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M5 vs. M9 vs. other...

beggar98

beggar98

Gold Supporting Member
Jan 23, 2007
1,849
188
47
Los Angeles, CA
#1
Hey kids-

Looking at grabbing a used M5. The price is right, and I feel like it would cure some of my pedal-flipping. As far as I can tell, the main differences between the M5 and M9 are:

1. M5 is only one effect at a time
2. M5 has no looper

Am I missing anything? I know some people have complained about the lack of programmable levels on the M5. Is this the same on the M9?

Finally, any other similar units I should be looking at? I thought of maybe a Boss ME-50B, but its soooo much bigger (thats what she said). Other thoughts?
 
#5
beggar98 said:
Hey kids-

Looking at grabbing a used M5. The price is right, and I feel like it would cure some of my pedal-flipping. As far as I can tell, the main differences between the M5 and M9 are:

1. M5 is only one effect at a time
2. M5 has no looper

Am I missing anything? I know some people have complained about the lack of programmable levels on the M5. Is this the same on the M9?
Click to expand...

Same effects as the M9, just one at a time and no looper. The M5 takes up the same pedalboard realestate as two pedals, but if you consider that it has a tuner and a noise gate, then it doesn't really take up much more space as a tuner and another pedal.

Basically, it's a swiss army knife. Fills out all those effects that you might use on one song and it also has a killer octave. I use mine with an BOD, PWNZOR and Proton in front and an MXE EVH Phaser after. Run that into a Sansamp and I have a rig that fits onto a pedaltrain mini.
 
#6
I've never liked Zoom products, but I might try and play around with a B3. I think I would mostly use the M5 for modulations and some delays. The octave intrigues me, too. I love my POG2 for what it excels at, but it lacks in some areas and if the M5 has a good octave it might be a nice compliment to the POG.
 
#7
I always though Zoom stuff was toys. I now own a B3, and am in the Honeymoon stage granted, but I love it. I have owned an M5 and the Zoom can make patches with 3 effects compared to the one of a M5, and has the looper. Granted sometimes to make a patch sound real good instead of using a 3rd effect, putting in something to add more EQ to the patch is a good choice. The M5 wins more parameters controlled by an expression pedal.
Bottom line, the B3 was designed for bass while the M5 works on bass.
 
#8
another thing about an M5 vs M9 is that it is a PAIN to switch effects. not designed for going between patches in a live setting at ALL.

but for me, just the tuner + octaver make it worth it. that said, i just went back to a 9 from a 5.
 
#10
yah. it's odd to me that the m5 has such a crappy patch change setup. the button pressing is awkward, but the fact that the efx in the patch list are active while scrolling makes it sort of useless for live stuff if you need different patches in a song.

press both footswitches to go into patch select mode, one footswith for up the other for down to highlight patch (changing your tone to each that you pass over), both footswitches to select it, THEN click on the bypass switch to activate it.

and the M9 has SO many smart little tweaks and features that you can tell they spent a lot of time paying attention to what works and what doesn't live. ODD.
 
#12
nice. yeah, i have that M9 hitting my house soon that's been JHV3 modded. gonna compare it to the M5 i have now before i move it.

i just...... see, there's like 5 or 6 effects that i like a lot on the M9. WAY enough to justify the amount of space it takes. and i want to just have one page with all those effects on it all the time. sorta turn it into a Perma Unit thing. that fits how i want to use it very well i thinks.
 
#13
behndy said:
nice. yeah, i have that M9 hitting my house soon that's been JHV3 modded. gonna compare it to the M5 i have now before i move it.

i just...... see, there's like 5 or 6 effects that i like a lot on the M9. WAY enough to justify the amount of space it takes. and i want to just have one page with all those effects on it all the time. sorta turn it into a Perma Unit thing. that fits how i want to use it very well i thinks.
Click to expand...

Which 5 or 6 effects are those?
 
#14
urm... off the top of my head, Octaver (sounds REALLY good actually), the trem is fun if you map the sensitivity to an exp pedal, the ring mod (some other silly name for it), the pitch shifter that works like the whammy, the seek wah filter.... all i can think of right now.
 

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