Boss ME-50

I have a number of M-effects pedals and the ME-50 is clearly the easiest of them all. Really a no-nonsense kind of design from the get-go which is why I bought the unit; not much to learn...it just makes good sense..very well thought out. The only thing that I did not care for was having to push down "HARD" for the effects pedal to kick in, otherwise it would have got a 10.

If you have used Boss pedals before then you know the quality of the distortions are as good as any and they give 22 different of their
overdrive/distortion types ........just about every thing you need on the overdrive end. While they could have given you more tweakable control for the Tone; the set tones they give you - from "fat" "mid" "high" "single coil" "Humbuckers" "Acoustic" and others all sound great. The compressor - very basic but effective; the modulation types -Flanger, Chorus, Phasor and others are all very
tweakable and sounded very natural when used with the other effects. The delay types were of consitant Boss quality - and again very easily
tweaked. This is one of the few untits I have ever owned that the set sounds were the RIGHT sounds (you know- not maxed out to the hilt). They all just sounded damm good from the get-go; but you can tweak and
adjust, edit and save untill your hearts content if you want; but once you hear them you'll most likey say...yeah thats what I wanted.

No plastic junk here..........good and solid; I'm a little worried about having to hit the effects pedal hard to get the expression pedal effects to kick in; but the pedal appears to be built well.......I'll have to see on this...Very much a pedal you can take on the road with little worries; until all your guitarist friends hear
and mess around with it.....and take it from you.

Never had any problems with Boss pedals; so I really don't know how their support is with problems or issues with their equipment.

I have been playing for 20 years, seen all the pedals (and their are some very nice ones out there) and the ME-50 is easily one of the best M-pedals I have come across; for sound quality and ease of use.
If your gig is everything under the sun pedal such as all the "amp" modeling stuff and morphing other models, then this most likely is not the unit for you. If you just want all around great sound in one unit without a extreme learning curve - then this is the unit for you. Good sounds are really a matter of preference and tastes but this unit had the right ones for me; and best of all it work well with all my amps.

I tried this thing about 45 Minutes to get an overview. It's very easy to handle this knobs. You don't need the manual. I don't know how good it is, I didn't have a look in it. But there are some things that could be better:
* The forth of a circle is too less to adjust the rate of reverb you want.
* The tap tempo function is stupid for live performance. You have to press the button 2 seconds before tapping. After tapping it's the same.
* You need a optional switch the bank in memory mode. It could be wise to use such a switch for tapping if you're not in memory mode.

For I didn't bought it, I only could use my own guitar to test this thing. Setup:

Patrick Eggle "New York Standard" (Kent Armstrong PUs are replaced by DiMarzio Evolution and Fast Track) --> Boss "ME-50" --> Peayey "Classic 30".

My normal sound comes from this setup:
PE "New York" --> George Dennis "The Tube" Distortion/Volume --> "Cry Baby" --> Peavey "Classic 50" with Ruby Tubes.

First I have to say that this unit has no neutral sound when all effects are switched off. My guitar does not really sound after my guitar. The clean sound is better when I put the guitar directly into the Peavey. The great tube sound is damaged by this unit. The sections:
* Tone Modify: Most Positions of this "Wanna-Be-An-EQ" are useless. There are only two or three good ones. A 7-Band-EQ similar to the Boss "GE-7" would be useful.
* Compressor: Is ok.
* NS: Didn't really try.
* Sounds ok. But as said before, 4 Sound for one rotation is too much and too imprecise.
* Overdrive/Distortion: Only had a short look. But it seems that you can't get any really good crunch sound out of it.
* Modulation: Is ok but there are better ones.
* Delay: Seems not to be bad but I did not really get the sound I wanted.
* Pedal Mode: Some funny things. Wha-Wha sounds completely different than mine, but not worse, only different.

Built very solid. Only the plastic swithces could be better.

Style: Pop, Rock, Funk, Folk (Delirious, Brian Doerksen, Lothar Kosse)
Sounds to synthetic, not natural enough for the sound I want. I play (electric) for about 7 years. I like the tuner and some of the modulation and delay effects. Pedal is usable. I hate the Tone Modify and the Taptempo and can't really use the OD/DIS-Section. I wish it had one versatile usable switch more and an really EQ. A powersupply shoul be shipped with.

Maybe I have to give this thing a little bit more time but I don't think I'll ever buy it. My rating for this category is because of the low price.

