Boss ME-50B clips?

[sleepy_monkey]

Hi all, I think I might be getting one of these in a few days (trading some drums that I never use for one maybe)...and I am looking for clips on the effects...sound clips or video clips.

The only one's on YouTube are kind of useless...I am looking for a broad range of what the pedal does.

Also, why would I get an RC20-XL pedal if I had one of these....it seems as though it loops rather well....

Thanks for the input!

[sleepy_monkey]

Anyone with any experience with these things?

[Akeris]

Yeah. I have one.

Tell me what you want to know and I'll see if I can throw up clips or somthing.

[cheapbasslovin]

There are some recordings of my last band @ http://www.myspace.com/camorramusic. All of the songs were recorded with my old Schecter Stiletto Elite 5 into my ME-50B and then into a line 6 bass pod set to an ampeg preset I believe. (The DI on my rig was being problematic so we hooked up to that to record the drum tracks and liked the sound well enough to just keep going that way, so I don't know the POD's settings as it was not mine.) Here are the effects I used and the different part of the songs I used them in.

Uneasy-
Intro: slow gear
Verse: Clean
Chorus: overdrive + chorus reverb
Ending: fuzz + wah

Painted skies-
Verse: Clean
Chorus: overdrive
Break: fuzz + wah
Ending: overdrive + wah

Beneath Your Fragile Smile-
Verse:light phase +overdrive,
Chorus: fuzz
Break: fuzz w/wah

Amends was recorded 100% clean. Edit:::I just listened and remembered there is some fuzz at the break in Amends.

Hope it helps.

[Bjazzman]

can you record some of the synth sounds on that thing? im also curious about the other space noises ala ring mods and such

[metalbass777]

Originally Posted by cheapbasslovin

There are some recordings of my last band @ http://www.myspace.com/camorramusic. All of the songs were recorded with my old Schecter Stiletto Elite 5 into my ME-50B and then into a line 6 bass pod set to an ampeg preset I believe. (The DI on my rig was being problematic so we hooked up to that to record the drum tracks and liked the sound well enough to just keep going that way, so I don't know the POD's settings as it was not mine.) Here are the effects I used and the different part of the songs I used them in.

Uneasy-
Intro: slow gear
Verse: Clean
Chorus: overdrive + chorus reverb
Ending: fuzz + wah

Painted skies-
Verse: Clean
Chorus: overdrive
Break: fuzz + wah
Ending: overdrive + wah

Beneath Your Fragile Smile-
Verse:light phase +overdrive,
Chorus: fuzz
Break: fuzz w/wah

Amends was recorded 100% clean. Edit:::I just listened and remembered there is some fuzz at the break in Amends.

Hope it helps.

Wow great stuff! I also have a ME 50 B.

[cheapbasslovin]

Originally Posted by Bjazzman

can you record some of the synth sounds on that thing? im also curious about the other space noises ala ring mods and such

Sorry, I have no capability to record inside my house. My computer's inputs don't like the output of the pedal and I seem to have lost any 1/8" cords/ adapters that I used to have laying around the house.

Originally Posted by metalbass777

Wow great stuff! I also have a ME 50 B.

Thanks a lot! Alas the drama was more powerful than the music.

[sleepy_monkey]

Thanks for the info guys!

I am mainly looking for opinions on it....how are the sounds? I have several single pedals (BF-2, Compression/Sustain, Chorus, etc etc) and wondering how the sounds of the ME-50b rank up. I know that workstations typically don't have the greatest...but just hoping this thing rocks...haha.

[sleepy_monkey]

Originally Posted by Akeris

Yeah. I have one.

Tell me what you want to know and I'll see if I can throw up clips or somthing.

I would love to hear the analog delay, or the delays in general...or any of the synths....i mean anything really...5 second increments or whatever..haha.

How long of a loop can you do and how many stacks on that loop?

[JackANSI]

I have one of these, no recordings though. I love it.

Here is my rundown of the sound after having it for 2 weeks and 4 gigs:

1. The distortions/overdrives are great with tons of choices.
2. The wah is weak, or at least not centered on the frequency where I would want it. I wish I would have bought a Morley. I have a thought in my mind that the ME-50B's would sound best with a passive instrument.
3. The delays are good enough, but not as easy to use as a dedicated pedal. They will get you by no problem, but don't expect much. If you want usable looping, look elsewhere, the Digitech JamMan is where its at for that..
4. The pitch up/down works better than I expected but be sure you are only fretting one note at a time (like the manual says) or it sounds like poop.
5. The compressor is just enough for those who want to experiment with one. I'd bet that if you use it regularly and are kind of a gearhead, you'd have more fun and better results with a dedicated unit.
6. The synth is poor but workable at best. Don't expect to get the "Muse - Hysteria" tone or anything close to it. Oh and the synth is in the distortion section, I have not figured out how to get both at the same time.
7. The chorus is great, the chorus+reverb is great.
8. The phaser and flanger aren't that great.

