Boss GT-3

I found the GT-3 very easy to get a good sound out of and relatively easy to tweak. I don't use any of the preset patches but editing is fairly simple. I use it only for effects and midi-switching of my amp channels.

I use the GT-3 with various Ibanez guitars, and Peavey amps. My main amp is a Peavey JSX 120 watt head but I also use an Ultra 112 combo. I use the midi out on the GT-3 to an Axxess electronics CFX4 to change channels on both the JSX and Ultra combo. It works fantastic and gives me the quality effects that I need. Reverb, delay, and mod effects plus EQ for a solo boost etc... I run the GT-3 in the effects loop of my amps and it is very quiet and does not affect the tone negatively.

Rock solid. I just purchased a second one used but have had mine for over 10 years without any problems. I have one at our practice space and the second one coming for home use.

Boss is rock solid. Never even had to call them.

The GT-3 works great and to this day I can't find anything better for near the cost you can get them used.

I really need to find a manual (I bought it off a friend) But, Using the presets, It's really easy, and it sounds great. It's great for playing live because you can switch from tone to tone very easily.

I would say it's okay. Personally, I think I've gotten better tones out of individual effects pedals, But, For having so many tones at access with such ease, There really is nothing to compare it to. I'm running it through my Line 6 Spider III, If you own one of these, Leave the channel on Clean (I add a touch of reverb too) Or else it will sound like utter crap.

I've only had it for a week or so, But, I would say it's pretty reliable, I'm not in a position to really judge it on a life or death matter, because most of my songs are played on a slightly distorted channel to begin with (That I can achive with my amp) I really just use it for the cool effects (Flock of Seagulls type effects)

I play Down-Tempo Industrial, and this thing really gets the job done, since 90% of my show is improvised B.S., This thing helps really make it something worth while, I really can't say anything bad about it, except that on some settings it doesn't sound very sharp (Noticebly so) But that's perfect if you're looking for a little bit of dirt. Also, Some of the tones on there are just stupid (Like Casio tones) Telephones, Helicopters, so on and so fourth. I don't personally use them, But if that floats your boat, then by all means, go for it. If you can find one for under $175, I'd say go for it without thinking twice. Don't pay more than $250-$300 for it though, Not that it wasn't worth it at one time, But you can find it for alot cheaper. I bought mine off a co-worker who just needed extra money and really didn't want the thing for $30. He bought it used for $150, From a guy who bought it new at $200, if that gives you any idea.

Its not that easy to use but, once you play around with it you'll get the idea. Editing the patches requires knowledge of the programming behind their make up.
The manual is very technical, it takes some logic to understand. no firmware included in this. Its a straight up stand alone unit

I can definantly achieve the sound of my favorite artists. They include mostly metal performers such Van halen, metallica, As I lay dying, Godsmack, lamb of God but, I can also get Hendrix and clapton on this as well. This unit will give you the sound but, its up to you and your fingers to play it.
I play through a fender front man and it sounds great despite playing through a small practice amp. A lot of people complain that it sounds cold, sterile, and digital however, it sounds that way because those people have no clue on how to properly configure it.
Here is a key tip for you all. On the output setting, use the LIne out headphone setting if your playing through any amp smaller then a Combo or stack (in other words if your playing through a practice amp). If you do set it to combo or stack output setting while playing through a practice amp, set the amp's treble and bass EQ to 1 and playing around with the MID. If you leave all the amps EQ's in the middle at 5 it's going to sound trebly. IT will sound that way since the Stack and Combo setting is meant to be played through 30" speakers which have the boom that even out the treble. Does this make sense now? Once modifying your amps eq's to the way I mentioned before, your unit will have the smoothness and warmth you want. Again, boss produces pro studio quality equipment. This is not a toy like the line 6 POD's. The GT-3 requires precise settings to get your sound and Unlike the line 6 stuff the boss GT-3 has the right balance of depth and volume. I owned the POD xt and although the sound seemed dead on to what I wanted, it lacked a convincing volume presence that can project your sound forward.. Digitech is a joke and bigger toy then line 6. The sound is thick digital and amateur.
I'm giving the Gt-3 an 8 because the GT-6 gets a 10 for having broader features.

