Boss GT-3

Editing each patch is incredibly user friendly and easy. I often throw my shoes off and edit the patches with my toes.IN THEORY one should be able to get any sound out of the GT-3. There is the COSM, an EQ, a SUB EQ, amp simulators, multiple distortions, utility settings, etc. not to mention their online advice and tutorials. But if you're like me you don't want to spend hours and hours perfecting one patch much less multiple patches. I have spent many evenings sitting down with my Marshall VS100 and headphones and (four years later) finally created a patch I like. So if you don't mind the headaches of fine tuning and tweaking numerous variable of each of your patches then it may not be as much of an annoyance as it has been to me. I find stomp boxes easier to edit; I find it confusing to not have knobs but just numbers on a screen. The manual is very large at about 80 pages, but I would have liked for it to go more in depth with the effects and uses.

I play a Gibson Les Paul Standard and a Fender Strat to the GT-3 and through a Marshall VS100 valvestate (big mistake) combo. I am a fan of BOSS sounds. Always have been, since I started playing 11 years ago, and always will be. I like many bands from Smashing Pumpkins to PropellerHeads to U2, but I'd say the sounds I most like to replicate would be bands like Delirious or Tom Petty or any good crunchy rhythm sound. The only way I've found to get this is with the MS1956I amp simulator and I just adjust the VOLUME and GAIN settings. While I love the SD-1, BD-2 or even the Metal Zone pedals for some nice rich warm distortions I DO NOT like the distortions of the GT-3. They are all too shreddy and high pitched; I won't use the distortions even when I'm just having fun in a jam, they're terrible. I always use the LINE OUT setting otherwise I feel that I will kill my ears. As with BOSS single stomp boxes, the modulations, delays and other effects are beautiful.

Built like a TANK! Never had any technical problems.

Never had to use them.

I've been playing for 11 years and have managed to use the GT-3 for 4 of those years, but now I'm looking to get rid of it. The GT-3 just helped to solidify my belief that no digital module can fully replicate any good analog sound (the only thing to change my views has been the Fender Cyber Twin) Possibly if I had a tube amp I may find that the sounds of the GT-3 may be de-shredded. Very nice if you want it just for the delay and modulation effects. In fact, its great if you don't ever want to use the amp simulators or the distortions. The amp simulators sound nothing like they are named and the distortions all sound like death metal shred. Now if you want to spend hours and hours and hours studying and modifying each parameter then this is a great project for you, but if you want to "set it and forget it" Invest in some single pedals. If it were stolen I'd collect the money and put it towards a Mesa Boogie. Happy shoppin!

easy if you just go with the preset settings, and fairly easy if you want to tweek the parameters of each effect. on some effects there seems to be an excess of parameters to tweek, e.g there only needs to be 2 or 3 parameters (i.e. 'depth','rate'&'level' virtual knobs) for chorus but there's about 6! i can't get the external overdrive pedal socket thing to work either - i've tried various ways at plugging in my route 66 pedal to no avail.

average. i originally bought it to use as a fancy headphone practice amp but have even given up on that idea. even after months of tweeking i couldn't get any sounds i really liked. 98% of the factory presets are awful - no subtlety whatsoever, a real mess of too much fx piled on each cliched preset. i ended up spending so much time tweeking that i didn't have time left for much actual playing practice - so WARNING! This unit will cause your playing chops to go downhill! i feel that they should've left out the silly fx that no one uses ('slicer' anyone?) and concentrated on better quality 'bread and butter' fx. btw, the delay on it is better sounding than a dd2 but there's no 'hold' function.

well built. hasn't broken. but then i hardly ever use it.

don't know

had for 4 years and only get it out the cupboard every few months or so. not bad value if you want all the fx without the price tag of buying individual pedals or racks...but at what price if you you don't like the end result? you'll find yourself buying those good quality individual pedals eventually anyway when you start to become more savvy about 'tone'. multi fx is not the all in one solution the manufacturers would like you to believe.

It get easier to use with time. When I first got it I was just excited to fiddle with the effects, so it was a little confusing, but after about a month or two I had it down to a science.

Over the years I've gone through a few different rigs, but now that I've found my dream rig I can say this thing is a monster. I've got two Kustom Quad 100 Heads with two Kustom 4x12 cabs, and you really couldn't tell the difference between this and a Marshall. I grew up on analog and tube amplifiars, so I'm a huge fan of vintage sounds (such as old Fenders and Marshalls from the 60's and 70's.) I play mostly metal but I love havin a vintage hard rock sound. After some work, this thing gets me a great vintage sound with new componants. I will admit though, as much as I love this unit it's really hard to get an internal distortion sound that sounds really good. So I added a Metal Zone and a lot of EQ and got my dream sound. Virtually anything is possibly with this unit if you apply yourself. The really cool thing: switches sounds almost instantaniously. I've heard so many pedals take a long time (upwards of half a second) to switch to another sound even within it's own bank. This thing switches sounds fast. Also, worth noting: the acoustic simulator is pretty damn good, and the delays are amazing. Great phaser/flanger sounds too, and the EQ is one of the best. Only thing I'd like to see more flexability in is the Wah sounds.

This thing is a freakin beast. Hands-down the most dependable effects box on the market. Been using it almost every day for the past three years, no problems. Has never died on me and works perfect every single time I tuen it on.

Haven't had to talk to support. This thing rocks.

This is hands down the best pedal on the market. Most guitarists preffer to use individual pedals, and yes in most cases that's the best way to go. But this thing does a great job of creating a beautiful and natural sound for any style of music. But, here's the thing: you have to make it sound good. If you know how you want to sound, then you will sound that way, garaunteed. If you just mess with it and try to find something cool you may be disapointed.

Its quite easy to use after you are familiar with it.

I play this unit on my CS Strat and Les Paul,I find this processor sound too digital & crispy to my ears.Modulations are good,reverb & delays are not so bad,Distortions are not impressive.Amp simulations are bad except for the clean tones,they're ok.acoustic sim,wahs,comps,limiters are average,lots of sfxs(not useful though).

I must admit that this thing is very reliable.

never dealt.

I mostly play rock and blues & been doin that for almost 15 yrs.I think this gear is for beginner/intermediate guitarists who seeks for a wide varieties of effects/sound for his/her live showsThis unit is user friendly and you can create a lots of sounds with it,has a large memory capacity(banks) and there are many useful functions such as the assianable pedal,control switch,manual function,eff.chain set etc.this thing would be great if the amp sims and the distortions sounded better.The worst thing about this gear is it reacts totally different to a headphone and to an amp.this thing is great for headphone practicing at the middle of the night.I wonder if this gear sounds great for a versatile player.Anyway a good player always rely on separate pedals than these all in one type multi effects processors.

Very easy to use, although narrowing down to an exact tone can take hours. There is a very useful GT-3 yahoo group though which can help those who are stuck.

I have a mid-high range Ibanez and a Marshall AVT100. I put the FX unit infront of the amp and use the clean channel. Doing this takes alot of my amp's sound away but when I have a good effect I don't want the amp messing it up :). This thing has so many FX and parameters that you could spend a lifetime tweaking. The distortion is a little poor on it's own but if you have it low with the amp simulator it can sound very good. I've nailed an 80's Metallica sound on it so it can't be bad. The time effects (Delay, Reverb, chorus etc.) are excellant. I now wouldn't get rid of this for the world (maybe for a newer version).

I haven't gigged it just yet but soon will. I've had it for 5 years and it's still in good as new condition. I've never had any problem whatsover with it.

Never needed to contact Boss.

I've been playing on and off for 5 years and I mostly play metal but I also play some other stuff. This machine can get some excellant blues tones too as well as heavy thrash and the like. If it were stolen I'd probably go buy a newer version (GT-6 I think we're on now). What I love about this pedal is the amount of FX you can have going at the same time and the fact you can use the cntrl pedal to change parameters/fx within each patch, it's like you have 4 patches in each patch. The only thing I hate is that it has so many things that it takes along time of tweaking to get what you want. Anybody that has the opportunity to get one of these cheap should get it. It owns any other multi-FX machines I tried in the price range (when I bought it that is in 99).

Easy to get great sounds from the presets. Editing is fairly simple for basic parameters if you have exp. with multi FX. The manual is confusing and incomplete, even though it is huge. It took me years to figure some things out. Didn't know about upgrades.

Mostly I use my fernandes dragonfly pro(awesome gtr!) into gt-3, into fender hot rod deville for gigs and it sounds great and has every effect. Only pedal I use is a crybaby. This unit sounds great with every amp I have, peavey classic 30, fender princeton, carvin x60 tube head, epiphone galaxy 10( really cool tube amp for practice and recording) and my peavey rages. The fx all sound good except for wah but thats with all multis and I wouldnt want to wear out the exp. pedal anyway. You can get close to almost any sound and if you cant practice more. It has a global(effects all patches) eq and reverb levels for quick changes to work with different gtrs, rooms. Nice feature!

TANK. PERIOD. Never a problem in 7 years and never a backup.

Don't know.

I play all kinds of rock and blues. Been playing 13 years. I own a few other multi fx, zoom, korg and boss that don't compare to the gt-3. also boss pedals metal zone,comp.,delay, eq, ds-1, and ibanez tubescreamer, fuzz, chorus. this pedal would be good for any style, level player. Just take some time to set up some patches and build from them. this is also the best way to set cuz' the factory settings vary in volume. Manual mode is handy for stomp box style stomping. Now, WHY such a small volume knob and WHY on the back!? Hate that! I might buy the gt-6 if lost just cuz its got knobs instead of buttons. I play in bar bands doing covers and originals and it helps me simplify my set up and make quick and extreme sound changes required when covering a lot of styles. If you stick with one style just get a couple stompboxes cuz you don't need all this and I think individual fx generally sound a little better. It does have extension dist jacks that allow you to put your fav. boxes through the gt-3! You can also use this for tube pre-amps! My deville's pre-amp can be patched thru the gt-3 then the unit's out put goes to the power amp/fx return in!!! this requires 5 cables but is great if you want to use your amps distortion or the gt-3's dist. or amp modeling. I wish it had true bypass function, and a master volume KNOB on front for quick adjustments cuz the patch volumes are hard to even out. A great unit, especially for less than 200 ebay price.

