Roland GP-16

Like any quality effects unit it is advisable to read the directions.
The manual is full size and easy to read.

Patch settings can be a little frustrating at first until you adjust to a small learning curve.
Remember, to obtain a mytriad of sounds requires adjustment.

I have yet to notice any guitar product by Roland that required a firmware upgrade, unless you have a link you are dishonest.

Typical 1/2 stack arrangement.

All effect contribute some noise, an actual musician will always have a noise gate at the end.
Remember, adding effects is a secondary canvas, small settings are the key.

All of the effects in the GP-16 & Gp-8 are extremely high quality, they rival the musical quality of the LAPC1 without any effort.

Roland gear is 1st class quality, the internal battery is soldered in which is both good & bad.

Good: THe internal battery can never fall out dut to misuse and the contacts can never corrode.

Bad: Battery replacement is difficult.

The battery in both the GP-8 & GP-16 can last +10 yrs easily.

Wortless, your completely on your own...

Big ego, deep pockets spell long wait time and no interest of support.
Email via internet (Roland), dont hold your breath.

Additionally, after a year or two they consider prior gear (OLD), unnecessary of support.
Remember, this is a fast moving high energy established company that has a pure dedication to state of the art equipment for their variety of celebrity musicians in the entertainment industry.

Similar to Ibanez support (non-available).

Overall, after almost 18yrs it is still the best available guitar processor, I own both the GP-8 & GP-16, both units are made by ROLAND (Japan), they are flagship units engineered with pride.
The colour of the sounds are truly amazing, i would not even consider trying another type.
Sadly, Roland has avoided the rack mount systems of the past to present all-in one type processors since the cost is much less overall.
The majority of the people that try to play the guitar using "ANY" type of effect always seem to go overboard and muddy the sound.
Effects were designed as a secondary canvas, small setting to achieve the desired nuance!

Avoid buying the beat-up type that has been through the mill, it probably has a few problems that will become a hardship.
In the event you really desire one, try to find a unit in a studio that has seen very little movement/travel etc...

The foot controller is a good addition if you play live a lot.
Otherwise, it is really not necessary, I find myself using it rarely.

Some of the presets are good, others are crap.
I have not yet edited patches but it appears to have the old line by line patch editing process.
The manual I found online at Roland is grainy, a bad scan job. Reads like a tech journal

This thing has a lot of sounds, some good, some useless
The choruses are of Roland renown, some of the distortion models are very good, other things I have not played with yet.
Some of the effects have some lag

Seems reliable enough.

The website had all but abandoned this device.

I bought this because it was cheap and I needed an effects rig for my bigger amp-Fender Performer 1000 - 1x12 in the combo + a 1x12 cabinet. I have a Fender G-DEC that I run through the PA that I use mostly. I was really hoping to get more for my money, that I did, this thing is a whole rack of effects for the cost of 1 cheap pedal.
I wish I could edit patches on the computer, I believe there is a product - MIDIQuest that will let me do this.

I HAVE BEEN EXPERIMENTING WITH THE GP8 SINCE IT CAME OUT, THEN GOT THE GP16 YEARS AGO.
I CAN'T REMEMBER HOW MANY YEARS AGO, BUT MY CONTRIBUTION TO ALL IS TO FIRST PLUG FROM GUITAR TO AMP, GET A GOOD TONE AT THE VOLUME YOU ARE GOING TO PLAY AT... THEN PLUG THE GP16 IN BETWEEN.
I HOPE YOU CAN BENEFIT FROM THIS CLUE!!!!!

THREE THINGS KINDA' SUCK...
FIRST, THE PATCH VOLUME WILL NOT FOLLOW YOUR AMP VOLUME AS IT IS CHANGED.
I MEAN THAT IF YOU HAVE 2 PATCHES EVENLY ADJUSTED FOR A LOW VOLUME, IF YOU TURN UP THE AMP, ONE MAY BECOME OUT OF EVEN VOLUME.

SECOND, THE CHORUS PATCH (ALTHOUGH EXCELLENT) CANNOT BE ADJUSTED ANY WHERE NEAR THE LEVEL NEEDED TO SOUND COMMON WITH THE OTHER PATCHES... UNLESS YOU REDUCE OTHER PATCH LEVELS, WHICH CAUSES THE CLARITY AND "PUNCH" OF ALL OTHER PATCHES TO DIMINISH.

THIRD, PLEASE!!!! SOMEBODY FIGURE OUT HOW TO MAINTAIN ECHO GENERATION (WITH PARAMETERS) FOLLOWING PATCH CHANGES!
EVEN THE GT-6 "AIN'T GOT IT!!!"

NO BRAINER... NO FAIL!

I SENT A SUPPORT REQUEST THROUGH NASA ON THE LAST PROBE TO MARS AND AM STILL "CHOMPIN"!

