Roland GP-100

When i was first introduced to the GP-100, A friend of mine purchased it and gave it to me to learn how it works because he didn't have a lot of spare time. I was supposed to show him how to use it once I had learned. I had JUST bought a new effects unit about a month before and after trying the GP-100, I sold it and bought a GP-100 for myself. It was very easy to learn and I had no problems with it.

I Love my GP-100

I've had my GP-100 for about 12 years now and it hasn't let me down yet.

My style is mainly classic Rock and this machine delivers everything I could ask for. I've been playing now for about 35 years and this is the most reliable piece of equipment I have every owned, bar none. If it were ever lost I would immediately try to replace it with another one. One of my favorite features is the fact that it's MIDI compliant and I can save all my info to the computer and archive it to disc.

Not so bad the manual is totally useless!! But the sounds of this unit more then make up for it.

Editing patches could not be easy-er! trust me you would have to be a total moron not to be able to get a sound out of this unit.

I dont know the firmware version of this unit but it sounds great.

I have to say I have been a guitar player for over 32 years now. I have been a professional sound engineer for 20+ years and I have been lucky enough to work with some of the best guitar players in the world. I would say this preamp is one of the best sounding units I have ever heard in 20 years of doing live sound I have never come across a better sound then this thing can give you.

I dont use the effects at all I find the reverb weak compared for my TC-GMAJOR. But as a preamp it freaking rocks.. I use the eq and the preamp on this thing and that's all.

The amp I use it with is a 1990 62 Vibroverb reissue amp with G-10 celestions in it.

Can I get the sound of any artist I want NO because there sound is not in some box.. Its in there hands...

Can I get any sound I want? YES 100% YES If you see one of these things for sale BUY IT! I spent $400 That sounds like alot for a unit made in 1995 but Its not about the $$ ITS ABOUT THE SOUND. This thing blows the crap out of anything I have ever used ada forgetabout it.. I am a tube freak and this thing sounds more tube then any tube amp I own.

Like I said I dont use the effects because IMO nothing beats TC-ELECTRONIC G-MAJOR G-FORCE ect For effects if you have a G-MAJOR and want a kick ass PREAMP that you can MIDI up with the g-major this IS IT!

I am also an electronics tech. I opened up this unit its built like a TANK. There should be no issues with reliability with this product.

Never had to use them so I dont know.

Look I play blues and I play Jazz I play rock and I play hard rock. This thing when used with a good tube amp does not take away from your guitar sound at all Its like the TC-Electronic stuff it only enhances it. What more can you ask for in a processor? Its a shame everything Roland has built after the GP-100 sounds like crap. Why cant they build a GP100 with the preamp section and build TC-Quality effects they would have a killer unit. If you can get one of these BUY IT! ITS WORTH EVERY PENNY I paid for it. I am not just talking crap I know gear.

it would take a while to get the tones and volumes etc uniform, but i use only a few patches, and switch everything on and off as i need them, like stomp boxes (control change mode) the best thing really is to study the manual.because i believe the reqd info is there.

i use my main gp100 (i now have 3 !) straight into a stereo channel on the desk, which is a behringer. as i play solo and duo,i use lem dsp 400 powered cabs, a/ only these on stands just behind and to either side of me for solos. and b/ as wedges directly behind us for that band behind us sound on duo,s, with ass 15 inch bass cabs, 500watts a side, with a pair of bose 802,s also 500 watts a side, so thats 2800 watts, we are a classic rock duo. i get fantastic sounds with the lems, and when the frontline is on !! wow !even the marshall stack school have been impressed !!, , we cover ac/dc, gnr, rainbow, satriani, floyd, santana, meatloaf, the eagles, = many many more, and it always delivers, a fantastic sound,i can go from knopfler, to satriani, to schenker, to gilmore, in one patch !!

i have had this for ten years! doing at least a 100 gigs a year !!, and it hasnt missed one gig !!, er,,,,,, yeah i would use it without back up, but as a lover of boss/roland products, i have 3 gp1oo,s, a gx700, a gt6,an me8 which my son has !!, and 3 be5,s the first multi !! with four stomp box fx, and a noise gate !!

