The ME-70 provides a wealth of effects with an affordable price tag.
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With its 24-bit, 44.1 kHz processing, the ME-70 gives nothing away to the GT-8, or even the GT-10 in tonal quality, and its metal chassis sits firmly in the Boss tradition of indestructibility. As with its predecessor, the ME-50, what you get with the ME-70 is a stripped down offering of some of the essential Boss effects, in an easy to use, wallet-friendly package.
The ME-70 ups the ante on the ME-50 in a number of ways: adding a separate Preamp section, featuring Roland’s terrific sounding COSM amp modeling, four extra presets and one more footswitch—for a total of four. On the other hand, some things have fallen by the wayside; while the Distortion section now has a clean Boost and a setting called Natural, its names are now generic (Metal, Fuzz etc.) as opposed to referencing well-known sounds (Screamer, Muff, etc.)—legal issues, perhaps? Other sections reflect similar changes. Gone are the synth-like Square distortion, and the ring modulator, as well as some pan effects in the delay section, indicating a more conservative approach to effects.
Not that you will lack for tonal modifiers with the ME-70. In addition to the classic Boss compression, the Comp/FX section offers the coveted Slow Gear effect that gives you automatic level swells, freeing your finger from the guitar volume, and your foot from the expression pedal. Also in this section is a touch wah.
A subsection has settings that do a creditable job of making your single coils sound more like humbuckers and vice versa, and also contains an effect labeled Solo that is optimized for driving an amplifier preamp or a distortion pedal. Solo sounds like a bit of compression mixed with some high end EQ for extra bite—subtle but useful. Unfortunately the ME-50’s Acoustic simulator is MIA.
The Overdrive/Distortion section adds the aforementioned Boost and Natural to a range of gritty effects from overdrive to fuzz. The Boost is a clean level boost that is delightfully transparent. In this setting, goosing the Level knob to full on added only a minimal amount of boost, unless I also increased the Drive knob—this does not add distortion, merely more level. In the Natural position, the Drive adds just what it claims: a very realistic, amp-style breakup.
In addition to the usual suspects (phasing, flanging, chorus, tremolo, vibrato, etc.), the Modulation section provides a smart harmonizer, and an octave device. It also offers a delay effect that is independent of the pedalboard’s Delay section. This way you can have two different delay times, that can be engaged one at a time or together, instantly available at the touch of a toe. Each can be tap tempoed to its own time. (The modulation effects can have their rates tapped in as well.) This also conveniently allows you to have a delay effect on your guitar when using the looper.
The Delay section sports settings for various ranges of echo from 1-6000ms, as well as flavors such as analog, modulated delay, reversed delay, and a chorus/delay combo. A Momentary setting engages the delay only as long as the footswitch is held down, acting as a kind of manual ducking delay.
Though you can tap the tempo of any delay setting, the dedicated Tap setting lets you choose between straight eighth notes and dotted eighths (for those U2/Edge effects). The 38 second Phrase Loop function is simple to use: just step on the Delay footswitch to ready recording, step again to record, once more to stop recording. Repeating the process allows you to overdub as many layers as you like. A double tap clears the palette and lets you start over.
The ME-70’s Preamp section provides the common classic amp simulations, including Twin-ish Clean, Vox-like Combo, Bassman-based Tweed, ’70s Marshall voiced Stack, high-gain Lead Stack, and Boogie inspired R-Fier. If you are perfectly content with the sound of your own amp, you can either avail yourself of the section’s EQ setting, which provides Low, Low-Mid, High-Mid and High adjustment, or Off, which bypasses the section altogether.
The Expression pedal defaults to a volume control. It also offers toe-switch engaged settings for Wah, Voice (a voice-box sound), and octave up or down Whammy effects. In addition, you can choose to use it to control your modulation rate or delay wet/dry mix.
The ME-70 gives you the options of using it as a simple pedalboard, or in Memory mode, as a programmable multi effects. In Pedalboard mode, each of the four footswitches controls an effects section. You just pick one effect per section and adjust the parameters just like any stomp box pedalboard.
In Memory mode the footswitches choose presets, and the small Bank arrow buttons scroll through nine banks each of user and factory presets, for a total of 72 programs. If you don’t want to bend over to press the arrow buttons, stepping on footswitches 1 and 2 simultaneously, allows you to step through the banks using switch 1 for down and 2 for up. You can also attach an external pedal to a jack on the back of the ME-70 to scroll through banks in Memory mode. In Pedalboard mode the same external switches will let you switch the Preamp section and Reverb on and off. The rear panel also includes a stereo recording/headphone output with speaker emulation.
