Boss GT-3

With a little tinkering around without the manual you can basically figure out how to get a pretty good sound, once you have this undercontrol the manual makes a pretty good reference for getting what you are looking for. The presets are however a joke and I would recommend starting from scratch and basically just set it all up the way you would your normal pedal board or what you would need from particular songs.

I'm using this piece of equipment with a 1986 Japanese Strat hotrodded with a Dimarzio Evolution at the bridge and an Ibanez 320 DX running directly into the effects loop of a Randall Classic 150 2x12 combo which also runs to an additional Jackson 2x12 speaker cab. The effects sound awesome, kicks the shit out of everything I've ever used, excluding the Digitech GSP-21 rack unit I used a few years back, the GT-3 is much faster at switching between effects, the old digitech wouldn't switch without a black out time between channels. Great for capturing high gain tones similar to Zakk Wylde Dimebag Darrell, as well as really smooth and spaced out tones similar to Vai and Satriani. Old school metal zone era sounds are no prob either, anything from Mercyful Fate to Judas Priest and Maiden are easily captured as well.

Very reliable and tough, I use it all the time with absolutely no backup on stage as well as the studio.

Never had to deal with it.

I play a lot of different styles of music, whether it is a form of Rock or Metal, or Jazz this unit is perfect. I chose it because of the high recommendations of other musicians I've known for years who have used one. Before this I had used a Zoom Player 2100 for a few years and this unit ate that one alive, shit it back out, then ate it again.

It's pretty easy to use and figure out. I figured it out in a few minutes without the manual. All the buttons make sense. It's reall easy to edit patches too.

I play through a SG with seymour duncans, (59 in the the neck and Custom in the bridge) An Epiphone sheraton and a mexican fender strat into a crybaby, original small stone phasor, Digitech whammy, TS-9 Tubescreamer boss ds-1, big muff, boss bf-2, small clone chorus then into a mesa boogie single rectifier with a boss dd-3 and Holy Grail reverb in the effects loop. My cabinet is a Avatar 4x12. This unit is very quite. The noise gate works well. I honestly didn't care for any of the effects and I have boss stomp boxes. This doesn't sound anywhere near as good as them. I excited about trying this out and really disappointed after having it in my home and playing on it for awhile. The synth sounds got me excited but the processor is just too slow to keep up with how fast I'm playing lead stuff. Maybe the new GT-8 can. The pitch shifter seemed to have tracking problems too. With my digitech whammy pedal I can play a chord and get a hairy but still cool sounding chord but this thing just starts jumping all over the place. I thought all of the distortions sounded really weak and fizzy and the amp models sounded the same exact for the fender twin clean sound. It was nice. The vintage phaser actually did sound pretty close to my small stone though. Honestly I think the whole processor is just too slow. I play a lot of shredding stuff and it just seemed to slow everything down and then when I plugged straight into my amp it was smooth sailing again. It is old technology though compared to all the new stuff out now. I personally was disgusted with it as a pedal sound-wise.

This is always a great thing about Boss. They build stuff tough!

It wasn't good for me at all as a guitarist. I play everything but country. I've been playing for 8 years and went to college as a music major with guitar as my instrument, specifically classical. It's durability and ease of use are the only good things I have to say about it.

This is one of the easiest multi effects pedals ever. If you ever see one on ebay, you should buy it!

2xMusicman Axis sport + Marshall TSL60, OC3 & 535Q Crybaby. I don't use the amp modelling so noise is not an issue. All effects are great depending on what your expectations are. I drive it straight into the front of my JCM2000. I have always worked at getting my own sound. I use the blues driver in the overdrive/distortion section to really drive the clean channel of the Marshall. Delays are clean and the Synth if tweaked just right, can replace that whiney keyboard player.

I have had it for about 8 years of so and it has never failed.

Roland are always good, but i've never needed them with this.

