Boss ME-50

(I guess I don't have to tell you anything about the setup, concept or colour of this thing. The Boss hp will you give you a worthwhile description AND pictures. So I'll cut straight to the chase.)

The design ist simply brilliant, it is exactly what I've always wished for: no buttons, only knobs. That's how guitar equipment works, people!
You can treat it as a series of stomp boxes that have already been connected for your convenience. With some experience you can have a rig set up in five minutes. Guitarists who are used to dealing with stomp boxes will instantly feel at home. Multi effect enthusiast may save their setups on up to ten banks if they prefer. Both modi are very reasonable.

There are some setbacks of course:
- Obviously you can only use one effect from each module at once. So, no Chorus+Vibrato for you. I think most of us will be ok with that.
- The sections "Tone Modify" and "Compressor" can only be switched via external pedals. Which of course you'll have to buy separatly. Same problem if you want to switch between banks.
- The noisegate and reverb can only be controlled manually.
- There is no real bypass.

My setup:
Gibson LP Traditional - Weeping Demon - TC vintage compressor - ME-50 - H&K Replex - H&K Duotone Head

Now, the sound. That's the whole point, right?
All in all I'd describe the sound as... ok. It's all usable, you can work with most of it. But don't expect any wonders. It's a digital unit after all, and an old one.
- The Overdrives can't compare to the analog pedals. In combination with a tube amp you should be all right. Some are better than others, like the "Rat" and the "Guv'ner".
- Modulation is usable all in all but far from a t.c. electronic Chorus+ or a T-Rex Tremster.
- Tone Modify is basically an EQ. Some settings are nice, the "Acoustic" works. I prefer not to use it though.
- The Compressor is mediocre at best. If you only need it to control your clean sound's volume it will do.
- Noisegate is useless.
- Reverb sounds rather cheap. It's the main weakness I think.
- The Delay section works fine. The time can be tapped, there's a slow echo and even a reverse. The analog delay even sounds a bit like a real one. No rival for my Replex though. Far from it.
- The Expression pedal is fun. If you don't care much for your WahWah sound, this one will do. Resonance is cool for distorted stuff, the ring modulater is even kinda charming.
- Tuner: all you'll ever need.

Built like a tank. Played a few dozen gigs with it, and it was never treated kindly. Never needed a backup.

Never had to contact them.

I've been playing Metal, Goth Rock and plain Alternative Rock for almost 15 years. Most of the gear I own is premium quality. The ME-50 is not.

It does have its use though. If you're a beginner and want to find out about effects in general, try a few things and get a feeling for the subject, the ME-50 is just right. Same thing if you merely want to play a few gigs in small clubs. And be honest: the price is amazing.
If you wanna get serious with your sound though, this little baby is not enough.

I still use it on occasion, but neither for recording nor the good gigs. Pity. If there were a "deluxe" model with a really good sound design, I'd buy it instantly.

No death by menu here. treat it like 3 stompboxes (with a few extra features.) If you can't figure it out, start wearing a helmet.

FTR im using a schecter hellraiser (EMGS), ME-50, and crate V50-112.
The first thing that I noticed was how easy it was to get a usable sound from this. I love the distortions and delays. There seems to be one to suit just about any music style. The reverbs leave alot to be desired, use the one on your amp if you have one. I think that this sounds much better plugged into a tube amp, but I guess everything does.

Its a boss. Will work well as a wedge for chopping wood.

No experience, don't think ill ever need to get it repaired.

I used to be a diehard Line 6 guy. Once I plugged into this thing, that was all over. If you have anything by Line 6, take it back. If you can't, make use of it (coffee table, frisbee, etc.) Plug in to this thing and you will be inspired.
Forgive me for not going into the snobbish tech-geek verbage that you've seen so much. This pedal gets the job done.
If this were stolen, I'd hunt the guy down.

This is a great product. For the money, I'd be surprised if you can find a better multi-FX unit. It's like having a whole bunch of stomp boxes in one, simple to use unit, but without the cost, wiring, noise, and the need for a 6-foot long pedalboard.

The manual is very easy to follow and well laid out, but I've not found the need to refer to it since I first set the unit up as the ME-50 is so intuitive to use.

Personally I'm not a big fan of the presets, they sound too overdone to me. But it's very easy to create your own sounds on the fly (just like with individual stompboxes).

If you want to spend all day editing parameters and getting lost in menus get a GT-10, but if you want a decent set of effects that you can dial in a sound you want very quickly (this thing has a knob for just about everything) get yourself an ME-50.

I'm using this with a Fender 2006 American Series Strat, with Custom Shop 69 pickups, and a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe amp. I run the ME-50 straight into the amp's clean channel.

With this setup I can create just about any sound I like, it really is awesome given what this unit costs. There are some silly effects I won't ever use but as you'd expect with BOSS the effects are mostly excellent quality.

I've not been playing guitar long so I don't know how 'accurate' the COSM-modelled pedals on this unit are but they sure sound good to me.

