Boss GT-3

I've spent a lot of time hanging over this unit tweaking, but after hours of work I've got a pretty good collection of patches. The manual stinks.

The strength of the GT-3 is for RECORDING. I compose using Cakewalk Pro 9 and the GT-3 let's my get any guitar sound imaginable in minutes. I tend to like classic rock/big guitar sounds. My favorite guitar sounds are Mick Taylor in the Stones, Mick Ronson with Bowie, the Edge from U2 and Jeff Beck, etc. I can get these kind of sounds with this unit pretty quickly. I use it with no other effects in recording. Even though the wah is kind of bogus, I find the auto wah with fuzz a really fun wacked out effect. The rotory is beautifull it sounds like a Leslie amp. The Plate reverb is the hippest reverb in there. I can get crunch overdriven blues sounds that leave plenty of the natural guitar sound ringing. Also nice clean jangle with chorus and the ring modulator for pychodelic parts. It processes my acoustics nicely too. And I even use it for vocals, the EQ and compression work nice for recording voice.

But live I have a harder time getting a great sound with the GT-3. So I keep the setting simple, I stip them down to just the effects I need. My main live set-up is a P-90 Les Paul Special (I also use a Strat, Guild Electric/Acoustic and a Dano Baritone with the GT-3) through and old Boss BCB-6 that has SD-1 overdrive, Ibanez Tube Screamer, OS-2 Over Drive, Boss Tremolo and RV-3 Digital Reverb into the GT-3 into either a Marshall JCM-800 or Fender Hot Rod DeVille. I use the GT-3 for Reverb, Delay, Chorus, Tremolo, Rotory (my fave), and sometimes metal sounding disortion.

No problems

Never need support

I like the unit but it demands time and patience to figure it out. I'm not a very technical guy and I think I could get more out of the GT-3 if I was. But overall I find it to be a great sounding, very usefull device.

I find it very easy to use - in an hour I was editing patches. The official manual however is useless - I had to go on the Net to download a much better manual. Appearently the pre-amp is disengaged in the "Line-Headphones"-mode, which is recommended in the manual. With the help of the unofficial manual I got the setting on "Combo" and the distortion sounds are much better. It gets a "5" for the crappy manual.

I'm using the GT-3 with a Gibson RD-Artist and an ESP Telecaster into my Marshall Bluesbreaker combo. It was basically bought for the chorus, but has now replaced all my other pedals. I can get any sound I want with much less hassle than before. I use the Matchless setting as my basic distortion, and it kicks ass. To all you guys who claims it's for beginners: Neal Schon of Journey used the GT-3 exclusively for his last solo album - especially the Matchless setting. I also find the Lead to Clean-setting very useful. The JC-120 setting is great for chorus but I find the Acoustic settings to be much to quiet - any good suggestions to what I can do?

It's built like a tank and I`ll use it without back-up

Never dealt with them

As I said, it works for me. I play in two bands and have to cover a lot of styles, and the GT-3 is all I need.

Very nice.You can almost edit patches right out of the box.The Ez edit, even if i don't use it it's great for the novice programmer.It would be great to have some knobs to manipulate the parameters in real time so u dont have to change screens ,just to test different eq settings.Manual is simply great

I use a bc rich warlock with it and i have no problems at all,no noises or stuff ,even if i use the most noisy amp in the market (crate gx-15 pure s**t).The preset are not THAT great but with a little tweaking and some good will you can get what you want .I have 15 extreme lead sounds and iam playing all the DReam theater stuff like if i had a mesa boogie...Anyway the wah sucks go buy a classic dunlop crubaby!!!

NEver crashed,played dozens of gigs without backup , it wont let you down ( assuming you dont shoot it with a stinger launcher!!1)

Dont know yet...

Its the best effects processor i ever had .Cross tested it with the new toneworks model.Easily the winner.If the wah was a bit better...

It is easy to get good sound from it with some kind of wizard and the presets are also very handy for beginners. So you can play and when you discover new things you can easily add them to your effect.
Patches are easy to edit, with the value dial you can adjust you effects to make them like you want them to be.

I use an Ibanez RG470 with a marshall G100rcd+AVT412A.
The effects are great only i had to adjust some because i played an Epiphone before and its zound was clear my Ibanez sounds more crunchy so i had to adjust till it was good.

This is the only pedal i use (also on gigs) an it has never let me down!

I play punkrock but i play with a metal kind of sound.
I would be nice if it had a sampler, so you can use samples for an intro.
I love boss, their sounds are great and i would definitly buy a new one if this one get's lost or stolen.

After a month and a half of using the GT-3 extensively, I can relate to most of the posts below. I've both praised and cursed the unit. I've created some great sounding patches that I've jammed on through the night. Yet I've also struggled for days trying to get warmer tones and more aggressiveness out of the distortion.

In many ways, the GT-3 is a contradiction. On one hand, the GT-3 is attractively priced for the beginner and the basement riff monster(like me). For the price of a few stompboxes, you can access every effect you've ever wanted (great delay, good reverb, a wide variety of pre-amps and distortion, a compressor and limitor, etc.) and a few that you don't (e.g., appregiator, autoriff, and some awful synth sounds). It's easy for anyone to start comping or riffing on some decent sounding patches. It's easy to modify the existing ones or create your own. You'll figure out most of the features just evaluating it in the music store. And the GT-3 offers great promise for being able to emulate your favorite guitarists. Hundreds of downloadable patches are available on the Web.

