Boss me-50 bass multi effect pedal

[garrett-777]

Is the boss me-50 bass pedal any good? I'm a rock bass player, looking for good fuzz and overdrive sounds. Help me out of you can! Thanks!

[RoctoBass]

Ive been using it for over a year, was my first effects purchase. Gig with it about once every month (playing decent size venues of about 2-700 ppl), and play a Music Man Sterling. Bought the pedal because my band plays an array of styles (which has since narrowed) and I wanted unlimited options. Did similar research and made the purchase on its strong reputation.

Here's what I've found - pedal is great and did everything I asked of it and more. Each effect is modeled after a real pedal, which is also a huge plus. If you have the time to create your own sounds in the sound bank then your possibilities are endless. Moreover Boss provides its own pre-programmed banks which were great. Standouts for me were the metal fuzz (almost synth like tightness), muff fuzz, octavers, and flanger/phaser. Also the mid boost is great, used it for slap and reggae.

Another huge plus for me is that it is my practice unit. With the headphone jack as well as the audio in I can jam out in my apt without running an amp and waking up the neighbors.

In all honesty I am in the process of switching it out of my live rig. While the EQ is a great feature, Ive had the sound guy at two gigs tell me they are getting a flat sound with little tonal character when clean. Went straight to the DI box just to test, and my bass's tone was back (bought the Music Man for the bright tone). Not sure if its the settings or what, but at this point Id rather run straight with a single distortion (all I use) pedal and keep things at clean/analog as possible. I also play through house backlines, so my next purchase is an MXR M80 DI to keep things consistent.

But if you want an array of effects to play with, this is absolutely the way to go. IMO best multi-effects unit out there. Also its a tank - twice now I've picked it up out of puddles of standing beer/bar/party sludge and it still works like a champ.

Hope this helps.

[Mr Guy]

Got one as well, not bad at all really. When I saw Christian McBride live he was using one.

[M Sterling]

Yeah, as far as I know, it's the only effect Christian has ever used. He gets some great tones on the Philadelphia Experiment with it, as well as some of his solo stuff. I owned one for a few years before I switched it out for a more modular set up. For your purposes, I must say that I did not really like any of the distortion sounds very much. I would not buy the unit strictly based on needing distortion. For modulation, octave (up and down), and compression, it is a very useful unit. Hope this helps. BTW, here is a link to a song I did using only the effects in the ME50B.

Stolen by M Sterling Bass on SoundCloud - Create, record and share your sounds for free

[garrett-777]

Awesome thanks so much!!

[garrett-777]

Any suggestions for good bass multi effects?

[cheapbasslovin]

Camorra | Free Music, Tour Dates, Photos, Videos

This whole thing is recorded either:

Schecter Stiletto Elite 5 > BassPod Ampeg model or;

Schecter Stiletto Elite 5 > ME50B > BassPod Ampeg model.

Our whole band threw this and one more track together in about 6 or 7 hours so please forgive the tempo issues. I was hooked in for bass tracks for about an hour and 15 minutes.

In this you'll hear the Muff, Sansamp, ODB, Wah, and Slow Gear. You can decide for yourself.

FWIW I am using a M13 now and love it, wouldn't look back to a ME50b.

[cheifitj]

Didn't want to start a new thread.

For folks that have the Me-50b, does it have a by pass mode? That is can I just turn it all 'off'?

I hope the answer is yes, but I have been fooled before. (Can't bypass my guitar POD.)

[dave zilla]

I also have a question about this pedal. I'm currently borrowing one for the sole purpose of the distortion effect. A couple of post earlier someone mentioned that it was modeled off the single effects pedals. Which was the distortion modeled after? It wouldn't be the od3 b Because the board an of feature as well.

Could I be the guitar dist modified for bass? and if so where could I purchase one?

Dave

[Robman]

The Bass Driver setting is modeled after the OD3-B.

[Edit:] I added a Loooper 1 Pedal to get around the ME-50B when I want to bypass.

[matt descending]

The tuner option bypasses everything

[BassAsAHobby]

Originally Posted by garrett-777

Any suggestions for good bass multi effects?

Yeah...go with the Digitech BP-355. Great tones and models. I think it is priced the same as the Boss, but I have to say that this unit kicks butt.