Boss ME-50

should be called "multi guitar effects for dummies"

not bad. i am a purist. i don't like alot of anything messing with the sound of my guitar and/or amp. but...i also like flexibility. currently i am using two schecters. one pt blackjack stock with seymour duncans..a jb and a 59 with a 5 way mega switch..cool. and a c-1 floyd rose modified with seymour duncan distortion humbuckers also with a push-pull tone pot for splitting. both are strung with ernie ball power slinkys .011 gauge strings. jim dunlop .88 and 1.14 tortex picks. monster performer 500 cable. a modified jim dunlop jimi hendrix wah and rotovibe. the me-50 serves as my pre-amp and is routed to the line ins on my crate power block head which pump all my tonal nirvana through a bogner cabinet loaded with celestion vintage 30s and wired for an 8ohm load. very cool.
i try to concentrate on my own material but do dig jamming along with : alice in chains/jerry cantrell , jimi hendrix , guns n' roses and nirvana. can i get those sounds ? with a bit of tweaking..sure.
is it noisy ? it can be if using alot of extreme settings.
most effects are useable to some extent. i guess it depends on what you are into. me personally..the only settings i r

It does exactly what it says on the box to be honest, just plug it in and twiddle the knobs and you get a sound, may not be what you want exactly but its better then the sounds that come out of most other pedals.

Patches are easy to mess with, you can even save some random thing you have made by pressing one button.

Manual is easy to use, not really necesarry as this thing is so easy to use.

I play an ibanez ax220qmb through a fender amp or sometimes a marshall when playing live.

Its not noisy at all, when you just want a nice clean bypassed sound its a nice clean bypassed sound, infact it sounds better then playing without the pedal plugged in, the computers are that good on it. When an effect is on there is little or no noise and if there is there is threshold function which takes it out, great!!

There are no really weak effects unless you are talking about their flexibility in which case some of the delays and modulations are limited such as tremolo, but to be honest when you tweak everything you generally get the sound you want.

For artist sounds this thing is amazing, having only had a week ive managaed to get a hendrix sound, a john frusciante soloing sound, QOTSA etc etc the list is endless, i mean it takes some trial and error of knob turning but its worth it, also its great for finding a random sound that you can call your own signature.

Distortions are amazing, its a boss what else can u say, delays are good purely because of the range, the wah is a bit hit and miss but when used with the right distorion it can be as sweet as nething.

Steel case would survive most things, ive got a 5 warranty on it i doubt i will ever need it. i would use this at a gig no sweat, you could just throw this into ur band van and use it the next night and it wont be damaaged at all.

having just registered it i got sent a free subscription to a magazine and 5 year warranty now thats good customer support

Amazing and worth it, if you've got lots of time on your hands and are a proper whizz with all things patched then a GT-8 is also worth a look, but if your a guitarist who just loves to plug in and play, but also get all the effects you could ever want, get this. Use it live, use it your bedroom, use it in your car, newhere it does the job you want it to.

I had been using a Digitech RP2000 for a couple of years and although I was fairly happy with it, some of the effects were definitely lacking and I was sick and tired of having to go on a menu hunt just to make the slightest tweak to the sound. I came to the conclusion that deep editing multi effects just wasn't for me anymore and so decided to go for a simpler approach. I have a number of stomp boxes and so the option to go back to a line of stomp box effects is still open to me, but I really wanted an intelligent harmoniser that I'd frequently used with the RP2000 (a must have for many Queen and Iron Maiden songs). I did consider just getting the Boss PS-5 but when I saw the ME-50 I was sold on the idea immediately. For £30 more than the PS-5 I could also have:

Tone Modify
Compressor
Overdrive/Distortion
Chorus
Phaser
Flanger
Tremolo
Pan
Vibrato
UNI-V
Rotary
Delay
Reverb
Noise Suppressor
Foot Volume
Wah
Resonance
Voice
Ring Modulator
Whammy (+1 OCTAVE, -1 OCTAVE)

So it was a real no brainer for me. I reckoned that even if some of the effects turn out crap, as long as the harmoniser worked well and I liked a couple of the other effects then it would still be a real bargain. I was very pleasantly surprised to find that more than just a couple of the effects are useful to me and so this has to be one of the best bargains I've bought.

The manual is clear and concise and no more detail is needed as the unit is pretty much self explanatory. All functions such as factory reset and sensitivity adjustment of the expression pedal etc are included and easy to understand.

Ease of use has to be a 10 out of 10. Some people have complained about having to buy an extra footswitch to change banks, but NOT including bank switches makes perfect sense to me. Everything about multi effects is a compromise and if they'd included two more foot switches it would have almost certainly made the unit bigger and of course it would have been maybe £30 more expensive putting it much closer in price to the GT8. This unit isn't designed to be used in memory mode as that takes away one of the most attractive features of the ME-50 - the ability to keep it in manual mode and look down at all the switches and see exactly how you're getting your tone. Personally I've only ever used memory mode once and that was to check the delay that people have mentioned when changing between patches. I never intend to use it again because manual mode is where this unit shines. Boss would actually do better by removing the memory mode completely and reducing the cost even more or maybe using the space they save to add extra controls for reverb, noise suppression and maybe compressor (more on that later). You don't get a memory mode in a group of 5 individual stomp boxes and that is what the ME-50 is simulating so why bother?

Incidentally that delay when selecting patches is just a split second which is the same as every other multi effect that I've ever owned, so I can't understand some of the complaints. Boss have either improved the response in the later model that I have bought, or some people have unrealistic expectations.

However, not including an AC adapter was really cheap of Boss and so they lose a mark for this. They must pay about £2 each for their power supplies and so not including one is real penny pinching. On the plus side (and contrary to Boss literature), any stabilised 9V power supply with a negative centre pin will do the job just fine. I use a 5 way power brick so it wasn't a problem for me.

The expression pedal needs quite a firm stomp to change over from volume to the selected effect but this makes sense really as it requires a positive action to switch over and so you're unlikely to do it accidentally. The sensitivity can be adjusted as explained in the manual if you want to make it a bit easier.

Mixed bag but still a real bargain in my opinion. Effects that I haven't gone in-depth with yet have not been scored:

Tone Modify - 6 OK. Very basic EQ which does its job but like everyone has already said, it'd be better to have a dedicated 7 band EQ. Doesn't bother me personally as I already have a Boss GE-7 and a Danelectro Fish and Chips for my tone shaping. Sorry but the acoustic simulator sounds absolutely nothing like an acoustic guitar in my opinion.

Compressor - 8 Great. Works well enough for my needs but real compressor aficionados may miss an attack level. Still if the Keeley doesn't need it ......

Overdrive/Distortion - 9 Excellent. OK some of them may be a bit dodgy but out of 22 I think most people will find a few they like. Push the gain up to the turbo area and of course it can start to stink (much like the real DS-1 which I also own) but if you experiment with less extreme gain you can get some lovely smooth distortions out of this. I especially like the DS-1, DST+ and the GUV, but I found I can get usable tone from most of them with a bit of tweaking.

Chorus - 7 Good. But not great. Sounds a little brittle but with a bit of work you can get usable sounds from it. I don't tend to use this anyway as I have a Yamaha Magicstomp in the effect loop of my amp which has some of the best Chorus effects I've heard.

Harmonist - 9 Excellent. Does exactly what it says on the tin. Better than the RP2000 because it so much easier to configure. Choose the key, then choose the relationship and you're away. Just give it a try for the Killer Queen solo set to E flat (D# in the ME-50) and a 4th down. Sounds pretty good to me. Down an octave for The Phantom of the Opera intro simulates the bass line perfectly.

Phaser - 7 Good but I won't use it often because I have a higher quality selection in the Magicstomp

Flanger - 7 Pretty good, but again not as good as the Magicstomp. Just a bit thin like the other modulation effects.

Tremolo - N/A Not used enough to pass judgement but seems to perform as expected

Pan - N/A Not used enough to pass judgement

Vibrato - N/A Not used enough to pass judgement but seems to perform as expected

UNI-V - N/A Not used enough to pass judgement

Rotary - N/A Not used enough to pass judgement

Delay - 9 Excellent. I am very pleased with some of the delays available from this. Ultra simple to setup and mostly high quality effects in my opinion. Tap tempo is an added bonus.

Reverb - 6 Well it just about works but less than a quarter turn per reverb type (remember the OFF position uses up about a fifth of the turning circle) definitely isn't precise enough for most people. They should have just done without the spring option which is truly horrible.

Noise Suppressor - 8 Pretty good but definitely needs a decay switch to allows you to fine tune the drop off. On a low setting it's excellent for totally removing the hum or buzz you can get between songs without having to turn your guitars volume down.

Foot Volume - 10 It'd be difficult to get a volume pedal wrong and it does its job perfectly for me.

Wah - 8 If you're not a constant wah user then this may be perfectly adequate for you. Personally I only use wah for a couple of songs and it does the job fine. I used to own a Crybaby and although I've not had it for a couple of years I think the effect is very comparable from what I can remember and if anything the ME-50s wah seems more natural sounding whereas the Crybaby always sounded a little harsh and equalised when you first switch over.

Resonance - N/A Not used enough to pass judgement but can't see much use for it

Voice - N/A Not used enough to pass judgement but may be useful for the Living on a Prayer intro.

Ring Modulator - N/A God I hate this effect. I just don't see the point.

Whammy (+1 OCTAVE, -1 OCTAVE) - 7 A nice inclusion but doesn't have the multi octave dips of the real Whammy. Still it's a nice effect and a good inclusion.

I've only had it for a few weeks and so can't really comment on its longevity. I think the chassis is steel and so is very strong but all switches are plastic and although they seem sturdy enough, they are definitely the weak point. Again, you could complain about it or just accept that these measures help keep the cost down. Personally I'd have preferred to pay a bit more for some proper metal stomp switches (like the TC Electronic G System) and a stronger metal based expression pedal but that's if I'm being really picky. All in all I feel confident enough in it's strength and have no real concerns.

Never dealt with them directly and so I have no opinion

I've been playing guitar for 24 years, mainly rock and metal, and the following guitars are the ones I had to keep:

Guitars:

Gibson Les Paul Standard - bought new in 89. Tobacco sunburst.

Ibanez RG770FM - Japanese model. Transparent blue flamed maple

BC Rich Mockingbird Natural Neck Thru with Full Shred pickup in the bridge position, Alnico Pro II in the neck and custom switching arrangement for coil taps and reverse phase in both pickups (I don't know why I bothered going through all that soldering to be honest, I rarely use the coil taps and never use reverse phase!).

Hohner G3T (Steinberger copy) with Super Distortion pickup in the bridge and 2 x Little 59s in the neck and middle position. 3 individual mini switches to select each pickup as either full humbucking or coil tapped.

Jackson PS4 Performer

Ibanez PC300CENT Electro Acoustic



Effects: I have others (Zoom GFX4 for living room practise with headphones) and have owned many others in the past but my current setup is as follows.

Guitar

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Boss GE-7 ?? Boss DS-1 (or Danelectro Fab) (loop 1)

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Boss ME-50 (loop 2)

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Marshall AVT150 with AVTC-112 extension cab ?? Marshall channel switcher

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(FX Loop send)

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Danelectro Fish and Chips EQ (loop 3)

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Yamaha Magicstomp (loop 4)

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BBE DI-100X Sonic Maximizer (always on)

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(FX Loop return)


Basically I have made a switch box that allows me to connect the guitar, amp input, fx loop send, fx loop return and 4 switchable effect loops (2 pre-amplifier and 2 in the amps loop). This allows me to true bypass any of the loops if I want to and put the effects in a different order making it a really versatile setup.

I tend to use different distortions for different things and I have plenty to choose from there. I like the distortions available from the amp, but then I also have the DS-1, Danelectro Fab and ME-50 to choose from. Not to mention the Magicstomp (which I don't tend to use because of its positioning in the effects loop of the amp). Basically I like different options for different songs but I tend to use the ME-50 on an overdrive setting to give me a boost for lead. I also use the compressor, noise gate, harmoniser, volume, wah and delay (I only use delay on the ME-50 if I'm using the DS-1, Fab or ME-50 distortion - if I'm using the amps distortion I use the Magicstomp for delay to keep the signal chain order to my liking). For me to use individual pedals for that selection I would have spent considerably more money, but more importantly it would have taken up a lot more space and there'd have been an extra 5 or 6 cables in the chain as well.

Maybe with a bit more effort you can get more lush sounding modulation but I really haven't given it too much time. For the effects I really wanted it works very well, and was an excellent purchase that I wouldn't hesitate to replace if lost or stolen.

It is currently the easiest to use of this class pedals i've ever used!
Editing patches needs a little learning but it is good in the end. It has 30 preset patches to edit
The manual is very good and explains everything there is to know.

