Boss GX-700

This unit is very easy to use. All effects have a separate button with which you can : 1. see if it's on (lighted) 2. put it on/off 3. edit it
Plus the tuner uses the same lights

Very good distortion, preamp, speakersimulator, harmonizer Reverb is good but could be better Noisegate works very fine Effectchain can be changed in order, so you can out wah before/after preamp or get an external device (preamp, effect) at any place in the effectchain No hum. No noise.

no problem so far (1/2 year used)

N/A

Price/value it's the best on the market. I surly would buy it again
Plus: easy to use. good front panel (each effect one light/button) tuner visible from very very very far good soundquality, good effects wahwah (SW-PEDAL) can be used with a pedal AND can be switched on/off with the same pedal (works like a normal wahwah-pedal) which is a great feature that I haven't ever seen before in 19" multieffects. reverb can be put changed +/- 100 % for all the patches in a second. Very usefull on stage.

Min : No levelbutton on the front Headphones is not phonejack

A working example of plug and play

I don't use the overdrive/distortion on the GX-700 ( I get mine from a JMP-1).The preset reverbs would give a bad impression but with a little work you can get a passable sound. For me the compressor and limiter shold be split so you can use both at the same time. As it stands it wasn't up to scratch here so I got a Nanocompressor. Other than that everyting else is excellent ( I aprticularly like the digital talk box ( humaniser ) )

No problems yet, But I've only had it 6 months.

I don't know ! The harmoniser and humaniser are very nice but I'd probably for an ART SGX-2000 or the Digitech Valve-FX

My unit has software revision 1.08 (though the manual doesn't describe how to find this out!). In general, the manual is easy to read and operation of the unit couldn't be much easier. However, with its 9 preamp models and 7 analogue overdrive/distortion effects, there are so may possible tones that getting the right sound is very iterative and can take a very long time.
The effects buttons which double up as a tuning meter (believe it or not) are brilliantly designed. No other unit on the market comes close in terms or ergonomics.
When the tuner is activated, the sound output is muted. This adds a touch of professionalism to a gig since the sound of a guitar being tuned is not appreciated by the audience. I'll never go back to a separate meter.
I use a midi foot controller (Digitech MFC-7) to switch between patches and it's fast and seemless. Note, if like me your foot controller doesn't have midi controller switches or an expression pedal, these can be directly connected to the GX-700 (though this does mean more cables).
One problem (which is minor because it doesn't apply to gig situations), is the design of the LCD display. The top line is obscured unless you're viewing it at exactly the correct angle.

The unit is noisless due to its superior 22-bit ADC and 18-bit DAC ciruits. Since there are no valves or long loops of cables involved, it will always be quieter than a stack in a real gigging environment. The noise suppressor (NS) is superb since it can be placed after the preamp but operate according to the level at the unit's input.
One important indicator to watch is the peak input LED. With my bridge humbucker on full and the GX-700 input level control on its lowest setting, clipping occurs (the LED flickers and I can hear noise). Clearly the input level control should have greater scope.
My favourite preamp models are the Marshall, Matchless and JC-120 and they sound great. So far I haven't found the Fender Twin model useful, but preamp models are optional and great clean and dirty sounds can be made without them.
The range of effects are comprehensive and flexible. The speaker simulation in particular makes a stunning difference. As I indicated above, there are so many effects and parameters that great tones are there but can require much time to perfect. Reverb in particular has many inferior sounds, but once again with the correct setup can sound OK.

In the five months that I've owned it, I haven't had a single problem. Since it's solid state and made by Boss, I'm so confident in its reliability that I've used it on a few gigs without a backup.

I've never had need to call them.

One feature I miss is the ability to directly mix the output from the noise suppressor with the output of the end of the effects chain. This facility could be added to Level/Chain page and would provide an interface like the mix control on a separate preamp and FX unit setup.
While it does sound good, there is still plenty of room for improvement with the distortion sounds. The clean sounds are as good as any amp. The addition of an acoustic simulation (now on several other units) would be a nice addition. I hope Boss adopt the policy of updating the software and offering upgrades.
Would I buy it again? I've considered this many times and every time I decide that for playing a wide variety of music live, rack mounted preamp/processors are the way to go. With one pedal push, I can instantly dial up an appropriate tone and volume level. Compared with genuine tube amps and when using a good power amp and speakers, I don't think a typical audience in a gig would notice the difference in tone. Consequently, I would definitely buy it again.

