Roland GP-100

You'll need to spend some dedicated time with the unit to get the hang of it. Took me about a week or so to fully understand what was going on. Once you get to that point it will become second nature.

I've had the unit for a couple years now and felt I'm at the point where I can provide some useful feedback. Over that time I've acquired or at least tried many different units including: ADA MP-1, Lexicon MPX-1, Lexicon MPX100, TC Electronic G-Force, H&K Access, SansAmp PSA-1, Digitech 2112, plus a whole host of other processing units too numerous to mention. IMHO, I'd have to say the GP-100 has to be without a doubt the most versatile and well engineered unit of anything I've tried. The GP-100 has five different setup 'types'. The types are Basic, Vintage, Delay, Harmony, and Dual. Within these 'types' the effects can be routed in any series order. Some effects available are: Compressor, Limiter, Slow Gear, Intelligent Pitch Shift, Various amp model preamps, Various speaker simulations, Wah, Auto-Wah, Delay, 4-tap delay, Noise gate, Reverb, Phaser, Flanger, and maybe a few others. All the effects are very useful with a great deal of adjustments available for tweaking. The preamps are good-- not great. My H&K Access is great, but rather limited when compared to the GP-100. I get some weird high frequency aliasing artifacts from the GP when using some of the high gain settings. It's a reasonably quiet unit with a very good noise gate. The gate doesn't seem to cut the sound out like many others I've heard. All in all I can get to within 90% of just about any convincing sound I'm looking for (Van Halen, Eric Johnson, Satriani, Petrucci) distortion-wise with enough tweaking. The intelligent pitch shifter is so-so, but useable for short end-of-the-solo runs. Don't expect to use it for the main part of a song like an Iron Maiden tune. The inverted harmonizer mode gives some neat freaky results. I really like the chorus. Sounds like the classic Boss chorus sound-- like Neil Schon. The reverb could stand to be a little better. It's not quite as warm as my MPX-1... but then again, neither is my G-Force. The delay accepts a tap-tempo, but nothing else does. It'd be nice if the tempo could be linked to some other effects like auto-wah. The area where this unit really stand out is with MIDI implementation and hookup flexibility. There are TWO Send/Return loops that allow for external effects to be used anywhere in the signal path. These S/R's can be parallel, Series, Stereo, one or the other, or not used at all. Most units either restrict the position of the S/R loop or don't even have one at all (G-Force)! The only thing that would make this better is if they could be separated. The MIDI implementation is extremely well thought out. Each patch allows for *independent* controls of up to 16 modifiers (8 Continuous, 8 Boolean)!!... You can set it up so that one pedal controls many different parameters. A favorite trick of mine is to increase the output volume while decreasing the preamp input-- this cleans up the sound, but keeps the volume level the same.

I haven't had any problems in the years I've had it... I don't have a backup either.

I've contacted Roland for a software upgrade. They were very pleasant and helpful. Their web-site on the other hand needs work. I went there to get a manual for the accompanying foot controller (FC-200) and all I could find was a Spanish version. Not that there's anything wrong with that-- I just don't speak Spanish.

I play a variety of music from Billy Joel to Malmsteen. The GP-100 can do it all if you're willing to put the time into it. I've been at it for 20 years now and have yet to find another unit as versatile. With all the mixing and matching I've done I always see the GP-100 being part of my main rig. I can't even begin to think of parting with the unit. I love the MIDI implementation and flexability. I don't hate the preamps, but I wish they were a bit better. Comparing it to other top notch processors, this unit holds its own. I've seen them going used for about $300 to $350 and it is certainly worth it. You'll get the most bang for the buck from one of these units. It won't be too 'digital' or harsh sounding (unless you want that) like a Digitech-- and it won't be a one-trick-pony like an PSA-1 (Though the PSA-1 has better preamp sounds). I wish Roland would come out with an upgrade to this fine processor. They have come out with a new amp (VG-7), but after reading the manual it's not as flexible as this unit. I guess they put all their efforts into the VG-88 type products these days. I give it a 9 because it's an incredible value these days.