I used this pedal with fender stratocaster iron maiden custom on 2 different amps. One is the Fender Frontman 25R. It worked perfectly. The lead distortion setting made my guitar sound like hell! Perfect for soloing. The second amp i tried this on was a Marshall 300Watt with an 100Watt head. It was crystal clean. The effects are fully customizable with knobs. You can easily get the sound of Scorpions, Iron Maiden, even Opeth :D The distortion at very high levels and gain could produce a little noise which is completely silenced when used with the Noise Suppressor half way full. Chorus and all other mods are crystal clean. The compressor works GREAT and is fully customisable. The Noise Suppressor really does what it's supposed to do. The MOD and HALL reverb modes are veeeery sweet. The delay modes are great and the best of it all is the wah on the expression pedal. Finally gives your solos the feeling you want it to have where you want it! VERY good.

It is quite hard and it can't be broken easily. I would and already have used this multiple times without backups. It is constructed by very good materials and hard. No soft parts on it.

Never dealt with them.

I play from blues to death metal. It satisfies all my needs. I would buy another one for sure! I've been playing for 2 years. It really helps me get the tone i want exactly as i want it. My favorite feature is the Wah on the Expression Pedal. I tried several more. Digitech RP200 for example. I prefer Boss ME-50 to all other pedals i've tried. Great :D

When i went to the shop , they themself had to find out how it worked , the real technician wasn't there .
And i have to say , in about 2 minutes we had it figured out without the help of the manual ..
the notifications on the device itself are very easy to understand .
Even the editing of patches was found very easily .
The manual itself is all what it need to be , simple explanations , no blahblah .

I play with an epiphone les paul custom , with Ernie Ball 'regular slinky' strings .The amp i'm using is the vox The overall sound is very good , but the overdrive i found a bit on the noisy-sound . But since i'll mostly be playing rock , bluess etc i won't bother that much ...
the wahwah is great as also is the delay ...just gotta love it !

Can't really say ..just bought it today! :p

same ...

After several years of not owning a guitar anymore , i bought myself a les paul ...i never had a pedalset before so i can't compare to other rigs . In total i have played guitar for 8 years now :)
Most of the time i play blues or rock , which go well with this Me50
It certainly keeps me interrested in keep on going playing guitar

It's really easy to use and in conjunction with your amp's EQ, you can get great sounds in no time.

The manual is competent.

Editing patches is really easy, but this is mainly because you can't control much of anything.

I used this with a Tech 21 amp and two USA Jackson guitars.

The unit has a couple big flaws that rule it out as a viable option for a serious amateur or pro. 1) No EQ (tone modify doesn't do too much). To use a processor effectively, you need to be able to set your amp to a neutral setting and let the processor do the work. Now the ME-50 left off the EQ because all amps have one, but for me the problem was that if I set the ME-50 and my amp EQ to a clean sound that I liked, I was unable to get the sound I liked when I kicked in the distortion. If set right for distortion, my clean sound was poor. Since I'm unwilling to compromise either, the ME-50 went back after the 1-month trial. The other thing that stinks is that there is a drop off with patch changing.

I should mention that the wah is pretty good for a multi. The distortions are pretty nice too, but the overdrives are just usable.

Well built. I wouldn't use it with anything that would involve a mid-song switch though.

Never dealt with them

This is a step towards the right idea with all the knobs, but the two main faults are inexcusable at the asking price.

If you're a newbie, you should run right out and buy this because it will make your practicing at home more fun. If you're experienced, you really shouldn't buy this. I'd about given up on multi-effects after this, but then I tried the GT-8. It's awesome and the perfect blend of what the ME-50 should have been and a rack processor.

I'd rate this a C- overall. GT-8 gets an A.

Great User frendly Multi effects unit, Very easy to create good sounds. My only gripe is that in order to change from one bank scroll up or down using your hand. I ended up making a two button footswitch for it but it would have been nice to have individual buttons for the banks.

I find the sound quality to be exelent, a bit of hum on the more extreme overdrive/delay combinations but great for playing live, If you were recording Id use a software effects package for these anyway as it simplifies things

Built like a tank like all boss pedals, this would do you more harm than you could ever do to it. ID have no problems in using it without a backup. The build quality is extreemly impressive, fair play to boss for not getting all cheap and plasticy in this otherwise disposable world

Ive had no problems with the unit, THe Boss website is helpfull and has a downloads page where the manual can be found

I was very happy with the pedal from the onset and am really glad that I spent the extra money to get it. The quality of the item is very high both in terms of build quality and sound qualiy

everything is so clearley. if you find the distortion too sharp you turn a button and that is it. if you wan't a deeper chorus turn je button and that is it. I think this is the most easy multi-effect pedal on the market. no programming or what so ever. and you can save your favourite sound with a push of 2 buttons. it's really easy

I use it with a 1999 fender stratocaster and an home made amp with a fender sidekick 15 for backup. it sounds great!! you can get a ska sounds, reggea sound, jazz sound and hardrock sounds. what ever sounds possible and if the amp buzzses too mutch, you can activate the noise supressor and away buzz, only that shorten your sounds but thats not really bad.

I trust this thing with my heart. it's heavy duty metal chassis is really hard too brake.

I bought it from a friend.

this is a fantastic multi-effect pedal. it really helps in getting the perfect sound for every style I play. I play bleus, ska, reggea, hardrock, soul, punk, grunge and I can use this pedal for every style. it's just my dream come true..this is one of the best pedals on the market. if mine was stolen, I would by an other one, no doupt about that

Wire it up and plug it in and away we go .. it is quite easy to use but you should use extenal power source / supply as batteries will not last long.

You can create your own sound patches and save them but I like some of the factory preset patches particulary Bank 4, Patch 1, 2 and 3 and Bank 6, Patch 3.

The manual is straight forward and easy to follow. It even explains the sounds.

As with most effect boards, the built-in tuner is real good

I play a 2000 fender strat, maton electric / acoustic and ibanez SA160 through fender stero chorus amp - Priceton 60W(2x30W). Every thing sounds quite good.

The effects all work as intended but offer my personal comments as follows:

I love the FAT tone and Reverb ... sounds range from mellow blues to chunky boogies and anything else in between.

The distortion sounds are good BUT it is noisy / mains cycle hum, nearby electrical interfernece etc. The noise suppressor works but dampens / muddies up the sound quite a bit. This a bit disappointing.

I noticed when running the unit through my amp effects loop, it squeels on distortion sounds at only moderate settings - either unit is at fault or fender amp.

The modualtion sounds are real cool, anything from Pink Floyd, Lenny Kravitz, U2 etc.

The delay sounds are a bit tricky to get right - I still need to sit down and get it right. However, the reverse echo is real Led Zep, the echo delay is U2 and the rotary is SRV "Tightrope".

The expression pedal is reeeeally good. The voice wah is great with the pedal set about half up - real Santana sound, very vocal!

Worthwhile to purchase foot switch for this unit - this allows to switch through the patches

Works all the time .... the operator may be "weakest" link in the chain though. BOSS has been around for a long time and I am sure it will stand up to all the foot stomping abuse and playing environemnts.

I would use it professionally - you need to understand the sounds you require and have it set-up for the music you play.

The sales guy in guitar shops ie after salkes advice - some are good and understand the product, others give you this 'glazed-eye-I-don't-know-I-don't-care' look when you ask specific questions.

I wouldn't expect to deal with BOSS direct as I expect this to be reliable equipment. I have had this for 18 months - two years.

I like blues to hard rock, bit of haevy metal, boogie, acoustic delta and R n B. I even like playing country rock . To me its all about groove, tone and fun.

I have played a long time > 20 years. Jamming, some gigging, self enjoyment and expression.

In my personal experiences, I find you 'adjust your playing' to your equipment and genrally progress from there. In my instance, playing elctric acoustics, to 'slinky-action' ibanez electrics to 'fat- stringed, fat-sound' strats, I have adjusted and found the experience most gratifying. The ME-50 to me has opened up my playing ... sometimes subtle, other times brutal but most rewarding all the same.

Most worthwhile investment, very sounds ... another dimension to my playing.

i love the boss me-50 but i think that one hast to have a good guitar and amp to start off with all that money would be wasteted on a 2 volt amp and pick-ups you could use to scare dogs away with.

but wiht the help of the manuel and some cool tunes in ure arsenal this can be a worthwhile investment.

it by far is the easyest multi eff... box ive ever used

the pedle will make any bad guitar or guitarist sound good. i use it with a yamaha eg 112 and yamaha 60 odd volt amp and it rocks. its as noisy as the amp can be. but the effects will sound better on a better amp (obviouly)ive been hearing sounds from hendrix to santana

im 15 stone and i could fall on this from 10 feet up and not scrach it. i wouldnt only use this at a gig i'd use this to invade mars.(or Iraq) lol

no ipinion but im sure they would be helpfull

i love all rock, well apart from punk. but ive played every thing from direstraights to chris rea on the me-50 and its rocked them all.

iv been playing 11 years and own a accustic and a classical guitar as well as my yamaha eg 112. i also am quite tasty on the tennor saxophone but thats another story.

if it were stolen or lossed or sat on and broke id deffietly buy it again because of its ability too mold to fit your playing perfectly

one of my only complaints is that some of the distorsion effects sound abit samey but i love its inibility to get boaring
my favorite feature is the expression peddel (wah in particular)

i didnt compare it to other products but i did seek advice from my guitaristic advisary board of friends

i wish it could record tracks on it and play them back at you threw the amp but what r u gonna do

it helps me express myself with my guitar and has helped me write alot more songs for my band (5 ways to the weekend)from london

it would be cool if it had jazz/blues features but its a better contraption than i could ever build so enough said

if icould give this peddle 11 i would but you'll have to stick with 10

i hope reading this has helped you decide to buy this... and spread the love ....

largeman out...!

Incredible - compare this to any competing products and you'll choose the me-50 every time. User interface designers take note - knobs are the most intuitive controls on the face of the planet!!

Absolutely incredible. I've been playing for 25 years professionally, session, live, jamming, w.h.y., and I now use this to replace my 12 boss stomp boxes. The distortions and overdrives are virtually perfect! I do find that the tube screamer is missing the very subtle analog delay doubling that is in the original unit (which is partly responsible for it's amazing tone), however that can be simulated pretty well with the me-50's analog delay setup properly.
Contrary to what some people have written here, the chorus, phaser, flanger, univibe etc are all VERY good but you have to understand how to use the non-traditional effect level control when applicable. Original units didn't often have such a control, but by A-B comparing the originals to this and fiddling with knobs (and using common sense about how the original units work) you can duplicate their sounds and store the settings in the me-50.
COSM (roland's digital modelling technology) truly is excellent. I use this with my vox valvetronix amp (ad-50vt) and a cheap project strat that's been customized extensively to be a great claptonesque guitar (also use a custom mahogany les paul copy with seymour duncan alnico-ii pro and dimarzio pickups). The tones are simply outstanding. Unless absolutely necessary keep the noise gate off or almost off, and keep the compressor off except when specifically wanted (or add external pedal switch) since it adds insane amounts of sustain even on the lowest settings and that might not be what you're looking for.
The pitch shifters and harmonizers are stunning - like the boss stomp pedal version which is best of breed also. Just learn how to play guitar cleanly and understand that guitar synths can only track single pitches unless a hex pickup is used (as in midi guitar synths - not compatible with this box anyway). I use the harmonizer to simulate brass section bursts and lines in a cover band and people are looking around for the extra keyboards etc when I play, then I hit one switch and I'm SRVing with tons of tone!

You might want to use a boost pedal with this to switch in for leads (before or after the me-50 work well depending on how you setup compression etc). I use a chandler tube driver before it and hit it for solos - some extra real tube drive and boost bring me over the top when wanted.

Even the wha pedal is great, although I don't like it's position in the signal chain for some guitar styles so I use another antique vox italian crybaby (red fasel) after the me-50 to really scream "hendrix".

Perfect - solid, metal, made to gig, this is a pro piece of equipment. Anyone who thinks this is only practice material doesn't understand what gigging is all about. If you can get a great tone, play it live. It doesn't have to be $1000 to be amazing, this is the same technology in the most expensive roland gear, same amazing build quality, ultimate gigging features.

Use it live - it's great!

This unit also goes through batteries fairly quickly, although lasts longer than many other digital boxes due to it's use of multiple AA's instead of 9 volts, but I still bought the boss wall wart adapter for it to make sure it doesn't die on stage.

n/a - but I've heard boss is good for this. no problems for me and I got a 1 year warranty from long and mcquade in vancouver canada anyway so not important to me.

how can you do better than digital equipment with analog controls and digital programmability with analog tone?

Of course, to sound like all the boxes in this unit, including a rat, tube screamer, every boss overdrive and distortion pedal, govn'r, fuzz face, univibe, every boss modulation effect, boss digital and analog delays, good wah effects, incredibly good tracking harmonizers and pitch shifters, etc etc, you'd have to spend $5000. Then you'd have a lot more unreliability, tons of patch cords, power supplies, problems, headaches, and noise.

