Boss GE-7 Seven Band EQ

All EQ pedals are similar, even in the frequencies they control. Easy to operate but you need to understand what the level slider is for--to make the volume match when the pedal is engaged or disengaged if you're just shaping tone or say cutting feedback with an acoustic, or to boost volume appropriately for solos.

All EQ pedals are similar, but many reviewers of other brands say this pedal has the "Boss stank"--a hi-mid boost that's there even when the pedal is disengaged, you can't get rid of it, and I gather that's characteristic of many Boss pedals, so consider that when testing this pedal.

What I really want to say here: in quickly scanning these dozens and dozens of reviews I only saw one player suggest BOOSTING midrange for guitar solos. Everyone else seems to love the V-shape configuration that sucks all the mids out. This is what most people do with their stereos as well--it leaves nothing behind except the lows and highs so cymbals and vocal "s's" sizzle and bass-end tones come through stronger in the mix, which people seem to love. And SOME scooped-mid is par for the metal guitar scene, but think about it. Without any mids like a lot of other reviewers are suggesting--cutting the mids to just above -15dB!?--your tone is competing with the bass guitar and the cymbals, and who do you think will win that battle? You will if you crank it up, but the battle isn't for domination of the low and high frequencies(which will result in an incomprehensible mess for your sound man and your audience), the battle is for each player to fit into the mix to create music. Midrange is where the guitar lives because that's where guitar strings are tuned--why avoid the very tones that the guitar produces? A LITTLE BIT of scoop for metal rhythm playing can give you the true metal feeling while still allowing you to fit into the mix. The sound man can then adjust for the room. But for SOLOS, whether you play blues, rock, metal, deathmetal, speedmetal, grindmetal, buttmetal, jazz, zydeco, or nursery rhymes, my god, BOOST YOUR MIDRANGE! You will have a fatter, more professional, and much more satisfying sound that you will even be able to hear. Your favorite players only sound like they're scooping the crap out of their mids because I bet that's how you have your car or home stereo set--you're either boosting your bass and treble or heavily scooping your mids, or all three, if you're like most people. Kids start training your ears for the real thing--set your stereo not too far from flat and you'll hear what the band heard in the studio, get it? I promise you'll not only get used to it, but someday you'll look back and wonder how you ever stood the extreme settings you used to use, and same goes for your guitar. Extreme scooped mids may work in your bedroom to get an appealing stand-alone chugga-chugga sound, but if you want to sound good in a band setting you need to carve out your place in the midrange along with the singer, just like all your favorite players have done. Listen.

If you're a blues player you probably already know all this because you probably use a Tubescreamer which is a mid-boost/volume boost to slam the front end of a tube amp. Any EQ pedal can produce both of the same effects with even more control--mid boost and volume boost. Great trick and cheaper too if you get a cheaper EQ pedal than this one. I use a $20 6-band Rocktek BASS eq for blues guitar playing sometimes, cheap plastic so I don't know if it will last, but the effect is great and I like the two sliders in the midrange ballpark (640hz and 1280hz). No slider above 2400hz but again I don't care, I can cut or boost treble at the guitar if I want (Strat Plus). I also play bass so this is versatile for me.

The difference in price for EQ pedals is mainly in the quality of build. Boss is of good build. I don't understand how they can charge $99 for this though, it seems about double what it should be for such a simple device.

Don't know.

I know players read these reviews as much to learn about effects as to learn about a particular effect. Please see my comments in Sound Quality section. I've been playing for many years, have toured pro, played many bars and warmed up for national acts, played every blues-based form (metal, blues, rock), engineered in a small recording studio, and produced my own record in a real recording studio. Ask any real pro including your favorite player and he/she will tell you what I'm telling you in the Sound Quality section.

I play '91 Strat Plus (U.S. made) with gold Fender Lace Sensors in neck and bridge and silver in bridge, or '69 Les Paul Custom, through several different amps, my favorite of which right now is the Pignose G40V 40w all-tube combo amp (Bassman clone with 1st pre tube ganged for high gain) driving an Acoustic 104 closed back 6x10" cab (yes 6 10" speakers, amazing, can also use for bass), or for smaller settings I run the combo's 1x10" Eminence Ragin' Cajun + a 10" Jensen Mod 50 in a separate closed back EarCandy cab. I also have a Yamaha 240w 4x12" cab that thumps like mad but I'm in love with 10" speakers right now for guitar.