I play metal, rock, classic rock. The GT=3 small and can produce any sound you want, heck of a good match for me.
Been playing for 8 years, own a bunch of ESP EC guitars and an epiphone gothic all of which sound great through this. As mentioned before boss really blows away line 6, digitech or korg.
Only thing I wish it had was step activation wah but, programming the control button to activate the wah during a patch can compensate for that. In fact it motivates me to use the wah even more.
Definantly inspires me to play music. The sound projects and cuts through the mix. this is a great unit. I'm never abandoning boss ever again. Took Boss for granted before because I had an untrained ear but, I'm a much better player now and can hear the difference boss makes against their competitors

This is an update, of sorts: I reviewed the GT-3 a long time ago, and I was surprised to see that people were stil interested in the old box, so I thought I'd stick my nose in again.

If you're used to multi-effects, the GT-3 is pretty straightforward; if you're used to pedals, it's kind of weird. Most effects have more parameters than pedals have knobs; the Phaser has 8 parameters, but an old Phase 90 has one knob. The Guitar Synth menu will mean nothing to anyone who hasn't played or programmed a synth, and then there are submenus you access with the Utility button. It's deep. BTW, I recently progammed a GT-8 for a friend; the knobs don't help all that much, they get you some quick control, but bypass a lot of parameters.

Editing can be tough; again, it's digital multi-effects processor depth vs. pedal simplicity. You'll want the manual; it's helpful, but not comprehensive. Boss/Roland manuals have gotten better over time, but this sentence is classic Boss/Roland, from page 43, describing the Fuzz effect: "This produces a basic fuzz sound with." I found the same line in the manual for the GT-5, and the GT-8! There's an Unofficial GT-3 manual out there, along with a bunch of user sites. You'll find a lot of help quickly, with any search on "GT-3".

Experienced users have been giving the GT-3 9's and 10's, while less-experienced users have rated it 4 or 5. I'll give it a 7, depending on your experience.

I'm not going to review ALL the effects, I really just wanted to address some problems people have described.

First, forget the presets. Make a BLANK patch for yourself, and copy it as many times as you can stand pushing the same buttons over and over. It's a pain at first, but it saves you wondering if you're about to overwrite a good patch. You can always copy a few prestets from the factory bank.

Second, dig in to the Utility menu; this is where you can select your output (Line, Guitar Combo, etc.), check all your levels, do your MIDI setup, and program new riffs for the Auto-Riff and custom scales for the Harmonist. Selcting the right Output is crucial to your sound; for example, if your have "Line" selected as your Output setting, the Speaker emulator is always on! If you're having tone problems, most of the solutions are probably in the Utility menu.

Third, it's very easy to over-EQ your sound with the GT-3. The compressor has a Tone parameter, there's an EQ effect, and a Sub-EQ in the Modulation bank, the Dist/OD effects have Bass/Treble, the Pre-Amp has Bass, Middle, Treble, Presence and Bright controls, the Delay & Chorus both have High Cut, and Reverb has both Low- & High Cut. If you tweaked ALL of those EQ's it's like chopping your tone into bunches of little frequency bands that you cut or boost. Roll back the EQ's as much as possible when crafting your tones, especially if you're running into a guitar amp, after the GT-3. Less is more, inthis case, less EQ, more tone.

Fourth, the GT-3 sounds best into a really clean guitar amp, like a JC-120, or a Keyboard/PA rig. Maybe a Polytone.

The distortion can be tweaked into some usable sounds, but if you have a favorite dist/OD pedal that's crucial to your sound, patch it in through the Ext OD loop. Don't make yourself crazy over it.

If you have an amp that's the heart of your sound, why would you use the GT-3's Pre-Amp effect, anyway, unless you use it as a sort of pre-amp/overdrive. Use the effects you need, and forget the ones you don't.

