Boss ME-80 Guitar Multi-effects Pedal Reviews

This thing is just the device I needed. Everything you want/need is in it. I you use it live dont forget the 1/8in jack hack. Preset mode or manual it's all good.

Am new to the pedal world. This was a good intro. Does the job of numerous pedals. Well worth the $.

My only regret is that I didn't buy the Boss ME-80 sooner. I had already invested in 4 pedals and a Pedaltrain when I was exposed to a Line6 PodGo. That experienced showed me the value of a multi-effects processor but I did not like the GoPod interface and when I read their doc I was really turned off (I hate cute manuals; just give me the facts). There would be too much work involved to get results out of a Line6 board. So I did research and chose the ME-80. Now that I have it I love everything about it. They do so many things right that other products don't: they even have labels to on top of the board for each cable input. A small thing but it makes it so much easier to use the board. There is still a learning curve to get the most out of it but the documentation is very clear. Now all I have to do is get rid of those other pedals and pedalboard.

It does everything I need it too, it does take some tweaking, however I still think it's magnificent. Most of the complaints I see are about the preamp, which comes down to whether you know how to dial in a amp right or not. It's a skill issue. The looper not working is another one I see, which is just from people not reading the manual. Overall, it is overwhelming and complicated at first, but it's still amazing. It can be fidgety, but you can get just about any tone you want out of it.

New to playing guitar and purchased to add to the fun!! It's so well made, user friendly and really love it!!

I have used pedals for years. I love the Boss Power Stack for the Marshall/Mesa crunch. But, I needed something that could do it all. I have not ever found a processor that could do that. This machine is the closest to an all-in-one solution for the guitar that I have ever used. The price is unbeatable for what you get. I guess this is why Boss has not changed this thing in years. I hope they make an updated one with cool led lights and a metal expression pedal (not plastic) in the future, but with the same awesome features. You do have to do some tweaking, but plug this into a Fender Twin or Deluxe, hit the pre-amp for Metal, add some delay, and have a great time. With headphones, pick sensitivity is lacking, but you can correct this with just a small amount of compression and a little pullback with the gain on the pre-amp setting. There are lots of Youtube videos about what this machine is capable of. As usual, a big shout out to Dennis Konicki who has been a great Sweetwater partner for years. Happy shredding.

I bought the BOSS ME-80 Effects pedalboard to have in my Pro Tools recording studio simply to have the many sound variations
available for the guitar players to contour the "right sound" to lay perfectly in the track.

I was pleasantly surprised with the many sound samples provided on the ME-80. Supply a great player, a quality guitar, a vintage tube amp and the ME-80 and you have no excuses but to cut some fabulous tracks.

Well worth the money !!

I ordered this for my husband for Christmas. I can't say how much he loves it yet, since he hasn't seen it yet. I would just like to say how awesome this company is! They shipped it out the day after I placed my order, and even called to let me know that it had shipped! I received it the next day! Your customer service is spot on! Merry Christmas!

The best thing about this is the intuitive controls for each effect. It's almost like using a regular pedal when dialing them in. I hated my two previous units by other companies. I had to search through the digital menu to find what I wanted. On the ME 80 all I have to do is go to the knob for distortion or modulation etc and dial it. The Boss Tone Center has a wide selection of presets. You can also edit those presets to your liking. The price on this is awesome. I don't have anything negative to say.

easy to use. does way more than I need but the things I use work perfectly without coloring the sound. I've used lots of boss pedals over the years and they have all worked perfectly. I recommend this boss pedal .

If you want to spend more time playing and less time scrolling and programming the ME-80 is great. More than enough effects and up to 3 delays at once if you want them. Set up and storing programs is a breeze.

The ease of use and the range of effects, makes this unit super powerful!
All the sounds and amps all in one unit.

The Boss ME series is how every unit SHOULD be. Actual hardware knobs that do the same thing every time, so it is easy to learn/use and lets you focus on playing instead of being a computer programmer. (Also, I am a computer programmer for work, so trust me, other units can be a real pain.) I wish every manufacturer would make their gear like these ones-you turn a knob and it has that effect. Simple. No "Hold down Shift button to access 2nd parameter, unless you are currently in Perform mode, in which case..." The sound on the ME-80 is decent, although it shows its age when compared to Fractal FM3/Axe Fx, Helix, etc. I wish Boss would make a successor with better amp models and custom IR loader, but keeps the WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) of the ME series.

The Boss ME-80 gives me all of the options in one multi-effects board that it would take to fill up a pedal board with too many individual pedals. The tuning mechanism is a nice addition as well as the Wah function. I'm continuing to learn more about all of the features, but have used it exclusively to mirror my playing with the music I am listening to.

This is an easy to use pedal board. It is way easier to navigate and use on the fly than some of the more complex multi-effects units I have tried. I should have just bought this thing years ago and moved on. Excellent purchase.

This unit is sturdy and is simple to use. If you're considering buying one think of it as a portable rack of stomp boxes for practice, jam sessions and informal gigs. I agree with two points that often surface in independent reviews - 1) if you plug into a substandard amp or if the amp isn't set right it will sound as bad as your amp or it's settings and 2) don't think you need to use every feature just because you can. I fell into this trap at first; more is not always better. Add the effects one at a time and explore what works for you. It's a tool, not a toy. I have also found that I get the best results with my rig by turning DOWN the drive on the distortions even though I rely on a heavy, chunky "metal" distorted sound.

this is my first multi effects pedal, i would say if your just getting into multi effects this is really good, it has the ability to be a stomp box or a multi effects pedal. it's a little hard to get used to at first, but after messing around with it for about an hour i figured it out pretty quick. the only down side is the distortions, some of them are very tinny, i had to put the pre amp to a heavier distortion setting to bring out the meatier tones of the blues overdrive, witch is what i play with most of the time.

overall if i knew about this when i first got into pedals i would have just gotten this instead of spending closer to three hundred bucks on 9 analog pedals. it's a bang for the buck, i would invest in this over spending as much money for less analog pedals, get this and a big muff and thats your rig, that takes up much less space.

After going through amp after amp and amp simulator after another...
This pedal does everything I need plus a whole ton more.

More than a review I have a question to ask:
Why when I apply any effect from my Boss ME-80 does my amp turn off immediately?

the amp stops instantly.

Thanks.

Oscar

It's great having every adjustment available. It's like having a pedal board before everything went touchscreen and menu deep. Turn a knob and change a setting. Effects are Boss. So they're good. Sure you'll find individual pedals with better tones, but $a lot of money later you'll have 3 pedals. This is great for helping a guitarist shape sound and conceptualize what they're shooting for... the. Maybe add some stand alones. It's a terrific multi-pedal and user friendly. Gig worthy and incredibly fun to use.

I'll make this simple. After years of pedalboards this is where I stop. It's all right here in one simple Great sounding, easy to use unit. I love it!

The Boss ME-80 is awesome for a reasonably priced multi-effects pedal. Pretty versatile too as I am finding. Want to practice and not bother the neighbors? Plug in your headphones directly and leave the amp turned off. Want to record your guitar? Hook it up to a computer. The ability to shape your tones and effects and store your presets doesn't take an engineering degree. In fact, I spent very little time with the manual and was up and running in no time which is a definte plus. I know I've only touched on its capabilities but so far this is awesome.

This was a gift from a friend, so I cannot say anything about the buying experience. The floorboard, however, is a different story. This device is outstanding in every good way. The controls are as easy to use as you can get. The display is big enough to read from several feet away, but does not take up too much space. The logical flow of the tone creation and edits are easy to understand and manipulate. And the tones are awesome! Plugging into another amp or direct into a PA system is easy and minor tweaks for the specific amp are easy to maintain my preferred sound. Almost eliminates the need to carry a big amp around, even for large arenas. Sounds great through tube or solid state rigs too. It even sounds great through cheap headphones and ear buds! Ditch the daisy-chained pedals and clean up your rig with our of these! You will not regret it.

Used to have one in a previous life.
WONDERFUL PRODUCT. Boss did NOT
disappoint on this one !!!

When my old Digitech M/E pedal bit the dust, I had to get a quick replacement. After looking at the specs and price, I chose the Boss ME-80. When it was delivered, I spent about 30 minutes dialing in the basics of what I needed for most of the songs I do, then I started experimenting. I was amazed at some of the sounds I got out of the unit! I really like the way the signal path is set up. I love the fact that it has 2 separate FX modules. I can get tremolo and chorus at the same time. The presets are diverse enough to give you a feel for new sound possibilities. Of course it's got the USB interface so you can connect to a DAW and also utilize the free Boss Tone Library.

Oh, can't forget actual usability. The footswitches on the unit are great. Don't need a lot of foot pressure to activate. And the biggest bonus? It runs on batteries as well as a 9v adapter! If you're sitting in, you can jump on stage, plug into an amp and you're ready to play. No looking for a place to plug in for power.

All in all, great value for the price. I look forward to using this unit for a long time.

Where was this long ago? Download or adjust, copy the sounds of great guitarists and create your own. Studio friendly and weighted.