This is a piece of cake to program, everything is very well figured out. From the alredy made presets it's easy to get very good sounds. The manual is very informative and eady to understand, I've had no problems finding out what I need. The revision is 1.08 and is working very good to this point.

You can get it to be noisy, if you want... But you can get it to be real clean sounding. It depends of what you want to do. It's realy easy to soften the sound from the more eavy distortions by using the equalizer and the speaker simulator. I don't use many effected sound... but the harmonizer and the pitch shitfer are both good. (Try the pitch shifter on -7 before the Soldano or Peavey simulator for the Sepultura ROOTS sound!)

I haven't got it for long, so I don't realy know.

Never had any problem (yet).

I would buy it again. So far I'm loving it. I chose this over the Digitech pedals and preamps that are more expensive. Go give this one a try... and remember that you can fiddle with the sound all you want. I use it to play live and to record at home and it does both jobs fine.

it's easy

distortions bite. effects are ok.

returned it.

Reverb sucks. everything else very good.

Have ver 1.05. It waited to crash (ie lock up and erase) only after I spent two days writing patches. !@#$ *&% Roland!
(note: digitech and art products never pulled this shit)

They deny any wrong doing....They haven't had problems with units locking up!! Yea...RIGHT!
If they send firmware upgrade in a timely fashion I'll upgrade them to a 3 or 4.

If this ever does what it's supposed to do I'd rate it a 9.

10 This unit is blindingly easy to edit right out of the box. The backlit buttons make it easy to see what effects are active. Parameters are straight forward yet quite in depth. I created two killer original sounds in my first day of use. Manual is thorough if you even need it.

9.5 Quite as a mouse with a very natural sounding noise suppressor. Distortions are its sorest point and it is really hard to complain. I have only had it a few days and havent had a chance to really tweak them too much. Blues Distortion is my favorite, nice and responsive. Preamp section sounds great. It doesnt sound like a real tube, but what does. I am amazed with the Vintage Twin, Marshall and JC120 emulations. The Soldano is said not to sound quite like the real thing but it is a great overdrive sound nonetheless. Delays and reverbs are particularly nice with delicate trails and rich washs. The mod section is quite diverse, including;phase,flange,pitch shift, multi voice harmonizer with user editable scales, intelligent ring modulator, and humanizer(and auto talk box(cool, hehehe...)) Chorus is its own module-Thank you BOSS!! Speaker simulators are quite interesting. I still dont think they can match the sound of a real speaker and mic but they do color the tone pleasing and usefull ways. Wah is slightly suspect. I dont think I will get rid of my crybaby. But that is what FX loops are made for.

I have only had it a few days. Cant really answer

No need yet

10 For the price this is one hell of a processor. I looked at a Zoom 9150 for about a week and the Boss blows it to pigeon poop. My bandmate has a Digitech GSP2101 Artist and I think the GX700 sounds just as good as it does and I know the Boss is WAY easier to edit. GO BUY ONE!

It has an easy to use tuner mode. The headphone jack is 1/8", presumably to prevent people from accidentally mistaking it for the 1/4" input jack next to it. It has no headphone volume control, and the fixed volume level is not loud enough for me. See the Customer Support section for the firmware story.

Most of the individual effects are very good. The distortions won't fool any tube-heads, and don't quite have the responsive feel of tubes, but are nevertheless better than the Digitech and Zoom analog distortions (and in some ways their low-voltage grungy tube distortions too). I use a Rocktron Piranha in the GX-700's effects loop to get really excellent distortions, but, when programmed right, the GX700's can be about 80-90% as good.
The GX700 has seamless program changes and reverb and delay trails, which were a requirement for me (ruling out the Peavey Tube Fex). The glitchy wah I mentioned in my earlier review was fixed by the 1.08 firmware upgrade. It's more modern sounding than a Vox or Crybaby; more like U2's Mysterious Ways. It goes "weh-weh" instead of "wah-wah".
Of the 12 speaker simulators, only Small, Built In 1, and Marshall 1, and JC-120 are good for something besides special effects; the others are parodies of '80s arena EQ. Similarly, many of the presets are over-effected. Some are so bizarre as to be useless for any musical situation I can imagine. But many of the presets can be made useful by tweaking them a bit, turning off excess delays, chorus, and distortions for example. With the delay turned off, the Space Octave preset and a Strat does a beautiful imitation of a steel pan drum.

I had to get the firmware upgraded because the revision 1.05 that I had locked up several times a day and erased all my changes. No problems in about 2 months of use since then.

