Boss GX-700

It takes a few minutes to get the idea,but it's one of the easiest to set up.

Wonderful.Clean. and with MILLIONS OF POSSIBILITIES.
The best preamps are the TWIN settings. Awesome.
Did I mention MILLIONS OF POSSIBILITIES?

Bars,clubs , studios you name it.I've been everywhere with it.
My rack even fell on the floor once.It was up and running in a flash.

Never had to get service for it.
But Boss and Roland are reknown for great customer support anyway!!

I'm sure this piece of gear will get the same amount of attention as the now famous Tube Screamer that Stevie Ray Vaughan was using.Why?Nobody cared until they found out that HE was using it.
I've been playing music for the last 30 years or so and I own a commercial recording studio up in Canada full of gear.With all honesty , this is one of the best pieces of equipment I've had the chance to own.
The biggest mystery is WHY the BOSS company is not producing it anymore???!!
They probably will when they find out some big name guitarist is STILL using it.

Its a great unit with lots of parameters and so, lots of possibilities. You must spend time with it, create the patches depending on your other gear and how these are connected. You WILL see the result is amazing.
The manual is 8/10

Using it with Tube Works 9002 preamp and Tube Works 962 MOS Valve power amp. The GX-700 is not noisy at all, has meany features and sound excellent.
The effects are all very good specially the harmonizer.
And people, THIS THING HAS A TUNER BUILT IN! its just a great and very useful idea.
I'm surprised about the last person (Jeremy) comment and rating for this unit. I think your have too much gear and not too much interest in getting to know a bit this unit. The GX-700 is a remarkable piece of gear. It DOES NOT KILL YOUR TONE if you set it up correctly and use at least 2 of your neurons as with any device. On the contrary it adds a bunch to your tone. I suggest you sell a few things or become a collector. You can do almos anything with this unit depending on your other gear as well. I have recorded 5 songs with this and surprised a few of the best Sound Engineers I know.

Have no problems what so ever.

Play alternative, classic rock, blues, progressive.
Playing for 16 years.
After smashing a few things and taking a pill to calm down, I would buy again if stolen.
I love the sound, the tuner in it, the interesting modelers built in it and its affordability.

I play Gibson Custom or PRS Custom 22 & Hollowbody Guitars and a PRS Dragon!!! into different setups! I use a Mesa V-Twin Rackmount, Quad Preamp, TriAxis, Engl 930 tube amplifier, Mesa strategy 500, a Mesa Dual Rectifer Trem o verb Head, Marshall JCM 800 with reverb. Mesa Rectifier Cabinetts with 30 Celetions Speaker
Effects: Rocktron Intellifex LTD, T.C. Electronic G-Force, 2xBoss PH-2, Boss RV-3, Boss CS-3, Boss Oc-2, EH Q-tron, MXR Phase 90, Hughes & Kettner Tube Rotosphere, Ernie Ball Volume Pedal, Digitech original WH-1, Vox V847 Wah, Dunlop Uni-Vibe,
Ebtech Noise Supressor and some vintage stuff!!!

I tried the boss unit in every combination with my Setup and it is totally bullshit, 'cause it kills your tone completly. It was my first effect that my parents buy me for my 15th birthday 8 Years ago!!! As a kid I find this unit cool, because I my setup wasn't good enough that this unit can kill my tone. But if you own a good setup than buy other effects. I love my Pedals. I like the tone of the G-Force as well! Save your money and buy something better

Ok, this unit works! Hope it won't

I never had a problem with my boss gear so I don't know thei support

Don't buy it if you want be a professional Player with a good sound!!!

I've had the unit for a long time: bought it when the price dropped as they were about to discontinue it. How easy to get a good sound? pretty easy for all the sounds it will make. It has so much potential, it demands a good amount of work from the user to tap into it. I have spent quite a lot of time programming it to work like I need, but in return I get most everything I want. So I give it fairly high marks in this department. good manual for a translation. (I just got through putting a bookcase together that deserves a place in the Bad Manual Hall Of Fame...)