Overall I love it. I have a lot less to keep track of now. If I was recording an important track I'd leave it in the case and pull out dedicated pedals. But its just about unmatched live, IMHO.

[sleepy_monkey]

Awesome, thanks. So you think it is worth at least having and toying around with? I think for looping I am just going to get an RC20-XL.

[Akeris]

+1 to pretty much everything JackANSI said.

Except I might add that I hate the looper., I can never get it to start/end exactly where I want it to, and it has very little recording time.

You can however stack alot, I've done like 5 or 6...I dunno if you can get more out of it.

[Mytola]

It's a decent unit for the price. I agree with pretty much everything JackANSI had to say.

[JackANSI]

Originally Posted by sleepy_monkey

Awesome, thanks. So you think it is worth at least having and toying around with? I think for looping I am just going to get an RC20-XL.

Its a good thing to have to toy around with a bunch of effects to see what you can work into your current material and to really see what applying certain effects actually do if you're not familiar with them.

If you're after a certain type of sound, like a RATM sound, or NIN sound, look at what they are using for bass processing and get that. You'll never get exactly like a certain sound without that exact equipment, IMO.

If its going to be your first, second or even third pedal, its probably going fit quite nicely. If you're replacing a pedal board of quality pedals you'll probably be disappointed.

Its a nice swiss army knife. But its not as nice as having a real seperate screwdriver, knife, bottle opener, and saw.

[cheapbasslovin]

More +1 to JackANSI. Except:

I liked the phaser.... almost, but the sweep effectively killed my low end on every pass. I've never played a flanger that I liked.

The Octave up was harsh but useable w/ distortion. The octave down I liked alot.

The biggest problem is there is no funk in the ME50b. It is pretty much a rock box and it was great for that. When I headed away from the rock I found myself using it less and less.

[bassman1185]

I've had an ME-50B since they first came out, and it has worked well for me. I would generally echo JackANSI's sentiments, although I actually think that the wah sounds fantastic. The overdrives in general are really good, but the synths suck. You can get some cool synth sounds by mixing the overdrive, chorus, delay and auto wah or sub octave. I keep it at home on my "practice" board (with an Alesis SR16 and a couple of cheap danelectro pedals I had laying around) and use it with headphones mostly now.

[sleepy_monkey]

I have never been huge into effects, other than delay, wah, flange....but I might just get this to trade or something....like I said, I am trading some drums I never use for it...so I can trade it for a 6 string Douglas or something..haha.

[Bearded Bugs]

I wouldn't recommend one to be honest, I've had mine for a couple years and it's great for using single effects, but using the patches is a nightmare

[jeromebass]

The half of a second or so of off time when you change patches sucks when you want to change in the middle of a song. I like the bass boost when I really want to drive it home and shake the place. The muff is nice. I am still getting used to the pitch hold function, but it has potential i think.

It seems like I am steadily replacing all the functions with independent pedals that have more tweakability as time goes by. It is definately fun and has held up and I'll keep it around for a while. I use the chorus for the third switch, the muff for the middle and the bass boost on the left. I agree with the posts above in the fact that the synth sucks. I keep the compressor on usually. The octave shifts on the expression pedal can be fun if you use them correctly. Hell, I'll probably keep it around after all, lol.

[johnvice]

Originally Posted by sleepy_monkey

Also, why would I get an RC20-XL pedal if I had one of these....it seems as though it loops rather well....

I use a ME-50b and a RC20-XL

The looper in the ME-50b is limited in functionality and a very short duration; I think 4 seconds. That said, it got me into looping enought that I subsequently bought a RC-20XL.

The ME-50 is like a buffet. It's not that good, but there is plenty of it! Just kidding the sound quality of the ME-50 is mediocre to good (except for teh synth, which is horrid). I have lots of stand-alone pedals but most of the time will just use my ME-50b. It's one unit that does it all.

Also, for looping, I like to put a differenet effects on each loop. The ME-50 alows me to do this really quickly with it's memory recall feature.