Eventide GTR4000 Guitar-Pro Ultra Harmonizer

I had to read the manual a couple of times to get what i wanted. What i wanted was those background effects like thunder and this cool effect i found called vox.

it sounded great, its changeable to any style of music. I play an earnie ball john petrucci guitar, rigged with 2 dimarzio evolution pickups through a Fender metal head stack, And when i crunch up the sound it still sounds great. one thing tho it did mess with my amp when i turned it all the way up.

I trust this harmonizer more than my amp honestly, I dont ever worry about it kicking out on me, i dont think i could afford another one anyway.

I play metal and its a great match
ive been playing for 3 years, i own a couple of digitech pedals, and a jimi hendrix wah pedal.
I love the digital display, it makes searching for effects way easier than memorizing effect numbers i dont like that it is fragile, im sure if it got dropped, id be finding another piece of equipment to play with. i do wish it had a couple more outputs.
It definatly helps me make music i love to experiment with sounds.
it is a little bigger than i thought it was, i think it has and on board fan too. it is a wonderful piece of equipment

This rating may be an injustice as it is probably my own fault, but this thing is intensely complicated. I am a hobbyist guitar player, not a studio pro and I am completely baffled by this thing. Some of the presets have no output at all and I can't figure out how to make them do anything. This device is not for the casual guitar player who wants a really good sound. You *really* need to know what you are doing with this thing. And if something were to happen to your manual, forget it . . .

The sound quality for the reverb, delay, chorus effects etc are as good as they get and it has the low noise performance you would expect from a device in this price range. But I was disappointed with the distortion. I don't know if I'm just doing it wrong, but the distortion is a huge let down.
At some point in the manual regarding one of the presets, it even recommends using distortion from another device. I'm using my decade old A.R.T. SGX 2000 Express for distortion (with all its lousy digital effects disabled). That Satriani and Vai sounding distortion was the main reason I bought this device. Oops . . .

My unit was purchased used in 2005 (approx 4 years AFTER they stopped making them) and it still works like new as far as I can tell.

I play hard rock and various instrumental type music, mostly my own creations.
I've been playing for over 20 years.
If I had to do it over again, I would probably go with a T.C. Electronics component mainly because of price and the distortion issue.
That and the fact that despite my engineering studies, this box is far smarter than I am.
I love the tone this thing has - I just leave it on the Satriani "W-I-D-E Solo" preset and run my SGX distortion through it. I would really like to think that for the money this things cost, you could get a top notch distortion. I would also like an easier way of disabling certain effects (multiple delays sound great for leads, but cloud up the chords making them sound too muddy).

Overall, I'm sure this is a phenomenal tool for the serous studio pro that knows how to take advantage of it, but it was overkill for me and I regret spending the money on it. I'm quite certain I would have been happier with a T.C. Electronics box and a crisp, tight distortion with some other commonly used effects thrown in. This was just not the right box for me. Kudos to Eventide though, this thing is incredible. Unfortunately, I am not.

This rating may be an injustice as it is probably my own fault, but this thing is intensely complicated. I am a hobbyist guitar player, not a studio pro and I am completely baffled by this thing. Some of the presets have no output at all and I can't figure out how to make them do anything. This device is not for the casual guitar player who wants a really good sound. You *really* need to know what you are doing with this thing. And if something were to happen to your manual, forget it . . .

The sound quality for the reverb, delay, chorus effects etc are as good as they get and it has the low noise performance you would expect from a device in this price range. But I was disappointed with the distortion. I don't know if I'm just doing it wrong, but the distortion is a huge let down.
At some point in the manual regarding one of the presets, it even recommends using distortion from another device. I'm using my decade old A.R.T. SGX 2000 Express for distortion (with all its lousy digital effects disabled). That Satriani and Vai sounding distortion was the main reason I bought this device. Oops . . .

My unit was purchased used in 2005 (approx 4 years AFTER they stopped making them) and it still works like new as far as I can tell.

I play hard rock and various instrumental type music, mostly my own creations.
I've been playing for over 20 years.
If I had to do it over again, I would probably go with a T.C. Electronics component mainly because of price and the distortion issue.
That and the fact that despite my engineering studies, this box is far smarter than I am.
I love the tone this thing has - I just leave it on the Satriani "W-I-D-E Solo" preset and run my SGX distortion through it. I would really like to think that for the money this things cost, you could get a top notch distortion. I would also like an easier way of disabling certain effects (multiple delays sound great for leads, but cloud up the chords making them sound too muddy).

