Boss ME-30

Takes a while to get used to but once you master it is simple to edit, create, exchange and copy patches. i've never looked at the manual.

when i've compared to distortions to the likes of the 'Big Muff' and a few single boss pedals, i've found that this can match the sounds if not out do them. the compressor can be noisy but the chorus' and phasers' etc are versatile enough. i have been giggin live with this with no backup for two years(see reliability), using it with a Marshall AVT50H and a Carlsbro 300w cab, the sound is immense! only problem is that the tuner is not exact enough but my TU-2 solves that problem.

ok as i said above, i used this without backup. One time, it caused major problems! AFter about 30mins into a lively, jumping set the power input failed on this unit and therefore created a enormous rumble and cut out. only recently have a got this fixed, after using it a year on duracells. i had to send the unit away to an independant technician costing #15 to get the power input resoldered. a major problem with mine was that the backlight screen has never worked so at gigs with low light i rely on the leds for direction.

Didn't try to deal with BOss as my warranty had expired by the time the unit failed.

We play many styles ranging from heavy, punching rock to slow melodic ballads with this pedal able to cope with them all. i've recently bought the Boss Hyper Metal but comparing to this unit i will probably keep the HM-3 for backup as i want to use this till the death. if i lost it i'd definately go for a new one as you can pick them up for nothing on ebay. if your considering getting one of these at the right price i'd say go for it, you'll not regret it

It take some time to edit a patch but it's really easy to do.

Compressor: good but noisy
OD/DS: all good to usable except when at low "drive" settings, they
all sound like crap. (the metal type is like the Metal Zone)
EQ or Phaser: the problem is you can't use both at the same time
Noise gate : ok
Delay: good, very long delay time, stereo effect
Chorus, Flanger, Tremolo: all good
Pitch shifter: digital sound, not very usable
Reverb: good
Wah: not as good as a Crybaby (the tones range is wider in the
Crybaby)but very usable and it will never start to makes noises
Trem. arm and ring ocillator: the oscillator is a joke
Amp. simulator: better than nothing when using headphones
Phrase trainer: useful

I have it for 2 years now. The only problem I have is when using a patch where the wah is on standby. sometimes the wah goes on by itself.

Lot of features for the price. A good tool when you don't know all the effects. Start with this multi-effects then you'll know what you need and you'll can buy the right pedals. Good quality of sounds for most of the effects. Also, I'll wish it had a footswitch for the tuner.

It takes a little while to get used to setting it up and using patches but, it's fairly intuitive.

My set up is: Jackson Dinky and Schecter c-1 -> Marshall TSL602 with the Me-30 in the fx loop.

I use pretty much use this pedal for delay only. With that said, here's a break down of the other effects.

Modulation-pitch shifting is alright but the tracking for bends and such is pretty bad and it sounds pretty tinny, tremelo - not bad, chorus- allright but too digital sounding, the flanger is pretty good but also harsh the phaser is pretty bad and not usefull enough (they should have put this with the modulation fx instead you use it as an either/or kind of thing with the eq)

Wah-the weakest part of the ensemble you won't get a good wah sound

Delay-great, not many features but sounds great

Rvb- pretty bad, sounds like one of those old toy microphones with the springs in the bottom

Distortions-the light overdrives are not bad for a digital unit also the "hard" distortion is allright the metal distortion is pretty bad basically don't expect a $200 digital multi-fx unit to sound like a dual recto, plexi, etc...

I noticed that a lot of the fx are really out there and not very usefull.

Bottom Line: you get what you pay for, it sounds allright some patches are better than others, if you're a tone freak you won't be satisfied

boss stuff is built to withstand nuclear war

this thing doesn't break so i have had no contact

Mediocre, if it were stolen i wouldn't really bother replacing it and it would be a good excuse to buy new gear

Note to all you folks having problems with noise. Make sure either the batteries are good or there are no batteries in at all when using the ac adapter. Dead batteries in the unit under ac make the noise unbearable. Remove them and the unit performs much better...

The manual is very clear, it cleary says what can be expected from each effect and what can be achieved by changing ones parameters. The display is very clair and there's no more knobs than needed.

I'm using a Gibson SG and a Marshall Valvestate amp. I'm pretty satisfied about most effects but the overdrive/distortion is horrible. I have to use my amps distortion to get a 'real' distortion sound, but that makes it harder to use it with the ME-30 effects as the distortion is added as last one. Modulation effects/delay/reverb is alright. The pedal is pretty handy. There are some effects like the ring modulator and 'arm up' effects really suck, but propably you will never use. Boss should have paid more attention to its overdrive/distortion sound that waisting its time on developing no-use effects like the ring modulator etc.