I use this unit with an American Strat with Vintage Noiseless pups and an original Fender Telecoustic (not a plasticaster) straight to the PA in my full-time duo here in Florida. I get great quasi acoustic sounds by turning off the preamp sims and using the EQ, compressor and delay to simulate a miked up flattop. No, it doesn't sound like a great acoustic guitar, but it also doesn't feed back uncontollably in a live setting. I can play as loud as I need to without compromising my tone. (the Telecoustic helps in this regard). really happy with the acoustic side of it. for electric stuff, I use several of the preamp sims: Twin, Matchless, Marshall, and Soldano mostly. I don't really use the distortions much, just on a couple of patches, but I get plenty of grind from the preamp sims. The other effects respond well to judicious programming, as do the preamp sims and the speaker sims. Really, the key to this or any other device, especially multi-effects boxes, is your willingness to spend the time tweaking. I've stored nearly 50 patches to cover LOTS of stylistic ground and even have the sequencer we use (FOR DRUMS ONLY) to change my patches at the right time. (how incredibly convenient). Does it sound like the real thing? DUH...No, but is that really the point? Of course it's a compromise, but I can get such a wide variety of really GOOD tones out of this thing for live performance that it's earned it's place in my rack for the last several years. That's the bottom line for me: GOOD TONE. I get plenty of compliments on the sound, and remember, I'm going straight to the PA. Yeah, it's a good PA, and I've tweaked the speaker sims and the outputs for my specific setup, but who wouldn't do that? We play many different styles of music including everything from James Taylor to ZZ Top and Louis Armstrong to Grand Funk, and I have no trouble getting the appropriate sounds out of the GX-700 for all of 'em. I guess folks who only need a couple of (perfect) sounds might be harder to please than me in this respect, but the versatility far outweighs any compromise for me...

I've never had a problem with it, other tham the rear jack going out, but I have an identical unit for backup just in case. If it went out on a gig, I'd be up and running in no time.

Never dealt with 'em. No idea...

My overall rating for the GX-700 is obviously very high; It's my primary sound tool for the gig. I've been playing for a living for 30 years. I've owned lots of gear from all the major players, and currently have stuff from Mackie, Crown, Lexicon, Rane, Yorkville Elite, Behringer, and Yamaha.

Editing patches is actually pretty intuitive and the 'patch copy' function makes it very easy to copy and paste fx parameters between patches. I.E.; I really like the flanger setting on patch 18, I want that flanger on patch 6: click, click, done. That said, this is still a unit that you'll need to get your hands dirty on while you mess around under the hood finding settings that you like. As far as manuals from Japanese manufacturers go, this one is a pretty easy read and provides plenty of info.

My basic setup: Fender Tele and Carvin TL60-T through an assortment of pedals (fulldrive, soulbender, carl martin comp, etc.)to the GX-700 to a Boogie DC-5. I've been using the GX w/a MidiBuddy for about six years now and have about ten patches that I generally use when playing live. As for overall sound quality, I've owned many of these Boss effects as stand-alone units at one time or another and the sound on the GX doesn't always measure up. Case in point; the compressor. The Boss CS-3 comp is a great pedal that can really beef up your sound without compromising your tone. The GX compressor, frankly, sucks. It's not even close. It does, however, have a limiter function that sounds pretty good, which the CS-3 doesn't. So,here's the basic poop with the GX-700: does it sound as good as owning all these pedals individually would? No. Does it get as close as can be reasonally expected for a one space rack unit w/a gazillion fx? Yes. Obviously, if you were to own all these units individually, you would need a pedal board roughly the size of Rhode Island to contain them and a ridiculously expensive switching system to utilize them in all the configurations available on the GX. So, what you sacrifice in tone is more than made up for with the endless possiblilty of programming options.

There are more than enough fx, preamps, speaker sims, and routing options to get a good sound out of this puppy. Don't like the sound of any of the distortions? Try rolling off the gain and bumping up the output or maybe use it to push one of the preamps and patch the eq after it to dial in the sweet spot. Then try running it into one the cab simulators and see what you get. I've also used the GX for direct recording and you'd be surprised how good it's capable of sounding- natural to the point where you'd swear you can hear an amp breathing in the room. I wouldn't put it up against a POD but it's all there if you're only willing to TWEAK.

All in all-

Pros:
Mucho parameters, flexible signal chain, LCD readout is easy to work with. Each fx group has its own dedicated button; you won't waste ridiculous amounts of time scrolling through a byzantine maze of menus and sub-menus.

Easy to edit patches on the fly. Easy to fly in existing fx parameters to a new preset.

Silent onboard tuner. Good preamps and speaker sims. Now, at the touch of a button, I can turn my boogie into a plexi. Nice.

