Boss GT-3

When using this effects processor for the first time it can be done easily. It is different when actually using the effects processor the way that it is designed though. I personally had to get familiar with all the options before setting my own channels. The manual doesn't really help in this situation since it just has an overwhelming amount of features. memorization of the effects is the only inconvenience I had to face. All of effects are quality though.

when using this system with headphones it is amazing. To truly get the sound quality, you really have to be playing on a quality amp. All of the effects are of great quality and can manipulate anyone else's sound. I play on an ibanez guitar and a crate blue voodoo half stack, it really goes perfectly with the GT-3

100% Professional quality, I use it at all the gigs and it can do it all. I rely on it solely for my shows.

I have never directly dealt with the company,I know all warranty info has been established and my boss products are fully warrantied.

I am a college music major and play many styles of music. I have been able to explore more styles and have had more chances to vary the styles I write because of my BOSS GT-3 effects board. I have everthing I need in this board to play gigs or just have fun and write music. This effects processor will still be quality for me to use in ten years with all the effects it has.

This unit is quite easy to use, pretty straight forward, the presets are all available with the turn of the dial. Editing isn't too bad either

I'm using with this with a crate gx-15, yeah i know its just a practice amp, but i'm comparing this unit to my zoom 505 pedal. I will say one good thing, Its pretty quiet, not too much buzzing. However the distortion is absolutely horrible, my zoom 505 has way more balls than this piece of crap. You might as well just poke a hole in your speaker like they use to have to do in the 50's, cause thats what most of the distortion sounds like. (vintage 50's, 60's) The chorus and flanger are halfway decent. And the synth effects were absolutely useless. I worked with the distortion for a long time, the best i could was a really flat grainy sound, absolutely no balls, and no crunch. You might think the reason for that is my amp, but trust me, the 505 kicks its ass.

It looks pretty solid, i wouldn't think it would break easy

I've been playing 7 years and my style is a lot like Static X, lots of palm muting and jud juds so its not something i can use, perhaps you Vintage lovers might like this thing.

In my opinion the Zoom 505 out performs it, although the GT-3 has more effects. I think they should quit wasting time making lots of lousy effects and just make a board with a few very good effects

Love this baby YEAH! Just got it & sounds are just oozing from it. It might take awhile to pinpiont the crucial aspects cuz I'm kinda green on the MULTI-EFFECTS SYNDROME but it doesn't seem to be to difficult. I do like the 'manual' setting though. It's a floor full of pedals in one integrated unit. WOOO-HOOO!

Sound is awesome no doubt, CAN I GET A WITNESS! I take my epiphone LP-100 through the GT-3 & out through my Fender Automatic GT and I'm there. These instruments compliment each other quite well. (I know it's not fair but just hang in there you'll get there someday)I read others talk about 'crunchy distortion' but thats the way I like it, uhuh uhuh. Take off some reverb & short delays & it won't sound too digital, alright? The effects are top-notch & you get alot of them. All-in-all, a tight package for the people.

Stronger than a BULL-DIKE WITH A CREW-CUT!

Great stuff, my retailer doesn't let me down.

You got GAS? (gear acquisition syndrome) Then this unit has got the cure! If it were stolen I would kick their ASS & name their children. Then I'd make them buy me another one in mint condition. This machine is the bulls balls & I would personally like to thank BOSS for putting together the 'total package'.

This is very easy to use. If you know anything about music effects and have been playing the guitar a good while, you wouldn't even need the manual. It's only there for support. On the other hand if you're new at effects and guitar technology, the manual will steer you in the right direction.

Sounds are tight! I've used the boss stomp boxes since I started using effects, then came this unit with almost all the stomp boxes you'll ever want. So, I got the GT3. All the effects sound just like the stomp boxes, so if you like boss you'll love it. You probably won't use half of the stuff in it so it's nice to know exploration of the unit is endless. I play in a band at my church and I do lots of gospel gigs all the time. I can't say that I have anything to compare the unit to 'cause all I ever used is Boss. But, if I had to replace my effects unit I wouldn't consider getting anything else. All effects come so close to the real thing (like the wah pedal) you wouldn't notice a difference. Gospel is all music styles....jazz, rock, metal, country, etc. so, I'm constantly hitting the pedals and pushing buttons. The unit always gives me what I'm looking for. In light of what I just said I do need to emphasize that you must tweak the unit to get your desired sounds. It doesn't come out of the box tailored to your taste. But, you can get what you want out of it. You can even use it to emulate guitars you don't have like acoustics, jazz guitars, etc. Nothing is better than the real thing but it does a real good job. This unit is perfect for studio applications (directly to board/recorder), the days of hauling your amp to the studio are over! I've done very nice studio work with this thing. I use this with my EMG loaded Peavey Predator (Strat), Squire by Fender (High End) Thinline Series Telecaster, and Classical Acoustic Guitar. They all sound good coming out of my Peavey Special 212 Combo amp. The only issue I had with it was the noise reduction, I didn't like the way it sound and I couldn't get a good setting I liked so I had better luck just turning it off. It's not a loud unit so if you have a quiet guitar your unit will be quiet but if your guitar is noisy you may like the noise reduction. I'm positive that with time and skill you can get about 90% of all the guitar sounds out there with this thing. It's on top!

This unit is built like a tank! You don't need a backup. I literally ran over my GT3 with my '91 Lincoln Town Car and the operation didn't change at all. All pedals still operated normally, dial was still smooth, and display was still crisp. I've had it for about a year and I see absolutely no need for a backup. Backup...for what?!

N/A

I play all styles. I just finished my jazz guitar demo and this was key behind half of my sounds. I've been playing about 7 yrs. and I think this is the best fx around for this price range. I change roles in the bands I play with all the time (lead, rhythm, fx, specials, funk, pop, grunge, etc.) and this is versatile enough to change with me in the moment of the twinkling of an eye. Only thing I miss on it is the reverse like on the Boss Digital Delay (DD-5) stomp box. It's definitely tight and right!

OK, I started with a GT-5 and got the GT-3 when it came out 'cause it was smaller and had extra effects. It has the same excellent sound as the GT-5, which was superior to all previous floor boxes in terms of realistic amp simulation and qulaity of effects.

Tweaking the factory preset isn't too hard and the best way to learn the insides of teh unit if you're not a computer geek to start with.

All the operating systems found in modern Boss/Roland gear is pretty well thought out. The GT3 has a logical interface BUT scrolling through menus is always going to be tedious on a small LCD display. The main gripe I have is that the display doesn't blink for unsaved patches. This was a great visual reminder on the GT-5 and for some mystical reason the GT-3 doesn't do this. Be wary - forget to save and your patch is gone!

Manual is fine, although it's more of a reference as opposed to a complete programming walk through. Whatever...

My unit has firmware 1.01 - Is there any other?

My setup: Parker Fly Deluxe -> GT-3 -> Mackie SRM-450

No noise! This combination allows for an incredibly flexible and accurate system. Using full range speakers (with the Headphones/Line output setting) the effects sound lush and detailed, the amp models show more character, the piezo pickups on the Fly sound breathtaking and synth-type patches are much more startling.

Previously, I plugged the unit directly into the effects return of a Peavey Classic 30. This was good also - warm, clean valve sound - but guitar amps impart too much of their own flavour on the signal.

Using a PA type setup, it essential to tweak the Speaker Simulator to obtain realistic amp impersonations! It's daunting at first but you just need to listen and tune in the Distortion/Pre-amp/Speaker Sim. section very carefully.

I have been able to create some wild, Reeves Gabrels-style digital shred sounds... BUT, I've coaxed convincing Neil Young approved organic grunge. THe box can do most things, you just have to spend the time to work out HOW.

Solid. I'd entrust my life to this little guy.

Never had a need...

If you play rock, the presets should get you in the ball park.

Of, course it would be great if there was no limits on the effects combinations (pitch-shift, ring-modulation, synth simutaenously would be fun, yeah?), more dynamic effects (ducking delay, etc) would be welcome. AND, why, oh why, do Roland always omit certain effects from the previous processor? The GT-3 gains Slicer, Auto-Riff, Acoustic Preamp etc. but loses the Smooth option on the Delay, Reverse delay etc. ?

Same with the VG-88 vs. VG-8... Keep ALL the old effects in the next box, ADD but don't SUBTRACT!!!

Oh yeah, the price is outrageous... I used to have a Digitech GSP-21 Pro back in the day (around $1500 new) and it could do a tenth of the things this baby can. And evolution wonderful?

Boss GT3 is really simple to use after you have read the manual etc.

Sound quality is very good if you connect it up to your amp correctly.
I use mine as follows: PRS guitar to input of GT3, out of GT3 to input of my Marshall JCM 600 valve head.The amp is run clean with Bass at 5, middle at 5, and Treble at 2.The GT3 sounds very good and i use Vintage Overdrive at 65 and Pre amp MS 1959 1+11, vol 55, bass 30, middle 45, treble 25, presence 0, master 100.This sounds the best for most rock sounds.Do not use in the f/x loop if you want overdrive sounds specially if you have a valve amp, as it will sound crap.

Boss quality, and well built

N/A

EXCELLENT FOR ROCK IF YOU USE IT IN THE WAY ITS DESIGNED

Its really easy to get a good sound- you dont even need to edit it and you could still play gigs. Loads of clean and distorted tones. I thought editing was easy to start with -about 20mins to work it out. The manual is complicated and long so its best to work it out yourself- its better experience.

i used it with an Ibanez RG570, a laney 4*12 angled cab with celestion vintage 30's, and a Marshall VS100 powering it all. There is no noise AT ALL from this processor. All the effects sound fantastic- even the wierd ones. There are a few pre-programmed sounds such as "satch"-this makes it easy to get the Joe Satriani sound. The delays and choruses especially sound excellent.

Metal case, excellent warranty- well dependable. No need for a backup.

dont know.

I play loads of different styles- this suits EVERYTHING!!! It can stop you from practicing because you start fiddling around trying to get the right sound. If you are considering getting one - do it now!!!I looked around and it's easilly the best processor on the market.

I've only had my GT3 for a short while, but i've had no problem getting good sounds out of it. It's not as easy to use as a line6 pod, but it also has a lot more sounds at your disposal. I'm not saying it sounds better than a pod, however having spent time with both I think it is in the same ballpark. The manual is ok, about the best you can expect for an electronic device. Editing patches is fairly easy, no better or worse than other processors I have used. I think it is very important to try the different utility settings with your setup. When I first plugged it in my amp I wasn't impressed with the sound, however after setting the proper utility for my setup it made a world of difference.

My main setup is an ESP M-II with emg 81's in it, then into my GT-3, then into my MESA Mark II in the effects return. This setup sounds great for my playing style. I play mostly metal, mixed with some funk, blues, and surf. This processor has a sound for all of these and pretty much anything else I want to play. As far as noise there really isn't any to speak of, with the exception of the acousting simulator. That noise level is within what I consider to be a reasonable level however. The preamp simulators sound great in my opinion, I'm not saying they are a dead match for the amps they are trying to simulate but they are very close. Especially the boogie lead sound is dead on. I've noticed a few people complaining about the distortions in this unit and I couldn't disagree more. I think these people are experiencing weak distortions because of the other gear in their rigs, not because of the GT-3. If you have a squier strat running into a crate gfx 15 you can't expect to get killer death metal distortion out of it. The effects for the most part sound great to my ears, I do think the wah pedal could be more pronounced. For the money I layed down for this though I can't complain about a little thing like that though, I also think that the whammy effect leaves a little to be desired, but I haven't had time to tinker with it that much either so maybe my opinion on that will change. As far as emulating my favorite artist, this will get you as close as you can get to most anyone's sound without spending thousands of dollars to get the rig excactly like theirs. And everyone knows that half the sound of someone comes from their fingers anyway. I particularly think that the chorus, reverb, delays, and harmonizer in this unit are
very good. I tried out the digitech rp2000 and also the korg ax1000g, and they weren't even close in my opinion. They are more in line with
the Boss ME30 to me. Overall I would say this box sounds amazing especially for under $400.

I have no reason to doubt the reliability of this unit. I have owned boss products in the past and they never let me down.

I have been playing about ten years, and have owned various pieces of equipment. Other than my current guitar and my Mesa head this is the best piece of equipment i've owned hands down. If it were stolen I would be back at Keeper's music in a second and get a new one. I do wish it allowed a little more precise adjustments on the gain and the detune feature's were a little more in depth, but overall I don't have anything bad to say about it. It's definatly made my life as a musician a lot better just by letting me get the sounds my boogie doesn't produce(bright funk tones, surf tones, etc.) I would recommend this to anyone as long as they have the time to sit down and
get to know it so they can take full advantage of it's many great sounds.

This is just an update from my original post I spent A LOT of time with the unit and that's what it is going to take if ANYONE buys this unit. Organizing banks, setting up sounds, etc. is a real displeasure but the results are very much worth it. Like I said, the manual isn't the best but it explains the basics. There are other Unofficial manuals for it that are really good.

Well, my original complaint was that it sounded good @ low volumes, but at high volumes it sucked. With time, the sound came...and so did the VOLUME ! I am very pleased with sounds I am getting from it. My set is either a Schecter C-7 (7 string) or ESP LTD ( 7 string). The output from the GT3 goes to the input of my guitar amp (Crate 1/2 stack), and then from guitar to the GT3 input. I don't like the way it sounds through the fx loop so I am going to keep it set up this way.

It is not noisy at all. One of the quietist units I've seen.

In my opinion all the effects sound really good. The thing I stress the most is that you have to spend lots of hours tweeking before you get the sounds and organization of banks that you want.

I can get every and any sound I want out of this unit. I like to jam along to KoRn, Slipknot, Limp Biz, etc. and any fx they are using, I can create within about 15 minutes the exact sound.

Some fx on theunit I havn't found a use for yet. I am sure I will in time but right now, I don't use the ring mod, auto riff, and other fx like that. There are a lot of effects in the unit that I really like like the reverb, delay, flanger, chorus, ac simulater, and others.

Well, the unit itself is very durable,,,but I am worried about the foot pedals. The expression pedal, and the other 6 pedals seem kinda unstable I hope they all continue to work. Te rotator dial thingy is nice but I have heard that is starts sticking and skipping things so you have to be careful with that.

Havn't dealt with them

Play heavy music, works perfect

been playing for 7 years

if it were stolen, I would definatly by a new one

I like everything about exept foot controlers, don't seem like they will last

I wish you could use multiple mudulation sounds @ once with it (like the flanger mixed with the slicer)

It helps me make music but it does kinda get in the way.

this unit rocks, go buy one and an extra expression pedal

The USER INTERFACE of this unit is superior to a lot of other multiFX pedals I have seen. Everything is logically organised, and even without reading the manual one can attain satisfaction

I am using the unit for a 6-String custom Bass (Vadim/VR) with a Peavey Mark-III Head, going tru 2x10. I took a while to figure out the best setting for my bass, and it took quite a lot of experimenting. Effects that I don't use are the PitchShifter and the Synth sounds. Their response on Bass is not precise, and doesn't sound good altogether. Everything else is used and abused by my Fat 6-String, and made my sound what it is. It literally made me sing.

I also use the Processor for Studio recordings, for Voice, Guitar, Keys, and it has allways fascinated me with its versatillity

Oh Yeah, Never failed me once

It is a kickass module that allowed me to fully bring out the qualities of my bass. It is for me what different Filters are for the photographer. Depending on the scenery an apporpriate filter can be of immense improtance, or complete destruction of the picture.

It is a very powerful weapon, and should be used with care, and taste. Remember: too much spice can ruin the food, a good amount can make it fantastic

No way is it easy. It has 5 eq's. How can stringing together 5 eq's
be easy? It's not hard to program, it's just that the tone tweaking
NEVER ENDS. It's sort of like having a bass guitar amp with 93 knobs.
What's the point Vanessa?

Any sound can eventually be made with this thing. BUT BUT BUT don't try to adjust it at a rehearsal or at a gig. And that is my complaint. It may sound super at home and you get a great sound thru headphones or your computer but when you run the same patch thru your amp it might sound like its coming thru a tunnel. There are simply too many eq options and the thing is thin to start off with. You've got distortion eq. then amp eq then eq then another eq (I'm not kidding) and then a master treble and bass
and then a bunch of different output selections such as phones, stack,
combo, power amp combo, etc. And boss recommends setting your guitar
amp at bass 0 mid 10 treble 0 WHAT THE HELL IS THAT? Who in the
hell would ever set their guitar amp at bass 0 mid 10 and treble 0
I swear that's what it says to do in the manual. Read it for yourself. Another note, the amp distortions are much better than the
stompbox distortions. How can a fuzz box sound better than a
blazing Marshall? Answer.... IT CAN'T!!!!! For me their inclusion at
all is somewhat of a perversion. Like preferring a magazine to a real girl.

very solid construction

who can say, but boss stuff is solid

I had to sell it. Because although it can make ANY sound. Finding and changing sounds on the fly (I hate that expression) (why can't we change sounds on the cockroach for a change?) anyway changing sounds
quickly, well it's TWEAK HELL. it Will get in the way of inspiration.
A guitarist needs a good tone FAST so he can find a GROOVE. Tweaking
the GT3 is sort of like having to go to medical school just to let a
fart.

At first the unit seems quite complex, but after a few weeks of use it's very understandable and simple to use. the instruction manual can be useful in some area's though it's not needed for most cases. editing is complex but not hard.

i'm running an epiphone SG through the GT-3 into the power amp of a marshall valvestate 8080. with this setup i can get a wide variety of sounds. the presets on the GT-3 are very poor, that's why you need to program your own effects. to get a good distortion you need to use a distorion, preamp and equalizer on the the GT-3, just using a distorion is to weak. the GT-3 was designed to plug into a power amp and to use the preamps on it. if used the correct way the sounds available can be great, but if used incorrectly it can sound like shit. when used correctly the only effect that is a minor let down is the wah pedal, but it still does the job. the GT-3 can produce very heavy distortions, soft jazz tones, cool chorus's, trippy vibrato's and many more adventurous sounds. you won't get mesa boogie triple rectifier tones out of this.

very dependable and solidly built. no backup is required for giging.

never needed to contact them

i play in a hydrofunk band but personally i play anything from jazz to funk to triphop to blues to metal. this unit can accompany all these styles of music. i've been playing for just over three years and the GT-3 is not designed for begginers. i've owned other distortion pedals, boss ds-1(shit), danelectro fabtone(great) but no longer need them because of the GT-3. i'd probably get it again on insurance if it were lost or stolen but i'd probably try other units just to see what they're like. if the GT-3 had warmer distortion and a more variable wah i would give it a 10. but for the price you can't buy better.

"How easy is it to get a good sound out of it?" -pretty easy, this is my first effect & it doesn't seem difficult to put patches together.
Manual is a little spare, but i didn't find it that necessary.
my unit has not been upgraded.

"Noisy?" Generally not too noisy, although it seems like the delay, the compression, and the equalization have more noise than is ideal.
"Are effects weak?" I think the effects are generally probably not as good as you could get in better individual pedals, but still reasonably good, given convenience, ease of use, and value for the money.
"Are certain effects very good/very bad?" I don't really like the wah-wah or the flanger. The overdrives & distortions are reasonably good. Compression, eq, delay & chorus are good. Vibrato is pretty good. Don't really care for the pickup or preamp simulators but they're not bad. Haven't really used the reverb b/c I use my amp's reverb. Haven't really used the various other effects (harmonizer, phaser, tremolo, slicer, ring modulation, feedbacker, acoustic guitar simulator, auto riff, etc.)
"What setup are you using this with?" Fender Stratocaster/Jazzmaster/Jaguar/Telecaster>Boss GT-3> Fender Vibrolux Reverb.

very good. if i ever got a gig i would feel comfortable using it w/o a backup.

n/a

"How long have you been playing?" Seriously, 4 months. Played keyboards & bass for a few years. I think this is an excellent product for all players of little or no experience, as well as anybody who wants the convenience of a multi-effects unit. This is the only effect I've ever owned, but I liked it better than the other multi-effects I auditioned. The sound quality, I think, for the # of effects, is as good for the money as you can get. Hopefully in the future I will have lots of cool analog effects, but this is more than good enough for the foreseeable future.
"What other gear do you own?" I'm playing Fender Stratocaster, Telecaster, Jazzmaster & Jaguar into the GT-3 into a Fender Vibrolux Reverb Reissue. Plus an Epiphone electro-acoustic, but I play that directly into the amp. (As I said, I am new to guitar, but I did decide to splurge big-time).
"If it were stolen or lost, would you buy it again?" -Yes.
"What style of music do you play? Is this a good match?"-The sound I am seeking is sort of Ira Kaplan/J.Mascis/Kevin Shields. This unit is probably not good enough to give even a much better player than myself a true approximation of those guitarists' sound, but it's close enough for my purposes.
Easy to use, easy to get decent sounds, definitely doesn't get in the way of making music.
Overall-This is my best effort at an objective & independent review. I would definitely recommend this product, but since I do not have a great deal of experience with guitar effects, please take with a grain of salt.

This is the first multi-effects processor I've used -- I bought it to replace a bunch of pedals that were stolen from me. Anyway, being used to pedals, there was a little bit of a learning curve for me. After I got used to how the thing operated, I found it pretty intuitive. The manual is very dry reading, but it did help me a little in terms of learning the basics of the GT-3. Editing patches is a little bit if a pain since the unit is on the floor. When I'm at home I pretty much leave the thing on top of my amp. I would hate to have to screw around with patches at a gig, because there are a lot of parameters that can be modified with each effect. It's not hard to edit patches, but it is a little time-consuming.

My main guitar at the moment is a Parker Nitefly-SA, and my main amp is a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe. I run the signal from the magnetic pickups into the GT-3, then into the first input of the fender, and I run the piezo pickups dry into the second input. I really love the clean sound I get when doing this. The modulation effects are great in my opinion, and the noise gate is much better than on Line 6's products. I've heard a lot of people complain about the distortion on this unit. They are a bit harsh to my ears. One thing I have found to remedy this is to set the reverb on my amp at around 3 (this is also utilizing the reverb on the GT-3). This takes a little of the edge off the sound. I like the amp models very much. When I was shopping for effects processors, I tried the Line 6 pod as well, and found that I liked the models on the GT-3 much better because they seemed a lot less abrasive. I have owned a few of the amps that the GT-3 simulates, and it certainly doesn't produce an identical sound, but it's close. I guess that's why they call them amp models instead of amp clones. Anyway, with a little bit of tweaking the amp models can sound really great.

It hasn't broken down yet, but I haven't had it long. I've heard that Boss products are pretty solid.

I've only had this thing for a week, so I haven't had to deal with them. The warranty sucks big time, however. I guess I'll just hope nothing goes wrong.

I play a lot of different stuff from Steely Dan to Rush, to original material, and the GT-3 covers all the bases really well. I don't know how it would do for metal though, since I don't play that too often. I really love the fact that I can get a great sound out of one box instead of a mess of pedals. The sound of this thing rivals that of processors costing three times as much if not more, it kills anything Digitech makes. If it were stolen, I would certainly buy another one. The only thing I wish it had was more of a selection of reverb, and a better warranty.