I use this with the EVH 50 watt head in front of the amp and tone is complete insanity it's so good. This pedal is a perfect 10! So simple to use. I pray they never stop making this pedal it's that good.

I'm a bass player. The "Stack" amp model on this thing is the absolute BEST bass drive I have ever tried. It is extremely dynamic and touch sensitive. It doesn't suck out your lows! no need for wimpy blend knobs here... this thing cuts and still keeps the walls shaking. Every other drive pedal I've tried either sounds like a box of bees, or gets lost in a mix. Seriously, if you play bass, this thing will cover all the ground you could ever need (unless you run direct). 2 areas that fall short (full disclosure): The octave is not great. The tone is flat and does not track very well past the low A (nothing like the iconic OC-2). Auto Wah is tame compared to a dedicated envelope filter. These aren't really fair knocks since I'm certain they did not design this pedal with bass in mind, but all the mods sound thick, and that drive is absolute perfection. Muti-Overtone is surprisingly useful, and the whammy option for the expression pedal gets used more often than I would have ever expected (for dance covers and such) Just get it.

Exactly what I was hoping it would it takes some tweaking but it does everything I need it to

So far so good. I'm liking the tone that I dialed in, and not being the adventurous type I will more than likely stay with this tone.This is a well built unit. Solid as a rock.Building an affinity for the Boss sound is an enlightening affair!

Although similar to the me-70 the 80 has better tools for my live performances. The best new feature is the ability to switch the Amp/EQ 1 & 2 on and off. Best application: I'm playing and singing with rhythm volume set and want to go into solo. I hit the #2 EQ button for a set volume boost without messing with the volume pedal. Then when ending solo I don't have to use volume pedal to reset my rhythm volume, I just tap the EQ 2 button to off and concentrate on singing. Also, the memory and bank up and down buttons work without pushing down two buttons first, always a pain. So much easier for me than a pedal board full of pedals. Oh, using it with a Katana 50, Blues Jr., or a Samamp 12".

I was never really big on pedals. Always just used a basic compressor and a chorus and whatever on-board effects that came with my amp. Several years ago, I purchased an ME-70 and really liked and then a friend of mine went to get himself one and they were changed to the ME-80. After looking his over, I noticed that I really llikd the reconfiguration. I love how they separated the EQ from the preamp and added quick access to chorus and delay and a couple other things within the newly added EQ patch. The effects are 100% stomp box and sound genuine. On board preamp emulates a few different amp styles, a whole boutique of boss stomp box effects, "gas pedal"(lol) has many different programmable functions. I wish the single coil emulator and the compressor wasnt on the same channel but then again, I have a single coil guitar standing by for just that purpose and a quick switcheroo provides ne with that sound. Delays that last forever, and overtone setting when set right makes your guitar sound like the organ on "Freebird" which for a 4 piece band, changed the sound of the intro forever for us. Although this pedal is very high tech for what it is, you dont have to be a "techie" to program it. The control surface is just as easy as dialing up your favorite sound on your favorite stomp box. If you are like me, and wasnt accustomed to using a processor but it has always crossed your mind to get one, start with the Me-80. You wont be disappointed.

So far I'm very happy with this pedal, it's way easier to program than I thought it was going to be and it comes with a lot of great pre-program sounds, tweaking them is not a task, and the sound is great on acoustic or electric guitars, very pleased! Now my lead player bass player and myself are now on BOSS pedals, we love them! The only drawback I have is that it doesn't come with a 9 V power cord, you have to get one separate! other than that it's working out great

After reading the manual, watching several tutorials online, I began to realize the infinite possibilities. This processor will handle anything you can imagine. You must first become familiar with what it will do. If you take the time to research this unit, you can layer incredible texture to solos, progressions and chords. However while you are exploring, you can plug and go right out of the box with every Boss pedal at your footstep.

I first would like to say that I bought the MEP for my own personal enjoyment and just wanted to explore the different effects and sounds that I could generate with this devise. I am well pleased and it has so many features that anyone will spend many years to fully express all this pedal has to offer. Thanks Sweetwater for making this product affordable and giving such great customer service. I highly recommend this product.

Have this lil mofo for awhile now and I still learning new stuff and sounds. Pretty self explanatory and the sounds at disposal are phenomenal. Awesome gear

One fell in my lap. I thought, "why not?" Gave this bad boy a shot and holy canoli! I still haven't fully utilized everything it has to offer, but the setup is so user friendly! I have virtually 36 different pedal board setups at my disposal. I couple it with some other fine Boss products and haven't yet found anything i can't do with it! SCORE!

I brought this home a few days ago. Have only used it once due to lack of time. I used my head phones and I’m already impressed. I can’t wait to run through my amp..

I am very impressed with this box! It sounds great! The church had loaned me a Line 6 M9 to play with. I never really liked having to dive through the menus and, to me, it was not intuitive. But the ME-80 is a breeze. I like being able to just turn a knob and get a result. I also like that it has two ways of using it: Memory and Manual modes. In memory mode, it will change "scenes" while in manual mode it acts like a stomp box. I am rather certain that I will be using the memory mode a lot.

One thing I did was to get EBL high capacity rechargeable batteries for it. They are rated at 2800mAh and 1200 cycles. So far, they are still running the ME-80 after over 9 hours on the first charge and there is no sign of them needing to be changed. So, this set of batteries should last me around 3 years. Not bad as the charger and 8 AA batteries were less than the recommended power supply. (However, I did also get the power supply just in case. Because you never know!)

I love this! I upgraded from an ME-70 to this ME-80. At first I had to get used to it being slightly different than before in terms of the amp section. But then I customized it completely to my liking. The free software is slightly laggy but works good and has excellent sound clips. You can edit patches from your laptop in real time, too. The amps sound fantastic! And it's almost got too many options. The CTRL pedal feature is awesome, too, because you can basically customize patches to be versatile, like adding momentary tremolo on a solo patch, or on/off tremolo (just like the combo amps of yesterday). You can add boost to any patch, too, using CTRL. Basically, this thing is now those super giant swiss army knives: almost too bulky to use because there are so many fantastic options, but excellent nonetheless. The only gripe I have is that it's the size of a 2 octave Roland System-1, meaning I can't find a backpack with two large slots unless I go with a military backpack. The on/off feature has been improved. I don't like the 1/8" line out, but a lot of stuff is moving towards 1/8" so I can't complain too much. The freeze pedal is excellent. Also, since I play in church, Michael Hodge's patches from the Tone Central work great for me in church. This thing is phenomenal!

This thing is fantastic! Right out of the box it delivered great sound. Programming in what I wanted was very easy. The new CTRL feature is a bit of a learning curve, but it didn't take long. The free Boss Tone something software works good, even though it is slightly slow, and has excellent free patches with high quality demo audio. I use mine in church and it works great. I appreciate being able to use the computer software to edit patch settings using numbers, too. Using a mouse interface to twiddle with a round knob inside software is just silly. Don't get me wrong, the Boss software includes this if you prefer it, but I generally don't use it. And I was able to take the great sounding patches others have provided and tailor them to my own environment. My only complaints are how big it is (need a 25 key keyboard pack to carry it), and the use of 1/8" output for REC/AUX OUT. But they're minor, and I was able to work around them. Just be careful with how much AMP sim you use: the volume gets too loud really quick at LEVELs above 40. Some might like that. I'm almost indifferent. But it's worth noting that the old Boss mentality of "50 = no change in volume" from the ME-70 and before, that's sort of gone out the window. So adjust your stuff to taste while listening to it. Playing this while it's connected to an amp AND a laptop works great, and you can edit patches real time, meaning you don't have to keep bending over.

I"m highly impressed with this guitar pedal. It"s easy to use, has great effects, and works great! If you"re looking for an inexpensive pedal with tons of great effects, this is the one to choose.

I have always loved guitar pedals. .but i came to a conclusion that this was by far the best idea i could come up with. Since individual pedals need a pedalboard, also they require a power supply. or tons of 9v batteries.
This unit (Boss ME_80) has it all for me. i am learning still a lot from it when ever i have a chance to move knobs, here and there.
Now i got rid of most of my individual pedals and i am sticking to this unit, which i run through 2 amps. and it sounds fantastic. and after that i run lil vox looper pedal. because my looper pedal provides up to 100 seconds of looping. and sometimes i do combinations with the Boss ME -80.
This unit meets my needs as a guitar player.

This thing is great. There is a bunch of stuff you can do with it and it's a great price. I'd strongly recommend it. Shipping was fast. I do have one request though: send more of those fireball candies.