I play rock/pop/funk and blues and have been doing so for 15 years. I am finally at a point where I am completely happy with my gear. This is a rare thing. If it was lost or stolen I would probably look at upgrading to a GT8 or PODXT Live. I love the versatilty of this unit. I midi switch my head with it, do whammy fx etc. But most of all it always does the job I ask of it.

once you get the hang of the user interface it is easy to use,the manual is not that great but not totaley bad,overall i like the gt-3 ease of use.

in my opinion as so many said the cosm distortion models are not that good,thay are hard edged fuzzy and cold,forget about using these for direct recording,i have many different effects and processors i ran this unit through for studio and direct recording and cannot get a good tone,you can get a fairly good distortion through the right guitar amp using one of the pedal distortions and the clean fender twin cosm amp model.,i do like the clean cosm jc-120 and twin models for both direct recording and through power and or guitar amp,if you want the gt-3 to really sound great use the external effects loop and patch in your favorite amp modeler,i use a zoom gm-200 and the new behringer gdi21 and can get some great distortion sounds out of this unit,i built a switch box so i can switch between gm-200 and gdi21,i also use a crybaby wah with these units,the gm-200 is discontinuid but still can be found on ebay,the gdi21 is a no brainer it is 30.00 new!,as others said before you must experment with your effects chain,try different combinations of effects ect. i could go on and on about this unit.

i had it for about 6 years and is holding up great,all metal construction seems solid to me,i do baby this unit it never left my studio so i don't know how it would hold up on a gig but would say it should be fine.

never dealt with the company.

i am a hobbyest musician playing guitar over 20 years,i use the gt-3 into a laney gh100 solid state amp and marshall 1960a 4x12 cab.,i play blues to metal and the gt-3 sounds great with the amp modelers in the effects loop,i would give the gt-3 a 10 in this setup and a 6 with out the amp modelers patched in.

Steep learning curve if one desires to truly master the possibilities here. Simple to learn if one merely desires to plug & play, and end up less than pleased.

I'm writing this review, not to praise or condemn the GT-3, but to get some facts straight:
1) things are not what they seem
2) the writers of the manual did not completely understand their own device
3) knobs are not inherently good
3a) buttons are not inherently evil
4) amp modelling may be a bad joke, but it can have a good punchline
5) the deeper I go, the deeper it gets

I'm tempted to stop here, hesitant to share what I've discovered, seeing as how eBay pricing is plummeting on the GT-3 recently (see? HC reviews DO have an effect), which will help me pick up a couple backups for about the price of 1 decent stompbox...

Oh well, I still have my GT-6 that I can use as a backup!

So here goes:

1) The GT-3 (as well, the -6 & -8) has an embarrassment of options, configurablility, and controls; some of which operate exactly as expected, but most of which should be approached from a contrarian/creative vector. It's a bit like it's own MATRIX: nothing is as it seems.

2) Following the manual will lead you comfortably into the MATRIX, where you'll feel you've done all you can, but still faintly uneasy. The techs who wrote the manual just wanted to make sure you didn't break the thing first try. If you've learned the conventions of the GT-3 menu, and you're reasonably familiar with the devices represented by all the modules, you should now lay the manual carefully away & begin to challenge it's premises.

3) Many are anxious over the lack of knobs, broken-hearted really. I'm sure if you go over and look at the GT-6 reviews, someone must have spilled the beans that it's "knobs" are little more than digital adjusters, unlike the knobs on your SD-1 (which you turn to adjust & then use a sharpie to mark your favorite spot), the -6 knobs are only relative, and immediately reset your setting if you touch them (give me buttons that at least start from where you were). Contrary to most of the reviews below, the GT-3 does have knobs! Three physical ones & innumerable electronic ones. Knob #1 is the overall output knob; #2 is the Data Entry knob; #3 is the Expression Pedal. Yup! the expression pedal can be used to adjust any parameter, tone, etc. Hopefully I'll have time to explain further down.

