Boss ME-50

This Pedal is amazingly easy to use. I've had the full range or digitech, zooms, moderls, digital effects and amps, and this pedal goes great with my Peavey Valveking 112. The headphone jack is great for not upsetting the landlord! Patch editing is awesome, and HERE'S A NOTE ABOUT THE FOOTSWITCH: They do not sell it with a footswitch, and want over fifty bucks for the dual switch to go bank up/down. I have an old Peavey two button latching switch with "MUTE" and "REVERB" labelled on it. It's OLD. But it's simple and you can find them REALLY cheap. And it works just like the Boss version. Just remember to press the button twice to get it to do what you want (bank up/down in memory, compression/tone modify on/off in manual mode). This cheap peavey switch makes this pedal fully functional and at very little added cost (150 used with power adapter)

I'm a big fan of neil young, hendrix, ccr, led zep, muddy waters, warren haynes, pretty much anything with some distortion and balls! But also i love a nice clean ringing tone, something to make the angels cry with joy right? This unit can make the devil proud and the angels sing praise for sure. The distortions get pretty heavy/muddy but just tweak the tone or drive. I'm going from this unit directly to the peavey vk112 (great tube amp/great price) from a Gibson Les Paul Standard. No more need for my assortment of seven or eight individual pedals. There's less noise too, no more pesky hum/buzz from pickups/signal chain--you know, all those cables that are always gettin' in the way and shorting out. The chorus is excellent, just crank up that e. level if you can't hear it enough. Stereo effects are superb, don't have the dual amp setup yet but with headphones it's nuts folks. Sonic power from every direction! Overall the tones are adjustable from cold crunch to warm brown sound.

I got it used, but it's a tank like everything else I've had from boss. My Ibanez pedals always conk out at some point, and even a few DOD's (not the grunge, that thing is a panzer as well). I don't think I'll be experiencing any problems with this one, great heavy look, not the plastic crap all the companies want you to buy. METAL! It's the way to go, thanks BOSS for realizing this. We giggers tend to find beer in the most unusual places, and who knows when someone may trip over your kit... this'll take it all.

No need, no idea.

I play a range from folk rock to hard rock with blues and jam and jazz thrown in for good measure. This pedal can do ANYTHING. Lots of other multi-effects units on the market are hard to access/program tone. I had an ME-5 back in the day, it was pretty good for the age, but wow... the me-50 blows that and all the new zoom/digitech's out of the water. My amp sounds great, no need for amp modelling. Super easy to access tone, and none of the crap and space affects thatdon't even sound musical on this beast. Just what you need and tons of stuff you'd never know you'd need...but not too much. I've been playing for 15 years, had a LOT of gear, but finally am satisfied. For the first time.
My fingers hurt. I've been playing a lot more lately, it's inspiring to put simply. I've tried to think of something bad to say about it for fairness' sake, but it came with a power supply and i had an old footswitch that works perfectly on it, i'm a happy camper. Oh and the sustain.... between the les paul, tube amp, creamy overdrives (22 different distortions, all quite noticeably different) and sustain/compressor.... hells yes!

Very easy to operate and use. Most multi effects should be done in this way. Even in the memory mode you can quickly tweek your sound.

Even though ME-50 is often advertized in music stores as a collection of Boss pedals in one..... i'm afraid it isn't:-( I've always been a fan of Boss stompboxes and after using ME-50 for about 1.5 years I know that separate bos effects are a lot better a choice!

At the beginning I used numerous Teles->ME-50->Fender Hot Rod Deluxe. For some reason I don't like the sound of ME-50 in the fx loop. My observations:
First: it modifies your tone even in bypass mode. It's faaaar from true bypass

Tone modify: useless. The presets basically suck. A simple equalizer which allows you to shape your sound the way you want to would be MUCH better!

Compressor: good job here. Simple and responsive.

OD/DIST: perhaps the weakest point of the whole unit. The distortion fx sound... kinda thin. Most of the time I used the OD-2 preset for solos.

Modulation: Chorus(es) and tremolo are real nice. Simple and "to the point" I didn't really find much use for any other effects.

Delay: Well done and simple to use but exceptionally "digital" in sound. Only the Analog mode is acceptable to me.

Reverb: I like the "hall". The spring is not really "spring" but still sounds reasonable

Wah: Nice; both with and without distortion.

Tuner: Great! Love it. Simple!

Now, because of many of the effects sounding too digital I changed my rig to Teles-->Me-50 (for tuner, compressor and Wah, occasionally Trem and Chorus)-->Sansamp Tri AC-->Ibanez ADL delay-->Marshall booster-->Fender Hot Rod Deluxe. THis limited use of ME-50 gives me the "analog" feel.

I NEVER use the unit in MEMORY mode because of the almost-a-second pause when you want to change banks - this is unacceptable(probably the biggest flaw of the unit)

Tank! Real nice job here!

Never had to use their help.

As I said in the sound section, many effects are too digital. The CSOM thechnology does not really convince me much to be honest. Distorion/OD effects are of poor quality. The Modulation section and compressor and Wah are fine and very usable.

The Boss ME-50 is a very good unit - especially for live or jamming situations.
I bought mine 2nd hand, it did come with a manual. I had a glance at the manual to see the very basics and then just played around myself. It is VERY easy to set up sounds, and it is fantastic being able to set 3 tones per bank (more would be nice, but that's what the GT's are for).
Editing the patches is totally easy aswell thanks to having knobs instead of buttons. While jamming you can fine tune your tone during practise, meaning less messing about. And there is a hell of a lot to choose from.
The volume pedal is a very important addition - especially when playing live. I like to get my volume I want having the volume pedal set about 3/4 - this means if I need some extra volume to cut through during a lead part, it is easy to accomplish just by putting my foot down.
The only flaw I can see with the pedal is when it is in patch mode, there is a slight delay between switching patches - you need to time it right to let it go by un-noticed.
Also you can't switch banks by foot, it would be nice but isnt needed.

My band plays psychedelic rock/blues, but I am also into playing Opeth and Tool as well as the older rock.
I do a lot of Jimi Hendrix aswell, one of our covers is purple haze.
With the pedal, I set a bank for each song, Bank 1 is for Purple haze. Switch 1 is a ballsy fuzz for the intro riff, switch 2 is a more gritty fuzz with uni-vibe for the verse, and button 3 is octave fuzz, with extra octave through the harmonist function.
It has taken me some time to be happy with it, but that's because I really do try get perfect tones for the music I play.
Our own songs are overdriven rock and distortion, kinda ACDC tones, and one song has a dreamy smooth delayed clean sound, with smooth fuzz for the chorus. I really love the delay on this thing.
There are a heap of possibilites, for example the reverse effect. If you are into creating crazy sounds for lead-work, or just for fun, this pedal makes it amazingly easy.
There are a few pedal models I dont like for example the MetalZone and some other distortions, but that is my taste. For distortion I perfer the High Gain or modern distortion. And for overdrive, a driven Blues driver or tube screamer model.
The pedal built in is usefull too, the wah sound is pretty tame and stale, but it makes up with that by having octave mode. The wah would be fine for very simple use but doesnt compare to a real wah pedal.
The pedal also has a noise reducer and compressor built in, which has taken away the need for my CS-3.
It also has a knob for the guitars sound, example you can set it to change a Humbucker to sound like a single coil, or vice versa. You can emulate a hollow body. Which is great if you want the gain, but to keep that smooth tubular sound of a singlecoil.

Overall this pedal does everything I need it to do sonically, and then some.

I use this for gigs, and practise, and home use.
Never had a problem, and never will.

It is very sturdy.

I think it is the perfect size, between a entry-level multi effects pedal and the GT-6/8 or Tonelab SE ect.
Doesnt take up too much room on stage which is important sometimes.

I have been playing for about 3 years I think.
I play a custom guitar with H-S-S config - Vox wah - Boss ME 50 - Ashton Viper 50 Valve amp with a Boss Limiter (LM-2) in the effects loop.
I play metal, blues, rock, psychedelic, classical and all the tonal range is covered.
Quick easy tone creation/modification makes it great for social playing.
It's only missing a few things in my eyes, being able to switch banks by foot, and the delay between switching patches.
Sometimes when you want to just play you cant be bothered setting up pedals, they just get in the way and take time to set up. Well I always find the time to set this up, because if you are comming up with music, you need to be able to quickly come up with a sound to fit it. And it is easy to do.

All in all I think I made the right choice - I was considering the Boss GT-6/8 and the Vox Tonelab SE, all of which were a lot more expensive. But the Boss ME-50 really does everything you need for basics and more.

The sound is amazing for any amp. I haven't tested the editing side of it, but the effects are so good already and there is every effect there is no need for editing them.
The Manual is very easily used, and a less than ten minute read and I haven't had to go back to it.

The sound is fantastic, every sound imaginable can be made out of this thing. The clean and OD/DS effects are good and the mod and delay are also great. I am using a Fender Princeton 65, and makes it sound like a Marshall!
The loudness is good, but quite hard to get right. The effects are strong and it also has this thing called Threshold which gets rid of the pickup buzz, so you can't hear the flange flangeing if you know what I mean.

Can't really say as I haven't had it long. But yes it has quite good reliabilty at home

Haven't had to but it's Boss so they're bound to be good but the rating is based on the fact I ahven't had to phone them

I love this thing it's perfect for every type of music, it is a big step up from my last effects pedal Digitech RP-50, much much much better
I love the Octave Change it has.

Hey ya'll, i've had this thing now for about two and a half years and i think its finally time to write a review about it. not like my opinion counts anyway. I hope this helps out some people. This thing really isn't to hard to use if you know what everything does. this is a really easy pedal to use and isn't all digitalized and stuff like that like all the digitech crap. Trust me never buy digitech they are horrible buy Boss or MXR.

i have had thing almost 3 years now and it has never given me any trouble i have never had a problem with it. i guess i would gig without a backup if i didn't have backup. when i revamp my pedal set and get individual pedals i will have this around as a backup.

never ever have talked them or written to them or ever had contact so i can't comment the only complaint i have about this thing is that i spend $300 dollars on it and they can't even give me a dang power supply which i had to buy for freakin $20 bucks. but anyway never had to contact them.

this thing is adequate for a beginner. listen if your just starting and serious i would definately suggest buying this because it is very decent sounding and is excellent for a beginner to pick out what he wants to use and buy the individual pedals later like i'm doing. personally it doesn't have enough of what i need to play 80's metal like i want to but basically it's because of my amp i need to get a marshall or a mesa/boogie to get a really good overdrive metal sound but this pedal is adequate until after christmas which is tomorrow when i get enough money to replace this unit with individual boxes. if you play modern metal it's got a good distortion for that even though that music sucks and i wouldn't reccomment playing it and it is also good for playing classic rock like you know zeppelin, clapton, skynrd, all those good bands. i do wish that it had a better distortion for 80's metal but that's life. i also wish it came with a power adapter cause it takes like 6 AA batteries who the heck has that many laying around. if it was lost or stolen i wouldn't buy another one because it is inadequate for me now because i need really good pedals cause i'm gonna start playing gigs and stuff but like i've said a million times it good for serious beginners like i was. i would like to say also if your gonna play 80's metal don't buy this just buy like a boss or ibanez delay pedal get a boss or mxr compressor get the seymour duncan pick up booster (only if you have a tube amp that's the only way it sounds best) and get a mxr dist + or a ibanez tubescreamer
but other than that it's good for mostly anything you want to do

Very easy to use unit and got my tone instantly,very easy to edit and manual was very easy to understand.

Very easy to dial in any tone I want with out being a sound engineer like some units GT6/Gt8 sorry guys!All the effects are great flange is a little overpowering but thats it.

It's a Boss built like truck would never gig without a backup no matter what it is.

I play rock,metal and blues lead guitar and this unit is perfect for those styles.I have been playing for 5 years I own a Musicman Axis and Sennheiser headphones to go with this unit.I would definately buy this unit again if something happen to it.I love everything about this unit its tone quality,ease of use and durability.I habve compared this unit to GT6,Gt8,Zoom 707 II,Tonelab Se,Podxt,and digitech rp50 and this unit IMO blows away all those other units away!I have owned all those other units and was never happy with tones I was getting from them,1 minute of owning this unit I loved its tone!This unit is perfect it doesnt need anything else and it isnpires me to play instaed of tuning knobs all day!

this thing is so easy a baby could use it. you don't even need an amp, you can just plug your head phones in or use the shittiest speakers imaginable.

the distortion some times seems a bit dissttorted. the peddle is okay but its a little sticky nothing a few thousand times stepping on it wont fix i guess.. also the peddle to turn it on you just step on it hard.. sometimes while using it you get can get a little excited and step to hard and it turns off, which kind of stucks because all they had to do is make a damn switch on the thing..

no idea.. it's not made of plastic or anything.

no. and if i had to guess I would say it sucks

bottem line you can not easily switch between programed settings,
stepping on wah wah to hard turns it off

Here's the real story: THIS THING SOUNDS GREAT IN THE FX LOOP! IF IT DOESNT SOUND GREAT WITH YOUR AMP, DON'T BLAME THE ME-50, BLAME YOUR AMP.

A surprising number of high end amps ship with sub-par FX loops. Thats the sad truth.

On the Peavey XXX, you can adjust the send and receive levels. With both knobs at noon, levels are set perfectly. Bypasing the FX loop from the PV switch shows that the ME-50 is transparent and does not muddy or color the tone.

