Boss ME-50

Pretty easy to use. Problem is, it's an absolute TONE-SUCKER! But easy enough to figure out.

Like the sound of your amp? Then don't buy this. I have to rate it low here, because this unit significantly altered the basic tone of my Mesa F-30 amp. It cuts the gain down noticeably when you run through this effects unit, that's with it going in front of the amp, in the chain, like a stomp box. If you do it through the fx send/return in the back, it doesn't alter the amp tone, but then the distortion settings are useless, as they really need to hit the front of the pre-amp to sound right. VERY disappointed in this effects unit! :(

Who knows, their stuff seems well made.

Don't know.

A "5" is a gift really, as this unit is basically un-usable to me. I can't deal with the tone-suck factor.

Well it's not exactly easy. I got mine from a pawnshop and had no manual till recently. but ill say this its easy enough to where i picked it up without the manual. editing the patches is kinda annoying. more annoying for the distortions however. I give it a 8 because out of all the multi pedals that do this much. It has to have the most clever set up ive seen yet, i mean the knobs do make a big difference.

Ok the first thing you gotta know about this pedal is it has to have the worst bypass ive ever heard. I mean bad. Almost useless. Im takingthe advice of the other guys and buying a bypass loop pedal as soon as i get a chance. Ok, now the delay. well the delay is amazing considering its a combo pedal. i loved the analog delay. it sounds better then some of the high end delays ive worked with. i could see having it just for that its so good. The wah expression etc. well not so good, honestly ive never scene much use for a wah not my style but i have tried it and owned my share of wahs and i gotta say its pretty weak. the other setting are to wierd to have much use for on a basis i use a whammy for all my crazy actave moves and its well obviously not even in the same market with the expression pedal. i think its only good for the volume. volume is a hard thing to get wrong. the mod, etc. ok i am in love with the rotary setting, its incredible. very useful if you want one, and not bad compared to what you gotta dish out for a rotory pedal. the flange is weak, chorus ok, phaser is well, cheap sounding. tremolo is tremolo. not amazing but ok for a tremolo. its not the boss tremolo pan or anything but its good enough if you have one song that needs a trem. and the others well arnt really worth mentioning in my opinion. distortion.ok, the ratt setting is pretty right on. i own a ratt and compared them and its pretty close. the rest are pretty lousy since the tone is so weak to begin with. DO NOT buy this for the distorion. you will end up very upset. ds 1 is ok, but ds 1 lacks tone too so i guess its right on. the fuzz's are weak fuzz is always fat in the bottom once again this thing has no real bottom end so no good fuzz. the metal zone setting is aweful but so is the metal zone so its all in opinion. you can not get a warm distortion on this so dont try. but theres a few sweet crunchy setting that are great for what they are. the compressor is awesome and the reverb is annoying as hell! and a pain to get it out of the mix. i give it an 7 cause when they got things right on this pedal it was dead on. its pretty close to its stomp equals for alot less. and sadly alot less bottom end too.

its boss. enough said.

never needed it or knew anyone who did.

Well if you want this pedal cause youll just never be able to buy all its components go for it. its definetly worth it. but if you own a amp that has a tone thats worth a damn be prepared to buy a bypass pedal. hell it shoulda just came with one its so harsh. if it wasnt for the bypass id give it a ten easy. if you play outta a peavey or crate (solid state)etc.. well then dont sweat it. but if your a tube man. you might just be better off dishing out the money for the pedals or at least getting a bypass pedal. other than the tone id say this is the coolest multi pedal ive ever played with.

ME - 50 ahhh The beauty of simplicity / knobs are easy enough. Just play around a little to suit your style. I have not edited anything yet. Seems simple , I just purchased this about a month ago, so no rush to be to picky, sounds great right out of the box. Manual included with product, easy to understand.