External footswitch can be integrated to control fx parameters within a patch. Very cool.

More fx than you'll probably ever use. But you'll feel good knowing that there's always a new sonic possibility just under the surface somewhere.

Cons:
Compressor and tremolo are kinda blech. Reverb? Sure, but nothing to write home about. Get a stand alone OD unit if you're serious about your lead tone.

Ocassional goofiness; that patch you've decided you didn't want delay on still has delay on it and the GX refuses to save it w/out the delay button activated. It's happened to me here and there but always seems to go away after a little while.

Pitch shifter does not track very well. Even trying to set up a simple 'octave below' patch is an exercise in futility. Don't even think about hooking up an expression pedal to the wah. Vox, it ain't.

I've gigged w/this unit without a backup for 6 years without any problems. Rear panel input jack shit the bed not long after I bought it. That's a pain, but I'm apparently not alone judging by the number of people on this page who've had the same problem.

I've been playing for twenty plus years and gigging steadily for the last ten. All this means is that I've gone through enough gear to appreciate a unit that is dependable and flexible ebough to give me what I want, where I want it. I'm fussy enough about tone that I've spent a good deal of time accumulating OD's and compressors that really deliver the goods. For me, the GX-700 is the mortar that fills in the cracks. It's a very reasonably priced unit that has so much to offer that I can't imagine a guitarist who couldn't find it useful in one way or another.

First let me start by saying I have been reading the user posts here for a couple years and it seems that everybody either loves it or hates it. Well, I have been using my GX-700 continuously since I bought it new circa 1996. At one point I even had gotten another one to use as a backup, but then I sold it since after I got the EPROM upgrade (see prior posts) it's never gone down and I have traveled the WORLD out of this unit. Basicaly, in my opinion the GX-700 out-performs any other unit in its class, and I own a POD and a GT-3. The secret to it's tone is in the preamp simulations, nothing else. It took me a long time to find the tones I was looking for but now I can play that baby though whatever guitar/amp/speaker compination I choose and it still sounds great. I have used it at gigs where the sound guy wanted to know how I got such a great tone. DON'T just use the presets, altough they can be good starting points for ideas. Make your own sounds using the preamps and effects. It's not that hard.

The main way I use the GX-700 is a Fender strat though a couple pedals (MXR Dynacomp, Fulltone II, Ernie Ball volume pedal) and into the front input. Then I take the stereo out into my Mesa 50:50 (tube)power amp and from there to a stereo 4X10 cabinet. Usually the house mix only gets a mono feed (sm-57 on one of the right speakers) but I like the stereo for my own monitoring. My Dynacomp is on all the time, because the compressor in the GX-700 just won't cut it, IMHO.

Here is what I DO NOT use: the compressor, the distortions (too noisy and "digital", the wah stuff and by all means turn off the reverb! (I don't use the speaker sims because I use it live with a cabinet)

The good: the noise gate (works as a noise gate should based on your guitar's input - leave it on all the time), the preamps, especially the TWIN (clean or crunch), MATCHLESS (more crunch) and RECTIFIED (for all out distortion) settings, the delays (very full and clear) and the tremolos. (And of course the tuner.) The JC-120 setting isn't bad either and the chorus is OK (but who uses chorus anymore?). The step phaser is kinda cool for a wierd effect now and then. I use the unit with an FC-200 midi controler which gives you control over delay tempos and tremolo speeds. I basically have 20 presets I use that cover any kind of music I need to play. (I have the same ones programmed into my GT-3 for situations where I can't take my rack with me, but the GX-700 sounds WAY better.) My sounds are tweaked for the strat, but if I have to use a guitar with humbuckers, I just go into "Function" and change the output from "Power Amp" to "Line" and it immediately takes away the mud.

I only use it for live playing. It always sounded a bit thin for recording, which is why I have the POD. (Or with a miked cabinet it sounds pretty good on tape) Sound quality? Even the pros use this unit, like Tim Pierce, an awesome studio guy from L.A.

Once I got the software upgraded I didn't have any problems, but before that, since mine was one of the original models, I would have that thing where I would lose all my patches!!!!(But I always have had them backed up on my computer anyway). I found out the hard way several times that you NEVER gig without a backup of some sort, like I said I had another GX-700 in my rack, but now I have the GT-3 instead.

I got my upgrade though a local music store, so I never have dealt with Roland directly.

