THE GT-5 AND GP100You can click on the title below that interests you, or go back to the main

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THE BOSS GT-5THE FEEDBACKER

GT-5 GUITAR AMP SETTINGS WHICH CAN BE DI'dNON-MODELLING GT-5 SOUNDS (FOR USE WITH ANY GUITAR AMP)

GT-5 RECORDING SOUNDSUSING A GT-5 WITH A WIRELESS

GT-5 SETTINGS FOR "PULL ME UNDER"ROLAND'S GP100

ROLAND GP100 BASS SETTINGGT-5/GP100 OUTPUT DIFFERENCES

SETTING THE HARMONISERBOSS GT CENTRAL WEB SITE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE BOSS GT-5The GT-5 is the pedalboard I use for my live guitar sound. After recording my album using the Roland GP100 (which I'll be talking about later), my live sound seemed a bit naff. The main difference in sound was in the Amp simulation and compared with the ME-10, the GP100 and the GT-5 have Amp & speaker simulation which is a universe away from what the ME-10 can offer.

You can program the same values for the parameters in both the GT- 5 and the GP100 although there is one major difference. The GT-5 has a separate distortion stage. I've noticed a lot of my favourite guitarists all have awesomely expensive amps and rigs but for their solos and for extra sustain, they use a little boss overdrive pedal which pushes the input section of their guitar amp a bit harder without particularly increasing the volume. It was only after watching Steve Vai at Wolverhampton in March I decided to see if I could set up the GT-5 to simulate this.

Before talking about specific numbers, I'll explain the method of setting up the GT-5 to enable switching the extra distortion stage on and off along with other useful things such as a 4dB boost for solos, EQ, Delay, Flange and Wah On/Off. Remember - I always set these multi- fx machines up to try and emulate the sound of a traditional guitar amp/speaker set up. I think you need to establish a great basic sound before embarking on the wild noises these machines are capable of producing.

The Patch I normally use is set for a good, heavily distorted rhythm/quiet lead sound. Once this is selected I set the C (control) pedal to switch the Manual mode on. The Pedal Assign button is used to arrange this (see instruction manual).

Once you're in manual mode, you can assign pedals 1-5 plus pedal B to switch On/Off selected effects within the basic Rhythm Patch. The way I arrange the pedals is as follows:

Pedal 1: 4dB boost using the EQ section so assign EQ against 1 This is stored so that it is normally Off.

Pedal 2: Extra Overdrive stage On/Off. Normally On

Pedal 3: Delay On/Off. Normally Off.

Pedal 4: Flanger On/Off. Normally Off.

Pedal 5: Wah On/Off. Normally Off

Pedal B: Tuner On/Off. Normally Off.

Again refer to the instruction manual where it talks about Manual Mode.

You need to make sure the effects are in the right order in the Effect Chain, which can be viewed via the Master button. Effects that are off appear in lower case and effects, which are on, appear in capitals. By rotating the Value dial you can scroll along the chain and a little man stands by the effect whose status can be changed. On my machine the order is as follows:

fb-lp-wah-cs-OD-PRE-SP-eq-NS-FV-fl-dd-ce- pn-RV

Once again you can see which effects are normally on as they are represented in capitals. Although Wah, EQ Flanger and Delay are used in the patch they are normally Off so are represented in Lower case.

Regarding the order of the chain there are basic rules you should follow to get the best results.

1. Wah should come before the Overdrive/Distortion or Pre-amp stage.

2. Compression and Overdrive should come before the Pre-amp; in that order.

3. The Speaker Simulator should come directly after the Pre-amp.

4. EQ should follow the Speaker Simulator.

5. Modulation effects such as Chorus and Flanging come next.

6. Delay follows the modulation effects

7. Reverb is usually the last thing in the chain. Right, let's get down to the numbers.

Overdrive: Type: Turbo OD Drive: 0 Bass: 0 Treble: 0Level: 100

This may seem a strange set-up but the Turbo OD doesn't require anything

other than the level being at maximum. All this really does is give the Pre-amp a kick and I found the Turbo OD has the nicest sound.

Pre-amp: Type: SLDN Lead (Sounds exactly like a Soldano) Volume: 35 Bass: 100 Middle: 36 Treble: 55 Presence: 70 Master: 100 Gain: Middle

As the Pre-amp lies at the heart of my sound I shall explain why these settings work and the principles behind them.

The Soldano is supposedly a "High Gain" guitar amp. I played a Soldano back in the summer (cheers Ken!) and found it had a great rhythm sound but not enough sustain for a lead sound. What it does have is loads of "Valveness", along with a solid authoritative tone almost like a Marshall but with more class.

