Boss GT-5 Guitar Effects Processor

I must admit that when i first got the gt-5 i had no clue what t he hell was going on but after i searched a few web pages and read the manual (not alot of help but some) i knew how to work the thing. After getting past the damn parameters its a breeze! editing patches is very very easy until it comes to editing the effect chain, and sometimes you must hunt for good sound, but give it like an hour or so and you will be rewarded with GREAT sound!

I have a gibson les paul custom with a crate 50 watt, or a fender twin reverb. Both sound awesome with the gt-5. i dont know why people give this such a low rating, other than sometimes with the guitar synth it sounds a bit digital and using the preamp, speak sim. EQ, and dist/od sounds choppy. The effects are AWESOME. I've used a lot of other junk like digitech and POD and ive never heard such great sound. Some advice: USE THE NOISE SUPPRESOR. but no too high.

THIS IS THE MOST RELIABLE BOARD OUT THERE. IVE NEVER HAD ANY PROBLEMS WITH IT. WHEN I PLAY SHOWS, I DONT HAVE BACKUP, I DONT NEED IT!!! BUILT LIKE A TANK!!!!!

have never needed it.

i play a wide varity of music, deftones, rage against the machine, hendrix, phish, van halen ,etc. It is PERFECT for that type of music. I have the EXACT ( not kidding) sound for a ton of songs like bulls on parade, be quiet and drive, killing in the name, know your enemy, poem, little wing, waste( acoustic guitar sim. works great) and others. If it were stolen, i would go grand theft auto on every ones ass, or yes DEFENETLY buy a new one. I LOVE THIS THING. If i lost it my band would beat me with a bench and kill my family. BUY ON NOOOOOOWWWW!!!they are the best. thank you boss. IM me for patches.-SilVeR DY357

ease of use is spontanouslly but with any new piece of equipment please take the time to dig deep and use your manual as a basic bible. Also order the instructional video available from rolandus.com
Ive been using mine for over 10 years ... and I'm still able to edit or construct sounds from the past or intivated NEW Sounds ....

My setup has change over the years, my first 3years I've ran GT-5 Stereo into a CS-800 then to a 1960b marshall 4x12 cab . Then learning and expermenting not excluding my Bands song sound request I needed the best of both worlds tubes and processors .. So started using the loop send and return-output set-up I know 3-4 cables but this is truly the best combo but this is all just talk your sound depends on your amp and I currently us 3 different styles with it depending on my gig Mesa Boogie Mark IV w/2 1x12 vintage 30 watt celestions
for bigger venues Ive got a Mesa Boogie Recto 3/channel 100 watts ver thru a mesa boogie 4/12 packed with vintage 30's, and for fun a hi gain 50 watt marshall 2/channel ....
This unit has the best TUNER I've ever used ...Patchs theres 65 different x's user preset I have learned to watch effects chain and outputs If I have a week effect but I hear what your saying from those who say the compressor is a little weak .. its really not but most of us have all ways been able to get that little extra volume during those expression such as a lead break and the GT-5 compressor will just give you grit sustain thank boogie for sumuclass sw on my mark IV and solo on my recto ...
The patches are very good if and when you would like to use them ...

Yes Built like a Tank ! ! ! ! It actually is my back up ! ! !

Yes ! ! ! I have upgraded mine when I had mine repaired because a drunk FOXY LADY STEP-SLIPPED-SKATED using the rotory select knob !They repair'd and upgraded took less than a month ver 1.07 I think !
the knob should be reacessed like there smaller buttons " I've got to be kidding ! they were the best I guess ! ! ! !

I Play in a Top Forty something -Classic Rock Band in Northern Calif And I really think this unit is the BEST there is, unless money is no object ! ! ! I have been using it to obtain the effects 4 Billy Idiol - Metalica -ext....... Check out the web site www.strut-a-variuos.com I play quite a bit and it has always worked no matter what the house voltage is doing . Or spilled Beer its not water prof but its a work horse ... And has never let me down KNOCK ON WOOD !
I do think it is a unit that Roland needs to bring back for the working musicians its not a line-6 its a Tool that will one day be unavailable so if you need a good tuner get it !!! it inncredable what you could do with it ..... PEACE OUT

The GT5 is quite easy to use once you get the gist of it, and after a few days you wont need the manual again for setting up effects patches. The manual is OK but doesnt adequately explain all the potential set ups between guitar and amp for my liking. Using the unit direct through PA is OK but when I got back in a band I wanted to bring my amp back into play so I tried the 4 lead hook up as suggested in this column. After setting the GT5 eq the sound quality was good. Unfortunately, this way (through my Mesa rectoverb) I lose all control of the amps pre amp and tone section. I am thinking of going back to stomp boxes as I know the compressor in this unit cant live with my old Boss CS3. Any suggestions as to alternative set ups that dont delete amp tones are welcome!
Craig

Set up. Fender Strat, Mesa Rectoverb, GT 5 4lead hook up using effects loop

Excellent durability. Been to hell and back, dented and whacked. Still going strong.