Thanks to the recommendation of Tom Maxwell, my Sales Consultant at Sweetwater, and several reviews of the ME-80 I now have a "all in one" type of a pedal for my home studio. It is matched to my Fender Deluxe Reverb and gives me the flexibility of many of my favorite pedal sounds. I am especially enjoying the EQ settngs which allow me to tune in a very unique tone to my Epiphone Les Paul ES Pro. I have used satisfactorily the Wah-Wah, Delay, Phaser, Compressor, Reverb, and a couple of the programmed Overdrive settings. There are many other combinations that I haven't even tried yet, and so far I have not downloaded any content from Boss Tone Central which has many settings others have made available to download. I am not much of an overdrive player and lean towards a clean sound most of the time which I can achieve. Even though this is a lower priced board, its capability rivals most of the other pricier boards. Yes, I am pleased with this purchase so much so I disassembled and sold my pedal board pedals as this board totally replaced my pedal board.

I was going through a "pedal buying journey" and didn"t know much about gear. Then I found this thing and returned all the pedals I had bought. I love all the options. And there are a lot of options, which can sometimes be annoying (paradox of choice), but all of these options are laid out so clearly that they are easy to use. I love using the "stack" effect with the "metal" gain effect. MAKE SURE YOU USE THE CAB SIMULATOR by plugging in a dummy 1/8 plug into the headphone jack. It will make the sound even better.

Solid construction, lots of options, overall very happy and was able to replace other pedals. Only downside I have found is if you are used to stomp boxes you have to be a little more precise

Have really enjoyed the Boss ME80 pedal board. It gives me an almost infinite number of tones. It is laid out nice and easy to navigate. Glad I bought it!

This pedal is everything I hoped for and more. The effects are typical Boss quality - top drawer - and there are so many of them! It has every effect I could ask for, and then some. Be sure to read the manual - there are a few hidden effects! And like all Boss pedals, this pedal is built like a tank. I honestly think it might survive a nuclear explosion.

But what I really like best about this pedal is the brilliant design. You can either access the effects as if they were individual stomp boxes OR you can create and store "Patches", ie; a combination of effects, re-callable as a set. It's really the best of both worlds.

All of this, and the security of knowing your purchase is backed by Sweetwater, one of the few reputable merchants around. Just as important is my Sales Engineer, Michael Bolton (extension 3060), who really cares about making sure I get what I need. If he doesn't know the answer to a question, he finds out, instead of just blowing smoke, like most reps. He's a genuinely good guy. Thanks, Michael.

Finally, I'd like to thank Sweetwater for the little package of candy they include with each shipment. More that once it has served as a very effective distraction for my wife's eagle eyes, as to just what I have ordered this time!

Ive been tossing the idea around of an ME board and when i finally did i couldnt be happier. The me 80 has so many different variations and options to run and ease of changing. Thanks always to Simon and im really glad my wife is not a saleman she doesnt do a good job of pushing sales

Very happy does just what I need it to

I'm a singer-songwriter with decent guitar skills!
I've been building my collection of guitar and guitar plugins over the last 10 years...
I honestly didn't care about the differences between outboard gear and digital effects in terms of how will it impact my creativity and my overall workflow.
I have to admit it. I wish I could find a way to re-sell all of my guitar plugins and just stick with this board.
Seriously, this makes me wanna go the extra mile and find my sound.
It sure ain't as flexible as plugins in terms of how many amps and effects I can try before I commit to a sound but WHO CARES!
If I can pull up 50 tones and sounds off of my ME-80 then that's all I'll ever need!

A Big shout out to my buddy Jason Koons for being such a nice Advisor!

I picked up one of these for $300 at a local guitar shop, and I've just been blown away. The effects are amazing and the range of sounds you can get is amazing.

The ability to save sounds is amazing. Once you get it configured to a certain sound (say like Slash in Welcome to the Jungle), you save it and can easily get back to it.

The best two features (IMHO) of this product are:
1. The headphone output is excellent quality. I've plugged headphones into amps and other pedals and it sounds wrong but the quality of sound from the headphone jack is amazing and lets you practice even when your wife is asleep
2. The build in USB Audio Interface. Many audio interfaces go for more than this product by themselves, but this amazing piece of machinery comes with it build in. And the quality of that interface is excellent. It does not have the bells and whistles of higher end stuff, but it definitely works and has good quality.

I use a Katana 100 watt head as my primary metal/hard rock sound source-- an amazing amp that does it all. So, I decided to add the ME-80 in front of my lowly 5 watt tube head. Wow, super performance all the way! I can duplicate the sound of my studio pedal board set-up with the ME-80, then take it to gigs, leaving those pedals safe behind. The sound of this multi-pedal is phenomenal, packs a ton of that great BOSS pedal reputation into a small multi-effect pedal. Worth the cashola.

After trying various other multi effects pedals, I tried this one and thinking of buying another to store away because I know it will be declared obsolete before long. Easy to adjust on the fly, no screens to page through, just select the effect you want then tweak a knob or two to dial in your tone. Has everything I need on it and then some! Great pedal, great price, and simple to use. As always service from my Sweetwater rep Frank Gerdts is second to none.

This little unit from Boss has everything I need to do any gigs and it"s also great for practicing through the headphone jack. Takes up way less real estate than my monster pedal board and way easier to move! Special thanks to Dave Snow for getting my gear here quickly! Always a pleasure, that"s why I stick with Sweetwater!

This is a very versatile effects processor. And very easy to use. I am old school and am not crazy about all the computer screens and software based stuff now. This unit is not like, I am sure it has all the software etc. inside it, but as far as using it is just like using regular pedals. Very user friendly for this old guy. Has tons of great tones as well. I would recommend this to anyone, especially at the price point, you can't beat it. And as usual a big shout at to Stephen Oppenheim, no better customer service!

Remarkably simple to operate w/o sacrificing availability of complex tones. Intuitive knobs, pedals, overall design. Roland/Boss engineers nailed it...again.

Should also say a word about Sweetwater's staff...Nicholas Weaver in particular. Knowledgeable, patient, honest, professional...and a sense of humor. Outstanding!

I have owned several multi-effects pedals. XT Live, ME-50 and Digitech. There were always major problems. No true bypass, complicated menus and programming, losing settings that took you days to tweak and a lot of mostly useless pre-sets. I was ready to pay $700 for separate pedals and a pedal board, then I tried the ME-80. It truly is like having a whole board of Boss pedals, easy to navigate and set up, without all the cords running everywhere and the inevitable hum and signal loss. I wanted to keep the basic tone of my Marshall DSL40C with Creamback and use mostly the effects section, and having an output level control takes care of signal drop perfectly.

All the effects are pure Boss, first-rate and professional sounding. I play in a cover band and wanted the harmonizer for the solo in "More Than a Feeling" and it nails it, set on lower third and key of D. Didn't even have to change the fingering. I was going to buy a separate wah, but the wah is great and having a volume pedal the rest of the time is an unexpected plus.

This is the logical evolution of effects pedals and is a necessary tool in the modern pro's arsenal. Service from Sweetwater was great, as always. Buy one, you won't regret it.

First of all, I admit that, even after more than 50 years of playing guitar, I a noob when it comes to guitar amps and effects. That said, I ABSOLUTELY NEVER gave a 5-star rating to anything in my life because, no matter how much I love something there is always a disappointment in there somewhere. You say my glass is half empty, I say it's half way.

I am totally BLOWN AWAY by this board!!!!!!!!!!! If it could cook (and do "other" things), I'd marry it! And that's with only using it in MANUAL mode. The quality of the effects is simply mind-boggling. I've had my ME-80 for barely 24 hours and I'm so excited!

I unboxed it and plugged in a 9V adapter (no amp yet) and for the next 3 hours I went through the owner's manual with the board in my lap, pushing the buttons and turning the dials to familiarize myself with the layout. When I plugged it into my amp with my ES-335 and hit the OD switch, I thought I'd died and gone to Nirvana...I swear it sounded just like Jerry Garcia's guitar!

As I said, I'm no expert, but I know what I like, and I LOVE my ME-80!!!!! Thank you to Alex R. and everyone at Sweetwater. I've spent the last 6 months researching effects pedals and boards and I was suffering from sticker shock. I could not believe the cost of individual effects pedals. I'm on a fixed income now with not a lot of headroom in my budget. This board exceeded every parameter I had set for what I wanted to do. Thanks again y'all!

I love the Boss ME-80...I now only play lead/rythm guitar in church with my ESP or Jackson guitar, but it's incredible how many sounds that I have been able to customize and write into memory. Have had so many comments from people in the congregation how good it sounds. I would recommend this for any guitarist, wheter for church or in a band.

I bought the Boss GS-10 back in 2005 and it lasted for over 12 years until a channel went out on it.

You can't go wrong on Boss products.

Thanks Sweetwater for your excellent service!

Everything you could ever want in one pedal and more!!!

I play in two classic rock bands and just wanna say this box is real sweet.
Real ideal settings that can be tweaked very easily and user friendly.
It can give your personal set up a lot of awesome and unique sounds.
I use a Les Paul,PRS a Strat and a Tele and set this box up for each axe.I'm playing through Fender hand wired Blues JR. Needless to say the little 15 watt gets miced,and the sounds are fantastic!!!
Thanks Boss once again and to the great Sweetwater team!!!
sincerely B.ST.

This board is so versatile! It can do practially anything!

