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.

hello folks,
I bought the geep back in 1997 and when exposed to this great machine I was a little lost, mainly because I,m old school. When I committed to understand this machine it made me realize this wasn't a plug in and play tool. I was discouraged for a while, but kept on plugging away. I studied the manuel inside out, bought a instruction video, and read user comments. I learned more about this tool than I thought was possible and haven't solve all it's mistery's yet. One important lesson i've learned with this tool is you have to understand tone. Tone is something you can't buy, so once you figure tone out, you'll discover the ZEN in this unit. good luck.....

As I said before when one understands tone, one will honestly know how great this tool is. I'm so glad I waited and studied the different tools that where out in the consumer world. Even to date the geep is a special invention and should be put in the music gears hall of fame. I've played guitar through this tool for over five years and haven't found anything else nagging me to put it a side. The sound quility will be determined on your guitar (wood, craftsmanship, potentiometers, pickups, hardware, spirt, knowledge of tone and music) I build my own guitars, so I know the guitar, cable, strings, etc. are veery important. In a nutshell you have to understand tone to understand the sound quility. So if you think this tool is ok or sucks than you don't understand tone. good luck.....

no problems

didn't need to use

I've become very codependent towards this tool. If something happened to the geep, I'd need help to get over her. OOOUUUch.....

I just bought this used at a cash coverters store. The salesman and I were learning at the same time so we shared the lengthy menues. It seemed easy enough though and I was fairly happy with everything I heard. Once I get it home, (yes, it's on lay away), I find out how it really is. I'm not working but I just had to have this.

In the store we used this through a crappy crate combo. At home and on the job it'll go through a still hand wired 72 Marshall. (I can't wait). I'm a firm beleiver in getting my sounds down and knowing how to get thm. I'm not a techno freak and don't wish to be. My favorite sound is a Nobels ( ever heard of it? ) overdrive peddal. It screams out smooth, "unbuzzy" overdrive. The tone controls are very responsive though weak on the mounting. They can get broken easilt. I've tried everything in boxes and this one works for me. I do Blues, southern rock, some classic and we have 2 c.d.'s with some hard core rock and roll. Once I plugged into the GP-100 I was hooked. The only proccessor I ever really liked. It was non buzzy with the cabinet simulater and creamy with humbuckers. A sound I could use. The effects I thought were pretyy lush from what I heard so far. I'll comment again at another time. I had a hard time working with the delays though for some reason. Allthough many people mention the parimeter wheele goofing up, at that time I didn't get the problem. As I said the sustain was good and the effects were good. And I'm pretty fussy. I use an old Multiecho that works like a charm so there's no comparrison on the type of echo so far but it sounded really natural to me. The tone controls could be more responsive though. Had to turn them too far to make a difference.

I have no Idea ye........

Ditto............

