Boss GX-700

The whole thing is pretty self xplanatory after toying around with it for a few minutes. However, before this I just had a a few Boss Pedals with knobs, so the whole % thing for delay was new, as well as the panning info. Just toying around withJust messing around with it is the best way to learn it, and if you have any real questions, theyre probably answered in the book. the only thing not given in good detail is the harmonizer.

Very good noise free sound most of the time. You can pump out a ton of distortion without feedback and unwanted noise/ Pretty much all of the effects sound great. I can't really think of one that doesn't. Great phaser, plus theres a cool effect called the Humanizer for making vowel sounds. You can get some great doubled sounds using the harmonizer and chorus. The delay has 2 seconds which is more than enough.

It seems pretty sturdy. Boss is known for their pedals being so well made. I'm still going to put it in a padded rack bag just for reassurance.

Never had to deal with them for problmes. However I did call about getting one of those Nice Boss offer forms and the connection was so bad they hung up.

I'd give it 10 here for the money it's great. Lots of good quality effects. I play metal mostly and this pulls that off great. But it can definitely be used for more. The Amp simulator has amazing sounds/

Easy to use. Editing is a joke, Manual is straightforward. By far the easiest processor to use!

Main reason I bought this unit is more lack of noise. This thing doesn't make much noise. Delays, and choruses are very strong. Harmonizer is Ok. Distortion's are pretty good. But don't take my word for it cuz I didn't buy this unit for it's distortion. I use a Marshall 6100 amp and that thing is da Bomb! Reverbs are slightly useless. But I don't use it anyway. The only thing is that the Tremelo is a little bit on the weak side. But it gets what I want it to do!

No Problems!

No problems, No Questions!

Excellent for the cost i paid. It's like having Boss's excellent stomp boxes in one simple rack!

After reading about half a page of the manual you should be able to get a good sound whithout any kind of trouble. But because there are so many possibilities you'll probably need some experimentation to get the exact sound you're looking for. But chances are it's there!! There are some parameters that have to be set according to the way you connect it to your rig, and with any of these set wrong you wont get the best of the sound by far. But once this is done it's real easy to use. There's one button for every effect. Just push it and edit the parameters! The manual does the job, but I would appreciate better explanations for some of the less obvious parameters. And it doesn't say a word about how to find out the software version. Mine is 1.09 which I think is the latest.

Great!! The preamp simulations are what made me buy this box, and now I wouldn't dream of doing without them. It's like having a garage full of great amps!! I admit I haven't played all these amps for real, but it sounds just like I imagine they wouild sound(?!?!??!). Try the Fender Twin sim at full volume. Instant Neil Young!! You can actually hear the tubes begging for mercy. If you run one of the od-pedal sims into a preamp sim it gets a bit noisy. Just like the real amps would. So I guess thats forgiveable. But the noise reduction is just a noise gate and doesn't really work very well, so you'll just have to live with that. All the effects sound great. Except for the pitch-shifter and the ring-modulator which just soud weird. But I realize that might just be the point. They're just not my kind of effects. Currently I'm running it through the effect-return of my Valvestate combo.I'm planning to get a power amp and cab before long. I'm convinced you can get absolutely every sound you want from this box if you have the patience to experiment.

I certainly hope so! I've heard earlier versions of the software had a bad tendency to crash, but I haven't had that problem. A couple of times it's made some weird noises, like someone banging on a steel plate or something. But I just switch to another patch, and it's gone. This has only happened two times for as long as I've had it, so It's not really a problem. I can't afford a backup, so I guess I would have to use it whithout. I guess I could always use my amp if it were to die on me at an inconvenient moment

I would definitely buy it again!! Or a newer equivalent or whatever. Of course I would probably get a better sound with some of the real amps, but the fact is I'm into so many different styles of music that I really need something that can give me a lot of different sounds. And the GX-700 has given me a lot more than I ever hoped for. And the price is just ridiculously low!! I guess they don't expect to sell much of a preamp that doesn't have tubes in it....

I am resubmitting my comments on the gx-700. Last time I said I was unhappy with the distortions. Well since then, I have tried the Peavey Rockmaster Preamp, and I think the Gx-700 simulations blow it out of the water. I publicly apologize for doubting the sonic quality of the GX-700 and I wanted to resubmit my correction before anyone else read my unfavourable previous rating. To Roland, I apologize. Boss/Roland RULES !!!!!

My setup is a Ibanez RG-570 into the Boss GX-700 into a Marshall 8008 Valvestate Power amp into a Celestion 2x12 cabinet.

This piece of gear is definitely worth the money and I recommend it to anyone who wants awesome professional tone on a budgeted salary !!