I said everything above. This unit ROCKS. And of course they don't make them any more, but the newer Boss stuff just doesn't sound as good, except maybe the VG-8. I would try and get another one If I lost this one, or I might just start using the POD, now that I got a floorboard. I'm very happy with my tone right now, but I'm always up for discovering something better if it came around. I've been playing for more than 20 years but I'm still always looking for the "perfect tone"...

Been covered elsewhere---but generally pretty easy.

I've had this beast for a couple of years and am not writing based on the fact that "I got this thing two hours ago and it rocks!". To be honest, I've had a "love-hate" relationship with this thing---but I have the same feelings for all multi-effect devices. It seems one day I'm raving about the unit, the next I am saying that this thing sucks because you can get such a better tone just running straight through an amp. I use a mesa/boggie dc-2, fender hot deville (4-10's), trace elliot vellocette, and a mesa/boogie 50/50 power amp. I also use an skb powered pedalboard with rotovibe, dunlop wah, bk butler era tube driver, pro-co rat, rocktron hush pedal, zoom choir, ibanez eq pedal (old one--for solo boost), and a slew of other pedals that occasionally end up on the board once in a while to make a 'guest appearance'. Most of the time I just use an amp and flip on the pedals every now and then for "spice". Why I keep going back to using the GX700 is that although the sound is not as good aas my 'anolog' setup, the convience takes over. For live use I use use a midi pedal switcher (either an art x-11 or an old art x-15) and being able to hit a switch and have your compression, distortion, modulation etc.. all there without hitting three or more buttons is very appealling. The compromise is the sound quality. Although the Boss is not completely horseshit, and actually sounds somewhat decent running into a pa or my computer, it's not the end all of sound. I have the unit set up in two ways: 1. use through a pa or power amp (settings 1-50)and 2. used as you would stomp boxes and getting most of my sound once again through the amp. When I want to stay a 'purist' the latter use is the one that gets the most air time. Alot of postings here complain about the buzziness of the distortions. Here's a couple of ideas (for what's it's worth...):
1. crank it up. when used at bedroom levels, the distortions are very, very buzzy. when playing at a gig level or rehearsal level, the buzz somewhat goes away.
2. watch those settings. overkill on the preamp will create alot of the buzz. try using less gain. really. you'll get better clarity and sound.
3. set the preamp like an amp. meaning: take the twin setting, run up the volume and set the master low.
4. use just the distortion boxes just like you would a stomp box. no amp simulation. the same goes for the modulation effects.
5. try the 'power amp' setting not the guitar amp setting and run it into the front end of a combo. more punch this way---but be carefull to turn the combo's treble down or it gets a little crispy sounding.
6. turn off the unit's reverb. this is a big one for getting rid of that buzz. use your amp's reverb if you need it.
7. use the trick someone else mentioned here: put a metal zone (or any pedal type simulation) set really low on gain, but high on output and run it into a hot amp simulation (low gain, high volume setting, low master setting). this gets the sound a little fuller that just alot of pedal type gain.
8. use the effects loop. I don't always do this since I like to use my amp's preamp, but it might work for you. If you go heavy on the preamp sims, it will sound buzzy running into your amp's preamp. use one preamp or the other.
9. try another guitar. borrow a buddie's for an afternoon.
10. run it into something decent. people here complain that the sound sucks and then state they are running into some junky practice amp. well or course the sound sucks. you started with crap, you are going to end up with crap. this unit won't change that.
11. ease up on the effects. this has a ton of them. Something that sounds great in your bedroom will sound like mush when cranked up. Experiment at the volume you are going to use it at and practice at practice volumes--no tweaking.

there are tons more little 'tricks', but I'm having a brain fart right now and the best thing I can say is just to experiment around. If it sounds good to you, then i

so far, so good. but I use everything pretty hard--but I try to take of my gear.

never delt with 'em.

Overall, not bad. Sure, it would be more convenient to have an effects unit within a pedal board (gt-3, etc...) instead of hauling a midi board around. but when you look how abused my midi boards have become from various gigs, you start to wonder if you want to put all your sound into something that could get drenched in beer and just generally get beat on. Like I've said before, if it's inspiring to you, it's a great piece of gear. I'll say that for anything--doesn't matter if it's a cheapie danelectro unit or some boutique unit, if if doesn't inspire, it's junk (no matter what it is or what name is on it). When playing a gig, most people could care less about 'boutique' tone, or that you've spent hundreds (thousands?) of hours and moola trying to get the 'perfect' tone. I'm not saying to settle for crap, just to keep focused on a few great tones instead of a 100 mediocre ones. If flexibility is your game, try this (or most) multi-effectors. If one or two golden tones are your game--save your dough and blow it on a really great amp. Alot of people blame their setup for crappy playing. While partly true, the sad but true fact is that it probably isn't your gear....after a while, you should be able to make anything work. If you're not there yet (who truly is?) then keep practising--it's all part of the journey. make it fun!

