Boss BE-5 Guitar Multi-Effects

I just wanted to add to my post below--- The whole pedal finally crapped out on me, it just will not work at all anymore- not even the lights come on when I plug it in. Gone, done, finally dead. It lasted about 6 months.

Pretty straight forward. I unpacked it and had it all dialed in in about 3 minutes. It has stereo chorus, a noise gate, dist./OD, digital delay, and a compressor. The compressor in my Visual Sounds Route 66 was better, but this one is fine for a little clean boost.

This is a very quiet unit. I am playing through a homebrew tube amp into a 1x12 cab. I tend to crank it, and the unit does not add any noise to the signal.

The effects are all pretty good. I prefer the OD/Distortion more towards the OD side of the adjustment. Actually, I like the OD tone quite a bit.

This is an old unit (80's?) that I just bought on ebay. It seems to have held up pretty well. It is missing 2 knobs, but I noticed that the remaining knobs fit on the pots pretty loosely. No small wonder 2 are missing. going to try to find a couple that at least fit at the local Boss repair center. The pots are still adjustable, though. No big deal.

Can't get any satisfation out of the Roland/Boss web site. It is set up so you can't email anybody with a question... like "can I buy a couple knobs from you guys?"

I play rock and blues, and this pedal does a lot for the little money I have in it. I'll be honest, I bought it on a whim on ebay. It was going cheap and I just threw a bid at it out of boredom at the close of the auction. Considering all this, I am very happy with the unit.

This product is basically 5 separate stomp boxes built into a single unit. Each box has its own settings, and there are no programs. Easier to use than separate boxes, as I have only one power supply and I don't have to connect the separate boxes in the correct order. The pots are a bit flimsy, so I have to check all the settings before playing.

It sounds great. I am sure you get the electronics from these separate boxes:
Chorus: Just like CE-2, but in stereo (will that be CE-3). Anyway, sounds great, I use it almost all the time.
Delay: This is the DD-2 which is great.
Compressor/sustainer: CS-3, A bit hard to use, but effective. I use it as a volume boost.
Overdrive/distortion: OS-2, continually adjustable from overdrive to distortion.
Noise-gate: NS-1. Only one knob to set the gate level. You don't need this for reducing noise from the effects unit, as it is noise-free. But if you turn up gain and overdrive/distortion, it eliminates noise from your guitar.

MM, let's see...I bought it in the early 80's and have been constantly using it since. Seems reliable so far, but time will tell! It is made of plastic, I have crushed one corner a bit. The controls pots seem flimsy, but they have never cuased any problems.

Ha ha. No need for support is the best support in my opinion.

I have had a few stomp-boxes. But the BE-5 gets away with all the hassle of separate boxes, power-supplies and cords, so this is my only effect box since the mid eighties. It would have been nice if it had reverb, tremolo, phaser/flanger and volume pedal. I will take a look at the new ME-50, but will the sound be able to compete with this old one?

Chorus, Noise Gate, Delay, Distortion/Overdrive, Compression. Pretty easy. It's kind of tricky to get the compression to sound just the way I want, but that just might be my unfamiliarity with compression effects. Delay is great, I can noodle with it for hours and stay entertained.

SET UP: Archtop Guild Starfire 2, OR AN old '80s SC-300T Yamaha (better than you might think)==> BE-5==> DOD Chorus==> Peavey Triumph 120watt Tube amp==> Fender 2x12 Cabinet.

I give it an 8.5 for Delay, 7.5 for compression, 6.5 for the Distortion/Overdirve, a 9 for the Noise Gate, and a 0 for the Chorus. The chorus is broken on mine, I think I bought it from the guy listed below me.

The Delay is great, anything from 1000 miliseconds to 8 miliseconds- so short you can get some strange effects out of it when you turn the feedback up all the way, almost like a flange. You can dial in all kinds of delay sounds out of it, from Pink Floyd to Rockabilly 50's twang.

Noise Gate is very good- But on a clean channel, when turned up all the way it cuts out all sound completely. Ease back a little and it works perfectly.

Compression can get noisey when tone is turned up all the way. Need to use the noise gate to cut it.

Distortion is ok- I like how it has a knob to go between Overdrive and Distortion and anywhere in between.

The chorus is totally dead, it was dead when I bought it. But none of the other effects have pooped out on me. I've never giged with it, but I've stomped the hell out of it at practice, and it holds up. But I'm afraid the other effects might go with age.

It was hard to get info from the website.

I would give it an 8 if the chorus worked. I play rock 'n roll, rockabilly, surf, punk, indie, garage- I really like the delay, which is mostly what I bought it for. I wish it had an infinite repeat option though. The super-cool noise gate is a bonus for me. Distortion is fun to play with, but I'd never use it at a show. If stolen, I'd probably buy something else, but it's fine for now.

Easy to figure out, even without the manual.