The Volume setting I've chosen is quite low. The effect of this is so that when you hit the Overdrive pedal you don't end up with a ridiculous amount of distortion and when you turn the Overdrive off you're left with a great crunch sound a la Bryan Adams. Also you can further clean up the sound using the volume knob on the guitar.

The Soldano doesn't generate a load of bass like, say the 5150 (Eddie Van Halen's) amp. This is great for mixing as you don't drown out the bass guitar but I have the bass on full to warm up the sound as much as possible. The beauty of the Soldano is that it cuts through the mix without adding waffle.

I turn the mid down a little to get a bit more grind. The Soldano had plenty of mid built in so you can afford to lose a bit without sacrificing feedback style sustain.

The treble is something else, which contributes to the "Grind", and the treble and presence controls are usually the difference between "Smoothness" and "Ouch!"

The Master control is set to maximum for the following reason: A valve amp always works best when the power amp section is working fairly hard - it seems to round off the sound and take off some of the jagged edges. Roland (Boss) have gone to a lot of trouble to simulate every other area of this guitar amp, so I tried setting the Master to its maximum setting to see if it had the

expected result. It definitely warms it up, not as noticeably as on some other amps but it just added that "X-factor" that you don't normally get from a Multi FX box.

The Gain setting I chose was the Middle gain, which is what Boss recommend. Nuff said.

The next most important thing to set up is the Speaker Simulator. Type: MS Stackoff Mic Set.: 1cm Mic Level: 80 Direct Level: 0

Although you can mix and match various Pre-amp/Speaker cab types, Roland/Boss obviously had a certain combination in mind when they designed this system. I borrowed a GT-3 from Lee from Lost Souls, and on the GT-3 you get a certain Speaker Type for a certain Pre-amp Type: you can't mix and match. By comparing the GT-3 with my GT-5 I found that the Soldano on the GT-3 was coupled with the MS Stackoff Speaker so I've stuck with that one.

Mic Positioning: You get the brightest sound in the middle of the speaker and it gets duller as you move away from the centre or "off-axis". I found 1cm to be about the best distance.

Mic Level: I set this to 80 rather than the maximum 100 because having passed through the Overdrive and Pre-amp sections the Meter showed that the signal was very strong to I needed to reduce it to avoid overdriving the rest of the effects in the chain.

Reverb: Type: Hall 2 (slightly warmer than Hall 1) Rev Time: 1.6 seconds Pre Delay: 10ms Low Cut: 110Hz (Reverb below this frequency adds nothing to the sound). High Cut: 4kHz (This stops the reverb sounding too "hi-fi") Density: 10 (Maximum smoothness) Effect Level: 20 (Quite subtle) Master: Master Level: 20 This is very low - mainly due to having the Master on the Pre-amp on full, but once again I used the meter to set this with and any higher might have cause distortion from the output stage.

Now would be a good time to talk about the Meter. By pressing the Utility button twice you access the Meter. You can use the

parameter buttons to assign the meter to each of the effects in the chain to see if the outputs of each effect are too strong or too weak. It's important that the meter should sit roughly at about 70-80% of its travel to avoid distortion.

The above settings make up my basic rhythm sound and I save the patch with only the effects mentioned above switched On.

The other effects which can be switched On/Off in manual mode are as follows: Wah: FX Select: WAH Pedal: 42 Level: 100 Equalizer: Low EQ: 0dB Lo-Mid f: 160Hz (Quite a nasty Low frequency which can rattle the speakers)

Lo-Mid Q: 8 (This zeros in on the 160Hz so that surrounding frequencies remain unaffected) Lo-Mid EQ: -3dB (A gentle reduction reducing the 160Hz by about 25%) Hi-Mid f: 8.00kHz Hi-Mid Q: 1 Hi-Mid EQ: 0dB (I'm not altering the 8.kHz either way) High EQ: 0dB Level: +4dB (This is my boost for solos)

The idea was to leave all the frequencies "Flat" and just boost the overall level by 4dB but I thought it would be safest to attenuate the 160Hz as it can be quite a destructive frequency and it doesn't really effect the lead sound. The 4dB boost multiplies your volume by 1.66. Flanger: FX Select: FLRate: 21 Depth: 70 Manual: 80 Resonance: 45 Separation: 0

I've been into Flangers since I heard Jake E. Lee (Ozzy's 2nd guitarist) use his to great effect on Paranoid and my flanger is set up to suit that song.

Delay: Mode: Normal Delay Type: Single Dly Time: 439ms Feedback: 30 Hold: Off

Smooth: Off High Cut: Flat Effect Level: 30 Direct Level: 100

This is a nice general delay sound, which happens to fit with the delay time required to play Pride (In The Name Of Love) by U2. It just fills the gaps between notes in a solo and makes things smoother.

