Model Year: 1991
Price: $50.00
Where Obtained: Internet forum member

Officially "BE-5B- 5 Special Selected Effects for Bassists" Multi-effect board for bass, from the early 90s. Effects: Delay/Chorus/Flanger, 10-band graphic EQ, enhancer/OD, limiter. Independent switches (no master, no programming). Connections: Input, output, delay/mono out, headphone out, send and returns for extension loop, and a tuner out. Requires a standard 9vDC adapter. Controls are mostly analog sliders and dials, with some with fixed positions, giving a very good level of control of the effects, and everything is well positioned to avoid accidental bumps from changing the settings. LEDs for the unit's power, and for each effect's on/off status. None of the effects is stellar, but all are very solid and what you'd expect from Boss. And the set is a very good collection -- limiter, EQ, OD and modulation. The OD wisely includes a blend knob which is essential for bass. The 10-band EQ is a great feature and works quite well.

I've used this many times over the years, through cheap stacks, through a nice Acoustic Image/Schroeder rig, through headphones and as a direct recording input. It's very competent without being, as noted above, stellar. I did not find it particularly noisy, or unreasonably noisy when compared to other analog effect collections. The EQ and limiter make it nicely suitable for a wide range of clean styles. The OD is decent, but may not live up to the demands of metal or other very heavy styles. I used it for a while as my all-in-one solution in for it's clean tones, delay, and for one or two uses of the OD. It is very easy, however, to set your tone up just perfectly to be lost in a band's mix. There are no presets for the EQ, so you really need to use it conservatively if you are not familiar with using an EQ. And it can take some playing around to get a good distorted tone that can cut through -- but the pedal itself has all you need to do so. But no presets means it's only as good as you are in picking the settings. On a pure effect-by-effect basis, there are plenty of other better options. However, this has a uniquely appealing ability to blend the effects, and I have found some amazing combinations that I simply cannot recreate with anything else I own (or have owned). And often, particularly on bass, I just want a small multi unit with independent pedals -- like this. Too much programming and too many features can become messy to manage.

Very direct, clear controls, no obvious interface features missing. It's hard not to figure it out. I'm not sure what unit the other reviewer was talking about, but this one is very simply WYSIWYG. Not programmable, which is why this unit falls behind modern offerings. And while you can cause yourself problems with the EQ, that's not unique to this unit. And 10-bands on a small multi-effect unit is very generous. There are many good sounds to be had, and they're easy to find. Compare to the modern generation of boards where getting to the effect you want can take 3 or 4 stomps. Programmable boards are nice, but you need to group patches if you intend to use them on the fly. So programmable would be nice, but sometimes direct control is what you need.

I've had good luck, but the unit is all plastic, and not extremely well built. I would not rely on a single unit as a pro unless I had a special guy to baby it...or had backups. Heavy stomping will surely destroy it. I'm sure it would handle modest stomping and a modest schedule. Really rough guess -- 6-8 hours a week, no crazy abuse, and it'd probably be reliable for several years. The one I have is at least 15 years old and works fine -- but I don't know how much it was used before I got it.

Price: $179.00 (new)
Where Obtained: barkers music

Ive noticed a trend with these petals.they all get power plug in shorts and it happens all the time.you plug it in and hey its not on!both me and my guitarist have this petal and he has the same problems with it.a couple other friends of mine have it and they have the same problems with it.its a nice petal for the price but it lasts only about two to three months.

It sounds really good and lets you vreate your own sounds so thats a nice touch.and it has alot of range to work with.if only it didnt short out all the time.

Easy to figure out if you have the instructions handy!

Like isaid it sounds good but has problems.