I tend to stick with the JC-120 & Clean Twin models for most things. I use all of the effects except the Sub-EQ, and maybe the Humanizer. The Harmonist effect isn't as lame as the Harmonist pedal, but if you need a serious Harmonizer/Pitch-Shifter, this isn't it. The 2X2 Chorus is much cooler-sounding than the regular Chorus. Live, I run my GT-3 into a JC-90 or a house PA. There are so many sound options in the GT-3, it's hard to rate; dig deep, and you might get 9 or 10 quality sounds; stick with the factory sounds, and you're down around 5 or 6.

Had mine long enough that I've forgotten exactly when I got it. I've used it for years, without a backup, but I might get another now that they're so cheap.

The Roland reps who come around and do in-store demos are knowledgable, and helpful. On the phone, you might get anybody; they'll try to help, sometimes you just can't get there.

The GT-3 is a pretty deep box, for about the price of a Metal Zone, maybe less. If you're willing to spend time programming it, you can probably get most of the sounds you want, or pretty close. Some players will be better off with one good Dist/OD, maybe a Delay pedal, and a killer amp. I've been playing for a long time, have used tons of effects, and I'm pretty satisfied with the GT-3. I've been a Boss user for a long time, and it's cool to have most of the classic Boss boxes all in one box, even if some of them have mutated. If you love knobs, don't be fooled by the GT-8. It's a very different box, and the knobs don't tell the whole story.

Takes a short time to learn how this unit programs, the manual is some help, after a few edits you see that it isn't all that difficult.

A great all in one unit that I've used for 8 years, I even returned a GT-6 to hang on to the GT-3. It will react differently with any amp, I use it will a Line 6 2-12 or a Line 6 1-12, set for clean. 57 re-issue Strat with Duncans is the guitar of choice. You'll experience some noise with some of the high gain type setting, OD, Dist, and the out of the box pre-sets are ok but you'll want to edit those.

I do own 2 of these and have never had to use the backup....yet

It's great if you play a lot of different styles, clean, OD, Compressed Straty tone. I gig 5 nights a week and have been for many years, a great all in one unit

I spent a lot of time modifying parameters here and came up with nothing close to what sounds like what they say it represents.

I can get that sound that makes me feel bad or sad depending on what bank I choose from. It dont matter which number im on its really weird uhmmm 1-4 to 50-3 just pick any assignment and modify till your enjoying the process of tweaking and forgot about guitar, its really funny. marshall fender cabs guitars chords you know the style i used this stuff in conjunction with gt-3.

The chorus sounded good at instances but it was facsimile of a good chorus pedal. Boss makes descent chorus and delay pedals so I wondered if gt-3 cosm could nail the representations of them accurately?

These dayz I just put on one of the infinite looping fx banks and it puts a smile on my face, interesting sorta like hiphop being heard from the neighbours place down the street or like putting a video cartridge in a game console and hearing the opening track repeat. Its all the same.

Gt-3 makes me feel like guitar was a bad choice I should quit while their still is time but still I insist their is hope in this unit even I failed the moment I got sucked into its purchase. Complete doom.
Entertaining the pleasures of what gt-3 is capable of.

You can get every sound possible except the one your looking for that resonates well with your rig. You really must have boutique ears to give it anything close to a 10.

Im just so happy boss crammed every pedal model they could in gt-3 so I could gock at the digital screen and think to myself in comfort that I have access to all their effects! I feel jaded and want to seduce myself to escape the harsh reality of bad tone.

This gear made me read the celestine prophecy just so I could remember the section on co-dependancy because i felt alone and forgot everything about having great solid tone was.

Uninspiring gt-3 beat me.

At first glance its a multi fx board ... so expect to brain pick at this unit for longer than a minute till it makes sense to you. I got this GT-3 without a manual. If your a tweak nut your constantly going to use using the parameter push buttons and jog wheel buttons etc just to get to what your trying to adjust. Its to be expected since its digital apparatus.

Ok first i have a 100 watt marshall from the 1970s with four inputs. Its into a 4x12 cab. Im using my fav guitar a fender tele deluxe.

Im going from the mono(left) output on gt-3 into the front input of the marshall(no fx loop here). Suddenly I noticed a whole new world of sound thats wet and colorful but not necessarily good to my ears.