I play Blues and Southern Rock. I like fat blues and bending strings. So far from what I heard this peice will work for me. I liked the non buzzy sound. I hate chainsaw leads. I grew up on Allman Bros, Molley Hatchet ect., ect.. I've been playing since I was 14 and I'm 48 now. You tell me, I can't count that high!! LOL !! Yes, I'm pollished on what I do. I owned lots of stuff. My favorite and absolutely will "NEVER" sell favorite is my 72 still hand wired 50 watt Marshall. I just sold the matching 8x10 cab that was loaded with 1963 jensens. What a sound. But, I down sized. I traded for a new 4x12 1960A cab and cash. I'm still happy. I use an 87 Les Paul mainly. I also love Telecasters. Buzz and all. I run into a Sabine tuner, into a Fender reverb reissue (great preamp), into an old Multivox tape echo (Best thing that ever happened to my rig), and into an Alesis Midiverb 3. Finally, into my Marshall. No, there's not alot of noise incase you're wondering. The tape echo it super quiet. It surprised me too. The best thing is that I got it as a turn on through a camera deal I made from an ex roady. I also carry a Jackson jX3, I beleive that's the model, it's a great tube preamp. It's the only preamp so far that actually like through the pa. On the floor I use an old dod x55, the Nobels over drive, A Marshall Bluebreaker pedal, a Daddio distorsion and the Dan Electro echo. As an ad on to the floor, I carry a Nobels Chorous peddal. It has several different chorousing effects. Different sweeps I guess. But my rhythem guitarist uses them. I like it simple. When I solo I want to hit a damned button and make things happen. I don't want to play with patches and program while I play. But, I think I'll be doing this with the Rolland. It sounds good even with the Crate.
Yes, if I had the money I would buy another one If I could. . I got it at a very very good price used. I'll have to pick up the controller sometime. But for now, I'll just get 3 or 4 sounds in a row and change the settings before a song. I only like 3 or 4 distortions to choose from and only use 2 or 3 different echoes. For the kind of music I play, that's all I need. I think it's rediculouse when the ads say, It has 250 Patches to choose from!! You can use 7 patches at a time!!! For what?????????????? I want to be able to make my guitar sound like a guitar, not a spacecraft !!!! All in All, The GP100 turned me on at the store so that has to mean something to make me buy it. Oh, don't think I just plugged in and played at cash converters either. They had to listen to me for 3 hours worth of "checking out the features" before I bought it. I usually stop after I hear the didtortion sounds since they allways turn me off. Over all, I really like this and can't wait to get it in my rig. If anyone can tell me about the foot controller, I'd appreciate it. In my opinion, it's high priced compared to others so it "should" be good for the money you pay. I think the Digitechs suck because they are too colored in sound repro.. Sorry people, this is only "my" opinion. The GP100 sounded natural to me, anyway. Thanks

It's not the simplest unit to use, but it is pretty straight forward. A nice touch, but a bit high tech for when this came out, would have been a computer interface for sound editing. They did have an interesting stand alone unit for off rack editing, but it was too expensive and not quite as easy as a mouse either. All in all though, there are a lot of options for both the novice and the gear nut pro.

If you step up and listen to just the presets you'll get some decent sounds, but the real deal is when you start making your own. This IS the only true hidden jem I have come accross in rack gear. The thing just steams. The effects themselves are very high quality and transparent. The preamp kills. It can do almost every tone you can think of, but it just might take some time to find. Originally I was playing this through a parrallel loop on my H&K Triamp and it was great there, but finally I got a VHT 2 90 2 and it kills. This thing loves Greenbacks too. I've played it through a ton of cabs but a good cab with greens gives tons of tone. As you can see, I have a Triamp, a simply killer head, but this Roland sees more time than it. It really is that good, once you get inside. And the midi control is awesome when matched with a good controller.

Well, I would say that the internals are excellent, I would never expect them to go, although there is some issue with an internal battery that will supposedly need to be replaced. However, outside the knows could have been a little beefier and maybe metal. The parameter knobs on both mine and a couple of friends units tend to start skipping numbers and stuff. They still work, but just a bit of a pain.

Never dealt with them, but I believe Roland to be a standup stand by their work kind of company.

I got this for a steal as a floor unit, not a mark on it, not even rack rash. Overall, this is simply the best overall unit out there. I tried all the digitechs, Rocktron (including prophecy), Lexicon G2 (very fine unit, but some of the preamp lacks, a real close second maybe even a tie, but four times the price you can get a GP for) I own the Marshall JMP fine preamp also as well as some of the mesa units, but limited. They do what they do well. Some of the high end preamps are great too, but only have a few sounds, I really want to get the new Mesa Rec Preamp as well as the VHT G3 which should be insane, but they will only have a few sounds a piece. All in all, if you want to get an uncompromised piece of gear, that can both simplify and complicate your gear depending which route you take, the GP is a pure steal. I would buy this unit for $1000 used if I had to to get it again. It really is worth every penny, hey Roland should pay me for all this praise, no wait they should release a GP-200 that MIGHT be even better !!!

I've owned the GP100 for three years now and it has features that have made it a nearly perfect guitar processor. Only within the last year have other manufacturers come out with processors that have these crucial features:

*The GP100 has a unique approach to the FX chain. Each effect is like a stompbox. The user has the capability to put them in ANY order (with exception that Reverb always has to be last.)

