Don't Shoot Me: GT8 v. XTL

[danastas]

Yes, I've searched and read all the previous threads. The general consensus on this board is that the GT8 is better. I'm conflicted on this because I'm familiar with the Line6 paradigm, not so much on the Boss, and I like the fact that L6 is modelling different pedals from other makers. For instance, XTL tries to emulate a Leslie Cab, while in the GT8 that falls under the Boss Phaser category. Not the same thing.

That being said, Twisteramps and JGCable have stated that the XTL sucks more tone than the GT8. That's a definite concern. Part of my interest in these pedals is the fact that I've upgraded my amps bigtime (I recently added up all the $$ invested in my pedals, and I realized I had a huge amount there, enough to buy the amp of my dreams) so if I'm going to be killing my sound with one of these modellers, I'd rather just stick with a few well chosen pedals (and sell the rest). I'd really like to put the cash to better use (I love vibe, but I don't use it that often).

Does the XTL really thin out the amp and kill tone? Is the GT8 somewhat better?

[sevser]

As far the the XTL killing tone goes...I suppose if you are running so your amps pre is you basic sound and XTL is used for enhancing that tone and/or effects, it may suck you amps tone.

I use mine as the pre amp/effects into a tube power amp so there is really no tone to suck, as my tone IS the XTL.

[Robotechnology]

I rather fancy the sound of the modelled effects of the XTL. More so than the amp models themselves.

[jgcable]

The GT-8 is all around better. More versatile, better sounding and many more features. Line 6 has killer PC editing though.

The acoustic simulator, the synths, the ability to channel switch your amp, the 2 amps at once feature, dynamic amp control, etc... are features you can't get with an XTL.

[dinky kustom]

The GT-8 is all around better. More versatile, better sounding and many more features. Line 6 has killer PC editing though.

The acoustic simulator, the synths, the ability to channel switch your amp, the 2 amps at once feature, dynamic amp control, etc... are features you can't get with an XTL.

x2

[USA Fusion]

Hey there Danastas,
I have been playing with a XTLive for nearly a year now, the other guitar player in one of my bands plays a GT8 ... you will see a couple different situations that I would like to tell you what kind of equipment has been used to come to these conclusions. Guitars, take your pick from the list on my signature below, a little of this and that, all pretty decent quality. Guitar amp - Mesa Boogie Nomad 100 2x12 combo with spiral element sovtec 12ax7's and JJTesla power tubes. PA (when going direct to board at rehearsals) - Mackie CFX16 to a pair of Ashley 900w amps driving EV115 mains and JBL115 monitors. Here is what I have observed firsthand (albeit rather biased because I DID purchase the XTLive)

1) Floor Processor in front of amp -- GT8 sounded best ... even with all the amp modeling turned off on the XTLive, it fought with my tone severely. I tried many, many different ideas setting each up, but in the end, I was not happy at all with the XTLive in the Boogie chain. Using the Boogie in live situations, I reverted back to the SKB pedalboard with the gauntlet of stomp box's.
2) Floor Processor Direct to board -- XTLive sounded best ... the amp modeling in my opinion is superior to Boss' setup. The modeling just sounded more round and 'tube-like'. To me, the GT8 sounded too much like a silicone diode stomp box, where you have no pick induced gain sensitivity. The effects, once tweaked sounded more natural. Although, in my opinion the reverbs on the GT8 were in fact more natural sounding than the XTLive.
3) Floor Processor into power amp to extension cabinet -- for this one I dusted off my Bogner 4x12 slant cabinet filled with vintage 30's which is wired stereo, ran into a Crown XLS402 power amp, and the results matched that of going direct to board.
4) Recording - The XTLive interface to computer is wonderful .. when we record, that is what we use.


My opinion, head down to the store and plan on spending at least 30 or 40 minutes with each one, playing thru different amps and boards, if they have them, and draw your own conclusions, as everyones ear is not only different, but we look for different things when it comes to 'OUR' tone. But it is nice to get a heads up from people who have used the units to get an idea and some direction.

Best of luck ....

~k

[danastas]

Thanks to everyone for their advice. Fusion, that helps me out a lot.

Unfortunately, I don't trust myself anymore testing amps at the store. I just bought a Cornford Carrera when I A/B'd it against a Carr Mercury at the store. I took it home, and only then could I tell that the low end was flabby at the higher gain level. Returned to the store and picked up the Carr Mercury, much more definition on this amp. I'm pretty useless making refined decisions at the store. Yeah, I know the difference between a Soldano and a Crate there, but beyond that...

