Roland GP-100

I've just tried a geepee at the shop, so here's my impression: I was looking for a versatile preamp with DSP-effects. I want to be able to get Mark Knopfler's sound just as easy as EVH or Slash, you name it, I need to sound like it. I had read the (positive) comments about the GP-100 on this site, so I had to give it a try. The ease of use is superb. Many other manufacturers should take a close look at the GP on this topic : just turn a knob and the display automatically jumps to the relevant parameter. Great.

OK. I've tried the geepee with a Mesa Boogie fifty-fifty (stereo tube poweramp) with celestion 1x12" cabinets. I was very much impressed by the clean and crunchy sounds, they're all in there (even the tube-ones, mind you). The quality of the effects is awesome, I'd almost buy it just for this. However, I was also trying a Peavey Tube Fex (OK, this baby has two 12AX7 tubes and it's some us$300 more expensive) and I noticed that the Roland was somewhat muddy in the lows at high gain situations (in fact I wanted more low as well, it lacked body). Nothing the EQ could cure and the Peavey really also rocks at high gain. Still, overall, you have to give the GP-100 credit on it's sound. The COSM technique is quite impressive and I wouldn't be surprised if this evaluates into something that will beat tube preamps in the near future.

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I think the GP-100 offers a lot of value for it's price. The effects are of great quality, it's easy to use and it will get you almost any clean and crunchy sound. At high gain situations, the sound gets a little thin and when you try to add low it will get a bit muddy (at least in the rig I tried it with). Too bad 'cos now I'll have to spend $300 more for the Peavey Tube Fex.

Could have used a few more navigational buttons (ala Digitech). But otherwise adequate.

Sparkling sound. Actually floored me when I first plugged in. The reverse pitch shifts are fun to play with. And the phaser is exceptional. Distortion, in my opinion, was very convincing.

Only had it for three weeks. So far, no problems.

The best preamp I have heard, bar none.

This thing is quite easy to dial in the sound you're looking for once you get used to the effects. The manual is par for the course for Roland -> BAD. The effects are explained very poorly. Fortunately though, most of the effects can be tweaked without knowing what you're doing and you can still get interesting and musical results. The one part of the user interface on this machine that really makes it shine is the controls for the preamp section. There are knobs on the front for volume (gain), bass, middle, treble, presense, and master volume! Furthermore, it has 4 "mode settings" which is basically like having a 4 channel preamp, knobs and all. It might sound confusing, but the way the "mode settings" work is this: If you make a change on a patch which uses one of the 4 mode settings (via the knobs), it affects every patch which uses that mode setting! The advantage of that is this: Say you want to have a clean sound and a dirty sound, and you want the dirty to be just a little bit louder than the dirty one. You let the clean be mode setting # 1 and the dirty be mode setting # 2. Then, when you go to play live and you realise that the volumes are slightly off, you just switch to any patch that uses mode setting # 1, change the volume with the knob on the front, and then go to any patch that uses mode setting # 2, and change the volume on the front with the knob. Now, all patches which use either mode setting # 1 or #2 will have the correct volumes! Also, you NEVER had to press a "write" button or wade through any menus! It really is just like having a four channel analog preamp except that you have the added flexibility in that each patch that uses a particular preamp can have totally different effects on it. Anyone who's ever used a MIDI preamp/effects unit live knows that it's very difficult to set up the volumes and EQs for every patch and every different hall. The GP-100 fixes this with the mode settings! Thank you Roland!

I simply can't believe how good this thing sounds! The preamp sounds are worth the price alone! For those of you who don't know, the GP-100 is all digital except for the analog to digital and the digital to analog converters. This preamp gets it's sounds by emulating popular amplifiers (mostly tube amps). It sounds so good that I now have no use for any other amplifiers! I'm not kidding. If you get one of these and get a good power amp and speakers to go with it, you'll have no use for your other combos and stacks either! It can be a bit bright though, and to remedy this I suggest getting a good tube power amp to go with it. I have a Peavey Classic 50/50 power amp and I think this sounds killer! The speaker simulators in this thing REALLY shape your sound the way a cabinet would. Would you like to go from a heavily distorted Marshall sound to a clean Fender Twin sound and have them both sound very convincing? This machine does it. I have previously owned a Marshall and a Twin, and in my opinion this thing is very close to the original. It does require some tweaking though.