*The stereo FX loop is fully programmable. It can be put anywhere in the chain. It can be used as a single FX loop with stereo returns, or be used as two independent mono loops. This is VERY useful and can accomodate two separate guitar preamps.

* While many of the effects are "mono" effects, a stereo signal path is maintained. This is important because if your preamp or other effect generates a stereo signal, the stereo image will be maintained through the whole path.

*The GP100 has the best automation available in any guitar processor I've found. Not only does it respond to MIDI PCs and CCs, there are two jacks that utilize standard footswitches and volume pedals to interact with programs. At the simplest level, the footswitches can be assigned to on/off certain effects, so its like having a row of stompboxes with the ability to step on them individually to on/off them. At a more advanced level, the controllers can be used to affect any parameter and multiple parameters at a time. (As an example, I can program one footsitch to simultaneously: Turn off the FX loop thus bypassing my preamp, turn on the built in preamp say to the Jazz Chorus, double the reverb decay time, turn off the tap delay, boost high and low shelving EQs, turn off the wah pedal and turn on the volume pedal thus effectively using the same pedal for both.) This thing is a switching maniac!

*Excellent built in automatic tuner.

*Patch changes are instantaneous. Unfortunately, reverb and delay tails are not maintaned between patch changes, but with the advanced sitching capabilities *within* each patch, you usually are not switching patches in the middle of a song. Rather you build a "dynamic" patch that allows you to do all the switching within the patch. This works better and is more musical.

I believe this unit was released in 1996 or 97, but it was ahead of its time (tonally) and the quality of the A/D converters speak for themselves. The techology has existed for transparent rack effects for some time now, many manufacturers however have not utilized good design and many of the processors from the mid-90s provide "consumer" level FX. I havent played the new G-Force or Prophecy, but when I A-B it out of the loop (against itself), the signal maintains its headroom.

The pre-amp models are tonally good, but may not have the feel of the real amp. I can see using the solid state amp models like the Jazz Chorus in professional settings, but the high gain models, while they react to input gain and pick attack convincingly, provide some artifacts in the upper registers that make them "unusable". The pre-amps are good for backup and can very easily (should) be disabled and replaced with a professional pre-amp.

The effects are all guitar based and are excellent. I do not particularly like the delay and use another processor in the effect loop of my preamp to create a stereo image. The delay is fine, but it is not easy to use or program for stereo or "spatial" effects.

Because the signal chain and FX loop are COMPLETELY assignable, the ability exists to put the compressor and/or parametric (as well as WAH or foot volume) in front of your preamp to use for tweaking the input signal. (Aside: It amazes me that many "high end" processors do not have this capability which can be really limiting. Being forced to use an external compressor or Parametric loads te signal chain and defeats the purpose of midi automation. )

As a central "brain" for you guitar rig, this thing excels. While its spatial effects and preamps are not top-notch, it is designed so that these may be added to the signal chain in whatever fashion desired. This box is not limited.

It can be easily tweeked to dial-in the sounds that you are looking for. Straight forward menu layout, buttons and knobs make it a snap.

This unit works well if you are one of those pussies who is looking to sound like EHV, SRV, JMH or whoever you wish imitate. However, this unit really shines for creating new and unusual guitar sounds. If you are looking to break new ground sonically, the features, effects loops and routing capabilities combined with some of the best MIDI implimentation in a guitar processor make this a superb choice. Wanna stand out in the crowd? Buy one of these babies, learn it inside and out and start forging your own voice.

Typical - solid - Roland construction.

- It's easy to get the sound you want. Just take an existing patch, tweak it and save. Editing is made extremely simple through the use of two knobs which allow you to do everything necessary. You don't have to scroll through the parameters of an effect unless that effect is actually activated in the chain - a nice touch.
- The preamp knobs on the front are another innovative idea!
- The manual is quite good considering it's a Roland product. I read it and most of it made sense.