I use this two ways. In the FX loop of the amp. Into the return of the amp using the COSM amp sims.

Turning off the delay there is a natural decay. Very nice.

Boss deserves to be rewarded with a perfect 10 for ease of use for the ME-50. There is a knob for every control. No need to scroll through any menus!

I have owned other multieffects units and the worst part of them is always the user interface. For any new multieffects units, all companies should follow this standard! Give me a knob for each and every control. It makes it easy to dial in the sound I'm looking for.

I'm playing through a Diezel VH4 with a high-end Les Paul style guitar.

I give it a 7 mainly because the ME-50 sounds awful in the amp's effects loop. That is disgraceful because at the very least the time delay effects (Delays, Reverbs) should be used in the effects loop. This thing will degrade your tone severely if used in the effects loop.

That being said, it sounds decent in front of the amp (Guitar -> ME-50 -> Amp). I can notice a degradation in tone from my guitar, but not to a large extreme.

Here is my opinion on everything, section by section:

Tone Modify: 7. This feature lets you select different EQs to modify how your pickups sound. It's a nice idea, but the settings don't sound like they have a very big effect on the tone of the guitar. It's almost unnoticeable when used through an amp's distortion.

Reverb: 5. Sounds ok, but the ME-50 is only useable in front of the amp. What's the point of having a reverb on this?

Distortions: 4. Most of the distortions are unusable. I have a Big Muff and the ME-50's Big Muff setting sounds nothing like the real thing to my ears. These are very brittle distortions. Even my DOD MetalFX pedal sounds better, and that's not saying much. I am very disappointed in these.

Modulations: 9. These are awesome! This is worth the price of admission alone. You can get 90% of the effects that are heard in any modern song with what the ME-50 has. I'd like to see one more knob though. Most Boss modulation pedals have 4 knobs now, so it would be good to have the extra control that is missing from each effect.

Delays: 9. Also done very well! But what a tragedy. These delays sound great and are easy to dial in. But since the ME-50 sounds awful through the effects loop you can forget using these with your amp's distortion.

Expression Pedal: 8. I like it for the most part! The Wah is good enough for what I need. I also like the Resonance and Voice settings. The +1 and -1 Octave settings sound pretty poor as you roll the pitch up and down. But all other settings are very good.

Other Issues: There is a very noticeable period in which the sound drops out (about half a second) when switching between saved patches. This is absolutely unacceptable. Forget about smooth transitions from wet to dry settings while you're playing live. Boss should have figured out a workaround for this.

There is also a volume level difference between wet/dry on some effects (flanger, phaser). This can be resolved by saving a different master volume level with the patch, but this is something Boss overlooked. They should have been able to balance the levels.

It looks reliable to me. The chassis feels very strong. The footswitches seem to be designed well. The only part I would be concerned about is the expression pedal.

Never dealt with them directly.

While there are several downsides to this unit, it also signals hope for the future of multieffects. Here are the main suggestions for improvement in the next version:

1. This unit should be able to work in the amp's effects loop. Better yet, implement the "4 Cable Mode" which the GT8 (unofficially) supports. Add a switch for each effects section (Modulation, Delay) which controls whether the effect comes before or after the effects loop. Easy! And it would instantly turn this into the best multieffects unit possible.

2. Fix the tone sucking. It's not terrible in front of the amp, but it is noticeable.

3. Greatly improve the Distortions or remove them altogether! I didn't buy this for the distortions. I mainly wanted modulation and time-based effects on the floor. However, I was unpleasantly surprised to find out how bad the distortions are.

4. Reduce the time period in which audio drops out when switching between patches. Better yet, eliminate it altogether. This is VERY noticeable and is a major issue for live performance.

In all, I can't tell if Boss was trying to make something like the floor POD with this product because it is only useable in front of the amp. But the distortions are so bad that this is NOT useful as a standalone pre-amp. Boss should leave that goal to the GT series.

The ME could be a real winner in the multieffects only type of product. The user interface is awesome (a knob for everything)! Add the 4 Cable Mode from the GT8 to the ME-50, and it would be perfect.

But as it stands the ME-50 is a good product if you want to be able to quickly dial in effects for just about any song you can think of playing. It's also good for prototyping ideas, as a starting point for later buying higher quality independent pedals.

This product is very easy to use. Very user friendly

I was originally running this through the parralell effects loop of my Marshall AVT275 and it sounded great. I recently upgraded to a high end all tube amp (budda superdrive 80). The thing sounds like garbage through that amp. It totally kills my tone. The sound quality of this amp is so great that anything other the high end true bypass effects don't cut it. Be careful. This thing can be a tone killer depending on the amp you're using. I give sound qulaity a 9 or 10 when running it through my Marshall AVT 275. Through my Budda, I give it a 1. After upgrading to all true bypass efects, the budda just sounds flat out sick!!

Very reliable I have had no issues with the reliability of this unit.

Very easy to use........practically it's like having some boss pedals on your feet and you only have to tweak the knobs.......it cannot be easier than this........especially if you are coming from using rack effects like me (even though i still love them)......same thing about editing patches....you move the controls to where it sounds best and you press the store button........i never felt the neccesity to read the manual as it is quite straightforward to use the me 50......

Now before i bought the me 50 i had serious fears that it wouldn't be a good pedal......i do not trust pedalboards that offer an all in one package......i prefer using rack effects for the delay/reverb qualities and my amps distorted channel or pedals for distortion/overdive. So my fear was that the me50 would be able to do a lot of things but none of them in a good way......So i was pleasantly surprised to find that the overdrive/distortion section is really good....i mainly use the rat/big muff/ and od models and i must say that eben though they are not exact replicas from the pedals they claim to medal they are still god sounding.....the rat model is even warmer than a real rat .........plus with all the dist models it offers it is really versatile.....you can go from a bluesy sound to a metal mayhem......
The modulation section is nice......especially the chorus(i used in the stereo mode and it was particularly good)(the flanger is a little bit noisy and the phaser cuts a lot of bass freqs) and i can say the same thing about the delays( i missed not being able to see the ms setting for the delays).......The part i didn't like was the reverb........you only have one knob to adjust it and off course it is underparametered and it never sounds the way it should.....The wah is quite good but does not match a VOX or a good dunlop.......so i liked the distortion section a lot, the modulation/delays were good enough and i didn't like the reverb......
Let me say i use it between my guitar and the clean channel of my amps (strats and a marshall tsl, a mesa DC5 and a fender deluxe reverb....)

well it is a boss so it should be pretty reliable......i didn't encounter any problems untill now.....

i play mainly rock/blues and i am in a covers band.I play guitar for 14years and have owned a good amount of gear untill now.....I have some racks(rocktron& tc electronics) and some pedals (rats, boss ce 2 e.t.c and while i understand nowbody will trade all of his pedals for the me 50 i think it is a good all in one unit......i would instantly buy a boss pedal with the distortion section of the boss me 50.......as far as delays/reverbs e.t.c it is a good pedal but i think it needs some improvements especially in the reverb area. So for the price paid (200euros) i think it is a good versatile pedal (i wish it had an emulated output so i could use it for recording.....:-) )

ME-50 is the easiest pedal around. It takes about 10 minutes to get the hang of it. You can fiddle around and get a couple of cool sounds by editing.

It is Highly Recommended to anyone that doesn't want to waste time on learning the controls and wants to just get on stage and play.

I'm using this pedal for about a year. My basic setup is a Fender Iron Maiden Strat Custom and my Fender Frontman 25R practice amp. Though i have also played a lot of times with a bunch of other strats, a Warmoth custom, an old ESP Strat-style, and a couple of ibanez guitars (including the super-cheap Gio). I have been playing for a long time on Marshall JCM 2000 amps using a 300Watt Marshall Cabinet (don't quite remember the model).

The Distortions are good but not the best around. Fiddle around with the options you get and you might end up with a descent distortion. I mostly used this with the Lead Distortion, Drive level at 3/4. Bottom a little higher than 3/4 and Tone a little Lower than 3/4. You really need the noise suppressor some times. It's not very good but you can't go without it.

The Harmonist isn't any good. Especially with heavier distortions you get some pretty annoying sounds.

The Wah is ok, not the best but you can get some cool sounds!

The Reverb is very nice. The Spring Reverb is something you shouldn't use. It sucks.

The Rest of the Effects are pretty good, Generally the ME-50 has been a real help on my guitar playing.

It is highly Dependable. I would ,and have, used the ME-50 a couple of times on gigs without backups. C'mon, its a BOSS!

Never ever dealt with them. (Never had to)

I play Ballads, Blues, Rock, Metal (all sorts of Metal). This thing has helped me so far. I have managed to get some pretty cool Sounds while using it.

I've been playing for 3 years and a half. I own a Fender Iron Maiden Strat Custom and a Fender Frontman 25R, 3 classical guitars and one cheap electro-acoustic.

If it were stolen i would probably buy it again. There is nothing as easy as that around.

I Love the reverb and Some Tone Mods. Oh and the Distortion type i mentioned above :)

I hate the hum the distortions produce (but this happens more or less on any pedal), i hate the harmonist!

I wish you could have more effects at a time, a bit better Noise Suppressor and a bit better Wah. Oh and i wish there wasn't that slight delay when changing through the premade patches.

It is really helpful in making music and getting new, cool sounds in seconds!

Other reviews are accurate
here is the thing: I am playing 30 years - I have tried them all - Korgs, Digitech, Pod (Yes Pod XT) and others -
It is not that this is the best - it is the ONLY one of its kind - The XT live has some great sounds but who wants to spend your life HAVING to tweak every program you want and THEN testing out the large volume swells between programs

The Negatives of the unit are the flip side of the positives
- Cant change banks easily (but you are getting the pedals right in front of you)
- Must bend down to change effects (well, all live players bend down - I would rather bend to change Exp. pedal or effect then try to change a patch mid-gig)

BIG DESIGN FLAWS - MY MAjor issue with the unit -
NO T WAH, NO SYNTH and
the HOLD feature which is great is only 2 seconds -
-The unit has Vibrato, Trem, Rotary and Univibe (in additiion to phaser, etc...) I mean who built this Mr. Surf 60's
- Also - the tone modify (preefffect) is not very useful - they should keep the acoustic sounds and the fat and add the T Wah there - the others are pretty useless - Plus you need a footswitch to turn it onh and off

BOSS MADE THe Twah famous - and no EF - Think I am nitpicking?
The Bass version (ME50B ) HAS 3 T Wahs And four synth sounds!!! - I toyed with buying the bass version instead
- If the thing had a T Wah and a longer Hold feature - I wouldn't need another effect

EASE _ nothing easier - Dont buy it to be a digital patch changer pedal - it is much more like 40 pedals in one unit

I actually used it live several times - I can bend down and change effects, levels, intensity and master volume -
Some weird design flaws as mentioned by others - Phaser is loud and rotary is soft - WAY too many vibrato tyoe effects -

Wah - Is just about as good as it gets - cant rock it back and forth to get that Hendrix wah vibrato - otherwise it is excellent and DEFAULTS to volume pedal -
Voice - a waste
resonance - combine with Dist and has some synth qualities
WHAMMY - is awesome - + 1 oct I use it all the time now

Dist:
I mostly use Screamer and it is better than ANY othe multieffect I tried - It is just like a pedal - The MZ, the Distortions even the muff are very realistic - None of that tinny, digital crap and just turn the dials to tweak

SOON they will make the next level - a little bigger, more wah options, T Wah, Synth sounds, Longer Hold (Looping function) and it will be unstoppable

WHY cant anyone else do this? I now use this thing instead of a pedal board
I use it in Manual mode - have not tried to really progaram it but think - In manual mode I can turn on/off Dist, Mod, Delay and exprression - Thats for effects right in fron of you - NO menus or programming or crazy volume swells!

As said above - Some minor flaws otherwise - this thing is perfect for someone who wants to learn what real pedadls are about - try all the distortions and effects - comp, reverb etc... and get an idea of what you like -
TRUST ME _ you will never have time on a Pod or Digitech to hear ALL the different sounds and you will quickly lose interest in your dreams of programming the dream combinations for all your needs on Those units -
With the Bosss - in a couple of hours you can try EVERY combination and tweak each parameter right there - When will these other companies get the idea

NOise - NR works well but I am not an NR prerson - I try to balance to lose noise -
I use it with a Line 6 - Strat - to Korg Ax-3 (gives me t wah, filters, acoustic, octaver etc...) - ME 50 - Akai Headrush for looping

DOWNSIDE - cant chain lots of effects - so if you want an octaver it must be set up before the tune or put in a patch and cant chain it with Phaser, chorus etc... (Hence I use the AX3 for easy effect)

TRUE _ nothng beats the cry-baby itself - but this thing is sturdy and the wa feels great and not too short and it defaults to a great volume pedal.

As above - some of the effects are redundant and leave out obvious ones like EF and synth sounds - but bend down 3 or 4 times a show and you have 7 or 8 pedals at your feet

Some people say they turn things on and off by accident - This could happen But I am careful with my feet - The tuner is good and the pedal seems sturdy - but we will see

So far yes but have had it a short time - Pedal seems really sturdy but not sure if the wah will last

I may buy an earlier version or abnother of these - Now I oftne use my pedal board as backup

Not applicable

Once again - Leaving out the twah and synth sounds and putting it in the bass version was just cruel - Who the hell needs vibrato and trem and rotary (cool effect) and univibe???

