Settings for Boss GX-700

John McConnell · Post by **John McConnell** » 12 Mar 2000 9:40 pm

I have had my GX-700 for a while now and I am still not sure I am getting all I can out of it. I am not too happy with the delay and chorus but I am not at all an expert on these things. I am using the Rays Slide setting and tweaking it a little bit from there. I would appreciate any help. I am playing a Sho-Bud Proffesional thru a Music Man HD 130 Tube amp. Thanks. John McConnell, Yuba City, CA

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Earnest Bovine · Post by **Earnest Bovine** » 12 Mar 2000 10:11 pm

How is it wired to your guitar, pedal, amd amp?

ebb · Post by **ebb** » 13 Mar 2000 3:34 am

which is better
1. steel->fx->vol->amp
2. steel->vol->amp->send->fx->recv
3. steel->amp->send->fx->vol->recv

each case i assume fx before vol makes most sense

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 13 Mar 2000 5:22 am

This is not specific to any processor. If you use a compressor, it should be after the volume pedal, not direct from the guitar.

If you're not using a compressor and your effect processor can cope with the direct signal level from a guitar then it will work well that way.

John Lacey · Post by **John Lacey** » 13 Mar 2000 7:29 am

John, you should be able to get quite satisfactory settings out of the delay, chorus and reverb features. It might take some research on your part in understanding which delays work best, how much feedback, etc. We could spoon-feed you this, but I think in the long run, not knowing you're history, you might want to bone up on those individual effects. Start from dry and start adding a hall or plate reverb, very lightly with experimentation on the amount of reverb. Err on the side of conservativism. Then try a nice delay around 100-200 ms. with a light amount of feedback and combine with the reverb. In using the chorus, go with the stereo chorus. Rather than using the presets, I went with the additive approach to this unit and it works too well! There's more here than I'll ever use.
Good luck and email me if you want specifics. My unit will be home later today. I'm using it on a session today and will probably just use the preamp. I'm going to do some experimentation as I'm not fond of the Twin setting that I've been using.
John Lacey.

Earnest Bovine · Post by **Earnest Bovine** » 13 Mar 2000 10:04 am

I was gonna say the same thing. Start simple and add efx one at a time. I night use justa delay, and no reverb, for example.

I would put the compressor before the volume pedal, not after.

here is how I would wire it

guitar (3 inch cord) -> GX-700
GX-700 Loop send -> volume pedal
volume pedal -> GX-700 Loop return
GX-700 output -> amp

Now you can chain the efx inside the GX-700 in any order you want, but I find that the default order is usually best. That's the order that they appear on the panel's edit buttons. Compressor is first, and you go to the overdrive and amp emulators before the volume pedal (Loop), so you can control the dirt with your fingers.

Experiment with some simple stuff.

Jerry Gleason · Post by **Jerry Gleason** » 13 Mar 2000 12:07 pm

I agree with Earnest. The volume pedal thru the effects loop is best. I also agree about placing a compressor before the volume pedal, instead of after, but that really depends on the kind of effect you want to achieve. I would never place an effect such as reverb ahead of the volume pedal, because when you back off the pedal quickly, the reverb goes away too.

If I'm using an amp model such as Twin or JC-120, I generally like the preamp ahead of the volume pedal as well, on the theory that if the preamp is getting maximum gain straight out of the guitar, I won't go into overdrive when I step on the pedal. I keep the input gain knob as low as it will go.

Most of my patches use a combination of reverb and delay, or just delay and no reverb. the reverb is usually the last effect in the chain.

If you do a lot of experimenting it's a good idea to make a periodic backup of your patches, if you have the capability. You can do this with any MIDI sequencer, downloading or uploading data from the GX-700 as a sysex file. I could even e-mail a sysex file with some of my patches if anyone wants to try that.

John McConnell · Post by **John McConnell** » 13 Mar 2000 4:52 pm

Thanks very much for the help. I have alot to work on and a little more understanding of this. I am really a rookie when it comes to this stuff. Too many years of playing straight bass. Old dogs take time with these new tricks. I am so glad this forum exists. Hats off to b0b.
John McConnell

John Lacey · Post by **John Lacey** » 14 Mar 2000 7:03 am

I finished my session yesterday using the JC-120 patch for the preamp. Along with my "new" old Legrande pickups it made for a fatter and warmer tone than before. Had a buzz coming out of my box, disconnected the Korg rackmount tuner from the loop but still had the buzz, so I'll have to do some detective work.

Bob Kagy · Post by **Bob Kagy** » 14 Mar 2000 10:59 am

Is the GX-700 still being made? If not, what's the next product in Boss's evolutionary chain?

Thanks, Bob

Jerry Gleason · Post by **Jerry Gleason** » 14 Mar 2000 11:46 am

The GX-700 is no longer made. If you're looking at a used one, make sure it has firmware version 1.8 or 1.9. earlier versions are known to be buggy.

The sucessor to the GX-700 in Boss' current product line is the Boss VF-1, a half-rack unit with 24 bit processing, and many more presets. I've read some complaints about the interface and crowded display, but the sound is supposed to be great. I haven't tried one yet myself.

Bob Kagy · Post by **Bob Kagy** » 15 Mar 2000 11:46 am

Thanks Jerry.

Chris Lang · Post by **Chris Lang** » 19 Mar 2000 7:43 pm

I have a VF-1, and it is great! Much quieter than the GX-700. Plus it has more presets and I have found more applications for steel. Good, clean, usable effects. IMHO.