Boss ME-50 review - I think I've cracked it (long)

[wingsdad]

I traded most of my old pedals straight up for my ME-50 4 years ago and don't miss the pedals one bit. I love that extra tone control on the OD/Dist section...Like you, I don't use a wah much, so the ME-50's is quite adequate for my needs (you can adjust the travel sensitivity on the expression pedal).

I leave the Tone Modify off. I think the Noise Suppressor's pretty decent, and transparent. And the Reverbs? Well....I'll verify there's no need to override the T60's great 6-spring Accutronics tank.

To me, the Stereo Outs of the ME-50 are what makes it. I can send it stereo to my recording setup, 2 different amps, or in mono to 2 different signal chains.

... The Behringer AB200 I bought as a footswitch is a serious POS. ...

I picked up one of those to try to use with my ME-50. No comment on the quality, it works OK enuff, but it's a hassle, overly complicated. Like you, I was too cheap to buy 2 Boss FS5U's and when I got my ME-50, the FS6 wasn't available yet. But...I had a Digitech FS300 3-button switch on-hand that I got to go with a Vocalist Performer about 12 years ago, and it works perfectly for switching between the 3 Banks...while the A button switches Banks Up in Memory Mode or in Manual, turns the Tone Mod on/off; the B switches Memory Banks Down, and in Manual turns the Compressor on/off; the 3rd 'C' button on the FS300 adds a magic extra function in Manual mode: it switches BOTH the Tone Mod & Compressor on/off if they're both engaged...if only one or the other is engaged, it switches between the 2 with one click. Neat.

I got the AB200 so I could dedicate the FS300 back to the VP.[note: the AB200 is still useful to have 2 guitars hooked up to switch between without recabling] Scratched that and went back to FS300. Excellent, versatile switch that can replace the Boss FS6 or 2 FS5U's, and comes with a decent TRS-TRS cable for $40 US:
Digitech FS300 at Sweetwater

...The ME-50 has now been superseded by the ME-70 so there should be some good deals available.

True, that. My Local GAS Station has (or maybe had) a new ME50 on clearance at $249 (street price has been fairly universal and steady at $299 since it came out.

...Outside of four foot swithes (me70) versus three (ME50), I haven't looked to see what the differences are.

I checked out the ME70 online and while it does some things the ME50 doesn't, thus the 4 switches, one glaring change that I don't like is that they reduced the OD/Dist section from 22 options to about half that. IMHO, that's a downgrade.