I play Rock - Funk - Mid Easdtern - Fusion -
I was looking for an "all in one" No they dont exist - this is the closest - the sounds are great and are like actual pedals - Someday they will add a looping/hold function with more time now I can go to rehearsal and set up 2 -3 units instead of five pedals and I now have way more options - Hey a digitech whammy pedal costs almosst what this unit costs used!

If you know about pedals and need regular OD/Dist and delay and a combined Vol/Wah there is NOTHING in its category - Go and program your POD XT live with all modeling and menus and pedals - I'll be jamming away while you're still on the second patch!!!!

BUY IT

Great tone right out of the box. Very easy to operate and the ME-50 truly is like having a few stompboxes on the floor. In the manual mode, if you want overdrive, just step on the OD pedal. If you want Chorus or delay, it's just like stepping on individual stompboxes.

The Memory mode contains the patches and they are so easy to access and edit, it's ridiculous.

I have used many setups and Multi FX units through the years and the ME-50 is the absolute best that I've used. There are so many different overdrives and distortions and even a very believable sample of the Fuzz Face. I honestly do not have any problems finding enough different tones and overdrives from this unit.

The effects are spot on and I really love the Uni-Vibe effect in the ME-50. Play with your eyes closed and Jimi is smiling somewhere. The delays are lush and plentiful. This box has a compressor/sustainer, noise gate and reverb. There is a tone modifier that lets you dial down a double humbucker to a single coil, or run an electric in and get a very convincing Acoustic Simulator.

I have found that running any multi processor in front of a real good amp is not as practical as running this unit in stereo to 2 lesser amps or even a stereo power amp driving guitar cabs. The ME-50 sounds great in all applications.

Look, this ME-50 is a Boss! It's built like a tank. I've never, ever had a problem with a Boss Pedal.

I have never had to deal with their support.

I like hard rock and metal, and the Boss ME-50 serves up the tone. I've been playing for 23 years and I have gotten rid of any other gear. There is no question I would buy another ME-50. In fact, I'm going to look around for a second unit. The simplicity and the TONE! The Expression pedal is nice and beefy...I wear a size 15 so this is the only processor I will use.

The ME-50 will inspire you to jam and to create. It has a CD jack to jam along with CD's or MP3's. Here's another great thing about the ME-50; you can use the left and right outputs along with the headphone out. Usually, when you plug phones in it defeats the outputs, but not this unit. The ME-50 is extremely flexible for recording, but it earns it's pay on the stage.

There are many brands out there, and they all do different tricks. The ME-50 is a serious, well constructed tool to do one trick...It has major Tone!

This was one of the main selling points. No scrolling screens, can be used without referring to the manual and it is stomp box simple. The big drawback is the lack of foot controled banking.

I run a fairly simple set up. I need a tuner, DS-1, sometimes a bit of sustain and delay. The cost of three pedels added up to more than the cost of the ME-50 and if I wanted to play with some other things like a volume pedel, etc. I would have to buy those as well. The limited amount of effects I use sound great with my '65 DRRI but not so much with the s.s. practice amp. See the previous review for the pros and cons.

I've been playing shows with this thing for a couple of years now and without a problem. While I don't abuse this thing on purpose, it does get bumped, knocked off stage, beer and whisky spilled on it and such. Still keeps going.

Never needed.

This thing is a tank with good sound. It's probably the easiest to use multi-effects board on the market. I use it for country clean and southern rock dirty. I play a Fender (Am.-deluxe) Telecaster, Jaguar HH (Japan) and Fender thinline mandolin through a Fender Deluxe Reverb Reissue. You might have more control with individual pedels, but if you don't need that much, get this.

Super Easy to use, the dials work like stomps so setting your tone is a no brainer. Editing Patches is remarkably easy as well. The pedal is specifically designed for players who don't want to sit and tinker for hours to nail their sound. That's one of the reasons I bought it.

Alright, the distortion on this thing is monstrous, it blows me away everytime. There is literally every kind of tone you could want in this think, vintage rock and roll, blues snarl, hot country twang, and frigging death metal, its in the box. The Mod effects are good as well. I have noticed that the unit sounds remarkably better when its run through my Peavey XXX half stack, it really responds well with high output tube amps. Using it w/ my S.State practice amp makes things sound uber artificial and stagnant. Here are some quick pros and cons:

Pros:
+ Damn that distortion is hot, seriously, pro quality.
+ Mod effects are good especially all of the Choruses and the Univibe
+ I find that the tone modify helps me achieve a more realistic tone, but regardless there is no knob that makes a les paul sound like a strat or an acoustic. Nice try though.
+ Noise gate is very effective and the unit operates very Quietly
+ Built like a Panzer tank
+ I find that the Acoustic sim. responds very well to single coil pickups
+ VERY VERY Realistic, even at high volumes
+ "The price is right!"

Cons:
- there is about a half of a second of dead sound while switching patches, very uncool, very unprofessional. HUGE BUMMER.
- Flanger and Phaser effects create a wicked volume boost that you can't really tweak. So when you switch em' off its like your rig looses all its muscle. When you switch em' on its like knocks you on your ass.
- No bank up and down switches, they're sold separately, just like the adapter. That's flat out ridiculous.
- The wah while good can't compete with a good Crybaby.
- when I use my amp's distorion the reverb and echo is very loud, and I can't turn it down. When I use the distortions in the pedal these effects are almost too quiet. What the heck?
- the noisegate kicks in about a half second late.

No trouble yet, use it every single day of my life. Good at practices as well. Yes I'd gig w/ it.

You can get pro quality tones out of this in a heart beat. It's one of the most realistic pedals I've ever heard, it even passes the high volume, high output amp test. Nothing but positive feedback about the tonal quality of my rig since I bought it. Brilliance craves simplicity and this is a breeze to use. The tones in this have inspired me to write a butt load of songs, put a price tag on that!

For the price I think its the multi-effects pedal of choice. None of this cab sim BS either, I hate that. Every single guitar I use with it sounds different and good. Perfect for players who are tone freaks but wanna cut the programming crap and get to the point, playing. Buy it b/c if you steal mine I'm coming for you!

Up and running in a couple of minutes without the aid of the manual. Don't know if I will ever use the patch saving facility - a major selling point of this for me was that you don't have to.

The manual is excellent - very well layed out and lists the preset patches with descriptions of each.

After a few minutes of tinkering, I managed to get sounds ranging from a convincing dry, rootsy Angus Young sound, to a heavily compressed, acoustic'y chorus-driven Johnny Marr sound, to a meaty GWAR-esque metal sound. My particular favourite sound is the 'Modern OD' - a versatile crunchy overdrive ranging from very subtle to sounding like a red-hot tube amp. I am using this with my Gibson Les Paul Studio Lite, my Akai Head Rush and my Line 6 Spider amp. Some effects are ALWAYS noisy when cranked (e.g. Phaser) - the built-in noise gate makes light work of any noise.

It's Boss

I play indie, alternative, 80's pop, rock, metal... this unit covers all bases with ease. I have been playing for 15 years and accumulated many Boss, ProCo, Guyatone, Digitech etc guitar effects over that time. All my effects and tuners are going on ebay - I simply don't need them AND an ME-50. I'll just be keeping my Akai Head Rush for phrase looping. The ME-50 is pretty much exactly what I've been looking for for years - a multieffects pedal that behaves the same as a pedalboard full of effects rather than having to program patches. The only thing I would wish for is an additional footswitch for switching the tuner on and off rather than having to press the OD and MOD switches. There are many saught-after effects here too, such as the long-discontinued SG-1 Slow Gear (called 'Slow Echo'). The +1 and -1 octaves on the expression pedal knock socks off the same effects on the Digitech Whammy (upwards of ?135) and the delay on this board is basically a Boss DD-6 (upwards of ?96), so not only does this board save on floorspace and spaghetti-junction wiring - it's a total bargain at around ?150.
Now I want an ME-50B too!

This is probably the most easy to understand effects machine that I have ever used. It's straight to the poin. No weird abbreviations or signs. And the manual is very helpful also. I'm not sure what editing patches are, so I can't comment on that. I use this machine with a Gibson Nighthawk (3 pickup model), and a Fender J.A.M amp. I bought it about 3 weeks ago down at my local guitar center, and it hasn't given me any problem yet.

I can't really just put a 10 on sound quality, because that would be lying. I don't believe any machine and/or guitar deserves a complete 10 on sound quality. But this effects pedal hasn't failed me yet. I can get a wide range of sound from clean tone Santana, to crunchy distorted Metallica. I also really like the delay effect, the reverse sound makes it sound similar to a Sitar. And the distortion isn't noisy and blary at all, it's a very clean and desirable distortion sound. Though the thing that bugs me is that the chorus isn't "elaborate" enough. The chorus barely adds anything. But everything else is amazing. The acoustic sound is also very accurate unlike some other pedals I've tried. I usually use the metal effect for the distortion, but I've also tried the lead and a few others. The lead sound is a very strong and rich tone. Overall the sound quality of this machine will not fail you in any way.

I have never used this on a gig before, but so far, it doesn't seem to be fragile. It's a name brand, so you can trust it.

I have never needed assistance with anything from the Roland/Boss company, so I can't say.

This is a great piece of machinery if you're a guitar player. Instead of using so much money for those bulky single pedals. Here's an effects machine that is all the pedals in one. It's also a tuner, and it can hold up a memory of your own created sounds. I usually play rock or blues, so this fits me well. The clean tone of my guitar also helps a lot for many sounds, such as distortion. Some guitars I've used has a bit of a stronger sound and when put with heavy distortion it sounds blary. If it was stolen or lost, yes I would buy it again. This is a really good deal. I got it only for $275, and look at all the wonders it gave me. I recommend this for ANY guitarist out there.

Dead easy to get a good sound, but you have to have a decent dry sound from your amp first, it won't turn a Squier champ into a Triple rectifier or an SLP through 2 4x12 cabs. I tend to stick to maybe 3 or 4 sounds and effects that I know work well.
Patching edits is a breeze, hit the edit/exit button, change the parameter and hit the write button. job done.
That said I don't use them live as there is too much of a delay in changing the patches over and also you can't adjust a parameter when playing to override the patch. It is not possible to run 2
This is a major demerit in my eyes, I had a V-amp 2 and you could do this which made a major difference if you found you were too distorted for example mid song.

The manual is very good, it could be a little more explicit on things like the harmoniser. It mentions buying various Boss footswitches when a bog standard one will do to change patches or turn the tone modify or compressor on or off. (I use my old v-amp footswitch and my bandmate uses a Marshall footswitch)

The Acoustic simulator is very good with the right amp settings.

Chorus and delay are very good.
The Harmonist needs careful calibration and wasn't quite as great as I had hoped.
Octave pedals are great if you use a Les Paul and need some dive bombing sounds (I use it on Bon Jovi covers)
Where I do have a problem is with the spacing between the three main pedals. It is too easy to hit the tuner if you have wide feet or the stage is dark. This has happened to me on several occasions and it's very embarrassing.
The other thing that you need to be careful with is the Octave up or down expression pedal, its very easy to be a bit heavy on the pedal and instead of boosting your volume suddenly sound like your bass player or like a soprano. There is an indicator light to show that the expression pedal is on but it is easy to miss as it is pretty small. Maybe a different colour led would make it stand out more.

The reverb is a bit fierce, it seems to go from almost imperceptible to sounding like a fart in a spacesuit with less than a half mm turn on the control.

Ergonomically it's pretty logical but I'd like the power
I'd also like to see the input jack on the side of the unit not the front of it.
The PSU unit has the worlds most pathetic cable, it can't be more than 5ft long which is nowhere near enough.

Guitars are Tokai Love Rock, Tokai Strat, Tokai Flying V and Epiphone Les Paul Studio. Amp is 1981 vintage Marshall JMP model 50 watt 2 x 12 MV valve combo.
Other effects units which come and go out of the chain are:
Guitar>Cry Baby Wah Wah(always in the chain)> Behringer GE10 Graphic equaliser> Behringer PB1 Pre Amp booster> EH Little Big Muff Fuzz circa 1976> Marshall Blues Breaker OD> ME50> Marshall input(there is no FX loop). Have gigged with as little as the Graphic and the ME50.

It can be noisy if you add a lot of gain on the Distortion models but I tend to play Blues/Rock/Punk rather than Heavy Metal. Easy to get a good Angus Young /Gary Moore/Slash tone. Equally easy with bit of amp tweaking to get a really lush clean/chorus Andy Summers type tone. The Noise gate works well, with only a little residual hiss and when I need to cut the sound totally the Volume pedal works very well.
The Distortions I tend to use are the Overdrive ones to push the amp harder rather than the More Aggressive Distortion models. The fuzz is ok but the Big Muff model sounds nothing like my genuine EH pedal.

Through a crap amp it won't make you sound like a vintage Marshall stack though. It does have a good chorus sound through a clean transistor or valve amp.

Well build and very solid. I do gig it without a back up. It's a Boss so you know the reliability will be there.

Not had to deal with them.