On the other hand, the GT-3 is VERY complex. It literally contains hundreds of parameters. Unless you're familiar with the physics of sound, many are confusing, especially to the beginner. Even those with some knowledge of how to manipulate sound will be frustrated by the process of digital tweaking--scrolling through options one by one on a tiny LCD screen. Gone is the simplicity of eyeing and adjusting dials on a stompbox. If one paramater is out of whack, you sound will suffer. The manual offers little in the way of help.

Moreover, the GT-3 is finicky. What sounds good on one set-up will sound awful on another. You'll learn this once you try to download or build a patch someone else created. If you're into exprimentation, you might enjoy the tweaking. There's even software available to let you do it on your computer. But if you just want to jam or pin down the "right" sound quickly, the GT-3 will frustrate you. Who the hell wants to spend hours tweaking when you could be shredding?

My setup: Jackson DXMG (2 EMG EZ humbuckers) > Original Crybaby (usually set in one position for frequency boost) > GT-3 > amp (either a 15W Marshall G15RCD or a cheap 15W Ibanez amp that doesn't have a model number). (Yeah, I know my amps suck. I told you I was a basement riff monster. My next purchase will be a good amp.)

The GT-3 is very finicky. A patch that sounds good in one setup configuration or on one amp may sound poor on another. Experiment early on, find the best setup, and don't deviate. Some amps sound better with the unit than others. Ironically, my cheap Ibanez 15W articulates many of my metal patches better than my Marshall, regardless of how much tweaking I do on the amp or GT-3. I usually stick with a Line (Headphones) utility setting, but a few of my patches sound better on the PowerAmp(Combo) setting. On the Web, many users have said the unit works well with Peaveys. When testing this out at the music store, try the GT-3 on YOUR amp, not what the salesman plugs you into.

Once you get the right configuration and set the Utility settings properly, you can start experimenting. I've found that the clean sounds are brilliant--especially the accoustic simulator. The vintage sounds are very good. Blues sounds are good, but you'll need to tweak to add warmth. For metal, it's easy to get great smooth sounding distortion for good sounding single line playing ala Iron Maiden. Extreme thrash and death metal sounds are difficult to capture, even with extensive EQ tweaking. Still, I've developed some aggressive mid-scooped sounds that work well for Slayer riffs. Most pre-amp and distortion combos are extremely noisy, even with noise reduction and the limitor. Stick with Clean Twin preamp and your favorite distortion when thrashing.

The delay affects are great. The harminizer is good--mine tracks well. The flanger is good, although noisy. The SubEQ is good for adding character to the distortion. The wah blows; although you can fix this by having the EQ sweep with the wah, I just forgo the headache and use my Crybaby. I prefer the reverb on my Marshall; it's much warmer than the GT-3's. The preamp sounds are fairly good and fun to experiment with. The distortion is the tough factor to nail down--getting the "right" sound requires tweaking. Matching the distortion to the right preamp (or using a 5 chord setup to take advantave of your own preamp) is critical to getting a good sound.

Keep it simple and use only the effects you need. Otherwise you'll sound over-processed.

For a month and a half, it has stayed on the floor in my basement. No problems so far. It has a sturdy construction and a nice layout. My only concern: the expression pedal feels cheap compared to my Crybaby. I'm not sure how much abuse it will be able to withstand over the years.

I haven't called Boss. IMO, the manual is the first line of customer support--you don't have to call a help line if you can find the answer yourself. Unfortunately, the manual sucks unless you are initiated into the arcane world of frequency physics.

The bottom line: If you want variety and affordability, the GT-3 is a good option. It won't give you great sounds, just good ones. But, with a little patience and practice, you can roughly emulate a wide variety of styles from accoustic to metal. If you're looking for a single killer sound--e.g., the perfect death metal fury or country twang--go out and buy "best of breed" products. And if you're in the market for a no-hassle effects processor, check out other products like Line 6's POD. Otherwise, you'll find yourself using the same handful of patches on the GT-3 instead of taking advantage of its full breadth and diversity.

I've heard a rumor that Boss is discontinuing the GT-3. This isn't surprising given its schizophrenic nature. If mine was stolen, I'd probably take a look at the GT-6 and see if the GT-3's shortcomings have been addressed. The GT-6 has lots of knobs on it, so obviously Boss is listening to its customers.

Difficult compared to an amp. and guitar.

Sounds can be good, if thin compared to an amp.

Probably the best.

I swore up and down for a year that you needed to simply "TWEAK", "TWEAK", "TWEAK". Others say the same thing: "TWEAK", "TWEAK", "TWEAK". Infact, a year later, and after every practice session, and every gig, I would go home with it, and "TWEAK", "TWEAK", "TWEAK". Now I'm tired of "TWEAK", "TWEAK", "TWEAKING"! I tweaked my frackin' tits off for almost a whole year! Yeah, it sounded "ok". Yeah, it's cheaper than an expensive amp. But, after 22+ years of playing guitar, and owning just about everything commercially made, I splurged and decided to support the American economy by purchasing a new Mesa Rectifier combo. Shite! I wish I'd done that before I bought all those Marshalls and racks of crap a while back. Now, I will never need to "TWEAK", "TWEAK", 'TWEAK" again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

May seem hard at first but it took me an hour to figure out modifications without looking at the manual.

