Boss Me-50 Anyone

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CyanJaguar

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I was in guitar center yesterday and this guy was doing some serious shredding using a me-50 modeller and the gamut of sounds was inspiring.

I'm trying to think of what to get for christmas. In that price range, is this a good board?
 
hi guy,

Knowing nothing about sounds and all that, here is something that I've been throwing around in my head: IS it better to buy a bunch of stompboxes or to buy a dedicated multieffects box.

I know the effects I want. Distortion, wah, sustain, octave.

Thanks.

Finally, for distortion effects, is the me-50 better than the gt-6?
 
It really depends on how much control you need over each effect. It is very convenient to have all you boxes in one unit. But to save space, you have to remove some functionality. I'm into separate pedals personally (if you couldn't tell). But it does make tracking down buzz a bit more of a pain.
 
If those are all the effects you need, then it's a great board. I ended up forking over the extra hundred for the GT-6 (I like big shiny objects) but I almost bought the ME50 instead. Lots of versatility. I'm not really a fan of a bunch of stompboxes--just a matter of personal preference really.
 
Didn't see your Q about the distortions. It seems like a lot of people on this board don't like the distortions on the GT-6, but personally I think they're amazing. There are enough settings on there to choke a horse and I can't imagine it to be difficult to find something in there that sounds exactly the way you want it to. I didn't mess around enough with the ME50 distortions, but I'm pretty sure they use some of the same amp models that they try to emulate in the GT-6.
 
I had it for a while and I got real tired of it's sound. It has a very digital/hashy sound that gets irritating after a while. I would suggest moving up to one of the roland boards for a better sounding unit.
 
Thanks for the replies guys. I listened to the demos of both the gt-6 and the me-50. The gt-6 has bigger sounds (more like an amp) and the me-50 sounds more like distortion.

I then went back to guitar center to play on some units. The me-50 has a very harsh sound, as jake mentioned, but isnt this the sound that is ideal for a piercing solo?

I also tried the tonelab and it was nice but not what I was looking for.

As things stand now, I thing I am just going to get a dedicated distortion pedal. I am not advanced enough to justify the price of the me-50.

Does anyone know of any good units under $100?
 
I own the ME50 - I am very satisfied with it (but it took me some time to dial in sounds that I liked). The only guitar effect I had before was a Zoom 505 - so the ME50 was a significant improvement.

Guitar is not my main axe, so I did not already own a bunch of pedals. When I priced out individual pedals, I figured the ME50 would cost about the same as 3 or 4 pedals (and the ME50 has so many more options). I already have some decent guitar amps as well as a couple of amp simulators, so I did not need a multi-effect with amp simulation.

I wanted something with knobs, because I hate scrolling through a dozen "windows" to find a parameter. The ME50 reacts much like any Boss stompbox - you can quickly tweak a knob (vs. scrolling).

Since I have not owned all the pedals the ME50 simulates, it is hard for me to judge how accurate the simulations are, but I can dial in just about any sound I need (it gets easier the more I use it). At first I thought it sounded too "harsh" but the more I tweaked it the more I was satisfied.

I too thought the cost was too much for my limited expertise on guitar, but I knew I needed compression (sustain) and distortion and some time effect (delay, chorus, etc) and by the time I bought all those individual pedals, I would still be spending over $200.

When I started with the ME50 I considered myself a sound novice (I've learned plenty of guitar licks, but I had not mastered sound) - but little by little the ME50 is helping me understand what effect does what toward getting the sounds I need.

Obviously, tone comes from the guitar, the amp and the fingers, but sound comes from lots of little bozes (or in the case of a ME50 - one big box).
 
CyanJaguar said:
Does anyone know of any good units under $100?
Click to expand...
How heavy of a distortion are you looking for? The Metal Master from Digitech is suprisingly smooth and clear for such a heavy distortion. If I had to pick, it would be that one. I don't like Digitech's "all-in-one" processors, but they make a good pedal every now and again. What kind of music do you play?
 
Hi

I picked up a boss ds-1 last night. I like it so far. It will be an introduction to different sounds and, of course, GAS. I am already thinking about a digitech grunge pedal - lord have mercy.

Purge, to answer your question, I want to play rock but I want to be able to have a mean sounding lead/solo. I guess the type of sound I am going for would be the sound on the trans Siberian Orchestra's christmas album. Probably no one around here as ever heard it.
 
hi mikeh,

Thanks for the reply. I like the sound of the me-50 but I think I will go with individual pedals if only to switch between different types of dist without having to reach down and mess with the knobs.
 
So what is the general consensus as to how an ME-50 sounds as compared to Boss's "single" stompboxes? It's my understand that the ME-50 is supposed to be the same but in one unit. The reason I ask is that I'm looking at a couple of them on eBay and have my finger on the trigger.
 
Easto,

As I indicate in my previous post, I never owned the pedals that the ME50 simulates, so I can't really offer judgement.

I can say that a couple of players who I respect (and who have owned many Boss pedals) did tell me that my ME50 did respond and sound like the pedals it claims to copy.
 
I took the DS-1 back because I did not like the sound. No beautiful harmonics at all.

Anyhow, I got a digitech GRUNGE and it sounds way better. While I was at it, I also got a digitech rp80- what a steal-for $79 one gets a noise gate and a volume pedal + tons of other silly effects.
 
I have the ME50-B which is the bass unit. It is very solid and the effects are great. It also has a built in tuner.
It's not really so much an amp modeler with menus and what not. It's basically set up like three stomp boxes where the first one is distortions the second is modulation effects and the third is delay. You just turn the knobs and get your sound. You can set up presets. The expression pedal can be whatever, vol, wah.
 
I played with the rp80 last night and I honestly believe that this is a must have for every beginning guitarist.

It represents amazing value for money. If I bought all the small features this thing has it would be in the hundreds of dollars.

Tuner
Volume pedal
Expression pedal
Cab modelling
reverb delay
Noisegate

I use the rp80 in front of my grunge as a volume pedal, reverb, and noise gate and it is just fabulous
 
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