Boss massively revamps its GK Guitar Synthesizer Platform with brand new evolved GM-800 Workstation, and a more convenient 1/4" Serial GK Cable system

Boss’s Guitar Synthesiser history is somewhat complex - but generally it stems from a system / platform that Roland introduced in 1977 with the GR-500. Through the 80’s and 90’s we then had the GR-100, GR-300, and GR-700. These devices relied on specialist GK type guitar pickups which connected to the workstations via proprietary 13 Pin DIN connectors / cables. I believe the last significant Roland GR type was 1992’s GR-1.

In the latter 90’s Guitar Synthesisers waned a touch - before Boss then took up the mantle from Roland in 2014 - with its GP-10 unit (not to be confused with the GP-20 Amp Factory) and the SY-300 appeared approximately one year later.

The SY-300 ushered in a new Guitar Synthesizer gateway experience where the tracking was good enough not to need a 13 Pin connector and specialist pickup. That lineage was further extended via the SY-1, SY-200, and SY-1000 flagship, and more recently the Eurus GS-1 Electronic Guitar. In fact we should probably just touch on the V-Boss BDN VG-Strandberg too as that was surely a key stepping stone toward the Eurus GS-1.

The new GM series featured here kind of harks back to and replaces that early GR / GK system that transitioned from Roland to Boss. Where Boss have entirely evolved and revamped the format - so you no longer need to rely on those specialist 13 Pin cables - but can now use much more conventional are more convenient 1/4" Serial GK cables.

Depending on whether you still have devices / pickups utilising the 13 Pin system - then you can use Boss’s new connector / adaptor boxes that connect the older 13 Pin DIN standard with the newer 1/4" Serial GK format. You have two types : the GKC-AD 13-pin GK to Serial GK (Analog > Digital), and   GKC-DA Serial GK to 13-pin GK (Digital > Analog). Of course the the new platform is served by those slimmer cables which come in 2 lengths :  BGK-15 (15 ft./4.5 m) and BGK-30 (30 ft./9 m).

And the new GK pickups are massively slimmed down and streamline too - where the GK-5 is for electric guitars, and GK-5B is for basses.

Boss mentions Roland’s latest Modelling technology quite a lot in its write-up - the Zen-Core Sound Engine which is already used on several Roland products. I read somewhere that the GM-800 is to the SY-1000 what the GT-1000 CORE is to the GT-1000 - a pretty much equally potent workstation but with a significantly slimmer profile. Of course if you want to use the SY-1000 with the new pickups - you will need to use one of the GKC Adapter / Interface boxes.

You can hear from the demo that the tracking is absolutely flawless - and you get the full arsenal of Roland’s Zen-Core sound engine in the handiest possible format. It’s still thought probably for more specialist players as it does still take up quite a significant amount of real-estate - albeit no way near as much as the SY-1000.

For me - I think the SY-200 currently makes more sense for my own some-time use of Synth voicings - while those who seriously want to make the best use of those superior synth sounds - then the GM-800 is the perfect vehicle for that - along with the new cable system and pickups. If you buy into the new system - you of course won’t need either of the junction boxes - those are really more for backward compatibility with the 13 Pin DIN format!

I understand that Sweetwater inadvertently included some details on the GM-800 in a recent mailing - and the Guitar Synth crowd is incredibly excited about the prospects of the new device - while I fear that some will be looking to scale down from the SY-1000 - as the GM-800 is a significantly more practical and easy to accommodate format.

The Boss sound sample demo below is just killer - it really makes me want one of these units even though I would not use it enough to fully justify its inclusion and for sure I would struggle to fit it in within my existing setup - I am still kind of tempted though!