chrisd783 Posted February 19, 2016 Share Posted February 19, 2016 Hi guys, just wondered what people thought of the above? I've just put my first pedalboard together with dedicated pedals for each effect, but then I saw this multi effects board that does it all and more! I thought that if it was that good then surely everyone would have them and nobody would ever buy dedicated pedals? So it's it too good to be true or are these things as good as they seem on the surface? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGreek Posted February 19, 2016 Share Posted February 19, 2016 I had the 20B - outsmarted me at every turn - dedicated pedals for me from now on...I have a Johnson J Station which is a similar piece of kit but is a lot easier to use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ribbetingfrog Posted February 19, 2016 Share Posted February 19, 2016 The me50b is a whole world away from the me20b. I've used both. The 20b was one of the worst pedals I've ever used, plastic, nasty, hard to use and sounded awful. The 50b is much better made, much easier to use due to the individual knobs and sounded far better. I realised I don't use enough effects to make it worthwhile. For me, individual pedals will always sound better once you've spent a fortune finding the ones you like. Big disadvantage is the romance you have to do to change sounds. Pedal board she sound good if you get a good one, and once you find the right sound you can save it as a patch for one click changing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wonky2 Posted February 20, 2016 Share Posted February 20, 2016 (edited) I have a boss me 50 b for sale ! Its built like a tank, in excellent condition , comes with power supply too.... Its great, even if for ore amp, tuner and compressor alone, add to that all the other effects with knobs rather than buttons end digital blippery... So very intuitive to use like pedals. The wah and filters are great, it does a kick drum loop for rehearsing, chrorus flanger delay, loads of overdrive sounds.. My fave, the octave up/down, fantastic Its in the effects for sale section .... Edited February 20, 2016 by Wonky2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisd783 Posted February 20, 2016 Author Share Posted February 20, 2016 Thanks for the input guys. So why are you selling it Wonky? Sounds like you love it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisd783 Posted February 20, 2016 Author Share Posted February 20, 2016 Thanks for the input guys. So why are you selling it Wonky? Sounds like you love it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisd783 Posted February 20, 2016 Author Share Posted February 20, 2016 Thanks for the input guys. So why are you selling it Wonky? Sounds like you love it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wonky2 Posted February 20, 2016 Share Posted February 20, 2016 It is great for what i love to play at home which is predomenantly the use its had on the whole....but i dont use it for the band im working with at the minute.... They insist on basic clean sound so only thing i use is compressor, i intend to sell it to buy a single comp pedal like the mxr Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uk_lefty Posted February 22, 2016 Share Posted February 22, 2016 I had one but I don't have the patience to learn how to program it. It's quite scientific to get the edit of the effects correct and to re order them. The effects themselves do sound good though and great for home use. The format has been around for years so people must be able to use them well, try to find an instructional video on their usage somewhere that may help. A friend of mine went to a guitar shop to buy somehing similar and was told that these multi effect units have "recordings of" the effect and not the "real thing" like a dedicated pedal. Sounded like b0llox to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimwin Posted February 22, 2016 Share Posted February 22, 2016 I have had a ME50B, and still have a GT10B and Line6 M9 and Zoom multi effects - but never use them live and always use pedals. Its individual preference of course, but multi-effects seem to me to be "jack of all trades, master of none" For me it was a case of using the multi-effect at home to understand the sound I wanted, and then buying a dedicated stomp box pedal to make it sound good in a live environment. Best thing to do is give it a go....we are all different (thankfully!) Jim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LewisK1975 Posted February 23, 2016 Share Posted February 23, 2016 (edited) One quirk of the ME50-B which I liked when I had it was - If you setup a patch which had both the +1 octave setting active and the 'hi-band drive' active, it only distorted the octave up signal, leaving your normal bass sound unaffected. Good that. Edited February 23, 2016 by LewisK1975 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swijn Posted February 23, 2016 Share Posted February 23, 2016 Go for works best for you. I started with a multi-fx pedal, then ran both multi-fx & stomp boxes together for a while, then stomp boxes on their own - and now I'm