Overall, I'm sure this is a phenomenal tool for the serous studio pro that knows how to take advantage of it, but it was overkill for me and I regret spending the money on it. I'm quite certain I would have been happier with a T.C. Electronics box and a crisp, tight distortion with some other commonly used effects thrown in. This was just not the right box for me. Kudos to Eventide though, this thing is incredible. Unfortunately, I am not.

This rating may be an injustice as it is probably my own fault, but this thing is intensely complicated. I am a hobbyist guitar player, not a studio pro and I am completely baffled by this thing. Some of the presets have no output at all and I can't figure out how to make them do anything. This device is not for the casual guitar player who wants a really good sound. You *really* need to know what you are doing with this thing. And if something were to happen to your manual, forget it . . .

The sound quality for the reverb, delay, chorus effects etc are as good as they get and it has the low noise performance you would expect from a device in this price range. But I was disappointed with the distortion. I don't know if I'm just doing it wrong, but the distortion is a huge let down.
At some point in the manual regarding one of the presets, it even recommends using distortion from another device. I'm using my decade old A.R.T. SGX 2000 Express for distortion (with all its lousy digital effects disabled). That Satriani and Vai sounding distortion was the main reason I bought this device. Oops . . .

My unit was purchased used in 2005 (approx 4 years AFTER they stopped making them) and it still works like new as far as I can tell.

I play hard rock and various instrumental type music, mostly my own creations.
I've been playing for over 20 years.
If I had to do it over again, I would probably go with a T.C. Electronics component mainly because of price and the distortion issue.
That and the fact that despite my engineering studies, this box is far smarter than I am.
I love the tone this thing has - I just leave it on the Satriani "W-I-D-E Solo" preset and run my SGX distortion through it. I would really like to think that for the money this things cost, you could get a top notch distortion. I would also like an easier way of disabling certain effects (multiple delays sound great for leads, but cloud up the chords making them sound too muddy).

Overall, I'm sure this is a phenomenal tool for the serous studio pro that knows how to take advantage of it, but it was overkill for me and I regret spending the money on it. I'm quite certain I would have been happier with a T.C. Electronics box and a crisp, tight distortion with some other commonly used effects thrown in. This was just not the right box for me. Kudos to Eventide though, this thing is incredible. Unfortunately, I am not.

I had an H3000 before I had a GTR4000. I figured I needed to check it out since I am a Guitar player. It was on my wish list since it came out..."WHAT!!!!!!!!!! An Eventide Just for guitar players!?" The H3000 in?s and out's are only XLR cables.
The GTR4000 has both 1/4 and XLR inputs (but only XLR outs). Always a pain to get those cables and get it hooked up correctly in your set-up! (Unless you can make them)
There are lots of parameters to adjust in this unit. You need to be a rocket scientist to know what this unit is about. I just turn knobs?. (For the most part anyway) It works okay to program EVENTIDES this way. I WISH I could say I knew more about some of the parameters in the programs, but like I say, it's advanced. They are just too much for the average guitarist. The manual is okay (way better than the H3000) but it gets complicated.
I figured the GTR4000 would be great for guitar, but it's not much better than the H3000? unless you have a way to access the "virtual pedal boards". (Midi cc controller messages) But I didn't buy my Eventide for a Flanger, Phaser, Chorus, Delay etc. because I had that covered on a TC Electronic GForce. I wanted those cool EVENTIDE ?out of this world? sounds.
The Stock GTR4000 does not have a TAP tempo feature, so using delay/s tremolos and any tempo based effect is useless! I can easily do it with my TC GForce. I think this was the biggest drawback for me. I didn't want to use a delay if I couldn't tap a tempo. I couldn't get a backwards delay either.......etc
See what options are installed on the machine and get it loaded if you can.
Better yet get a TC Electronic GForce for your basic Guitar stuff (or the cheaper starter unit the GMajor) Or if you want the Eventide sound get an ECLIPSE. (Or an Orville if you have the $!)

The best. When I first plug in my EVENTIDES I am always blown away by the sound quality. Just pristine Audio! That?s why we buy we pay so much for these.

I had an H3000 go down at a show once. One of the boards in the unit loosened up. Thought it was the battery or something. Wish I had opened it at the gig because it ended up all I had to do was snap it back in place. Fragile units for shipping. Pack well!

Support is wonderful for EVENTIDE. Check out there yahoo group.

great tone/ sound, but for basic gtr FX go with TC Electronic. For cool Eventide FX get the latest up to date unit YOUR money can buy.