An update from my previous review of 11/07/2004 from James Acker (me).
I know lots of folks are aware of a severe noise problem with these pedals. It may manifest itself more in higher gain, epsecially tube amps, and by high gain I don't mean jsut Metal, I mean also blues when you are on the lead channel. It was unusable because of the added noise. Well, a short time after reviewing it, I bought the Brian Wampler mods for the GE-7. He sent them, they were sitting on a shelf while I bought other pedals...I finally got around to trying out the mods. I seem to have misplaced some parts, but am fixing that, meanwhile I did the replacement of the three IC chips, that is part (not all...there are also 3 capacitors to change out, I need to reaquire these) of the whole mod. It was EASY, took about 30 minutes total and that was with obsessive checking-rechecking. Could have done it in 20. Piece of cake.

NOW...even with only half the mod done, this pedal is all I dreamed it should be. It is crystal clear, it adds that sparkle, it does exactly what it is supposed to, and what I hoped it would when I bought it. So far noise free.

Wamplers' mod is great. I will install the three caps, and may even do some of the tone stack adjsutmetnts (can get deeper bass, clearer mids with a few other cap changes).

I rated this pedal, no I rate it with HALF of the wampler mods (the IC tradeout) at a 9. It is truly a 9. Bet it goes to 9.5 with the rest of the mods. I am SO happy with this pedal now, I kicked another good pedal off my board (space limitations) as I see that this little box can really make a good amp/guitar great, and an already great one, just over the edge to REALLY great.

I recommend this pedal with the mod to ANYONE! Completely safe it will work out for you.

Very easy to use. Sliders make it easy to visualize your setup. Bought it used so no manual, but you don't need it.

Great! I use it for a specific setup. I have a Boss LS-2 with a clean effects loop and an overdrive effects loop. The clean effects loop has the LS-2 level at about 12:00. This loop has a chorus and delay pedal. The overdrive loop has the LS-2 level cranked all the way (+20db), and includes the GE-7 and a boss DS-2. The GE-7 has all the sliders cranked with a few exceptions for tone shaping. This setup is awesome!! The key to it is the amp. I use a '68 twin reverb, the 100 watt monster with no master volume. Its very hard to overdrive this amp at low volumes but this setup will do it perfect. You don't really need the DS-2 because the gain from the GE-7 and the LS-2 is more than enough to overdrive the preamp and get real nice distortion. With my strat it gets a nice SRV sound, with my Les Paul junior (with an EMG-81) it cranks out like a zakk wylde style marshall. This pedal kicks ass! One note though...it does hum a little...but really only when i put my amp volume over about 5....at that volume though its extremely loud and only good for large venues. On average for a show i'll put it on 3 or 4.

its a boss....a nuclear holocaust couldn't hurt this thing.

HA! do they actually have people waiting by the phone?

I play all kinds of stuff...blues, some hard rock, grunge...lots o' crap. This pedal is helpful for lots of applications. It can help you get a lot of different sounds out of a simple setup. It does hum a little but honestly it doesn't bother me that much.

It's an EQ. If you don't know what it does, you'll learn quickly.

Fender Mustang, MXR M108, Boss TU-2, Boss DS-2, Boss GE-7, Boss CE-7. I use the both EQ's to fine tune the distortion. I prefer the M108 at the front because it has and input gain, ten band eq, and output level. Mainly it's the input gain that I like, if the Boss had one I might have two of them instead of the MXR (I've been a Boss fiend). It's fine, it works, and I haven't noticed any bad noise coming from it, but it's not the best.

Never had any problems with any Boss pedal ever since the beginning of my music through its whole duration. Except the input and output jacks have come loose. I just tightened them and they stayed there. The thumbscrew also sometimes loosens. Just snug them good and if you think of it, check them once in a while.

Where are the Boss manuals on the internet?

I saw on the internet that Dave Gilmour uses this pedal. Four of them. Good enough for me. I do prefer the MXR, however. I don't know if I'd replace this pedal if it came up missing. I rely on this pedal at this point to fine tune my distortion, and so I'm gonna hang on to it as long as I can.

It's very easy to use. If you don't understand how this works, don't buy it. It's a 7 band graphic eq, with gain control, very simple.

Great sound quality, not noisey.

I use this pedal as a booster for my other pedals, and small valve amp. My guitars are MiM Strat with Kinman noiseless pickups, a '90 Les Paul Standard. I have other guitars, but these can cover every sound I use.