I play live in full Church group. Mostly all modern Christian worship and praise, this ranges from old old 1-4-5 country style to on the edge of metal, This units' functions handle all types very well and sound quality is superb. I run straight into PA and all mod effects and OD/DST are great. I use a Les Paul / all p/u positions used depending on what sound I need per song. No noise at all during any settings / (have threshold very low) I practice at home on all types of music - country to heavy rock with a Fender 15 and a really cheap Behringer / pretty good sounds from both considering the amps' quality.

BOSS no more to say / do not use a backup

Never needed , having a reputation like Boss / I expect CS should be OK

Perform modern Christian / play everyting else for fun & practice - country to hard rock / me 50 covers it all. If it went away I would buy another . I like most everything about it / mods not difficult at all but can be tough to dial in to preference sometimes.The OS/DST options are awesome. It really should come with power supply. I ck'd out the line 6 POD also before I bought this. I believe Boss makes a better line of products + I read reviews for weeks before deciding. (Line 6 amps sound like WalMart stuff) I used a Zoom G2 before - its OK but sound quality & ease of operation cannot compare to ME 50

I bought this unit precisely because of ease of use. I was sick of the tangle of leads with my stomp boxes. The ME 50 replaced 6 Boss stomp boxes I had in a purpose made Boss pedal case. Two leads and a power supply and you're away. But not for long...

Straight out of the box it takes about five minutes to start getting reasonable sounds. The manual is well laid out and straightforward and the ability to twiddle familiar knobs a la stomp boxes to access the sounds is a plus.

I found I could work my way through all of the sounds very quickly but must admit I hadn't got to the point of organising a series of banks. However , it is a big drawback to have to use two footswitches to access banks.

All those groovy Boss sounds ( and a good tuner) in one simple box ... or so I thought.

I have to admit that's where my exploration stopped. read on to find out!

Here's the thing. The sounds from almost all of the effects are a pale cold imitation of my beloved stomp boxes. The digital sounds are like a photograph. They look (sound) like the real thing but they're not.

To be fair some of them are good. Several of the distortion sounds were more than reasonable and the ability to combine the Compressor easily is a good thing.

However .. it lacks WARMTH. It lacks MUSICALITY. I hated it!!
I was surprised because I was expecting the Boss pedals in a box. That's NOT what it is so beware.

The chorus/flanger/phasers etc are OK but nothing special. No depth no beauty.

The expression pedal is fine. Great to have a volume pedal but the other effects are mostly superfluous and the Wa is kinda Woeful. Compared to my Crybaby it's a dud.

The delays are a problem. Compared to my Boss DD3 they lack warmth, flexibility, depth and the sheer beauty of sound I'm used to.

And the tone modify is at best just OK. Kinda gimmicky. My trusty seven band Boss graphic EQ is so much better ... a true studio quality instrument.

I played it straight for three hours carefully going through the effects I would use in various combinations. I realised that this unit no matter how competent and well thought out can't compete with Boss stomp boxes.

I was replacing a DD3 Digi, a Chorus Ensemble, Tremelo,Flanger, Compressor Sustainer and DS1 Distortion. After feeling sick and realizing I'd made a HUGE mistake .. I rushed around to the music shop around the corner where I had them on consignment and got them back back from the nice man just in time! Man I kissed 'em I was so pleased to see those candy coloured babies back. And took the BossME50 straight back and thankfully got my money back. I was so relieved.

The stomp boxes are king of what they do. If you only want a few sounds take my advice ... stick with your stomp boxes at all costs.

I only had it for one day but it appeared absolutely bullet proof. I've never had a problem with Boss products over thirty years of playing.

I think it would be a reliable workhorse.

Never had to deal with them.

I play straight ahead jazz ... for which I use my '86 Ibanez GB10 or my 2000 Dot 335. For jazz I use my Polytone MegaBrute which is simply brilliant with no effects. Warm and wonderful.

And a kind of hybrid flat out Hellecasters style surf in my duo The Surftones. That's where I use the pedals. The pedals have supplied me with exactly the sounds I wanted for years. I put them through a ten year old Fender Hot Rod Deluxe which is a killer amp.Tone central when it's cranked.

