Boss GT-5 Guitar Effects Processor

At take a while but this thing is amazing for most application.
Editing patches can be a little complex but are easy to manage if you have a good understanding. I've had mine for about 2 years now and just bought amother as a spare on ebay. The midi part of this thing is very powerful. I would suggest you try it.

My set up is as follows- ernie ball petrucci > gt-5 > VHT GP3 preamp > BBE Sonic maximizer > Looped back into the GT-5 > output to a VHT 2/90/2 > Genz Benz ported reflex cab (2x12). Then a midi cable to the GP3 from the GT-5 to midi control the channel switching, via the GT-5. I can get everything out of this. I mainly use the setup like this - clean, rhythm, and lead are controlled by #1,2&3 on th GT-5, I then set the "c" to switch from regular to manual mode to get the stomp box style arrangement. I was never really happy with the distortions but I let the VHT take care of that, Very Hot. I mainly use the reverb, delay, flange and pan. The main eq is what i use to match the room I'm in on any particular night. I don't like the direct into the board sound & had a problem using sure 57 to mic my cab. (very buzzy) I just bought an audex d4 (drum mic) that takes care of the buzz. The frequency response is tighter.

I've used mine for 2 years with no problem, I did buy a second cause I got a great deal. I origionally had some reservations about a all in one floor unit but it has held up well, gigging 3 times a week for 2 years.

never had a problem, thats a ten.

I do just about everything. Have been playing for 20 years and performing for the last 10. I would say the this box is just a link in the chain. It has quality & does many things. I will take a while to mess with it but is worth it. remember less is more so dont go too crazy!!!

I'm giving it a 1 here, because most people don't know how to use this unit properly to get the most out if it. And the manual does not spell it out. You have to look at these emulation devices differently than you do those little stomp boxes. If you don't know how to use it properly it can be very difficult to impossible to get a really good sound. Actually using this devices features and editing patches is not that difficult. Just takes a little time to become familiar with and then it will make sense.

My setup is one of my many guitars into the GT-5 and then into the sound board. This is the way it sounds best. When I practice I plug headphones into it and it sounds great. The GT-5 does not sound at it's best when you plug it into a guitar power amp and guitar speakers. Running the GT-5 into anything that is voiced for the guitar will usually work against what the GT-5 is trying to do. Here is my personal example. I use to run the GT-5 into the power amp of my PV 5150 head then to a 4X12 Carvin cabinet loaded with Celestions.
Clean sounds were great. Mild overdrive was ok. High gain sounds were a little less than ok at lower volumes, and sucked at high volumes. Chorus sounded good, wah was good, compressor was good for clean sounds and moderate overdrive, flanger and phaser was good. Reverb and delay was good on clean sounds, but sounded really digital and tiny when used with distortion. Lead licks sounded ok, but playing chords sounded like....well a train wreck. So right before I was getting ready to unload this on some other sucker, I decided to plug headphones into it for the first time since I bought it. By doing this I eliminated the need for any guitar voiced equipment after the GT-5. And was I amazed at the difference. The distortion and amp emulations come to life and sound like they are supposed to. The digital sound when using reverb and/or delay with distortion is gone. And it is much easier to get great sounds out of. So now on stage I run it straight to the mixing console and I have the best live sounds that I have ever had. The only reason I didn't give it a ten here is because nothing is perfect.

It has been dependable so far. And I feel very confident about it. I take a backup for everything. I'm one of those people that when I don't have a backup then something breaks.

Well I've been playing for 15 years now. I have a ton of amps, pedals,and rackmounts. I play rock and metal, but this thing will work for any kind of music. I would definitely buy it again if it was lost or stolen. This unit eliminates your need for a guitar amp, any other signal processing gear, and micing your cabinet. Simply put, the GT-5 solves a lot of problems and simplifies your rig without sacrificing tone, or sound quality. I absolutely love this thing now. If I would have reiewed this before I found out how to use it to get the most out of it I would have called it a piece of digital crap. I know there may be a few purists and tube freaks that will read this and say "bullshit". I know, I used to be one. You have to hear it to believe it. But, this eliminates the need for those NOS tubes, vintage 30's, non master volume heads, high quality output transformers, and all the other expensive tone generators. Because this thing accurately emulates all that stuff when you run it straight into a pa system.

Easy peasy. All the buttons are in front of you. It may take some time to MASTER the unit, but it's so easy to dial in a good sound immediately.

The GT-6 might have nice knobs on, and be a little bit quicker and prettier, but I don't mind.

