Got an ME-50 yesterday

[Folk_guy]

Well, I went to the store yesterday with the intention of buying several individual pedals, and start assembling a pedal board. I wanted a pedal tuner, an acoustic guitar simulator, and a chorus pedal, (I already had an overdrive pedal). I wanted to add some variety to my sound in my church playing, I'm also tired of dragging, tuning, and setting up two guitars for church (thus my desire for the acoustic simulator). When I got there I started playing around with an ME-50, and decided to go for it. It costs less than the pedals I wanted to get, and gives me a lot more sounds to choose from.

Now I've read all the threads about single versus multi-effects units, so lets not go there again, but anyone out there that owns one of these have any words of wisdom about taming this beast, for a relative newbe in the effects world? Any favorite settings to share etc.?

[Kap'n]

The only guy I know who had one was Tele-Bob. Sorry can't help you.

However, you need to post a full review after you've played with it for a bit. It's an intriguing piece of equipment.

[Folk_guy]

OK Kap'n will let you know what I think about it as I get more used to it. I have auditioned the sound of some of the effects and I'm pleased with them, but not owning many of the stand alone pedals I don't have much of a frame of reference. I had an ME-33 that I traded in on this, the 50 is a lot more user friendly than the 33, I particularly like the stomp box type knobs to tweak the effects, you can use it like stand alone pedals in manual mode, or you can save patches in 10 banks with 3 patches per bank. I actually expect that I will be using it in manual mode most of the time, at least at first.

[JestersTear1]

I have one and I love it. The versatility of this unit is great. If you want individual stompboxes then you got 'em. You want preset patches then you got'em. You want to mix them - no problem.

I find the knobs very easy to adjust in real-time. Far easier than messing with menus like on other units. I had a Zoom 606 previously and although it was a good little unit, it was a bugger to use in a jam setting unless you preprogrammed the right patches in the right order.

The sound quality from the ME-50 is as good as the individual Boss pedals and there are also a load of other pedals you can emulate via built in settings (Big Muff, Fuzz Face etc). 22 different OD/Dist in all! Mod effects are great 3 different Boss Chorus, Flanger, Phaser etc. A great expression pedal too with a cool Wah.

I'm still just scratching the surface with this unit but so far I am very, very impressed with it. Its just the sheer ease of use and being able to switch between stompboxes and presets that do it for me.

I've also managed to get a near perfect album version Comfortably Numb tone (with the help of Bjorn from www.gilmourish.com).

In short, it's a keeper!

Some good reviews here : http://www.harmony-central.com/Effec.../ME_50-01.html

[Gunny47]

Its a great pedal for effects newbies and for people who dont want to be searching through the tiny menus on a screen to set things up. Got some cool stuff on it, congratulations! I got a Boss GT-8 when it first came out and I love it to death (got it over the ME-50 because I had a lot of money saved up, it had more stuff and to me sounded a lot better, just MHO. I still use it with both my amps (Vox AD15VT and Gibson GA5) because ti has everything. I especially love the octave fuzz and of course, the thousands of effects on it like the ring modulator, tremolo, flanger, phaser, chorus whatever. Im getting some new pedals soon - all either analog or tube-drivven with true bypass and most fo them are varios types of distortion. Guitar gear is addicting! Good luck with your ME-50.

[Kap'n]

Folk Guy, have you worked with it enough for a review?

[JAM]

I still have a Boss ME-5 that I bought back in 1991. It was purchased in a hurry, since I had my pedal board stolen and wanted to get something fast. (Still played in a band at the time). I like the chorus and flanging and the EQ is kind of nice when used in conjunction with those two effects. Never really found a OD sound I liked. No control knobs on it, so it's not too easy to set-up. I think the format of having all your effects in one place is great, especially if they've finally gotten good sounds out of all the different effects.

[Offshore Angler]

Ray, if you like it, find it easy to use, and it inspires your playing it's a great deal. From what I hear from others, the Boss and the Yamaha are the gold standards of multi-effects. I think it's smart move on your part. You can learn the effects and how they sound and then as time goes on, you can assemble the board with the expensive analog stuff. Very cool!

[Folk_guy]

I have had time to play with it now, and it does just what I want it to. I use it primarily in the manual mode, which is as easy as using individual stomp boxes, the tuner works great, the acoustic simulation is realistic sounding, overdrive sounds are OK, the chorus pedal section sounds good, Wah pedal works well, and has been a fun effect to play with, and Like OA says if nothing else I'll learn what all the different effects do and sound like, before I shell out a lot of money for a bunch of individual pedals that I may or may not use. There are a couple of preprogrammed patches that will be usable and really sound good to me. I'm very happy with my choice, and think I'm going to get quite a bit of use out of it.

[Kap'n]

I'm very happy with my choice, and think I'm going to get quite a bit of use out of it.

Wait. Maybe not the right hand gesture for church. :toobad

Maybe we need a pumping fist smilie.