Boss ME-30

oh it was easy to use, as are many fisher-price toys, so it is of no credit to the unit.

it sounds-no kidding- absolutely awful. i hated it. i put it on some chump over-seas on ebay for way more than it was worth...enjoy dummy!i think it would sound way better flying off of a buildind to its much deserving death

it was dependable. every time i wanted to sound like shit, just turn it on and viola!

i never met with the jerks who peddle this crap, so i'll lay off of them

i like to sound good and this is closer to an am radio getting butt-raped by a pit-bull so over all i have to give it a " go to hell you useless spineless piece of shit retard who invented this piece of snot dribble

O pedal e muito facil de usar, nunca precisei recorrer ao manual, a edicao de patches e facil e sem nenhum problema!

Eu uso uma ESP kh e um amplificador Crate, gosto de tocar musicas de guitarristas solos e vario muito do blues ao metal!!
bom... vamos aos efeitos
Compressor = Excelente quando se usa no canal limpo, quando usado junto a distorcoes com muito ganho... TERRIVEL!
Overdrive, Distortion = Achei digitais demais, as vezes ateh irrita... mas com o tempo voce acaba acostumando!
EQ = nada de anormal... um simples equalizador de 3 bandas!
Phaser = nao uso...
Noise Suppressor = funcional
Chorus, Flanger = Perfeitos... nota 10
Pitch Shifter,Tremolo = Uso muito pouco, sao ateh bons!
Delay, Reverb = Perfeitos!
Amp. Simulator = Nunca gostei dos simuladores da boss... mas eh necessario...
Efeitos especias para serem usados com o pedal de express?o: Wah, Tremolo Arm, Ring Modulator = Passe longe!!! ehehe nao gostei!

BAh

nunca precisei...

Se voce procura um pedal para treinar este esta perfeito para voce, se estiver procurando algo mais profissional, eu nao recomendo!

This seemed pretty easy to me, but then again, I had some experience with the individual effects before I ever bought this. I'm also sort of a computer guy, so factor that in. That said, editing patches to get the sounds I wanted was fairly easy, all in all. Some of the effects are lackluster, but I had no problem setting the parameters for them. You can't use the phaser and EQ at the same time, which annoys me, but that's a small problem at best. I prefer the manual mode, but that's personal preference as much as anything.

Setup is either an 80's japanese strat or an epiphone special II. From there we go to the boss, then my marshall valvestate 80 watt combo (2x12 cab). It can get a little noisy with a tapped humbucker or a single coil, especially with the compressor and a high gain distortion. Some sounds are better than others, but I'll go through the list here in a few. I mainly noticed that some guitars (especially les paul type axes) sound a little "flat" with the guitar, compared to going straight into the amp. As far as which sounds this does VERY well, I guess it's sort of a gimme with a les paul and marshall, but I can nail the sounds of Slash and Page pretty easily. I can get EVH without too much trouble, but you have to mess it up a little with the flange to thicken it up a little sometimes. I like some of the clean sounds I can get, but unlike other posters, I'm using an amp that dirties up a bit anyway (it's a marshall after all). Now for the individual sounds. I should note that while I'm not Eric Johnson, I am pretty picky about my tone, and this pedal flattens it a bit too much for my taste.

Compression: Compressor is good clean, but gets very noisy with a high-gain distortion.

OD/Distortions: I like the heavier ones, but the fuzz is a bit much. I like a thick, meaty guitar sound, and I can get some of those with the blues through metal settings. Set up exactly like a stomp box, you'll get a reasonable facsimile of your sound pretty quickly.

EQ/Phaser: EQ is, well, a 3-band EQ. Phaser has some decent sounds, but you have to play with it a bit.

Modulation sounds: Some reviewers like the chorus. I don't. It's not as thick as the chorus on my amp, though to be fair this amp has the best chorus I've ever heard. I like the flanger. The harmonizer is pretty solid. I can get some bizarre sounds out of it. I use an octave to thicken up solos sometimes.