Boss(roland) has always given out a generous amount of fx with any of their fx products. Most units they make are solid and good.

With the gt-3 your great tube amp you own might just might lose all of its rich and organic signal. You might try the fx loop on your boogie soldano orange or whatever but you better shut off everything like gt-3's preamps, overdrives and eq and let your amp do its thing and use the gt-3 just for the reverbs, chorus and delays and modulation fx otherwise your tone might suck.

See what I mean??? you might be better off getting stand alone pedals that will enhance your sound. Think fulltone, roger mayer fx, foxrox pedals, mxr, boss, dunlop or any boutiqueness... take like 3 and chain em up old skool and Im sure you'll agree it still sounds better than this digital representation of the real deal.

Gt-3 is noisey and the noise suppressor really wants to kick in so the natural decay of tone is now suffering to. Ok lets shut off the suppressor right?. Lets fiddle with the eg, preamps, and overdrives we could modify the parameters or turn off stuff we dont need so much of and adjust the db of the eq etc etc. Still wtf am I doing wasting my time! Tone became weak anyhow and i lost most all of the marshalls original great signal. Its as if im listening to my amp with a layer of glass over top and its raining on it as well LOL!!! Total abuction!

Boss fx have always made great individual pedals ive owned most and since the ce-2 came out in the day! The gt-3 is unit is ok from an illusion of what fx can be but not quite the same animal though. Thats what im saying. If i was a guitar noob and didnt understand tone i would be in heaven with this.

Im giving a 6 just because I would feel bad for giving roland boss a lower score cause I like their pedals and hope they investigate digital artifacts and read harmony reviews.

You could depend on it its made tough enough but i would never bring it out in public cause i wouldnt be proud of it being associated with my sound. Pretty convenient eh? to have everything in one mfx to do the job. That is reliability within itself.

I was happy more than anything bringing this to a friend who could appreciate this for what it was. We tried it on his fender amp and same thing i was convinced it wasn't my fx board and quickly put it in the past very fast! He liked it and was sold on it which tells me many things. Its not a very musical sounding piece of equipment IMHO.

I use this for chorus, reverbs ect and i use my treble booster in send and return for my rock sounds, This is a great sounding pedal i use my gt3 through my brian may deaky amp.

It's a little difficult to find what you are looking for. But then, most players have no idea what sound they really want. After you figure out how to dial up the effect you're seeking, it really can be an very functional pedal.

I guess this depends. I play a mixture of Southern Rock, Jazz, Blues and Funk. It's not that hard to come up with something on this pedal to fit those descriptions. Since there are many different types of preamps and distortions, it's hard to find a good clear consistent sound that doesn't feeback too often. I run this through a Marshall 1959 SLP and a JC-120 as a stereo output. I get good tone but it did take awhile to fine tune the settings. The only issue I have with the pedal is that on some patches, when you switch the control pedal to add or subract an effect within a patch, sometimes it decreases the sound momentarily like it can't figure out what to do for a second. All in all though, if you want any effect to mess around with, this has it.

Very dependable because it's Boss. I've been using it for about six years. A backup is a good idea but I haven't needed one yet.

Never dealt with the company as I have not needed to. This thing does not break easily.

Since I stick to more rock and jazz tones, I tend to want warmer sounds. To make my overdrive sound more consistent I have gone to a Fulltone Fulldrive 2 so that I can depend on the sound better. I may upgrade to a few new pedals and use them in conjunction with the GT-3. I am a control freak and it's hard to be consistent with this processor if you like a lot of different tones.

This unit takes some time to really get to grips with, although te interface is logical enough. If you like tweaking, this is a good'un!
Advise: get the manual. Its fairly easy to get started with the G3, but its a good thing to have the manual to 'go deeper'into the unit.

With time, patience, and knowledge of sound and what you want spent on it this unit DOES deliver. Modulation effects are easy, typical Boss strongholds, but the overdrives available are more tricky. Use these together with the EQ and the Pre- amp options, and remember that less is more. Also, set your relative volume levels correctly, balances those patches/ sounds right.
This gets used with a 1979 Gibson The Paul and a Squier Tele, into a vintage Roland Bolt 30 Hybrid ad an Epiphone valve junior head. Results are very good, but it takes some effort! Worth it though.

