Exploited By The Best

Nice Preamp tones

I just bought the GT-6 and I'm very pleased with it. Well I've been using the Roland VG-88 for 2 and 1/2 years now, using it for gigs, rehearsals and recording with my band. The software and amp algorithms are very much alike between the GT-6 and the VG-88 and the tricks for getting a good sound are prety much the same. From my personal experience, I always notice some kind of signal degradation and loss of tone when you pass the gain over 50 on the preamp stage (only in distortion amps). The way I use around this is to setup a drive pedal simulation before the amp according to the style of sound I'm looking for (example: Metal Zone in front of a Rectifier for metal, and OD-1 in front of a Marshall for straight rock sound). It's then just a question of balancing gain between the pedal and the preamp, never rising the preamp gain over 50. I've managed to get good pacthes with every amp simulation on the GT-6 using this method. I play mainly prog rock/metal and my working setup is the GT-6 connected to a Randall RT2/50 and a MArshall 1960A 2x12" stereo cabinet (stereo operation with tubes (both EL34 and 6L6) on the power stage) :).

Marty Friedman uses GT6

The latest edition of Australian Guitar magazine includes an interview with Marty Friedman (former member of Cacophany and Megadeth). In the interview, he states that he uses a Boss GT6 guitar effects unit.

Cool Delay Trick

If you like to use the stereo sounds on the gt-6 then heres a trick that may interest you. having the dry sound in the left speaker and having it delay in the right.

first you have to turn on the pan effect in the FX-2 section. scroll through the parameters until you come to 'depth' and put it to 100

go back 'rate' and set it about 10. play/sustain a note and wait for the signal to move into the left speaker (its easier to use headphones). Now quickley before the signal starts movin again run the 'rate' down to 0. The signal is now stuck in the left speaker! you can then use the 'depth' to change position of the sound, whether you want it hard left or leaking into the right speaker a bit.

Now turn on your delay and select the 'pan' mode, go straight to the 'tap time' parameter and turn it to 100%. play a few notes and you should notice the delay in the right speaker. cool huh.

If you want it the other way around, simply turn the 'tap time' to 0 and move the dry sound into the right speaker. also the pan effect takes quite alot of volume away from the patch so you may want to turn it up a bit.

chars, kjungaman

Critical Finding

I'm playing a Strat and an Ibanez Artist through a GT-6. My amp is an older Super Twin Reverb. I've really been able to produce the types of sounds I want once I discovered how important the GT-6 output is in relation to the amp level. With my rig, there's a definitie "sweet spot". Too much output from the GT-6 and things sound a bit harsh, sustain breaks up, and the sound is just not good. Ramping the amp up and backing down on the output level of the GT-6 cleans things up. Depending on the desired output level, there is definitely a "sweet spot" with amp level and GT-6 output level. I'm now able to utilize the headphones to fine tune patches getting them to sound exactly like I desire, and later play that same patch back through the amp and actually get the amp to produce that exact sound when the "sweet spot" is found by setting the amp level and then adjusting the GT-6 output level until the sound warms up. It may have been a "given", but I never read it in the documentation set and discovered it by accident. Hopefully it will help others who might not be able to achieve the desired sounds. Trust me, it's in there.... It's just a matter of dialing it in!!!! Tone doesn't get any sweeter than a GT-6 coupled with tube amp and a guitar with a little sustain capability!!

Havent had this much fun since Myth II

As absolutley cheesey as the subject line is, I was once a drone to a online video game. Borg. I met so many cool people and had so much fun. I couldn't wait to spend every free hour I could get. My wife was getting sick of it but still I clicked on triumphantly with my trusty college days beer fridge next to my computer. Well I left those days behind but I always was amazed by the fact of how many friends and cool people I met from a video game. Well I have to say I discovered this site a short time ago and already I have met some cool people who are trying to help me out with this GT-6. What a great place man! It is like being in a guild. Why with all the technology in this world can we not make an intelligent effects pedal that understands tone. Why not only model amps but pay some attention to how they interact with different guitar types. So when you tell it what type of guitar, pickups, and amp you use it would know where the patches are going to distort, and NS settings, global adjustments, eq, etc. Then with finite control you could make adjustments, like with the fine tuning knobs on a lock down tremlo.You could still control all the parameters. But you would start out with something that sounded pretty damn good right off the bat. Also I think it might help with the drastic differences between a live sound coming out of an amp vs. playing this unit through the headphone port. Which we all know sounds incredible and makes us lose track of time and find ourselves playing entirely new sounding things that we normally wouldn't be playing at all. Thats the beauty of the GT-6 in my opinion. It is the first effects unit I have ever owned that is forcing me to become a better player. The clarity makes you listen to yourself and equally emphasises your mistakes. You can get lost in this thing. Anyways I am not sure that this golden object of worship will ever be able to replace guitar to amp tone, but I am sure this is the coolest unit I have owned ever and I have owned most of them. Well thats how I see it so far. So for all you out there who actually take the time to read my little opinion added to this fine site I would say thanks and I am enjoying staying up late at night drinking beers and surfin this site reading what you have to offer and trying to learn more about the gt-6 and help others. Thats the balance of life and this site. Take it easy.
Karma
(Karma is a somewhat defined concept and is also the name of my dof/wolf)
I hope to meet some of you who read this if I can help I will.