Relying on anything on a gig without a backup is risky business, so I don't think I would rely on the GP-100 without a backup. On the other hand, I'll be very surprised if the GP-100 is one of the first things in my rig to give up the ghost. After all, it's just a dedicated computer except it doesn't have moving parts. If it has any software bugs, I've not found them yet. I've never needed to reboot the unit once it's been on. There is one thing that worries me though: It has a battery which the manual says is good for about 3 years. I've spent a lot of time tweaking, and I don't want to lose any presets. Furthermore, I'd hate to have the battery give out on a gig. I think it warns you ahead of time when the battery will go dead, but who know how much warning it will give? Also, anyone seen a GP-100 battery replacement unit at your local music store? I haven't.

I like the mode settings so much I called Roland's Tech support number and asked if they would add a few more. Obviously, the answer was no, but the support engineer was very friendly and fairly knowledgeable.

Not only would I buy it again, I'm thinking about buying another now! This is absolutely the best unit on the market! I'm pretty finnicky about my tone, and I think this unit makes other preamps obsolete! I sure wish they would have put about 8 to 10 "mode settings" instead of only 4 because there are so many cool preamps in there, it'd be nice to be able to access most of them via the "mode settings" (see the Sound Quality comments above. The effects are also very nice. If you get an FC-200 foot controller to go with it, you can also throw away all you wah-wah and volume pedals. The wah in this thing sounds as good or better than any I've heard, including the Cry Baby! The reverbs sound excellent, though I wish they had a spring reverb because sometimes it sounds cool to get that trashy reverb sound. The chorus, flange, phase, etc. all sound very good. Also, many of the effects can be controlled real-time via a MIDI continuous controller. Very cool. The compressor is very musical and doesn't produce the click that many others do. My only complaint is that most of the effects have very few controllable parameters, and the manual does nothing to tell you how to get a sound you're looking for. I compared this to many other units and in my opinion NOTHING comes close to this. Once you do a bit of tweaking, you'll spend the rest of your time making great music. This thing makes your tone just ooze out of your speakers. If you can't find a few preamps in this thing that you like, you probably shouldn't be a guitar player! One other thing: If you're thinking of buying one, fork out the extra bucks and get the FC-200 foot controller to go with it. I tried the ART ultrafoot, but it was noticably glitchy when used as a volume controller. The FC-200 operates flawlessly! I once decided that I would never buy another multi-effector, but that was before I listened to this thing. If you buy one, I promise you will be glad!

The GP-100 is very easy to use. To get started you plug in your guitar and plug your amp into the outputs. You can be going in a few minutes out of the box. The reason for the lowish score for ease of use is that the menus are pretty much sequential so that if you want to tweak a single parameter, say reverb time which is near the end of the chain, or the MIDI controls which are the end of the chain, it's a pain. The first set of parameters,sequentially, is the effect on/off listing which must be stepped through in order to change a single parameter and there is no way to jump directly. It is pretty annoying. Which do you spend more time doing when trying to set up a patch, turning effects on/off or adjusting? The latter, but that's not the order you have to proceed. The GP-100 has a large number of effects but not that many parameters per effect. I consider this a plus. Which would you rather have, 3 parameter all of which work together musically, or 10 where only some sound good? The manual is okay but not great. The MIDI sysex spec is completely missing from the manual. I'm currently trying to track it down directly from Roland. The MIDI spec is adequate. Not everything that I would like is MIDI controllable, such as delay time, but I can certainly do most everything I would like.

