Boss GT-1000 Core.

[Al Krow]

Yup agreed on the lack of SY-1. 

Need to go down the trad octave -> fuzz-> filter route for a synth sound. 

Bear in mind the SY-1 is not an actual synth waveform generator, in the way the C4 and FI are, but a synth emulator and this is also true of Helix. 

The Core does have a filter, though, but seems a lot more limited than Helix currently on that score. 

So filter and synth fans will be holding on to their existing filter and synth pedals with the Core, as indeed a lot have with Helix as tbf they're not considered to be a strong point for Helix either.

Multifx do struggle with filter and synth generally and haven't matched what dedicated pedals are delivering in this area. 

[Woodinblack]

1 hour ago, krispn said:

Just reading that the Core won’t have any of the new SY synth engine sounds available so not too much has changed in porting the unit to a smaller form factor which may leave a lot of fans/folk a little disappointed.

True, I guess they are trying not to reduce the oportunities for the SY1000, which does (as well as the GR stuff)

[Al Krow]

38 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

True, I guess they are trying not to reduce the oportunities for the SY1000, which does (as well as the GR stuff)

Yup agreed - and given the SY1000 actually costs more than the GT 1000, it wouldn't make any commercial sense to give that away for free in another pedal.

[krispn]

I’m not suggesting they ‘give away’ a greater value product and it’d be fair to say I wasn’t proposing or suggesting they hey do. But with synth bass being all over modern music and folks gravitating to multi fx to access these types of sounds it’s a tad of an oversight. I’ve got four of five patches on my stomp which cop a really solid job of synth my sounds to emulate the idiosyncrasies of said synths by ‘playing the effect’ I can get a pretty good approximation with no exhausted DSP.
 

It’s be fair to say one of the big hopes folks had for this in light of the recent boss releases would have been elements of those new effects to be included. What Boss have done is repackage the 200 series effects into a pedal board and that might be where this unit excels  but when many folks were keen to have some synth (emulation or otherwise) it’s a bit of a miss when they have also got those units in their product range. Sure Boss were the daddies of stomp boxes and I’ve used many of them- still have my boss tuner on my board -They’re very durable pedals designed for the gig but the birth of boutique pedals was born out of people wanting to expand upon the boss pedals and their ‘limitations’ or what those early pioneers saw as limiting elements. You’d feel that they would want to offer some of those synth patches to encourage folk to buy the fully loaded pedals be that the SY1 which doesn’t cost more than the Core or the full on top of the line sy1000. But hey I’ve no skin in the game. I get all I need from the humble stomp. 

Edited October 6, 2020 by krispn
Terrible spelling

[Woodinblack]

7 minutes ago, krispn said:

I’m not suggesting they ‘give away’ a greater value product and it’d be fair to say I wasn’t proposing or suggesting they hey do. But with synth bass being all over modern music and folks gravitating to multi fx to access these types of sounds it’s a tad of an oversight. I’ve got four of five patches on my stomp which Dona really solid job and by ‘playing the effect’ I can get a pretty good approximation with no exhausted DSP

Maybe it would be too DSP heavy. None of the multiFX do what the SY1 does (although  I am sure some MultiFX can do a few of the things that the SY1 can also do). The actual programing of what an SY1 does would be pretty tricky compared to the normal fare of DSP based units like time / amplitude / frequency effects.

[krispn]

29 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

Maybe it would be too DSP heavy. None of the multiFX do what the SY1 does (although  I am sure some MultiFX can do a few of the things that the SY1 can also do). The actual programing of what an SY1 does would be pretty tricky compared to the normal fare of DSP based units like time / amplitude / frequency effects.

You’d just imagine that all that processing power could handle much of it? How much DSP is needed to recreate a classic analogue boss effects which often only had three or four parameters. I suppose I’m just repeating what a lot of folk have said they’d have ‘liked’ to see and when the Mooer GE300 was being lauded as the next big thing because of its synth capabilities O just though Boss might be perfectly situated to expand that side of multifx synth sounds not only from their back catalogue but also the Roland connection. The Mooer employing older tech doesn’t have the same chipset/processing power but it’s a decent  point. 

[Woodinblack]

5 minutes ago, krispn said:

You’d just imagine that all that processing power could handle much of it? How much DSP is needed to recreate a classic analogue boss effects which often only had three or four parameters. 

Very little indeed.

5 minutes ago, krispn said:

I suppose I’m just repeating what a lot of folk have said they’d have ‘liked’ to see and when the Mooer GE300 was being lauded as the next big thing because of its synth capabilities

How did that work out, It sort of went quiet. I am guessing it failed to be anything special

[krispn]

Just now, Woodinblack said:

Very little indeed.