Well, everyone can say it was easy after a month of sleepless nights. I can say for now that it is pretty easy to edit or make the sounds I want. However, folks, I spent some serious hours and hours to figure it out. Especially, if this is your first preamp + FX unit, be ready for red eyes for several weeks.

I agree that it's not a bad unit. But, please note that GP-100 does not include a tube. If you want a real distortion sound, you have to harass a real tube. I thought GP-100 has a killer distortion sound until I got Rocktron Voodu Valve Online from Ebay. I learned my lesson. If you don't know what the killer sound actually sounds like, don't use the term "killer". GP-100 is basically a DSP (digital Signal Processing) board, which means it's a computer system with a CPU (so called DSP chips). It calcualte the analog signal from your guitar and generate a digital sound based on the parameters selected by you. So, if you want a real killer sound, please go get something comes with a tube. For other purposes, I think this unit is ok.

I am sure that it's going to last longer than me.

Since it's gonna last longer than me, you don't need a customer support. It's from Roland, and they are from Osaka, Japan, not from Detroit, Michigan. Enough said.

It does many things, but most of what it can do are not the best.
If you want to have a unit, which is capable of doing many things, maybe you will be happy with it. If you need only few sounds but the very best of them, this is NOT YOUR UNIT. Especially, if you want to the "killer" distortion sound, this is absoultely not your baby. Also, all sounds are digitally generated, and therefore you get tired of it very quickly. But I will give it 8 because it's ok.

This was my first preamp + effects unit. So, for the first few days, I felt miserable to understand how to control this unit. However, after a month of tweaking, I got pretty comportable with this unit. Folks, remember this! They are not trying to make it difficult. However, it always takes some time to get used to it. So don't make a quick decision based on few hours of tweaking.

I think it sounds ok. However, it doesn't contain a tube. All the sounds are digitally generated. I thought the distortion sound was very impressive with speaker simulation until I bought Rocktron Voodu. I found that there is a huge difference between simulating tube amplifer and actually harrassing a tube in terms of distorted sound making. So, if you want a brutal metal sound or even just a warm balanced distortion sound, and if you are very serious about getting those type of sounds, please find something else containing a tube. For example, since I found "the" distortion sound from my Voodu, I really couldn't stand GP-100's distortion sound. It really doesn't mean that the sound is terrible.

Probably, it will survive longer than me with no malfunction.

I don't know

Nice equipment with a lot of functions. I have also a foot controller, with which I can edit the patches without bending toward GP-100 (It makes your life a lot easier). If you are one of those "kill'em all" type of people, probably you will like it. However, somewhere in your mind, if you want to have the "kill'em all" spirit and sometimes you have to expose that spirit, you may feel that GP-100 is not "man enough". So, if you want to get your balls back time to time and you think your balls is bigger than others, please just go for a analog pedal with marshall.

Not that hard at all... I've owned a fair bit of gear in my day though. You Have lots of options to get you to your desired sound. Editing is a bit tricky but well worth learning, you won't be disappionted. The manual is essential to find your way around. and to learn about special functions such as arranging the order of effects which is really cool. I haven't learned everything yet this unit has soo many things it can do in the midi relm too

As far as sound it is pretty impressive I presently use the fender clean sound with a little bit of grainyness you can vary the dynamics a fair bit by how hard or soft you pick. I run my GP-100 through a mos valve power amp (Tube Works) and a home made 2-12 cabnet (I run in stereo) Celestian speakers I also have the foot controller A must have to get the most out of this unit The waah is very nice to get those Hendrix and Clapton riffs. Also I was Impressed with the over drive you can get very very close to a tube sound especially with the power amp I use. One thing is you need to pay attention to the gain structure so you don't get digital distortion in the signal chain..
as far as effects what can i say they are great! I tend to use them as enhancements not drown out the nice tone.... No box does it all but this comes in with a lot of very useful effects especially live use.

