Boss ME-50B Bass Multi Effect Pedal

Comments about Boss ME-50B Bass Multi Effect Pedal:

Sound quality sounds really weak. Effects sound just ok sort of in headphones but when amplified, nothing to write home about. Also, the 30 patches programmed in are a totally worthless bunch of nothing. This set up is expensive for the money.

Comments about Boss ME-50B Bass Multi Effect Pedal:

I'm not much of an effects user & play clean nearly all of the time. However, there are a handful of situations on a gig where I wanted some effects such as compression, Chorus or Phaser/Flanger. Also, I want to keep my gig setup as simple as possible. I have a number of individual Boss pedals that work well for their individual purpose - but didn't find them easy enough to use for the various settings that I wanted. I picked up the ME-50B and spent considerable time checking to see if it colored my sound when everything was flat. I could find little if any difference in my direct to amp sound vs ME-50B sound to amp when everything was set flat - a real plus in my opinion. I like the unit because once you have setup your effect patchers (24 available patches is far more than I'll ever need) you can easily switch between them without doing the pedal dance. I like that I now have a good tuner, volume pedal and effects in a single clean unit that takes up less space than these items would individually. This is great for those frequent playing situations where you have little available floorspace for your gear. Sure, some people will say individual pedals are better & offer more options for the pedal's special effect than a digital unit can provide but when the drummer is playing, the guitar is cranking and your playing at a noisy bar - nobody will notice if your are using digital or analog effects anyway. In summary, no sound coloring unless you want it, smaller footprint than individual pedals, built in tuner, decent effects, plus volume/expression pedal. I think this unit gets the job done and is a good buy.

Comments about Boss ME-50B Bass Multi Effect Pedal:

I was leary, but I ordered one anyway. I needed a tuner that I could mute without having to go back to my amp. I needed a noise gate, I wanted a follow guitar fill (A little on the weak side, but for what it is,,, it's better than ok), A volume pedal and some "fun" stuff for short solos/whatever (Messing around).. But the MOST important thing, is I wanted to add NO line noise and NOT change the tone of my "MarkBass" amp (That I just love by the way)..The ME50B adds NO detectable noise whatsover at reasonable levels (I didn't check with gains over set, since I feel I will NEVER need to use it like that (I ran extensive testing, trust me, I'm a noise freak)!.. The tuner is VERY, VERY close (within .02 cents{Plenty close for live stuff) on every open string (I play all 5 string axes). On the tuner, it only can indicate in sharps if you leave set to 440 (as I prefer to do), so it can throw you off if your in a rush at first, but this is such a minor detail, that it shouldn't effect your choice to own one or not. But visibility is AWESOME. (Examp, light guy did a blackout as I needed to check tuning on an axe change, smog (FOG) machine had the stage to where I could barely breath, but I could see the tuner indicator PERFECT!!!(Important point here)If I had detected even a small about of line noise, or coloring of the tone in any way, I would have sent it back.. This to me is the most important point of this pedal, No noise or coloring of my signal. This is what impressed me the most about this pedal, NO NOISE!!!!! POINTER::: Never add noise to you line! Bass MUST be clean! Mics and drums and guitars add enough hiss&hum into the mix, the bass can NEVER contribute to noise!!!! This pedal will NOT add noise in any way, shape or form!!!Over all, the effects are better than decent (which I doubt I personally will use anyways). The compressor really is decent at leveling all freq. our. The gate works suprisingly well without doing that pumping thing (actually, I couldn't even get it to pump, for me a good thing, some may use this as an effect, I'm not sure it will do it, but for a normal gate for a bass, it's really good!The synth,,, well,,, it is what it is... I've never heard a bass synth that I heard and said "WOW, that sounds awesome". Well, the ME50B is the same. Yes, it has a synth, but it's no better nor worse than the [$] or other bass synths out there..This is a digital processor, but it operates like an old analog set-up. Simple for what it is, but if your not familiar with basic effects/eq's/compressors, spend some time and experiment, once you learn if for this processor, it will be the same on everything really..But the MOST important thing, NO LINE NOISE & NO TONE COLOR UNLESS YOU SO CHOOSE!!! If that is your fear, forget it! Try it, you might like it!!Expression pedal works well for what it is.. YOu will be shocked!! Personally, I will only use it as a volume pedal, but if needed, I would have no fear to use it in the many options available. Even the octave up/down sound is very cool, but I didn't buy it for that, so like an extra bonus that I will probably never use.Cons: Like any pedal, something else to drag around with you. Kind of on the big side, but really it is small for what it is (I haven't used pedals of any type in over 20 years). Seems to me 24 programmable pre-sets is a little light if your an effect addict. No effect on me personally.Closing:: I like it. Tuner is good enough for live stuff & easy to read, gate works good (I never use a gate,but I may try it now even live). Compressor really is warm an very even, impressive at any price.. Effects are better than decent... If you need a GREAT synth,,, go but a $2k keyboard, this pedal's synth is no better than any of the higher end bass synths available..Buy will confidence! NO NOISE or COLORING added to your signal!!!Oh, my set-up:: [...] (FYI: Truly the nicest no-tube amp on the market, compare it to anything (Tube or not), it's one of the best tones available at any price range{but not cheap}& the line out is totally Awesome!).. If you can play the bass,,, this sound will put smiles on your entire band's faces!!!Mike (Studioman)

Comments about Boss ME-50B Bass Multi Effect Pedal:

I've been playing bass for over 5 years now..and in the time I've played I've gone through bands...changed equipment...tried different strings...but one thing always remained a constant problem...all the effects you could get were either too expencive to pay for one effect...or they sucked...i've tooled around with other effects boards...much like this one..but noticed one thing...if you could stack effects at all..they usually clashed..and totally wrecked the sound you were looking for....but this one...this one is amazing...when I played around with it at the store I just fell in love with it. in plain simple english..this is the best Bass effect board I've found...though it's a bit pricey [...] it's a worth while investment...just think of it this way..to get a decent bass wah-wah your looking at around 100..distortion...prolly another 60 (at least) plus power supplies...perhaps an effects box...you'll prolly get close to 300 by the time you have 5 effects...but for [...]$ you get around 30 effects. 3 different sections plus the wah-wah board...(with a few options of it's own). But what I must say I enjoy the most...is that the different section stack..and stack smoothly..you can run up to 4 effects at the same time (one in all three zones then a the board effect) and while there are some ones that clash..they are the obvious ones...if you use one of the wah effects..and then try to use the wah-wah board...that may not turn out to well..but DUH...overall...it's amazing