I called Roland and after going through the usual "press 1 for..." hoops, got a very knowledgable and friendly product specialist. He told me that the current firmware is stable at revision 1.08, and anything before that is known to have the lock-up problem. To find out the GX-700 firmware revision you have, hold down the Preamp and SpSim buttons while powering the unit on. I had revision 1.05. He told me that since my dealer is an authorized Roland service rep, they could order and install the up-to-date chips for me for free. So I brought the unit in and they ordered the chips from Roland, expecting them to arrive within a week.
After a month had passed with no news, I called Roland again. The person at Roland was able to quickly track our order and seemed eager to help. They found that the 1.08 firmware chips were severely back-ordered from Japan, with a few units dribbling in every few weeks. It looked like it would be another month before the chips were available. I told my dealer this, and they checked their stock again, and lo and behold, they'd received the 1.08 chipset in the interim without putting 2+2 together and installing it in my unit. So, a couple of days later they had it upgraded and I brought it home.
The MIDI SYSEX format is in a separate manual you can supposedly order through your dealer. I'm still trying to get ahold of it.

This is an update on my earlier review. I'm satisfied with the unit now; it does what I expected it to, after the upgrade.

Very easy out of the box, factory settings are great and easily editable, scrolling thru parameteres is much easier than other units i have tried and owned including Digitech and Zoom. Manual is very thorough and clear as are most Roland Boss products i have owned. Mine is new and is a version 1.8. No problems to date. To create patches select a patch you like, copy it to a few patch space and edit it as you want and save it, could not be easier.

Preamp sounds are dead on, fender and roland sounds are better than the amps of these brands that i have owned, Marshall sounds are very goodparticularly at creating plexi sounds although 800 aand 900 head sounds are in there to. Boogie sounds are pretty close but then a boogie head can be made to sound like any other head but the classic boogie preamp crunch is right there. The peavey 5150 van halen sound i sdead on also but you have to like that sound, depends on the player. The Soldano sound is good but i have found those amps offer little that the other types of amps offer so i do not tend to use it but that is just me, any of these sound great, pick what you like and use it, problem is that you get spoiled for choice. Distortion sounds are killer, i have owned a blues driver, DS-1, DS-2, Tube screamers and HM-1 heavy metal pedals and i traded in my entire Boss pedal board since every type of Boss pedal is in there from Overdrive to grunge to classic disytortion to metal, its excellant. All editable features that the pedals have this processor has. Noise suppressor is like the NS-2 pedal, very quiet, does not cut off or interupt playing, Tuner is excellant and very simple and accurate, can be adjusted for easy detuning for. Chorus, flanger, vibrato, and other time based effects are excellant crystral clear, reverb is best Boss reverb to date but would have liked to have seen more settings, ie church or cathedral for total meltdown , but the hall,room and plate settings are good enuff for 99% of the time and the send/return loop allows you to add a separate unit such as an Srv roland unit of lexicon type. Delays are great and tap tempo allows on the spot settings in case your drummer is going to fast or to slow. Compressor works great on the clean chorus type settings syat away from compressing driven sounds. Dont like the wah settings and I hate autowah and never use it, i stick with a Vox 846 prior to the unit but thats what i like. Speaker simulators offer every option you could want to use, recording straight into the board is incredible and you can go thru the night without pissing off the neighbours. The harmonizer takes a little getting use to but it's worth it if you want to get Vai type effects, tracks great

No problems yet, never had a problem with Roland or Boss products. I use the unit in front of a Tremoverb head and have had no problems, much more reliable than a bunch of pedals, adaptors, cables, ducttape, tripping roadies, drunks falling over stuff, people stealing stuff in front of you, no battery's, no stumbling in the dark. Rack it in a good case with a power conditioner and relax

No problems, no calls, never had a hassle with Roland, having a good dealer helps,

