BOSS ME-70 Guitar Multiple Effects Processor

Product Information

Even if you are a boutique pedal guy, or a full on rack guy, you might easily find yourself in a situation where something like the ME-70 would come in handy. Yes, they definitely overlapped, but I'm pretty certain the ME-5 was the first - in fact the first proper floor multi-FX of any kind - and then they brought out the cheaper BE-5 to cover the lower end of the market as well.

I always wanted to upgrade to the Boss BE5M because it was the same as the BE5 but you could programme up to 8 pre-set patches with it and it had an external FX loop. They insisted on using the modellers to overdub all the effects-driven licks they'd been dreaming of layering, cluttering the arrangements up beyond imagining. If you need your item delivered on a specific day, you can leave a comment in the box at the checkout and we'll take it from there. This one works great, it's very very easy to use, has a lot of effects, many distortion options, harmony effects, wah, whammy, built-in loop station (with no quantizer: booooh! Though you can tap the tempo of any delay setting, the dedicated Tap setting lets you choose between straight eighth notes and dotted eighths (for those U2/Edge effects).

There is less definition with distortion as there are more overtones created because of the hard clipping. But for fly-dates, where it is essential to travel light, or small club gigs where stage space is at a premium, both have been known to use a multi-effects unit from the Boss ME series. With the ME-70 you can dial up a world of tone, from classic to cutting-edge, and with simplicity and speed. The recording output added speaker emulations to the amp models, and once again I was impressed with Roland’s COSM modeling. I dealt with a band who used these live into the effects loop ins of those 90s Marshall valvestate amps, effectively using them as warm-sounding solid state power amps to amplify their Boss units.

You have the tried and true Boss sound that you have come to expect with some added custom features not available on the original models. I'm not sure, because I think the ME5 and BE5 were actually available at the same time, with the ME5 costing quite a lot more as it was more sophisticated. There are a few drawbacks to this pedal, the most prominent for me being the slight muddiness to some of the effects and the lack of quality within the amp models. When you turn the knob to change the value, it can either change immediately from it's current position regardless of the previously saved position, OR you can do it as in the ME-50 and many other devices like this.Oddly, the ME-70 no longer references specific name-brand pedals as the ME-50 did (DS-1, OD-2, BD-2, Muff, Screamer, Rat, Guv'nor, (fuzz)face.

Since your amp has 4 channels, you could always get a stereo 1/4 inch to 2 mono 1/4 inch splitter and use 2 chan on your amp. This is very sturdy and will take a beating even when jumped on and kicked of stage it still performs flawlessly. So you can be playing along with your typical delay setting, and do some special delay effect by pressing and holding the pedal.I can't help feeling that, for impedance reasons, I should be using the stereo rec/phones output instead.

If you have a larger budget, there are better products out there, but if you are a hobbyist or semi-professional who doesn't already own a ton of effects you'll probably find everything you need here. The Boss ME-70 is a guitar effect pedal with dedicated knobs for each parameter that allows you to get the perfect effect or series of effects easily and quickly.

At lower gain levels they responded well to touch dynamics, as well as cleaning up naturally with the guitar volume rolled down. However, if you decide to plug into your favourite guitar amp and use the ME-70 purely for its effects, it's easy to turn off the preamp module.