Boss GT-1

[rpjazzguitar]

No erasing layers on the looper though, it erases the whole thing..

I like the Boss Gt-1, cheap, portable and decent sounding. Basic limitation is, only two buttons for changing patches, so you have to do a lot of scrolling. My only gripe is I can't really make my windows 7 PC see it, its driver isn't signed by Microsoft and can't be installed. I managed to connect it one time only. Not that big a deal, I made sounds myself, but still.. I should try Asio4all drivers maybe. Anyone managed to use the Gt-1 with Windows 7?

It looks like you may be able to avoid some scrolling with clever use of the Assign functions. If your patches have few enough elements, you can assign them to the CTL button. In fact, apparently, you can attach two outboard buttons and assign six things to each of them. So, with some planning, you may be able to get several different sounds in a single patch. The button at the toe of the volume pedal may be another way to do it.

I'm trying to get three basic sounds in one patch and that's it. If and when I get that patch worked out, I'll copy it to several User slots so that I get the same thing even if I hit + or - by accident. What I'm after is a clean tone for comping and some soloing -- think traditional jazz guitar. A solo tone that has several elements to give more weight to the notes. And, finally, using the expression pedal as a way to sweep from clean to distorted, while somehow keeping the volume under control.

[rpjazzguitar]

Update:

This is more of a review of the unit, now that I've spent some time with it.

I was able to install the Tone Studio software on my Windows 10 laptop with a little bit of difficulty. At first, it didn't install - with no error message. A google search quickly revealed that I needed to d/l an Adobe product first. Then it worked.

I never found a help file or tutorial although I think there is one someplace. So, it took some experimentation to figure out how the software manages the parameters. With one notable exception (the limited assign function on the left of the screen), it was logical enough. There are a lot of things that can be adjusted though, so it takes some time to understand all the things you can control.

It's possible to do everything from the device itself, but not necessarily so easy. One of my patches used 4 of the 6 Assigns, with multiple parameters within each. Troubleshooting that without an overall visual representation would have been a lot harder.

That said, I was able to get what I was after. The patches ended up sounding pretty good, although I'll probably continue to tweak them. I was able to get the expression pedal to sweep the tone from clean to distorted, which is a sound I've had in my head since I first heard Don Randi do it on synth decades ago. It took some tweaking to get it to sound smooth, not noisy and at close to the volume of the clean note. It's still not quite what I have in mind, but I have some confidence that I'll be able to nail it with some more work.

I ended up with two patches, each of which changes significantly with the CTL button. Two sounds in the first patch. In the second patch the CTL button changes the EXP1 pedal into a drive control, so I can sweep to distorted. I copied Patch 1 to Patch 3 and Patch 5 and likewise for the even numbered patches. That way, if I want to change to the other patch I can hit either the + or the - button. That's to reduce error.

I've had good luck with Boss quality. This one has more plastic than my ME80, but, otoh, I bought it partly for decreased weight.

There ought to be an on off switch, but there isn't. You turn it on by plugging into the input jack. Eventually, the repetitive stress is likely to break the jack off the board (which is how I'm guessing it's connected) and I'll have to go inside the unit and resolder it. It may be worth getting a right angle plug, a three inch wire and a female jack and taping the female jack to the side of the unit -- and plugging into that - to reduce stress on the unit's input jack.

Tweaking something on the fly is not the strength of this unit. For example, it has both parametric and graphic EQ but it's a fair amount of clicking to make an adjustment. Adjusting, say, the amount of reverb would require hitting an edit button, scrolling to the reverb icon, clicking enter, adjusting one or more parameters, clicking enter to get to the second reverb screen, adjusting more parameters, if needed, and saving the result. On the ME80, reverb is adjusted by clicking edit and twirling the reverb knob. You can save with one more click. That's a difference, not a weakness. The GT-1 is advantageous because it's so small and it has a ton of options. The price for that combination of features is menu scrolling.

It fits in the pocket of the M80 guitar bag. I'm probably going to get the M80's Tick, which is an accessory bag that's designed to attach to the rings on the guitar bag. With that, I can eliminate the bag I use for the ME80, cables and so forth. Guitar bag on my back, Little Jazz in one hand and that's it for most situations I play.

Overall, I'm happy with it so far.

[Alter]

I use the ctr button for delay tap time in delay patches, and for boost or overdrive in others. I foresee lots of fun with this pedal in the future, decent sounding, cheap, practical! Great solution for direct playing.

Still have to tweak a bit (which i m always bored to do with these machines), but here are two patches i did, one clean one bluesy..

[rpjazzguitar]

Now after a few weeks use in different settings, I thought I'd expand my review.

The device has enormous capability. But, with three footswitches, three knobs and a handful of buttons, you're going to be scrolling through menus to control them.

My initial needs were simple. A clean sound and a processed sound. Rather than use presets, I started from scratch.