This unit is real easy to use. If u have experience with multi-effects unit before, u probally won't need to read the manual at all. Just turn the knobs to get the sound tat you want and press "write" and save it to one of the presets. The only knob in there that's hard for me to use is the reverb knob, becasue you only get 1/4 of a circle to adjust the amount of reverb.

You can get a variety of sounds out of this thing. Lots of differnt OD/DS styles, Delay styles........
For me, half of the distortion settings are useless. I duno about other styles, but they're not that good for my kind of heavy metal sound.
The biggest problem i have so far is the noise from the distortions. The noise supression seems to kick in a few seconds after you stop playing makeing it sorta useless. With the compressor on, it's just plain stupid. Luckily, u can fix this problems by putting a real noise supression pedal in the chain (possibly before the input)

I got this a week ago so i dun really how long it can last.
The metal case and all the pedals seems ok, but the knobs might be easy to break if u're not careful with them.

Never Tried

as i said before, a large variety of sounds from this thing.
It totally kills all the older Boss ME units.
Obviouslly it's not as good as the GT6 which cost like 100 bucks more. But this one is way easier to use.
Some of the things that i would love is an EQ section, a jack for a 2nd expression pedal and the ability to input and display names for the settings.
The craziest funtion of this thing is the octave up and octave down on the expression pedal. I think u can actually like play a song by just changing the note up and down with the pedal. (never actually tried)

Very intuitive to use. Just turn the knobs, etc... Also, I've never used a previous Boss multi-effects unit, but the footpedal is really handy as a volume pedal, as well as another function (ex wah) when manually selected by pressing extra hard on it.

A lot of crap sounds about here, but you can get pretty much exactly what you want if you tweek enough. The greatest mystery of multi-effects units are the shitty presets; especially obnoxious distortions with ridiculously high levels. Of the thirty presets, maybe a half dozen are useful for anyone who isn't in a Limp Bizkit cover band. I mostly play jazz, and need more subtle effects than a full on distortion over an obnoxiously overdone flanger...but that's just me. Alright, biggest beef? The damn tone modify!!!! What in the name of <blank> is this piece of crap for!? Why not just put some sort of graphic EQ there? I can't get a good tight scooped clean sound with the tone modify. Finally, with the tone mod set on enhance, and really light natural distortion with boosted bass and tone (note: i'm faking an EQ by doing this), i was able to get a really nice clean sound with scooped mids. The tone modify is useless!!!! A real EQ, with ...gosh....tone modify type presets for people who need their solidbody to sound like a hollowbody, etc.. would have been far better than forcing someone to pick one. I'm probably going to get a small EQ stompbox sometime soon. If it weren't for this, i'd give the sound a 9.

Bombproof; though I hope the sticky wah pedal on/off that's "modeled" doesn't really become one!

A step in the right direction. I haven't noticed any real latency with the effects that others have mentioned; it can't be worse than any other multi-effects board. The EQ is my biggest problem with this thing. Also, 30 presets, that you need to record over if you want to save your own, is a bit annoying. But, since most of the presets are such crap, I don't mind replacing them with my own. All in all, don't think I'd get this specific one again (though I don't really want it to get stolen either...). It's not a bad unit at all, does many effects really well (and I love the footcontroller options), but misses the mark on a few key areas.

Knobs, thank God!. Very easy, actually the easiest that i've ever tested. U can use it as a set of pedals, just stepping in the fx u want. In the memoy mode, u can change between 30 recorded sounds. Recording is very easy too, u turn the knobs, choose the sound, press the write, select the patch, and press the write again. Don?t give a ten because u have to buy another footswitch to not change the banks manually.

It imitates a set of pedals I?m very familiar with. As I have lots of them, I can compare and tell the obvious: ME-50 just imitates them, sometimes does the job well, sometimes? well, if u want the sound of the pedals, u don?t need this. I wanted a way to simplify my live setup, and I think it does the job (but it could do better). Not all the sounds are good. U can find some: some ODs, someDSTs, the vibrato and tremolo, some delays. The very bad are: analog delay (no way!), slow echo, the flanger, uni-v and rotary (no way!). But I don?t need these, then, I think I?m satisfied with the quality of the sounds. But only for live.
My setup is: an Ibanez Artist, an Stagg Tele, a Vox Cambridge 15 for home and a Boogie .50 Caliber+ for live.

I seems solid, instead of the plastic stomp switches. But i don't think i can use it without backup. I will always carry my old pedals, and sometimes use them.

Its pretty new, but i don't hear many complainings about other Boss products.

