THE GT-5 AND GP100

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THE BOSS GT-5

THE FEEDBACKER
GT-5 GUITAR AMP SETTINGS WHICH CAN BE DI'd
NON-MODELLING GT-5 SOUNDS (FOR USE WITH ANY GUITAR AMP)
GT-5 RECORDING SOUNDS
USING A GT-5 WITH A WIRELESS
GT-5 SETTINGS FOR "PULL ME UNDER"
ROLAND'S GP100
ROLAND GP100 BASS SETTING
GT-5/GP100 OUTPUT DIFFERENCES
SETTING THE HARMONISER
BOSS GT CENTRAL WEB SITE
 THE BOSS GT-5
The 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: 0
Level: 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: FL
Rate: 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: Flat
Effect 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
 GT-5 GUITAR AMP SETTINGS
There 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: 0
Lo-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: +1dB
Level: -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 Channel
All 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 10
Treble 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)

 USING A GT-5 WITH A WIRELESS
In 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: 70
FLT.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 Effect
Level: 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
 ROLAND GP100 BASS SETTING
One 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 4
Mic Setting 2
Mic Level 100
Direct Level 0

Equaliser:
Low EQ +15dB
Lo-Mid f 250Hz
Lo-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 DIFFERENCES
Comparing 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 HARMONISER
Introduction.
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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