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Boss ME-80 Multi-Effects Guitar Pedal
Price:
$279.00
Returns:
Condition:
Compact stable sturdy unit made by BOSS.
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I own a lot of different multi-effects pedals, from the humble Zoom G1on up through the bleeding-edge Kemper Stage Profiler. The Boss ME-80 is a "middle-end" offering that has some compelling features - and some non-trivial drawbacks - to offer. First the good: the pedal itself is sturdily built, with whole bunch of high-quality footswtiches, plus an assortment of dials and buttons for you to physically tweak parameters on the variety of effects on offer. However, there's a free, downloadable editor/librarian that makes it easy to do that stuff without having to bend over, plus it gives you access to a wide variety of community-generated patches and tweaks online that you can download directly into any of the user-modifiable slots in the ME-80's non-volatile memory. When in "manual" mode, you have SEVEN footswitches available to toggle effects on and off, plus an expression pedal. Egg in your beer? No - but this pedal can be powered by any 9-volt adapter or by 6 AA batteries, whiich makes it perfect for sidewalk buskers or jams in the park (assuming you also have a battery-powered amp, of course). The bad news is that all of the effects and most of the "pre-amps" (what Boss calls their amp models) are based on Boss or Roland gear, so, if you're going to buy this pedal, you'd better be a Boss devotee. Also, the tape echo model has a maximum 500-millisecond delay, which I don't like at all. Nor is that effect anywhere near as failthful to the tonal characteristics of the Maestro Echoplex II I loved so well in the 19980's and 90's as is even the Digitech RP-1000 - or the Zoom G1onX, for that matter. Nor are most of the ME-80's effects of modern studio quality (although they're probably fine for most bar or small club gigs). And, although Boss includes a set of batteries with the pedal, you'll have to buy a 9-volt AC power supply separately. I bought it to give myself more flexibility for switching effects on and off than my Zoom G1Xon (which can also be battery-powered) gives me in jamming or performing al fresco, where there're no AC outlets available. It's very nice for that. Oh, and while it's been hard to find a new ME-80 at less than the $299 "street price," with the holidays coming up, look for significant discounts from all the big online retailers as Black Friday sales start kicking in ...Read full review
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
The pedal in general works well. It is the 3rd one in the series I have owned. The last one, the ME-70 worked well also. The ME-80 was changed in the activation of the tuner. You now have to hold the pedal down for about 5 seconds before the tuner appears. That is bad enough to have to wait that long, but during that time it emits a horrible sound which comes out of the amp even when the volume pedal is off! So much for a quick tune during a song! Bad design there! I would not purchase it again due to that flaw. The ME-70 did not do that.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
IMO the Boss ME series has always had a Mojo about them, fat warm sounding modulations, great fuzz and distortions , as well great Fenderish amp tones. Easy and quick hands on tweaking and being battery powered is plus just in case you forget power cord or no convenient access to power. I own the Boss GX100, a Helix Stomp XL and a Mooer GE300 all great but I still like the ease of the ME 80. A fun multi Fx pedal.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
Been playing 30 years professionally. Hate numerous pedals, esp when they unplug!). I read manual 15 minutes. I don't use 300 different guitar sound. In manual mode, it's like having 5-7 pedals (which many incredible) I don't use 300 guitar settings/Sounds. I run it through a Mesa Boogie V through a 1x2, though it also sounds great through a 300$ Blackstar. VERY intuitive. Like it way better than me-50 and ME-70. Bought used (actually bought 2 I liked it so much) for around 200-230 % ebay. HIGHLY recommend for great simple intuitive pedal. Cheers.
Verified purchase: Yes
So, it's about $200 used...give or take. And you get what you pay for, right? So don't buy one if you're attached to a fantastic tone. That said, many of the effects are pretty good and very usable. The reverb blows, as do some of the distortion settings. The tube screamer is very good, imo. But don't expect a transparent compressor effect...it is digital after all. Most of the mod effects are pretty good. And compared to the ME 70, which isn't much less to buy used, there are 3 more foot switchable sections available. I find that to be a huge plus over the ME 70, which I used to have. It's got a lot of high gain amp and distortion options...not something I play so can't comment on that. I keep this in my effects loop for diversity.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
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