So I've sent mine back...

Started by Antonuzzo, January 08, 2020, 01:56:34 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Antonuzzo

After a couple of weeks, I've realised that the GE300 just isn't for me. Sadly.

Let's start with the good points. The build quality and form factor are excellent. Some of the factory patches are really impressive and very playable straight out of the box; the cab sims are actually very good and 'breathe' quite convincingly. There are loads of amps, most of them very usable.

The compression and noise suppression are excellent - I use a Tele primarily and they fairly tamed it.

But it kind of falls down after that. The OS (and the software) are very buggy. The CPU overloads too often - even on factory patches. Some of the factory patches are really noisy and feed back continuously, right out of the box, even through headphones. This should not happen.

Some of the effects are very half-arsed. The phasers are pretty shallow, and the delays are very toppy and artificial-sounding; even the analogue delay has no grit or warmth to it.

The pedal effects are poor. The wahs all sound very similar; you can't get a fat Cry Baby sound out of this. The Whammy is limited in scope; I never found a way to get it to sweep over a limited range instead of two octaves.

Tone capture is sort of okay. I managed to get a passable Les Paul sound out of a Telecaster(!), but it's really a glorified EQ; you'll never capture and transfer that glassy Strat sound. Maybe I've been spoiled by the modelling of the VG series though  :P

The synth block... well. It's very, very basic. The tracking is excellent, no doubts there - but the oscillators are thin, and the filters are thinner. You can't do anything sophisticated such as locking one oscillator to another (to get those Jean-Michel Jarre 'Laser Harp' tones). The arpeggiator patterns are set and undocumented, mostly based around octave & 5th; you can't program your own to have one running on a minor third pattern etc.

And it glitches. A lot. Trying to program a sound is a real pain, with effects blocks (tone capture in particular) turning themselves on and off at random. As noted above, the CPU overloads frequently - sometimes it happens when you're loading a patch. Noise and hiss creeps in until you turn an amp off then on again, and so on.

Finally, a minor gripe is the lack of a printed manual in the box (I mean, c'mon...) and the manual itself is basic, leaving you guessing at a good few of deeper levels of the functions; it's entirely possible that some or all of the above were do-able, but not from anything that I could learn from reading through the manual.

I think it's still a good unit if you're relying primarily on amp sounds - but the modulation, reverb and delays are not great at this price point, and the star features - tone capture and the synth block - just aren't worth the extra outlay.

So back it goes, and my quest for the perfect multi-effects goes on...

HAMERMAN409

Thanks for taking the time to give a nicely detailed review. This is so much more useful than the typical "At first I thought it was OK but after a while I decided it kind of sucks so I am returning it" type of review that litter the internet.

If you have tried any of the big players (Kemper Profiler, Fractal Axe-FX III, Line6 Helix) I would be interested to know how they compare.

If you were hoping the GE 3000 was the right processor for you I wonder if a Line6 HX Stomp may be a good fit?

admin

Ive gone back to my large Headrush ( works MUCH better for my needs)
The GE300 has a certain "signature sound"  - I suspect phasing problem in most patches results in comb filter aliasing,  - which i cant get rid of.   





   

Antonuzzo

I think that the GE150 / 250 are probably good buys - the price point on the former is pretty good, given that it seems to have most of the good aspects of the GE300.

I am mulling over the Line6 and a hybrid setup; I'm coming around to thinking that that would work better for me than going for an all-in-one solution. I'd be happy do use my trusty old Cry Baby for wah duties and my old DOD American Metal for distortion (and I could write volumes about that underrated beast), and something like the Line 6 for everything else. The fact that it's got an effects loop makes it doubly appealing.