Boss ME-30

It is fairly easy to operate, I learned fow to work it in about 15 minutes without the manual. There are no "trapdoors", and everything is labeled. It tells you the effect on the display, the buttons' functions are all labeled, and it's digital! Of course that means that it is going to be a little more complicated to set up, but it also means that you aren't going to have to worry about bumped knobs while transporting gear from home to gig right?

I play a Dearmond M-70 and a squire strat with Dimarzios that goes into a daddy-o, then the ME-30, and into a Peavey Studio Pro 50. This has been my set up for about seven months.

It is a pretty descent piece of gear. You save money. Instead of buying a compressor, distortion, EQ or phaser, noise suppressor, volume or wah, delay, chorus or pitch shifter or flanger or tremelo, and reverb unit, you could just get this and use it as seperate stompboxes. Just get a distortion pedal in front, and get some good delay, modulation, and reverb tones, and you can activate the Boss's effects via the five footswitches.

The reason that i say get a distortion pedal, is that the distortion on this isn't at all impressive. I've had this pedal for over a year, and i only use one of the 7 or 8 distortion types. Somtimes I turn the gain all the way up, and i still have to crank the compressor before the distortion in order to get the grit i need somtimes.

Another of the few negatives, is the 'wah' feature. Although it doesn't matter much to me, the range of this wah is smaller than that of your average crybaby's. Not saying that it loses it's expressiveness, but if you like long sweeps, bring your favorite wah.

I have used it, dropped it from my previa's trunk onto cement, dropped my 32 pound amp on it, and all that it has to show for it, are a few light scratches on the display, although i think they were there when i first got it. It's a Boss, what else can i say

I play in a church band, and i need everything from acoustic chime, to a rich chorus, to a thick distortion. I could do it all with this Boss, but I prefer to bring along my trusty Daddy-O for lead boosts and some distortion-duties.

My favorite function has to be the stompbox feature. The reason why i don't use stompbox mode is that i have to switch between two radically different sounds in a split second sometimes, and i don't have time to hit three different switches all at once.

I conclude with these words of parting. Look to eBay. I would personally not pay more than 220 for one of these, although they are adequate peices of gear.

If you are smart it's easy to use, however for an amateur could be a bit hard to understand the programming.

If you wanna use the metal distortion don't enable the delay, when I did so it sounded horrible.

been kicked, dropped and still working as new, of course it's a Boss.

I've never had to go to get support..

It's a good effect processor if you're amateur

This effect board is easy to use when editing patches. I'v hardly looked at the user manual - and I find it easy as to edit patches.
However, getting a good sound out of it isn't as easy, but definetely possible. I dunno about the manual - haven't really looked in it.

I use a Jackson DR7 through a Marshall Valvestate 265R through a PA system. I've just purchased my VS 265R and haven't really had time to play around with it, so the sound isn't as good as it could be.
It's a bit noisy, but it doesn't really bother me that much.
The effects generally sound good, with a few exceptions(fx. the octave pedal thingy). I especially like the distortion sounds, which I use a lot in my band:)
I've played a couple of live gigs with it and the sound was surely above average.

It's totally reliable and I don't use a backup.

I play heavy metal exclusively. The ME-30 pretty much meets my requirements. I've been playing for 6 years as mentioned above I own a Jackson DR7 and a Marshall Valvestate 265R. If my ME-30 was stolen I'd probably buy the GT-3.
I like everything about it except the design...c'mon it's F-ing ugly!
I compared my ME-30 to a crappy digitech and a crappy Korg, and I chose the ME-30 because it had the expression pedal superior features and larger storage capacity.
I wish it had a cooler design though. It looks like something out of a toy-store.
To a certain degree I would say that it helps me make music, cuz when you write a song you have a certain idea of what you want that song to sound like, and the ME-30 gives you ample possible to create the sound you're looking for(it can take a_lot of fiddling around though).

Jackson guitars are way better than Ibanez!!!!

Like most Boss products this thing is easy to use, I had to consult the manual once (To find that there really is no way to backlight the display) and that was it.

I bought the ME-30 to replace a Zoom 2020 that I broke, and I have to say I'm really disapointed, the Zoom was great, the distortions were totally usable, the Roland on the other hand doesn`t have a single sound that isn't "buzzy" if you know what I mean, you can`t get any "bite" from this thing, it's all buzzy mush, if like me you play a Gibson through a Marshall and you`re using effects boxes to practise/record at home avoid this box, it doesn't have any guts.

It`s worked all the time I`ve had it.. and I hope that when I`ve returened it to the shop it continues working for its next victim.

Don`t need C/S to tell me I`m returning it.. :)

I play psychedelic pop/indie rock and use a 1969 SG-Pro and a 1999 Custom Telecaster, this unit sounds rubbish with both of `em.

My favorite feature is the "Whammy bar" effect, which is truely hilarious, but obviously utterly useless..

First Boss product to ever let me down.

Quite easy to use, you don't really need a manual. It took me a day to master absolutely everything this unit does.

Maybe not quite the quality of a POD or a J-Station, but still quite good, except for the modulation effects they suck. I have a Squier Strat and a Marshall VS65R.

Been kicked, dropped etc. still works fine.