Bulletproof. Very solid steel chassis, good old Boss switches. Excellent.

No idea.

I like playing classic rock, everything from Led Zeppelin to britrock. Like the sound of valves being given a good thrashing. But: like a bit of Pink Floyd/ stonerrock too, so decent effect are what I need as well. The GT3 has those, it was relatively cheap at the time and I have no regrets buying it. Delivers all I need. Does whacky stuff as well ( synth, etc) but thats just very gimmicky. Stick to what this unit is good at , and that's providing rock solid reliability, good sounds, plenty of options and a lot of hours well spent! Not for the starting musician this one, but a good choice. They go for not much money these days.

This pedal is for someone who is willing to tweak. First of all ignore all of the pre-sets.

It's easy to get at all the settings and change, but extremely difficult to get the tone I want. I like this better than the GT-6 or GT-8 because there are less knobs to break off and or accidently bump while playing. It's head and shoulders above any digitech multi-effects I've played around with.

It's hard to get exactly what you want. This is especially for distortion. The natural, Turbo, and blues settings are way to clean whereas the Metal, Dist, Crunch, Grunge settings are way too muddy. The key is to add the right levels of compression (sustain and attack) and a good pre-amp. Make a setting for each guitar/amp set-up you want to play out of. Once you've found it, though it's just amazing.

Bought it used, haul it around at least once a weeek, and have dropped it many times. The thing is as solid as a rock.

?

I play mostly punk with distortion, delay, compression, reverb, and clean. Guitars: 1960 LP Gibson and an American Std Tele. Amps: Vox AD100VT (tube hybrid) and Fender Princeton Chorus (solid state). This is all I need and I love it! I bought mine for $75 and it's worth every penny. Since then I've tried both the GT-6 and GT-8, I won't be upgrading anytime soon. The next thing I want to try: TUBE AMP.

was not that easy to use

this peddle was very noisey and the distortions where horrible they all sounded fuzzy i took it back to guitar center for digitech rp 250 newest peddle sounded alot quieter and sounds sounded better

I bought is used at guitar center and had it 2 days took it back but i know it was in perfect condition used and worked like it was supposed to

Insanely easy to use! It operates on a push button > options kinda procedure then you basically just tweak til you get your sound. Tonnes of options but presented in a fool-proof way. Editing is a piece of wee really, ive edited patches during songs and without a hitch, one thing i loved about that particular option was the subtleness in which this can be acheived. Basically, strum...add delay, chorus and some phase and theres not even a hint of an obvious change.

For clean effected tones (i love my effects) this unit is close to perfect, i have patches where ive mixed up to 6 different fx and the sound quality is awesome. I must admit that for heavier distortion it can be a little disappointing. I find it quite difficult to achieve a full on phat distorted sound even with all the pre-amp and gain options, still the overdrive is great. Can't say enough for the other fx though, such a massive range in effect sounds!!

Well ive had a pint spilled on mine, plus its been dropped by some idiot from a great height and yet it still works. Most effect users know that Boss have superior reliability with their products. Watch out for the adaptor though, ive had my unit for 5 years and went through 4 adaptors.

Never had to contact Boss actually....so i can't really comment.

Like i say ive had my GT-3 for 5 years and its never let me down. I can switch from a clean tone with lots of effects to a dirty sound with a little reverb all in the tap of a foot. Ive made up some cool patches on this thing, i recommend this unit to any guitarist who likes to mess around. It has everything plus some additional effects that you may or may not use. I should add that ive used a GT-5 and a GT-6 now and neither have come close to this (although this is obviously just my opinion). Theyre quite cheap these days so if you like sounds id say buy this in a hurry. Well played Boss!

Easy to understand, very adjustable. I just wish there was an interface for it that didn't take so much effort. Somebody made a midi interface that works in Windows, but I am Mac-based, so I haven't seen whether it works or not.

