Roland GK-2A

GR33 & GK-2A are a breeze to use. First time I played in store for a couple of hours & people starting hanging around to listen. Very cool! Knew I had to buy one when I decided to part with the cash.

Being extremely technical (yep, always seeking perfection), I had no trouble fitting the unit to the Strat. After configuring the sensitivity, found the sound quality excellent, except for the pops & midi noises one can get if set too high. Find GK-2A profile did not match the radius of the strings at the tailpiece/bridge, & I was not going to change the heights to match them cause the action's so damn good as it is now since I tweeked the guitar, set the harmonics, etc. It just smokes and stays in tune.

Wish the GK had adjustable height pole pieces instead of a radiused profile so you could set the distance properly to minimize bad triggering, pops, etc. Spacers, while nice to get them in the package, are not optimum if you don't want to install the screws. The springs are too long for a Strat, better for a Gibson or arch top, where the bridge is higher & affords more adjustment.

Eight clicks of gain aren't enough range if you can't get the spacing close enough without buzzing the strings. 1 mm (1/16") is fine if I could get all of them to be that, so I favor the high strings (as most of you will) since the lower/larger ones should generate more flux into the pickup even if you can't get an acceptable string gain during configuration. May investigate other 13pin compatible drivers to gate the GR that I've read about elsewhere on the web, but this will do for the moment just fine.

As most of you do, I find my playing style improving when I play jazz, rock, classical or whatever I'm doing at the moment. The effects (of the GR-33) are so awesome that I play stuff I've never played before just cause it sounds like Pat Metheny, Jethro Tull or Bazia.

Have other Roland/Boss hardware & seems to be very well designed & built. Play local gigs, so my stuff lasts longer than it would if I was on the road.

I would like it (the GR-33) to remember my last settings though instead of booting up at the first effect. My Digitech remembers where it was so I can continue where I left off.

No opinion yet

Play most everything except C&W (nothing against it, but doesn't excite me much, except Shania Twain perhaps...). As before, jazz, rock, blues, classical, folk - pretty much whatever I hear can usually get down fairly quickly. Duration going on 30 years, with guitars; other instruments too - keyboard, drums, other, but not as much since I got the GR-33/GK-2A combo.

Magnetic synth pickup. Comes with good instructions for installation and all the necessary tools to attach, adjust, and set up properly. As far as the pickup itself, it's use is a no-brainer. Assignable buttons, a synth volume, and a switch for synth only, guitar/synth, and guitar only output makes it stupidly easy to use.

Okay, I'm going to be the lone naysayer here. The sound quality is irrelevant, after all it's really just a midi trigger so the actual sound quality is generated by the sound module/synth. But the tracking bites badly. Missed notes, octave-high chirps, decay problems, and huge steps in sensitivity despite tiny changes in right hand attack all contribute to a usable but very irritating product. For the record so that I'm not immediately dismissed as a dolt, YES the pickup is adjusted correctly (I'm anal about this stuff), and YES I have modified my playing style appropriately when using the pickup. I'm no greenhorn and I know equipment.

Case in point - after trying a number of solutions to the aforementioned problems, I sold the pickup and bought a Brian Moore 81.13 with the built in RMC midi piezo pickup and 13-pin out for direct compatibility. The difference is HUGE - with no adjustments, I experience none of the problems I had with the GK-2A. Tracking is infinitely improved, and false notes, weird decay, and sensitivity problems are a thing of the past. Granted, a $700 Brain Moore is one hell of an expensive synth pickup, but if you want the best performance this is the route you must take. Forget the GK-2A, be it alone or built into a Roland-ready Strat (disappointment there, too). Use a piezo midi pickup if at all possible.

Seems rock sold, so far as I can tell. The mounting ears flex a bit much when using screws, but it's no biggie.

No idea. I would hate to try to get a hold of them. I have a feeling ot wouldn't be a very pleasant experience.

Not impressed. There are much better (albeit much more expensive) choices. Use a piezo-based pickup rather than the magnetic GK-2A for synth and midi if you have the financial means - the GK-2A may cause you a lot more frustration than it's worth, especially at its relatively high price.

I have been using the GK2A synth pickup to drive my GR-1 guitar synth. Installing it was a breeze even if you don't get it exactly like the instructions, it works consistently. The access to all of the killer keyboad sounds is liberating. I use this setup live and it has become an integral part of my sound.

The sound quality is excellent. The tracking of the pick-up can be little off at times if your palying really fast licks and if your measurement is off on installation distance from the strings.

I was very concerned about dependability at first but after having this unit on the road it has never gone down on me yet. That only problems I have really had was using the double sided tape to install the pick-up always comes lose, eventually I just screwed the pick-up to my guitar. End of story. The only other thing was the power supply for the GR-1 synth has gone down a few times and now I carry extras. I am on my third one so far. They are not cheap either for a wall wart.

I play R&B, Jazz, Funk, and Gospel and this unit works well in any situation. I've been playing 40 yrs. If this unit were lost or stolen I would buy another cause I almost can't live without it

Ver easy to use and work pretty well even if installed badly

I have used it with the VG-8 and VG-88 and have had no serious problem with the quality of sound.There is however always that slight difference in feel from playing the guitar directly but then no synth player has ever said their synth felt like playing a steinway!!!

