/reviews/guitars/line-6-helix-636847

Fair point, although...

- The Helix has solved the spillover problem with snapshots (which I actually prefer to low patch-switching latency now, even though I initially thought it was stupid).

- It's more reasonable to compare the Helix LT to the HD500X, given the similar feature jump from the GT-100 to the GT-1000. That makes it £349 -> £685 (using current prices). Also, the Helix is £999 now

Heartfeltdawn

digitalscream said:

It's mainly that external power supplies (with their flimsy leads) are usually the first things to break at a gig, and orders of magnitude more likely to fail than a kettle lead.

More to the point, if you have to use this with a pedalboard in order to save the PSU from breaking, then the size and weight reduction is meaningless because it'll likely make the whole package heavier than the competition.

The sensible thing to do is just to carry a spare power supply (weighing about 900g each, again negating the weight saving); it's an irritation, and will probably void the warranty if you don't get the Boss/Roland one, but probably simpler. 

'More likely' - how many threads have you ever seen detailing Boss floorboard PSU breakages? As added in earlier, they're not commonplace. 

So the weight saving: you carry a spare PSU in case the normal one break. So what do you do with a floorboard with an internal PSU in case that breaks? A second Helix won't exactly be portable.

Personally I would use a board with this just as I wouldn't stick a FX8 or Helix on the floor of a gig. Several hundred quids worth of digital gear sat on a floor with sod all protection? No chance. I totally take the point about weight but I don't think people generally go for these kind of floorboards because pedals are too heavy. It's more about simplicity, no more patch cables, no more daisy chain cables etc etc. 

guitarfishbay

digitalscream said:

Heartfeltdawn said:

dindude said:

Heartfeltdawn said:

  Exactly, can't call it a pro piece of kit with a nasty external power supply.

Yet we accept it with laptops with no problem. Personally I'd rather have a wallwart supply. If it fucks up, it's a damn sight easier to replace that an internal PSU. 

Laptops can run on batteries making them ultra portable when needed and can have a docking station when not so makes sense. They also don't go on a floor on a stage where the flimsy connection can be kicked about. Totally totally different. Fake news.

Rather than use an overused cliche, why not actually explain why a pedal with an external power supply is somehow unprofessional? I'm not aware of any particular gold standard that equates to 'professional'. 

Most people wouldn't place a floor unit such as this straight on a stage floor. They'd use a pedalboard. I managed to gig a GT-3 for a long time with such a PSU. If legions of floor units with external PSUs were getting smashed up, I've not seen them on Ebay. 

It's mainly that external power supplies (with their flimsy leads) are usually the first things to break at a gig, and orders of magnitude more likely to fail than a kettle lead.

More to the point, if you have to use this with a pedalboard in order to save the PSU from breaking, then the size and weight reduction is meaningless because it'll likely make the whole package heavier than the competition.

The sensible thing to do is just to carry a spare power supply (weighing about 900g each, again negating the weight saving); it's an irritation, and will probably void the warranty if you don't get the Boss/Roland one, but probably simpler. 

Again where are your sources for the maths.

https://www.thegearpage.net/board/index.php?posts/25687597/

GT 1000 weight 3.6kg

https://www.thomann.de/gb/line6_helix_guitar_processor.htm

Helix weight 6.6kg

Nobody knows what the PSU weighs but even at a kilo, and with two of them, that's still lighter than a Helix, and still smaller too, assuming Drew doesn't mind me posting this mockup.

Heartfeltdawn

guitarfishbay said:

I think the Fractal lineup of products will go down in history as proof planned obsolescence can actually be a good thing.  The UI on the hardware does look dated, however it is entirely functional.  If it was designed today it'd likely look different.

Tonally the Fractal stuff is arguably the best, if people care to argue.  And yes I own the Helix Native plugin so I can compare side by side, for guitar amps there's plenty in it for me.  For bass I think the Helix is better, that's why I bought the plugin.  For delays I'd use either, in fact I probably use the Helix delays more because I can apply them post recording more easily.

Realistically this Boss design is actually more my preference even over the Helix.  If you're playing with a band you don't want to spend long looking down at your effects, you just want to hit a nice clearly labelled button and have a big screen to tell you what patch you're on... this nails that for me from the looks of things.

A fair point regarding the external PSU, and not one I'd considered.  The added benefit is this seems to be a lighter and smaller unit than it's competitors, which is something many have asked for.  That and the reverb/delay patch spillover.

