I have had an ME-5 pretty much since they came out, since 1989 - and just want to add

something to the
conversation, even though mine's been in the cupboard for 15 years!...
Compared to Boss's so-called 'flagship' multi-fx pedalboard, the GT-10 (which I have just sold - not because of
the sounds - they're great - but because I only used it when I need a more compact pedal when flying to gigs,
and the f****r is so heavy!), the ME-5 is so much easier to program - if you've had any other mfx pedal, you'll pick
this one up in no time, no instructions needed.
The limited range of parameters is almost its strength.. to just have 7 levels of this or that to choose from etc,
gives it that 'take it or leave it' quality... and of course it is what it is.. sure, the delay could use more than 500ms,
the EQ could use more than 3 bands, etc... but here's the thing:
..the Manual mode allows for different sounds on every patch; what sounds and presets are available depends
entirely on what patch you're on when you select manual mode...
So, you need to select and program *all* effects in every patch and save the patch; their settings will remain
saved, whether or not each effect was actually on or off in the patch when saved - though whatever state the
effects are in (on or off) when the patch is saved, they will remain that way when you switch into Manual mode.
Whilst this initially threw me - because I couldn't figure out how come effect settings and levels etc seemed to be
changing when I switched to Manual mode - I realised the beauty and versatility of this feature is that for every
patch, you can effectively have different settings on each effect..
..so for Patch 1-1, you might have Chorus, a Gated verb, a low overdrive for rhythm, on Patch 1-2 you might
have Flanger, Delay and a screaming overdrive selected... in effect, potentially 28 different settings across each
bank of four patches, all switchable in or out in Manual mode.
Not all effects have to be different of course: you might have the same modest compression, and EQ with slight
high-boost and slight mid-scoop programmed, so you don't have to think, "what patch am I on again?" when
selecting one or both of those effects.
And the kicker: with a footswitch connected, it's almost instantaneous to switch out of Manual mode, hit a new
patch, then switch back into Manual mode, for a whole new set of effects settings.
Like everyone, I would love there to be more overdrives available - and I would love the Noise Suppressor to be
*after* the fx loop - but to overcome this I have a boutique Dubtronics 'Tube-screamin' pedal (an aussie tech built
this for me over ten years ago - it's basically a Fulltone FullDrive - two levels of cascading drive, with
interchangable TS-9/TS-808 JRC4559 chips) running as a pre-amp in front, with a TC Electronic noisesuppressor between it and the ME-5, and a Wah and a TC-Electronics polychromatic tuner in front of those, so I
don't have to access the in-built tuner in the ME-5 (another 'new' feature of the time).
This pedal will not replace my stompboard of fancy gadgets (except when flying to gigs), but I hope my
contribution is of some assistance, and I'm sure you can pick up my enthusiasm for the humble ME-5, which I
put out to pasture when I bought a rack-mounted (didn't we all?) Boss GX-700 fx unit in 1996, which itself is now
in the back of the cupboard, and which had more parameters, but no more quality, than the ME-5.
==============

