I have to go with lee_uk on this one. The amp is everything. Valves have a quality that can be noticed by the average person when they are pushed. Put a digital amp next to a valve amp and push them both at max. You will be able to listen to the valve amp much longer due to some roll off of harsher frequencies whereas the digital can get very abrasive after awhile. Flip the test to other effects and the digital modeling pedals have some great sounds on the delay, chorus, reverb side that a valve amp doesn’t offer. I play rhythm mostly and lead or harmony lead so I prefer a fuller sound with lower treble noise from distortion. We have found that there are openings between bass notes and lead treble notes where a warm and slightly overdriven sound fills the sound and the room better than having two guitars peeling paint off the walls. The only reason to play is to play live, nothing better than seeing an audience go crazy.

[quote=”Zeater”]If you are a seasoned player who does not mind programming, whether you’re gigging or recording, not trying to bother the people who reside where you do, or neighbors the GT6 is the hands down choice! Why wouldn’t you consider a GT8! I’ve had GT’s since GT3 they are simply the BEST! TONE? Are you kidding? Unbelievable! What amps are you playing through? I play it through a ’87 Roland Jazz Chorus, a Mesa Boogie run stereo and it is huge! I switch the Mesa exclusively for lead then go back to the stereo for Rythmn…Did I say Huge? My main axe is a LP Cust, hard to beat that setup! I give lesson’s on a CUBE60 and that amp is a BEAST! Depends on what you do? You may check out the CUBE for $365 w digital effects and enough Balls to play midsize clubs, it is truly a Swiss Army Knife with tone, recording ability(Direct) and versatility if you will. What amp will you run the GT with?(You dont need an amp…I direct through two JBL EON 10’s/Mackie board and that is absolutely killer…what’s your app?) Can’t beat the GT’s! Lastly the ME50 is designed as an entry level piece that is quality, although not as deep as any GT! I had an ME8 b4 the GT it’s cool although there is NO comparison.[/quote]

i notice you guys are playing those Multieffects through amps that have a lot of ‘clean’ headroom, my setup has always been a classic all valve amp setup, i like the the real valve overdrive sound, i’ve never tried one of those Boss Multieffects units through a transistor amp but i would imagine you get a great sound from it, same kind of sound you get through headphones or direct through the PA, I know the Messa you have is a valve amp but it still has masses of clean on tap, same as a fender twin, to my ears i like the sound of a set of cooking output valves, the hotter they get the better they sound, if i need a heavy distortion sound i usualy dial in a bit of my ProCat turbo rat, my setup is quite simple when im gigging, its the amp, the guitar, the turborat, and on some songs a little delay and phaser, thats why the ME50 works for me, when im recording at home i use the Guitar port, when im recording with the band i use my live setup.

Lee

Buy on e-bay? Make sure you are not inheriting someone’s beat GT6 just to save money. Gear can have all kinds of morons stomping on it and tweaking, how do you know you don’t get some screwed GT6? POD? Never heard POD, well on commercial recordings they are HOT! Zooms are noisy. Check out some of Neal Schon’s Tones on “RED13” EP on Journey’s website, and HE has a new Solo Album to be released 2/22/05 and he uses the GT6 Exclusively! THis guy can afford anything he want’s! HE uses the GT6!

“GO deep in the programming and the GT6 is amazing”–Neal Schon

If you are a seasoned player who does not mind programming, whether you’re gigging or recording, not trying to bother the people who reside where you do, or neighbors the GT6 is the hands down choice! Why wouldn’t you consider a GT8! I’ve had GT’s since GT3 they are simply the BEST! TONE? Are you kidding? Unbelievable! What amps are you playing through? I play it through a ’87 Roland Jazz Chorus, a Mesa Boogie run stereo and it is huge! I switch the Mesa exclusively for lead then go back to the stereo for Rythmn…Did I say Huge? My main axe is a LP Cust, hard to beat that setup! I give lesson’s on a CUBE60 and that amp is a BEAST! Depends on what you do? You may check out the CUBE for $365 w digital effects and enough Balls to play midsize clubs, it is truly a Swiss Army Knife with tone, recording ability(Direct) and versatility if you will. What amp will you run the GT with?(You dont need an amp…I direct through two JBL EON 10’s/Mackie board and that is absolutely killer…what’s your app?) Can’t beat the GT’s! Lastly the ME50 is designed as an entry level piece that is quality, although not as deep as any GT! I had an ME8 b4 the GT it’s cool although there is NO comparison.

I’ve got a GT6 and have been using it for almost a year now…and what joy!!! Yes, it is a bit complicated to understand initially, but with all good things in life you have to spend a bit of time with it. I have some amazing sounds coming from this beast and I’m only using this pedal when doing live gigs etc.! There’s almost no sound that you can’t replicate with this baby! With regards to the ME-50, I’ve heard some people complain about a sound delay when switching between banks. There is none of this on the GT6.

Also, go to the following link and see what other people have to say about the two models. They also rate the 2 models on different features. This should give you a good idea about which one to go for.

http://www.harmony-central.com/Effects/Data/Boss/

Yes i say it because i can hear the difference, your audience wont, but then i always find if it doesnt sound good to me then i dont play as well, if you play sax i bet you play a fairly good model, but i couldnt tell the difference between a £200 sax and a £3000 sax, so why bother with the more expensive model? its all down to your perception of tone, the better it sounds to you the happier you feel the better you play.
I have a £400 Tokai Love rock jap les paul copy, and i have a Gibson les paul standard that cost me over £1000, you will find it hard to tell the difference in tone, i can tell, and i know which one i prefer to play.
Ive never played the GT-8 but i bet it is an enhanced version of the GT-6, which was an enhanced version of the GT-5 and GT-3, i suppose you have to ask yourself how many switches, led’s, memory banks and different types of amp sim do you need? are you realy going to use even 1/2 of them? i always find the more complicated it is the longer it takes you to find a useable tone, which is why i sold my GT-5 and went for the ME-50, it has all the usefull effects and is simple to use.
But you could of course get yourself a GT-8 and plug it diect into your PA, bypass the need for an amp, and preset all your tones on the unit.
Have you also looked at the new Line 6 POD XT Live?? again ive not used it, but i do use the Guitar port and find it very good, and the POD speaks for itself, i think the XT live goes for the same kind of money as the GT-8.

GT6 does more and is more complicated and is good for home use and recording.
The ME50 is easy to use, does less, costs less, and has a better tone played through an amp live.

if you want to play it live go for the ME50, if you want to record go for the GT6.

are you playing them live?? ive not had a GT6 but i used to have a GT5 and currently own a ME-50, the GT5 (similar to the GT6) was quite complicated to use, had lots of interesting and effects that werent realy usuable. The effects sounded OK live but were better suited to recording/home use, it had amp sim and cab effects which the ME50 doesnt have, but if you have a good amp then you dont need them, playing the ME50 live is Mainly very good but the distortion effects arent that realistic, and sound a little harsh at gigging volume, but the other effects sound very good, the modulation and delay pedals are very usefull, using it is very simple, its kind of like having 4 pedals in front of you, a distortion, modulation, delay, and wah/volume, i find it very easy to play it live, there are no menus to edit no patches to copy, you just set it up and play, for distortion i use a ProCat turbo rat, and always have, its a great distortion pedal.
So if i were playing at home and recording i’d go for the GT6 because of the amp and cab sims, but if i were playing live then i’d go for the ME50.
and the ME50 is cheaper too.
Lee