I wouldn’t deem the ME-70 completely intuitive, but I was able to have a fair amount of fun before having to crack the manual. Plugging a Fernandes Strat, equipped with DiMarzio Virtual Vintage pickups, into the Boss unit, I first tried it out as a compact pedalboard through both a Reverend Hellhound combo and an Orange Tiny Terror head. I turned the Preamp section off, and then started checking out the stompbox models.
As expected, all the sounds were the professional, high quality tones that we have come to expect from Boss. I found that setting the overdrive section to Natural with the Drive around noon was like adding a second channel to the single channel Reverend and Orange amps. I could back off my guitar volume for a slightly thicker clean sound than with the effect bypassed, or, full up, get a nice crunch rhythm. To this I could add the Solo setting from the Comp/FX section for my, well, solos.
Another highlight was the Harmonizer effect, which tracked my playing with nary a glitch. Though the Reverb options are limited to Room and Hall, the sound of each is exceptional.
To plug the ME-70 into my computer for recording, I came out of the recording/headphone output, through an audio interface and into Ableton Live. The recording output added speaker emulations to the amp models, and once again I was impressed with Roland’s COSM modeling. All the digital amp sounds seemed warm and analog in character. At lower gain levels they responded well to touch dynamics, as well as cleaning up naturally with the guitar volume rolled down.
A few things deserve special mention. Often a device requires that you step on two footswitches at one time to turn on a tuner, enter bypass, and with the ME-70, for example, access Memory mode and the Bank up and down option. Usually it is a frustrating balancing act to make the two switches click on at the same time. Not so here. Also, the Boss unit’s presets are all extremely usable—rather than designed with as much gain, delay and effect as possible, to impress pre-teen bedroom guitarists.
The only downside to the ME-70 might be that it imparts a distinctly Boss tinge to your sound. As this tone is an industry standard, heard on thousands of hit records, you may not find it to be a problem at all. Still, I found that it slightly homogenized the sonic distinction between the Tiny Terror and the Hellhound.
The ME-70 inhabits an essential area between a bag of stompboxes and commitment to a full-on, floor pedalboard. It is for the guitarist who wants the basic Boss effects and COSM amp sounds to be available in an affordable, portable, simple-to-operate unit. Even if you are a boutique pedal guy, or a full on rack guy, you might easily find yourself in a situation where something like the ME-70 would come in handy.
Buy if...
You want a variety of great sounding effects and amps that will fit in a laptop bag.
Skip if...
Your pedalboard must have all the bells and whistles.
Rating...![]()
MSRP $299 - Boss - rolandus.com |
Fifteen watts that sits in a unique tone space and offers modern signal routing options.
A distinct alternative to the most popular 1x10 combos. Muscular and thick for a 1x10 at many settings. Pairs easily with single-coils and humbuckers. Cool looks.
Tone stack could be more rangeful.
$999
Supro Montauk
supro.com
When you imagine an ideal creative space, what do you see? A loft? A barn? A cabin far from distraction? Reveling in such visions is inspiration and a beautiful escape. Reality for most of us, though, is different. We’re lucky to have a corner in the kitchen or a converted closet to make music in. Still, there’s a romance and sense of possibility in these modest spaces, and the 15-watt, 1x10, all-tubeSupro Montauk is an amplifier well suited to this kind of place. It enlivens cramped corners with its classy, colorful appearance. It’s compact. It’s also potent enough to sound and respond like a bigger amp in a small room.
The Montauk works in tight quarters for reasons other than size, though—with three pre-power-section outputs that can route dry signal, all-wet signal from the amp’s spring reverb, or a mixture of both to a DAW or power amplifier.
Different Stripes and Spacious Places
Vintage Supro amps are modestly lovely things. The China-made Montauk doesn’t adhere toold Supro style motifs in the strictest sense. Its white skunk stripe is more commonly seen on black Supro combos from the late 1950s, while the blue “rhino hide” vinyl evokes Supros from the following decade. But the Montauk’s handsome looks make a cramped corner look a lot less dour. It looks pretty cool on a stage, too, but the Montauk attribute most likely to please performing guitarists is the small size (17.75" x 16.5" x 7.5") and light weight (29 pounds), which, if you tote your guitar in a gig bag and keep your other stuff to a minimum, facilitates magical one-trip load ins.
