Boss ME-6 Guitar Multi-Effects

Very easy and straightforward to use. I bought mine used and with no manual and no power supply either.

Sounds are OK, nothing fancy about it. The distortions don't sound very good. The mid range settings on the EQ was hard to find a tone that suited my taste. You have to fiddle around with it alot to get the desired tone and still you may not find one that sounds right. No tremolo or phaser effect. Distortions effects are limited to just OD and Distortion.

Bought mine used. This pedal was made in the early 90s I believe. Everything still works perfectly. It's a BOSS so should be very reliable.

Haven't dealt with them

There's nothing fancy about this pedal. It's very plain. The sound is not that great to me either. I ended up returning it.

if you are unable to work out how to operate this box after 5 mins with the manual check your vital signs.stupidly easy interface.anyone who thinks that gear w/o knobs is hard to use didn't try this box out.edits are easy like using 2 knob stomp boxes, instead of twisting you scroll.i'd give it 10 except it doesn't have midi like the me-5 has.

i ran 2 ibanez rg's into a bad horsie and a whammy into a laney gh50l half stack with the me-6 plugged into the parallel fx loop. i used the me-6 for mainly delay ,modulation and reverb on a couple of patches for ryth plus a little of the eq on the overdrive channel to enhance the laneys mid range for leads.i could sort of cop that drop dead legs sound which suited the VH, roth, hair band stuff i was playing at the time.i bought a second one later on to get that dream theatre morphed sound by splitting after the whammy into a second me-6into the front of a solid state 60 watt in conjuntion with the laney setup which worked great except my pedal array was too big for the stage.if i put out the front of the laney it just plain sucked.crap distortions,fair compressor ect., just not a great unit to generate front end tone.but in fairness the multi fx of the day were primarily based around the concept of storing combinations of stompbox fx with instant recall.this is one of its redeeming features, given the parametric simplicity of the effects, patch changes are so quick and quiet because the algos are so small.(i have 2 j-stations that take ages to change patches via midi and they are not seamless).its quiet if you are not using the compressor or fuzzesas the noise gate has sharpe teeth and fuck all ajustability.tip is if you want basic delay,mods and rev sounds, get an amp that sounds good and ENHANCE it with something like this.6 for what i was using it for at the time, 2 for use in front end.

the first one i bought i still have and it is the most reliable piece of gear i have ever owned, nearly 10yrs old still going strong. the second one i got had the plastic buttons ripped out of half the edit switches as the previous owner had taken his frustrations out on the external actuators not the microswitches underneath that were the culprit. i am an electrician and the place i worked at the time had an electronis dept. who replaced all of the micros for me.i replaced the external buttons with some ones i cut out of perspex and it was still working flawlessly on the day i sold it.its a boss which means hard to stop and easy to fix if it does!

got schematics in a week just for my own interest but the boss website sucks hard for the simple reason that you can't download manuals .it also makes it hard to 'try before you buy' especialy as i am a midi freak and wont even plug something in without seeing a control change chart first

i have played for 16yrs and am basically a rock jammer who these days gets more out of tweaking shit than actually using it,so i guess its fair to say the me-6 has become a doorstop.if you have an amp/guitar setup that already sounds good the delay/reverb /mod fx are passable enough for a bit of enhancement and shitloads cheaper than forking out on separate pedals.they lack realtime/midi control of parameters that are avaidable in gear these days for next to nothing,but if simplicity is what you want it works.i am presently driving my "obsolete" j-stations into a poweramp and using my K5000w for midi cc experiments on it.in 1994 there was not much to compare with the me-6 except the me-5 and i wish i had one.

really easy to use (its a boss!) getting the sound you want may take a while, took me a few weeks before i was happy. no manual second hand

i use a 50watt marshall combo with an epiphone les paul custom and a mexican fender telecaster. i use this with a variety of other pedals, crybaby wah, boss rod 10 overdrive, alng with boss tremelo, flanger, super overdrive, acoustic simulator and marshall bluesbreaker. i use so many for one reason. the unit as a whole is pretty terrible. the only good effects are the delay and compressor. i use the delay for the coldplay sound, when plucked clean, and the compressor along with my other overdrive unit to get the retro sound which the hives and the strokes have. this unit is good for me because i only use it for these effects. if you are looking for an overall multi effects unit, id look elsewhere.

was a bout 10 years old when i bought it. still works fine

never sed it

Really Easy !!! Once you first get the hang of how to change patches, it comes naturally forever after... Took me about 5 miniutes to work it out without the manual...

It has a good sound with a good noise supressor. The only thing to be carefull with is when using the noise suppressor with distortion/overdrive. I have used it with a variety of amps and guitars, and it is always easy to get a nice sound, normally you only need to tweak the amp settings. The one let down is the Flanger effect. It is hard to get the right mix between unnoticable and overwhelming (took me 30 minutes to get a sound i was happy with). Overall the sound is good, at least as good as having a huge rack of boss pedals.