Whilst the Boss ME-5 guitar multi-effects unit has served me perfectly well since autumn 1988 when I
acquired it brand new, Ive built up a little resentment towards it over the years. No fault of the ME-5, however.
The resentment is entirely based on the item I swapped for it back in those rash and easily influenced days of
my early twenties Namely (brace yourself), an all original 1966 Fender Jaguar in burgundy mist metallic, with a
bound dot fingerboard. Very good condition too. Ouch! At the time, I was actually quite thrilled with the fact that
the shop gave me the ME-5s full purchase price against the Jaguar, which was 55 more than Id paid for guitar.
Never before had I bought an instrument, taken it back to a shop for a trade-in, and made a profit. What I didnt
take into account of course, was that the market for custom coloured Jaguars with cellulose finishes was on a
dramatic up-and-up, whilst the market for the worlds first fully programmable guitar multi-effects unit (see my
Aria APE-2 article for qualification of that billing) was at its peak and would only diminish as the years went by.
Youve probably gathered that the ME-5 was quite a temptation when it was first introduced. I, along with most of
the other local musicians I knew, loved Boss pedals, and the idea of having all the salient ones packed together
in a single, programmable box, was extremely attractive. Indeed, it was the programmability, and the ability to
switch instantly from one selection of settings to another (impossible with individual pedals), which gave this box
a value far greater than the sum of its parts.
THE EFFECTS
The effects chain starts with the Compressor, which sounds and feels to me just like the CS-3 Compression
Sustainer pedal which Boss substituted for the earlier CS-2. The only real difference in the pedals, other than the
appearance/colour, was that the CS-3 incorporated a tone control, which was also present on the ME-5s
Compressor. The Compressor on the ME-5 differed from the pedals in that its parameters could only be tailored
in fairly big, incremental steps. On the floor pedals you just turned a knob and got infinite variation between the
minimum and maximum. But the ME-5s effects would typically offer a very limited number of steps (in many
cases as few as seven). If you wanted a setting in between two of the ME-5s steps, you couldnt get it, whereas
with the pedals you could. Conversely, however, the pedals couldnt store a parameter, so if you moved one of
the knobs, finding that exact setting again could take a considerable amount of trial and error. Any compressor
which is in keeping with the Boss CS-2 or CS-3 is of course a laudable effect. The ME-5s Compressor pushes
up well into the territory of country-style popping, but always operates musically brilliant for clean funk too.
The Overdrive/Distortion is in fact three separate pedals, selectable via the buttons on the top panel and
assignable to any given patch. Each of them has a very different character. The first (No. 1, Overdrive) is subtle,
ranging from basically clean up to obviously overdriven but never obscuring the character of the guitar. It does
colour the clean sound with a valvey boost in the mids, which is fine if youre using a thin tranny amp. But if
youre using a valve amp in the first place it may not be what you want. You can, however, use the onboard EQ
to reduce the extra mids and get things closer to the untreated sound. The second (No.2, Overdrive) offers much
greater saturation, and can perhaps best be described as a 70s heavy rock sound when pushed to its max. Id
bill the effect as more of a distortion than an overdrive, but its a natural-sounding and versatile distortion. The
third (No. 3, Distortion) is meant for raging drive. Its not a natural distortion. Its musical, but the envelope on
attack is synthetic and theres a fizzy-ish top end which is best removed by taking down the treble a little on the
Equalizer. Its definitely distortion rather than fuzz, but it has a character in the midrange which you cant really
get rid of, and hence it sounds a bit contrived. I dont really agree that this is a DS-1 in a multi-box (as some
have suggested). But if you like a slightly synthetic DS-1 style distortion pedal sound youll be happy enough I
think.
Next comes the Equalizer. This is not really good enough, and I feel its the big let-down on the unit. You get
treble boost/cut, bass boost/cut, and a master volume. But where it all falls down is in the mid area. Ideally,
thered be multiple bands of control maybe even shiftable bands. But what you get is one single band of mid
boost or cut, selectable only between three preset frequencies. So effectively, youre reduced to
bass/middle/treble with the middle serving just a single narrow band. In other words, not greatly different from
the amount of control on a cheapish stereo, and certainly stretching the term Equalizer on what was an
expensive box aimed at serious musicians. The original RRP of 550 would amount to well over 1,200 in 2011
with inflation taken into account. The Boss ME-5 was not cheap on introduction!
The Chorus and Flanger are compartmentalised as one, so you can only engage one or the other. Not that
anyone Im aware of would use both Chorus and Flanger. Both effects are very nice indeed, and using the ME-5

kind of highlights how far downhill these modulation effects have gone in the interim. The sound doesnt lose
bass end or top with the ME-5s modulation FX, or end up sounding like its gone through a practice amp. You
get the same fidelity of sound, but with the effect, and thats exactly what you want. Control is adequate, and with
careful setting of the different parameters you can get some extremely high quality sounds. The Flanger used
without resonance and judiciously mixed with the original tone is spectacular. To me, modulation effects sound
pretty dated on guitars, but if you dont mind that, these two are very hard to beat. They genuinely do sound like
the highest quality pedals you could lay your hands on.
The Noise Gate is next in line, and is one of the most universally celebrated elements of the ME-5. Theres just
one parameter for the threshold, and the unit takes care of everything else. Very simple. Set correctly it knocks
out unwanted noise without the player really noticing its there.
The Reverb/Delay combination is apparently the only digital effect in the composition, and comes last in the
chain, followed only by Master Volume. The delay is exactly what youd expect from Boss digital circuitry. It
sends back nicely sampled repeats, its not at all noisy, and you can roll off the tone on the repeats if you wish. I
cant fault it. The reverb is excellent too. You can choose the type of reverb from room, two halls, a plate and
a gated the gated being a gated plate. The gated is my favourite. Its very 80s (unsurprisingly), but in a bestof rather than fetch-my-therapist kind of way.
IN CONCLUSION
The ME-5 is undoubtedly a quality effects unit, but it does have its drawbacks, aside from that disappointing EQ
section. It has no speaker simulator or amp modelling, so if you want a true guitar amp sound, you need to get
an external amp simulator or go through a real amp. The ME-5 doesnt give the user the wherewithal to loop out
to an external overdrive or distortion at the correct point in the chain and patch the external effect into the
programs, which is something later (and cheaper) Boss units of this type did. Theres no tuner built in, so you
have to loop to an outboard unit. Theres no bypass per se either, so you have to set up a patch with no effects
engaged, but even this isnt the same as bypassing the circuitry completely. There are no Pitch-shifting or
Tremolo effects. You cant keep the Reverb active if you want to use Delay its either or. You cant sync the
delay on-the-fly. There are no real-time, pedal-controlled effects such as wah-wah. And perhaps most
surprisingly, theres no phaser! No phaser on an 80s effects box? Mind you, this was the late 80s I suppose
Interestingly, all of these issues had been resolved by the time the ME-8 unit hit the market in 1995 at less than
2/3 of the price the ME-5 had been introduced at seven years earlier! The ME-8 admittedly didnt have the ME5s MIDI interface, or the same level of sound fidelity in some of the 'clean' effects, but it did do a lot more, and I
liked its Overdrive section better. That said, as a good combination of high quality and mostly analogue effects,
the ME-5 is a nice piece of gear to own, and its certainly more important historically than later guitar multi-effects
boxes. The ME-5 was the one that started it all. Was it worth an all-original mid 1960s Fender Jaguar in
Burgundy Mist? No, definitely not.