Although I save the patch with these effects switched off; the settings are stored so that when you activate them via the pedals, they come on with the correct settings.

So that's my rhythm sound, which becomes my lead sound when I activate the EQ boost on pedal 1 and my Delay on pedal 3. You might wonder why I don't just save my lead sound to a different patch. Well actually I do. Some songs require me to change from my clean sound to a solo so I have a Lead patch set up identical to my Rhythm patch but with the EQ & Delay switched On. Most of the time, however I just use the Manual version of the Rhythm sound with the Delay switched On and I just hit the EQ pedal for my solos. That's why I use pedal 1 for my boost, as it's easy to hit!

My other important sound is my clean sound.

My Clean sound is set up as follows:

Compressor: On(=P1) This is one of the basic presets which Boss program into the GT-5. The parameters are as follows: FX Select: CS Sustain: 50 Attack: 40 Tone: 0 Level: 50

I have explained my reasons for using a compressor when I talked about the Boss ME-5 & ME-10 so I won't repeat myself here. Pre-amp: Type: Clean TWIN (The Fender Twin is arguably the best clean guitar tone you can get.) Volume: 65 Bass: 60 Middle: 60 Treble: 55 Presence: 65 Master: 100

Bright: On Gain: Low

These settings aren't particularly exciting. Having the Gain set to Low means I can get the Volume higher to warm up the sound without adding distortion. As with my Rhythm sound, the Master is set to 100.

Speaker Simulator: Type: TWIN on Mic Set: 4cm Mic Level: 100 Chorus: On(=P2) - Boss' standard chorus setting. Mode: Stereo Rate: 40 Depth: 50 Pre Delay: 4.0ms High Cut: FlatEffect Level: 100 Reverb: Same as for Rhythm sound.

Master: Master Level: 20 There is another sound, which is pretty essential and also quite unusual. The GT-5 has a built in Acoustic Guitar simulator. I treat this sound as though I were using a guitar loaded with a Piezo pickup of the kind used by Ovation/Takamine etc. The normal procedure is to plug this kind of guitar straight into the PA and not through a guitar amp at all. Therefore I don't use the Pre-amp or the Speaker Simulator for this sound. The settings I use are as follows:

Compressor: Same as Clean sound EQ: Same as Rhythm sound except Level: +17dB

Now this is one hell of a boost but in the absence of the Pre-amp you need some way of matching the level of the Acoustic sound with the levels of your other sounds and this way does the job cleanly.

Mod: FX Select: AC Top: 80 Body: 45 Level: 75 Reverb: Same as Rhythm sound. Master Level: 20, as before.

There are a hell of a lot of other really cool effects on the GT- 5 but I'll leave it there for now. If anyone's got any questions about the GT-5, give me a shout!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE FEEDBACKER

There are more features on the GT-5 than you could shake a stick at. One of the unique features is the FEEDBACKER. This works by playing a clear, single note, activating the Feedbacker, and the note will sustain for as long as you want. As you know, my main job consists of playing covers in pubs and one of the most requested is Gary Moore's Parisienne Walkways. The main feature of this song (I play it as an instrumental) is the long note which he holds for about 30 seconds. Gary does this using feedback which is created by standing in the right position and angle so that the sound coming from his speaker causes the string to keep vibrating. You need a certain amount of volume to do this and also you need to stand in exactly the right place to get this effect. You can imagine my panic when I'm doing one of my ultra quiet gigs and somebody asks me for Parisienne Walkways. The only thing that person is interested in is "The Note" and when it doesn't happen its "aw, he can't play like Gary Moore" etc, etc. (and often far worse).

Enter BOSS's patented FEEDBACKER!! (Hooray!)

I used this for some time prior to setting my GT-5 up in the way I do now. During this time the C pedal wasn't used so I had a patch set up so the C pedal activated the Feedbacker. The trouble now is that the C pedal is used to switch the machine into manual mode so I can access individual effects. The effects I've selected are common to all patches and I can't afford to lose any so I needed to figure out another way to activate the Feedbacker. The expression pedal has many tricks up its sleeve. I've actually managed to set it up to do the following:-i) Activate the Feedbacker ii) Control the Depth of vibrato of the "feedback" iii) Control the speed of the vibrato

What happens is the feedbacker is activated by rocking the EXP pedal past the half-way point. At its highest setting the note is stationary. As you then bring it back towards the centre you get a vibrato which goes from shallow and slow to wide and fast. You still need a fair bit of skill to make this work. If you rock the pedal below the halfway mark, you'll switch the effect off. If you scrape the lower strings (as I normally do) on your approach to "The Note" the feedbacker will sustain a lower note. You need to pick upwards and without touching the surrounding strings before whacking your foot down to activate the Feedbacker.

