Is a Boss GT-8 junk now?

Danny1969

i'm not too fussed about how modern something is. As @Voxman said the Tonelab SE come out 20 years ago but too my ears sounds more convincing than a Helix at getting amp sounds. The quality is the reverbs and delays might not be quite so studio but in a live environment that's not so important.

Advantages are It's all metal. It has an internal  linear power supply fed from external low voltage AC.  It uses standard 10K pots as encoders. The footswitchs, Wah and volume pedal are all heavy duty. It's reliable but should it go wrong anyone wth basic skills can fix it. 

You can edit the thing without even looking at the screen .. which is handy because someone pored beer on mine and I wasn't able to save the screen entirely but no worries you don't really need the screen to use and edit it. 

I have a GT5 which still gets used and a GT10. 
I honestly think they reached the limit of how good digital modelling can get because the latest one's like the Tonemaster Pro and the Vortex don't really sound any better at getting raw amp sounds than the older ones. That's why every demo swamps them in reverb and delays. Turn all that shit off and does it really sound any better than the older stuff ?




 

sorbz62

I had a GT8 for years and was a contributor on BossGTCentral. The unit sounded fantastic and I wish I still had it.

viz

I had a GT6 and thought it was sweet, I just used it for the delays and chorus etc, which were lovely. i just used it in the loop, and my wah and analogue drives in the input.

EricTheWeary

https://youtu.be/oOVGMCrVC-Y?si=icNmLTWAYk69hXpv

darthed1981

So.. while I'm not a huge Extreme fan... one has to respect Nuno as a player...

...and he is still using a GT-8 when he could use anything - wow!

Kurtis

Bet it sounds better now 

hollywoodrox

I was going to mention Nuno . The GT series are far from redundant  I’ve seen a few gt8 & gt10 & even a 5 & 3 in the wild 

tekbow

I just happened to watch nuno's most recent rig run down.

A GT8 in the loop of a DSL JCM2000.

Rat in front. That's it.

EricTheWeary

EricTheWeary said:

https://youtu.be/oOVGMCrVC-Y?si=icNmLTWAYk69hXpv

tekbow said:

I just happened to watch nuno's most recent rig run down.

A GT8 in the loop of a DSL JCM2000.

Rat in front. That's it.

This week I’m really starting to realise how many Ignore lists I must be on  

darthed1981

EricTheWeary said:

EricTheWeary said:

https://youtu.be/oOVGMCrVC-Y?si=icNmLTWAYk69hXpv

tekbow said:

I just happened to watch nuno's most recent rig run down.

A GT8 in the loop of a DSL JCM2000.

Rat in front. That's it.

This week I’m really starting to realise how many Ignore lists I must be on  

Not mine old chap...

tekbow

E7ricTheWeary said:

EricTheWeary said:

https://youtu.be/oOVGMCrVC-Y?si=icNmLTWAYk69hXpv

tekbow said:

I just happened to watch nuno's most recent rig run down.

A GT8 in the loop of a DSL JCM2000.

Rat in front. That's it.

This week I’m really starting to realise how many Ignore lists I must be on  

Whoops, sorry, it was just the link and not embedded, never even noticed it was there

EricTheWeary

tekbow said:

E7ricTheWeary said:

EricTheWeary said:

https://youtu.be/oOVGMCrVC-Y?si=icNmLTWAYk69hXpv

tekbow said:

I just happened to watch nuno's most recent rig run down.

A GT8 in the loop of a DSL JCM2000.

Rat in front. That's it.

This week I’m really starting to realise how many Ignore lists I must be on  

Whoops, sorry, it was just the link and not embedded, never even noticed it was there

 


It is interesting that many touring pros use gear that is familiar rather than the latest thing. An if it works don’t fix it type approach. 

slacker

Ref Mr theweary, people use what's familiar. I had a gap from 86 to 97 of not playing electric guitar so I've never used multieffects as an owner.

During the gap I played a lot of bass with guitarists who used amongst other things gt8s and dumped their fuzzes and tape delays.

They all sounded excellent on stage and watching mates bands. 

I.ll form why I don't like using them as a question. How do you get the patch volumes right in a gig?

Lewy

slacker said:

I.ll form why I don't like using them as a question. How do you get the patch volumes right in a gig?

By tweaking them at gig volumes (i.e. in rehearsals). 

EricTheWeary

Lewy said:

slacker said:

I.ll form why I don't like using them as a question. How do you get the patch volumes right in a gig?

By tweaking them at gig volumes (i.e. in rehearsals). 

That does assume everything else being equal. If you are Nuno then your sound is your sound, set up at rehearsals and good for the next 12 months of touring. The EQ, volume and mix done by a sound engineer. If you are a weekend warrior there's generally a lot more adjusting for the room which can play havoc with preset levels, even with just a handful of three knob stomp boxes let alone diving into menus. I guess with ampless rigs it becomes less of an issue, everything is balanced by whoever is controlling the PA. But even then we perceive sounds differently at different volume levels. 

Lewy

EricTheWeary said:

Lewy said:

slacker said:

I.ll form why I don't like using them as a question. How do you get the patch volumes right in a gig?

By tweaking them at gig volumes (i.e. in rehearsals). 

That does assume everything else being equal. If you are Nuno then your sound is your sound, set up at rehearsals and good for the next 12 months of touring. The EQ, volume and mix done by a sound engineer. If you are a weekend warrior there's generally a lot more adjusting for the room which can play havoc with preset levels, even with just a handful of three knob stomp boxes let alone diving into menus. I guess with ampless rigs it becomes less of an issue, everything is balanced by whoever is controlling the PA. But even then we perceive sounds differently at different volume levels. 

If that was a regularly encountered challenge then I'd suggest a couple of expression pedals would be the answer - one so you could take up or down the overall wetness of your sound, and one with a tilt EQ on it. If that's not enough to compensate for a room on a weekend warrior gig, one could argue that there's an unconstructive level of sonic fixation going on.....

Roland

Lewy said:

slacker said:

I.ll form why I don't like using them as a question. How do you get the patch volumes right in a gig?

By tweaking them at gig volumes (i.e. in rehearsals). 

After a short while you get patches settled down, relative to each other. For venues it’s just a question of adjusting the master EQ.

darthed1981

slacker said:

I.ll form why I don't like using them as a question. How do you get the patch volumes right in a gig?

Surely the same issue with a traditional pedal board?

Get everything set up right for a certain song in a certain environment, but not the same for every one?

A bit like a more gig-level version of the "bedroom guitarist gain problem" - play with lots of gain at low volume because it sounds cool, but it's shit if you get to crank it - as volume is, well, just lovely let's face it.

slacker

Thanks for the answers re setting volumes. I love pedals and have lots of them. Live  use less pedals and do a hybrid old school amp  and and pedal thing. I run the amp to the point of breakup, have an overdrive slightly louder and ride the guitar volume as well with or without the pedal for a range of gain and volume.