Roland GR-55

rmbaylin

rmbaylin

Inspired
I know a few of my fellow Axer's own the GR55.

I just bought one - mostly for the altered acoustic tunings. I play with two female singers and we do a fair number of open tuning songs.

I am playing a Godin Multic Spectrum SA (steel string), which sounds great direct or thru the Ultra. I've heard some great clips from Javajunkie over at vguitarforums.

I just don't hear what I hear on the mp3s I hear posted. Any advice or help would be great. I've changed cables, followed the setup guides, but still not hearing what was hoping for - decent acoustic altered tunings.

Thanks
 
I had owned VG-8 and GR-30 since the mid 90's. Earlier this year I discovered the AXE FX, and it raised the bar quite precipitously for me, basically exposing me to a level of quality that the ROLAND technology (even their new GR-55, which I also own and use for synth and bass only) can not touch! My advice, sell the GR-55 if you're after quality acoustic sounds and use a real acoustic (or two, or three) tuned the way you like them, thru the AXE FX!
 
Well u can use the pitch shifting abilities of the gr and run them thru the axe. The axe is unparalleled in pretty much everything else, but hexaphonic pickups are the way to go for alternate tunings.

Don't expect the same kind of quality from the gr as the axe, you'll only be disappointed.
 
I am trying to decide whether or not to get a variax or a gr55, i would not be using the amp modelling in the gr-55 though just the guitar modelling and alternate tuning so was wondering if any axe users currently do this and what they think of the results?
 
Well they're both pretty good, but the roland sounds more realistic, and has a LOT more options. The acoustics of the variax are better tho, in my opinion, but remember that the gr55 also has a lot of sampled sounds and a lot of options to get good acoustic sounds if you're after that too.
You'd also be able to add things like reverb and compression and delays to the sound with the gr55, as opposed to just the guitar modelling of the variax.

And an important factor as well, line 6 support STINKS, roland's is better, but still frustrating. NONE can compare to fractal support...you really only appreciate things like that when you deal with all of the frustration some of these companies can put you thru for some simple tech support. I have nothing but good things to say about fractal in that respect.
 
jon said:
Well they're both pretty good, but the roland sounds more realistic,
Click to expand...

Oh ok that's interesting, I thought the JTV had the more authentic guitar models from what i had researched (i am not interested in any amp or fx modelling the axe can cover that well enough).

The positives i can see (for me) for the GR55 are;

Excellent Pitch Detection/Altered Tunings
Can use your favourite guitar
Has a Nylon String Model
Handles Palm Muting realistically

And the negatives
Guitar Modelling not as accurate as JTV????
GK3 pickup can be obtrusive and is harder to setup
There is no way to easily flick through the guitar pickup positions (Neck/Middle/Bridge)

I have no idea whether these are facts or not because i haven't used either but that's what iv'e come up with from researching the web, i'd love to hear thoughts from someone that owns both.
 
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