Slightly low score on this 'cos it takes a year or two to get good at setting & editing patches. Also don't expect to get killer valve-type tones when you up the gain. The COSM amp modelling is quite good for clean but doesn't cut the mustard for producing that clipped tone that you get from those dodgy old glass tubes. I've found a tone that sounds a bit like plugging straight in to an Orange and turning the volume up to ten - a typical British Noel Gallagher style overdrive, but that's about it. Something else I've noticed - the crappiest amp model of the lot is "MS1959" - which we all know is supposed to be a Marshall stack. It's just about unusable, & given that Marshall is the sound most guitarists aspire to, why feck it up so royally? Sour grapes from the boys at Roland? That might explain why "JC120" is one of the best! The manual is pants (long johns, with one of those cat-flaps & porcelaine buttons). Your best bet is get on the internet & google it for loads of info from other users. I'm not sure what version of software mine has but I reckon it's about 4 years old now - I bought it used.

I'm using a Telecaster & an Epi Les Paul. If you thought the difference in tone between guitars was subtle, try using a patch for a Les Paul & playing a Tele through it, or vice-versa. Any high gain stuff set for the LP will buzz like a bastard with the Tele's single coils, and anything else sounds thin & reedy. The other way round everything just disappears in mush. I don't often amp the GT-3, & this raises another point. If, like me, you normally use headphones for practice & set the patches that way, as soon as you put it through an amp - any amp - as Boss recommend, your patches will sound bloody awful. I've heard the best set up is straight into the power amp of a Peavey Bandit using the line out (headphones) setting & this will allow you to keep the settings you've got & sound pretty true to what you were trying to achieve. Never been able to try it, though. If I amp it at all I use the guitar amp (combo) setting through my crappy Kramer 15W solid state doo-dah. It sounds OK-ish. Apart from the poor distortions (which I've already mentioned) the wah is pretty awful, too. It sounds better on clean patches, but who ever wants to wah-wah without plenty of sustain? I set a patch recommended by some website or other to supposedly improve the pre-set wah, but it's still too sudden & shallow. The delay is quite good - I've got a killer patch for playing Waterfall by the Stone Roses - sounds like you're on the opposite side of the grand canyon. Reverb is quite nice for a digi-box too. Oh, & the acoustic simulator. I've got an acoustic guitar & I'd like to know how this sounds different to an electric guitar played clean with the EQ tweaked for bass & treble - the only realistic simulation is when you put some chorus on to sound like an electro-acoustic. Oh yes - there's some effects here which I'll probably never use, but there's a pitch shifter which I've used to play the intro to Radiohead's My Iron Lung & it sounds exactly right. Dunno what Johnnie's using but my bet is it's more expensive than 2% of a GT-3's capability.

This is built like a brick shit-house.

Never dealt with.

As I'm a relative novice playing indie-rock style stuff for my own entertainment through headphones, the GT-3 is ideal for giving me all the sounds I want without the expense & complication of seperate stomp boxes. On the odd occasions I've been jamming/rehearsing I spent as long trying to get a good sound as actually playing the damn guitar, much to everybody elses frustration. In the end it was easier to plug straight into the amp. I briefly owned a Laney VC50 valve amp & it was a total waste of the GT-3's abilities & the amp's natural tone to try to pair them up. If you're gigging, either set it up through a solid state power amp and get all those lovely sounds cheaply, or go for the real thing & use a valve amp with stomp boxes. I doubt wether your audience will notice the difference or give a toss, but I'm inclined to think the GT-3 is more of a toy for the bedroom guitarist than a serious pice of kit.

For as much as you can do with this unit, it's actually really easy to use (with help from the manuel of corse) everythings laid out in a very user friendly fassion

the versitility

The versitility of this unit is Amazing. Surpassed only by the GT-6.
There is so much you can do. You can efect parameters of effects that you didn't know were there. The internal pedle controls make for even more versitility. I seriouse. Ive had this thinf for about 4 years now and it still amazes me how crazy of sound you can make.

The tone

The tone is another matter. All though all the effects are pretty cool sounding, this thing does Tone suck. It's not the worst in the world but if you have a good amp you'll notice (i run it through a Rivera M120, killer amp) In my opinion, the versitility far makes up for the lack in tone. And In a live situation you'll never notice.

I wouldn't suggest using this for extensive studio use though. It's good for making wierd sounds and unique effects, but not for it's tone

One thing, the noise gate is pretty good and, if using the built-in pre amp models it's almost silent

This thing flew out of the back of my friends truck and smashed into a curb 3-1/2 years ago and put a big dent in it but the thing never stoped. It's built like a freaking tank man!!! Not a single glitch. The pedals still work and everything.

Rad unit, but not exactly pro quality. It's close though. I use it for strange sounds and radicall effects but not much else. It's a killer unit for pre or post effects. the effects sound really good. But the thing sucks just enough tone to start to be anoying.

it's practically IMPOSSIBLE to get a decent sound out of this piece of shit on it's own;
if ya use the knobs on the guitar, ya can hear the terrible noise gate working...high frequency artifacts that sound fuckin' HORRIBLE, and if ya turn it off, the thing has all the background noise of a waterfall!
Editing patches is a pain, and the manual is THE WORST PIECE OF SHIT I HAVE EVER SEEN!!!
it has every bauble and bead you'll prolly never need, and most of the "analog (not) " stuff sounds horrid.
the delays are ok, i like the tap function, tho i rarely use it...
some of the reverbs are ok, the harmonizer is adequate but difficult to program realistically, and EVERYTHING sounds digital, in a BAD way.
the "cosm" sims of various preamps totally suck..i do amp tech work , and most of the models just don't cut it unless you run the shit around half way up...then they SOUND KINDA like what they represent, but in a very harsh and sterile way.
the comp is noisy, the gate sucks, the preamp models suck, the overdrives/distortions suck, but i DO use it live...

live, i use what seems an insanely complex rig with this thing;
i DON'T use any of the cosm or distortions at all, they fucking SUCK.
anyone with ears will notice that, unless they've been raised on "digital models" and have never had the chance to play thru any of the amps this thing lamely attempts to model.
i run it like this, i've seen it since called the four cable method, but mine is a little more complex...
the signal path goes like this:gtr> hot rodded crybaby wah (thanks to Geofex' R.G. Keene for the jelp, BTW!)> dano french fries auto wah > dano chicken salad vibe > Boss Super Overdrive > Big Muff Pi > GT-3 input >GT-3 send > Roland GP-8 in >gp-8 send >line input, Marshall 9001 tube preamp >marshall send >gp8 return >gp-8 outs to Marshall stereo returns > marshall output (mono) >GT-3 return > gt stereo outs > left goes to market electronics echoplex >input marshall valvestate 8008 power amp, right to other input on the power amp.
By turning off the cosm preamps, and setting the distortion to external and having the marshall in it's place, i don't need that lame ass digital distortion/preamp modeling, i can use actual TUBES to get my tone, and use the good sounding digital stuff after the tubes like they belong.
i like being able to put the "loop" of the GT anywhere i want,
and expressive control on the thing can be the bomb, if ya can figure out the exceedingly cryptic manual.
heavily processed, the accoustic sim is good, i use it live a couple times a night.
mostly i only need like three patches live.
versatility wise, there is an awesome amount of stuff ya can do with this pedal...but there's a lotta bullshit in it, too....
arranging effects however you like is handy tho, gotta admit...
you can do things "wrong" to great effect!
tho by itself, i can't stand this blue piece of crap, it's been a great addition to my live rig...once i turned off all the bullshit!!
seems to run best on the "line/headphones" setting.
but honestly, if ya want TONE, yer better off with an old ME-5, unless you're bonged outta yer mind or play with so much distortion ya wouldn't know a decent tone if it bit you in yo ass.
if yer not very discriminating, this thing could be your wet dream.
some of the shit in there, like the humanizer and auto riff function, just sound...well, DUMB!!!!!!!

it fucks up frequently on gigs, and pisses me off!!
prone to oscillation, doesn't like sitting in the truck.
very susceptable to atmospheric moisture and to a lesser degree temperature.
every couple gigs, i need to completely unplug it and repatch it to get it to work, seems prone to oxidation.
it lives in a pedal board, so it's not being unpatched unless it fucks up...
which again, it does every couple gigs.
but it IS a boss, and can take some physical abuse.

never dealt with boss on this one other than to ask why the manual sucked so very, very hard!
they couldn't tell me why, and were reasonably clueless when i asked about specific functions.
again, they dropped the ball on this thing IMnot-particularlyHO

i play classic rock and blues.
it's adequate for my uses with an assload of outboard gear.
been playing since'69, own a buncha gtrs, mostly strats and gibsons.
use fender and marshall amps most of the time, depending on my mood and the gig.
if it were stolen, i doubt i'd buy another, honestly.
just not worth it; every sound but the RIGHT one, tho you can tweak it eventually to be usefull.
i don't love anything about it; but it DOES have enough options to keep ya busy for a while before you realize just how badly BOSS dropped the ball in so many ways.
i just wish it could sound good on it's own' cuz MAN, would it be useful!!
i wish Boss would go back to using an ANALOG front end, and the noise gate they had in the ME-5..then it would be useful.
by itself, without serious tweaking, it's difficult to really get a useful sound out of this thing, but it shines for the most part in my setup; but mostly i use it as a hub to control my rig, and use the verb and ddl.
using the exp pedal as the master volume for a cranked up marshall is a gas...
but them digital high frequency aliasising artifacts ruin the things tone, they are incredibley noticeable and annoying if ya use the volume knobs on your gtr.
for what it is, it's ok, but by no means is it a holy grail of gtr tone like some may lead you to believe.
ya gotta jump thru hoops to use it , and the manual just plain sux pud.
BUT.....it DOES have some useful, meat and potatoes effects, and a buncha shit most will probably never need, like the arpeggiator auto riff thing, the slicer, stuff like that.
basically, what SHOULD be digital sounds pretty good, but what SHOULD be analog sounds like doo doo.
and don't make the mistake of trying to use the cosm preamp models as an overdrive into a distorted amp.
FUCKIN' 'ORRIBLE!!!
yech.
might as well be a zoom pedal.
yes, that bad.
but creatively programmed, and with a decent preamp, it can sound really good if your gain structures are right.
but getting any tone you can imagine?
hardly..
keep looking!
need i say more?