I agree on Fractal looking old but functional. As someone who loves programming old rack units, I have no problem going with an older interface and actually find stuff like the Helix way of doing things a lot harder to get my head around (a fact which might also explain why I'm fucking shit at Minecraft on an iPad )

guitarfishbay

digitalscream said:

Fair point, although...

- The Helix has solved the spillover problem with snapshots (which I actually prefer to low patch-switching latency now, even though I initially thought it was stupid).

- It's more reasonable to compare the Helix LT to the HD500X, given the similar feature jump from the GT-100 to the GT-1000. That makes it £349 -> £685 (using current prices). Also, the Helix is £999 now

The LT was a secondary product release some time after the original launch.

We have no way of knowing what other products Boss has planned.

It does kind of feel like the Helix users are looking for ways to justify why this can't be as good as a Helix, and nobody has really heard it yet.

With as much as we know, on paper it is looking good and particularly strong for effects, IMO anyway.

digitalscream

Heartfeltdawn said:

digitalscream said:

It's mainly that external power supplies (with their flimsy leads) are usually the first things to break at a gig, and orders of magnitude more likely to fail than a kettle lead.

More to the point, if you have to use this with a pedalboard in order to save the PSU from breaking, then the size and weight reduction is meaningless because it'll likely make the whole package heavier than the competition.

The sensible thing to do is just to carry a spare power supply (weighing about 900g each, again negating the weight saving); it's an irritation, and will probably void the warranty if you don't get the Boss/Roland one, but probably simpler. 

'More likely' - how many threads have you ever seen detailing Boss floorboard PSU breakages? As added in earlier, they're not commonplace. 

So the weight saving: you carry a spare PSU in case the normal one break. So what do you do with a floorboard with an internal PSU in case that breaks? A second Helix won't exactly be portable.

There, bolded the relevant bits for you The PSU itself would rarely fail. The soldered-in cables are the main source of problems (as anybody who's had laptop power supply breakages would attest - including myself).

Are you really going to argue that the likelihood of an external power supply failing - cables included - is the same as the chance of an internal PSU failing?

Trude

"An innovative new workflow feature in the GT-1000 is the ability to save any effect as a “Stompbox.” Parameter adjustments to a Stompbox are reflected in all patches where it’s used, basically mimicking the way you’d use physical pedals. This is ideal for effects where you use the same settings most of the time, but just need to make small adjustments occasionally. Now, you can make those changes quickly across multiple patches, eliminating the hassle of tweaking and saving each patch separately."

FUCKING YES!

This trumps everything else for me.  As long as it sounds decent, I can live with everything else.

Musicman20

That is significantly lighter and smaller.

BintyTwanger77

guitarfishbay said:

digitalscream said:

Fair point, although...

- The Helix has solved the spillover problem with snapshots (which I actually prefer to low patch-switching latency now, even though I initially thought it was stupid).

- It's more reasonable to compare the Helix LT to the HD500X, given the similar feature jump from the GT-100 to the GT-1000. That makes it £349 -> £685 (using current prices). Also, the Helix is £999 now

The LT was a secondary product release some time after the original launch.

We have no way of knowing what other products Boss has planned.

It does kind of feel like the Helix users are looking for ways to justify why this can't be as good as a Helix, and nobody has really heard it yet.

With as much as we know, on paper it is looking good and particularly strong for effects, IMO anyway.

Might be an ME-1000 in the works in the future, all the effects on the GT1000 without the amp sims. Who knows.

I really like the look of this, and generally I prefer Boss effects to those on the Helix (never really took to the Line6 stuff personally), and in amp sim terms, the Katana is excellent and much raved about here. This could be really good.

guitarfishbay

Trude said:

"An innovative new workflow feature in the GT-1000 is the ability to save any effect as a “Stompbox.” Parameter adjustments to a Stompbox are reflected in all patches where it’s used, basically mimicking the way you’d use physical pedals. This is ideal for effects where you use the same settings most of the time, but just need to make small adjustments occasionally. Now, you can make those changes quickly across multiple patches, eliminating the hassle of tweaking and saving each patch separately."

FUCKING YES!

This trumps everything else for me.  As long as it sounds decent, I can live with everything else.

That's really cool.

newi123

Sounded good to me - like it`s a smaller footprint. Bit worried by the man`s hair in the demo vid.