Boss BE-5 Guitar Multi-Effects

ez as can be! like 4 different pedals!

old 80s 8 bit digital, sounds allmost analog!! real kool!! a strat thru it to a fender 59 bassman r i. sounds great!

has bad input jack, but still works!!! also when i got it the adapter was harwired into it & it was missing the face plate. i wrote out the controls & rocked away!!!

boss support sucks...

this pedal has the ce2 chorus & the dd2 d.delay. & the cs2 comp! & the od, dist os2 i think? japanese made!! go out n try buying these pedals 1 by 1!!! about $400!!!! I LOVE THE CHORUS ON IT MONO!!!!!!!!! A CROSS BETWEEN A DIMESION C & THE OLD CE2 CHORUS!! THE DELAY IS A DD-2!!! GREAT TONE!! comp a lil hard to tweak 4 knobs (i never was a big comp man) & the distortion is ok. THE CHORUS & DELAY ARE WORTH THE PRICE OF ADMMISION ALONE!!!!!!! LOVE EM!!!!!!!!

As easy as it can be. Four independent pedals in a box which can be mixed in only 4 memories per bank(2).

I have two Boss Be-5m. One is almost damaged and i recently bought a second/third hand one.
Honestly, I love the sound of it. The digital delay has the pure Boss sound. Many combinations possible. The distortion is very good. I like it in low tone. Gives me a fat bluesy sound, that bumps into my mid tone strat and gives me the chill :)
I'm using this effect board with a 60 Watt old Randall amp. I also use a Fat Cat from Ibanez, for a even fatter distortion. I just keep loving this set day by day.
The Compressor always comes in handy, and I hate the Chorus, because i hate chorus. The effect is not bad, i just don't like it.

It is all made of plastic, quite fragile, but hey... I've been playing this pedal for more than 10 years. I can't complain much.
My damaged unit has a slight electronic noise coming from the digital delay that ruined the whole purpose of the effect. The chorus had broke down 4 years ago. But the new one I got, has more than 10 years two and it is working 100%, so this time i'll be more careful.

Never tried it. I live in Portugal and usually it takes months to solve any problem with a foreigner company so i just didn't try.

What can I say, this effect board has been with me all these years, and i had the best times and best sounds with it. I play melodic rock stuff with a noise feel. Like Wilco, or Death Cab For Cutie with Sonic youth. This is the perfect effect board to me: Digital delay, chorus, distortion/overdrive and Compressor. As simple and goodd sounding as it can get. It has also volume control, EXT loop, Threshold function for noise control. It would perfect if it had a built in tuner.
The lacking point for 10 is due to the problems i had with the other old board. the delay noise really annoyed me. But things can't last forever.
If you're thinking of buying one, go ahead, don't doubt it.

** HOW TO FIX STICKY SWITCHES ON THE BE-5 **

I'm writing this mainly as a tip to those of you who have problems with sticking switches on this thing. I've had the same problem for years (in particular the compressor switch is sticking).

I finally decided to try to something about it so I opened it up. It seems that the problem was that the rubber pieces that push on to the PCB mounted miniature switches gets a bit worn, or looses some of its flexibility over the years, so it simply won't push hard enough.

I simply put a small blob of epoxy on top of the problematic switch to ensure the rubber presses harder onto it. It worked perfectly and now all the effects turn on and off no problem at all. 10 minutes (including waiting for the epoxy to harden) and it was as good as new.

A very functional device which does it's job properly, although not top-of-the line for each individual effect. Has a lot more "character" than most multi-FX rigs out there. It's got most things you need, but it doesn't lure you into the trap of blurring away your tone by adding too many effects just because you've got them all.

Simplifies the pedalboard a lot. The effect loop makes this thing 10 times more flexible, and opens up a lot of options to get that right sound.

For the price it's great. I suppose they cost virtually nothing nowadays if you can find one used. It cost about the price of one regular pedal when I bought it used about 10 years ago.

Very easy to use. Manual is worth reading over especially te block diagram of the internal signal flow.

