I Couldn't Afford a Kemper - The Boss GS-10 Tries Its Best

[@NedJeffery]

I like how you did this video at the same time everyone else is playing with a tone master pro.

[@StompboxBreakdown]

I can't wait to try it out in 2043

[@davidwoods358]

Boss needs to revisit this idea again and create a box that combines the latest digital technology, amp sims and effects models together with an onboard built in multitrack digital recorder (similar to the old BR1180 cd.) The BR1180's main problem was that the hard drives kept breaking (I went through 3 of them) but, it was a dead simple box to record into and allowed even a hack like me to create 7 actual full length finished cd's. Come on Boss, I know you can do it again and do it way better now.

[@rmp5s]

Would be cool to see. I had a BR8 forever ago...I can't imagine what they'd be able to pull off these days.

[@Pepino2017]

The smiles say it all - and that’s all that matters. Well done, as usual!

[@scottishgentlemen6038]

Some really cool sounds in there! I loved the slicer sound you had, and you were clearly having a great time checking out those presets. There's a weird magic to some of the earlier digital gear. I had the old original alesis microverb, which has sadly now died. The long hall decay on that thing was digital, but like... early digital. Obviously so, but in a really beautiful way. As incredible and realistic sounding as modern digital gear can be, I kinda miss the slightly janky vibes of some of the older stuff.

[@jasonlee8497]

I have the Boss IR 200. High resolution IRs and I use my own different preamps. Sounds excellent. Boss is good stuff. When I was a kid in the early 80s just starting to get good, Boss was considered top quality gear. Now, there is much more competition but in my opinion Boss is still one of the best.

[@StompboxBreakdown]

Oh absolutely. I’ve got a Torpedo Captor and Wall of Sound that works really well for silent practice and recording. Didn’t use it here, though.

[@Guitar_Ted]

Love the Hat/bass continuity! Anyway, yeah, I agree with you on the form-factor. I would love a modernized version of this to be maybe about 2/3rds that size that could sit on my desk and interface with my computer. I don't know of anything like that, but if anyone out there has a suggestion, I'm all ears. Great find and great video!

[@mariomendoza3785]

Loved your honest review, especially the throw backs to RadioShack and sears Couldn't stop laughing

[@syfman6]

I have one, original owner. I love it! 💚🎸

[@StompboxBreakdown]

Awesome!!

[@TheAmazingSnarf]

oh, man. so much fun! sixty seconds into this presentation, i'm wondering: "is this the sum of all of Boss' 20 series in a tabletop box?" thank you for what you do for us. er, what you do TO us. whatevs. gratitude.

[@gophercrow]

Hat on when you describe the bass tone was a pro move

[@planetweed]

I like that it can put the effects in any order i want , really broadens the available pallet of sounds ... if you are willing to do a little menu diving that is.

[@Comatosis1]

I have one of these as well. It was a demo model I got from guitar center for roughly $300 around 18 years ago. Interestingly enough I lost possession of it for 2 years unbeknownst to me. It was in my old car that was stolen a few years ago. I had happened to see it sitting in a display case at a pawn shop and I was like woah I have one of those. Upon closer inspection I realized that it was mine. Until that moment I thought it was stored in my garage. Glad i seen it. Shitty part was I had to buy it back. Thankfully they let me give them $50 for it instead of the $400 plus they wanted for it.

[@StompboxBreakdown]

Surprised they made you pay for it at all! I thought that would count as stolen goods.

[@michaelfowler3187]

Phaser and ring mod and the slicer were kinda cool. You showed that GT6 or whatever beige thing - I borrowed that from someone once and was soooo over my head

[@erzahlerband1685]

this was the best $120 I ever spent. Or at least 20 years ago when I found it on the unloved, please take it table at Guitar Center. Perfect for my home studio. Only recently dumped it for newer gear, but its still at hand. Great little unit. I actually tried to recreate a lot of my favorite patches into my GT-1000. Those tend to be my go to on guitar to this day.

[@SS-gx7tg]

Another great upload. Keep is up man, sooner or later the algorithm will start brute forcing your vids into everyone's feed! (half joking, but that IS the goal). Maybe also do some 'quick take' 2-3 min quickie vids of pedals (ie boosts or simple 1-2 knob pedals) that can be summarized up in a little bite sized morsel vid, that way output increases and engagement will rise. These 20 min vids are awesome and I love em but the production/editing must take quite a while whereas a smattering of 2-3 min 'cliff notes' type vids detailing more simple circuits might help add a 2nd style of vid to your channel to keep your name popping up in our feeds more. Just an idea. Anyway this is great.. but yeah, some of the overdrives on this thing... yeesh :/ We've come a long way in the last 20 years when it comes to modelers, but there's also some great sounds in this machine as well. Physically it looks like the pedal equivalent of one of those cell phones from early 90's, the ones as thick as the yellow pages !

[@StompboxBreakdown]

Haha, you've got that right. It's trying so hard to do something that today's systems can do with minimal effort. But just like older software, sometimes that meant that the developers had to spend more time getting down and dirty with the effects, and they might have found something special. As for engagement, I definitely need to make more shorts. It's just that my brain immediately goes long form. Switching my mind (not to mention the cameras) into vertical mode takes some adjusting, but I'll work on it. Thanks.