I use this with a 15 watt Peavey Rage II, and it sounds very well, especially the delay. '
I haven't played with any guitar effect that sounds better.

My pedal is nearly 14 years old, and the chorus isn't working, sometimes.
Also some of the pedals is very hard to turn on/off.

Never had to deal with.

I often play hard rock, and the distortion sounds very good, with some delay and compression it's perfect.
It works very well when playing with clean sound too.
I really love this pedal.

Got it used, and without a manual, but was still able to figure it out really easily.

I use a Fender Strat with a 30w Marshall, and this particular pedal does really well on pretty much any setting. Personally, I don't use the distortion that much, because I don't really like Boss distortion (I almost always just use the Marshall built in distortion). Otherwise it's pretty damn good. I'll agree that the compression is a bit extreme, but you can't beat the delay.

I've only had it for about six months, but this pedal seems pretty durable. Absolutally no problems yet.

n/a

One damn good pedal.

One solid unit! Very easy to dial in your sound with simple controls. There was a manual, but I never looked at it much :-)

I've been using this with a Kramer 600ST and it produces a solid rock sound. Typically I use a bright heavy distortion with compression for those long sustained notes. Put in a little delay and it sounds completely professional. Nice. Chorus is good. Noise supression helps but could probably be better (not too much experience there). Delay is very good and very flexible. I grew up emulating Eddie VH and this got the job done. Any hard rock you hear on the radio should be no problem.

What can I say, I bought this unit new in 1990 and it's never even hinted at a flicker or corroded pot. 100% reliable. Used in practices and live performances. Backup? What's that? :-)

N/A

Typical music I played with it again, is hard rock. Also use chorus for clean playing and it sounds good as well. Been playing guitar for 18 years, also play synths and been in music (non-professionally) for some 22 years.

Very easy of use. After a few tries, you'll get the settings you want for almost each effect.

The delay/echo thing kills! Can't say more, especially when you use it lead with disto. Wide range of delays and echo. Not sure there is a better echo pedal than this one at that price.
The chorus is ok, i almost never use the compression. The noise compressor should be a bit more efficient than it is.

The disto : perfect with delay if used lead or clean.

But i would definitely advise you to get a dedicated disto pedal if you're like me in heavy metal for riffs.
Disto or overdrive used in riffing is hmm... not that good.

yep you can use it live without any doubt. Solid thing though after 11 years, some pedals don't work anymore and i have to open it. but all in all it is a good solid product.

never had to deal with

i play heavy metal, use clean tone and sometimes do atmospheric new age solis.
11 years of play (it is my first effect and i never bought another one).
Well now it is no more working (after 11 years intensively used) so i definitely have to look for a new effect. Maybe Boss ME-33 (more options).
I love the delay echo pedal. But the disto used in riff is not as good as it should be.
I wished it had equalizer, wah, and a truly heavy metal pedal with many possible settings.
It helped me much in making music.
I don't remember the price but it was very cheap. I would recommend it definitely as first multi effect for beginners. Cheap, easy.

This is a relatively easy processor to use. It has the same facilities of the BE5B Chorus,Limiter,Delay,Overdrive/distortion and Compression. I got mine second hand around 7 years ago and it's still going strong. I've used it at live gigs and for studio work, on Acoustic and electric guitars, and keyboards. In short a simple straight forward effects box!

It is easy to crank up the settings too high on this box - particularly on the compression - but prudent use gives excellent results.

This is a VERY RELIABLE box

Never needed any

I use the box for everything from classical guitar to rock, ballads and new age/world music.
Check it out at http://www.mp3.com/robblaikie

I sometimes think about replacing it - but don't see any need to at the moment - the BE5 does the job.

This is really easy to use. Can anything than knobs be easier?

I use this with various effects having an amp simulator since I record
indoors and can't use real amps. I have tried it with real amps too
and the signal has got punch and clarity. The chorus sounds ok with controls for seed and intensity. A noise suppressor which is working
rather well.
The delay is digital and is maximum 1 second long. Since there is an
knob controlling the delay time you can create these cool doppler
effects during a mixdown. Controls are for Effect level, feedback,
time adjustment, fine time adjustment and time selector, down to 3? milliseconds. The overdrive/dist has controls for level, tone, drive and color. It has a lot of crunch and punch of whatever silly name you want to use ;-) .
The compressor is smooth and has controls for level, tone, attack and sustain.
The attack is fast enough and the compressor covers a pretty wide range of compression settings.
There is no reverb in this unit and often reverbs in foot pedal
effectors are mediocre so here no complaints about a reverb may be done!

No problems so far.

I have never needed any. And if I would get any problem I would fix it myself.

Simple, yet valuable machine with very good effects. Using knobs is as
always easier, faster and for the delay it's cool to be able to do doppler effects when using this effect in a mixdown.
There is are jacks for send and return which I appreciate too. And a
tuner output. Or you may call it a direct out.