- I use an American Standard Strat w/Lace sensors through the GP into an assortment of Fender amps (usually a Deluxe Reverb or a Twin). I am quite happy with my sound after years of going through crappy digital boxes that made my guitar sound like a chainsaw (read: Digitech). I think that the Lace sensors also make the tone a little warmer - our other guitarist played through my rig with his Japanese Strat (stock p/ups) and the tone was slightly harsher. Your mileage may vary.
- Fabulous sound for a digital beast. The distortions are quite believable, and the amp sims and mic placement parameter are smashing. You can really tweak the nuances of your tone. The EQ is also quite responsive.
- The chorus, delay and reverbs really make this unit shine. I've never owned a tap tempo delay before and let me tell you, it is such a useful tool, especially when playing live!
- The noise gate is awesome. You can crank it and the signal will still decay naturally without a noticeable decrease in sustain or that annoying, abrupt cutoff present in other digital units.
- Finally, it's nice to have a box that really simulates a Jazz Chorus so well! Always wanted one...now I basically have one!
- The only thing I'd like to see on this unit is a good acoustic simulator. The ZOOM 505, a pretty crappy and noisy unit, does have a good ac sim and it's unfortunate that the GP does not.
- Some slight aliasing artifacts when using the harmonizer - other than this I'd give the unit a 10.
- No ring modulator either - but why the hell would you ever use one?!
- The wah is also quite flexible and is probably the closest that any digital unit will get to approximating a Crybaby or VOX.

It's built like a frickin' tank. I also have the FC-200 foot controller and same goes for this - accidentally spilled a glass of water on it three days after buying it. Unplugged, wiped it off, let it dry - no problemo.
I trust the unit but I never play a gig without a backup - in my case, a good analog distortion box. Never had to use it yet, knock on wood!

No experience with Roland customer support.

- I play progressive/melodic stuff. The GP really allows me to get lush cleans, smooth distortions, and bizarre effects. The MIDI implementation is great.
- If it were stolen, I would definitely buy another.
- I can't believe that Roland discontinued a product that was years ahead of the competition! I'd like to see them release a predecessor but I doubt it'll happen.

Pretty basic and easy to understand, even without reading the manual. I like how the parameters are set up; they're very easy to edit. The manual is a little below average, though. I keep it around just in case I ever run out of toilet paper.

I have used this processor with a variety of guitars, including a '96 Strat, an Ibanez UV777BK, and my baby, an Ibanez Jem7VWH.

First, the weaknesses:
It seems like everyone has raved about the COSM amp modeling. Well, I'm not going to. Yes, most of the simulations are pretty accurate. On the other hand, a lot of the sounds seem to be missing something. Thanks to digital technology, the amp models are inevitably thin and harsh-sounding. Also, I cannot tell, for example, the Marshall settings from some of the others--and I own the amp that is being simulated! The compressor is very limited (hehe) and harsh, and the noise suppressor is nothing to write home about.

The strengths:
Let's get one thing straight. No digital preamp/processor under $1000 is going to accurately model over a dozen classic tube amps. I haven't seen a processor of any price do that. But the GP-100 gets pretty close to a lot of amps. Furthermore, when you disregard the preamp section, the effects are really good. The pitch shifter/harmonist is exceptional. I was able to get the sound of Steve Vai's Ballerina 12/24 without much difficulty. It's almost as good as his Eventide. When your moderately-priced effects machine sounds almost as good as an Eventide, you know you've gotten a good deal. Effects such as chorus and delay are worth the price of admission too.

Overall, the GP-100 does many things well. However, don't expect your mid-level rack gear to sound like a Bogner Ecstacy or a vintage JTM. Be reasonable.

The worst thing about the GP-100 is that the knobs are unreliable. Imagine that you have the output volume pretty high and you're about to switch from preset 99 to 100, which is a quiet, JC-120-esque clean tone. You turn the wheel forward, but instead of being inundated with soft, reverb-drenched bliss you wind up at preset 98, which is a painstaking simulation of a compressed, fully overdriven Triple Rectifier. Your amp releases a blood-curdling screech, accurately modeling not a JC-120 but the launch of a rocket. Hands covering ears, you barely manage to kick the off switch before everyone within a mile radius goes deaf.

That's my way of saying that there is a problem with some of the switches. Other than that, this thing is built very solidly.

Never dealt with Roland.