[@zloboslav_]

Fun device! Thanks for sharing. From these years I prefer the high gain sounds of the line 6 pod 2.0 - the red bean. Even though it had less effects, the high gain was much smoother. If you get the chance you should play with one and maybe compare or even combine them - it would be very fun! :)

[@StompboxBreakdown]

The Pod definitely had some good stuff going on. I had the kidney bean 2.0 and then the rack XT Pro.

[@Agoraphobia2day333]

I have my dad's Boss DR.880 and it's like this thing with some drums and bass thrown in to have backing tracks to play around with. Honestly hoping with the modelers out there that Boss/Roland pick up on the idea of this being more viable than ever.

[@objectiveobserver2792]

really nice tone

[@emilyharpist]

epic

[@frankfrank7921]

Never liked COSM even back in the day but for this unit's current price of $130-150 it can be a fun thing to have for somebody. For example for no real reason other than they're cheap, I bought a Line6 M5 even though I have a Helix so all of those effects are legacy effects in the Helix. Interestingly though many of the FX from the M5 sound better than their counterparts in the Helix. Could be my imagination though.

[@StompboxBreakdown]

Someone said on a forum or reddit post a while back that all it takes for an effect to become desirable is for some artist to use it on a song and for everyone to go "Whoa, what was that?". It doesn't matter if it's "good" in the traditional sense, it just has to grab your attention. I think COSM sounded great for time-based effects but wasn't quite ready to tackle the dirt side of things. Digitech still had real tubes in the 2100/2112/2120. The TC Electronic Nova System (my favorite multi-effects system) still retains analog/programmable distortion and overdrive. COSM probably should have been limited to delay/modulation effects, but I bet them being all-in gave them a head start heading into today's MDP, which seems perfectly acceptable.

[@frankfrank7921]

@@StompboxBreakdown I agree on the effects, COSM was pretty good. The distortions, as you mentioned, and especially the amps are what I remember as very unimpressive. Current Boss modeling with their AIRD tech sound great though.

[@thebreakfastmenu]

I'm gonna have to keep my eyes open for one of these.

[@StompboxBreakdown]

I keep finding myself going back to it. It’s super convenient as a practice tool.

[@objectiveobserver2792]

one of those science fair projects for guitar pedals would have been the bomb

[@kwyatt261]

The almost human patch sounded EXACTLY like the intro effect on Nerve Damage by Unknown Mortal Orchestra

[@StompboxBreakdown]

Good catch! The constant oscillation and range makes me think it probably *is* a Roland/Boss effect in the same family as the effect.

[@hilfdsgfuiw]

Unbelievable that this thing is from 2003, never heard of it before this

[@StompboxBreakdown]

I hadn't either until it kept showing up on Reverb. It's like they discovered a truckload of them somewhere.

[@Jesus_Advocate41]

Been playing one of these for years. 100 bucks on eBay. Best bang for the buck you can find

[@mykhedelic6471]

Beanie Bass always wins the day.

[@StompboxBreakdown]

It’s getting colder out. I may even wear it outside of the house

[@michaelmarchei8539]

Reminds me of the GT-10. Had some good sounds but would take 1 hour to make a patch Just sold it and got the GX-100 and run it straight into an ac30

[@StompboxBreakdown]

That looks pretty sweet. Yeah, I'm using an MS-3 for some of my effects and the current gen is pretty good, but I still use my amp for dirt.

[@bangdude5630]

Vintage gears always had strong personality

[@slowblack3947]

The GS-10 is actually still a pretty decent efx unit, even for 2023 standards, just forget about the amp modelling and use it only for out-there, crazy, and more sophisticated stuff, like the slicer, slow gear, multi-multi tap delays, and guitar synth tones. Much like the Roland GP-100 with horrible preamp modelling but great chorus/delay/verb/harmony thingies, you have to use this tools for their strengths, not because you want to sound like Metallica, Polyphia, or Hendrix for that matters... Musicians will always appreciate an interesting piece of vintage hardware, as per a vintage software plugin, that will not run on the computer systems of next decades, well, I'm not so sure.

[@shaft9000]

gatt-DAMN it seems like Roland have been using that exact same part# for a "display" since about 1985 for every other thing they make! (why am I watching this?? lol) thanks anyway haha

[@YMF1891]

I always wanted one of those circuit board wiring gizmos, never got one. Drats

[@StompboxBreakdown]

I almost bought one for the video. I’ll definitely be getting one for my nephew once he’s old enough

[@BuHeTy]

Boss is The Boss. My opinion - not so good in amp modeling, but when you use it in in front of clean amp it's a pleasure.

[@objectiveobserver2792]

luv it

[@jacobpittman1996]

@7:30 Did you just enter the highway to the danger zone!?

[@228anonymous]

Is it safe to connect the GS-10 into another audio interface (uad volt 1) via the phones output?