This was given to me as a gift. I was originally a skeptic, so when I got it I thought it would be an interesting toy for over-the-top sounds. Trouble is, I never really use over-the-top sounds. In fact, I like to get my distortions by driving the amp or by using messed up speaker cabinets. This doesn't work well for shows or for practice, and since we started doing shows, I had to find a way to get the sounds consistantly.
I pulled out the GT-3 and started tweaking. After a while I realized all I needed to do was set the volume on my Bassman head to about 8 and vary the input volume, and then add a couple of messed up distortions into the mix. Two of the pedal switches are simply high and low volume. The high volume sounds no different than plugging straight into the amp. I would have never thought this possible. If you keep the cords short, there is no discernable difference in noise level. The lower volume is just like turning the guitar down with its volume knob. The distortions match any of the pedals I have used in the past, I can approximate the Big Muff sound, the DS-1 sound, the Tube Screamer sound, the Distortion+ sound, etc.
The touch sensitivity and feedback that you can get plugging direct into the amp is the same. I keep scouring the web to see if someone who knows better than me feels differently. I can't believe a digital effects pedal can feel so real.
I have used it for recording guitar parts late at night when I didn't want to wake anyone up. If I don't take notes, I forget whether I mic'd a cabinet or went direct with the GT-3. Also, the effects are great for messing up tracks when mixing. If you put the signal through a impedance matching box (like a Reamp) the resulting signal is as clean or as dirty as you would like it. The Arpeggiator on a vocal part is really funny.
One note of caution- at least for me, all the presets are useless. I cannot imagine using a single one of them. I can't believe the pedal actually sold when the first thing folks would hear when plugging into it was one of these over-compressed, noise gated monstrosities.

Built like a Sherman Tank. I have been gigging with it for about 5 years and it doesn't even show it.

N/A

I play punk rock and country-ish punk. I have been playing for 27 years. I use a Bassman head (AB165) with a 2-12 cabinet with Jensens or an Ampeg V-3 cabinet. I also have a Gibson GA6 Tweed Lancer, a Bassman 10, and a Fender BXR 300. Guitars- Epiphone G400 SG with Gibson humbuckers from an Epiphone Genesis, '84 Telecaster, '98 Strat, Hohner Les Paul copy (heavily moded) and a Peavey Fury bass.
If somehow my GT-3 was missing, I would buy a new one asap. It doesn't get in the way, and does what I need it to without fail. I haven't had any trouble with it in 5 years and cannot say that about any of the stompboxes I have used in the past.

this is pretty easy to use... you have to be stupid not to know what ur doing with it after like an hour of messin with it...

im using this with an ibanez rg220b and a peavy shitty combo amp but it sounds good... it the harmonizer thingy you can do alot with and alot of the other effects are great too... some of the distortions are week and just get in the way when you try n figure this thing out but its not a big problem if you play soft stuff..

idk if i would use this in a gig rite now but in the future when ive figured everything out about it..

no i havent haD to

i play alota metal and grungy stuff but mostly i make up my own stuff...
ive been playing for like 3 years, so if it were stolen or lost idk if id be able to buy it again for this price cuz i just sorta came across it at a pawn shop.. id deffinatley use this pedal for recording.. you can get whatever you desire out of it.

Itwas difficult at first, but after explorere for hours, it's a peie of cake, i know how to use this easily

I have a Jay Turser Vintage Series, it's a crap guitar, but with this, it sounds great. I also have a crap amp, but now I use my Gt-3 as an amp and my actual amp as the speakers.

The GT-3 helps me with all my gigs, gives me Wah, Distortion, Clean, CHorus, and everything I need in one. Sadly, I don't have a backup, but it's so dependable I know it won't break down.

Never used it, it never broke down on me

I play Punk, Metal, Jazz and Rock. It helps me with all the sounds I want and my band even wants to buy one, but it's out of production. I'm sure the GT-6 and GT-8 is even better, so I recommend this product.

At first it's difficult because it has many effects and many buttons, but if you take a quick read over the manual, it becomes very easy to use. The problem is that many of the people do not read the manuals and expect to learn how to use it magically. Have a quick read over the manual and you can create almost any sound possible.