IT IS PRETTY SIMPLE TO USE. EDITING PATCHES IS REALLY EASY. THE MANUAL IS A ROUGH TO UNDERSTAND. I WISH THEY HAD GIVEN SOME SETUP EXAMPLES OF CURRENT GUITARIST SO THAT YOU COULD TOY AROUND WITH SETTINGS AND LEARN. ALSO A BIG THING THEY LEAVE OUT OF IMPORTANCE IS A GOOD EXPLINATION OF THE EFFECTS CHAIN SETUP AND THE DO'S AND DON'TS

I USE A FENDER STEREO CHORUS, MARSHALL VAVLESTATE, AND MARSHALL ARTIST 1/2 STACK WITH THE PEDAL. I PLAY AN IBANEZ S470 AND 570, EPIPHONE LES PAUL STANDARD, FENDER MEXICAN TELECASTER AND STRAT. THE UNIT CAN FEEDBACK EASILY. I WISH THEY WOULD HAVE PUT IN A UNIVERSAL VOLUME SETTING. WHEN YOU GO FROM ONE PRESET TO THE NEXT THE THING CAN SCREAM OR BARELY BE HEARD. THE DISTORTIONS ARE GOOD BUT YOU REALLY HAVE TO TOY WITH THEM. IN ALL ITS JUST LIKE OWNING A FULL COMPLIMENT OF BOSS PEDALS EXCEPT YOU DON'T HAVE TO TOY WITH THE KNOBS FOR EACH SONG.

IT'S BOSS THEY'RE 100% RELIABLE. THE GREAT THING IS THERE IS NO BATTERIES TO CHANGE. THAT PAYS FOR THE PEDAL IN A FEW MONTHS.

NEVER HAD TO DEAL WITH THEM.

I WOULD REALLY TRY IT OUT FIRST. IF YOU LIKE BOSS PEDALS THAN BUY IT. NOTE, THE WAH PEDAL IS HORRIBLE SO MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A GOOD ONE TO USE. THE SECOND THING IS BE PATIENT AND REALLY FORGET THE PRESET STUFF MOST OF IT NEEDS TO BE SET PER YOUR RIG ANYHOW AND BE CAREFUL WITH THE VOLUMES OF EACH PATCH.

I got it for X-mas and figured it out right away. Takes lots of time to get it organized and programmed but it is worth it. The manual is pretty good. Helped explain the basic things.

I connect the output from the GT-3 into the input of my amp (Crate Half stack) then plug my guitar into the input of GT-3. This thing sounds amazing when at low levels but I can not get a damn good sound from it at higher volumes. It really pisses me off. If anyone has any help for me, PLEASE E-MAIL ME !!! adidas@kornographic.zzncom
I can get any damn sound from this. Great product, but I don't like how I can turn it up. Some one help !

Very, Very durable.

Havn't had to,,,yet

I think this thing is great. I would like to use this in my band and at gigs but until I can get a good sound from it when turned up,,,I guess I won't be.

The sounds are pretty to form. Each effect offers a lot of different peramiters which can be set reliativley easy. The banks are full of preset effects that can be tampered with and set to your own ear. To be truthful, I didn't read the manual. I'm the kind of person who has to figure it out for myself. I found the manual a little confusing, but like I said, I'm a "do it yourselfer", so this may be the opposite for you.

I'm using a Mexican Fender Strat with this processor. I'm also using a really really crappy Crate GX-15 (15 watt, 8 inch speaker), but I patched an old record player to it and crank the sound out through 4 speakers, and it sounds great! They effects are pretty clear and sound really good. The distortion and overdrive effects will obviously produce fuzz in the back ground, but I'm sure it's mostly because I play close to, and facing, my amp. At a recent jam session I had with my band I used a longer cable and stood facing away my from my amp, and there was a very little amount of fuzz.

I would deffinatley wip this processor out at a gig or concert, as a matter of fact, I DO!!!

I was told by one of the guitarists in my band that I sound 10 times better because of my processor. I only play rock and using the effects that it offers, I agress with my guitarist. If it was stolen or lost I would probably get the Boss GT-5. It's the same thing as the GT-3, but it offers more effects under each one of it's banks. It's usually about $550-$600 in comparison to the GT-3's $350-$400. This product is deffinatly worth what you pay for it.

Very easy to use

Great sound, some digital, but everything else is great

OK I HAVE HAD A FEW E-MAILS ON THIS ONE. I SAID THAT I GOT IT ON CHRISTMAS, AND THAT I GIG WITH IT ALL THE TIME, BUT I SUMITTED THE REVEIW ON CHRISTMAS SO HOW COULD I GIG ALL THE TIME WITH IT??? WELL IM NOT THE ONLY ONE IN THE WORLD THAT HAS IT! MY BAND OWNS ONE, SO I GOT ONE BECAUSE IT WAS A GREAT TOOL. THIS THING IS GREAT. LIKE I SAID BUILT LIKE A TANK!!!

I called them up and they were very nice. i just had a quest about carrying case that are built for the GT-3. nothing wrong with my boss stuff... yet. not saying that somethings gonna happen but... you never know.

great. this is a fix to the reveiw 2 reveiws down. i love the GT-3 now! its the best!

simple to use, yet time consuming to program. that is if you care about your tone.

to all who think the GT-3's distortion sounds are "too digital", think agian. i am a tone freak and i just got this unit, the first thing i did was figured out how to get the phat tone. if you use the "clean twin" preamp matched with the "distortion 1", "natural od", "turbo od", or "fuzz", you should be able to get a great tone. if you kick the drive down to "7" on the fuzz you got jeff beck. of course amps and axes mater, but if you know what good tone is you can achieve it with the GT-3.

have'nt had it long enough to break

rolan is too slow, but they are a big coorporation

just know how you want to sound, and devote your time to programing the thing and it will do some miracles

Boss started out with the GT-5, wich was supposedly the "top dog". Now they came out with the GT-3 and it is much better. at $250 cheaper, 4 new effects, and a much easier, sturdier sytem blows away the GT-5. The sound sounds great but sounds a little digital at times. I will talk about how to fix that later on. It is very easy. I didnt even have to consult the manual. I got it on christmas day and was editing and making new patches within 10 minutes of trying out the gt-3. this is the way to go, in any instance, unless you are rich and can afford rack units, and every pedal you want. the manual is so-so. its not great but it gets you rolling. the Auto-Riff is crap. i dont know why you would want to use it.

I use a fender strat or an esp > into a boss mt-2 distortion pedal > then into the boss GT-3. I then run the Line-6 distortion box (DM4) in the GT-3's effects loop(less noise this way) > then into a marshall VS265R combo amp. It sounds great. but like I said up there it sounds a bit digital when you have the distortions mixed with a mod or when there is high treble. you can remedy this by buying a distortion pedal. the best out there is the MT-2 or the DM4. it is noisy on high gain and volumes. the effects are pretty good except the auto riff. it is worth nothing. total digital crap! i can get linkin park and korn and rage and metallica and slipknot in conjunction with the Mt-2 and the DM4.

oh god! watch out if it drops on your foot. it wont hurt the GT-3 but it shure will hurt you!! this thing is built like a tank. i gig with it all the time!

N/A

I play heavy metal and some blues like SRV and some 60's rock like Hendrix. i have been playing for 7 years i own 2 guitars 2 amps and 2 distortion pedals. my setup is great. you can get any sound out of the boss GT-3, but beware. I advise you to buy the DM4 or the MT-2 or you will get some digital, but if you like that then you are set. i would definitely buy another one. i dont like how when you swich to a different patch it isnt smooth. it is a rough transition. Nothing compares with the GT-3, only one other multi effects processor is better and that is the VG-88 by roland. But the catch is it costs $1000 dollar!!! It helps me make a whole variety of sounds and it expands my creative juices, but if you are looking for this to make you a better musician, it wont. the only way you will get better is by practice. THIS IS THE BEST MULTI EFFECTS PROCESSOR. NOTHING COMPARES!!!!

I've been playing for about 10 years now and I've worked with a few multi-effects units in the past. This unit is pretty easy to use. There's definitely a learning curve but you'll be getting good sounds out of this unit in no time. . The manual is very straight forward and basically just gives you the facts. If you want tips and tricks or anything like that, check out some of the GT3 sites or newsgroups on the web. They really did a good job designing the GT-3- it's simple enough to get up and running quickly but yet it's got enough depth to keep you busy for a long time.

I bought this unit for 2 main reasons. First, I needed something that I could use to record directly into my PC and second, I wanted a quick fix to get some effects to work into my live setup. The GT3 fits my needs perfectly on both counts. As a direct recording device, this thing rules. The amp models are really useful and sound great. As to the question if the amp models sound realistic or not- they're good enough for me. They may not fool a studio engineer or anything but they will definitely put you in the neighborhood of the sound that you're after. As for my live setup, I have my guitar, a Mesa Boogie V-Twin preamp, and a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe tube amp (40 watts, single 12"). The amp models don't sound quite as good when played throught my amp (except for the clean models)- but that's because of my amp, not the unit. It simply isn't realistic to expect a guitar amp to faithfully reproduce the sound of a totally differnt type of amp. You can still get some interesting sounds though- just don't expect to get a convincing Marshall tone out of a Fender tube amp. The analog distortions/overdrives are pretty good as well. As for the rest of the effects, the chorus, delay, flanger, phaser, and harmonizer all sound great to me. Some of the "out there" effects don't really appeal to me (like the autoriff) but I'm sure someone might find them usefull. Plus, this unit has many Global EQ settings that allow you to make the GT-3 compensate for your amp's tonality. This allows you to make the GT-3 work with (or work around) your amps tonal characteristics.

As many others have pointed out here, reliability shouldn't be a problem with this unit.

Haven't had any contact with Roland or their support resources.

Overall, I think that this is a great piece of gear. Boss/Roland really put a lot of thought into this thing. For instance, Boss gives you the option to use an external overdrive. I think that this is a great feature. This way you get to have the best of both worlds- you get to use the GT3 but don't have to abandon your favorite distortion pedal/preamp. I still use my V-Twin pedal for the majority of my distortion sounds but I'm finding new tones in this thing every day. This thing is very versitile. Boss made sure that they designed this thing to be used in a number of different ways and I think that it pays off. There are some peices of gear that simply aren't compatable with other peices of gear. The GT-3 should be able to fit nicely into your guitar rig and "play nice" with all of your existing equipment. Simply put, this is a very well designed, very good sounding unit. Feel free to email me if you have any questions.

This is my third review, but what can I say, this things is the dog's proverbials. I have now had this for over 4 months and have learnt some new things about this unit.

1. In the UTILITY section, you can select the Global settings, I set YOUR SETTING to Line Headphones, for some reason though, my patches tone is at it's best with this setting even though I am not using any headphones. My distortion patches particularly sound much better through this, the tone is fairly well preserved under all the gain.

2. Live, this sounds good, I have played my first gigs ever with my band and the sound cuts through quite magnificently, my distortion is very crunchy and yes digital I suppose, but the thing is it sounds quite distinct from other guitar sounds. Using the stereo output helps this sound good through the amp and gives it a "wider" feel. In my band though, I basically have a distort patch (ctrl set to mute), a chorus/clean patch (ctrl set to delay/on), a patch which is just plain clean, (for tuning up), and a distortion/delay patch. When using this in different settings and through different amps, you have to alter patches so they keep their tone. Preamp and SpeakerSim needs editing to control factors such as treble, gain and noise, as does the EQ to control the mids.

Despite this though, sound is excellent, I reckon it is probably THE best of it's price range, possibly one of the best full-stop. You just have to learn how to understand the effects and the way they work and where they work best. If you are unsure, a rack unit such as a parametric eq or basic rack preamp will help even out sound and add more tone if you feel it is neccessary.

No need for a backup, I protect this thing with my life and make sure I store it away properly when transporting it to gigs. I basically either use the box it came in, or wrap it up in soft protective material (jumpers and t-shirts etc) and store it carefully in a bag that has a layer of protective material inside it. I just fear the memory battery failing on me, in which I would have to fork out for a new one and also have to re-program all the sounds I have made.

This unit is amazing, like I have already said many times before, but what's great it that it sounds professional (okay maybe not like an Eventide), i feel that most of the sounds sound professional and also put you in a world of your own. It is fairly affordable, but once you have bought it, there is no turning back. Don't let it bother you that it sounds too "digital" and not "analogue" enough, you will find your sound in here.

This pedal is sooooo easy to use. i didnt read the manual, didnt use ezy edit. i just sat down and programmed in the sounds i wanted

i am using a Ibanez rg with a Seymour Duncan Screamin' Demon humbucker into the GT-3 and into a Marshall JCM900 combo. It sounds awesome. I can get the most brutal sound there is from Meshuggah to Cannibal Corpse to Pantera. The effects are fantastic and the EQ is very good.

I would depend on this and would use it without a backup becasue it is built like a tank

Never dealt with them

I play heavy meatal and this pedal does everything for me. From brutal to rippin lead breaks, it can do anything

Pretty easy to use once you get the hang of it. Manual isn't really in layman's terms but after a couple months you'll get it. Editing patches is easy once you know what your doing.

I have been using an American Standard Strat with it. It does an excellent job. The group i am in has been playing some Metallica tunes and It will do wonders for you if your trying to achieve their live sound. It takes a lot of work to find it but it is in there. The reason it takes so long to find it is because there are so many little minor adjustments and tweeks this thing will do...for instance it has a sub EQ that will change your sound entirely. For Metallica's studio sound you might have a harder time finding this, but with a few rack effects you'll be on your way. (If your looking for that western Unforgiven sound look no further...It will match it.)
We have just been puting these through our PA system and had excellent results. It also will get you a nice Jazz sound and a nice Stevie Ray Vaughan sound. For getting the tone you want i recommend looking through the presets and finding the one that is closest to what your looking for...from that point you can adjust each setting in that preset until it is pretty damn close to what you want...it takes time, but it's in there. For not buying a $1000 dollar preamp this is probably the best way to spend your money. It sounds a hell of a lot better than those individual tinny cheap sounding stomp boxes. Those things'll keep you in the garage forever.

ok...here is were i have a problem. I have only had this happen once in the last year since i have owned it...but one time a sound was entirely different than what i had programed it to. Fear not because i think i am an exceptional case. For some odd reason i turned it on the next day and it was back to normal. I do use it on gigs without a backup because i do have faith in it. I can always substitute another patch bank that has a similar sound if needed. i don't know why that happened but it fixed itself and it hasn't done it since. It's not nearlly as tempormental as the computer your reading this on now is....if that were the case i'd never rely on it.

I know people that use this for everything from jazz to metal and i don't know of a single one of them who doesn't love the thing. I'd definately replace it if it were lost/stolen or broken. It's a good idea to write down all of your settings and keep them in a safe place so if you do need to get another one you can quickly have it set up like the last one. One really great feature is being able to set the overall EQ level (volume) of each patch...that way you can really add some dramatic dynamics to your performance as well as being sure about your level before you change your sound...this works well for the overall balance of the group espcially if you have two guitars doing different things at the same time.

this unit is pretty easy to get a good sound from. editing patches is easy too, the easy edit is pretty useless.the manual is ok but needs more detail about things like the auto riff programming and stuff.

ok the gt-3s effects are awsome and being able to assign multiple effects to the ctr pedal is awsome too. some of the effects are not very usefull such as the auto riff sometimes but theres always someone who can figure out a good use for it. i mainly use it for fast riffs that i have to do and my pick hand gets tired. I like using the wave pedal to controll parameters and other junk..example- use the phaser
use the wave pedal to controll the rate and depth and put them on different times then use the expression pedal to turn the STEP effect on and off and walla....it sounds like wacky space noises! i love this option. you can do things with this magic box that you cant do with individual pedals.thats what i love about it.

Now heres what i dont like about the gt-3
1. the distortion is not that good. it feeds back at high volumes and sounds like rice crispies. PLEASE DO NOT GET THIS FOR A DISTORTION! USE YOU AMP OR AN EXTERNAL DEVICE SUCH AS A METAL ZONE OR SMASH BOX.
2.the eq is very hard to figure out because of the frequency and Q. i wish boss had just put in a regular 7 band eq like in their pedals.
And thats all....
if boss had fixed these problems this box would be perfect.
im giving it a 10 for effects and a 5 for distorion.mkay.

oh yeah! this thing is pure metal. i only worry about the plastic screen breaking is somthing fell on it.

i play in a deftones-a perfect circle-metallica style and this fits very well but i always have to ether use the mt-2 or smash box for distortion.Oh yeah i also have a dod delay, a hyperfuzz, an envelope filter and an ibanez chorus flange in the effects loop. Im using a peavy classic chorus amp.my rig sounds pretty good but i need to get seymours fo my les paul and a monster cable and it will sound good.
If it were lost or stolen id try a digitech rp2000 and if i didnt like it i would get another gt-3. this thig helps me write music but sometimes i get to involved trying to get a good sound that i forget the basic concept of playing guitar....PLAYING THE DAMN GUITAR. so please dot buy this to because you think it will help you write music but to give your writing a kick in the pants and some extra spice

Kinda tricky at first, but just play around with it, youll get the hang.

I use a Marshall JCM2000 DSL401, 40w 8 tube 1x12 combo, all i have to say is give the Metal Solo preset a try with the tone and vol on your guitar backed off. Raise the gain on the clean channel a tad, and solo away. This has a killer Slash, REALLY hot lead sound. Dont use for Clapton/Cream like solos, i stick to my amp for that. Give it a shot!!! Amazing not definition with the Wah on, and left in the up position. Especially good pick-tapping sounds.

Built like a freakin tank man.

Good for pretty much any style. Just play with it, youll find your tone.

I've used rack effects (Digitech 2120, Roland GP-100, TC G-Force, Lexicon GX series) and several other floor multieffect boards. This one is one of the easiest to use.

Ordering effects is a snap. Programming the external switches/CTL pedal top control parameters is the most tedious part of the operation, but it's pretty simple once you get the hang.

This thing sounds AWESOME. I play three different guitars through it (Fender Stat w/EMG active pickups, Ovation 6string with piezo+soundhole EMG pickup blended output, '65 Silvertone short scale Jag style gtr.) I have to use different patches for each to accomodate output levels, but they all sound awesome.

I play mostly clean, but I have to disagree with thos who comment the distortion sucks on the GT-3. You have to balance the levels carefully. the internal level meter is great for checking the output of each effect in a patch, and it is very useful if you use compression and/or distortion in you patch. I suspect those who have trouble with it don't take full advantage of the features if this mighty little box.

I create a variety of sounds with mine, fron Pink Floyd esque solos, ambient violin swells with auto-wahs, Hank Marvin surf to Eric Johnson's clear bell-like tones. Whatever you can think of, you can make the sound. The best way to fully utilize this unit is to incorporate the external pedals to add more flexibility to your live sound.

Very heavy duty. I gig without a backup and I have never had a problem

Never needed any support for a Boss or Roland product, so I can't complain.

Overall a great tool for live or recording. I use this unit in conjunction with a GR-1, several rack and stomp delays, and I've owned several other multieffect units. This is the single best piece of gear I've ever owned. It took a lot less time to really "learn" this unit than any of the rack units I have owned. It may only have 90% of the flexibility of some real high-end delay units, but for one-fifth the price it's teh best value on the market. And it's the best 24-bit unit around. I would buy another one if stolen.

I have been using Boss foot pedals for years and years, and I have always resisted the urge to purchase a multi-effects unit for fear that there will always be better sounding, more flexible effects coming out. When I started playing shows regularly with my Progressive Metal band URSHURAK, I quickly found out that I needed something that would be easier to set up than individual pedals with all those dials to set. So, after trying out a few different processors, I settled with the Boss GT-3 for 3 reasons: It sounds great, it is indestructable, and it will talk to my Roland FC-200 MIDI foot contoller and Roland GR-30 guitar synthesizer. This unit comes with a plethora of great presets that will get you about 75% of the way to "your" tone, but will definately need to be tweaked. The LCD display is great and I love the COSM modeling; you can choose a clean amp, for example, and put a disortion pedal in front of it. Parameter changes are in real time, so you can hear the changes as you are making them. The manual is extremely murky and explains little besides the parameters for each effect. I would give this unit an 8.5 for ease of use, since setting up external control pedals is not explained well at all, nor is latch-type control using the internal pedals. You are forced to experiment to get the sound you want because there is not enough information. This leads to a LOT of wasted time! Editing patches is a breeze, and there are at least 3 ways that I know of to turn a given effect on or off. There are enough foot pedals to make a live gig very easy to pull off. With 4 presets for each bank, I pretty much stay in one bank for the whole night. I don't know if Roland/Boss has put out a video for this unit like the ones for the VG-8 and the GR-30 (now the VG-88 and GR-33), but I think they should just raise the price by $10 - $15 and include the video. Or they can make a "pro" model with the video and a more comprehensive manual?

I love gain! In Urshurak, the basic style of music we play is 70's influenced Progressive Metal. We are heavily influenced by Rainbow, old Rush, old Black Sabbath, and Iron Maiden. We also love Gamma Ray, Yngwie Malmsteen, and Blind Guardian. So, distortion is very important to me. I play a 1979 Strat with Joe Barden pickups, an Ibanez JEM 7DBK, and a George Lynch M1 Tiger ESP as my main guitars. I also play through a Rivera Knucklehead K100 head, Rivera 4x12 cabinet, and a Marshall 2x12 cabinet. So, as you might guess, while I love distortion, I do not like mud! The sound must be articulate! The GT-3 has about a million different flavors of gain! I am truly impressed that I can get a great type of distortion for all 3 of my main guitars, which all require their own settings (especially the Strat; Meal distortion sounds terrible through that guitar). The distortion patches can get pretty noisy, but there is a noise gate that works quite well. Once again, judicious use is required! You will squash your tone if you try to totall kill all the noise. Be real, people! Do you think a REAL 5150 stack maxed out is totally quiet? No, it's noisy as hell. However, the noise is ALWAYS well below the noise floor when you start playing notes. I have NEVER been distracted by background noise at a show and have received rave reviews of my tone. The Flanger can be forced to make a good imitation of a rotory cabinet, an effect not on the GT-3. The only major ommission is the absence of Pitch Shifting or Detuning on the GT-3. I have to use a PS-5 to get those effects. The only time I try to emulate other artists is for the rare cover tune. I have had no problem getting tones from the Beatles, Mick Ronson, Randy Roads, or others. The acoustic guitar simulator is choice! You can get great clean tones using it, though they sound nothing like an actual acoustic guitar. The GT-3 is WAY quieter than my Boss acoustic simulator pedal. I love the virtual mic placement, also. With the right blend and the Limiter, you can get a really bell-like clean tone.

I have NEVER had a piece of Boss or Roland gear fail on me, that wasn't a problem I caused (dead battery, chomped power cord, etc.). I drag the GT-3 from Brooklyn to Ultrasound Rehearsal in Manhattan every week for rehearsal, and at least once a month to gigs. I have no case for it, I just use a duffle bag. The GT-3 weighs as much as a guitar and is very much a musical instrument in its own right. It is solid metal and the expression pedal feels amazing. My unit has been used every day for about 3 months now and it only has the most minor surface scratches. And while I am not careless with my equipment, I am far from overprotective! The local Sam Ash in Brooklyn uses me as a demonstrator for the GT-3 whenever I'm in the store (Chris G @ Sam Ash Brooklyn is the best!!). I have managed to help them sell about 5 units since I bought mine. Every guitar player who I've met that ISN'T using the GT-3 either owns a GT-5 or is not playing out. It's that simple; if you want the best, stick with the Boss. I make sure my amp has a killer gain channel just in case the unthinkable DOES occur one night, but so far I've only used the clean channel on the Rivera at every show.