No experience with customer support

Lots of 60s, Dire Straits, Clapton. Convenient for rapid effects changes. Compromises amp tone quality if set up "traditionally".

easy

a tiny bit noisy with the pre and speaker sim on.

never gone wrong

just want to agree with a few of the further posts that reccomended using a tube preamp in the loop and a tube power amp after..it really balances out and warms the digital aspects of the gt5 and you get the best of both worlds with no clutter ect...i have some line6 stuff and some stompboxes and something tells me that the gt5 which ive had for years cant cut it against all this new technology. but that is wrong because it sounds great today as it did when i first got it. Mainly use it for its reverb,delay,slow gear,chorus and trem....try finding that lot at boss quality in one rock solid stomp box. I think this may be a bit of a classic...its certainly a keeper..at second hand prices its just plain criminal.

Pro Grade effect's processer, so you have to read the manual to fully understand the functions.

I by no means am a pro-player, but with little effort I can modify the gt-5 to suite my needs,

Editing Patches could not be any simpler. Altho I must admit, atleast one third of the preset patches are useless to me, I mean, Telephone, Noise Storm, and Ethnic Bell??? Do these sounds exist in the music world?? If so I can't think of one example. But i digress, these patches areeasly replaced with functioning real world patches.

I run a standard Fender Strat., a '62 Jaguar and a custom cyclone through the GT-5. As for amp's I frequiently use the Fender FM65R, and a Marshell G30R and I can honestly say the the Boss GT-5 has never seemed to be limiting my play, quite the opposite, If anything my gear is limiting the GT-5.

BTH I live for the late 80's thru the 90's Grunge period. This Processor handles all the Nirvana, Soundgarden, AIC, PIXIES, etc. and can smoke with the best SRV style players also. I think Jimi would have surely approved of this little gem.

With out a doubt, I would not rely on anything else without a backup.

Trust the GT-5, It's a tank, made for the road...

See "Reliability" in 6 years of stomping on the sucker I have never had to call Boss's Tech Support.

I've never tryed to Upgrade, but if it gets any better I don't think I could stand myself. Just kidding. I'll get around to it some day.

I play everythig from Stevie Ray Vaughn to Nirvana, but tend the stay in the destorted side of rock & roll. I've been at it 365 for the past 12 years and 5 years of plunking prior to that.

If it were stolen I would hunt down the low life sucker and super-glue his testicles to his knees, If I lost it, I would NEVER lose it. End of story. And yes I would replace it with an exact duplicate, but I would be pissed because I would never be able to get the great deal I got on the original one.

Best feature:

Endless capabilities sound/tone wise.

Worst features:

It is intimidating if you are not fimiliar with setting up your own gear, But READ THE MANUAL, Once you get into it you realize there is really nothing to it.

Favorite feature:

Size, 20" long X 9" wide. I can take this puppy anywhere that has electricty. With my strat, GT-5 and a pair of Wal-Mart headphone I'm in my own world.

Boa unidade. Pratica, com acessos faceis aos parametros de configurac?o, permitindo um manuseio intuitivo (com o passar do tempo). N?o fiz upgrade nem a testei via MIDI em um PC. Pra quem tinha uma RP-10 Digitech e bem simples operar a GT-5...

Uso uma Tagima custom, com captadores seymour duncan e uma Ibanez AF75T, semi-acustica. Plugo direto no P.A. (toco em barzinho) e tenho uma qualidade muuuuuito satisfatoria de sons limpos, crunchs e distorcidos. Logicamente, um Mesa Boogie ou um Soldano d?o um banho, mas acredito que nenhum ampli na faixa de US$ 1.000,00 consegue um timbre melhor... Pra mim, e o maximo...

Minha GT-5 deve ter participado de alguma guerra ou caido do onibus que levava a banda de seu antigo dono (*R*). Esta totalmente detonada, riscada, e falta o knob de volume. Dois leds n?o acendem... o visor de cristal liquido possui um profundo risco...
MAS ELA FUNCIONA P E R F E I T A M E N T E !!!! Pra mim, ela e uma unidade indestrutivel...

Uma bosta! A Roland do Brasil quer me cobrar R$ 50,00 pela copia RESUMIDA do manual de instruc?es em portugues... Precisei do manual da DR 660 (bateria eletronica) e me cobraram mais R$ 50,00...
EU ODEIO A ROLAND DO BRASIL! Ah! visitem o site www.roland.com.br - E UM LIXO!!!!