It's pretty reliably. Don't use it on batteries when your on stage however, cause it only lasts for a few hours.

Like you already could have guessed I'm pretty disappointed with the ME-30 as its distortion sucks as you use distortion in a lot of music styles. This is propably the reason why I'm going to get rid of it, so please if you are planning on buying one, try it before you buy. If distortion isn't that important to you, its a good buy but if you like me like to play a large variety of music styles, try something else!

I think everyone agrees---its damned easy to use, and quite convenient. The LCD is not for use onstage, tho, since you ought to have your sound well adjusted before going onstage. Do not think you can adjust your sounds off the cuff like you do with other pre-amps like pedals and such. But the fact that you have a tuner, expression/wah pedal and even a ring modulator in this thing is definitely for the lazy musician who does not want to lug a ton of stuff around and set them up.

I run this through tube amps like HIWATT, and Gibsons with humbuckers. For all the metal playing dum dums out there who complain about the noisy distortion--please set your gain relatively LOW and your master volume HIGH on your amp. If you get a loud clean sound from your amp then the noise will go away. If you don't like the distortion, tough, get a tube amp with heavy gain (which sound solid-state anyway)and do not use the built-in distortion. Either that or use a Tube driver or other distortion units in front of this.

I just used this thing at rehearsal today and it ripped a hole in the time/space continuum. I can tell my drummer was busting a nut from the loud, monstrous and bizarre sounds coming out of this thing. And yes I'm talking about some of the presets many of you are so fond of. This cheap little box does quite a lot for the money, and I pity anyone who is trying to get conventional sounds out of this...wake up and start using this thing on its own terms! The cheap ring-mod in this is outrageous for a unit this price and would complement electronica. Other multi-fx in this price range just did not get the unusual and highly aggressive sounds I was looking for...they sounded too gay. Ok the wah is disappointing, but the pedal is way sturdier than those Crybabies with the metal buttons. One look at those things and you know it will crap out on stage. I would rather have something that sounded not as pretty but more dependable. Do you think the audience is gonna go "hey a Crybaby sounds better!" No, they would be like "dude, that guitar player needs practice." Yes and the guy who laughed at all you beginner wannabee dumbasses was right! Get a decent tube amp instead of an expensive guitar or effect, it will make the most difference. And stop listening to that achey-breakey shit called Metallica and be original.

Its made out of some hard plastic and just felt way more sturdy than those thin-metal digitech things. And yes, have an extra adapter ready it does suck. Otherwise I have never had a problem with it.

I play aggressive progressive music, and this thing adds to the choices I can select from to create a sundry of weird but usable sounds. I do wish there were a footswitch bypass since putting a "bypassed sound" on the patch does not sound the same as hitting the bypass button, which isn't true bypass anyway.

This box is exceptionally easy to get sound out of. If you can plug it in you get sound....if you take the time to play with it you get exceptional sound. Editing is not hard just time consuming but hey I got this used during a halloween sale at Long & Mcquade. It came without a manual so I'd have to give it top marks for being intuitively designed and esay to use. I suppose the buttons are atad bit small on the unit but the foot switches are excellent.

I am using a Northern Les Paul style guitar (Japanese custom made guitar I've had since the late 70's. IT has Dimarzio pick-up's) + an Ovation acoustic connected into a Yamaha G100 212. Additionally I have vintage equipment that I've had for years that I didn't part with; a Lil'Muff distortion pedal and a small stone phase shifter. The box is an excellent performer. I have read with interest many of the comments about noise etc etc....There is always some audible noise when you aren't playing, unless you have a sound engineer working for you on every gig or you have an expensive noise supressor your'e gonna have some noise....It tends to go away when you play though....It's somewhat amusing in the sense of how loud the small stone is and some of the gear that used to be available....Were getting spoiled with technology.....I am very impressed with the effects so far however there are quite a few useless presets....There is a great range of info and patches on the net and you can create your own so I am not all that concerned....beats having one or two pedals....or none at all....

This one was bought used at one of the best music stores in Canada.....Long & Mcquade....I am hoping it will last. It seems well used but in great condition....Long & Mcquade guarantee everything they sell so I got a guarantee with it along with a great deal!! What more could you ask for.....

