M5.... wow

I briefly had an M9 and really liked it, but felt it kind of made me choose between the multieffects and my existing pedals. When I wanted to go back to individual pedals, I thought about keeping the M9, but really just didn't want to carry all that gear around.

When I saw the M5 announced last year or whenever it was, I thought it was actually kind of dumb... None of the switching versatility, no looper, etc.

I actually got one in a trade a couple days ago because I realized it's actually a great option for me--my board always has a few constants (Deluxe Memory Man, EP Booster, tuner, and usually one overdrive), and I tend to swap in and out modulation and fuzz and other fun stuff.

I haven't set my patches up or anything, but it's great so far. I wish it had a looper, but aside from that, it's great to have all these different modulations & reverbs & filters (and more stuff I probably won't even use) all in one place.

Pretty sweet, could be a piece of gear that I use a lot.

You know... you make a lot of sense with your post, here. I ogle what I consider to be "one off" effects like octave (a la Octavia), phaser, chorus that could be integrated into my board but I'd wind up using them sparingly or, worse, overusing them and getting away from the constants on my board that really define me as a player.

Eeeeeeeeenteresting... you may have had a hand in selling me on one of these doohickeys.

I've been using my M5 as a sort of Swiss Army Pedal for about a year. It's a great solution to the not-often-used-but-gotta-have-effects problem. I use the reverse delay, bias trem, vocal wah, and particle reverb for the occasional, "Whoa! What was that?" effect. Others, like phaser and mod delay see regular action. The M5 keeps me to four pedals- Comp, OD, Boost, M5.
Simple.

I forgot to mention one gripe I have, since I'm selling so many of these units ha

I like to play barefoot a lot, and I find the switches are a little too far apart to comfortably and consistently go into patch-switching mode without shoes on.

Maybe I'll get used to it?

[QUOTE=markxander;4247976]
When I saw the M5 announced last year or whenever it was, I thought it was actually kind of dumb... None of the switching versatility, no looper, etc.

QUOTE]

This was exactly my thought until I got a really good deal on one. It's perfect as it provides access to a bunch of things I wouldn't want to have dedicated pedals for and also works as a tuner (and fits on my pedal board). I bought it thinking I would use it to replace my delay pedal. Lately though, I have been using it for a tuner and using the particle reverb for songs with the need for "ambience". I also kick it (partical reverb) in at the end of songs to fill the sound space between songs.

This is exactly how I use mine. Although I do use it alot for the verbs and delays lately, because I think they are so good.

Interesting approach. I probably use my chorus and phaser too much when I should be using a filter, octave, flange, etc.

Compact multiFX units are a lot of bang for the buck, especially if you only need a certain effect for a single song and don't want to drag a ton of pedals around. The Digitech RP155 and the Zoom G2N are also good for this as well as giving you a USB interface and line out if you want to get rid of your back line. I use an old RP50 I found for next to nothing for my modulation and echo FX. That M5 looks like it is built like a tank.

Just thought I'd check in since it's been a week or so--the novelty hasn't worn off and I've got a lot of patches programmed. I'm also using my volume pedal as an expression pedal for the M5 and it's basically like doubling the number of patches; since I'm mostly using it for modulation, each patch can have a fast and a slow setting that I can switch between with the expression pedal which is really cool. There's also a volume pedal patch that works fine, so I don't feel like I need to add a second pedal to my board for swells.

I'm also in a bit of an unexpected situation--I just traded my OCD away for a Tim (I had a Timmy for a while and missed it a lot, glad to get one back), but it was over the Guitars Canada forum so it's by mail... Normally, I'd have a backup overdrive pedal or something, but the stars have aligned now so that I don't have anything to use for a week or so while I wait for the Tim to turn up.

I dialed in a couple overdrive and fuzz sounds on the M5, and........ really, totally usable. Especially with my amp (Carmen Ghia) cooking a little bit, it really does the trick. The longer I have this thing the more I start to think I could get away with only having an M9 or an M13 and ditching my other pedals.. not that I'd do that... yet.

I dialed in a couple overdrive and fuzz sounds on the M5, and........ really, totally usable.

I found the Fuzz Face and Tube Overdrive effects to work well for me. I was bummed I could not get the Rat and Tube Screamer effects to do the same, but then again I never had high expectations for getting a multi-effects unit to do overdrive effects well. I figure any overdrive effects that are usable is just a plus.

I have to change my tune on the M5, unfortunately. Mine failed on me at a recent gig. The screen started blinking on and off and the sound died completely. I popped it out of my effects chain and figured I'd check it out later. It had worked for me for over a year with no problems, so I figured there must be some explanation. Turns out there is. These things fail. In doing a little research, there are quite a few complaints about this happening with the M5. Many of the failures are the result of using an improper power supply. Not mine, however. It just died. Whenever I plug it in now, it flashes through the various colors, sometimes displaying a message about the LCD display, sometimes not, but no more sound at all. Thought about paying to have it fixed, because it's a useful tool. But failing at a gig, though certainly not calamitous, has soured me on investing in Line 6 gear. I might keep it as a $200 paperweight and reminder. Just thought I'd share a cautionary note with you all.