I'm using an Aria Pro II ZZ (Explorer) Deluxe, the same makers for Cliff Burton basses. My amp is a Yamaha T100C designed by Soldano with vacuum tubes. With this amp the GT-3 sound great. I'ts very important to adjust the settings and utility to your personal amp, beacuse this will make the difference in the sound. People that said they don't like the sound i'ts because they didn't adjust the settings and utility according to their amps.

There are too many effects I don't use. My favorites for clean is the JC-120 with the harmonizer, 5150 Trash sounds very like Metallica and Pantera, for solos I use the BG lead that sound like sweet child o'mine slash solos and intro. The Metal solo effect i use with the wah that creates a very Kirk Hammet sound. Also i like the phaser ande delays. I like so much the Satraini effect named Satch tone.

I want to remark that I change a little bit the factory settings for these effects, to make them more accurate to the real ones.

If you change some patterns and settings in the effects you can approach to the effects you want for sure, try making variations and you will get it.

I have it like 3 years ago and the other user had it for two years and it is in perfect conditions, without any problem.

Good materials

I, have no contact BOSS because I never need it, it works perfectly and easy to use with the manual.

I play Metallica, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Guns'n roses and some of my own creations that comes from metal, rock, blues and some jazz.

I have been playing for 6 years, I had a Rat distortion pedal but i sold it when i bouth teh GT-3, also i had a Metal Zone that gives you a very good distortion, sometimes better than the Gt-3, but you can have an approach by modifying some settings, a good approach its the 5150 Trash.

I feel very comfortable with my Gt-3, a good bought

Not the easiest to use. I used a digitech RP200 for quite some time because i didnt want to figure out the GT-3. My own laziness though. If youre not a total luddite, and you spend about 10 minutes with it, you can figure out how it works. press buttons, press more buttons, press more buttons, etc. The preset sounds are alright, sound have are cranked up with a lot of gain, so i turn down the output on my guitar to get a better tone.

I use this thing as my outboard compressor for my home studio because im too poor to buy a real one. BUT, this works fine, i keep it on an FX insert in between my preamp and AD converters and it compresses everything fine.
I think most of the sound effects tends to be pretty digital sounding, especially the high gain ones, but that only matters for tone-freaks. If your playing with a band no one will notice or care. I use it for recording, through tube amp, thru practice amps, through a half stack, all color it obviously, but it sounds fine for anything you would want. The Wahs are kind of boring even though it has five of them.
For me, the compressors, EQ, gate (called something else in here), limiter are pretty useful and make this MORE than a guitar FX pedal, its just an audio processing board really.

Seems good. I havent broken anything on it yet. Its heavy if that counts. Nice pedals. They havent changed the pedal design and now theyre on GT-8, so there must not have been too many complaints...
The power cord is sweet because it is NOT a wall wart. I would depend on this sucker playing live.

Never

I play a wide variety, jazz, blues, rock, space rock, metal, electronica. I can generally get sounds of of this that i want for the guitar parts, AND bass, AND vocals. I use more audio plugins than anything though.
If it were stolen or lost i would buy the new version, not this. But if you find one used, for a good deal, snatch it up.

I've had this box of tricks for about five years now and still manage to find something new every time I go a-tweakin'. It's easy to get a sound from the presets and fairly easy to write your own programmes using the manual for guidance but trial and error is your best option The trick is in knowing how each effect works and how it affects the overall tone and this takes time friend. But that said it's best to start off by tweaking and saving one of the presets until you've become familiarised with the workings.
The only problem I get is in a live situation when I need to tweak "on the fly", the layout means that I have to open up the programme to adjust and then save.

I've tried this with various set ups but find the best way to get the full stereo effect out of it is directly into a power amp and a pair of (currently Marshall) cabs with a bit of ditance between them. The pre amps can be a bit harsh on times and the distortions a bit fizzy so I found that you need to work out which OD/Distortion type suits which Preamp type. That said it would probably take a valve officionado to know that it is SS in a live situation.
The reverbs, delays and modulation fx are superb but it's best to get a good basic sound first and then add these for "colour".
The band cut a demo recently and I went straight into the desk via the GT3 in stereo - the engineer was amazed at the sounds coming through the monitors and we were more than happy with the results.

