Saw a couple of used VG/GR products at a local store might be of interest.

Started by aliensporebomb, July 23, 2017, 08:58:19 PM

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aliensporebomb

There's a store near me and I saw the following:

Boss GP-10 with GK-3 in original box used for $275.

Roland GR-55 with GK-3 and connecting cable for $599.

Are these good or great prices?
My music projects online at http://www.aliensporebomb.com/

GK Devices:  Roland VG-99, Boss GP-10, Boss SY-1000.


aliensporebomb

Yep.  I think I'm good at the moment - I got the impression the same person sold the gear so someone divested of their GK/GR stuff.  The GR looked super lightly used and the GK-3 looked brand new.  I had no idea about the GP-10 since it was in a lightly used box.
My music projects online at http://www.aliensporebomb.com/

GK Devices:  Roland VG-99, Boss GP-10, Boss SY-1000.

aliensporebomb

Ugh.  Now I'm thinking - "If I got that GR-55 I'd not only get the trifecta of 3 recent (well since 2008) GK capable products but I'd have an extra GK-3 pickup on hand with cable for one of my other guitars".

Talk me out of getting a GR-55.  I already have a VG-99 and a GP-10.
My music projects online at http://www.aliensporebomb.com/

GK Devices:  Roland VG-99, Boss GP-10, Boss SY-1000.

sixeight

QuoteTalk me out of getting a GR-55.  I already have a VG-99 and a GP-10.

The GR-55 is terrible. The firmware is buggy. It has a massive patch changing gap. It only has one control pedal, no external ones.

Yet I keep coming back to it and I love the sounds I am getting out of it...

Rhcole


chrish

Quote
"Talk me out of getting a GR-55.."
latency, false triggers and a sameness to triggering PCM samples.

Have you demoed a sy-300 yet? Think ocean machine on steroids.

The VG 99 makes a great front end for the sy-300.

OldGuitarDude

Why would anyone want one of those? Then you'd need some kind of midi solution or Gumtown's app for quick patch changes, and you'd have to optimize your setup and change your playing style to tame the chirps. Sounds like a lot of trouble to me.

I wouldn't buy it.... mainly because I already have a brand new spare that I carry with me to the critical shows, even though I've never needed it  ;D

....... Go for the trifecta!

carlb

Quote from: Rhcole on July 27, 2017, 09:52:27 AM
You don't need a GR-55, no sir.
You need an SY-300!  ;D

Rob, I'm going to have to get one those just based on the fun you're having with it. Even though I don't typically go "synthy" with my tones. Heh!
ES Les Paul, internal Roland GK
Boss SY-1000, Valeton Coral Amp pedal
Morningstar MC8 & MC6
QSC CP8 powered speaker

Rhcole

CarlB,

Get the SY and add a Mel9 to it. Run the regular guitar through the Mel9 into the RETURN of the SY, and the Mel9 sounds into the input. I have patches that optimize this approach.
You'll want to scream when you realize what those two boxes can do together. The SY switches between patches so fast you can treat them like performance presets.

You don't have to get as complex as I suggest in some of my posts. The more complicated setups with the Synth9 etc. are for synth enthusiasts. You have too many pedals and it can get fiddly live.
My performance quick setup is the SY and Mel9. For more chime I throw in the Digitech Mosaic, but it is gravy.

chrish

Quote from: carlb on July 27, 2017, 02:58:47 PM
Rob, I'm going to have to get one those just based on the fun you're having with it. Even though I don't typically go "synthy" with my tones. Heh!
the sy-300 works great if you just want to add a little tonal color to the chorus, Reverb or delay.

No need to go overboard with super saw filter sweepy synth tones with this pedal.

Although you can if you want to. :)

Tony Raven

The GP-10/GK-3 can be had (new) from B&H for $300 as a Special Order. (Weirdly, $350 gets you the GP -10 without GK.)

You don't know what's been done to a used system, & you don't have a warranty. Pass, please.

People hereabouts just got done recommending the GR-55 for "bass mode." I am now rethinking this.

For the cost, do you already have a GR-1, GR-50, VG-8EX...?

aliensporebomb

I already own a VG-99 and GP-10 as I've previously indicated.

When I tested the GP-10 that was used a few months ago I played it for a solid hour in the store so I knew it worked properly.

I would do no different with the GR-55 if I really was considering it.  I haven't tested it out yet.  The vast majority of used GR gear here in town doesn't even have any custom presets which is one reason I'd mine a used machine for whatever data is onboard that might be "interesting".

Interesting to consider though - warranty.  My VG-99 has been out of warranty for many years now and it still keeps ticking (so far). 

The same chain of stores locally has multiple GR-55s (both black and blue) but the black one at the store near me seems exceptionally clean - I suspect it wasn't used very much. 

The GK-3 may not have been mounted on the guitar it was intended for since it's still in its original blister pack.  So to try it out I'd bring my RRS down there to test it out. 

Still not convinced as yet.

My music projects online at http://www.aliensporebomb.com/

GK Devices:  Roland VG-99, Boss GP-10, Boss SY-1000.

Brak(E)man

Quote from: aliensporebomb on July 27, 2017, 07:50:01 AM
Talk me out of getting a GR-55.  I already have a VG-99 and a GP-10.

I've returned two Gr-55 with 4-5 years apart. I thought I misjudge it the first time but no.
The mistriggering aggggghhhhhhhh.

The vg8 "synths" and SY300 are way more usefull , alive and organic.
Even the 88 emulated synths are good too excellent.
swimming with a hole in my body

I play Country music too, I'm just not sure which country it's from...