Anything you find wrong with the sound of GT-3 give you can be fixed. This pedal will not do everything for you; you have to experiment a lot to get your sound right. Don't use effects that you don't need, don't use it only because it's there. If you don't need it, don't use it! Using several effects at the same time does not necessarily mean that it will make your sound better. People complaining about the wah are dumb. The factory wah presets are weak but you can make it sound like a crybaby. Try changing the order of the effects, change levels, modify your distortion, turn off other effects, etc. Believe me, this is an awesome pedal if it's in the right hands. Don't give up on it...EXPERIMENT! Use your head! Talk to other users! Read the manual! Check postings on the web! This pedal is AWESOME

Reliable.

Haven't dealt with Boss / Roland yet.

This pedal is intelligent and only will only work with intelligent users.

A pain in the ass to use in real applications like practice and live performance, in that, you have to go with whatever you sounds you created at home, and then just go with them. Otherwise, for actual operation, it'll obviously cover your switching needs wonderfully.

I mainly use a Les Paul and US Strat. A couple of things I hated about the GT-3 was that in 8 months I could not get rid of a distorted sound from the acoustic sim. Whenever I came close, the volume would be too low. Also, when using the neck pickup on my Les Paul, the distortion sounds would just sound overly compressed- like the input was being overloaded or something. I could never solve that one either. Generally, the sounds are "ok". I say "ok" because, though they really don't sound like the amp's they try to model, they still sound far better than any plain old boss pedal out there. It served me well for a while using three sounds: clean/dirty/metal. It's a better option than dumping your hard-earned cash on a Marshall amp these days. Infact, the GT-3 would immediately be my second choice after a real all-tube high-quality amp, because you can use the EQ's and stuff to approximate the sounds you need, where you can't do that with just an amp. One problem with programmable stuff generally, is that you can sit home and spend hours getting your "ultimate" tone, but then when you take to different rooms like practice and live shows, the sound changes because of the room, etc. This happens with all amps, but in the case of amps, you can simply turn around an make adjustments quickly. You cannot, however, adjust a floor processor for 10 minutes in the middle of a set every time.

About as reliable as these floor boxes come. Tough!

N/A

I play modern and classic rock in a covers band. This unit served me well in the FX return of a 30 watt Marshall combo into a Fender 4x12. The unit sounded pretty good and never failed me. However, I found it to be too thin sounding over-all, and it would always get the higher pitched squealy feedback sounds, rather than real nice warm feedback. So, I sold it and bought the best amp made today: the Mesa Rect-O-Verb. I highly recommend Mesa for serious tone. Yeah- they're expensive, but you'll never need another amp again. The GT-3 is a great unit, but for me there was just too much dicking around on the floor with it.

Straight out of the box this is useless. If you know your stuff when it comes to tweaking the settings, you will be just fine. DO NOT LOSE YOUR MANUAL! And, for all you guys out there just like me... Just read it. You won't get a good sound out of it until you read just about every word of it. There are so many parameters to tweak that it is mind boggling. But on the other hand, that is good. If you want a specific sound, you can get it. You just have to knwo what you are doing. The manual jumps around a bit, but it is useful. No upgrades have been performed on this unit yet, I bought it new 2 months ago. Switching, copying, and modifying patches is simple once you get to know it. The master volume knob is helpful, but even more importantly is the master volume on each effect, as well as internally. I Turned the Master volume all the way up, then turned down the patch volumes. This is much easier to maintain.

It gets a great sound, if, like I said you play with it for hours. The noise suppressor is not top notch, but I used a DOD gate pedal before the gt-3 to suppress it all. A lot of the effects are useless, but what do you expect when you have this many. I would have been happy if it just had distortion, chorus, phaser and autowah. That's just me. I am using this with a Randall Commander RB-120 Head, and 2 Crate Fullsized 4x12 cabs as a stack. 2 Fender strats and a cort CL-200. I never use the wah on the gt-3. It sucks. I use my old faithful crybaby GCB-95 pedal. All the guitars sound good thought the unit, with the humbucker pickup only. The others sound muddy. They sound that way with any amp though. The COSM stuff only sounds good through the headphnes or direct recordings. Not good through an amp.

This is built like a tank, I would not want to purposely drop it or smash it, but if it happened, I would trust it still operates. I know 2 other people with these units and thiers have stood up to a lot. One of the guitar players for another band that opened for us spilled a beer all over it and just tipped it over and drained it out, wiped it off and started jammin. I would trust it without a backup, but I am a moron.

I called them on another unit that I had, they were most helpful. No service was needed, but support was cool.

I play hard rock, all original. It would work for just about anyone once you toy with it for a while. I have been playing for 10 years now, and this is the best unit I have found for what I want. If it were stolen, I would hunt down and kill whoever did it, then buy two more with the insurance money and give one to my other guitarist. My favorite feature is the sturdy construction. The thing that I hate is the long waiting period when you lose power or shut it off and turn it back on. Kind of like booting up. I wish that it had a gate rather than a noise suppressor, maybe just both. I also wish that the tuner would calibrate down to 430 cents. Just my preference.

I'm sure I could put my mind to it, but I only want about three very high-quality sounds. The amp does two, and from my limited toying about, this one probably does the third, but is just way too much trouble for what it's worth.

I run a '74 hardtail strat through a Mesa/Boogie DC-5. The gain channel is great and I don't see myself adding / subtracting. So I don't like the fact that the GT-3 doesn't truly bypass. It's probably great for a cheaper amp, though.

