Boss BE-5B Bass Multi-Effects

It's really easy to get a good sound from this pedal - and it's one of the few I have seen which has a multi-band equalizer. OK, it's one of the few I have seen where you can SEE the multi-band equalizer - it's not hidden inside a massive amount of digital stuff.
That interface alone makes the pedal excellent to use.

The sound quality of the pedal is great. I have had mine for 16 years and it has always sounded smooth.

I've had mine 16 years and I've gigged with it - it's never broken down on.
I don't smash the pedals and dance around all over the unit - but that's not really what this is designed for anyway!
The boss power supplies are rubbish and the cables break. I'm about to get my third...

I've never needed customer support. All I've ever had to do is get a new power supply. The supply helpfully has the specs as well as model number on the side.

I doubt I'd ever be able to get another one of these and I would really miss it if I lost it!
I've played everything from punk-metal to light electronic-based pop and this pedal has given me all the sounds I ever wanted.
I've even played a guitar through it a few times.
I think it's pretty ****** good - it's still with me when all other pedals are sold or trashed.

I've been using this effect for 2 weeks only but I love it. It gives very nice sound. But if someone expects some heavy blasts out of it- forget it. It is much more this Eric Johnson-sort of sound. someone has already mentioned that it gives clean sound even with all the effects on- true. As for any manuals or any help on the producers side- there is nothing, or at least there is so little that I couldn't find a thing...

I'm using one of the Ibanez Artcore series guitars but the pickups are the Super-58s and the sound just bowls over. I'll have a chance to plug it in to a Fender Blues Devill this weekend, so I expect the sound quality to double. I also tried it out with my old Gibson les paul studio. It was great. Is it noisy-no. maybe if I used some extreme settings, but I didn't. I especially like the chorus ( though it could be analog) and the compressor. Delay is not something I use much so i have no particular expectations from it. It works fine. Distorsion sounds very smooth ( at least in my setting)-just what I was hoping for...

I haven't been using it for too long but it is very solid and I see no reason why it should not be dependable-solid case, good sockets... Well, unless you are a yeti and your feet are the size of baby cradles...but then you wouldn't play guitar, would you? ;)

-hmmmm, I don't know.
-I hope I won't need any...

If you play blues, jazz, fusion, softer rock, or funky take it. I sold my masrhall valvestate and I have no decent amp at the moment butI guess i would try to get another BE-5. As for effects,I only have Jim Dunlop's cry baby pedal and still trying to get a Fender Twin Reverb...
Maybe I could have some programmable memory bank but not necessarily. I don't use a dozen of various sounds within one tune so I'd say it has everything it should.
What I love about it is the versatily it gives. You can create sound as you like. For solos, you can boost the distortion by turning the compressor on. you can add a tinge of space with the chorus when you play some jazzy progression... you name it. But this is of course a matter of preference
I'll rate it 9 because i still don't know how it sounds with a good tube amp.

It's fairly simple to figure out as long as you understand the individual effects already, and know how they're supposed to work. I had to figure that out for myself and, having bought it used with no manual, found that rather difficult. I would pay top dollar for the manual.

Very clean signal. Pretty decent sounds even with all effects active.

This has been very reliable at home, but physically it's an awful design. The pedals are too close together and casing is all plastic. I feel like I'm going to break it every time I stomp the pedals. I'm considering hard-mounting it to a wood pedal board. I would never gig with this unit period. This is strictly for home use, I don't care what anybody else says about that. It is not roadworthy construction. If all my other effects failed I would simply not gig or play clean.

Customer supports sucks ass. I have tried contacting BOSS multiple times in search of a manual and they completely blow me off. It makes me wonder what kind of support I would receive if I had purchased one of there 3 or 4 hundred dollar units and needed something for it. I'll give you three guesses...

I play mostly rock and some metal, but I'm now studying R&B. I've been playing for 6 months (20 year drummer). This unit works great for practicing and getting cool sounds to complement my awful mistakes. If it were lost or stolen, I would buy all separate stomp boxes to go with my sans amp D.I. stomp box. I just wish I had the manual!!!!!!!!!

Using this box is quite easy if you understand all the words. You have four pedals on the box, each pedal can be modified, like volume, tone and stuff like that.

This is a guitar multi effect with 5 different effects: chorus, digital delay, overdrive, distortion and compressor. I'm not using a guitar on it, but I'm using it on my keyboard, a Kawai FS900. I get some nice effects on the organ sounds. Especially the Chorus and the Compressor sounds really fat with a jazzorgan. The Digital Delay is also quite good, you can use that effect to make some really cool synth voices. The Distortion and Overdrive (they are on the same pedal, you choose with a button if you use the OD or Distortion)sounds really Heavy Metal, but if you don't turn it in perfect, the tone will sustain a little. The coolest effect on my keyboard is with a rock organ, chorus and compressor on full. If you turn the Chorus on too much, it will sound like a flanger box.

This box can be trusted if you know how to use it. It's using a 9 volt adapter, so you don't have to worry about batteries under a gig. It has two inputs and three outputs, so if one breaks down, you can choose another. But I will always have an extra distortion box with me on a gig.

I'm just borrowing this box, so I can't tell about why I bought it and that stuff. I play mostly Heavy Metal and Hard Rock, Chorus and Distortion/Overdrive and Compressor are very handy in that kind of music. Digital Delay can be used for fat synth solos with one tone. If I had too buy a new one of this kind, I would have bought the more digital version of this one, it has the same effects with a little better sound quality, I don't remember the name.

I got this fx-unit second-hand so I have no instruction manual. All I got was a Boss catalogue with suggested settings for separate units (i.e. Digital Delay on its own) which I then tried to convert to multi-effects. Even so it has proved remarkably easy to use: most of the time trial and error seems to produce the right sound.

Although I have nothing to compare the effects with, most of them seem fine. For those unfamiliar with the product, there are four pedals: chorus/noise reduction; digital delay; distortion/overdrive; compression. The distortion/overdrive pedal can sometimes get unexpectedly loud when going through the clean channel on my amp. Otherwise all seems fine.

The unit has never broken down even though it is second-hand. It's made out of plastic and so I would prefer a metal unit for gigs. The only times that cannot use the unit is when the adaptor plug breaks down.

This was my first unit and I've never had any problems with it. I have never needed to contact Boss.

I would not buy this pedal again, not because of any faults, but because there are more advanced pedals on the market at a similar price. I think that it isn't made any more, but even so it is fine second-hand as a beginner's pedal. At the moment I'm considering buying a new pedal and trading in the Boss, I will probably buy a Digitech RP6 because of the wah-pedal; the fact that it's made out of metal; and generally the variety of effects it has. Even so the Boss BE5 is a fine unit but is more suited to keen beginner than amateurs or professionals. I am content with mine and am still finding new patches, but seek to upgrade for a greater variety of effects.
I think this is the first submission on this unit. If anyone else is reading this and has the same unit then please post a submission as well leaving your email. When I see it I will do my best to contact you with patches etc.

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