Here we go...The Eventide GTR 4000 Guitar Pro Ultra Harmonizer. There should have been room for Whiz Bang By Golly Shebop Sheboogie in that title somewhere. Obviously, a lot of great guitar players have put this processor to work. Its not so hard. Its not easy. They did it. So can you. The manual has some tutorials to help get you started. Then you are pretty much on your own. Power like this can't be easy. If spell check is too much of a hassle for you....you D-E-F-I-N-I-T-E-L-Y don't want this piece. Man! It was spreading like some mongo GTR 4000 reverb! How many people can screw up the same word in a couple of weeks of Harmony Central reviews? And if your going to shout it...you should D-E-F-I-N-I-T-E-L-Y get it right! I've just ticked off 40 or 50 people. Maybe more. Shall we continue?

I occasionally use this as a processor for my violin. Mostly its a dedicated studio tool. For the money it ought to do a lot of things...and it does. It is my master reverb. Way good enough for me. The bass presets can send workstation bass sounds down into the Earth's core. Some presets are so bizarre its hard to imagine how they could possibly be of any use. Just because it CAN sound like the inside of someones stomach (mmmm....mashed potatoes) doesn't mean that I want or need it to. A broadcast preset for a Pepto Bismol commercial? In my GTR 4000 Guitar Pro Ultra Harmonizer? WHY? I'd rather have some more (the rest) of the guitar presets and the mastering presets that are on the preset cards that are several hundred dollars. Yes, the quality of the unit alone was probably worth the top dollar I paid for it. There are some artist presets. The Trey Gunn settings are cool. I don't think Joe and Steve gave us the ones we'd really want. Come on. Don't you think Steve's Bad Horsie is probably just a little badder than yours? If you've actually gotten to the point where you can knock off either one of them you've probably discovered that you no longer want to. This thing has THE harmonizer and I avoid that part of it like the plague. Steve Vai used it up. There are new and cool ways to use it I'm sure. Digiwhammy's and Harmonizer's are just not where its at for me. A fair number of presets say they are intended for use in the digital domain. Mine didn't come with digital i/o. BummerrrRRR! The distortion patches are best used with a real amp, or a cabinet simulator if recording direct. Very buzzy and digital otherwise. I think that with the right combination of amp they might work. Have not found it yet. Running low on pop tarts and the gumption to spend entire days ruminating on the endless permutations of The Super Duper GTR 4000 Guitar Pro Ultra Harmonizer.

I don't gig with it. Always reliable in the studio so far.

I was one who bought the hype. Nevermore. 7 or 8 months after I bought it the price went down nearly $1000. Equivilant to the cost of the digital i/o. Not cool. I HATE when gear does that. That was Whole A Lot of Money for me. (Boiled orange peel helps to fight the scurvy.) What's the big idea? Still, this is a very powerful processor the value of which for me is in the number of valuable tasks it can perform and perform really well. Not a stompbox. If someone were to actually steal this away from me...that's a Maaaajor move. Ain't gonna' happen. I don't gig with it... and my security...thieves don't want to deal with my security!

Hmm... A unit like this isnt made to be user friendly. Its made with software functionality and sound in mind first and then they got to the control layout, Im sure. I mean they set out to make the best processesors available not a processor corkey can use.

That being said I find I dont have that hard a time with it. With any high end unit like this you MUST understand how effects are produced and exactly what the perameters effect. I do think the interface is very intuitive though. I dont see how anyone could think something like this can be made simple. This is for professionals. People who know exactly what the effects do, how there made, and how to get the effects they want. Its not really a tweakers toy although I love to experiment and tweak with this thing.

I can use any number of guitars or amps with the unit in the studio.
For simple live gigs though I generaly use this in the FX loop of my Bogner Ecstasy with, mostly, Les Pauls. For bigger gigs I'll take my own mic and mixer and use the unit after the Mic'd guitar signal. I wouldnt call it noisy.

I think most people, including me, consider this unit the best harmonizer out there.

The ambience effects (delay and reverb) are very nice though. Id say fresh and lively as 2 adjectives for it. Definitly on Par with Lexicon units. Different, But in the same league.

I tend to shy away from ANY digital processors for envelope altering/sensing effects (drive, compressors, EQ, Wah/Auto Wahs.) I never use this unit for distortion. I dont really use compression on my live guitar signal anyway. I may use a touch of EQ. Most people missuse EQ. As most audio Engineers will tell you, EQ isnt there to alter the tone of your instrument. Thats impossable to do. Its a tool to fix equalization problems. Alotta kiddies out there that Ive seen use EQ in thier rigg to Boost BASS. Of all frequencies thats the worst to boost on guitar. Between them and thier bass player its usually the boomiest, muddiest sound. Ive found on most DSP's the way to make the factory presets all sound WAY better was just to take all the EQ out of them.