Reverb/delay: Excellent. I traded in a top of the line boss digital delay for this pedal, and I don't regret it on that front. You do the math there.

Expression arm: NO NO NO!!!! Not reliable (doesn't stay in place after a month of heavy use), won't stay all the way down for a full octave on the whammy setting, wah is crappy compared to an even sort of respectable wah pedal, ring mod is completely useless, except if you do the pickup switching tom morello thing...and then it's a gimmick good for one song at best.

Oh, one mmore thing....most of the factory presets are only good for showing off the capabilities of the unit, not creating a usable sound. Remember that and start editing as soon as posible, and you should be ok.

That said, it saps your tone, wah sound is generic and crappy, compressor is loud. Some modulation effects are good (kinda run the gamut), distortions about the same, but have some subtlety if you use them for overdrive as well as all out distortion. Delays are reverbs are beautiful, probably the best use of the pedal. In short, if you want to do a few things well and give a nod to a few others, this is a good choice. I think with the rest of my rig, I've basically outgrown this pedal.

Nope. expression pedal went out on me. Won't stay in place, and I use the wah in a fixed position a good bit in what I play, as a solo boost or just a funky effect. I don't think this will see too many gigs, since I'm planning on selling it and getting a crybaby, a tuner, and....well...that may be all I'll really need.

Other gear is listed above, but I bought this because my effects chain was constantly growing and shrinking. I've been playing for five or six years now, and am about to start attempting to get serious about it. This is the only weak point in my rig, in my opinion. It will work for grungers and numetallers (I was into grunge and hard rock only at that point), but I now also play lots of blues and jazz, and dabble in classical and other exotic stuff. I love the delay, and it's nice having ALL those effects. I hate the wah and despise the fact that it kinda sucks the soul out of your tone. I couldn't really tell when I started playing, but my ears have developed, and I've had this thing for many, many years. Also, don't bother with batteries...get a wall wart.

First of all, I received no manual nor any assistence with this unit. To add to it, this is also my very first multi-effect unit, so I had no experience with such objects whatsoever. But, much to my surprise, it is actually quite easy to use. Should take about an hour to get the hang of it all.

However, getting a *good* sound out of it is something a bit more complicated. To give an example, you can play around with the Distortion settings for hours, but it will sound very thin until you activate the EQ, which is in another menu. As easy as it is to change the sound, as hard can it be to get the sound you are looking for.

I play this through an 'el-cheapo' setup: Dean Avalanche Zone H->Boss ME30->Behringer Firebird gx108. To start with, in my opinion, one of the most important effects, the distortions are quite hard to rate. If you just use them through a clean channel they will sound thin, and somewhat lifeless. However, with just a bit of distortion from your amp, it will suddenly sound quite good, with a lot more depth to it.

The expression pedal is ok. The wahwah is somewhat usefull, although you should not expect the quality of a Vox pedal. The ring modulator seems near useless to me, and the 'tremolo arm' effects seem a bit plastic. Nice gimmicks, but not really good enough. It is possible to place the expression pedal before or after the distortion, which has a great effect on the sound. Nice.

On the other hand, the reverb, chorus, flanger and delay are really good. Much to my surprise could this unit deliver no less then a 2sec delay, which is a lot longer then most other multi-effects. The reverb sounds just like it should, and the chorus is even better. As you can see, I only paid 80Euro for this unit, so these effects alone are quite worth the money, in my humble opinion.

The EQ is somewhat noisy, and cannot be used when the phaser is activated. A bit annoying, considering that it is almost always required to use the EQ. The compressor is nice, definitely good enough for unit like this. It can be noisy though, espescially when you set the gain of the distortion high. The noisegate is quite pathetic, doesn't seem to do much, if it actually does anything.

So what rating should it receive? The distortions are poor on themselves, and great after some tweaking. The expression is mediocre at best, but the reverb, chorus, delay and flanger are excellent. The noisegate is crap, but the compressor is quite usefull. The EQ is quite good, but blocks the phaser. I think it's best not to rate it at all, it just depends on what effects you are after.