Here are the settings:-Set the Feedbacker to normally Off Feedbacker: Off FX Select: FB Rise Time: 0 Rise Time >: 0 F.B. Level: 15

F.B. Level >: 0 Vib Rate: 75 Vib Depth: 10

Pedal Assign: EXP pedal ON EXP Pedal Target: FB: On/Off Min: Off Max: On Assign 1: On Assign 1 Target: FB: VIB Depth Min: 100 Max: 0 (This is so you get no Vibrato with the pedal at Max) Assign 1 Source: EXP Pedal Mode: Normal Active Range: Lo 0; Hi 127 Assign 2: On Assign 2 Target: FB: VIB Rate Min: 90 Max: 75 (When pedal is at max, the Depth is 0 so you get no Vibrato. As soon as you back the pedal off, the vibrato comes in and 75 is a good speed to start off at.) Assign 2 Source: EXP Pedal Mode: Normal Active Range: Lo 0; Hi 127

This seems awesomely complicated but you get complete control over this effect and once you've practised a few times, you can sustain any note, add natural sounding vibrato and even unplug your guitar while the note continues! Trust me, its worth it just to see the look on the guy's face! Obviously you'll get accused of miming so you need to deactivate the Feedbacker smoothly, so make sure you hammer your fingers on and do a slide down at the split second you rock the pedal back.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

GT-5 GUITAR AMP SETTINGSThere are so many ways of achieving similar sounds on the GT-5.

I have certain criteria I need for my main guitar sounds:

I need enough top end for squeals and pick scrapes to jump out. I need enough sustain so that I don't have to work too hard. I like the possibility of sustain turning into feedback. I don't want so much gain that the pickups squeal. I want enough bottom end for a slight grunt when I dampen chords. I need the Top E and B strings clear so that E chords sound massive and not mushy. I need the sound to cut through the mix.

My Amp setting began life as my normal "DI into the PA" sound.

I found it didn't cut through the mix so here's what I did:Turbo OD: Drive: 12 - increased from 0 because I reduced the Pre Amp Vol. Bass: 50 - to facilitate the grunt.

Treble: 10 - to cut through a little more. Level: 75 - as I've boosted everything I've backed the level off.

Pre Amp - SLDN Lead (as ever!) Volume: 25 - to make the top strings clearer. Bass: 100 - as usual Middle: 0 - Clarity rules! Treble: 80 - a good kick up the top end Presence: 100 - For pick scrapes to tear your face off!

Speaker Simulator, EQ etc - as normal.

On my Peavey Bandit, I plug into the Power Amp socket to bypass the Pre Amp on the combo. There are still a couple of controls that you can adjust:Resonance button: This gives the speaker a real kick in the nuts! Presence control: I have this on full to maintain clarity. Tube control: This simulates the compression created by valves. I set this to about 50%.

Compared to my PA sound, this sound is harsher and generally bigger. My PA sound tends to be warmer and fatter. This is because PA speakers are far more sensitive to harsh 4kHz frequencies, plus the fact that my overall PA sound is very "Hi-Fi". Guitar amps/speakers need a bit more to get the best from them. With the settings I've described above, the sound through my combo is massive and has all of the criteria I need. My delay settings are slightly different here. I think the guitar amp compresses slightly so that the volume of decaying echoes becomes louder up to a point so I set the Delay level to 15 instead of 30. When I played directly into the PA this wasn't very effective so the Delay level needs to go up when DI-ing. You might think "why doesn't he use that sound on his solo gigs?" I set my sounds up a while ago and I tailor the EQ using the mixing desk. Also, my solo patches have different distortion settings, ie more distortion generated by the Pre-Amp and less distortion from the Turbo Overdrive. This means that crunchy "Bryan Adamsy" style rhythm sounds are possible whereas they're not with my ultimate amp sound and current switching methods.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NON-MODELLING GT-5 SOUNDS (FOR USE WITH ANY GUITAR AMP)Although I love the amp simulations on the GT-5, they can sound a little tame when you plug straight into your guitar amp. The amp models are designed to replicate the sound of well known guitar amps when plugged directly into a mixing desk. When plugging in to a guitar amp, those sounds get coloured (changed) by the amp itself.

During my time spent with the Bluetone Amp (see links page), I wanted to

hear the sound of the actual amp and so I just used the GT-5 as a distortion pedal with the DS1 setting. I connected the output from the GT-5 straight into the Input on the amp. The sound was gorgeous. Very 80's metal (not one for "Tone Lovers"!). I decided to try this setting on my own Peavey Bandit and the effect was basically the same.