I bought this as "used" about five years ago. It was in pretty good condition then and still is. I've had absolutely no problems with it whatsoever apart from one of the rubber feet coming away but that can be easily remedied. It's been stomped on at least three nights a week and still does the job with no signs of packing up. And no, I don't carry a back up.

I haven't had cause to contact them in the five years that I've owned the unit but having contacted them about a different matter sometime ago I found the CS dept very helpful.

I've been playing for about 30 years (it's about time I stopped for tea) and play various styles from roots to rock both in a band and solo. I use a Lonestar Strat, Eggle Berlin and Takamine electro through it. it compliments them all.
If it were lost or stolen I'd either try to replace it or money permitting upgrade to the gt6 or 8 purely for the ability to adjust on stage.
I don't think there's much to dislike about it apart from the weird Synth and modulator FX. The harmoniser is great fun for the Queen and Lizzy fans.

for the experienced (me and other good players)this is a piece of cake...we gain structure our equipment so it sounds as intended, and we know our way around the parameters. When I read some of these reveiws I laugh..I first owned one of these in 1999 when it came out and I too at the time was a bit frustrated because I was an intermediate guitar effects wizard..I always ran my effects to this day thru the same peavey half stack but I went thru a rack journeey and this how the story goes:
After my gt-3 I sold it in 2001 and bought a rocktron voodoo valve and it was pretty good but not an elite like a gt. So I sold that and bought a mesa :tri-axis and it was quite good but way too expensive and over priced and didnt quite hit the mark, so I sold it in 2003 , with it came alot of money and in 2004 bought a peavey tube-fex.which I liked better than the over priced tri-axis, but I sold it cuz it too was missing some thing..so In 2005 I needed the gt-3 back because one of my friends showed up to rehearsal and my jaw dropped!..the piece of gear I so longed to have back was there but it was his!..kinda like a girlfriend that was yours and he didnt know and introduces you to her to find out she was an -ex..same thing..My point? this IS the real deal...take some time my friend and learn this hard to master unit..for the effects are accurate ,deep and when set up PROPERLY and dead accurate

my story will answer alot of this...tweak it over time and you will find your tone..Im buying another one..Ive learned a painful lesson.I was a jerk and want her back.I play a custom Jackson soloist (my signature model s-1 )with duncan jb in the bridge.the metal zone pedal my cousin todd and I used in our A-B comparison proved the accuracy of this same settings and the same cabinet = same sound. every effect on this unit is crystal clear and when set up at unity gain (the same level in as it goes out)you will experience heaven..this has an input meter..use it! run it at 3/4 the way up and listen for analog distortion...My 5150 distortion in this unit was great and will use it again...for you metal heads try the sldn lead (soldano) and it is very scorpions "crazy world) tone...very 2khz punchy...speaker simulator is great exept hard to get the deep cabinet sound but I really dont like that anyway...I get a great sound direct in (mixer meter at 0!)dont have to push the levels and use all headroom saveit! use it with my peavey half stack...noise suppressor I took for granted...never thought about it until I pushed it and heard all this nasty noise...It is awesome.all effects are pristine quality...and the metal distortion 2 sounds as we proved EXACTLY like the metal zone

reliable? like a hunting dog! or a tv...everytime your fired up-its ready to go and expect no problems

no comment (LOL) I am loyal once again to boss/roland so I wont go there... dont like to depened on them...nice but clueless

I bought my first one new, and my second one used... play metal and this thing delivers in spades..been playing since the 70's and this is still the best preamp I have ever used...if it were stolen and I caught the dude? I would go medeival and take my sword and ...well..(deep breath, going to my happy place)good for him I guess...karma's a bitch. I sold this once and want it back!I need this unit,love everything about her, better than my ex's: rocktron, mesa,peavey,(love peavey's though)engl,and hughes and kettner.It has all I need and love her for it...I hope you experience the awesome playing time I had with it...and thank my band mate for bringing us back together...

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