Boss to release VG-800 V-Guitar Processor in February at $649.99

February 1, 2025 · 3 sources

Boss announced the VG-800 V-Guitar Processor among its products shown at NAMM 2025. The Boss unit will be available at authorized U.S. Boss retailers for $649.99 in February, according to Premier Guitar's NAMM roundup¹.

The VG-800 uses the Serial GK divided pickup, a digital interface introduced in 2023 that uses a quarter-inch TRS connection, to model electric guitars, acoustic guitars, basses and instruments including sitar and banjo, and to play synth tones, among them an emulation of Roland's GR-300²¹. It has a dedicated bass mode with bass-optimized processing algorithms and 150 independent memories, plus Dual Guitar and Dual Bass options for two independent instruments¹. Each string's pitch and panning are adjustable, and onboard switches can change instrument type or tuning, bend individual strings, or morph between instrument types¹. Amps and effects derived from Boss multi-effects can be applied to two modeled sounds and the dedicated guitar input, and send and return jacks patch in mono and stereo pedals¹.

The unit has a USB audio/MIDI interface that can record the stereo mix or two modeled sounds and the direct guitar input to separate DAW tracks, and it supports pitch-to-MIDI conversion for software instruments¹. Pitch-to-MIDI output is available over USB-C and a TRS mini jack, and the MIDI output channels are consecutive with the basic channel settable from 1 to 10³. Boss Tone Studio for macOS and Windows handles memory editing, system settings, speaker IR import and setup management¹.

A Serial GK pickup is required for the modeling features. Boss offers user-installable GK-5 (guitar) and GK-5B (bass) pickups for external mounting, plus kit options for permanent installation¹. The Serial GK pickups are not directly compatible with 13-pin products; the GKC-DA GK Converter allows the GK-5 and GK-5B to interface with analog 13-pin Boss and Roland devices².