Other people have said it, but... THIS THING ROCKS! The sound quality is unsurpassed in the high end/consumer category. I didn't think I was that finicky about tone, but I guess it's turning out that I am :-). I originally had an ART-SGX2000. I wasn't that impressed with it. About then, Digitech came out with with GSP-2101. I traded in the ART for the 2101. I thought it was better, but over time (a year or so) I realized I didn't like the Digitech tone all that much. The 2101 has six different distortion voicings (3 tube, 3 transistor) and all sort of sound the same to me timbre-wise except for the overall gain. They just all sound sort of buzzy to me. So, I heard a demo for the Boss GX-700 (a lower end version of the GP-100) and was impressed. I couldn't imagine those sounds coming out of the 2101. So I got a GP-100. There is no comparison to my ears in terms of sound quality. These are all subjective calls, but the most noticeable difference is that the GP-100 has a bottom end. It has real punch, even through a small amp and an open backed 10 inch cab (the way I practice). By comparison, the 2101 is mushy and without presence on the low strings. The amp simulations are much more realistic and varied on the GP-100. They DON'T all sound the same to me. There are light distortions, heavy distortions, great clean sounds, buzzes, distortions that will shake your room. It's really cool. I've never owned any of the amps the GP-100 tries to emulate so I can't compare that way. All I know is that what comes out of the GP-100 is awesome and I can get any SOUND I want, including a nice musical singing distortion to a breakup (impossible with a 2101). The effects on the GP-100 are great and simple to use. The GP-100 is not as versatile as the 2101 in the sense that the number of algorithms is fixed and there are fewer parameters to adjust, but like I said before, what is there is more musical and sounds better. Having all the parameters to adjust on the 2101 is basically a waste in my book. Even the reverbs I like better on the GP-100. This is supposed to be the flagship effect on the 2101 and to me it sounded brittle (I know that's hard to describe) and digital. The GP-100 is much more unobtrusive.

I've had it for a month at home, and it works, so I can't really comment.

The company has been very helpful getting the sysex manual, but it had to be special ordered so it's taking a few weeks and I haven't gotten it yet

My overall rating of this thing is that it is a hand's down winner in the multi-effects category. It rocks. Without the effects, the preamp kicks butt. Without the preamp, the effects are simple and musical. Together, you can get any sound you want. I wish the interface were a little better designed, diving through all the menus is a bit of a pain, but once you have it dialed in, it's awesome. Also I wish a few more parameters were MIDI controllable, such as delay time. Don't let this dissuade you, the GP-100 has the best sound quality of anything you will hear. It's also cheaper than the 2101 for example. Despite my glowing testimonial, I have no affiliation with Roland. I'm just impressed.

I have used more complex effects (Digitech TSR24s) and I thought this was pretty easy compared to that. It was pretty easy to get great sounds. The manual could have been a little more indepth. If you have no experience with programming an effects unit then this might be difficult for you.

This unit rocks!! I have owned a Programable Rockman XPR, ADA MP-1 and a RP-1. I have played through quite a few others including a Pirahna, Voodo Valve, GSP 2101. This unit beats them all. The sounds you can achive are assume. I've never played through a pre-amp with this much dynamics. If you judge this by the presets, go back and try it again. The presets don't do the GP-100 justice. I liked the unit when I first tried it, but after I started playing with parameters, I fell in love with it. Talk about feedback. This has replaced everything I had in my rack. If you like the thump of a real amp this won't let you down. Each pre-amp setting has either a low, medium, or high gain settings. You can choose from a 1x10 thru 8x12 speaker. The effects aren't complex but sound very high quality. My search is over for the ultimate pre-amp effects processor.

Haven't had it more than 2 weeks.

Havn't had to use it.

Definately worth the money. I realize that no pre-amp can replicate an amp perfectly, but this is as close as it gets. I never really believe the ads for these type of units, until now. Roland has made me a believer. It does everything they said it would. In my opinion, it is the best pre-amp out there. If you are finicky about your tone, this is the pre-amp to get. I did a lot of searching and comparing. I read alot of different reviews, but in the end, I let my ears decide.