Absolutely extremely happy with these products.
Robby is an awesome helpful rep that makes me not want to deal with anyone other than him. Not sure what he makes but He needs a raise in my opinion.
Thank you Sweetwater for all the years ive been buying through you.

I upgraded from a Boss ME-50 to the ME-80. This eliminated the FS-6 pedal I was using to scroll through my user sets. It eliminated the wah pedal I was using. The ME-80 provided one more setting in each bank I write. When I switch from one setting to the next, playing live, sound is virtually seamless. Being able to interface on the computer to make changes/edit is real convenient. Having access to an internet library of downloadable tones is really helpful, and saves time. I can download a tone close to what I'm looking for, then tweak and save it. For me, this upgrade has been super helpful, and didn't "bust the bank" to buy.

This is what I was looking for right out of the box. It does everything I want it to do, and one can learn a new combination every day!

I wanted to upgrade from my tried and true RP355 that has served me well for years. I spent a lot of time programming the RP355 with the software to get the tone I was looking for but it was always disappointing when I would change amps and have to tweak my favorite pre-sets to get them to sound good with different amps. Once I had the right tone on a solid state it would sound terrible if I would move to one of my tube amps or a different speaker cabinet. The RP355 was also awkward in a live situation as it would go into a different modes if I didn't hit the pedals just right. That has NOT been the case with the ME80. In manual mode the tones sound great with any of the tube amps. In auto mode the pre-sets are excellent. Each of the effect tones are as predictable as any BOSS pedal I have ever owned. The Phrase looper is easy to record and seems to quantize the recording perfectly. Playback is as predictable as can be and does't require an IT guy to program it. I am powering the ME80 with my 9 volt ( VOLTO) battery pack and there is zero noise on with a hum bucker on high gain at rest. The amplifier simulations are excellent and beat any thing I've ever tried for digital Multi Effects. The VOLTO seems to last about four to five hours on a full charge. Excellent product. I paid about $299 plus tax and received it in two days. I would have paid a couple thousand to get all of the features if I had purchased individual pedals. Excellent Value. Thanks BOSS and Sweetwater for a quality product.

This is the best ! I tryed Line 6 HD500X and also TC Electronic Nova System Multi-Effects Unit and the boss me80 is alot better. I use fender deluxe reverb limited edition amp on the clean side and the me80 and a fender tele and the sounds are just great! Would not trade a thing!

Well engineered and sounds great. This pedal does it all.

I have been using the Boss ME-80 since its release. I have two ME-70s I have been using for years. The upgraded and new features are excellent. (Double delays, Pre-Amp and Eq sections). I use it with many amps and situations. I play it with my Blackstars, Egnater, and Marshall 410h in the loop and front end it with my Fender and Mesa Trans-Atlantic amps.
I have ton of effects boxes and combo effects but, I keep going back to the ME-80 as my goto Effects. Love the ability to use like a stomp box and program up and save special effects combinations.
It's built like a tank and I can throw it down (no setup) because of the battery power.
This will definitely get you though the gig, jam or show.
By the way, I now use the ME-70s in front of my synth and keyboard rigs. Love the volume and wah pedal.

Special thanks to Stewart Hisey for helping to be equipment rich and monetarily broke. You and Sweetwater are the best

I'm playing through a Marshall DSL-40 with an American tele...this pedal is the PERFECT compliment. Every sound isn't perfect, but adding options of delay, comp, and OD/DS to the already-awesome Marshall sound is well worth the price. Old-school sound of a Boss pedal turned into an easy-to-use pedal. What's not to like? Sweetwater rocks!

I love this thing. I originally purchased the Line 6 HD500x, but it took me two days to get a sound out of it. I was finally able to do that by putting the manual down and just started pushing buttons and twisting knobs. It came alive. Obviously, I didn't know what I was doing, but got overwhelmed and sent it back. I am sure the Hd500x is a great piece of gear, and superior in some ways. But I found the Boss ME 80 to be easier to navigate. Got it working right away. I use it as an addition to the plug ins I have in Logic. It seems to get better sustain then the plug-ins. It gives me every thing I need: clean / dirty and the basic, most common effects one would here in music: wah, chorus, phase, flanger, reverb, some octave effects.. The presets are pretty cool on their own but you can use manual mode to create your own. And I prefer a knob based setup over a menu driven setup. It is odd that it didn't come with a power adapter (sold separately for $30.00). Maybe the people at BOSS feel some folks are ok with batteries and it allows them to keep the price of the unit at $300.00. Batteries might come in handy on gigs though. I am predominately a bassist who plays guitar for home recording, so I did not want to mess with stomp boxes. And truth be told, the average fan/club patron/audience attendee will never be able to tell the difference between a multiefects unit and stomp boxes. (My opinion) It's cool that you can connect via USB but I just plug it directly in to my Edirol Interface, on a Mac Tower, using both GarageBand and Logic. Overall: great purchase for the price.

I have bought a lot of different multi-effects processors, single pedal etc but the ME-80 is the best yet. awesome sounds. the pc software is to kool with all the patches are fantastic I am very pleased with it and it want break the bank very affordable. check out some of the youtube videos on it. thanks jerry

Love it great product

This is a very loaded pedal board. The price of this unit is equal to about 2 or 3 single effects!!! It has way more than I will ever use. The options are trough the roof of what you can do with this. Without a doubt a very good deal. The service of Sweet Water is excellent. I will be back soon to order more. I love the pictures of the items listed. They enlarge big enough to see maximum detail.

Just received a Boss ME-80 from Sweetwater on Saturday morning.
Use to own a GT-6 & GT-8...hated them both.....not user friendly.
Also owned a Boss ME-50 & I just gave it away to a friend.
I was not expecting much outta this pedal.....BOY WAS I WRONG !
SUPER EASY TO USE & the tones sounds REALLY good.
As usual if you really crank the Distortion tones, you start getting the "Digital" vibe.
The Modulation & Delay tones are superb.....THEY REALLY SOUND GOOD.
I have not "built" any patches yet & I have yet to go to The Boss Tone Library.
Currently just using it in the manual mode, I haven't even read the owners manual yet.
Ran it into the front a 100 watt Marshall DSL.....UN-FRIGGIN-BELIEVABLE !!!!
The Compressed clean tones were superb & the Distortion tones was very robust.
Gotta say this: I was not expecting much & this unit completely blew me away.
The only bad thing: AC adapter was not included.....EPIC FAIL for Boss. The adapter cost $25.
If I'm spending $300 on a pedal, it damn well better have an AC adapter included.
Besides that, this is an very powerful tool for any musician looking for cool tones on the fly.
My advice.....Buy the Boss ME-80 & prepare to be blown away ! (it's that good)

Excellent, pedal, software downloadable from Boss; easily configure with Windows or Mac, make adjustments through computer or pedal, sounds great, read the manual. Works great !! Boss makes excellent product, manual, service.

I have been a professional musician all my life. I'm at an age, that the worst part my job is schlepping gear.
I have always used a tube amp and HATED every multi-effects pedal I have ever tried.
On a whim I bought the ME-80...WOW...no amp hailing, direct through the PA, both my Strat and PRS sound fantastic. Now if I told you it was plug and play I'd be full of ______! I had to dink with it, and work the unit (which is EAST to do) to get what I wanted. But I am a HAPPY CAMPER!!!!!

I've shied away from multi effects for years because of their lack luster sound and difficult to navigate parameters... But this unit fixes all that.

I'm coming from a full pedal board that needs power, batteries, and shuffling for almost each new project. However, the ME-80 takes all that fuss out of the picture for me. It's plug and play and easy to understand. I seriously doubt that I will ever need to buy another effects pedal again!

The sound is awesome and easily customizable. The interface is very intuitive. There really isn't a large learning curve if you have used effects pedals before. The casing is rugged and will stand up to some moderate abuse.

If I had to improve any one thing, it would be the looping function. Half a minute is just too little for me. It works alright for most rock and pop, but when I need something for live jazz/swing music, it just isn't enough. But, there are plenty of good loopers that would make a nice addition.

Overall, still, this is a great machine. I highly recommend it for anyone wanting a good do-all multi effects pedal.

This is exactly what I was looking for. I also own a Line 6 XT Live and am tired of having to learn all of the sub menus and subtleties of that board. Those boards are great if you have tons of time to tweak them and learn exactly how they work. I just wanted something that was straight forward and clearly laid out. This is the perfect solution for the guy who would love to have 50 pedals on a pedal board but realize that's not realistic. Something else I noticed about the Line 6 was that volume between patches is a constant variable. I get it exactly right in front of my computer and with my practice amp, only to take to a live event with a different amp at a different volume and suddenly all of the patches are at different volume levels once again. Not to mention they sound different. I don't find that problem with the Boss ME-80. This is exactly what I wanted. For me it's perfect.

After using a Boss ME-10 for probably 20 years, I finally decided to upgrade, and this is a good one.

PROs:

+1) After doing a ton of programming on the ME-10, with buttons, menus, and a data wheel, I now have a box with all the knobs laid out in front of me. If I ever need to tweak a sound, or come up with one from scratch, it's easier than ever; go to Manual, turn on the modules you want, set them to taste, and hit the WRITE button.