3a) Although I've inadvertently goofed up my prize settings on my knob based stomps and multis many times, I've never caused an accidental adjustment by a little bump to my GT-3. Just as I can type faster than I write, I can page to menus & adjust (using the data wheel) much more quickly than I could if all parameters were represented by a knob (ever done any live mixing on a stadium sized board in a festival type event? you know what I mean).

4) Most everyone seems to agree, unless you're seeking walls of noise/shred/monstrosities, or, want 1 decent clean sound, the amp/preamp models are Hoovers. I suspect that this COSM thing is where an R&D department can dump serious cash & run afoul of the bean counters wringing their hands over the fact that, "it sounds good enough already... why make it perfect when no one will be able to tell the difference?" Good enough isn't good enough. HOWEVER... the models can be used in a completely different fashion. Again, I hope I'll be able to elaborate in a bit.

5) Through trial & (mostly) error, I've happened upon some methods that have just opened my eyes to how to approach a device like this. I'm finally beginning to create with it, not just trudge along behind the sheep in front of me. I've undone many of the concepts presented in the manual & found that there is power in this toy from other directions.

Like a rock. Bought it in '99. Stepped on it thousands of times since then, and button-pushed possibly 100s of thousands of times! I experienced a problem saving patches a couple years ago (and, in frustration, went out & bought the GT-6: fine unit, just too big - letting another musician use it for now), but it was because the little watch battery was low. Replaced it & all's been great ever since.

I've had no occasion (Thank You, Lord!) to need support. CS in everything these days seems to be little more than an advertising slogan.

OK. Here's my take on how to really use the GT-6 & enjoy it as what it really is: a collection of tones, effects, controls, switches, etc for enhancing my guitar experience, all in a very portable fraction of the space required for the actual items represented. I view it now as interactive pieces that I can plug & unplug at will, twisting their order, function, and concept to my purpose & sometimes my pleasant surprise.

First & most importantly, shut everything off: all preamps, models, speaker models, effects modules, EQs, everything (you can use the tuner/bypass (if you have it non-muted) to compare & make sure that nothing is left on. All you want is the tone your guitar was born with. I've found that everyone I know who uses any kind of multi, always takes a patch that they at least enjoy somewhat, and tries to tweak it into something good. Not a bad approach, just not the best.

Then, and this is important, play your axe for a bit (I actually play GT-3 directly into the input of my amp, sounds good with the GT-3 output knob at about 50%), while using a true bypass external switch pedal to go back and forth between your guitar's natural signal and the signal through the GT-3. You should notice a change in tone, especially if you have passive pickups (the GT-3 buffers your pickups & gives more punch to the high & low). Now, balance the levels so that the GT-3 signal & the bypassed signal are at the same level. You've probably done this at bedroom level so far. Take a few moments & turn up to gig levels (or as close as you can get) & repeat the process (things sound quite different turned up). Make note of what you like or dislike about the GT-3's sound.

At this point, you can use the sort-of macro/global EQing features of the GT-3 to make as close a match to your native guitar sound as possible: The UTILITY button takes you to two features: 1) output type simulation ("headphones/line out", "combo amp", etc) and 2) hi & lo EQ. I use both of these interactively to achieve a reasonable match. Don't be too discouraged if you can't get it exactly; plug into any buffered (non-true bypass) stompbox (all the Boss pedals, & most other mfg pedals, but not Barbers, Fulltones, etc), & you will find the same change in tone, even when they are "bypassed". You may even LIKE the tone the uneffected GT-3 offers!

Now that you've set a baseline, save this patch to a location of your choice (I save it to several places with a name containing a single character that, when I've begun to add effects, will show from where the patch originated (I put a # as the name of this blank patch). Upon this representation of your bare axe, you can begin to experiment with modules & EQs & such, but you'll know that you have started with the real thing.

I'm not sure how much more HC will let me type, so I'll just get you started the way I do into adding modules.