Not an issue. Well beyond Boss's interest. I have to say that the Boss web site is NOT very good. They seem to, unlike their competition, stick with current products on-line. Support for the older disconyinued products is basically non-existent on-line.....There is no excuse for this in this day and age.....It would be nice to download a pdf file for the manual, instead they make you call and ask for one....kind of non-technical for a technical company....oxymoron kind of thing....They should be ashamed of themselves and fire the braintrust for their web site. But....because I will never have to deal with Boss I will rate it higher just because of Long & Mcquade. Boss 1; Long & Mcquade 10. Average 5 , score 7 :)!!

Overall this is a great piece of equipment. If you can play, it will make you sound great. If you can't play and you think this will help it won't....take your money and spend it on some guitar lessons, then buy one.....:)!! It has a great range of sounds suitable for many styles and I am; on the bottom line having a great time with it!!

This unit is very easy to use, if you ever used "single effect boss units" you won't get any problems with ME-30, it's almost the same thing. I learned to use the software in few days.

I use it with a Fender Stratocaster american standard, a Fender DeLuxe 120 and a Cry-baby Wha-wha. Every single effect of the unit sounds great ( but not the wha ), but you have to work for a long time on the patches, so you'll get THE SOUND THAT YOU WANT. I spent many time on adjusting every single patch on my unit, and now I have what I was looking for, not only "Star wars' sounds" but an excellent clean channel, an excellent distorsion channel, excellent chorus... and also very strange effects!! I worked a lot on the distorsions and the overdrive, at he first times it seemed shitty, but it was only a matter of adjust and get experience with the unit, work on the compressor! The only effect I do not like is the wha-wha. The unit works good for every kind of music you play on it, from the jazz, to the blues, to the hard rock.

I depend on this unit!

I had no problems.

I think you won't get anything like this unit at this price. You can have all the most used effects, a very high quality, at a price that's very low. If you don't want to buy rack units or other expensive stuff, buy this and not other shitty stuff like zoom units or else. THIS IS THE BEST FOR THIS PRICE!!!

Easy to navigate around if you know FX units. Very logical. Preset sounds are shite. But easy to get good sounds after you tweak. I didn't get a manual and it was easy.

I use: 2 Ibanez CT Strats, fender tele, custoim tele, Boss OS-2 (the king), Ibanez DML-10 modulation delay, 1971 JEN CryBaby Wah through a Peavey Studio Pro. And now an ME-30. Note: WHEN YOU GET THIS UNIT, YOU MUST SET ASIDE A NIGHT OR TWO (SITTING DOWN) JUST TWEAKING. YOU WILL NOTHING OUT OF IT IF YOU DONT. True, some of the distortions and the wah are a bit weak (only a bit) but, in total, it rocks. I will still my os-2 cause it's warmer and my DML-10 cause its whackier but this thing rocks. Stop knocking and sit down with it and do some work. THE TRICK IS TO START OFF WITH NO FX AND GET THE UNIT SOUNDING EXACTLY AS YOUR GUITAR DOES ON BYPASS. If you don't do that, everything else will souind like crap. Then build your patches.

I haven't gigged with it yet (come on, I've had it for a week) but it's a Boss. Everything I've had Boss has lived forever. Everything not Boss has died. Like my Korg AX 1000G. Crap housed in metal is still crap.

I have tried everywhere on the net and cannot get a manual. I assume this is because Roland are still selling them. Bzzzzz. aND 1 THING FOR THE PEOPLE WHO SAID THEIR DOESN'T WORK: i NOTICED THAT WHEN YOU RECALIBRATE THE TUNER EVEN 1 HZ EITHER WAY, IT DOESNT PICK UP THE B-STRING. BUT WHEN ITS CALIBRATED PROPERLY (IE., 440HZ) IT DOESNT HAVE THIS PROBLEM

I play in an originals band. I busted my hand (permanately) so I can't play full tilt anymore and do most of the songwriting now. The unit fits our sound really well- very versatile. As above the distortion isn't as warm as my os-2 and the wah...Well...JEN helped invent wah so I'm not even going to compare. But, for the money you can't get any better.

It is really easy

All the effects aren't suitable for playing loud. They all sound digital. Especialy the distortion does not have anything good. It is noisy and shit shit shit. If anyone wants to buy mine...please, you can have it for only $50

I don't have many problems with the device. I defenitely won't use it for gigs because I don't want to have a fight with the sound engineer.

never had to use it

I play heavy metal. My guitar is a Ibanez s40. I have a roland jc120 with a Koch(really good dutch brand) tube pedal for a really good distortion (limp bizkit uses this setting).

If it was stolen I think I will feel sorry for the thief because of all the efforts he had to make for steeling such a worthless device :-)