Having recently bought a new Multi FX, I thought I’d share my views on this new piece of kit to all you guitarists out there who may be interested in such things. So here’s ‘Rob’s Review’ of the Boss ME-20 Multi FX.

Aimed primarily at the gigging guitarist, the Boss ME-20 has all the basic sounds you need : Overdrives / Distortions / Chorus / Flanger / Phaser / Reverb / Delay and more. It doesn’t have any amp modelling or the whackier effects you may want to use or experiment with in a studio environment, although tinkering with the four parameter knobs can still dial up some unusual sounds. These four knobs give very sensitive and wide ranging alterations to all the effects and the EQ in particular contributes to the ME-20s overall power output which is pretty punchy – mind your speakers !Because of the way the knobs work, I’d strongly recommend good old pen and paper to note down all the parameters. EZ Edit gives another variation in sound tweaking. The effects sounds themselves are what you’d expect from Boss – top notch !

What else ? Well there’s a Solo button that gives a handy boost to the OD/DS function – ideal for solos – obviously !  The Noise Suppressor is very effective and there’s an independent master volume too, while the foot pedal doubles as a volume or a wah. And there’s the convenience of an onboard tuner ! The memory mode allows easy storage of sound combinations onto 30 patches arranged in 10 banks of three and the patches can be easily tweaked in Edit/ Exit mode. Footswitches can be used to control the solo and bank up & down functions, but these are available as separate purchases as is the PSU. The ME-20 also runs on batteries and they last for a surprisingly long time.

In conclusion : Having recently lost my beloved Boss ME-10 due to old age, I was faced with trying to replace the holy grail of multi FX units with a present day equivalent with similar attributes, ie. an easy to use multi FX ideal for gigging with great staple sounds. Well, with the Boss ME-20, I think I’ve found it !

As I said earlier, the PSU is a separate purchase, and as running your gigging effect pedals on batteries isn’t an ideal situation, I of course bought a Boss PSU-230 to power my new ME-20 multi FX.
The Boss PSA-230 power adaptor is designed to power all the current range of Boss FX. Having bought one to power my latest aquisition, the Boss ME-20 multi FX, it definitely does what it says on the box. It has a very useful green indicator light on it too, so you can see when it’s on ! Call me old fashioned, but my only gripe with this, and indeed all modern PSUs, is that the mains cable looks rather flimsy. But I guess that’s how they make ’em these days !

Oh well, thats the end of my reviews for now. I hope the above is of some interest, especially if you happen to be looking for new multi FX unit. As you can probably tell, I’m very pleased with my new piece of gear and would recommend it to anyone. That’s praise indeed from someone whose old friend, the Boss ME-10, was a faithful friend for many years !

BFN,   Rob.