I would buy it again in a heartbeat, I traded in a BCB-6 pedal board with 6 pedals in it and two other boss pedals and a tube screamer for an even trade, dealer was selling for $495. Sound quality is beyond description with NO NOISE, no cables, batteries etc, you can change order of effects simply, try that with pedals live. More versatile than pedals, very quiet. I am familiar with the GP-100 but i dont think the added cost is worth it and the sounds are identical, if you use a guitar amp head to go into you don't need the eq knobs that the GP-100 has. Digitech 2100 and Zoom units don not come close, nor does the Korg, this unit is player friendly rather than the digitech computer nerd scrolling techmiques. Would like a headphone level knob on the front next to the jack, love the input on the front and back, HATE the color, if anyone from Roland is listening please make a black replacement front panel available immeadiately , i will gladly pay for it. The display screen could be larger for me and while graphics on the display are good i have seen better on other brands, but this is very minor. It has totally breathed new live into both my playing and recording, ok why, because in order to get some of the more cleaner modulated effects used to take a series of pedals and with quiter cleaner sounds the noise levels would make the sounds not useable outside of a controlled studio environment. In summary the unit gives what a player wants, flexibility, simplicity, great sounds and includes only things you need, does not include any obsolete features or gimmics.Consider the price about $500,go buy 5 pedals and you've spent $500, this unit gives you three times that much, no batteries, no connectors, no ducttape. This unit does it all, run into two heads or a stereo power amps and two cabinets and you will never run mono effects again.

This is as easy to use as it could possible get. The settings allow every aspect of the sound to be tailored as closely as possible to what you want without swamping you with options like most other units do. Most effects units just have the rotary dial for scrolling through the effects but this unit works different. It has buttons on the front panel which allow you to select an effect, then you use the rotary dial to scroll through the options for just that effect. This results in extremely quick alterations to your patch with the minimum of fuss. These buttons also act to turn the effects on and off. Another nice feature is that each button has a light to show if its on so you can see at a glance what effects are turned on in a given patch. Adjusting the effects is just like using the Boss footpedals. The manuals straight forward and acts as a good reference. What it doesn't do is give you tips on how to get certain sounds out of the effects so you have to experiment.

I wasn't looking for a new rack, effects processor. I'd gone down that road once before, sold up and bought a good Marshall and never looked back. After all, what can match the sound of a real amp? I started reading reviews and comments about the GX-700 and the GP-100 and everyone who had used it said it was the best unit on the market. I finally gave in and tried it out. What more can I say. It lived up to every expectation and more. This is the first time I've been totally satisfied with my guitar sound. Now I can have any amplifier/guitar sound I want. The preamp is the GX-700's ace up its sleave. You can select between JC-120, Matchless (Vox), Fender Twin, Mesa Boogie, Marshall, Soldano and Peavey Metal amps. When you dial through the settings for the preamp effect you find its just like the real amps. You've got bass, treble, middle, presence, bright switches, hi - mid - low gain settings, preamp volume, master volume, etc.(there are different controls on different preamp settings). And they DO sound like tube amps (ie. you can back of the volume for a nice break up etc.) You can even choose which input to plug your guitar into the Marshall! The peavey and soldano amps aren't to my liking, but I think thats just me, I use the 'normal' distortions for my metal sounds. You've also got a choice of seven analog distortions (just like a set of Boss distortion pedals) which sound amazing themselves. The effects chain is totally adjustable and the way Boss have set them you can have any effects you could possibly want at any time (ie. you can have a distortion pedal going into a preamp, a flanger+chorus, other wierd effects). There are some great patches. Once of my favorite is a chorused, twelve stringed sound which (with a bit of tweaking) is identical to the Mission guitar sound.
The unit is quiet and the noise suppressor is faultless. The speaker sims offers 20 different combinations of cabs and mics, the units a dream to record with or play DI into a mixer, PA.
I could go on and on about my GX-700, go hear one yourself.

Someone did e-mail me saying they had problems with it because they had on of the first units (revision 1.5 - 1.6). Mines rev 1.8 and has been working for the past three months faultless. You can check the revision number by holding down the preamp and speaker sim buttons when turning the unit on. I trust it but if it did go down I suppose I could always use my Marshall on its own.

Theres nothing else like it on the market except for the GP-100. The GP-100 is its big brother. It offers more control and has nice amp like dials on the front. But for nearly double the price I can't justify it.
Compared to other units I'm sure you could match the quality and variation of sounds if you spent a fortune on a couple of different racks but on a rack vs. rack basis its can't be beat.
You can customize anything you like. I even plugged my Marshall footswitch into it and now I can set the unit to do what ever I want with a push of a button.
All I can say is shop around before you buy. Some shops where selling it for 480 pounds! The place where I got it from retailed it at 399 but after haggling I got it from Sound Control for 370 with loads of freebies, great deal.
The only thing I would recommend would be to get a good poweramp (preferable valve) and a pair of speakers. You would then have the ultimate amp/effects rig.
If anyones got any patches or hints and tips to swap, get in touch.