[@URTH-yb5xh]

You should do an in depth on Ring Mod Ehx,Way Huge,Zoom708II Green Ringer dod Gonk etc I don’t want to walk down the street and get Jumpered😝🙃🫢🤪Gs-10 still interesting you can neat stuff just have to push a little more Someone should mention to people so what with some multi fx boxes might have dive a little deeper push a bit more creatively🎸💥

[@kellecetraro4807]

I have one of the first units of these that was ever made, I still have it, but mine sounds much better than yours does, were you recording into an interface from the outputs, if so what was your output settings set to? I was an engineer at DigiTech so I know how to get mid-grade gear to sound good lol, I can still get My GS10 to sound terrific. All of the effects routing can be changed directly from the unit, there's different microphone emulations and cabinet variations etc. If somebody took the time to dive into it they could be creative and get it to sound really good. There was even free artist patch sets made by George Lynch, Yngwie Malmsteen and Marty Friedman. I like the fact that you dug up a piece of old gear and reviewed it, I get where you're coming from, but I am a little disappointed. What would have been really fun is if you made an effort to make it sound as good as it's capable of, and then revealed it to everybody... If that makes sense. Also, I used it on a pedal board, It has momentary switch input and an expression pedal input/combo, It has 100% full MIDI implementation I used it with an X-15 midi foot controller and on other occasions with an original FCB 1010 That was built like a tank. I've got almost every modern device from a nux MG-30, Headrush core, Tonex and Kemper player... Etc. I think my current favorite actually is the ToneX for certain things and the Ampero II stage... And honestly the Nux MG-30 with the final beta firmware that's not been released has a special place in my heart lol... But honestly I still love the GS-10 and have it setup into a 2*12 Waza craft speaker cabinet (used to be Fender 2*12 cabinet with eminence speakers) powered by a Marshall 80/80 power amp. Fun fun stuff.

[@StompboxBreakdown]

Sorry you were disappointed. Maybe you can make a video on how to make it sound so much better.

[@kellecetraro4807]

@@StompboxBreakdown My previous responses didn''t sit well with me, I've deleted them and will try again. It wasn't my intention to antagonize with my original comment. Considering the GS-10 isn't a current unit and anything to be said in its favor has little utility at this point in history. That being said, there are settings if set favorably dramatically change the output characteristics of the unit. I'm able to get extremely usable hi and mid-gain tones as well as clean tones with it to this day. Is it currently part of my professional rig? No, time has marched on and It's been depreciated accordingly.

[@samatskyline]

I almost bought that thing back in the day. Instead, I bought the VF-1. So much promise and so much disappointment. Pro: It had pretty much every Boss pedal sound ever made to that date. Con: It was difficult to program. Like really difficult. The VF-1 and the BR-532 turned me off to any Boss gear that isn't a compact pedal (note: the 20 series counts as a compact pedal). 🤘🏾

[@BulletsForTeeth5029]

There's just something about 'hands on' gear that digital and software just can't emulate. The idea was to spend time with this type of gear, to unlock the magic inside the box. A lot of the modelers just take the fun out of it. Kids these days just don't understand, and if you try to explain it to them they still wouldn't understand.

[@jamiemorgan4146]

Maybe you can explain the need of IR’s ? Maybe I’m out to lunch. I have a Mesa Boogie Mark lll Simul- Class, EQ Combo. It gives me any sound that I need. For me... I don’t need any IR’s or this. If you have the amp that you love, why try to sound like another amp. For around the house I have a 1960/61 Gibson Tweed GA19 RVT and it’s also amazing. Maybe I just don’t understand this IR thing... 😑😑😑😑

[@StompboxBreakdown]

IRs are about convenience. If you have an amp you love and can play it at an ideal volume whenever you want, then you probably no little need for IRs or simulators of any kind. I can let my amp rip at the band practice space, but I can't even get the Master volume halfway to 1 before it inconveniences my family (not to mention the pets), especially since I usually only get time to play late in the day. Using IRs, I can take the output of a tube amp, emulate the speaker cabinet I have at the practice space, or anything else, and send it through my desktop monitors, for practice, or into Logic, for recording. It doesn't hit the same way as the real thing, but I've had better luck using Two-Notes DynIRs for recording than I have using 59's and 609's in my own house.

[@JamesJLaRue]

Marty Friedman used to talk about this unit in old interviews. Wacky piece in the form factor but not horrible at all for 2003.

[@StompboxBreakdown]

Oh wow, didn't know that. Yeah, it seems like a tabletop version of the GT-6 with a few other features added.

[@tree5204]

Does the interface work with m1 macbook?

[@StompboxBreakdown]

I couldn't get it to link up. I've read about people installing funky drivers to make it connect, but I didn't want to mess up my machine.

[@RodneyBoast]

I have one for sale...just dont use it any longer 125 bucks. It was my favorite for recording now no longer play or record.

[@GreatPlanet-n7n]

objectively it is not good at modelling, sorry. The clean tones are decent.

[@GreatPlanet-n7n]

Katana amps, now those work

[@shatteredsquare]

this is what Yamaha THR30IV should be @YamahaGuitarGroup