I’ve currently got a Zoom B1X, but I don’t really care for the interface. I don’t like having to menu dive to make adjustments.
I really like that the ME-90B has dial controls and separate foot switches for each effect. Nice single unit at a good price for what it does.
I don’t know how good this sounds compared to standalone pedals or a higher end effects processor. I’m open to recommendations if something else would be better.
Also says to use only with the Boss PSA. $30 for a power supply seems like a lot. This has what looks like and extra shielding bulb(?) on it. Don’t know if it produces less buzz, or if I should just get a less expensive PSU.
I have the Boss GT-1B … while I can’t speak for the ME-90B… specifically… I can say it has similar knob controls… ( tho mine has only 3 knobs that control all patch parameters… )
Its a very easy to use system… and yes… way better than slogging through menus
I’ve had the 90B for a few months and I like it. Pretty straightforward to use. Lots of variety and programability. I use the Boss interface for my MacBook when I’m not feeling the knobs and dials and when I want to see where everything is set. As far as the power supply- I don’t have the boss version and its fine. Enjoy the New Year with your new gear:)
It a pedalboard style multi effects which is very nice and more on the fly stage friendly than GT-1B. The 1B you need to do all your homework before hand if you want to use live. If you like a more pedalboard feel this one is definitely a great choice. It’s a so a DI so yo can send the signal straight to front of the house.
PSA? Well, it’s peace of mind, I have several but I also have several aftermarket from Amazon at less than half the price they work the same. Just get the right angle ones.
The only thing I dislike about the Boss units, assuming I understand them correctly, is that you can’t put the effects in just any order you want. In other words, the compressors are always in one spot, the chorus/phaser in another, etc etc. I really dislike that, especially since they put the phaser and chorus in front of the distortion rather than after it on the ME-90B, but YMMV.
Zoom and Line 6 do this right and allow any order of effects routing.
Due to this I would recommend a Line 6 Helix (maybe the HX Stomp) instead, but Boss/Roland do make solid gear.
The ME-90 has a manual mode and a memory mode. You can switch between them with a button click.
In manual mode, things are in the set order and you control everything with the physical controls on the board. The memory mode allows you to create and save patches via computer ahead of time.
Using the BOSS PC patch editor, you would probably be able to set chain order as well… ( I’m assuming… I have it downloaded … just haven’t used it yet… lol ) … But you can control and edit everything on the board from PC in APP.
With the newer units like the GX-10 and GX-100, you can put them in any order, can have more than 1 of anything except amps (the patch I made has 2 reverbs for instance), you can split the signal chain, and it’s on a color touch screen. I was going to get one of the Helix units but comparing them in terms of features, the Boss’ were better.
Yeah, it’s cool that it works like the Helix or Zooms in terms of routing effects internally. Bummer that you can’t do that in the ME-90B manual mode.
I’m still convinced that if I were to ever want an outboard effect unit again, it would be the Quad Cortex - which would easily handle both my bandmate and I as it is multichannel. This is unlikely though, as even if we were to play live again I would still need at minimum a laptop and I’d have all the effects and amp/cab sims there anyway.
The Quad Cortex is also, of course, ridiculously expensive - worth it but still a lot.