I use an American Standard Strat with noiseless pu's and the S1 switching. And a 98 American Standard Tele which is a gem. Prior to that I played an '86 Strat Plus with Kinman noiseless pu's which was a beautiful axe with tone to burn.

The Strat just sings with the Boss pedals. The DS1 is all you need. That and a little delay, a touch of chorus or flanger where necessary. Whatever the drawbacks of pedals with convenience, they more than make up for it with their beautiful unsurpassed musicality.

Don't make the mistake I made if gorgeous tone is what you're after.

The ME 50 is a wonderful piece of design but it's a digital dud when it comes to pure warm tone. Warning ... new is not better when it comes to technology.

This was very easy to use, compared to other processors out there. Easy to edit stuff. How much simpler can they get.

Let me begin by saying that I boutht this unit INSTEAD OF THE DD-20. I needed more delay settings I only have a DD-5 and my band was playing stuff that had called for more than one delay.

With that said, the delay on the ME-50 is identical to the DD-5. With no noise when used merely as a delay. Bottom line if you like boss delays you'll love the delay on it.

Now for the other effects. Flanger is awesome, sounds just like my BF-2B (which sounds the same as the BF-2).

The Wah is also quite good, I don't use much wah, but I have a classic crybaby (that i'm borowing) and the ME-50 wah gets the job done.

The distortions sound ok but not amazing, I A-B'd the muff sound against my English Muff'n with a 12ax7c and 12ax7r in that order. similar but the EM has so much more life I mean the thing is tube for goodness sake.

The pause between sound switching is very minor, all you guys out there whining about that should be playing with other pedals anyway. I have mine going through a "true bypass loop box" I hit that to turn the pedal "off" (it is still on just not in the loop because of the TB loop box).

I gave it a 10 here because it is perfect for what I bought it for "delay" and a few extras Wah, and flanger. The octives also sound decent, when used right.

Its BOSS!

Never had to deal with them

I have been playing for 12 years and have had all kinds of equipment and pedals. If you are buying this to make up for a few mod pedals (flanger, phaser, chorus) and delay pedals you don't have get it. The distortions are ok but not that great very digital sounding. What do you people want for 300 bucks? Even if the price was a bit more for what i got it for it is amazing and does what i want it to do, I have other pedals that do the rest.

Very Very simple to plug and play. Good instruction manual when you want to dig deeper.

I agree with the "pros" on here that some of the effects are iffy and some are great, it's pretty subjective however. I have it in front of an Epiphone 5w Valve JR head (no mods other than a JJ EL84) pushing a Marshall 2x12 cab and it's a pretty stellar rig. I play 2 different hot-rodded Epi's: a Studio Paul w/ Fernandes VH-1's and a good wiring harness and an SG with Gibby pups blah blah blah.

It's a Boss. I could throw it down the stairs

I'll most likely never have to find out.

I'm a power chord basement guitarded onanist, so for me it's perfect. It makes me want to plat more so how could that be bad? If I were the real deal, yes I think I'd move up. Probably the best entry level piece of kit out there. Tons of em on e-bay, don't pay more than $200. Well worth it.

See previous posts

Used this at band practice the other night through a Hybrid amp 65 watts with master on about 7. I used the tube screamer and muff models mostly aswell as chorus and tremelo fx aswell as a little delay here and there.

I thought it sounded great, the other guy was playin through a GT6, he was there tweaking and menu surfing and i was there just twiddling the knobs. It so easy to setup its stupid.

I found that the MT-2 sounded very digital though.

When using the master volume on the ME50 leave some headroom don't crank it all the way up, let the amp do most of the work.

