# Line 6 HD 500 vs. Boss GT 100



## Poltergeist (Mar 6, 2013)

I'd post this question in the HD thread, but I figured it would quickly get buried and is quite a debatable topic that can go in depth. I see so much love for the HD 500 here on ss.org, but no sign of any Boss GT 100 users. I really like the looks of the GT 100, especially the dual LCD screen display, and it sounds good from the videos I've watched ( also I played a boss ME 70 and loved it, and heard the GT 100 has the same tones plus more possibilities). Does anyone have good experience with both of these processors? Why choose the HD 500 over the GT 100? From experience which is the better choice, and why?


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## DeathMentaL (Mar 6, 2013)

HD all the way. I listened to the GT 100 and it sounds piss poor. Silly static sounding tones.


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## Spinedriver (Mar 6, 2013)

Poltergeist said:


> I'd post this question in the HD thread, but I figured it would quickly get buried and is quite a debatable topic that can go in depth. I see so much love for the HD 500 here on ss.org, but no sign of any Boss GT 100 users. I really like the looks of the GT 100, especially the dual LCD screen display, and it sounds good from the videos I've watched ( also I played a boss ME 70 and loved it, and heard the GT 100 has the same tones plus more possibilities). Does anyone have good experience with both of these processors? Why choose the HD 500 over the GT 100? From experience which is the better choice, and why?



It's been my experience that Boss units tend to have better overall effects but if you're looking for amp sims, the Pod is miles above and beyond the Boss unit.


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## Poltergeist (Mar 6, 2013)

Spinedriver said:


> It's been my experience that Boss units tend to have better overall effects but if you're looking for amp sims, the Pod is miles above and beyond the Boss unit.



I too think the overall effects are great.. I wish to do the 4 cable method because I'm not too interested in amp Sims so much right now because I'm content with my 6505 preamp. I really just want it for the effects.. Same thing would go for the POD HD as well..


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## GunpointMetal (Mar 6, 2013)

if effects only is what you want, Boss is probably more designed for that end, but if you ever decided to record direct, look for your preamp tones somewhere else. I haven't owned the GT100 (every one up to, though) but I have played with it for about a day, and I went right back to my HD500, but I use amp sims for everything.


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## Robrecht (Mar 6, 2013)

Poltergeist said:


> I too think the overall effects are great.. I wish to do the 4 cable method because I'm not too interested in amp Sims so much right now because I'm content with my 6505 preamp. I really just want it for the effects.. Same thing would go for the POD HD as well..



I have a GT-10 and use it with the 4-cable method and a 5150ii (so just for effects, no amp sims, which aren't that great indeed). The cool thing about it is that it can switch channels on the amp (between the lead and clean/crunch channels), so you can program that in the patches.


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## Poltergeist (Mar 6, 2013)

Robrecht said:


> I have a GT-10 and use it with the 4-cable method and a 5150ii (so just for effects, no amp sims, which aren't that great indeed). The cool thing about it is that it can switch channels on the amp (between the lead and clean/crunch channels), so you can program that in the patches.



Cool! thanks for your input... I'm glad to hear someone with experience with the 4 cable method. Just out of curiosity, does the noise supressor/ gate within the GT unit remedy the natural hum/noise when applied in your FX chain to your 5150?


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## Stealthdjentstic (Mar 6, 2013)

The hd pee's all over the GT


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## Poltergeist (Mar 6, 2013)

Stealthdjentstic said:


> The hd pee's all over the GT




I wish people would elaborate... Why? Is it just because of the amp sims... do the overall sound effects sound better than boss? is the HD more dynamic and easier to program patches? Those who are knocking the GT 100 have you actually played one? I'm open for both of them, I just want more details from those who've had enough hands on time with each unit to give a fair comparison in quality.


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## Stealthdjentstic (Mar 6, 2013)

Poltergeist said:


> I wish people would elaborate... Why? Is it just because of the amp sims... do the overall sound effects sound better than boss? is the HD more dynamic and easier to program patches? Those who are knocking the GT 100 have you actually played one? I'm open for both of them, I just want more details from those who've had enough hands on time with each unit to give a fair comparison in quality.



My bad, sorry about that. I was posting from my phone and didn't want to bother typing a bunch of stuff out. 

Anyways, the amp sims sound MUCH MUCH better, the effects sound better, etc..