Not a bad processor. Exceptional value for the money. Because I am upgrading my gear, I wouldn't buy it again. However, I would recommend it to anyone looking for a good, flexible preamp/processor.

It takes a while to get the hang of all of the algorithms and effects but it comes with hundreds of patches pre programed so you are up and running quick. The manual is decent by Roland standards.

This thing makes my lame 40watt Fender Blues Deluxe amp sound awesome! The amp emulator in the GP-100 kicks ass.

No Problems so far - 1 year old.

Haven't needed them yet.

I play rock, blues and funk. I love it. I've been playing for 12 years with pedals, amps and the Roland GP-8. The GP-100 is the last effects unit I'll ever buy.
I've improved as a guitar player since I've owned this thing. It's versitility is amazing.

Like any feature-rich Roland product, there is a learning curve to editing the factory presets(most are overdone with effects). Be sure to read the manual on setting up global options for the 2 stereo outputs; specifying power amp type and speaker cab configuration can change the sound significantly.

Extremely quite unit. Previous reviews have covered the features well so I will concentrate on sound quality. Setup includes a Carvin DC-127 with a beefy Double coil in the bridge position. For direct recording it's best with the bridge double patched thru the soldano, distortion, type I marshall or metal preamp/amp simulators. Gives a thick, detailed crunch similiar to Stone Temple Pilots. Another excellent combination results from single coil neck pickup paired with any of the amps except Fuzz. I sometimes patch the Gp-100 into my 50W Carvin Bel-air 212. The astounding digital effects(delay, pitch, shift, chorus) are a perfect match with my tube amp. It took years to fully understand the optimum selections for amp, speaker cab, and mic combinations. With multiple EQ stages, and selectable effects order, various gradations of compression, sound filtering/enhancing are limitless. The reverb is good but not lush enough for 'surf guitar'. In summary: Superb for rock/grunge/metal, great for alternative/reggae/jazz fusion, fine for country/jazz. The clean sounds are a little brittle in the direct to mixer configuration. Also, headphone only seems a little thin.

Great.

N/A

N/A

It will take some time before you'll know this machine, I'm using it 2 years now.
The main reason is that this unit has a lot to offer, I don't know if GP really is short for General Purpose but it can cover a wide soundrange.
Pain in the ass are the two little edit knobs, sometimes/often they don't function 100%.
This is a major construction failure imho, many gp-100 units seem to have this "feature". When I'm using these knobs the LED- display doesn't react OK to many to much times.
This is what happens: when I try to scroll forwards it goes BACKWARDS or even gets in a "loop".
And this really sucks because there is al lot to do in the editing department (the factory presets really don't get the most out this unit).
OK, at this moment do NOT decide NOT to buy this nice unit because there's more, much more, positive to say about the gp-100.
The manual is good ennuf to get you started.
It's not really difficult to get a good sound out of it, but there are a lot of things you can edit, it took me quite some time before I got the feeling that I knew what I was doing with the sound editing.
Version 1.03, never upgraded, a Roland dude told me there where some minor midi related changes in the later versions (1.05).
The knob thing seems to occur also in the upgraded version (anybody outhere who solved/"repaired" this problem ??).
I'm using a FC-200 and sometimes a patch-editor, bought the FC- 200 a year after I bought the GP-100, everybody who owns a GP should have a FC- 200.
Don't use the patch-editor a lot, mainly because of my computer/midi setup.
Without the knob-problem a 9, with the very annoying knob somewhere around a zero rating.

I use it mainly for home recording and practicing mainly, Turtle Beach sound card, Fender stratocaster, Ibanez Artist acoustic guitar and a cheap stratocaster imitation.
I'm very satisfied........
Could compare the GP with the Line 6 POD for a couple days.
Hooked the POD using the send/return of the GP- 100.
All the normal effects (chorus, reverb): GP-100 rules.
The speaker and preamp simulation are (maybe) a little better for the POD
Decided not to buy the POD although the clean sounds of the POD are very good, maybe even slightly better.
The GP-100 can do almost everything and much, much more the pod can, but it takes some time and tweaking.
Well, I still own a Zoom 2020 and a Ibanez DM-500, mostly for sentimental reasons (and it looks nice in my rack).
I'll rate it 9.5 or something like that, but considering the money paid it could be a 10, let's leave some room for improvement.

