Can't Decide! - Boss GT-10 or Line 6 POD HD500

[V8Jewelly]

I am planning on getting one of these big multiboards soon, but I can't work out which one to get? I have always used boss compact (single) pedals before and they have never let me down so I do have a slight consumer loyalty to them, but at the same time I don't want to buy it and then find the HD500 to be a better option. I like the way the GT-10 functions, (banks of presets so you have 4 settings per song effectively), and if that isn't the way the hd500 works then I'll deffinately get the Boss.

Anyway, here are my key deliberating points:

1: I have read there can be some dropout/lag between effects on the Boss, is this the case with the Line 6 also? And how bad is it?
2: The Line 6 seems less user friendly than the Boss
3: The effect adjustment capabilities of the boss seem endless (parrallel effects routes, reordering of effects etc). Though the line 6 does look like it has some merits in this area.
4: Durability - as said, my boss stuff has never let me down and some of it's had a hard life, so I'd assume (and have read likewise) that the GT-10 will be built to the same standard, how does the line 6 compare. I've always considered their stuff to be more delicate.

tbh, part of the problem is I haven't found as much material about the line 6, so don't know as much to compare

So, basically if anybody can shed any knowledge or experience on these issues then I would be most grateful!! Cheers

[freefrog]

Having owned a dozen of digital MFX's these last 15 years, I use a GT10 AND some Line6 stuffs (not a HD500 but I know what it does). Here are my feelings:

1-Drop out/lag: I don't notice nothing special with the GT. Impedance and levels are more an issue on such MFX's (all of them are "touchy", according to the guitar, amps and EQing used with them). The HD00 is known as having a problem of quickly overloaded processor.
2-IMHO, none is really user friendly. I've passed years to experiment with modelers and most of them are actually counter-intuitive: good sounding settings are often far from the settings that you would apply to a real amp or stompbox...
3-the endless adjustement capabilites is in the same time a unique door towards tonal customization and a potential damnation for those who don't understand how a GT works.
4-The physical durability is less an issue than the "resale value" durability: like computers, each line of MFX's is periodically depreciated by a new product supposed to be better... I've never broken an MFX but I've lost a lot of money in upgrades to the next gen models. I've stopped now and decided to keep my GT10.

My criterium of choice would rather be in the planned use of the desired mfx: if you want 1) to record and to play at home through headphones 2) to play hi gain with a studio processed tone, get the Line6. If you play 1) through guitar amps at loud levels and 2) with raw clean or crunch tones mostly, the GT10 might be a better choice.
Each has different qualities and flaws... Check if the "basic tone" of each unit suits your ears and tastes. We all hear things differently.

Oh, and... Don't believe advices: the world of digital MFX's is largely biased by a kind of fanboy mentality, which often works on the "my MFX is bigger than yours" mode - while IMHO, none is really "better" since it totally depends on the context: guitars, amps, ears, needs, tastes... Each user has to find "his" brand and model.

Just my two cents.

[V8Jewelly]

Thankyou, very helpful.

As far as finding the right "basic tone" as you put it, I have/use various different guitars with a train of boss compacts, but I use a VOX VT amp, which gives me all the tonal quality I need! Even makes my Squire Strat sound good!!

I will be using it for gigs and recording with my band, so on that basis I probably will go with the GT10. I was almost set on it before I posted but wanted to check a few issues first. and as for being able to use a GT10, I live alone so have many lonely evenings, and occasional lonely weekends to fiddle about with it!!! Not worried about upgrades either, if it does what I want it to do now, it will do until it breaks.....which should be a good few years!

Also, have you had any experience or know anything about the VOX ToneLab EX? In particular what the tone is like after they've whacked it through their valve circuitry

Thanks again

Edit: incidentally, just seen this thread: http://music-electronics-forum.com/t17450/

As you use a GT10, what would your view be on the sound definition?

[freefrog]

Thankyou, very helpful.

As far as finding the right "basic tone" as you put it, I have/use various different guitars with a train of boss compacts, but I use a VOX VT amp, which gives me all the tonal quality I need! Even makes my Squire Strat sound good!!

I will be using it for gigs and recording with my band, so on that basis I probably will go with the GT10. I was almost set on it before I posted but wanted to check a few issues first. and as for being able to use a GT10, I live alone so have many lonely evenings, and occasional lonely weekends to fiddle about with it!!! Not worried about upgrades either, if it does what I want it to do now, it will do until it breaks.....which should be a good few years!

Also, have you had any experience or know anything about the VOX ToneLab EX? In particular what the tone is like after they've whacked it through their valve circuitry

Thanks again

Edit: incidentally, just seen this thread: http://music-electronics-forum.com/t17450/

As you use a GT10, what would your view be on the sound definition?

You're welcome.

I have owned a Tonelab Desktop and, briefly, a Tonelab LE. I've recently renounced to re-buy a Tonelab SE... Sometimes, in rehearsal, I plug in the Vox AD50 of our band but it's when I haven't my multiple amps + GT with me (i/e.: I never plug the GT in the Vox amp so don't ask me how it sounds - lol).

Regarding the GT10/ME50 comparison : the GT10 is well known to add a sligth "cocked wah" mid boost to guitar sounds. It appears to come from an inner "gyrator" circuit and mimics the effect of an added lenght of cable/ cable capacitance, giving a kind of vintage vibe to the tone. Some users find it especially prominent / annoying. In my experience, this issue appears or not, depending on the input level and amp in which the GT is plugged...
It's not a problem for me, because my gear is not too sensitive to this phenomenon and because I've found some tricks to tame it.

To sum it up from another point of view:
-if I plug my guitar direct to the amp then through the GT10, I notice a difference: the GT10 colors the sound as an added cable would do with a passive guitar;
-If I plug through my analog pedalboard (a dozen of true bypass pedals + a volume pedal) and if I don't enable my input buffer, I find the tone more altered by the true bypass board than by the GT10... Once the input buffer enabled in my analog board, the two rigs "alter" the tone in the same way...

Now, I could understand someone who would prefer the ME50. I use the GT10 mostly for its capabilities to be plugged in "4 cable method" and as the core of a stereo rig (I often use two or three tube amps in the same time with it).

Hope to be useful... :-)