[sevser]

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=19626286

Check out the vids to see the last show we did...I ran my XTL into my XXX power section and ran out direct to the board as well...I had to run in "Direct Mode" since it was better for the sound coming out of the PA...The sound coming from my amp wasnt the best, but what the crowd heard was good.

Not pulling a ego trip but, I still get people coming up to me me saying how nice my sound cut through...Even the sound guy who is one of the most critical people I know said my guitar sound was great. (Mike K from prog band Empyria...He bought an XTL too BTW)

I don't have any audio of that last show but you can see how big the venue is and the PA was a POS. We filled the place with sound through out.

One other thing ...My set up over took Steves once again as I have said before...The only real diff is I use a tube power amp.

I have used this set up in all kinds of situations and I wouldn't use it if it didn't do the trick...I am single and have no problem buying new gear...

It just works...

[danastas]

Wow, is that a hockey arena? Huge.

Unfortunately, with my current amps, I have no direct access to the power side. Limited channels and inputs.

It sounds like I have to give the GT8 the nod from reading all these posts.

[TheSteveMan]

I didn't even have to use the search, a thread on precisely the topic I'm currently interested in, on the front page

I went to GC and did a test drive of the XTL, GT-8, and GNX4.

The GT-8 has fantastic effects, but the factory presets are mostly quite terrible.. The amp models and distortions seem a little iffy at first glance, though some say with a bit of tweaking, good sounds can be coaxed out of this unit. High gain, or high distortion sounds tend to be noisier than SHIT! What is the deal with this.. can it be fixed?

Next, I moved to the Digitech GNX4. The first thing I noticed was that the distortion sounds are crisp and clean, generally punchy/aggressive enough to suit my tastes, and it felt like there was no trace of noise, in comparison with the GT-8 I had just come from. I used to have a POD 2.0, the noise gate kind of worked, but I found it took away from the ability to use picking/volume dynamics when I put the threshold up enough for use with the heavier patches... with this Digitech unit, not too much noise, and dynamics intact! Nice!
One of the attractive features of this unit is the ability to record tracks to a CF card-- I run Linux at home now and leave my Windows laptop at work most of the time, so Line6 USB recording interfaces are a bit inconvenient for me... Also my Linux pc does not at the moment have a working soundcard...
The con of the GNX4 is that it's not as deep as the boss in the effects department. Also the amp models/distortions might be a little bland and cheesy, but some of them work pretty well, and don't sound all that bad IMO.

Last was the XTL. All I can say is, the amp models are fantastic! Sounds clean and nice. Worlds of improvement over the Pod 2.0, in pretty much all departments. Most, if not all of the factory presets were quite usable, really. The downside is that the effects don't as seem to be as good or versatile as the Boss.

An aside note-- When I was playing with the GT-8, one thing that REALLY impressed me was the wave synth effect. I just loved the sound of it, and I'm perplexed at how they did such a good job at this! You can play more than just a single not at a time, and it actually kind of works-- XTL has some patches with a similar synth effect, but it doesn't sound as good, and it's kind of wonky-- when you play more than one note at a time, it gets confused at what notes are being played, and just sounds awful.

These are my first impressions, I did not pull the trigger on anything yet, I'm going to sleep on it.
I basically want something that is functional as a standalone unit, as well as for plugging into my PC for some recording. I'd like something that would be compementary to my amp (so perhaps amp models are not such a necessity, and the effects are where I may focus), so for that reason I'm leaning toward the Boss as well.

Anyone have any comments that might help in my decision?

[Robert Burns]

I didn't even have to use the search, a thread on precisely the topic I'm currently interested in, on the front page

I went to GC and did a test drive of the XTL, GT-8, and GNX4.

The GT-8 has fantastic effects, but the factory presets are mostly quite terrible.. The amp models and distortions seem a little iffy at first glance, though some say with a bit of tweaking, good sounds can be coaxed out of this unit. High gain, or high distortion sounds tend to be noisier than SHIT! What is the deal with this.. can it be fixed?

Next, I moved to the Digitech GNX4. The first thing I noticed was that the distortion sounds are crisp and clean, generally punchy/aggressive enough to suit my tastes, and it felt like there was no trace of noise, in comparison with the GT-8 I had just come from. I used to have a POD 2.0, the noise gate kind of worked, but I found it took away from the ability to use picking/volume dynamics when I put the threshold up enough for use with the heavier patches... with this Digitech unit, not too much noise, and dynamics intact! Nice!
One of the attractive features of this unit is the ability to record tracks to a CF card-- I run Linux at home now and leave my Windows laptop at work most of the time, so Line6 USB recording interfaces are a bit inconvenient for me... Also my Linux pc does not at the moment have a working soundcard...
The con of the GNX4 is that it's not as deep as the boss in the effects department. Also the amp models/distortions might be a little bland and cheesy, but some of them work pretty well, and don't sound all that bad IMO.