The only other unit out there that I'm interested in is the Lexicon MPX-G2. That's 5 times the cost of the GT-3 when you add the foot pedal. For a guitar player in an unsigned band, I simply love this thing. I have been playing guitar for 17 years, and this unit can handle anything from country to jazz to metal. If this unit were stolen or lost, I would look into the Lexicon again, and if I could't afford that, I would still get the GT-3. While I wish this unit did have Pitch Shifting and Detuning, that is a minor quibble. For $400 you get a ton of Boss effects in a great package that's reliable, easy to use, and sounds great! In conclusion, if anyone would like to hear my rig in action, you can get a free copy of my band's CD, "The Endless Days of A Stranger" by emailing me at urshurakmusic@aol.com.

This is an update to my last review which is probably the first or second one beneath this one. By now I've gotten into trying to get the sounds of other guitar players for my cover tunes band. I think the GT-3 gets alot of these sounds fairly well, close enough for clubs anyway. There are so many popular bands that have "digital" sounding guitars, I almost wonder if most of them are using simple stompboxes these days. For example, my band is doing "Kryptonite" by 3 Doors Down, and I had no problem getting this sound, including a separate patch for the acoustic/electric sound. Generally though, it takes alot of fiddling to get the sound you want, but alot of them are in there. Incidentally, I find the Utility button's quick tone adjustment invaluable for instant access of simple EQ: Got cool sound in the bedroom but not at the club? Just adjust the quick bass/treble settings to even it out!

Using a Lonestar Strat through the GT-3 and into a Marshall JTM30, the highest gain settings turn everything into unuseable mush, all the other gain settings are good though, and honestly, I find that the medium gain setting is very sufficient for even thrash metal, when mixed w/ the right overdrive and simulator. I like the noise gate alot, it works well and is another feature in the Utility's quick access button. I think all the effects are cool except the comp/lim and the pedal Wah, which don't sound right.

Rock solid, baby!

Good.

The GT-3 is an overall excellent value in a multi processor. You can get pretty much any sound you want, it seems. The quality of the effects and distortions are among the highest out there for electronics. I feel the only real drawbacks are the inferior Wah, and the sound dropout that occurs when switching patches, which really does aggrivate me. I'm glad I bought it, I'd buy it again, and I'll have it for years to come.

I find that the Boss GT-3 is equal to most audio programmable processors in it's ease/difficulty of use, which is usually not overly simple. Editing patches is relatively simple. The manual is pretty much as everyone here says, it's not that great-just ok. I wish there was more detail. (-1 for the manual).

I have always been the proverbial "tube purist" whenst it comes to guitar sounds and have owned Marshalls, Fenders, etc., however, I just recently joined another rock band and needed something that could give me alot of switching capabilities for distortions, volumes, and fx. Outside of one or two multi pedals with a tube,("one 12ax7 does not a tube amp make"), the GT-3 sounded the best. I've seen alot over the last 20 yrs., and this unit has probably the most useability of any processor, especially for the pricerange. I appreciate that they didn't put stupid colors and silly racing stripes, and bright paint all over this thing; it looks "adult". Anyway, at first I didn't care for the distortions too much because I hate that digital sound; they're usually grungy in the low-end, not tight enough. After a day or two of farting with the tweeks, I began to realize what an awesome piece of plastic and metal the GT-3 really is. This thing is the tits! (-1 'cause it's solid-state).

Kick it, beat it, smack it, whack it..... no, not me you idiot- THE STOMPBOX!

Whelp, the hour I first took this unit out of it's box and started plinking away on a clean Jazz patch, I noticed a faint, underlying distortion, which sounded like input distortion. Not finding an input level adjustment anywhere, I called up the Boss dude and said, "Dude; blah-blah-blah". And the Boss dude said, "Well blah",(which when translated means, "You need to turn down the internal gain or lower the High/Medium/Low gain settings"), at which point I said, "BLAH!". Therefore, I think they have good customer support.

I wike it awot, you cwazy wabbit! If it was ever lost or stolen, I'd come over there steal yours! HA!! (She gits a "10").

I have to say when I first saw this unit.....I could not believe it. It is a every guitar players dream come true. If you know how effect work this is a very easy unit to operate. It took me like a week to learn all its little quirks and it is awesome. Some of the presets are great and can let anyone get started without a hitch. The manual is O.K it just talks about all the different parameters within the different effects.

I have been playing guitar for 15 years and the sound from the GT-3 is one of the best I have heard. I primariy play strats through a several amps that I have collected along the way(fender, mesa, marshall) The sound quality is fantastic. The pre amp section is very true. Having played through several amps, I can tell you this thing replicates their sounds almost exactly. I am now able to get great warmth and tone without having to crank my amp up. Guy/gals listen up.....get this thing if you want versatality!!!

If you tweak right you can get great distortion without almost any noise. The modulation effects are over the top.....I never owned a harmonizer before and I have to say this one is really good. I can play pretty fast and this thing follows you like a shadow with out any blip or skipped intervals. I cannot name a effect here that has betrayed my expectation. My only grievance is that the max delay time is too short. For a unit like this I would have expected at 3 sec. With so much capability that would have enabled guitarist to play along a repeating rhythem.

I have actually dropped it once while taking it out of my car. I dont have a case for it and this puppy survived with a few scratches.

I have played with several effects and amps and the GT-3 has to rank amoung the top 3. For a multi effect unit I think it is the best in the market. I compared the modelled amp sounds to the line 6 amps and it is as good if not better. There is more noise in the line 6 amps than in the GT-3. Plus there is a lot more flexibilty in the GT-3 than in those amps. It is almost impossible to tell any difference between the actual amps and the modelled sound thru this Unit.

The flexibiliy in the GT-3 is the its greatest strength. You can change and manupulate any effect, any parameter any time and the memory storage for patches is just incredible. I have had this for 6 months now and boy has this improved my sound.

I play all kinds of music and this suits them all. I have managed to get almost every guitar hero's sound from this. Its a great bargain and would recommend it to anyone. I will definetly buy it again it its lost.

The booklet is really easy to follow but you don't really even need it.

You can get any sound in the world out of this thing. It depends on what kind of amp you have, but I have a crappy Crate Gpx 15 and it still sounds great.

You can stomp the shit out of this thing and it will ask you for more!!!

never had a problem.

You will never have to buy another pedal. It can do anything that you would desire.

I have had this unit for 4 months and I am now really used to it. Initially it was a little comlicated due to large number of parameters that are available at your disposal. Give yourself 2 weeks and you should be a master at it. Some of the effect presets (not the 200 patches) are good and should be able to let a new user get decent sounds right away. On the other hand the patches mediocre. They have been created more to show you what this unit can do rather than for use by guitarist.

The sound quality through this is good and bad depending on what you are trying to do. I use it with a strat through a Fender Princeton 65. There are different ways you can use this unit?.1) As the manual says in to the Efx return of the amp or 2) you can put it through the loop and use your amps pre amp or 3) you can put through the input of your guitar amp. The 3 methods yield different results and are best suited for specific purposes.

If you want to make the GT-3 your primary sound processor then use it like the manual says. This way you can take full advantage of the Amp modeling in the unit. Many of the Amp sims are great. But don?t buy this unit for that alone because it has some drawbacks. I?ll come to that in a bit. If you are trying to get clean / clean crunchy or classic rock distortions this unit can do wonders for you. BUT IF YOU ARE IN TO HEAVY METAL DO NOT BUY THIS UNIT FOR THE AMP MODELLING OR DISTORTIONS. At very high gain levels the amp models are breaking down resulting in a lot of noise and the sound gets very digital. But if you are not going to play very highly distorted music, make the investment and buy the GT-3. Clean to crunchy distorted sounds are just superb!! Also the distortions in the GT-3 are not at all like the stomp boxes we know. There is a lot of noise that even the noise suppressor can?t manage. Again this happens only at high distortion levels. The best way to get good distortions in the GT-3 is through the amp modeling section. I?ll talk about the amp models and effects later.

If you like you main guitar amp then use it in the loop. Make sure to turn the amp modeling off. This way you can keep your amps sound and use the modulation effects, delay, and chorus along with the other SFX. I do this as I really like the Princeton 65. I find this a good alternative to what the manual suggests without getting poor results.

If you want to connect the GT-3 in to your amps main Input, then you are in for some rough time. The Amp modeling section does not work well this way. You can however turn this off and use the other effects. But since the best distortion in the GT-3 is through the amp models, you are never going to get good results. What?s happening is ?the processed sound from the amp modeling section needs to be amplifies as is. If you are going to put it through another non linear amp then the sound is no longer what the GT-3 created for you.

There is only one way to get maximum results from the GT-3. That is to play it through a linear amplifier like a Keyboard or a acoustic amp. This is the only way you can hear how the GT-3 sounds like, of course the other alternative is to use a headphone. The reason why the results are not the best when used through the EFX return as the manual suggests is because almost all guitar amp speakers and cabinets are not linear. They have been designed to create a specific sound and will not truly reproduce what the GT-3 sends out.

Some of the best amp models in the unit are the Clean Twin (Fender), JC-120, Crunch (sounds like Crate), and blues. The Soldano model is also good. The Marshall?s are O.K. Don?t get me wrong here, it not like the other don?t sound good its just that at high gains they are noisy. But they all give a very nice warm crunchy sound at lower gain levels. The ?sound? replication is very good in almost all of the models.

Coming to the effects?..Unbelievable!! However there are some that are so so. The Wah Wah, is definitely one. I am not an expert in wah wah and I can tell you myself that it does not sound good. I have tweaked the parameters all I could but it has not helped. The distortions (there are nine of them) are good for most part, but when you start cranking them high they start producing a lot of noise and sound very digital also. But they do give you that nice warm classic rock sound with out much fuss.

Now to the stars of the unit?..The delay, the chor

I have experienced only one problem........sometimes when you have the 2 pitch stereo harmonizer going and you save a patch, when you try to retrieve it the sound it gone. I have not figured out why that is happening. But its not always though!! Over all I think I can depend on it.

No experience here.

I have been playing for about 12 years now and play a lot of different material. I don?t do too much of the very high distortion music. Mostly jazz and crunchy blues also a lot of John McLaughlin type of stuff with Indian classical music. I use this unit primarily to write my own material and it gives me a lot sounds at my disposal. I have managed to get Malmsteen like lead to the giggles and gargles of Vai with this unit.

I have not compared this to many other units side by side although I have played with some of the others like Roland GP100. This does sound very good, except for the drawbacks that I have mentioned. But it?s a question of what you want your processor to do. It cannot play for you!! I think it can compliment most styles of guitar playing very well. I would recommend it to all guitarist even the professionals. Remember a good guitar player needs very little effects to sound good!!

I have already posted a review of this unit (see further down the page). Having owned this for a few months now, I have learnt a lot more about this unit. Getting a good sound is quite easy, only the distortion and eq is hard to tweak to get a good brutal metal distortion, (IT CAN BE DONE), i have created two distortions now as well as a couple of clean sounds and some other more FAR OUT sounds which I shall not tell you about.

Herein lies the problem with distortion.. it is difficult to setup for different amps and rooms. At home I play for a small Squier 15 watt practise amp. I have recently joined a band and am using this unit through a Marshall Valvestate 100 head and into a Marshall cabinet (size? i'm fucked if I can work that out, probably a 4x8 or something). The distortion I use at home sounds great but at practise I have the same distortion but on a different patch, but here through the Marshall it loses it's character. If you practise through different amps, you are gonna need to setup a separate distortion for each amp to ensure heavy or subtle distortion is going to be effective in any environment (bedroom, rehearsal studio etc.). Nevertheless I have tweaked the studio patch so it is listenable and hassome tone to it. All other effects such as chorus, reverb, delay etc seem effective no matter where you plug it into. Patience must be one of your virtues if you metal lovers are going to achieve a snappy, crunchy, brutal distortion through different amps. Also use the Utility Global Settings according to the amp type you use and also experiment with the effects chain facility and try arranging the Preamp, EQ , Sub-EQ etc until you are happy. This unit is a great piece of gear and really what is the difference between analogue and digital, THEY'RE JUST SOUNDS, TWEAK EM 'TIL YOU LIKE EM. I am currently the new guitarist in my band with our lead guitarist moaning that it is too digital or that it is basically crap and the others joking that it' more of a computer. This is an effects unit, an alternative to sounding the same all the time, a gateway to another world, if you have something like this to help you achieve sonic utopia, what does it matter that it is too "digital" and not "analogue".

No need for a backup, it's that tough I stubbed my toe (one with hyper-granulation from an ingrowing toenail), and yes it was fucking painful. I also crushed a spider that was walking across it by accident (you do get over-enthusiastic with the stomping you know).
Although this unit seems to pick up alot of dust if not used for a time. It's tough and can withstand alot of punishment (it hasn't even fucked up after being left in the boot of a car for hours)

I love heavy metal and rock and other styles. Basically it has helped me achieve new sounds, that is what it is supposed to do, not make you a cup of tea, not make women feel attracted to you, it does not get it it's kit off, it creates sounds and a shitload of them at that. I use this for personal use, for band practise and will also use it live and for the studio. It has helped me get creative within the band, i used it to add a nice chorus and delay to a moody, slow-picked part at the end of one of our fast songs. I adds new dimensions to your playing, my advice though is to not be reliant on effects.

For anyone who has ever dealt with any sort of floor effects processor before, this unit is really straightforward and easy to figure out. Having an EZ-Edit option almost seems pointless. Everything is laid out on the machine very nicely. Getting a good sound out of it is really a matter of tweaking. Some presets are rather nice (JC120, Rotary, etc.), but a lot of them are downright useless (ie/ most or all of the synth options). The manual was a bit confusing, especially with regards to putting this unit through an effects loop. In fact, I don't think that they explain that aspect of this unit at all! Overall though, using the GT-3 is a piece of cake.

I'm putting this thing through a 5150 head (soon to be replaced) and a Mesa Rectifier Cab. For guitars, I'm using a Gisbon SG for a lot of the chunky stuff, and a Tele for more ambient noise (by the way, this unit sounds really good with one of those cute little Danelectro guitars!) On some settings like the acoustic simulator, the GT-3 exudes a lot of washy background noise. The gate option, for the most part, is useless in combatting this. Personally, I don't really bother with the acoustic simulator anyway. There really is no acoustic simulator that comes close to the sound of a real acoustic. One thing I can definitely say about this unit: don't rely on it for your distortion. A lot of the amp settings sound weak. In fact, when I do use distortion, it is usually to make the effect sound smaller and more tinny a la Cigarette Box Amp. Usually, I just bypass the unit with the CTL button whenever I need to go for gain. Chorus, Delay, Reverb on this thing are great; I really get a lot of use out of them. I found a lot of EXACT Incubus-like sounds in this machine, and a few Deftones-ey presets that I could tweak. Therefore, if you like your new metal, pick this up. Of course, it goes a lot further than that. I got pretty close to a lot of Radiohead sounds as well, though I think I could have gotten closer with analog effects. In closing: try to ignore that the presets were most likely made by guys who still have mullet haircuts and who spend their nights and days searching for the coveted "brown sound", and make your own effects.

It seems really durable, being a giant slab of metal and all. I gig without a back-up.

Never dealt with BOSS.

I play a SOAD/Far-style punk rock with u-Ziq/Aphex Twin type ambience and drum beats. I have to get A LOT of sounds out of a unit, and this thing does the trick nicely. I wish that it had more lo-fi sounding options, but, as I said before, I can get pretty close representations of those sounds with a little tweaking. I compared it with the new Digitech RP-2000, and they seemed pretty close. It was kind of a toss up, so if this were stolen I'd probably either pick up a new one, or look more closely at the 2000. Two MAJOR complaints: My playing style requires my guitar to be very detuned, usually so that the 6th string is in A or B. At this low of a frequency, the guitar synth becomes VERY confused and VERY useless. Also, the stupid tuner doesn't register anything lower than an A#! That is very poor planning, considering the magnitude of bands that tune down to that pitch (ie/ Meshuggah, Machine Head, Hatebreed, Nothingface). Therefore, I strongly suggest, if you play in this style of music, that you use an external tuning device. On the bright side of things, this unit lets me be very creative and I've written more than a few songs based around the way that a certain effect will make me feel. A worthy invesment.

It's so easy to get your own patches and to get them of the internet.

Amazing sound every time. No doubt the best FX around 4 this price. I use this with a Peavey Bandit 112 and a lengend les paul and a my own custom guitar with DiMarzio Breed Humbuckers.

Very good build quality already used it at a gig at high volume. Brilliant.

You can't buy a better effects for this price I fell in love with it the first time I heard it.

well let me start out by saying i love this thing. it is not as easy to get a good sound as a korg ax1g, but when you do its amazing. it has so many numbers to tweak so its not as easy as a chain of boss pedals.

im using a epiphone les paul special II and a peavey classic chorus amp. The gt-3 sounds very good clean. but when you get into a high gain situation it gets wiered and digitized. if you edit a patch at a low volume and then turn it up it sounds like my kid brother eating taco's. If i were you i would buy the boss metal zone or an ibanez smash box(both great pedals in my opinion:).

As fo the effects>they rock
most of them sound as good as thier real life counterparts if not better. i love the ability to turn each one off in manual mode or with the controll pedal.it also includes an extra jack for up to 2 external pedals to controll effects.

i would use it without a backup definately .

ive never had to deal with boss and i hope i dont.

i play a neometal rock orented style. it suits it very well.
if it were lost of stolen i would definately buy another one if i had the money. ive always been in the constant search of the perfect tone and if i find it it'll be with this thing.

Really the GT-3 is a well designed unit. However, it does take a little time to adapt to the methods of changing the parmeters, but once you get everything figured out its quite simple. The owners manual can be quite helpfull in the first few weeks of use. Dont be afraid to reach down and push some of those little buttons. Play with it till you find the sound you want. (Which may take some time.)

The sound quality really depends on what effects and distortions that you ae using. I use the Metal 5150 amp simulator with a micro-pithchshift from the harmonizer a lot and the sound is really flawless. NOT!!!! It SUCKS!!! If you want to use any kind of heavy distortion with the effects on this unit, you will NOT be satisfied. If you even think of buying this unit for the distortion and/or amp simulation save your money and buy the exact amp that you want or a nice Line 6 amplifier. Most of the distortions and amp simulators on this unit ar sub-par. Dont get me wrong, not all of the simulated amps are bad. If you are wanting cleaner sounds with good effects, delay, and reverb, this thing is superb. The effects themselves sound quite good. Just dont try to run them with a really heavy ampsim.

So far so good. I've had it about eight months and haven't had any probelms with it......yet anyway. Although, it is built quite rugged.

Haven't needed it yet.

I play heavy Van Halen/Metallica/Pantera type stuff and things. Had I known that the GT-3 would sound this way before I bought it, I would have just saved up my money and bought a 5150, Line 6, or Marshall. I would get the Line 6 if you are looking for good amp simulation and effects at the same time.

For the uninitiated, the GT-3 presents an interesting blend of classic and contemporary patches - able to be tweaked easily and quickly. Whilst hardcore users will tweak all parameters (to death!), the beginner can achieve professional sounds through the simple factory presets, and without sounding cheap or predictable.
Editing is very simple, with the LED screen presenting all the necessary information in singular sections - one step at a time. The manual is direct and informative, and helps when making accurate decisions regarding tone, frequency, etc.

I use a Fender Strat Plus with Lace Sensor pick ups, a Takamine semi-acoustic 6 string and a Seagull 12 string acoustic (hooked up with an external pickup). I also have other assorted cheap guitars to numerous to mention. I run them all through a Marshall Bi-Chorus 200 head and two 300 watt cabs (JCM 900 A+B).
The GT-3 is run through the main input of the Marshall, as the effects loop severely compromises the distortion sounds of the deck. When properly rigged for looping, the stero capabilities of the amp and the processor combine to give amazingly full stereo effects (based on clean). The distortion is another matter entirely. Firstly, the sound of a Marshall stack is, traditionally, great (no more need be said). However, in routing the GT-3 through the clean channel, the full body tone of Marshall distortion is unable to be used (as boost severely screws up the processing sounds). I have tried different kinds of routing and effects lining, but the problem prevails. Now, I am uncertain whether I should blame the amp or the processor for this, but either way, I sacrifice Marshall tone for a significantly reduced distortion sound (even with modification) coming from the GT-3. When playing certain material this is OK, but when approaching anything remotely overloaded (from Cream, Hendrix or Led Zep to Slayer, Korn, etc) sound is compromised. Oh well.
'Clean' sounds through the GT-3 are, in most cases, amazing. Any of those phenomenal Hendrix ballads, from 'Axis' or 'Ladyland', sound great when played through the GT-3 effects (tweaked, of course). Any U2 sound (delay, etc) is also well catered for, and gives depth and clarity (where other pedals or decks can slide the sound and end up producing poorly regulated feedback of the signal). The Harmoniser effect is very clear and distinct, and evenly descends when one plunges through the octaves in a theremin-like whoosh. Conventional use of the harmoniser also yields a broad envelope of sound, which can be accentuated with chorus, etc. The broad parameters for each of these effects also help in isolating different elements easily, which makes pursuing a certain sound intriguing and interesting.
However, and I say this when using a cheap Ephiphone Les Paul or a Strat (with, admittedly, lace sensors), the flange and compression effects (even with drawn out tweaking) can give a high, cutting tones that can reverberate and distort (not at all good). One has to be very carefull with the compression and limiter, testing the sound at different volumes in order to ensure that the patch sound remains constant across different registers.

The GT-3 has always produced the same patch sound when needed. Rather than start looking for the problem on the deck, one always has to consider the different environments one plays in before searching for problems at the 'gear' level. Tweaking may be needed for some effects in some circumstances, whilst not for others. If your rehearsal space or area differs from a live situation (and it often does) then a patch may sound different, or present itself differently in a live situation (or in another practice area). In this case, use headphones to understand the difference in environmental changes, switching between 'open' sound to 'headphone' in practice in order to understand how sound changes. A patch should always sound the same through the same headphones, wherever you are (theoretically), so one has to make sure that any differences may not be issuing from the deck itself.
Not all of us can afford backups. The GT-3 works well with its adaptor - I cant speak on the reliability of a battery in a live situation (I wouldn't do that EVER!)

Never dealt with customer support - but that could be because I treat my equipment well.

I mean, seriously, what idiot would remain friends (or in the same band!) with someone who threw water on their equipment!! Huh?!?
(James Marshall Hendrix excluded, of course).

I play every style of music (and I do mean everything). Many of the effects give 'eastern' flavoured songs a lovely sound, but more conventional or popular genres are well catered for.

I have been playing for 12 years and have owned too many other units to mention. If this deck was stolen or lost, I would test other products first, but for its price, the unit is acceptable.

What do I love about the deck? I likes its spacious design - pedals are spread evenly across the unit. However, tweaking in a darkened live situation would be near impossible, not because of the LED, but because the buttons are small!

I compared this unit to individual pedals, other DOD and BOSS pedal decks and rack mounts. For price, it seemed to strike a balance between professional sounds and cheezy trash gimmicks (the mark of a good deck!!!) Not all of us can afford vintage effects gear.

I wish it came with a recording contract as well.

The only thing the deck gets in the way of is the bass player walking/moving around the stage. This is great, as I like having one side all to myself. (With sequencers and programming, who NEEDS a bass player anyway? Certainly no self-respecting guitar player.)

I'd like to share my debts with you, but is that what you're really asking?

I found this unit to be fairly easy to program. any bona-fide tone freak knows that you don't buy a unit like this for what the factory puts in it! it took a couple of minutes on my own, and with the manual to figure my way around some of the other parameters in the unit. but it ain't that bad overall.