Funny the other guy says the weak points of this unit are the pitch shifter and harmonist. People, those are actually the 2 only things about this unit that are pretty unique and useful :) It has a very synthetic tone to it - but it tracks. Your guitar ends up sounding like a synth from those old Steve Miller songs or whatnot.

The distortion on the GX-700 is utter crap. The effects are useful in a very synthetic way. If you want clarity, get a Digitech - they ave very clear sounding in the FX department. For warm, get lexicon or the like.

The GX-700 is the most 'toy' of any component I own. I can't believe that guy owns 3! I baerly and keeping the 1 around - just for the weird noises it puts out. Real grind comes from good tube products. Problem is the market is so flooded with crap tube products, people think they can't be clear or slam - tubes need high voltage and stuff, not these wimpy little power supplies like in a Digitech or something.

I won't say that this unit is easy to use when you first buy it, but once you have a chance to get to know its charateristics it kicks ass. I started with one of the presets and tweaked it from there and then copied it to a user patch. Needless to say those "initial" patches that I created are long gone now that I've had a chance to get to know the unit. This isn't a unit that you just "plug and play". It takes time to get the sound you want because there are so many variables. I believe that if you take your time, you CAN get the perfect sound that you're looking for. As far as the manual, I only read it when I want to know something specific. I purchased the video manual on ebay last week. It's very informative in areas that the printed manual doesn't discuss. I'd rather have it demonstrated than have to read about it, so the Video Manual was a money-well-spent necessity for me.

When jamming with my band, I use an Ibanez s-470, the GX 700 and a Marshall 8008 Valvestate 80x2 Power Amp pushing 2 Marshall 4x12 cabs. When at home, I use another GX 700 thru another Marshall 8008 pushing 4-10" Celestions. When recording, I use yet another GX 700 and go straight into the console from the speaker sims. For control, I use the Roland FC 200 and the FS-5U's and L's. My main style is Death Metal, but I've found the GX 700 to be suitable for just about any style. If you take your time, you can find the perfect settings for ANY genre. I've found the sounds of my favorite guitarists in this unit: Andy LaRocque, Vinnie Moore, Chuck Schuldiner, Michael Lee Firkins, Steve Vai, etc. The most kick ass thing about this unit is the BULK DUMP feature, which is invaluable if you own more than one unit and want them all to be set up exactly the same. The least kick ass thing about the GX 700 would be the Harmonist and the Pitch Shifter, as they are kind of slow and sketchy. Overall, this unit kicks ass.

So far, so good. I don't think I'd play a show without a backup for everything.

I've heard Roland is Japanese for "A**holes", but I've never dealt with them and it would be unethical for me to assume that they are. My Roland FC 200 has two #7 footswitches (but no #6) and was brand new when I bought it, but I think it's kinda unique so I never bitched about it.

I play DEATH METAL. The GX 700 suits my every need. I've been playing for 18 years. I own a lot of gear, but my Roland roster consists of 4-VSR 880's, 3-GX 700's, a Boss DR550 MKII drum machine, and a vintage Boss CE-2 chorus pedal from the old shool. I sold my Marshall JMP-1 when I realized what the GX 700 was capable of. Now chicks dig me. Thanks Roland!

This is about the easiest multi effects unit I have ever used I purchased it used and did not recieve a manual This is about the best
user interface I have ever seen on a guitar effects processor

I run an all tube setup I am by nature and experience very suspect of AD/DA conversion The modulation and pitch shifting on DSP have been suspect from day 1 After a few days you develop a strong dislike for the chorus wah and flange effects in them This is the first Guitmulti that I like

No doubts here I will use this in my rack daily and liberally until someone show my ears somthing drastically better

I am customer support I been tweaking guitar anps and effects for 30 years If it ain't broke I ain't gonna call

I love this thing Nuttin but the best for my dog Frenchie