Okay - it's time to pipe up with my opinions about my long-since-sold GT-10B...
What I noticed about the compression, using my own ears, gear, as well as considering the fact that they got ho hum reviews: The AD conversion on that unit is weird - in fact in the specs it mentions "Adaptive Focus Method" - I have no idea what this is, but to my ears it = COMPRESSED sounding.
I struggled and struggled to find a useable compression setting on the GT-10B - IIRC there were two models that were just peachy soundwise, but getting a setting together that actually did something, but then didn't sound squashed on a gig......fuhgetaboutit.
I finally clued in during an A/B test that what I originally *thought* was a difference in the frequency response (I found I needed a boost at around 500hz with a clean all-effects-off sound and in the actual bypass of the unit) was actually a form of compression happening. Maybe not quite in the traditional sense - but close enough to be in the same ballpark. I.e. not nearly as dynamic, and with a boost in lows like you'd typically get with compression.
So, my conclusion (again, this is all IME - although I'd love to see a genuine test of this) is that it already does some compressing of the signal, and it didn't sound half bad. One could simply run through the unit with whatever effect one needed, and as long as you were going through the AD/DA you'd have the same smoothed out dynamics as you might be looking for. Any of the compressor models should be added VERY lightly.
In short, the problem with the compressors isn't so much with the modeling so much as with the conversion process in the first place.
OTHER than that, I really did like the quality of the effects, and the usefulness of the signal routing functions was superb.
In comparison, I have a Line6 M5 now - totally different ballpark (so far) with at least a couple of the compressors. To be honest the drive sounds are not as good (again, IMO) as the GT-10B - at best they're not as useful due to the lack of blend/low frequency control. I'll point out here that the GT-10B has the ability to add clean signal AND sub frequencies to every drive sound - Sooooooo very useful
I've gotten about a week in with the M5, so take that with a grain of salt.
Okay, I have a feeling I'm about to hear it from y'all.