How did that work out, It sort of went quiet. I am guessing it failed to be anything special

Yeah I wasn’t really paying attention but the usual flurry of interest died off either due to availability, the next new thing or new GAS

[Woodinblack]

21 minutes ago, krispn said:

Yeah I wasn’t really paying attention but the usual flurry of interest died off either due to availability, the next new thing or new GAS

Or as we call it, @Al Krow had moved onto other things by then

 

[dave_bass5]

34 minutes ago, krispn said:

Yeah I wasn’t really paying attention but the usual flurry of interest died off either due to availability, the next new thing or new GAS

As is the BC way, especially in this forum. 😃

[Al Krow]

18 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

Or as we call it, @Al Krow had moved onto other things by then

Haha - I thought your view was I would buy, get bored with and sell the pedal before you had got around to buying it, so you could snaffle it up at a discount...well that didn't happen with the SY-1. It's still here on my board (and hasn't needed to be replaced because it blew up mid gig within 6 months) 😁

Yup never bought the Mooer GE 300...lol if we had to buy every piece of gear that we started a thread on there'd be a few bits of kit you're still to get (Zoom B1-4?), and Dave would be on the hook for a Core, which would be great as I would gladly take off his hands in six months time!

[Woodinblack]

11 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

Yup never bought the Mooer GE 300...lol if we had to buy every piece of gear that we started a thread on there'd be a few bits of kit you're still to get (Zoom B1-4?),

True, but I have a Zoom B3n and frankly I have virtually never used that

[Al Krow]

...or your Ibby Portamento.

I know, I know...we all have more gear than we ever make good use of! Which is why I've had a mega pedal cull this year and my most recently bought bass has been in my herd for over 12 months. 

But it doesn't stop us window shopping does it? 😁

And based on what I've seen of it so far, I'm definitely leaning towards trading in my Helix HFX for the Core at some point in the next few months. 

[Al Krow]

I know these guys are a bit marmite - personally I love the zany energy of their reviews!

This will give an idea of what the core will deliver with the current V3 software. The wah (1.48) and the Entwistlesque drive (2.55) demo'd are good and the X drive multiband distortion also sounds promising.

 

[Al Krow]

On 05/10/2020 at 15:32, Woodinblack said:

And obviously 'blocks' is a totally arbitrary thing, just a proprietary way of dividing your processing time up. Especially when it comes to DSP, a lot of guitar effects are incredibly simple.

Interesting observation from the US thread:

"As for the power comparison, this is where I put on my computer scientist hat and respond: Who cares? The only measurable end-to-end benchmark unit here is the number of effects you can stack. Boss runs circles around the big Helix in that department, actual processor specs don't matter. Maybe Line 6 is wasting (edit: replace wasting with spending, perfect emulation may matter more to some than having more effects) all those computation cycles on emulating the amps and effects down to minute details, but to my ears Boss was as good as any other digital box."

[Woodinblack]

Ok, so are there a lot of people ready to switch from the helix because it hasn't got enough effects?

[dave_bass5]

Just now, Woodinblack said:

Ok, so are there a lot of people ready to switch from the helix because it hasn't got enough effects?

Nah, its all talk 😂

[Al Krow]

5 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

Ok, so are there a lot of people ready to switch from the helix because it hasn't got enough effects?

One so far in the US 😁

And it would only likely apply to Stomp owners on this specific point, anyway, as HX Effects has a few more blocks already. I think his key point is that the limitation on blocks arises because Helix is over-engineering their sims? Which is the corollary of your point that a lot of guitar effects are pretty simple. - I was more interested if you, as one of our BC electronics experts, agrees he makes a fair point? 

Be very interesting to see if Helix allow more blocks in the Stomp on their next software update. 

[krispn]

I should state for the record I’m sure the effects in the Boss sound great. Im sure they’re on a par with Strymon, Eventide Source Audio etc. (I didn’t hear anything in that last Boss video which would have me get one or sell my Stomp but I like the amp and cab sims for home use, they’re effective and appealing tone shapers in and of themselves and they make IEM more fun and ‘authentic’ for me and my band mates live and put out a FOH sound- I should add I love my amps and I love playing through them. Using the stomp  amp/cab sims into my amps is fun too)!

Whether a company’s thing is emulation of classic effects or just offering all varieties of an effect type you’re basically getting the same thing. There’s only so many types of effects and each unit will cover most of those irrespective of how they name it or what unit they say it’s based on. 
AK applauded stomp fans for defending their unit as now there’s competition but the boss unit has been about in one guise for a few years and pretty much passed under most folks radar. 
 

