The Hold Delay Technique uses the HOLD function of the DELAY effect, which functions as a looping station, to create a continuous playback of your guitar sound. This frees you from the caveat of playing your instrument while exploring the sounds of the GT-8.
The HOLD feature is similar to the “hold” setting on a Boss digital delay pedal. It allows you to record a 2.8 second loop (which can also be overdubbed, if you were using it as a looping station.)
To follow these instructions effectively, you should initialize a patch. This restores a patch to its default state, with all effects turned off. (Note: you will lose any settings you have saved for the current selected patch.)
- The PLAY screen is shown when you power on the GT-8 (it displays the name of the patch.) Press EXIT to display the PLAY screen.
- The corresponding bank-patch number is shown in a display on the top left of the GT-8 (each bank contains 4 individual patches.) This is changed with the value dial or the number and bank pedals.
- Press WRITE.
- Press the right JUMP parameter (>) twice to select INITIALIZE.
- Press WRITE again.
Move the DELAY block to beginning of the signal chain
This will allow you to freely place effects after the DELAY so that you can hear the changes you’re making in real time.
- Press FX CHAIN.
- The cursor (a stick man) should be positioned at the beginning of the chain. (If this is not the case, use the left JUMP parameter (<) to move it.)
- Press DELAY to move the effect (the DELAY [dd on/off] is located next to the TAP button.)
- Press EXIT.
Set the DELAY to HOLD
- Press DELAY.
- The TYPE parameter should be displayed. (If not, use the JUMP parameters (< >) to select it.)
- Turn the value dial to select HOLD.
- Press EXIT.
Disable the noise suppressor
The noise suppressor (NS) will recognize the loop as noise if you’re not playing your guitar, which will cancel out the sound. (Alternatively, the NS can be placed before DELAY.)
- Press MASTER.
- NOISE SUPPRESSOR should be displayed. (If not, use the JUMP parameters (< >) to select it.)
- Turn the value dial to select OFF.
- Press EXIT.
Engage the DELAY
- Press DELAY twice to turn the effect ON.
- Press EXIT to return to the PLAY screen. (Note: the HOLD DELAY can only be used when the PLAY screen is shown.)
- The corresponding number pedal is now flashing twice to indicate the HOLD DELAY is engaged.
- Press WRITE twice to save the changes.
Using the HOLD DELAY
- Press the corresponding (flashing) number pedal to start recording.
- To stop recording and begin a playback loop, press the number pedal again (recording stops automatically after 2.8 seconds.)
- The light remains lit during playback.
- To end playback and reset the loop, hold down the number pedal for 2.8 seconds. If you want to save the recording, but disable playback, simply disable the DELAY.
- At this point, you should be hearing your clean direct guitar signal. Engage the PREAMP block to start using the simulations inside the GT-8.
Note: Boss states that you should wait 2.8 seconds after engaging or resetting the HOLD DELAY. The reasoning for this is unclear.
When playback has started, you have free reign to explore the effects and pre-amps contained within the GT-8. You may need to adjust the EFFECT LEVEL of the DELAY in order to match the level of the direct sound. This option is accessible by pressing DELAY.
The GT-8 consists of individual “effect blocks” that can be arranged in any order in the FX CHAIN to create the sound you want:
- PREAMP / SPEAKER
- OVERDRIVE / DISTORTION
- DELAY
- CHORUS
- REVERB
- COMP (compressor)
- EQ (equalizer)
- WAH
- LOOP (external loop)
- NS (noise suppressor)
- FX-1
- FX-2
To engage an effect, simply press the corresponding button twice via the PLAY screen. To edit the various options use the JUMP parameters. The Hold Delay Technique is a great way to sample the various pre-amp models contained within the GT-8.
The PREAMP block has a CHANNEL MODE parameter. This allows you to create patches with 2 individual pre-amps engaged simultaneously. Apart from the default mono setting which only uses one channel (SINGLE,) the DUAL MONO setting will output a mixture of channel A and B. DUAL L/R will pan each channel hard left and hard right. The final mode, DYNAMIC, allows you to switch channels based on your picking sensitivity (a “Dynamic Sens” parameter is displayed which controls when the change occurs.) To change between channel A and B, use the CHANNEL button.
The GT-8’s effects are wired in either series or parallel. Parallel effects (like Delay and Reverb) contain a DIRECT LEVEL control. In this case, EFFECT LEVEL controls the wet sound. The PREAMP block contains a LEVEL (channel volume) parameter, which is the same as the EFFECT LEVEL, but specific to either CHANNEL A or B. This is not a volume control for the amplifier, which impacts the amplifiers tone in a typical way that a tube amp would behave. The PREAMP block also contains a MIC LEVEL control.
The GT-8 contains additional effects other than the main effect blocks listed above. These are accessible by using the FX-1 and FX-2 effect blocks. These are the effects printed on the front of the GT-8.
You may have realized that the Hold Delay Technique uses up the DELAY effects block, which means you only have access to this effect once you are done tweaking with the looping feature. The GT-8 does, however, include a “sub delay (SDD),” which is accessible in FX-2 (the SDD is a series effect.)
A mixing console expects an input signal of roughly 80%. Thus, the GT-8 contains a PATCH LEVEL control. As you make adjustments to various settings, the volume of your patch is likely to change. The PATCH LEVEL can be used to compensate for these changes.