Even though it is plastic, it looks sturdy enough. I am not going to throw it around, and it looks quite capable of taking a few stomps. I'll assume it is strong enough, considering Boss' reputation.

Never dealt with them.

Well, what is my final conclusion? Before I answer that question, it might be usefull to know I have been playing for less then a year, on not-so-expensive equipment. So I bought this unit expecting to get a nice unit, able of giving me multiple effects usefull at home. And I got that.

If you are a professional player, I am sure you will find this unit to be lacking. But then again, why would you expect professional quality from an 80E unit? I payed the price of one pedal, and found it well worth the money. I did not try to imitate famous artist, but I doubt I can sound like any through a 70E amp, no matter what unit I use.

The ME30 has added variety to my sound, and I found it to be a valuable addition to my equipment chain. Things like the wahwah are less then good, but a Vox or Dunlop wah will cost more then this entire unit, so that didn't come as a surprise.

If you are looking for a cheap unit to add variety to your sound, check this out. If you need professional quality, take a look at more expensive units. For the price I paid I give it a 9/10.

Operating: Not really difficult to make patches. It only takes you a bit longer than you would like to, because of all these small menu's.
The manual is sufficient.

Setup: Fender Strat or Hohner Les Paul and a Peavey Austin 400 tubeamp or Ibanez 15w combo.
Noise: The Boss is not very noisy, except for the compressor.

Sound: Overdrives/Distortions, just noise they are not worth using, they sound a bit cheap ,cold and it's clearly very digital. I hardly use it, it just irritates me.
Wah is ok, very wide range but nothing special.
Flanger/Chorus and tremolo are quite good, here you can really find some nice sounds, I guess here is Boss on it's best.
Phaser is ok, but nothing special
Delay/reverb, ok.
Noise suppression, ok
Equalizer, does a good job.
There are a couple of more items on it, such as arm up and arm down, but this is just for laughing, use a guitar with a tremolo.
phrase trainer I don't use.

It's all plastics but it's really strong.
I would not use it on a gig for soundreasons, but in terms of breakin down, it won't.

Never had a problem with it, never dealt with them.

I have been playing since 1984, but 10 years ago I sold my seventies Guild solidbody electric together with my Roland DAC and old Boss pedals. Now 6 months ago I wanted to do some playing again.
I bought a new Fender Strat and 1 week later I found this 2nd hand Boss Me-30 for 110 Euro. I guessed that the digital technology must be on analogue sound level these days, but I was wrong. This machine is just nice for practising in the living room on the sofa. The first thing what really occured to me was how good my late seventies/early eighties rocking stuff was compared to this junk today. Especially playing overdrives and distortions were so very dissapointing that I don't even play this stuff on this Boss anymore, and it's not the single-coiled Strat, also with other guitares with good humbuckers the sound is just crap. However I realize that you can't get supersounds for 110 Euro.
I play all kinds of music, mostly rock, blues, funk and ambient. Also the 80's underground. I can get quite accurate the early "Cure" sound and surfsounds.
If it was stolen I think I would save a bit further for a really good multi-effect, maybe a GT-6 or some 19 inch professional stuff. Actually I'm looking for something else already anyway. It's really too bad that Boss was not looking any further into this OD/DS problem instead of developing small jokes on it like arm up and arm down effects.

interface is well done. every button explains itself. Easy....

in combination with a high end guitar & amp this ?thing? does not ad anything. I use an engl fireball and a cort viva I (dimazio pickups, 0.13 strings) and the boss ME 30 doesn?t help in a live- or practice environment.

FX: time based fx are usable. Up to 2 sec of delay, very cool, chorus, flanger, reverb etc. are nice for a ? 200 Multi Effect processor. For the distortion, I used a mt2 and loved it, but boss? digital distortions SUCK. The wah doesn't even come close to any analog wah, and the harmonizer/pitch shifter has too much latency (play now, hear half a second later). Factory presets are not usable. They?re more of a ?showcase? for what can/could be done. Amazing how a guitar can sound like anything but a guitar, same as all the other digital FX processors I?ve ever used.

