Praise for the Boss GT-10

[Just Mike]

Maybe sacreligious to post this in the EVH forums so I'll throw it out here.
I've been struggling with building a 50w plexi and it's been a totally enjoyable process. But man, what a one trick pony. And nobody ever said it wasn't. I mean attenuators, slaving, mod5 greenbacks, black backs, cream backs, etc.
Again, I get it. The journey is as fun as the end product.
So I had some trouble with old tube sockets in my build and the preamp wasn't working as it should. So as an experiment I plugged my GT-10 into the fx return of the amp and dialed in a plexi sound with the speaker sim turned off. I'm running it through a G12-65 loaded 2-12 EVH spec cab and it makes me smile every time I play thru it. Maybe it's the combination of the el34s and old speakers that adds that something.
I'm typing this from my iPhone while sitting in a parking lot waiting for a client to show up. I'll update tonight when I get home in front of the rig. I'll try to post a clip or 2.

[Just Mike]

The real trick-to me anyway-is using a tube power section. I've tried it through full range powered speakers, a Mosfet power amp into a Marshall cabinet, different amps straight in. But it sounds best when I plug it into the return of a Marshall amp. This allows me to use the presence control of the amp. I've found that I have to go back into the model preamp and dial back the presence there. I use the MS1959 I&II preaamp model and use different gain settings for rhythm & lead. This is the one place in my opinion that modelers don't "feel" right to me. The way they react to guitar volume settings. I'm using a DSD with a 500k pot and the modeler just doesn't react to volume rolloffs the same as a Marshall front end. But the modeler makes up for it in versatility and tweakability.
Someday I'll fix the preamp of my Marshall, but I'm in no hurry. There are too many possibilities to explore this way.