I happen to particularly like the Matchless patches in this unit. I set it side by side with a friends Dr Z Maz 18 Jr. and through tonal comparison, was able to simulate my own Z TONE!!!! I love that about this thing, its just soooooo versatile

does the name sherman mean anything to you???

haven't had to do this yet, but Boss is reliable.

I play blues, rock, and country. I find this unit to give me all the different tones I need to perform confidently.

As far as using processors goes, this is very easy to navigate, and all the handy programmable presets make life soooo easy. I've never used the manual except for the MIDI implementations, but it seems easy to follow. I'd be interested to know if there is a firmware upgrade available..... Oh yeah, the presets are really good.

I have a 200w stereo Valvestate setup, and there is a huge difference between looping the processor or using it in line. The sound quality is great thru a loop, I reccommend it. The effects are just as good as the pedals, and we all know that BOSS makes the best, but I am unhappy with the response on the synth effect, and it's too bad I can't use more than 1 mod effect at once.

BOSS is always dependable, I never worry about my FX failing me, or getting broken from a rough gig. I've had booze dumped all over it, it's been dropped, trampled, and generally abused, and there's barely a scratch in the paint!!!!

Sorry, never needed support...

I play death metal, and do electronic noise as well, so I am definitely pleased with the diversity of this unit. I'd replace it in a second if it were stolen. This is my second BOSS processor, and millionth FX unit in general, and I'd say this is definitely the best bang for the buck. I did try out other units before deciding on this one.

I bought this pedal after hearing the GT-5 and being told there was little difference between them.
I found it to be a little overprocessed harmonically with my RG470, though I have fallen in love with the neck pickup sounds. It hates the middle single coil for some reason and the bridge humbucker sounds brittle for cleans sounds.
I tried it with a cheap Strat and was frankly amazed at how good some of the cleaner presets were with the single coils - but the distortion was in need of a little pepping up.
Editing patches is easy unless you are really after a specific sound. Many people have said it to be easy but it does require A LOT of time to get a good set of presets. I don't get to use it with my full rig (the tonality changes drastically depending on what you use it on) until I gig. So therefore I can tell you that it is no fun editing 5 mins before you play.
The manual is good if you are familiar with the workings of FX but if you simply like to twiddle a few dials until you find a nice sound (like me) then it is a bit on the barren side when it comes to offering tips on use.
I don't believe there has been any mods to the firmware as the unit has not been revised in any way (I bought it in Oct 99).
I have given 8 because I managed to clean away all my analogues pedals with no real remorse.

I use this with a RG470, a cheap squire strat, a Marshall Valvestate Pro 120/120 Power Amp (blinding!) and two 1936 Marshall 2 x 12" Sealed Cabinets.
It can be noisy but more often than not that has been because of a poor earth on the guitar. Once solved the pedal is quiet. It does tend to sound over processed if you apply the FX in a heavy handed manner. Other than that I cannot moan as it has done me proud.
I have reservations with using this in conjunction with a valve amp base on my old Marshall 50watt Valve Combo. Every thing was too trebly and when I got my new rig all my user patches were bassy as a result of the mods I had made.
Now I am using it with the VS Pro it is more subtle and I can get the sounds that I want.
Some of the settings are weak - wah needs serious tweaking (the hard wah preset is the best but lacks cut in a live scenario and the Flanger is a bit too modulated for my liking (not that I use it!).
As the unit works fine for my rig I will give it a 9

Yes I depend upon the GT-3 as it also handles my amp simulations on top of the sound fx and I do gig without a backup.
I do have one minor grievence though, and that is because it has a poorly lit display for heavily lit stages and daytime festival gigs - hence 9

Not yet but the seperate PSU remains a worry.

I play in an eight piece Soul Tribute Showband and I can do Steve Cropper with ease with this unit.
As for loss or theft of this unit then I would replace it with another or maybe even the Flagship model, the GT-5 as I have had much pleasure in its use.
I have to say that the subtlety of some of the sounds make this a joy to use but a stronger wah and flanger would have been nice. Also the synth fx are really bad!
I tried some other fx units dod, zoom and digitech - but they had delays/dropout in switching between patches and that really sounds bad live.
I am very happy to have purchased it. It is a genuine tool and it embellishes the sound of your playing - what more could you ask for?
My only reservation would be to try it on your rig first, unless of course you have a Roland Jazz Chorus. heh heh.

I've only had this unit for about a week. Replacing a Digitech RP-3.

* Fairly uncomplicated. Guitarists that are new to multi-efx units may take some time to warm up to it. Logical layout and design make this unit pretty user friendly.
* Editing patches: fairly quick, but can become time consuming - depending on how particular or fussy you are.
* Manual: not bad - not great.

* I'm using a Gibson Les Paul standard stereo into a Peavy Bandit (80W) and Fender Frontline 25 (25W). I need better amps.
* Some of the pre-amp settings get a little noisy, but the noise suppressor is good. I've also tried a Strat with this pedal, and single coils get very noisy.
* Pre-amp efx are good, very deep eq. (great for tweaking that exact sound - if you have the time), great reverb, nice delay, overdrive and distortion takes time to get right - however using the eq (especially tweaking mids) and pre-amp settings it is possible to get great overdriven sounds. Wah sucks, wacky effecys (synth, humisor etc) are great for what they are. Compressing is tight and tasty, phaser is great.
* I owned a digitech rp-3 and the sound was a little too "digital" and processed for my liking - this unit is more authentic sounding, and one of the best for its price and size!!!

* Rugged metal body and sturdy design. Should handle gigs and travelling well. I think i will get an external expression pedal though to save the one on the unit (lets face it - anything with moving parts will need some attention after a while - it'll be easier to replace a seperate unit than the pedal on the board).
* No backup necesarry.

* n/a

* I play new school funk / dub / ska. Some heavy stuff occasionally.
* Playing for 10 years.
* This is a great compact unit .... it's has quality features for its price and size. Beats the crap out of my old digitech RP-3. At the end of the day you get what you pay for. Buy a pro rack mount unit with foot controller if you can afford it, and you'll probably have better tone. But this is one of the best multi-efx units in its class.
* It is possible to get anally retentive when it comes to tweaking your tone. Try to avoid this cause the unit is there to enhance you tone and sound, not to dominate it.
* If you aren't into booz rock or tired blues, and are looking to create some fresh and original guitar music then this pedal could be a great accessory.
* Boss have been around for a long time, and know the biz. This unit has been carefully designed with the guitarists needs in mind. Worth a try, no one is going to force you to buy it OK??

Dont ever settle for presets (you all know that). I figured the GT-3 out in 5 minutes. The manual is nice and helpful but seriously I didn't even look at it till after I had my own patches down. EASY EASY EASY

ESP MH-307 7 String guitar ---> GT-3 ---> DBX 15 band Equalizer/Limiter(to further cut mids) ---> Fender Roc Pro 1000 Full Stack! Awesome METAL SOUND!

Never will I drop it, leave it in the sun, let "some dude" borrow it, or anything stupid. This thing is basically as important to me as my actual guitar hands. IF ANYTHING ever happened to it, I would have to BUY another one because NO other pedal gets me my tone EXCEPT this pedal board.

Never Had to deal with them. Hopefully never have to.

I play Black Metal. But I'm not just looking for high mids, or a Shitty Slayer sound(more high mids)...but an awesome cuffing that is pleasing to the ear and shakes your Balls! at the same time. I needed the PERFECT Frequencies and Cuts and between the Equalizer and SUB EQ, and my other 15 Band EQ, I own My tone...I have the exact tone of my dreams and now I can sleep comfortably at night!

At last, a processor to call my own!!! Oh joy!!. The GT3 looks intimidating to program at first, I am learning so much about it now,
i can copy, save, write, tweak, twinge, destroy and rebuild things so easily on this. Only the one dial and the parameter jump buttons are needed to transport you through all the endless possibilities available. The manual actually wasn't to hard to understand, although some parts were understated and obvious, almost to the extent of patronising the user, i.e " Treble: adjusts the treble frequency ", never mind, because this thing is the best, infact, I want to marry it. It is though the perfect mistress for my guitar. Patches are easy to edit, but ironically the EZ edit is rather hard for me to properly understand.

I only have an old Encore Custom Model guitar (superstrat shape) and a Fender Squier 15 watt practise amp, yet this thing sounds amazing through it. I hope to purchase a brand new guitar and a more powerful amp to accompany this unit. The presets are not bad, some are laughable, the best though is 84,3 E.Ac Detune, I have wrote a song part with that effect. Distortions are good, some crap through the preamp models, i only realised this when I tried using a heavy distortion through the Metal Drive preamp before realising the Metal Drive distortion was on high gain settings. I am nearly there in getting the perfect noisecore/death metal distortion, the problem is allieviating the sub bass characteristics despite tweaking the bass e.q and bass settings, the scooped mid sound is no problem in achieving, the bass needs controlling in order to get good palm muting sounds. The distortion is crucial in any style really and therefore needs plenty of attention, here though the GT3 has succeeded in creating accurate distortions for different styles. The chorus, delay and reverb are just ace. Flanger is so damn good alot of the time, i can't see how some people have rated it badly, i have tweaked it to get sounds similar to that of the BF2 and the EH Elec. Mistress. Phaser is class say no more, infact all modulation effects are brilliant, i do have trouble harnessing the character of the Ring modulator. SFX group has good sounds available, I use the Feedbacker a fair bit. Finally E.q and SpeakerSim facilities are really good too. I can get alot of sounds similar to many artists, in particular Robert Smith's ambient sounds and also bands like, Led Zep, Pantera and Slayer, yes Slayer, bet you didn't see that one coming did you. You can get that blood and fire that spews from the Slayer axe maestros's guitars, spend a few hundred hours editing away.
LOVE THIS UNIT

I can't afford a backup, i'm too careful as it is that i won't let anyone breathe near it, let alone touch it, it is very strong and is built like a titanium fist. I won't bother with a backup, i look forward to gigging with it, first things first though is to...ahem..get a band together.

Never dealt with Boss or Roland but the company i bought this from, The Flying Pig, jacked up the price to 295 pounds when it was originally 269. I went all the way there to collect it for myself and lug it back through London and get the train back to Cambridge. You can imagine the look on my face changing from a happy boy to a slack jawed dog when I merrily skipped into the store with my hard earned 270 punds in cash to be told the price had gone up, still one cheque for the rest allowed me to take the GT3 home with me happier than a pig in shit

I play very heavy music of my own creation (not Korn!!!) and other styled like blues and ambient and whatever else i can wring out of my guitar. I've been playing just over two years now and will continue to do so as long as I live. This unit is so amazing it allows me to be creative in even more ways than ever. If this was stolen, the thief had better hope I never catch him and that he lives in fear when I have ripped his balls off and beaten him round the head with the unit, you see this thing is even more amazing because it doubles up as a weapon. I have used a Zoom 505 and a 3030 before but they are not a patch..ahem... on this. BUY IT BUY IT BUY IT!!!!. You Korn and Limp Bizkit fans will shit yourself when you find out it's potential. This is an amazing unit for bringing out the emotion, texture and mood in your music and playing, though rememeber it is better not rely on this thing even though you can almost get every sound possible you can imagine.

This is my first effects unit.I found it easy to work and I can't even hook up a tv and video.The manual wasn't much help but once you get moving you don't really need it anyway.One bad thing people say, is you can't really edit things "on the fly"(like live on stage?).But if you knew what you were doing then you would have set it up with all the sounds you need before you got on stage.In a rehersal situation, if someone said you're sound had "too much treble",then it could be fixed in a matter of seconds if you knew your way around the unit.As with most things, the more time you spend with it, the easier it is to use. I've been using it for about six months now and I wouldn't dare say I know the ins and outs of it. The limitations are endless. I you own one then there's a good chance you will never have to buy another pedal to get "that sound".

I'm play my guitars, straight to the GT3 and into my Marshall Valvestate. After reading some of the reviews here, it seems as though most people complain of the distortion sounds. I've found that the best sounds come from the pre-amp simulations rather than the overdrives and combining an EQ can give great flexibility to the sound. You can get the sound you want from the GT3 but you have to make it yourself, its not going to appear as a preset for your convenience. When playing through headphones it definatly sounds different but try backing off the master by about 20 and make sure the unit is set for "line headphones". It will sound a bit better but avoid any editting coz it won't sound the same through the amp.

I've used it live and never had any worries. I did own 4 Boss pedals before I got the GT3 and over the years never had any problems with them so I was confident in the Boss name. However, the reverb did cease to be, but it was fixed and its been fine ever since. If your thinking of getting one, have a read of the other reveiws here. Most are trouble free so I wouldn't pay too much attention to the little glitch I had with mine. Ever known someone with a Boss pedal who had problems with it? I don't. There're bomb proof and its not going to break, it made out of steel.

Now when the reverb dropped out it was repaired by an agent for Roland/Boss company and they took their sweet time doing it too. About three weeks although somehow I get the feeling that had it needed to go to Roland/Boss it may have took longer.

Too many people get carried away when it comes to effects. All you really need is a good clean sound, a distortion sound and a boost for both for soloing. I set my GT3 up in this way;

Bank 1 Patch 1: Clean (boost for solo when CTL is on)

Bank 1 Patch 2: Distortion (boost for solo when CTL is on)

Setting up like this (using the CTL) can also be used like this;

Bank 1 Patch 3: Clean (Distortion when CTL is on)

This lets you keep the number of patches down and saves time on stage. I keep all my sounds within the first 10 banks and there's enough variation there to cover just about all styles. All in all, outstanding value for money and heaps of versitility. When you go on holidays, just take the GT3, guitar and headphones. Its easier than taking an amp! This is the first time that I would say I'd buy it again if something happened to it because once you set it up, it makes life real simple.

If you have never used effects before this can compleately overwhelm you. Its extreamly easy to start using the preset patches and to do basic changes to effect parameters. But the GT3 can do so much that its going to take you a while to figure out everything that it does and does not do. Its going to take a lot of practice, its almost like learning a new instrument, but learn it and its time very well spent!! The manual is very high level and needs to be re-written in greater detail(especially on using control assaigns and the internal and the wave pedals). I strongly advice learning how each effect works (the tech side) and applying that knowledge to put the GT3 to best use. It is an awesome piece of equipment.

I play a Standard Fender Stratocaster thru a fender amp and always loved a natural overdriven amp sound. The Strat with its single coils always creats a noise especially when using the bridge pick up. The GT3's noise suppressor is great in dealing with this. Whenever I play hard, I try not crank the pre-amp and the distortion up at the same time....thats going to create a lot of noise. Instead if I adjust the pre amp to not create distortion and using the OD/DS in the GT3 I am able to get really cool / hard / noise free sounds.

You can almost get every kind of sound through this puppy, if you are willing to tweak the effect parameters. The presets are BAD and the preset patches seems like they have been created to amuse a 5 year old...way too many gimmics. Dont buy this for the presets!! The harmonist, chorus, delay and reverb along the pre-amps are the stars of this unit. Distortion is great too, but takes time to make it sound like you want it. Overall sound quality is stellar!!

I have not used it long enough to give my opinion on this. I have had it only for a month. But looks mighty sturdy.

Not had any problems yet.

I think this is the most versatile multi-effect processor you will ever find at this price. It should meet the needs of almost every guitar player, regardless of style. Best of all sound quality has not been compromised to achieve this versatality. I play real hard blues to hard rock to Indian classical music and this great for all of them.

There are some features in this unit that are too complicated to use and I think BOSS should get rid of them....like the auto riff. The control assigns also need to be made a little easier to use, given its tremendous potential. Also I think there should be manual setting for each patch, now the settings change on all the patches each time you alter the manual assigns in one patch. Thats a big pain in the rear. But I dont mind tweaking the control before I start playing a song thats going to need a lot manual effect changes. Overall great product...but takes time to learn. ITS WELL WORTH IT!!

This unit is a breeze to operate and boy does it operate, but when you want to edit some patches you can get pretty in depth. You can tweek any effect and use it in endless combinations. The GT-3 comes with a quick set-up guide to keep you from shitting your pants because this thing is incredible. The manual explains the important detail of every effect and the parameters this unit is capable of.

The sounds that come out of this little beast are the best ever. Take your RP-2000 and use it as POOPER SCOOPER this thing has it beat by 2000 miles. The RP has some great distortions out of the box, so thier is little tweaking, but other than distortions it has nothing to offer. OHH YEAHHH BABY I love that Aliens patch. OHHH Yeahh I love that Limpy Distortion. Give me a Fu*@ing break, in ten years nobody will know who LIMP BISKUT was. The GT-3 on the other hand puts you in another dimension, and you can create any world you want. I am currently using a Fernandes Native Elite with an old 70's Kustom stack, and this thing kicks some royal with cheese ass. Some of the distortions are digital sounding, but at first I didnt set my amp the way the manual tells you. After I tweeked it the amp and turned the GT-3 to "Guitar Stack" it was all over. The acoustic simulator is the best ever, the Harmonizer is top notch, the synth patches are monophonic but when placed with effects they are unreal. The cleans are rightous thanks to old Roland, the best clean sounds in the business, the wah is a wah I dont know why people are so critical about the wah, if you dont like the one in the box hook one up its simple, I have a Hendrix wah and it has to much treble for my taste. The distortions are rightous when tweaked with the different amp models and attacks, the flanger is good but needs tweaking, chourus is the best thanks to Roland... All in All this is the best processor on the market for the money.

Its buit like grannys panties, nothing coming out of this bitch.

Boss products have been around for years, I dont think Ill have any problems.

Please do me a favor, sell all those old stomp boxes and go out and buy this timeless machine. This has to be the best processor for the money. It takes seconds to set up, minutes to tweak, and the sound is so unreal, that digitech has to go back to school. I can not wait to hear the follow up to these boxes, technology has come so far in the last 6 years that the GT-5 is old news. With this box I have been playing old songs I havent played in years. This is definatley a quality product and it can only get better when the third generation effects processor comes out. I would definatley buy another if this one broke down. Next I want to buy the GR-33 and open up the pallete of sounds with the two combined. This box definatley opens the door to creativity, so dont get frustrated if it doent sound like Korn out of the box, or Limpy, or Steve WHY? get in their and create your own sounds and be original for once and stop trying to copy something that has been done.

Because of the number of different effects and paramaters, the GT-3 can be a bit complicated to use. Fortunately, I know alot about guitar effects, so I'm managing. Someone not familiar with a wide variety of effects might have a hard time programming the unit. The manual isn't too bad, but could have been more user friendly. Anyone willing to spend some time on the technical aspects of effects will not only learn alot, but will be able to come up with some great sounds.

I use a Parker Nitefly and an Ibanez S Series Custom through an Ampeg Reverberocket 2x12. The unit makes little or no noise. I still have much experimenting to do with the unit, but I can't imagine any guitar sound that can't be found with the GT-3. It can be programmed for different pickup sounds, simulated amp sounds, and even simulated microphone placement. The unit include pretty much every guitar effect known to mankind. The unit can get sounds of everyone from Joe Pass to Joe Satriani to Dimebag Darrell.

I only recently purchased the unit, so can't really comment on reliability. The unit is solid metal construction, and seems to be quite well made. I'd recommend getting a padded carrying case of some kind. A good hit in the wrong spot while transporting could be a bad thing.

Haven't had to deal with the company.

I play every style from light jazz to pop to blues to hardcore heavy metal in different groups and places. I've been playing for 15 years, and graduated GIT with honors. I was using an ME 30 for awhile, and upgraded to the GT-3. If it was stolen, I'd definitely buy another one. It certainly takes some time and effort to learn to program, but once that time is put in, the unit is well worth every minute spent. The sounds are incredible, and it's versatile enough to be used with pretty much any style of music. I won't list the effects here, but you can check out the list at zzounds.com or Musiciansfriend.com, or any site that sells the unit. There's even an unofficial user's site at www.members.tripod.com/bossgt3/ with all kinds of info on the unit. For the $$$, I really think that the GT-3 is the best thing out there.

GT-3 preset patch need major tweaking. Typically at least the preamp, the EQ and the reverb + delay needs to be set. Also the output
volume must be changed, some presets are loud, some not.

The manual is good, and actual usage is easy. No idea if it
is upgradable.

Bought the GT-3 6 months ago replacing a useless
Boss ME30.

I play a japanese fender reissue strato with SD cool rail in th neck and a hot rail in the bridge through GT-3 to a peavey classic or directy to recorder.

Compared to the direct out, one needs to eg up low EQ when connecting
to an amp, othervize the sound is way too thin.

Its normally not noisy, but i noticed that some very distorted patches gets noice if GT-3 is close to a monitor.

I listed to basic rock, bands like D.A.D, the red hot chilip:s etc,
and one can get good sound. Not a exact copy (impossible to do all with the strato) but good sounding similar sounds.

the preamp, the delays + rewerbs and compressors are very good. the synth part seems unreliable. The Eg and the ability to re-arrange the
the effect chain is great.

Seems suitable for country - rock - hard rock.

It's like a boss stomp box, the last component
that would need a backup!

Not dealt with the support.

Very good value see aboce

While this pedal may take a little bit of experimenting to get comfortable with all it's functions, once you learn how to use this pedal, it's very easy to use. I have edited patches DURING a set with no sweat.

This pedal sounds great once you break it in. I am running this into a fender blues deluxe(which is an amazing amp) and i can get any sound possible. My only complaint would be that the flanging(though it don't use it much) and the wah are pretty thin. this is an all-encompassing great pedal, and the least "digital" sounding digital gear i've ever used.

It's a boss. You couldn't break it if you tried.

When I got this pedal, it took quite a while to arrive, but i believe that was because of a shipping strike, so that's not their fault. With the quality of their products, i don't think i'll ever need to deal with them.

I play many types of music. When i got this pedal, i was into hard rock/metal, and it had lots of FAT drive and sustain(p.s.- if you like this type of music, get yourself a mt-2 metal zone). Now i like blues, jazz, rock, country, and funk. you can get sounds to accomadate any style. You also have so many banks, that if you get a good sound, you can have a rhythm bank, a lead bank, a bank for anything. Also, i tend to notice a pedal's quality by it's tuner, which was great. worth it at any price. (but you might want to hang on to your wah peadl)

Very easy to use. Only those who are extremely technologically challenged couldn't work this piece.

My axeline includes a Fender Am. Strat,a Gibson Les Paul Classic and a Dearmond/Guild Starfire ( cross between a 335 and Epiphone Casino). I only hook it up with a clean studio power amp and monitors. This along with a direct PA connection are the only one's that bring out COSM's finer qualities. The model of guitar you hook upis half the battle. The patches are mostly generic. You must tweak if you want your Les Paul not to distort of you Fender to distort. Your not going to sound like Eric Clapton until you you get all the backdrop.Education is your best tool. It is a wonderful unit one you get to know it. It is also very versitile with the wonderful acoustic setting and rotary patch

Most definitely . Built like a tank.

No problem with the dealer. Never been serviced.

I play an eclectic variety. Blues , Rock and Roll acoustic. Jazz, Rockabilly. I've owned every piece of equipment down the road since 1971 and this is in the top five out of sventy or so pieces. I also own a Mesa Boogie Heartbreaker, a Fender Bassman reissue and Fender Pro Jr.. so I know what good tone souds like.

I had never ever used it before, not even the display model at the store where I bought it. Brought it home as soon as i open the box i'm editing patches. But it took me a couple of months to see how great and amazing this processor is. Sub expression/control pedal and wave pedals make an array of souns but kind of difficult to use.