I've had my unit on the road and not a tiny bit of trouble. The type of gig I had We played a wide range of music and with the controller i can have instant sounds from squeaky clean to raunchy. And control over volume on stage....

Havent had the need to.... shrugs shoulders....although Ive dealt with roland in the past withanother product and they were very good...

Overall I recomend this unit to those who want to get a very good sound and a great palate of effects you can't go wrong Ive used it to direct record and it sounds great..!!!no fussing with mic positions.I play rock fusion country rock balads I've had many complements on my sound from other players. the only down side is that there is soo much to tweak but if you're a tweak head you'll be in heaven...I am very happy with my gp- 100 only one thing to tweak...

Just a short note, the GP-100 is a wonderful box, but please folks, do a hardcore comparo in a local store trying out the Digitech 2120, 2112, 2101, and ValveFX before you go ahead and buy the GP-100.

I've spent countless hours with ALL of these units; I now have owned the 2112 for 2 years and nothing is as good. But I do also now own a GX-700 and Roland GP-100, because I got them used and cheap, and they are fun and good, but do not sound as close to a tube amp as the 2112 does.

Please read the 2112 reviews; I'm serious, I simply want buyers to be informed as possible before buying.

Roland is wonderful! one of the industry's BEST on customer help.
Like Nigel Tufnel in Spinal Tap...this category should go to ELEVEN!

I love my GP-100 for direct recording(when i cant bring my matchless).
Here is a favorite patch of mine........"Gretsch Echo"
Pre-sp-ns-fv-dd-rv (the effects chain)
Preamp: Type= OD1, vol=50, bass=50, mid=50, treb=50, pres=0, master=80-88(depending on the guitar), gain=middle
spkr sim: MS stack I, mic setting=3, mic level=100, direct lv=0
Noise suppressor: Thres.=40, rel=50, Env Input guitar
Delay: Normal mode, (to your taste)
reverb: Plate, time=3.0, Lpf=5.00 Khz, Direct lv=100, Effect lv=20
This patch sounds really good with a strat in the bridge position; also, with any Gretsch (thus, the name)
This patch was tweaked in the context of recording. It will sound different in headphones. I have found that GP-100 patches sound gainier when listenes w/headphones. In general, do not tweak patches with headphones, even good studio phones.........they will deceive you as far as gain, frequency response
Enjoy!

This thing is not plug and play! I have used primarily Mesa stuff for the last 15 years so I'm used to having to do a fair amount of tweaking to get at a tone. But if you try this thing out in a store without doing some serious editing, you will not be happy.
The following really applies to all programmable gear. Be sure to check the global functions before you do a bunch of tweaking, and don't just go by the recommended settings when tweaking, for god's sake use your ears. I have found it very useful to make radical adjustments to every parameter when learning a new piece of gear, making a note of the way it impacts the overall sound as well as other parameters and then moving on. This makes finding certain tones pretty easy later. Don't make a bunch of subtle adjustments at first or you will never be able to figure out which parameter was responsible for which part of the tone, and you will remain frustrated when trying to pin down a sound in your head because you aren't really sure where to start. This is really important with boogie gear as well.