I'M RATING "NO OPINION"...
ONLY YOU GUYS KNOW THAT THE "JURY IS STILL OUT"!!!

THIS PUPPY REALLY CAN KICK SOME ASS.
THE BEAUTY IS THAT EBAY SELLS FOR 200.00 OR SO.
GET THE FC100MKII WITH IT BECAUSE IT CAN HANDLE 2 EV5 CONTROL PEDALS.
IF NOT, IT'S OK... JUST GET A LITTLE ALLIGATOR PEDAL AND PUT IT IN LINE.

it takes awhile to nail down the sound you want

I was running Kramer focus 6000> GP-16> Carvin MOSFET 450> two Carvin V412 aka (British 4x12's) so I was pushing 225W per 4x12. Alright I jammed with this cocky little prick running a Gibson into a straight Marshall half stack. His rig cut thru me like butter. And he said my shit sounded like R2D2! And he was right. I had no mid range at all. This pissed me off. So I went back and redid everything. 2years later I had nailed it. I got a nice distortion down and then I cut the middle delay out, panned left and right all the way (like full on stereo)and ran the whole thing bone dry. set the delay time to close to zero. I tell you it had punch like a Marshall stack. Then hard times and I sold everything. Ten years later I might get another because I still have the settings written down! This time I mightpay $100 instead of the $800 first time.

Hell yes! Never failed.

whatever

Blues/Metal/Rock

I've had my GP-16 since its introduction in 1990. It's fairly straightforward as far as editing patches goes. The manual is very, very detailed, too. No complaints there. Though I find it very difficult to get good distortion (or overdrive) out of the damn thing!!! I have little patience (or lifespan) to deal with its parametric EQ or lineout filter. As far as the other FX, I've always been able to achieve what I'm looking for in terms of chorusing, verb and delay. My unit has never been upgraded with the current updated software.

For years I went through a solid-state Roland JazzChorus-160 4x10 combo. Loud as hell even at three!!! But not very geared to handling the distortion/overdrive stuff. Maybe that was my amp's failure as opposed to the GP-16. It was and is a killer amp for the clean stuff. Right now that amp is on consignment at a music shop. Anyhow, the way I used the GP was from guitar output to FX input to FX output, then to the amp input. This also probably negatively-affected my overall quality of sound. Because today it's all about parallel/serial effects loops. They're on all new amps now. Being able to mix your dry signal with your wet signal, so that your tone doesn't get lost. True transparency is what you can achieve nowadays. It's such a different world now. The GP-16 is quiet for its time (early 90's) as far as the noisegate is concerned, but in comparison to today, it would be considered annoyingly noisy compared to something made by, say, tc electronic, in 2005. Big time differences. The GP-16 is especially noisy when you use flanging, phasing and distortion.

Like others have noted it's built like a tank!!! This thing will survive a meteor from the sky hitting it. And YES, I would use it without a backup. The internal battery was changed after 10 years, though it was still working at the time. It's only supposed to last 5 years.

If this thing was lost or stolen, I wouldn't cry at all. I'd get more tc electronic stuff. The GP-16 is noisy compared to today's fx processors. For that reason alone, it's time to get rid of it. You won't get much for it though. It's virtually worthless. I use it as an outboard processor with my eight track digital recorder (Fostex FD-8) to add reverbs and delays to vocal tracks. In this capacity, it's more than sufficient. My fave features of it were always the reverbs, delays, choruses and flanges. Distortions always sounded artificial, cold, digitized and tinny. Atleast to my ears. The reason my overall rating is a 3, is because of the very obvious sonic dropouts which occur when you change patches with the foot controller. Like someone else said, your delay patch gets abruptly cut off by the next patch. To me, this is a major, major flaw. Totally unacceptable to me.

Right now I'm using the tc electronic G Major, with 2 G Minor midi footswitches daisy-chained together to control it. I use a Boss volume pedal and a Morley classic wah. I own a Signature Oracle and a PRS CE-22. I own a Hughes and Kettner Tri-amp 100watt head which powers a Marshall 1960B Cabinet with Celestion G12T-75 speakers. The Hughes and Kettner Triamp is the Alex Lifeson signature edition one. The triamp is controlled with its own foot controller which they are calling a "stageboard." I think tc electronic is where its at, as far as processors go. Take a look at the G-force, G-major, or the G-system. In my opinion, the Roland GP-16 is many, many years outdated in terms of patch changing and general sound quality.

Standard digital technology. Once you get the hang of what all the
buttons do to the patches it's cool

I have found the O/D and distortion to sound very electronic and
have turned them off and now run stomp boxes through a variety of
clean chanels and get a better result. run through an Ibanez SC420
and marshall TSL 602. Noise supressor in unit is better than boss
floor unit. All sounds are easily editable with a little patience.