my dealer is pmt in southend on sea essex, and last year they got me both input sockets, as although still working, the front socket wouldnt switch to silent when i removed the jack, it took me about 40 mins to replace, and it is now fine.(main gp100. the other two i have only just purchased for #225, and this recent purchase was #160 for gp100 in 2u rack, and an fc200 !!both on e bay !!

i play anything from barry manilow !! to satriani !!, purple floyd,dr feelgood, clapton ,hendrix, jeff beck,feeder, bowling for soup,wheatus.van morrison fleetwood mac, van halen, bb king.i have been playing for 34 years, i have an ibanez jem 7vwh, and a washburn rs8v, and also a washburn acoustic, and an ibanez electro, fostex mr8,alesis sr16, squire jazz bass, loadsa boss n roland multi,fx,s, an 800watt pa.i would now only use a gp100, as 16 realtime parameters to control, hasnt been equalled, (even new gtpro)and the sound is warmer than all the zooms,digitechs,line 6,s etc, the only thing it lacks, is the silly stuff the gt6 has like autoriff !! but i wouldnt use it !!,the gp100 has plenty of headroom, so you could never outgrow it !! it was far advanced to everything else even in the mid nineties when i bought it which was why i bought it,,, for keeps, it will see me out !!

The only reason i gave it a 7 not a 10 was because i absolutly had to read the manual to work out how to connect it to my PC via midi - its easy once you know how. Everything els you can fool around with and even if you have overloaded some of the effects - you can get away with it :)

The quality of the sound of this unit and the range of uses makes it an IDEAL addition to any musician or recording setup

If you know what your doing - the GP 100 will help you do it better

Downloadable patches have ceased - but you can get the manual in pdf format from rolandus.com - any roland dealer can fix it - ive never had a problem though. The rating of 5 is because there is huge potential for an online community of users swapping patches but it jet never got started

I bought it for $800 Australian - with a midi foot pedal FC200 - i have never bought something for that cheap that is SOO DAMN GOOD. I have never had an issue with my GP100 its still going strong post 2006 I love it. I may add or take away accessories but my GP100 will be the backbone of my sound untill i die - im even thinking of buying another one just incase my current one packs it in. The day i cant use my GP100 anymore will be an extremely sad day for me

I got used to it pretty soon, maybe due to i had used Boss pedals previously. I started with tweaking parameters of chosen one effect in chain to hear how it works.On one hand it's a good idea to work out an effect this way.On another overall desired effect i would call a "Reverb" maybe gotten by means of combination of Chorus/Harmonist/Reverb in chain.

The GP completed my current setup.The only guitar i use is Ibanez S series 540 LTD. I've removed factory bridge humbucker and middle single coil pickups for DiMarzio Dual Sound and Jackson J-100 (moved from vintage Stratocaster). I still sometimes turn on Boss compressor/sustainer,then it comes to Jim Dunlop original Cry baby,then it goes to Mesa/Boogie TriAxis tube preamp from its line outputs it goes into GP-100 and then to Return of Mesa/Boogie Single Rectifier Rectoverb 50 combo loaded with 12"x1 celestion special 90W. I guess GP-100 is good with particular effects like tremolo, reverb, chorus and is not brilliant with some others.So the overall sound quality of my setup has a lot to do with tonal opportunities of guitar,pre&power amps clearity,cables.The main tone link i reckon is guitar/amp.In my set up effects of GP-100 are something i can't refuse but they are not the core of sound.Of course it's a fun to use GP-100's COSM digital preamps upon TriAxis tube basis.I find that most interesting if talking about using digital distortion models at all:)I never used any other guitar processor before but heard lot of complain regarding their tone destroying nature.I could guess GP100 is somewhere in between.But i think it's not that bad if to get just a few effects out of it and surely not to use it as the only unit.Beside that i've found to rate a device of such sophisticated level it takes some skills and time from user.I'm spending hours on tweaking and get closer to what i really want. If u're not in it it's better to stay back and keep on using stompboxes.

I think i can depend on it as it is metal coated box called Roland:) One rotating knob fakes from time to time as tweaking the parameters but this unit is 7 or 8 years wouldn't say it's something wrong with my GP.

Roland is well known for their unfriendly silent way of response to their customers.I have some other Roland devices:
synth/sequencer,virtual studio and had experince of getting help
from them,it's all no good.