It is the sturdiest multi-fx pedal i have ever used. I bought it second hand, gave it a whipping and it is still as sturdy as ever. The only problem was the Tuner Out jack fell out and i never use that anyway.

Never had to use it. DIY is more fun !!! and i bought it second hand.

Very good. Went out to get a flanger or compression, came back with both and a delay, chorus, destortion, noise suppressor as well for just #40 ! If i was you look out for it second hand !

no mutltifx can be edited more easier than this one. you can modify every single patch just as you like it. you can copy patches in a very easy way. I had no manual but hey, it's so simple!

I'm using a strat with a humbucker in bridge position running into a 50w amp. effetcs like delay, flanger and so on really kick ass! the reverb is very noisy and the distortion sucks. it sounds like there is some flanger mixed in. well overall: for flanger, chorus and delay: 6 out of 10 / would the distortion be much better and the reverb less noisy I'd give full 10 points.

the pedals are small. with large feets you easily can step on the wrong one. happened to me on a gig. but if you know where to stomp it's okay. it's playstic so take care. all in all it' okay.

n.a.

I play rock, punk, etc. and especially the flanger and delay are effetcs that I never heard better anywhere else. for distortion look out for a boss turbo dist. and for chorus just try an ibanez one. I would not buy it again, even I never bought it. just borrowed it from a friend. I recently bought the korgax100g which sounds overall better than the bosss because of built in vamps (better distortion etc).

Me being a man of little patience(i.e. none whatsoever) would prefer rotary dials instead of digital. BUT the idea of 25 patches available in two stomps of the old foot is wonderful, AND unlike other MFX boards the change is INSTANT. So the trade-off is that it does take a while to set up, but after that it's a piece of duff to use, especially in a gig. The manual was ok.

Well, it's now probably classed as "vintage", which is a kind way of saying "obsolete". I think it's great for plugging into solid-state cheap amps. It's very quiet with solid state and lets you explore lots of different sounds. I'd say "Sound" rather than "Tone" because the distortions aren't all that good. These days I play guitar plugged directly into a Fender HRD (see review) and it's put me right off using ANY effects, I much prefer the tone of the Amp. Basically, it doesn't matter what the hell guitar you put through this, they all sound the same! These days I would not use it in a gig, but I used to, and it worked well enough. For clean sounds you can get some real other-worldy tweets and swirls. Sonic equivelant of tripping. There are a couple of usable presets for Heavy Metal in bank two. More crunch than Extra Crunchy peanut butter. Also, can provide a really, and I mean really beautiful lead tone when you bung in enough delay. For the money these things go for now, it's worth buying just for the delay. Mind you, I wouldn't put it into an all-valve (Tube) amp, cos it fucks up the tone. Well actually, it replaces the amp's tone with it's own. All effects do that, so I'm not bashing the ME5, I just no-longer like my tone processed. But hell, it's still FUN to use in the bedroom.

Very reliable, mine's been all over Europe, each pedal must have been stomped on thousands of times. Only problem was that the input jack went bye-bye. Solution? Wire it up to the jack next to it! I've forgotten what it's for, but was something I never used anyway.

Never dealt with.

I bought this in 1993 and it no longer falls into what I'd call a "professional" piece of kit, but second hand I'd suggest buying it if you have a crap amp or are starting out. When you're starting, effects give you hope, just don't get too dependant on them like I did! I play all kinds from ballads to Blues to Rock. It will never match the tone of a valve amp, but neither do the ultra expensive modelling amps of today. I know, I've tried them and laughed. Not suitable for blues, very difficult to get any smoothness out of this without delay. And you don't want delay if your playing the blues!
As an aside, I've found a new use for it. My band practises in the drummers cellar and I don't have a lot of gear. I'm also lead vocalist, but we don't have a PA. So, I plug the mike into the ME5, use the Comp/Sustain, noise gate and reverb and whack that into a little 15 watt amp. Nothing brilliant, but I can be heard over the guitar, Drum and Bass! Not recommended for gigging in a rock band, buy a decent amp for the overdrive, but well worth experimenting with if you see one cheap!

It is really easy to use.. You just have to be a little curious to find the best of it by doing a little tweaking

I use it with a Crate amp and it sounds pretty good, but most of the time i just use it with a direct box to a mixer (cuz my amp is too small for gigs) and believe me, it sounds great! Try doing this with a Digitech or a Zoom and you'll sound as a small chicken dying in a grinding machine. ME-6's effects are very natural sounding, having in mind that it is a 10 year old effects processor. If you tweak enough, you can even get contemporary rock sounds.. you just have to be patient and smart enough. If you are one of those stupids who think all things must be preset to "be good" this is not for you... but if you are a serious musician who needs sonething versatile and long lasting... this is it!

Hard as a rock. I've used it since 1993... in about 100 gigs... and it works as new! Obviously, it doesn't have all the "exquisite features" of newer processors such as tuner, exp pedal, incorporated wah, harmonizer, etc... you have to be into the context of the time it was made... The precission it has between bank and effect changes is outstanding... It changes exactly when you press the pedal.
Believe me, The ME-6 is one of those things that are made to last forever, and become classics.. just like vintage Studer 24 track analog recorders, Telefunken mics, or a '57 Telecaster... Not like my other effects processor (Digitech RP-6) which dissappointed me as soon as I plugged it into my Crate... not to mention when I tried to change effects between verse and chorus... The gap took like 100 years...