+2) Amp modeling section works great and provides a HUGE range of sounds; heavily weighted toward the rock/metal/distortion world, probably more than I will ever use, but it's great to have all those flavors available.

+3) All the other sections each provide a WIDE range of effects, with lots of variability so you can find exactly the sound you want. (3a Nice to have tremolo after all this time; 3b Besides the dedicated Delay module, 2 of the other modules also provide a basic delay, all usable at the same time, which is very handy to have)

+4) The on-board expression pedal is an excellent addition, after using the ME-10 where I had to buy and connect one externally.

+5) The FX connected to the control pedal are useful and fun; some I have not found a use for just yet, but give me time. Includes 8va up or down, FREEZE, and Wah, among others. When you're not using one of those, it functions as a volume pedal; excellent design!

+6) If you're using it where you don't want to string another AC adapter, it works on 6 AA batteries. Sweetwater/Boss informed me that battery life is about 7 hours with ordinary alkaline batteries, and my testing agrees. And since I use higher capacity rechargeable NiMH AA batteries, my battery life will probably be much better.

+7) The ability to switch to Manual and switch each of the FX individually is a HUGE PLUS.

+8) Built-in Tuner and Built-in 38 second looper; both are accessible with the onboard foot switches. ME-10 had a tuner, but I had to bend over or connect an external footswitch.

+9) INCREDIBLY REASONABLE PRICE. I recall my ME-10 costing almost double what this thing goes for.

CONs:

-1) The expression pedal is a bit small, so depending on the size of your foot (and shoe or boot), it may take some getting used to. I'm managing...

I think that's the worst CON I can think of, for me. Several people have told me they think the (FILL IN THE BLANK) "sounds better", but I have a hard time believing that there could be that much difference between the SOUND QUALITY of the various multi FX boards (zoom, line6, digitech, etc); I would not hesitate to use this box in any setting, recording or live. For me the choice came down to flexibility, variety of sounds, and ease of navigation, both when programming, and when playing.

After lots of searching, decided to try this multi-effects pedal. Wow! Absolutely love the ease of use with the pre-set library; may even one day get to where I'm building my own sounds but am currently overwhelmed with the choices available. Best of all allows me to play directly into the PA so I don't have to lug an amp to practice.

Only drawback is I can't figure out how to loop with one sound and solo in another. Saw someone on YouTube doing it, but it's not in the manual and I haven't got it working yet. Other than that, absolutely amazing piece of gear that makes me sound much better than I am.

This is the one I have been looking for. A multi effects board that is easy, intuitive, flexible, and sounds good but doesn't cost a fortune. Walking out of the store, I knew everything I needed to know to get good sounds. I compared a tube screamer to the TS-808 setting and could not tell the difference. It has a wide variety of overdrive and distortion tones so you should find something that suits your taste. I previously had a Digitech. It was too complicated and took too much time to adjust. Most importantly, it did not have good tone. Finally, it seems to have clean pass through so I can enjoy pure tube sound.

I think I have tried literally 1,000s of multi effects pedals and finally found one that nails it. I was one of the lucky ones to get my hands on one of these. They are in great demand since they are new. I am a tube amp pedal board kind of guy for the last 30 years and finally boss made an easy to use all in one, with great quality tones. I would have paid twice the price for this. What a bargain! The only surprise for me was that it was a little smaller footprint then I expected which is also a bonus. Nice and compact and well constructed. I love this thing!

The pedal that does it all. The combinations are endless.

I haven't even delved into the presets, or saved any tones, but I have been using this unit as my practice set up. The looper has plenty of time to lay down two or three song bars to create allow writing second parts or jamming (typical loop stuff, but nice it is built in with lots of time). It's also nice to have an assignable expression pedal at this price level. Some folks complain about the OD/distortion settings, but it has everything you need, but you just have to find the right one and then tweak it to your liking. I find that dialing one in and then adding the right pre-amp or a compressor/boost helps. It is an easy pedal to use, and has so many sounds, and another great feature is that while one, call it station may focus on say, delay, there are other stations with delay if you want two delays, or if you are using the looper, which is the primary delay station, you can find delay somewhere else, which again is cool and intuitive. In terms of downsides, I guess if you are anal about wanting specific analogue pedals in your chain, these are all Boss driven effects, like the ones we old guys started with before even the Tube Screamer came along, but I would challenge most listeners to tell that much difference once you add other instruments and vocals to the mix. I also like that you can turn the whole system output up and down without, for the most part, sacrificing sound quality. I recently played a show with this Boss, and I need a little more time with it to gig with it and probably just need to store a few specific sounds in presets, but as a whole, especially wireless, its an easy way to bring pedals, really almost all pedals, to a show and set up and not have to look for the loose AC adapter or patch cable (we've all been there).

The best investment I have ever made in a multi-effects processor. I use it in manual mode like a regular pedal board. It's programmable too. Does everything I need it to and more. Definitely get the Boss PSA 120 A.C. adapter and save money on batteries.

I wanted to have effects for my guitars and not have a bunch of pedals all over the place. This unit does exactly what I need it to do. And it sounds great. It is very easy to figure out and operate.

Pros
- Extremely intuitive to operate and does not require much tweaking to create a desired sound
- Short and very pedagogic manual
- Solid metal casing with durable knobs and pedals
- Direct recording via USB
- Very well sounding effects (reverb, delay, chorus, flanger, comp. etc)
- Organic and well sounding low and medium gain distortion
- Can operate on either batteries or AC
- 38 sec. looper with overdubbing
- Ample connection possibilities (usb, MIDI, AUX)
- Suitable for both beginners and seasoned musicians

Cons
- Design less aesthetic than some competitors
- Does not come with an adapter
- Too little clearance for expression pedal
- Somewhat digital sounding high gain distortion

Very flexible. Can emulate a huge variety of sounds. Can download settings from Boss Tone Central. Can use the physical interface dials to directly modify sounds. Connect a laptop, and you can do in-depth adjustments. Found this useful for analyzing how the Boss Tone settings were created. Initially, I tried to use everything all the time, but found I got better results by focusing on a few key settings.
Highly recommended.

Played through this new FX recently with two other guitarists who are great guitarists. I am pretty good. We were rehearsing Pigs (three different ones...) by Pink Floyd and I play the rhythm - staccato crunch in part one and then spacy clean in part two. Both friends were really impressed with the accuracy of the sounds (that I made with a few quick know twirls) and how they sounded like Gilmour's original sounds.

I am really impressed with this thing. Easy to use, easy to download or make new patches. And I love the manual mode and the control pedal options.

The only grief is getting levels the same across patches but that is not unusual for multi FX.

I first bought this doodad about two years ago. I have a TC Electronic Nova System that is my main gigging board. It broke. Froze up. Just locked itself up and wouldn't come undone. So I had to send it back to be repaired. In the meantime, I had gigs to cover, so I bought one of these. It was the only thing available locally... that didn't seem like a total toy, and I just wanted something to use while the Nova was being fixed. I didn't need modeling, just effects, but for $... this was the best deal going. Turned out I didn't really care for it. I used it, but really missed my Nova, with the exception of the wah. I loved the wah. I sold it. Fast forward to this year and the Covid debacle. I gig for a living. Ain't no gigs this year. So I'm super bored, and I need a good headphone amp. Because kids are schooling from home, wife is working from home, and I'm stuck at home and can't be noisy while that's happening. So I decide to give the ME80 another chance because of all the glowing reviews. And cause it's got amp models and all, and it's cheap. I didn't like it. Wasn't a fan at all. Sounded janky and weird, and behaved awkwardly. Like it had a funky noise gate on. I especially didn't like the drives or the amp modeling. To be honest I thought it sounded pretty bad. I will say the modulation and delay effects were pretty darn decent. But I was going to return it. Then totally by accident- I discovered it has a hidden noise gate! You don't know it's there because there's no knobs or buttons for it like there is literally every other feature on the unit. Crappy move on Boss's part to have it turned on turned up from the factory. Turned that off, and holy cow is this an entirely different unit now! Drives and amps came to life. I'm not a high-gain metal dood, dude. I play roots rock, and old school country, and blues, alt country, etc. The noise gate was totally neutering this thing. Now that it's off I'm a really happy camper. I don't think it'll get me in the rock and roll hall of fame, but it's definitely an amazing headphone amp and practice tool. You can screw around with it for hours and just have a ball. Ever wonder what it sounds like to run two delays, a univibe, and a ring modulator through an AC30? Turns out it's really not cool, but now I know that! Curiosity satisfied. Hahaha! Love that the expression pedal defaults as a nice smooth volume pedal with a good sweep. And the wah is just fabulous. Way back 30 years ago I bought a Vox wah. It got modified many times by virtue of just having been repaired a bunch of times with whatever parts were in stock at whatever electronics shop I left it with whenever it broke or acted up. It was super unique sounding, and was the only wah I ever really liked and actually used. It was stolen along with the rest of my rig out in Denver while out on tour. This wah is freakin awesome. It sounds almost exactly like my old franken-Vox. All in all, it's not the best sounding unit you can buy. It's not going to compete with a Helix or Fractal. But for $... it's more fun than you can have with any other pedal or modeling amp in that price range. The high gain stuff isn't for me, but this will do so, so much more than that. Best headphone amp ever for the price. And really, since I figured out the stupid noise gate thing, I'd even gig with it in a pinch. I have no need for all the patches, and software capabilities, and programming. It does everything I'd ever need in manual mode. It's so easy to just switch whatever you want on the fly, you could pretty much have a different pedalboard every night if you wanted to, and never have to learn to program or edit anything. The simplicity is excellent for an old guy like me who grew up on plain old Boss pedals. Way simpler than my Nova System. Get one. You'll have a ball with it.

