Hello people!
First of all I'd like to apologize for my simplified and often bad English.
I am a complete newbie on this forum, but have been playing bass for some 15 years.
I happen to own a Boss GT-10B for a couple of months now, and thought I'd share some of my views considering this product.
As many people, I have been thinking a lot too (prior to buying the Boss), whether to get the Line 6 POD X3 or the GT10-B.
I happen to be quite familiar with the Line 6 products, and my initial approach was slightly leaning towards the X3. However I had no serious encounters with BOSS processors for a couple of years, and had a feeling that I should give this one a try. I still own my first multi-fx unit, a BOSS ME-6B, mostly for emotional reasons, but I don't use it quite much. I realized a couple of years ago the supremacy of the POD XT series over the GT 6 series, and simply haven't dealt with BOSS that much since.
The GT-10B seemed like an okay thing based on the brochures and various demos. So did the X3. Both units have a parallel signal chain, and are based around that concept.
Finally I'd got a X3 Live from a friend of mine and spent some hours tweaking it. I realized it is basically TWO parallel Pod XT's with all the expansions. It is plastic, fragile, and not the most trustworthy considering its construction, but it sounds very much ok. No big audible sonic improvements compared to the POD XT. The same thing with more options.
Having figured out that both effects have their respective drawbacks and advantages, and having faith in my tweaking ability, I realized that in either case I'd be missing something, and would eventually end up overtweaking the patches in order to sound the way I want to.
For no particular reason I decided to buy the Boss, and try it out.
(there is no return policy 'round here, so that means that I'd practically doomed myself to owning one)
After a couple months my impressions are:
pros:
Steady construction.
The COSM amps have been improved. The simulations now actually resemble the actual amps, and this being Boss' weakest point so far compared to Line 6, means a huge plus for this unit.
It is possible to program it in such a way that the delays and reverbs die off naturally after you change a patch. Impossible on any Line 6.
The signal can be split to the two signal chains based on frequency (x-over frequency can be set from 100 Hz to 4kHz, I think, I use it at 100Hz) (I haven't found that option on the X3, although I am not 100% sure it doesn't have this option), so you can for instance leave your subs uneffected and live-sounding, and play around with various effects in the other chain without the fear of loseing your low-end.
The distortion and preamp sections both have a "bottom level" parameter (beside the regular direct level and effect level parameters), that allows you to dial back the sub-frequencies only. Something like a "direct low". I find this quite usefull.
cons:
The general tweakability has been reduced in order to make this thing easier to use. It still has more options than the POD X3 (such as assigning controllers and similar stuff), but is way less complex (and with less options) than previous GT multi FX.
In my opinion if one doesn't know what a parameter does, and needs the EZ TONE for adjustments, he should be using simple pedals with three knobs instead of playing around with physics. In other words, if one's stupid, one shouldn't be using clever equipment, that is the sollution, not trying to make equipment for retards. IMO. The GT-10B is so dummy-proof and user-friendly that you actually HAVE TO be an idiot to be satisfied with the way of operating it. That's not a con necessarily.
There are two signal chains, but ONLY ONE SET OF EFFECTS!!! BEWARE!!!
This means you're either stuck with using the same preamp AFTER both chains, or using no preamp on one of them.
Same goes for distortion (only 1), reverb, etc... The effects can be placed at any position in any chain, but having only one effect per section (except for the effects in the FX section, as these are practically doubled, in other words the two FX sections have the identical set of effects) is a notable limit of possibilities.
And the major drawback is the bass synth, which is an utter disgrace. Even the crappy ME-6B sounds millions of light years ahead that crappy plastic bullcrap the GT-10B's offering under the name "bass synth". I have spent hours and hours tweaking it (just to mention that I happen to know quite a lot about all those parameters, I am not an "EZ Tone" guy, and am quite skilled with FX) and have achieved some decent sounds, but:
-they all need some major and radical EQing
-they need some radical make-up (modulations, distortions, whatever) to hide the very basis of the tone that is crappy.
-and they all sound crappy again, once you compare the result to any other bass synth pedal (untweaked!!!), even the ME-6B.
The chorus (the regular one, not the one in the FX section) is the worst I've heard so far from a Boss unit. The multi band chorus is a little bit better.
Almost impossible to get a light chorus sound. It sounds okay while practicing alone, but gets lost within a band. On the other hand, if you turn its level up enough to be audible with a band, it is too much.
I own a Digitech Bass mutichorus pedal, which is not a top of the line pedal, but it is possible to achieve a mild, light, but present chorus sound with. Not with the GT-10B. At least not that good and not that easily.
Comparisons of some emulated pedals with actual pedals:
I compared the built in BD-2 overdive with my actual one. I believe their frequency characteristics would be quite the same if measured, so basically the Gt's BD does what the real one does. Theoretically only. Once I switched off the OD section and turned on the loop with the real BD in it the sound has gained another dimension. The simulation lacks some depth, and the highs on it are noticeably more artificial than the actual pedal.