I play in 3 piece band of 2 guitar players,one bass player,drums programs, keyboards progrms,additional playbacks from portable
digital studio.Our mixture has got something common with pop/rock/electronica/trip hop.I used Boss stompboxes with Mesa/Boogie Rectoverb 50.Boogie blew my mind with its tonal possibilities that made me a boogie devotional who reaches for one more Mesa gear.And it was TriAxis to control which on stage i needed midi controller that led me to one more remote controlled rack,GP-100.I decided to use tube preamp and FX processor with midi controller instead 4 stompboxes. I'm 3 months deep in it and can say it's rather difficult to adopt to new terms.I guess the thing is to develop own musical ideas with gear one owns at the moment.And that is the way i use my setup now.

I came straight from a zoom 505 to this, didnt take me long to work out what did what, the only annoying thing is if your using the rotary knobs instead of a footswitch to select patches it takes ages.

im using a strat through a peavey transtube amp, and the range of sounds i can get out of this is amazing, and not cheap digital sounding either its really close to the actual gear that it emulates, i find thta with a bit of mucking around i can get the sounds of my fav artists no probs

havent had any problems yet, but since its full of circut boards I wouldnt go tossing it out of windows

havent had any problems

I play mainly blues and rock, been playing about two years this is probably too advanced for me but i wanted a unit that i could grow into and this fits that category perfectly, i love the fact that the sound quality is great, theres plenty of outputs and i can tweak the sound to my hearts content, the thing i hate about it the most is that I dont have two, its great for making music, and awesome for recording with, i use it with a roland fc 200 footswitch that works through midi, i wouldnt reccomend it for live use without some kind of floor controller

I cam from a decidedly simple setup : guitar, wah, effects, amp, which to us guitar players is a no brainer, and had no problem adapting to the elaborate possibilities of this preamp. The factory presets were quite helpful in starting me on a quest for the right sound. The manual gets you programming in no time. Read it for ten minutes, then got to tweaking for the rest of the day, and what a great time I had. For those not willing to open up an edit page, there are always the knobs to fiddle around with. But play around with this box for a week, and I bet it'll have you doing programming stuff you never thought you'd do. The only thing I found to be a bit dissappointing, was that there were five preamp/effect algorythms, instead of one which incorporated all the aspects. That would certainly have been easier.

I bought it in 1995, and have been using it ever since. Most of that time, I played it through a '73 Fender Dual Showman with its original 2x15" JBL powered cabinet, which is a beast in its own right, not to mention intimidating to any guitar player you play with, just from the sheer size of it. Even at a preamp setting of '2' with the power amp cranked (Fender Heaven!), I got yelled at to turn the thing down - which i did with the master of the GP, only to have the sound guy ask me to turn it back up again because he got no signal. Now put that powerhouse to work with the digital powerhouse, which houses some nice amp models and a slew of excellent to very useful effects. The amp models are not 100% accurate, but close enough. And the good thing is : you can always get closer. With a very musical parametric equaliser, you can shape the amp tone even further. Not only that, you can really clone certain amp sounds you like from other guitar players down to the smallest detail, if you take the time. Example : I'm a big Fields of the Nephilim fan, and I especially liked their live guitar sound, which I can only describe as molten lava pouring from a crater. Thing is, one of the two guitar players uses a Gretsch Chet Atkins, and the semi acoustic body adds to the overall sound. I was able to recreate that sound, using one of the modeled amps in Dual mode, with a chorus setting and some delay and reverb. A/B'ed it with a track of the live CD, and bingo! I was also able to model their distinctive clean sound and some other sounds they use. In my opinion, it doesn't matter which amps are modeled; there's enough there to give you the sound you are looking for... Twice. A few small hitches though : you need to know some music theory to program the pitch shifter (even with the provided diagram in the manual), even though it'll help you do squeals and scratching like Tom Morello in no time (provided, you're using a MIDI controller pedal or the FC-200 switchboard); in modulation, the tremolo isn't quite flexible enough. It uses absolute tempo, so no going inbetween the measurements. So if you're playing in a band with a drummer, as most of us do, you can't adjust the tempo to the tempo of the band. That's a shame. I might have to fork out a few bucks for a stomp box, which I think could have been avoided. The delays have always been a Roland strong point, and adding a filter to it is a good idea. It makes the delay sound sound warmer. Unfortunately, it doesn't have both high and low pass filters, which would have been great to emulate - and surpass - their old DM-2 analog delay stomp box, with its sweeping feedback, for all those dub lovers' and space freaks' convenience. Am I asking too much? Well, I'm a Tone Dog, always looking to go where anyone can go and beyond, providing I have the tools. Lastly, the rise time of the slow gear (you know, the violin- like effect you usually get by turning your guitar's volume know or rocking the volume pedal) is a bit off sometimes. Especially at quick picking, you can hear the attack on the strings. Not quite the intention of said effect, is it? Still, this baby is a bomb! Use it to record directly, and by ading a little reverb in the mix, most ppl won't even know there wasn't an amp involved (except for the ones who make a living out of tone)!