There?s two things I really hate in the ME-50. There is a little silence when you change from one sound to another using the memory mode. Its very bad for live performances, and this is precisely the reason that I bought this thing. And there is a little latency between what I play and the sound I hear. But this happens with every digital signal processor. I think a LS-2 or an AB box can minimize these problems, as I can use it in the send-return mode, and keep always the original signal.

I miss a small equalizer, instead of the tone modify, but it?s useful, some are good - I like the presence and the hollow. The compressor is simple and good, like it should be. I don?t use the reverb, but I think it?s acceptable.

It sound very different depending on the Amp, so, in live performances, its dificult to use the memory mode. I miss a true bypass too.

I?m always looking for ways to substitute big sets of pedals, but I don?t think this is the one. I think I can use some of the FX and still use some of my pedals. I don?t think I would buy it again. Acctualy, I thik I?m going to sell it soon.
If somebody knows a really good option, please e-mail me.

Great! Finally, a floor-based multifx with knobs. I hate going through menus and shit, just to tweak my sound to death. This thing sounds good from scratch. A little tweaking, and it sounds awesome! - I considered the GT-6, but it's too expensive for me. At least right now...

This thing came out for sale today. (In Norway. Check out the price...) I decided to give it a try. So i got it home with me, and I tell you, it's not going back! I'll trade in my OD-20 and gladly pay the (approx.) 180$ difference. Though I've only tried it out for a couple of hours, I found every sound I'll ever need.

I have tried it with my Epiphone Sheraton (es335type) with a dimarzio in bridge pos. and a super'70 in neck pos. The amp is a Fender Concert, 60watt tube 1x12 combo, whitch works great with pedals.
I usually use a rivera 4x12 cabinet, but I didn't bother to haul it into the livingroom.

The overdrive/distortions are great. They are "derived from the popular OD-20 Drive Zone", but to be honest, they sound better.

The Mods sound great in my ears. I havent tried all of them yet, but I'm sure they are satisfying. -So far so great!

The delays are also fine. Haven't checked out the stereo effects yet, but if they sound half as good as the rest, they are great.

The expression fx are brilliant. The ringmod sounds way better than the one on the GT-3. It lets more of the real tone through. Wah is by far the best I've owned and the oct-1 and oct+1 work well.

I havent really tested the compressor, noise supressor and tone modify yet, but I'll bet my own ass, they'll be great.

Don't know yet... Boss is known for quality, isn't it? It should be.

Never had any complaints about their products.

I play all kinds of music. Mostly rock though. I've been playing for 15 years and own a Epiphone Sheraton, a fender stratocaster (jap.), a mid 70's Ibanez "Les paul". My main amp is a Fender Concert 60watt 1x12 combo (Int. speaker disconnected.), played through a Rivera 4x12 cab. The Boss ME-50 definitly helps you create music, and inspires you to vary your style both playing and composing.

Very easy

The sounds are very tweakable! Reverb sounds very good, Mainly the (MOD) reverb.
The OD's are all pretty darn good. The stereo chorus 1 and 2 are pleasing to the ear, and the delays have a lot of options to get just the rightsound.

Very solid. Just a large metal pedal.

For the cost of this pedal I don't think you can even come close to getting all the FX seperatley. It's a great value.I play Hard rock and Metal but my friends usually talk me into joining into there Blues sessions and I have no problem at all getting my sound to fit with different musical styles.

It would be great if it had a USB/Firewire connection to the PC and a Mic pre and some MIDI ports just for getting ideas down on the Laptop or something.

I also have a ZOOM 505, and had a ZOOM 707. The BOSS ME-50 beats them both on quality and reliability.

Relatively easy to use.

Let me take the controls/FX one by one:
Tone Mod: Is this supposed to be a substitute for an EQ? Pretty useless. I left it either on Off or Fat.
Compressor: Barely adequate.
Noise Suppressor: Works OK.
Reverb: Four different ?verbs controlled by one knob, which means that each reverb gets ? turn to go from min to max. Very poor.
Distortion: Most of the models are too hot even when the Gain control is turn to its minimum setting.
Modulation: The only really useable FX the unit has. The Chorus is nice, as are some of the other FX.
Delay: I was not able to get a decent sounding delay.
In general, the unit suffers badly from an inability to control the parameters of each effect.
The headphone amp constantly overloaded, adding a terrible distortion to the sound. At first I thought my phones were blown out--it was that bad! And what was even worse, this breakup was present at the outputs as well, making it virtually useless for anything but the trashiest metal tones.

Built very solidly.