This is superior in my opinion. I will never go back. I do have some great analog effets and will keep using them in my chain but they're gradually becoming more and more like backup solutions.

Very easy and straightforward. All the knobs turn perfectly, and it is very easy to figure out. Getting good sound is not hard, but you need to read the manual and learn what "Level" and "Tone" and "Drive" truly mean if you want to get good and fancy with the sounds. If you already know what those mean, you won't need to read the manual. The manual, by the way, is the best I've ever read for any guitar-related product. Very straightfoward with pictures. I've never needed to mess with the firmware because it works great, and my unit is brand new (never upgraded).

I am using it with an ESP EC-100QM guitar through a cheap Korean brand amp (I'm deployed there so I needed one), although I also use this through the church mixer board during performance. The ME-50 is very very powerful: with the mini amp at gain=0 volume=2 and the pedal at output_level=50% you can get very loud sound at the very lowest possible volume pedal setting. However, within the range of the amp, I have yet to experience sound distortion. I have yet to plug into the church mixer board.

The effects are very powerful, in terms of their variety and their abilities. Starting off, the distortions are nice. There are many varieties, and you can pick either to emulate a pedal (Boss and others) or to specify the kind (Metal/Loud/Lead/Natural/Crunch/etc). If you're trying to emulate music that you hear, you can eventually find what you want in terms of distortion. Me, I prefer to either sound identical to the CD, or if I'm doing improvised music or original music, to play around with the distortion until I get what I want. So far it seems to work great and have tons of options (probably more than I'll ever truly need).

The place where this pedal really shines is the modulations: Chorus, Tremolo, Flander, Phaser, Uni-V, etc. There's one analog Chorus and two stereo choruses, and they both sound excellent. The Rate knob is almost too sensitive for analog chorus, but at 100% depth this chorus sounds absolutely sexy. Tremolo took a little thinking and playing, but also works great. You can also manually set some of the rates by holding the Mod foot switch then tapping the rhythm (LED responds) or moving the Rate knob (LED displays rate, which is cool).

In terms of delays, I don't use them often, but they seem to work as advertised and described. Too bad there's not an "Edge" switch position for the delay (i.e. to sound like U2) :)

The one thing I learned new (after being sort of "lied to" by other multieffects pedals) is the Compressor. This is the first time I've had one that's independent. After reading the description (since I'm new) and using it, I have fell in love with it. On Metallica's song Nothing Else Matters, if you listen closely, someone is using Compressor due to the sound that comes through. Running with only Compressor, I sound almost identical to the sound they used on that song.

The noise gate works as advertised, the reverb does also (but in response to some other comments, if you're using amp reverb and then use ME-50 amp reverb, it's probably going to sound really stupid). Master volume is a knob right next to reverb, and that's a lot better to me than one that's on the back side of the pedal. The tuner works great, even without a needle like the Quick Tune's have.

The expression pedal as a volume pedal works great. It can be tuned if you really want to, as well as the stomp pressure set. As a wah, it seems to work as advertised, maybe not as rich as a Cry Baby, but I have yet to fine-tune the pedal.

Tone enhance seems to work as advertised, if you're listening closely. As for the way they did the naming of them, maybe it would be more logical to just say (Bass Boost / Bass & Treble / Mid Boost / Mid Cut) but once you learn the names (Presence / Tight / Fat / Enhance) you understand. As such, this knob and others seem to be abstract rather than analytical, but you get used to it very easily.

My favorite artists vary, but it seems like I can get it to sound like the Deftones, Disturbed, Metallica, System of a Down, Chris Tomlin, Petra, Whiteheart, Margaret Becker, etc.

Reliability: never had any issues: always works, always dependable.

Would I use it on a gig without backup? I would never be anywhere without a backup. However, since I'm deployed, still learning, not rich, and a church musician (i.e. I don't tour), I seem to be fine without backups. If it were to fail, I'd just run direct into the amp / sound board and do my best without it, and then turn it in. But I've never had any issues with it, and it's awesome, so I'm very tempted to say that I'd never get a backup.

I've never had to talk to Boss. This is a good thing because it works and the manual explains everything. Never had any issues. Their website is nice: you can get the manual in PDF form, and there are also other places to find info and such.

Style: everything from slow and beautiful through chorus (Margaret Becker) to Metallica (Compressor + "Metal") and System of a Down ("Metal"). It seems to be a great match and very versatile.

I've been playing since I was 18, although I'm military and have never been able to spend a good amount of time on practicing. I own an Ovation Celebrity Custom CS247, ESP LTD EC-100QM, the ME-50 and a cheap practice amp.

Stolen? As soon as I could buy another, I would get another ME-50.

Love? I love how it's got knobs, the way you can use effects independently, and since it doesn't have amp modeling (I absolutely hate amp modeling) I love it even more. I can't think of anything I really hate, but the output is rather high. However, this could be my amp, so I'm not going to count against the pedal (since the output level knob fixes things). Also, I wish I had gotten the optional dual footswitch addition so that I can switch between banks (up/down) and/or turn on/off compressor and tone modify, but this is additional equipment. My favorite feature is being able to switch to/from Tuner and to/from Memory mode, and to set up effects together in memory positions to get a very specific sound for a specific song.

Compare to other products? Let's see ... The DoD effects pedals I've used are ok, but then I'm sort of dependent on spending a lot more time playing with amp modeling and/or hoping there's a factory preset that meets my needs. That is unacceptable to me, so I'm happy with this pedal. I'm a Boss fan, so I can't really down the other pedals, but I have actively (live) played through DoD pedals. Amp modeling sucks. I chose this one with the Boss product chooser, and out of reviews and experience, and due to how it can act more like independent effects when needed.

I wish it had more factory presets, however. I'm picky, and I set mine up great, but for my amp (again, could be a sucky amp) the presets sound overdone. However, the factory presets come in the manual telling you where every knob is, and this is golden because you can see the basic philosophy behind the sounds themselves. They even give you a little preset sheet you can fill in (I don't use it, but it's nice).

Help me make music? Well, it doesn't do my laundry for me so that I can spend more time playing, and it doesn't teach guitar, but it doesn't get in the way lol. In general, stomp boxes and multi-stomps require more cabling, so they technically do get in the way, but they all do this, so it's normal.

This is the area that the ME50 really excells at. The basic layout is that of three "stompboxes" next to one another, each possesing dedicated knobs to all the peramiters that you would expect to be there. In addition there are dedicated tone ajustment, Noise reduction, Compression and Reverb controlls and an Expression peddel.

There are no menus what so ever, whith everything being ajusted just as it would be on a normal dedicated foot pedal. The only time that the LCD is really used is the Tuner and recalling the presets that you program in.

When it comes to presets, again it couldnt be easier. You simply press the "write" button and then use the arrow keys to choose a bank, then press "write" again to store your settings.

The manual is pretty strait forwards and explains what each of the preamiters on the settings do. Theres really not much explaining needed as you just move the dials and the sounds there.

The sound on the ME50 is fair. The Tone shaper is nice - I wouldnt say that it really dose what it claims (making your guitar sound like an acustic or single coils etc..) but there are pleanty of nice useable tones in there own right which is fair of any unit.

I'm using it through a THD Univalve and a THD 2X12 speaker cab. I have an Eppi Les paul with EMG's, a Jap Jazzmaster and a USA fat strat.

The compression is something that i never really use but seems to work ok. The reverb comes in four forms (room, Hall, Spring and Mod) The first two are quite nice for digi verb, the spring is awful and sounds like someones kicking your amp when you play (it makes "splosh" sping noises that really arnt there with real spring verb) and the mod is good if you like David Gimore esc "ultra effects" but not really for the majority of players.

The Distortions range from good to usless (the MT2 being the worst culprit, offering muffeld fuzz and hidious feedback) but there are pleanty enought of the good for most tastes. Like the tone mod they dont really imitate real amps and pedals that well, but sound ok in there own right. One thing to note is that the higher gain distortions are VERY noisy - to the point of being unuseable

The modulations are great, and all without exception are up there with any dedicated box. They have great scope and sound clear and crisp at all times.

The Dealys are good and seem up there with most digi pedels - there are the useful ones and the not so great (slow revers ecco etc..) but all in all there is everything that you could ask for in that department. The expression pedal is ok but i felt it lacked range. As a volume pedal it is a but to sharp for nice violining. The whar is a bit nasty in my oppinion, and fails to capture the range that good whars (like the cry baby) have. There are a selection of other expression effects but there all pretty useless (ring mod - a bad pitch shifter etc).

This think is built like a tank - its made of heavy duty metal and very tough plastic. Short of chucking it out a highrise window there not much that could break this pedal.

As for the softwere - I've had mine about 7 months and there have been no probs yet - If i gigged with this then i'd have a backup as you never know do you - but this is about as tought as they get!

No idea - never needed to use it

I play mainly rock and punk (TRHCP, The Distillers, Greenday, Metallica, Placebo etc...) and find that there are pleanty of useful sounds - as mentioned before the "metal" distortions are awful, but there are some others (hi birt) that are really good for 80's Thrash sounds.

I've been playing for about 6 years and have never really had much in the way of effects. I have a Visual Sound Jackle n Hide and a GD whar but never went for multi effects before as i find them too much hasstle searching through all the menues. This is really where the ME50 came into its own as there was none of that to deal with.

As mentioned above, the ease of use is by far the best thing about this pedal - the worst being that several of the sounds are below average - but there are still many that are pretty good

I compaired this to the Korg Muti fx unit (the new small silver one) which was far below this in both ease of use and sound qulity. I also tried the GT-6 which i felt lost some of the ease of use in exchange for more effects (in my oppion this has too many already)

This is a really great practice tool and is good fun for Jamming. Its not pro quality and it wont make a ?200 amp sound like a ?2000 amp (infact - it wont do this through a really good valve amp either) but nor will anything else out there, but if your looking for a good selection of sounds in a tough small case that are good enough for pub gigs and practice sessions then this is well worth checking out.

No menus, just knobs as easy as any Boss stomp box. The manual is well laid out.

Pretty damn good all the effects sound how I would expeect for a unit in this price bracket not perfection but pretty good. Some of the effects can get overpowering when used the od/distortion module but you can dial that out. The only real problem is when using memory mode there is a small drop out between patch changes reminds me of the Korg A4 I had about 10 years ago. I would have in this age of technology they could have sorted this problem out but hey I only really use manual mode anyway.

It's Boss so I trust it stury chassis but plastic foot switches but they look like they can take a few years abuse.

I don't know about Boss but my local guitar store are always very helpful when I need any help (I guess it's cos I used to work there).

I play many styles of music and bought this as a Birthday gift to myself. I've been playing for nearly 11 Years and own alot of gear. This unit is part of my home practice rig Ibanez SC420 or PRS CE24 - Boss ME50 - Laney HCM60R. I was also thinking about the GT-8 but it was more unit than I needed. The ME50 does what it does very well and serves my needs more than enough.

Ok, I've been playing guitar for 13 years and have tried a whole wealth of effects and amps and combos and i have to say this pedal is damn easy to use. I view it as two pedals in one, one pedal is awsome, on sucks. The first is bascially a real time pedal where you can dial in the settings you want and colour your sound as needed as you go, add delay, chorus, change volume, add wah or whatever effect you use. The other pedal is the preset pedal.....whereas you can dial awesome tones, set everything beautifully the massive drawback for me is that when you change patch there is about .4 of a second of silence. Sounds like John Petrucci on silent man in Scenes from new york...that really definate delay in tone change. I'm used to changing tones on the beat and expect an instant change, no gaps.......in real time mode this isn;t a problem, in patch mode it is....unless i am doing something wrong i am suprised no-one has mentioned this.

However, the redeeming thing of this pedal is that you don;t have to use the patches. So basically i use the clean channel of my DSL2000 and when it's distortion time hit the pedal. It works well :) the only draw back is you don;t get all those nice semi distorted tones unless you do that on the amp or extremely back off the volume off your guitar and change to a neck pickup. For this reason i give the unit an 8.......not perfect, but pretty damn good!!!

Right, this is where the unit comes into it's own. I use a Marshall DSL100 JCM2000 head, 4x12 cab, Ibanez Satriani and Paul Gilbert signature guitars, and a high spec Jackson Dinky, with seymour duncan pickups just fitted.mini 69 and a high distortion. I play mostly rock, metal, progressive music and jazz, funk, blues and just good old smiths style guitar pop and this pedal can cover all the tones.

Having a great amp and good guitars is obviously vital and i have to admit i only actually use one of the distortions, and manipulate the sound with the tone, bass, volume and drive controls. The others are ok with work , but to get the EQ settings right on the amp, pedal and guitar it's difficult to change different distortions as you go. At high volumes it can cause a problem, either too much treble or bass and not enough middle. Once you get the perfect setting then stick with it!!!!