As for more blocks on the stomp it’s unlikely as it’ll be limited due to the processing power which I think has been a well discussed by now. The stomp was always a smaller, stripped down unit to integrate into a bigger board or offer a compact unit to cover gigging needs. I’d imagine most stomp users work within the limitations of the unit quite successfully and I don’t think the core would appeal to many of them as the amp/cabs are a big part of the appeal? I could be wrong but once the initial gas wears off what one is left with on the Boss units is a guitar multifx with a few patches for bassists...who might well be chuffed that Boss have thrown them a bone two years down the line. 

[krispn]

Available on a fb gear page up here in Scotland if anyone was thinking of trying the big unit. I can contact the seller via fb if you’re interested and not on fb but I should add I don’t know them or have any connection to the seller  

 

Edited November 3, 2020 by krispn

[SumOne]

Anyone here with experience owning the Core yet? 

I'm in the market for a £400 Stomp, but GAK now have the Core at £535 so am considering if that's worth the extra. 

I'll be keeping a few separate pedals and would use the unit for more of the 'always on' type things (like EQ, Preamp, Amp & Cab sim, compressor) to avoid needing too much tap dancing fx on/off or additional midi control. 

I see Stomp has more Bass amp & cab sims but the Core has a lot more block spaces and I like the idea of more than one fx loop as I'd keep filter and synth and octave as separate pedals and have the option of putting them in different parts of the signal chain e.g. Boss core comp>separate octave pedal>Boss core EQ>separate Filter pedal>Boss core amp/cab sim Could be useful (and other options like putting the filter pedal first etc). Keeping a few separate pedals also gives that on/off fx footswitch control without needing additional midi controllers. Also, I like the additional controls on the Core, and perhaps Boss build quality going to be better.

Most importantly though that's difficult to know without using it - how does it sound compared to the Stomp? There don't seem to be any YouTube comparison videos which strikes me as odd as it must be something anyone buying one or the other probably considers... a gap in the market for YouTube hits for anyone motivated enough! 

Edited June 1, 2021 by SumOne

[GisserD]

Hey there!

The stomp has 2 loops if you use a Y-cable, and its just been upgraded to 8 slots from 6. dont hnow if that will influence your deciosion of not. 

Ive had many boss multiFX in the past and always found the interface rather clunky. They might have upped their game now tho!

#LINE6FANBOY4LIFE

 

[SumOne]

On 01/06/2021 at 12:13, GisserD said:

Hey there!

The stomp has 2 loops if you use a Y-cable, and its just been upgraded to 8 slots from 6. dont hnow if that will influence your deciosion of not. 

Ive had many boss multiFX in the past and always found the interface rather clunky. They might have upped their game now tho!

#LINE6FANBOY4LIFE

 

Cheers, I'd heard of the 8 slots and threats of atomic wedgies for complaining it doesn't have the power for them but didn't know about the Y cable 2x loop thing so that does change things a bit. 

 

[uk_lefty]

Has anyone on BC got one of these yet? I've read the whole thread, lots of talk on number of effects and specifics and some reviews, but what I really want to know is... Can I import somehow the presets from the old Boss GT10B? They were awesome and I'm missing those on my Helix stomp, which is a great bit of kit but there was a whole gamut of excellent cleaner tone presets on the old GT10B that I would love to have right now in a much smaller box without having to programme it myself. 

[Al Krow]

On 01/06/2021 at 10:55, SumOne said:

I'm in the market for a £400 Stomp, but GAK now have the Core at £535 so am considering if that's worth the extra. 

Bax have on for £485 Boss GT-1000CORE Guitar Effects Processor for sale | Bax Music (bax-shop.co.uk)

29 minutes ago, uk_lefty said:

Has anyone on BC got one of these yet? I've read the whole thread, lots of talk on number of effects and specifics and some reviews, but what I really want to know is... Can I import somehow the presets from the old Boss GT10B? They were awesome and I'm missing those on my Helix stomp, which is a great bit of kit but there was a whole gamut of excellent cleaner tone presets on the old GT10B that I would love to have right now in a much smaller box without having to programme it myself. 

There was one for sale at the start of the year - one of our BC'ers who is a sponsored Boss artist had been given one, not sure who he moved it on to.

If it had the Boss SY-1 and OC-5 built in, I'd have been very tempted to get it.

Been a bit more chat and actual purchases over on Talkbass.