fretmeister Posted July 20, 2023 Share Posted July 20, 2023 And this time there is a bass version of the GK-5 pickup too! https://www.andertons.co.uk/boss-gk-5b-electric-bass-guitar-divided-pickup £690 for the unit + about £250 for the pickup is a fair chunk though. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Krow Posted July 21, 2023 Share Posted July 21, 2023 (edited) This looks amazing, certainly what it can do with a guitar! Be interested to find out a bit more about how useful / it sounds with bass (there's a short bass section at around 07:15 on the clip). Edited July 21, 2023 by Al Krow 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodinblack Posted July 21, 2023 Share Posted July 21, 2023 I was looking at that yesterday and a bit puzzled by ts number, or where it fits in the lineup. It certainly sounds good, not sure what the bass would be like, but where does it fit with the SY1000. Looks like the GK5 is just that it is serial instead of paralllel like the gk3. Which is sort of similar to the gibson darkfire and dusktigers. I wonder if it will connect by default to those? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ped Posted July 21, 2023 Share Posted July 21, 2023 Interesting. I’m glad the GK system is still being developed. But why is there no 13 pin input on the unit, it looks like you need an external box to convert a GK signal to a 1/4” cable but surely that won’t carry the string by string information to be able to access the full potential of the GK pickup? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodinblack Posted July 21, 2023 Share Posted July 21, 2023 Yes, just looking at that. The GM800 only has the new serial interface, so if you need to use an old (as from today) GK 13 pin guitar, you need a Boss GKC-AD 13 pin -> GK adapter (for about £170), or if you have a serial interface you nneed to connect to an old synth, a GKC-DA that goes the other way, for about the same price. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted July 21, 2023 Share Posted July 21, 2023 Unfortunately for me I'm still not impressed. There's been quite a discussion this week on another forum where images of the device had been prematurely leaked. When the video was finally posted I found myself completely underwhelmed. Run the video but don't watch it. Can you hear a single instance which makes you think that sound was played from a guitar rather than a keyboard? For me there was one and that wasn't the GM-800 but actual guitar being played over a loop. And while the demo is impressive in terms of what you can do with a guitar and a GM-800 in terms of sounding like a keyboard or synth player, and the person doing the playing has obviously spent time on their guitar technique to get the best out of the device, to me it just come over as a party trick. All those things are so much easier to do from an actual keyboard, and for a lot of us, learning some rudimentary keyboard technique will actually be quicker than modifying your guitar playing style to get the best out of any guitar synth. I know because I have been there. It's also very telling that the only fast, rhythmic playing being done in the whole demo is performed solo without any backing, which seems to suggest to me there are still latency issues. I'm surprised and disappointed that Roland appear to have gone back to pitch detection rather than stuck with the wave shaping and modelling of the V-series devices. To me this seems like a step backwards. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ped Posted July 21, 2023 Share Posted July 21, 2023 1 hour ago, Woodinblack said: Yes, just looking at that. The GM800 only has the new serial interface, so if you need to use an old (as from today) GK 13 pin guitar, you need a Boss GKC-AD 13 pin -> GK adapter (for about £170), or if you have a serial interface you nneed to connect to an old synth, a GKC-DA that goes the other way, for about the same price. Weird - the GK Serial system completely passed me by. I'll need to research it to see how it works as I presume it's a bit more than a stereo cable. I'm glad they've made a junction box, but again they've neglected to put an effects loop on the box or the GK800 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodinblack Posted July 21, 2023 Share Posted July 21, 2023 1 hour ago, ped said: Weird - the GK Serial system completely passed me by. I'll need to research it to see how it works as I presume it's a bit more than a stereo cable. I'm glad they've made a junction box, but again they've neglected to put an effects loop on the box or the GK800 I don't think it passed you by, I think they have just introduced it! I suspect it is a stereo balanced cable, but I have yet to see one. Makes a lot of sense but why they couldn't make one years ago I don't know. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ped Posted July 21, 2023 Share Posted July 21, 2023 4 minutes ago, Woodinblack said: I don't think it passed you by, I think they have just introduced it! I suspect it is a stereo balanced cable, but I have yet to see one. Makes a lot of sense but why they couldn't make one years ago I don't know. So will that be able to carry the individual data from each string as the 13 pin does? Or will it kind of sum it up and then the device at the other end have to interpret that? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0175westwood29 Posted July 21, 2023 Share Posted July 21, 2023 3 hours ago, ped said: Interesting. I’m glad the GK system is still being developed. But why is there no 13 pin input on the unit, it looks like you need an external box to convert a GK signal to a 1/4” cable but surely that won’t carry the string by string information to be able to access the full potential of the GK pickup? i pretty sure it does all the string by string stuff, some def magic going on in the trs cable they are using. im very intrigued to see how it plays with a bass, obviously all the demos are going to be based on more out there sounds but i love the sy-200, and this is somewhere between the 1000 and that for sure. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ped Posted July 21, 2023 Share Posted July 21, 2023 It looks cool, and it solves the problem of the slightly fragile 13 pin and the potential need for a breakout box. One of my basses has a 13 pin output next to the standard jack - I wonder if they offer the internal installation kit for the bass pickup which might let you use a standard cable in the same output as the new Serial jack. That would be quite cool. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodinblack Posted July 21, 2023 Share Posted July 21, 2023 37 minutes ago, 0175westwood29 said: i pretty sure it does all the string by string stuff, some def magic going on in the trs cable they are using. Nothing in the cable - the strings are serial encoded in the little box, and fed though a the TRS, which I am guessing also probably has power. So power / ground / signal. 32 minutes ago, ped said: One of my basses has a 13 pin output next to the standard jack - I wonder if they offer the internal installation kit for the bass pickup which might let you use a standard cable in the same output as the new Serial jack. That would be quite cool. I am guessing not. Well, currently there is no internal kit, I had just been looking, but when they do, there is no way to have them in the same cable (which is a shame as the gibson did, but then it had a battery in it). 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0175westwood29 Posted July 21, 2023 Share Posted July 21, 2023 5 hours ago, Woodinblack said: Nothing in the cable - the strings are serial encoded in the little box, and fed though a the TRS, which I am guessing also probably has power. So power / ground / signal. yeh must be done with voltage but super keen to actually get my hands on a unit for sure 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodinblack Posted July 21, 2023 Share Posted July 21, 2023 ok, now I looked it is just a twisted pair cable, so what you would expect for high speed serial data, like an ethernet cable. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fretmeister Posted July 21, 2023 Author Share Posted July 21, 2023 https://www.thomann.de/gb/boss_bgk_30_serial_gk_cable.htm?shp=eyJjb3VudHJ5IjoiZ2IiLCJjdXJyZW5jeSI6NCwibGFuZ3VhZ2UiOjJ9&reload=1 £60 Will any TRS work? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted July 21, 2023 Share Posted July 21, 2023 9 minutes ago, fretmeister said: Will any TRS work? Having the signal conductors twisted as a twisted pair is better for noise rejection and the removal of RF interference. In today's phone heavy gig environment that has probably become more important than ever. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Krow Posted July 21, 2023 Share Posted July 21, 2023 7 hours ago, 0175westwood29 said: i pretty sure it does all the string by string stuff, some def magic going on in the trs cable they are using. im very intrigued to see how it plays with a bass, obviously all the demos are going to be based on more out there sounds but i love the sy-200, and this is somewhere between the 1000 and that for sure. Appears to have a different set of sounds from the SY-1000 (and obviously the SY-200)? Its keys and horn emulation on guitar are frankly amazing. Liking the form factor too! Could see it being a lot of creative fun for originals bands. Dunno if there's going to be enough usable sounds for a covers band where the bass player needs to be providing the usual bass lines rather than wandering off into interesting and varied soundscapes, and getting glares from their bandmates. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodinblack Posted July 21, 2023 Share Posted July 21, 2023 It includes SY1000 sounds. I didnt hear anything hugely away from the normal guitar synth SY1000 stuff though. Would love one, although to be fair, if I had one, I would fit it on a guitar to get a decent response on it. Maybe a baritone guitar tuned B-C? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owen Posted July 22, 2023 Share Posted July 22, 2023 I am not anywhere near decent speakers at the moment so cannot listen. Does it make a guitar able to imitate a bass. I would love to mess with my telecaster and a plectrum and make it sound an octave down and like a bass. Nothing polyphonic. Just a nice, fat, dur-d-duur-dur-d-duur. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Krow Posted July 24, 2023 Share Posted July 24, 2023 On 22/07/2023 at 19:32, Owen said: I am not anywhere near decent speakers at the moment so cannot listen. Does it make a guitar able to imitate a bass. I would love to mess with my telecaster and a plectrum and make it sound an octave down and like a bass. Nothing polyphonic. Just a nice, fat, dur-d-duur-dur-d-duur. Would a Boss OC-5 (or a n other) octave pedal not get you there for a fraction of the cost? The OC-5 has a guitar mode. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matbard Posted July 24, 2023 Share Posted July 24, 2023 GM-800 is an awesome box. It relies on the new developed A2B protocol. The ZEN-core is a massive, modular synth engine that could be expanded in the future with many things. Definitely in my wish list (I have a SY-1000 that I keep in order to have HRM modelling) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chienmortbb Posted August 13, 2023 Share Posted August 13, 2023 On 21/07/2023 at 19:46, BigRedX said: Having the signal conductors twisted as a twisted pair is better for noise rejection and the removal of RF interference. In today's phone heavy gig environment that has probably become more important than ever. It’s odd. There can only be one twisted pair, is the third conductor a shield? Is so it’s a good quality TRS balanced cable. Mic cable is one twisted pair covered by a screen and it is the screen that does most of the interference suppression. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chienmortbb Posted August 13, 2023 Share Posted August 13, 2023 I am not an expert but it looks like the old units use a parallel connection while this unit and pickup uses a serial connection. Having had to repair a number of Roland Drum modules, the parallel connector is the weak link, mechanically very unstable. A TRS cable is more robust but easy to pull out. Do you need the BOSS cable, is it not wired pin to pin on the TRS? If it is pin to pin it’s hard to see why a decent TRS cable would not work fine. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodinblack Posted August 13, 2023 Share Posted August 13, 2023 Its a straight TRS cable with a twisted pair and shield. Any one will work, but obviously boss are going to sell their own. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chienmortbb Posted August 13, 2023 Share Posted August 13, 2023 56 minutes ago, Woodinblack said: Its a straight TRS cable with a twisted pair and shield. Any one will work, but obviously boss are going to sell their own. Of course it does have 96K gold plugs. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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