The actual effects are excellent, the delays are clean, the reverbs can be overpowering but i just back it off. Using the minimal reverb is the way forward, esp at high volumes. The noise gate is fantastic , at about a 60% setting you get a perfect tone, no loss of distortion or anything. It is like the NS-1(i think) noise supressor(!) that is used to use. that was perfect. The compression is uneeded but a good touch for those who require it. Again, for me this messed up the tone slightly. In a live situation I don;t think this is necessary. The modulation section is excellent............I don;t really use chorus or flange or anything like that, maybe slight chorus sometimes and this pedal does everything you need. It's all programmable so you can get the desired effect.

The expression/rocker pedal is amazing........i use it for two objectives.....one as a volume pedal and one as a wah. For volume if you are precise you can use it to give you a boost in solos, but as i am the only guitar player in my bands i don;t need it for that. When i want a dead sound, or i need to unplug my guitar for total silence i use that pedal. The wah is awesome........to activate it it is a cry baby style push down on the pedal to activate the switch in the forward position, then away you go. Obviously it isn;t cry baby or morely standard but it is by far the most natural sounding wah i have heard on a multi effects unit. The pitch shifters are very accurate both up and down and the rest of the modulation effects are very good.

Another amazing addition is the tone selector, i only use it for the acoustic simulator......it is awesome........saves having to get that piezo fitted!!!!

In typical boss style this is a beast of a pedal. It is a solid metal tank that is unbreakable. I have had mine for two years nearly and it has never let me down. However, i do advise you get a Boss 9V adaptor otherwise you will compromise sound quality. At a recent gig mine was damaged and i used my 9V from my POD that i happened to have........in clean it was ok, in distortion it was noisy as hell. I had to ditch the effects and use just the amp!!!

I';ve dropped it, done countless gigs, busked in the street with it(good battery life) and basically it's been a work horse. The paint isn't even tarnished, the LED's all work and it is bascially as new.

Never needed any repairs......but i am sure BOSS would be excellent at customer support!!! In fact, their products are so good and reliable i bet their customer support section is pretty bored and would welcome any repairs!!!

I read elsewhere that someone said this isn;t a pedal for professional guitar players....i would say i have to dissagree. It's nice to be suprised when a cheap product can compare to products that are three, maybe four times in value. Obviously, it is not a massive rack of effects but it has some excellent useable sounds and does the job. I'd never use it for recording, but live it is good. The only problem is the switching of patches. As i am not using the patches preset mode it does everything i need. If the patches mode did the job then i would use that, but i guess you can't have it all!!!

I'll give it a nine.......not perfect, but it's on;y minor niggles that stop it being a 10. Hope the review has been useful!

It was designed specificly to be easy to use with all the parameters tweakable with analogue style knowbs so not only does it get a 10 but it's the easiest to use modern day multi effects unit there is. The user experiance is a throwback to the 80's and early 90's when multi-effects were basicly a few pedals in a single piece of plastic.

The way they combine several effects into a single knob is pretty nice, you can select between 4 types of reverb and choose the intensity all in one twist. The loss of resolution when picking the the intensity isn't that bad.

One drawback is that reverb can't be toggled in manual mode, you have to use a memory patch to alter the reverb on the fly.

The other drawback is that tap-timing the modulation requires you to hold down the pedal for two seconds to activate the mode so you might as well not think about manipulating that effect in the middle of a song.

You can save any setting as a memory patch so none of the drawbacks to manual mode realy count against the unit overall. Most effects units are much harder to use in either implementation.

I compared my Maxon OD808 to their "scream" overdrive setting since it's trying to mimick the same circuit and I was very interested to see where modeling is at nowadays. They have the same tone color at the moment you strike the strings and sound nearly identical but the huge difference is in the decay. The OD808 sounds bubly and random with various frequencies spiking all over the place as the strings quiet down whereas the scream setting on the me-50 has a very linear decay like a compressed and equalized distortion. There are no random spikes and bubbliness. It sounds more like a elf inside the pedal is turning the drive down. I'm guessing this has to do with the fact that it's digital and/or that the model can't hope to be that exact based on the circuitry it uses. This doesn't radicly effect my opinion of it because if you wanted a similar and usable tone you still have it.

Most of the other distortions all have the same linear decay characteristic but that can probably be compensated for with a dirty tube amp. I'll know as soon as mine get's out of the repair shop. The distortions are usefull, even if they don't sound like the originals they don't sound bad. Some even sound a little better in that I always wanted that tone but not the noise, or I wanted it with more low end.

The delays are realy clean but I wish there was a tone knob for the repeat signal. The reverse effect is realy cool because it makes it sound like there's another guitar behind you doing stuff that's amazingly complementary.

The rocker pedal is awesome, the pedal feels realy nice and the effects are not so extreme as to make your sound awkward in the bigger mix. I think the wah resembles a vox wah, not a crybaby. I realy like the resonance effect because of the way it makes the tone of the guitar so narrow, I'll often leave it in one spot for a long period.

The modulations, compressors and other utilities are pretty good. They sound alot smoother than multi effects of the past. The reverb sounds artifacty but digital reverb always does.

no idea

no idea

Overall it deserves a 9 because 10 would imply a perfection which I'm still waiting for.

Very easy to use. Just read all the posts below. Play with the knobs, TRY to dial in your tone and effects. Very smooth operating board.....have not read the manual. Dont need it if you have ever used a pedal.

Please know right off the bat that I do NOT own this unit. This review is based on 4-6 hours of playing with it at various shops through various guitars, single coil and humbucks, and amps, tube and SS everything from a Bassman LTD to a JC 120 to a Mesa F-50. Each time I played dry though the amp with both cables first as a reference point. I reccomend that to anyone trying out effects at a shop. Eliminate the simple things...find a good guitar that is set up well or bring you own.

I really, REALLY wanted to like this pedal because I love the way it is set up and for the price it would be great to throw in a backpack to take to garage jams, open mike night at the local bar...etc and get some decent sounds without having to haul a big ass pedal board around.

After many hours of tweaking I have finally given up on this unit.

First the good. Delays are damn good. Not great but good enough for most. Lotsa variablity in the settings. I also like the rotary and Uni-Vibe effects...actually suprised by these! The reverbs are ok but the spring reverb is noisy as hell....hall sounds great. The expression pedal has a limited sweep but the wah is good also for a ME unit.

The bad. The OD/Distortion, all 22 of them are among the worst I have ever heard. NOISY AS HELL in every setting with every guitar and amp combo I tried, The built in noise suppressor does very little to help.....sucks tone from the guitar as does the compressor/sustainer. Just horrible.
The other effects, flanger, phaser, tremelo, chorus (WTF....Boss/Roland..even the chorus blows ass????)....very dissapointing.

Noise, noise and more noise. I should have given up after an hour or so but the look, feel and apparent value of this thing kept me going back with an open mind

Like bamboo and cockroaches, this thing would probably survive an atomic bomb blast.

Never dealt with Boss directly.

I play mostly blues, surf, bluesy rock, southern rock type stuff. I have a large pedal board, several amps and guitars. My work does not allow for a steady gig right now but I play alot of blues jams, garage jams with the kids and occaisionaly stand in with a local band or two. I have been playing about 35 years and semi-professionally on and off. This aint my first rodeo. I have been searching for a compact, portable multi-effects board with a decent OD, distortion,reverb,delay,wah and maybe a few extra's (uni-v, chorus..etc) So far I havent found it. The ME-50 looks cool, has tons of effects and features and is built like the proverbial brick shit house. The only problem is that it mostly sounds like what is in the bottom of that pit.

This thing is very easy to use. I am used to stompboxes, and never presets. So, if you like the ease of stomping effects on and off, this is good for you. Here's an example. Let's say I want some delay. First, I dial in what type of delay I want. (reverse, analog, etc.) Then, I can ajust the feedback, E. level, etc. There is a preset function, but I never use it. But anyway, I'd say that this is the perfect multi-effects for those like me.

Let's just go from top to bottom.
1. Tome Modification
This thing works pretty well. I can make my Strat sound like an acousic, a hollowbody , and even a Les Paul! (with the right overdrive) It has good quality. There are 11 different models all together.

2. Compressor.
Works okay, but I don't use much compressor, so I'm not a good judge.

3. Noise suppressor
This works really well, however, it does not get rid of the 60 cycle hum. Although, nothing gets rid of a 60 cycle hum!! I like how it reduces all the pops and snaps when you're not playing!

4. Reverb
Works perfectly for me. It has hall, spring, room, and mod reverbs. I prefer it on hall. You can also turn it up or down with one knob.

5. Overdrive/Distortion.
This has soooo many models. Metal, loud, lead, crunch, natural, mt-2, ds-1, bd-2, od-2, od-1, scream, dst+, guv, rat, muff, face, modern od, stack, hi gain, modern ds, square, and oct fuzz. Plus drive, bottom, tone, and level knobs. They all sound awesome.
6. Modulation
Pretty good. Only problem is the phaser. When you put it on, it gets louder for some reason. I use a seprate phaser.
Flanger, phaser, st chorus 1, st chorus 2, chorus, harmonizer, tremolo, pan, vibrato, uni-v rotating speaker, and rotary.
Here's the weird part. On the harmonizer, you can't play a full chord. It's monophonic. If you play a full chord, it buzzes and bounces all over the place.
7. Delay (my favorite!)
This has no problems whatsoever!
Analog, 400-2000 ms, 100-500 ms, 0-30 ms, slow echo, pan, space pan, reverse, hold, tap tempo. Clean sound, very tweakable.
8. Expression pedal
Pretty good. Wah, resonance, voice, ring mod, + octave, -octave.
Wah screams like a Jimi Hendrex wah, resonance and voice are pretty good. Ring mod, +octave, and -octave sound really wild, but they're monophonic like the harmonizer!

It has an all-metal chasee, so it's very sturdy and durable. It's suprisingly lightweight, too. It won't run on batteries for long, but I always use a power supply. The stomp pedals are very robust. So is the expression pedal.

Haven't had any problems yet. Ive had it for a year.

I play mostly rock and alternative, so this is a really good tool for me. I mostly use a Strat and sometimes a vintage Harmony Meteor. Amps will vary on what type of music I'm doing. This seems to sound good on everything from a Fender Bullet to a Marshall stack and everything in between. If I ever lose it, i will buy a new one because I can't find anything better.I just wish the ring mod, pitch shift and harmonizer wasn't monophonic!

How can you complain?

Compared to things like the Boss GT-8 its a breeze to use and find the right tone.

This unit is clearly not meant for pros who have been playing for a long time but for beginners and even high level intermediate players the Me-50 is a perfect unit.

As said above this unit is not designed for pros who can pick the differences between a real tube amp and a tube simulating pedal but for the price it is an extremly reasonable quality.

The only addition that it would need would be more ajustable parameters on the expression pedal effects mainly the wah.

People have been constantly complaining about the lack of an eq but anyone who need to change the eq in the middle of a song should be hiring techies to do it for them.

Its a boss - would definatly gig without backup

I play punk/metal/rock and this pedal can cope with each genre easily.

I have been playing for 6 years and consider myself to be an intermediate level guitarist. for all my purposes i cannot imagine a much better pedal.

I play a gibson sg custom through a Marshall MG100HDFX and the tone match is ideal.

This is an addition to my review below, whereas if you are somewhat disappointed with the tone, throw away your adaptor. I had 3-4 wal warts powering my board and it was noisey. I bought a Dunlop 9V Brick and this seems to have revitalized the unit's tone. I don't know why, but this is probably why Boss does not include a power adaptor, maybe a design flaw. I was using the appropriate adaptor, but for some reason the tone just didn't live up to its hype until I hesitantly bought a Dunlop brick for $99 which substantially increased this unit's potential. Now its sounds like the unit that the engineers had in mind. You probably won't benefit by buying the $29-39 multi-daisy chain. The brick cleaned up the noise significantly. I am considering a Hush Super C, but I am glad I bought the brick first.

Buy the brick

Rather simple to use. I prefer the simplicity of this unit over other more complicated one's, like the GT-6 and GT-8. I wonder what would happen if Boss tried to stop reinventing the wheel.

Here is the issue. You get what you pay for. The EQ is lame, very lame in my opinion. You must impliment an EQ-7, not the 10 band which I dumped on e-bay. If Boss implemented a GE-7 with this most people would be in tone heaven. In addition I have the Aphex Exciter and most defintely a Rocktron Nitro. In front I am utilizing tube overdrive, Tube Works Real Tube. Excluding the ME-50, this set-up runs about $300-$350.

With the ME-50, you get what you pay for, a volumunous array of distortions, mods, delays and other superficial effects. For $295 it doesn't take you over the top, but it gets you half way there.

