Recording - July 2013 - 22

R E V I E W S B Y M I K E M E T L AY W I T H A L L E N G O O D M A N

Roland GC-1 GK-Ready Stratocaster
and GR-S and GR-D V-Guitar Pedals
Entering the world of hex-pickup tone has never been easier or more affordable
Since the 1970s, Roland has honed the idea of a guitar controlling electronic devices to a fine art, with highly responsive pickups
linked to two distinct approaches to electronic sound generation.
These include several generations of analog and digital synthesizers, as well as the V-Guitar processors that can change tuning or
create entirely new sounds through physical modeling.
For these devices to work properly, it’s necessary to
process the sound of each guitar string separately. Signals
from separate pickups under each string (elements of a
hexaphonic or “hex” pickup) are routed to external processors
via a special cable with 13-pin connectors. Roland still sells
the GK Series user-installable hex pickups, but it’s easier to
have such a pickup built into a guitar from the get-go, as in
the case of the new GC-1 GK-Ready Stratocaster.
The GC-1
The latest fruit of Roland’s collaboration with Fender, the GC-1
is first and foremost a very nice Strat made at Fender’s wellregarded facility in Mexico. We’ll leave the nitpicky stats for the
guitar magazines, but here are the basics: it’s a fairly standard
design with a 22-fret maple neck (available as is or with a rosewood fingerboard, as shown on our cover) and the usual three
single-coil pickups with a 5-way selector switch, in addition to the
hex pickup right before the standard Fender vibrato tailpiece. In
place of the usual volume and dual tone knobs, it has global volume and tone controls with the third knob dedicated to the volume from the hex pickup. Other onboard controls
include a 3-way switch (guitar/blended/synth)
and two buttons for synth program up/down.
Our GC-1 (the Type 1, with the maple
neck) came from the factory with immaculate
fit and finish, very nicely set up to get to work
immediately. Allen enjoyed playing it a great
deal even as a conventional guitar, commenting on the clean and clear sound from the single-coil pickups. It seems that with the GC-1,
Roland and Fender made a point of starting with
a no-compromise Strat that a guitarist would be
happy to own and play just as it is.
Of course, the magic happens when you
plug the 13-pin cable into a device that’s
capable of understanding the six separate
pickup signals... which leads us—once we
mention that the GC-1 tracked exceptionally well even on fast and delicate playing
without any need for pickup or sensitivity
tweaks—to the other half of this review!
The GR-S and GR-D
Practically since the invention of the GR
guitars, Roland has capitalized on the fact that
some effects (particularly overdrive/distortion)
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RECORDING July 2013

take on a very different tonality when you process each of
a guitar’s strings separately. A chord built of single notes,
each with its own processing, can ring out with far more
clarity than a chord that’s processed all at once. GR systems
as early as the groundbreaking GR-300 Series used by
artists like Robert Fripp and Adrian Belew featured a special Hex Fuzz circuit to do just this, and Roland’s latest hexoptimized processors are the GR-S V-Guitar Space and
GR-D V-Guitar Distortion effects pedals.
The two pedals share identical rear panel connections. The
stereo 1/4" outputs have a switch to set the level for a guitar
amp or for a line-level audio interface or mixer (the Left output also serves as a power switch when running on six AA
batteries—an AC power supply is optional). A separate
Guitar Output acts as a send for other effects processors,
which can then be returned to the unit through the
Mix/Guitar inputs, a pair of 1/4" jacks that allow a stereo signal to be mixed with the guitar. If only the Left input is
plugged in, it acts as a standard guitar input for the effect.
The front panels are very simple: you can select one of four
effect Types by pressing a button (on the GR-S) or turning a 4position knob (on the GR-D). We’re not sure why the GR-S has
buttons for Type but the GR-D uses a knob; the visual feedback
from the backlit buttons is way better on a dark stage, and I
prefer being able to select a Type instantly rather than switching through other sounds to get to what I want. Then there are
controls for Color, Tone, and Level, plus a Gain knob on the
GR-D. A Select button rotates through four saved groups of
control settings plus a Manual setting; you can use the program buttons on the guitar to do this as well.
In addition to a Bypass pedal, the GR-S has
a Freeze pedal, which captures the input signal and creates a short loop that sustains for
as long as you hold the pedal down. This
lets you capture drones or chords over which
you can solo. On the GR-D, the second pedal
is labeled Solo, and creates “a tone suitable
for soloing”. For all but one of the distortion
Types, this is a slight but telling volume boost
that doesn’t otherwise affect your tone.
We should also note what Roland calls “the
spatial-type effects (FX) that provide a pleasant sound even when you’re not using any
other equipment”. This is basically a
reverb and echo (on the GR-S) or a
spring-type reverb (on the GR-D) that are
fixed in their settings and always there
under your sounds unless you defeat
them at power-up. They sound really rich
and spacious, but purists will want to
deactivate them to hear the unadulterated
sounds of the pedals. And what sounds!

Recording - July 2013

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