TASCAM CD-GT1mkII

A little time with the manual is all that's required. This is not rocket science, but many people are so used to instant gratification that they will complain anyway. Editing is easy if desired. I didn't get this for the editable effects, I got it to learn licks.

I use this with all my guitars, Teles, Strats, LPs and a few others. The MKII makes the sounds of the guitars kind of similar, but that's not the point, right? You want a "killer" sound, why are you wasting your time with a learning tool?
The FX are adequate and can be altered if needed. Again, who cares?
The main, for me the only thing is does it completely fall apart when slowing down/retuning a passage of music - and the answer is no. I 've been able to learn a lot of new licks from this gadget with an absolute minimum of fuss and frustration. Loops are easy to set and seamless in playback. If you can't make out the notes you need here, you may want to consider a hobby change. I give it an 8 because I must compromise between the facts that it is certainly not pristine sound, but it does what you need it to do. I'd give it a 10 if I was just rating useability. Those who diss it for not being pristine completely miss the point, like the guys who give a low rating to a guitar for not coming out of the box all set up to their personal satisfaction or a small tube amp for not shredding well.

So far, no problems. I don't take it on the road. I would have paid a LOT more if I needed a tank. Built like any other personal audio device.

No experience.

I get licks from Buddy Guy, BB, Freddy and Albert etc. and it works like a dream. I learn by listening, not by tab, and this fills the bill 100%. I love it.

Reading the manual and spending a little time to learn to use it is a must. There is very little intuitive functions beyond simply playing a CD.

As a full-time instructor with students from 5 year old beginners to pro performers, I find this to be the most useless of any teaching tool I've used. Tascam has spend big bucks marketing the variable speed/constant pitch feature but it is absolutely terrible. My beginning students (and I must admit, even I) can barely tell the notes when we slow down a CD. It's the worst with single note training disc such as the FastTracks series by Hal Leonard. If you use Guitar Pro software you have a much better tool than this.

It's built very cheaply. Buy the padded carrying case and be very careful with it. By the way - the case with the built-in speakers is a pretty good product. They work with anything that has a headphone jack.

I've used Tascam and Teac products for more than 30 years in every capacity from home stereo units to multi-million-dollar studios. I don't think I ever had a problem beyond basic maintenence so I can't say much about the customer service. Ordering parts and service manuals was always easy.

As I said, I am a big fan of Tascam, and especially Teac - except for the Guitar Trainer. I bought it with the power adapter and the padded carrying case w/speakers. Those are good products. The Guitar Trainer is not. I hope that the MP3 version would not have that digital distortion/warbling effect, but I've not read uch good about it either. Maybe it's just too much to ask. Stick with computers I guess.

I am not a technical person I did exactly as other reviewers said, I read the book and it took me less than a day to understand all functions of the unit.

I know that other reviewers said that the sound quality is not that good, that's crap.

I tweaked this thing for about 20 minutes: I used a guitar cable, reduced the 1/4" jack to and 1/8" jack, came out of the unit-direct line into my amp, set all settings at 5 and I got a killer tone.

But if you can't do this, don't bother using this machine w/cheap headphones, as the sound quality is nothing. I used AKG Studio headphones and the sound quality is brilliant.

I have used Tascam products for 25 years or longer, never a problem.

If you are expecting a tank this is not it, but it's not junk either.

My opinion on this has been from the support of my other Tascam products, I have not had a need to contact support yet on this product.

I have been playing guitar for as long as I can remember, and I can recall when I started out saying they needed to create something like this to help us learn and or speed up the process of learning the guitar, and Tascam pulled it off. Within the 1st three days, I have learned more from using this than I would have learned in 6 months without it. Other than cleaning up the sound quality at it's slowest setting (although its very comprehensible) this is the best money I have spent on gear for learning in a very long time. Just remember to read the book before starting it will help you immensley.

Tascam Rocks!!

Read the manual, like everyone says. This box does a lot and once you learn how it's super easy to use.