Never had any problems, maybe I'll buy another one as a backup but it's a reliable unit.

Contacted Roland Belgium twice, friendly people, finally I spoke someone who knew a lot about the GP and he could tell me what I wanted to know (and more).

Would buy it again, it can provide you with very good sounds for guitar, with this unit I have to blame myself for bad sound quality, not the GP-100, I play guitar for almost twenty years, (hard)rock, jazzy things and blues and weird stuff, the GP-100 offers it to you.
This is the first more expensive preamp/processor unit I bought, would like to try out the all the other units and the real amp/speaker things, can't compare them all but I think I couldn't do without the GP.

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.

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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.

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.

The interface is great, with analog controls if you wish to use them, and very useful shortcuts for getting to things quickly. Somebody put a lot of thought into this and it shows.
The manual is pretty crummy, even by Roland standards. They do have a few usage tips, but full effects descriptions are missing as are midi details.

Dynamite pre-amp. Covers the spectrum from AC-30 to Marshall to Soldano to 5150 emulation very accurately. I've heard decent solid state pre-amps before, but what sets this apart is the dynamics of how the sound changes over time and the sensitivity to attack, pickup selection, and volume control that is remarkably similar to a genuine tube amp. If you're not familiar with the GP-100, it uses technology borrowed from the VG-8 to arrive at its sounds.
The selection of digital effects is excellent, although it lacks a rotary speaker emulator. Some of the effects are skimpy in terms of the parameters you can control, especially the compressor, flanger, and chorus. And the reverbs, while of excellent quality, are limited in variety. Also, a number of the effects should have wet/dry controls, but don't...they're either on or off.
An excellent effects loop offers a workaround for any effects shortcomings. You can drop stereo send/return anywhere in the effects chain (in fact, the whole chain is user-modifiable).
I believe the dual feature is unique, where you can have two patches simultaneously and switch or continuously morph between them. In fact real-time control (via midi, or expression pedal) is excellent in general.

I spent months shopping, mainly comparing this to the GSP-2101. The GP-100 has a more faithful tube amp sound, with a similar set of digitial effects, plus the convenience of a single rack space solid state box.

The layout is simple and logical. From the having analog controls that you can tweak in realtime (even while you play, with a foot controller!) to the headphone jack on the front panel. Why would someone build a rack mountable module with the phone jack in the rear panel? Even though you can control every parameter of your sounds, there's very little need for it. The factory presets are so good you can take it from the box to the gig, take my word for it.

The thing sounds awesome! I'm not kidding, you can have the sound of Joe Walsh, Green Day, Van Halen and ... Boston! This last one had me drooling all over the place. I have the Tom Scholz (Mr. Ego himself) X100 Rockman but it doesn't even come close to how the GP-100 simulates that unique Boston sound.