A lot of well known guitarists have moved away from multi-F/X units and back to separate pedals and I can see why. As long as you have a decent, clean-ish sound coming from your guitar amp, you can achieve a lot using a distortion pedal and the controls on your guitar. Now don't get excited, I'm not going to stop using my beloved GT-5, but I will be using it differently in situations where my amp is miked up.

My new amp settings are as follows:

GT-5 Settings:Main Sound for Metal Rhythm:-OD/Dist Type: Distortion 1 Drive: 75 - 100 (I haven't decided yet!) Bass & Treble: 0 Level: 33

Master Level: 40

Output knob: 3 o'Clock

Add reverb and delay to your own taste!

For my lead sound (and I'm not sure if this will work, but it should):-Same settings as above plus: EQ: Low EQ: 0 Lo-Mid f: 160Hz Lo-Mid Q: 1 Lo-Mid EQ: -3dB Hi-Mid f: 2kHz Hi-Mid Q: 1 Hi Mid EQ: +4dB High EQ: 0 Level: -1dB

The way this should work is to make the high notes stand out more without actually increasing the overall volume. This will please the sound engineers as they'll have less work to do. To be honest the lead sound is very hard sounding on its own but my solos will work like a crowbar - forcing their way

through the mix.

One strange feature of the Flanger is that it doesn't have a level control. This is awkward as the Flanger settings I use increase the output level quite a lot. To balance this I reduce the Master by about a third on the Flanger patch and this seems to balance it with the rhythm sound.

My Flanger settings are as follows:-Rate: 21 Depth: 70 Manual: 80 Resonance: 45

My Clean sound seems to work well and are as follows: Compressor: P1 EQ: Low EQ: 0Lo-Mid f: 160Hz Lo-Mid Q: 8 Lo-Mid EQ: -4dB Hi-Mid f: 8kHz Hi-Mid Q: 1 Hi Mid EQ: -5dB High EQ: +1dBLevel: -1dB

Acoustic Simulator: Top: 80 Body: 45 Level: 75

Chorus: P2

Master: 20 (this may change - it's OK for picking but for strumming it's a little hot). What I have noticed is that I don't need to change pickups - it sounds fine with the bridge humbucker.

The settings on my Amp are as follows:- Clean ChannelAll tone controls (including Prescence) at 12 o'clock. Transtube control (on most Peavey Amps) at 10-11 o'clock.

Basically use the clean channel on your amp and set the EQ flat.

Remember - all the above settings are for connecting the output of the GT-5

into the input of the amp. Not the Power Amp or Return inputs. That's all for this GT-5 update - have fun!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

GT-5 RECORDING SOUNDS

GT-5 Recording Sounds As my GP100 lives in my studio I've programmed the GT-5 to sound the same as the GP100 so I can record on location or at other studios. I began by programming the same values for each parameter

but found I had to fine tune it slightly to get the same result. These sounds were used recently on the Judas Priest song "Dreamer Deceiver" which I recorded with the original Priest singer Al Atkins.

Lead Sound.Pre Amp.Type Metal Drive Volume 76 (Hotter than my GT-5 setting due to lack of distortion.) Bass 40 Middle 10Treble 43 (The GT-5 was a bit more piercing than the GP100) Presence 56 Master 60 (As I've increased the input volume I've reduced the Master to avoid clipping on the pre-amp output. See the GT-5 report where I talk about the Meter.) Gain Middle

Speaker Simulator. Type MS Stackoff Mic Setting 5cm Mic Level 100 Direct Level 0

Noise Suppressor. Threshold 60 (Due to extra pre-amp gain the suppressor has to work a bit harder.) Release 50 Env Input Guitar Master 30

Rhythm sounds.Left Rhythm Sound. Pre Amp. Type Metal Drive Volume 51 (Reducing this gives chords more definition) Bass 100 Middle 0 Treble 65

Presence 77 Master 60 Gain Middle

Speaker Simulator. Same as Lead Sound

Equalizer. (Overall Level changes to +1dB)Low EQ 0 Lo-Mid f 160Hz Lo-Mid EQ -3dB Hi-Mid f 1.00kHz Hi-Mid EQ -3dB High EQ 0dB Level +1dB

Noise Suppressor.Threshold 60 Release 50 Env Input Guitar

Master 30

Right Rhythm Sound. Pre Amp.Type Metal Drive Volume 51 Bass 100 Middle 0 Treble 59 Presence 61 Master 60 Gain Middle

Speaker Simulator. Same as Lead Sound

Equalizer. (Overall Level changes to +1dB) Low EQ 0 Lo-Mid f 160HzLo-Mid Q 1 Lo-Mid EQ -3dB Hi-Mid f 1.00kHz Hi-Mid EQ -3dB Hi-Mid Q 1 High EQ 0dB Level +1dB

Noise Suppressor. Threshold 50 Release 60 Env Input Guitar Master 30

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

USING A GT-5 WITH A WIRELESSIn the summer I bought a wireless system for my guitar. It's been an absolute godsend - especially in the smaller venues where guitar leads are even more of a nuisance than in big ones.