E uma excelente unidade de efeitos... os chorus s?o impressionantes, organicos e bem timbrados... as distorc?es, pra blues/rock s?o bem legais, mesmo quando ligadas a um P.A., via COSM/Simulac?o de Falantes. Uso um par de caixas trapezoidais com falante de 15", driver e SuperTweeter Keybass e tiro um puta som...
SOU APAIXONADO PELA GT-5. Se puder, compre uma!

I give this device a ten. This device, once you understand it, is rather simple to use. Having said that, don't make the mistake of thinking that it's easy to setup killer patches! The CONTROLS are easy! Take your time, and you'll be very satisfied with the results. The manual doesn't really go in depth enough for this device...Then again, it would need a manual as a thick book to do that!

Number one: The effects are as good, or better, than ANY other effects unit out there - certainly better than any in it's class, or genre, if you will. If you understand how to setup you patches correctly, you'll have no problems with noise. I generally plug directly into a P.A. and use a little amp as a spot monitor. There is so much to get into, I doubt if anyone who's posted here, myself included, could give a complete review of this device - it's that deep.

Two sentences:
It's built like a tank.

Yes, you can use it without a backup.

Never had to deal with them...Probably because this thing is so dependable!

I play many styles of music, and this thing will do whatever I want it to. I've been playing for about 26 years, and I can't imagine a better floor-based effects unit. I've got a variety of "tone generators," and this one beats them all, hands down.

Very easy to use for me. I have had mine for 7 -8 years.
Great manual. My GT-5 was upgraded about 4 years ago

Ver good full clean and overdriven sound. You must remember that the sound is no better than what you hook this thing up to.
I run mine into a Peavey Classic 60 power amp (Tube) and then into a Carvin PA monitor with 2 10's and a horn. then into the PA.
Very versital

No problems ever

Christian rock and R&B.
If you turn off the preamp section you can us just the effects which are top notch effects. It has a great tuner and switching/midi capabilities plus a couple of either volumn or wah pedals. I don't think I ever used 1/3 of the capabilities of the GT-5

I writing in portuguese cos i'm from Brazil and there's no review in portuguese. N?o e facil. Qualquer um que diga que sim, esta mentindo! A primeira vista trata-se de simplesmente mexer em bot?es para conseguir os efeitos/sons que deseja, certo? Errado. Os sons saem horriveis. E preciso ler todo o manual diversas vezes, pesquisar muito na internet e ter bons ouvidos. O manual e basico. O meu GT5 e um dos primeiros, comprei logo que saiu.

Sabendo como usar, trata-se de uma ferramenta poderosa! Tem todos os efeitos que se precisa e um pouco mais: Humaniser (tambem conhecido como talkbox), guitar synth (sons sintetizados), acoustic simulator (simulador de guitarra acustica), tremolo e muito mais. A Boss colocou todos os pedais disponiveis na epoca em uma so caixa. N?o e ruidoso (apenas quando obviamente se usa distorc?o e compress?o), mas tem noise reduction.

Vou ser sincero, eu o uso por pura facilidade de ter tudo num so lugar, mas gosto bastante de pedaizinhos (Boss). Da para usa-lo profissionalmente sem problemas, tem midi e tudo mais.

A Boss/Roland e bem legal, basta contacta-los.

Eu toco pop, hard rock, metal. Se essa pedaleira fosse roubada eu ficaria doido pois e bem cara e se eu a vendesse poderia comprar uns bons pedais Boss, mas N?O a compraria outra vez. Compraria pedaizinhos. Como eu disse no comeco, e bem complicado mexer com ela para conseguir os sons que se quer e muitas vezes eu perco a paciencia.

What is ease of use really? Daisy-chaining ten stomps together and carrying around a pedalboard in a flight case? Having to disconnect and reconnect all your effects when you want to change the order? Buying a set of George L cables to patch them together? Having to remember where you set the knobs in case you change them?

Ok, perhaps thats a little over the top. Yes the GT-5 keeps it's effects behind menus with access via the value dial and parameter menus, but this is a good thing because when you've found your sounds, they stay there. You can back them up via MIDI if you like.

When I want to gig, gone are the array of pedals strewn around with leads everywhere and countless wall warts. All I do is pull this out, plug the extra footswitches in and patch to the amp. Easy! And once you know where the menus are and are used to the extra options that you don't get on stompboxes, this thing really opens up and you realise you just can't get this sort of power and quality anywhere else.

Current rig: Gibson SG or Squier Strat -> Boss GT-5 w/two FS-5Us and Small Stone phaser in the loop -> '78 Marshall JMP 2204 50 watt head -> '95 Marshall 1960a cab (Special Edition, red tolex).