Keen-eyed Supro-spotters noting the Montauk’s weight and dimensions might spy the similarities to another 1x10 Supro combo,the Amulet. A casual comparison of the two amps might suggest that the Montauk is, more-or-less, an Amulet without tremolo and power scaling. They share the same tube complement, including a relatively uncommon 1x6L6 power section. But while the Montauk lacks the Amulet’s tremolo, the Montauk’s spring reverb features level and dwell controls rather than the Amulet’s single reverb-level knob.
“High reverb levels and low dwell settings evoke a small, reflective room with metallic overtones from the spring sprinkled on top—leaving ghostly ambience in the wake of strong, defined transient tones.”
If you use reverb a lot and in varying levels of intensity, you’ll appreciate the extra flexibility. High reverb levels and low dwell settings evoke a small, reflective room with metallic overtones from the spring sprinkled on top—leaving ghostly ambience in the wake of strong, defined transient tones. There are many shades of this subtle texture to explore, and it’s a great sound and solution for those who find the spring reverbs in Fender amps (which feature no dwell control) an all-or-nothing proposition. For those who like to get deep in the pipeline, though, the dwell offers room to roam. Mixing high level and dwell settings blunts the amp’s touch sensitivity a bit, and at 15 watts you trade headroom for natural compression, compounding the fogginess of these aggressive settings. A Twin Reverb it ain’t. But there is texture aplenty to play with.
A Long, Wide Strand
Admirably, the Montauk speaks in many voices when paired with a guitar alone. The EQ sits most naturally and alive with treble and bass in the noon-to-2-o’clock region, and a slight midrange lean adds welcome punch. Even the amp’s trebliest realms afford you a lot of expressive headroom if you have enough range and sensitivity in your guitar volume and tone pots. Interactions between the gain and master output controls yield scads of different tone color, too. Generally, I preferred high gain settings, which add a firecracker edge to maximum guitar volume settings and preserve touch and pick response at attenuated guitar volume and tone levels.
If working with the Montauk in this fashion feels natural, you’ll need very few pedals. But it’s a good fit for many effects. A Fuzz Face sounded nasty without collapsing into spitty junk, and the Klon-ish Electro-Harmonix Soul Food added muscle and character in its clean-boost guise and at grittier gain levels. There’s plenty of headroom for exploring nuance and complexity in delays and modulations. It also pairs happily with a wide range of guitars and pickups: Every time I thought a Telecaster was a perfect fit, I’d plug in an SG with PAFs and drift away in Mick Taylor/Stones bliss.
The Verdict
Because the gain, master, tone, and reverb controls are fairly interactive, it took me a minute to suss out the Montauk’s best and sweetest tones. But by the time I was through with this review, I found many sweet spots that fill the spaces between Vox and Fender templates. There’s also raunch in abundance when you turn it up. It’s tempting to view the Montauk as a competitor to the Fender Princeton and Vox AC15. At a thousand bucks, it’s $400 dollars less than the Mexico-made Princeton ’68 Custom and $170 more than the AC15, also made in China. In purely tone terms, though, it represents a real alternative to those stalwarts. I’d be more than happy to see one in a backline, provided I wasn’t trying to rise above a Geezer Butler/Bill Ward rhythm section. And with its capacity for routing to other amps and recording consoles in many intriguing configurations, it succeeds in being a genuinely interesting combination of vintage style and sound and home-studio utility—all without adding a single digital or solid-state component to the mix.
Be sure to locate your sample library where it can be quickly referenced on your DAW.
Improve your recordings using your own samples. Bryan Clark, house producer at Nashville’s Blackbird Studio, tells you how to take the final steps in building your own sample library.
Mastering the sample import process in your chosen DAW can significantly enhance your creativity and streamline your workflow. With a clear understanding of the tools and techniques available, you will be better equipped to bring your musical ideas to life and make your productions stand out.
This month, we finish up a three-part series on creating your own sample libraries. In this final installment, I’m going to give you the basic ways to import your samples into various popular DAWs. Each one has its unique workflow and user interface, but the fundamental process remains very similar. This Dojo guide will cover how to import samples into Ableton Live, LUNA, Logic Pro, Pro Tools, and Studio One.
Ableton Live
Steps to Import Samples
Drag and Drop: Simply locate the sample file in your computer’s file explorer, then drag and drop it directly into an audio track in the session or arrangement view.
Browser Window: Use Ableton’s built-in browser (on the left-hand side). Navigate to the sample’s location on your hard drive, then drag it into the workspace.
Create a Simpler or Sampler Instrument: Drag the sample into a MIDI track with Simpler or Sampler loaded. This allows you to trigger the sample using MIDI notes.
