Sonic LAB: Boss GM-800 Guitar Synth

US Zen-Core engine, cloud hookup      22/09/23

The new Boss GM-800 is the latest in a long lineage of Roland/Boss guitar synths reaching back to the late 1970's. This latest model uses the new split pickup (an additional pickup you attach to the bridge of the guitar). Boss have dispensed with the multi-pin serial data cable and now use a jack cable , though you must use their specific cable (BGK-15) at £42 ish.

This cable is what carries the required information to the brain, in this case the GM800. The GM800 unit has the guitar processing and synth, its a Zen-Core engine with 1200 on board tones and a rhythm part.

Though with limited editing capabilities, unless you splash out for the Zenology editor as a standalone lifetime license (£199) or as part of the Roland Cloud subscription which enables you to move patches between the Roland Cloud and other ZenCore synths in the Roland range.

You can perform limited editing using the Boss Tone Studio software (free) GM-800 is available now priced at around £689 for the unit and around £240 for the GK-5 Pickup, plus £42 for the cable.

Paulee Bow takes a look at the new machine, with some musical input from Gaz Williams on bass.

More information: https://www.boss.info/uk/products/gm-800/

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