The system I bought is the Sennheiser Evolution 100 with 4 preset frequencies and 1280 tunable frequencies. Its pretty solid and a similar system was used for the contestants in Big Brother (believe it or not!)

The wireless needed to be set up as follows: Receiver Output: Max (+10dBu) Transmitter Sensitivity: -20dB (to avoid distortion)

The Input Gain Trim on the GT-5 needed to be adjusted from about 10.30 o'clock to about 1.30 o'clock to keep the signal going into the GT-5 the same. (Basically the transmitter could do with a -15dB setting rather than -20 & -10).

Using a wireless system does have a slightly detrimental effect on the guitar sound which is quite difficult to put your finger on. With a lead, the sound is slightly richer and clearer whereas with the wireless the sound becomes what I can only describe as 2D. It sounds flat and lifeless in comparison.

Note: the difference is tiny but you know what I'm like!

All I could do to inject some life back into the sound was to increase the treble content slightly without changing the character of the sound.

I did this as follows:- By using slightly different settings I recorded 16 tracks of the same tune on my recording machine. Because my Mixer has snapshot memories, I was able to store settings with different tracks muted and thereby compare very quickly between the guitar lead and the wireless system with various tweeks.

The closest I could get was to boost the Presence control from 70 to 80 on the distortion sounds. On the clean sounds I boosted the same control from 65 to 70. Using the Pre-Amp controls is preferable to using the EQ as it should sound more natural. However, my acoustic sound doesn't use the Pre-Amp so I boosted the High EQ from 0 to +1dB.

You can see from these adjustments how small the difference is when using the wireless. I'll be honest and say the richness still isn't quite there but adding that bit of top end makes the sound a bit more lively - in a tasteful way!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

GT-5 SETTINGS FOR "PULL ME UNDER"Pull Me Under Stabs.

This is the sound I created to simulate the keyboard sound during the final build up to the first verse in the Dream Theater song "Pull Me Under". The "Stabs" are created using the Tremelo/Pan section and the speed of the stabs could be varied using the expression pedal. I did this to compensate for the drummer's timing as we never played to a click track.

The settings are as follows:- OD/DS; Pre-Amp; SP Sim; EQ; & Reverb, all identical to my standard Lead sound.Tremelo/Pan: Mode: Tremelo Mod Wave: Square Rate: 85 Depth: 100 Bal: L50 R50

Pedal Assign: EXP Pedal target: PN: Rate Min: 85 Max: 89

Another sound I used for the Pull Me Under was the bendy synth part on the intro. The GT-5 has a few synth sounds on board and I set it up as follows:-I set the Compressor up because for the synth sounds to work, you need to pick the strings with a certain force. Using the Compressor evens the picking strength of each note so you don't need to be quite as accurate. I used the following settings.Sustain: 50 Attack: 40 Tone: 0 Level: 70

Equalizer: Everything set to zero except: Lo-Mid f: 160Hz Lo-Mid Q: 8 Lo-Mid EQ: -6dB Level: +12 (To compensate for lack of Pre_Amp)

Guitar Synth (Mod Section) Sens: 100 Wave: Brass Cutoff Freq: 50 Resonance: 25

FLT.Sens: 70FLT.Decay: 60 FLT.Depth: +60 Attack: 0 Release: 0 Velocity: 0 Synth Level: 100 Direct Level: 0

The Delay settings which suited this sound are as follows: Mode: Normal Dly Type: Single DlyTime: 546ms Feedback: 30 Hold: Off Smooth: Off High Cut: Flat EffectLevel: 20 Direct Level: 100

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ROLAND'S GP100

Like the Boss GT-5, the Roland GP100 is a massively powerful machine. It uses the same kind of amp and speaker simulation although it doesn't have a separate distortion/overdrive stage. One of the most impressive features of this machine is its ability to produce four harmonies including user defined ones. For now though, I'll just give you the settings I used to record my 2nd album "Freethinka".

