Boss GT-3

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