This preamp has been on tour through Europe, seen a lot of action on standalone gigs, been through nearly frozen or nearly frying temperatures in draughty rehearsal spaces, doubles as a tuning rack when I'm roadieing for other bands, has fallen on many occasions - one time so much that the parameter knob was pushed back, was shorted out during a repair... and it STILL works! How much more reliable can a preamp get? I can always depend on the GP-100 to come through. I just wished Roland would have used infinite style potmeters instead of the ones with the small ribbons. They tend to wear out much faster, and if you're trying to dial to a certain number while editing, it goes back and forth, which can become quite stressing. Especially when you have a 'tone dial day' each year, in which I upgrade my sounds. Never satisfied, but the GP-100 always delivers (wish I had more presets though, as 200 is not enough ;-))

Never had to use it, but I did on other Roland gear, and they've always been quite helpful.

In my 20- odd year career, I've played and play everything : from funk and disco to blues, punk, hardrock, metal, gothic, new wave, dreampop, psychedelic and even jazzy stuff. The GP-100 makes it all happen. I'm currently in the process of finding and buying another one (for the right price, of course), which could end up as a backup, but most likely will be used to double my current sound capabilities and create some neat new tricks. If it gets stolen or damaged beyond repair, I might consider buying a Line 6 Vetta, but I would certainly miss my trusty GP-100

The manual will get you started, but this is not a simple unit to program. Part of the issue is that it is very flexible and has more options than many of today's products. There is plenty of user memory (in 7 years, I've used up a little over 100 of the 200 available). It plays well with other devices and computers, so patch archival and control from non-roland footpedals works flawlessly.

The models are supurb, even by today's standards. I have several of the amps that are modeled (Vox, Fender, Marshall) and the models are excellent. Of particular note is the response of the models when on the edge of clipping. Roland's models respond like the real deal. Until the Vetta, Line 6's did not. Is the model perfect? No. Is it close enough? Yep. Even most musicians would not be able to tell the difference between a GP100 and the real hardware (until it comes time to haul the gear...). Of particular note is the Fender emulation. Just like your favorite blackface, turn down bass, mid, and treble to 0 and it kills all output - just like the real thing. Turn the gain up to "high" and it responds just like the Fender I modded back in the 70's that had an added gain stage (who needs tremolo anyway?). It's hard to believe these models are 8 years old and are still more flexible and better sounding than what's on the market today. Two amps at once? Been there, done that. The GP-100 has it and you can use a footpedal to crossfade between them.
By the way, I also have a Boss GX-700 and the models in it are not nearly as good as the GP-100. Don't know about any of the other Boss COSM stuff, but be warned.
The effects are solid. Most are emulations of various Boss pedals. Digitech and Lexicon have more "sizzle" in the stereo imaging, but these get the job done and are free of annoyances.
I use the GP-100 with a split feed. Part of the signal is direct to the house, and part is fed to a pair of full range monitors. The idea is that all tonal coloration is done by the GP-100.
The only dings I give it are: no 2x10 and 4x10 speaker models and no spring reverb models.
Real time control facilities are supurb. Up to 16 parameters can be controlled in real time. As an example, you can assign a continious controller to increase the preamp volume from "3" to "10", drop the master volume to compensate, and boost the treble while cutting the mid - and you still have 12 parameters left!