I have had many FX units over the years, and I'm very experienced with sound engineering and audio.
I played a project Strat w/Fralin pups, a Dean Evo and a '52 Reissue Tele through it, into Sennheiser HD-280 phones and a Laney 50w tube head connected to a Fender 412 cab.
I kept the unit for two weeks, then threw it back at my dealer and bought a BOSS GT-6, which was only about $100 more and at least four times the unit the ME-50 is. If the ME-50 were, say, $150, I would consider it adequate as a competetor to the Digitech RP-200. But it's 3/4 the price of the GT-6! Not only does the GT-6 have deep adjustibility, but it sounds much, much better as well. The tuner is better, it comes with a professional power supply (no wall wart), and has many more features. The only things the ME-50 has that the GT-6 doesn't have are battery operation and an Aux input, which I do consider to be a nice feature. Plus it's about half the size of the GT-6. If it sounded at least DECENT and cost less than $150, I'd say it was a cool toy for fooling around out of doors or on the couch late at night. However, the overall poor sound quality--both from the FX and the outputs--says to me that this unit is a loser and not a good value at any price, and especially not for the nearly $300 it sells for.

Very easy to use. Intuitive Nobs and effect markers.

The FuzzFace and the BigMuff sounds really cool. There are 2 types of variations for the all OD/Dist settings, when the vari-button is lit, it's got more boost. The tube screamer and the Guv' are great, and can be made to sound authentic.

The wah-wah sounds pretty darn good and there is a bypass on the front of the Wah pedal. I have only used the Octave+1, Voice, Resonance and Wah for the expression stuff so far. They all work well.

The chorus does sound good but you need have a stereo amp with the stereo choruses to get good tones out of it. So I just run a Danelectro Chorus in front of the ME-50 with no problems with added noice or loss in tone at all. This is good 'cause frees up the Univibe and Rotary effects since they are on the same pedal switch.

Very Solid Medal Case. Hard Nylon type plastic pedals will not break. Diecast would break before these pedals will have problems.

Never had to deal with them. Don't think I will have to.

The uni-V is very fun to play with.

Noise reduction is perfect.

4 Reverbs adjusted with a nob.

lots of options for a good sounding delay in the Delay section.(11 kinds)

I have to compliment that there is no delay when switching between the patches. Even when going to different patches in another bank, it's right on.

The only problem or concern that I have is it doesn't allow upload/download to backup your patches.

Also the Sustain is a little bit noisey if you turn it all the way up. That is typical of sustain/compressor effects though.


The reason I got the ME-50 is that I liked the GT-6 but did not need all the Amp models. The ME can be pluged direct to a PA too. It has a Mono, and a L-R stereo output as well.

The rest are as follows: aux in, phones/line out, and a foot switch input.

Sounds great to me. Better than a DOD or a Zoom. As a matter of fact a lot of the patches are good for presets which is usually uncommon. Especialy bank 9.
Very easy tp use and edit the 30 patches.
The manual is 35 pgs and has lots of pictures. This is a very visual Multi FX.

Used with a Fender Deluxe Reverb and Peavey Classic 20. Gibson SG & Fender strat.
Not noisey at all. The strong FX sound strong but there are some weak sounding combinations.
I play mostly blues, but you can get a real heavy Van Halen or Metalica and Black Sabath tone from this Proc.
Can get Peter Green 'Drifter' and "Need your Love" etc. no problem.
Can get Gary Moore blues sound and Luther Allison very easily too.

I can depend on this thing. It's very solid. It's not diecast like the single pedals but it's rigid angled metal.
The pedals are smaller then I though, but it's not a problem. The expression pedal is one of the better ones I have seen around.
I would use this without a backup no question. - unless it was raining ;-). They should make these out of diecast and water proof them in my opinion.

No Opinion here. This item is pretty new and it hassn't had a chance to where out yet!

This seems to be a step in the right direction for the Multi-FX stomp boxes. I really like it. This ME-50 really hit the spot for my blues playing. I own a Zoom GFX-707, Dano, BOSS, DOD pedals, and the ME-50 is much, much easier to configure patches. It also has stereo out, line in and head phones! - all need to have options. If it were stolen or lost, I would go buy it again for sure.
I compared it to the GT6 and the ME33, Zoom 707II.
It really helps to get rid of a lot of my pedals and cables. It cleans up my jam-room real well. I am a happy customer, but I wish it could hook up to my PC to store and edit additional patches. Although I understand the GT6 does do that, but I didn't want all the amp models and LED Displays to read thru.