With my HD500 my chain only looks like this:

noise gate ----> boost -----> amp model


When i was messing around with the GT stuff that did NOT work out at all


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## Poltergeist (Mar 6, 2013)

Stealthdjentstic said:


> My bad, sorry about that. I was posting from my phone and didn't want to bother typing a bunch of stuff out.
> 
> Anyways, the amp sims sound MUCH MUCH better, the effects sound better, etc..
> 
> ...



Its cool man, thanks for taking the time to respond further on your opinion of it. That's strange.. I figured the fx chain would be pretty easy to customize on both units.. weird it didn't work out for you on the GT with such a similar chain set up..


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## Stealthdjentstic (Mar 6, 2013)

It requires a lot more tweaking. You can probably find a used hd500 around 350-400 bucks, just nab one of those 

I'm so happy with my hd500 that I may not even hold on to the AFXII im getting on friday! We'll see though, who knows


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## Poltergeist (Mar 6, 2013)

Stealthdjentstic said:


> It requires a lot more tweaking. You can probably find a used hd500 around 350-400 bucks, just nab one of those
> 
> I'm so happy with my hd500 that I may not even hold on to the AFXII im getting on friday! We'll see though, who knows



hahah wow that sounds promising.


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## xCaptainx (Mar 6, 2013)

I have a HD500, our other gutiarist used a Soldano Hot Rod 50 + GT100 in a 4 cable method before he moved to axe fx. 

he preferred the sound and layout of the HD500 over his boss.


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## Robrecht (Mar 7, 2013)

Poltergeist said:


> Cool! thanks for your input... I'm glad to hear someone with experience with the 4 cable method. Just out of curiosity, does the noise supressor/ gate within the GT unit remedy the natural hum/noise when applied in your FX chain to your 5150?



The 4-cable method works great. You can move the send/return loop anywhere you want in your 'virtual' effects chain (I'm sure that's not unique to the GT unit but I find it pretty cool), so you can totally control which effects are applied pre and post and set it up differently for each patch.

I don't get any noticeable hum or noise at all but I'm not sure if that's due to the noise gate -- the amp isn't mine, I only use it during band rehearsals and have always set it up with the GT-10 from the start.

The channel switch feature required a 7-DIN to 1/4" stereo jack convertor cable for the 5150ii, but I think the original 5150 and the 6505 take a stereo jack from the footswitch (no idea if the switching will work correctly with them though). To me, that's really the killer feature of the GT-10(0).


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## Leuchty (Mar 7, 2013)

Why do you want to use the 4CM if its just for fx?


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## Robrecht (Mar 7, 2013)

CYBERSYN said:


> Why do you want to use the 4CM if its just for fx?



Because that way you can position your amp's preamp anywhere in your effects chain.


```
[B]Guitar[/B]

====(Guitar => FX unit in)====(1)

[B]FX unit[/B]
* Booster, compressor...
* Pitch shifter, harmonizer... all the stuff that needs a clean signal

====(FX unit send => amp in)====(2)

[B]Preamp[/B]

====(Amp send => FX unit return)====(3)

[B]FX unit[/B]
* Delay, reverb... all the stuff that you don't want to put through the preamp's overdrive

====(FX unit out => amp return)====(4)

[B]Power amp[/B]
```

It allows you to place each effect in its appropriate place before or after the preamp.

If I was using the FX unit for amp sims as well, I'd probably want to bypass the amp's preamp altogether and go straight to the power amp instead of using the 4 cable method.

Or am I missing something?


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## GunpointMetal (Mar 7, 2013)

Poltergeist said:


> Its cool man, thanks for taking the time to respond further on your opinion of it. That's strange.. I figured the fx chain would be pretty easy to customize on both units.. weird it didn't work out for you on the GT with such a similar chain set up..


 
thats about my experience (Poltergeist's post)....with my GT-6/8/10 I was constantly using tones of EQ in all sorts of different places to keep things from getting spikey and harsh or sounding muddy, not to mention the "cocked wah" tonality alot of the amp models seem to have, especially when used without a cab sim after them. With my GT-X processors I pretty much had to start every patch with a pre-amp EQ/Comp/Gate/EQ set-up to even start to get a good sound. I didn't notice the cocked wah sound as much when I test drive the 100, but I never played it through an actual cab without cab sims, either. With the HD500 I can treat it like its a real amp and pedals and not have to have a basic "preset" for every patch.