In my experience it was quite noisy on any setting that required a preamp gain, but my experience isn't extensive.

The effects are fine but since I only want a couple I think I'll go find myself some stomp boxes instead.

I think my favourite artists use insanely more expensive version of these so I won't even grace that question!

I wouldn't use it at a gig at all really

NFI

If you live in Australia (particularly Sydney) and you're after one of these, it's in pristine conditions since I've only taken it out of the box once or twice. It has its manual and power supply etc. Make me an offer in an email. Sorry to the HC staff if this ad is a bad thing!

At first I found the GT-3 very difficult to work with-"Too many buttons"-but after spending some time with the unit and skimming the manual (typically diificult to get through--there are "unofficial" manuals printed by user groups that are very easy to navigate)-After I got a little more familiar with it I found it easy to edit--presets are hit-and-miss, but are good jumping-off points-I used to have an ME-5 so I was familiar with how the pedal operated. There are still lots of tricks and shortcuts I don't understand, but it is a very deep unit.

I'm partial to stompboxes and am somewhat purist as to gear...I use a Deluxe American Standard Strat w/Lace Sensors (OK, I'm not THAT purist) a Les Paul Studio and an old Jazzmaster (the most underrated guitar ever) through a Fender Blues DeVille...I tried the recommended setting of using the loop chain and the midrange control but reverted to the standard setup--setting the global to "line/headphones" really DOES make a difference. I also play solo acoustic, and this unit REALLY shines for that--It's clean sounds are tremendous, as are the phasing, delay, and chorus (which I almost never use) the wah is ok, but tremolo is actually great!, especially the ability to change speeds via the pedal. Using the pedal to change rate, depth, sounds, etc. is a great feature-Plate reverb is nice-I think the preamps are generally ok and the distortions, when tweaked, can do some nice things--the unit does change dramatically according to the huitat and it is hard to get consistent levels and I still have not exploited the pedal enough to do it justice. I miss the ability to go "on/off" like a stompbokx but don't miss all the cords! Harmonizer/Synth sounds are too pristine and "cheesy" and track poorly, but there are enough bells and whistles to make it fun and, in a studio setting, useful--the GT also can be a bit raspy for recording, but the overall sound quality is so much better than earlier multi-boxes

It's built like (fill in cliche that means indestructible) It needs tweaking according to equipment and room and sometimes the levels really seem off. It is better for subtle goosing of sounds rather than the guitarist becoming too dependent on it--I'm still riding the fence on it for live performance, but again it depends on how dependent you are on it and how much of a tweaker you are--I'm not one.

I called BOSS to get a manual and asked a couple of questions about the unit and they were very helpful and prompt.

I play a variety of styles and focus on original material ranging from retro-ish rock, pop, twang and R&B to jazz and acoustic. The GT-3 is very versatile and useful, but isn't for everyone. I'm finding that the less reliant I am on the unit, the more I like it-It does offer many sounds and options and after awhile is easy to use, but I still miss my boxes and find it hard to place the sounds in a useful order. It's been good for recording and ok for live-I do recommend using additional boxes for overdrive and wah, and a bypass pedal for straight amp sounds. The GT does clean very well and offers lots of flexibility, and it helps if you have a background in computers or video/audio editing, since it is a different way of thinking.

It's so easy that even a 7-year-old could figure it out! VERY EASY!!!

1. CRAP!!!! Unless you play METAL with awful fuzz-sounds that screams and makes a lot of noise, this unit ain't for you... I play for the most rock'n roll and funk.... Truly, this is the worst multieffect I've ever tried... The older GX-700 was much better.... And still is... I used GT-3 through a Roland Jazz Chorus 120, and the GT-3 stole the punch and the brightness.... I hated it!

Though it crap, its a BOSS!!! You can always trust BOSS! I have a DS-2, BF-2, DD-3 and others, and I've never had problems!!!! Trust BOSS!!

Never had to contact them!

I basicly play funk and rock'n roll and play a Fender Squier Strat with delta-tone pickups, a Ibanez Talman with lipstick and the GT-3 steels the wellknown stratsound. TERRIBLE!!! It can be stolen, because I sold it after a month!

This thing is extremely easy to use. Just press the setting you want to modify and spin the knob thing till you find the setting you want. However, getting a good distortion sound out of it is VERY difficult at first. If you don't know how to edit compression and eq's then it is very hard to get a decent distorted sound.

I play metal, prog rock, punk, and hardcore stuff. I use a BC Rich Warlock Neck-Thru with an EMG-81 in the bridge, and a stock Epi Les Paul Special, ->GT-3, -> '78 Fender Twin Reverb. To start out, the clean sounds are quite good and are fairly easy to get a good sound out of compared to the distortions. The acoustic simulator is excellent. I don't know how to describe the clean sound it makes, but all I know is that it kicks a whole lot of ass. The effects are all very good (chorus, flanger, delay, etc.) except for the wah which is merely average until you figure out how to make the wah sound good. The reverb and noise gate are great. The reverb sounds excellent and is better than a lot of amps out there (still doesn't touch the twin's reverb though). The noise supressor takes out a lot of the uneccesary noise and helps out quite a bit when u r playin heavy music. The eq is excellent. It helps out quite a bit when trying to dial in a good sound when using any type of effect, especially wah sounds. The distortions r the only thing that really makes this thing a pain in the ass. Not only do they not sound good compared to a Boogie or Marshall at first, but they lack warmth and are very processed sounding. Until discovering the pre-eq (which is great, by the way) there was no way to get any warmth out of this unit. Once I discovered that second eq and had the distortion compressed, then it came alive. It sounds great for dropped tunings as well as standard tunings.