This is an excellent sounding unit. I have to say that right off. However, this unit DOES take a bit of getting used to. I went from a GP-8 and MP-1 combo to the GP-100. If I wasn't used to fiddling around with this difficult setup, I might be overwhelmed. If I ever lose the instruction manual, I'll be sending away immediately for a replacement copy. Once your patches are set, (and with use of the FC-200), the unit becomes simplicity itself. If you listen to the product in the store, and like the sounds of the presets, you may never have to mess with them (there ARE 400 after all...). The manual for the foot pedal is almost as thick as the one for the unit itself, which shows they at least put some thought into it. The manual for the GP-100 was good, but there were a few things that I thought they omitted. Unfortunately, I can't remember what they were (perhaps they weren't that important...) I was up and running custom patches (at least through headphones) within 10 minutes.

The sound quality on this unit CAN be excellent. I found the presets (in general) very poor. They show what the unit can do, but the settings are either just too much, or not taken to the limit. They do not take full advantage on the FC-200 footswitch in most cases, alloting the expression pedal to a mere volume pedal, and ignoring the control pedal almost entirely. Perhaps I'm just too used to my unique sound, and perhaps relatively new users will not feel this way. After three months of constant fiddling, and over ten live gigs, I feel that a full, powerful and diverse collection of sounds CAN be achieved with this unit. The selection of distortions is fabulous. You can cover bands from Van Halen to Sabbath to the Stones with a flick of the switch. I've never liked phaser, so I can't really comment on it, but the pitch shifter seems to do the job adequately (never owned one, so can't really say if there's a better sounding unti out there). If you have the luxury of running a dual-head stereo setup, you can get some fantastic results, but few of us care to lug two sets of cabs and amps around. Perhaps someday though..... My personal favorite has to be the dual-patches. This CAN more or less simulate to amps or sounds simultaneously, although I prefer the morphing feature. If the damn bass player is playing a particular section too loud, I like to be able to "morph" in a patch with a bit more volume and gain, while leaving the original sound intact. The bass never knows what hits him. One comment, Roland didn't include too many of the Dual channel presets, and the ones they did were pretty lame, and poorly matched (in my humble opinion)

I dropped my rack the other day out the side of the car. It munched the corner of the rack, and I feared for the worst, but two weeks later, the unit still works. I had it secured in with straight screws, and no rubber buffers, and it lived. Needless to say though, I've now installed a couple of rubber bushings. The FC-200 was on the stage about a month after I got it, and the sound man (why do they always weight about 800 lbs?) hopped up to adjust some light pots, and tromped right over it, butt-crack and all. The footprint lasted for a week, but the pedalboard still hasn't missed a patch. Although I REALLY don't like to see these expensive pieces treated this way, my confidence level increases daily. I can't say if I would go without a backup, because I'm running it through a modified Marshall MK-II with effects-loop, so if it goes, I just use the built-in pre-amp. Sure I would be without effects for a bit, it's better than not having an amp at all. I hope, as always, that if it goes, it goes while I'm practicing, The bitter cold has yet to affect it, although the display can look a little bleached until it warms up.

The store where I bought the unit more or less said that if I wanted it fixed in a jiffy, I should drive it down the 401 to Roland myself. I look at this as an example of the poor service at the store where I bought it (who is the only Roland dealer for quite a distance), but the hopefully good service from Roland, (They fixed my GP-8 pedalboard in two weeks a year ago, which was acceptable. In that case I took it into the retail outlet. Perhaps it would have been quicker if I'd brought it there myself.