I love the sound of this unit! I'm taking advantage of the fx loop by running my Marshall 2550 Silver Jubilee in it. The fx loop is the key to this unit. It allows you to put the compressor and OD/DS into your amp's front end while letting you put the noise suppressor, delay and chorus after the preamp (in your amp's fx loop). This is traditionally what i've always done with my fx. The loop is also programmable as part of your patch. This setup has become known as the "4 cable method" in Boss GT-3/5/6 circles. I believe this was the first Boss mfx unit to capitalize upon this setup. The fx sound very good even considering the low bit depth. They sound analog and smooth. I give it a 9 just because it works so well for my setup - SET and FORGET!

The fx never let me down. The issue is with the damn switches. In manual mode they sometimes/routinely stick on or off. It could possibly take me 4 or 5 taps on the chorus pedal to change it's status! Well what do you expect from a plastic casing and those damn bubble switches. Mine could benefit from some repair or replacement.

I don't ever bother trying to get customer service from Boss. If you are lucky ebough to get somebody on the phone (long distance of course) - odds are they can't tell you anything beyond what you already know! It is a waste of time, that's why i don't do it. I'll take my chances on doing it myself.

I play what ever I want - quite horribly, i might add. I noodle. I experiment. I don't gig out currently. I'm more of a mad scientist about guitar playing. It's my daily therapy that keeps me from going insane. I just like plugging into a good decent sounding tube rig and getting up and running fast without the headache that digital fx presents. I've owned a GT-5 and GT-6 previously, but in the end, know matter how hard I try, I can't get myself to believe they are the same. Tube amps just sound feel right. After having the fancy stuff for years, i found that i never used more than just a tad of compression, delay and chorus anyway. The fact the this unit has OD/DS and noise suppression and a tuner out it just a friggin' bonus! I guess i'm a minimalist. Extra bells and whistles (i.e. baggage) doesn't do it for me. This little plastic Boss jobber fits the bill quite nicely for me.

it is very simple to use, i have had this my second one for 12 years,i mistakingly sold the first for an all singing all dancing zoom 9030.the be 5 is easy to tweak on the fly.

i have used it with strats, a washburn rs8v, and an ibanez steve vai jem my main gtr for 5 years,i have used a carlsbro glx 150c through the main input,and found if i used the amps overdrive, the delay is over pronounced compared to the o/d on the be5 itself,recently i go straight into the pa and it sounds warm,i always have the comp on and when using with the 2x12 stereo carlsboro, people have asked me if its a valve amp

yes definatly, i have done so but i also own a gp100 and used both together for a while in a kind of double stereo set up covering floyd stuff and more in a 3 piece band, since turning solo/duo i tend to use the gp100 into the pa, with the be5 for back up and easy rehearsals with my duo partner,in the last 12 years i have changed the input socket, and i am just about to change two micro switches, o/d and comp, the delay switch i did about 5 years ago, but dont forget i didnt have this from new,and for 6 years of my ownership i did about 170 gigs a year!

as ive said before its only the tiny microswithes and the input socket, oh and some led,s that has been an occasional problem, but can be sourced from maplins and replaced easily, so i havent needed to contact them

I cover so many guitar hero material and can usually get the sound im after with either of the roland/boss pedals i own, so ican comfortably gig with just the be5 and a wah pedal, its just like an old glove, i am always on the lookout for another, if i can get one i would without question get another, the compressor is so warm a valve amp like quality,the od/dist is so versatile, the delays are good, my chorus seems to have deteriorated, i could get "that motif" on shine on you crazy diamond to a tee, y,know bflat ,f g e first few frets.i compared this to korg a5, various zooms, digitech plus other contenders at the time, they all lacked the warmth.

Easy to use...plug and play, wiggle the knobs, play some more.Hardest part is remembering fave settings!

Guitar..Maton Mastersound through a Kustom 111 Lead Sc and for fun..a Pignose. Kustom has a sterile tone and this unit gets some tone when playing with dist/od. A little bit of comp and you can get the old 'big muff' tone and sustain. You can play at low volume and still get some serious tone...which is what its all about. You can go all new-agey with the delay settings all on max.Play along with your self, chant the mantra etc. Try this in DADGAD tuning! Noticed on some other posts that their chorus was not working. It only works on the Mono out. Mono jack in stereo out doesn't work at all, but this is a stereo effect, so thats not a surprise. I guess you would use a stereo plug for that.
Great sound quality. Well it sounds great to me.I can get the sounds that I hear on the music I listen to..Stones etc.The quality may not be as clean as digital units, but then I wanted it to sound dirty.