However, if you are using this ME 30 processor in a studio environment I think it can be very useful. It has a built-in ?limiter? (amp simulation) that enables you to play over normal (studio) equipment, which can stand up to 20 kHz in frequency and than it sounds very acceptable. In "amp simulation" mode it's destortion sounds better than in normal mode?

boss, isn't that german? :)

built like a rock..

never had to deal with them

live & rehearsal: if you use distortion, wah or harmonizer/pitch shifter, dont buy the ME 30.
studio: very flexible and cheap (and it has it's own limiter, so there's no D.I. box needed), distorton is acceptable when it is limited (?, very strange..)

It didnt take me long at all and i didnt need a manual.

i use a RG570lt-this-jcm800-behringer quad.It rips.The disortions are great. i found that putting the amp simulator greatly helps my tone.I love it and i was an analogue man before but this baby stole my heart.

I would use it live for sure but i always take a backup.

wouldnt know

I play heavy rock at the moment and its great. i think , with enough time you could get more tone that youd expect.I dont like the display but hey the sound is great and that what counts.

All those menus.... I have had this thing for about three years, but last week I replaced it for a BOSS ME 50, for main reasons of usability and sound. I mostly used the ME-30 in the manual mode, so no programming. However, this way I could not use the phaser..... a shame!

Reverb (my main effect) as well as delays were okay. Flanging is somewhat more than just okay, as is the chorus. The distortion sounds however, were not of any use. The old fashioned bumblebee in a jam jar type of sound. So I always have used the ME-30 together with one or more distortion pedals.
The wah, another favorite sound of mine, is a little less than okay.

I have used the ME-30 on lots of gigs. It never really let me down, but that is what you expect of a BOSS. However, as is already stated by other users, the wah has the strange behaviour of sometimes turning on, for no reason.... On the other hand when you want to use the wah, it does not want to switch on. This switch is really bad, you really have to stand on the pedal to switch.

Never made use of it.

I have used the ME-30 for some years now, together with a 1995 Fender Strat Plus, a Mesa Boogie Subway Rocket and a Peavey Deltablues. But always with a separate distortion pedal (Ibanez TS10, BOSS OD1, BOSS SD1). I have used the unit in the manual mode mainly, and mostly for the reverb and the delay sounds. I replaced it with a ME-50, which is far more easy to use and has much better sounds (especially on the distortion side of things!)

pretty easy... plug it in... and go with the flow... easy...

i have an ibanez AX120 http://www.ibanez.com/guitars/guitar.asp?model=AX120&color=1 and a cheap ass amp...
when i first bought this i didnt know anything about... well effects... now i know it sucks... for the kind of music i play... i play nirvana and stuff. i have to do a lot of switch from clean to distortion to chorus... it sucks... it sounds like it cuts sound... yawk!

the othe effects.. well i dont have a good point of reference...

heck no... i wanna sell this... im getting now i good set up for gig... with single pedals like a proco rat 2 and a danelectro chorus...
so no i wouldnt use it for a gig

n/a

i play nirvana and nofx and some othe punk bands...
i've been player for two years now, i have an ibanez AX120 http://www.ibanez.com/guitars/guitar.asp?model=AX120&color=1 and a cheap ass amp...
i hope someone steals it from me... that way i have an excuse to ask for anotherone.
i like the tunner...

Well I got mine for about ancouple of hrs but im beginning to enjoy it... doesnt need a wizrd to figure out which button is which

hmmmmmmm..... the Meatl settings can be great for rhythm... but the highs are too stingy though... if u need to put on a good leead tone.. here's a tip.. use the "blues" type of distortion for the lead patches... and just set the gain to about 85-90... u'll have a nice fat sustaining lead tone... as for the other effects... they're good... but still havent figured out all of em yet

BOSS.... well im sure its gonna outlive me

No online manual.... wut if ya lost ur manual boo hoo

GREAT !!!!!