I've owned all the GT units made so far (GT-3, GT-6 and GT-5 in that order) and for me this one is the most professional and best sounding. I wish I'd known that BEFORE, and bought this first but that just makes me appreciate how much better this unit is compared to the other two. Better placement of effects (ie no Compressor in the same bank as the Tremolo, dedicated speaker sim independant of the preamp sims).

It's not noisy unless you use high gain and even then the provided noise gate is great at killing the noise without killing your tone, if set right.

Almost all the effects are great and more than worthy of the asking price. Weak effects - pedal wah (the GT-6 wins here), harmonist + ring modulator (bad tracking). The reverb is good if used sparingly or drenched for shoegaze/ambient style playing. The delay is great - sound on sound AND self oscillation, as well as high cut. Shame the reverse delay clicks but you can't have it all.

Particularly impressive is the preamps combined with the speaker sims. With just a little work you can get very close to those tubey sounds. For example, the plexi sim (MS1959) reacts to the strat very similarly to my JMP - the out of phase positions sound best and the other pickup settings have a pleasent bite to them. I love the fact you can choose between dynamic or condenser mics - I've worked with several types of both for micing real amps and the ones provided here are pretty damn accurate in respect to how the different types of mic react. You can also mix and match - want a Marshall Plexi head running through an open back 2x12 Twin cab? You got it.

The GT-5 manages to keep your dyanamics when running to the front of an amp too - something a lot of multis just can't do, the Roland VG-8 included. I like to run it with the natural OD setting through my JMP - the tone is very similar to cranking the preamp gain with just the right amount of compression.

You don't like the GT-5's OD/DS, something not quite right about one of the presets? EQ it, or better still create your own, tailor made for your amp. Ditto that for preamps. You like shoegaze/ambient style music? How about an expression pedal controlled self oscillating delay with an extra footswitch for turning delay hold on and off, as well as a Short Delay in the mod group if you need it? You want a Leslie-style sound without the inconvinience of another heavy amp to carry? You want to change where your effects are in the chain on the fly or store your favourite chorus sound to use on lots of different patches without having to manually program it in each time? You've got that and countless other features right here.

I could go on and on, I really could. The GT-5 is still the best multi Boss ever made. The GT-3 retained some of that magic, the GT-6 apart from the odd improvement here and there ruined what made the GT-5 great in my opinion. The bottom line as I see it - this is cheaper and better.

Strengths: rugged metal chassis, recessed buttons, the Boss = tank seal of approval.

Weaknesses: raised value jog, plastic expression pedal, plastic 'soldered-to-the-board' jacks. These problems were solved on the later models, but be careful with this one.

I needed to upgrade the EPROM from version 1.03 to 1.07 to correct several little bugs in the unit. Roland UK's service was prompt and efficient, and I had no trouble installing the new ROM. I could have had it done by them but I wanted to minimise out-of-action time on the unit. Good service!

I play mostly rock, punk, blues, some ambient/shoegaze and a little folk. I don't do jazz. I've been playing over six years and I still can't play so well, but I'm experienced at recording and such so I know good tone. I've owned enough other multis and single stomps (no racks yet) to know that this unit is a great deal. I paid #155 for it... hell, one or two brand new stompboxes could easily set you back that much!

I love most things about it. The wah, harmonist and ring modulator could stand to be improved. I think the guitar synths have a great lofi quality to them which can be a lot of fun for looping and creating textures. The customisable OD/DS... well, it's like having twenty different gain pedals right there. All you need to do is hit a few buttons or change a patch for another one!

I've compared it to the other GT units, the Zoom 505, the DOD Tec4 and a few others, as well as my old all-analogue pedalboard. This won in terms of sound and ease of use, the only thing it couldn't top was my EHX Small Stone but it gets pretty damn close!

If they could combine the better parts of the GT-6 (well the wah sims and button under the EXP pedal mostly) with the synth tones and pickup modelling of the VG-8, added a looper with over 4 seconds sample time and on the fly loop pitch shifting and a few other features then I think I'd be the first in line to buy it. That's asking a lot though and to be honest this unit covers all the bases and then some for me, a definate keeper.

Now if only I could convince more people to come around to the idea of replacing their bulky, non-versatile (in comparison) pedalboards with this...

It gets a 10 because it's almost every effect I'll ever need in my rig for less than the price of a few standalone stompers. That and it sounds fantastic after you've cracked it.

If you want a few good tones and simplicity, stick with your stomps and be happy. If you want a set of nearly endless possibilities which can do pretty much anything you can think of (I've put it through it's paces on several occasions and it hasn't failed yet), with great sound quality to match, these are going for stupidly cheap prices on eBay. Grab one now before someone famous makes this an important part of their rig and drives the prices up!