BOSS GX-10 review: A sleek all-in-one guitar tone solution

BOSS has long been one of the most respected names in guitar effects. From their classic stompboxes to next-generation multi-effects, they continue to innovate in the world of guitar tone.

The GX series made its debut in early 2022 with the full featured GX-100, and the GX-10 was released two years later. It sports the same sound engine and color touch display from the GX-100 in a much more ergonomic footprint. 

Let’s explore how the GX-10 works and why it’s one of the best economic choices if you’re looking to add a multi-effect/amp modeler to your guitar pedal chain.

BOSS GX-10 review: Setup

The first thing you need to do is update the firmware, as the unit ships with v1.0. As of this writing the current version is 1.04. It’s an easy process. Just download the file, power up the device while holding down the Write button until the word “Updater” comes up on the display.

Open the GX-10 drive and copy all of the files to the root directory. That’s it! For more explicit instructions visit the BOSS Support page.

BOSS GX-10 review: Design

Just like you’d expect from BOSS, the design of the GX-10’s housing is rock solid. The enclosure is metal, and the foot treadle is a hard plastic with a grip cover to reduce slip. 

It would be nice if the grip was rubber and not an additional layer of plastic, but it’s still more reliable than a lot of alternative multi-effects units. While the travel isn’t very wide, the pot joint has a good physical resistance that isn’t too tight or too loose.

The I/O is clean, with all jacks located at the rear of the unit. It’s a mono input, but there are stereo ¼” outs, send and return for the effects loop, secondary expression pedal input, and headphone output.

All jacks are ¼”, TS or TRS depending on which one. There’s no dedicated MIDI input, but the USB-C port can be used as a workaround via some adapters.

Via the full-color display touchscreen you can easily slide, swipe, drag, and drop items to create your ideal effects chains. Having a visual readout of the 170 effects and 32 amps (through BOSS’ AIRD modeling tech) makes crafting sounds fun, but the process is time consuming initially. .

AIRD modeling is built differently than other engines. It treats the amp and cabinet as one instead of two pieces. When selecting sounds BOSS has recommended settings, but you can change some of the speaker and microphone as well as load your own custom impulse responses – up to 16. 

Four control parameters display on the LCD screen, and they can be controlled through the knobs or you can touch the screen and slide left or right to adjust. For me, it’s much more accurate to use the pots, but offering both is a nice, modern touch.

BOSS GX-10 review: Sounds

The quality of the effects is exactly what you’d expect from BOSS – high definition. Especially the time-based models, which have been some of BOSS’ best sellers over the years. But to me it’s the less “standard” effects that stand out. 

Synthesizer and sitar emulation, the perfect choppiness of the SL-2 Slicer, ring modulation, and sounds conjured from outer space. They clearly pack as much sonic value as possible for players that prefer more conventional sounds or those that want to get crazy with their tone.

Where I feel the GX-10 comes up a little short, and maybe this could be rectified (pun intended) in future firmware updates are some of the amp models. They’re not bad by any means, they just don’t stand up to some of the other modeling units.

Like most modelers of the past quarter century, the clean sounds are great. It’s when you get into higher gain territory where things start to get a little shaky. You can absolutely get usable high gain sounds, just be ready to invest some time into tweaking parameters. But what guitar player doesn’t like to do that?

In my opinion the coolest feature as far as the amps go is that you can use two simultaneously! You can set them in parallel or mix and blend the output signals for an insane range of sounds.

BOSS GX-10 review: Performance 

I’m not really a multi-effects player, and am old school in that way. But the GX-10 is one of the more intuitive units I’ve tested. 

You don’t have to be shy with how many effects you use. I got to around 15 on one patch before the “DSP Overload” warning flagged. BOSS didn’t hold back with how many effects models they include. So it might take you some time to audition them. Some of the names are a little misleading, so use your ears and not your eyes.

It’s curious that BOSS didn’t use the official names of their pedals that are included, like the SD-1 or DD delay series. But I guess this makes it a little less confusing for players not familiar with BOSS pedals.

Creating your own patches – which you have to write over the existing presets – is a little tedious and frustrating. That’s always been my complaint with units like the GX-10.

But the control knobs are very responsive. You can quickly dial through the presets and sound parameters with the physical knobs, touchscreen, or both. 

There’s definitely a learning curve, but after a while creating your own sounds flows better. The manual is pretty much useless in this regard. I recommend poking around for yourself or seeking third party advice on the internet.

One of the coolest features is that the onboard expression pedal defaults to the tuner and mutes the output when it’s in the heel down position. This makes the tuner function really useful for quick tuneups between songs in a live set. You can change how it performs, which you need to do if you want to use the treadle as a volume or wah. 

One of my biggest complaints is that the cabinet models don’t offer a lot of customization. But there are still ways to tailor them to the sound you’re going for.

Verdict 

I prefer physical amp modelers to plugins. The combination of the expandability and options of DSP with a tactile interface is the best of both worlds. In my experience BOSS multi-effects have been hit and miss over the years. The effects sounds aren’t in question, but the amp and cabinet models and impulse responses always left something to be desired.

That’s still somewhat true. The effects models are some of the best you’ll find in a unit like this, but not all of the amp models have the level of realism players expect in a modern amp modeler, though I feel they’re more responsive than most plugins.

The GX series changes that, and the GX-10 is the perfect introductory model to test drive what this lineup can do. There’s a decent amount of space between the trio of footswitches, but still might be difficult to be accurate during a live performance. The treadle doesn’t have much travel either, so you have to be precise when using it.

I found the best way to integrate it into my guitar signal chain is to use it for the effects and let my tube amp do the heavy lifting. But that’s the thing about guitar tone.

It’s so subjective that any player can find many ways to effectively use the GX-10 in the endless pursuit of the tones in their heads.

And isn’t that the point of this type of gear?

FAQ

Is BOSS GX-10 worth it?

If you’re looking for a compact amp modeler/multi-effect this is a model that brings the best of all worlds. It’s fairly easy to use, built like a tank, and has so many sounds to explore. There is a bit of a learning curve, but that’s true of any unit like this.

Does the Boss GX-10 have Bluetooth?

There is no onboard Bluetooth functionality. But you can connect it to external devices through the standard by using a BOSS Bluetooth Audio MIDI Dual Adaptor called the BT-DUAL. It’s sold separately.

Does the BOSS GX-10 have MIDI?

It doesn’t have standard MIDI I/O. If you want to transmit and receive MIDI data you need to connect the USB port to a DAW to handle the transmission. Keep in mind you’ll need a USB cable that supports the transfer of data.