Whooo... this thing sounds absolutely f#cking amazing.

Let me just say I have owned the following units : ZOOM 505, Boss ME-30, Boss GT-3, Korg AX-1000G, then a load of Boss / Electro Harmonix single ones (EH stuff sounds great but is built like CRAP).

Then when I had a go of one of these, I sold all my single pedals apart from a couple. The only real 'weak' effect are the distortions, but nothing come creative EQing can't sort out.

Plus, it has a INDEPENDANT FX LOOP, the ONLY in the GT series to do so. Even the GT-6 has an 'OD only' loop, which means if you want to use any other effect than OD in the loop, you sacrifice the onboard OD. On the GT-5 this is not the case, the external loop is an effect in it's own right, can be used WITH onboard OD, and increases the diversity of the GT-5 greatly.

Other features which set the GT-5 apart from the GT-6 are it has the niternal wave pedal which is ace, and 2 EXT sockets, meaning you could have 2 expressional pedals, or 1 EXP and 1 control pedal. On the GT6 / 3 it is either 1 / 2 buttons OR exp pedal. And the reverse delay, which is really funny and innovative, was ditched after the GT-5. WHY?? replaced with crap like Auto Riff and Defretter? gimmicks as opposed to something you could actually use on a recording.

Even Johnny Marr said these sounded good (apart from the distortions), so what's good enough for THAT guy, suits me fine!

Well, the GT-3 is a little sturdier than it's bigger brother, (metal jack sockets, metal exp pedal as opposed to plastic jack and exp on GT-5) but nothing to whine about. It's still rock solid and mine seems to have lasted since 1996.

This was an absolute BARGAIN, I've never been so happy about an FX unit purchase, and consider myself extremely experienced in multi fx AND single effects. I'm still really excited to fire it up and see what it's capable of, a week later.

I paid nearly the price for this for my ME-30 in 1998!!!! I would have died if I had seen one of THESE for that price back then! It was the dream machine (something like #600!), and it hasnt disappointed me even though its been 'superceded' by the GT-6.

I was going to buy a GT-6 but found there was little to justify paying #150 extra. You could argue the OD settings are not as good but thats about it. And for the saving you could get a really decent couple of extra pedals to get the exact sound you want. Really, don't be fooled by the extra 'bitrate' on the GT-6. You probably wouldn't notice. Your audience definitely wouldn't.


Thanks to so many people ditching their GT5s for GT6s in haste, you can get these at a bargain price. You will not be disappointed at all for the price... in fact nowadays they only fetch a bit more than the GT-3, and although the GT-3 is an excellent unit, think it's worth spending a bit more if you can afford it. The extra stuff just make it more desirable to me anyway.

Oh, did I mention that I LOVE THIS UNIT?!!! :-)

Not tough to get a decent jamroom quality sound if you are at all familiar with processors and "keeping it simple" would be my advice to new users looking to build a decent sound AT ALL with this thing. There are a few "deep editing" type features that I really enjoy (Like the very specific and effective "bottom" adjustment on the custom dist. But IF YOU START STACKING PREAMPS AND EFFECTS LIKE DIST. OR O/D AND THEN ADD EQ AND SO ON AND SO ON YOU WILL PAY! live and in a recording environment this thing suffers trmendously. If you plug it into a power amp (im using a mesa/boogie 50/50 cranked wide open) and only use the high gain custom pre-amp you can get a decent, and I mean that to the letter, decent sound.

The only reason I'm even going to a lousy 4 on this one is because the reverbs and delays and such are impeccable, as most boss effects are. The dist. sucks. plain and simple. IT SUCKS. No depth. I have to kill the mids because this is a mid-range furious unit, and then it sounds "washed out". I recently built a new simple rig from this unit, a Mesa/Boogie 50/50 and a Marshall 1960b cab. Ibanez 570's with Tom Anderson H3's in the bridge are the axes of choice. The MArshall and the Ibanez are the only thing I'm gonna keep. The customizeable preamp in the "utility" deep editing section is the only hope for a rock/metal/grunge tone. It still sucks though, when compared to a real amp. Like a 5150. If I was going to start over (and I am) I would have picked up a used 5150 for about 600 bux. I would NEVER have bought this thing. I would then get a BBE, a low end lexicon and a midi board and have came out a shitload heavier in the pockets. I hate to be a hater, but I've restructured my rig three times already around this thing, and not a single positive result other than the boogie finally got me a little sustain. The Noise Sup. SUCKS. The Humanizer Sux. The Speaker Simulator SUx. The EQ Patch is a Frickin TRAINWRECK of tone. It ruins even the most simple sounds and you will not be able to lose the familiar "processor" hiss and general tone flattening that they are so famous for. Cut the mids a little to make it deeper and you lose it all. This thing actually guides you down a twisted and distorted path of learning about eq's and compression for new users because nothing is standard. When I demonstrate to studio engineers and live sound engineers alike, they stand there scratching their heads. It's like Boss decided to make their own rules about what an eq and compressor are supposed to do. Sorry to ramble on. But this is a huge problem for me. I have also had tremendous "phasing" problems live and in the studio. Anywhere but the Jamroom, thie gain and dist. sound like a wah pedal opened wide up. For lack of a better simple comparison.