I also compared the GT's Bass driver, with a behringer BDI21, which is also a ripoff of the Sansamp Bass Driver DI.
They sound very very much alike. Having previously compared the BDI21 with a real Sansamp BassDriver DI, I dare to state that the GT's bass driver is much closer to the original, than the BD2 is to its respective original.
I have a Marshall GV2 also, but I have lended it to a friend of mine, so I cannot make a relevant comparison yet, until I get my original back.
I also did a comparison of the Big Muff simulation to my actual Russian Big Muff, and came to similar conclusions as with the BD2. The emulated Big Muff can be tweaked to sound very similar to the original, but lacks the actual fuzzy character (sounds like a trebly distortion compared to the original), lacks depth and warmth, and some of the lows are lost (but that can be fixed easily with the bottom level parameter). Note that the simulation is probably of the USA made Big Muff, while the pedal I own is a Russian made one, that is known for having more low-end.
Some other observations:
The blue LED display can be very annoying sometimes. On dimly lit stages it can be seriously disturbing. I have thought about changing the LEDs in the display to some less "shouting" ones. The display, the red LED buttons, and it's silver housing look too "metro", "hyper", "cyber", ...(you name it)... and for no particular reason. Okay, it has some style, but IMO a wrong one. As if a Massey Ferguson had fluorescent spoilers or something...
It is too big for most of the regular bags, that's one more thing to keep in mind too. Boss sells a bag for this baby, but it's (around here at least) almost half the price of the actual GT10B.
The phrase looper is a nice toy. Unfortunately it's tempo cannot be set to BPM, but is determined when the pedal is pressed. I cannot think of any rational use of this feature besides self accompanied and otherwise unaccompanied soloing. No good in a band situation live, unless your drummer can hear your bass extreamly clearly and very loud, which is not quite common.
Bootom line:
If i had to choose NOW between the POD X3 and the BOSS GT-10B, I'd wait for a new product.
Nevertheless, I like it. I haven't regreted buying it, for I was very much aware that there'd be things I won't be satisfied with, and these turned out to be the lack of some options previously present on GT series, the single set of effects for 2 chains, a weak chorus, and a worst ever bass synth.
...oh, yeah, almost forgot: The wahs aren't agressive enough either if used with distortion. IMO. A standard for Boss.
Cheerz!
First of all I'd like to apologize for my simplified and often bad English.
I am a complete newbie on this forum, but have been playing bass for some 15 years.
I happen to own a Boss GT-10B for a couple of months now, and thought I'd share some of my views considering this product.
As many people, I have been thinking a lot too (prior to buying the Boss), whether to get the Line 6 POD X3 or the GT10-B.
I happen to be quite familiar with the Line 6 products, and my initial approach was slightly leaning towards the X3. However I had no serious encounters with BOSS processors for a couple of years, and had a feeling that I should give this one a try. I still own my first multi-fx unit, a BOSS ME-6B, mostly for emotional reasons, but I don't use it quite much. I realized a couple of years ago the supremacy of the POD XT series over the GT 6 series, and simply haven't dealt with BOSS that much since.
The GT-10B seemed like an okay thing based on the brochures and various demos. So did the X3. Both units have a parallel signal chain, and are based around that concept.
Finally I'd got a X3 Live from a friend of mine and spent some hours tweaking it. I realized it is basically TWO parallel Pod XT's with all the expansions. It is plastic, fragile, and not the most trustworthy considering its construction, but it sounds very much ok. No big audible sonic improvements compared to the POD XT. The same thing with more options.
Having figured out that both effects have their respective drawbacks and advantages, and having faith in my tweaking ability, I realized that in either case I'd be missing something, and would eventually end up overtweaking the patches in order to sound the way I want to.
For no particular reason I decided to buy the Boss, and try it out.
(there is no return policy 'round here, so that means that I'd practically doomed myself to owning one)
After a couple months my impressions are:
pros:
Steady construction.
The COSM amps have been improved. The simulations now actually resemble the actual amps, and this being Boss' weakest point so far compared to Line 6, means a huge plus for this unit.
It is possible to program it in such a way that the delays and reverbs die off naturally after you change a patch. Impossible on any Line 6.
The signal can be split to the two signal chains based on frequency (x-over frequency can be set from 100 Hz to 4kHz, I think, I use it at 100Hz) (I haven't found that option on the X3, although I am not 100% sure it doesn't have this option), so you can for instance leave your subs uneffected and live-sounding, and play around with various effects in the other chain without the fear of loseing your low-end.
The distortion and preamp sections both have a "bottom level" parameter (beside the regular direct level and effect level parameters), that allows you to dial back the sub-frequencies only. Something like a "direct low". I find this quite usefull.
cons:
The general tweakability has been reduced in order to make this thing easier to use. It still has more options than the POD X3 (such as assigning controllers and similar stuff), but is way less complex (and with less options) than previous GT multi FX.