It is a little bit hard to use this petal in the begging but as soon as you experiment some days you can make everything.

the sound is fake. very bad sonic character. the simulations of the preamps are not very close to the real ones. the fx s have a good quality but nothing is close to pro gears.

it is a boss that means that you can jump on it and it does not brake.
very good support of the manual and the internet.
it is really the hardest petal in the market.

i was playing with boss 1 year ago but now i have rack gear. i loved this petal. now it is not something special for me. for the amature players it is a magic unit.

Its a Sweet Processor! I had one oce before and sold it while in a fit of buying and sell rage(STUPIDITY).......
Some may say its dificult to edit the patches but I say its a breaze!
Roland manuals are known for being bad.
Not shure of the firmware, never try to find out...............

I love the sound quality its very clean. I never had to add any further noise supression.

I like the effects thay are usable for me and my music(Electronic ambiant crazy).

No amps just direct into the mixer.
I never try to emulate artists thats left up to the cover bands in my opinion.

Delays are awsome and modulation effects are very usefull.

I have gigged with one in the past as did my friend in our band we both used them without a hitch.

No need for a backup.

Roland is alright when it comes to support.
Never delt with them any more than to ask a dumb question.

I play very odd and effected stuff with under layers of regular sounding guitars. This effects box works well for me.
I would hunt down another if mine was stolen, or get the GT-6 to replace it.
A digital out would be nice, but the GT-6 has added that so........

THIS UNIT IS NOT FOR KIDS OR IMPATIENT WANKERS, IT CAN BE MADE TO SOUND ANYWAY YOU WANT IT, SOME OF THE FOLKS WHO HAVE HAD PROBLEMS WITH GETTING A WARM TONE OUT OF THIS UNIT WOULD BE BETTER SUITED TO HAVE METAL BOX WITH A BIG RED BUTTON THAT SAYS GO! ON IT AND NO OTHER FEATURES,

THERE HAS BEEN NO TONE i HAVE HAVE NOT BEEN ABLE TO RECREATE,

GREAT DO IT ALL UBIT, I CANT HELP BUT LAUGH AT THE PEOPLE WHO COULDNT GET GREAT TONE OUT OF IT, YOU CAN ONLY IMAGINE THEIR PATIENCE TO LEARN ANYTHING NEW,

IF IT WERE SUPER INCREADIBLY EASY TO USE IT WOULD HAVE NO OPTIONS

AND IF IT HAD BAD TONE BOSS WOULDNT HAVE PUT THEIR NAME ON IT,

IF YOU DIDNT LIKE THIS PEDDLE OR FOUND IT TOO HARD TO USE, KEEP WAITING FOR FISHER PRICE TO PUT OUT THEIR UBIT! :)

Somewhat involved to use...you definitely have to ead the manual to get to some of the more subtle tweaks. Once you get the hang of it, its quick to change fo your needs. Editing patches is easy.

A quick use guide to this unit: (1) AVOID THE PATCHES - build the effects yourself so you can appreciate each effect's capabilities; (2) Don't use the COSM preamps - they are pretty sterile - certainly don't use the COSM peamp in place of your own amp's pre-amp as the manual suggests. (3) Set up your distortion patches - the Distortions/Overdrives on thie unit are not COSM, but actual analog circuits and they sound really nice. These alone are worth the proce of the unit. Chorus, Dely and other modulations are OK - not awesome, not bad either. The Wah capability is nice. The compressor is only OK at verry low levels...too high and it begins to sound plastic.

I've had this for five years - its a tank.

Though I love separate effects boxes, they are a pain. You can't go wrong on this box.

this box sucks! ive had it for 3 years and can hardly get a good solid tone out of it, this thing is all about tone! pipsqueaky shit tone in fact! its good for intermediate players who havent experimented yet or if you cant play and want to hide that fact behind a wall of distortion.

not very good sound quality wise.

it is very reliable though

dont know

if you want to experiment with all sorts of sounds and modulations then sure! go ahead but for the serious player this unit will not 100 percent satisfy you, i,ve tried alot of different single effects lately and theres a couple i love! they are the dod juice box and the 308 box, now the juice box is not manufactured anymore so i got 2 of them! you may be saying to yourself at this particular moment.... dod is shit! but as a matter of fact i believe they kick boss, ass! i used to own a few individuals of those pedals and was never satisfied, try logging onto the dod effects database in harmony and just see for yourselves how the overall ratings are so much higher than boss gear plus has anyone ever heard of a pro player using the gt3 before? i,ll leave with that, bye all, p.s dont take this inscription to heart if you alredy have a gt3 im only speaking my mind and trying to help.

Well, it's not so easy to program this thing. I really had a problem with the reverb and spent two days finding what the problem is. Even a person from I bought this didn't know the answer... the problem was that in Global options reverb was set to 0. Who did this difficulty in the factory, I don't know, but this is quite stupid for me.
Anyway in general it's not so easy to edit this gt3 machine, mainly becouse it has a lot of options. It's good from one hand, and bad from the other. Basically it takes time to do sth with it that makes sense.
The manual is usefull to some degree, but mostly you will have to use your brain...

Generally speaking you can do a lot from gt3. It just take some time to combine it with your particular amp.
Basically it lacks mid frequencies and that can be a problem if you wanna get the sound of VH for example, but in my opinion anything can be done with gt3, it just can take a lot of experimenting. I got this thing about a week or so and I think that it may take me a year or so to really get the balls out of this, and undestand everything that's there inside.
It's not noisy unless you use some compressor over distortion etc. That's normall. Actually I don't use any distorted thing out of this, mostly it sucks for me. But the amp simulations works fine and you can get a lot of it combining with the amp, but as I said before it takes time to find 'the sound', a lot of experimenting with the amp and gt3 together...
The effects are good, although I lack for the knobs in delay etc. Forget about the synthesizer thing, it sucks, too much delay in what you're doing and what you get, and also you will have some strange sounds comming out of this, without the reason :-) But this is not the guitar synthesizer... 2'nd BUT I don't have a clue why they put this inside the gt3 knowing it doesn't work...
The main guitar effects like chorus, flanger, reverb, etc. even the wah are good, so for me it's better to have one machine doing this, than jump over thousands single effects with your foot.
Good thing is - you have a lot of space to do your own combinations, so you can create a separate banks for each piece of music you play, having it under your foot just changing the banks. For example one bank for heavy distorted sound, combined with the wah sound on the next peadal and flanger and chorus. The other bank may be for jazz kind of stuff etc.. Plus you can program the CTL pedal for certain thing (delay, flanger over basic sound etc).
Basically it's a good machine to explore, but you have to spend some time to understand how it works, and how to get the most of it.
I use jcm 900 combo with it but mostly connecting it directly to the PC through music card to be able to practice at night. I don't know right now how it sounds in gig situation...

have no idea

never used customer support

I play different styles for 14 years mainly using distorted sounds, but also some more simple jazz kind of stuff. Gt3 is usefull, but don't expect miracles from it, it's just some machine, quite usefull, nothing more.

I got mine used w/o the manuel. I figured it inside and out in a matter of a day. With the green screan and red lights it is simple to see what you have on and what dose what. The wheel is a good feture to scan.

Now given the fact that the patches when you first get it sound very very high and tigy. If you have any creativity in you at all. You can make anything sound awesome. I play alot of rage against the machine, tool, and othres so I need to have a wide range of sounds. I can go so far to even make synthesizer come from it (witch can sound like crap or like an actual keyboard granted you play one note at a time). Some of effects can be chopy or sound funky ie: pitch shift, but can be fixed with some pushes of the right buttons to set a tone you want. It dosen't hurt to have a good amp either. You name it. The gt-3 can make it posible if you are willing to sit down with it.

I have had few problems with it. Two time I turned it on to find that ether it didn't save what I worte on to the patches. Metal casing though. Could more or less suvive a atomic bomb.

I never had to get it fixed. Looked on line thoguh for a manuel. You need to pay $10 for it. Ha. Who needds it any way.

Nothing is perfect. But for studio, and yes even... live. The gt-3 will make you sound like the guitarist you want to be. I like to play Rage Against The Machine, 311, Tool, Led Zepllin, Fugazi, Dream Theater and many more. I have been playing for 4 years now. And play a Schecter 006 Elite with Di Marzio DP-100 brdige and a kramer dual rail neck out of *sight* a crate gfx-212t (a am on a budget. Will next TRY to buy a mesa boogie). I was debating between this and the korg ax-1500. Even thoguh it can do almost anything it is hard to make a guitar sound different than a guitar is suposed to sound. But all my friend were impresed with its effects and flasy looks (purple and yellow). I don't think I will ever sell it. It make a world of differance. If it was stolen I think I would have to get the same one back no matter what the cost b/c of all the time it took me to set up all the patches (witch was well work the one day it took).

This unit is very easy to use if you just wish to try the different presets, and tweak them with the EZ functions to control parameters. However, I did not really appreciate the versatility of the GT-3 until I began to delve into different types of guitar effects. (This was my first guitar effect, as I had never used stomp boxes before, and indeed bought this so I wouldn't have to.) The manual can be deciphered with continual reading, but the supplements to the manual available on the web were a real eye opener. If you have one of these or plan to buy one you can save yourself a lot of time by doing a bit of research. Once I understood more about how different effects worked, effect order, assign functions, etc. I found the GT-3 very easy to use to set up custom patches. I tend to set it to a few patches, and leave it for months, then try something new every once in a while. The possibilities are endless!