For my clean sound, I started by adding reverb only. Later, I added some EQ. I tried different output settings and settled on JC-120.

I then assigned all my parameters for my processed sound to the CTL button.

So, I got my two sounds with the same patch. The CTL button toggled between them.

Simple.

Here's what went wrong.

To access the tuner, you press the left and center footswitches. To access the looper you press center and right. To toggle between my sounds required pressing the rightmost footswitch.

Size 9 EE shoes. Too wide for comfort.

I thought I turned the looper off in a settings menu, but, somehow, it didn't go away. Apparently, I tried to hit CTL and ended up catching the middle button too. I realized it when I started hearing another guitar playing odd notes. -- and realized the looper was on. In a public situation. Oops. I have since turned it off successfully. I believe it's possible to assign that combination of footswitches to do something else, which will be nothing. That is, if I hit them by accident, I don't want them to do anything.

Then, I loaned my rig to another player at a jam and he somehow managed to go 10 patches northward, ending up on U13 instead of U3. I was watching him and I know he didn't hit the footswitch 10 times. I figure his foot most have brushed against the patch change knob. So, I reassigned the knob to reverb level, which is more useful to me.

And, with that, the demons seemed to be tamed. I've used it for several hours more with no mishaps like that.

I carried it in the M80 case large pocket with two cables (one quite short - and that helped - it's tight). Put the power supply in the upper pocket. I had to put my strap in with the guitar. But, it all fit. A set of batteries lasted something like 6 or 8 hours. I didn't time it, so that could be off. I had my old, larger, ME80 with me the whole time and never used it. To be fair, the ME80 processed patch still sounds better but that's probably a matter of tweaking the GT-1 settings. And, that brings me back to the beginning, which is that tweaking the settings is unpleasant.

I worked on my patch using the Windows software. Trying to do it on the device would be difficult. I developed a more complicated patch (not the one described above) which I don't think I could have done on the unit at all. I could have used a tutorial on the software. I think there is one, but somehow, I didn't find it. I was able to figure it out and, once you see how it's organized, it's straightforward enough.

There was a moment where I wanted to adjust EQ while on stage. I would have had to use a FX module -- after making sure I wasn't already using it for something else. Then walk through the scrolling to get the adjustment I wanted out of a 7 band graphic EQ. Way too much to think about while playing. On the ME80 it would have been a click and knob-twist to turn on the EQ module. Then knobs for four bands. That would take less than 10 seconds. Further adjustments would be simply twisting a knob.

So, the GT-1 has more capability and is way smaller and lighter. The user interface suffers, unavoidably, because there isn't enough room on the unit for all the controls you would need to make it easier to use.

For my application, which is pretty simple, I like it. I can show up to a venue (that already has an amp) with just the guitar case on my back and have everything I need. I add an extension cord inside the case, but I could leave that out and just carry spare batteries.

I used it with my DV Mark Little Jazz and it sounded great. I also used a Hot Rod Deluxe. I turned the bass all the way down and I wanted even less bass (Comins GCS-1). That was when I thought about EQ. I ended up turning down mids and bringing up treble a bit, both on the amp. Not perfect. I'd have had an easier time with the ME80 at that moment.

Edit: I later compared it to my ME80 and found that there was a harshness to the GT-1. When I set the GT-1 on tuner, which bypasses most of the electronics, but not the volume pedal, the harshness disappeared. I went back to my patch, which seemed to have reverb and nothing else. I turned off the reverb. Harshness remained. Then, I started at the left at went through the various sound modules one at a time. Each was listed as "off" until the Noise Suppressor. It didn't have an on-off. Rather, it had a dial, which, when twisted all the way counter clockwise, resulted in "off". And the harshness seemed to disappear.

Moral: It is doggone hard to tell what you've got in your patch. This is not an easy device to use. One may have to dive deep.

Final Edit: I returned it to GC for full refund today. Kudos to them. It took less time to return it than it did to buy it. Couldn't have been better.

I got through all the stuff above, about learning to use it, idiot-proofing it and getting my sounds programmed. Then, I started taking it everywhere in place of the ME80. I found that I couldn't control the volume well enough using the volume pedal. Too much of the variation occurs in too short a range on the pedal. I found that I'd start a tune too quietly or, when I wanted a little more volume, I got a quick blast. It wasn't anywhere near linear and the increase wasn't gradual. As far as I know, there's no way to change that. I'm not even sure that the electronics are different than the ME80 -- but the pedal itself is shorter. That makes an inch of toe-down change the pot position less on the ME80 than the GT-1. That was the deal breaker. I appreciate how much they packed into something not much bigger or heavier than a textbook, but I just couldn't make it work for my purposes.

[Henrik]

I have been searching for patches in Pat Metheny style for the GT-1. Anyone know a download or have a good setting to share?