Really like the Tera Echo feature and once you get the hang of it it can be the centerpiece of your stage setup.

Awesome product great delivery by sweetwater this website will always be my go to music store.

A wonderfully sturdy unit with all the basic stomp boxes one would need in their rig. The amp modeling is superb, and I use it as a gain stage. Super easy to edit, has a great looper (I have yet to get anything wrong with a loop- it must have really intelligent quantizing), and some great tools for both tone shaping and practice. Modulation effects can be controlled with the wah pedal, and you can use it like a patch selector or a series of individual stomp boxes. The selection of drive tones alone and the looper are well worth the purchase. You could buy 2 boutique pedals or get an entire collection of boss pedals for the same price. No brainer. Service with Tom Maxwell was perfect as always.

Excellent product Recommended

This has all the footpedal sounds that a guitarist could think of. Everything about it is great!!"

If you are a BOSS enthusiast looking for a sturdy multi effect unit with great Boss sounds and an intuitive layout that's easy to adjust, this is your pedal!

I'm in a cover band that does 90's to current rock and country and this device give me most of what I need to get a great warm clean, punchy overdrive, or hard rock distortion along with loads of great mod and delay effects. I'm also a worship leader and this gives me everything I need (except an xlr out) to make my acoustic sound the way I want it.

I use this unit in manual mode and work it like it would a collection of pedals, running it through an amp. I've played it with a Fender American HSS through a Fender Deluxe Reverb and a Roland Blues Cube and it sounds great. I've also used it with my Taylor 414ce in church directly through a PA and it also sounded great. The preamp section is intended to be amp models and, listening to it through headphones, I'm not sure I would record or go direct into a PA with an electric, but I use the preamp section as a dirty boost for leads and it works really well. The OD/Dist section gives me everything I want. In my band, I have to change OD/Dist tones regularly, so I run a drive pedal in front of this rig so I could have 2 different OD/Dist at my disposal with minimal adjustments mid-set. The tap delay has taken a bit for me to adjust to because I have to hold down the button for 2 seconds to shut the delay off, which is tricky when I'm doing an Edge-like dotted eighth rhythm but want to come in and out of it in the middle of a song. This is a minor critique but something you should know if you're really interested in the tap delay.

Overall, if you are a tweakhead who wants boutique sounds, this unit isn't for you. But if you are a tweakhead like me who likes BOSS and wants a reliable piece of gear that gives you the vast majority of what you need, and the ability to adjust with ease in the middle of a gig, this unit is what you're looking for.

This is a great effect pedal board. It has a ton of sounds and options. The board is easy to navigate and to set up custom setups. The size is good too. It is able to fit in spaces that the comparable independent pedals will not. I gave it only 4.5 because it does not come with a power plug. But Sweetwater was able to assist me with that.

I"m not thrilled with the distortion models, but the preamp distortion is good. This thing is great for direct recording! I also like it in front of a clean amp! Recently, I ran it in the FX loop of my Mesa, using the amp"s distortion. I"m quite happy with the results. Gotta keep the preamp off and never use compression or distortion in the loop, but the modulation and delays are killer!!! I found that I can set the dist and comp sections to SOLO and BOOST. They work well in the loop for making me louder etc. HAPPY JAMMING!!!

I picked up the ME 80 because I was looking for several things to add to my tone, but I didn't want to lug around a bunch of pedals. Plus, my budget didn't allow for the purchase of over $1000 in pedals to get the tones I wanted and portability I was looking for. The ME 80 definitely is portable. And for the price, I figured if I could find 3 usable tones out of it, I would break even. I have been using it mostly on the back porch and running it into a Vox AC4C1-12. I am able to get just about any tone I want now. The preset patches are very good. I use mine mostly in manual mode and just try everything out until I find a good tone. The OD/DS section alone is worth the price for me. Very good overdrive and distortion tones are available. Adding in the EQ section to any tone really allows you to fine tune your tone exactly how you want it. If you are looking for an entry level multi effects board that can be as simple or as complex as you want it to be, this is a good option. If you think you might want a Tubescreamer and a delay pedal, this is an excellent option because of the added features. Anyone would find the ME 80 useful.

I've been using this pedal since it was released and here are some of the reasons I keep using it for live gigs:
*Use the Preamp to set distortion. I can dial-in Mesa Boogie or Marshall sounds. I use a variety of boutique amps and it depends on which amp for the distortion I use.
*Use the OD/Dist for overdrive. I usually use either the Overdrive or T-Scream, again depending on the amp.
*Use the EQ/FX-2 for boost.
By setting up in this way the OD & distortion sounds are versatile. Kick in both for over the top overdrive & distortion. I've read that the OD/Dist sounds are weak on the ME-80. I agree that there are better sounding analog pedals out there, but I also find that the amp makes a huge difference. The better the amp the better the ME-80 sounds. I typically play live through a Dr. Z Remedy and Mesa 2x12 cabinet, and I always get compliments on the sound at gigs. It really does sound fantastic.

Presets, Memory & Manual. Here is where this pedal is worth every bit of its $299 price tag. Once I get all of the individual effects set, I store them to memory. I set up Bank 1/Patch 1 for Chorus, Bank 1/Patch 2 for Phaser, B1/P3 for Tremolo, etc. When I pull the unit out of the case to set it up, it doesn't matter where the knobs are set. I just pull up the bank/phase from memory, then switch to Manual mode. Now all of the effects are set where I last saved them, and they can be switched on/off individually. Have you ever inadvertently dragged your cord across the pedal board or accidentally moved a knob while playing? No problem, just recall the settings from memory and switch back to manual mode. The only knob not affected by memory is the Output. I usually leave it a 12:00, and adjust as necessary.

I play a Les Paul Traditional, an American Tele, and a custom Carvin. I customize the banks (1,2,3,etc.) for each guitar because the pickups are different, they sound different, and the effects have to be adjusted to match.

Another cool feature not mentioned in the manual, or anywhere else I've seen, is that the unit automatically changes the sequence/order of the effects depending on which effects are active. You can see this when using the Boss Tone Studio to tweak the effects via the USB & a computer.

I play 2-3 live gigs per month and keep using this pedal, even though I have 2 other high end (more expensive) multi-effects and countless individual pedals. The volume/expression pedal is very useful because it does both by switching between the two. If I had to replace this pedal and the price was double, I'd happily pay it, especially when you consider all of the effects: reverb, delay, noise suppression, etc.

Enjoy!

I have enjoyed the wide variety of effects available with the ME-8. Plus they have a versatile range. I love the 3 different types of reverb effects available.

The effects are great and many.

I don't use the crunch tones much. I use my amps crunch tones.

Recommended unit.

I purchased this unit when it first came out a couple of years ago. Mostly for my studio work. I have since become involved in a cover band. This pedal board replaces literally dozens of effects used by any genre guitarist in Manual mode alone. Just figure out the equipment the artist is using and dial it in. Simple and flawless.
The preset sounds are really cool. I wish the editing were a bit more like a GR55 with a built in screen, but you can go to the Boss Tone Central site and do things there. Patches available at the site are very cool. Could be a bit easier to arrange for live gig use, but that's probably just my lack of knowledge to this point.
Get one and sell your pedal board.

Meets my expectations. Going from individual pedals to this has been a good experience. The last multi effects unit I tried was a old zoom in the 90's that sounded horrible, this does not. Is it perfect?no,but the simple set up is worth it to me!! Tone is decent has way more options than I will ever use. Besides if it gets destroyed I'm out less then three of my old pedals!!

I bought this unit to use for band rehearsals to run straight into the PA and avoid carrying my heavy amp around. The ME-80 has done the job! Tip 1: check out Glenn DeLaune for his patches. Although they all didn't meet my taste, they were very beneficial for getting good sounds quick. The factory defaults are not that good. Tip 2: be sure to put a jack into the headphone output. This turns on the global speaker cab simulator which fattens up the tone, whether you run into your amp or straight to the PA. Tip 3: I wouldn't waste the extra cash on the GT-100 since it's the same DSP engine. The ME-80 is easy to use and you can create a lot of good tones without digging thru lots of menus.