I currently use the GT-3 in the effects loop of my amp as follows. Les Paul Standard - Boss CS-3 -Boss P10 V-Wah - Boss GT-3 (into parallel effects loop) - Marshall JCM 601 combo.
After much research and effort trying to use the 4-cable hookup method which allows you to separate out your amp's preamp and take advantage of the GT-3's preamps, I had to admit defeat. I and others have found that this method works great with some amps, but does not seem to fit the Marshall tube amps in general. It just sucked too much tone no matter how I tweaked settings! As I prefer to use my Marshall amp's sound anyway for distortion this was not a great loss, but I would encourage all users to try the 4-cable method as it definitely allows the most versatility and access to the widest scope of sounds from the GT-3. Because the GT-3 runs after the preamp stage in my amp I purchased a separate compressor to keep at the front of the effects chain. Proper level matching in patches is essential to keeping volume consistent between patches, and also makes this unit very very quiet in use.

The following effects I use all the time: Reverb, Delay, Chorus, EQ, Com/Lim, Harmonist. I find the sound quality good to excellent.

I do not use some of the other effects such as the synth sounds, special FX, and modes as they don't sound too good through the effects loop. Also, the tracking on certain effects is poor - I think I need the software upgrade which is available. The pickup simulation offers a few possibilites, but I haven't found a great acoustic sound in the GT-3.

The wah function does not have adequate range or depth, in my opinion. The auto-wah can be used with some success. The tremolo effect is weak.

The available distortions and preamps are difficult for me to judge, as I haven't tried a lot of other amps. The clean sounds such as the JC 120, and Fender Twin are excellent, but most of the distorted or hi-gain preamp models sound just okay. I think a high quality power amp would open up a lot of possibilities, judging by what I hear playing only through my own power amp stage. I do like the MT-2 emulation using my amp on the clean channel.

I don't really try to copy other people's sounds, although I am a big Tom Scholz fan, and have tried to replicate the "Boston" patch with my amp. Still working on this one!

Overall the sound quality is very good, and I often play with the guitar and GT-3 into earphones just to play with different sounds.

This unit really shines in two areas: 1) giving you access to many of Boss's best stompboxes/sounds in one compact pedal board. 2) being able to push one footswitch and having subtle changes made to a number of effects.

My unit is set up for playing at home as follows

Main bank: all patches set up to switch into manual for 7 seconds when footswitch is pushed, allowing you to turn effects on or off individually. Expression pedal through assigns controls rates and levels of delay, reverb and chorus (heel down is everything off or very low, toe down increases levels, rates, etc). Effects used are Delay, Chorus, Harmonist, EQ, Com/Lim, Reverb. Most rates set to Master BPM and controlled through CTRL switch
Patch 1: clean patch except for Master volume and Noise suppressor (essentially bypasses GT-3)
Patch 2: chorus and reverb for rythym parts (usually on clean channel)
Patch 3: delay and reverb for distortion parts- delay time controlled by tap tempo at CTRL footswitch
Patch 4: delay, reverb, limiter, Eq with boost for leads

Other banks set up to different parameters of the same effects

I've used it live many times with no problems. I buy good stuff and take care of it, so I don't generally have backups for any of my gear. (I don't play for crowds of thousands, either :))

Boss reliability is a cliche. Great reputation for tough stuff.

Dealt with Boss a couple of times. No problems. The Toronto repair center is only 1/2 an hour away, so I am going to try and get the software upgrade to fix the Harmonist tracking problem. Had other stuff fixed quickly under warranty.

I stick to basic rock and bluesy type music, and have been playing on and off for 25 years. I don't play out that much anymore, except at church. I would definitely consider another GT-3, or a GT-6 if this one were stolen. As it is with the wah and compressor, and amp footswitch I have enough to fiddle with. I can't imagine adding several more pedals to my rig. I looked at several other products available when the GT-3 came out such as the Digitech line(originally I was going to get a GT-5), but the Boss product seemed sturdier and had a better array of features. (Remember I didn't know much about effects when I bought this) User reviews were also very positive.

My biggest complaint with this Boss product is that the manual itself is not sufficient to give you a complete understanding of the unit's capabilities. I spent a lot of time reading about effects in general before I really knew how to take advantage of the good things in this pedal and work around the less useful stuff. I think many of the reviews which rate this product poorly are due to this lack of background in the manual (ie needs more why as well as how-to.)
Also, I wish you could have 6 different effects available for control through manual mode for each patch, instead of the global setting which only allows the same 6 effects for each patch.

The pedal's best feature for my money is the ability to control so many effects' parameters with one push of a footswitch. Once you realize the GT-3 is really just a bunch of stompboxes in one unit with widely variable parameters, it is easier to understand. Instead of having to bend over and tweak 4 pedals, just push a switch and you are off! At first I was trying to set up patches according to specific songs, but now I set the patches up as "flavours", and use the manual mode to further tweak sounds during a song or set. This saves having to switch between banks too much.
Also, if the 4-cable method works with your amp, you can place effects in any order in the effects chain, use the amps' or the GT-3's preamps, and take advantage of the complete range of effects.
Overall I have been very happy with this effects processor, and recommend it both for new players trying to get a sense of what effects they would like, and experienced players who want to simplify their rigs. No product is perfect, but the GT-3 can be made to perform very well.

OK heres the deal. This is a great sounding pedalboard but you have to work at it. The menus and patches are not hard to edit but there is so much stuff in this pedal if you dont know what you are doing you can get lost. I had it for about 2 days and got it to sound great.

I use a Jackson with a EMG 81 bridge pickup,Ampeg vh140c halfstack, BBE sonic maximizer and a Rocktron hush/limiter/compressor. Like I said it takes time to get it to sound good and if you plan on using it for stage, test it at quite and loud settings. The effects are great with some signature mods like Rhaods pan. The wah is decent and the foot volume is as smooth as can be. Amp models are very almost to exact sounding and this thing is very accurate and the ODs and Distortions by BOSS. Plus the ability to mix 2 Marshalls with a distortion box is just insane. Couldnt be any better for a Metal player.

Dude if this thing was ran over by a semi it would still probably work. Ive seen on all jacked up and twisted dented you name it and it still worked.

boss gives you a free issue of guitar world if you regester your product. Boss has always been generious.

Been playing metal for 10 going on 11 years. Everything form Metallica,Slayer,Megadeth,Overkill,Testament and Ozzy. Im really happy that I got this pedal . It is like having every single boss pedal and then some to your disposal. I have heard some reviews saying its tinny,sucks and it dosent make my $20 dollar amp sound good(dosent that tell you somethin'). You need more than a great processor to get a great sound dont you think! Trust me ,you can do anything you want with this pedal. Marty Freidman(Megadeth Lead guitarist) uses the GT-6 witch has the same COSM processing engine as this pedal. I like the GT-3 over the GT-6(wich I also think its great)because its more compact and not so overwelming. Other than that there the same trust me. Boss GT-3 kills everything without mercy and makes Zooms pedals,Digitechs RPs and GenX series sound like crap.

I've own my Boss GT-3 for over 6 years now and it has gone in and out of my rig. In the late 90's I played Limp Bizkit, Korn, No Doubt, and Greenday covers. Now I play various Christian praise bands, AC/DC, Radiohead, and U2 covers. This item is pretty easy to get use to. First play around with the presets, who knows, you might like them. After that I recommend you sit down with the manual and run through the manual. Understanding the theory behind the different aspects of each effect is essential and will make you a better musician. Once you get use to making your own sounds programming is easy. One downfall is that it's hard to change settings QUICKLY, LIKE ON THE SPORT in a live environment because you have to use the big jog wheel, at first it didn't bother me but now it annoys me, I wish there was a faster way to dial in sounds. I believe the new Boss GT comes with a bunch of knobs instead of a big jog wheel which is what I wish this thing had.

I play a Squier Pro-Tone Strat w/ a Seymour Duncan JB pickup in the bridge through a Fender Blues Deluxe.

The sound quality for this thing is very good, but not great. I recommend the Boss GT-3 for people who are new to using effects or to people who need to cover a wide range of sounds. Like I said earlier I use to play Limp Bizkit and Korn which required good distortion as well as a lot of mods and effects. Now I play more U2 which requires a lot of mods and effects.

Preamps (clean and dirty preamps), OverDrives, Distortions: Generally they sounded okay. I personally love the clean sounds especially the TWIN preamp sound. As for the overdrives and distortions my favorite tones where the Marshall SLP sounds. I love British overdrive and the Boss GT-3 did a really impressive job at replicating those tones. Honestly because of the Boss GT-3's ability to replicate great Plexi tones, I now am a fan of AC/DC. The GT-3 does a decent job at replicating American distortions (Mesa, Soldano, etc.). I give the cleans an 8 out of 10, the British overdrives & distortion a 9 out of 10, and the American overdrives and distortion a 6 out of 10.

Flanger, Phaser, Chorus: Again the GT-3 does an impressive job of making good sounding mods. I give it 8 out of 10.

Tremelo: sounds okay but kinda weak. I give it a 5 out of 10.

Delay: Sounds okay but also kinda weak. I give it a 5 out of 10. I had a hard time making U2 delay sounds with the Boss GT-3. The delays even when set at its max volume could not cut through the rest of my band's mix. The only way for the delay to cut through the rest of the band was if I increased my amp's volume, which will not make the rest of the band or the sound engineer happy.

As for the rest of the effects that the Boss GT-3 offers, I really have nothing to say for them because I do not use them too much nor do I have much experience with other pedals or processor that do the same job.

This thing is very Reliable. Mine has not blackouted or erased my presets or anything like that in my 6 years of owning it. I consider this product to be physically and electronically very consistent and reliable.

Never had to deal with them, I have no say.

If you need to cover a wide range of tones and effects and do not have a huge budget then I recommend the Boss GT-3, you may want to use something else for your delays/echo sounds.

Again I love the Marshall Plexi tones and the Fender Twin tones on this thing. I think the Boss GT-3 does an impressive job at replicating these tones.