No experience with reliability

No experience with Customer Support

If you're on the market for a guitar preamp/processor module, you should read this:
Hint: Get the Roland GP-100.
Mail Features: - Accurate emulation of many guitar amps and speakers - Analog controls in front panel: Bass, Mid, Treble, Pre and Post - 400 patches: 200 user, 200 preset - 22 bit (AF Method) 128x oversampling @ 44.1 kHz - Built in chromatic tuner
Pros: - Awesome, rich, thick and full bodied sound - Excellent reproduction of amp/speaker/mic combination including Marshall stacks (SLDN, 1959) and speaker cabinets (single/double stack, open/sealed cabinets, built-in, etc, Roland Jazz Chorus (JC-120), etc. Several mic. positions simulation - Many I/O jacks for effect loops (parallel), direct recording, etc. - Fully controllable via MIDI (not just patch changes) - Half height rack mountable - Excellent factory preset sounds
Cons: - Somewhat inaccurate data wheels - Two lines only LCD - Less than perfect owner's manual
Perspective:
I just finished a painful three weeks hunt for the perfect guitar processor. Results: the Roland GP-100. Period.
This machine has it all; incredible sound and ease of use. In trying to describe the sound I was looking for to the salesperson, I found a real challenge. I tried everything from comparing with some artists to try to make the sound with my voice. Yeah, you know, something like George Thorogood, Joe Walsh, Ed Van Halen; it's amazing how two people can hear the same thing so differently.
To heat up things a bit, let me compare the GP-100 to the GSP-2101; the module everyone is raving about lately. Did you know the GSP-2101 has the headphone jack in the rear panel .... hello, any body home?
I had the opportunity of having the GSP-2101 for two weeks for testing. I guess is a matter of taste but if you're Grunge head, the GSP-2101 is for you. Maybe you kids don't know or can't remember but Grunge sounds a hell of a lot like the psychedelic guitar sound of the 60's, at least to me (remember Fireball ...). The GSP-2101 has a fairly clear sound in the first three strings but when you get to the lower strings it sounds muffed and fuzzy, like singing with your mouth closed.
The GSP-2101 has no analog controls so, you can change the treble any time, but you'll have to go through several push button exercises. The preamp section order is fixed. This means that there's no way you can add wha or chorus the signal before applying distortion to it. The GP-100 does not have this limitation.
The GSP-2101comes with one processor, and unless you purchase a second processor (+/- $295), this unit is useless to live performances. You'll need the second processor to achieve what Digitech calls "seamless" program changes. This means that patches (effects) will change immediately after you depress the foot controller switch. With the GSP-2101, there's a noticeable gap between time you press the foot controller and when the unit actually changes the preset. And... you guess it, not with the GP-100.
Some folks prefer to have tubes in their effects processors. Why? Warmth, fullness and richness. The dynamics you can get from a tube is unparalleled. That is, a tube that has attained the right operating temperature and has the right amount of voltage through its filaments. Tubes need special care and handling; no heavy shocks or temperature/humidity changes. The bottom line of all this is the sound. Would you believe me if I tell you that the GP-100 holds its place in a one-on-one with a Marshall double stacker cranked up 3/4 of it's volume? even through headphones! Add to that chorus, flanger, delay, phaser, reverb, amps/speaker emulation, etc and you can't beat this beast. It's like having 2000 lbs of gear in a half rack package. Talk about compression!
Listen, I know it's very difficult to describe a sound, so if you're in doubt, I'll record a WAV file with some GP-100 presets and mail it to you! How's that for fan craze? Gee, maybe I should charge Roland for this stuff.
Whatever you do, listen very

This single rack space unit is my dream come true. Full midi control over almost every parameter. The manual is better than most Roland manuals I have seen (though) there's a few "written in Japanese and translated" artifacts.

The sound is highly versatile and realistic. I was going to choose between a SansAmp PSA-1 and Digitech GSP2101 but the Sansamp didn't have effects and the GSP didn't have enough preamp tweakability to my liking. This box has several amp emulations using the COSM technology from the VG-8 guitar system. They sound true to life. The effects are very clean and every parameter is adjustable. The 5 part intelligent harmonizer tracks well and is another reason I bought this unit. I'm amazed I don't see more on this on the Net or in the mags.

Looks pretty reliable to me. I just ordered a foot pedal so it will be easier to use live. Haven't had it long enough to rate this. So far, so good.

Decent support. There's one guy at Roland who is the guitar guru (forgot his name). His review of this unit had me salivating and he also answered some questions after I got the unit.

Love the unit: what do I like about it?: There's nothing that has the versatility of this unit that I've seen or heard for live or studio use.It has tone knobs for adjusting the preamp parameters. The preamp can act independent of patches or be stored as part of a patch. Huge diversity of sounds. Up to 16 effects in any order. 5 part harmonizer, tuner, and "VU" meter for any effect in the chain; Almost every item is addressable via midi; two separate stereo outs; 200 presets, 200 user slots.
I was stuck between going for the GSP2101 and the PSA-1 and found out about this unit. Those units are great, but for the all in one guitar box, the GP100, in my opinion, wins out. Strange how there is not more buzz in the press or Net on this unit, cuz it truly is awesome!