Boss GT-3

Editing patches is a hell!The manual is clear enough, but a lot of of functions makes everything so damn complicated, I don't need to spend 25 minutes to search a suitable sound, my inspiration dies.

I use Ibanez Musician '79, ESP eclipse, Yamaha AES 620, Fender Squier (for nasty sounds)and what I care more is distorted tones and this unit doesn't satisfy me at all. Crappy digital compressed distortions, almost all of them are worthless. Crappy, thinny delay, you can't use it to create atmosphere. Useless amp modeling section, neither good to play with an amp nor for recording direct. ZOOM processors take care of that! I don't comment on Wha, Whammy, Pitch-Shifter, Tremolo. Compressor, pick-up simulator,detune, chorus and reverbs are ok.

Very sturdy but heavy... also the adaptor is heavy as a rock

I play alternatve metal with melodic and atmospheric parts were delay and warm distortions are mandatory to be good. Been playing for ten years, know something 'bout tone. Good for pop rock, though, but wha is a big disappointment so you are very limited anyway. For the price I paid it 2 years ago I expected the ultimate processor, but now I will trade this 80% piece of shit for a ZOOM product, easier to edit, better distortions (I heard the gfx-4 has analog ones.

The unit is EASY to use. It's sure not comfortable and the wheel is a bit sensitive; but there are no mysteries, everything is clear as water, so I'd say it is easy to use.
If you're familiar with the concepts and the effects and parameters and what do each of them do, there'll be no problem with editing patches.

The sound quality is very good.
I'm using a very crapy amp. It's a EP10, which is very small, but the thing is that the speaker looks like a Pac-Man (the body of it being what is gone!!!) and with the GT-3, I set the output level at half (6:00 PM) and the amp's Master loud and sounds just terrific -if you like the sound you're playing, that is-. Of course the sound I get is not out of this world considering that there's no much speaker left. I set the amp's Treb=0, Mid=10, Bass=0 as it's recomended in the manual and I handle the tone easily in the GT3
Now about the specific sounds:
- The O/D sound good in the upper frets. As for downfret playing, it's very noisy.
- Reberb: does its job very well
- Delay: Not so good, a bit clumsy.
- Chorus: Great, my fav. I use to play songs of The Stone Roses -the early era- and you can get that fantastic clean, crunchy sound, and with the GT3 chorus you can get almost the exact sound.
- Modulator: Is complete, you can do about everything you need. e.g.: 3-part harmonies to play many Queen songs. I also use the Slicer instead of Tremolo when I play "How Soon Is Now?" by The Smiths.
These are the effects I use the most.
The CONTROL switch is incredibly useful and easy to program and so is the EXP PEDAL. I only hope I could change the attack of it instead of linear, maybe exp.

Very reliable.

Concerning the complexity of the gear it is very easy to use. The concept is very clear.

The effects are good. I bought it because I like the boss effects. The amp simulations are not imprtant for me. Almost in all Presets I use a Fender Twin or an Soldano simulation. My prefered effect is the ring modulator. I have a Digitech WH-1 for pitch shifting, it sounds more natural than the pitch shifter in the GT-3. But I like also the synthetic pitch shifter (Harmonist) of the GT-3 and it offers you more possibilities.

For the price I payed I got a good effect processor. For the above mentioned Digitech WH-1 I had to pay almost the same amount of money as for one GT-3. I use it with my mac, my gamboy, my drumcomputers and also with my guitar. Sometimes I use it as a midi controller. For me it is a very use- and helpful gear in a compact size! At least I also like the blue color and the yellow inscription.

I am adding here to add to my previous review, because i got some of the facts wrong.

the reason being, i didn't have the manual for this product.

first off, you CAN set your own user prests for each effect (up to four) this may not be enough for some effects in my opinion, such as pre amp and od/ds, but it is better than none.

secondly, after doing some research on the web i found some saying that the gt 6 does not have this function. also it seems the gt6 does not have some of the assigning capabilities of the gt 3. like assigning effect parameter changes to the expression pedal.

i personally can not confirm any of the info on the gt 6 because i have never used one, but if you want these functions, i strongly suggest you look into it. the gt 3 may be a better unit for you.

i also wanted to post a link here that was extremely helpful to me for anyone who may own a gt 3 and thinks it sucks to check out before they wright it off;

(copy and paste!)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/GT-3/files/

here you will find downlaodable patches, the owners manual, and some tips on getting a usable sound.

i like my gt 3 even more after i learned more about it!
it's still not the "perfect" tool, but all things considered i.e. price, versatility, sound quality, volume control, it's a great unit.

if you just want to plug in and rock, this may be a very frustrating product for you though (see below). you MUST tweak to find your sound, patience is the key.