I play in a covers band doing things from The Beatles to Guns n Roses and Thin Lizzy . I also play in pick up bands doing things like Gary Moore and Michael Schenker so I guess you could call me an old rocker. this is a great bit of kit in spite of the minor annoyances. You don't need a degree in IT to work it(I'm an IT Training manager). You can treat the individual effects like individual stomp boxes. You aren't fretting over which patch lead is working or not or are your batteries about to die. The sounds are pretty much all useable. It's easier to use the distortions than the Digital amp modellers in many ways.
The only things I don't like are mentioned in the review other than that I would like to see a patch upgrade via the net to a MIDI port and a quicker response to patch changes to make them truly useable and perhaps LED indicators on the Pots like the V-amp has, they were invaluable on a dark stage.

Q: How easy is it to get a good sound out of it?

A: As easy as it gets - all knobs, just like a bunch of single effect pedals in one.

Q: How about Editing patches?

A: Easy but I never use them - see below for why.

Q: How is the manual for it (if there is one)?

A: Yeah, good as far as I can remember - don't even need it after reading it once.

Extra: It is easy to use but the patches are useless on stage, this is because of the huge drop out in sound when switching between patches. So I use the thing in manual mode all the time which works pretty well anyway.

Q: What setup (i.e. what guitars and amps) are you using this with?

A: Yamaha RGX electric with floating bridge and twin humbuckers (sweet guitar BTW!), Marshall AVT100 combo with an extension cab on stage (1 x celestion GTM-70 I think) no other pedals. Also use a crappy Ibanez for alt tuning on stage.

Q: Is it noisy? On what settings?

A: Only noisy if you turn the gain on the distortion way up - you don't need to do that anyway, there is plenty of gain for even the heaviest thrash player.

Q: Are the effects weak or do they always sound great?

I'd say the delay and reverb are good the modulation (flanger, etc) are not to bad, the guitar simulators are crap! the wah only sounds ok on cleen tone, but sounds with distortion - especially crap external distortion - i.e. your amps distortion. The noise suppresor is pretty good but I dont really use it - it sounds like it sucks tone a bit when switched on. I do like that when all effects are off it does not seem to modify the tone at all. None of the effects are as good as the indervidual pedals. Some of the distortion are ok but only if your amp is sh1t. I never use them, I always use my amps distortion - sounds much better.

Q: What amp are you using it with?

A: Like I said: Marshall AVT100 combo, 100W, 1 x 12inch with an extension cab on stage (1 x 12 celestion) Total 2 x 12inch. Sounds quite good for a solid state amp.

Q: Can you get the sound of your favorite artists? Who are they?

A: There is no band I can't at least get close to with this thing - and trust me I've learnt 100s of covers over the years. I can even get incubus pretty close with this thing which is cool - I'm a big fan.

Q: Are certain effects (distortion, chorus, ...) very good? Very bad?

A: See above.

Eztra info: The only things I use on this unit are:
On stage: delay, reverb, volume pedal, flanger, tuner (which is actually quite good)
At home: As above plus a few more of the modulation effects and the Wah.

Everything else I find pretty useless.

Q: Can you depend on it?

Yes, never had a problem and it sees a lot of use.

Q: Would you use it on a gig without a backup?

A: Yes, but only because I can get away without having it, the pissed punters never notice anyway:)

never delt with them, think it sucks that they make you pay for the power adaptor seperatly. Dont do it - just go to an elec store and get the same thing for 1/2 the price.

Q: What style of music do you play? Is this a good match?

A: It will do most things reasonably well, pretty much any style as far as I can see. But like I said I play mostly pop / rock, never never country!

Q: How long have you been playing? What other gear do you own?

A: I've had this unit for 2+ years. I Have been playing for about 6 years. I Play in a band but not really professionally - we do a few paid pub gigs (covers) and screw around with some originals. We play mostly pop - rock pub cover type songs.

Q: If it were stolen or lost, would you buy it again or get something else?

A: If I found one second hand for a good price I may buy it, I priolly would not pay new price again. But I'd prolly just go and buy a Boss flanger a cry baby wah and a Boss delay pedal as indervidual units.

Q: what do you love about it? What do you hate? What is your favorite feature?

A: It is easy to use, transport, set up, dismantle and it has all the functions I need. I hate the sound drop out when switching between patches - It would be so much more useful if it did not have this problem.

Q: Did you compare it to other products? Which ones? Why did you choose this one?

A: Yeah but can't remember which ones - this one was easiest to use and had all the functions I wanted also in a solid metal box not crappy plastic like other brands.


Q; Anything you wish it had?

A: No sound drop out on patches!!!

Q: Does it help you make music, or does it get in the way?

A: It helps - would not use it otherwise

Q: Anything else you'd like to share?

A: If your a professional muso don't bother - get indervidual pedals and rack them up, If your a bedroom rock star or someone who plays in bands only semi seriously it is Ok.

This thing is super easy. Its got all of the effects you need, plenty of knobs, and no stupid digital interface with tons of patches to scroll through. it has 30 editable patches, but i never used that, i always used it straight up.

fender tele with hot rails > me50 > bad monkey > echo park > peavey classic 50 -or- 78 fender bassman 10.

very quiet, has a built in noise suppressor too, i always had it on so i could filter out any stray hiss or hum.

the effects always sounded great. the only thing i wasnt too hot for was the tremolo, but it sounded fine for what i was playing. the delay was great, i always use the analog setting. tap tempo too!!!

i used this on tour and in the studio for two years. always kept up, very sturdy and rugged, never had one problem. never.

i wouldnt need a backup for this. never did. always worked very well.

never dealt with boss simply cuz i never had to!!!

i play ambient indie and used to play in a hardcore type band. it was always super useful and an integral part of my setup. i actually just sold it today for $200 to some guy in my town. i had a custom pedalboard built for me, and i dont use all of the effects so it was going to waste. i wish i could afford to keep it though. i loved it to death. if i can afford it ill get another one down the road.

i highly reccomend it, its a great box, very easy to use, very dependable, and great sounding.

I writing this review because I'm firing this FX box after several months of use. Last night, once again, I turned the tuner on when stepping on the distortion and turned my sound off. The same set, I pressed down too hard on the pedal, once again, (though I've set it to the least sensitive position) and turned the octaver on while playing my electric 12-string. This box is just too gay, I'm afraid - I stomp my boxes and this is for players who want to carefully and delicately select their settings (with their feet). Perhaps my feet are just too clumsy :) Also getting to presets is a pain and you can't isolate effects in presets live. I know good players who use this; but if you're in a rowdy band i.e. move a lot on stage and actually stomp your boxes etc. AVOID THIS.

It's Boss - sounds great - might keep it for studio - good modulation

Boss makes solid stuff - I use a GT3 for ambient gigs and I have a lot of

I used this for a rock band. I've been playing for 32 years (really). I would not replace it if stolen, in fact I am replacing it, hence this review. It simply did not suit my performance style - it got in the way. What's with the paying extra for the adapter? I wanted some thing simpler than the GT3 for a jamming band situation; it's smaller, lighter, but for reasons cited it's out the door.

Why does Roland have such weird colors on their gear?

Just knobs, no menu's, dial in your sound, press write! I bought this unit mainly for this purpose. My band doesn't allow fiddling and tweaking, they just want to play! Great unit.

Guitar: Japanese Malmsteen Strat body with Bill Lawrence XL-500 bridge humbucker, standard single coil middle pickup an Dimarzio stacked (hot rails or something) neck humbucker.

Amp: Carlton all tube 50 watt combo, I use the clean fender twin channel. Damn loud, competes with a Mesa Boogie dual rectifier in the band.

I use the Me-50 before the pre-amp for all sounds.

Only a complete moron wouldn't get a decent tone out of this unit an I read the reviews: they are out there!

Blues, Rock, Metal, it's all there with style.
Cut back on the level if it sounds too harsh.

Totally rocking tone.

Uni-ve sound is great, expression pedal makes you SCREAM, reverb is cool and very easy to use.

Whatever: buy this unit.

It's Boss!! Rock solid stuff.

No experience with that. That's obvious because this unit is bomb-proof and very easy to use!

I play rock an blues and sometimes metal, lead and rhythm.
As a vocalist I don't need a tapdance with pedals. I play for 17 years, I'm into computers and home recording but this unit rocks in the live-situation and rehearsel. It's also useable for recording, put a good mic in front of your amp.

I dumped my Digitech GNX-4 for this unit: the digitech sounds great but wasn't tweakable enough in the live-situation. 10.000 great sounds at your feet, which you can't reach....

The sound is inspiring, already wrote tunes because of it.

The color and knobe are great, very retro look.

This unit stays! If it gets stolen i'll buy another one at once!!

Thank you BOSS!!!!

Just plug in and play! That simple! I came home with mine from the store and the Dude had put it in the wrong box (ie, Boss ME-50 FOR BASS GUITAR), so I had the wrong manual. Still up and running in a few moments.

I play a 60th Anniversary Standard Strat with EMG DG-20 Pickups into the Boss ME-50 into a Peavey Valve King 112. This Multi-Fx is everything I need and nothing else! It's all laid out in stomp box fashion so if you need to tweak or fiddle, just lean over and do it WITHOUT SCROLLING THROUGH MENU'S!!!

To be fair to the Reader, you need to know that I have owned several effects setups including: Keeley and Analogman Custom pedalboards, Boss ME-33, GT3, GT6, Zoom 505, Digitech RP50, RP 200, RP 400, GNX2, Vox Tonelab and Tonelab SE, Line 6 POD v2.0 and POD XT Live. So, this is what I'm comparing the sounds I'm hearing to.

Of all the stuff I've owned over the last 8 years the bottom line is that all of them have their strengths and weaknesses. And all of them I could twiddle and tweak until I had a sound I liked. So far as the absolute best quality of sounds and functionality in a Multi-Fx the Line 6 POD XT Live wins hands down. Those guys are the Grandfather of Modeling and Premium sounds. Boss is #2 for me even though they have been in business longer. (Just a note: the Vox Tonelab SE rates #3 on my list of favorites and ties for quality sounds with the XT Live.) However, with the POD XT Live there is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Much I could not use and it took more time in getting around in tweaking. That's where the Boss ME-50 shines through. Just plug in and play. I started in Manual Mode and within minutes had my Clean \ Overdrive sound just like I wanted it!

Concerning the Effects on the ME-50:
Tone Shaping: 10 EQ Presets and they are helpful to me because you don't have to learn what all the EQ bands do and set the paramiters; just turn to one of the 10 until you find your sound. DONE!

Compressor: It's not a Keeley Comp., but then the entire ME-50 cost the same as the Keeley Comp. It's effective and useful. Too much will squash your sound, but at a lower setting, it's very desirable.


reverbs: Good at lower settings for each one.

Noise Supressor: Works great with your higher gain OD's and Distortions.

Overdrive\Distortion: There's not one out of 22 choices that I can't find something usable! I even took the MT-2 and tweaked it down to a great SRV OD sound!

Modulations (Choruses, Flanger, etc...): All are pristine quality and usable.

Delays: My favorite Catagory! Again, all are usable and really enhance your sound.

Expression Pedal: I use it mostly for Volume and Wah. The Wah is, in my opinion, okay and tolerable. But I say that in comparission to the Wah on the POD XT LIve and the Tonelab SE!!! Those were the best of all! But again the Boss Wah is usable.

Built like a Brick do-do house!

N\a

I play Classic Rock, Blues, some metal and whatever else! This is a great, easy, dependable Multi-Fx that has some minor drawbacks but also has many, many more draws.

One note here: I tried this through the Front of my ValveKing and through the FX Loop and it's sounds better through the front. *I've not been able to get any effect to sound better through the Loop for some reason with my current amp.

The built in tuner and noise gate features are a great help. I love the expression pedal choices and the fact that I could very easily adjust the on/off (Volume to Wah Wah) pressure sensitivity.
I have found that saving custom patches is a bit problematic but I have not dedicated alot of time to the project.

Generally excellent effects.
I use a 1969 Stratocaster, 1998 Ibanez Artstar180, 2004 Fender American Special Toronado as well as various acoustic electrics. Distortion effects without sacrificing tone. Great delay and chorus effects. Seperate reverb effect.
I sometimes, but rarely, add a vintage RAT and a vintage Cry Baby. Whether I play through my vintage Fenders (Vibro-Champ or Deluxe Reverb) or my Peavey Classic 30 I know the sound I expect is the sound I'll get.

Well, I did a gig with my church band for an international satellite TV broadcast over 3 nights. Had 100% confidence the ME-50 would not let me down. My trust was not misplaced.

Battery power seems to last quite a long time.

I play a mix of Christian music including R&B, Blues, Rock, Country or Jazz. Whatever style I play the ME-50 fits.

Everyone I know uses a POD. I watch them bend down to make their selections and I wonder how they manage to control the wah effect.
I tried a POD I went with the Boss and I made the right choice.

It's insured...I'd get another one in a flash if I lost it.

Add it up. This is virtually every Boss stomp box in one unit.

Brilliant!! That is what i love about this pedal! And I'll probably mention it several times more in the next few

minutes.

Completely idiot proof technology in manual mode, plug-in and bang on the pedals and twiddle the dials.

When i bought this i was comparing it to the Korg Ax1500g (cheaper and packed with features) and the boss GT8,

(pricey and need a degree to work it). I plumped for this pedal, because i could dial up sounds in a matter of

seconds without having to use dreaded menus.

Writing patches on the memory is also very easy. Setup the pedal, press write, choose bank and patch and Press the

write button a couple of times.

The manual is simple, though its not necessary to consult it after a few minutes of use. Gives the details of the

factory preset patches, but because the maximum value for each effect parameter is not given, i am uncertain of how

to read parts of the table.