Tips: Use the warp feature for time-stretching and syncing samples to your project’s tempo.
Organize your samples into collections using the “Add Folder” option in the browser.
LUNA
Steps to Import Samples
Drag and Drop: Drag the sample from your file explorer directly into the timeline. Then hold the CTRL key down, click on the end of the loop, and drag it to the length it needs to be.
Browser/Workspace: Use the media browser to navigate to your sample’s location on your hard drive. Drag it into an audio track in your session.
Audio Track Import: Right-click on an empty area in the timeline or a track and select “Import Audio” to locate and add your sample.
Tips: Use LUNA’s built-in varispeed capabilities to match your sample to the session’s tempo.Logic Pro
Steps to Import Samples
Drag and Drop: Drag the sample from the Finder directly into an audio track in the workspace.
File Browser: Use the file browser (accessible via the media sidebar or “F” key) to locate and drag samples into the timeline.
Quick Sampler: Drag your sample onto a MIDI track with the Quick Sampler plugin loaded. This lets you play the sample chromatically.
Tips: Use Logic’s flex time feature to sync samples to your project’s tempo. Organize samples into Logic’s library for quick access.Pro Tools
Steps to Import Samples
Import Audio Dialog: Go to File > Import > Audio; then locate your sample and click “Convert” or “Add” to bring it into the session.
Drag and Drop: Drag the sample directly from your file explorer into an audio track.
Workspace Browser: Use the workspace (accessible via Window > New Workspace) to locate your sample. Drag it into your session.
Tips: Use the elastic audio feature for tempo matching and pitch adjustments.
Place your samples into playlists for efficient access during editing.
Studio One
Steps to Import Samples
Drag and Drop: Drag your sample directly from your file explorer into the timeline or browser.
Browser: Open Studio One’s browser (on the right-hand side), navigate to the folder containing your sample, and drag it into your project.
Sampler Track: Drag the sample onto a MIDI track, and use the Sample One sampler for additional manipulation.
Tips: Enable the “Stretch Audio Files to Song Tempo” option in the browser for automatic tempo synchronization. Create sample folders within Studio One’s browser for quick access.General Best Practices
Regardless of the DAW you use, it is important to maintain a smooth and efficient workflow. Organize your sample library with clear folder names and categories to make locating files easy (see last month’s installment for detailed strategies). Where possible, learn DAW-specific shortcuts for importing and editing samples to save time. Always check if your DAW offers a feature to sync the sample’s tempo to your project to ensure seamless integration. Finally, regularly back up your sample collection to avoid losing important audio files and preserve your creative assets! Seriously. Do it now.
Next month, we’re off to “console” land and I’ll be investigating console emulations (hype or not?), summing bus processors, and more to give you a more “studio” sound. Until then, blessings and namaste.
Black Sabbath to Reunite for First Time in 20 Years—Ozzy Osbourne’s Final Performance
The original Sabbath lineup will reunite on July 5 in Birmingham, England, and be joined by Metallica, Pantera, Slayer, and more.
The concert will feature founding members Tony Iommi on guitar, bassist Geezer Butler, drummer Bill Ward, and singer Ozzy Osbourne. Profits from the show, called "Back to the Beginning," will be donated to charities including Cure Parkinson's.
On future Black Sabbath plans, Ozzy's wife, music manager, and TV personality Sharon Osbourne had this to say (via Reuters) about Ozzy: “While other bandmembers might continue to make records and perform, Black Sabbath's gig at the birthplace of the band will certainly be the 76-year-old's final performance.
"For Ozzy right now, it's definitely: 'I love you and good night'," she said.
The shredder and son of legendary artist Frank Zappa gives a tour of his up-to-date gear, including a complex stereo switching system, four racks of pedals, and some of his father’s favorite guitars.
Dweezil Zappa was always going to end up being an incredible guitarist. His dad, Frank Zappa, is celebrated as one of the most talented and creative guitarists in history, and by age 12, Dweezil was recording music produced by Eddie Van Halen. (Little surprise that he’s covering Van Halen’s 1981 stunner “Push Comes to Shove” lately.) He’s been a bona fide guitar star ever since, releasing seven original solo records, six tribute records, two LPs with his brother Ahmet Zappa, and guesting on recordings across the music universe.