The presets suck (except the fantasy sounds) I admit at first i thought i had to bring this thing back to the store becuase the presets were horrible, but once i made all my sound i was dazzled at the quality this thing can do, I got incredible Les Paul sounds, even a screaming MARSHALL Amp Distortion! I've compared these with the real thing it's identicle!

This thing is incredible, i've abused the GT-3 To the Max, and i Play 4-5 gigs a week, i live off this thing, God forbid it breaks,(even though i have an old RP-10 with me for back up). The display is a little scratched.

never used Roland for assistances, just bought stuff off of them. cool people

If you know how to operate the GT-3 you will it's the best multi-effects processor out for sale. With it i've got LES PAUL sounds, MARSHALL amps, A phenominal ORGAN sound, a realistic BASS imitation, a beautiful Acoustic Flanger Chorus Sound, A WAH that after almost a year i got the way i like, a distortion that Sounds Just like METALLICA or KORN(if only i had a 7-stringer), an amazing FLANGE that really amazes myself. A couple of DJ ORIENTED and FANTASY effects, and much more.

Getting to sound out this box is a no brainer, just hit the a button and the sound comes out. Editing patches takes some time to figuer out and the manual did me no good.

Most of the effects are pretty good the flager is weak, and the synth works about half the time. Other then that is sounds great. The best effect on here is the one called smash drive

I have been playing it for 1 1/2 years and had no problems. I have used it at a lot of gigs without a backup

Overall I love this little box. If it were stolen I would track down the guy and kill him for even touching my GT-3

definitely easier to use than it looks. editing patches is a bit confusing at first but once you get the hang of it, no big deal. the only problem i ran into was editing the "ctl" pedal to be initially off. in other words, if you want to layer an effect on top of the current effect, you store it in the ctl pedal of that current effect. i still haven't figured out how to initially deactivate that pedal without hitting it down first.

awesome sound quality. phaser rules. flanger sucks big time. each and every distortion is way to crunchy. takes major tweeking to get a soft, smooth distortion.

it's never broken on me

N/A

i play alternative music close to HUM, pumpkins, third eye blind, foo fighters. definitely good for hum and pumpkins. 3eb is a different story. if you want non-crunchy dist, then get another pedal. overall for the value and the amount of things you get in this FX board, it's unbeatable. definitely better than the digitech rp-21. i've tried them all. boss rocks the spot.

Its a piece of cake to get this sucker to rock =). I was up and running in about 10 min. But after a while ya start to see the deepth of the GT-3. God, you can do some advanced stuff in it.

Im running it into my computer with the speakersimulation and takes the sound out trough a JVC stereo reciever and I get a great fat sound. Im thinking of getting a keyboard amp for it coz they say ya get the best uncoloured sound that way. Its sound great. The presets are a little corny...but with some tweeking ya can get it to scream.

Im just a bedroom rockstar so I think I will not have any problems with it.

Im into a lot of Metal. Iron Maiden, Obituary, Alice in Chains. Almost anything. I've been playing on and of for about 5 years. I defenetly would by another one if it got stollen but first I would check out the VG-88.

Sort of easy I guess. The initial tones are not good. It seems fairly easy to change parameters but I have yet to make it sound GOOD. I had no problem assigning patches to certain pedals after reading a little.

I use either my EB/MM EVH Signature, Les Paul Custom 57 Reissue Black Beauty and a Washburn RR-150 and usually through a Peavey Classic 410 or a 5150 212. The noise gate is good, the clean tones are good but the overdrives suck. The tone is thin. I guess not weak if you like that digital tinny sound. It actually makes my Les Paul NOT sound like a Les Paul. The other guitarist in my band thinks I'm committing a crime when I plug it in. There is no overdrive, it is all digital distortion, DIGITAL BAAADDD!!!! I bought it for rehearsal and to try to use different tones, but all the tones are terrible and I have tried tweaking with no success. I tried the 5150 patch and it sounds nothing like Eddie, even through a 5150 amp and EVH guitar! The Led Zeppelin patch does not sound like Jimmy. I try to get a nice vintage amp tone for rehearsals that I get out of my HotRod Deville or 5150 for gigs, but no go. But I give it a 3 because the cleans aren't too bad. The acoustic sets aren't too bad either.

I have used it at gigs, it seems very reliable. Nice sturdy metal case. I never use a backup except for the Tube Screamer I always keep in my gear bag.

Never tried. Won't upgrade or if it breaks I will throw it away. May use for a trade in on a Mesa V-Twin pedal. The trade in value ought to take care of the tax! Might sell it on eBay.

My band plays everything from blues to alternative but mainly classic rock and blues. This thing sucks for those type of tones. For 80's metal, I guess it would work. The cleans aren't too bad. I guess I just prefer that straight into tube amp tone. I have been playing for 9 years. I have 7 guitars and 3 amps and a hand full of stomp boxes and this POS. If it were lost or stolen I would be upset as I wouldn't get a trade in value for next time I buy something, or I would replace with a Mesa V-Twin but I would NOT buy this again. I love nothing about it. I hate the distortions. Maybe if it had actual 12AX7 tubes in it. I guess I just outgrew that heavy digital tone a long time ago.

-you can edit patches easily.
-i don't know if the manual is good. i didnt really need it.

-you can play ANY kind of music with it. you can make any amp sound good.
-it's not noisy at all
some of the effects are useless for me, but for some people they are good.
-i have a peavy stereo chorus 400 and a fender 85 watt guitar amp.
-yea, metallica, creed, stevie ray vahn (i can't play like him though), zz top, any country music.

yea. it's dependable.

don't know. never had to fix it.

-i play mostly rock and blues.
-i've played about a year and a half.
-i'd find who stole it and kill them. then i'd get another one.
-it's easy to use and carry. you dont need pedals or anything, just and amp, 2 courds and a guitar.
-i wish it had another pedal so you could have a volume and a wah pedal at the same time. but i just put 2 of the same patches next to each other with one set for wah and the other volume.

I'd have to say that this unit is probably easier to use than it appears on first glance, but at any rate well worth exploring! The easy edit function is a nice touch, though; but once I started digging into this box, I learned it quickly. Although I've been playing for 24 years, this is my first guitar multieffects unit, and I love it. Recommended. Sometimes when you see a processor that looks right-and this is my first new pedal in 14 years-you just gotta try it. This is the right one for me at the right time.

I'm accustomed to experimenting with all sorts of sounds, mostly electronic, using guitar (Les Paul copy modified by Paul Reed Smith years ago, an Ibanez EX350 w\Floyd Rose bar, a Westbury Standard with Dimarzio PAF hum in the saddle, Super-Dist. hum in the bridge, and others), synthesizers, drum machines, sampler, etc. I find this unit to be damn near perfect, except for 2 things sticking in my craw:
you can't have a vol. pedal and wah pedal in the same patch and switchable (which I don't understand, but can easily get around by having adjoining patches identical but having one with wah and one with vol.), and I just noticed that if you change one effect's position in the MANUAL setup-such as preamp-it'll also change ALL others in your patches (that have 'manual' setups) to that same position. In other words, if (in 'manual' mode) for pedal #1 there's 'preamp,' all the other patches that you have with 'manual' will have 'preamp' for pedal #1 as well. I thought this was a defect, but when I checked the 'manual' setting for all the presets (which can't be altered), I noticed "EQ" is set for pedal #1, so it must be in the design. (You'll only notice this if you press the 'manual' button-it won't work for most of the (preset) patches if you use the Control pedal).
Anyway, the sound quality is excellent-things 'glisten'-but without a doubt, I wasn't satisfied until I tweaked and tweaked--then and only then was I delighted with the rich, fat, sparkling colors and tones on this beauty. Oh yeah, the wah is just adequate.

Can I depend on it....only time will tell; but like most of my peers here, I've never had a problem with Boss devices. This box is a good bit more complex than my Metal Zone, though, so I'm crossing my fingers.

Haven't tried.

Excellent. I'm very satisfied. It's the next step for me, and probably all I'll need. I haven't tried many others, but my gut told me this is what I need now.
I choose my weapons carefully, and if I like something enough and the time is right, I'll get it. My music is paramount to me, it reflects my personal vision, but the things I record are all experiments-I never know what will come out onto tape, but I place few limits on what music I create. I have never done anything but original stuff, and do it all myself. This is my new tool and toy. Check it out...

I had it for, hmmm, about 20 minutes and i had 7 completely customized effects without even cracking the manual. The pedal is so easy to use.

i had a zoom gfx707 peice of shit. it made my very nice amp, Hiwatt lead 50 or sumpin like that, sound shitty and it pissed me off. My friend had a Korg AX1000G and i loved the way that thing made his amp just sing. Same story, the sound i get from this machine is just amazing. The distortions tho, they need tinkerin, there arent enuf mids and lows and a little too much trebles. But then again doesnt all effects processors need adjustment?

Well ive had it for 2 days now and im positive ill have this thing for years to come but i cant comment on it now.

I could tell u if i talked to them.

I play metal, but my favorite band to play is Pink Floyd so thats all ive been playing these last few weeks. My favorite song is Echoes. Ive been playing guitar about 5 years. I have the afore mentioned Hiwatt 50 lead and a carvin DC127C. If it were stolen or lost i would be so damn pissed cuz im a busboy and i saved up my first two weeks of working (2 straight weeks im only 16 so its a decent job for my age) and spent it all on this machine. I doubt it would get lost cuz its rather big and its not like im gonna take it to california or something on a gig, the farthest id go is some dark club and id keep a close watch on it. I compared it to the Digitech RP7 and the GT5 and even the GT5 wasnt as good as the GT3. The RP7 was nice and it had some good sounds because of the tube(s) but the GT3 was well worth the extra $60.

Getting a good sound is really easy...once you figure out what you're doing. Learning the in's and outs is tough, but the pay-off is huge!!! Editing is pretty easy when you get the changes wired, but if you ddon't know what you're doing, changing on the fly could get you lost. You really need to know what it is you want to do, or you could spend days looking. The Harmonist is hard as hell to program, and takes forever to change. It sounds really good if you can do it, though.

I use the GT-3 with my Randall full-stack(straight and slant 4x12 cabs) and 120-watt head, or my 50-watt Crate Bass amp (just to be quiet at home). I use my Paul Reed Smith Standard-24, usually with the first or second bridge pick-up for both rhythm and lead tones. Some of the heavy distortions get really loud and feed back, but the limiter can handle that if you use it right. The effects are usually great- I, as of yet, have had no problem with the pedal except for me programming it retarded. I haven't tried to imitate anyone's sound, but I bet it could be done. The pre-programmed "Satch tone" is an excellent distortion. The telecaster effects are very stong, too. I think some of the synths are a little weak, but I don't use them, so I don't care too much. I'm not into trippy sounds, so I leave a lot of the weird patches alone. I like a little compression (which isn't too great on this)and lots of different chorus's. This pedal has a ton of programmable chorus that is great, and totally editable by itself or with other effects. The reverb is really good, too.I can't comment on the amp modeling, because i don't have anything to compare it to. I think it is probably really good, though.

This pedal has really strong metal chassis. The digitech peadals are weak in this area- I don't think they can withstand any real wear and tear I don't really like floor processors for a gig, but this thing kicks ass. I've knocked it all over, and it still works. For a really cheap price, I could even replace it easily if I had to. Most of my playing is really clean so if it busted I could run straight through my amp. However, I don't think it would. I wouldn't recommend using the expression pedal too much, though, because it feels weak. Just get a real wah and volume pedal- they are good investments.

I haven't ever dealt with customer repair, I can't tell you about this part. The pedal hasn't ever needed work, so I don't know.

I play a lot of rock and blues and Christian worship music. I run right through my full stack with no effects for blues, but I get great rock distortions and trippy effects from the GT-3. I've been playing for two years, but don't let that fool you. I'm a trained classical guitarist, and know what I'm doing (for a teenager). I play ni local shows, and at church, and the pedal is totally reliable all the time. I'd probably get another one if it was lost or stolen, but I might buy another floor processor just to try something different. This pedal is sooo cool once you get it figured out. It's harder than most floor boards to use, but there are more effects and more adjustable parameters than anything else. I checked everything out_all the big Digitechs- RP-21, 20, 14D, 2000, KorgAX1000, line 6 POD, Johnson J-station. I think this one is the best I've used. It's tougher, and much higher in quality than the others. I wish the display screen had a digital diagram for the equalizer, and that the expression pedal felt more reliable under my foot. Sometimes I think it is going to snap. It won't, but that's how it feels. I highly recommend this pedal to any and everyone interested in good, high quality, inexpensive effects. Alng with tfree or four smaller stompboxes (tuner, octave, volume and wah) to control every possible parameter, you have yourself a studio worthy set-up. The MIDI capability is a plsu, although my computer programs aren't set up for it yet. That should be really cool.

I like the old days of spinning a knob here and there to dial in certain parameters but, with this much packed into a box, that would make for an awful lot of knobs. After a bit of getting used to, I can change things on the fly pretty fast and everything is real consistent.

I love the sound of this unit. I'm running the melody side of a Chapman Stick through it. The instrument itself sounds wonderful as is so I had to be real careful to select a unit that would enhance, not detract. I'll be adding a second GT-3 to process the bass side.

The unit is not that old so I guess this one is a bit hard to call but it's sure built durably enough. Like any other Boss product, it'll probably out last me.

I play a Chapman Stick through this unit. The style of music ranges from rock to funk to progressive (although not metal). The quality has been outstanding and it's worked very well for everything I want to do. Once I get the twins setup, it'll be even better.

Once I read the manual it was easy to program and edit patches,but I must say the levels on almost everything have to be tweaked so the peaks and valleys match up.

I play a les paul and a schecter a-1 through my gt-3 then into a marshall jmp-1 preamp into a 5150 head into a blue voodoo 4x12 cabinet although lately I've been going from the gt-3 into the 5150.
I tune to a b flat and use heavy guage strings (13-65's) and tons of distortion.The main uses for my gt-3 are the tuner, noise suppressor
and the volume pedal-all of which sound and work great except for the volume pedal.It seems to have a breaking point and doesn't work well for subtle swells that are slow but if you just use it for on/off type use it works fine. The noise suppressor is killer, I can let go of my strings at full volume and it makes no sound or feedback unless I want it too.I set the threshold high and the release low and it does an excellent job-I highly reccommend a boss noise suppressor to anyone who plays any kind of metal!Just remember to run it first in your chain of effects if you're using a pedal, if you're using the gt-3 though program it into a patch that has nothing but the noise suppressor and maybe the foot volume controller thats what seems to work best.Most of the effects sound good but like I said the levels need to be tweaked to your liking.I like the space/echo effects but they sound really harsh and trebly-once again try adjusting levels
and the eq.I also use the sub eq for a slight mid boost to get rid of some of the "mud" that comes with tuning low with lots of distortion.I don't like the phaser/flanger effects they sound boring and plain, pedals are better.I play stuff like slipknot, mudvayne
soulfly and sepultura and my rig works really well for me.but, i'm thinking of getting some pedals for flange/phase effects and just using the gt-3 for the tuner,noise suppressor and volume pedal.

I play live with the gt-3 and abuse the hell out of it, my singer threw water all over it at our last show and it still works fine(although I was pissed)it gets kicked around alot by me and our bass player and comes back for more-it's a boss, built like a tank!I use it without a back up although a back up would be nice in case the memory battery ever failed.Write everything down in case this ever happens cuz reprogramming the whole thing would suck!

Never dealt with Roland and hopefully I never will, I've recorded twice with it and practice every day with it as well as play live all the time and in the 6 months I've owned it I've had no problems.

I play modern metal and the gt-3 is a good match for this style of music but I'm still gonna buy other effects pedals for flange and
phasing effects it lacks in those departments.I've been playing for 14 years and right now I'm pretty happy with my sound, although I'd
like to get a VHT head or a Mesa/Boogie triple rectifier in the future to run in stereo with my 5150.If it were lost or stolen I'd buy another after I beat the crap out of whoever lost or stole it!

After dealing with several different effect units over the years (Digitech, Alesis, Zoom) the GT-3 falls into the so-so. Do yourself a favor and check out all the info you can find on the unit. It comes with a typical Roland manual which makes you feel like you are speaking Tagalog in France.

Yeah, I know everybody else hears noise or can't get the sound thick enough or can't get that elusive 1958 Plexi sound (or whatever). That doesn't mean it isn't there, it just means you need to tweak the sounds a little. I have gotten mine to ALMOST perfectly sound like what I might need for tracking (everything from an SRV style blackface Twin to a Randall solid state black metal grind). If you can't get the sound you want out of it, try bringing global hi eq down 4 db and run the output into an ART tube MP pre or a Tubeworks blue tube.

Metal Metal Metal RULEZ!!! Don't ever buy plastic effects

I've been doing stoner electronic and nothing I've ever used has sounded this good! Throughout my 12 yrs of playing I've tried everything and this box 'does it' for me. I wouldn't use the synth live but it's great for recording, and for those of you who don't like the tracking - PLAY CLEANER!! (just kidding - try running a mild overdrive BEFORE the synth and 160bpm 16ths are no prob)

The GT-3 can be intimidating when you first plug into it, but with a little time and some reading in the user manual, no problems. http://members.tripod.com/bossgt3/ is a good site. Check out the Supplemental user manual. Everything is pretty straight forward, although editing can be time consuming.

I'm playing a Amer. Stand Strat directly into the GT-3 and running straight into a Church PA system (church seats approx. 1000). I'm running back to my amp from the direct box so I can control my own monitor. I love this effects pedal. I can get a good "acoustic sound" out of my Strat. Not an acoustic guitar out of it, but and acoustic sound. My acoustic-electric Yamaha sounds really good through the GT-3 with some chorus/delay and EQing.

You can get basically every sound you could want. I've read in these reviews that the distortions suck, but... Tweaking is involved. Most of the presets have to be redone/thrownout. Reverb and delay are very good. The unit, overall, is very quiet. Heavy distortions can be noisy, but that's the way it's supposed to be. Wah is lacking, but I haven't had time to tweak it. I usually play with a Vox Wah, and can't quite get the sound I want. This unit also has some wacky sound -effects. You can get some string/pad/space sounds. I might have some use for these, but the church band also has two keyboard players who handle that stuff... Most guitarists aren't going to have any practical use for these, but they're fun to play with. I've only had it for about two weeks and haven't had a lot of time to explore all the possibilites.

It's built to last. All-Metal chasis. No backup.

Only had it for about 2 weeks. No problems so far...

I play in a church that does a little (very little) southern gospel, funk, pop/rock. I also play blues, rock, acoustic (Third Day, Delirious). The GT-3 lets me get all the sounds I want and more. I would definitely get another one if I lost it. I had a Zoom 505 before (crap), I also own a Ibanez Tubescreamer TS-9, and a Vox Wah-Wah. I don't use any of them anymore, except the vox occasionally (I'm hoping to tweak the settings on the GT-3 and do away with the Vox as well). I just love playing through it. The sound I get out of it gives me goose-bumps. LOVE IT!!

I found the GT-3 to be quite easy to use. You can do some surface quick editing with the EZ Edit function, although with some of the patches you would probably want to go into the full editing section. I feel this unit has a rather short learning curve myself. Some of the editing seemed a little tedious at first but after reading the manual thoroughly one time it was really easy to pick up. One of the best options of the GT-3 is that the pedals can be assigned to control individual patches or can be turned into effects pedals within a patch at the touch of a button. If you set it up right you can run through four totally different sounding patches with a 7 pedal effects string for each in a matter of seconds. You can cycle through more than four of course but when you're stomping around on stage time is of the essence right? The only questionable aspect of this box is that you better know what you're doing when using the full edit option. It's not hard to use, but when you first start playing around with it it is pretty easy to get some totally useless sounds. Outside of this though, it's really quite user friendly. The manual takes time to explain all of the effects and how they interact too--for those novices out there.

I am using a Gibson Les Paul Studio and some crappy Yamaha strat knock-off through a pair of Carvin SX-200's ran in stereo. I have found that the GT-3 is actually reasonably quiet. At least quieter than I expected. These amps are really clean so I basically use them as power amps for the GT-3(you can choose the bias for speaker configurations in the utility function). I run my guitar into (usually a BBE 482 and then into the GT-3, but for this I didn't in order to rate the GT-3 on it's own merits) the GT-3 and then run the left/right outs into the effects loop of each amp respectively. As I said, the noise is almost none existant, except a few patches seem to generate a little more than others. The varying noise in patches is similar to the varying output levels of patches even within their own patch bank. This is easily solved through some editing although it can be time consuming to change of bunch of them. Right out of the box this thing can be annoying because of these drastic jumps in output. A minor easily fixed problem though. I have found, unlike many others who have rated this, the distortions to be excellent. Granted, the overdrives and distortions on there own are a little thin, but when combined with the amp simulations you can get some good crunch, hardcore distortion and a really nice fuzz. I even think some of the preset patches have some good distortions. All it takes is a little editing to bring them out. And for you "death metal" fans out there, you CAN get some really swarthy distortion out of this thing--all it takes is a little time to dial it in. I found all of the effects to be very good with one exception--the wah. Basically the wah patches out of the box are terrible. Useable but terrible at the same time. This is by far the weakest point of the GT-3. With some intense editing work and lots of trial and error I have been able to get a pretty solid wah patch, one I can use to play "Bulls on Parade", but I would highly recommend an external wah pedal for all of you wah-heads out there. Being one who doesn't use it that much, it is a minor flaw for me. Plus I am very content with the picking wah progams on the GT-3. The synth sounds on this thing are quite a bit of fun. In my band we like to bust out the occasional 80's cover as a joke(I know, everyone does it) and with the "Strings" synth patch I have got the opening to Europe's "Final Countdown" nailed. They are kind of wacky and a little weird for most music, but hey, I found a use for them! Overall the sound quality is excellent in my mind and this thing would get a ten if you didn't have to fix the output problem and if the wah was even reasonable without major editing.

I have been stomping around on this thing for nine months everyday for at least three hours a day and it hasn't really failed me yet. It's built like a tank--the entire thing is metal, except the pedals which are just as indestructable. The one time it had a glitch it kind of "locked up". All I did was turn it off and then on again(it has an on/off switch unlike the Digitech RP's) and it was fine. The cool thing about this is that when you turn it off it saves your settings and stuff so when you turn it back on the amp bias and regional settings are all the same. You have to cycle back through the patches though, but with this thing it takes like a second. It only happened once and I run this thing all of the time. I gig with it all of the time without backup even though the Carvin's have built in effects if you really want to think about it--I couldn't use them to match anything from the GT-3 though. About as reliable as it gets for as much use as I get out of it!

I haven't dealt with Roland/Boss in relation to the GT-3, but everytime I have had a question about something they have always been knowledgeable and quick to reply. I also use a Roland VG-8 and have had to get help with that before--they were right on the ball. No complaints from me so far. And seeing as how the GT-3 is built like an old Studebaker, I don't think I will be needing to call about any problems anytime soon.

I play anything rock related, from 60's, 70's & 80's to punk to the new rap metal Limp Bizkit/Korn style stuff. For me this box can do it all. I like to play some more mellow bluesy stuff and some jazz-style things every once in a while and the GT-3 handles that with ease too.