Overall, this pedal is free of the dreaded menus that have annoyed me with previous pedals and sounds can be

produced in seconds, so i give it 10 for ease of use

High sound quality, low hum. Can't complain. Obviuosly the high gain dist and od make a racket, but minimal use of

the noise gate can normally sort this out.

After 5 minutes the overall sound blew the AX1500 away. Though that unit is capable of some nice sounds once you

have fiddled through the menus.

The drive settings are generally very good, although i sometimes long for a bit more beef on the OD-1. I generally

use the OD-2 and crunch settings the most.

Mod, chorus flange and phase very good, i havent found a use for the vibrato or the UNi-V that the website rates so

highly. Harmonist lead lines can sound pretty impressive when coupled with metal distortion, though its cheating of

course:p.

Delay... err it delays, nowt special. The hold function can create a 2 sec "loop" function that must annoy the

neighbours.


Reverb leaves something to be desired, no subtlety, gets very muddy very easily. But its acceptable

Compression, priceless. Although the controls are a little limiting, level and sustain. An attack dial would be an

improvement

Tone Mod, i use as little as possible.

Expression pedal, the one place where the AX1500 really shone, the me50 has a reasonable wah and resonance, the

voice wah is not that great, if you want living on a prayer vocoder... (if you're cheese inclined) use the AX1500.

pedal pitch shift is only 1 octave +/-. compared to many pedals that offer 2 octaves. I never got the point of

ring mod...

I probably should have mentioned the memory banks by now, but they are easy to forget about as i use the manual

mode more often. Basically there are 10 banks, each with three patches, chosen by the 3 stomp pedals. Bank can be

changed via an external 1 or 2 pedal switch (obv it doesnt have to be a boss one, i use a marshall that came free

with my amp :p). Its so easy to create and recreate sounds in the manual mode that i don't bother with the banks

for practise and rehearsal. If im gigging, i store settings i need in the first few patches the night before.

I give this pedal 8 for tone and features, my only complaints being the reverb and the compression.

Great. If you threw it at someone, it would demolish their house and not affect the pedal. As has been said before, its a boss.

I would use it without a backup.

Never dealt with them.

I play all kinds of music, jazz, pop, rock, i use this pedal for all styles and it suits me well.

I have been playing for 5 or 6 years now, before i bouoght this pedal i used a zoom505ii, so this is a big upgrade.

I usually play an ibanez artcore (lovely hollowbody, great sound for the price) through this pedal and into a

Marshall 80 watt acoustic combo (i like this amp for jazz, and it works well for other styles too) or occasionally

a laney 65watt combo

I wish i had waited a week before purchasing this pedal :p, as it was #30 cheaper next time i was in the store!

If it were stolen/lost i would probably buy it again, unless something new crops up

The thing that sets this pedal apart from other multifx units is the ease of use, it takes barely any time to

create impressive tones.

Improvements? I would look for a 2 8ve pitch shift and more compression options. Improved reverb.
And maybe some envelope functions?

I have literally only purchased this in the last month or two. As far as finding your way around the unit. Easy as. I'm a bit of a techno-fobe. Always loved the easy of stomp boxes but by the time you add volume pedals power suppllies tuners and several favoured effects you're talking more than the cost of a multi-effects processor. And then of course you have set up time lots of patches to sift through to find that annoying little buzz or other noise. But when you plug this in you realise there's a whole new world out there just waiting. It walks all over stomp boxes because you can set a permanent combination of sounds and change completely in one step. This thing has more scope than I really need but having it gets my imagination going and it is a lot of fun to play with. The sounds are great. Lots of stuff I don't need but nice to have the option for later.... you just never know.
I did take off a few points though. Others have said it but.... who can afford to bend down and scroll though patches. Before I even left the shop the sales guy was talking the [FSU is it?]. You're looking at an extra $80 or so double that if you want to scroll both ways. I'd rather pay extra for the unit and get a few more foot swithches.

I like a Tele. I have an Australian made Tomkins which seems to be very popular with the country guys here. I dunno but I like it and I'm pretty much a rocker. I also use a very old Ibenez Les Paul. Love a humbucker. Dream guitar is a Tele with a humbucker. Dreams come a lot quicker than cash. The rig is a Marshall JCM 2000 combo. TSL 122. Which I love. Really warm sound. The ME50 really touches that off. In general I love most of the combo I can get with this comination. I actually really like the Marshall overdrive and thought that the whole Boss overdrive/distortion side of this would be a waste of time and space but tweaking the Marshall offerings with some of the on board sounds are great. And then there's the great miriad over variety on offer here. Some of which I won't use but that's a taste thing isn't it. As for the other areas. I think the the choruses are great. The hamoniser is good fun and well set up so that you can pick a key and a harmony and it will find the modulation for you. I like the delay offerings too. I'm still deciding wether I like the tone modifier. I actually like the compressor but would prefer the marshalls reverb. Mind you I do like to make it a little more wet from time to time so it's good to have.

Haven't had any problems

Generally play harder rock 20th/21st century. Also play in church but haven't used it there.

Been playing since '73/'74. first garage band '75 And pubs and the like and churches ever since.

Got a nice Fender Jazz Bass which I've owned and played lots since about 1980.

I'd buy another ME 50 one but would prefer the extra patch pedals on-board. I would've thought too they'd supply power- Mate you spend that much it should be part of the package.

I liked this unit for price, size, versatillity and good old dial-up effects. It's more like a stomp box than a PC.

If I were to re-structure this thing then I'd have a patch up and a patch down pedal which swithches the memory on. I'd prefer an analogue tuner. The 2 pedal thing is fine for turning on a tuner but not so great for switching on/off memory. WISHES....I'd even like more pedals for more patches per bank but that's stretching friendships. Maybe a memory card now it's $1000 unit. Keep going? No!

It is a very useful tool. It's a lot of fun and creates some great combo sounds.

Can't wait to see what BOSS does next time. Maybe there drawing board guys could take on some of the suggestions on this and other sites. Guys I really think the popular view is !why should we have to buy more pedals to make this ting fully operational. One of the reasons you buy a multi-effects processor is to clean up the amount of gear you have at your feet!

Quite easy to use, the all-in-one package being the absolute strength, + knobs for twitching a big plus.
expression pedal good for volume, but unsatisfactory for any effect modulations especially wah.
Tuner is a little to unaccurate with leds but will do in a live situation.
Lag when shifting patch: the unforgiving flaw that makes me regret ever bying this unit. Incredible that the sound completely disappears/cuts out! I only use it as an volumeeffect noise gate + slight reverb + occasional delay and/or tremolo/chorus. Selling out as soon as I complete my chain of stompboxes!

I use it with a fender '71 strat or squier japanese vintage '84 into: Dunlop crybaby --> T-rex CompNova --> BD-2 (Plan B- vodka mod) --> Me50 --> Marshall JTM 45 1991 reissue

The unit is not especially noisy, but certain effects like chorus and flanger do enhance existing signal noise in a bad way

The unit flavors the overall tone in a subtle but imho unflattering way, but it's in the detail and not something that matters for a loud livegig

reverbs are not so good, a little splash is all-right though
tone modify sound very digital and brittle in a tube amp, but can sound ok direct in the computer, the possibilities are fun though, and can add some versatility if you don't mind sacrificing clean sound
compressor is not satisfying, too few tweaking op's, not transparent and enhances noise much more than my t-rex for instance, but will do on moderate settings
Noise gate is rather good, as far as noisegates are
Delays are very good in my opinion!
modulations are good, but I struggle to find a decent chorus, I suspect it would be much better with a stereo setup. Other such as tremolo, phaser etc. quite good, here you really get some good op's
Overdrive/distortions decent pedal sounding, impressive array of overdrives/dist - absolutely, but generally they are a little thin sounding, and lacks bottom end and fullrange quality, can absolutely not compete with my BD-2 Plan B Vodka Mod or my EMMA REEZAFRATZITZ!!!, so I'm a little sorry that the pedal could'nt be assigned for other effects - I don't use them
effects for expression pedal are a joke in my opinion!

If U don't use batteries, I guess it will last you a lifetime, but batteries will not last you much more than an hour I reckon

-

I'm primarily singer/composer/songwriter but play a hell of a lot advanced rhytm guitar, and occasional theme/lead pieces, but thats rare since I have others for that particular job. My music is Danish pop/rock with a funky beat/element touching on soul/R'n B. play a lot of funky rhytm stuff, extended chords etc.
Been playing for 18 years.
Would never replace it, in fact im going to sell it as fast as possible, just have to replace the versatile functions of volume pedal, noisegate and so on that on the expense of good tone helps me for live playing - possibly I will buy another multi, fx tonelab se, or rack like g-system, but I don't really want amp emulations since I have an acceptable tube amp, and killer-killer overdrive stomps, (sounds like cranked vintage amps!) so just want effects, so i guess i'll go for a stomp-chain, but since im picky it may take a while and cost a lot...

Overall: It's a good compilation of medium to high quality effects, easy useable, with many functional attributes suited for the novice player.

BUT BEWARE LAG IN PATCH SHIFT DECREASE USABILITY VERY MUCH! wouldn't really recommend this unit, and I suspect I'm going to lose money selling this rather new effect on.

This is a wonderfully simple, intuitive, great sounding, feature-packed unit with great flexibility. The knob controls make it so easy. No scrolling banks of functions to dial in a sound that will be difficult to change in different rooms. The knob format is just as if you had the individual Boss pedals. It has inputs for two additional pedals but additional pedals are completely unnecessary. It is true that the compression and EQ sounds are not assigned to any of the three existing pedals but they can be assigned to any of the three pedals just as easily as assigning an AM station on your car radio. In fact, any effect and just about any combination of the effects can be assigned to the three pedals in a maximum of 30 assignable memories (3-pedals X 20 banks). And agian, this is as easy as dialing in a radio station and saving it to one of your car radio buttons.

The sound is great with the sole exception of the simulated spring reverb. The other three reverb types are quite good. All 4 reverb types are controlled on one knob with each type getting 1/4th of the travel of the knob. This is an extremely simplified reverb approach. One can easily get carried away with dialing in the perfect reverb on the emensly flexible, though complicated rackmount reverbs units such as the Alesis Quadraverb, or even a good BOSS footpedal digital reverb. But lets get real, once those perfectly dialed-in settings are set up in another room, they're no longer perfect.
Some of the large array of distortions can get noisey, as any foot pedal distortion does, but they included a noise reduction knob to gate out the noise. It is a very effective noise reduction and non-destructive to your tone. I haven't A/B'd each distortion with the original foot pedal versions, but they all sound to be good and reasonable approximations of Tube Screamer, Fuzz Face, Big Muff, etc... It also includes some further out sounds. If you get one, check the factory assigned sounds at bank 0, much like a synth with modulation controlled by the foot pedal. It does and excellent job as a volume control. The wah sound is the best I've heard.

When I saw the picture, I was worried about the plastic appearence of the foot pedal. I was happy to find that it is a strong robust pedal with a great feel. BOSS is a solid company and has only enhanced that image in my view with the quality of construction in the ME50. This is to say that it appears very reliable, I've used it on several dates in the last month that I've owned the pedal.

This pedal really is the way to go to replace the time consuming, noisey, and bulky set up of so many individual pedals. I use it with a country / classic rock cover band and that's a perfect application for this pedal. I also play vintage style surf music and I would not use this pedal for that application or any other vintage oriented band. I use it with a Tele and Strat. One of the nice EQ features takes the single coil sound and coverts it to humbucking sound and my 35 years experienced ears find that a great alternative to lugging aroung a heavy Les Paul in addition to the Fenders.

This unit is super easy to use, a no-brainer, a relatively great idea to keep everything in one-unit.Everything i need at least

My set up is as follows,

Gibson LESPAUL/Fender AM Strat/Ernie Ball musicman SUB>>>>>Jim Dunlop Original Crybaby>>>>Sansamp GT2>>>>>Digitech Bad monkey>>>>>Boss EQ 20>>>>>Boss ME-50>>>>Boss AC-2>>>>Marshall 100Watts/Roland Jazz Chorus Amp.

I use the Me-50's overdrive (tubescreamer) to clean up my distortion for solos, which works really really well, almost too well.My bad monkey is used for songs that require a heavier overdrive.

I don't really use most of the other distortions or overdrives on the ME-50 as although they sound good, I still prefer my sansamp and bad monkey.

The modulations are satisfactory and the delay is superb.I only use the chorus modulation , which is tweakable and suits me fine, and the delay portion is really intuitive,suits me fine too.

I play mostly 70's rock, with a bit of blues and jazz here and there, depending on the function that im playing at, and this baby has made me shine all the time.

To me. its like having a tuner, a booster pedal, a modulation pedal, a delay pedal, a volume pedal, a compressor pedal, a noise supressor pedal, all in one unit!Minus the signal loss and untidiness of the many cables needed!

I use a footswitch that is velcroed permanently onto my board for toggling the "tone modify" section, and WALA! extra tonal options!

My approach is simple, there may be some sounds that may not sound fantastic on this unit(tremelo/univibe), but hey!I just work with whatever I like.There are MANY USABLE Sounds here!!!!TRUST ME!I use this unit to my fullest advantage, and I love it!

I've been playing for 13 years and I'm quite impressed with this unit compared to what ive seen before in the past.Easy to use, smart and no-nonsense kinda gear.

I would rate this a 11 if i could.