Also, this thing has helped me make music. It's got so many effects and sounds that it definitly will inspire you.

Also, this thing will cut the tone in your signal. I recommend that if you wanted to use your amp's clean tone and the Boss GT-3's distortion, you'll recognize that your clean does not sound as good if the Boss Gt-3 is in the signal path, that is why I recommend the Fender Twin sounds.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Very reliable.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

built like a tank, would never break

Boss are always good

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

no problems with the gt 3.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I have not contact with Boss yet.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hope i never need them

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

Ease of Use - Very Easy to use, I've tried several other pedals before this one and this one is the easiest to use. Editing patches I don't use that much but that's not difficult either, the pre-sets on this thing is dope and you realy don't need to adjust a lot of the sounds.

The manual SUCKS - IT IS HORRIBLE. It does not explain a thing, I figured out how to use this pedal without the manual, it is so incredibaly difficult to understand.

Sound quality, I use a Peavy Pro112 through a custom Ibanez RG, and I get very good tonage through it. Affects are great, the chorous sucks through, (i never use chorous anway), the auto-wah is garbage. The dely, distortioin/overdrive, flange, phaser, slicer, ring echo, and the brass sounds are awesome.

Honestly this is the way it is - put every single pedal that boss has put out for example how much would that cost? $1,500 - 2,000 maybe? Well this is all inside the GT-3. I don't understand why more people don't get this pedal.

I use a BOss looper with my GT-3 Ring Echo effect and I can get the Bommerang sound that Trey Anastasio from Phish uses, its pretty dope.

Hard as stone, it is made of metal and it seems copmletely undbrekable.

NO need for it will never break down.

Overall: I play a lot of jazz, blues, rock, music that feels good, no metal crap. A lot of free-flow jams that make your entire tingle and this pedal has allowed me to get sounds that can make you feel as if your walking through a mountain pass then sudenly you are flying through space.

I've been playing for about 12 years now and this has started the effects process for me, I just recently got this pedal it rocks. If this item was stolen I would totaly be bummed and i would replace this def.

I've used other multi-effects by Korg and Digitech but still found the number of buttons and footswitches daunting. The unit ships with a 100-page manual, as well as a 'quick start guide' that I flipped through prior to turning the thing on. Out of the box there are a couple hundred presets to toy with with vastly diverse sounds, but few that I would consider recording with. The menus are intuitive given the complexity of the device, and within a couple weeks of purchase I was up and running confidently.

There seems to be a lot of discussion about the sound quality of this device. I bought this unit specifically after seeing one on stage when a favorite band of mine was playing. In short, I think it's possible to get *very* nice sounds from this unit but you need to give yourself time to work with it. For everything it does not do, there's sure to be two or three things that it does quite nicely.

Placement in your effects chain is crucial, and there is a significant amount of space dedicated in the manual to this topic. I am playing a Gibson 335 through a Vox 2-12 reverb and wasn't initially happy with the sound I was getting-- running Guitar to GT-3 to AMP. Switching the signal from Guitar to AMP to GT-3 to AMP however made a significant change to tone. I would tend to agree with others that have opted not to use the COSM modeling effects when playing into boutique amplifiers, but they are very useful in direct recording applications.
Of specific effects, I'll do a quick run through. Note you can assign the order of the effect from the Master panel, and control some features with the expression pedal.

SFX: The Acoustic guitar simulator, Anti-feedbacker, and Feedbacker, and Pickup simulators are not effective to my ear. The Slow Gear, resurrected from the defunct SG-1 pedal has some worthwhile applications. The tremolo is much stronger than the tremolo unit on my Vox and I use them alternately depending on the situation. The panning tremolo feature is particularly good, especially since it can be set at a measured BPM.
Compressors, Limiters: Reasonable. My brother complained they sucked the tone right out of his Carvin head into a 4 x 12 stack.
Wah: Forget about it. The auto wah is halfway decent, but lacks depth.
OD, DS: I use the Vintage OD, Turbo OD and Fuzz exclusively. The majority of overdrives are top heavy, and most of the distortions are bottom heavy. It's work getting your mids to come through.
COSM: Good running straight into my digital 10-track. There is a function to simulate the distance of the microphone to the speaker cab. Very thorough.
Modulation: Auto-riff, Guitar synth, Ring modulator and Slicer are gimmicky. The Slicer *may* have some merit, and I'm pretty sure I've heard it recently on a few recordings. The Flange and Phasers are pretty good. The Harmonist is growing on me, because you can set it like an additional delay to mirror the sound, and detune in 1/12 steps. The Vibrato is actually very good when setting the depth high and the rate low.
Delay: You cannot create a 20 second loop with this device, but there's a lot of functionality with this effect. Tap function is great, and can be set to BPM.
Chorus: Settings for digital or 'analog.' Very usable.
Reverb: A bit thin on my ear, and I go between it and the reverb on the amp. Not bad for direct recording, and it's been working well in the experiments I've done with vocals.

It's made of metal, and weighs at least ten pounds. It feels extremely stable on the floor. They're certainly cheap enough to keep a backup (if you felt like programming two units...) but I trust it not to fail on me.

I play rock inspired by the early 90s inspired by rock of the 60s and early 70s. This unit has been nearly indispensible in getting real depth of sound. I've only been playing guitar for a couple years but have played keyboards for over ten. I would replace this unit if lost unless the GT-6 has depreciated fantastically. The value of the GT-3 is that individual pedals this machine replaces would cost several times more than the $180 I dropped on this. You can consistently find these on Ebay for under $200-- this one came with a padded gig bag. It has enough good sounds to make music and enough bad ones to waste plenty of time. Everyone looking for a multi effects unit should at least consider this one.

It's not too difficult to work out if you have owned similar multi fx before although in saying that, It became a lot easier after I aquired the user manual.

I mainly use a PRS custom through a Laney combo and the band I am in play a lot of " Aussie Pub Rock" covers (eg: Cold chisel, Angels, Midnight oil, Hoodoo Gurus etc.)as well as some of the more modern songs by bands like Greenday, Calling, 3 doors down etc.
I found that nearly all the factory "Dirty" settings had a lot of background hiss and were too overdriven to suit my preferred sound. They took a lot of tweaking to get the sound I wanted. The ways you can set the CTL pedal is great.
I noticed that in some of the other reviews that a lot of people complained about the sound quality. I believe that sound quality is an individual taste and if you have the time and patience to play around with the GT3 you should be able to get at least the majority of the sounds close to how you want them. My previous pedal was a Zoom 4040 and it has better distortions than the GT3 and was also easier to set up to suit my sound but after changing a lot of the presets I have managed to get a sound i'm happy with out of the GT3.(I have had to set up a different bank of fx for my Fender Tele) The wah on the GT3 is better than other multi-fx pedals I have used (Zoom 3030, Zoom4040, Digitec RP3, Digitec RP6,Zoom GFX707)

It's tough

The Roland web site only has info about their latest Fx pedals and does not provide any online user manuals or support which sort of pisses me off a bit. They should visit the Alesis webpage.

I have always liked the individual Boss pedals and while you can't just bend down and add more gain or delay time etc. like you can with the individual Boss pedals, you can easily program the expression pedal and control it from the pedal. If I was to lose the pedal I would go back to my Zoom 4040 (and buy a decent wah pedal to go with it)or perhaps try the GT6.

It's too hard to get BASIC sound :(
Editing at all is rather convinient, especially using MIDI.
Too easy to understand how to control, so I read manual very seldom.
My firmware was new (1.2, AFAIR. Harmonist bug was fixed) and never upgraded.

I've been using BOSS GT-3 with the folloing:
Slim copy of Ibanez RG, Ibanez RG-570 (V7/s1/ToneZone), (Linear) Power amp, Sovtek MIG-100 (all-tube guitar amp), Randall RG-75r (ss combo), H&K ss combo, SMB tube drive, copy of Marshall Guv'nor drive.

It's not too noisy but on "gig" volume it's drives give terrible feedback.

I dislike harmonist, guitar synth., tremolo, wah and many others.
It has realy nice crunch and overdrive effects. Others drives and overdriven preamps can give you ~Satch sound. 2 years I've being trying to get metal sound.

It's a very dependable processor. Metal case seems to be unbreakable.
But it's too heavy.

Finally I've sold it. And I'm too glad. It gave me one good lesson -
processors only show you what effects you need. Then sold it and buy
2-3 pedals.
What bad in gt-3? It "killes" guitar sound, it always sounds as if you
had played properly. That's good for record or a gig, but you can't
learn to play with it.
Yes, it is easy in use. But if U can't make it sound as U need, that's no sence in it.
Don't use it's drives and preamps. Except vintage overdrives they suck. The digital effect are so-so. When I've been playing cheap guitar I didn't care about the sound, but after I baught Ibanez and a tube-amp I realised what suxx I used :(

Now I use only guitar and a tube-amp. Also I want to buy chorus pedal and, probably, wah.

Very easy to use and edit,just a lot sub menu's cause the display isn't that big but it works.

I had all kinds of FX and this is so far the best (better then Zoom,Korg,ME-8/30/33,Ibanez).

I got mine 2nd hand,first built in '99 or '00 so there is nothing to be questioned I think.

Boss products are so reliable that shops give warranty on 2nd hand gear, NICE!

I got no idea.

Nice "oneboxdoesitall".

If you're on a budget or don't want to have boxes all over the place (and wires, adapters etc.) this is a great MultiFX.

Way better then ME30/33 little less then a GT6,of course there are alternatives like Korg AX1500G and Digitech RP300 (i think).

Wether people talk about other brands they like better it comes down to taste i'd say.

I never regretted buying the GT-3.

If you want this thing to sound good, you will need to know what sounds good and then program the unit. I spent at least 40hours but when I finished I had 9 different sounds that I use all the time. No matter what amp I play through I allways get good sound. You must have patience, the supplied patches sound like crap. Spend time with the manual first then plan your sounds. I use a 9 button midi controller so I can access 9 different patches at the touch of 1 button. No time for scrolling when playing live.