this is the most ridiculous thing I have ever owned. I bought because it has everything, literally just about every effect you can think of. BUT, to get a good sound involves lots of reading and head scratching. There are so many parameters to adjust in order to get each patch usable. You need a degree in something very complicated to operate this thing

modulation effect are great, the slow gear effects is great, as is the feedback. The delay are not good, they sound very artificial and its difficult to create atmospheric stuff with it. The expression pedal is amazing, whammy effect, ring modulation, all sorts of clever stuff. But the overdrive and distortions effect are rubbish. I know this for definate because I got rid of mine and now have stompboxes and the sound is 4000% better than when I was using the GT3. It makes you tone sound really rubbish, and in order to try and get a good tone you have to faff on with parameters and setting and buttons and all sorts of crap. with stompboxes you plug in, turn a knob, of you go

built like a tank, would never break

Boss are always good

to complicated, rubbish overdrive. makes playing the guitar an unhappy nightmare nuff said

Preset are terrible, manuals are quite superficial. Still the interface is good! When u know what to do u can do it fast also on stage!!

Preamp are quite good but i still prefer a valve than a microchip!
standard effects are quite good!
harmonizer&co sounds like a toilet even after hours of configurations!

it's very HARD!!!!!!!!!!!!

The worst on the world i think!
I once broke a switch and i waite 3 month to have it back with the wrong repair then one month more to the right repair and payed a LOT of money!!!

It's a good cheap compromise if u want to rock without taking a container of Pedals! and moreover it's versatile but i still think that POD's better

If you've never used a processor before they can be tricky so I think in this category they could never exceed 9.

this gets a 7 because you have to scroll through many screens to program each parameter, that being said, the screen is easy to read, and intuitively set out. they could have made it possible to set your own presets for each effect, maybe the gt 6 does this, i don't know, but the gt 6 has knobs on it for commonly accessed parameters, so it at least would get an 8 from me for that.

In the SFX and mod screens there are many effects to scroll through and that is sometimes a pain, do your programing in practice and make do while your playing with others, especially if for instance you are trying to fine tune your harmonist settings and switching patches a lot.

It is easier to synch time based effects with on of these than with many separate effects units though.

First of all, I have to say it is worth the money to have your guitar set up by a professional, this digital processor sounded way better after I did that. I did the set ups myself with regular amps myself and never noticed the difference I think this thing "assumes" that your guitar is set up to an "industry standard"to work properly tone wise.


I haven't owned any of the amps this unit is purported to model. I have played through some of them in stores and at the homes of friends.

They sound pretty darn nice to me though. I do about half and half, composition and jamming rock and modern psychedelia, and this thing can keep me entertained for hours, as well as productive. very useful tool for creating many different feels and sounds.

It sounds great through a nice set of headphones, and with some tweaking even shitty little guitar amps can sound nice with one of these, in my experience any how.
It has preset global output settings under utilities, really helps.
I also recommend not using the speaker simulations when running into a guitar combo amp.

For the most part this isn't an instant tone machine, adjusting the mic setting in the speaker sim can be dramatic.

because of the work that it can take to program and my own doubts that it sounds "exactly" like the amps that it is supposed to model it gets an 8, very strong modeling, very close to the real thing in my opinion, not exact. strong and very useable digital effects, not the best that's possible, but the best at the price i bought it for and considering how fast the models improve in the market, a 4 year old unit that still competes strongly is impressive.

Some people have said that the wah is weak, I disagree, but it isn't extreme, it does a very strong but generic wah effect.

I find the gain to be useful and pleasing but I also don't use extreme gain settings. I use high gain but I don't play nu-metal or punk or heavy metal, I play psychedelic rock, ranging fro the 60's to the present, and blues based mid to fast tempo songs. if you play a lot of power ballads you can program some very big sounds here as well as spares understated settings.

Better reverb and quieter compressor would have earnd it a 9. i don't have the money to buy a 10 product. if this review was placed in a 3 to 500 dollar products only database it would get a nine and 10 with better reverb.

Same old story here. It's 4 years old, I think it was a floor model at the store I bought it at. working great so far. I've heard there is a bug in either this unit or the gt 5, but I haven't noticed it yet.

Owned for about 3 or 4 months now, used and programed most every day.

I once owned a VF 1, I didn't like it at the time, but I never had my guitar set up by a professional.
To my great shock, it died on me! It froze in the "boot" menu and never reached the user mode on start up.

Luckily, I bought it new under warranty, I took it back to the store I bought it, they sent it to Roland, a few weeks later I got it back "like new."

They held up their warranty agreement in a generally timely manner.
Nothing special about the experience though.

no problems with the gt 3.