I don't use the Tony Modify feature much, instead I prefer to use a BOSS GE-7 EQ pedal (in the FX loop of my Hot Rod Deluxe) for finer tone-shaping. If this unit had a GE-7 built in, it would be killer. So it loses a point here. Also, the tuner is useful to have but I find it's not as accurate as my Korg tuner, in fact the ME-50 seems to tune my guitar slightly sharp.

As with pretty much anything that comes out of the Roland factory, it's built like a tank. I only play at home but I'd have no qualms taking this thing out on a gig if I had to. In my keyboard-playing days, I'd used a lot of Roland gear and it's extremely reliable. It has been said that the only survivors of a nuclear holocaust would be Keith Richards and cockroaches. You could almost certainly add any piece of gear with the word BOSS or Roland on it.

Roland UK support really is great, impeccable in fact. I've dealt with them a number of times over the years and they really do look after and value their customers. Within a couple of days of registering this product on the Roland UK website, I had a letter from them with the name of a Customer Service person to contact directly in case of any issues.

I've not been playing guitar very long, less than 2 years, so when it came to investing in my first multi-FX unit earlier this year there was only one name that sprang to mind, and that is BOSS. Their products are great value and very dependable.

I had considered buying a GT-8 at the time I bought this, but I didn't need amp modelling and didn't want to have to spend hours tweaking it to get a good sound. I would definitely buy it again if it was stolen or lost. If a newer, updated version of this comes out in the near future I would be seriously tempted to buy one.

i dont think ive ever found a pedal which is eaiser to use. the manual is brilliant, tells you EXACTLY what you need to know. ive not tried editing patches yet

i use a jackson JS30RR randy Rhodes v and Line 6 Spider III 75 watts with this and to be honest the distortion on the line 6 is better than the ME-50's, also the flanger i find is terrible compared to the line 6. but i do like the chorus, rotary, phaser and delay etc. the noise suppressor is great at what it does, the reverb is ok but i never really use reverb in my band.

i would'nt use this at a gig because i feel i can get better tones through just the Line 6. but i use it in rehearsals all the time and it hasnt failed me yet

never had to deal with them.

i play all sorts of music everything from abba to slipknot and elvis to ozzy and i can find a distortion to match every single song i play on it. the fact you have to buy a seperate footswitch(s) to change tony modify, compressor and bank up/down mid song is slightly annoying, and the fact you have to buy a seperate power supply is ridiculous as most multi effetcs i've used in the past such as zoom, korg etc. dont. if it was lost or stolen i would replace it, as its very good to use and also very handy to have, i originally wanted boss stompboxes but it became apparent i didnt have the money so i was reccomended a multi effects pedal. and got this one as i was set on gettin a boss pedal. overall i would reccomend it but i would probably buy a seperate flange pedal

The layout is logical and intuitive

I use a 1988 Strat Plus with EMG's. It is played through an original Blackface Twin Reverb with a Mesa Boogie V-Twin valve preamp. The tone is to die for. When plugging in the ME-50, ALL of that luscious tone was sucked out and uncermoniously discarded. This pedal is a tone robber made worse by the lack of a bypass. To say it is pure crap is being kind.

I wouldn't even use it for a gig let alone backing it up with another one!

What's the point in fixing garbage?

YUK!

It very easy to use. Its easy to program if you like to do that and it even easier to use as a multi stomp box effect so to speak. It very easy to get started and get the hang of it, the manual is pretty good to.

There are many effects on this and some are good and some are bad but most of them are atleast ok. Personally i have found a pretty raw and good distortion on it, a very good harmonizer, the delays are pretty decent, some cool spacy reverbs. Of course you can find much better flangers, phasers etc on individual pedals. A big drawback with the programmed effects is that you get a little silent "brake" when you switch in beetwen them. Its a good "all pedals in one" multi-effect and very much worth its price.

I have had some problem with the expression pedal and it needs to be adjusted every now and then. Other than that it has worked fine for me on gigs and rehearse.

I play extreme hardcore/metal and have been playing for almost 15 years and uses alot of effects and this pedal is very handy and easy to use. I use it with different tube amps and rock/metal guitars. It has its drawbacks, the silence beetwen programmed sounds, some plastic/bad effect sounds but overall for the price and versatility i think its very good! I would buy a new one if i lost it.

I was given a demo on the Boss ME 50 and liked it. Went to buy the GT 10 thinking it would blow it away with more everything. I WAS WRONG. JUst the HARMONIST alone on the ME 50 blows away the GT 10. THe GT 10 sounds raspy, digital. Hard to program. Don't have the time and patience to deal with the programming or read the manual. The ME 50 is straight forward with better distorted sounds. Where the ME 50 shines is the other effects - delay, reverb, compressor, harmonist, chorus. The ditortion is hard to dial in at low volume even with the amp eqs flat. The only caveat about this is the difficulty to access patches. YOu will have to be tapping to go from patch 1 to patch 6. By the time you get there, the song is half way over. The factory settings are way too loud ( output level set too high). I wish the ME 50 had 10 foot switches instead of 3 to give you different flavors of sounds without dancing like a Riverdance dancer.