Yup definitely.Been gigging with it for quite a while now, so far no problems.

I sent them emails regarding the footswitches and they replied me back asap.

Also if you lose your manual, no sweat , cos you can download them off the net too.

I play mostly 70's Rock and Blues and a bit of Jazz.Been playing for 13 years, and ive had it for 9 months and Ive grown to realise how convienient it is to have around.The sounds are good, not all, but most of them are, which is fine by me.

I could afford to pay a lot more for Boutique individual gear if
I wanted to, but hey,Im not a rock star(i just play music Part time), I don't have roadies(to carry my $%^&), and why the hell should i bother what the crowd( there are no gear snobs in the audience) thinks when they see my gear?All they want to hear is a good sound, and this baby has it.

I play my ME-50 through a Marshall AVT250 and I can get some awesome alternate effects and screams very easily. Very clear sound however, this might have something to do with the amp because it is powered by valves it is extremely clear and no background noise is present. The manual that comes with it is clear and easy to use. I had a GT-6 before and I got bored of it, too complicated and too many of the same effects, so i switched and sure I am glad of the switch! My unit came as it was in the box and hasn't been upgraded and still I am over the moon with it best piece of kit I own (apart from the les paul)This thing could be dropped off the empire state building and still work!

AWESOME!!!!!

I find the ME-50 incredibly easy to use. Lots of knobs which makes things a hell of a lot easier than pissing around with changing settings and stuff. No real downsides. If I was being picky I would say that the memory mode is a bit complicated to get to grips with.

I have a Yamaha RGX121SL and some rubbish amp but I have ran this pedal mostly through a Peavey bass amp. I've used it to record songs and they sound awesome. It is a bit noisy but I think that's due to my guitar being dodgy. Takes a bit of fiddling around to get the effects perfect. I can get a great Murderdolls sound from them which I found out the other day and the Muse - Plug in Baby riff I can emulate quite well. Recommend for distortion using muff. It sounds awesome.

I haven't had it long enough to really make and opinion. Hasnt messed up yet though.

I play a range of music from heavy metal to more mellow tracks. I play in a church band and it's even really good for that. It is brilliant for anything I've ever needed. I've been playing about 5 years and this is by far the best effects I've used. If it were stolen I would buy the same again. I love the muff on it, haha. But it is awesome. I've compared the distortion to the Digitech - Hot head but the Boss is much better.

There are plenty of reviews that state how easy it is to use this pedal. For the most part they are accurate, but I did not like having to buy extra pedals to change patches without leaning down. I do like knobs, so I was glad that I did not have to scroll through a bunch of menus to make adjustments. The combo expression pedal was also a point of contention. I frequently tried to turn on and usean effect, but ended up messing up the volume setting instead. Good idea, but not so good in practice.

The modulation effects were good. The distortion was OK. The compression and reverb were fairly useless. The tone modify didn't do much either.

Never had one problem with the pedal. I have had a ton of Boss pedals in my life, and I have never encountered reliability issue.

I do not know.

I have been in bands for almost 20 years, and I have been through a ton of gear. I recently got back into playing electric guitar and found myself without any effects. I needed something that put a lot of effects on the table for a budget. The ME-50 fit the bill. I am writing this on the eve of selling the unit, because I have since purchased singe pedals.

The ME-50 is a jack of all trades. The unit did a lot of things OK, but did nothing extremely well. On the other hand I replaced it with 13 pedals.

This pedal is extremely intuitive and easy to use. I'm going to make a bold statement and say that this is the single best guitar effect product Boss has ever offered. I feel like I'm cheating by not carrying around 150 pounds and $2000 worth of pedals and junk...

The overdrives are fantastic - rich, thick, deep and varied. The modulation effects, delay, compressor and expression are clear and beautiful. Again, it feels like I'm cheating. I also feel that there's less signal degradation with this box than running through a bunch of pedals. Very clean and clear.

I don't know yet, it's only been a couple of weeks.

N/A

This thing is awesome. I'm a pedal guy. Not big on amp modelers or menus when I'm playing live... I like to grab knobs and change as I go. The thing that I love most about this pedal is that it fills a void that no other pedal has ever filled. It makes sense. This is like having 10 useful stomp boxes for the price of 3 without all the junk that comes with 10 stomp boxes. It's the perfect size (no problem to carry, not to small to stomp on) and it's one of the best guitar related purchases I've ever made.

I was relly surprised by the easyness of the controls.First i wanted to buy a digitech rpx400,but then i heard about the me-50 and went to play on it.Not even 3 minutes after the shop assistant plugged it into a marshall avt100 i managed to get killer sounds out of it.Description:there are 50 effects including phaser,flanger,panner,chorus,tremolo,uni-v,vibrato,harmonist,etc all of these are found in the "Modulation" effects section."Overdrive/distortion" effects section is exclusively for distortion,there are some modeling stompboxes like the MT-2 or OD-1 aso but when you push the "Variation" button you get original distortions without modelling.The next section is "Delay", the delay is really cool, much better than on the digitech.When you want to save a patch all you must do is press two buttons. To upload your patch again you must enter "Memory Mode" by pressing the modulation and delay switches simultaneously.

I use a Washburn basswood srtat-type guitar with one humbucker-Dimarzio Tone Zone,two stock single coils on middle and neck position, the ME-50, and a 40W peavey envoy 110.I play various types of metal, mostly Death(rip chuck),Dream Theater, Megadeth aso. So i have to be versatile. When i want to play death i need REAL distortion with rich bass and sharp treble,when i want to play dream theater i need more mid-range sounds.The ME-50 does it all!I love the "METAL" distortion type with the "DRIVE" maxed out!!When you use the distortions and put the drive to the maximum it can get noisy but when you use the noise supressor it cuts your sustain, to increase sustain you have to activate the compressor and turn the "SUSTAIN" and "LEVEL" pots clockwise, if you do that and play a chord and mute the strings with your right hand you hear a hum fading away and then silence,thats because of the compressor.But this pedal is made for versatility so i cant only talk about metal. For jazz or blues i recommend the "Tube Screamer" dist model and a little bit delay, the "Tube Screamer" is not very noisy so you dont have to switch the noise supressor on.For rock it is good to use the "OD-1" or "OD-2" dist and others.In few words this is the most versatile and best sounding pedal i've ever had everyone will find his sound and stay individual because there is no amp modelling.The expression pedal is robust and its effects are solid, i wouldnt use some of them for playing but just because it doesnt fit into my genre but the sound quality is very good.Then there is a section that is called "TONE MODIFY".There you can change equalisation, there is a pickup modeler if you need it,"HOLLOW" adds body resonance and makes your guitar sound more acoustic and an "ACOUSTIC SIMULATOR" whitch is very beautyful but i recommend not using any delay or other effect with the acoustic simulator because it can sound artificial or unnatural.I'd rate this with a ten if there wasn't the hum fading away after muting the strings with my hand.It is not VERY bad but it is not good.

It is a Boss,the pots,switches and the expression pedal are really rought.Theres no way you could destroy it.I definetly would use it on a gig without a backup but for musical reasons i'd rather have a second guitarist(every good band has two guitarists latest since metallica).

I have never dealt with Boss/Roland yet but if you want helpful information their website is very good,you can even download the manual for the ME-50 if you lost it or bought it used.Warranty time is two years.

All in all i love this pedal and i would definetly buy it again if it was stolen or at least another Boss. Boss became my favourite firm for pedals, this pedal is just like the slogan says:NO NONSENSE, JUST KILLER TONE!If there was something i could change on it, it would be the colour, blue is not bad but black is better!And i'd erase the compressor hum but it can depend on what cables you are using, if you buy "MONSTER CABLE" i'm shure it would be better.If you search something for killer tone or heavanly clean notes and harmonies this is the right choice for rookies and pros.You'll find what your searching for in this pedal.I wish you all pleasant playing.

As everyone else says, this is so easy to use. Great layout, easy to understand knobs and no need for the maual to get going.

Only gripe is that you will need footswitches if you want to make full use of compressor / tone modify switching or patch-bank switching.

I use an Epiphone Les Paul Standard > JD CryBaby > ME-50 > either Marshall Valvestate 8080 or Peavey Bandit 112.

Sound quality is superb - the Boss effects are near identical to what they are imitating. The tone seems to be slightly warm which makes my Les Paul sound a bit thick sometimes.

The Tone Modify should really have been a more comprehensive EQ - it is too generic and while the presets are adequate, sooner or later you will want to tweak them slightly, with no option to.

The distortion / OD offer you the opportunity to experiment and offer variation in what you can acheive. Would have liked more blues-type distortion, there's only so much "modern stack" that I can cope with.

The modulation effects are excellent, and having the Univibe on board is great. I tend to use the tremolo a lot and am very happy with this. 3 stereo effects present, so effectively not utilised to their full potential for all the mono setups most people have.

Delay effects are great! I was going to buy a DD-6 before this, and to be honest, the ME-50 pretty much covers the single DD pedals for a comparable price. I used to have a DD-3 and I have been able to do all I used to do on the ME-50.

I'm personally not so keen on the Wah - it lacks the bite of a CryBaby, which I'm sticking to.

As mentioned before, the Reverb settings are a bit unnecessary, and trying to add a small amount of reverb is not easy when you have about a fifth of the dial to set a whole range in.

Overall, the sound quality is great, and the effects on offer are diverse enough to make this a tour de force.

Built like a tank, it feels really solid. But then again my previous experience of multi fx units stretched to a Zoom 3030 which was plastic. Enough said.

N/a

I play rhythm in different bands, mainly rock and alternative. I'm interested in building up soundscapes to add to what the bands are doing. This is a wonderful tool for starting such experimentation - I guess if you wanted to continue down that line you should get a GT-8. The great thing about this pedal is that it is so easy to use - if you need to make quick changes, minor tweaks while playing then the ME-50 is sooo much more adept than many other multi-fx units.

The only areas I think it could improve would be replcaing the Tone Modify with a more diverse EQ option and bundling it with a power supply.

I bought this as a cost effective alternative to buying individual pedals, and to satiate my need to experiment with different sounds. It completely surprised me by providing more benefits than just fiscal ones, as the unit itself gives such a wider range of sounds than I thought it would, and an ease of use that excels.

I would recommend this.

You need to be as thick as pigswill not to be able to use this! The point of it is is that you select your stomp box and dial in the tone as you would on the original. It's just too easy!

Most things are great on this. I only use the distortion models essentially for lead work as I use the Engl Fireball built in distortion. All the modulators are great. The reverb is superb! (room reverb rules!!. The enhance tones I find pretty pointless but I suppose that's a useful addition.

My only gripes with this are:
1. The wah is crap!
2. This should have up and down bank switches (I had to buy some)
3. The compressor is failry noisy (although that said, compressors set to high sustain usually are).

I know point number two isn't relevant to sound but I can't think where else to put it.

It's rock solid. Nuff said.

Can't comment. It still works fine

Great product but Bos could have been decent enough to include a power supply an dsome up and down bank foot switches. Can only give eight overall as a result

reviewed this before a couple of entries down. played with this thing for a while longer and it rocks. the metal distortion is the most extreme i've heard. its like dave baksh tone but alot more distorted. i love this pedal. the models sound exactly like the original(even though it doesn't matter,as long as it sounds good).
i said it was noisy at some settings but its not really even at high volumes. the guy below me is right a bout the variation setting. no variation. completely different. as i have an sg i got no whammy bar. inot really into them but when i do need one i use the octave- setting on the expression pedal...GET INTO A GUITAR STORE AND TRY THIS BAD BOY OUT!!!...its price tag will surprise you alot!...I LOVE IT!!!

Very easy to use. No menus to navigate, just twiddle the knobs and away you go. Patch editing just takes a couple of button clicks. Manual is comprehensive, discovered a couple of sounds from reading it which I might not have come across on my own, e.g. using square setting and resonance expression pedal setting to make synth sound. Also has useful table of factory patches in case you want to know how they were constructed.

Sounds are excellent, the key is to spend some time making subtle adjustments to get the desired sound. Classic Rock settings are easy. The Tubescreamer setting with a touch of 'analog' delay is very tasty. The Rat distortion also sounds very good. The modulations are nice and lush, particularly the Uni-v, although to my ears the chorus sounds a little thin. However some of the other modulations can produce thicker chorus type sounds if required. The Harmonist works really well for octave down bass lines. Also it's possible to get Thin Lizzy style dual lead sound using the Harmonist as long as you dial in the right key and intervals. It is also possible to get some quite spacey and extreme sounds. Combining volume pedal, rotary and long delay gives some very nice ambient sounds. Using a very short delay, flanger and the 'whammy' function (octave up/down) on the expression pedal can produce quite an impressive simulation of a sitar. The unit seems to offer a whole range of possibilities which was the reason for buying it.

Seems dependable. Metal case and plastic pedal switches are very robust. It's been a long time since I gigged but I wouldn't hesitate to use it for a gig.

Never dealt with Boss/Roland.

I've been playing guitar on and off since the age of ten, I'm now 39. In the last couple of years I have started becoming a bit more serious about it and resumed having lessons after a long break. This is partly due to the fact that equipment quality and price are now amazing compared to 20 years ago. Even at the budget end of the market, there is now some very good gear out there which tempted me to dip back into the market.