Overall, a lifesaver. I had to install a new presence and resonance control into my Marshall to get it to sound fuller, and a Loudness control, because I found the Output control on the GP-100 a bit to sensitive when pumped through the 100 watt head. Also, when I popped in 4 Sovtek 5881's, the sound became fuller again. Before I go WAY off subject, let's just say the two now are an almost Utopian sounding rig. I run through a Peavy 4X12 Cab, but also like it through a Marshall 800 series 4X12. The speaker emulation in the GP-100 isn;t bad, but it still can't totally reaplace the difference in actual speaker sound. Still, it rocks. I haven't used the dual effects loop built into it except to splice in a CD-player for practicing, but I have some ideas for it. The built-in tuner works like a charm. If your intonation is correct, this thing is bang-on. For negatives, I thought the presets were weak (the OU812 setting was set for Van Halen LIVE, and not the studio album I'm told, and I believe it). The FC-200 pedal is BIG. I wish it was whittled down a bit, so that it would fit in my travel case. As it is, I have to carry it around in a separate bag. If it wasn't for the expression pedal, and the fac that it IS easy to stomp, I's settle for a midi mouse. I suggest that some people looking at this unit consider a smaller, simpler unit like the mouse (I don't know who makes it). As well, the PARAMETER and NUMER/VALUE knobs feel real crappy. They shudder along, making me thing that of anything, THESE will be the pieces that wear out first. Feels like nylon on nylon or something. Try it, and you'll see what I mean. I liked their old shuttle dial. Finally, I miss their old red display. The new display is green. If you could select the colour, like on many car stereos, it would be much better, a small thing I know, but it's just my opinion. Also, don't judge it though headphones alone... namy stores like to pull this trick. The headphone jack is stereo, and unless you play though a stereo rig, it won't sond like that at home (eg. the panning feature sounds great through headphones, but through a mono cab, it sounds kinda silly. Anyone wanting to swap patches or opinions (I feel this is the only way to REALLY get the most out of something like this. I love to try out other people's rad patches. I sure don't know everything!

This unit is very easy to get good sounds out of. There is a round dial (I didn't get the optional footswitch), that switches between the 200 preset and 200 user patches. I can't understand the manual which is all in Japanese, but my dealer is ordering an English one from Roland. I've figured out the basics of editing a patch, but have only spent about 5 hours with the units, and the presets are amazing the way they are.

Sound quality is everything with this kind of unit. It's a 10. Nothing I've listened to comes close to the realism of these presets.

can't tell, too new.

Store (Laox in Akihabara Tokyo Japan) customer service is great, they are ordering me an English manual. Have had no contact with Roland directly.

So far, best effect's processor I've owned, out of dozens.

I was really curious to hear how this preamp really sounded with all the enthusiasm surrounding surrounding it. Having gone through a Marshall JCM 800 Master volume and JCM 900 Dual Reverb heads, several ADA MP-1's, an MP-2, a GSP21Pro, GSP2101LTD, Rocktron Voodu Valve, Peavy Rockmaster, and a Roland GL-100 (I believe that's what it was, the old metal zone in a rack space box),and never being completely satisfied, I was hoping this would be my miracle machine. Those previous preamps are one's I have _owned_ not just played in the store, so I feel I have a good reference point to make an opinion.
After several phonecalls to area music stores and a 2 hour drive, I finally found a GP100. With all the good reviews and lack of stock I figured this was going to be it. The one I've been waiting for. I really put this thing through its paces. I toyed with it for an hour and a half playing though headphones, and a Marshall 6200 power amp into a Laney 412 cab. I also used an Ibanez s540, both a Fender Amn Std and Strat Plus, and an Epiphone LesPaul (I could reach the real LP's)
First Impression: Sounds like transistors. Very bright and brittle. It was nothing the EQ on the front panel could cure. I'm not even sure the distortion is created with transistors or if its digital (like the Chameleon, but it doesn't sound like the tubes there trying to emulate (just what is that COSM technology modelling?) In fact it sounds a lot like the old GL100 preamp with some new Roland effects (which are very good, except the harmonizer, won't fool any Eventide users!) I tried to get a manual for the thing but the idiot sales guy couldn't find it (Like that's never happened before!)
Now I know it sound like I wasn't impressed. Not true. This is a very powerfull package, with a lot of flexibility. It just didn't do it for me. Of the bunch I had, I prefer the Voodu and the MP-1. Ive used the JMP-1 on several ocassions and believe it has the sweetest overdrive tone, but lacked in other area's.
Perhaps the new Pirhanna.....