Great and very versatile , have not even began explored all the variations

So I have a Mesa Boogie Express with 2 channels and two sub channels. I am running this ME-80 through it and let me put it this way, if you've always wanted all those different types of pedals out there, then BUY THIS. There really isn't any amp modeling per say however the amount of effects and more importantly the ease of use thus increasing workflow is incredible and unbeaten. I have finally come across a muiti-fx processor (other than the eleven rack) that suits me just fine. Is it perfect? No. nothing is however for the price and what i can do it leaves you with a world of possibilities. I for one, feel confident in owning on of these. It does have a little to much. That would be my only complaint only because my Mesa Boogie has almost everything you need. But again I stress that instead of buying individual pedals, you can get all of them in one piece of gear the Boss ME-80. Buy it. You'll be suprised and happy.

I like this thing. I previously purchased the Boss GX100 and I quickly found out I didn't need half of the features on there. These days I am just playing at home. Now, for the ME80. I am running a EVH 15W head and EVH2x12 cab and with this in front I can really drive the crunch channel with a tube screamer OD or go even heavier if I want. The reverb is meh...its ok. The Wah effect on the expression pedal is terrible, that is the only really crappy thing on here. It's so much easier to use, it's set up like a pedal board, than the touch screen menu options. For me this works awesomely

Pretty easy to set up..Expression pedal works out well for my style..the presets are numerous without downloading other settings

I had this for a while now and it does have everything the working musician needs. My only complaint is that it has a high mid nasely tone that can't be changed. I tried to dial it out with the Eq but it's helping. I personally don't like my tone changed when using distortion and all the distortions in this model have that tone in each model. Same as the preamp. It's good for what it is but so far it's just not what I like. It does however have really good effects and keeps the floor uncluttered from pedals when on stage. All the demo's are what convinced me to but an ME 80 but recently realized, hey, they're coming out of the headphone jack into their DAW etc, maybe that's why the sound is much better. I'll have to try this and if it's better, I'll leave another post.
Very convenient for replacement of pedals cluttering the stage.

Never really been a fan of multi-effect units. But for the price and the brand I figured this would be the best to go for starting out. Distortion sounds are okay 3 or 4 of them are definitely usable. Compressor works good, the delays are great and the chorus is fantastic. Overall a pretty good multi effect unit to start with having not tried any of the others except line 6 stuff built into their old amps. The only negative is that it has minimal hookups in the back basically one guitar in and outs. Maybe I should try it in stereo would probably sound even better as far as delay in chorus. Overall I would recommend it boss effects are top quality and at this price point can't really be beat. A great starter multi effect unit.

Got back into playing regularly and figured I get another ME multi pedal. First time seeing this tuner in maybe 6 years and I missed it, dead on. Love the freeze effect. I've always loved this pedal, it's simple. Not over the moon but it's good for the money.

My only complaint is that the compression/sustainer and distortion do not work well together. A lot of unwanted hum and crackle noise when both are cranked. It's hard to find that sweet spot when running it through my Marshall DSL40 tube amp. The delay, chorus, vibrato and tremolo effects are nice (all modulation effects are solid). I haven't messed much with the patches. I was hoping this would simply a complicated pedal board. This is great for home studio or practice. Being able to use this with headphones and simulated amps is terrific. Not sure if I would count on it for live performances if you want to use the distortion. Clean sounds might be okay live, though.

This unit is easy to use, lots of fun, and the better you understand it and experiment, the better it can sound.
It's not the greatest effect unit, but certain things work very well. There are vast differences between plugging straight into the unit versus using it in an effect loop. For the money it is well worth it. I love the simplicity of the layout. I'm playing for over 35 years professionally, this wouldn't necessarily be my first choice to gig with, but for home and jam sessions, it's great. If you are looking to get everything in one box, buy this.

I had previously tried out the Boss ME-60, a predecessor of this particular pedal. The ME-80 in comparison has all those features and more.

The meat of the ME-80's operation is manual mode, which separates each effect into its own group of knobs and footswitch. It is *very* intuitive.

Memory mode just allows you to save the entire set of settings as they appear during manual mode and recall them with the stomp of a foot.

Many other features are included but I haven't read the manual to become familiar with all of them yet.

I docked a star because… Boss couldn't be bothered to include their… wall adapter.

Besides that, I have been immensely pleased with the product and the sounds I get from it. I personally find that digital processors need a little more coaxing to get nice sound from, depending on your tastes, but well worth the convenience it terms of the variety of sounds that can be made from this device.

I like the simplicity of the functionality of Thee
BOSS ME-80 along with the sounds it produces.
The more I experiment with it the more I like it...is there pros and cons sure! But that could be said about most any multi effects pedal...the nice thing is it's kinda like old school and in it's simplicity it kinda acts like a individual stompbox on a pedal board and again the quality of sounds are good.

Great effects box. The reason I didn't give it a perfect score is because I haven't spent as much time with it as I need to. But it's great so far.

OK, so I've had this for a bit now and thought I'd say a few words. This thing is great. It does everything it says it does. So many tonal options! Honestly more than you will probably ever need. I'm no rock star, I just play one in the living room and this does everything I need it to do and then some. I started with it connected straight into the front of my Marshal DSL40C and it sounded great. I also tried running it through the effects loop and it sounded terrible, so I'm back to running it in the front. If you still want to use the distortion on your amp, you could always just get an AB switch, to me that would solve the problem. All in all a great piece of gear, seems very well built. You can't go wrong with this if you are looking for a all in one solution for effects. Thanks to Nick Church for being an awesome and knowledgeable salesman.

Yes the pedal is wonderful in ways I haven't discovered yet but there is a question that no one seems to have an answer for. How do you adjust the tuner from 440 to 442 or whatever you need to set it to? Thank you. If that's not adjustable I would have to say that's one careless oversight.

Well it took 3 weeks of gigs to find the "sweet spot" using a Clapton Blakie Vintage Strat and Fender Blues Deluxe amp. And a tube screamer. Compact and versatile. Less foot print than my 12 boss pedals board. I use the manual setting and love the ability to go right to what i want and the option to thicken my sound adding layers of effects (with a touch of amp delay) my leads are Luscious. Still need to tweak the wah then that will complete my immediate needs.... then it's a continuing exploration of the multitude of effects and tools.

So right now my me-80 manual set up includes the following stomp boxes...

2 Delay pedals... Tremeli pedal... Wah.... Compressor (boost)... Distortion... Chorus... Volume.... Reverb...

Good effects once you learn how to use it. Had to get some help from Boss (Roland) on how to do some of the functions on Tone Central. Roland was very helpful and answered all questions I had about the Me-80 and Tone Central. This processor is all I need for various styles. Great lined through a sound system or the amplifier of choice.

Love it just getting back into guitar after many many years and am hardly an authority on these. I will give my opinion though as a novice. Easy to grasp what to do. That in itself is why I bought it. One thing I don't like is the fact that there are so little non distortion patches and the more important part (for me) is that you have to hunt for the ones that exist. Wish they grouped them all close to one another. Still 4 stars though but mainly because I am out of my realm here and maybe there's a reason it's the way it is.

I would say the boss me - 80 is a all in one multi effects for the guitarist looking for many tones in one effects unit..

I was impressed by the multitude of sounds and the ability to control the effects from the board. No need to plug into a computer if you don't want to. Being old school, I like the knobs for control. The only drawback is the pedal could have more travel. It it is taking a while to learn to finesse the foot pedal. Overall a reasonably priced alternative to have many effects on a budget.

Somebody finally built a pedal board I made in the 70's. The only drawback is you still have to reach over-bend down to make adjustments.
On the board I built the board mount to a mike stand and the pedal board was on the floor. This made adjustments easy.

I was a bit skeptical on buying the ME-80 because when you hear the videos you have to take into consideration of how they made the video and many were going direct into a computer. As with many modelers the programs already set just plain old sound like crap. Who would use a selection that uses all the effects like reverb, delay, chorus, compression and with all turned way up to the point that it sounds like noise????
However, using the effects one at a time on manual as several stomp boxes is a different story. It also all depends on what amplifier you're using. My first impression after plugging it into my Fender supersonic, I didn't like the sound of the distortions with the Eq of the amps, they were a bit not natural sounding but you can change that, the good part.
So directly into the Ss60, everything was bright but, into the old Marshall Super lead with the super lead being meatier and emphasizing the lower mids, the ME-80 rocked pretty good. So u can make programs and Eq them to your your different amps. The reverbs weren't really too lush but adequate for usage. I really like the rotary effect and the delays are usable with super long delays if needed.
For the money you can't beat it. I particularly like that a new set of batteries will get you through a gig. I hate running wall warts up front on the stage so the battery thing works for me.
I'm pretty sure anyone wanting to get rid of multiple pedals and wanting one box upfront, will like this. I didn't like most of the videos of the ME-80 but that "ONE" swayed my decision. And with buying from Sweetwater you have that option to return it within 30 days if you don't like it.

Does this pedal have an adjustable drum beat effect and recording system?