Sound quality is good only if you adjust the parameters to suit your personal taste. Factory presets stink. My suggestion: Start with a basic clean sound and then build all your other sounds from the original patch. That way the guitar sounds natural switching between different effects.

Very dependable.

Never needed to call.

I play everything from counrty to distorted rock. I need be heard of a full band on clean and distorted patched. We play outdoors and in small rooms. I use a 2 amp Set-Up. Marshall 4x12 Cab with Musicman head and a MusicMan Combo Amp with EV 12" Speaker. I get the best of both worlds; The bump of the Marshall and the clarity of the EV's. I love this setup. I do not play in stereo.

The pedal is pretty simple to use. It lacks a bypass pedal I think (It only has a button). It has a quick start manual that helps a lot.

I have a Jackson DKMG and a Fender Chorus Ultimate. I have to say that after one hour of playing this thing I came back to using just the pre-amp on the fender. The distortions are muddy, the delay is VERY basic and the chorus is weak. The wah sounds horrible and the Octaver sounds "plastic".

I am not happy with this thing and I am selling it...

The unit is very dependable actually. The construction is outstanding!.

Never dealt with them. They have a nice website though.

I will not keep the unit. The clean sounds are pretty good I have to say but I think there is no way in hell you can get a nice sounding metal sound from this things. Ahh... the equalizer sucks by the way.

Pretty easy to figure out considering that i bought it used with no manual/literature/etc. editing effects is pretty quick also as long as youre not a tweaky freak like me...just dial in the numerical value that you want and save . .easy as that

Ive run this thing line in and thru the effects loop of my mesa/marshall stack and in both cases the distortion and preampmodels are unsatisfactory [sound cheap inaccurate and noisy]. The guitarsynth and harmonist/pitchshifter are kida slow at tracking even when at the front of the effects chain. . .other than those 2 deficiencies, i tihnk the rest of the effects are good especially if you play nu-metal...

ive had it for more than a year and havent had any technical difficulties with it . . seems like a really solidly built piece of hardware . . .

havent had to contact custsupport yet . . .

I think this is a pretty solid multi-effects pedalboard - despite a few deficiencies its still overall a good one and i would recommend it for people who play nu-metal/contemporarry rock styles . . .has lots of features like tuner and different output settings and MIDI . .

NOT BAD AFTER YOUVE HAD IT AFTER A WHILE.

OK SOUND AT BEST. WHAT IT IS IT WITH THESE MULTI EFFECTS UNITS, PEOPLE JUST DONT SEEM TO REALIZE THAT THEY ARE JUST A BUNCH OF EFFECTS CRAMED INTO ONE UNIT WITH ONE UNIT WHITH NO ATTENTION PAID TO THE QUALITY OF THE INDIVIDUAL EFFECTS. THERES ONE THING IN THE MANUFACTURES MIND, PROFIT. THEY ARE GOOD FOR BEGINNERS OR KIDS WHO WANT TO LERN WHAT ALL THE DIFFERENT EFFECTS DO, BUT FOR GIGING WITH (PPLLLEEEASSEEE!!) THE AMP SIMULATION IS PARTICUALY CRUDE SOUNDING AND THE NOISE REDUCTION CURCUITS TAKE A LOT OUT OF YOUR SUSTAIN AND TONE. ITS JUST A TOY THAT PRODUCES INFINATE ARRAY OF DIFFERNT ANNOYING! SOUNDS.
THE SOUND QUALITY CAN BE CAMPERED TO SAY A SEGA MASTER SYSTEM. IN FACT I WOULD BE SUPRISED IF IT CONTAINED THE SAME CIURCUIT BOARDS.

HAD NO PROBS WITH IT BUT MY MATE HAD ONE AND HE BROKE HIS ADAPTER. SO BE CAEFULL WITH PULLING THE ADAPTERWIRE AS ITS FLIMSY AND BOSS WOULD LIKE YOU TO PAY FOR ANOTHER ONE OF THEIR CUSTOM ADAPTERS

NEVER dealt

JUST REALIZE ITS NOT FOR GIGING WITH UNLESS YOU DONT KNOW WHAT A GUITAR SHOULD SOUND LIKE. YOU WOULD BE MAKING A FOOL OUT OF YOURSELF TO GIG TRU THIS THING.

If you want to have good results you have to go quite in deeep with the settings and features, but the product is quite powerful and complete.

I use it with an American Standard Strat guitar and a Fender Blues De Ville 212 AMP.
The sound shaping is very good; the preamp simulation section is outstanding.
I use, bsically, preamp, overdrive & distorsion, compression and limiter features since they are my favourite ones for the music I play. Basically I find them quite good expecially the pream simulation. I don't use it very much, by I think also chorus is good.
Whawha effect, instead is not too good.

Absolutely, reliable (maybe a little heavy).

Basically gives everything you need.
The market may offer something better, but it depends on your taste and the money you are willing to spend.

Well I suppose comparing something that has this many effects and parameters to something as simple (but effective) as an MXR Pedal or one of Boss's analogue boxes, so I'm comparing it fairly by using other multi-effects Pedals as comparison points. So far it beats the Zoom 505 I had years ago and also the Digitech range - in my opinion, it's easier than all of those to get a good basic tone quickly.

It's all very logically laid out and for me all the parameters are easy to find and where I would expect them to be. Editing patches is simple. The manual skims over the more in-depth details which might mean less technology-inclined users might not be able to take full advantage of what the GT-3 has to offer.

Just for the record, the firmware revision number of my unit is 1.02. The most recent is 1.03, which fixes some of the bugs I have discovered on my unit. However these bugs are on areas of the unit I don't really use.

Generally I'm using this with my stock Gibson SG Standard or any Teles/Strats I can get my hands on, and also an Epi SG as a backup, mostly through one of two amps - Sessionette:75 (solid state) 1x12 85w combo and Marshall Valvestate 8200 head with standard Marshall 4x12 cab. I run through the effects return on both and set the output to "Power Amp (stack)" or "Power Amp (combo) respectively. I'm quite impressed with the tones, in some instances closeness to valve sounds are possible.

I'd say that the distortions tend to get noisy - there's a lot of digital hiss and hum with high gain setting which is not the hum of a well-driven tube stack, but personally I expected this much. This applies to both the Preamps when driven and the OD/DS - also with a Clean preamp and heavy OD/DS.

I'd like to discuss some of the effects at this point. The Clean preamps I'm very impressed with - Clean TWIN and JC-120 are great, not that close to the originals, granted, but the manual states "amp simulation" - not recreation. The effects in the Mod group are generally good - Phaser, Flanger (not as powerful as I'd like but usuable), Delay (although max. time is a little short), Ring Mod (not overly useful but great for the "Paranoid" solo), Vibrato gives a nice edge to softer songs. Harmonist is fair - not bad but obviously not up to Digitech Whammy standard for say Rage Against the Machine. The auto riff is good for a laugh, the guitar synth is alright as long as you stick to single notes. The rest of the effects are not ones I use so I can't comment.

The Slow Gear, Tremolo and Pickup Sim are surprisingly useful for certain applications. The wah is passable - not a patch on my personal favourite, Vox wah. Best to buy a seperate wah if you don't already have one. I personally like the Chorus - very good when run in stereo. The Parabolic EQ is a masterstroke - especially with the adjustable Q point, it's a shame there are only 2 parabolic ones on the main EQ and another 2 on the Sub EQ. Noise Gate + Compressor both very useable if not that outstanding.

The distortion is very much down to taste. What one guy might love (the Metal distortions for example) I might hate. Personally I think the distortions are the weakest part of the unit only because valve power-tube drive sounds awesome. It beats most stompboxes and cheap amps. However, although in some circumstances the unit sounds great with the right Preamp and OD/DS, others it sounds truly digital - the way the notes breakup when using a JC-120 with Blues drive with Drive=5 it sounds too obvious - especially when recording direct with speaker sim on. I'm not sure if this is just the GT-3 or because I got mine secondhand and it wasn't in great shape.

Overall though, this was well worth trading in my old Boss stompboxes for. Just needs to sound more natural, if thats possible with digital gear.

Well I did get a little bored of reading "Boss = Tank" and that when checking out these reviews, but in a sense it's true. Here's my story of why Boss can build things to last, unlike todays motor vehicles and computer systems.

After a particularly bad gig and being blind drunk, I woke up the next morning to find that my GT-3 was all dented and a little out of shape (not much tho...). I asked my band mates and apparently after our set I chucked my GT-3 out of the window, from about 20 feet up... then I went outside picked the thing up and started laughing, as it hadnt broke.

The thing had been rained upon so I let it dry out at room temperature for a couple of days, then plugged it in... still worked. Damn thing didn't even reset itself.

There is no other piece of musical equipment I can think of that you can drop out of a window without seriously messing it up. This works almost like it never happened. Score another one for Boss.

Someone said in these reviews that the manual is the first line of customer support and thats true. The manual isn't very good, so I think it's fair to say the guys on the phone might have similar problems - can answer basic questions but don't stand a chance if you have serious trouble. We'll see.

First of all I have to give it a 10 because of how cheaply I picked this up - #129 is a steal. That represents fantastic value for what I've got, considering how much my old analogue ones cost new. Instant top mark. If I'd have paid more than #170, it would have been 8.

Other than this I owned some real McCoy analogue pedals - all Boss. CH-1 Super Chorus , PH-2 Super Phaser, MT-2 Metal Zone and best of all, OD-2 Turbo Overdrive. This pedal compares well to all these - Phaser, slightly more warm with the stompbox but I prefer the cleaner sound of the GT-3, CH-1 Chorus, again the GT-3 is clearer. I hate the MT-2 I had, but the GT-3 has that sound on it, not that I ever use it. The Turbo OD on the GT-3 still doesnt quite compare to it's stompbox counterpart, however it's more sensitive EQ gives it an edge.

