NGSD

Phostenix

Power User
OK, it was actually yesterday, but I didn't get a chance to play with my new guitar synth until last night & a little this morning.

I picked up a new Roland GR-55 to continue my efforts to simplify my rig & so far I'm impressed.

BTW, I bought it from Musician's Friend and the unit was manufactured in October of last year (!). So much for new stock.... I had to update the firmware to the version that came out in June of this year (which went without a hitch).

I've been using a GR-20 for about 10 years mostly for bass & string sounds. What I really want from the GR-55 (over the GR-20) is the acoustic & electric guitar modeling so that I can use one guitar to get all acoustic and all electric guitars sounds (including 12 string & alternate tunings). I don't plan to use the amp models or effects on the GR-55, but it makes a nice backup to the Axe, if needed, that I will already have with me.

With a little tweaking, I've got the acoustic sounding pretty good. Better than my current piezos & a tone match block (I'm sure that could be improved with a different TM). I'm very happy with the modeled Strat pickups. I was afraid that I would be disappointed with them, but they are very useable. I didn't have time to try the Les Paul, Rickenbacker, Danelectro, etc. models yet.

My hope is to have 1 guitar (my favorite Strat) with the GR-55 & the Axe-FX II to do everything I want to do. So far it sounds promising. I'm trying to plan out the routing & control stuff now.
 
nice! I've heard some great demos of the GR-55. I still have my GR-20 and mainly use it for string pads too. Enjoy the new toy
 
I have an old GR-30. What I do is turn it on Poly mode and use an M-audio Midi keyboard and add sounds to tracks or through a looper for real low ambient noises. It's fun to jam to them live.
 
I could have used this thing last week. We are currently using another church's building and have significant EMI issues on stage. I normally use a guitar with humbuckers, but I took my Strat last week to try the new Wilde Pickups Microcoils in that environment & it was bad. Although I found that if I turned around and faced the back wall, the noise disappeared. :) It will be great to have the ability to use modeled single coils instead at times like that.
 
Do you guys midi control your gr-20/55's with an MFC or? Eventually I think I will be heading down this road as well. (Don't want a keyboard player). Sweetwater has 12 month financing too...
 
my GR-20 has a Roland 13-pin cable to get the GK-3 midi pickup on my guitar to the GR-20. I can slave more midi synths from the midi ports on the GR-20
I am waiting up to get a new MFC or LF+Pro+ (still haven't decided which way to go, both have their own advantages)
 
I meant for like program changes and expression use etc. In other words, when I go this route- I would like the gr-55 to be back in my rack and be controlled via my LF Pro...So I don't need it on the floor next to my LFPro. Hopefully I worded that right, is that possible?
 
I like the idea of the GR-55, but do not like the form factor.
I want the same thing, just in a rack, NOT on a rack drawer.
If they made a racked GR-55, I would have bought one over
a year ago.
 
I like the idea of the GR-55, but do not like the form factor.
I want the same thing, just in a rack, NOT on a rack drawer.
If they made a racked GR-55, I would have bought one over
a year ago.

I completely agree. Something along the lines of the axon ax100 except I've heard nothing but bad things regarding the sounds. It does track well for ext. synths I've read though. All in all for me its too much money to go the gk-3 > axon ax50 > Yamaha/Roland/Korg rack synth. (at least 1300)... the gr-55 seems to do everything I'd need for about 700...
 
The GR-55 has no inputs for expression pedals or switches. It has one Control pedal that can be programmed for various actions, a toe switch on the expression pedal, and 2 "modes" for the expression pedal - with the expression switch off and with it on. So, if you want to do more complex switching/routing, you have to use a midi controller with it. At this point, I use an old Roland FC-200 with my Axe & now I'm trying to figure out if it will do all of the things I will want with the Axe & the GR-55 or if I will need to upgrade finally to an MFC or Liquid Foot controller or if I should get the GR its own footcontroller (my least favorite option).

The GR-55 has 8 assigns per patch & they can be assigned to the CC#s of a midi controller. The GR-55's patch numbering is odd because of its form factor. They lay it out as banks of 3 patches because it has 3 foot pedals. So, the patches are numbered 1-1, 1-2, 1-3, 2-1, 2-2, 2-3, etc. I haven't hooked up the FC-200 to it yet, so I'm not sure how it will response when I just start stepping on the patch change pedals.
 
The GR-20 had a nice feature where you could link a patch change command to any user patch, so when you selected a certain patch on the Axe using a midi controller, the GR-20 would also change to the related patch. I don't see that functionality in the GR-55.
 
Ah yea that would be a nice function. Keep me updated on how you incorporate it into your rig. I'm hoping I get it for christmas or I will just have to buy it myself.
 
Ah yea that would be a nice function. Keep me updated on how you incorporate it into your rig. I'm hoping I get it for christmas or I will just have to buy it myself.

Just FYI, Roland has a $100 mail-in rebate until the end of October, if you wanted to get a new one.
 
OK, it was actually yesterday, but I didn't get a chance to play with my new guitar synth until last night & a little this morning.

I picked up a new Roland GR-55 to continue my efforts to simplify my rig & so far I'm impressed.

BTW, I bought it from Musician's Friend and the unit was manufactured in October of last year (!). So much for new stock.... I had to update the firmware to the version that came out in June of this year (which went without a hitch).

I've been using a GR-20 for about 10 years mostly for bass & string sounds. What I really want from the GR-55 (over the GR-20) is the acoustic & electric guitar modeling so that I can use one guitar to get all acoustic and all electric guitars sounds (including 12 string & alternate tunings). I don't plan to use the amp models or effects on the GR-55, but it makes a nice backup to the Axe, if needed, that I will already have with me.

With a little tweaking, I've got the acoustic sounding pretty good. Better than my current piezos & a tone match block (I'm sure that could be improved with a different TM). I'm very happy with the modeled Strat pickups. I was afraid that I would be disappointed with them, but they are very useable. I didn't have time to try the Les Paul, Rickenbacker, Danelectro, etc. models yet.

My hope is to have 1 guitar (my favorite Strat) with the GR-55 & the Axe-FX II to do everything I want to do. So far it sounds promising. I'm trying to plan out the routing & control stuff now.

Hmmm, one guitar eh? Interesting concept..........
 
Hmmm, one guitar eh? Interesting concept..........

Yeah, the sad thing is how many guitars I've bought & modified trying to get "the one" only to end up back with my '94 Strat that I've owned since it was new which already had the GK-3 pickup on it. I'd like the last 2 years of my life back now.
 
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