The key to the ME-50 is is a solid selection of distortion, some good quality mods and a decent Wah. Noise gate and Compressor is pretty much in line with stomp box issues.

If you buy a Rocktron Nitro for only $49, your amp head will sound like a pro-amplififier and your guitar will scream tone. I have the Aphex Exciter which doesn't seem to do a lot, but the guitar tone just sounds better with it on. Trust me, if you were to buy these options, you will seek the Holy Grail no further. To simplifiy and reiterate here: Tone Works Real Tube, Roctron Nitro, GE-7 and Aphex Exciter.

This is built solid like most Boss units.

Duh! Why would you need them?

You have to buy the power adaptor, everyone quit your whining. The only issue is why Boss didn't implement a bank changer, it's like 10 steps foreward, and one step back.

Easy to use but if have an existing patch with the Modulation or Dely turned off you cannot turn these features back on. Of course there are easy ways around this but its a bit annoying. The manual is not bad. It shows the settings for the factory presets and if there are any you like you can reference those settings.

I am using it between a stock Chinese Squire and a little Marshall Lead 20. The noise gate is just OK, The harmonizer works nice when used with single notes and distortion. Playing a chord through the harmonizer makes the sound go goofy. I like the delays and prefer the analog. The tap tempo is very handy for adjusting delay time on the fly. As far as the distortions - The BD-2 works great for crispy - crunch tone. I like the MT-2 for shred-tallica stuff, Scream (alias for tube screamer)works good for overdrive but of course does not sound like a real tube amp. The Rat distortion sounds good. the Modern OD seems to very work good for CCM because it has a friendly sounding hybrid distorion/overdive sound that cleans up nicley when backing off the drive level. I find that I have had to lower the tone level i.e. less treble on all the distortion settings or my Squire will sound shrill.

Never let me down, even after I dropped it a couple of times. Very Ruggid

Never User It

I play mostly Contemporary Christian Music. I use alot of different variations and levels of distortion and overdive. This unit works excelent on all the clean tones with mods and effects. Also If you need to be able to have plenty of extra boost at one stomp so you can be heard nailing a killer lead, this unit can do it - its just not a problem (smile). The Distortion levels as well as the Output levels are all programable. You will need to use it with an amplifier. If your looking to model amps and plug straight into the PA and have good sound - forget it. the ME-50 models stomp boxes not amps. Value to Price ratio is very good. If I did it again I would probably look much closer at something that models amps and cabinets.

Easy to use but if have an existing patch with the Modulation or Dely turned off you cannot turn these features back on. Of course there are easy ways around this but its a bit annoying. The manual is not bad. It shows the settings for the factory presets and if there are any you like you can reference those settings.

I am using it between a stock Chinese Squire and a little Marshall Lead 20. The noise gate is just OK, The harmonizer works nice when used with single notes and distortion. Playing a chord through the harmonizer makes the sound go goofy. I like the delays and prefer the analog. The tap tempo is very handy for adjusting delay time on the fly. As far as the distortions - The BD-2 works great for crispy - crunch tone. I like the MT-2 for shred-tallica stuff, Scream (alias for tube screamer)works good for overdrive but of course does not sound like a real tube amp. The Rat distortion sounds good. the Modern OD seems to very work good for CCM because it has a friendly sounding hybrid distorion/overdive sound that cleans up nicley when backing off the drive level. I find that I have had to lower the tone level i.e. less treble on all the distortion settings or my Squire will sound shrill.

Never let me down, even after I dropped it a couple of times. Very Ruggid

Never User It

I play mostly Contemporary Christian Music. I use alot of different variations and levels of distortion and overdive. This unit works excelent on all the clean tones with mods and effects. Also If you need to be able to have plenty of extra boost at one stomp so you can be heard nailing a killer lead, this unit can do it - its just not a problem (smile). The Distortion levels as well as the Output levels are all programable. You will need to use it with an amplifier. If your looking to model amps and plug straight into the PA and have good sound - forget it. the ME-50 models stomp boxes not amps. Value to Price ratio is very good. If I did it again I would probably look much closer at something that models amps and cabinets.

my boss ME-50 was made in 2004 and is one of the easyist guitar effects to use i have ever seen. You can get a good sound out of it just by clicking the distortion pedel. Some of the distortions are a bit tinny to start off with but crank up the distortion level to turbo and you get a different story. the modulations on this guitar (phasers,flangers,rotary,octave etc)effects are amazing, there are so many different ways to change the sound and it is all so easy,
and because it's analouge there are no screens and just plain old knobs to select what you want. One of the easiest guitar effects i have ever used and owned.

The sound quality of this beast is stunning, at the moment i am using it with a peavy 15 watt and an ibanez S470(soon to upgrade to an ibanez S3620 J.Custom!) i just like to play upstairs, but if i do start gigging i will upgrade to a peavy head and cab triple x (my favourite). Even on a 15 watt combo it sound great but some of the distortions, to start off with, are a bit tinny but crank up the distortion level to turbo and you've got a different story(by the way i know i've repeated myself,:) As iv'e said the modulation is fantastic. My favourite artist is Vinnie Vincent and can nearly get his sound but it's tricky. Overall the sound is fantastic and if you alter the noise gate you get no unwanted sound at all. Would definetly gig with it.

This baby has never broken down but i've only had it about a year. would definetly gig without a backup.

never got it upgraded, don't need to. Never dealt with Boss.

Overall this effect unit is the best i've had and suits my style very well. I also own a Marlin state of the series guitar, i think it's quite rare(read the review if you want). What i love about this guitar is that it's so simple to use and is so well put together. If it were lost or stolen i would definetly buy a new one, i thought it was quite good value aswell because you are getting a Boss after all.
If someone wanted to spend around #190 on an effects unit i would advise you to take a look at the ME-50. It's fantastic!!!!!

Very very simple... Had it for half a year now. Easy from day 1. The problem is though with ease of use you end up sacrificing the range of what it can do...

The distortions are okayish.... The metal sound sounds like a real metal zone pedal, except with a hell of a lot of fuzz!!!! i wasn't very impressed. However all the other distorts are great and as a muse fan i love the square fuzz sounds.
Mods are okay. Very average phaser and flanger. Good chorus. Don't even touch the harmony mode...its awful!
The delays are where its good. They are very authentic and almost as good as some analog delays.

built like a TANK

never had to

i know i can always use it without a backup and by it a power supply and your sorted.

Bueno como esta indicado en sus caracteristicas es una de las pedaleras mas faciles de editar, ya que es practicamente un peque?o rack de pedales individuales, con perillas y todo.
El manual cumple con su funcion. Lo unico malo aqui, es tener que comprar dos footswitches por separado(cambio de bancos,seteos en tiempo real), los cuales me costaron cada uno $19US.Por ello le doy un 9

Uso una Jackson Dinky Reverse con un Bill Lawrence XL-500 en el puente y un Rocktron rt-80. No causa el menor ruido, si el cable y el seteo estan bien, al principio tenia cables de audio de dudosa calidad, pero consegui unos Monster y el problema se arreglo, no se recomienda usar pickups activos ya que si se les pone a maximo volumen producen un acople terrible con algunos seteos.

Las distorsiones como siempre nunca seran muy buenas en las pedaleras,pero cumple su funcion. Los efectos de retardo(delay,etc)suenan perfectamente como los pedales individuales e igualmente el chorus, el wah pues al igual que las distorsiones cumple su funcion, en algunos seteos se vuelve algo chillon. Y el pitch de +1 -1 octave funciona muy bien.

Esta muy bien construida, completamente de metal. Nunca la he dejado caer pero creo que aguantaria algunos golpes.
Obviamente que sea de metal no significa que no se pueda raspar, por ello le he mandado a hacer un estuche.

Hasta ahora no he tenido que contactar a la compa?ia por algun problema

Toco desde Smashing Pumpkins hasta Kreator, pasando por Maiden, Priest y Pantera, y no he tenido para sacar un sonido parecido al de estas bandas. En general la pedalera es la mejor y mas economica opcion si no quieres complicarte la vida y sonar bien.

It's easy to set each effect and editing patches. Each effect type has got it's own knobs so there's not problem at all.

In some reviews I read some absurd things. If you have a cheap guitar and small amp it's obvious that you are not going to get a perfect sound like with a $5000 equipment. And a multieffect will not change it, can help improving your sound but it can't make miracles.

I play through a Gibson LP Studio => ME-50 => JCM900 usually

I've been`playing for 6-7 years and making some gigs with my bands. I play Hardcore mainly and any other style and it sounds great. Just need time and luck sometimes to get the sound you are looking for. I use DS-1 overdrive with some noise gate and it sound very good for playing any style of HC,Punk or metal (my opinion).

I'm not a tone freak but for me almost all effects sound good (delay, chorus, flanger, wah, octaver...)

The only bad thing is that there's some silence while you change from one patch to another (irritating at the begining)

Two years and a half and no problems

For me and my equipment this unit sounds great, so I have all effects I need at a reasonable price. It won't make miracles but with good gear can get great sounds. The bad thing is the silence in patch changing.

the controls are all really easy to make sense of and use, even if like me you know little about guitar effects. Basically its lots of pedals made compact, so you just take each one seperately. you can hear the sound you're creating, as you're creating it so if you don't like something you can just set it back.
if you want to change a patch you just hit the edit button and change & listen at the same time.
come on do we really need a manual for such an easy to use pedal?? well you get one any way..just tells you not to throw it at walls etc..one thing though; it does have all the patch listings in there if you want to recreate them. oh, and it tells you how to reset all the stuff back.

for a good sound, keep it simple. i mean the equipment you use with it. you can run pedals before it but it should have all the effects you need. keep the amp on a real clean sound before hand, you can adjust that after bringing in all the effects.
at the moment i use a fender tele. straight in the boss and to the amp.
so far i have no complaints of hissing or fuzz or anything, if there is then you have the controls to do something about it.
i find it sounds a lot 'happier' if the boss master volume is about half way, so the amp is just adjusted accordingly. plus you know if you need to go louder you've got plenty left.!
there are so many possibilities, you could play any kind of music with this.

if you want an acoustic sound however...
just use an acoustic guitar. no effect in the world can reproduce it, the boss has the best go though.

hasn't broke yet. just over a year now.
it's solid and you could probably drop it, don't though.
i originally had a boss ds2 and that never broke so, in my opinion boss products are the toughest.

i always take a backup but then i'm just cautious.

tip..buy the adapter, batteries; you need loads and they run out.
get it at the same time and they may knock cash off.

i started out about 3 years ago with a ds2 and an ibanez. a few mates and i got a band going, just doing covers of blink and alkaline trio and stuff. at the start of 2004 we all went different ways then i started doing stuff of my own. being 19 then i had not much ### so i started looking at multi effects to broaden my ability. i wanted a wah and a volume pedal and a flanger and a delay and a floor tuner and to buy these all seperate (like my ds2) would cost shed loads so i had a play on an me50 in a shop and bought it there and then. its everything i needed at the time and probably for a while yet, value for # definately.
i got a 5 year warranty with it so if it breaks it'll get sorted by roland.

one thing i wish boss would do or if any one knows... some kind of site with shared patch listings so artists can exchange sounds. it might be on here somewhere, i havn't looked yet.

buy this if: you want loads of effects at a good price, in the same box that's unbreakable and that sounds amazing.

This unit is rather simple producing quality sounds. Just set the knobs and go....Editing patches I have found takes some practice, but you get the hang of it. I am a guy, I don't look at manuels.

I really like the sound quality. You get a good strong chorus, only when you turn it on full, which I believe is how it should operate. Other effects are novelties and I am able to have fun with it. The distortions, in my opinion, work great; although I am not finding the right tone with the TubeScreamer. The Rat is perfect and I have compared the DS-1 with the original and it sounds identical. The key for me is a good tube overdrive, I use Tube Works. I didn't think that I would appreciate the Guvner at first, but now it is a staple. Also I use an Aphex Exciter which really compliments the sound. I am not crazy about Metal Zone, but it is good to have. Digitial Delay is not as in your face as the original analogue, but I think it's good, whereas too much in your face is not desireable.

This unit could probably survive a terrorist attack. This may not be the absolute perfect answer to analog, but I feel it is about 98.5% there. With a row of stomp boxes, you will lose tone, whereas although you don't lose tone with this, you might sacrifice some overall punctuated clarity. The sacrifice pales in comparison to the benefit by about 10 steps foreward and one step back.

Haven't needed customer support...if I did I am either insecure, bored, or don't know what I am doing. You guys are idiots who do.