I bought this unit to replace my Boss DD-2 Digital Delay, HM-2 Heavy Metal and Ibanez CSL Stereo Chorus which I let someone borrow years ago and never got back. The delays on the ME-50 are easily the match of the DD-2 as well as being more versatile. The range of distortions easily surpass what my old HM-2 could offer. I haven't a clue whether they are accurate simulations of the original pedals but that doesn't matter as they sound good in their own right. For me, this unit is worth getting for the delays and distortions alone, everything else is a bonus. The only feature missing which I would like to have seen was an LFO to control wah and expression settings. That would have been quite cool.

I compared this unit to a Zoom G2.1u which sounded great and was very well designed but I wasn't keen on the menu interface. I also tested a Yamaha FX770 rack unit for a while but again the menu interface was the main drawback for me. The hands-on design of the ME-50 was very attractive. Unless Boss come up with a new model in the meantime, I would buy this again if lost or stolen.

this is an update to my earlier review - I have read here a couple of times that people believe the "variation" button in the distortion stomp just increases bass and treble, or some false information like that.

Not true - the variation button gives you another entire bank of distortion pedal models. Read the manual for clear listings of each model (too bad they're not listed on the me-50 itself, that would have been smart), but believe me, some classic pedals are in the "variations" and nobody should be overlooking them. Many of them are spot-on perfect copies of the originals, others are close enough for jazz, either way it's a great tool so buy it!!

I believe that many reviewers here are missing the point of this unit. It isn't supposed to work like a modern digital programmable midi-controlled multi-effect unit.

What the boss me-50 offers is 50 different effects, most of which are modelled after famous stomp box units, in one incredibly easy-to-use box. I'm surprised the user interface isn't by Apple -- comparing this interface to a typical multieffect processor is like comparing ms windows and a mac.

What this unit was designed to be is a very compact version of every major distortion, overdrive, delay, modulation (chorus/flanging/phasing), etc. pedal that is popular today.

As such it's truly remarkable, an excellent collection in a very small and inexpensive box with shockingly easy-to-use controls. It's programmable if you want, but don't bother unless it's absolutely necessary in a fast-changing gig. Just imagine that you have your choice of all these stomp boxes, but you can't use more than one of each box type at the same time (such as 2 distortion/overdrive boxes). Other than that it's like owning 50 famous pedals.

Here I must disagree with some of the details I've read, but opinions vary and this is only from my experience (I own the unit and it's one of my main effects boxes now).

Quick summary - amazing tone but disregard a couple of stupid effects...

if you turn off all of the extra filtering such as the tone shaper, compressor, reverb, and noise suppressor, with no effects or tring each of the effects only one at a time, not combined, with volume pedal maxed and master on half way (no loss or increase in volume), the ME-50 DOES have a slight change of tone character over your signal but it's not a bad one (I find it's slightly less brittle, slightly warmer). This is likely due to the analogue input circuitry (op-amp based maybe) combined with the particular tone characteristics of the a-d and d-a converters, plus the output circuit (again, might be an op-amp). However this tone change is consistent through all of the effects or without any effect turned on, so if you take that into consideration...

... I find the boss effects are virtually identical to my old 80s boss effects of the same name. ds-1 included. The only difference is that the me-50 slightly warms the tone of any guitar all the time. To test my theory I put an old ds-1 in front of the me-50 without any me-50 effects running and it sounded EXACTLY like the ds-1 emulation in the me-50. Same with MANY of the distortion/od effects, although I'm truly disappointed with the tube screamer. It sounds like they emulated the tube screamer from the 80s, what was it, ts-7? don't recall the exact model number, I owned one once, it was similar to this (rather warm, a little limp, just not exciting like the other versions of the tube screamer ibanez created pre and post this model). Maybe Ibanez gave Boss a bad spec for the ts-9 or something on purpose so they wouldn't lose business to boss. As it happens I'm keeping my ts-reissue which sounds much more interesting than the ts in the me-50. However many of my boss pedals are for sale now, earning me $$$$ hopefully, while I keep only the couple of select boss pedals that are collectible. This unit sounds THAT good.

spring reverb is flawed and useless except for special effects, room and hall verbs don't belong on the me-50 but are a nice to have if you must use them, but the reverb control is very VERY annoying to use so I generally keep it off.

wah pedal is nice, quite nice really, but different from my vox so I use 'em both, but normally use the me-50 as volume instead. pitch shifting pedal control is fun too for those vernon ried solos...

tube screamer is useful I guess but not much of a screamer (see above)

modulations sound really good, don't forget that they sound like old boss pedals used to sound. I do think they're a spec thinner than the originals, but it's consistent across the modulation effects and I actually prefer this tone since they mix better with the distortions when they're not super muddy (my old ce-3 was muddy, my older ce-2 sounded a lot like the me-50).

compressor sounds really good and very transparent, just sort of magically adds sustain. Don't think it's emulating any particular pedal, not much character, just transparent which is nice actually.

noise gate is much better than the one in my vox amp, but I TRY not to use them unless I absolutely must.

Tone shaper - I have a nasty habit of leaving it on "enhance", I think maybe to make up for the warm sound of the me-50... probably not a good idea since it's adding extra junk to the sound I suppose.

My signal chain is:
-- guitar (custom made LP-custom, mahogany, duncan alnico-II pro (lead), custom wound dimarzio (neck), coil split/tap/reverse switching (push on-push off knob control), german tuners, etc)
-- vintage italian vox wah (true bypass mod, original red fasel)
-- ibanez tube screamer reissue
-- me-50
-- other garbage depending on my mood (my collection of vintage ibanez stomp boxes for example), sometimes nothing goes here
-- vox valvetronix amp

it's a boss - dropped it, it still works, if I made more money at this I'd buy a second just in case, but you know, it's super strong. I stand on it at gigs with no problem and no sign of malfunction.

boss should be good, no opinion here however since never tried.

I got really tired of a few things with my old stomp boxes:
- replacing batteries and/or trying to keep ac power to them without a power plug disconnecting on stage or in rehearsal
- keeping those short patch cords connected at all time and replacing those that broke (patch cords that is), and those little patch cords are freakin expensive unless you buy the plastic junk that is super noisy
- finding space for them (eventually built a pedal board which is now history thankfully!)
- trying to track down sporadic hums and other noise sources between boxes
- experimenting to see which boxes affect the sound of which other boxes adversely depending on their position in the signal chain
- wanting to experiment with a box I didn't have handy or didn't even own

The ME-50 solves ALL Of the above problems completely. It's wonderful. I'm a professional musician, sesssion and live player, and wouldn't trade the ME-50 for anything. This is NOT for beginners or intermediates, it's equally good for pros as long as you remember that it does alter the sound of anything in your signal chain a tiny bit (including your clean guitar). I wish it didn't, I miss the brilliance of my guitar into my amp, this unit doesn't have a true bypass (which was a smart move by boss actually because I just turn up the treble a tiny bit on my amp and it compensates perfectly).

10 Easy as pie - It just takes experimenting...It's fun

All sounds are good

No Problems yeT

Great board...Screw all the big pedal boards...This one competes and wins versus my pedalboard with all Boss Pedals...It's more idiot proof - and I am an idiot...Me likey

this pedal is probably the easiest to use. just dial in your settings and use the foot switches to switch effects on/off. just like that.
patches are simple to edit.

i used this with an epiphone sg-400 through a marshall avt275 and it sounded really good. quite noisy on some settings but tone wise its awesome. you can get any tone you like.blues, country, punk, metal.
the acoustic sounds really good the the neck pickup selected.
my favourite distortion setting is the mt-2/metal setting. it sounds...'beefy'.
all effects sound excellent.

this thing could be handy if someone breaks into your house. really. its made of strong metal and really heavy.
its the toughest pedal out there.
i would totally gig without a backup.

never dealt with them yet.

i play punk and metal as much as each other and this pedal is awesome for both.
i've tried out other pedals through my gear(e.g.zoom505,boss ds-2,digitech bad monkey) and this one is the best of them all.
i wish it came with an adapter let alone a decent one.
overall top quality effects without the complications of menus.

This product is basically idiot proof. The other guitarist in my band has the GT-6 and I can't even figure out how to turn the tuner on. I didn't even have to read much of the manual when it came to the ME-50, everything is laid out perfectly, easy to use, and right in your face.

It has three stomp box type pedals (one for OD/distortion effects, one for modulations(chorus, flange, phaser, harmonizer, etc.), one for delay), and an expression pedal for volume, wah, resonance, pitch shift, etc. They all work just like stomp boxes too. Just move the knob to the desired effect and use the knobs below to tweak your setting.

There's also four effects across the top, tone modify, compressor, noise supressor, and reverb. Putting their respective knobs in a position above zero turns them on. Which works well because they're all kind of "set it and forget it" features. Except maybe the reverb, but I use a Mesa head that has great reverb on its own, so it doesn't bother me too much. It has a tuner that can be accessed by pushing the first two pedals at the same time, nice feature. There's also a master volume for the unit.

I play a Jackson Warrior EMG 81 bridge, 85 neck, to the ME-50 which is in front of my Mesa/Boogie Nomad 55 head, pumping a Peavey 4x12 with Scheffield speakers. The sound on the ME-50 is incredible, it's really effortless to find good tones on this thing.

I play metal, and I'm very critical about my distortion. I had a Line 6 Spider II and got rid of it because the distortion was just plain awful, way too muddy, no real crunch, notes sounded jumbled. Quite the opposite here, I honestly think you won't find any better distortions from any other floor box out there. There's even patches to tweak tones even further, but I found such a great sound out of the MT-2 I haven't even put it to use.

The modulations all sound great, much similar to others in the Boss line. I use a chorus and neck pickup for cleans, and I never thought I'd have such a good clean tone with EMG's and a Boogie.

Delay and expression effects are pretty much your typical Boss sounds too. All the top effects work great, some people have said you can 'hear the noise gate working' but I have it pretty cranked since I use the MT-2 a lot and I haven't come across this. The Tone Modify does what it says, nothing spectacular though, I don't really use it, not really my thing. If I want the sound of a single pickup I have a Schecter with coil split pickups. If I want the sound of an acoustic, I have a nice old Fender. It's just not my thing, though Enhance isn't too bad. Also, the spring reverb has this really weird sound to it, it's kind of hard to explain, whatever it is, it's not reverb. Don't know what's up with that, but again, the Boogie has great reverb so I'm not concerned. If a good reverb is something you're really looking for, you might run into a problem here. The hall and room reverbs are fine though.

Basically, what I use it for (distortion, chorus, noise gate, volume pedal, tuner, compression, some delay, some wah), it's sonically incredible and well-worth the price tag compared to buying each of those individual effects. Not to mention it's all one compact pedal, which might be the best feature of all. Face it, 5-10 stomp boxes in too much of a hassle.

It's Boss, you're not going to find better reliability on the floor end of your rig. It's a little solid metal tank. Though, I'd like to make a suggestion. The Boss A/C adapter is an overpriced peice of trash. I reccomend the Danelectro A/C adapter (loses a point for that since that's something an FX company should really take care of). It's about half the price and works twice as well. I do play out a lot, and Boss as always makes gig worthy equipment.

Never had to deal with Boss.

Overall, if you're looking for a few really good, really straightfoward effects from a floor processor that won't hog up your tone, this is definately a possibility. Almost every feature on the ME-50 works great. The few things you might want to watch out for, are the reverb being crappy and not footswitchable, but the other effects are so good and so easy to use your might have hours of fun with all the great features this has to offer. To me the ME-50 is much better than the GT-6. Sounds are just as good and are laughably easy to set. Taste depending (as always in the guitar world), this just might be one of the best floor processors out there.

Very easy to use. I knew how to use it instantly . Hardest part was finding the on switch, and inputs.
Editing patches is very east,
Enter memory mode
Select patch
Hit Edit
Twiddle the knobs and set all the pedals you want on or off.
hit write, choose which pedal to assign to.
Hit write again. and you're done.
It was harder finding settings on my MT-2.

Les Paul Junior. Laney HCM65rms.
So it's not the best setup ever.
But the guitar is awesome, and the amps clean is alright.

The sound quality was very good on pretty much all of the pedals.
Don't expect a good sound with tweaking a fair bit though, but then it takes a little while to get used to mixing sounds together, and playing with distortion and mods / delay.

I loved the distortion settings, the variation really thickens the sound, and adds alot more overdrive / distortion .

I don't personally care how much they sound like the pedals they're displayed as, and neither will your audience, if playing live. Aslong as your distortions/overdrives sound good. Then does it matter whether it sounds like its' display name?

The modulations were also really good, i got some crazy sounds out of the phaser and flanger especially, mixed with a light bit of delay and some natural distortion. They're very easy to configure, rand you get a good sound without trying too hard. But if you do spend a bit more time configuring , it certainly pays off.

The delays were hardest to configure, but still not at all that hard. And some nice, smooth sounds came very easily. When mixed with distortion, you have to be careful with the E.Level, otherwise the sound can double when you hit the od/ds on pedal.

The only major setback, was as many people have said. That when in memory mode, there is a half second pause between patch switching.Yet you can cope, just hit the switch at the right moment, and it doesn't matter .

I would take this to a gig without backup. Well, i wouldn't take another multi effects pedal, i would take possibly my MT-2 and Mega Overdrive Pedal. Just in case...

Everyone says boss are built like tamks. And it looks fairly solid. I stood fully on the expression pedal earlier to switch it on.. no creaks or cracks, it just turned on. So that's reassuring.

