When you riff on a fine guitar through a truly great amp, playing becomes an uplifting, transcendent experience; the amp feels like an extension of you and your axe, reacting in satisfying ways to all your expressive nuances and various playing techniques. Up until now, a “truly great amp” usually meant an all-tube design. But while these amps can sound amazing, they often deliver only one or two basic tone flavors. There are other downsides, too: they’re very expensive, relatively fragile, and require tube changes and other regular maintenance to make them sound their best all the time.

As one of the world’s leading innovators in electronic music products, Roland is no stranger to introducing new technologies that have blazed entirely new paths. Now, the company has come up with two amplifiers that will change the way guitarists define what a great amp is. Powered by the latest innovations in digital technology and ultra-fast processing, the GA-212 and GA-112 Guitar Amplifiers deliver world-class tone, responsiveness, and ease of use along with the flexibility, consistency, and low maintenance that only digital can bring.

Digital Amps for Purists

Throughout its long history, Roland—along with BOSS, its guitar products division—have brought a long list of essential products to guitarists, including the Space Echo, guitar synths, stompboxes, and tuners, just to scratch the surface. In 1995, the VG-8 Guitar System shook the guitar world in a big way, introducing digital modeling of guitars and amps for the very first time. Today, amp modeling is a ubiquitous presence, available in dedicated processors, amps, and software plug-ins. Composite Object Sound Modeling, or COSM, originally created by Roland for the VG-8 and refined continuously ever since, remains the leading technology in this field.

COSM has most often been used to deliver digital recreations of the classic tube amps that have become standards in the guitar realm, and it does a great job at that. But in the GA-series amps, COSM has been employed to power an all-original “Progressive Amp” engine. This engine doesn’t aim to recreate amps of the past; instead, it delivers unique, organic tones just like a high-end tube amp, but with a range of tonal versatility that one tube amp alone can’t come close to touching. From ultra-clean to super-extreme and everything in-between, it’s all inside a GA amp.

With its digital heart and analog soul, the experience of playing a GA-series amp is simple and pure. You plug in, turn the knobs, set the boost switches to taste, and play. There’s no menu surfing, no hidden functions, no model-select knob—just instant access to warm and inspiring tones.

Powerful and Intuitive

Designed to meet the demands of top touring players, the GA amps are built tough and provide plenty of volume to fill big stages. The GA-212 is a 200-watt amp with two custom-designed 12-inch speakers, while the more compact GA-112 delivers 100 watts into a single custom 12-inch speaker. The GA-212 also includes casters to make transport easier. Beyond that, the two amps have identical features.

The front panel of a GA amp is a familiar place for guitarists. First off, the input section has high and low sensitivity inputs to accommodate different guitar pickup types. Moving to the right, the Progressive Amp section has DRIVE and VOLUME knobs, with VOICE and BOOST switches that allow you to shape the amp’s gain and tone character (more on this section coming up). Next are BASS, MIDDLE, and TREBLE tone controls, with a mid-boost switch for adding a little fatness. A and B EFX LOOP switches give you convenient front-panel on/off control of the amp’s two effects loops. Finally, the master section has PRESENCE and REVERB knobs, as well as a MASTER knob to control the overall level.

Below the amp’s knobs are five Smart Channel switches that allow you to harness the programmable digital power of the GA series. So often, “programmable” means “complicated” or “confusing,” but don’t worry—that’s not the case here. The Smart Channel always saves your changes to the panel’s knob and switch settings automatically, and you can recall one of four saved settings for all controls with a simple button-push. In addition, the glowing LED knobs clearly indicate their positions when you select a memory. There’s also a MANUAL option for tweaking settings without changing your preset memories.

Progressive Amp: Unmatched Tonal Versatility

While the gain and EQ controls on the GA amps are familiar and intuitive, they offer a level tone-shaping power and versatility that’s light years beyond any amp in the analog realm. With the Progressive Amp’s digital brain, dialing in a sound with the DRIVE and VOLUME knobs and VOICE and BOOST switches tweaks multiple complex algorithms under the hood, optimizing the tone for any particular setting. This even includes subtle details like how the tone controls respond when the amp is set clean versus when it’s set for a high-gain sound.

To put this power in perspective, think about this: typically, a high-end, single-channel tube amp has one tone flavor that it does really well. That’s why you often see players switching between two or three different amps; they use each for what it does best. For example, one may have the perfect clean or crunch sound, while another has a perfect high-gain lead tone. There are multi-channel amps out there, of course, but they often pose a compromise of some sort, either with channels sharing tone controls (space-saving, lower cost) or multiple channels with independent tone sections (more real estate, complicated design, and higher cost).

This is where the COSM technology in the Progressive Amp engine really shines. Roland has spent decades researching and analyzing what makes the world’s best tube amps tick, and they’ve leveraged their immense knowledge in designing the Progressive Amp. When you dial up a clean sound, the digital engine sets up the GA amp with the tone and response characteristics found in amps renowned for their clean voice; when you dial up a high-gain tone, the GA seamlessly morphs to an entirely new character suitable for that sound. Simply put, the GA amps give you perfect tone at every setting—to get so many high-quality tones in the analog world would require a whole room full of classic tube amps.

Pro Connectivity

On the rear panel of a GA amp, you’ll find a host of flexible connectivity options. There are two independent effects loops, each with selectable series or parallel operation and +4 dB/-10 dB LEVEL switches for using either pro rack effects or stompboxes. As mentioned earlier, the loops can be conveniently switched on/off from the front panel, and their status saved in a Smart Channel memory.

The LINE OUT jack provides for a direct amp connection to a mixer or recording device, while the TUNER/THRU jack can feed an onstage tuner or be used as a guitar DI. Two different MAIN inputs allow you to connect external devices directly to the GA’s power section (bypassing the gain and tone controls), such as a GR-55 Guitar Synthesizer. Engaging the AUTO OFF switch automatically switches off the amp’s power after a period of inactivity, saving energy.

The rear panel also provides connections for the optional GA-FC GA Foot Controller. With a convenient 1/4-inch TRS cable connection, the compact and intuitive GA-FC gives you foot selection of your Smart Channel settings, as well on/off control for gain boost, mid boost, EFX A and B, and reverb. The GA-FC also has jacks for connecting optional expression pedals (such as the FV-500H, FV-500L, or EV-5) to control DRIVE and VOLUME. Next to the FOOT CONTROL/LINK IN jack on the GA rear panel is a LINK OUT jack that lets you use a single GA-FC to control two GA amps at once. (To link amps together, use a 1/4-inch TRS cable to connect LINK OUT on one amp to FOOT CONTROL/LINK IN on the other.)

Modern Classics

The GA-212 and GA-112 truly represent a revolution in amps, bringing the intuitive control of classic tube designs together with the awesome power and versatility of COSM technology and the Progressive Amp engine. But at the end of the day, great tone is all that matters, and these amps deliver big. No matter what style of music you play, you’ll find your sound in a GA series amp.

Visit PuristAmps.com to learn more about the amazing GA-212 and GA-112 guitar amps.