Very reliable. I wish it sounded as good as it is tough and reliable. It would be worth at least the discounted 450 bux I paid for it new.

N/A

I play Rock/Metal. Original stuff. I like to crunch and drive hard, but good tone has to start from the bottom. Keep it simple. Get a good amp, Get a good TUBE pre and power amp, whatever. Stay away from this crap and build it from the amp. If all you need is good reverb and delays and stuff, low end lexicons are even better than this thing. I have been playing guitar for 15 yrs. Gigging for 5, and searching for real tone for about 3 yrs. THIS THING AINT GOT IT. If it were stolen or lost? I would rejoice. A mere inconvenience. It's gonna be hard to get rid of. I'll tell you this much, I came home from the studio the other day and when I unloaded my stuff I left the gt5 outside on top of my trashcan in the driveway all night. It was cloudy all night and supposed to rain, but it didn't start even the first drop until I noticed it outside and grabbed it. Fuckin figures. Nobody will even steal the damn thing. I'm cursed, and for the money this thing costed me, plus a c-note, I could have a 5150 and I would gladly trade all the effects for the tone that it would provide. SERIOUSLY.

Once you master this unit you will have a friend for life. Not too difficult for the average musician.

I have it as a back-up for my main rig(Vox Valvetronix 2 x 12). I have used the GT-5 for years both as a stand alone guitar processor into a stereo power amp/cabinet rig and as a multi-effect into the effects loop of a Marshall stack. Both situations proved to be useful and sounded fine. The effects are Boss...what more needs to be said. I use an expression pedal to control delay level and use the onboard control pedal to tap in my delay time. This setup is quite useful for me. I use Ibanez guitars with EMG pickups and get a very clean sound with absolutely no noise. Not too crazy about the synth sounds though. Who really uses them anyway?

Built very well. Have had problems with the small "gain" knob in the back though. I have had this for quite a while and expect some type of problem.

Never dealt with them.

I play in a semi-pro club band(www.lastknightrocks.com). Have been performing for about 17 years. This unit will remain in my arsenal of required gear as long as it's alive. I feel very comfortable having this unit with me at gigs because I know that if my main rig goes down I can be playing in just a few minutes, even if it's direct to the FOH mixer.

easy to use, I can't even see, and I figured it out in five minutes. Just push the fx button for what effect you want, and tweek it.

This is where I have to say, it sucks. My friend has one of theese, going into a fender super reverb. His tone is horribly muddy, and just sounds like a bunch of flies. I thought, he just doesn't know how to work the boss, so I tried it through my rig. It just lacks any warmth whatsoever. All the fx are cold, and sound nothing like a boss pedal.

This pedal is extremely reliable, like all boss products.

Na.

I am so disapointed it's sad. I use 6 different boss pedals, od3, ch1, two ph3's, cs3, and ns2, and the quality of theese pedals just diminishes the gt5 completely. I can't find any use for it, unless you're in to metal, and don't care about your tone.

All of it could be adjusted with a touch of a button. It was simple to switch through all the settings to get the sound i wanted. I feel that this pedal is better than the GT-6 because it has the buttons and not the knobs.

I was using a Marshall combo ampsuperb for getting a sweet distortion sound. The pedal sound fantastic through the right amp, and this was the right amp.

Its dependable when gigged. It makes switching between sounds simpler than ever. Only one time the power switch came out and ruined the first 2 minites we played. But it wasnt the pedals fault.

Ive never needed help with the pedal, its so easy to use. Its never screwed itself up so i've never required the help. I gave it ten because i never needed to use the customer support line.

The greatest thing a guitaist can have. Its helped me with everything luve i've done. Its made it an ease.