Made out of steel.

It is a very good unit once you figure out how to use it and use it well.

Everyone says it's tough to learn this beast...I disagree. The first day I had it, I was building patches. There are 3 editing modes: EZ Edit, which lets you adjust only a few different parameters, Quick Settings, in which you choose from factory settings for individual effects, and the full edit mode in which you do everything. I used EZ Edit once and Quick Presets very sparingly...not hard to learn at all.
Getting a decent sound is easy if you spend 30 minutes or so tweaking...but that's nothing when you consider all the effects and parameters on this thing.

I use this with Gibson and Epiphone SGs into the front end on a Crate GFX-212 with a Marshall 1960B (GT-3 on Guitar Amp: Stack setting). The only noise comes from the high-gain effects, especially the amp models. (my main model is Metal Drive which is a Recto).
If you tweak it enough, you can make almost anything sound good.
I got Metallica (old and new), Sabbath, Alice in Chains, AC/DC and Godsmack sounds no problem...
Overall, the chorus stands out as best. My only complaint is with the harmonizer...doesn't always track well.

This thing looks rugged enough...feels rugged enough...I hear the only weak spot is the output knob-if you kick it just right, say bye-bye.

I play metal (Metallica/Godsmack/Megadeth/etc.) and it works fine for me. If someone stole this, I would steal it back and bash the guy's head in with it. (metal cases do come in handy) I compared this to the RP2000 and there was no comparison...all I wish it had was a better-tracking harmonizer...

I am Lurid on the HC forums.

It took me a while to get good sounds out of it, but then again, I had only started playing when I got the thing. But it is extremely easy to edit patches. All you have to do is click the effect you want, and then use the arrow keys to move from one setting to the next.

This is the only effect pedal that I use. I use basically two guitars with this thing. They are some kind of Washburn hollow-body and a Fender reissue 1968 Stratocaster. The acoustic simulator sounds great, but I don't use it because I have an acoustic. The wah is okay...not amazing or anything, but I think a lot of people are trying to have the wah do all of the work for them, without actually being good musicians. Most of the distortion sounds are pretty good. Some of them really aren't very useful though...like the fuzz, which sounds like a cheap guitar running through an overdriven 5-watt amp. I haven't much used the harmonizer with the guitar, but it rocks when you talk through it and just have a pitch-shifted sound!!! The slicer is a very useful effect too. Great delay and reverb both...of course, if anybody can make a bad reverb sound, that would shock me. Basically the thing rocks.

I have never had any problems with it. I have done a few gigs with it, never with a backup, and it has always worked fine.

I've never had the pleasure of dealing with them.

I play blues, hardcore modern rock, and a few other variations of those. This seems to suit those styles very well. When I play live, I just run it through a 15-watt Crate with a mic on it. I also record with it directly plugged into my computer's sound card. I intend to keep recording with it for a long while, but I may switch my live setup to some kind of distortion/wah combo pedal, as those are my main effects. One effect that has no use at all is the auto-riff.

The manual sucks bigtime, just the VERY basics.The usual fx are pretty good and u can tweak them to your own needs as there are so many parameters, but I think that even Kirk or James(the 2 dumbasses from metallica)could do this without a manual.The real problem is that there ain't shit about the complicated stuff like for instance how to assign a wah to a patch or call for example both "chorus and delay" with the press of ONE(=1) footswitch, those who have (had) it 'll probably know what the fuck I'm talkin' about.
So it pretty much sucks anyway as most people could handle chorus and the likes anyway, manual or No manual but the manual doesn't really provide CLEAR information about it's advanced features so.......

First of all this thing is a REAL TONESUCKER, because of the GT-3 I will probably never use digital stuff again.
The basic effect are good and (the wah is decent, no more, no less)so are the SFX but nothing really to write home about, but ok for the price I guess, a good point is u can use up to 13 at once and they're highly tweakable.
The amp modeller is very "so-so" and the distortion, while nice and smooth they TOTALLY FUCKIN' LACK warmth, T O N E and PP UU NN CC HH.
The noise gate is pretty good and helps the distortions clean up a bit but even then... Harmonizer, Reverb and Slow Gear are pretty cool although there's still something missing.
My advice : buy a strat plus while u still can and a DECENT AMP and THEN add QUALITY stompboxes as Fulltone, roger mayer ,H&K, electro-harmonix, etc NO BOSS, ZOOM, DIGITECH as they thin out the sound considerably and are meant for people still beginning or people who have shitty amps.(buy a better amp then I'd say then for the money but it's free world, whatever those fuckin' fundamentalist try anyway AMERICA, GOD BLESS YOU ALL).
The real problem with such mediocre FX's are the PUNCH that u can only get from QUALITY FX's or a good guitar and an even better amp(such as the new avt series by Marshall, Bandit from Peavey,....).
It just kill your tone.

The almigthy cliche; IT'S A BOSS !!!!!!!
I have owned it for a year and No problems, gig dependable, very well built

Never dealt with'em(I don't many people do as it's Boss), read the other reviews.