In my opinion if one doesn't know what a parameter does, and needs the EZ TONE for adjustments, he should be using simple pedals with three knobs instead of playing around with physics. In other words, if one's stupid, one shouldn't be using clever equipment, that is the sollution, not trying to make equipment for retards. IMO. The GT-10B is so dummy-proof and user-friendly that you actually HAVE TO be an idiot to be satisfied with the way of operating it. That's not a con necessarily.
There are two signal chains, but ONLY ONE SET OF EFFECTS!!! BEWARE!!!
This means you're either stuck with using the same preamp AFTER both chains, or using no preamp on one of them.
Same goes for distortion (only 1), reverb, etc... The effects can be placed at any position in any chain, but having only one effect per section (except for the effects in the FX section, as these are practically doubled, in other words the two FX sections have the identical set of effects) is a notable limit of possibilities.
And the major drawback is the bass synth, which is an utter disgrace. Even the crappy ME-6B sounds millions of light years ahead that crappy plastic bullcrap the GT-10B's offering under the name "bass synth". I have spent hours and hours tweaking it (just to mention that I happen to know quite a lot about all those parameters, I am not an "EZ Tone" guy, and am quite skilled with FX) and have achieved some decent sounds, but:
-they all need some major and radical EQing
-they need some radical make-up (modulations, distortions, whatever) to hide the very basis of the tone that is crappy.
-and they all sound crappy again, once you compare the result to any other bass synth pedal (untweaked!!!), even the ME-6B.
The chorus (the regular one, not the one in the FX section) is the worst I've heard so far from a Boss unit. The multi band chorus is a little bit better.
Almost impossible to get a light chorus sound. It sounds okay while practicing alone, but gets lost within a band. On the other hand, if you turn its level up enough to be audible with a band, it is too much.
I own a Digitech Bass mutichorus pedal, which is not a top of the line pedal, but it is possible to achieve a mild, light, but present chorus sound with. Not with the GT-10B. At least not that good and not that easily.
Comparisons of some emulated pedals with actual pedals:
I compared the built in BD-2 overdive with my actual one. I believe their frequency characteristics would be quite the same if measured, so basically the Gt's BD does what the real one does. Theoretically only. Once I switched off the OD section and turned on the loop with the real BD in it the sound has gained another dimension. The simulation lacks some depth, and the highs on it are noticeably more artificial than the actual pedal.
I also compared the GT's Bass driver, with a behringer BDI21, which is also a ripoff of the Sansamp Bass Driver DI.
They sound very very much alike. Having previously compared the BDI21 with a real Sansamp BassDriver DI, I dare to state that the GT's bass driver is much closer to the original, than the BD2 is to its respective original.
I have a Marshall GV2 also, but I have lended it to a friend of mine, so I cannot make a relevant comparison yet, until I get my original back.
I also did a comparison of the Big Muff simulation to my actual Russian Big Muff, and came to similar conclusions as with the BD2. The emulated Big Muff can be tweaked to sound very similar to the original, but lacks the actual fuzzy character (sounds like a trebly distortion compared to the original), lacks depth and warmth, and some of the lows are lost (but that can be fixed easily with the bottom level parameter). Note that the simulation is probably of the USA made Big Muff, while the pedal I own is a Russian made one, that is known for having more low-end.
Some other observations:
The blue LED display can be very annoying sometimes. On dimly lit stages it can be seriously disturbing. I have thought about changing the LEDs in the display to some less "shouting" ones. The display, the red LED buttons, and it's silver housing look too "metro", "hyper", "cyber", ...(you name it)... and for no particular reason. Okay, it has some style, but IMO a wrong one. As if a Massey Ferguson had fluorescent spoilers or something...
It is too big for most of the regular bags, that's one more thing to keep in mind too. Boss sells a bag for this baby, but it's (around here at least) almost half the price of the actual GT10B.
The phrase looper is a nice toy. Unfortunately it's tempo cannot be set to BPM, but is determined when the pedal is pressed. I cannot think of any rational use of this feature besides self accompanied and otherwise unaccompanied soloing. No good in a band situation live, unless your drummer can hear your bass extreamly clearly and very loud, which is not quite common.
Bootom line:
If i had to choose NOW between the POD X3 and the BOSS GT-10B, I'd wait for a new product.
Nevertheless, I like it. I haven't regreted buying it, for I was very much aware that there'd be things I won't be satisfied with, and these turned out to be the lack of some options previously present on GT series, the single set of effects for 2 chains, a weak chorus, and a worst ever bass synth.
...oh, yeah, almost forgot: The wahs aren't agressive enough either if used with distortion. IMO. A standard for Boss.
I use it that way all the time. The output level (not of the XLR outs, but of the regular 1/4'' jacks) can be set to either +4 or -10 dB level, and in case you're plugging into a power amp "+4" is the way to go. That way the output amp settings and the output level knob remain in function, so you can set your volume as you like, and the SUB OUTs are still free and can be used for any other DI-related purpose (FoH mixer, recording, you name it...)
Yes.
Cheerz!
Very informative post Secracon......