I have been playing for five years most of which has been with my band(we all learned to play together from the bottom up to where we are now!) During that time this is one of the better purchases I have made. As I said before, I have a Les Paul Studio and a Yamaha strat with a Roland GK-2 synth pickup installed on it. I run these through a BBE 482, through the GT-3, and then to the two Carvin SX-200's. With the Yamaha and GK pickup, I run that through a Roland VG-8 into a Roland KC-500 amp. With this setup I can basically get any sound I want. For anyone with about $1500 bucks(w/o tax) you can get the BBE 482, GT-3, and two Carvin SX-200's. It's quite a set up and capable of almost anything--I would recommend it to anyone!

If this thing was lost or stolen, first I would hunt down the person who took it and mess them up, but I would sure as heck replace it. It has become an invaluable part of my rig.

For anyone looking for an all-in-one most bang for you buck kind of setup I would highly recommend the GT-3. It is one of the highest quality pieces of gear I have ever seen in this price range. It blows away anything by Digitech as far as I am concerned. It's built tough, has exceptional effects, and has so many options that the possibilities are virtually endless. It's a great buy that I highly recommend to anyone--oh and maybe a wah pedal too, if that's your thing!

Once you read the manual a couple of times, things start to click. I think the more you use it, the more you can come up with. With all of the parameters of all the effects being adjustable and the ability to change the order of effects, not to mention the pre amps sims and o.d.s-there is a lot of shit you can do. I give it an eight though because it took 2 months for me to start to feel comfortable with it.

Prs santana>gt3>(stereo out)marshall stereo chorus 8240 or mono into a fender concert with 4x12 cab. After I sold the marshall and only used this thing with the concert I realized something.-Who needs a amp simulation when you got a good fuckin' amp? If I had the gain up on my amp or just really had the tubes glowing,the gt-3 was over it. It is made to play thru a solid state clean amp like the jc-120(what a coincidence) If you have a bitchin amp, don't get this because you want a lot of effects, it is not like a bunch of floor pedals in one. I like a lot of shit it did, but the harmonist and the octave stuff was just off. And boy was this thing noisy, even with the noise supressor on it would hiss. Wah wah was even worse....

This thing is reliable and I would never think twice about using it anywhere. The only thing that would fuck it up would be a loss of power or a power surge(and then you are fucked anyway because your amp is on fire!)

I have no Idea.

I play dead,phish,funk,jazz,srv,blues kind of stuff, really just play what feels good when it feels good. I have been on the guitar for about 5 years now. I have a bunch of shit but this pedal has to go, for all the frustration it is causing me I can have a bunch of little frustations instead. If you set it up in a stereo effects loop with the 2x2 chorus on, it is very cool, so is the feedbacker, but definitely discolors your guitar and amp sound. I think I spent so much time exploring it possibilities that I played alot less. Thats about it. I suggest that if you are interested you go try one-WITH YOUR OWN AMP AND YOUR OWN GUITAR. A music store will hook you up on a clean shitty amp to show you what it CAN do. I got home and plugged up and saw what is COULNDN'T do. I am no expert and sound is a subjective arena. So try it yourself

Concerning ease of use, I can't say that the GT-3 is "easy" to use. Although not difficult, you will have to read the manual thoroughly the find your way around on the unit. (This is a must.) After one reading I had no problem plugging in and experiencing what the GT-3 can do. And what an experience!!! I'm playing through an Ampeg Reverberocket Combo (reissue). This is a clean sounding tube amp with dual 12" speakers that pump (a loud) 50 watts of sound. The amp alone sounds really good but with the GT-3 plugged in it's down right too much. The sound is really impressive.

The editing patches are swell. You can choose a sound, say...JB-LEAD (Bank 49.4) and customize it to just about any imaginable degree. The effects that make up this patch consist of Delay, Reverb, and a clean overdriven Preamp sound. What's neat about the unit is that you have total control over each individual effect and over the order in which they are driven. Like pedals you can choose which order to drive them.

The manual spells all this out and again, this is a "must read" item. No plug and play here. I found it to be a little on the technical side as far as reading goes but it's not difficult to understand by any means. No problems here.

There is some (meaning a small amount) noise with 3 of the heavily distorted patches, but there realy is no way around that with pedals any way. All the other sounds are relatively quiet. There are six or seven sounds that I won't use. These are weird spaced out sounds that can only be used for sound effects. All of the other setting are fantastic. I've found 22 that I knew immediately I would put to good use for Christian Rock.

I'm using the GT-3, a Kramer Ripley with a Seylmore Duncan 59" humbucker in place of the original pickup, and the Ampeg Reverberocket. I can get some old Van Halen sounds, some Eagles, and some realy nice clean sounds. This unit comes with a wah pedal effect that you can use with the expression pedal. It works but it's the end-all/be-all when it comes to wah wah's. I'd give it a 7. the chourus I'd give an 8. All the other effects get a 9. I found nothing on the GT-3 to be bad. Interesting note though. When plugged into the GT-3 the volume knob on my axe doesn't seem the have much of an effect on controling the volume that when I'm using guitar and amp only.

I've had it for 4 days so I can't comment yet.

I've not needed customer support.

I've been playing for 1 year. I play Christian Contemporary and Christian Rock. i have a TASCAM 4-track that I use for writting. I initialy bought the GT-3 to use as an effects board for recording. I've been having so much fun with it though I haven't done any recording yet. The reason I chose this unit was because I owned a Boss digital delay that was awsome. I went through three delays before buying the Boss DD3 and I was very happy with it. In the past I've played Roland keyboards that sounded pretty good. Originally I intended to buy individual pedals and mount them on a ply-wood board. The cost of doing this would have been nearly $600 for all the effects I wanted. The GT-3 was a great solution for recording and live playing and I didn't have to compromise!

I find this unit very easy to use. It has replaced all my pedals and is the only thing I now use. I plug input/output into an effects loop on my FenderTwin amp. Easy. I keep a clean sound preset to go to in case room acoustics or whatever suddenly makes things wierd. Editing patches during a gig is so very much not an option that I just don't do it. I'm talking about kneeling down, trying to read the LED display in wierd light or daylight, dialing in a minute parameter change with crowd screaming, it's difficult. But I didn't expect to be able to do that when I bought the unit. When you get the unit, do your homework. Put headphones on after each gig in the hotel room and make the changes to your presets that you've been thinking about during the gig. Like, I need that delay to be longer, etc. The manual was fun to read and seemed complete. Although a section on describing the factory presets would be useful. Their little preset names don't mean a whole lot. What's a "Match Lead" really sound like?

I play an Ibanez Custom S-series electric guitar with this unit, through a Fender Twin. It is not a noisy unit, but for some reason, certain presets go haywire when my Fender Twin's internal reverb is on past 5 or so. Like if I have reverb on to 8 and the preset has a compression setting this high squeal emits from the amp. So the unit for whatever reason is driving this lame noise. I can't seem to make it go away. I do use the noise suppressor because on really heavy presets with lots of OD and compression, there's some noise. The delay is very good, the phaser is good, the wah is thin, the synth sounds are unusable by me, the reverb is excellent. I give this section a 7 only because the wah is weak and I haven't found a ballsy distortion sound yet.

It is my sole unit, no backup needed. It's burly, doesn't slide around. I clean it with a rag so the gunk doesn't build up. I played a midday gig last summer and reading the display was so hard I panicked but built a little sun glare shield and that worked.

never needed it.

I play guitar in a 5 piece marimba band, so I need a very clean sound for fast soukous-style picking and trippy stuff for intros and ambient sections also searing distortion for when I break out the slide. The GT-3 lets me do all this. I like to be able to name my own patches, and the effects loop chain feature may be the underappreciated feature here. Simple and reliable.

This is my first unit and I think it is quite easy to use. The manual is very detailed, and the unit itself contains logical diagrams to help you out. The unit has about 85 banks with 4 selectable patches in each bank. You can change bank with up and down pedals and change the patch with pedals 1-4. About 35 banks are programmable. If you own a computer, you can download patches from the internet created by others and send them to your GT-3 using a Midi interface, very simple and cool. The unit also features a CTRL pedal for switching and an expression pedal. The CTRL pedal and expression are fuly programmable with everything you want, so you are not restricted to, e.g., WAH and volume only. Also multiple effects, up till 7 or 9, don't remember exactly, can be assigned to the pedals, which is quite awesome. A disadvantage is that the effects cannot be fully controlled by the large pedals, you have to get down and use your fingers to look for a new sounds. There is a manual mode to turn off/on basic effects with the pedal, but to change the values, you need to get down on your knees. The effects are easy and fast to set up though, a disc can be turned to quickly change the values of the effects.

I use a Ibanez JS100, and that sounds very good . The unit has lots of effects (32), some basic and useful, some less useful, but fun for intro's or special effects. The preamp simulator is very cool and I use it to get my distortions and the best clean sounds. I play a lot with headphones and I don't like the distortion/overdrive effect that much, the preamps sound much better. With an amplifier, the OD/DS sounds good, though. The acoustic simulator is quite nice for background chords. Delay, reverb and chorus are perfect, with lots of options to fine tune. Phaser and flanger are OK. The double harmonizer can shift up 2+ or 2- octaves, sounds cool, but doesn't always know how to handle multiple strings together. The guitar synth is too slow and sounds cheap, but I like to play with it and hold a synth tone as background noise. The wah is quite good, especially for clean sounds, but seperate pedals like the cry baby are better. The problem with the wah is that it changes the sound of your patch a lot. This can be compensated with the two build in equalizers. There are also some less useful effects, but fun for special effects or intro's. These are the ring modulator, auto-riff, slicer. The vibrato doesn't seem to do much. The enormous amount of patches are all of good quality, but I prefer some patches I found on the internet. Overall, you can create a lot of good sounds with the unit, for all kind of musical styles. The ability to change the order of the effect, makes the unit perfect to find an unlimited number of different sounds and experiment forever.

The unit has a metal casing and is very heavy because of that, it doesn't run away when you step on it. The expression pedal is a bit light to use, but very solid.

No experience with it.

Well, it's perfect for me. I've been playing electrical guitar for about a year now, played acoustical guitar for about 9 years. I used to be not that much of an active guitar player, but this device gave me a new spirit. I play almost every day now, preferably late in the evening when it is dark outside :-)

I skimmed through a few of the reviews of this unit and found that a few people have problems with the distortion sounds. It's taken me 2 months of tweaking and playing with the unit, and I'm just getting to grips with it, but the work has paid off, and now I'm getting some great driven sounds. Editing patches caused me no problems. The manual isn't too hot - I found out much more from the manual that is on the gt-3 users site.

I use a Fender USA Tele and a Yamaha Pacifica 812, into a crybaby wah, into the GT-3, and out to 2 Trace Elliot Speed Twin C100 amps. At first I combined gain from the amps with the od/dist on the GT-3, but am getting better tones having the amps on the clean channel and getting all my distortion from the GT-3. I don't need to use the noise suppressor, the unit isn't too noisy. I'm into Stone Temple Pilots, Black Crowes, anything with passion and groove but try to come up with my own sounds and not copy anybody else. I never use the preamp models-they just don't sound good to me. Wah is not good - I use a crybaby. Guitar synth is unusable for what i do. There are various other effects in there that aren't for me but the things I do use on it are great.

I can depend on it. I would use it without backup.

I play original music with 3 other badasses. We laugh at how good we are. You will be hearing from us. I've been playing since the age of 7. I'm now 24. If it was stolen it would be a pisser reprogramming it, but I would get another one. I like it 'cos it's a solid unit and I'm very heavy footed on stage. I don't like the fact that you can't mix fx from the mod group. One more thing...smile, you look perplexed.

This thing is probably one of the easier units out there. The manual was long, but it described everything in detail. Nice setup, patch changing is quite simple, it helps to have the bank up and bank down that isnt found on some other pedals (The GT-5 and the Korg AX1000G). Editing your sounds are easy as pie and finding a good sound takes minutes after you are familiar with the unit.

I run the GT-3 from my Les Paul Studio or Jay Turser Strat copy (P.O.S.) to my Peavey MX and my Kustom practice amp. The GT-3 sounds better in stereo so its worth the extra amp. There is no noise from the unit. I dont use the distortion that often, instead using the amp models for distortion. You can get a very convincing overdriven Fender sound with this. I play all sorts of styles, Jazz, Blues, Hard Rock, Metal to name a few and this lets me nail everything. I have found that you can really nail some good tones with this unit (Santana, Pat Metheny, SRV to name a few) The distortion and amp modeling is great, as well with the modulation effects. The accoustic simulator isnt too hot but of well. I have found some good uses for the guitar synth (U2-style). The Ring modulator and auto-riff are pretty useless except if you play acid rock. The delay is quite good and I have tweaked the Space Echo patch to get some nice eerie lines. The wah sucks. It doesnt even come close to gettinga good sound, hell, it doesnt even come close to a DOD and thats pitifull. Instead, I use the auto-wah and use the expression to control the sweep. The unit itself is pretty impressive and picks up picking dynamics well but doesnt respond well to your guitars volume control.

This thing is built like a tank. The only thing that could break are the switches and youd have to jump on them. I gig without a backup all the time. I wouldnt have bought it if I wasnt sure it would hold up.

Never dealt with them. I dont like the fact that you have to live in the US to register the warranty on-line.

This pedal is the best thing in its prrice range. I compared it to the RP-7, Korgs AX1000G, a bunch of Zoom Pedals and even the GT-5. The others didnt come close (except for the GT-5). Ive been playing for about 2 years now. If it were lost or stolen, Id probably buy it again or a nice Rocktron rackmount. My only gripe is that the wah sucked. That isnt too much of a problem though, Im looking into a Budda or Teese wah now (I cant stand Crybabys). I can easily recommend this pedal to anyone who is looking for a good multi-effects unit.

When I first got this pedal, it looked VERY indimidating to program. I had to read the manual more than once and get the very feel of working this thing. The manual deal didn't help much throughout the whole learning experience of programming the pedal but I managed to get good sounds after a few weeks of tinkering and tweaking it. Once that was accomplished, programming each presets is a breeze. The manual generally just gave basic descriptions on how each effect work and blah... doesn't really give a clear detail on acheiving good sounds. On the other hand, you really have to tweak with this unit for a long while along with the amp you're currently playing it to compliment each other and get great tone.

I'm currently playing an Ibanez RG470 with EMG 85 in the neck, EMG-S in the middle, and an EMG 81 in the bridge and by far, the guitar sounds extremely good with this pedal. With my setup, I can get a lot of tones and depth with the unit. Although I have yet to explore the other features in this thing, it certainly has a lot of features that I would need in the future. Distortion(s) are excellent! From blues to death metal, this processor will definitely suit your needs! Other effects include EQ, Slowgear, Anti-feedback, Compressor, Limiter, Sub-EQ, Harmonizer, Guitar Synth, Chorus, Delay, Reverb, Humanizer, Vibrato, and a whole lot more. Effects such as the Chorus and Delay are definitely great for solos... especially when I have the guitar set on the neck position. The Acoustic Simulator is awesome whenever I have my guitar set in the middle position... great acoustic sounds! The Noise suppressor does the job right w/o use of external noise suppression units.
Practicing with it along with the Crate 15W amp actually made it sound brutal! Practicing at the studios with a Crate BV120 and 2 Amepeg 4x12 cabs is a whole different story!

It's a Boss. This will pedal will stay with me for a while unless a far more better version come out, which I doubt. Made out of blue steel, this pedal will certainly last gig after gig after gig. Although I can not find a gig bag for this, the LCD display can be a little hassle to carry around since it's the *most sensitive part of the unit*.

Never bothered cause Boss products are too good to get any complaints.

I play death / black metal. I like to experiment with the sounds involved with this unit and use these sounds as an additive to my band's music. I've been playing for the past 6 years or so. I've upgraded from an ME-30 to a GT-3 in December as a b-day present and I was definitely happy with the GT-3. The ME-30 had it's moments but by far, the GT-3 is the next best thing in the affordable great quality processors category. I debated between ths GT-3 and the recent Digitech RP2000 processor and the GT-3 gives ya all the freedom to program effects in any way you want... even changing the arrangement of these effects within the *pedal chain* of the unit. This was a major advantage for my purchase because I don't like my sound to be limited into the same *pedal chain* arrangement for every bank (which has about 86 with 4 presets per bank). I definitely love the CTL pedal because you can set it up to anything in the effects chain and control your sound within a stomp of your feet.

Manual can be vague on some subjects. Editing is about the same as most units. I did like the EZ editing mode to get a general sound without lots of tweaking, then you could refine that. Low rating mostly for the manual.

I upgraded to the GT3 from a Digitech RP-7. The GT3 seems quieter, and some effects seem more refined, but... my opiniion is the sound is very compressed - the RP-7 sounded much "fatter" to me. Perhaps the tube (valve) in the RP-7 makes that much of a difference! I really didn't think any of the amp emulations were that realistic. Might be OK for some amp rigs, but I use a power amp stereo setup, and it just didn't cut it for me. Ended up trading it for a ART SGX 2000 Express rackmount - much happier now!

Built like a tank. I can't see how you could break it unless it fell out of the van on the way to the gig (and even then...). Note - I only used this for about 6 months before trading it in.

Never had to deal with them.

I play mostly classic rock type originals, 50-50 clean and dirty. Have used many floor type multi-effects, I thought the GT-3 was comparable to most, but really nothing special. It did seem a little less noisy than most units, but then again I really didn't care for the sound. It does offer many functions, but in my opinion many of them don't lend themselves to realistic live playing. For the amount of money this thing costs, I would reccomend going for a used rack mount setup- much better sound.

Fairly easy to operate. If you want to get into specific sounds and matching artists sounds, you can get lost pretty easy in the gazillion options (but they are nice to have, though). Very easy to get a good clean sound (what isn't, though). Distortions will drive you crazy trying to get what you want. Editing is simple overall. the manual is dry and boring and will make you want to write your own. Big surprise there.

I use a '79 Hamer standard with a Peavey heritage (2 speakers) amplifier. Noise was very controllable with the noise suppressor effect except the sustain would suffer horribly no matter how you chained it or altered tone values and cuts. My old crappy DOD G7 sustained better. The overall effects and selection are fantastic and most sound great to excellant. But....If you recognize a common complaint throughout these reviews it is the distortion and overdrives. Wow, are they weak! You can get a decent sound, but you have to work your ass off to get it, and the next day when you come back to listen to it, it sounds bad. Anyone who truly likes to have a full range of hard, grinding, good sounding distortions will be dissapointed overall. It's almost surprising they were included with the awesome sounds that make up the other effects. Yes, you can add in the amp sim (some are excellant) but you really have to work to get what you want and for me in the end it didnt cut it. Otherwise, the effects sound as good as I've heard (I really enjoy the harmony and pitch shifting). I believe you can get the sounds of many artists but for the heavier stuff (and I'm not talking "death metal" here), I think it sounds either too much/uneven or way too little (very little punch to it). If it wasnt for the lame distortions this pedal would be perfect. I really believe this. But once again, people prefer different types of sound to others, so it may suit you, but listen to the pattern and if this area is important to you..... Overall, I think this thing sounds like an 8, but the distortion and overdrives alone, are about a 5.

I think this this thing as is reliable as your going to get for the money. It truly is built solidly and I have not seen anything that has a look that makes you want to play. It's weirdo blue, but nice and classy in it's own way.

No dealings with 'em.

Like I said, this thing would be a 10 if it werent for the distortions that will bother a lot of players. I've been playing for 17 years now and do not want to have 18 stomp boxes to get the whole job done. This gizmo almost corrects all of that. If it were lost or stolen, it would have to have happened at the store where I bought and returned it back to based on the annoyances of "trying to find that sound". There was more tweaking and tinkering than playing for me and that is when things get the boot around here. If you do not care much for a lot of tinkering, tweaking, and twaking to get what you want or something even closs to it, do not buy this item. This is what bothered me the most as I just couldnt quite find it! Blah!. It is remarkable in a million ways and dissapointing in a few areas in a major big way. I am truly upset about not keeping it, because it is really a nice little gadget with plenty of surprises and sounds within for the money, and you can get a lot of great sounds out of it. You shouldnt have to always have to work to get it though. Why can't true guitar players design these things? Not techno pilots (horrendous presets!). It's too bad the little things of this model turned me off to an otherwise amazing product in the end, but Boss should be commended overall for a very complete and well built product.

It's a big pedal but with a little time youll learn how to master it. when i first got it, it would take a long time to edit patches. but now ive gotten pretty fast at it.its well worth the extra work to edit because this pedal has some awesome fx.and how u select effects to change is really easy. all the buttons are right there on the front of the thing with all the fx listed for you.and also, this pedal being slow to edit is a good thing because it will teach you all about fx and how to use them.

i use my gt3 through my yamaha pacifica 112(a good guitar,yamaha can make anything) and through a peavy studio pro 112 65w amp.i plan on getting a marshall valvestate halfstack soon though.the fx on this thing surprised me. almost every other processor i heard sounded very digital but this pedal is exactly opposite. if you like boss fx pedals than youll like the gt3. the fx are just as good quality. they dont sound digital at all.the fx are even set up like the little boss pedals.for example, the same parameters you edit in the processor are the same as the boss compact pedals knobs.its also a very quiet pedal which is very good when it comes to my style of playing. i play hard, i play stuff like fear factory,pantera,sepultura,slayer,slipknot,white zombie and other heavy stuff and this pedal can get all the sounds you want for that kind of music.i especially like that this pedal has analog distortion and not just the digital preamp. i personally dont think the preamp distortions are that great but the analog are amazing. most processors have horrible distortion but not this one.all it takes is a little editing.the only way you cant get a good sound of this thing is your own lack of creativity.

it is very reliable. its solid metal like boss pedals so it can withstand some scracthes and dents. i plan going into a band and i am definetly going to use this pedal live.

if you play HEAVY metal like i do, and dont mind a little editing than this pedal is for you.the parametric eq is the key to the good sounds.it keeps the pedal extra quiet and sounding crystal clear.ive been playing for about 4 years and ive owned a zoom 505,boss metal zone,and a boss ge7 eq but after i got this pedal i didnt need those anymore. not even the eq pedal makes it sound better. it sounds great by itself. the only thing that would make sound even better would be a seperate parametric eq. they are the best(alot better than graphic eqs).if this pedal ever got stolen i would first track down the person who did it, kill them, and definetly buy another one. and dont fall for the boss gt5. it is older. the gt3 has what it has and then some.and it costs less.

Obviously, it takes a while to get good sounds, but it is worthwhile. Editing patches is easy in most of the fx (chorus, eq, comp, pre, wah, delay, etc) but it is not very easy to edit modulation fx, cause they have many parameters, I'm still not-knowing about some of them. The manual explain very well except the control-assign part cause it has so many technical lenguaje. I never use the EZ edit funtion, instead I 'd like this unit has some knobs to real time editing (like Roland GP100). The CTL and assign funtion are very usable, it can affect every fx parameter! The LCD display (with lot of characters) helps so much.

I use it directly to a Mackie console and Peavey power amps and my main guitar is an Ibanez FGM100. The GT3 is able to sound as good as I was playing through a real guitar amp when I use it on "Line(Headphones)" setting which works like kind of speaker simulator. In certain guitar/unit position you can hear some noise. The OD/DS stomp boxes fx sound really awful, but in combination with a driven preamp you can obtain interesting distored sounds. The quality sound of this unit is as good as other Roland devices like GP100, I'm impressed by the quality of effects (clean and driven), the acoustic sim is amazing only takes a little adjust; the pick up sim is realistic (if compare with ME30) it has enough preamps and their drives are so good and traited. You have so many possibilities with the modulation fx, humanizer is so cool. The Guitar Synth is amazing, but has lot of parameters, my favorite wave tipe is Brass, it is very fast and accept guitar technics like bendings, and tapping. you can sound like kind of Jhon McLaughlin's Axon synth....I love it! The expression pedal is not very accurate, it doesn't have a linear ratio, so I'm not very happy with the wah (which only has one kind of that) . As usually, this unit has unuseful stuff like AutoRiff funtion. There are enough preamps and fx to find the color of your favorite artist, just have to spend a while. You can get really great distortions.