Somebody has done their homework in designing the interface of this thing! The unit I bought was the floor model, and the guys couldn't find the manual for a couple of days. No worries... I was able to get elbow deep into this thing (and it's VERY deep!) without the manual. I do wish Roland would have put a Global "Bypass" capability into this unit. You can do a bypass (and almost anything else via midi), but you have to program it into every patch.

Okay, I admit I haven't spent hours and hours playing thru Matchless Chieftans, Mesa Boogie MkIIs, Marshalls, Fenders, et al. But this guy convinces me... even through headphones. A few days after I got it, my friend brought over his '61 Fender Princeton and '65 Fender Bassman amps. We were able to dial the GP-100 in so that you couldn't tell the difference between it and the real deal. The effects are some of the best I've used... and that includes those half-rack Lexicon's everyone's crazy about. They

The GP-100 has become an indespensible part of my gig rig. Mated with a Lennon all-tube stereo guitar power amp (6v6's on one side, EL-84's on the other) into my THD "mickey mouse" cab (one 12, two 10's running in stereo), I can dial up anything my band needs from me. Now if I could only play as good as my equipment sounds!

No experience with this unit. My wife's a pro keyboardist, and has had mixed reviews (mostly good) when dealing with Roland.

If your musical situation demands that you come up with wildy different, but very convincing, guitar sounds, the GP-100 is for you. If, however, you're looking for that "one" sound from that "perfect" amp (like my blues-playing friend with the Fender amps), this might not be for you.

I just demoed it today at Guitar Center in Boston. I'd been anxious to check the unit out, as I'm really into the idea of electronic modeling of amp circuits. It did a commendable job on the semi-distorted tones, especially the Fender Deluxe-ish ones. It captured some of the less than pure tones of a cranked up, low watt Fender. These dirt tones did clean up a bit as I backed off on the guitar volome, but not as smoothly as the real deal. Bummer. But it still had dynamics, which is saying a lot for a solid state circuit imitating a tube one. The Marshall sims didn't cut it with me. I've played through quite a few older Marshalls, as well as the SLP reissue. Some of the crunch was there, but none of the magic of the better examples of these heads. The Soldano and Soldano clone, er, Peavey 5150 presets seemed too screechy on the high end. The 5150 preset is brighter sounding than the Soldano one. These sounds fed back quite nicely, however, even at low volumes. Most of the compression of a high gain preamp was evident. The effects presets, when tamed, were excellent. I prefer them to Digitech's sound processing. The Roland chorus was warmer and fatter. I didn't have the time to really tweak them, though. I'm still waiting for Roland or some other company to come out with a unit that users can program in schematics to. Build up your own design from scratch, modify the hell out of old Fender, Vox, and Marshall circuits, mix and match different amps' preamps and power amps, etc. THe unit could have different editing levels, so as not to overwhelm users. At one level, users could take a preamp from a 1965 Fender Twin and match it with a Vox AC30 output section. At a slighly more advanced level, users could add or "delete" generic gain stages from amps, . Or add or remove cathode follower circuits before the tone stack. As the editing levels progessed, users could eventually do all kinds of tweaks: add gain stages of their own desing (using whatever coupling methods they wished), change resistor and cap values, add bypass caps, change outp ut transformers, output tube bias, voltages,....etc. It was hard evaluating the Roland by itself-I really wish I could have had some of the amps it claims to emulate and compare them to the Roland. Sounds like a job for Art Thompson & Crew. Guitar Shop's evaluations of the GP-100 and VG-8 were pathetic. The They mostly went on about what all the functions were, very little about how the ps sounds compared to the real deal. It also would have been nice to try the GP-100 out with different power amps and cabs. I am intrigued, but not enough to buy. At least not yet. Maybe the next generation will do the tube emulation thing even better, and be more user modifiable.