I play mostly roots type stuff: early country, blues, rockabilly, mostly with a telecaster. I can't comment on the harder rock type sounds and efects, because I don't really use them. The effect are all somewhat editable (again read the manual) and for a headphone practice amp it works well. I like the tones/sounds I can get out of it. I compare it to my Beringer V-amp tone wise, as befor I got this I used the V-amp for practice and just plugged in a CD player into it. The V-amp works great for this and sounds a little better and works well for recording, but this thing (Tascam) does as adverstised.
Slows down cds and lets you loop parts. It really works well for what it is.
Definetly the best piece of practice gear you can by.
Really helped my playing and is FUN to use.

I haven't broken mine yet. BUT..it does feel really cheap. I can definetly see a lot of these getting broken out there.
Also, Tascam should really include the AC adapter. Batteries are useless in this thing. Expect about an hour from fresh batteries. Just buy the adapter or you'll hate this thing.

Haven't used it. We'll see...

Overall I'd say this is a great tool. It's flexible and fun. It really will help you learn tricky riffs. Playing with instructional CDs (you know, like come with books these days) takes on a whole new dimension with this thing.
If lost or stolen (or more likely broken) I'd get another one. I use it alot and noticed my playing improving overall the first few weeks. Just loop a phrase, slow it down and gradually bring it up to speed while you play along. It's that simple.

It's not easy to use since you have to read the manual to understand what those buttons are for( not intuitive enough). Manual should have examples or a step by step procedure.

I bought this product for learning song not for its sound quality. To be fair its good enough.

This is my second trainer in two years.Cheaply made. CD cover badly designed, (this is the first part that breaks). Once I dropped it while my guitar was connected,it broke the connector (made of plastic).
I'm thinking about buying the new Boss Micro BR, this should eliminate CD getting scratched and CD Cover problem.

I play clasic rock, blues. I've been playing for 35 years. My gears are Mesa, marshalls and fender amps, Fender, G&L, Ernie ball, Peavey and Gibson guitars, assortment of beautique pedals, roland and tascam recorders, mackie mixers, GNX4, etc.
If this gear were stolen, i'll look for a better technology with the same capabilities.
What I love about this gear is, It works for the intended purpose. What i hate about this product, is that the casing cannot take the abuse that a guitarist do (opening and closing the cd player plus CD's get scratched, electronis is fine). I think it's time for me to move on to a better technology. Boss Micro BR seem promising.

Manual is pretty well written but does have a few gaps. If you take about 20 - 30 minutes and read through it first, it will make use of the system much easier. Considering all the parameters covered on such a compact unit, I think they have made this about as easy to use as possible.

Effects aren't great, but I didn't buy it for high quality effects. They can be tweaked to get a decent variety of sounds and you can bank up to 10 settings. Sound and volume can be easily adjusted in several ways.

Haven't owned long enough to test reliability. Case isn't the greatest, but as this is for practice at home, I have zero concerns about that. There doesn't appear to be any problem areas.

N/A

I have played just about every style of music in just about every setting for about 30 years. I owned an 80's Ibanez predecessor (cassette) of this type of system years ago and the advances in technology have made this unit MUCH more useful. The first day I owned it, I worked out a riff that I've been faking my way through when we cover the tune because the notes were just too fast to decipher. This unit really made it a breeze!
I can't imagine how ANYONE that wants to learn licks by ear wouldn't benefit tremendously from this tool.

Study the manual good with this one Guys and Gals. The Folks at Tascam did a really good job when it came to writing the maunal, so just be patient. It does a bit of getting use to. Once you get it dialed in it's a pretty good unit. I say pretty good because until technology catches up with us this isn't a bad unit at all. To the people who say it's junk! Well, you need to spend more time with it. The only real problem I had with it was the volume, but then again when I practice or learn licks...... I like it loud!.

When I used it I plugged my Strat into it and the volume wasn't enough to satisfy me so I hooked my Strat into a Boss Overdrive pedal and that made the sound quality definitely come around. As far as noise goes? Yeah a little buzz, but that was my Strat. The effects are pretty impressive for such a small unit. I'll probably only use a few when I plug into it, but the large selection of effects is nice to have around of you want to play around a little.

So far so good. I've had this unit for about two months now. that's why I didn't write a reveiw earlier. I like to make sure I understand the product all the way around before I recommend it or do a reveiw on anything. Personally I say go for it. It's a nice little practice tool.