back to a multi-fx. There is arguments both for and against - I think it depends on what sounds/effects you are after and in what context you are playing. I use Boss playing live 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smurfitt Posted February 23, 2016 Share Posted February 23, 2016 Hi, let me know if you decide to sell the GT10b. Cheers [quote name='jimwin' timestamp='1456140142' post='2985714'] I have had a ME50B, and still have a GT10B and Line6 M9 and Zoom multi effects - but never use them live and always use pedals. Its individual preference of course, but multi-effects seem to me to be "jack of all trades, master of none" For me it was a case of using the multi-effect at home to understand the sound I wanted, and then buying a dedicated stomp box pedal to make it sound good in a live environment. Best thing to do is give it a go....we are all different (thankfully!) Jim [/quote] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilp Posted March 1, 2016 Share Posted March 1, 2016 I've got an ME20B and it's fine now I've learnt how to use it. The factory presets were rubbish, but they've all gone now and I've programmed what I need. I don't use huge amounts of effects, and never use OD or fuzz so it suits me fine. It did take a while to work it out though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Truckstop Posted March 1, 2016 Share Posted March 1, 2016 I have an ME-20b and wouldn't be without it. The single stomp box route is paved with expensive mistakes. I only need octaver and chorus every now and then and sometimes I like fiddling with delay and wah but I know I'll never use them in real life. Patch cables, pedal boards, cases, batteries, power supplies etc etc. Very expensive and time consuming. It's also a lottery seeing home different pedals interact with each other. If you really care about your tone and you're after somethings really specific, then singles are the only way to go. If you want to learn what effects do and how they work then a multi-fx is ideal. In one box you can experiment with phaser, delay, chorus, wah, octavers, drives, synths etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uk_lefty Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 Buy a zoom BFX-708 second hand, they're going for about 20 quid which is a bargain Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elephantgrey Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 [quote name='uk_lefty' timestamp='1456920249' post='2993494'] Buy a zoom BFX-708 second hand, they're going for about 20 quid which is a bargain [/quote] Or better yet, get a B1on, about £50 new, less second hand. That way you get all the recent algorithms. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest MoJo Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 I used to be able to produce a very authentic, grin inducing sounding 'Lemmy' tone with my ME50B. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoshBassDude Posted September 1, 2017 Share Posted September 1, 2017 I have a ME-20B. It did take a while for me to get my head around it. However if you want a reliable multi-fx unit that won't break the bank then I would suggest this to anyone. I l play in a punk band and dance/rock function group and the unit covers just about everything I need for them. The Memory mode is useful, I don't really use the original presets tbh cos what's the point in having effects if you don't experiment? It can save up to 30 presets via 10 bank channels (3 presets per bank), for each of my bands I use 1 bank with 3 presets each. I would make sure you get all your volume levels right with each one first, else you'll be dealing with uneven sounds! Had mine for 2 months now and loving it, particularly the MP3 output for silent jamming. There's no send/return patch but I'm not overally fussed about that. The only thing which disappoints me about this unit is that you can't run compression & distortion/overdrive at the same time, so I'd suggest buying a seperate compressor to accommodate that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
indiegrungesound Posted September 1, 2017 Share Posted September 1, 2017 There's a LOT of good things and great features about the ME-50B! The Sansamp emulator ("Bass Driver") and Overdrive effects are great, particularly the Bass Driver. The Octave up and down features can be activated by the whammy/wah/expression pedal or by the first footswitch bank. The Modulation bank has a sweet Chorus + Delay effect! The onboard tuner and compressor/limiter are great to. I did have a problem with the power cutting out a couple of months back which was a bit worrying. Then again, I've had it for over 14 years, so they are well built and tough/rugged! Mine will have to go soon, Though it's more to do with a rig overhaul. My rig is, as I've mentioned multiple times on this page, is a Royal Blood/Slavesesque guitar and bass amp rig, so I'm only running drive and Distortion through a guitar amp, whilst keeping the bass tone clean! If you do get one though, you shouldn't be disappointed!:-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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