I have 3 GP-100s now. One lives at home, one at the rehersal facility, and one at church. They all get used at least every other week. The oldest was purchased new 7 years ago. The other two I have picked up used. I've replaced the battery back up in one. The effects loop jacks in one of the units were flakey and cleaning didn't help. I finally plugged in some jumper cables and left them in and that cleared up the problems. I've managed to get the unit in a wierd state a few times where it stopped responding to some (but not all) midi from the footpedal. Cycling the power restored it to its senses the few times it has happened.

Never dealt with them since the units never needed service or upgrades.

I'm a weekend warrior and have been playing for over 40 years. I have 20 guitars and half a dozen amps. The GP-100 is what I use for everything except final recordings. The models are as good as anything available today. One could wish for a few more models (particularly speakers), but what is there is top notch. The effects are good but not stellar. It is more flexible than any other rack modeling solution out there. Someday somebody will surpass it, but it hasn't happended yet.

The GP100 is very simple to use, but you have to study with it and you must know something about effects and effects chains. I first read the manual for about 3, 4 times and after a few days i knew everything about the unit. The manual is quit simple to read and is a must have. The internet is also very helpfull. You can also download any type of sound you want.

The major advantage of this unit are the effects loops and of course the external swithes. I used both effects loops for two external pre-amps. Within the programm i was able to switch between pre-amp A and B, both pre-amps simultaneous or none. Sometimes i only used the pre-amp of the GP100. The external switches are used for switching channels of the external pre-amps. A few months ago i bought a Digitech 2120. Sorry guys, but the Digitech is much, much better in every way, exept for the wah. So I don't need the GP anymore.

firmware is 2.10.

I've had this unit for about two years now and used several different setups and effects units: Roland GP8, GP16, Boss GX700. I always used a valve amp with it. I think the GP only shines with valve amps. The speaker simulator is bad, dreadfull.
My previous setup was: Handcrafted fender model with magahony body, Peavey 5150 combo 212 (o yes, with the GP100, clean and crisp is not a problem now), Hughes & Kettner Access programmable pre-amp (also very good, reliable and flexible unit).
The GP100 is a good and very flexible effects units, but it's NOT the best! I said it before, the digitech has much better effects, and a much better pre-amp. If you have to choose, choose both or buy the Digitech.
My setup at this moment: same guitar of course!, Digitech 2120, Hughes & Kettner VS250 stereo valve amp, home made 2x12 cabinet loaded with Celestion Vintage 30's.

This is the most reliable unit ever made!! You don't need any backup. With the Digitech, I need to use the GP100 as a backup.

Never dealt with them, but i know they are very helpfull.

I play rock, heavy rock and some metal. I use all kind of sounds, also clean and crisp sounds. It did not match 100%, because of the bad pre-amp section. I needed to change my setup. Now i'm very happy with my new and simplified set. But i will keep the GP100, just for the fun.

Considering all of its capabilities and features I think its VERY user friendly. May be a little intimidating at first but once you get around on it its quite easy to configure and very conveniently designed in regards to configuring.

EXCELLENT! Probably the BEST digital non-tube preamp I have ever heard and the FX, all though not entirely fond of all of them (mainly the Harmonizer), still have superb quality.

Didnt own it very long because I wanted an analog preamp but it was built solid and considering these things came out in approximately 1995 and are discontinued and still being bought and sold without any problems (that I have heard of anyway), I would say that they're built quite well.

Never called them but I don't believe there is any more support from Roland on this product.

I must give this beautiful piece of gear a 10. It was one of my best experiences in musical gear. Unfortunately I just bought a Marshall TSL100 amp which didn?t arrive until after the GP?100 but when plugging into the Marshall I couldn?t get quite the same warmth as I did with the analog preamp (Roland GP-8) so I really didn?t need this extra unit but when it first arrived, I plugged it straight into a solid state amp (FX-in - straight to the power amp section) and that amp NEVER sounded so good! The thing utterly screamed with high gains I had only dreamed of getting. Wish I would have discovered it before I dropped a 1k on an amp but what can I say, I can?t complain about the TSL100 either. I thought about just keeping it for the FX but I couldn?t let that beautiful preamp just sit there and waste away so I sold it hoping it would be utilized to its fullest abilities like it should be.