A little information about Patches and SYX Files

One of the most frequent questions I get here at BossGTCentral is "Is there another way to open the patches your site has available for downloads ? All the files are .syx, and my PC does not recognize them." Well, I thought I would cover this is a small article and explain what options you have for these files/patches.

First thing to acknowledge is that SYX files are MIDI files used by and for your GT6. Other files which use SYX files are other musical software applications. These files are typically not readable by your PC. In fact, when you view them on your PC, you should first notice that there is no program associated with them, thus the programs icon is missing. This pretty much summarizes why when you open them on your computer they look like a bunch of garbage characters which make absolutely no sense. What can you do? Well, here's two possible solutions for you.

sr vaughn and hendrix

i am trying like hell to get them out to you guys. the hendrix is the red house sound with delay. i am attempting to give the back side of it the little wing tones. as far as the stevie ray it is perfect on the spectrum, taken from the pride and joy sound. all the way to the amp heating up in the end which i will try to accomplished with the volume pedal. remember i like to use my volume pot on the guitar so if it sounds harsh initially just dial it back a little.

wish me luck digging them out hopefully i will have them in by morning......

sound attained: usa strat, seymour duncan pickups, heavey bottom 10's for strings, low as hell action.
5150 combo through marshal 1960a cabinet connected right into the guitar input of the amp set on low gain, bright, tones at noon, pres 10 res 10.

OK I'm a believer

This is a revelation. I started using the Boss GT 6 about six weeks ago as an effects box. I have been using a Mesa Dual Rectifier amp for about 8 years and I was pretty set on using this until I die. Amp modeling was not for me, no way.

So what happened? Yesterday I was unloading the truck so we could practice a few new songs we had been kicking around and I decided to plug the GT-6 into the PA. Wow, this is an outstanding amp modeler. As many of you know, there are great sounds in the GT-6, sounds that my Dual Rectifier could never hope to make, and I love that amp.

So anyway, I put the output select on the GT-6 to Line (PA) , set the output level on the GT-6, set the output level on the mixer channel strip and set the mixer channel EQ to flat.

Out of the box this rocks.

I tried the 4 cable method as well as a couple of other setups and they worked OK but not exactly what I wanted. I�m starting to think that using any other tone device, including a traditional guitar amp just gets in the way of the GT-6. Now I�m an old school, plug straight into the amp and let it rip kind of guy so this is a near religious experience for me. Am I converted? I�m going to play a couple of jobs without an amplifier and let you know.

If any of you have gone done this road before, let me know if I�m going to run into any issues playing live without a guitar amp.

its not that hard

hey people its not that compicated to get great tone out of the gt6 , use the 4 cable method , and i use a marshall mg100hdfx head and 4 speaker cabinet , run it through the effects loop keep you gt6 out put around 1 third volume this should give you lots of room to work with the volume on your amp , then all you need is some clean channels , there are lots in the preset patches in the gt6 and some overdriven clean stuff and then some diffferent distortions i would say 4 of each type and there are lost to choose from in the presets.
then just play around with them a little to get the right tone , use your noise reduction on your global settings to quiet down the feedback , remember you need it to be a little sharp as peoples bodies will soak up all your highs if your playing in a bar ect. people get way to deep into setting this thing up , its not that hard!
then once you have got your sound down and in some sort of order for the songs your playing just work on your levels for each patch so they are all at the same volume and dont forget you can adjust your global settings for more bass or more highs depending on the room your playing in ..
its easy as kiss said keep it simple stupid.

Line selector (Boss LS-2)

Hi Guy's,

As most of you might know, the GT-6 hasn't got a true bypass mode. So if you've got a real good clean sound when you play your guitar directly through your (tube) amp. (e.i. more dynamic response) And if this wonderfull clean sound goes down the drain when you use your GT-6 as a front-end effects unit, the following solution might be the one for you.......