I think the sounds that are offered are incredible except the distortions. I think I'm going through that "is there something out there that sounds better? " stage. I'm really debating adding a used "peavey rockmaster" or "ada mp-1" preamp for better distortions. I do think though that this unit offers wicked clean sounding patches. My unit has verion 1.08 software.

I'm running it through a Marshall Valvestate 8008 power amp and a 2X12 marshall cabinet.

The unit has never failed to power up. I think its very reliable.

The unit has never required service.

Like I said before, I don't know if I should have spent this much money on effects or maybe I should of picked up an mp-1 or rockmaster preamp first and added a cheap used processor later? Right now I have to concentrate on finding that "Def Leppard" distortion, and get that going on.

Very easy to use. Editing patches is very easy. I started without using the manual and had no problems. When I did consult the manual for more technical info, I was sadly disappointed by what I found. No concrete info on using effect settings to advantage, just a brief this is a Flanger and its parameters go from 1 to 100 yada, yada, yada. I have firmware version 1.08

The sound is very nice. It takes a while to get a sound just the way you want (doesn't it always) but once it's there it's only a knob twist away (I don't have a controller for it yet.) I've had some noise problems on and off but I just put all new electronics in my guitar (a Fender Tex-Mex) and it seems to actually have cleared up a LOT of the noise I was still getting (I had shielded it previously.) If I continue to have noise problems, I'll replace the switching power supply it came with with a linear supply. That should especially help on the higher gain settings of the preamp and distortion settings as then electrical noise wouldn't be gettting amplified as well as the guitar signal. A few of the effects seem pretty useless to me. The pitch shifter leaves a lot to be desired, it sounds quite unnatural to my ears. I'm not quite sure what the humanizer or ring modulator are good for other than doing the "Hey guys, listen to this!" Small entertainment value but not much musical value to me.
The chorus, phaser and tremolo are my three favorite effects so far on this unit. They perform very well. The delay is good, but I'm not much of a delay user (mostly because I don't seem to do it right.

I've never had a problem with it after 4 months so I'd say it's pretty dependable. I've packed it around in a rack bag from Southeastern Idaho to Northwestern Washington without a glitch.

If I could get a midi implementation book from them versus my local dealer that would be great. My local dealer doesn't ever get things in that I ask for. Or if they do they don't call me to let me know (and yes I always leave my name and number.) So I'm left rather ambivalent about the whole support issue.

If it were stolen, I'd either buy it again or save a little more cash after insurance and get the BOSS GT-5 instead.

Very easy!
Boss/Roland sent current firmware 1.08 free.
Only 4 cont controllers avail.

Direct to board sounded pretty good.
The 'live' situation didn't happen for me. I tried EVERY wiring possibility. It was like you being totally dehydrated and hot and having to drink ice water thru a straw!
I had a much better sound using my Fender Hot Rod Deville's preamp w/a Digi-Tech TSR-24 in the loop. No contest. Quieter/more transparent chorus/much nicer reverb/quieter delays...

Spent a few days programming...crashed.
Boss sent firmware upgrade (to a music store) v#1.08 They performed upgarde n/c.
I would be a little gun shy about depending on it.

I used to hate Roland/Boss for this reason. Look at their warranty on GR-30 for expample. They sell you a 800 dollar gtr synth, provide you w/lite weight cheesy gtr cord and put no warranty on it!
This is typical of the Japanese companies.
But I have to say they did take care of me, which really did suprise me.

I sold it, actually traded it. I couldn't seem to sell it. I would not buy this again. I also have owned a RP-10 by Digitech and have loved it. I recently replaced that w/RP-20. They have always treated well..free upgrades at times. I prefer their digital section and modulation to Boss's.
Like I said I tried everything to make this unit work in my electric set-up. To no avail for me.

Bone simple. Push the button for the effect you want to edit, scroll through the parameters, set the levels, and you're there.

Fair to Exceptionall, depending on the effect. Some patches (especially compressors and distorts) are pretty noisy, but some judicious tweaking helps it go away. I'm not impressed with the amount of sustain I get from the distorted patches--the noise gate makes it taper off unnaturally, and you DO want the noise gate running much of the time.

No problems yet. It's mounted in a rack that gets plenty hot, and it spends many hours a week in use. Would I use it on a gig without a backup? I wouldn't use ANY equipment on a gig without a backup.

Never dealt with them. Roland's reputation ain't stellar in this regard, and the manual is a well-concieved if comical translation from Japanese.

I don't know if I'd buy it again... I'll let you know when I give the DigiTech 2112 a good wringing-out. The amp/cab simulations are overall not bad--you can smell the dang tubes on the Twin Reverb patch. Others vary from good to suspect to silly. The only really convincing emulations I've heard are on the Johnson Millenium.

