GT6b use help

audienceofone · #1 02-22-2008, 07:20 AM

Hey all!
Due to the venue I play in, I bought a Boss GT6b. Now I have some questions for how others are using theirs.

I go Schecter Elite 5 > GT6b > Avalon U5 > FOH.

I get my monitor mix through an AVIOM box.

My questions are:
1. How do you arrange your patches, and pedal use?
stomps turn on/off effects or change patches?

2. Are any of the amp and speakers worth anything?

3. Is there a reason to use the Avalon rather that the DI on the GT?

4. Is the tuner any good?

Thanks in advance for any help.
Todd

shirky · #2 02-22-2008, 08:00 AM

I have kind of a love-hate relationship with my gt-6b. I can say that it's good for a bassist who plays out live and doesn't want to deal with a pedal board/individual pedals.

1) I use patches more as pedal-board "scenarios", so when I bring up a patch, each of the 4 pedals has an effect assigned to it, which I of course can turn on or off quickly. The downside is that most of the effects that I use are in FX-1 or FX-2 and so I can't assign them to different pedals. As an example, I have a patch that when brought up, doesn't do anything - all effects are off, but pedals are assigned as follows:

1-overdrive
2-chorus
3-octave down
4-slow gear

2) I haven't really gotten into the modeling.

3) I'm not really familiar with the Avalon - does that have a tube? I run direct to PA from my eden head, so the gt-6b DI would be something I'd consider as a last-resort backup.

4) The tuner is decent, I do use it. However I always tune to the 12th fret harmonic (just something I got in the habit of because older tuners couldn't handle frequencies of bass strings). It's nice that the tuner also switches the signal off so the audience doesn't have the displeasure of hearing you tune-up.

Hope this is helpful-I'm sure if you search, you'll find lots of info on the unit.

Cheers.

audienceofone · #3 02-22-2008, 08:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shirky

1) I use patches more as pedal-board "scenarios", so when I bring up a patch, each of the 4 pedals has an effect assigned to it, which I of course can turn on or off quickly. The downside is that most of the effects that I use are in FX-1 or FX-2 and so I can't assign them to different pedals. As an example, I have a patch that when brought up, doesn't do anything - all effects are off, but pedals are assigned as follows:

1-overdrive
2-chorus
3-octave down
4-slow gear

3) I'm not really familiar with the Avalon - does that have a tube? I run direct to PA from my eden head, so the gt-6b DI would be something I'd consider as a last-resort backup.

How do you have the pedals in that order, it looks like pedal 1 is only comp/limiter or wah?

The Avalon to the best of my knowledge is a very nice DI and that is about it, with some preset eq selections.

I am trying to read through all the old posts

audienceofone · #4 02-22-2008, 09:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shirky

1-overdrive

What settings do you use for overdrive?

shirky · #5 02-22-2008, 10:13 AM

Hello again. You have caused me to have to break out the unit (already packed for a gig tomorrow).

I stand corrected in the pedal order that I posted. I have about 5 user patches that I use at any one gig. I play in a 3-piece rock band doing originals and covers. I use effects to emulate sounds on recordings, and just to keep things interesting.

Anyway, I use the unit for slow gear, synth, octave up, octave down, T-wah, phaser, chorus, reverb. I haven't really played with the overdrive - sorry. Although, I believe that we'll be learning a Muse song for which I'll have an excuse to delve into the overdrive/distortion realm.

Also - I don't use the compressor at all - I have it turned off. Instead, I am using the compressor on my eden amp (the gt-6b is in my amp's effect loop, not between my bass and the amp). I figured since I had the ability to use my tube compressor, I would...although if I had all the time in the world I would do more experimentation with the unit's compression.

So, an example of one of my patches:

pedal 1:WAH
2: fx-1 octave down
3: chorus
4: reverb

Mostly I would use this setting to turn octaver and chorus on or off-probably wouldn't use the two together. As previously mentioned, one of the constraints on the unit is that you cannot assign just any effect to one of the 4 individual effect pedals. Ideally, mine would be:

1: slow gear
2: synth
3: ocatver
4: T-Wah

I am hopeful that the new GT-10B will allow that.

Cheers.

g00eY · #6 02-22-2008, 10:23 PM

Here is an example of the patch I use most frequently:
1. Compressor on/off (almost always on)
2. OD/Distortion on/off
3. Chorus on/off
4. Delay on/off
5. (ctl pedal) FX1/FX2 on/off
6. (sub pedal, just any normal sustain pedal for keyboard will do) tap delay time
7. (exp pedal) volume, toe down for wah

Typically I'll just copy this patch to other patches and build/modify off of it. In addition to having the compressor on most of the time, the EQ is also on. The amp and speaker modeling are typically off. IMO if you want to get the most out of this pedal, invest in the sub pedals. You can have up to two attached with the double BOSS thingy. I just have one. Or I believe you can have an eight switch midi foot controller attached and you could use these switches to change parameters (like changing the drive on the distortion by stomping).