First, I don't use any of the preamps (models) for basic tone. I use the blank set-up & begin by adding EQ for clean tones, or one of the OD modules for anything from a bit of grit up through rocking drive. If you get your favorite amp or stomp overdrive and dial it to a setting you like, use your external bypass or looper (you won't want to use the effects loop because it disables the internal OD unless you want to spend endless hours scrolling back and forth between the loop and your OD choice) to switch back and forth with the GT-3, choosing an OD (Natural, Vintage, Blues, etc) that seems closest to your stomp in character and then tweaking it until you have a good match. Once you've gotten as close as you can, engage the EQ to finish any discrepancies in tone, hiss, mid boost or cut... I've done this many times to set up a variety of patches from just barely driven all the way through heavy crunch rhythm. Remember, this is all before adding any other effects.

Do I ever use the preamp models? You

DEFINITELY not a piece of cake gear to use. BOSS really listened to users after the GT-3; the GT-6 and 8 are MUCH easier to use. That said, once you get the hang of using the GT-3, you will be zipping through the menus. Add the flexibility of editing patches on your computer and saving multiple banks, and it gets easier. It just has a pretty steep learning curve.

Recording quality - 9. I use this 90% of the time when I record. Visit www.brotherlush.com or www.myspace.com/brotherlush to hear the GT-3 in action. The unit is so versatile that it's usually easy to simply tweak a favorite setting to get what you're looking for. Unfortunately, this versatility sometimes leaves one having to choose from MANY great tones instead of searching for the right one. The wah isn't the best in the world but, coupled with the right amp model and it's good. You can't do the overbearing Kirk Hammet or Godsmack wahs but I hate that crap anyway. The fuzz setting is pretty weak as well. Harmonist is fun and I really like the tweak-ability of the ring modulator.

Live sound - 3. This is my personal opinion. I'm not a fan of their preamp to poweramp models. The direct sound is good but running the GT-3 through an amp like I would (if I used it live) leaves much to be desired. This is mostly because it's hard to tune the thing to the room. The GT-6 and 8 is easier in this respect with all their KNOBS!!

So, since I use this just for recording, I'll weight my rating on the optimistic side and give it a 7.5 (rounds to 8).

Also, my friend Eric in the band No Lily (www.nolily.com)uses a GT-3 live. It sounds great and, when he switches guitars, you can definitely tell a sonic difference. So, the GT-3 doesn't color your sound as much as one might think. To add to the confusion, Eric HATES the sound of the GT-3 for direct recording. Different folks, different strokes, I guess.

Mine broke once. Had it in my luggage and the luggage monkeys must have kicked it and impacted the little output knob. This broke the pot internally. I ordered a new one from BOSS (like $4 or so), soldered it on, and it works great! I think this is a fairly random occurence and I like the fact that it's semi user-servicable so I'd use it without a backup.

See above:
Boss customer support was rapid, great, and cheap for the part!

I'll say that I play progressive pop. Not quite punk, but good songs that push the envelope. This is great for recording and making cool noises. I'm still thinking of ways to incorporate it into my live rig (mostly as a noisemaker). I still use it daily for reording. I'd LOVE to save-up for a GT-8 but, if you don't have $500 for a GT-8, go to Ebay and you can score a GT-3 for under $150! Hell, if you want, you can buy mine so that I can get get my GT-8! 3 years ago, I'd give this puppy a perfect 10 but, now seeing that Boss is 2 generations past it, it still gets a strong 8 overall. It was one of my best buys ever!

I don't think this unit is that difficult to use. Is it complex? Yes. This is a powerful unit, it has to incorporate some level of complexity. I found the key functions to be very logical.

I play a les paul > fulltone wah > GT3 with TS9 in the dist loop > '68 bassman50 > marshall 1960a. Sound quality of this unit is okay. Newer versions will have better sounds with higher bit rates and whatnot. Proababy my biggest disappointment is the reaction time on the harmonizer and pitch bend settings. Sometimes, it really searches for the 2nd note. I'm eager to see how the GT8 performs here.