No real problems other than the rotary value nob pushed in. Was able
to be glued back in place easily.

A versitile unit with better clean sound than dirty.
Easily set up and easy to use.
Very solid and very reliable.

This is very easy to use if you want to just plug in and play it's patches. It is also fairly ez to program new patches.

I am now using a Parker Nitefly with a Mesa Boogie DC-5 combo. I play live (cover band) and effects are extremely important to me... especially delay. Which this unit is AMAZING at producing. The one bad thing about the installation of this unit is that when you play directly (in/out .. Not using Send/Return) it's very noisy. But when you plug in the send/return it's much better sounding. The bad thing about this setup is that the unit clipped because of the power of the pre-amp output. You lose a little power.

I have used this unit at gigs without any backup since 1990. And I have played everything from weddings, corpate parties to large arenas. My foot pedal didnt work right after 12 years so I just bought another one from eBay. back to happy !!!

Dont Know. Never needed it

I play everything from Jessie's Girl to Rage Against the Machine. This unit is not good for a Pre-Amp. But using this unit through a send/return from a good amp (like the mesaboogie I have) is awesome. The delays and EQ are extremely affective and you can mix and match 16 effects. I tried the Line 6 POD PRO and the pre-amp on that was so freakin digital. It's better to just use a great amp with a great effects processor line the Roland GP-16

Plug in and go! This unit can be used in a few ways, firstly as a standalone processor, there is the abillity to floor switch patches via a midi controller or the FC series, again by midi or RRC.
Secondly, and the way I use it, to compliment a GR series synth.

I use mine with a GR-33, it used to be a GR-50 but the world moved on!
This is my second unit, I got one when they first came out and sold it when I bought a GT-5, then I kinda missed the sound and bought another!
I use mine into a DMP7, Yamaha digital mixer, driving my live sound system (1.5Kw Stereo) and I use a Fender twin for foldback. Obviously for smaller gigs I just use the twin.
I also use a laptop running cubase SX to drive the other goodies in my rack (samplers, modules etc) to upset the keyboard player.
The distortions can be a bit harsh and "digital" sounding, even though they are analogue from looking in the thing, however the EQ is fantastic and can sort out a wayward patch.
The other effects are very useable and easy to set-up.
I use a wide variety of guitars and they all sound good, different, but good. The exception being my Godin. This is a very jazzy guitar and the standard pickups are, er, pretty dull. I tend to use a series of patches specifically for this guitar with the mid cut a little and the top boosted.
Favourite artist sounds? Pretty esay to get somewhere near, but then I am not into copying sounds. I tend to use a nice tight clean sound, a very spacey chorus/delay sound and loads of overdriven sounds. All easy to get in the first place and all easy to change.

Never failed me!
I have played hundreds of gigs with it, in places with the dodgiest power supply imaginable and it has been fine, it has survived baggage handlers and a drummer. The first one even survived an old manager knocking it 20 feet downstairs. No worries at all.

In the UK Roland are OK for support. A bit aloof and unfriendly perhaps, but OK.

I play loads of different styles of music and although the GP16 can't compete with the other units I use live (GT-5, GT-6 and Oberheim GT-1000) due to the modelling these boxes do, it still holds it's own and has a place in my set-up. I know if I really worked at it I could get everything the GP does in the GT, but when the GP is so reliable, sounds so good and is this easy to use, why would I?
It ain't broke - don't fix it!

hmm, i never heard of the firmware update, does it make a diff, i so in love with mine, i never even thought of an upgrade, hehehe. With a decent amp, the gp-16 rulz, very ez to get great sound and tone. Editing is ez, once you use to digital gear etc..and the manual was good, providing you know what each effect is, and your not a noob right boys!

geeze, i have used mine for 10 years now, so it has seen a lot of gear/amps/guitars. Gibson, fender, paul reed, G & L, kramer, cort-usa custom, all great tone, and i do get diff tones from each etc..someone said all sound the same, but i dont think so etc..i played mine for about 8 years with a jcm 800 master lead series amp(no channel switching), and pulled 2 tubes so it acted more like a 50 watt, and ran my 16 ohm cab(marshall 1960) at 8 ohms once i pulled the 2 inner tubes etc.., awesome tone boys! also had it modified with Penta Tubes which i cant get anymore, so it a real bummer lol, so i back to el 34's ect..i run clean tubes with the gp-16 etc....so it dont break up to fast, i let the gp handle that right. i guess you figure out tricks with it after a couple years, and i love the noise suppresor, if used in a weird way, it shapes the sound way cool, all effects are real nice, cept the compressor, very cheasy, no matter what i use it with, altho, it can help the lead patch scream, i leave it off for everything else., the overdrive with the marshall stack lets my marshall still sound like a marshall, so i like that etc..i think i have a Zakk Wylde type sound that way etc.., Distortion is over the top harsh, but if you play hard hard hard core, it is good lol. The Eq is great and its a good thing they put a great parametric in it, or the unit would kinda suck, cuz it does change the tone drastically, and you have to eq it to bring it to life, and sqeeze some tone out, so if you can eq and know what u looken for, it rocks.