I only just got mine. Seems reliable enough, but I don't think I would like to risk stepping on it on a dark stage...My unit had a noisy mono out socket. I pulled the unit apart[very easy..Phillips screw driver] and found the socket had a dry solder joint where it is connected to the board. Easy fix with a dob of solder. Could be a weak point to check if your unit crackles or has an intermitant fault cured by wiggling the lead.A heavy, long jack would put a lot of strain on this. I'm using a right angle jack to help a bit. I guess I would take all the pedals that this unit replaced as back up to a gig, but hey, who can afford all those batteries.

NO

I have been playing...30 years. For my self mostly. I wanted to try effects that I see in magazines. Used pedals sell for about $100, so this seemed like a good deal because I wanted some OD/dist. I like Electro Harmonics stuff, the Russian versions..Big Muff, Small Stone.
The BE-5 made good sense...5 effects in one. And all in glorious retro 8-bit technology. Ilike what I hear so far. It adds to the music experience...not an LCD menu in sight. Add to that, a tuner out and an effects loop so I can whack some Phasing into the mix, and yeah, I'm glad I found it in the second hand store.

This effects unit is really easy to use, not like all the new DSP ones that require a degree in engineering to figure out how to use it.

Has more soul then all the new fangled DSP effects unit. Sound is quite good...

When my be5 was fully working it was really reliable, hence why it was the only the effects that i would ever use. Many years of great service.

Unfortunatly time has taken toll on it and there are cracks beginning to appear on the pedal mechanisms and the switches are loose and beginning to come out. The unit has one previous owner who used to gig extensively with it. I estimate that it has lasted 10-15 years.

At the moment my be5 is on 'hiatus' while i try to figure out how to fix it. I haven't been able to find any info on the boss site that would help me or anywhere else.

I would really appreciate if anyone could help me with finding any technical schematics or even a manual.

I only bought the BE5 for #20 (UK), not cause the owner didn't know it's value. Over the years i have used it it has proved to be worth much more then the #20 I have paid for it.

very easy to use...its right there infront of your nose....plain and simple.
No manual required....look..its all there infront of your nose.

simple set up....Gibson SG and an Hi-Watt stack.
not noisy at all....if you know why the noise gate is there!
FX is kinda weak on the chorus side...but still good...for the price i paid.

i bought it cuz i like toys.
never brought it on stage...so ...no...i'm not depending on it.

ahhhh...thats a good one.....its like politics.....promises.....I cant get through to Boss-Rolland.....maybe they're hidding.

Classic Rock and fingerpicking....Chet Atkins style.
If it was stolen??? i'd get my insurance to get me something updated.
Favorite features...all of them...its a simple package.
Anything else you'd like to share....Yeah... instruments are over priced.its costing me a fortune.

Extremely easy. Basically 4 seperate Boss stomp boxes. The controls are exactly the same as Boss compact pedals from the late 80s, early 90s.

I'm using a USA Fender Texas Strat with Texas Special pickups, Marhsall DSL50-JCM2000 half-cab. I also use it with a Carvin SX100 Solid State (speaker replaced with 200 watt JBL) occasionally in recording.

I purchased this in 1989 for about $500 Australian dollars. The switches have been replaced on the unit because an extremely ditzy girl after a concert said, "hey! I've seen people jump on these!".. and she jumped up and down on them extremely hard?". But I replaced them because i think the effects are 8-bit and nice and junky. But very high quality nonetheless. I kind of prefer the sound of effects from that era to the latest 24-bit stereo stuff..... but that's just me :)

Never dealt with them. Never needed to. Boss is extremely reliable. I think this pedal had a 5 year warranty. The BE5 was made in Japan, and even though plastic... it's withstanded a ditzy girl repeatedly jumping on it.

I play in a covers band doing Foo Fighters, Pearl Jam, Blink 182, Smashing Pumpkings type stuff. But I also have an original band. I also do the occasional solo stuff.

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.