Only thing is that the sensitivity of the Stomp Boxes will wear down eventually. And the inputs could possibly be the only other weakpoint. But no ones targetiing it , or trying to assassinate it.

I've never had to deal with boss. But i'm sure they'd be fairly resposive. Although they're a big company so i wouldn't expect the same service as i got from my local guitarshop / manufacter.

Very good, i love it so far. Very versatile sounds, even for my Laney, it has a fair amount of tone control also. I only use the presence, and fat so far though.

I play in a Metalcore / Hardcore band, and i can get some heavy sounds out of this, yet also some nice , smooth ones for our quieter parts.

I also play in a Funk/Ska band. Which will do well with the phaser, and the natural distortion and expression pedal.

Awesome value for money, great sound, looks reliable so far.
Just that damn memory mode... anyone know what i can do about this.
Email me Supercrofty@hotmail.com Or add me on MSN with that address.

Thanks for reading, i hope i've helped.

As easy to use as any stombox.. no problem here

- Les Paul - ME-50 - Traynor YCV40

It is noisy.. but sound is great.. if you want professional sound.. buy professional gear.. its amazing what it does for what it cost.. The distortions are not like originals.. but the are close to them?

This toy its for beginners to intermediate players.. people who are just starting to get the idea of effects.. it a great starting point.. you will understand what effects are and what they do.. when you find your tone, then you can start buying individual pedals (that are obviously better) instead of spending money on stuff that you will never use..

looks Dependable

no idea..

I use this pedal for Latin Rock mainly.. some classic rock & blues.. I been playing for some years now and i dont gig.. I do it for the love of music.. I recommend it to all people who are starting whit effects.. instead of buying pedals like crazy (yeah I did it and now own pedals that I don?t use).. find where will you like to go and then buy individuals once you understand what they do.. and finally.. for such a low price.. you will be amazed..

Super easy to use but of course it could have stood to have a bunch more features to make it even more amazing.

I actually like this pedal much more than the Boss GT-8 which I find to not sound nearly as well and is just too complicated to enjoy.

Wha pedal range is not adjustable but the pressure to activate it is.

The pedal sweep is also adjustable but not explained in the manual.

The manual is not needed for anything really but how to adjust the wha's activation pressure sensor.

I use the ME-50 with a 2000 Fender American Series Stratocaster with a maple neck and vibrato bar and also a Dimarzio YJM humbucker in the bridge position and I use two Fender Champ amplifiers from the mid 1970's in stereo. I also use the ME-50 with old Marshall half stacks from the 1970's.

The ME-50 is not noisy at all. In fact, in my 30+ years of playing, this is the quietest my rig has ever sounded and often I do not use the noise gate feature.

I borrowed a Digitech Jimi Hendrix Experience pedal for a couple weeks and it taught me how to get great Hendrix tones from the ME-50.
Of all things, the Rat Distortion model was superb in replicating the Fuzz tone Hendrix got with his Dallas Orbitor.

That is a strange thing about the ME-50, that the distortion models fail to accurately model the distortion pedals it features. However, pleasently enough, the models are superior sounding to the models they are supposed to be modeling! Oh, they sound similair but, they are not very close. The Bd-2 is smoother. The OD-1 is smooth and gainy. The OD-2 is ZZTop! The MetalZone is closest and is very nicely e.q.ed, [and I LOOOOVE my MetalZones!!!!]. The Big Muffs sound very much like Big Muffs from the 70's. The Octafuzz is cool but not exacly like the original [the original being better]. The variation switch makes all the distortion models more bassy and more modern sounding. I really like this feature! I also think the two tone controls are perfect.

In fact, I love all the distortion models but two, the tubescreamer and the metal lead models. All the other models are EXCELLENT!

I never knew what a creamy solo was until I hit the DS-1 model with my 1978 Marshall 50 watt half stack! I have two DS-1's , an old one from 1979 and a brand new one [and they do almost sound identical even after 30 years!] and the ME-50's DS-1 is different than these two. Combined with a chunchy Marshall the DS-1 model is CREAMY!

A real suprise is the wha wha pedal as I own varies old wha's from the 70's and I usually hate Boss wha's but this one sounds almost like an old Clyde pedal!

I love the stereo chorus! Some people here didn't like the choruses on this but I think it's great and it's stereo! I have a Boss CE-5 chorus and the ME-50 sounds just as great!

I love all the vintage models on the ME-50! The Big Muffs, Fuzz, Octafuzz, Roto-vibe, Uni-vibe, etc. all are super cool effects.

I did here the flanger raise the volume a bit but so what? I have a volume knob on my guitar.

The delays are amazing again! I love the space echo and pan delay! It even has a tap echo! The analog echo sounds just like my DM-2 analog delay!

The reverb sounds good in room, hall and mod but there is something really kooky about the spring reverb. The spring reverb is unusable as far as I am concerned. It sounds like someone keeps kicking the the reverb tank...and not in time either! The Boss GT-8 is the same way! What's up with that Boss?

Being a huge fan of compressers I found this one to work perfect for guitar!

The noisegate works perfect!..or at least better than my Rocktron Hush II rack mount! Just don't turn it past 12 oc'clock if you don't wanna hear it working.

The tone shaper gets ignored by me pretty much but at home I will toy with it and I will say that it does very nice things! The H-S turns my Strat into a Tele! The S-H turns my Strat into a Les Paul! The Hollow makes my Strat sound like an ES-335! The acoutic sounds like those god awful round back Ovations that everyone loves.

It seems to me that the ME-50 has a very unique quality about it that enhances the tone no matter if all effects are off. It just seems to smooth out the tone somehow all on it's own! I think someone else mentioned this and I hear it.

Nu-metal fans will not like the ME-50 on it's own as it will never scoop the mids out enough to make you sound like you're playing through a Mesa Rectifier or a B-52, The ME-50 is totally geared to those who like music from the 50's and 60's and 70's and 80's and the 90's grunge scene but it stops where the Metalzone left off. Of course, you can always put a Tri-metal, Uber or some other nu-metal stomp box ahead of the ME-50! Oh yes, it does do TOOL very well!

What really let's me know what a great box this is ,is that it's hard to get a bad sound from this! That was not my experience with the Boss GT-8, as with that I was constantly adjusting parameters. The ME-50 sounds great right out of the box!

Sounds I don't like are the Metal lead, tubescreamer and most of the wha's alternate effects. The pitch shifter does not exactly reproduce the smoothness of a real vibrato bar on a guitar. The "vocal" wha sounds ridiculous. Oh well, nothing's perfect.

I can't seem to get Carlos Santana's sound from the 60's out of it either. Who cares about his new sound?!

Someone was talking about distortion caused by high-output guitar pick-ups. I have not experinced this even with a DOD 250 preamp slamming the input!!!

Well, so far so good. Gigging without a back up would be risky as even Boss pedals can fail.

I've been playing lead guitar since 1969!
I $20,000 worth of musical equipment [that I can sell now]
I love bands from the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Tool, Blind Melon, Pearl Jam, STP!!!, [the ME-50 is great for STP], Nirvana, COC, Overkill, L.A. Guns!, Slash, etc
The ME-50 seems to do it all!

This thing is great for writing and recording! With all the different effects there is so much inspiration to get from it!

I hate it's ugly blue color, it's plastic foot switches, lame bank switches [i use an old single foot switch to switch banks, urgh].

I hate that the tuner only works independently [no sound output] and the GT-8 tuner is so much nicer. So I use a TU-12 in-line.

I hate that it comes without a carring case!

I hate that it is very difficult to figure out what a patch is comprised up of and the parameters. Example; Patch 1-3 sounds awesome but, how did I do it? What effects did I use? Where are the knobs set to? I'll never know!

There is no over all output volume control in bank mode! I added an old Roland F-5 dual volume control pedal between the ME-50 and my two Fender Champs to alliviate this problem.

A lead solo boost switch [like the GT-8] would have been nice but I use a DOD 250 preamp pedal to get around this.

To sum it up a bit...the ME-50 has replaced about $10,000 worth of pedals I own or would need to own to match the ME-50 and for under $300!!!!!

That folks, is a FANTASTIC VALUE!!!!

Guitar to TU-12 [tuner], to DOD 250, to ME-50, to stereo volume control, to two just beautiful 1970's Fender Champs.....wow, ....WOW!

After so many duff multi-effects where it takes 7 hours to get it ready to perform your set, i have finally come across and simple, idiot proof (thankfully), great sounding pedal with all the effects you will need until a very high level.

Im playing this with a Godin SD through a Fender Roc Pro 700, it suits many styles especially mine of (different) rock, frames/foo fighters. i find that with modulation and o/d it jumps to quite a level but with tweaking this can be solved.
It produces a sound quality for beginers to intermediate but the stage of v. advanced you'd want to buy some single more sound quality pedals.

The delay is awesome for a multi effects pedal and the tap tempo is great! its up there with any delay

Distortions are plentiful and its not hard to find some v nice distortions especially if your willing to work on the eq.

Modulation is that of a multi effects pedal, not the best quality but only noticible for those picky gits like myself.

Espression pedal can be used for a range of effects all of which are good, many of which are very rarely ever going to be used by myself tho.

The general eq setting is great if again your willing to work on it

Its is a rock, totally depend on it. very sturdy and isnt going to fail you, if noise conks out then get a new lead

Boss are a professional, solid, company, always great customer support

LMAO, i did get this bad boy for #70 but i do pick up the old bargain.
1 hate of it is the cost of the adaptor

in general it is an awesome multi effects pedal, up there with the best, at times you can tell it is muilti effects and not the solo pedals but these times are few and only for the picky high standard players.

Ive given it 8 but thats me being hugely harsh, i never give tens as therre was only ever 1 perfect thing, Jesus

<><

Have a good one

ps. buy this pedal

Bolster

IT's very easy to get great sounds out of this. editing is a breeze. manual is straightforward easy to understand.

if you like using processors like the line 6, it is very good. run your signal out of it into a nice CLEAN amp or PA. if you want to run the effects without distortion into your favorite distorted amp, you will be disappointed. also the modulation effects should be used sparingly, as they tend to overload at extreme settings. otherwise they're good. an overdriven amp WILL emphasize any noise coming out of the me-50. AGAIN, the distortion sounds are more like PEDALS....it's not gonna respond like a boutique REAL amp. otherwise, it's a very good, lower cost alternative to the more expensive units like the line 6 pod live.

seems pretty rugged. i wouldn't fear using it without backup. boss is known worldwide for their quality.

boss is a big company. they've been around a long time and are known for their quality. they'll get back to you, and will be agreeable enough.

as long as you put it through a clean amp, and like the overdrives it offers, you should like the me-50. i can play any style and find every effect i could want from it. it just doesn't suit my pickiest needs. i compared it to everything i could find. it has decent quality sounds, and is relatively quiet. the only other thing that bothered me is a slight delay in switching from one patch to another. this is awkward if you want to program a rythm sound and then switch to a lead tone. i thought i might upgrade to a gp-8 or a pod live, but i think i'll try a couple of boutique pedals instead.(i have sold my ME-50) i won't have the myriad of effects available to me, but i will have a system that works the way "I" want it to.

in short, if you want a buttload of effects and don't have alot to spend, it's a good buy. but if you have the $$ to blow, move up to the big boys.

i've been playing for 27+ years. i've owned and tried everything, twice!

this thing could be called : "guitar multi-effects for dummies" !

sounds good. for all intents and purposes , i am a purist. and as such , i try to keep it simple.
i am currently using two schecters : a blackjack pt stock with seymour duncans , a jb and 59 with 5 way megaswitch..cool. a c-1 floyd rose modified with a matched set of seymour duncan distortion humbuckers and push-pull pots for hum-single switching..also cool.
both are strung with ernie ball power slinky .011 gauge strings and have been fitted with grover locking tuners. the blackjack also comes stock with a locking tone pros bridge , i also installed a hipshot d tuner machine head on the low e string. picks are jim dunlop .88 and 1.14 tortex. all signals are sent via monster performer 500 cable.
from the guitars the signal is sent to a jim dunlop jimi hendrix wah-wah modified with a fasel inductor and true bypass switch. and a jim dunlop rotovibe.
next in line is the me-50 which serves as my "pre-amp" or sonic brain. the signal is then fed into the line-ins on a crate power block head which then pumps all my tonal nirvana through two bogner straight 412s loaded with celestion vintage 30s and wired for 8 ohms.
is it noisy ? it can be when using alot of extreme settings.
the effects are neither horrible or great , but they are all satisfactory and definitely useable.
as far as approximating the sounds of others..i try not to , but yeah , with a bit of tweaking just about any tone you can imagine is possible.

very well built..like a tank. it hasn't pissed me off enough yet to cause me to want to smash it against the floor or wall , so i guess i don't actually know.
since it has outputs for use with p.a.'s , mixers , and recording devices , i have and would definitely use it as a stand-alone unit. but i think it should be used with some sort of amplification whether it be a guitar amp or power amp.

not bad , but could be better.

i mostly focus on my own material which i like to refer to as : "funky-psychedelic-hard rock-blues". versatility is an important factor for me , and so it totally works for me.
i have been playing for almost 22 years and have owned just about everything i've ever been able to afford , including a brief affair with a "rack nightmare". this is one of the most affordable , decent sounding , easy to use , feature packed units i know of.
sure it could be better , but for the price and ease of use it's really hard to beat. there is a plethora of similar units out there , my best advice is : let your ears guide you. great choice for anyone , amateur or professional.