My GT3 is a drunk magnet. I've had at least 10 different drunks fall on it, more than several drinks spilled on it and recently, someone knocked over a server's tray full of dinner plates onto it. I never thought I'd say that. It still works perfectly.

I play rock covers. This unit lets me do everything I need to do. I looked at the GT6 but, this may sound weird, it was just too big. The GT3 sounds good enough and takes up much less space. I use TS9 in the external distortion loop and a separate Wah before the unit. Another good investment is a separate Boss on/off switch. Hook that to the ext jack and set it to engage the tuner on all the patches. That way, you don't waste the Ctr pedal for a tuner or have to bend down to press the small button. A wise $30 investment. I'd probably prefer the sound quality of stomp boxes but you'd end up with way too many if you want all the flexibility of a unit like this.

Read the manual, and as long as you don't have a learning disability you should pick it up in no time, editing is pretty easy. For people complaing about the little volume knob, on the back of the unit, come on now, you see that big pedal thing on the right side of the unit, thats what its used for!!! volume, wah, among other things. And for those complaing about have to bend over to touch the little tuner button, read the manual guys, and you find that one can easily set the control pedal to the tuner so you can activate it just like you're changing a patch setting.

First off, HALF THE PEOPLE REVIEWING THIS THING DON'T KNOW JACK SHIT ABOUT COMING UP WITH A GOOD TONE. Try using EQ, effects chains etc... Everyone complaing about the distortions presets need to learn how to come up with their own tone, which is what this thing is perfect for. I'm not all that crazy about the distortions presets either, but that doesn't make this thing any less capable of producing ripping tone. My band plays anything from punk, metal, ska/ reggae and this thing handles it all with flying colors. Out of all the presets, I use maybe 2 or 3, the mellow wah is perfect for reggae stuff, and the LP-ST setting is a wicked clean tone that I use a lot with my neck pickups. All the other stuff I made myself, and the distortions I came up with are wicked, and most gigs I play I have guys coming up to me and asking me about me how I get such a beefy, chunky distortion. I tell them its a 3 part equation, first off, my sovtek tube half stack is a russian beast that handles low end like nobodies business, 2nd, my guitars, I play an Ibanez rg-550 with a seymour duncan and just got an esp ltd h-1000 deluxe with emgs, both sound awesome, are perfecty capable of ripping distortion, and have thier distinct tones. The 3rd part of the equation, is the Gt-3. The flexibility of the paramaters on this thing are extremely versatile and I would use it over a rack full of pedals anyday of the week. When I use it on other amps it stills sounds great, when I plugged it straight into pro tools it was not quite as good, but not bad, I'd rather mike an amp anyway, but thats just me. I like the character that an amp adds to the sound. Just make sure if you do plug it direct to change the utilites settings to lineout/headphones, otherwise it will sound like shit, and vice versa, don't have on the lineout setting when you're playing through and amp. I use it for recording and gigs.

to steal what seems to be the phrase of the day, this thing really is built like a tank and have yet to have any problems with it. I use it for recording and gigs, don't leave home without it. I've had mine for about 3 years now with no problems.

n/a

I've been playing for over 10 years, punk, metal, rock, reggae, acoustic stuff, this things awesome. It got stolen at a party and I bought another one. I could have upgraded to a GT-6, but I couldn't really find a good enough reason to upgrade when I was perfectly satisfied with what I had, the only thing I could think of that I would have liked better are the knobs instead of the buttons, but big fuckin' deal, I'm not about to pay a couple hundred bucks more for knobs. I don't need anymore presets when I use very few of them anyway, and although the newer ones have a lot more user patches, the gt-3 has 35 banks each with 4 programable user patches(means you get 35x4 personal patches), I can assign a bank to each song and have 4 different presets for each song, not to mention the control setting which can modify each patch for a solo/volume/delay boost or whatever else. The only situation I would need more user patches is if I was playing a gig where we play 35 songs and I use 4 completely different patches in each song, not likely. In reality, my first 2 banks each have 2 of my signatures distortions, and 2 clean tones that I use for most of our songs. And a few of our songs require their own bank for wah and other stuff, but I have yet to come close needing anymore space for user presets.