Had it now for about 2 years, so far so good.

never dealt with boss

In terms of features, build quality, ease of use and sound I'm very satisfied. You do need an amp of reasonable quality though.

this is an update on my previous review... so i got the chance to gig with it a bit... pedals are a bit close together for my taste. accidently did the dual pedal stomp a couple of times (pressing two pedals activates the tuner, or memory mode, both resulting in signal cut, no good) probably drop my overall rating of this unit to a 8.5. still a good bargain, but got i wish that the preset switching was better.

I AM AN EXPERIENCED GUITAR PLAYER OF 15 YEARS, I HAVE PLAYED ON EVERYTHING FROM THE SIMPLEST OF RIGS TO THE MOST COMPLEXE OF MIDI RACK MOUNT RIGS...

Pretty straight forward, if you've had any experience with any kind of programmable multi effect, you'll have no problem with it. 2 MAJOR THINGS i didnt like about how it runs. when running in "memory" mode (using stored presets as opposed to using the three pedals, preamp, modulation, delay as straight up pedals) there is a lag between switching presets. yes, your entire signal cuts for a split second, noticeable, but not a major deal depending on how you use it.

its not hard at all to get good tone out of these selections. the manual is pretty straight forward and easy to read.

like i said, if you've had any experience at all using multi effect units, editing and manuevering around this unit is a breeze, but is also simple enough if its your first time dealing with programming.

i give it an 8 because of the lag when switching presets, however when just using the pedals as preamp, modulation, delay, switching the effects on and off is seamless and crystal clear.

i listen to everything from led zepplin to TOOL, i hate modern rock and emo garbage. TONE IS MAJORLY IMPORTANT TO ME. (david gilmore. that's all i gotta say)

my current set up is as follows - Paul Reed Smith McCarty 22 and a 1975 Fender American Stratocaster > rocktron banshee talk box > boss NS2 noise suppressor > VOX Clyde McCoy Wah > Ibanez Ts-808 tube screamer > MXR Phase 90 > Boss ME - 50 > HAO Rust Boost > Morely A/B/y SWITCH > Fender Blues Junior 15 watt all tube combo and a Peavy classic 4x10 50 watt all tube combo.

as i said before tone is incredibly important to me, as is any noise, coloration or shit added to my tone. i spend an entire hour going back and forth comparing my signal with the unit in my line and with it out of my line. i really heard little to no coloration or noise added. enough to be impressed.

here's a break down of what the unit offers

expression pedal... great volume pedal
wah - pretty good for setting it to a certain lead tone, not much sweep to it if you wanna go crazy slash style.
ring modulation - a little out there, but could be cool if you like your acid
pitch shifts (1 octave up or 1 octave down) a little "warbly" but pretty cool for those crazy solos

Tone Modify - i wish they had given control of this for a full 7 band eq, but so far i havent really been wow-ed by it. the acoustic simulator sounds great through my prs, not so much with the '75 strat. hollow body emulator is crap.

compressor - pretty good, but i dont use compression much

noise gate - for a one knob set up, the thing is pretty on the money, a great asset to this pedal. very sensitive and really allows you to find the sweet spot so you dont loose any sustain.

reverb - reminds me of how line 6 sets up their reverbs. all in all pretty good tones, doesnt have anything on my Fender's reverb though.

pre-amp - okay... so the real challenge was when i went back in forth trying to match my ts-808 with the supposed ts-808 emulation this thing has. and i gotta say, pretty damn close. infact, the drive knob goes further and offers more gain. 4 knobs here, drive, bottom (great for low end response) tone and level... the preamps are REALLY impressive, ESPECIALLY for boss. i hate most boss preamp pedals, but i cant get over how many useful lead tones there are in this thing, from blues to metal to industrial saw tones... this thing is pretty crazy.

modulation - chorus not the best i've ever heard, but gets the job done
flanger - sounds wicked
phaser - really a clear sounding phaser, very adjustable
harmonizer - a little warbly but fun to play around with, dont get your hopes up, its no 4k dollar eventide
tremolo - a little choppy, really takes some fudging with
pan - same deal
uni-vibe - kind of weak
rotary - kind of tuff to work with