Solid hardware, but maybe the digital part could be delicated. I had to send it back to repair.

I live in South America, so my main contact source is internet. Roland website doesn't has any e-mail address to ask for. I had tech troubles and I couldn't found help from them! I appealed to the retailer in Connecticut.

I've been playing guitar 6 years ago, I'm playing in a christian church, we play many kinds of music (pop, gospel, rock, blues-rock, swing, latin fusions) and I'm an early jazz student, This unit is able to cover all of that styles with no problem. I've tried Zoom 3030, 505, Boss ME30 and Digitech RP12 and it was from earth to heaven! I think I will be with GT3 for long. I play a GP100 from a friend and their sound qualityes are comparable, but GT3 is lots most practical. If stolen, I maybe watch the new-born similar units (RP2000, Korg AX1000, Zoom GFX8) but I think I would back to GT3. Coming from ME30 I miss stuff like phrase trainer, patch exchange and jam-along. Speaker Sim was reduced to mic positions, I want more (like GT5). It is a great device and a good price, I'll play it for long.

If you know anything about editting effects, then you won't have any problem navigating on this machine. I've seen a LOT worse! The editing is rather intuitive actually, and I spent more of my time just following my nose (and ears) through the editting features. I like the fact that it edits in real-time, just like you were twiddling a knob on a stompbox. I don't use the quick-edit function, just because so far I haven't hound a need for it. The manual is good as manuals go, but as I stated, it's more fun and easier to learn by just going through and doing it. There is a nice bit about each effect and what it does in the manual.

I play a '93 Gibson CHet Atkins SST through a Roland AC-100 Acoustic Amp. Not your average Rock and Roll set-up, for sure, so finding a good processor for my sound was very hard. The GT-3 does the trick, and here's why: Because I can use it through my effects loop on the amp, I am able to still retain the character of my amp and guitar tone without having to rely on the pre-amps in the GT-3. I completely bypass the pre-amps altogether and just use the effects. THe COSM technology and speaker/pick-up simulations I have tried out just sound wrong with my guitar, since it's a Piezo pick up versus a Coil, but I have been able to tweak some nice distort-o-tones jsut by using the OD/DIST effect. I like all the effects, even the more bizarre ones, and by using them in conjunction with my non-rawk-guitar set-up, I am finding even more unique possibilities and tonal range than an average electric guitar.

It's a TANK! One of the reasons I bought it was because I want something to stick with me. I may play acoustic guitar, but there's still some rockin' going on onstage! It was a definate selling feature that it was in such a nice sturdy package. It hasn't farted out on me, so I have no reason to think I'd need a back up. It takes a lot of juice, but I have a high grade computer power strip to plug into.

Um, I had to deal with Roland about my amp once, but never with a Boss product yet, but I hope I don't have to! It was a real hassle dealing with the Roland rep, and although I'd hate for it to ever happen, I'd quicker go to an independent authorized repair place than go through Roland/Boss. Love the Product, not the service!

I play in a band that bills itself as Dark, Electro-Acoustic Pop. I had been sorely looking for something that could enhance my toanl spectrum without sacrificing hte acoustic qualities of my instrument. This unit is just right for that. If something happened to it, I'd get another one immediately. I did a lot of research on it compared to all the Digitech, Korg and other floor multi effects and really this was just the best sounding of them all for what I do. I really don't have any complaints about it, as it is veratile, sturdy and sounds great in my rig. It's really an inspriring product and has taken my playing to a new level and enhanced the voice of the band I play in. I haven't used it for recording yet, but it seems like the cleanliness of the tone would lend itself well to it. If you're an acousitc instrument player and need something to really enhance without ruining the uniqueness of your instrument's tone, I recommend it. It's not a beginner's product though, and a good idea of how effects processor works definately helps.

It's easy to get started, and doesn't look that much harder to tweak. I've had it for about 4 months. I would say the biggest barrier to tweaking is the fact that the presets are a bit exaggerated, to say the least, so you know once you sit down, you're going to replace at least 75% of them.

I was just mucking with the POD, and my feeling is for amp sounds, that has the GT-3 beat. However, I'm relatively new to playing (a year and a half) and this thing has a great collection of sounds, above and way beyond what the pod offers. synth, phaser, ring mod, etc. They may not all be perfect sounding, but they're pretty good, and there's a lot of them. It's a great toy, probably better for live than direct, but I'm sure it'll do me for both for a while (and my drummer has a POD, so I'll just borrow that when I feel picky about direct amp sounds).

It's a great metal monster. You could kill someone with it. You could probably spray it with a beer hose (if such a thing exists).

haven't had to.

Very cool overall. I'm happy. Probably better for live than direct, and the presets tend towards the dramatic, so you'll probably want to replace some and move them around.

This is an update after gigging with the GT3 for over six months now. I've discovered a lot about the programming end of it, specifically:
1) If you're gonna use it live through an amp, do your editing through your amp. If you're gonna run it direct, edit it while running direct.
I made the mistake of editing patches late at night with headphones, then discovering that something else came out when playing through my amp.
Also, 2)regardless of what the manual says, if you don't have an effects loop or a power amp in on your amp, DO NOT plug into yer input, set T & B to zero and set Mids to 10. Just use the Guitar Amp-Combo setting and tweak yer EQ to taste. Otherwise, it'll be thin as a transistor radio.

Also,3) do not neglect to check out the Manual mode. I can now play all night without leaving bank #1 (not really, but...). Build a good clean sound, create a chorus, delay, OD, tremolo, vibrato, wah that expand well from that sound and work well together, and load 'em to switch on and off with the manual mode. Then do the same with a crunch sound, a distorted sound, etc.
IMHO, the best feature of the GT3 - most of all like using stompboxes, which we all understand.

Once again, make it work WITH your amp/PA , not INSTEAD of your amp. Take the time to tweak the preamps. The Fender and Matchless models are exceptional. Don't go overboard on yer effect levels. Subtle is better, believe me.

After six months, the exp pedal bombed out in the middle of a gig. Had to quickly take it out of each patch I use to get a signal. Hand delivered to the BOSS repair guy, he fixed it while I waited (ten minutes), but it still cost me $25. This "one year parts, only 90 days labor" type warranty sucks. The parts probably cost a dime (bad linkage). The labor was $25.

Had to find a service rep myself. That part of the Roland website was down. Still is. Their phone in California was disconnected with no forwarding #. It's like they were trying to hide.

I love this unit. I'm real dissappointed that it broke so soon. I'm disgusted about the fine print in the warranty and the lack of support (or even communication) from Roland.

I've had this thing for about 5 monthes now and I have to say that getting rid of my Boss ME-30 was well worth it...The maual is kinda dry and very...should I say scientific. The maunal mode is very usefull...The way I doit...I create a patch for an entire song then go to maual mode to use it. Farely easy to use.

For my setup I'm running this pedal through my effects loop on my Peavy Bandit 1x12 and my Ibanez S1520BP Prestige through the high gain. Most of the Modulation effects like flange, phaser, and chorus are very noisy but if you mess with the long enough you can get a good sound out of them...as for the distortion...they suck bad...I use a MT-2 Pedal from boss for my distortion. But for the most part the sound is better than some other effect units I have used...You just have to sit down and tweak with it...The only thing I have to say about this that I hate is the fact that it does not have a middle sweep function...But Like I said over all...I've been able to get Tool, Staind, Creed, Alice in Chains, Metallica....even the pefect Sound for Pantera...So I have to say that this thing is really good....

I've never had a problem with is...what can I say...It's heavy...solid and It's a Boss!

The people at boss are freindly but never had to deal with them.

I mainly play heavy metal and Rock and this thing suits me pretty well...thats all I have to say on that.

Well of course it takes a few hours to get used to, but for the amount of features it has it is VERY easy. Although it is easy to use it is also vey hard to master, but it just takes getting used too. Anyways the presets are excellent, plentiful and they cover a wide variety of styles for beginners.

The pedal sounds great! Every effect is flawless except for the distortion. The overdrive, grunge and such are okay but when you want to play metal, the distortion lacks punch, but for that, just purchase the Boss MT-2 Metalzone and plug it in as an external distortion and you have the perfect setup.

It's Boss

Never had to deal with them.

Okay so it might not look very professional, but when you see someone with rack effects that he paid over $3000 for and you have this small pedal with as much or even more features that sound almost as good it's worth buying. Excellent quality/price ratio.

The gt-3 is a little bit complicated to program. It just takes alot of tweeks, and alot of time to get an effect sounding exceptional. It's a simple floor setup, you just step on the effect pedal. Getting to the bank controls is a little bit hard, but i make a bank for every song so i don't have to change banks in the middle of a song.

I use a Fender Roadhouse Stratocaster guitar, with a few modifications such as Locking tuners, and a Hipshot Trems-setter, so the modifictions don't effect the pickups. My amp is a Fender Stage 100 with the Celeston speaker in it.
The Gt-3 can go from clean chourse with acoutic sound to heavy, high gain distortion. The distortions are a lil' noisy, and not what i expected from boss, but they still ROCK! if anybody is reading this that has one, i like to mix a Jc 120 preamp, with Distortion 1...it sounds really good after you do alot of tweeking. I"m sure you'll like it.
The effects always sounds great as long as you don't but a chores rate on 100 or flanger depth on 100 or whatever.
I can get the sounds of all my favorite artist. I mainly play Nirvana, Bush, Foo Fighters, and stuff like that. The Gt- 3 is perfect for those bands when i use a Boss Mt-2 Metal Zone Stompbox before my processor. Then here is where the versitility of this pedal comes in (sorry for the spelling), I can take a few banks for bands like Nirvana and stuff, then i can have banks for bands such as Lynyrd Skynyrd, and other classical rockers. It certianly is a great processor.

It is boss, or course it's reliable
I would use this a 10 year world tour, riding in the back of a Volkswagon Super Beetle, WITHOUT a back up!!

I've never really delt with the boss corporation, but i've been to a few conventions that they have sponsored, and they spare no expense. Everybody i talk to tells me Boss is the best guitar effects company.

If you don't have a Gt-3, then get a job, save up, and GET ONE!! it's jsut that simple. The Lcd display is awsome and its just a really really great processor. I can't say enough about it. I've compared ti to 3 different processors, and it rules over all of them. I compared it to: Digitech Rp-7 (great processor, great distortions), Dod tech8-G (piece of CRAP), Yamaha Gw-50 (most ppl don't remember this one).

Bottom line..GET ONE! well worth the money

I have had for about a week and I am now just feeling like I understand it. It is quite easy to get a good sound out of it,I just took a while. I am constantly updating my patches.

I am playing a gibson SG through a Marshall JCM 900 w/ a marshall cab. I am running it through the effects loop. Some of the presets get a little digital feedback. But backing off the output of the unit usually takes care of that. I think everything sounds fantastic, however the acoustic sim. is a little funny. But if you're thinking of buying a chorus, flange, phaser, delay, noise suppressor, compressor, tuner, limiter, eq, auto wah or volume pedal...BUY THIS THING!!! By the time you bought 4 of these things you could've paid for this. The distortions and preamps are ok. Finding a good distortion for hardcore/metal (hatebreed,buried alive,madball)took a while but I finally nailed it. This thing is the sh*t.

Since a play mostly hardcore w/ a jcm 900, the amp is my back up. But, it is a boss. So I'm not worried

Never dealt with them

I've been playing for more than 10yrs. and finally have equipment I am proud of, the gt3 was just the icing on the cake. I've ditched a case full of pedals, and am very happy. I compared this with the newest digitech rp2000 and it smoked it. I'd say the delays are sweet. the noise suppressor a huge benefit, and options a huge bonus. Since I've bought this I actually get up early to play.It has definitely inspired me. And as far as disliking anything on it, I'm a retard without a graphic eq.(no offense to any retards)(oh and definitely check out the site listed in another review a few posts down)

I have had for about a week and I am now just feeling like I understand it. It is quite easy to get a good sound out of it,I just took a while. I am constantly updating my patches.

I am playing a gibson SG through a Marshall JCM 900 w/ a marshall cab. I am running it through the effects loop. Some of the presets get a little digital feedback. But backing off the output of the unit usually takes care of that. I think everything sounds fantastic, however the acoustic sim. is a little funny. But if you're thinking of buying a chorus, flange, phaser, delay, noise suppressor, compressor, tuner, limiter, eq, auto wah or volume pedal...BUY THIS THING!!! By the time you bought 4 of these things you could've paid for this. The distortions and preamps are ok. Finding a good distortion for hardcore/metal (hatebreed,buried alive,madball)took a while but I finally nailed it. This thing is the sh*t.

Since a play mostly hardcore w/ a jcm 900, the amp is my back up. But, it is a boss. So I'm not worried

Never dealt with them

I've been playing for more than 10yrs. and finally have equipment I am proud of, the gt3 was just the icing on the cake. I've ditched a case full of pedals, and am very happy. I compared this with the newest digitech rp2000 and it smoked it. I'd say the delays are sweet. the noise suppressor a huge benefit, and options a huge bonus. Since I've bought this I actually get up early to play.It has definitely inspired me. And as far as disliking anything on it, I'm a retard without a graphic eq.(no offense to any retards)(oh and definitely check out the site listed in another review a few posts down)

Right out of the box, you can gig with it. Its very simple to setup your own patches as well. It might take a couple of hours to get the hang of it, but after you do...you will be editing like crazy. I dont use the EZ edit, and dont recomend using it. Its not that hard to edit or create patches without it. You get alot more control of the sound if you bypass the EZ edit. But if you are someone that wants a digital preamp processor, and dont like tweaking...the EZ edit may be just for you. Anyways...very simple to use.

I play a standard Fender Strat, and an Epiphone Les Paul through a Peavey Bandit 1x12 100 watt (with 1x12 speaker extension cab.)...80 watts without. Its definately not the best amp...but at the time i bought it...it was very decent for the money. I run the signal from the guitar to the GT-3, then into the Return input for my amp's effects loop. I found i get a cleaner sound that way. I have read posts on the unit's clean sounds, saying they are too noisy. I dont agree at all. SOme of the preset patches are a little noisy, however, those use modeled pre-amps which may be a characteristic of the noisiness. I have created patches with a super clean sound. No noise at all. I find that all the effects sound very well. I mean...come on...the unit costs 400 dollars...not 4,000. What are you expecting. If you want top of the line effects....buy top of the line studio equipment. But you get alot for that 400 dollars. I have found its fairly easy to re-create many sounds of your favorite bands. It does have some weak effects. Like the auto-riff (pointless...will NEVER use), and I dont think I will ever use the ring modulator, or synth sounds. But thats my opinion, and my style of play. The point is try it out for yourself first. You may love it....you may hate it. Great sound. Period. I love this thing.

Built like a tank. Boss pedals have never failed me before. Previous to playing through the GT-3, I used a string of Boss pedals for my effects. Very reliable. I gig without a backup right now mainly because I dont have the extra 400 dollars to buy another one. But I feel very safe.

Havent had to use it...but their website could definately use a facelift.

I have been playing for about 5 years now, and play a wide variety. Blues, alternative, classic rock, metal. I have found you can get great sounds to match any style you might play with this unit. I compared it to the Digitech RP-7, and then to RP2000 when it was released. In my opinion, this unit sounds cleaner, and is easier to edit. And just when you think you know everything it can do....you learn something new. If it was stolen, I would definately buy another one. There is not one single thing I do not like, except for it doesnt have a Jam-along-jack. It would be cool to play along with a CD through the headphones like on the Digitech units...but then again, this unit seems a little more professional than those. I can look past that without a problem. If you dont have one......GET ONE!!!

for my 2 and a half hours of fidling around and jamming on it at a music store i couldn't keep my eyes off the prested banks they have (200 Manufactured presets 140 user patches). It wasn't that hard to make your own patch, simply by deleting a preset and making your effect. but to do it properly you would have to sit down with a jug of coffee and take the amazing edtitng ride.

From bluesy distortion to an amazingly heavy pantera distorion, it's all there.

Such a stupid question. It's BOSS what do you expect.

I play all sorts of alternative rock/punk. Anything from the Tea Party to frenzal rohmb.
I don't actually own one but i am looking for a job to get the money to buy one.
As i have said on previous reviews, If any on stole it i would find them and rip their fuck'n heads off.

I found it is hard to remember where what is where... but other wise the setup is perfect.

There isn't more than 4 effects I don't like the sound of. I have an american kramer vangard and a fender princeton chorus amp it sounds great and i love it

It is very realiable

.....

good for all music
tone of distortion and overdrive
amazing

I personally found this unit very easy in use for it's complexity. It's also rather flexible and can be used in most possible setups.
The one great thing for me was full Midi-support which allows you to store patches on an external sequencer or PC or to use GT-3 as a
MIDI-Controller for other units. But on the other hand you have to tweak a lot to get a good sound out of this machine. And the manual sucks because it gives you only few usefull infos on how to get started or how to work with Midi-features but doesn't really help you in creating your own patches. So I had to spend some hours to get familiar with all the effect-settings.

I use very cheap guitar with single-coil pick-ups with my GT-3 and go into PWR AMP IN of my PEAVEY Keyboard Combo or into PA-Mixer. I also use fo direct recording on my PC... Well, let's talk about all these effects and presets. Most of the effects like MOD-section, delays, reverb, preamp & speaker are realistic enough and new features like Acoustic Sim. and electric-acoustic effects are usefull. But some of the effects are totally unusefull: Auto-Riff or GUIT-SYNTH, that tracks to slow for example. The Harmonizer should track played tones faster too. I found only one good patch for the Ring Modulator on the WEB - "Sitar"... Clean sounds are awesome especially sounding in stereo. Crunch sounds with light overdrive are O.K too ! But high gain lead sounds are too noisy for my ear and noise suppressor doesn`t help here much. It just kills the sound. Maybe this level of noise is O.K. for live-gigs but for Recording it's too high. I'm still
trying to avoid this problem but it seems not to become better in the nearest future... I'm still looking for patches which implementate typical sounds of several artists (Brian May, Satriani, Vai etc.).
Feel free to contact me if you want to exchange any infos on GT-3 or patches or so !
And here are some interesting web-ressources on GT-3:
User's sites:
http://bossgt3.tripod.com
http://members.xoom.com.bossgt3

Software:
www.kagi.com/amcsoftware/gt3.html
http://members.tripod.com/Gt3Banker

It's very solid metall construction, built like a rock. I didn't think about buying any backup for gigging ! I trust boss to built dependable gear. You must try very very hard to break it.

I haven't to deal with them and I hope I will not too ! But their web-site doesn't offer any support for the unit. It should be better !

I play already for a couple of years in a school-band all styles from blues to metal and GT-3 does it's work when I play live but for Home recording it is a bit too noisy on some patches. But I compared it to other FX-units (ZOOM, DigiTech, KORG...) and for the money it's still a best buy I think. I plan to buy ROCKTRON Prophesy and better guitar to use my GT-3 as MIDI-Footswitch for it. But GT-3 will remain a good tool for clean patches. I really don't know whether I would buy it again if it were stolen.

I picked my GT2 up at 11:00 in the morning and used at a gig that night at6:00 PM.
so many parameters so many tweaks that can be applied it is almost overwhelming most of the editing is easy for those who have worked with digital gear before but there is still more I don't know then I do.The whole thing about the internal pedal system is beyond my grasp.
I use the unit for both my acoustic and electric setups and it is obvious that much tweaking of volume needs to be done to make the GT3 more usable on stage.
The EZ edit is fun when I am just goofing off it is so easy to change parameters on the fly!My favorite is to sit with GT3 in front of me is to build a patch from the ground up find a Pre Amp and go from there sometimes I end up somewhere I never imagined.
When gigging I leave the unit in manual mode I like being able to have control over the individual effects.
Like most manuals it sucks .They give you enough information to get started and there is a nice description of all they effects and there parameters but really I have read parts of it well every time I go to the bathroom!:)and parts are still not clear.

believe it or not I bought this unit as a Pre Amp for my acoustic guitar.I have a Martin2 W/ a Fishmen Goldline+ pickup that I was running direct into a Mackie 1402 mixer a crest audio 900 watt amplifier and either my JBL TR225 Cabs loaded with 2 15s in each cab or EV SX100 for smaller gigs.I was looking at different Pre Amps on the market(and there are a lot).In my acoustic setup I have not had one problem with the sound Quality they the factory Pre sets worked for me that first night I used it and since I have done some tweaking and came up with some great patches(except for some minor feedback problems.....how does that anti feedbacker work anyway?)My electric setup is a Charvell Strat copy with a H-S-S pickup arrangement plugged into old reliable Marshall JCM800 50 watt combo.I don't play much electric anymore but sine I got the GT3 I find myself spending more time ( remember a good effect box can make a crappy guitar player sound good and a good guitar player like shit......JUST PLUG IN AND PLAY FOR GODS SAKE!!!!)I have no use for the special effects included with the GT3 and can see no place I would ever use the ring modulator but I really have not got into the electric end of the GT3 to give a good opinion of it
For the acoustic the 2by2 chorus is great I also use the limiter/compressor,reverb,DDL and have got some really interesting pad effects I use on some instrumental numbers. Sometimes I get weird requests for old rock songs(can you play smoke on the water?)and it cracks me up to switch on some distortion and play that crap on my martin.....heheheheheh....I had to do some tweaking to find a good distortion but it works.Again overall I find for my purposes I find this unit to be very quiet for what I use it for and I have a number of compliments on the way my acoustic sounds on stage.

built like a tank 6 months later I still carry around in the original box and I have only dropped it once!!!!!I average about 15 to 20 gigs a month and since my purchase 6 months ago I have had no problems with it.
I gig all the time with out a backup.

I have not had the need to deal with the company as of yet.There is a lack of info at the Rolandus site about the unit.

acoustic folk rock and I think the GT3 is a perfect match for what I do.I have been playing guitar for 26 years.I have a home recording studio with a track cassette and the computer W/Cakewalk and Sound Forge and the various outboard gear that goes with that.
Yes I would definitely buy another.
I love the basic sound and ease of use with a guitar and the GT3 I can gig anywhere and get my sound.
I hate that I did not have one of these when I was 15 years old(I was gonna be the next guitar god)imagine getting all those great guitar sounds in your headphones and not a peep from the neighbors.
The one that surprised me and got my attention was using the GT3 in the manual mode I like being able to turn the effect blocks on and off it is like having 6 pedals on the floor.it would be nice to have a dedicated switch for the tuner/bypass mode.
I compared to every acoustic Pre Amp product on the market and feature for feature it just gave me more bang for my buck.
The only thing I knew is that I did not want an on board Pre Amp in my martin.I did look into L.R. Baggs,Fishman,BBE and a lot of the tube style pre amps on the market.
I think it very much helped me with my music I love the way my Martin sounds through my system I would gladly compare it with anyone's.
I would very much like to hear from anybody anywhere who is using the GT3 for there main acoustic Pre Amp(or am I the only one?)
For me the GT3 is all I wanted and more thanks for you time

I would not recommened it as your first,but if you had a pedal or two
and been playin awhile GET ONE NOW!!!!!!!!!!!.

the parameters for the e.q,and compressor are alittle weak.the distortion can get alittle metalic sounding,but give it time.between
the pre-amp,e.q.,and different types of distortion you will find the sound your looking for.It has the best chorus,and reverb I've ever come across,the delays are sooooooo sweet.

its never let me down.I use it for home recording.

never needed it.....