To reiterate from other reviews, power supply and additional foot switches are a major issue, and totaling the cost of these alomst puts you into the next price range, but the reason I bought this box is for it's simplicity. I like to replicate Gary Moore, Angus and Jimmy Page. I've played over 24 years, semi-professionaly at least once. I have a vintage guitar collection, to include Tele Deluxe and Hamer Special. I like to experiement with some of the throw back effects, like Muff and Univibe. I don't really understand the negative reviews, only that these people don't have quality equipment to produce the right sounds. I do wish that the distortion sounds had a detailed manuel explaining each one in detail, and which artists replicate the same sound for classic songs..but I guess that is a copywrite issue.

Simple to use it is effectively one large stomp box.

If you only use the effects on clean sounds its ok, that is the modulation effects are ok. The delay is a bit harsh on clean/distorted tones and the units distortion tones just cannot compete with a good tube amp. Not even when used to accentuate your amps overdrive sound.
My advice would be to get a tube amp, eq pedal, ditortion pedal and whack it straight into the amp (turn volume up to 7 or there abouts so it breaks uop nicely) - on doing so you'd never consider a multi-effects unit again. The problem is we all fork out for a tube amp and guitar and then want an f/x fix but this is not it.

Its a Boss product so it will last and after sales are normally good.
My unit is going so cannot give a rating.

boss in the past have been good to me so no doubt they will to people who get on with this unit. In the past I have found them helpful.

It's a lot of f/x for the money and an all in one box 'quick fix', if you are serious about guitar and tone I advise investing your money elsewhere. Once you experience the sound of a tube amp everything else pales into insignificance. Forget this unit, get an EQ pedal (the new Boss twin pedal graphic is good), an overdrive/distortion unit (Tubescreamer) and whack it through your amp; the terms chorus/delay etc won't feature in your vocabulary for some time! And the sound will remind you of what's really important...tone, not messing it up with this cheap box of tricks. (Use a power attenuator as well on your amp). think tone, think EQ/distortion, not ME50 type units.

Very easy to use. That's the main reason for buying it.

However, there is a drop in the sound, like half of a second, when changing patches. This makes the unit very unusable. You have to get used to it. However, it seems to be something easy to fix...if Boss wants to keep customers against Vox or Line 6.

Use it in front of the amp. In the loop effects sounds worst.

Quite good. It's true that sucks tone when on, but in my case, it sucks exactly the frecuencies I don't like!!!! For me, whith my particular amp (Mesa Boogie Subway Reverb Rocket) and cabinet (2x12 Vintage 30s), it's not a problem.

Compressor: Lack of attack control, but very usable and good sounding. I use it almost all the time.

Reverb, very digital, but sometimes useful. My EH Holy Grail is much better, almost perfect.

ODs and distortions, the same. However, it has so many different sound options, that I have always founded the distortion I was looking for. Not a super-tone, like the lead channel of my amp, but it's ok.

Modulation: good tremolo, good vibrato, and sometimes, good rotary speaker simulation. Choruses are just ok, and flangers&phasers are quite bad.

Delays: quite good. A lot of options. Good for experimenting.

Wah-wah: subtle but good sounding. Easy to use. Very good sound when combined with compressor.

Never had a problem with a Boss product. It's very well built.

Good value for the money. Not very good for live use because of the delay time when changing patches, but ok for rehearshals, experimening arranges, and as a backup.

In my case, I would prefer the VOX Tonelab SE, but only had money for the Boss ME 50.

Easy to use and simple, intuitive interface. Customising the patches are a breeze. Using preset patches or simply using the bypass mode to kick in effects are both easy.

I'm surprise the majority of reviewers were happy with the sound quality!! I thought it SUCKED ! I tried everything, going direct to amp, via effects loop and each time it either (1) Increased hiss/noise to an unacceptable level or (2) Sucked my tone. I'm using a Marshall JCM2000 stack and no matter what I did, this unit did not deliver the goods. Tweaking output levels, loop levels, etc did not help either in case you're wondering if it was me that was the problem.

The sounds dropout when you switch patches too and it's enough to notice if you were using it live.

My verdict...save you're hard earned money and buy something decent instead.

It worked reliably..it just sounds crap.

Never used them,,,

If you are using clean sounds only then perhaps this could be useful. The distorion sounds whilst versatile don't sound natural, they sound harsh and manufactured. It doesn't hold a candle to the (Marhsall) valve distortion.

Given the flaws in sound dropout on switching patches and the overall sound quality I would NOT use this for live performances!

I've been playing for over 20 years and love the Boss stomp boxes but (somehow!) they really dropped the ball on this one. I'm selling mine on ebay and going back to basics...a digital delay, a morley-way and a EQ pedal.

Save your money people!

I bought this thing partly because it looks so easy to use,and guess what...it is!I spent a few hours trying out different settings and had little or no problem getting it to do what I wanted.When you fist get you might want to put it on a chair or table to program it,the stooping over routine gets old fast.I was spoiled rotten using a Line6 AX2.I upgraded to a tube amp(mesa boogie f-50)to get out of the"modeling mud".Maybe some of you know what I mean.Anyway,thats why I got this thing,as a"do it all 4 cheap"solution to my sudden lack of effects situation.

I'm using a Mesa-Boogie F-50 through 2 2x12 cabs @4ohms apiece.My main guitar is a 1982 les paul custom,and man does it love this amp!As with all tube amps there is a slight hiss,and this unit makes it worse.Its not intolerable though,and for live and/or practice it wont really be a factor.I actually didn't think the distortion sounds were all that bad,although alot of them are just not my cup of tea(i.e death metal type shit)the classic pedal sounds are ok and the "natural"setting is useful as a type of volume boost for cleaner leads.The modulation pedal has some very nice settings;chorus sounds good and you can do some neat stuff with the tremolo.The delay I did not care for,and no matter what I did I could not get it to sound good.It reminded me of an old boss digital reverb pedal that I couldn't stand!It breaks up!what a f--ing letdown.As for the reverb,it's awful-same shit,it breaks up.Sounds cheap and harsh.I dont understand how boss could drop the ball here and ruin an otherwise decent product.I also dont know what they were thinking when they designed the wah pedal.It doubles as a volume pedal so when you lift it up to push the button down your sound drops out!Talk about a momentum killer.Back to the drawing board guys.

Ive used boss pedals before and never had them break.As far as this one goes,Im taking it back and Im going to try a rack unit in the effects loop.Less noise,better quality.

I play heavy rock/jam rock with some mellower stuff thown in so I get to use my clean channel once in a while!Im 39 and have been playing in various bands since I was 20.I have 2 pauls,a mex strat with B.Lawrence pups,a frankenstien jaguar,and a Takamine.Honestly,I could forgive the lame pedal design,but the cheesy delay......what were they thinking?Its going back to the store,and next we try rack delay/effects processor.This thing is good for kids to play around with,but Im just too old and picky.Exuse me now,I have to go watch"Matlock".

I am an older player, I have a Strat with a Fender amp. I was looking for some effects with a tuner built in to use on stage. This box has all the effects and a tuner and looked and felt great in the store.
I took it home and found it REALLY easy to use. If you need to change a sound, bend down and turn a knob. I even was able to save a sound I wanted without reading the manual.
Speaking of the manual, I do not know what the knock is on Roland manuals. I found the manual to be very well written, to the point, and I was able to find what I wanted.

Great sound, the presets needed a little editing for me, but I was able to get the sounds I wanted out of it. I liked the harmonist, the manual gave me the settings I needed. The tremolo is very much like my Fender tremolo, and the wah on the pedal even made me break out some Crybaby licks I have not played for ages. The pedal sounds are great for different distortions, for the different types of music I play.

The reason I bought was that Boss had a great reputation for quality, and this thing is built! It is a metal case and the knobs are thick and substantial. I can't afford two, so it would definately be the number one on a gig because it is the only one! I did buy an extra AC adapter for it, an extra $20 for that, I wish it would come with one, I had to buy two to have a backup.

Everything is right there, I do need anything else as far as support goes. I am sure that if there is something the guy in the store can't answer, he can call Roland and find it out for me. That's why I paid HIM the money.

I play classic rock with a bunch of guys, been playing for longer that I would care to mention. If it was stolen I might buy the GT-8, I really liked that piece, couldn't justify the extra right now. This ME50 seemed to be the best in the store, looked great, felt great, built well, and it's made by Boss so they should be able to back it up, they have been making stuff long enough... I liked the fact that you do not have to dig through a bunch of menus to tweak your sound on stage, just reach down and turn a knob, that is why I picked it over the other multi effects on the market.

Built like a stompbox. Knobs are stright forward. Nothing confusing about the pedal after a bit of practice. Easy to save your patches to memory.

I use an american standard tele and a traynor 2 channel all tube amp. If I just have the guitar straight to the amp, I get wonderful tube clean and dirty sound. Pop the pedal into the effects loop and it sounds like crap. You shoudlnt' use this thing in the effects loop. Plugged from my guitar to the pedal to the amp is much better. However, the pedal does suck alot of tone from my guitar so when all the effects are off, I lose alot of tone.

Tone Modify: I found most of the "EQ" modes quite useless. The acoustic modeling sounds decent.

Compression: Adds alot of noise. But does help with the sustain.

Noise Suppressor: eleminates noise, but also eliminates some of the guitar's frequencies.

Reverb: I really like the room and hall reverb.

OD/DS: Most of it sounds quite harsh and stale. Nothing like real tube overdrive I guess. The Tubescreamer is not bad, but the real thing is much better. Alot of the patches add alot of noise.

MOD: Tremolo is not bad. Chorus is alright (one of the chorus effects sound stale). Phaser doesn't sound good at all.

Delay: I'm not a fan of digital delay. The analog and echo delay simutations were not too bad. But nothing like true analog delay

Expressions pedal: Not bad. But the wah doesn't have to much range.

Overall, its a good pedal compared to other multi-effects. But obviously, it won't beat individual dedicated pedals.

Built to last. Metal frame. Has yet to fail me. I had this thing for almost 2 years.

Never bothered contacting them

Definately on the high end for a Multi effects pedal. But its definately on the high end in terms of quality. Individual pedals would sound much better, but its gonna cost you more as well. You get what you pay for.

I bought the ME50 in preference to more expensive units, because I already have a great amp and didn't need pre-amp changes, just stompbox effects. Editing and writing is dead easy and I have storeda load of patches but use it mostly in manual mode. The instruction boklet could be followed by a five year old, and is comprehensive enough. You do however really need the two fs5u fotswitches (and the pcs 31 cnnection lead) for live use - otherwise adjustments on the fly are harder to make. Easy to enhance your tone, and the chorus (ST1), blues driver, compression, noise supressor and wah are all beautiful classics in their own right.

I'm using this at the font end of a VOX AD60VTH with a 2x12 neodog cabinet. I found using it in the effects loop - especially with wah - does interfere with signal calibration in the context of effects built into the amp. I'm playing a Fender standard Telecaster and Ibanez Artist. The ME50 gives great tone enhancement, is not really noisy on any settings, and between that and the amp I've got the versatility to store patches matching the sound of just about anyone, oldies or modern players - and I mean exact matches, so close your eyes and the tone is the same. I do however prefer the Hendrix/Zeppelin/Cream/Mountain era, and the effects I mentioned earlier are great for that. For what it is the sound quality is excellent.

This is a solid reliable unit. I do gig it without a backup and, yes, beer has been all over it. It only gave up once when it got a full pint (the drummer - who needs drummers!!), but two days on the windowsill in the sun seems to have rectified whatever damage was done, because it's been fine since then, and that was over twenty gigs ago. I've played units with faster switching, but having said that this switches fast enough for my needs, and certainly as fast as anything my playing style requires. For recording it's fine, but you do have to watch the unit master level and it does need varying dependent on the patch you create and what effects are in it. Even figuring out by trial and eror though, this thing's so uncomplicated that it's not hard to get what you want.

Needed Boss once (for other stuff, not the ME50), and whilst the company themselves were not great I've always found that Boss dealers are well stocked and serviced by the company, and the dealers themselves (that I have dealt with) have always been spot on, so the company gets it right by making sure the face-to-face blkes in your local guitar shop are well supported and therefore know what they are on about.

I play blues, old-style rock (60's and 70's stuff mostly), some jazz (I'm talking reinhardt gypsy jazz here - which I do accoustically so there is no call for the ME 50) and if called for I do the Eddie Van Halen and also more modern crunch/shred/tap stuff (we're well known locally, and whenever I play I get the "Do the Hendrix/Van Halen/Satriani" thing).
I love the chorus, blues driver, noise supressor, compressor, wah and analogue delay, which is exactly the efects combination I bought it for. I reckon I saved loads by getting them al in one unit. I've been playing for twenty five years and had loads of equipment - and this is the best effects box I've had. I love it - I've got everything I like/need in one go and my signal is not degraded through a stack of separate pedals: believe me, I know what I'm talking about.

Very easy.

