I received my GSP1101 and had about thirty minutes to play with it today.
Using the four cable method, I hooked the GSP1101 into a Mesa Boogie F-50. The 4 cable method, if you are not familiar with it (as I wasn't until recently), allows preamp effects to be placed in front of the amp and other effects, such as delay, to be placed in the amps fx loop. The GSP1101 provides the option of using the preamp on the amp or bypassing the amp's preamp section and using one of the amp models in the GSP1101.
I spent about fifteen minutes scrolling through the various presets. As expected, and as with most units, most players will end up not using these in favor of programming their own sounds. Also, does every single fx unit made by every single manufacturer have a setting called "Cliffs of Dover" or "Dover Cliffs" etc.?
Overall though, the presets are, in my opinion, not overdone. Several are actually pretty good, including the first preset "Plexi Drive". There is a nice presence to the preset sounds and I really didn't hear any boxiness/under a pillow type general sound that hampers many units.
I spent a few minutes scrolling through the amp models and was very pleased. The gainer amp models felt responsive, and responded well (cleaned up) when rolling off the volume knob and/or picking lightly.
FX:
Delays-performed as one would expect. The tape delay setting (what I probably use 90% of the time when using a delay) was good for dialing in space without having an overly noticable delay effect.
Choruses-again, as expected. The Boss CE model is very good as is the TC model.
Flangers/Phasers/Vibe type effects, etc.-All were good and usable.
Distortions-The DS-1 model performs, sounds, and feels like a current issue DS-1. I have one, so I was able to do a side by side comparison. The other distortion models did well.
I didn't have time to experiment with the other efx or try the unit for direct recording or as a recording interface. Hopefully, I will have time later this weekend to load the editing software and drivers and do some more experimenting.
Using the four cable method, I hooked the GSP1101 into a Mesa Boogie F-50. The 4 cable method, if you are not familiar with it (as I wasn't until recently), allows preamp effects to be placed in front of the amp and other effects, such as delay, to be placed in the amps fx loop. The GSP1101 provides the option of using the preamp on the amp or bypassing the amp's preamp section and using one of the amp models in the GSP1101.
I spent about fifteen minutes scrolling through the various presets. As expected, and as with most units, most players will end up not using these in favor of programming their own sounds. Also, does every single fx unit made by every single manufacturer have a setting called "Cliffs of Dover" or "Dover Cliffs" etc.?
Overall though, the presets are, in my opinion, not overdone. Several are actually pretty good, including the first preset "Plexi Drive". There is a nice presence to the preset sounds and I really didn't hear any boxiness/under a pillow type general sound that hampers many units.
I spent a few minutes scrolling through the amp models and was very pleased. The gainer amp models felt responsive, and responded well (cleaned up) when rolling off the volume knob and/or picking lightly.
FX:
Delays-performed as one would expect. The tape delay setting (what I probably use 90% of the time when using a delay) was good for dialing in space without having an overly noticable delay effect.
Choruses-again, as expected. The Boss CE model is very good as is the TC model.
Flangers/Phasers/Vibe type effects, etc.-All were good and usable.
Distortions-The DS-1 model performs, sounds, and feels like a current issue DS-1. I have one, so I was able to do a side by side comparison. The other distortion models did well.
I didn't have time to experiment with the other efx or try the unit for direct recording or as a recording interface. Hopefully, I will have time later this weekend to load the editing software and drivers and do some more experimenting.
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