Boss Gt-8 Multieffects Unit


Kevin Taylor
Guitar Tricks Instructor
Joined: 03/05/00
Posts: 4,722
Kevin Taylor
Guitar Tricks Instructor
Joined: 03/05/00
Posts: 4,722
06/05/2007 3:15 pm
Informal review of the Boss GT-8 MultiEffects Processor


… informal because I’m just gonna type this out as it comes to me instead of trying to compose a well written review.

So, I bought a GT-8 off eBay for about $400 used. Luckily in perfect condition and never used.

I’ve owned a Boss ME-5 for years so kinda expected it to be similar but this unit’s in a completely new world of it’s own.

First off… it’s laid out amazingly. All the controls are easy to get to and easily changed. Switching patches is quick and easy. The included expression pedal is a blessing.
The lightup display is easily read from a standing position and all the controls are programmable so you can use the footswitches to control just about anything.

All in all, a really nice looking unit that’s well designed and functional.

Now on to the sounds.
For the most part, the sounds are incredible. When I record, I generally like to go direct line in and tweak sounds later with Amplitube. This unit gives me the opportunity to really play around and come up with some initial sounds to inspire more creativity.

The clean sounds are amazing. Some really nice stuff like acoustic simulators, stereo chorus effects and an endless variety of amps to choose from.
The overdrive sounds are equally as awesome. However, I did notice that they all suffer from the ‘cheezy’ fuzz sound I don’t like in effects pedals. They sound great, but I still ended up putting my RedBox Cabinetulator in the effects loop to take the edge off them.
I also ended up still tweaking them with Amplitube later on because they just don’t sound like they’re coming from an amp that’s been miked in the studio.

There’s some cool special effects as well. Like synth sounds, auto riff, octaves, echoes that allow you to tap the bpm’s as well as use MIDI to match them automatically with your recording software.
The wah sounds amazing too and I actually found I didn’t have any further use for my vintage vintage Jentec wah from the 70’s.

In conlusion… I’m definitely going to put this unit to a lot of use, despite already having a lot of the original equipment like Marshall amps etc… around.
I still like recording direct because it allows me greater freedom and produces much less noise than micing a Marshall stack. (I’ve never been one to enjoy using small combo amps in the studio)

I’ve posted some sound samples below that only show a very small portion of what you can do.

This is a large zip file containing loops I’ve been working on:
It’ll only be available for a short time but should give a good idea of what the unit’s capable of.

http://s93744050.onlinehome.us/120BPM_GuitLps_E_2.zip

Copyright notice btw: The loops above are for private auditioning only. They are not to be used in any songs, or collections without prior approval.

©2008 K. Taylor / Schmange Music U.K. / Canada
All Rights Reserved. SOCAN/ ASCAP
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