Set-up:

Gibson LP => Boss GE-7 => Boos SD-1 => Boss DS-1 => Marshall JH-1 Jackhammer => Boss CE-2 Chorus => Digitech Digital Delay => Digitech Digital Reverb => 8W '62 Brit Valve amp. (Scala)

This unit is what I have been looking for, for 10 years. It can boost the input to your favourate OD/DS pedal. This can really make a difference to the sound you acheive. My Boos SD-1 really thinkens up when the input is boosted.

Seems very reliable.

NA

This is a great clean pre-amp, with a 7 band graphic thrown in.

I play Rock, Blues, Hardrock, and a bit of Jazz. If this were lost or stolen I would get another or try a MXR graphic eq pedal. Either way I would get another eq pedal, I'm sold on these things for LIFE !!

You can use this to shape your guitar pickups response. Need more gain from your strat single coils ?? Use the GE-7 flat and tweek the gain control. You can also 'cut' with the gain control and the eq sliders. This thing is good all the way home.

Dave Gilmore out of Pink Floyd uses 2 of these in his live setup. This can only mean one thing, these babies must be very good or he would get another type. He is a very rich dude afterall.

Self explanatory really. 7 bands to tweak the eq of a guitar, plus a level to boost the overall volume. Like any eq, one needs to mess with it to get the desired sound, to each their own.

OK, here's my latest set up: I currently play a Gibson Les Paul through a Marshall 5212 amp. For effects I run a Digitech RP 100A (I'm going to get a Boss multi effects board later, saving my pennies), Boss GE-7, Boss CS-2 compressor, & a Boss AC-2 acoustic simulator. Needless to say, I get a very thick sound, but it's not "plastic" sounding, very true & real. The GE-7 really tweaks my sound, especially during solos, it gets it out front over everyone else. I can boost the level, have my mids boosted a bit, then ta da! instant "big" sound. Let me put it this way: When I engage this pedal, everyone knows it!

This question is a joke with Boss pedals, seriously! They should have an "11" to rate Boss in this area!

Never had a reason to contact them. I bet those guys are like the Maytag repairman.....

I've played the guitar over 25 years now, played every style of music ranging from Mozart to Metallica. In that time I've used countless effects. Let me tell you, voice of experience here, NOTHING BEATS A BOSS! I'm currently playing in a classic rock band that does some country music. This pedal does the trick for sure. If it were lost or stolen I would replace it immediately. This is a very handy little weapon to have in your arsenal!

Very easy to use. Just touch any slider and you get the most amazing hiss.

I have tested the ge-7 with various guitars and various amps, with no other effects in the line. It hisses so bad that it's not useable for me. It is not true, that the eq only boosts a hissing that is already there. It produces the noise all by its own. You can turn the volume pot of your guitar to zero. Then cou raise OR CUT ANY frequency, and the hissing starts. The volume of the noise is rather extreme and quite independent of the setting of the output slider.

I am amazed, that some people seem not to hear this hissing. Either they have lost their hearing capabilities through excessive death metal sessions, or Boss produces half of the items hissing and the other half ok, or maybe the hissing is more pronounced by some amps than by others. (For me, it was more extreme through a Roland Jazz Chorus than through a Fender Blues Junior.)

What you can hear through the hiss, sounds good though. Tone shaping can be done very nicely, and I wish I could have used this pedal.

Brought it back to the store after 1 day. But it looks reliable - I'm sure it would hiss on for years.

I've been playing guitar for 20 years. Rock, Funk, Blues, Jazz. If you can stand a lot of noise or if you plan on using the eq only in certain situations where noise is not much of a problem (like solos or parts with a lot of distortion in live gigs), the tone shaping it offers can be very inspiring. If you plan to improve your clean sound and use it for more subtle parts (like I did), forget it. The effect is very nice, but the hiss is intolerable.

Easy. And sliders work better than rotary knobs for EQ and you can visualize what you are doing to your sound.

Its pretty good. It is mostly "transparent."

I have a PTP Metroamp 50 watt plexi board installed in an old Laney 30 watt head. No effects loop, so all effects are in front of the amp.

I have found that the GE-7 adds some noise to my signal (obviously, especially when it is boosting the signal), and especially when using in front of a high gain pedal. I determined that the level of noise is unacceptable. I have ordered the tone-jam.com "Sniper" kit for this thing and hopefully it will reduce the level of noise added to my signal.

