Boss GT100 vs Line6 HD500

[gpuma]

any comments? I heard a lot about the line 6 but not much about the Boss unit. I never owned anything from line 6 but everything I ever had from roland/boss has always been excellent...

[DetroitBlues]

Line 6 has the best tones for a modeling device under $500. All the Boss units I've played have only been slightly better than Digitech. Not sure about Boss's new flag ship though. Wonder about the Fender Mustang unit?

[gpuma]

if you are referring to the little practice amp I have to say that I had one and I don't know... could not really bind with it. I ended up bringing it back and exchanged for a micro cube, which is imho phenomenal

[barrymclark]

if you are referring to the little practice amp I have to say that I had one and I don\'t know... could not really bind with it. I ended up bringing it back and exchanged for a micro cube' date=' which is imho phenomenal[/quote']

I too am curious to hear one. What I have heard on the demo\'s and what other people have done with it has been pretty impressive. I am, however, partial to Roland/Boss\'s idea of tone. From the sounds of it, you might be as well.

 

I currently own:

 

Roland JC120

Roland Cube 80x

Roland MicroCube

 

The MicroCube was the first one I got and that was a gift from my father in law.

 

At this point, I have enough confidence in Roland/Boss that, if I didn\'t need the money, I\'d likely trade my Dr Z cab straight up for one.

 

 

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[barrymclark]

I will say also that I have heard folks on other forums using the HD series get some GREAT tones.

 

So... I guess what I am getting at is that they are both great.... depending on you. Line 6 has always been one of those brands where I hear others get great tones out of it and I just don\'t like it when I play through it. Roland/Boss amps are one of those that people tend to like me playing through... but not themselves. haha.

 

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[Genericmusic]

I am, however, partial to Roland/Boss\'s idea of tone.

[barrymclark]

[barrymclark]

Line 6 has the best tones for a modeling device under $500. All the Boss units I've played have only been slightly better than Digitech. Not sure about Boss's new flag ship though. Wonder about the Fender Mustang unit?

I've wondered about the Mustang Floor too. People seem to really be digging on the Mustang amps (for those into the Fender sound).

 

Couldn't disagree more about the Roland/Digitech comparison. That goes to my other post though. Just one of those things. We all look for something specific in tone even if we can't pinpoint it. I personally have never been a fan of Digitech. Never liked it. Bring in a GT-10 and I love it. To me, Digitech would be an absolute last resort. Behringer would be a step up. Line6 next. ...and Boss/Tech21 I'd take any day with an edge to Tech21 for ease of use but an edge to Boss for tone. I don't mention 11Rack or Vox ToneLab or Fractal Audio because I have never spent personal time on one.

[barrymclark]

...there is a forum dedicated to the Boss GT series. I am on there. Good resource. You can hear what others have done tone wise with the GT. Might give you some idea.

[t0aj15]

I've wondered about the Mustang Floor too. People seem to really be digging on the Mustang amps (for those into the Fender sound).

I've had the Roland Cube 80X (gave it to my son) and still have the Fender Mustang III and IMO the Cube 80X is head and shoulders above the Mustang in both sound and quality of build. I would rate the Mustang as a nice beginners amp and nothing more.

[schundog]

I have, in the past, owned the Boss GT-3, GT-6, and GT-8. I have also owned a POD XT, and currently have a Line 6 Pod XT LIVE and an HD 500.

 

The Boss stuff is practically indestructable, as well as more WYSIWYG. Good tones to be had, once, like with all of these modellers, you ditch the over-the-top presets, or simply use them as a base to shape your own sound. There is a "4 cable method" in dealing with them that gives you a better sound, but I never dealt with it; either straight into the front of the amp (then your "real" preamp is coloring the tone, of course) or plugged it into the effects loop, if my amp had one. The only amp I currently have with that feature is my Peavey Classic 30. Sometimes I wish I had simply stuck with my good ol' gold Boss GT-6 and been done with it. I used it exclusively for a couple of years at church direct to the board, and it worked great.

 

The Line 6 stuff, to me, isn't as durable. My used XT Live had a knob missing, and just doesn't feel as sturdy overall as the Boss stuff. Great sounds to be had here, as well, but not as intuitive as the Boss. Maybe if I had STARTED on the Line 6 and gone the other way, my opinion would be different. I was intrigued by the hype surrounding the HD series stuff when it came out, and when I was able to pick up an HD500 for $100 off the normally best price, I jumped. I have to say the sounds are MUCH better than anything I've tried from Boss or Line 6 previously. That said, I haven't used the Boss GT-10 or GT-100, so keep that in mind. But the Line 6 HD500 stuff is incredibly realistic sounding. In hindsight, I could have done just as well if not better with the lowly HD300, as the amp models are the same on all three models, and the 300 looks to be easier to use right out of the gate. The 500 is a powerful tool that I haven't given the ample time to learn how to use anywhere near it's potential yet. Time will tell on it's durabiltiy, but I'd still put the Boss stuff on the top of the heap as far as that goes.

[DetroitBlues]

if you are referring to the little practice amp I have to say that I had one and I don't know... could not really bind with it. I ended up bringing it back and exchanged for a micro cube, which is imho phenomenal

 

Fender took there amp and made it a floor multi-effects unit....

 

[DetroitBlues]

I have, in the past, owned the Boss GT-3, GT-6, and GT-8. I have also owned a POD XT, and currently have a Line 6 Pod XT LIVE and an HD 500.

