GR 55 The Good The Bad and The Ugly

[Ephestion]

I am a Dad on a budget, trying to return to his first love despite all the obstacles standing in my way. After a huge hiatus I have returned to her like a bee to a hive. I sometimes sleep with her and don't even remember her name, she is that other woman I call my Guitar.

THE GOOD
Oh the glee when I realised I could finally compose those songs I always wanted to but could never get my head around keys and MIDI. Oh yeah! The GK-3 and GR55 at a good price, and guess what? it is almost 100% what I thought it would be. It has all the features anyone would need, a way to record MIDI, a way to play some great sounds live and you can mix guitar with synth to get great tones and sounds. Your guitar is now a MIDI controller and that alone is fantastic. It does have some flaws, some sounds and the tracking can be bugged, but most stuff can be played and tracked 100%. Aside the MIDI aspect, after some tweaking you can add a whole range of sounds and instruments to your small band. Used in moderation to fill in certain roles the GR55 can be a very powerful addition to any live guiatarist's arsenal.

THE BAD
Almost every keyboard synth has atleast one sound for every known instrument in the world. Well atleast the basic or standard MIDI 127 sounds. Yet the GR-55 has distortion? why have a synth guitar sound of a distorted guitar when you are playing one? It has infact 20-30 such useless patches. Frustration builds up when you are trying to find a Piano, Trumpet, Bouzouki, Cello, Violin or some other recognizable instrument. Infact after a while you begin to realize the sounds are not that great, well atleast not for a serious live performance or gig. Oh Roland, how could you release to us such sounds and tones? I really do hope your grip on this propriety niche will not prevent you from making up for this disaster with perhaps some updated Instrument patches and sounds.

THE UGLY
It is blue instead of silver or black Just saying. It stands out like a fat woman in a bikini competition. But aside that, the most hurtful thing about it is that it has these super sound generating modules/chips with an super editor, yet by default you can't use it like a sound module ie to take MIDI out from PC or Mac and then play the sounds or mixthem into an existing song. That is just plain ugly to me.

THE SYNOPSIS
I now use my old GT8 for the guitar direct out from the GR55 and have that hooked to the Reverb Deluxe channel of my Fender valve Amp. The GR 55 plugs into the same AMP on the dry channel. I love natural analog guitar sound, and by love I mean I crave it more than a junkie craves their next hit. But I am trying something new and coming out of my world where the only thing you need is a guitar lead and a loud amp. I have found some tones and sounds in the GT8 that enhance my craving for raw guitar, so it stays. The GR55 is something I am trying to love, despite all the functionality being present, I just can't find the tones, the instruments that I need. Has anyone seriously tried to play blues harmonica pieces or tried to do Piano rolls or other such stuff? I can live with slightly fake sounding instruments but after hearing what Keys have at their disposal, It makes me feel like I am fighting an up hill battle. I hope Roland help us out with more performance quality instruments. The GR-55 stays as my MIDI controller and now and then I might flick it on for some live bonus sounds like Brass for some BBking songs or some Bouzouki if I'm in the folk and country mood, maybe a short flute part and so forth. The GR55 is great for embellishing a song, so it also stays, but with a lot less love.

[gumtown]

THE UGLY
It is blue instead of silver or black Just saying. It stands out like a fat woman in a bikini competition.

\

It does come in a Black option.

[Toby Krebs]

Here is another ugly.The GR55 will sound like "blank" played through any valve guitar amp.FRFR only is what it is made for.Hang around here watch/listen to some videos.It is not a plug and play device.It is a tool I use several times a week at mostly high paying gigs and very often I am replacing or subbing for a keyboard player.Piano rolls?/two handed piano stuff? yeah you should look elsewhere or play the piano but for strings/B3 organs/brass-horn tones/rhodes elec. pianos etc...the GR55 is unbeatable.I use mine as a stand alone for guitar tones and synth-keys and also with a GT10 or Line 6 HD500 and have had nothing but being busy and making a profit to show for it.I am also a Dad on a budget and am very careful with what I spend my equipment money on.I have had so much success with the GR55 I BOUGHT ANOTHER ONE!!!Your mileage sounds like it may vary but I wish you luck!

[Ephestion]

I can see your point in terms of the standard guitar amps, but I use a combo amp due to simplicity. The sound is not as bad as you may think.  Typical guitar amps are not designed for other instruments passing through them. However, it isn't the amp head that is the problem it is mainly the speaker cabinet. When I play through some monitor speakers with full range woofer, mids and tweeter the GR55 sounds don't have the range. The sounds samples or sound generator is not a full range module (by ear). I am guessing from my experience that it is actually designed to play around the frequency range of standard guitar amp speakers. There are some sounds that benefit from high-mid and low-mid speakers, but most sit in between.

[Toby Krebs]

Did the Salinas Air Show Saturday used GR55/GT10/2 Alto 10 in full range speakers for monitors and sent all direct to huge PA system.After the first set a gentlemen walked over to the stage shook my hand and said" I have seen many many big name guitarists in the Bay Area over the years .You are better than almost all of them". Nice to hear but my point is if it did not sound really good to him what I played would have made no difference.This modelling/guitar synth/midi guitar etc....stuff works period.

[Brent Flash]

Did the Salinas Air Show Saturday used GR55/GT10/2 Alto 10 in full range speakers for monitors and sent all direct to huge PA system.After the first set a gentlemen walked over to the stage shook my hand and said" I have seen many many big name guitarists in the Bay Area over the years .You are better than almost all of them". Nice to hear but my point is if it did not sound really good to him what I played would have made no difference.This modelling/guitar synth/midi guitar etc....stuff works period.

I have had the same kind of comments while using the VG-99. People coming up and saying that I had the best sounding guitar they have heard and thought it had to do with my Steinbergers that I play. I knew it wasn't that at all. All the years playing big or huge tube amp rigs, I never got as many compliments on my tone and clarity of what I was playing than with the VG.

[DreamTheory]

THE BAD
Almost every keyboard synth has atleast one sound for every known instrument in the world.
... Oh Roland, how could you release to us such sounds and tones? I really do hope your grip on this propriety niche will not prevent you from making up for this disaster with perhaps some updated Instrument patches and sounds.

try downloading free soft synths. GR can control them through your USB output. Edit- Master- MIDI- turn switch on at top of menu

ps- I love the blue color. I dislike black gear because it is hard to read. and it gets a bit depressing.

[Fusion]

I wish all my pedals and effects were black, I dig it so much more than the multi rainbow effect. Enough already with the plethora of colors. What's next a death metal uber gain in pink?
The black model is updated w 1.5 software when you get it by the way. It is actually painted in a metal flaked black which hides finger prints and smudge.
Wow, great name for a band, Smudge! 

[DreamTheory]

I wish all my pedals and effects were black, I dig it so much more than the multi rainbow effect. Enough already with the plethora of colors. What's next a death metal uber gain in pink?
The black model is updated w 1.5 software when you get it by the way. It is actually painted in a metal flaked black which hides finger prints and smudge.
Wow, great name for a band, Smudge!

LOL re pink and Smudge. "Band names" also make good patch names, Smudge being a good example.