despite my pedalboard only having five pedals on it and a power supply, carrying it around London was getting me down.
after trying a Boss ME-80 a few months ago I had mixed feelings about digital. however considering the size and price of the Boss GT-1 I did actually purchase a B-stock unit soon after. I promptly didn't touch it.
anyway, after getting thoroughly cheesed off with carrying gear I finally opened the GT-1 box and tried it out.
actually, despite the small size and minimal interface the unit is far more powerful and sounds noticeably better than the ME-80 I tried. Its possible to make alot of pedal rearrangements, there are countless options and ways to configure it.
with so many options and such a minimal interface it might have been a bitch to program this thing. in fact i found it reasonably intuitive in the end. I have an ancient half rack boss se-70 and there are similarities in the way it works.
its possible, very easily, to make the unit sound like the digital shitee we all know and love to hate. however, i decided to exercise discretion and spent a long time A-Bing the GT-1 against my existing board and tuning the sounds.
with a plexi model set to low gain I managed to reproduce the core of my sound, in fact I challenge anyone to tell a difference on that basic crunch tone.
i think the reverbs on my hall of fame mini sound better, but I was able to come up with a perfectly decent reverb on the gt-1 by adjusting the hall reverb setting.
the wahs on the gt-1 sound excellent and i actually prefer the GT-1 wah to my Morley. I could have and did manage to make it sound the same, but actually i came up with a better wah sound in the end.
the volume pedal on the gt-1 is equally as usable as my Morley. possibly i prefer the robust nature of the morley. but the boss is fine.
finally, for a boost pedal, i was really spoiled for choice. I felt that the overdrive/distortion pedal models on the ME-80 were excellent when I tried it. The GT-1 is just as good, but there are alot more options. the treble booster on the GT-1 didn't really sound like my rangemaster, more like a screaming bird. i went with a clean boost model in the end, which I thought sounded the closest with a few careful EQ and gain adjustments. actually, that was kind of a boring choice considering the array of options available.
good, even excellent sounds, are in the unit. however, it takes alot of time and patience to dial them in.
i can't argue with the size of the unit, as it fits in a small bag with no issue at all. i think it'd even fit in my guitar gig bag.
i felt the built in tuner could have been easier to read.
theres alot of ways you can setup the three foot switches. in the end i was able to set the unit up exactly as i have my normal pedal board - kicking on individual effects.
the problem i've had in the past with digital units is the unnatural disconnect between player and sound due to the latency of the unit. at least with the simple way i have the unit setup, i didn't have this feeling with the GT-1. latency wasn't an issue, and it felt 90% as organic/connected as my normal pedal board.