The modulation effects are very good (chrs,flng,phse,trmlo,etc..) I still prefer to have pedals for many of those effects but for time and simplicities sake Ill use the 4000 for that most of the time. As far as mod effects Id say its on par with the best DSP units in this area. I havent heard anything particularly better though.

As far as the loading issue with certain presets and any patch change issues, I came up with something when I first bought an H-3000 that settles that problem. I use looper so I can use a MIDI controller to send on/off changes. What I do is, from the output of the FX loop I go to a DMC GCX loop switcher which has the Eventide on one of its loops along with a few stompboxes. That way it not only takes the unit completely out of the signal path when not in use, but I can also queu up a patch at any point in the song or before the song, and when it comes time for the effect I just stomp a button on my MIDI controller and the Eventide is in the signal path and so is the effect. Of coarse its not so easy to do that if your the kind of person who's whole style is based on creating textures with effects. If you need 10 different patches for one song and every song your just going from one extreme preset to the next, good luck. If I really want to get extravegant Ill use an effect at one point in every song when appropriate but really I only use it on about 20% of what Im doing.

The Bogner ecstasy Amp I play with live has an FX Loop switch built in and on its footswitcher. That way I can essentially do the same thing. Ill play a whole song with the effect ON on the unit, but it wont effect the signal becouse Ill have the FX Loop turned off untill its time for the effect.

It just makes things easier.

Ive never had any problem with the unit but Ive only had it for a few months so Ill hold off on reviewing it here.

My overall rating is a reluctant 9. I dont like giving out high rating numbers on a review database were every moron has 10 on every catagory and the other morons have 1 in every catagory. That kind of rating makes it hard for the rest of us to tell if it is really a good sounding unit. 7's and 8's arent bad numbers.

I say a reluctant 9 becouse I dont like going that high becouse thiers always room for improvement and thier is units that do many of the effects as well or in a better way. But as much as I like this thing I cant give it an 8.

The GTR is very user friendly when it comes to navigating the menus. However, if you want to create your own programs, the unit alone is not sufficient. I don't know why Eventide didn't make an easier way to create programs available within the unit. If you want to create your own programs satisfactorily you will have to hook your GTR to a computer and use Eventide's Vsig application. The application is quite intimidating at first but once you get used to it there is no problem. If you don't cut and paste what you need from other effects though, creating a program can become very time consuming and complicated. The Vsig application uses a flow chart/schematic diagram type interface. The manual is very large but does not reflect the vast potentials of the machine. I think I might have an old manual so I don't know if any updates have been made.

I am using my GTR in the effects loop of a Hughes and Kettner Triamp. My guitar is a Carvin DC125T. I haven't noticed any noise coming from the GTR except for the big muff preset. All of the effects sound great to me. The distortions are completely digital and are very strange to one who is used to tube and solid state distortion. They are not as bad as some GTR owners think. They are definitely useable, but I wouldn't get rid of my amp for them. I can get a nice Zappa sound that is quite similar to the one on "Shut Up And Play Yer Guitar" from the External Control Tape Flanger preset. I also like the Guitar Verb preset the best for reverb. The pitch shifting is the best I have heard from any processor. The only problem is that minor and dissonant chords do not come out clearly when they are shifted. Only major chords seem to come out clearly. The bottom line is that with my setup, I can achieve a vast array of sounds and tones.

I've had it for about 5 months and nothing has gone wrong except for one time. I loaded a new preset and the unit locked up. I had to power it off and back on. This hasn't recurred yet, thankfully. I payed $2300 for the GTR used and due to my budget constrictions I can't afford a backup right now and I probably will never get one.

I was communicating with Scott Gilfix about the GTR but after he ignored my e-mails I started communicating with CJ Scioscia. He is very helpful and friendly and has replied to all of my e-mails so far. I was also communicating with a guy named Nick who is in charge of Vsig technical support and also ceased communication with him for the same reason.

I think that my setup is one of the ultimate setups because it only requires one amp and one effects processor to achieve a variety of sounds. One thing that I don't like about the GTR is that if a program uses to much resources, usually over 5K, then it will not have a seamless load. First of all 5K of data doesn't seem like a lot and for the price you pay for this thing you should be able to get a program including a pitch shifter, reverb, and EQ to load seamlessly.
Overall I think that the GTR is a nice piece of equipment but I don't think that it's worth the money. The main reason why I bought the GTR was because I was tired of all the shortcomings of lower priced processors. The GTR is definitely better but not by much. I have started a user program site for GTR users at the following address: http://mumfutcha.tripod.com/eventide.html

THE GTR IS NOT VERY EASY TO USE,I MEAN NOT RIGHT OFF THE BAT IT TAKES SOME READING TO FULLY UNDERSTAND HOW TO OPERATE IT!THINK OF IT AS YOUR SECOND PERSONAL GUITAR COMPUTER!