Last was the XTL. All I can say is, the amp models are fantastic! Sounds clean and nice. Worlds of improvement over the Pod 2.0, in pretty much all departments. Most, if not all of the factory presets were quite usable, really. The downside is that the effects don't as seem to be as good or versatile as the Boss.

An aside note-- When I was playing with the GT-8, one thing that REALLY impressed me was the wave synth effect. I just loved the sound of it, and I'm perplexed at how they did such a good job at this! You can play more than just a single not at a time, and it actually kind of works-- XTL has some patches with a similar synth effect, but it doesn't sound as good, and it's kind of wonky-- when you play more than one note at a time, it gets confused at what notes are being played, and just sounds awful.

These are my first impressions, I did not pull the trigger on anything yet, I'm going to sleep on it.
I basically want something that is functional as a standalone unit, as well as for plugging into my PC for some recording. I'd like something that would be compementary to my amp (so perhaps amp models are not such a necessity, and the effects are where I may focus), so for that reason I'm leaning toward the Boss as well.

Anyone have any comments that might help in my decision?

****************
I had the same opinion the first week with the GT-8 at home...ok,
but "Where is the massive, Lynch tones"?? Well, week 3 proved they
are in there! Those Presets imo are not 1/5th whats in store for later
on! You can get "Huge" tones out of the GT-8 Global EQ settings,
boosting the output EQ later on, and finding which effects go right together in the "Chain" of loop effects. Im super happy with my GT-8
and i know that i havent unlocked 1/2 of what its capable of!

[TheSteveMan]

****************
I had the same opinion the first week with the GT-8 at home...ok,
but "Where is the massive, Lynch tones"?? Well, week 3 proved they
are in there! Those Presets imo are not 1/5th whats in store for later
on! You can get "Huge" tones out of the GT-8 Global EQ settings,
boosting the output EQ later on, and finding which effects go right together in the "Chain" of loop effects. Im super happy with my GT-8
and i know that i havent unlocked 1/2 of what its capable of!

Thanks for the input, Robert!
As I said, I was highly impressed with the effects and some of the features and depth of the GT-8, and I really love that wave synth! So damn cool
What I've gathered from reading around is that this unit has the gusto, but requires a lot more tweaking than the Line 6 gear.
Some of the preset sounds made me cringe, but for some reason I'm still leaning toward this one anyhow, knowing that with a little work, I can hopefully make it a nice general-use machine...

[S-man]

If you are looking for effects and something to use with a guitar amplifier the GT-8 is the way to go.

You cannot place the effects in your signal chain properly with the XTL. Unless you completely bypass your preamp...blah, blah.

The XTL has better amp and cab models, but the effects seem lackluster to me. The XTL has some of the easiest/best software. I think it records better than the GT8.

I've owned both. I still have the XTL, but I'm getting my GT8 back too.

$0.02

[jgcable]

The GT-8 is dead quite. It has a fantastic noise gate. The one you used wasn't set up correctly.

I owned an XTL and a GT-8 at the same time. The GT-8 is much better in every respect with one exception... computer editing. The XTL has a great editing software package.

[TheSteveMan]

The GT-8 is dead quite. It has a fantastic noise gate. The one you used wasn't set up correctly.

I owned an XTL and a GT-8 at the same time. The GT-8 is much better in every respect with one exception... computer editing. The XTL has a great editing software package.

Thanks, jgcable.

According to a sticky on the forums at Boss GT Central, the input and output levels need to be attenuated (generally to -3dB depending on certain things), or you get lots of clipping.. my guess is that the one at GC wasn't set up for that or something.
Sounds like the amp models and distortions going to sound better with the proper tweaking?

I'm familiar with the Guitar Port interface, but as for patch editing from PC, I'm not going to miss that feature so much.
Digital recording over USB would be nice but there probably wouldn't be a Linux driver for the thing anyway... I think some of the USB audio interfaces will work in Linux, bonus points if I can get one with SPDIF input so I can use the digital out on the GT8... that is much cleaner than going into the line-in on a soundcard.
Actually it would be nice if I could get a soundcard with SPDIF input but there doesn't seem to be much out there that I am confident I could get working on my machine...