trying a Boss ME-80

[gwEm]

So a colleague here at my work has been watching my recent pedal purchases. Hes a fairly young guy, and not as serious about guitar as us. He was saying he uses a Boss ME-80 multi-effect pedal with all the effects in it, and it sounds great etc. etc.

Needless to say, I dismissed these claims. Anyway, yesterday he kindly brought it in for me to take home and try.

Actually, the unit has many advantages. Everything is integrated into one not-too-heavy and not-too-big unit. The control interface allows you the best of both worlds between tweaking individual pedals and selecting between whole "patches". Its definitely a fun thing to use.

As for the sound quality, well, I'm not 100% sure. I'm convinced the amp sims on my old Vox Tonelab (which was very unreliable) sounded better. In fact, I didn't like any of the preamp models at all. However, some of the other effects actually sounded really good. In particular the delay effects and overdrive/distortion effects were outstanding.

I find it strange they put so much effort into some areas of the unit and not others.

There are two utility effects in the chain which you can use to setup different EQs and clean boosts. I found that with careful use of these utility effects you could extract pretty good patches out of the thing. They allowed me to compensate for the less good effects.

I need to try it more. There are so many possibilities in it. With work, you can definitely make it sound good. But it doesn't give you those good sounds very easily on all the effects. Those amp sims 

I won't be getting rid of my traditional pedals any time soon for an ME-80. But I might try getting a cheap digital multi-effect to play around with. Theres definitely advantages of convenience, and theres a certain fun satisfaction to be had in getting it to sound nice.

I might write more on this later. In the meantime I wonder if anyone has any recommendations for multi-effects to look at.

[Dave Sloven]

Is the delay based on the DD-20?

[briggo]

Hello !! a chance for me to return your favour,

I gave up on floor based pedal boards many years and gigs ago. I use The TC G System all neatly racked with a few Choice dirt pedals, now I'm not for one moment suggesting this as an altenative for you..... But when I do smaller hit and run no sound check 15mins to set up type festivals  I use the old Boss ME-50 the older version of the ME-70 it does'nt have as many functions as the the ME70 nor does it have all that rubbish amp sim but that is a bonus !! as it's much simpler to use and basicly gives me everything I need in one small compact unit. also dirt cheap second hand £50/80 so  have no worries leaving  it in cars vans ect overnight or backstage whilst i nip off for a pint, it also sounds great infront of most amps which is great when using supplied backline amps.

So thats one suggestion

[gwEm]

Is the delay based on the DD-20?

perhaps partly. however, I believe it has been improved in some areas. in particular, it has a Tera Echo setting which has some trippy sound modulations that sound very nice.

edit: the ME-80 delay also incorporates a looper - but I didn't test it

[gwEm]

Hello !! a chance for me to return your favour,

I gave up on floor based pedal boards many years and gigs ago. I use The TC G System all neatly racked with a few Choice dirt pedals, now I'm not for one moment suggesting this as an altenative for you..... But when I do smaller hit and run no sound check 15mins to set up type festivals  I use the old Boss ME-50 the older version of the ME-70 it does'nt have as many functions as the the ME70 nor does it have all that rubbish amp sim but that is a bonus !! as it's much simpler to use and basicly gives me everything I need in one small compact unit. also dirt cheap second hand £50/80 so  have no worries leaving  it in cars vans ect overnight or backstage whilst i nip off for a pint, it also sounds great infront of most amps which is great when using supplied backline amps.

So thats one suggestion

Thanks for the tip Briggo. I was wondering about the ME-50, it seems to have some nice features and it has a good size. Good to hear its pretty good too :)

[Dave Sloven]

You can get Tera Echo as a stomp box

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ClbaJYWVO4

[gwEm]

You can get Tera Echo as a stomp box

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ClbaJYWVO4

I've been listening to demos of it all morning mate ;) and I might very well get one at some stage.

cost here is an interesting point though:
TE-2 is £140
ME-80 £250

I wonder how the Tera Echo stompbox compares to the one in the ME-80

[Dave Sloven]

It reminds me of the Earthquaker Devices Afterneath pedal, which I have heard live

[gwEm]

It reminds me of the Earthquaker Devices Afterneath pedal, which I have heard live

Not heard of that one. I've just checked it out, and it does sound good.

I've been using the TC Electronic Hall Of Fame mini recently for those sort of sounds. I found some of the crazier toneprints. But still, I think it could get more freaky ;)

[Plenum n Heather]

Muti effects units can be a quick and easy way to get a complex, layered sound without much fuss/muss.
With the exception of stacking gain stages (my tone usually has at least 3 gain stages before I even get to the amp) I tend to keep it very simple when it comes to effects.

It's kind of like synths: analogue and modular synths can be very rewarding if you are willing to put in the time to dial them in just so, don't mind waiting for them to warm up and stabilize, and have a lot of cables handy. But oftentimes a soft synth will do the actual job just as well for 1/10th the hassle!

[gwEm]

Muti effects units can be a quick and easy way to get a complex, layered sound without much fuss/muss.
With the exception of stacking gain stages (my tone usually has at least 3 gain stages before I even get to the amp) I tend to keep it very simple when it comes to effects.

It's kind of like synths: analogue and modular synths can be very rewarding if you are willing to put in the time to dial them in just so, don't mind waiting for them to warm up and stabilize, and have a lot of cables handy. But oftentimes a soft synth will do the actual job just as well for 1/10th the hassle!

Funny you should write that, I was dicking about making some ambient patches last night, and the ME-80 is definitely ideal for that sort of thing.

I'll be giving the ME-80 back tomorrow, not sure I'll miss it. I might be influenced by it and get a Phase 45 and a Tera Echo at some point though.

[gwEm]

My final verdict on the unit after my last evening of playing with it is that all the effects in the unit are usable to very good. Except for the preamp section, which I would definitely say is bad to poor.

I don't think I'd buy one myself for that reason, but its definitely possible to make it work.

Loved the interface.