I am running the GP-100 with a sansamp in the first effect loop and a boogie pre amp in the second loop. The control outs of the GP channel switch the boogie and also switch the EQ on the boogie. This is not to replace the distortion on the GP, but only to augment it with some truly different sounds.
Look, unless you are going to be able to rewire and change components within a piece of gear, no unit no matter how expensive, is going to truly give you an infinite pallete of tones. In other words, if you are looking for a device which can do it all in a single box, I can save you a lot of looking: no such unit exists. I carry two large racks of gear and several old amps to a typical session, and I still run out of options on some dates.
Anyway the GP is then fed into a boogie power amp which drives two fender bandmaster cabs which are loaded with one EVM 12L and a celestion greenback 12 each. I also take a red box of each side of the boogie. In addition one side of the boogie is running class A with el34s and the other run A/B with 6l6s. This gives the engineer a choice of two different speakers and a separate direct feed for each channel.
Within my setup, I really love the GP. If I was forced to use the GP alone, however, I would feel it was pretty much limited to 1 low gain matchless, 1 mid gain boogie and several fender-type clean and blues gain emulations. It does do these amps justice however. I have used the GP on some small sessions through a red box and into a board with very good results. These were demo sessions, but they were well paid demo sessions with high expectations. I would not have carried such a small rig, if I wasn't confident in the GP. If you are a metal head, however, look elsewhere. The high gain sounds don't have the sputter and peel of a good marshall pre or even a sansamp. However, you can nail a satch or vai "polite" high gain sound with a lot of tweaking.

The unit has been very reliable. I have used one in a small rack for a number of casual gigs. (Although I still run a sansamp in the effect loop for these jobs.) It is not built to the same level of fault tolerance as boogie and old fender stuff and it is digital so carry a sysex file with a small midi file player as a backup to any important gig.

I've never dealt with roland. I would expect them to be fairly un-helpful as are most Japanese companies which don't actively do manufacturing or R&D in this country.

I'm a whore who plays whatever style a client wants to hear. My roots are jazz, blues with a little rock (Jeff Beck, Blackmore) thrown in because - hey - I grew up in the late 1970s. I own too much equipment with an emphasis on tube amps. I really like the GP a lot. It's biggest downfall is that it tries to do to much. I bought it for the effects, two of the preamps, and the flexible loop structure alone. I will probably buy another one for a duplicate rack I'm building for doing sessions on the same day in two different studios. The GP integrates very well with other equipment which is important when you are trying to cover a lot of bases. I really wouldn't add anything other than one more effects loop and maybe a couple of extra control outs. It would be nice to have a seperate comp and a limiter available in the same alg. so that you could insert a limiiter after the pre in a chain to tame some of the rude transients. This would go a long way in helping some of the higer gain patches without resorting to an expensive tube power amp.

Quite easy to use thanks to the amp-like knobs on the front. Works great with a midi foot controller. ALL settings can be controlled! This makes it great live.

I use it with a solid state marshall VS100H head and a Marshall 1960/a 4x12" cab. It sounds quite good after a lot of tweaking. I believe it would sound much better with a tube amp. After all it sounds very well especially since it's a non-tube pre-amp. Sounds like a dream with headphones. Hasn't got that last tube edge though. The clean sounds are absolutely fabulous. Most of the effects are too especially the reverb. The only thing I really miss is a decent compressor. The compressor in the GP-100 is just too darn noisy and it has not enough settings to make it work like it should. Otherwise the GP-100 is extremely quiet.

I've had it for a year and a half and so far I haven't had any problems at all.

Haven't had any contact with customer support.

I play progressive rock and this may not be the right choice for that. Some Mesa/Boogie or Marshall tube amp probably is better suitable for that genre. As a clean preamp it's though very good. It's definitely worth the money just to buy it for the non and semi distorted sounds. It has a very warm and quiet sound with those settings.

In general, I endorse the comments in the other reviews. I do think that they could have redesigned the user interface and improved it, so that takes 2 points off the score. The manual is barely adequate and is ony a reference manual, not a user's guide. Don't expect it to tell you how to use the Geep in recording, for example.