Overall, for what this is and how much it cost me, it's a great piece of kit. I would point out that I do not have extensive experience with pro-quality equipment or rackmounts, but even if I did I still think I'd come to the same conclusion - it's great for what it is.

After reading a little in the booklet and a little experamentation you will have it down.

I said 5 because the effects arent that bad for being digital. Yes the wah could have used more tweaking knobs. But the DISTORTION IS AWEFUL. After about a year of labor intencive experaments i have only come up with a few good patches. I am going out too look for a distortion pedal tomarrow to run through the send&return.

I like it but the distortion sounds to muddy and low ended with no sharpness and shred.

very good

I find it really easy to use, but im having a bit of trouble finding a distortion that i like. I have a 2 speaker peavey amp and i had to make a "Y" connector for the back of the amp because it was only playing out of one speaker.

Im using a Charvel guitar with a Peavy classic chourse 130. I get a bit of noise but thats because of my patch chord. the effects are great but i need help from anyone, i need better sounding distortion. I like some that the newer bands are using like Creed and Good Charlotte. If you can plz email me some of your settings that you like and i will give it a shot that would be great. prettyboy_107@hotmail.com

So far i can depend on it. I have never had any problems. I would use it on a gig without backup.

I like to paly punk/rock but i need a better distortion. I dont mind the sound of the waw but i will buy a cry baby later on.I compaired it to the GT-6 and liked it more but jsut couldnt afford it.

I've owned many different multi-effects units, several from Roland/Boss. The old GP-8, the orange Boss GX700, and now the GT-3. Let's face it...ease of use with anything in this category comes with understanding the logic of the unit, but Roland/Boss has really worked hard to make sure us guitarists don't have to work so hard to have fun with our toys. Some other guys may not know how to get happy sounds out of this thing, but it's really about as easy as it can be and still have so much depth.

Here's where I've struggled. I'll give it a "9" because the effects are really smooth-sounding and versatile for the way I use it, but the overdrive and distortion sounds are pretty worthless. Ditto for the COSM models. The GT-3 is awesome for applying effects to the setup of a player who already has a great-sounding axe & amp, but don't count on this unit to give you "tone". I've found near-bliss using the GT-3 with a TubeScreamer and other overdrive pedals in the "Ext OD/DS" loop, and plugging the GT-3 output into a good Fender amp set clean. The GT-3 is transparent, and it's effects are pro-quality (so long as we don't discuss the OD/DS/COSM crap).

Built tough as nails...though I'm really tired of units like this with outboard power supplies and cheap zip-cable power connections. Mine hasn't given me a single problem over the 5 years that I've been beating the crap out of it, but it'll happen...probably some night at a gig. How about an outboard PS with a detachable cable that's easily replaceable on the road, like a MIDI or 1/4" cable?

No problems yet...

I play Strats in just about any style of music except hard-ass metal and the like. The GT-3 allows me to get pretty much any effect sound I need easily, sounds great and allows a lot of expressive control. Two thumbs up for the effects, but two thumbs down for the OD/DS/COSM stuff. This is typical Roland though...all the way back to the original JC-120 amp; great clean, great chorus...just stay away from the dirty channel! I highly recommend this unit for players who need effects, not tone. You can find them CHEAP at pawn shops now...

One advantage is that this pedal is relatively easy to use and set though an amp, or headphones or mixer or P.A. The only real concern is using the unit in an effect loop that has a gain send and return knob which the gt-3 seem to overload with harsh feedback. One huge advantage of the gt-3 is that its patches are really easy to use and program and offer quick and easy sound changes while playing live.

What can you say digital guitar effects just can't even come close to the tone of analog. I used this effect through warm, fat, fender tube amps (vibrolux etc.); yet the gt-3 still sounded thin and small in comparision. The pedal is digital and as such produced an anemic and simple sound lacking in the harmionic richness that a good guitar sound should have. The gt-3 also tracks slowly, causing a small but noticeable delay between what you play and what comes out of the amp. The distortions are poor. The wah is poor. The reverb is poor. The preset patches are cheesy and completely useless. All in all the gt-3 is more of a toy and does not deliever true guitar sounds. Even with these negative points the gt-3 does have one spectacular sounding effect. Check out the step phaser it is absolutely phenomenal. This is a first rate effect and is the only reason why I am holding on to the pedal.

I have beaten the daylights out of the Gt-3 withiout remorse and it plays just like new. It is absolutely in-destructable.

If you are serious about quality tone and can afford analog and tube equipment dont waste your time on the gt-3. If you are a beginer and need a lot of effects and have no cash then the gt-3 is probasbly the best bang for your buck. Other units by digitech, zoom and the like are even more pathetic sounding than the gt-3. If you like phaser sounds check out the step phaser. the way it jumps is phenomenal it sounds like the heavens are opening up. For this effect alone the pedal is worth checking out.

Es una unidad algo complicada de utilizar si pretendes tocar via MIDI.
En cuanto a la edicion de patches, es sencilla, aunque el sistema EZ Edit es de gran ayuda.

Utilizo una guitarra Washburn Maverick, con un kit de pastillas EMG, la conecto a un Cry Baby y despues a un Peavey Envoy o a un ampli a valvulas cableado a mano hace como veinte a?os. Me encanta el sonido de valvulas, y cuando compre esta unidad, no crei que me daria un sonido tan calido.
Las saturaciones que se pueden lograr son muy variadas, desde el sonido VOX de Graham Coxon, hasta la saturacion Marshall de Stevie Ray Vaughan; claro, toda proporcion guardada; y por lo regular, en este tipo de unidades no son tan faciles de conseguir. (Antes utilce DIGITECH, y la verdad me quede muy decepcionado de las unidades multiefectos). En general es muy versatil, Decepciona un poco el phaser, que es demasiado frio, pero se puede aderezar con un poco de reverb para darle un poco mas de cuerpo.
De las distorsiones no hay nada que decir, la casa Boss las respalda, aunque a veces prefiero usar un Big Muff como External OD.
Por lo regular, no utilizo los preamps, sino el sonido directo de mi guitarra con un poco de Blues Dist con una ganancia de 7 u 11, y eso es todo, y sinceramente, satura muy bien mi ampli de valvulas.

NUNCA LO HE NECESITADO!!

Por lo regular la utilizo para tocar blues, o cuando tenemos algun trabajo, que por lo regular esta en tocar a grupos como Doors, Blur, Nirvana, Manson, Alice, Sound Garden, etc.
Y me ha convencido tanto, que de hecho planeo comprar otra para tenerla como backup, ademas de que gracias al MIDI no necesito editar nuevamente mis patches personales.

Not a simple unit to use by any means, unless you are one of those that enjoy jogging through 100 parameters for each patch. The manual was brief but to the point and easy to understand, but it lacked explaination of various setup configurations to use with or without your amp, with or without an effects loop, but overall, it did explain the basics. I didn't get to the point where I used it fluently for about a year, but it was from being lazy & having a stage rig I was accustom to anyway. I finally used it at band practice and a couple of gigs, but I was never happy with it. But you're listening to a guy that is use to playing through a Fender "Evil" Twin and uses Boss Pedals. So I'm picky!

I used a Fender Deluxe Reverb RI and a Roland JC-77 with this unit and even though the Fender gave it more of a tube warmth like I'm use to, it still didn't satisfy my ears. It was good enough for rehersal but not at gigs.
The multitude of effects were everything but the kitchen sink. The olny effects that were displeasing were the distortion effects and the wah~wah pedal. The wah~wah was the worst, nearly the worst I've ever heard. It just had no bite and no tone. But, I'm use to my Dunlop 535Q, so once again, I'm picky.
The acoustic simulation was great, one of the best features of the unit, but hardly worth lugging around just for that.
The amp models were fairly nice, and since I own or have owned every amp in the selection, I can tell you they are fairly accurate. The only one lacking was the Mesa/Boogie. The Twin and The Soldano were my personal favorites. The chorus was OK but not as good as a T.C Electronics, (but we're talking about a $300 chorus pedal vs. a $300 multi-effect box, so you do the math) The delay was good and the other effects were useable but not the best I've ever heard.
My Boss effects pedals beat all the effects on this unit, but once again, you get what you pay for. The variables on the boards effects is it's only saving grace, you have more programability than any single pedal I've ever seen. One user review I read on here said that the distortions on this unit sucked, and he prefered a Digitech unit. I can't imagine a Digitech unit being better than this GT-3, but to each his own. I haven't used a distortion box in 12 years. I rely on the preamp in my amp for distortion. Concidering this, the preamp modeling was more than enough to suit me. Adding the distortion effects to the preamp effect gave so much gain and noise that I can't see why anyone would use both at once, but again, I'm picky. The preamp distortion variables were enough distortion for nearly any sound you'd need (except a grungy fuzz). I get that if I don't shave for a few days anyway. One preprogramed bank had a Boston tone. This is nearly all the effects at full tilt. Don't do this with this unit unless you are recording. At high volumes, the gain level is just to much for most situations and it will make you amp squeel like a banchee. Fun for practice or recording though.

Falls apart at the lightest touch! No, really Boss has some of the most rugged roadworthy effects on the market. This one is built like a tank! The only unit that is not by Boss is the ME-30 (the cheapest in their line of multi-effects boxes) One user comented that he wished the pedal buttons were made of steel not plastic, but believe me, this type of plastic is hard as steel and very durable. Unless you plan on switching channels with a sledgehammer, these will last a lifetime.

Good company, though I've never had to repair anything I've bought by them. I own 15 different products by Roland/Boss. All have stood the test of time and I'm sure this unit is no exception. However I believe this unit is out of production now. The GT-6 is now the top line and the GT-5 and GT-3 are gone from prodution.

Flexable enough to use for any style/genre of music/venue. Programable to a fault. Slack Wah~Wah but everything else is good enough for most things. Great tool for modeling sounds with, esspecialy in the studio. Harder to tweek for giging but not impossible.
I have been playing for 23 years. I bought this unit to replace my gig rig of pedals to simplify my setup. My gig rig is still in place!
Lost or stolen, I'd get a Line 6 POD, just because I know now this unit will never replace my gig rig. But for $150 bucks, a used one would be hard to pass up!