Lead Sound:

Pre Amp. Type Metal Lead Volume 76 (Hotter than my GT-5 setting due to lack of distortion.) Bass 40 Middle 10 Treble 63 Presence 76 Master 60 (As I've increased the input volume I've reduced the Master to avoid clipping on the pre-amp output. See the GT-5 report where I talk about the Meter.) Gain Middle

Speaker Simulator. Type MS Stack 2

Mic Setting 1 Mic Level 100 Direct Level 0

Noise Suppressor. Threshold 60 (Due to extra pre-amp gain the suppressor has to work a bit harder.) Release 50 Env Input Guitar

The delays and reverbs are pretty much as I've given on the GT- 5

The only other setting I need to mention is: Master 30

Rhythm sounds:I always record my distorted rhythm tracks in stereo. Each channel has a slightly different yet complimentary tone. The resulting sound is huge and has a lot more depth than if I recorded the two tracks with an identical sound. These are the settings for my current left and right rhythm sounds.

Left Rhythm Sound.Pre Amp. Type Metal Lead Volume 51 (Reducing this gives chords more definition) Bass 100 Middle 0 Treble 85 (Obviously a bit more definition here as well.)Presence 97 Master 60 Gain Middle

Speaker Simulator. Same as Lead Sound

Equalizer. Low EQ 0Lo-Mid f 160Hz Lo-Mid EQ -3dB

Hi-Mid f 1.00kHz Hi-Mid EQ -3dB High EQ 0dB Level 0dB

Noise Suppressor. Threshold 60 Release 50 Env Input Guitar

The delays and reverbs are pretty much as I've given on the GT- 5

Master 30

Right Rhythm Sound. Pre Amp. Type Metal Lead Volume 51 Bass 100 Middle 0 Treble 79 Presence 81 Master 60 Gain Middle

Speaker Simulator. Same as Lead Sound

Equalizer. (Overall Level changes to +1dB) Low EQ 0 Lo-Mid f 160Hz Lo-Mid EQ -3dB Hi-Mid f 1.00kHz Hi-Mid EQ -3dB High EQ 0dB Level +1dB

Noise Suppressor. Threshold 50Release 60 Env Input Guitar

The delays and reverbs are pretty much as I've given on the GT- 5

Master 30

The Right Rhythm Sound is more closely related to the Lead Sound and this EQ-ing has had to work around both the Lead Sound and the Left Rhythm Sound, yet still be heard in its own right.

Clean Sound For Tom Anderson in "Strat Mode". Compressor: Sustain 50 Attack 40 Tone 0 Level 50

Pre Amp. Type Clean Twin (of course!)Volume 51 Bass 100 Middle 40 Treble 55 Presence 100Master 100Bright OnGain Low

Speaker Simulator. Type Built In 2 Mic Setting 2 Mic Level 100Direct Level 0

Noise Supressor. Threshold 0 Release 50 Env Input Guitar.

Chorus. Stereo Rate 40 Depth 50 Level 100

Clean Sound For Humbuckers. Compressor: Sustain 50Attack 40 Tone 0

Level 50

Pre Amp. Type Clean Twin (of course!)Volume 65 Bass 100 Middle 60 Treble 55 Presence 65 Master 100 Bright On Gain Low

Speaker Simulator. Type Built In 2 Mic Setting 2 Mic Level 100Direct Level 0

Equalizer. (This is how you get a Strat sound from a Les Paul...... Honest!)Low EQ 0 Lo-Mid f 400Hz (Like 500Hz - really boxy sounding.) Lo-Mid EQ -6dBHi-Mid f 3.15kHz Hi-Mid EQ +3dB (Creates a bit of a "click" as your plectrum hits the strings.) High EQ +3dB Level 0

Noise Suppressor. Threshold 0 (I didn't realise it was this low but there's not much gain in this patch.) Release 50 Env Input Guitar

Once again the Chorus, delays and reverbs are pretty much as I've given on the GT-5.

And Finally......

Master 27

For recording I've tried to make the output the same for each sound. This saves time mucking around with levels on the desk.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ROLAND GP100 BASS SETTINGOne of my favourite bands is Dream Theater and I set myself a challenge to see how close I could get to John Myung's sound with my budget (but very comely) Peavey bass. Some of these settings are quite extreme and maybe

a little sharp if you've got an active bass.Compressor: Sustain 30 Attack 0 Tone +50 Level 100

Sp Simulator: Type Built in 4Mic Setting 2 Mic Level 100 Direct Level 0

Equaliser: Low EQ +15dB Lo-Mid f 250HzLo-Mid EQ -3dB Hi-Mid f 2.5kHz Hi-Mid EQ +10dB Hi EQ +15 Level -7dB

Noise Suppressor: Threshold 70 Release 50 Master: 30

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

GT-5/GP100 OUTPUT DIFFERENCESComparing outputs between the GP100 and GT-5

The GT-5 output level is fixed at +4dB The GP100 has two settings, -10dB or +4dB.

With the GP100 set at +4dB, the output on the GT-5 is still far less than the GP100.