I have used this pickup in various forms for five years now. In use it has proved to be reliable when reproducing my guitar playing. The biggest problem I have with this sort of product is that it is not well designed for live use and eventually at least one string seems to develop a problem. As a live performer this in itself would not be a problem if it were not for the fact that the GK-2a seems to be designed in such a way that the user has no chance of opening up the unit and trying to repair it before having to spend another unreasonable $200 to use his or her already expensive roland product

I live in Ireland and we are the bottom of the list from rolands point of view because we are such a small market.

I play all kinds of music in a professional covers band.

I installed the GK-2A on a Tele which creates a mulitude of additonal hassles, but, that's what I wanted it on so I choose the mess. I needed to extend nearly all of the cable connectors to fit everything under the pickgaurd. IT would be good if Roland would orient the connectors on the PC board flat rather than upright (you would not need to route quite so deep into the guitar). The push buttons could be smaller and the square end-jack would be better if rounded and metal rather than plastic.
The unit plays like a dream. I play through a VG-88 and I litterly sold my Rickenbacker 12 string because this unit sounds more like the Rickenbacker than the real thing. The B-3 pacthes and alternate tunings really make it easy to jump in and out of playing slide in open tunings.

Beauty, eh, can't ask for more

Never had a problem, plug-in and it's there waiting,

I had one of the stick on GK-2A's before, when one the pick-ups failed they were great fixed-it no problems

I like blues and I like Byrds, the GK-2A has turned my Tele into every guitar I could want. I only take one guitar to gigs, no accoustic or 12-string to carry along.

I love the performance, but, A little more engineerign needs to be done on the GK-2A kit.

This is the internal kit version of the Roland GK-2A hex pickup. Instead of sticking it on the outside of your guitar, you have to permanently install it on (and inside) your guitar. The hex pickup itself is the same as with the GK-2A, but the wires exit from the BOTTOM of the pickup, which means that you have to cut a hole in the pickguard and/or top of your guitar for the wire bundle. You then route the wire bundle from the pickup inside the guitar body to the control cavity where it plugs into a small circuit board containing the electronics of the GK-2A.

There are several pre-wired mini-connectors that you have to solder to the synth volumn pot, a selector switch, etc, and then plug the mini-connectors into the little circuit board. You also have to mount a jackplate for the 13-pin connector plug. On my guitar this required using a chisel to make a square hole, about 3/4" x 1", in the side of my guitar where the 1/4" plug jack usually goes.

Once I got all of this stuff mounted, I plugged the little connectors into the circuit board, and I was in business. There's even a wire you can connect to an LED, that will light up when you plug in the 13-pin cable to a synth. It worked the first time for me, so I guess it was pretty easy to install - BUT, I work with electronics for a living. A guitar tech who knows what they're doing shouldn't have any problems, but I wouldn't recommend trying it yourself unless you're really confortable working with tools...

You have to make sure and mount the hex pickup EXACTLY as specified in the instructions. The top of each string pickup has to be 1 mm below the bottom of the string. But when set up properly, I got a good signal that worked great with my Roland VG-8. Sounds great.

You have to be carefun installing it, but it seemed very well made, and the electronics are much better protected than with the regular GK-2A (since all the wires, etc, are hidden inside the guitar).

The instructions were OK I guess - just a few translation problems going from Japanese to English. You can also order a tech manual from Roland for the GK-2A with a little additional information. But, other than that, you're on you own...

I wish Roland would provide a little more information about the instalation process, but the product itself seems very well designed and made.

There's two ways I want to rate this thing. First off, it works great. The features on this little thing make it so you can switch patches right from your guitar (I use it to run a GR-30). Plus the fact that it sends the regular guitar output is perfect.

However-installing it was a bitch for me. The housing for the cables goes on fine, but the little thin pickup gave me all sorts of problems. I was sticking it on a Parker Nitefly. I tried to just use double sided tape, but the pickup would sit high enough that it'd hit the strings. Try as I might have, the ONLY way to make this thing work (unless you like high action) is to screw it down. Which of course, means drilling into your axe. My parker made it okay, but the pickguard saved it. If I was drilling straight into the guitar, that would suck. I'd suggest if they make another model of this, to try to make that pickup a little shorter.

I think this thing is really tough once installed. Obviously it sits right on the guitar, and I've never had any problems with it. It's a lot tougher than it looks, that's for sure! The buttons all seem like they'll last (I toggle between the guitar/synth switch a lot and it's never worn out).

I've never dealt with them on this product, but Roland has been a pain in the ass for my MC-505 Groovebox

I'd buy another one in a heartbeat. Partly because I need it to play the GR-30 and also because I'd have two holes in my Parker if somebody took it! I play a lot of electronic/techno stuff and this thing really makes your guitar look futuristic/turbocharged. The little red light is cool too! Then again, if you're going to stick it on an acoustic, I could see some disadvantages. In any case, it works really well (tracks perfect).