This is my first product review ever, I have searched the reviews in this site for many things, it has always been helpful, so I figure it's time to give back some.

first of all i have to say that i am very inspired by this product. i bought it used for $200, i am on a very tight budget, living in an apartment and without a band. i sold my nice tube amp, because i couldn't play it most of the time in my apartment. i picked this up to replace my amp and effects pedals on the basis that some of my favorite guitarists are said to find the gt 5 useful.

I've been playing about 12 years, but mostly because of money and life just happening to me constantly I would say I only have about 4 or 5 real years of playing, and most of that is on acoustic guitar. I would say that a beginner to intermediate guitar player could instantly put this to great use, and experience the tip of the iceberg of "professional" studio equipment. A more advanced or working guitarist might only find it useful as a practice or righting tool.

also if you want an amp but have no idea what kind, a unit like this can give you a real idea of what some of these amps sound like.

when this unit stops workin(if i get a year i'l be happy) i plan to get a gt 6.

In my case, I could control most of the functions at once with manual book.
somebody says it is hard to control this gear. but I recommend them to read manual book first
only one thing is fastidious. EQ control! this gear doesn't provide graphic eq...
you just have to depend on your ears.

I like reverb, delay, chorus sound from the gear.
It sounds a bit cold but clean and clear.
but overdrive-distortion sound don't do their jobs.
Its sound is very weak, I want to call this 'empty-centered sound'.
At live situation, gt-3 sound is overwhelmed by other analog gears if you don't really concern about your setting.

it is strong...
I dropped it by mistake 2 or 3 times very strongly.
but its function is alright until now.
but its painting is a bit weak.

I have not contact with Boss yet.

if you can control this one correctly, it gives you cool sounds
but it is something hard to make especially at live situation.
I recommend this to beginners who have to understand functions of a lot of effectors.

I have the GT-3 pedal now for two weeks, I 've bought it second hand. I've read the user manual. Editing the parameters is very easy.

The first time I switched used the Gt-3. I was not really impressed about the sound, there are many factory presets in the pedal, but the most of this preset are not very usefull, or sound thin. But if you tweak the sounds by changing the equalizer and filters, the sounds will sound very-very good. The most impressive sound is the acoustic simulation, very usefull for clean sound. Also the Twang preset. I heard people decline about the wah of this pedal. At first I was also not impressed about the wah. But when you are using wah, there are still 8 freely defined parameters that can be coupled to the expression(exp) pedal. What I've done was coupled all frequency parameters of the equalizer to this exp-pedal. e.g. Parameter 1: Source EXP, target EQ Mid freq. Set all mid/hi/lo gains of equalizer to its max dB. Using the exp-pedal will create the Wah effect, and at same time the equalizer frequency will be changed from low to high, or if you like from high to low. This will create a GREAT Wah, even the best I've ever heard from a digital device, It sounds like nearly the same as the Jimmy Dunlop wah. If it is not deep enough, you can also do the same trick on the Sub-Equ for more depth. For the best wah effect the chain must be OD-Wah-EQ, but you can change it they way you like it sounds best. The expression pedal is very flexible, and there are many parameters that can be changed at once.
I've always programmed the CTL pedal to manual. So it is possible to switch on/off the effects independently using the foot switches.

It looks very dependable, and it is heavy. Very good.

Never dealt with the company. But on the site of boss they should be place information, and patches of the GT-3.

my previous pedal was an Korg AX100, also a great pedal. I've bought the Gt-3 pedal second hand. Maybe I better did buy the new Gt-6. The possibilities of the Gt-3 are really great and really flexible.

To get a good sound out of it take a little while
Editing the patches was a little tricky at first but got the hang of
it after a few trials
The manual is a must have otherwise you'll be pulling your hair out trying to work it out

The setup ive got is a fender strat MIM with a fender 100w combo silver face 70's
At first i found it very noisy on all distortions and they sound like shit and some chorus aswell
and found that they are weak but over time with tweaking it
Ive got some awesome sound
hendrix . srv . jeff healy .the cars. george thorogood. stray cats.
joe walsh. cream. rolling stones. radiohead . chuck berry . dire straits . tom petty and shitloads of blues sounds

Im about to find out as im using it live tomorrow night

Hope i never need them

As you can see i play all styles and the gt-3 make it so easy to get the wright sound for all types of music , just be patient and tweak away and you will find what you want
Ive been playing for 27 years and this thing rocks
why did i get the gt-3 because its easy to setup at gigs less hassel with leads and you dont have 5 or 6 pedals to re-adjust if you bump it....WHAT A GREAT TOOL....the only thing i dont like about it was the wah pedal ' sounds like crap , give me a dunlop any day
If it was lost or stolen , yes i would buy one again
The gt-3 is built like a tank