This is a well built, well designed unit. The interface is the most gratifying I have used in a multi FX unit. Unfortunately, I bought it to do direct recording sessions and silent stage situations. Every time I tried to use it I was disappointed by the direct amp emulated sounds and cab sim. I could never get it to sound or feel natural. The effects are great (mostly….the reverb is not very detailed). I finally sold it. I tried it with outboard cab sims and it did not solve the problem for me. Still, I have a soft spot for it because it's easy to set up sounds and patches fast. Also, it you like big ambient pads, you really can't get into those realms with the stereo mod and delay capabilities. It's the only game in town if you need knobs however.

I've been using this at home several times a week for the last three or four months so I feel like I'm enough of an authority to make a helpful review. Overall, there are some phenomenal features, and some really high quality effects on here that alone make it worth the purchase price. Unfortunately, there are other features and effects that are so weak that a serious guitar player or performer will almost definitely need to buy more pedals anyway.

So first the good. This might be the most immediately intuitive and user-friendly pedal on the market. It's designed to truly resemble a pedal board, not a multi-effects with a mainly digital interface. It really is satisfying to be able to turn on and off individual effects and sounds with their own designated button instead of endless scrolling and memorizing different options. It's all out there in front of you. And of course you can save patches, although you can't edit those patches once they're saved until you're in edit mode so you can't really easily make changes on the fly. You also can't bring the patch back into manual mode to reproduce it and play with it for another patch. You also can't use the looper, which is exceptionally annoying. Another nice feature is that it can be used as a interface so all I have to do is get a USB cable and plug it into my Mac and I'm recording on garageband. If I wanted to use my beloved amp, I'd have to buy a separate unit, but I'm not going to worry about that anytime soon.

In addition, a lot of the amp models and overdrives and effects sound really good and are very versatile. Particularly the tweed amp simulator sounds a good deal like my actual blackstar tube amp, not identical but close enough for practice, and the Drive and Stack are good too. The overdrive options, which are separate from the amp simulators don't sound exactly like they are real world counterparts, but there are pretty solid and sound good. The downside is that unlike in the real world where you would stack amp overdrive with another game pedal to boost your sound, doing that within the ME80 effects just gets you a noisy, mushy sounding mess. You really just have to do one or the other. Effects like the freeze, delay, reverb, and a lot of the modulations like phaser and tremolo are also as good as you can ask for. In addition, some of the effects are are doubled so for the sake of fun, you could have two different phasers or two different tremolos at different rates happening at the same time, for fun experimentation. So if we stop here and pretend that this is a overdrive and multi-effects pedal, we are in pretty good shape.

Unfortunately, this unit can't do everything right. The distortion and fuzz sound very digital and almost shrill, and even turning up the bass just adds a subwoofer boom but no warmth. They lack the organic tone of a real dirt pedal. It'll be close enough for practice but I wouldn't embarrass myself if I were using this professionally. There's a looper which I use often but it's only 38 seconds long and while you can overdub quite a few times, you can't undo your last overdub so if you've got a loop going with four layers already and you screw up on the fifth one, you have to start from scratch. Also, while you can stack effects fine, if you have too many sounds occurring at once, like a delay and the looper and the freeze effect, it starts to sound really muddy even without using distortion.

You probably already know this as well but it doesn't come with a power supply. This is ridiculous because the supplied batteries will last maybe a few days to a week of heavy practice. Even more ridiculous is that if an individual pedal doesn't come with a power supply, it's probably because the manufacturer assumes that you already have one because you already have multiple battles. Realistically, most people who buy this don't have other pedals because this is essentially a novice or amateur unit, so if you don't have other petals then you don't have other power cables, and if you don't have those then you have to pay... for one. Based on the short-sighted and unfriendly decision not to include one, I dock half a star outright.

Conclusions: if this is your first foray into guitar pedals, it's a perfect way to figure out what you need and what you like, and for many people it will be totally sufficient, or mostly. Most novices and amateurs won't know the difference anyway. Personally I am happy enough with most of it that at most I would buy one or two high gain distortion or fuzz pedals separately, probably a cheap looper with better features, and perhaps much further down the road a pitch shifter that tracks better and a wah pedal with better tone. Frankly, if you're a professional or a tone snob, I'm surprised or even reading reviews on this thing anyway there is something in here for you as well, just don't expect it to replace your entire rig, unless you're only after particular features.

I own this for a while now but my one major complaint is that it is MONO. Good otherwise

Not bad for what it is, but didn't meet my expectations. It has a lot of usable effects and using tone studio is a great way to store patches for specific songs so you don't have to bend down and tweak parameters while performing. That being said, I had some major issues with this pedal. It would sometimes get locked in its own loop and just keep repeating the phrase that was trapped in it until I cut power from the pedal. I could have returned it but I traded it off for some other gear.

It sounded like it was trying to play a clean sound and a poor distortion that even after hours or tweaking changing this and modifying that i couldnt get a decent sound. Even palm mutes it sounded like water and would die off quickly. I dont know if im just bad with it but i wasnt liking any of it. Maybe it was a dud and it normally sounds good. Im not sure but im.returning this and going to just going to go back to my digitech RP-350 which somehow is better to me.

Love the pedal board , but yesterday the comp part of the pedal stopped working and all settings went. Off. Called for service and very nice and tried to be helpful but we could not trouble shoot. So she said update the firmware. For the record not a cable the pedal comes with nobody lets you know so I am out of luck . Poor poor and just terrible service from boss and you can all take from here

It's a fun toy and if you don't have the budget for tons of pedals, or need portability, this may be the answer for you. Very limited reverb options, wah/expression pedal nearly impossible to operate as it requires you to literally stomp it to engage and disengage. It will NOT replace your existing pedal board.

Okay, if you want this rig to sound horrible just turn on the Pre amp. Its noisy and doesn't cut through in a live setting. Just use this as an effects processor, stay away from the preamp it sounds cool playing all alone but still noisy. PRO,s are it's easy to navigate, it's just like a stomp box set up. Writing patches and editing are very simple. I hope this helps making a decision.

Really good sounds when I am playing by myself. When I am playing with the band it does not cut through and sounds muddy.

I've worked with this for about 4 hours total and still can't dial in a reasonably good crunch tone. It has very nice modulation effects and is relatively easy (in manual mode) to use. But running straight into a Fender Twin really struggling with a reasonable distorted tone. I don't care because I only got this for practice and bought it used for less than half retail price. But would not recommend for go-to live rig.

This pedal is great if you are going through an amp. If you are going straight to a mixer, DO NOT WASTE YOUR HARD EARNED MONEY. The sound is nowhere near bright enough. I have tried everything but still can't get it to sound anywhere near authentic. I love boss products, a gt100 sounds truly authentic and although pricier I feel it's actually worth it.

This pedal has everything any guitar player could want, except for a good distortion. Being a fan of every other boss effect I've ever had, i was surprised when, after close to 3 hours of tinkering and trying out different input setups, I could not get a acceptable distortion sound. At best, I got something of the same quality as the distortion in a child's battery powered toy amplifier. I'm completely disappointed I wasted my money on this.

I just received this today from Sweetwater and though I wasn't expecting ultra-amazing sounds... I was shocked! Unfortunately brick & mortar retail stores are far and few between anymore, so I had to rely on web based reviews, artist’s YouTube demos, and so on instead of physically trying out the unit before I decided to make the purchase. I heard some amazing things! This just might be it; the holy grail of tone making…

NOT! It took less than an hour of trying different output selections (the studio’s monitor system, and a quality full range flat response power cabinet), playing through the stock patches, and downloading and sampling a multitude of artists patches from the BOSS TONE CENTRAL website before I decided to call my sales rep and ask for a return authorization number so I could repack the unit and ship it back.

DO NOT BUY THIS! This is my recommendation. I own and have tried a variety of COSM (composite object sound modeling) units in my lifetime and though they have some issues in terms of analog reproduction, this is the absolute worst! Brittle beyond belief when any overdrive is applied, even the clean sounds were terrible!

At least I still have my Roland VG-88 & VG-99 to play with, and, perhaps someday I can afford Fractal Audio’s Axe-Fx II XL+ preamp/effects processor ($3,000+). The search continues…

I can't believe how many 5 stars this unnatural pedal received! I'm a Mesa Boogie tube amp player and I realize there is a need for solid state sounds IE; full on metal etc. Line 6 is a wonderful solid state amp with many huge epic sounds (don't get this board and just spend a little more and get a Line 6 amp and you're set in the solid state world) Not only did this pedal get great reviews but I always just loved boss' effects, so I thought I was good to go. BUT this pedal is the thinnest, most unnatural, plated sound I've ever heard. It doesn't even come with an adapter. So I thought the pedal didn't get a long with my Mesa Boogie Amp so I tried to plug it in direct to the PA (and it only comes with a 1/8th stereo plug in for recordings/PA .. O brother!) and it even sounded worse! No real stereo and it even got thinner! Maybe to a beginning guitarist playing copy this would sound OK, but to a vet player, this pedal can't even get the something as simple as the reverb right. Boss should be ashamed to put there well good deserved name on this!