Ahead of his gig at Memphis’ Minglewood Hall on his 2024 Rox(postroph)y tour, which celebrated the 50th anniversary of Frank Zappa’s Apostrophe (') and Roxy & Elsewhere records, Dweezil gave PG’s John Bohlinger a boot-to-bonnet look at his current road setup. There’s a lot of ground to cover between his and his father’s catalogues, and Dweezil loves the challenge, which he meets with a mix of his own gear and some special vintage assists courtesy of his dad.
Brought to you by D’Addario.Shut Up ’n Play Yer Les Paul
This coveted Gibson Les Paul Custom, featured on the cover of Frank’s 1981 record Shut Up ’n Play Yer Guitar, came out on the road this tour. Dweezil says that around 1986, his dad swapped in Dan Armstrong-made ceramic pickups. At one point, Frank installed a second input to try to use the guitar as a synth controller, but it didn’t track well enough to continue the experiment.
Along with the standard controls, the guitar includes switches to turn on different parts of the onboard preamp, which boosts the signal and adds plenty of gain. A rotary knob controls a wired-in parametric EQ set up to emulate different settings along the sweep of a wah pedal. Dweezil didn’t get much of the lowdown from his father on the complex operations; it was more trial-and-error. “You just have to turn knobs until you find something that you like,” he says. He connects to his rig with ZZYZX SnapJack magnetic cable connectors.
Rockin' with Roxy
Also out on the Rox(postroph)y tour is Frank’s iconic Roxy & Elsewhere-era Gibson SG. Like the Les Paul, it’s got a preamp circuit to boost the signal, a sweepable EQ, and can achieve acoustic, piezo-adjacent sounds. The preamp configuration in this one is red-hot; it dishes out tons of gain.
Signature Shabat
For Strat-style tones, Dweezil calls on his signature Shabat Lynx DZ, which has been used to dial in his cover of “Push Comes to Shove.” Per Shabat, it has a “body-mounted HSS configuration with a push/pull phase shift on the middle pickup, simplified single-knob layout, custom-cut 3-ply parchment/gold pickguard, and … a Vega-Trem VT1 tremolo."
The Lynx DZ is constructed with an alder body and a quartersawn hard maple, medium-C-profile neck with a 25.5" scale length. It’s loaded with Lollar Special S and Lollar El Rayo pickups, and the middle Special S is wired for phase shift. The Lynx, as well as the SG and Les Paul, are strung with Optima Gold-Plated 2028 FZ Frank Zappa strings (.008–.046), and struck with D’Addario .50 mm celluloid picks. (Dweezil likes them for pick slides.)
On the Ground
Zappa keeps a significant board at his feet, which he controls with a Fractal FC-12 controller. He runs his sound in stereo, with different effects going to each side, so he keeps volume pedals for each side in front of him, plus a wah and expression pedal.
The row of pedals perched atop the pedalboard includes a TC Electronic Polytune 3 Noir, a Marshall-style prototype pedal, J. Rockett Audio Designs PXO, Union Tube and Transistor Lab, SoloDallas Orbiter, a Jext Telez White Pedal (to nab a specific tone for playing “Nanook Rubs It”), and a 29 Pedals FLWR.
In the Rack
On our 2013 Rig Rundown, Dweezil was using the Fractal Axe-Fx II, and this time around, he’s upgraded to the Axe-Fx III as the basis of his sound. Given the sonic territory covered in his shows, it simply became too unwieldy and expensive to tour an analog rig.
The brains of his show are held in a rack system. A couple of out-of-sight splitter boxes help with the complex stereo signal paths, as do a pair of Voodoo Lab HEX audio switchers. The Axe-Fx III lives on the top shelf, and just below it are an Eventide H90 and TC Electronic TC 2290 that go to both sides.
The next rack down runs only to the left side, and includes a BK Butler Tube Driver, DigiTech FreqOut, Red Panda Radius and Raster, Krozz Devices Airborn Analog Flanger, and a Paul Trombetta Design Tornita! fuzz.
The level below it runs to the right side, with a “Clown Vomit” fuzz, Chase Bliss Warped Vinyl, Korg FLG-1 Flanger, Chase Bliss Generation Loss, Goochfx Holy Cow, and another Red Panda Raster.
Wrapping up the rig is the bottom rack, which again runs to both sides. It carries most of Zappa’s exquisite dirt sounds, thanks to a Union Tube and Transistor Tsar Bomba, Chase Bliss Automatone Preamp MKII, Goochfx Dirty Hippie, Tru-Fi Two Face, Foxrox Electronics Paradox TZF2, and a Paul Trombetta Design Rotobone that … somewhat reasonably apes a trombone sound. Paul Trombetta, we salute you.