If the Master setting on the GP100 is 25, the Master setting on the GT-5 needs to be 60. That's nearly two and a half times as much. You can deduce that the GP100 has a far greater output than the GT- 5.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SETTING THE HARMONISERIntroduction. The instruction manuals for both the GT-5 and the GP100 are tricky to understand at best. Setting up User Scales in a harmoniser is a complicated business so I've written my version of how to do this so you can get to grips with this cool feature without fear!

The point of a User Scale is that sometimes it sounds boring if the harmoniser simply plays the same kind of harmony to every note you play. A good example of "not perfect harmonising" is Thin Lizzy's "The Boys Are Back in Town", where a combination of 3rd 4th and 5th harmonies are used within the main hook.

Setting The User Scale in the Boss GT-5 Harmoniser.

Harmonist Menu: Set as follows:-

FX Select: HR Voice: 1-Voice HR1 Mode: Harmony HR1 Scale: User HR1 Harm: User 1 HR1 Pre Dly: 0ms HR1 Feedback: 0 HR1 Level: 100 Key: C (Am)

The harmonist calculates harmony in the key of C (Am), so if you have a particular type of harmony you wish to create you must work out the intervals in the Key of C (Am). Yes folks, you may have to T-R-A-N-S-P-O-S-E !!!

Setting the key to C (Am) on the harmonist menu, as shown above will enable you to hear the changes as you make them.

Go to the Global menu and set HR Scale to User 1 to match up with the parameter I've shown in the Harmonist menu.

All you have to do next is to play a note (make sure your guitar is in tune!). The note you play is displayed below the letters DIR and the harmony note is displayed below the letters EFF. You can change the harmony for any note by selecting EFF using the Parameter buttons and changing the note displayed using the Value Dial.

To Transpose or not to Transpose.

If you really don't want to transpose, set everything up as I've described and

just input the notes as required, starting with the first note of the scale. The only thing you'll have to remember is to leave the key in the Harmonist menu as C (Am). As there are 29 User Keys available this shouldn't really be a problem. The good thing about transposing is that you can use the same harmony in other keys by setting the Key in the Harmonist menu to the appropriate one. If you don't transpose but you wanted to use the harmony in a different key you'd have to work out how many steps higher or lower the new key is compared to the original one, and then change the key in the Harmonist menu by the same amount.

Its probably easier to transpose to begin with!

My Top Tip!

As there are 12 notes in total, set the user scale as if it were a pitch shifter to begin with i.e. the harmony for each note should be the same number of semi-tones higher or lower.

Then just go back and change the ones you want.

Play a few string bends to check that the notes in-between are harmonising as you want them to.

One thing I've noticed with the GT-5 harmoniser is that you have to play very cleanly to get the correct harmony. Sloppy playing, or not tuning your guitar, tends to confuse the machine and it produces all kinds of odd notes.

The Roland GP100 is totally different to set up so here goes.

Setting the User Scale on the Roland GP100 Harmoniser.

The thinking behind the GP100 user scale is like this: You find a preset scale which needs modifying and then modify it. As opposed to creating one from scratch.

Set it up as follows:

Harmonist menu:

Mode: Harmony Scale: User Harmony: +3rd (for example) Key: F (Dm) (For example) Direct Level: 100

Effect Level: 100

This menu is as it appears in the "BASIC" algorithm (as opposed to VINTAGE; DELAY, HARMONY... etc)

To access the User scale parameters, press the Utility button three times.

Note:1. I've chosen F as the key I want to harmonise (see above). 2. The harmony I've selected in the Harmonist menu is +3rd.

Once in the User scale screen you should turn the Parameter dial clockwise until you get "+3rd" appear under "Har." This matches up with what I've selected in the Harmonist menu.

Note: The aim is to modify the GP100's idea of what a +3rd harmony should sound like.

As you turn the Parameter dial, keeping +3rd on the right, the display below where it says "Input" goes from "Tonic" (which relates to F as we're in the key of F) through to 7th (which relates to E, the 7th note of F Major).

On the right of the screen is a number which indicates the number of semi-tones the harmony is above the note of the scale (the one you play).

This is what you edit!

By rotating the "Number/Value" dial you can change this number. A change is indicated by three arrows. If there are no arrows, then this harmony is the same as the preset scale.

Use the Parameter dial to select the degree of the scale you want to edit, and the Number/Value dial to change the amount of shift for each degree. You will hear the change as you play. You may need to re-pick the string each time you change the setting as the harmoniser's a bit slow to catch up.

Sorry to use terms like "degree" but in order to edit the harmoniser like this you need to have a pretty good understanding of the major scale and the type of sound you want.

Both the GT-5 and the GP100 think in terms of major keys so if you need to harmonise in a minor key you need to refer to the relative minor, shown in brackets e.g. (Am).

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