Distortion is not as good as the the other effects (Chours, harmonist, delay, etc...). The sound of the chorus and delay are superb - dreamy. The harmonist is great, love it.

great so far.........

don't know yet

Buy this for the sound effects. Distortion is not that good. The ME 50 puts the GT 10 to shame in terms of sound. If you want a raspy, retarded sound and waste your whole day trying to program and re-program an effect , get the GT 10. If you want a wholesome sound that sound full, get the ME 50.

It's the easiest floor pedal for amp modelling to use. It's interface has plenty of knobs so there's no confusion with effect parameters. It has utility predominantly for spontaneous playing-unfortunately, no midi. It's forwardness with all of the knobs on its surface would have made it a better studio unit with midi because its reverb has a sweetening effect- maybe the vf-1, or a boss g-8, or gt 10 for syncing midi?

It has my favorite sound because there were several tone modifying features to entirely reshape the quality of the sound aside from the amplifier simulations, so it was probably a unit that could process software synthesizers for a roland sound along with delivering recording quality tones, or jam quality tones, depending on how important having the midi i/o should be. It has one effect per type- distortion, modulation, and delay. Each section has the sound quality of the better units, the more expensive units, so it's delivering a better sound. The sound is really streamlined for the sensual approach of knob twists so it is best suited for a retro vibe, either as a pedalboard replacement, or as a virtual representation of a signal chain of pedals. The reverb is really cool sounding for software, and the guitar, aside from its unrealness, so its really an electronic sound, so it's really useful for putting an even coating of Boss/Roland over a production, or guitar tones. It's a bunch of stempboxes run into a guitar amp. Nice crunch. Better sustain. Nice fusiony tone- thinking Al Dimeola or maybe Albert King.

Well it feels tough. It feels sturdy. The power supply is replaceable.

I haven't tried their customer support. Their web system is mostly promotional with manuals. They have useable gear, mostly.

The delays and reverb give the production a coating of the roland. The distortions into tube equipment gives it a hyper real crunch. It's not nearly as well designed as the GT 8 where apparently these dual amps and more complicated patches are possible, so it's a short-cut as a studio unit, although its sound is studio, and is probably an economical pedal so players that prefer the economical effects approach to more complicated effects will get a lot of super brilliant sounds. Good 70's tone and sustaining leads. Good delay(no midi).Good crunch.

Very easy to use, I had the ME-20 prior to this so granted I had a bit of a head start. However if you can use a stompbox, you can get some sounds right away. Editing patches will take a little more time, just consult the manual.

I use the ME-50 with a G&L ASAT deluxe guitar, through a mesa boogie mark IV head, with a sonic 2X12 cab loaded with celestion vintage 30's. Now if only I could play guitar better....heh the unit is not noisy, and the noise supressor works really well, compared to the ME-20 its much easier to use, you just turn the knob man. The effects are definitely cool, I checked out the Rat distortion today and was pretty satisfied. Usually I hate digital distortions, but through my tube amp it sounded just fine. Part of the reason i bought the unit was that it has a Univibe type modulation effect, used by trower, hendrix and others...I tried it out today, for a short time, and I wasn't horribly dissapointed. I think its totally usable.

Made in Japan I think, anyway its built dam sturdy, Ive never had an issue with roland or boss gear.

I emailed them once and they responded right away with a spare manual for my ME-20 so that was fine.

I play Blues/rock, cream, the who, classic rock stuff like that. Im gonna try and play some metal, Black sabbath and Metallica stuff, so it will be nice to have all the different sounds this thing can generate. Playing off and on, for like ten years, as a hobby really. I love the stombox type layout, I love the sounds, and the build quality seems really good. Cant say I hate anything, but I suppose I will use my Vox wah pedal, as the wah wah is just average on the unit. It definitely helps me to make music and want to practice cause you can dial in pretty much any sound you can think of. Some of the weird **** I will never use like the ring mod thing and others...but hey nice that its there for someone you know? Im gonna give it overall a 10, primarily because I paid only 200 bucks for it, including two footswitchs and the gig bag, so the value was unreal. For full retail at 300 bucks id drop the rating to an 8.

Ease of use - this is one of its best features. The 3 pedals almost function as separates (1=Dist; 2=Mod; 3=Delay). The other knobs are intuitive and clearly labelled. Expression pedal easily-assignable.

Use w/ Marshall Valvestate.

The effects sound great for a multi FX in this price range. Solid and full - probably pretty close to quality of separates. Distortions and delay are most impressive; flange/phase/chorus less so. Expression pedal is great, especially octave pitch shifter, but the wah setting could be better though.

Another downside - reverb is low quality.

Solid - no worries.

n/a

In terms of quality of sounds and ease of use, this is the best multi FX in its price range. Obviously separates will give you superior sounds, but this is space economical.

Boss has a repuation for being reliable but boring - I prefer the quirkiness of Zoom, who are a more innovative and imaginative company, even though the quality their sounds is not as good as Boss. Zoom also put drum machines on their Multi FX, which are great for jamming at home. Boss should have put one on this pedal, but I guess they view add-ons like drum machines as amateurish - Bullsh*t - so what.

I'm writing this review as I'm about to sell this unit. I'm downgrading to a cheaper cheesier Zoom, which I will use in conjunction with some quality analogue separates.