BUT HERE'S THE KICKER! TAP TEMPO MODULATION... yea... that's right... i said it..tap tempo modulation... genious! however, not accessible in preset mode. they really fucked up the preset, or memory mode as they call it. i'd really hoped that once you selected a preset you'd be able to step on the pedal again to bypass. you'd think that'd make sense... but no. and if you want to flip through banks, make with the bending down, cuz unless you buy extension pedals, your only bank changing options are the two buttons on the interface. (shhhhh, its only 200 bucks)

delay. its a boss delay pedal.. it kicks ass. whatever you want, this thing does it. tap tempo is great, reverse is trip tastic, everything else sounds fantastic. tap tempo works great

did i miss anything? i think that about covers it, again, the preamps were really impressive, very true recreations of the big muff pi, pro co rat (my personal favorite) fuzz face, blues drive, mxr distortion + and yes, even the ts-808.

oh wait the tuner! duh... its a boss tu-12... its right there in the unit... step on the left most two pedals .. its fabulous

just got it, i'll let ya know

i play everything from reggae to metal to jazz and you name it. as said before i've been playing 15 years, i'm very very very serious about music and tone. i've owned tc electronic units, digitech units, both midi controllable and floor boards. for the price, this thing is pretty awesome. i basically got this thing to simplify my pedal board, i gave my delay pedal the boot, gave a few other distortion pedals the boot, gave my tuner the boot, and will probably give my phaser the boot. i wanted something that i could simplify my pedal board with, and get a little more as well. this did above and beyond that. and althought memory mode is so disappointing, it really does have some usefulness to it, it does suck that you ahve to program a "bypass" pre set to get back to square one. i supposed if this thing was all that you had at your feet that you wouldnt need to do such things, but with such a wretched clip inbetween presets i dont know why ANYONE would do such a thing. if lost i would defintely think about getting another one. i really wish it had dual processing so that they could work on the clip between presets, its lacking in some areas, but it really kicks ass in others. for the price i really dont think you can find a better deal. why buy 2 boss pedals you want, when you can buy this thing and have everything you'd need from their repitoire. i give it a 10 because for the price i really dont think it can be beat.

This guitar pedal is no hassel at all. it has three main banks, distortion, modulation and delay. There are also threshold, sustain, reverb, tone modify and a rather good expression pedal. The distortions are some of the best i have heard on a multi-effects and there are a number to choose from. The modulations are all the ones you would need e.g. chorus, flanger, phaser, harmoniser etc.
In the way of delay, you can modify it so much that it is perfect for whatever you are using it for.
The expression pedal is also one of the best i have seen. The wah isnt quite up to the same standard as a cry baby but for a ??170 multi effects is excellent. You have even got an octave changer on the expression pedal aswell!
It is pretty easy to use all the effects although you cant change the sound to another one on the same bank as it but i wouldnt think you'd have to. Editing patches is a bit of a problem with the ME-50 and i still havnt figured out how to do it.

The sound quality is brilliant. The distortions have a great sound ranging from natural to fuzz. The mods are great as you can tweak them down to the last little bit to get the perfect sound. The delays are just as good as the one you get from the single pedal that boss do. The expression pedal is also really good and probably what i use the most. Reverb is ok but could be a little less delicate because if you touch the knob only slightly it changes alot. I love the tone modify as it allows me to use an acoustic guitar sound on certain stuff and it actually sounds like an acoustic guitar!

I have only had this pedal for around a month now and to me it has been very reliable. You can run it on both batteries and the power cable (which does cost an extra ??20) so if your cable goes weird during a gig it will switch strait to battery power so i would advise using the lead but keeping a battery in it just in case. I have played with it at around 3 gigs and i have trusted it without backup.

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I think that overall this pedal is one of the best on the market. Considering the money you save when you buy it instead of individual pedals it is genius. There is so much on here i can vary all of my music so i have a different sound in every song. So i would say it is definately worth buying one if you are looking at pedals.