"The only thing worse than a guitar is a guitarist!"
- Lydia Lunch

aliensporebomb

Mistracking has never been a problem for me due to my years of using guitar synth equipment (since 1980 roughly - ouch I've been at this for a while).

But I'm still not sold at the moment.  I realize these things are five years old now.  That's EONS in tech years.  I saw a store locally that was selling a last revision AxeFX Ultra for $1000 and I realized how ridiculous that is considering its last generation tech.

But then again a prominent company is selling guitars that were designed in the 1950s for thousands of dollars so it's all "can you use this on a gig?  Does it sound good and not dated?"  I dunno.
My music projects online at http://www.aliensporebomb.com/

GK Devices:  Roland VG-99, Boss GP-10, Boss SY-1000.

carlb

Definitely a balance to be struck between what's progressed, and what gets the job done.

I'm worried that whatever the next-gen Roland/Boss VG thing for synth and modeling is, it won't be in a decent format for how I want to gig my gear: small, pre-setup, roll it to the site, plug-in, and go.

That's why a GR-55 and an ATG-1 don't get taken to my gigs ... The PCM stuff on the former, and the great alt-tuning on the latter would be so great to have though.
ES Les Paul, internal Roland GK
Boss SY-1000, Valeton Coral Amp pedal
Morningstar MC8 & MC6
QSC CP8 powered speaker

chrish

Personally I'm saving my money for the next spicetone hex pedal.

I'm hoping for an analog gr 300 type pedal with the ability to select other wave forms, such as triangle, Square, sine etc.

It would essentially be a polyphonic Moog  for guitar.

Roland got it right with the gr 300 but then the digital Revolution hype convinced guitarists, willing to delve into high-tech synth, that analogue was dead and digital was the wave of the future


Here's a  YouTube  link to a gr 300 modification that allows for wave shaping of the GR 300 waveform.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://m.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DlYLClsB88HY&ved=0ahUKEwiElZfUkrTVAhVGrFQKHUa1D7oQtwIIHTAA&usg=AFQjCNEva6X0nsEBg-AFusFSxDGBOYszyg


http://www.matrixsynth.com/2016/03/roland-gr-300-waveform-mod.html
Excuse the tuning issues; I should have tuned the guitar and the synth to the guitar

Roland GR-300 mod to provide variable pulse width waveform, PWM, and filter mod from a tap tempo LFO. I did a poor job describing how it works. Essentially, as part of the pitch determination the GR300 samples the height of a ramp wave (the same wave used as second oscillator in Duet mode) on the zero crossing of the incoming signal. That means the sampled voltage gets larger the lower the frequency of the incoming signal. This sampled voltage is used as the reset point for the main ramp oscillator. Therefore, that voltage is equal to the peak voltage of the oscillator sawtooths (ramps, really). So, the servos figures out how much to attenuate that sampled, relatively stable, voltage to bring it to a constant level and applies the same attenuation to the oscillator waves. Thereby, making the output of the oscillators have a fixed height as they would in a normal synthesizer. From there, standard synth stuff to do PWM.

DreamTheory

I adore my GR-55, but my reasons for loving it would probably be your reasons for not wanting it.

Like me GR-55 is a jack of all trades and a master of none. It's great fun for a hobbyist. I use all the features, except the looper and the Vlink thingy button. I even like the way the patch creating is set up and don't even bother with the Floorboard Editor (but I admit it is really well done). I rely on the tuner, and sometimes use even the recording interface and EZ Edit button. I like the PCM tones and think they sound passably real in many cases, if blended tastefully with acoustic guitar. I even use the drums, yes drums. I like the amp models and see no need to own a real amp since I never play out except in places with PA systems, and then I am usually just playing acoustic. I get all my stompboxes and analog synth jollies (ADSR and filters) right in GR-55. GR-55 has saved me thousands of dollars, the trouble of learning any other instruments, and it takes up a small area, as it practically IS my studio. I run an 8GB RAM computer, and GR-55 saves me from using too many plugins that would cause drop outs in recording. I do use it to control soft synths. I like all the analog models, and I have a GK-B equipped bass so I take full advantage of bass mode.

But you can do all that with your other gear, right?
electric: Epiphone Dot semihollow body, acoustic: mahogany jumbo, recording: Cubase Artist 11 or Tascam DP008

chrish

Yeah but ASB asked us to talk him out of buying a gr 55. :)

Quote"Talk me out of getting a GR-55.  I already have a VG-99 and a GP-10."

DreamTheory

Quote from: chrish on July 31, 2017, 07:41:49 PM
Yeah but ASB asked us to talk him out of buying a gr 55. :)

Quote"Talk me out of getting a GR-55.  I already have a VG-99 and a GP-10."
haha, I thought I was replying to him. Point is GR 55 is perfect for stay at home, bedroom studio stuff. I can fix glitches in DAW. it's an all in one box, a little George Martin in a can. Some guys gig with it- hats off to them. But if you already have other gear, you don't need a '55. Specialized gear beats it in every category.
electric: Epiphone Dot semihollow body, acoustic: mahogany jumbo, recording: Cubase Artist 11 or Tascam DP008

chrish

Quote "But if you already have other gear, you don't need a '55. Specialized gear beats it in every category."

That's more like it. :)

a few of us have been trying to steer him towards the boss Sy 300. It's of course for entirely selfish reasons because we'd like to have access to the brilliant patches that we know he would create on the thing. ;)

Like  used GP-10's, the used sy-300's are starting to come down in price. I saw one on reverb.com for $425.