That's a weakness of Roland... not enough support.. no info in the websites, etc.. But I have never needed any support, because the processor has never failed...

I bought it in 1993... when I was starting at gigs... I still love it!!! I've seen other processors, and If I had the chance, I'd obviously get a newer processor.. but I'll never get rid of it... I think it is some kinda Vintage Gear... I even use it on my home studio as an alternate effects processor for vocals, and instruments...

Very easy, wish every unit could be as easy to use as this one. Just press edit button and select the effects you want on or off with the foot buttons, and then go up and down setting the modes on each effect. To save your final sound mix, just use the write\copy button pushing it two times. There is a master volume also.
To modify anithing you must always press the edit button so your setting is secure. That's all there is to it, if you read this you dont even need to use the manual.

Have a Fender Fat Tele with a Seymour Duncan Little 59 bridge pickup and a Tex Mex on neck pickup. With my Fender Rock Pro 1000 amp this unit sounds very good. But I can confirm that you need good gear for this if you want to get a decent sound. I had another guitar and amp. and the result was very depressing. But with good gear this unit can give a surprising sound! The distortions are not the best, very noisy and kind of thin. Although it's great for artistic sounds, I made one that's a beautifull synth. I prefer my amp's distortion for most of the songs. What I do is have a clean sound set on a bank so I can mix it with my amps distortion, that way I don't need to use the bypass and still use my clean sounds of the ME-6. The dealy is excellent! the chorus is very good and also the flanger but this one needs to be set up very carefully. The bad thing of this unit is the noise suppresion which cuts too much your distorted sound if set after 5 or so. The mid range of the eq is kind of treaky.

You can depend on it. I have this unit for about 9 years and is a tank!!! just needed a clean up inside once to get the buttons dust free. I've played live but woudn't record with it.

Live inThe Dominican Republic. Never have to deal with them.

I play rock and some blues. Wouldnt recommend this unit for blues. But for rock is great, very versatil.
If it were stolen or lost I preffer to get something new, there is a lot to choose from on the market.

This pedal is so self explanitory. It has two modes for switching sounds, a normal mode which makes each pedal act as if it were a combination of whatever effects, and a Manual mode if you like to use it like a bunch of effect pedals. Editing patches is a breeze as long as you know how to read. And it basically is easier to use than a modern microwave in my opinion.

I have heard that this pedal sounds crappy. I beg to differ, it's the lazy person programming the patches, not the pedal. My friend lent me this so he could borrow my DOD Super American Metal. It sounded bad when I first had it. I took it home (On a night before school), and sat in my bed with the lights off programming patches with the LED's alone, using my Fender Jag-Stang with EMG pickups, and the headphones going into the headphone jack. I somehow managed to get Metallica-like Distortions, and Bluesy warm overdrives, and choruses much thicker than the chorus on my amp. I programmed patches that sounded like Aliens and Disembodied voices. and if your asking, no I was not tripping. This thing can SOUND EXCELLENT if you spend some time editing the patches and using your head to get the sounds you want.

You can depend on it, except the jack on the ac adaptor itself. After using it in my band for a month, the output plug on the adaptor jack self destructed inside the jack, leaving the metal positive conductor and the plastic insulation sleeve inside the jack. It worked OK for awhile longer until the insulation came out and the parts got mangled. Then I stripped off the output end of the adaptor and hardwired it into the pedalboard. It has worked perfectly ever sience. Who needs a bakup, all you need is MAYBYE a soldiering iron.

People say this thing sucks, they know nothing...take it from a guy who has played six years, and been through effect after effect, this is the best multi effect device I have ever seen. If somebod stole it, I'd kick them in the nutsack and gangk it back.

You dont get much simpler than this pedal. I remember taking it out of the box and already knowing how to use it (even though i never had a multi-fx pedal beofre). Especially with all this new "pre-amp simulations" this is bare bones and simple.

I use a Carvin "Holdsworth" model now but have used a Fender Tele +, an 86 Les paul Standard and a Gibson ES125. All of these sounded fine thru this box. Yes - the distortins are not the best but ive used this pedal for about 6 years now as my main distortions and have found 3 or 4 settings that make it sound great. I play thru an early 80's Mesa Boogie Mk2C so i assume a good amp will make the effects sound better. The delay and chorus are very usable but the reverb does have something to be desired. I found 1 usable setting (and that is my only reverb i use now).

Ive gigged with this in NY for 6 yrs now and the only problem has been blowing the power supply. A replacement is 30-50 dollars - a bit much but cheaper than a new multi-fx pedal.

dunno - never called them.

On a 1-10 scale - i give this pedal a 7 1/2. Its a good simple quality pedal that does not pretend to offer you the world then make lunch for you. It does what it does and does it fine with some tweaking.