Play Blues and Metal(real metal such as maiden, nightwish, Pantera and so on) NO nu-metal bullshit or Metallica, and as far as blues is concerned I adore Albert King(the iceman),ZZtop...
I would never buy it again if it were to be stolen, but it can't 'cause i already sold the bastard for a Marshall AVT 100(=brilliant, the onboard Fx's here sound way better than that other motherfucker Gt-3 as they are only meant to color your sound a bit and let the REAL FUCKIN' warmth, tone and PP UU NN CC HH come trough, absolutely fuckin' brilliant)
I choose this one in the first place 'cause at the time I was a sucker for advertising haha but after 3 months or so i didn't use it anymore on a regular basis, AND I PLAYED A PEAVEY EXPRESS 112 at that time, WHAT THE FUCK DO U THINK THIS MEANS HEuh ?, I mean the amp sucked bigtime but still nailed the Gt-3 in terms of Inspiration,warmth, PP UU NN CC HH, BUT NOT TONE, that however doesn't mean that the Gt-3 has good tone(it sucks bigtime but the tone of my express 112 sucked even harder so...) and that 3 vs 1 so u understand.
Actually coming to think of it it the only reason while I still used it was because of the EQ, good job Boss!!!!
I'd like to share that if there's anyone out there who plans on buyin' this "junk" anywhere soon, wheter used or new, TEST IT thoroughly, go back home and play your guitar and amp totally free from other effects and then go back to test the Gt-3 and then see what u think as we musicians lose lots a money on bullshitgear and other....
Euhhhh Just don't buy it!!!!!!

Easy editing and if you cannot figure it out the manual has all you need it in.

Here's my set up:
Ibanez S1520BP with dual EMG-81's---->Shure UHF---->Vox 847 Wah
---->BOSS MT-2 Metal Zone---->BOSS EQ-20---->GT-3---->Digitech Whammy
---->Crate GFX 212 Plus. Not noisy at all....Gonna throw a noise suppression to kill the hum fom the Metall zone....but the unit is really quiet, The distotion on board sucks total ass for metal, but the reverb is good and so is the chorus, flanger, phaser, eq, preamps and all the other stuff.....The AUTO RIFF is usesless and so is the arpegiator.

No problems yet...been using it ever sence it came out.

N/A

I love this pedal. Is got so many different tones. It even have a microphone modeler that you can actually set how far you want the mic to be away from the cabinet. It has this thing called Auto-Riff that is absolutly USELESS!!!!

I use a gutted out Fender Strat Deluxe with a Seymore Duncan Single Coil Humbucker in the bridge and I just run the GT-3 through the effects return on the back of my Peavey Half Stack Classic 100 and I can get some cool lows, mids, and Highs!! The Flange on it its pretty noisy but its controlable with the volume pedal.

Its a little dificult to make your own stuff, but as for saving and maving effects around, its very simple.

Never had t deal with customer support

Ive been playing since 9th grade and I am now 22 and this is one of the coolest multi-effects processer out. Its KILLS the Digi-tech RP-7 (Which I hat anyways!!). The only other thing that I think compairs is the POD or POD PRO. The GT-3 is quite simpiler to operate though.

It is reasonably easy to get decent sounds out of this unit, especially if you are willing to tweek a little. I've notice a big difference in output levels when it comes to different pick-up configurations and/or guitars. I realize that there are obvious differences, but I have never seen them quite this pronounced in any one unit that I have used multiple guitars with. Odd. The manual is a typical Boss/Roland work of genius. I skimmed it once and it had all of the syntax clarity of a pre-school class with a collective case of Tourette's syndrome, just add naughty words. You eventually understand what the manual is referring to if you guess really well. If you have problems with this, get the video.

My set up is as follows: A Godin LGXT/Gibson Explorer w/GK-2 pickup/Rickenbacker 230 w/ GK-2 pickup into an Ernie Ball Volume pedal, a Danelectro Dan-O-Wah, A Danelectro Daddy-O Distortion into a Yamamha T-100 1x12 Tube Combo. I run the GT-3 in the effects loop with a Line 6 Delay modeler just after it. I also drive a Roland GR-33 Guitar synth throught the same amp. I route it a with a 6 channel Behringer micro mixing desk.The chorus/flange effects can be noisy even when the noise reduction is on. The effects are strong and clear. I primarily use the unit for time based effects like chorus/flange/reverb/delay. Some of the things like Auto-Wah and Slicer may make an appearance later.They are currently only good for making cheeky, random noises.

It is certainly built in a Brinks-Truck fashion. Most Boss/Roland stuff that I have owned has lasted forever with very few difficulties. I use at least once a week on a gig withouth a back-up. I make assumptions of reliability.

Website for Customer Support loads like molasses. Hope that the phone system works with greater vigor. Never had to upgrade and/or have repair.

It allows me to write comprehensive packages of patches for very specific applications. It is rock-solid and I would buy it again should it disappear. Maybe the GT-5 or GT-6. I play a weekly church gig, in one Celtic/Pop hybrid band, minor session work and some soundtrack recording.

This unit is pretty simple to use. All the effects have a corresponding button, and you can scroll through them very easily. Editing is simple, just use that circular scrolling device and you're set. Manual can guide you through with fairly no problems

I first used this thing into the back of my Fender Twin Reverb II's Return jack. I play a stock '78 Les Paul Custom Black beauty. I found the distortions to be extremely noisy. I get feedback most of the time. I tried using the distortions only, and then the preamp modelers alone, and then combinations of the two, but I still couldn't get a very good distortion tone. It sounded really tinny and thin, no beef or balls to it. I then plugged it into the front of my twin and it sounded a little better, but not much. I screwed with the eq for days, but couldn't find a satisfying setting. The other effects are allright. The chorus is good, the phaser is decent. Flanger works pretty well. I never use the harmonizer. The reverb sucks though, maybe cuz I only dig spring coil reverbs. This is a good effects unit for your delays, choruses, flanges, etc. Vibrato is kinda weak though, I hardly notice it's even on!!!! I tried this unit through a VHT power amp into a Marshall slant cab and it sounded alot better. But, still I thought the distortions were too processed sounding, not warm and natural at all.

