Boss GX-100 Guitar Multi-effects Pedal

TL;DR- An amazing multi fx pedal that rivals many competing flagship processors in build and audio quality with ease of use.The GX-100 seems like a steal at this price point. It sounds amazing either running through an FRFR speaker or studio monitors. The tones are versatile and can cover a huge range of genres (yes, it chugs & djents). One con I noticed people saying is that some amps are not really modeled after anything. To me, this is a pro. I feel it allows for better creativity in creating a tone, as I dont have to waste time referencing. I dont have to worry about it sounding like a 5150, I just need it to sound good, bottom line. The quality of amps make up for the humble 23 available (3 of them are bass amps). Aside from the tonal quality, you can also run dual amps for more unique soundcrafting. The amount of effects available are quite staggering. The screen will only show you a handful of blocks, but most blocks have a "sub type" of each effect. For example the OD block has the OD-1, OD-2, Blues OD, CENT-OD, ect. Some say that the distortions sounds fuzzy, but as with anything that isnt $2000, youre gonna have to work for your tone, theres so many options to shape your amps and effects. I also recommend loading you OD or Distortion before the amp. I've seen this gets rid of that thin fuzziness and sounds more modern. If you're tech savy, the BOSS Tone Studio will help a lot in shaping these tones. You can connect via USB and go nuts on your tone shaping without messing with the screen. You can also use this baby as a recording interface. Im a bit new to the audio engineering side of things, but this thing is great for recording, it sounds awesome, and the latency is super low. The only bad thing I can say about that is that your effect cannot be changed post recording unlike with plug ins (ie. Neural DSP). Again im new to this recording stuff so there might be a way that I dont know about. The touchscreen is really cool. The response is lacking a bit but the construction is top notch, doesnt feel like ill crack it anytime soon. Speaking of construction, as others who reviewed before me, this thing is built like a TANK. Everything feels solid, the buttons are plenty and the grip on the the expression pedal is similar to the grip on skateboard. One last thing ill add is the ease of use. All processors have steep learning curves when it come to figuring out the buttons, sounds, and chain building. The GX-100 is one of the easier ones to figure out. Still a bit of work needed but a lot less than say... an axe fx or a Cortex.

Take your time to read, I hope to clarify some doubts you may have while thinking about buying this unit but long story short: Just do it (it worth every penny), and I'm going to tell you why.If you are looking for something that allows you to create your own sound and manipulate almost every aspect of it, literally, get this unit. Some people could feel overwhelmed with the settings at first, others will say its distortion or drive sounds doesn't sound well but let me tell you: they can sound really great, but it will require some time and patience until you get your ears used to how this unit sounds and learning to identify what to change/alter in every single thing you put in the effects chain. Try every knob, every setting, take a little break to give your ears some rest and sit back, our ears adapt fast to any simple variation to the sound.Not all the knobs will act exactly the same way in all amps, take your time and experiment with that too.I'm still working with the stock IRs; they can sound great enough to get almost everything and sometimes using the other included cabs rather than the amp original one could match even better (for my personal taste). Don't try custom IRs before you get a very good sound with everything that is included already, you might see yourself losing lots of time (and money) and still sounding like ars. otherwise.I have almost 20 years of experience dealing with some simple/complex units and some moderate analog pedalboards.Take your time, experiment, embrace some frustration at first until you train your ears to recognize what's affecting your sound and how can you get the sound you want. Learning to manipulate the unit is the easiest part, and even easier if you have used another Boss MFX before (I had the GT-10 6 years ago), but learning how to use it will take some time, be patient and try to find a good and almost as flat as possible reference to hear it (if you're setting it for line or direct) to be accurate. As I read some user comment in a YT video, use your ears... don't let names or references fool you and tie you.Remember that using patches created by others won't work even having the same equipment or guitar as everyone plays different. Some factory presets are ok but not as good to use them in a real situation, learn from them, see how they work and if you want, start creating from there although it's much better if you start from zero and just try some amps first.Also, if you think about flexibility, this can be a monster... whether you use it in manual mode or in memory mode you will be able to remap every single switch with even multiple functions at once.If something plug and play is what you're looking for, look for somewhere else... but if you're like me and you want to have the maximum control of your unit, get this thing.

This thing def lives up to the hype. Have it through a 6505 combo with a V30. The amp isn’t known for its cleans but the boss improves it substantially. I don’t stay in the clean channel very much however, mostly high gain with a 7 string with dimarzio titans. The noise gate is amazing, just as good as the boss ns and you can put one through the effects loop as well as in front of the amp. It’s nice to be able to switch channels on the amp with the boss. I can switch patches to where it changes to the clean channel On the 6504 and then use a high gain amp and IR through it for different heavy tones, then switch back to using the 6505 preamp with just effects on the boss. I could go on and on and on about all the stuff you can do. You can customize this thing to death it’s unreal. If you can imagine it, it can do it. I don’t use the looper much so can’t comment there. Even the built in tuner you can customize between 6 and 7 strings to literally any tuning you want. Yes it’s $600 but if this thing was $900 it would still be worth it. It’s the only pedal I’ll ever need and completely eliminated my clustered pedal board and sounds just as good I think better than individual pedals. A bold statement I know but boss absolutely nailed it with this thing. I spent hours watching videos comparing it to the helix hx, mooer, the pod go, and some others and the gx-100 is just the way to go. Love the touch screen, super easy to use, and comes with pc software if that’s your thing. Can even use it as an audio interface to record with. Or just grab some headphones and jam out on the couch without getting your neighbors involved. The stereo effects are down right addictive when jamming out on headphones. I have yet to find one complaint with this thing and guitar and amp aside it’s the single best thing I’ve ever bought for playing music.