Roland Boss SY-1000 & GM-800 How good or bad are these guitar synths?

Roland Boss Guitar Synthesizers? Are they really any good and what about the GK-5 Pickup? Is the SY1000 and GM-800 useful or Useless? Find out in this no holds barred inside and out closeup review.

Contents:

00:00 Start
00:20 Intro & Preamble
00:58 What's in this review
04:25 Inside the SY-1000
06:55 Controls of the SY-1000
09:25 I/O of the SY-1000
11:25 Summing up so far
11:51 A Real Review
12:34 Pickup cables
14:24 The GK-5 Pickup
16:29 GK-5 Close up
18:46 The GM-800 Synth
19:55 GM-800 Inside and Out
20:46 The main board
21:50 Chip side of board
25:05 GM-800 Controls
28:11 GM-800 I/O
30:00 The chips close up
31:10 Summing up GM-800
32:27 SY-1000 | GK-5 Syndrome
34:55 GKC-DA converter
36:31 Inside the GKC-DA
37:51 Summing up GKC-DA
38:49 SY-1000 Tone Studio
49:49 DM-800 Tone Studio
58:16 Summing up Software
1:00:02 SY-1000 Presets Played
1:11:40 GM-800 Presets Played
1:22:28 Final Summing up
1:24:06 Likes and Dislikes
1:26:18 Important Note

What you will learn:
Are guitar synthesizers for you?
What will a guitar synth cost me now?
What is the quality like?

Related links:

My website: https://tonymckenzie.com
The original review: https://tonymckenzie.com/marshall-jvm...
Boss SY-1000 Support: https://www.boss.info/uk/support/by_p...
Boss GM-800 Support: https://www.boss.info/uk/products/gm-...
GK-3 Cable genuine: https://www.gak.co.uk/en/roland-gkc-5...
GK-3 cable non-genuine: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0768HRF1...
GK-5 Pickup: https://www.pmtonline.co.uk/boss-gk-5...
GKC-DA Interface: https://www.andertons.co.uk/guitar-de...
My Roland GK-55 Review:    • Roland GR-55 Guitar Synthesizer | A C...  
My Boss GP-10 Review:    • Roland Boss GP 10 Guitar Effects Proc...  
My Boss SY-300 Review:    • Roland SY-300 Guitar Synthesizer | Ne...  
My Roland Boss GK-3 Installation Review:    • Roland Boss GK-3 | How to Fit this Pi...  
My Roland Boss GK-5 Insallation Review:    • Roland Boss GK-5 Easy Installation on...  

I've seen Roland and Boss gear for guitar synths going back for many years. Some of these synthesizers for guitar have not always been that successful with issues ranging from not good sounds, to tracking that borders on being rubbish, to the high cost of the hardware and different other problems that could not easily be fixed.

However, Roland Boss have been busy over the last few years with the introduction a couple of years back of the Boss SY-1000 guitar synthesizer and recently towards the end of 2023 the GM-800 synth. And they did not stop there either.

There's a new guitar synthesizer pickup available too; the old GK-3 surely had its problems when using a 13 pin cable to communicate - AND a guitar lead. But the NEW GK-5 solves all of that with a single 'stereo' 6.3mm (1/4" Jack) cable from the GK-5 pickup right to the GM-800!

But what about the SY1000 with its 'old' interface, surely that's not redundant? No, Roland Boss created a GKC-DA interface that can drive the SY-1000 with a GK-5 to a 13 pin connector. I looked at that closely also. The boss gm-800 review and the boss SY-1000 review is here at last.

So are these guitar synthesizers really any good? Well, yes and no - you need to watch the video from start to finish to learn the secrets of the Boss synths. I cover the hardware of each unit, the chips inside, the controls, the software and even end the video with at least 15-20 tones directly out of each guitar synth so you can get a feel whether guitar synthesizers are for you.

I do offer an opinion as we go through the video in a number of places and what I thought myself based on what I have known about these devices for a very long time. There are literally hundreds of different tones of synthesizers inside these units and if you're not really familiar with this type of guitar device then this video will undoubtedly help you to understand the equipment and tones that you can get from these instruments.

I do show the tone central gm 800 and the sy 1000 software also.

And remember that both units support guitar AND bass guitar.

I have spent considerable time creating this video over ten days of work and two days editing entirely at my own expense:

PLEASE SUBSCRIBE, RING THE BELL, AND THUMBS UP to give my channel a boost and thank you for watching - I hope the video is enjoyable for you and that you see the tings in it that other reviews NEVER show!.

(c) A B McKenzie and http://www.tonymckenzie.com 2009-2023
All Rights Reserved. All Trade Marks Acknowledged
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