Bottom line, its not studio quality. But it is good enough for the gig. I just can't use it in front of a distortion box.

Bottom line, is that EQ is almost an essential "effect." It is one of the most important parts of your signal (I guess unless you are a "no effects" guy, guitar straight to amp). Most people do not know this, go out and buy a pedal and may be dissatisfied with it. Unless you have an EQ pedal, you are taking a gamble that the proper frequencies are not being emphasized. It will just be by chance if everything works out.

Before you purchase another pedal, I'd say if you don't have an EQ pedal, get one. It really can turn a effect which sounds ho-hum into a delicious sound.

These are pretty good and cheap used, but mine makes a bit too much noise (I guess that's why they make the noise suppressor pedal...).

Adjustment is completely intuitive. If you can?t figure this one out, you really are in trouble.

If you really want to judge sound quality you need to use a good set of headphones. In doing so, I found the unit to be very silent both when off and when. The sliding of the faders is silent as well. There are those who say that they experience hiss with this product, but I would guess that this is limited to particular units and not to the design itself. Obviously, the unit will hiss if you input a signal with white noise of a given spectrum and then amplify that frequency band. Therefore, what equipment you use and where you place the unit are crucial (I put mine in the effects loop between the preamp and amp). My setup is as follows:

Gibson SG->Marshall AVT50 (tube preamp section)->Boss GE7->Boss CE5->
Boss CF3->Boss DD-6->Marshall AVT50 (amp section)

I use Monster cables for going in and out of my amp effects loop for maximum shielding against noise interference (yes, they really do make a huge difference). Specifically, I use the Jazz cables, which offer slightly better feedback protection than the Rock cables.

The only reason I say N/A is because I have not had it long enough to judge how well the faders hold up. That is, I don?t know if the faders will eventually sound scratchy when moved. Like all Boss pedals, the product seems to be very well built.

I never dealt with Boss on any issues.

I never usually rate anything this high, but the GE-7 solved a problem that I was having and unexpectedly gave me more than I anticipated.

I bought this product because I wanted to alter the tone of the overdrive channel of my Marshall beyond the EQ controls that they provide. I tried various effects boxes: Ibanez TS-7 (ultra noisy), all the Boss overdrive/distortion boxes (also rather noisy), and lastly the well-known Ibanez TS-9 Tube Screamer (only slightly noisy). Judging the quality of sound in the store is very difficult for me and I thought I found the product with just the sound I was seeking. However, when I got home and tried it, I found that it sounded just like the overdrive built into my Marshall except that it hissed slightly. Why should I get a product that simulates a tube overdrive when I had the real thing? It finally occurred to me that what I really needed was to modify the tone/color of the sound that my preamp was producing rather than replace it. Thus I bought the GE-7 and it gave me exactly the sound that I was looking for. Additionally, it let me expand the capabilities of other effects by producing sounds that would not ordinarily be available with their built-in controls.

I play both blues and surf music(a rather odd combination), so I needed something to allow me to go from warm mellow tones to sharp twangy ones. Especially because I don't own either a Fender Jaguar or a Fender amp.

I should mention that others have indicated the fact that this is not a stereo product. But since it is the first box in my loop I only need mono, so it suits me just fine.

Bottom line: I highly recommend this product for a wide variety of musical applications.

If you understand EQ you should be okay. However, if you dont understand squat about EQ like me then I would suggest you visit the Boss website and download their PDF file on effects settings. I did this and set my eq to their recommended settings and voila.

Peavey Wolfgang standard into A Keeley modded Boss sd1 overdrive into the GE7. This goes through the front of a Marshall DSL 50 head loaded with Groove tubes, and sits on top of a Marshall AC vintage greenback 4 X 12.

My sound is now perfect. No tone loss at all and definitely no noticeable hiss. I usually use the GE7 for soloing but sometimes for metal riffing to. I play hard rock / metal, sabs, halen crue etc. You know! real music.

Manual is crap. Go to boss and download the file mentioned above.

Boss, what can you say!

Never used them but their web site is useful.

Great for all music types. Been playing for twenty years. I think that you need some ability on the guitar to be able to really appreciate the subtle effect this has on your playing. I was a little concerned that this pedal would affect my tone but that fear is misguided. I would love to be able to plug straight into an amp without any pedals at all, unfortunately if you chug alot like me you need some eq. I use the Boss sd1 as a clean boost and this drives the amp into melt down. The GE7 adds the icing on the cake.