It's all logical and simple if you once understand the basic systems. Instead, if you are used to know specific parameters on effects, you'll get confused, e.g.: compressor/limiter you don't handle with concrete db but with abstract numbers 1...100. Very hard to get real good sounds. Too much optiions to set the levels. Very, very hard to get e.g. 10 Presets onto the same output levels. Too hard To set basic sounds - too much tone controls on every preset - once you get lost with ist you loose control over your final amp-setting.

Overdrive, Distortion and Delay are awful. You must experiment a lot to get half way good sounds. None of the presets are usuable onstage or for recording. I use a 800-Marshall-Top, a JTm-30-Marshall-Combo, and an Engl Screamer Combo - put the Gt-5 in front they all sound like transistors then. My '64-Strat, my 81-Strat, my Brian Moore - they all come out like any cheap one.
Everything comes better when you take it for direct recording. It did not help me onstage.
I only use the GT-5 chorus, flanger, phaser, octavider, tuner and volume pedal right now. An Ibanez TS-9 will do the rest together with the 4-channel Engl-Amp.

Real Hard Stuff. Unbreakable. But weaks on the paramter-wheel, that does not respond properly after some months of use. And I am always anxious for the built-in power cord, a seperate AC-connection would be better.

Never used

I would not buy again for stage performing. OK for recording effects. Still my Hughes+Kettner Tubeman makes a more natural and more easy_to_turn_the_Knobs-Sound. All that Equalizers, highs, lows and presences - much too much to control. Final controls you make on your amp or your mixing console.

-- I'm German, sorry for mistakes, long time out of writing english..

I've had mine for about 2 years now. Once you unlock its capabilities, Its like a religious experience. This box can do some heavy things and I'm still learning. For the first year, it pissed everyone in the band off. Now they are shocked and amazed. Initially, my biggest concern was consistancy of sound. I use to puch it thru a soldano & found some of the settings do some funky things to tube amps. Now I push it thru a rack when I gig.

Les Paul - thru - gt-5 -loop a tubeworks 9002 - to roland 3030 - 1160 poweramp - genz-benz 2/12 g-flex cab. Very little noise at high volume. The gt-5 will produce some "YUK" noise if the individual effects are not EQ'd properly. I can get everything from Van Halen to Bush to STP to Creed and even some BB King if its late. My favorite is my David Gilmour lead patch.

Never had a problem, I wish they would have made it in a rack mount version.

Never had to use them.

I use a 4 cable method of hooking this up. It would be nice to have a rack unit with a midi cable. I like this unit alot but because they are discontinued I think I might go for a lexicon g series soon. Its built like a tank but I've already had one of the switches go bad.

This is an excellent unit, a very versatile one, with excellent overdrives and distortions, it has a deep interface, this is not a unit to plug and play like many on the market, you have to set the parameter at your taste, this is for someone who likes the Boss sounds and looking for a all in one floor unit.
The manual is not that deep, but there is on the web many places and groups where you can find usefull information on every aspect of the unit.

My setup its quite simple, I have a Yamaha Pacifica and a Les Paul Gold Top Standart to a a/b switch,to a Cry Baby 535Q, to GT-5 and Fender Stage 160 4 cable method. Using the amp preamp with the effects on GT-5...excellent. Using the amp simulators and cabinets...excellent too. Very good sounds out of this unit.

My setup is not noisy, nothing at all, if noise come out, there is the noise supressor, a touch of make up and the noise is gone.

In general, the effects are all quite good, some shine more than others but no complains so far. Overdrives and distortion are excelents, reverb spacy and chorus shines, a fun synth for those groovy minds. You can mix up to 15 effects so your combinations are endless. You have to tweak to get to the sounds, but once you understand the GT-5, it gives you just what you want.

Oh yes! you can depend on this baby, on a gig I throw away my guitar one time and it hits directly to my GT-5, belive me...not a scratch, I was lucky I think.
Backup...if you protect your unit from all the dangers, theres no need for one.

Mmmmmmmhhhhhh....this is the week point of it, no information, no resurces, and they sell everything.
Their web site is never updated, poor information and lack of support.
Come on Boss...you can do it better!!

An excellent unit for the price, flexibility (the best), features, effects, concept...lovely. Not many as this. Works really good with tube and solid state amps.
I've been playing for 9 years, I have the unit for one year, it looks like new, if it were stolen or lost...what do I do?....get a new one or get a Line6 Vetta.
Its a good unit for original stuff or a cover band, compare to the others GT's, I stay with this for the features and flexibility.
I wish that the unit could be upgrade in a way to improve its amp sims, cabs, effects, midi.
Try it, it worth it.