Boss GT Overdrive and Distortion Stompboxes

A lot of times I read about the bad overdrive and distortion modeling of the Boss GT series. But what's wrong with the overdrive / distortion block?

Everyone of us using real amps and distortion stompboxes knows that you cannot combine every distortion / overdrive stompbox with every amp. E.g. a shrill distortion stompbox doesn't sound good with a Fender amp. Therefore it's important to find the right combination of overdrive and amp model.

The next problem with the distortion and overdrive models is that Boss gave them bass and treble equalizers whereas most distortion stompboxes only have one tone knob. Therefore it's impossible to get the same sound out of the models because they haven't the same EQ as the original stompboxes. But you can use one of the middle EQs of the EQ Block. Set the frequency and Q to an appropriate value. Then you can use the gain knob of the EQ as the tone knob of the distortion / overdrive model.

The last problem is the missing dynamic of the modeled overdrive / distortion stompboxes. But in reality it's no problem. That's because the amps are modeled after real tube amps whereas the overdrive / distortion stompboxes are modeled after transistor stompboxes. And these transistor stompboxes have much less dynamics than the tube amps.

Related articles:

• Boss GT-10: The correct input signal level for a transparent sound without digital distortions
• Electronic, sound & programming of guitar effects