No need for now

Like I said earlier. I would recommend it. I'm sure months or years down the road someone is going to come up with something better, but for now.........you can't beat it. No dislikes. features are good, manual is well written.....just slow down and read it all the way through. It's a sturdy unit for home use. I say home use. Don't expect to go out and slam it around a car trunk all the time and then complain it's not well built.

I would have to say that the manual is not all that great, but if you have half a brain you can figure it out

The thing sounds great for practicing. That is what it is for, not a studio DI box.

time will tell

time will tell

I would like to say for practicing this thing is the Best... I have been playing guitar for 25 years but I use it for pedal steel and I can place my pedal steel right in the mix and jam with all the great bands. I would say for anyone who plays a instrument that is not fun to practice by yourself this is a great tool. IE bass, pedal steel, drums, keyboard and guitar. There are people who say this thing sucks and sounds bad, they are fools, IT IS A PRACTICE TOOL, You can lower or raise the pitch of the song so you don't have to retune for songs that are not in 440. it is not a live sound FX.. Best thing I have bought for practice in 25 years.

Read the book. I all most did not buy it becuse fo the lazy bastards that wrote a revue and DID NOT READ THE BOOK.
it sounds fine.its all in the little book.

You can mix any sounds or sound.and store them,no bigie. I used mine with a Yamaha rgz112p.and I lined out to a Bose.I could have performed live like that.
I just cut back on the effects.the effects sound fine.

Just dont drop it in a bucket of water.

Good learning tool. I use it in Hotel rooms for warm ups. and it dont piss off the next room.When I cant plug the guitar in it when I am driveing I loop hard parts of songs for singing.with out a mike and just a head phones on.If I lost it YES I would buy a nuther.What I like about is it dose as avartised,+ more.I cant compare it to any other products be cuse there IS'NT ANY.It is a very good learning tool.Dont lission to the spoiled Kids that thought it came preprogramed. READ THE BOOK and dont be afrade to push the buttons.I should have had one of these ten years ago.use rechargable batterys and good headphones.And yes you can rase the VOL of thr guitar up past the VOL of the CD.Its in the BOOK

Not easy if you do not read the manual. It took about 5 minutes to figure out all the menus and navigate through them, not too bad really, but it is not layed out in a way that you could figure out the basic features without the manual.

Horrible. The worst guitar effects sound you've ever heard. I remember the Hot Watt I had in 1988 that sounded better than this thing. I've become a bit of a tone snob by way of the boutique gear and internet message boards inflating my gas, I must admit, but I didn't expect much at all from this thing and it was worse than my lowest expectations. On top of that, the CD player sound quality is overall poor and the slow down is absolutely abismal. That's the whole point of the thing isn't it? To slow down CD's so you can the parts or practice them. I figured this would be a nice gadget to take with me on trips so I could work on chops. No way. It's damn near useless with the stuttering and digital mess that comes out. Sure, it's slower but you can barely hear the music through the garbled digital junk. I've experienced this sound when slowing down tracks on the computer, but not to this extent. I can't express just how much I hate this thing.

Who cares?

Again, I don't care. I've used Tascam products in the past and had no real complaints.

I've been playing for 20 years, mostly rock and blues, been in about 8 or so bands over the years playing lead and rhythm. I own a bunch of great equipment (Bogner XTC, Naylor Electraverb, Gibson Historic Black Beauty, Gibson LP Standard, Fender CC '56 strat, EVH Charvel.....a ton of other guitars and effects) but I can also appreciate lower priced stuff for it's usefulness. Things don't have to cost a lot to be good quality and useful.

I'm taking this back to the store to find something else that I'll actually use. I was very disappointed. I warn you not to bother with this thing, especially young guitarists trying to get a tool to improve their playing. It's a great concept but it doesn't deliver. I wish Line6 would make something similar along the lines of their POD's. I love my PODxt through computer speakers and practice that way all the time. I was hoping for something portable to use in similar ways, but the sound (even through good headphones) is just bad and the slow down feature doesn't work well at all. I have a few guitar students and I hope I didn't mention I was getting one of these units.