I can definitely rely on this piece of gear. It's built very solidly and it hasn't let me down yet. I don't think I need a back up with this.

Never dealt with them before.

I play Hard rock and blues mostly. I've been playin' for 12 years. I don't use alot of effects. All I need is distortion, overdrive, Wah, and Chorus. If this were lost or stolen, I would probably not get another one. I just got a SIB Varidrive pedal and that thing smokes!!! Also, the wah on this is not too responsive...I went back to my old Vox Wah. I would recommend this to players who need an arsenal of effects, but Don't use the distortion on it.

THIS UNIT IS FOR SALE....It is also not to bad...just read the instructions manual and it will take you right through it. I recommend going through it without the guitar on or plugged in first. Just sit down with the manual, the GT-3 and a cold beer and get to know the unit and how to move around, then plug in. Easy to edit patches. The manual does the job but it's not any great piece of work. Don't know firmware number but the unit is only 3 months old.

I used the GT-3 with a Marshall VS-102 100w 2-12 Combo, sitting on a Marshall 4-12 1/2 Stack. It was a little noisy on some of the heavy distortion settings. Effects are mostly strong enough to do the job but when you change from heavy distortion to say the acustic guiitar setting there is a big volume drop. This caused a problem for me. I would have to gain down the distortions patches to about 75% to have the volumes match when I changed to the acustic guitar simulator. Don't copy any artists guitar really, just work on my own sound. The distortion does not work well with my Marshall set-up. I can't explain it but it just does not do the job for me. This is a big problem to me. Other people told me it sounded great but I did not like it, therefore I am going to sell the unit. I'm going to post it on the for sale area so if your are interested drop me a line $275.00. Dallas/Fort Worth Area

Boss...bulletproof!

N/A

I play rock from the 50's to the 2000's Just about anything that use to be popular that doesn't suck today. I have been playing 16 years. I think the unit is a great unit it just did not do what I needed it to do. I did work with this unit for quite some time and it was just not working with my style of playing. That is not to say that it would not make someone very happy with their sound it just did not work for me.

It's not hard to figure out the basics of how to use it and program it. It's tedious though. It takes a little work to figure out how to edit things, but once you get it down it's pretty quick. Figuring out what all the settings do...well that's another story. I'm still 'discovering' things that I haven't ued yet.

IMO it depends on your need. The GT-3 has a lot to it. I think this is too complicated for live use - but I like simplicity. For home use it's the most outstanding practice/headphone "amp" I've used (although expensive for just that).

As with most multieffects units it's all over the map - some real nice, some not so nice, and some utterly useless. The effects side of things does a good job at all the basics - probably similar to the standard Boss pedals (although I've never owned any). Delay, Reverb, Chorus, Flange etc. are functional and work well. Some nice stereo effects too.

I've read some say the wah is weak. I find that there are so many settings that I can almost always find the sound that I need. Is it the "one" wah, well...no. But close enough for my purposes.

The synth type settings are pretty feeble IMO. tracking is ok at best, and the sounds aren't that strong. The slicer and auto apeggiator are next to useless from what I can tell.

I am not at all a fan of the overdrive/distortion and dirty preamp sounds. I've been through them all and tweaked and tweaked and tweaked and it just doesn't do much for me. Mostly pretty buzzy and raspy sounding without the real gut punch that you want from a high gain amp. Some of the clean preamp sounds are pretty nice. The Twin and the JC-120 preamps work well, although I still find that they need some 'help' from effects, which is not true of the real amps.

I like the GT-3 sounds best through headphones, but I do use the unit live with my cover band through either a Mesa Blue Angle or a Peavey Triumph PAG 60 (both 1x12s). I have tried the unit through the effects loops, having the amps preamp in the GT-3 ext loop, and directly in front of the amp and for me it works best going guitar->Gt-3->amp. Less monkeying around, and less cables. I just keep the overdrives and preamps off completely and use it for straight effects. It lets me mimick the sounds of just about anything I could want. With a little work I was even able to get a credible talk box sound by setting the Human Wah up properly.

One draw back is that it is very sensitive to different guitars, so the output volume can vary quite a bit. That's normally not a problem, but if I swap guitars at a gig some of the more complex effects setting simply won't work properly with one guitar or the other. Strange, but I've consistently found that to be a problem. Especially with the slow gear or swell type effects.

Seems solid, never had a problem.

never had a need for it.

Overall this unit is a lot of fun and has some very usable sounds in it. Buy a used one and I think you really get a lot for the money - even new it's worth it I think. For me it was a choice between a handful of boss-type effects and the GT-3. The GT-3 quickly becomes worth the price of admission.

If you're looking for that one or two killer effects I'd say look elsewhere. But if you're looking to get in the neighborhood of a bunch of effect (as those of us in cover bands so often need) than this may be your ticket.