THE SOUND QUALITY IS AMAZING, EXCEPT THE DISTORTION IVE ALWAYS BEEN OBSESSED WITH THE EVENTIDES SINCE I FOUND OUT EVERY AWSOME GUITAR GOD ON THE PLANET EITHER USED ONE OR IS STILL USING ONE!IVE BEEN PLAYING FOR ABOUT 16 YEARS NOW AND FELT I DESERVE ONE SO I BOUGHT THE BEST AND I MUST SAY IT BLEW THE REST AWAY.I PLAY ALOT OF INSTRUMENTAL AND MELODIC MUSIC SO I NEED FLEXIBILITY AND THIS UNIT DEFINETLY SHINES THERE.I RUN THREE ROCKMAN HALF MODUALS TO FEED THE TWO INPUTS THE TWO OUTPUTS GO INTO TO CHANNELS OF MY RACK MIXER THEN ON ANOTHER TWO CHANNELS, I RUN AN ADA MP-1 ROCKMAN COMPRESSOR AND ROCKMAN DISTORTION GENERATOR PURE LOUD AND IN STEREO SO I GET SPARKLING CHORUS OR IN YOUR FACE CONTROLED DITORTION.

IVE HAD IT ABOUT TWO MONTHS HAVNT HAD ANY PROBLEMS

I LOVE THIS UNIT ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE!I RESEARCHED THIS ALONG TIME AND I COULDNT FIND HARDLY ANY INFORMATION ON THE UNIT CONCERNING WHAT OTHER EQUIPMENT, RUNS BEST WITH IT ALL I CAN SAY IS THAT IM VERY HAPPY WITH IT ITS NOT FOR EVERYONE ITS VERY DEEP BUT IS THE ABSOLUTE GREATEST PROCESSOR ON THE PLANET IF YOUR WILLING TO SPEND ALOT OF TIME UNDERSTANDING WERE IT CAN AND CANT BE USED JUST THE AMBIANCE ALONE ON A SIMPLE PATCH WILL CLEAN UP YOUR SOUND I HOPE IVE HELPED SOMEONE ELSE IN THERE QUEST FOR THE GTR!!!!!

Being a recording engineer I am used to having to learn and adapt to new processors' operations. This unit is the motherlode! I have spent over 3 weeks trying to learn how to run it. The Patch Editor is extremely intense to run and I still can't figure it out. It may have too much power for most people.

The A/D converters are great and clean. It really allows you to get back out what you put in. I am running the DSP-4000 with a Mesa Triaxis and ADA MP-1 and get the natural tone from the outputs that I am putting into it without the digital crap that units like DigiTech seem to produce. There are sooooooo many effects to toy with. As just about all effects processors, the presets are over compensated to get your attention, BUT this is a good thing. It really shows you what the unit is capable of. The only problem I have run into is on the modulation presets. I am used to the old Boss CE-2 chours, single LFO modulation. Just about all the presets I found use 2, 4, 8 LFOs or micro pitch shifts. I found it hard to get a straight warm chorus effect. But considering I havn't learned to use the Patch Editor to create my own algorithums, this may not wind up being a problem. The delays are PERFECT, nice and clear, and the filters sound excellent for analog (capacitor bucket brigade) and tape loop echoes. The reverbs are realistic and sound as good as TC Electronic's (which I prefer over Lexicon). My personal favorite is the EMT Plate simulation. The pitch shifters need tweaking right away, you need to enter the Expert mode and adjust some things and set the preset levels to about 30% or less wet/dry. I like the digital dynamics too. I use the compressor alot on some clean stuff and it doesn't seem to quack like some modeling compressors do.

I am just about to take it on the road, so we shall find out how strong it is. I have been using various Eventide units in studios for year so I have no road experience on them yet. I know that nearly everyone in the Dave Matthews band is using one. John Petrucci, Steve Vai, and Joe Satriani use them on the road so they must be good.

Eventide rocks here!!!! I am dealing strickly with one guy there now for all my questions and he shined everytime and has been willing to put up with me too. He has been more than helpful in getting me up and running with this model. Kudos to Eventide!

This unit is THE best multi-effects unit for guitarist. It's much more flexible than the TC G-Force and Lexicon MPX-G2. It is worth every dollar and comes in handy for pro studio use.