 

The Boss stuff is practically indestructable, as well as more WYSIWYG. Good tones to be had, once, like with all of these modellers, you ditch the over-the-top presets, or simply use them as a base to shape your own sound. There is a "4 cable method" in dealing with them that gives you a better sound, but I never dealt with it; either straight into the front of the amp (then your "real" preamp is coloring the tone, of course) or plugged it into the effects loop, if my amp had one. The only amp I currently have with that feature is my Peavey Classic 30. Sometimes I wish I had simply stuck with my good ol' gold Boss GT-6 and been done with it. I used it exclusively for a couple of years at church direct to the board, and it worked great.

 

The Line 6 stuff, to me, isn't as durable. My used XT Live had a knob missing, and just doesn't feel as sturdy overall as the Boss stuff. Great sounds to be had here, as well, but not as intuitive as the Boss. Maybe if I had STARTED on the Line 6 and gone the other way, my opinion would be different. I was intrigued by the hype surrounding the HD series stuff when it came out, and when I was able to pick up an HD500 for $100 off the normally best price, I jumped. I have to say the sounds are MUCH better than anything I've tried from Boss or Line 6 previously. That said, I haven't used the Boss GT-10 or GT-100, so keep that in mind. But the Line 6 HD500 stuff is incredibly realistic sounding. In hindsight, I could have done just as well if not better with the lowly HD300, as the amp models are the same on all three models, and the 300 looks to be easier to use right out of the gate. The 500 is a powerful tool that I haven't given the ample time to learn how to use anywhere near it's potential yet. Time will tell on it's durabiltiy, but I'd still put the Boss stuff on the top of the heap as far as that goes.

 

 

And as much I'd like to love using multi-effect units, I found individual pedals to be more of my liking. I try not to use pedals as often as I can.

[barrymclark]

I've had the Roland Cube 80X (gave it to my son) and still have the Fender Mustang III and IMO the Cube 80X is head and shoulders above the Mustang in both sound and quality of build. I would rate the Mustang as a nice beginners amp and nothing more.

Yeah. All a matter of opinion though. Know some folks that really use the Mustangs and heard from others that they were left feeling flat. The only thing I don't think people can take away from the Roland Boss stuff is they are built like tanks. The rest is all in just what floats your boat.

[barrymclark]

I have, in the past, owned the Boss GT-3, GT-6, and GT-8. I have also owned a POD XT, and currently have a Line 6 Pod XT LIVE and an HD 500.

 

The Boss stuff is practically indestructable, as well as more WYSIWYG. Good tones to be had, once, like with all of these modellers, you ditch the over-the-top presets, or simply use them as a base to shape your own sound. There is a "4 cable method" in dealing with them that gives you a better sound, but I never dealt with it; either straight into the front of the amp (then your "real" preamp is coloring the tone, of course) or plugged it into the effects loop, if my amp had one. The only amp I currently have with that feature is my Peavey Classic 30. Sometimes I wish I had simply stuck with my good ol' gold Boss GT-6 and been done with it. I used it exclusively for a couple of years at church direct to the board, and it worked great.

 

The Line 6 stuff, to me, isn't as durable. My used XT Live had a knob missing, and just doesn't feel as sturdy overall as the Boss stuff. Great sounds to be had here, as well, but not as intuitive as the Boss. Maybe if I had STARTED on the Line 6 and gone the other way, my opinion would be different. I was intrigued by the hype surrounding the HD series stuff when it came out, and when I was able to pick up an HD500 for $100 off the normally best price, I jumped. I have to say the sounds are MUCH better than anything I've tried from Boss or Line 6 previously. That said, I haven't used the Boss GT-10 or GT-100, so keep that in mind. But the Line 6 HD500 stuff is incredibly realistic sounding. In hindsight, I could have done just as well if not better with the lowly HD300, as the amp models are the same on all three models, and the 300 looks to be easier to use right out of the gate. The 500 is a powerful tool that I haven't given the ample time to learn how to use anywhere near it's potential yet. Time will tell on it's durabiltiy, but I'd still put the Boss stuff on the top of the heap as far as that goes.

Yeah. Some of the clips I have heard from the HD's are really stellar. and +1 on ditching the over the top presets. I actually started with Line6 and went Boss. I think I have come to a point where I stop comparing things as much. I just play on a piece of gear and it either moves me or it doesn't. If it does, then I get it and see if it still moves me a month or two later. The only gear that seems to stick around is Roland/Boss for me and I end up dumping Line6 left and right. That might not be true with the HD though. The last POD I had was the x3. Before that, I had every generation of the POD. The HD promises to be a MUCH bigger jump in change in tone than previous changes. Cool stuff to be sure.

 

I heard this comparison a guy did. I don't recall which amp he used. Anyways, he had the Fractal model, the HD500 of the same model and the ACTUAL amp model that was modeled in both cases. I don't believe he just took the settings on the amp and applied them to the modelers to see how close they came. I believe he was adjusting each modeler to approximate the tone of the actual amp. The results were VERY interesting.

 

In both modelers, he got so close it was scary. The only way you could tell there was a difference was to click back and forth in an ABC sort of comparison. Doing that, I preferred the slight difference in the HD500 over the Fractal and preferred both to the actual amp. haha. But... in any case, it was all so close, you could have used any one of them and no one would have been the wiser.

[JeffB]

[DetroitBlues]