ARMED WITH 340 PATCHES, 30 amp models, wah and distortion pedal models, plentiful digital effects, and multiple speaker simulations, Boss's new GT-6 guitar effects processor — the latest in its GT series — is truly an all-purpose sound shaper for stage or studio. Think of it as a Swiss Army knife for guitar tone.
Although it looks a bit intimidating at first glance — with 15 knobs, 23 buttons, a data wheel, and the more traditional bank footswitches and control pedal — the GT-6 is actually quite easy to use. The key is the knobs. Each one is dedicated to a single job, so whenever you turn one, such as the Treble control in the Preamp/Speaker section, the sound changes instantly, just as it does on analog gear. And the backlit LCD deftly follows what you do as you turn each knob.
Of course, there aren't knobs for everything. Some of the more advanced programming (for example, mapping reverb time to the control pedal) requires that you use arrow buttons and the data wheel. The GT-6 gives you the best of both worlds — you can be a programming guru, or you can just say, “Hey, man, I'm only the guitarist.” This hybrid new/traditional interface gives you something powerful: absolute control over your sound at an astonishingly detailed level.
SOUNDS IN MANY FLAVORS
The GT-6's sound engine is based around the company's COSM modeling system. You get models of a variety of amps (including a Fender Twin, a Roland JC-120, a Vox AC-30, a Mesa/Boogie combo and Dual Rectifier, a Marshall, a Soldano SLO 100, and a Peavey EVH 5150), as well as a selection of speaker cabinet models.
In addition, there are models of 15 distortion or overdrive pedals, including the Ibanez Tube Screamer, the Fuzzface, the Acetone Fuzz, the Proco Rat, the Electro-Harmonix Big Muff Pi, the Marshall Guv'nor, and, not surprisingly, a number of Boss pedals (BD-2, OD-2, MT-2).
So how do the models sound? I admit that I'm a purist about this stuff. Modeling, as good as it is, still isn't quite the real thing to my ears. But in the case of the GT-6, it's getting closer.
I was particularly impressed with the wah models, which were extremely accurate. I especially liked the Vox and Crybaby emulations. They compared well to my own Vox wah pedal in live tests, perhaps because the Vox algorithm is modeled after the now-rare Vox V846. (An audio example is available at www.onstagmag.com.)
TIME AND SPACE
In addition to the models, the GT-6 offers a wide range of digital effects including a selection of reverbs (you can choose from two rooms, two halls, and one plate) that are rich sounding and not grainy. I also found the Pitch Shifter to be unusually good — especially on Medium or Slow mode settings. I liked the Tremolo, too, and the Delay (the tempo of which can be set with the Tap button) has a nice analog sound to it.
But that's only the beginning. The GT-6's other digital effects include 4-band EQ, Chorus, Flanger, Phaser, Ring Modulator, Compressor, Limiter, Acoustic Guitar Simulator, Pickup Simulator, Defretter (which simulates the sound of a fretless instrument), Harmonist (an intelligent pitch shifter for creating harmonies), Guitar Synth, Humanizer (which creates human-sounding vowel sounds), and many more. Almost any guitar effect you can imagine is represented.
GO LIVE
The GT-6 also comes equipped with some advanced features designed to let you get the most out of the GT-6 in a performance situation. The front panel knobs are divided into a number of sections: Preamp/Speaker, Overdrive/Distortion, Delay, Chorus, Reverb, Wah, EQ, FX1, and FX2. The CTL (Control) Pedal — which is actually more like a footswitch than a pedal — can be mapped to one or more of these sections, allowing you to toggle on the selected effect or effects as you play without switching patches. I found that to be pretty handy for moving back and forth between rhythm and lead sounds.
The built-in Expression Pedal can be mapped to variables like preamp gain, effects levels and overdrive, and it's smooth — even the reverb parameters don't glitch. A programmable toe switch on the pedal lets you step extra hard in its down position to kick in overdrive, toggle the wah on and off, or even set chorus depth to a particular value. If you don't like programming one pedal so many different ways, you can always use external pedals and program what they control, too.
Suppose you want to use the same patches for direct recording or with a live P.A. as you use with your Marshall stack. Instead of programming a whole new patch set with different EQ, you can use the GT-6's Output Select feature, which is designed to optimize the output EQ for a variety of destinations such as a combo amp, stack, P.A., and headphones. Although I found it to be a handy feature, some of the Output Select's settings were a bit harsh or thin for my taste.
MODEL TWEAKING
One thing that sets the GT-6 apart from many other processors is that it allows you to tweak the modeling algorithms themselves. For instance, the GT-6 models 30 types of amps in the preamp stage and 6 speaker configurations. But what if you disagree with Boss's take on simulating, say, a 4×12 cabinet. No problem — if you don't mind some cursor gymnastics, just dive in and tweak the algorithm for speaker and preamp simulation, or Overdrive/Distortion, or even Wah. You can even change the order in which the wah, effects, preamp, and so forth appear in the chain.
IN USE
I tested the GT-6 using a customized '70s Strat, a Guild Crossroads, and my custom electric violin through two sets of studio monitors, a Marshall JCM800 4×4 setup, and a Mesa/Boogie Mark III combo. I was impressed that I could get a consistent sound using all of those rigs, and I especially liked what the GT-6 could do in a direct-recording situation. When used with the aforementioned guitar amps, however, I thought the clean settings of the GT-6 still colored the sound too much. That's the price of the Swiss Army knife approach — you can't be all things to all people.
All in all, however, the GT-6 is an incredibly flexible and powerful tool. I still have my old Boss ME-6 from years ago, but it's just a penknife by comparison — guitar effects processors have come a long way since then. If you're a working musician and you find yourself dealing with a wide variety of stylistic and sonic demands — especially when you have to be mobile — you should seriously consider adding the GT-6 to your toolbox.
