I have been exploring the GX-700 for a while now and has noticed a few weak and strong side of the GX-700:

Strong sides:

Big fat tone on clean sounds.

Great Tremolo, chorus and reverb.

COSM!

Weak sides:

The EQ

OD/DS

The Display! (you must look at it from a certain angle to see anything! It´s a horror when playing live, because you can´t see what sound you´r using.)

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I highly recommend a OD/DS pedal in the loop, I use a Marshall Bluesbreaker in my loop and it sounds great.

So let´s start with programming the preamp section.

The basic preamp settings is the most important part of a GX-700 sound. You really have to think a few times what sound your trying to create before choosing preamp type. For a Clean rythm guitar sound I often use the Twin, JC120 or MS I+II.

Then I check out the Preamp EQ, starting with Treble and Bass, and then Presence and Middle. I only use the brightswitch on the Twin (even if some of the other amps sound good with it). Be careful when adding Bass because it´s very easy to add to much. The sound will be grainy and far away from the fat sound we wanted.

Middle and treble can be used to the max if your guitar lacks body or top tone.

Presence is great for lifting the sound. (specially noticeable on MS sounds)

Master Volume (at least I thinks) should be at maximum and the Gain should be Low. Then adjust the Preamp volume to the wanted level.

Adding Reverb is very simple on the GX-700 because it´s sounds good! no hassle with the settings, sounds great anyway.

Same goes for the Chorus. (the only thing you´ll have to adjust is if you´r using it Mono or Stereo) Sounds good !

Ahh... now the tremolo! It´s (in my opinion) the best effect onboard the GX-700. Wonderful retrotone that sounds just lovely with the Twin. I usually have these settings:

" Tremolo mode 2

" Rate 62

" Depth 30

" Balance 50-50

SP.SIM taste is very personal so I can only recommend to try out for yourselves what you like. But make sure that the SP level is max and no direct level when using OD/DS sounds. (if you don´t want that effect that is!)

OD/DS ... what can I say.. I think that every OD/DS effect (except Vintage OD) sounds crap so I never use them. Maybe you have another opinion about that, if so please write me and tell me. The Vintage OD is pretty useful when adding a slight distortion (drive: 5-40) and boosting Bass and Treble.

The delay is pretty good and I often add a short delay (600ms) when playing lead parts. I try to keep the feedback as low as possible and the effect level lower than the direct level to avoid the sound to get grainy.