Also look at the Digitech RP-2000 and korg (I forget the exact model). Zoom has a similar one too now. The RP-2000 is very similar with some effects better and some worse. I think they're out of production now so they may be cheaper.

JUST TO LET YOU GUYS KNOW THERE IS A PATCH ROM VERSION 1.03 OUT TO FIX A SLOW GEAR PROBLEM IN VERSION 1.02.
Ease of use is almost excellent. I wish they had a Win2k/Linux midi interface program for patches, but that's it.

Great sound quality. Some people knock the preamp but I wouldn't rule out their own equipment causing problems. I notice no buzzing worse then other effects nboards/processors. Come on guys for the money you could do a lot worse!

I haven't had problems with it in any manner....then again I don't have idiots slam dancing on it. Talking to the Roland techs, they said it's weak spot is the volume knob on the back. If it gets kicked in the knob it could be a gone'r. Other then that it has a fabulous warranty.

Just to say again, THERE IS A PATCH ROM VERSION 1.03 OUT TO FIX A SLOW GEAR PROBLEM IN VERSION 1.02. It's a screw up on Roland's part so they'll eat any cost. It took two weeks to get it back from the local Roland Tech...I was lonely and alone without this unit, I felt like I lost a friend. So when I got it back I celebrated by buying the Jem7VWH! GOOD GOD can I say what a freaking beautiful combo! I may never sleep again!

My style is 80's metal and anything Vai. I've been playing for 10+ years and this is the best board I've seen for the money. It can't be beat (literally this thing is tough). I've pulled every sound I can think of from Vaughn to Vai from this lovely creature and it was a hell of a lot cheaper then buying the individual effects or rack systems.

The thing's so easy to use I almost never had to refer to the manual. It's easy enough to browse through the presets, but it's when you get to edit your own sounds that you get the best surprise. Just a few clicks and a few turns of the knob and there you are, with killer, dreamlike, perfect sounds. The only reason I give it a 9 is because I had to check the manual a few times to be able to set the ctl and expression pedals properly, but, other than that, it's a child's game.

I use a crappy Peavy Rage 158 amp (15 watts, very very ugly sound), but I still get a very good sound out of this unit. If I plug in the phones, I instantly fall in a dream of sounds and melodies. All the effects sound good (albeit with a bit of tweaking), and even the distorsions / overdrives. Like someone said earlier, you just have to set the 'Your Setting' option to 'Line(Headphones)', even if you're plugged directly to an amp. If you don't do that, I admit the distorsions do sound crappy.

Anyhow, most of the presets suck and I probably never will use them in a gig or even just on rehersal, but you can make any sound you want out of it. I messed around with the od/ds and reverb, coupled with the expression and control pedals, and I can get killer sounds in a few simple clicks. Now, be sure you use those two pedals, else get a few cheaper stompboxes. The ctl pedal allows you to go from a clean to distorted sound (and back), without loosing the reverb or delay loop. If you just jump from an effect to another, the delay stops. But using this method, you can keep it ringing for hours and hours, which is what I like.

Also, the wah range might be a bit poor, but there's so many other things you can do with the expression pedal that you might as well forget about the wah. You can set it to trigger on/off effects, to raise the volume of any effect, from distorsions to chorus and delays, and it can work as the ctl pedal also. With a very high and tweaked-up reverb, you can get a kind of wind-blowing effect and you can make it come in just when you want it with the expression pedal. Pretty nice.

I've only had it for a couple of weeks, but had no problem with it so far. The thing seems built to last, unless maybe the expression pedal, which seems a litlle less tough than the rest.

Didn't have to deal with them yet, but such a big company as Roland should have steady custommer support.

I can get any sound I want from it and wouldn't want to change it for anything else, unless maybe the new GT-6 (not out yet, it was announced on July 21st), which has knobs for easier and quicker setting up.

It's quite easy to use and you can narrow the tone down to a pinpoint. Manual is great. All the info you need. Hard to get good sound out of the pre-amp. PRE-AMP SUCKS!

I use an Ibanez Jem 77FP w/ a Roland BC-60/310 Blues amp and it has hardly ever steered me wrong w/ clean sounds. Pre-amp is horrible. Too much buzz and tone makes me put down my guitar for weeks at a time. I now use the distortion on my amp and add in Overdrive. Much better. So much for ANTI-FEEDBACKER w/ this pre-amp. NOISIEST PREAMP EVER. The pre-amps distortion waves are being sliced at the top ends and it gives it a horrible skratchy sound.

I used to love my GT-3. It had incrediable tone all the way round but then one day pre-sets that I used to love were now my worst enimies. It totally 1-80'd on me and jacked itself to hell. Tone was lost and still is. I think some GT-3's are sold in medium condition and a few of us "buyer critics" get a good one but eventually (in my case 2 years) they shut down to crap medium. If it's in top of the line either you have no idea about tone or sound or you need to cherish it while it lasts. If yours is in medium crap condition then I'm sorry you didn't get to experience great tone at a low price.

Very nice and helpful. Still am not sure if their is a problem or not.

I like jazz, classic rock, blues, crazy Steve Vai/EVH rock and this unit doesn't quite provide enough. I've been playing for about 4 years now. I would sell it but I need something simple to play at everyday gigs and also Neal Schon uses one so we'll see. It has gotten in my way of making music. I'm going to go DigiTech 2120 or 2101 and switch signals between a power amp and an amp head. Can't wait. Good for beginners and it really depends if your're above beginner. Eventually I'll probably sell.