never had a prob with mine. i bought it new for way to much money, lol, it had only been out 1 week, i was thinking about getting the gp-8, and when i went back to the store to buy it, they had the 16, and i kinda changed my mind, altho the gp-8 has analog distortion in it and is nice and warm, i have been able to make mine sound like that with the -16 model etc..ohh i prob have done 600 gigs without a backup etc..so yes it was very reliable

never had to call etc..

i play everything from metal to jazz/blues, and it always had a sound that could be acheived for every type of song. I have been playing 17 years, and had the gp-16 for the last 10 of them. I would buy another if i lost mine, specially since they are so affordable now. My main beef with the unit is the channel switching is sometimes noticable/little slow, but you get it down pact if you practice with your band and use it constantly etc..i think its much more noticable when playing alone than with our band etc..and there is always ambience live that kinda covers it etc..i would say this unit probably helped me write a bunch of songs just because of the sound i was getting, u get inspired when u have a good sound, or playing around with it and you come up with sometin new, and it makes you write a new style song etc..i think it helped my creativity drastically. Dont get me wrong, i play a Mesa Boogie trem a verb now, because the band went into a deep dark sound, but, i feel very limited the way i have to write with my mesa, and it always sound the same, dark and crunch! i dont like the gp- with it upfront of my mesa, because i have it runnen really hot tubes, but my brother has the same amp with 6l6's in it and preamp tubes for good clean sounds and it sounds great with his mesa setup. Also, there is no way to get rid of the dry signal without being a wacky mo fo, so u cant really use it in the loop, if someone has figured that one out please lemme no lol-for a while i ran mine with the pitch shifter set to 0 and ran it 100% wet and this allowed it to work in the loop etc...but i have other things that just seem'd to work better in a loop for that kinda setup(alesis quadraverb), i dont get phase probs with it, so when i run the mesa, i run the quadraverb for effets, sowy for mentioning another product, i still like my gp-16 setup better, but the band makes me run the mesa RAW lol, aight! If anyone wants to email me, or swap patches etc..i have patches tweaked for lots of amps etc..mesa boogie, marshall jcm 800 master lead series, fender hot rod deville(clean is awesome with that amp and gp lol), Stevie Ray would be proud man. I have a few songs i recorded with the gp-16 and my marshall, goto www.lostsoulsband.com, the 2 songs are Drink Some Wine and Love for Life, all parts were done with the marshall and gp-16, but i double them with a 2101 from digitech for a slightly diff tone etc..i think the solo's were even double'd lol. dont laugh at my playing ok. Those 2 songs are heavy rock sounding songs, but not death metal etc..

GOOD

SOUND QUALITY IS VERY GOOD. SO MANY POSSIBILITIES MAKE EFFECT HUNTING A VERY LONG PROCESS (YEARS). I DISCOVERED THE BEST WAY TO GET CONSISTENTLY GOOD SOUND OUT OF MY AMP IS TO PLUG MY GUITAR DIRECTLY INTO THE AMP FIRST, AND ADJUST VOLUME AND TONE FOR THE BEST CLEAN TONE. THEN I PUT THE GP-16 IN LINE, AND GET THE BEST SOUND, TIME AND TIME AGAIN.

IT USED TO BE DEPENDABLE... UNTIL I REPLACED ITS BATTERY. I TRANSFERED MY PATCHES VIA A MIDI CABLE TO ANOTHER GP-16, REPLACED THE BATTERY, AND RELOADED THE DEFAULT PATCHES PER THE MANUAL'S INSTRUCTIONS. SOME PATCHES DIDN'T LOAD, AND THE UNIT DOES SOME STRANGE THINGS.
DOES ANYBODY ELSE HAVE THE SAME EXPERIENCE?

WHAT CUSTOMER SUPPORT???
IF IT EXISTS, I WISH I KNEW WHERE THEY WERE HIDING!

THIS PUPPY IS VERSITILE, BUT JUST LIKE THE GT-6, ROLAND MISSED THE BOAT WHEN IT COMES TO ECHO.
WHAT I MEAN IS THAT IF YOU ARE PLAYING WITH ECHO, AND YOU SWITCH PATCHES, THE NEW PATCH CUTS OFF THE FIRST SOUND. IF THE ECHO FROM THE FIRST PATCH FADED AFTER THE PATCH CHANGE, THE TRANSITION WOULD BE SMOOTH.