This thing is a piece of cheese cake. So easy to use. To write something just press write twice. Thats as easy as it gets. If you read the manual I think that you would know about 35% more about the unit. my firmware version is 1.09 which is the latest (I think) so I haven't had it freeze up or anything like that. I use the Roland FC-200 with it and it works perfectly and easily. If anyone knows how to get the tap delay thing to work email me.

No noise at all. Very quiet. Distortions are so good. I've gotten the crunch that I've always wanted. All the sounds are pretty good except Ring Modulator.

This thing is great. It's something you really can depend on. Ideal for a gigging musician. But you might want to use backup. Nothings Perfect.

Never dealt with them. I have had it for 6 months and its fine.

I would buy this again for sure. It was a good price and It had everything I needed. The COSM feature probably improved it 10 times. The worst thing about it is the ring modulator (in my opinion). I had to choose between the Boss GT-5 and this one and I figured that if you are a bass player that one maybe better. But if you are a guitar player like me the GX-700 is ideal.

This is the second multi-effects processor I've owned, so operation seemed easy and intuitive. I didn't need the instruction manual to move around from patch to patch and to make basic changes in effects or to write my own patches. I imagine that if you've only fooled with pedals before, you would need some serious time with the operator's manual, but this could be said for any processor. Some of the more advanced features and parameter tweaking definitely need the manual in hand, even for someone with experience. The manual itself is not as bad as some might have you think. True, it could be better, but I feel it does the job sufficiently. Software version is 1.09, which I believe is the latest. I haven't encountered many of the gripes voiced by others on this database (i.e. poor reverb), which could be a sign that either things have been improved with this latest software update, or else my ears just aren't as refined as some people's. Also, I was very happy with the unit's presets. They were not overdone, as some have said, and gave a good sampling of the unit's basic effects. I use many as they are. Again, this may be a change that was made in the 1.09 upgrade.

Distortion sounds are very impressive. My last processor had a terrible digital distortion, so this is a great improvement. As far as I can tell, the seven distortion sounds offered are very close, if not identical, to the individual Boss pedals. The fuzz setting is good, but won't replace a good Fuzz Face or Tone-Bender. None of the internal, analog distortions sound as good as my Mesa Boogie V-Twin pedal (which uses 2 tubes) so I put it in the unit's efects loop and can switch it in and out of the effects chain at will. The preamp simulations need tweaking to get them sounding good. I imagine these would work best if the unit was used in conjunction with a power amp set up. I have mine running in front of a vintage Marshall head, so this colors the different preamp sounds (they all sound like a Marshall). I've used the Fender Twin setting on clean to bring life to an old, terrible sounding Fender tube amp that a friend lets me play through occasionally. It sounded more "authentic" with the GX-700 than straight through the amp alone. Go figure. Otherwise, I'd say the preamp simulations, in general, just offer some interesting overdrive tones. Chorus is very good to my ears. The flanger is not as "whooshy" as Boss' pedal version, but the phaser seems to be rich enough. One advantage is that the chorus has it's own link in the chain, so you can use it in conjunction with other time-based effects. The pitch-shifter and Harmonizer are fun, but aren't as convincing as the Eventide's you hear on studio albums. Nevertheless, good enough for the bedroom or casual gig. Delay was excellent. One feature I noticed was that if you're using a patch that has delay and you change to a patch that doesn't use delay, the delay from the first patch will trail into the second. This makes for a nice, professional sounding transition. The reverb sounded good to my ears. There's plenty enough in there for most applications. It would have been nice if the unit would allow you to set the level for the reverb as being louder than the original signal, creating a spacey, swelling effect.

Haven't had any problems in the 2 months I've owned it. I've taken it on three oad trips and when I flip the power swith everything lights up and the unit's working like it's supposed to.

Haven't had to contact the company.

Given the current market options, I'd probably still go with the GX-700. While shopping I compared this unit with the Roland GP-100 and Boss GT-5. These units are essentially the same, sonically speaking. If you intend to use the processor as a dedicated preamp and want to place it in front of a power amp in a rack, I'd say spend the extra money and go for the GP-100, with its amp-like knobs for tone and volume on the front panel. If you plan to stick it in between a guitar and amplifier, the GX-700 should suffice, and for about $300 less. The GT-5 was as good as the GX-700, but I didn't like the dea of bending over or getting on the floor every time I wanted to tweak a parameter. Also, anything on the ground that you step on is going to take a lot of physical abuse. I'd rather have a dedicated switching pedal (like the Roland FC-200) and keep the "brains" separate.