I play mostly static x,pantera kinda stuff.playin bass and guitar for about 10years.I think if it was stolen or something i might consider
looking into the new zoom gfx-8(it looks like the gt-3s evil twin)remember pedals are like relationships,it takes a few to get it right.put some time into the gt-3 and it will kick ass!!!!It took me two months to get it just right,(I RECORD WITH IT SO I HAVE TO BE ON THE FUSSY SIDE)dont be fooled by these people who say
they got this pedal nailed in a day or two without reading the instructions,BULLSHIT!!!!!!!!!!

Simple to use - I was using it right out of the box without ever playing with one before. Editing came simple enough, and I didn;t have to read on it much. Manual was not as in depth as I would have thought, but I really didn't need it anyways.

Using this with both electric and acoustic/electric guitars.
* Ernie Ball MusicMan "Luke" electric
* Takamine Eg-34 acoustic electric
* Fender acoustic bass
I normally input this into my PC for home recording.
Can get awesome Radiohead effects with this, beautiful leads, and the patches are great for vocals as well

Hasn't been that long since I bought it yet.
I would probably not think about a backup on a gig though. This thing is constructed to withstand a tornado!

I play everything from ambient to punk to metal. Sounds great either way. I have a wide range of other pedals but rarely use them anymore - I use my delay still, as the delay effects on the GT-3 are not as simple as the rest of the board. I would never go back to stomp boxes anymore - I'll tell you that.

I've had this for about six months now, and it has served me well so far. I'm 18 years old and I've been playing for about six years, and I play at about 2-3 gigs a week. I use it live, and there are things I love about it but hate about it also. I play mostly modern rock/pop, some indie. In terms of the ease of use, I gave it a six for numerous reasons. If you want to get a good sound out of it, you're going to have to work your butt off. When I first got it, I spent countless hours modifying patches and getting the sounds how I wanted them, where I wanted them, etc. Editiing patches are pretty self explanitory. The E-Z edit function doesn't give you much to work with, and the sound is pretty mushy and dull. You are always going to have to work with all of the parameters to get the sound you want. The manual can be pretty helpful if you don't know what you're doing. This was the first floor effects processor I've owned, so I had to look in the manual every so often to figure out how to tweak a sound or feature. But for guys who know effect processors and for guys who know what all the different things are, this machine is a breeze. But you still have to put time into it to get the sound you want at first. In terms of performing live, this thing can be a pain. When I'm singing and trying to change a patch (go between banks or step on the or CTL for a delay, phaser, OD, tremolo, etc.), trying to sing into the microphone and look down at your unit can sometimes be a pain.

I run the GT-3 through a line selector (A/B box) directly in to a Fender Deluxe tube amp and a Crate 125-D acoustic amp. I use a Rickenbacker 360 Vintage '64 electric guitar and an acoustic Ovation Legend. I love these guitars! They both sound beautiful. Anyway, the GT-3 sounds terrible in the effects loop or a preamp in to my amps, and that's why I run directly into the amps. The GT-3 is limiting in terms of the "quality" of sound that you want. You can get pretty much ANY sound you want but the QUALITY won't be extrememly good. I've got a lot to work with, and that's good, but to get professional quality sound, this thing doesn't cut it. During gigs, when we want to start to turn up the volume and drive it, the distortion fades out and is really weak sounding! I have reverted to my amps distortion, and that gives me a lot more punch. The GT-3 can give awesome clean sounds to light overdrive sounds (but not any more gain than that) though! I'm really impressed with the JC-120 , VOX, and MATCHLESS preamp processors(the CRUNCH and CLEAN TWIN aren't that bad either). They aren't exact replications, but what do you expect? I have a lot of banks solely devoted to the Matchless. I've found a great sound out of that, and I've built my primary sound out off that preamp. I really had to work at it though. The other amp simulations are pretty weak, in terms of distortion and replicating the sounds they are suppossed to model. I use the EQ on virtually every patch to get rid of the muddy sounds, and it does that for the most part. The OD/Distortion is very weak. The only distortion that can be of any help to me is the vintage and sometimes turbo OD. But again, at very high gains the distortion doesn't give that clear cut "punch" that you need. The auto wah and pedal wah can give me some pretty cool sounds, but I have to tweak it a lot. The compression and limiter are very helpful in tweaking your sound to the way you like it. The acoustic simulator is junk. The slow gear is useful, but very limited in its capabilities. I never use the pickup selectors. I don't think they help as much as hinder. The trememlo and pan are useful and good sounds can come out of them. Phaser is good but I'd much rather get the MXR Phase 90. The flange isn't what I expected it to be, but I still use it sometimes. The sub-eq is really nice for clearing up you sound. I use that on my main clean sounds without other modulation. Oh, one thing that isn't nice is that you can't use more than one type of modulation. Auto-riff is worthless. Reverb is not very useful. I'd much rather have some Lexicon reverbs, but this will have to do for now. The delay is really "digital." Hence, the name digital delay. The delay seems weak and I would much rather have analog delay. But that is my tastes. I still use it though. I can replicate any of the sounds that my favorite aritsts are doing, but only to a certain point. Obviously they don't have a GT-3, so the sound isn't that identical, but the "idea" of the sound is there. Oh, never use the acoustic stuff! I don't have any preamp or acoustic simulators when I play acoustic. I just have the effects. That's why I have the Crate. You get a much more rich sound without those things.

I've never used any back up during a gig! Built like a rock!

I've never dealt with BOSS or Roland. I might have to to get the upgrade for the midi capabilities of the GT-3.

For me right now, this is a good setup. This was my first time with any real effects and I've gotten my feet wet, and I'm ready to get to some better stuff. I want to make my own sound. I'm not into getting the sounds of other artists. I want to go with what I think is good. The GT-3 does that, but only up to a certain extent. I'm probably going to revert to pedals for live stuff, but I'm going to keep this thing for the studio. I love the clean and mild OD stuff, but other than that, I don't use. I've tried out a lot of other floor processors, and I'm almost positive this gives you the best deal for the price. I compared it to Digitech, ZOOM, and others, and this was the sounding one. There are more options on others but sound is what led me to this one. I do really like it though. I just have a good ear for what I what to hear, and I think I know what I need to do to get that sound (good qualtity stompboxes). I always use it live and its served me well. I can make good music with it though! It is not a bad machine. For rhythm guitar its great, for lead it's not so good. But I do love it and I it sees me about three times a day! If you're getting your feet wet, this is a good buy, but if you want professional stuff, don't get this.

Lets just say I didnt even have to the read the manual. I messed with it for a few minutes and i sounded like a pro. Editing the patches was simple, and they sounded great. Real simple, a child could use this.

I use a 60's ReIssue Strat through my boss pedals (MT-2, Ge-7, CE-3) and into my Peavey special 212 (W/ sheffield gold speakers) And now everything sounds better then ever. There isnt any feed back or buzz, even from my strat SC pups. The effects needed some tweaking, however they sound great once you mess with them. I can recreate the sounds of Pantera, Metallica, Megadeth, Death, Coal Chamber, Nirvana and Korn. The auto riff sucks my left and right nut. it sounds like someone took and shit on my guitar and then licked strings. But everything else, with a little werk sounds good.

I havent yet had it more then a day or so. However when i get all my patches in that sun - a - bitch, id say its pretty dependeable. Id never gig without a backup, if i can afford a back up. And thats that

Ive never had a problem with BOSS, even with previous boss pedals, i didnt have any trouble. There built like tanks

I play like s**t. But this "s**t" i do play is good. Metallica, Pantera, Nirvana, Megadeth etc. I can play like all these people with the gt-3. Ive been playing for 1 year, and im not bad. I have 3 boss pedals (see above) and an ovation acoustic. If it were lost or stolen, id kick the s**t outa the guy who f**ked with me. But id steal myself another one since im so po'. I love all the simulations, pickup and amps. I only hate how its, so, so, so, BLUE. (jk) I love it so much im thinking of making love to it right now. It has the sounds quality of a rack mount with the price of just a cheap whore. I wish it had a second expressions pedal, so you can have a wah and a volume simultaneosly. I have never actually "made" music, its more like i crap it out, however it sounds great crapping out of the gt-3. Id like to share my self with cheap whores, like it asks above

I had the Digitech RP-7 before I purchased the GT-3 and I'd have to say the GT-3 took a little longer to master. I don't think I've really mastered it yet still though. I can't seem to figure out how to make the autoriff stay in loop while I chord over a riff. If anybody knows how, please let me know.

I play through a Fender Prosonic and I've been very pleased with the sounds I get. I don't go with what the manual suggested as far as where I plug in at and all that stuff.

I can rely on my GT-3.

I had a question about the GT-3 and the people I talked to were friendly enough.

I play in a modernish rockish type band and the options that I have with GT-3 make things more interesting to me. I like having so many choices. And it sounds good too.

It's actually easier to figure the unit out by rote than it is to consult the manual, although I read it through before firing the unit up for the first time.

I generally like to tweak a few specific parameters in an effects patch, so I really don't use the EZ Edit function. The manual function is very ergonomic, though.

I did take a few points off, however, because I had to spend some time figuring out how to get the compressor to drive the signal strongly enough that the synth will track well.

You simply can't argue with a unit that is basically every Boss pedal ever made, fully programmable. With or without the preamp, the unit is worth the money. At times, I do wish there were a few models of other manufacturers' effects (a Q-Tron, Univibe, TS-808, Mu-Tron III, Rat, etc.) but I can come awfully close to those sounds with some finesse. Besides, Boss pedals are my favorite in general, so I'm pretty happy.

PREAMP: First, make ABSOLUTE SURE that the global settings match your amp setup. Otherwise, the amp simulations might sound metallic. However, with everything set correctly, you should be fine. The gain settings on the amps are only "low," "middle", or "high" which is less flexible than I would like, but the amp sims respond well to volume knob changes, so that isn't a big issue for me. Try playing with the compression and "distortion boxes" (particularly the overdrives and fuzz) to goose some nice rich tones out of this unit.

EFFECTS: They sound much like the pedals. One reviewer complained that there isn't an effects mix setting for some of the effects, but I found that it isn't necessary because this can be adjusted between the depth and resonance parameters.

The unit feels solid. Mine is new, so I haven't run into trouble with bad grounds, etc. but if it works like any Boss pedals that I have used, which I ran from a power supply instead of batteries, I should have no trouble (knock on wood).

I play a very eclectic sort of indie rock, and I like to have a large sound selection. As I said before, the GT-3 is almost every Boss pedal ever made in one box, which nobody can sneeze at. It's versatile enough to hang with any punk, jazz, or blues gigs that I might do as well.

As for a rig, my main guitar is a Telecaster and my main amp is an ancient ca. '70 Sunn Model-T, the version with no hot channel (just normal and bright) along with the Sunn 4x12 with Celestion 75s.

I have used Zoom and ART multi-effects units before this, and definitely recommend this. It sounds like a bunch of Boss stompboxes!

This unit has a lot of functionality and manages it well. Each effect has its own button which can select and then vary its settings. I found that even in the store with no manual, figuring out how to change effect settings and setup presets was easy.

The EQ is a little confusing.

Good quality - chorus, delay, acoustic simulator
OK quality - pickup simulator, wah, compression
Bad quality - distortion/overdrive and preamp simulation

Looks very sturdy, much nicer than the Digitech crap, but didn't own it long enough to really know.

Found the number on one of the spec sheets I got from the store and talked to a tech right away.

The 2 big problems I have with the GT-3 are:

1) some of the effects (flange, tremolo, etc.) don't have an "effect level", but a "level" setting that's just an overall volume setting! What the hell's the point of that? I found this to be totally limited (BTW, the GT-5 didn't even have any level on the flange).

2) I also didn't like any of the distortion or preamp sounds. They were all too weak or too strong no matter how I tweeked the settings. And on the preamp sounds, the "gain" control is just "low, medium, high"! Again, not enough control over the sound for me.

If BOSS could just fix those 2 problems, it would be perfect. I think the coolest thing about the unit are the "control" and "expression" pedal b/c you can program it to do almost anything. It's only $400 which is a good price for an all-around effects processor.

1) Sounds are excellent. 2) IMHO Guitar/amp tones are better defined in terms of timbre and overall character with single coil guitars versus HB. Editing patches is a breeze. I initially read the manual rapidly to ensure that I was getting the best sound setup with my current rig before starting. 3) While at the music store here in Honolulu, Hawaii, I tested the unit through the back stereo input of a JC60. This could have been done through a JC120, which are both excellent sources for testing any floor pedals. Roland's JC series are pretty near to flat EQ when coming in the rear, so you actually get to hear the character of the unit being tested pretty accurately. (Incidentally, I once owned a JC120 and have played live gigs this way runing a Digitech GSP 2101 in the back end and it even fooled the vintage hearted out there!) 4) The maual suggests numeorous configurations, such as front end into head or combo, straight into power amp etc. You set the global paramter (stack versus combo, Bal vs Unbal output, etc.) appropriately. 5) The manual suggests that if running front end into a guitar amp, to turn Treble and Bass to zero, and Midrange to 10 and to run in the LOW chanel on clean NOT Distorted/OD mode. I am currently using dual 5150 heads into dual mesa 4x12 G12-30V Cabs. The manual does not discuss what to do with the Reasonance or Presence, so I experimented and set the Reasonance to zero (it was too woofy otherwise), and the Presence to 6.5->7 and Bright Switch off. The manual also suggests the "Eazy Edit" for the faint hearted, but I opted for the regular edit mode throughout. Patches are a breeze to modify and transfer to the banks of your choice. So once I got the set up where I liked the throughput, I went through all the patches first to become familiar with TONES before I did any patch modifications or assignments. No firmware upgrades -- this is 1st Generation and it is killer!!! very easy to use. I empahise again and recommend you lisetn carefully to ALL the pathces to become familiar with everything this unit has to offer. Find patches you like and modify these first and as you go along you will become proficient rapidly. The Boss programmers set amp EQs pretty well, but I changed most of these except for the Twin patches. The good news is that if you totally screw up a patch, go to the rear of the manual and grab the Factory Patch again and start over. You CANNOT overrwrite these -- Banks 36 on up if I remember correctly -- sorry I am at my office now and not studio -- so I'm working from memory.

To be perfectly honest, this unit is a wet dream come true. I almost sold my entire rig for an Egnater IE4/VHT2150 combination, but you know what? -- I just saved myself $5 grand. This puppy is marvelous and built like a tank. It is so cool that I can take it in a briefcase with a fave guitar or two and plug stereo direct into the PA system. Anyway, I'm pretty much a tube snob and I'm sticking with this setup front ended into my 5150s or Ampeg EL84 combos. The 6L6s have awesome overhead, and now I have the best of all worlds. I programmed this thing in three sweeps. 1) Sweep one (with a Nashville Tele/Maple neck) set patches as follows:

Bank 1 (Blackface Fenders with and w/o analog delay and analog stereo choruses for Tele and Strat EQs); Bank 2 (JC120s), Bank 3 (Vox), Bank 4 (Matchless), Bank 5 (British 1959 SLP), Bank 6 (British BG), Bank 7 (British (1959SLP CH I+II), Bank 7 (Pop Metal), Bank 8 (Soldano), Bank 9 (5150) (Be advised that this tone replicates my 5150 EVH tone exactly -- but is now managing the two monsters without shaking the building foundations wherever I'm playing, Bank 10 (JC120 w pedals front end grunge/fuzz/metal), Bank 11 (Twin with Pedals front end grunge/fuzz/metal), Banks 11-12 (Acoustic Guitars with DeArmond Pickups NOT Electric Guitars), Banks 13-31 (Mixes of the above for Strat EQ with Crunch, Natural OD, Vintage, Turbo OD, and Blues Settings), Banks 32-35 (SFX).

What does this mean? It means that I have the best of both worlds -- live tube natural compression and tone, with amp modeling that blows both Line6 and Digitech out of the water. I'm keeping my GSP 2101 in the SND/RTN loop, so all I have to do is step on the 5150 loop button and voila, I have the high gain channel of the 5150s with my HB equipped LPs/SGs etc., then switch back to Ingle coil giotar(s) by stepping the 5150 loop off, and the GT3 runs direct into the 5150 low gain channels. Pretty clever, huh, fellow arsholes?

BE ADVISED that the Boss programmers who programmed the effects are probably not musicians. The stock EFX in the GT3 are extremely wet an not musical until you turn the rates and depths down on almost every patch, then these are to die for once set to your liking. I read a preview weeks back that the acoustic patches suck. Yes they do -- unless you run an acoustic guitar in the front end. Try that gang. I'm one happy sumbich right now as you can tell, so Kudos Boss/Roland for a job well done otherwise. Every effect is awesome once tweaked properly, but you have to spend the time to tweak to your liking. It took me all weekend. I recommend you get up and take an hour break or two between each sweep so that your ears will come back in fresh. In my case I just left the house, came back and started clean with another guitar. I now have 35 usable Banks of 4 pathces each that I can use live or in the studio wordlwide.

Be advised that I did four sweeps to refine the job with different guitars. Once I placed the pathces where I wanted them in the banks that I had previously I planned out on paper. I repeat -- you lose tone charatcer by using HB guitars up front into the GT3 -- use single coils, and vary these as well to get a good cross section. I used my Tele Nashville for sweep 1, then a Tele with Alnico IIs for sweep 2, then a Tele with Alnico Vs for sweep 3, then Strat with TX Specials (too hot -- lost the "Texas HOT" charatcer), then Strat with Van Zandt Blues (these are better IMHO than Lindy Fralins -- real good!!!) for sweep 4.

I'm keeping my HB equippped guitars for straight into the amp high gain channel with my GSP 2101 Artist Send/RTN in the 5150 EFX loops. Rating 7 because I worked my ars off, but you know what? -- it was the best weekend I've invested into my tone and rig in the past 10 years.

Absolument!, but I'm buying a backup anyway. What the heck, two can fit into a lawyer's briefcase, and they barely weigh nothing. I've never had a Boss pedal fail in 15 years so I think with some degree of certainty that this will be ok too. Disclaimer, I read in the manual that this is computer chip/battery--clock dependent like a regular computer. That means 1) Back up your work via data dump into a seqencer or something, and 2) Find out what type of battery it uses and keep one on standby. THIS IS WHY I'm buying the backup primarily -- for touring.

Never had too. The previous pedals I used were dependable.

This things cranks out all styles -- Great match for my concert rigs and combos -- been playing for > 25 years -- own 12 guitars -- yes I would replace in a NY minute -- it is moron proof, has REAL character, endless possibiliites for quality tone creation, and looks pretty sexy in front of you for your next gig on MTV or Rock Cafe Live -- yes compared it to a myraid of rig/effects combinations -- wish it had dual input for external cc controller like dual FV 50 ( hey, Version II maybe?), and don't like that if running Delay and Chorus simultaneously, cannot turn both on/off simultaneously with the internal togle switch. I actually prefer the external AC "in line" wall wart because such reduces line noise. I think this is what plagued ElectroHarmonix' Analog Delay (internal power supply) -- This is an EXTRAORDINARY piece of musical technology for the proce paid. the best news is that I get to keep my 5150s, and now can produce all the other tones that Eddie left out, and still have the monster to unleash when I'm in Metal mode. Good luck to all.

Easy to use, unless you're dumn or illiterate. Works pretty much like all the other processors. Editing patches is a snap, saving user settings let's you apply the same effects to multiple patches. Very helpful for applying a uniform volume setting for the expression pedal, for instance. I must say that having an additional expression pedal (Boss FV-300L for instance) is almost necessary for on-stage use, unless you like one sound and no wah to go with your volume boost. Manual is easy, but leaves a good deal out about complex edits and specifically how to edit the effects chain. No good support on the web yet. If I'm an expert, something's wrong.

Synopsis from a guitarist with 20 years of studio and stage work: Live it's a nice little unit that's easy to setup, and has only minor limitations. In a studio, through it in the trash, spend another $200 and get a Digitech RP-20 or 21.
Sound quality, at first seems very good, but going to a high-gain distortion reveals a terrible amount of post note-noise. Terrible specs by studio standards. The clean sounds are quiet, but what processor can't say that? The noise reduction works...although a better solution would have been a cleaner pre-amp. (duh!). Compare the specs to the old Digitech RP-1 and you'll cry your way back to the store...receipt in hand. The presets suck of course, and are way over the top. Editing the sounds to dial in subtle sounds can be daunting for a newbie, but if you're patient this thing can get you really close to a good tube amp. The amp simulations (supposedly COSM based), are good, but certainly not a great rendition of the specified amp. I have a Matchless head with an ADA 212, and the lead on the GT-3 through a reference amp and the same speakers is NOWHERE close. Much too brittle and un-responsive, but that doesn't mean it isn't useful sound...just not exactly a reproduction of a Matchless. The acoustic simulator is pretty good, good enough for a live gig. The pickup simulator is so-so, doesn't blow you away. As for chaining effects, you can get somewhat limited here...but for 99% of the guitarists, this won't slow you down too much. The real hindrance on this thing is that certain effects can't be assigned to either the onboard or outboard expression pedals to be of any use. For instance, if you want to turn the wah on by stepping on the pedal and subsequently use it as a wah...no dice. Want to make the pedal go from totally no Overdrive or distortion to full blown as you push the expression pedal? Nope. You must first turn it on with the control pedal, then use the expression pedal to increase the "drive". If you use the expression pedal to control the "level" of the distortion, it will take the overall volume of the patch along with it. If there's a way to get around this, God only knows what it might be.
As for construction, it's put together well enough. Easy to read, you can stomp on it. Pretty too, but who cares.
I'm using mine with a Carver PM.05 Amp, and a ADA 212 cabinets loaded with Eminence drivers. I play it using Strats, Tele's, V's and an Explorer...and guess what? They all sound pretty much the same.
As for getting sounds of my favorite artists...that would be me, and I don't want to sound like anyone. To this end, it's fine...cause it won't get you in the ballpark of David Gillmour, but that's fine. You need your own sound, and you may find it in the GT-3. Remember, for $349, you're not going to get a great processor, so don't believe the hype. Buy it, use the hell out of it, and if it breaks, at least it didn't cost as much as a T.C., so don't sweat it. Overall I've used much worse and been happy with it.

Haven't used it enough to challenge it, but it's built well, with solid connectors and switches. It doesn't get hot, and can be opened up relatively easily. I'd trust it on a stage for my only gear (like that'll ever happen!)

Boss's web site better not be an indicator of their support...cause if so you're buying a 1988 Yugo with this thing. They've already shown a staggering stupidity of their own product in the manual, presets and literature, so let's hope when you send it back, it doesn't return to you missing some parts.

I play alternative, rock, instrumental, etc. For this, it's a fine match for my playing. I've played for 20 years. Other gear is too much to mention. If it goes to 11, it's in my basement somewhere. What do I love about it? It matches my shoes. Hate? It's noisy. Compared to Zoom, it's god's hand at work. Compared to Digitech or Art's products, it's a turd. I chose it cause it was cheap. Period. I wish they had incorporated more control for the parameters. Much too much has to applied to each setting and lived with...with no "morphing" between patches using an expression pedal, which would be the obvious and best use of any floor-based processor.