It's the quietest piece of gear I've ever owned. As far as sounds go, it's the best sounding box I've ever owned or tested.
However - I am writing this review to inform prospective buyers and those who own them about gain staging and what it means to the Geep live and in the studio. In my case, I use it for recording directly into a Mackie 1202.
When I first used it I was playing through the Geep into the Mackie, then taking a channel insert signal from the Mackie to my recording setup. The guitar sounded great in the phones, but on playback I heard all sorts of digital noise.
Other uses have reported that their patches sound great through various cabs, but distort through 'phones. In this case, the speaker response is scrubbing off the scratchy digital clicks and pops, but they are painfully obvious when heard through a set of 'phones.
The problem seems to be getting the gain staging sorted out, and this is different for each patch. For example, the SLDN LEAD patch has at least four simple gain stages: the preamp control on the front panel, the master control on the front panel, the preamp setting stored in memory, and the output level (also stored in memory). In the case of the preamp setting, you have LOW-MEDIUM-HIGH. The output level is switchable between +4db and -10db at the rear jacks.
On top of this, you can also set the gain for individual effects by observing the metering function on the front panel and adjusting the gain.
In my case, I was getting distortion in the patch itself, not in the input to the mixer or to my AudioMedia III card. I could get rid of the clicks by setting the preamp mode from MIDDLE to LOW, but this changes the character of the sound. A little experimentation showed that with the preamp model on MIDDLE and the output on -10db instead of +4db, I could play with the master and preamp controls on the front to get a decent level while preserving the characteristic sound of the patch. It takes some doing and patience. And the manual never talks about this at all.

It looks like an M1 tank.

N/A

I can't imagine a better buy, even at a high price like this. I'm stunned by how quiet it is - quieter than my hard disk recorder and the Mackie! The versatility is stunning; with the Dan Torres varitone on my SG '62 reissue, and the settings on the Geep, I can get everything from '60s psychrock to Robin Trower, Hendrix, Cream, Eric Johnson, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Randy Rhoads, Keith Richard, you name it - Strat, Telecaster, Les Paul, SG - it does it all.
I'm taking one point off for the lukewarm user interface and the undocumented gain staging issues, but once you know how to get around these problems, you're in tone heaven. Highly recommended.
You may hear of the Boss GX-700. This is a similar box, with a different user interface and FX setups. It's available (9/18/98) for $329, but check to see that it's a late model. According to some sources, the early models had severe problems with the reverb. But if it's a new one, you can get just about the same setup as the Geep for about $330.

Well, to get a good sound out of it, you have to plug it in and turn it on. That's about it. Editing patches isn't tough, either. In fact, it's amazingly simple if you know what to do. However, the manual is 83 pages and is about as useful as a printer without paper. If you have no idea what "parameter" or "algorithm" is, you're going to have work a little. The product itself is easy to use, but the manual isn't helpful.

Mainly, I use this processor in the effects loop of my Peavey Bandit 112. It can be placed between guitar and amp though, too. Usually, it isn't too noisy, but the compressor's a little useless. Some effects, such as the chorus, delay, and amp emulation, are flawless, but the phaser and flanger are just decent. I love the harmonizer (4 octave range, intelligent pitch shifting, delayed pitch shift, the works), but the tone sometimes gets muddy when it is used. If you know your way around effects processors, you can get some excellent sounds. I've got Eric Johnson, Steve Vai, and Joe Satriani presets that are just perfect. Sometimes, you lose presence, though, so I suppose the sound quality could be improved a little.

The GP-100 is fairly reliable, I suppose. In the year I've owned it, I've never really had a problem. It looks tough, too. The worst feature is the preset knob. Sometimes, when I turn it forward, it skips a preset or goes backward instead. For this reason, I might not use it at a gig. (Imagine your about to hit a killer shred solo. You turn the knob forward to the preset entitled "killershredsolo," but instead, you get a twangy clean tone called "quietfolksong". Ouch!) This problem may be attributed to the fact that I acquired this processor used.

I've never called Roland, so I really don't know. I don't think an upgrade exists, either.

Overall, I think the processor can be used with many styles of music. This processor certainly gets a good sound. If it was stolen, I'd actually look for a higher-end processor like an Eventide. This processor id pretty good, though.