Any Roland GR-55 users? Thoughts? Set-up?

Kebabkid

Having tried the GR-55 a couple of times in shops (only on headphones), I was impressed by the keyboard stuff, not so much the guitar sounds, and think the unit would work well for add-on sounds/pads etc in a function band and it looks like a fun unit to have.

This is probably one of the better demos out there (slightly annoying delivery/intro from demonstrator but a very capable player nonetheless) - @Bellycaster, at 3'40" you can hear clavinet which I believe you were interested in achieving on guitar

 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmsio4QHJuI

So, any GR-55 users here and how are you using yours? Do you hook it up to the PA/full-range amp or go through a regular guitar amp? Any set-up tips? Other than the cable and adaptor trailing from your guitar, any downsides?

Cheers

Danny1969

When we had a gap between keyboard players I had a partscaster with the Roland pickup 13 pin thing and then the output fed the GR55, guitar output into my Marshall and syth output into PA and in to my ears

The tracking was superb, I used to do the trumpet solo from Kevin Carter on it and loads of piano and organ riffs. Also infinite sustain for With or without you while using the built in audio player to play the looped arpeggio, big church organ intro for All these things I've done and loads of other stuff

It's a great unit but you need a decent PA to do the synth part of it justice. We still have it in case we need it.  

Kebabkid

Cheers Danny and sounds like you put it to good use. I've got a PA and/or powered speakers so it could take care of that side of things (moans more gear to lug around)

I've also got a Roland Cube 120XL bass amp. Would that work too? 

Danny1969

I doubt the bass amp would have enough top end mate to recreate most of the sounds convincingly, you need something that goes from around 80hz to 17Khz ish  

Roland

The GR-33 delivers similar synth sounds so, whilst I have no direct experience of the GR-55, I can tell you a little bit about what to expect.

As you say, it will do string and keyboard pads, and organ. With the volume pedal you can fade these in and out behind finger picking as you play. 

It's less effective at straight keyboard parts because, even if you use fingers rather than a pick, it's difficult to get the timing and attack that a pianist does.  However I have used it for the keyboard intro to Won't Get Fooled Again.

Unless you have a guitar with synth output, such as a Godin or a Roland-ready strat, you will need to fit a temporary GR-3 pickup to the outside of your guitar every time you take it out of its case. I got so fed up with this that I re-wired my Parker, and added a Graphtech Hexpander.

You will need two cables out of your guitar. Don't expect to send the magnetic pickup signal down the 13 pin cable and get a good tone at the other end.

For amplification I have used both the FX return on a guitar amp, and a separate pa or keyboard amp. The guitar amp will do at a pinch, but can colour the sound, and can also give you mains hum problems because of the way that some valve amps are earthed.

Hope this helps

richardhomer

I also have a GR33 - judging from the video demo, the sounds are very similar.

For string pads, organ parts and the like, it is very good.

As the demo shows - sax and solo violin sounds are nothing like the real thing.

Piano sounds (possibly due to the wide dynamics) are hard to trigger in time.

Otherwise, when correctly set up, I find the tracking to be generally good. As long as your playing has good articulation, you should be able to get along with it pretty well.

hubobulous

I use the GR20. Its great for synth sounds. I use it for background 'girth' to the sound when we play live. I also have the Axon 100 which is fantastic, but the GR20 is awesome for simple set up and go.

Danny1969

I just used the one cable and then the  then thru out of the unit to my amp, no loss of tone but I use low Z pickups

Also that's not a great demo vid .... for it to sound realistic you have to play it using the constraints of the instrument your trying to ape, I got a much better sax than that and could do a much more convincing Jump. To be honest I think it helps if you can play keyboards as you then know what the correct voicing is for those parts

Kebabkid

Thanks everyone and very helpful

johnnyurq

I have owned one since day one when they launched over here and have used a few different approaches.

On the budget side a Behringer K3000FX (or even the K1800FX) which was OK but a little underpowered for bigger gigs but has a direct XLR out for sending to a desk FOH PA. It has 4 inpouts and FX if you want them

Peavey KB5 which was more than luod enough and had 5 inputs 1 MIC/Line and a much better sound than the Behringer but way more expensive and damned heavy @ 90 Lbs odd, ouch!

Alto TS115A X 2 one for backline and one for monitor duties, mega loud @ 400 W RMS each and pretty light and easy to move about.

Great sound and as they have 15" speakers in them the low end is mighty good. Can be had 2nd hand nice and cheap.


Several FOH venue PAs and got at the very least a good sound to excellent dependant on the PA and sound dude at each venue.


My next option is incoming as I have downsized from the Altos for a varoety of reasoins wiht health being top.

http://www.hhelectronics.com/products/product_details/5

Got it off eBay from a real music shop for £269 and £14 postage and arrives tomorrow or Thursday.


If you join this forum (or lurk) there is much excellent info on all thing VG. GR and tech stuff.

http://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/

Here is a link to amp discussions and peoples experience and there was another thread on it too.

http://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?PHPSESSID=63ad625abefa2179fe766f95e4ed3302&board=37.0

http://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=9484.0


Hope that is useful for you.

Kebabkid

You're a star @johnnyurq and I'll take a look at those. My PA has 2 x 450W Behringer powered Euro speakers and I have a 12 channel Mackie desk. I also have access to Alto stuff at trade via a mate who's an agent-type for them.

If I do take the plunge, it will be the GR-55 and GK pickup and I'll stick it to my Strat. No permanent fixing for me or getting a Roland-ready Fender or Godin. I still intend to use my main amp (H&K TM36 for guitar duties). I'm also preparing for the day when I'm not playing live, which I hope is some years away, and instead I'll choose to write and record at home and as I'm not a keyboard player, I can use this!

johnnyurq

No worries @Kebabkid.

The Altos were staggeringly good for this as they are very fjat response wise and if I was up to humpinng them about they woud have stayed.

The guy that bought them was blown away by them and he is using them as his FOH PA and even puts drums through them. He makes and plays to backing track for other gigs and said the backings he has made sounded great through them.

One word of warning if you go Godin or similar piiezo bridge guitar you may need the RMC subsonic filter to put at the front end of the GR-55. Roland put out a new firmware to help but some are still reporting issues with the GR300 emulations and a few other tones, not too sure if that applies to the newer black models.

Shame because I loved my Godin and Brian Moore guitars, both very good indeed.

The GK3 internal or external track best IME in any case and the tones sounded better for me too, of course YMMV as it is a bit subjective.

I found the piezo stuff too bright, harsh and a little noisy. It of course may have been the subsonic filtering issue that made it like that.

http://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=3236.0

FYI I have not experienced any tone suck by lining the MAg piclups through the GK3 and teh GR-55 has an output where you an route the MAGs out of the guitar out to your amp/pedalboard/multi FX.

Also the Roland software for arranging tones is not that great so a GR-55 user and coder made this which is very good indeed.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/grfloorboard/



Makes edting, organising and saving patches a snap, plus you can set all the assigns and loads of system parameters besides.

If you do get one let me know and I can send you a link to a library of patches etc on my DropBox, if any use to you of course.

Kebabkid

Cheers Johnny and much appreciated! I'll let you know how I get on.
Cos