No need

I play pretty much anything (except teeny bopping crap). This gets a good metal sound, good rook and has decent fuzz. Loses out on vintage stuff, blues, jazz. Good value, but if you have the money look elsewhere

easy versitile programing but needs lit up lcd display

i have a modified sledgehammer gitar with direct wired pickups(cut out volume and tone knobs)and a vintage acustic amp. i can get great sounding wha and pichbend sounds,but had to make some modifications to get some cool effects,I INSALLED A SMALL LAMP NEAR THE WHA LIGHT SENSOR,I USE A OLD VOLUME PEDDLE TO CHANGE THE INTESITY,THIS ALLOWS YOU TO FIND A SWEET SPOT ON THE MAIN PEDDLE AND WHA OR BEND WITH THE OTHER...

ive used this peddle at many a DRUNKEN gig and its still workin fine,even after spilling about a 12 pack on it

when i got it the sampler didn,t work but havn,t tried to get it fixed

i play all original metal,classical and blues and still havn,t programed all 30 paches,the only thing i dont like is the delay when swiching sounds

Not so bad. If you read the manual, it's well explain.

I don't like the distorsions. If you play punk, keep your Metal Zone and plug it in the ME-30 for the other effects.

Good reliability

If you have the cash, buy something better. Else, buy it.

I hate them small buttons... the manual is bot bad but it ain't that good either.

i love the sound (but of course u have to deal with that tiny button pattern)... noise reduction doesn't make that much of a difference. the wah-wah sucks... i can't get it to sound like how i want it (good thing i have a morley wah). i love the chorus, compressor and the reverb. distortion ain't that bad

i can depend on this baby but ALWAYS HAVE A BACKUP!!!

i just bought it

this box is excellent when it comes to clean jammin and lead... if u know how to adjust it.

It's sometimes tricky to try building your sounds. The interpretation is partly good but the buttons are small and unorgananized. The LCD back light is not bad but I preffer touching the buttons in the lught so I can see what Im doing.
Besides of that, I like the fact that you have up AND DOWN bank pedal and a large convinient expression pedal.

The sound quality of this machine in mostly good. The 6 dostortion and overdrives soung great with the noise suppressor and the delay, chorus, flanger and reverb are great. What I didnt like is all the modulation effects with the expression pedal. Ring modulation is poor and also whammy bar. The wah-wah is pretty good but I thought Boss could make a better one.
I use is with a poor 35 watts amp but still most of the effects sound good, maybe because of the fact that I use it with my Ibanez RG-470.
In general, the effects arent noisy, but maybe try to not use the Equliser with Distortion OK?
One more thing: this is for people who like to sound different than the main-stream.

I own it for 6 months and it passed for a lot of gigs.
Not a scratch on it.

Cant tell. Never used it before.

Generally, if I could turn time back, I think I wouldnt but it. I could get for an extra 500 FF a POD. For my level tough, I think its enough, and I play metal and rock with this thing and its works well.
With my Ibanez RG-470 its sound pretty good but not good enough.
I love mostly about it that its the kind of effects that you kick it or something and it will still worlk, comparing to other fragile effects. The distortions of it are good too. I dont like the modulation here but my favotire effects is the chorus. Great-great chorus and also not-bad-at-all delay. Comparing it to the POD, for instance, it wont stand the competition but it beats most of the other multiple effects of its category(thats why I baught it).
I only wish it had a better compressor and a much better equaliser.
And one last thing:
For metal-hammers like myself - try to combine the Metal dist. with noise suppressor, chorus, delay and set you're bass level at your amp to max to create a good crunch-metal sound used for Metallica or heave Dream Theater songs.

Read the F*****G Manual. And take time to adjust that pedal to your AMP/guitars setup.

Litlle bit noisy. Try to avoid using the compressor and EQ if Possible. It cuts down on the background noise. I use a cheap Yamaha (325$ can. brand new) and a GTX-100 combo amp by CRATE. I Get some great sounds out of this module. I specialy like the fuzz wich i find perfect for my style of playing. If you like blink182 and offspring play a bit with the distortions and you'll find your liking. the delay is awsome. And for you guys who like the classic sound of the 70's with your fenders and gibson with Marshall amps and those heavy metal dorks who love mesa-boogie. GROW-UP. Find your own sound for god's sake's not some imitation of your idols. It doesn't hurt to inovate. Oh yes..remeber why the great guitarists like BB king, he hendrix, SRV became legends...THEY SOUNDED DIFFERENT!!!!. after that little outburst from me. That me-30 sound great..just take the time to experiments with it and you'll find something you like for sure

dropped, stepped, kicked it in rehearsal. Still works

never had to use it

Hey nothing si perfect. The LCD is pretty har to read. the key is to set it up before your do the gig. Also it helps if you remeber wich sound is saved where. I'm planning to buy a Ibanez S-470 quiltes Sapele top. Transparent red. look great sounds great with a gtx-100 that was still in the store. Sounded better than My yamaha anyways. AND YES I WILL TAKE THE TIME TO RE-ARANGE ALL MY SOUND ON MY ME-30 so they will make use of my new guitar potential.

Long live to all those out there not affraid of being different