Not too sound like some pompous asshole who thinks he has the best rig, but seriously, my 3 part equation described above in the sound quality section, gives me better overall sound than pretty much any other guitar players I have seen in person, and the gt-3 is a very big part of that. ok, i saw megadeth play and their sound is impeccable, but I'm not comparing myself to Dave Mustaine or anyone else of that caliber. But even if I was I think I could hold my own sound quality wise. There is nothing better than playing a gig, having guys in other bands who play 3 thousand dollar les pauls, through a ridiculously overpriced marshall or boogie halfstalks, and have them come up to me asking about how I get my tone. Anyone with a knowledge of how to come up with good sounds can get damn near any sort of sound they want from this thing, its got plenty of shit on their that I'll never consider using, but as far as I'm concerned, thats one more reason not to pony up for a GT-6 or GT-8.

This pedal is not the easiest to find a good sound. But if you tinker around with it for a while you will find a good sound. It is extremly difficult to figure out though. And reading the manual is like trying to read chinese! There are some good sides to this though. If you havent ever had experience with and digital effects like delay time, chorus level, wah level ect. It will help you learn the steps to creating a good tone. But other wise i will have to say that you will have to take time out with the GT-3.

The sound on the presets in just plain horrible. Some aren't to bad, but alot of them just dont make anysense. I started out with presets and none of them were worth a crap. I gradually got better with making my own sound really began to create some not half bad tones. I mainly listen to bands like the 80's metal bands. And I think that they key to getting a good distortion is to be picky with what you want. Dont say oh thats good enough. Have other people listen to your sounds ask them if it sounds good, ask them what they think. I got a pretty good GNR tone just by having a metal distortion and on the preamp setting using a clean tone. This way i achive that clean but heavy sound. And I recive no annoying buzzing when I set it down. My friends cant even tell its on!

I've used this slightly with other people. I would eaisly take this unit to a gig. There might be some problems with that seeing that I would have to throw in another extension cord. Mainly because the outlet cord is short. I might have sub-pedals though, just to have like a solo tone or a wah tone.

Never had to deal with the company>

One thing I notice about alot of the reviews is that they all comment on the bad distortion. The unit however shouldnt make any noises. Most of the reviews that say that are all used so they might consider repair.

I bought this unit about six years ago. After noodling around for awhile it becomes fairly easy to negotiate the different effects. Manual was ok, but most manuals are not that user friendly, in my experience.

I run the GT-3 through my Portastudio and use it exclusively for recording since I'm not playing guitar in a band at this time. Some of the presets are good and a lot of them I never even use. I have about 40 different effects that I have programmed. I use those about 90% of the time.

The distortion is not very good, the wah effects are not the best, although I haven't spent a lot of time tweaking the old wah-wah. I do like the different amp sounds, limiter, tremelo, chorus, delay and reverb. I also like the acoustic settings. One thing that I do is to find a program that I like and then use the same parameters, but switch the amp settings. This gives me a range of different sounds, but also themes that relate to one another.

I can get a fairly good "Yer Blues" and other Beatle guitar sounds, especially using my Epiphone Casino. There are some good crunch sounds and a pretty good Pete Townsend "Live at Leeds" sound that I can get, especially with my SG and Blues Bird.

I have never had a problem with the unit, but then it has never left the house. It has a metal housing which seems very sturdy.

Never dealt with the company, but never had to.

If you like straight ahead old school rock and roll and British rock and roll, you can get good sounds. Some of the metal sounds are also pretty good if you don't use the distortion, but stick with the power amps.

I've been playing for 36 years and I like the fact that this is one unit instead of seven or eight pedals strung together. If it was lost or stolen, I would seriously look at the Vox tube processor as a replacement.

It has been a good processor for use in recording.