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## WarriorOfMetal (Mar 8, 2013)

If you're primarily interested in effects, and not the amp sims, and that's your budget, you should take a serious look at the Line 6 M13.


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## Poltergeist (Mar 8, 2013)

WarriorOfMetal said:


> If you're primarily interested in effects, and not the amp sims, and that's your budget, you should take a serious look at the Line 6 M13.



I was curious about that too.. What do you think of that verses the HD 500.. Never heard anything too in depth about that unit.

EDIT:

WOW! this video almost has me disbanding both the HD500 and the GT100 for the M13 this looks more like what I need!

http://youtu.be/TPdj1a1ARVk


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## WarriorOfMetal (Mar 8, 2013)

Same effects as the POD HD line, but more routing options, more intuitive controls, and no amp simulation. The idea is that it's supposed to be like having individual pedals in front of you, which you can tweak on the fly with dedicated knobs.


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## Poltergeist (Mar 8, 2013)

WarriorOfMetal said:


> Same effects as the POD HD line, but more routing options, more intuitive controls, and no amp simulation. The idea is that it's supposed to be like having individual pedals in front of you, which you can tweak on the fly with dedicated knobs.



Thanks a lot man! You really have changed my mind with this fx unit.. Thanks for the suggestion


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## xCaptainx (Mar 8, 2013)

I'd stilll use the HD500 if I were you. The M13 is awesome but alll the effects are in the HD500 anyway, plus you have 8 effects slots with the HD500, rather than just 4 with the M13. 

I do a lot of routing with the HD500 to assign multiple effects to the same footswitch and assign effects/parameter controls to the expression pedal. I've got a rhythm, lead and clean tone all from the same patch, by ultilising every single effects slot and amp drive and delay mix parameters to the expression pedal. 

You'd end up spending the same, if not more to get the M13 (with less effect slots) and an expression pedal.


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## BeyondDan (Mar 9, 2013)

xCaptainx said:


> I'd stilll use the HD500 if I were you. The M13 is awesome but alll the effects are in the HD500 anyway, plus you have 8 effects slots with the HD500, rather than just 4 with the M13.
> 
> I do a lot of routing with the HD500 to assign multiple effects to the same footswitch and assign effects/parameter controls to the expression pedal. I've got a rhythm, lead and clean tone all from the same patch, by ultilising every single effects slot and amp drive and delay mix parameters to the expression pedal.
> 
> You'd end up spending the same, if not more to get the M13 (with less effect slots) and an expression pedal.



+1 on that! totally agree


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## Poltergeist (Mar 9, 2013)

xCaptainx said:


> I'd stilll use the HD500 if I were you. The M13 is awesome but alll the effects are in the HD500 anyway, plus you have 8 effects slots with the HD500, rather than just 4 with the M13.
> 
> I do a lot of routing with the HD500 to assign multiple effects to the same footswitch and assign effects/parameter controls to the expression pedal. I've got a rhythm, lead and clean tone all from the same patch, by ultilising every single effects slot and amp drive and delay mix parameters to the expression pedal.
> 
> You'd end up spending the same, if not more to get the M13 (with less effect slots) and an expression pedal.



You do make a very valid point man.... I'm conflicted here.. I guess it'll come down to me deciding with my own hands on experience when I go to Guitar Center this coming week and try them all out.. Due to the M13 not having the expression pedal it is kinda wavering my decision again ...


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## xCaptainx (Mar 9, 2013)

what amp are you doing the 4CM with? bear in mind that with the 4CM, you could still use the HD500 preamp options if you wanted a better 'clean' for a specific patch, possibly better than what your current amp clean channel may be doing (especially if it's a 5150! haha)


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## Poltergeist (Mar 9, 2013)

My current amp is a 6505 2X12 combo.. and yes, the cleans are not that great.. Also, I'm curious to know if the compressor/gates that are in the HD500 could handle eliminating the hiss/noise produced by my 6505, if ran through the FX loop? Or would I be better off purchasing a decimator or something of that nature?


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## Kr1zalid (Apr 4, 2013)

Sorry for a bump but can anyone tell me the differences of the looper between the two mfx pedal? Is it worth to get them for the loop effect?


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