The Boss GT3 is daunting at first. But after you go through the various controls, it comes to you. A lot of guys just won't take the time to tweak and therefore get frustrated and chuck the thing. Admittedly, the manual is horrible. I mean, it really sucks. It only superficially grazes over each subject; very vague. The best teacher is experience. Get in there and start twiddling and before long, you'll grasp the inner workings. Editing patches is fairly straightforword, punch up the parameter and adjust it with the parameter wheel. Simple, huh? If you can't wait to start playing, some of the pre-set sounds are pretty cool. Some are pretty cheesy too. I gave a rating of 7 because the learning curve is somewhat steep.

I use two guitars with the GT3; a Gibson SG Custom with stock humbuckers and a Hamer Diablo with Seymour Duncan humbuckers. I'm running the unit through a Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier amp. I have it wired to the amp using the Ext/OD/DS loop. That way I can bypass the amp's preamp section for clean sounds. The compressor is a bit noisy at higher settings, but if kept below 50, it's not too bad. The Dual Recto needs very little, if any, compression anyway. My main drive sound comes from the amp, so I set the OD/DS parameter to EXT/OD to use the amp's preamp. I do use some of the built-in distortion patches for different sounds. Only a couple of them sound descent, the rest are pretty crappy. The chorus is a little disappointing. It sounds boxy and flat. A better sound is the harmonizer set at about +4. Speaking of the harmonizer, if set to harmony, the tracking is horrible. If all you want to play is riffs to sleep by, the thing works pretty good, but anything faster than moderate, and it has a lot of trouble finding the right note. And the 2 voice mode is even worse. The sound quality of the clean patches is excellent though. You don't even need an amp; just plug it straight into the mixing console. Some of the stereo effects are really sweet. Mostly, I use the GT3 to categorize my sounds so I can change them with the push of one pedal. Like I mentioned earlier, the way I have the unit wired to my amp, I can go from, say, clean with chorus to crunch with delay without changing channels on my amp, just by pressing one button. The built-in preamp models are all pretty dismal with the exception of the Roland JC 120 and the Fender Twin. I don't see how they can think the BG Lead patch sounds like a Mesa, it's not even close. The Fender Twin, they've nailed on the head though. Sounds just like it. My sound quality rating is a 5 because 80% of the distortion/drive sounds are subpar, but 80% of the clean sounds are superb.

I've had my unit for over a year and have had no problems. 10, so far

Never dealt with them.

Overall, you can't beat this unit for the money. It has tons of different sounds, albeit some not too good. What I love about it is it's rock solid construction (all metal) and it's versitility. What I hate about it, (not really hate, but dislike) is the pedal. When used as a volume pedal, it's extremely touchy; especially at higher amp volumes. It seems like it goes from 0 to 20 all at once, then on up to 100 smoothly. Also, when changing patches, the sound is cut off while the subsequent pedal is in the down position. The only way around this is to push the pedal really fast to minimize the delay. My favorite feature is the delay. Very smooth and even. I wish it kept the original patch name when writing from another patch. For instance, if you decide you like another patch better than the one you have in a certain position, writing another location to that patch transfers the name of the new patch also, so you have to rename it back to what you had in the original patch. A hassle. The unit does help me make music because I don't have worry about changing a bunch of stomp boxes to change sounds. It all happens with the touch of one button. If you don't want to take the time to learn your way around it or take the time to tweak it, don't buy the GT3 and stick to stomp boxes. The overall sound quality you'll get with this thing greatly depends on what kind of amp you're running it through. Sounds that are horrid through my Fender Pro Reverb don't sound too bad through my Mesa. But for the money, you can't go wrong. Have Fun

I've owned the GT-3 now for a bit over 2 years and I only now feel that I can make an accurate review. It's taken me a long time to figure this thing out. I'm typically the kind of guy that likes to turn knobs instead of editing patches with buttons, as if it were a computer, so it's taken me a while to get this where I can get a good live sound. It really isn't that hard anymore but for someone who just bought it, it could prove to be difficult at first. The manual that was included is horribly written. However, there are user-friendly, downloadable manuals that can be found on the internet.

My current set up is one of 3 guitars; a Les Paul, a Hamer Sunburst and an Ibanez Talman, into a Dunlop Crybaby, a Tubescreamer, a Marshall Guv'nor, the GT-3 and then into the power amp section of a Marshall Valvestate head and 4x12 Crate Blue Voodoo speaker cabinet. After using the GT-3 through various configurations over the last couple years, I'm convinced that the best way to use this is through the power amp section of an amplifier, bypassing the pre-amp altogether. For some reason, when the GT-3 interacts with another pre-amp, it just doesn't sound right. Setting up the global settings properly is also of the utmost importance. It can honestly take you from sounding underwater to sounding great.

I like to use the GT-3 sparingly. Mainly I use a pre-amp, throw in some reverb or delay depending on the situation, and every now and again using the effects for whatever is necessary for the tune I'm playing. To me, the pre-amps make this unit. The heavier pre-amps like the 5150, Soldano, Metal Drive and Mesa Rectifier do a good job for hard rock/heavy metal, but the in between sounds are amazing. The Clean Twin, Matchless, Vox, Crunch and Marshall Plexi models are excellent. The amazing part is the dynamics that are present. Turn your guitar volume down and it cleans up better than a lot of amplifiers I've played through. You can get Who-ish crunch out of this thing, an excellent clean sound, mild breakup. It's not very noisy. The noise gate is serviceable. Not the best in the world but works fine.

The effects for the most part are good. The reverb and delay are excellent, the chorus, flanger, phaser, tremolo, vibrato, the time based effects in general are good. I'm bummed out about the harmonizer though. It works fine if you set it up to be used in the style of the Whammy pedal. However, when you use it to do harmony parts (like when I play Detroit Rock City), the tracking on the harmony part is a little slow so it just doesn't sound right. I don't think I'm ever going to use auto riff or the guitar synth. The synth is not good for faster runs. You have to play slow otherwise it won't track the notes. The EQ is okay but I wish it had a few more frequencies available to adjust. I don't really use it much. The distortions are actually cool. I've used them to boost the preamp and it does a good job, but I need a couple stompboxes just to keep me happy, plus I love the sound I can get with the Guv'nor. It can take the Plexi model, which has a great AC/DC like crunch to it, and just push it over the top. I kick on the Guv'nor for solos on a lot of spots.

I'm giving this an 8 as a whole. There are some really great sounds out of this thing, and there are some that I don't think are that hot.

The chassis is solid metal which is very reliable. I wish the pedals weren't plastic though. I hope they survive the bars and nightclubs.

I actually had a great dealing with Roland's customer support. I inadvertently plugged it into a 240 volt input and fried the transformer in the AC plug. Ended up calling Roland US and they sent me a plug in about a week. They sold it to me for less that what Musicians Friend quoted and they got it to me quicker than Musicians Friend could.

I think this processor is great for the gigging cover band musician who has to cover many different musical styles. When I'm out playing, we do everything from Tom Petty to Judas Priest to Neil Young to Jimi Hendrix to Metallica. The GT-3 can cover all those bases. Ideally, I'd love to have a setup with a great amplifier that could cover broad styles (something like the Fender Twin) but since I'm the head of my household with only one income and a shitload of debt, I can't have everything I want. The GT-3 is a good alternative for the budget minded musician (most of us I would assume). If the 8 seems a little low of a rating, it's just because I'm taking into account everything about it. The amp models are worth the price, but some of the stuff is unusable live.

it's easy to use. I didn't have a manual but figured out how to work it pretty quickly. there's options everywhere for getting a sound quickly as well. although it's easy to figure out how to tweak anything as much as you want.

i'll have to admit i havent really run this through a proper amp yet, just through a tiny portable stereo and into my 4-track at low volumes. to me it sounds great though, i prefer clean tones. i've never been too picky about tones though.

overall this thing sounds good. it sounds like boss pedals, which of course sound good. some of the distortions are crappy. everything overall sounds good.

it's boss, so probably reliable.

na

Overall, this is a pretty good effects pedal. I've had a lot of individual pedals, and a zoom 505, alesis effects unit, digitech reverb, and i've played a lot through the effects on a roland vg whatever digital 8-track.

compared to all that, this thing is definitely worth it. nothing really beats having a bunch of individual pedals to play with and mix and match, but this thing has pretty much every stock type of pedal made, with a few thrown in besides. where this thing really comes in handy is how versatile it is. anything you can come up with in your head to do with effects, you can do with this (the only limiting thing is that you can only use one modulation effect at a time).

a cool feature is that you can hook the expression and the control pedal to control any parameter in the whole effects chain. you can control phaser depth, pitch shift amount, compressor level, type of distortion, anything you want... there are also a lot of cool nonstandard effects on here, including feedbacker, synth,slow gear, ring modulator, humanizer, some other stuff.

the sound in this is solidly good, not spectacular, but for what it is, an all around effects pedal to get any sound you might need, it's great for that,

Well, it's very easy to use.. the first thing i did was to buy a midi cable to get it on with my computer...Once I did (it was very easy), i just erased all the "Garbage" patches I easely worked with the others. after that you only have to know where are the patches and have fun on stage with them...

well, I use a VOX AC30 and a ESP EC300... I like to be wild on stage and it's true that the distorcion is not great but I use a powerlead from ibanez to do that...it's really better to use an externall pedal to do that.even if the gt3 distorcion was perfect I would use a Ext pedal. The only thing I dislike it's the Wha Wha... well, a cry baby is the perfect choice, but I must say that the AutoWha it's just excelent! Dispite all this, the other effects often show a very little hum but it's not perceptible on stage.

I can depend on it...I always use it on stage and never failed...ofcourse I have a rack always there for the bumps!

I never contacte the customer support

I play pop/rock , like pearl jam and u2 and i've chosen the GT3 because a friend talked me about it. Because it's not expensive I decided do give it a try!
I do not Love it...but I like it a lot!