I bought it only for the mods, not the distortions. I have never come across a good distortion sound from an effects unit. Don't think I never will. I use this through the effects loop of my 5150. The mods are ok for live use, and the delays are suprisingly good. Nothing great, but better than what I thought they'd be. And that's what use most, the delay.
It's not for professionals, the price alone will tell you that! For the price it's pretty ok. I got it 'cause I can't afford a better one at the moment. When you switch between the memory patches, there is an audible pause. And YOU SHOULD BE ABLE to switch patches with your foot, not having to bend over and poke the thing with your hands! (hello?!!) That at least could have been made possible by Boss without too much expences!!!

I've only had it for a moth or so. But I'm not too worried. I've owned and own a lot of other Boss products.

All though it isn't of the quality professionals would find useable, you get some decent delays and mods, and memory banks for a reasonable price.
If you don't have too much extra cash, go for it!

This unit is very easy to pull sounds from. You do not have to read the manual to navigate, even though the manual is helpful.

Editing is simple and writing them to patches is just as simple - (coming from a Boss ME-10 user)

Boss has one of the easiest abd best-researched user interfaces of any FX units.

Guitars/Amps: I am using Clapton Strats with red lace humbuckers in the bridge and a Fender Blues Jnr Valve Combo amp.

Noise is not a problem unless you mix compression with higher gains from the distortion/overdrive section. The noise supressor is too nasty at its highest setting (kills sustain and has poor release characteristics), so be sure not to use it past 70%.

The overdrives and distortions are the best thing about this unit. They model pedals and not amps (COSM), which I prefer as I'm using a nice little valve amp anyway. My favourite are the overdrives and they can easily be coaxed into getting a "record quality" smooth rhythm sound like those found on 70's and 80's classic albums.

Any idiot can pull realistic stack sounds from this unit.

Modulations are good although I a bigger fan of the harmoniser being set to "detune", which makes for a really good "Andy Summers/Police" vibe.

The delays don't sounds as good as the ME-10 or even the DD-3 pedal for that matter. I usually go any find the 394ms delay for the Pink Floyd "Run Like Hell" and program that one in for the occasional jam!

The reverb control doesn't give you a lot of accuracy in setting but I found the room reverbs were the most useful and easiest to fine tune. The sound quality was OK and comparable to my ME-10 but not quite as good as I've heard from dare I say it.. Behringer units.

As usual, Roland have made these units with no compromises on build quality.

This unit could be used at one of my gigs without a backup although after my ME-10 died after 10 years service, I will keep a Roland Micro Cube around for a backup - don't laugh.. those little things are suprisingly good.

Roland Australia are expensive for repair work and even then, don't reply to your emails very quickly. I gave them a chance to impress me and they failed.

When this thing finally dies, I'll just buy the next model Boss puts out.

I play in duos and cover bands and need to pull sounds that closely match those heard on records. I have been able to do this very well over the last 10yrs using Roland/Boss gear.

If stolen or lost, I would buy exactly the same unit or an equivalent upgrade.

I did extensive comparisons with similat products from Korg, Zoom and Digitech. The Boss unit sounded better in the end and I mainly used the overdrive sounds to compare them.

I wish this unit has an assignable expression pedal instead of it's pre-set one i.e. to change rate of phaser/univibe or key of harmoniser. The GT-6 is the best option up from this unit but I have complexed editing.

This unit will get you going fast and with the minimum of understanding. It's a true plug-and-play device.

This has been the easiest multi-effects i've ever came across, i mean - it's all there in front of you! i'm not a manual reading type of guy but its there if i'm stuck(which i have been on occasion.

i use a marshall 100dfx with a shitty squier strat(believe it or not i've been saving for a new one for near 3 years and each time i get close i lose my job and drink the money, i'm trying for an ibanez jem555 - steve vai custom) but it does the job. the clean effects are great, i can get any tone, delay and all are brill features. the distortion settings are what one might say, crap. i can't explain it but it's like i need more gain and bass but at the same time i need less of it. i can achieve tones of the might Vai and Satriani, i can get Maiden too, just generally old rock as well. but thrash! Megadeth and the likes, no way! i can get the distortion right but there's always this tinny sound and what i can only describe as a clinking sound from it and so far i've spent endless hours tring to get the tone and giving up. the wah pedal could do with better features. i will give this a 9 for everything but the distortion settings but it brings the overall to 6

for the effects, yes. for the distortion, no. the power supply has so far lasted for me with no problems.

wouldn't even bother trying - they're full of crap

my style of music is varied so i need a varied tone, one that i can alter and perfect for my own needs. this little unit has it all, but the distortion brings it down. i've been playing four years now and this needs to give me all it can but somehow it doesn't fit with me. and i'm so close to gettin the jem555 but my contract expires in two weeks and thats me out of a job again( i might sell my body for sex or something i dunno). if it were lost or stolen i would get a Line 6 Pod XT Live, that baby looks sweet and i've heard great reviews, i still need to test it out myself though.

Im keeping this short and sweet to highlight one MAJOR point to consider about using the ME-50.

Simple to use!

Good range of effects that all sound pretty good, im no pro but i can reproduce the tone of nearly any song that ive heard.

Can you depend on it on stage????

WELL, if you are in preset mode and change from one pedal to another, the sound completely drops out for about a quater of a second. SO the preset options are only useful for home practise and not performance, i have a piece of paper with the songs im doing and have to adjust the effects etc as i go on.

Its fine when you are in manual mode tho there are no breaks in sound as you turn effects on / off

You dont need the preset mode tho really and could just tweak the effects between songs, just such a shame they have completely destroyed one of the most worthwhile features of multieffect processor.

The Boss ME-50 is so user friendly and easy to use, compared to the rest of the over-rated processors/pedals out there. You don't have to worry about algorithms or complex settings, or having over 100 presets. I think the other pedals with the amp/cab sims, are over-rated and stupid (I tried & owned almost all of them). Just remember, it's not a magical box full exact professional guitarists sounds. I went with the ME-50 becuase I was tired of chasing all my individual padels around the stage. It's compact and rugged, and dosen't have stupid effects that are for kids to make them sound like their good. The only gripes I have are: lack of individual EQ adjustments, separate sinlge reverb types & short reverb adjustments, and separate POWER SUPPLY(dumb idea there). Lighted knobs (like the Behringer V-amps) would be nice, so you can see where the knobs are set for presets.

I use a custom vintage SRV Strat copy and a custom Satriani copy, through a Crate GX130C. I set my amp's clean EQ at: low to 5, mid to 5, high to 3, with the bright switch on. I play a wide varity of styles (not covers) from, SRV, Clapton, Vai, Eric Johnson, Malmsteen, B.B. King, Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath, Metallica, to Satriani. I'm able to achieve almost the same sounds with ME-50. I especially like the acoustic simulator (the best I used so far), to get that natural full body sound. My findings for the closest SRV sound (my blues style sound) is to use the natural overdrive with the drive knob set before turbo(3:00), and for a clean sound set the drive knob a 1/4 turn(9:00), with the tone knob set to tight.

This unit is pretty durable, and with general stage use, should never fail. I'm not one of those hard rockers who trashes the sh*t out my gear. Although I've kicked it off the stage once(by accident), and it was fine. I reccomend using it only with solid state amps. Tube amps are too fussy when it comes to using processor/pedal boards, and never sound right.

They need to sell it with a POWER SUPPLY.

If you want something simple and easy to use, get the Boss ME-50. I have many individule Boss pedals for years, and never had one take a sh*t yet, except for the stupid wires shorting out on the expensive power supplies. I tried all the others, Zoom, Behringer, Digitech, and POD. They all left me confused and fustrated with their extensive algorithms, settings and mudded up amp/cab simulators. The best way to sound good on stage, is to keep your effects simple. That's what Boss did with the ME-50, and I wouldn't use anything else. It's not a magic box, but it's damn close.

Very intuitive. Manual is helpful, and has a lot of info.

Using a Steinberger Spirit, a Mexicaster, and an all-original 70 Gibson Les Paul Deluxe ( My Sweet Baby ). All high-Gain settings are rightfully noisy, as expected, but noise gate works well. Effects are all good, and can be tweaked to ridiculous levels. The "Spring" reverb has that perfect "Walk Don't Run" boing. Using it in front of a Mesa Boogie F-30 ( All tube 30 watt 12" combo). Harmonizer is terrific: Dial in the song key and it does the rest.

However, this box falls short in the overdrive parameters. I was hoping for the kind of "COSM" overdrive / distortion / Amp modeling that I LOVE from my little Roland Micro-Cube Combo amp, but, no such luck.

I returned the ME-50 because ALL of the overdrive / distortion / Pedal / settings sound rough, harsh and ragged to me. That's OK if all you want is rough, harsh and ragged, but I could not find a smooth overdriven tone I liked with any of my 3 guitars, and endless hours of EQ and gain tweaking. Same when using direct to recording. I also tried it with a friends' 1966 Bandmaster and his home-built twin-12 60 watter: Same thing. My Paul sounds so rich and creamy when using real over-driven amps, but sounds just buzzy and trashy with the ME-50. Also, it destroys the tonal and dynamic quality of the particular guitar: You can only hear that is a single-coil or humbucker, or a hot-rod, but the "wood" quality is lost. With this box, my Les Paul sounds a lot like my cheap-ass Steinberger toy guitar.

Experience with other Boss products: Boss = Good

I like the effects, hate the overdrive, hate the loss of the guitar's voice. Going to try a Vox Tone Lab next.

It's pretty easy to get a good sound out of it, although it takes a while to completely understand it.
editing patches is very easy and straight forward, and most of all it is very handy
the manual was good
I don't know the firmware revision number, whatever that might be

I have the Joe Perry 'the boneyard' epiphone edition, I have an 30 watts Ario ProII amp.
It's only noisy on distortion and the level of volume seems to go up a lot when using phaser or flanger, or any of the mods.
the effect usually sounds pretty good.
an Aria ProII, 30 watts.
No, I can get the sound of my favourite artists, they are Jimmy Plant, Jimmy Hendrix, John Frusciante and Tom Morello.
The hold Delay is very good, all the mods are good and most of the distortions are good, although sometimes they sounds very muffles (but that might be my amplifyer)
I think that all the effects sound too digitalized, that's why I'm not giving it a 9.

I can certainly depend on it, I've had it for more than a year now and I haven't had any problems with (touch wood).
I DO use it on gigs.

I haven't dealt with the company, yet.
I want to upgrade it, but I haven't done that yet.

I play anything ranging from funk to classic Rock and Roll. yeah it's a good combo. I've been playing for two and a half years, I have three guitars and two amps a bottleneck and this Boss ME-50.
What I love about the Boss ME-50 is that you can do almost everything with it, with I don't like it the way it is set up with the wah-wah combined with the distortion, if you want to get a nice vintage sound from a combo like distortion and wah you need to have the distortion come before the wah, not after as it is in the boss ME-50. My Favourite feature is the octaver.
I did compare this to the Line 6 POD, but it's hard to compare those two. I dunno why I choose this one.
I wish I had the footswith for banking and reverb, compressor ect.
It helps me very much making music, I couldn't do without it!
yeah, This is a great machine but the wah needs to come after the distortion not before!!!! otherwise you get a fake kind of sound!

this units ease of use is what shines.All patches are easily adjusted via all knobs. Its real simple. I never had a manual as i bought secondhand. Im giving nine cause the led disp could give more info, esp when youre in patch mode as you cant really tell which patch is which.
editing is easy, getting the sound you want is another matter.........

my setup is: hondo V deluxe (gibson copy)- me50-fender'85 and custom sound Cub 60. Also have vintage axxe warp blacker than black,and various pedals-korgax1500g, zoom707,505, boss mt2,ge7etc. i usually run my V or vintage through the me50 then to the two amps as it shouldnt really need any other pedals to complement it(that is if it did what its supposed to?).
This is one noisy piece of crap esp when it comes to hard palm muting etc. So many distortions and all are no good to me. Ds1 is prob the only one I will use. Mt1 really is fucked up, it should give a good death tone but the treble is way over the top. It will do a metallica sound but its very wanting. The marshall guvnor should be way better. The mt2 is ok but still thin sounding. Loud dist. is good for soloing and the rest is fairly lacklustre. Good for toned down stuff. the fender amp is tube whilt the custom sound is solid state and ive tried every conceivable setup with these amps, through effects loops (nasty& muffled), to using a ge7 to clean it up or give extra boost. The tone section with enhance and single coil is shite. A real equaliser section is badly needed in this unit, come on ,just bass and tone and gain+ that, is just not good enough. acoustic sim is good and does sound like a semi acoustic.
The mods are disapointig as well. Three chorus's? The variables on all the modulations are too small, I mean you can have it simple but the sound is REALLY SUFFERING. As with the pedal wah, - Just up and down, you cant change anything about the wah or assign the pedal to turn dis on or off. I do like the actual pedal itself- it has a lovely natural and controlable sweep. But this thing lacks, never used it live, sold it after 9 mths of unwanted torture.Bad shit.

yes you can. rely on it to do what it does. No gig. no way.

The home page is completly sales orientated. I needed a download for the manual to see if i was missing something, they never replied. F* ing useless.

I play alot of different stuff, from death to floyd to hendrix to traditional Irish music crossover, funk etc.The me-50 just doesnt cut it. Ive been playing 8 years and have tried many other gfx units like korg, zoom, digitech.Its gone, thank god. I hated how it just coulnt give me one DEEP cutting distortion.It gets in the way of making music as it dissapoints again and again for soun, no end of tweaking changes anything not even 9 whole months. Crap with a crapital c.

Everythings there at your fingertips, you CAN make adjustments during the gig. Here's a tip for those wishing to change sounds without the
drop out - Press the edit button. So say for example you want to use delay in only part of the song then you select your delay patch, press
edit - you'll notice that the delay pedal lights up, you can now switch the delay on and off with no "Delay" if you see want I mean. This of course means that you do have to bend down and press Edit at the start and end of the song but so what? The expression pedal can be adjusted so it is switched on with varying amounts of force, but it IS a bit unresponsive at times when switching it ON/OFF. Doesn't let you select more than one modulation effect at once but haven't been in a situation where I need that (Yet!)

I use a LP studio and Laney LC50II amp.

Distortion:
Don't use the distortion on the ME50 - doesn't sound good at volume - No punch or definition, the amp sounds much better. Only bought the pedal for the effects anyway

Modulation:
Excellent range of modulation effects. I use the chorus, phaser and flanger for regular live use and these compare favourably to compact units. An unexpected addition is the Harmonist which allows you to set up the key and the intervals for the song- it also doubles as an Octave unit. You have 3 parameters to adjust which gives you enough flexibility.

Delay.
Again, an excellent range of delay effects although I haven't really found a use for most of them yet. Can't say it's the best delay I have ever heard but it does the job

Pedal.
I use the Whammy(down an octave) and the Wah-Wah. The wah does seem to have a very narrow range but I've learned to work with it and no it doesn't sound as good a cry-baby.The Whammy has a few milliseconds latency(delay)when it's engaged but again you learn to work with it.

Tone Modify.
I only use the Fat setting bring out harmonics easier when needed. The others are much of a muchness.

Others:
Don't use em.

Overall.
The Modulation effects are a 10, the delay and the pedal an 8, I would give the distortion a 6 but I don't use em.

Well, here are the facts

You DONT need to pay $20 for the BOSS power supply - I learned the hard way. I bought the power supplier because the salesperson told me it would not work with another. Had a year of trouble free operation - 1/2 gigs a week - got bashed about and then a funny thing happened, the display flashed up with a 'b' ALL the time. I sent an email to roland support and they advised me there was a fault with the unit so I put batteries in the unit - It worked fine - The problem was the power supply, so just out of interest I tried one of my old universal adaptors - worked fine - BOSS/ROLAND you are full of shit. Other than the power supply - had no problems whatsoever in over a years heavy use.

Like I said. Shit.

I need a Tuner, Phaser, Flanger, Whammy, Wah-Wah, Chorus and Delay - I got all of those for $200, without all the wires, power leads. I can access them all conveniently (unlike stomp boxes) I have maintained the integrity of my single (unlike stomp boxes) and I also have access to effect I haven't even explored yet.

On the minus side I doesn't sound as good as stomp boxes, but hey, you shouldn't be concentrating on using effects anyway. Just every now and then, and nobody's going to notice live.

The BOSS ME-50 is great value for money, extremely reliable, sounds good, is easy to operate and will give you peace of mind to concentrate on your actual playing.

Pretty good sound out of the box, but I rarely like presets. Any time I couldn't work out how to do something, I'd go to the manual and then say "..of course!". Updating a preset and saving it to a different place requires a number of button pushes, but they all make sense. It realy is as simple as working a stompbox, and if you can't figure that out well......

I also have the Boss switching pedal. This only moves up the banks, you need another and a special cable to go down. This could be better. 2 pedals take up space. Surely this could have been made easier. The whole point of having banks of presets is so that you can move from one to another easily.

I use the ME50 on am pedal board. I like the ability to add trem or phaser etc if I feel like it without having to preplan a patch. Its after a Vox wah, and Boss tuner and before MXRphase 90, Boss trem, Digi X flanger.
Having said that I also have a number of presets next to each other when I know that I am going to move sounds within a number.
I might not be the norm as I play this mainly with acoustic, and into an acoustic amp. (Seagull Artist Classic, and Crate 125D amp). Sounds great! No hiss, no noise, sound guy never has a problem.
Don't use the delay much as I have reverb on the amp. Great having a lot of choice in distortions, but I think you have to have bionic ears to hear the difference between some of them. They sure do sound like the originals tho'. I use the Vox Wah as I felt the ME50 wah was a little thin. The only thing I miss is to have an auto-wah setting in the modulation options

Use it weekly - never a problem. Like the man said - it's a Boss!

Never had the need to contact them. As someone said earlier, a users group would be nice

I use it in a church praise band, doing every style from swing to R&B ro flat ahead rock (yes, church music has come a long way, folks!) It lets me hold my own in a 13 piece band (when all the brass show). I've been playing for 35 years and have played many styles, and many pedals/multi-effects. I think I've finally found the set up I like (until next month...). The ME 50 stays tho'

I've now used it for about a year.

It's easy to use.

Minor gripes:

You only get a quarter turn to adjust each reverb. Not quite enough.

The tuner jumps around. I prefer the TU-15, but this does work.

Standing up, it's easy to step too hard on the volume pedal and suddenly be playing wah wah.

The fixed EQ settings are nowhere near as useful as, say, a 5 band graphic.

It would be great if it had enough gain to drive a power amp. But I don't think it does.

Godin multiac nylon, mostly. I use stereo chorus #2 and feed two amps. Also a little reverb. Sounds heavenly.

I've used the compressor for a couple of tunes. It works fine. Wah wah too.

I haven't found the delays useful. I don't like any of the distortion settings. I don't use them.

The unit looks rock solid.

BUT BUT BUT BUT BUT ...

the power supply is very flimsy.

I would strongly recommend a backup power supply.

Never needed them.

The main advantage, to me, of this unit is that you can tweak the settings on the fly. It's programmable, but I don't use any programs. I rarely play the sort of set where I would need to. Instead, I set it the way I want it and, if I'm not happy, I reach down and turn a knob. The alternative would be reaching down and scrolling through submenus. This is better.

The volume pedal, silent tuner, stereo chorus,reverb and master volume are what I love.

There's nothing to hate, but there are things I wish it had, like real EQ, a tuner that doesn't jump around, and an option to output a line level signal. I wish the power supply was a plain box with socket for a separate cord -- so that when the cord inevitably breaks I can buy a new cord, not a new power supply (which I just did).

If it was stolen, I'd probably get a Roland VG-88, but, the fact is, I like this unit very much.

As pronounced in the ad, it`s very easy to use.Editing patches is a little confusing. Once you press the edit-button almost all lights are flashing and you have to try, which effect is on or not. Adjusting the parameters is funny,too, because if you turn into the wrong direction, nothing changes. But that`s just a matter of getting used to it.I lost the manual and I haven`t missed it since!

I use the ME with a Line6 Variax i.e. both the acoustic and electric side.My amp is a Roland AC 60, which I use as a monitor for its enormous possibilities (d.i. out and so forth)I`m very happy with the modulation sounds (Chorus, Flanger etc,)the delay is superb, too.The wah - effect is like my Cry Baby, but without noise.All in all I should say very tasty. The distortion section I rarely use, because for my `rock set-up`I have a Peavey Classic, where I don`t need any further distortion at all.
The only thing that annoys me is: You can edit the patches and store them,o.k. but, if you like to play the patch e.g. without echo, you have to change the whole patch resulting in an interruption of sound for the moment you switch.A possibility to play any patch in the "manual" mode would come in very handy.
My GT5 offers this possibility and it makes stage work much easier!
To come to a conclusion: If you are looking for a pedal that helps you get rid of your stomp-boxes, you`re welcome. If you want to improve your sound the classic way (a little chorus, a little delay etc.) this is the right choice. I`m not sure if any of the people who are addicted to effects because they can`t play properly would be satisfied with this.Anyway, you c a n get this thing so distorted that you hardly need to touch the strings.Never mind. I quite like it.
My advice: If the unit sounds too harsh you should try the Phones-output and connect it to your amp. The built-in amp-simulator cuts of the disturbing high frequencies.

It`s a boss, isn`t it!!! Very rugged construction.

Having used Roland/ Boss equipment for years, I never had to ask them for advice or help, so I can`t tell. But there`s on thing, if you need the owner`s manual you can load it down from their home-page free of charge! This is something you won`t find often these days.

I use the ME mainly for pop, country,oldies etc. I even play my acoustic through it (Try that!!!).If it were stolen I`d buy the new Line6 multieffects - pedal, because it was made for the Variax etc.I compared the ME 50 to many other products, but they were all virtual-amp stuff and believe me or not, they all sound alike. If you have a good amplifier (Peavey classic for instance)this pedal is an additive it doesn`t control the whole sound. This was one of the reasons I chose it. The others were the ruggedness (metal) and the ease of use.I like to turn knobs and switch switches rather than scrolling through endless menues and lines of numbers!

Good sound is relative, if you know what you're doing (you are getting digital replicas of sounds) you will be quite satisfied. If you compare it to the real thing, you will be less impressed.
Depending on what you want to do, it is as easy to use as individual stomp boxes. I mean as long as you can get through with three effects - one overdrive, one mod, one delay, you're set. Once you want to change -say from Chorus to Flanger - during a gig, you're in trouble. Editing patches is easy. Push edit, turn the knobs push edit again. The manual is short but has all the info.

I use this mostly for practice at home over the headphones, you can also plug in an aux and play along with your favourite CD. I use it live for small club gigs, plugging the line out directly in the pa and a small stage amp. I'm always bitching about it on gigs, because it just isn't made for it. You either have to bow down constantly to switch from sound to sound in each section or you use patches. But there is a brief sound intermission when you switch patches and I can never seem to get the master volume right on the patches. Although I reprogrammed, they always seem louder.
The O.D. section is okay, basically the fun is that you can play around with 20+ pedal types. Sound is okay.
The Mod section also offers a broad range. Quality differs. Flanger is the worst, always gets very loud and has enormous bass when I turn it on. Un gig able.
Delay section is perfect. It's digital and should be.
The Tone mod section has the funny Acoustic Simulator which turns some guitars into ovations. The Tone mod does n o t h i n g with a Les Paul signal, a lot with a Strat. The Comp is okay and the NS works well, and you can switch it off, a feature many multieffects don't have.
Neat reverb section.
Great tuner and a solid vol / expression pedal.
Now hold on for the b a d n e w s: This pedal can not handle high output pickups. If you plan to play overwound humbuckers or lace sensors (I have not tried texas specials) you can not turn them all the way up. This pedal will get into digi distortion and you know this is bad to the bone.

It is dependable, but one poti in the mod section already scratches. My OD-1, owned for 20 years, shows none of that wear. I always use the PSA AC-adaptor so I can't say anything about battery life.

Never delt with them.

This is a great and versatile and quite rugged piece for beginners and home-headphone rockers. Brings you all the effects for relatively little money.
Gigging with it is difficult if you want a certain range of effects handy.
The sound is nowhere near pro, but I have played it thru different amps, you'll get the best result with an all tube amp because it smoozes some of the digi feel away. The point is: Why plug this between a good guitar and a good amp? But then again: If you want the real thing you have to invest 1.500,-- plus in stomp boxes etc. It's not Pete Cornish in a little box, but it is a good value for the money.
Lost or stolen? I'd get a headphone amp.
I chose it becaause it has n o automatic noise gate like all the toneworks etc.
What this thing really lacks is an EQ section.

anybody who is familiar with any other boss pedal will figure this one out in no time. knobs everywhere, i can change settings while playing (no shoes).

first of all, the effects aren't as 'pure' as a pile of stomp boxes, but who has room for that many stomp boxes?

the distortion patches are great, broad range of sounds and tones. however i often find myself simply using the 2nd channel of my amp cause nothing sounds like tubes like real tubes.
the modulation patches are good, nothing to write home about though. they do what they do, very useful when playing different styles.
the only delay i use is tap, and it works. the other ones i haven't found a use for besides just screwing around for fun.

no backup needed for this tank.

the main reason for buying this pedal was to add a large range of effects without having to go out and spend tons on individual pedals. it doesn't do my most used effects (i have other distortions, a phase pedal, and reverb), but if need be it could no problem. i would definitly say any beginner would love this pedal, for the money it is amazing. bottom line, i like it.