Boss MS 3 users: Tell me about your experiences!

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jeztone2jeztone2 Frets: 2160
Now I'm back in my old band, I've found the tap dancing a bit much, so pulled the trigger on a Boss MS3. I'm going to be using. 2 drives and a Fuzz in the loops, with a Line 6 M5 on the end controlled by Midi for secondary delays etc. 

Whats your user experience been so far?
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  • TrudeTrude Frets: 914
    Subscribed.

    I like the idea of the MS3, but can't quite imagine how I could get by with so few footswitches per preset, especially if you use some of them up for switching the loops in and out.

    Will be interested to see how you get on, especially with the M5 as I have one of those too.
    Some of the gear, some idea

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  • JotaJota Frets: 463
    I've been loving it.
    I've actually added one more pedal to my board a few days but just because I use a lot of the MS effects so sometimes there's Fx left for having an overdrive but, the drives are great!
    Be prepared to program cause, with so few switches and so much possibilities, you'll end up doing a lot of programming if you want to use all it's capabilities.
    The PC software is good to do that.
    Ask me anything and I'll help if I can.
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  • TrudeTrude Frets: 914
    Cool, thanks @Jota ;.  I guess my main question is how you manage with song-specific patches vs generic patches, and how much scrolling of banks you have to do at gigs.

    My usual approach is to have a couple of main generic patches on my M9, alongside separate drive pedals, wah and boosts.  I usually take an "a-la carte" approach with most songs where I just grab individual effects and combine them on the fly.  I also have a handful of more specialist patches which will address a couple of specific songs each.  This minimises the amount of patch switching I do, but I often have that scenario where I need to toggle 2-3 pedals in quick succession to get between sections of a given song.

    I can imagine me having the same generic patch approach on the MS3, but with the loops always active.  That way I could just use the outboard pedals' own switches, saving the MS3 switches for the other effects in the patch.  
    Then I could have my song-specific patches, but I'd need to remember to switch all the outboard pedals on first in order to incorporate the loop switching into the setup.  Does that sound like it'd work?

    Trouble is, the limited number of switches could force me to have lots more patches than I normally do.  I could end up swapping one type of tap-dance (within a patch) for another (swapping patches more often between songs).  This would be less of a concern if the MS3 had a set-list feature where you can cue patches up in the order you need them, but I don't think it does?

    Apologies to @jeztone2 for jumping over your thread, but hopefully the discussion is useful for both of us!


    Some of the gear, some idea

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  • JotaJota Frets: 463
    @Trude I use the MS-3 in 3 different scenarios right now.
    I always try to use the least presets possible.

    Octafuzz and a KoT in Loop 1, Little Green Wonder in Loop 2 and Flashback delay in Loop 3.
    External dual footswitch CTL pedal to add functionality to MS-3.

    First: all around cover band.
    For this band I really have to remember what each button does on a specific preset cause I have a lot of medleys where I use the same preset for a lot of different songs. If I can't do it all in Manual mode I stay on Memory mode and create different presets. I hate jumping between Memory and Manual mode.

    I usually have Loop 1 always on and turn on/off on the pedals. The KoT's blue channel it's my lead boost so I usually set the Num 4 switch to delay. This way I can step on both buttons at the same time. Sometimes I just need a delay with no boost so I just step on Num 4.
    LGW is my dirty rhythm pedal and it's usually on and I set a button to turn Loop 2 on/off. This way I can go from dirty rhythm to clean with compessor, chorus and delay that I use in a few songs.
    The Flashback it's always on set for slapback and for this band I use it for a couple of songs only.
    Main delay sounds come from the MS-3.

    I have a lot of songs with Harmonizer. Since they are in different keys, I have to set multiple presets with similar sounds but different keys on the harmonizer.
    One thing I love in Boss gear is that you can assign a switch for momentary change the pitch on the harmonizer so I can double parts where the second guitar goes from 3rds to 4ths without having to jump between presets.

    Second: Neo Soul original band
    I usually just take the MS-3 and an expression pedal for this band.
    I have almost the same effects on each preset but with different delay times for each song. I turn the wah on/off on the expression pedal itself (see my video on youtube called MS-3 wah trick), have a button to go from a "normal" delay feedback and mix to a more washed sound that I use for quieter parts. There's also a Compressor always on and, in one preset, there's a button that changes the compressor to a TS.

    Third: my blues/rock thing
    For this one I usually have 2 or 3 presets.
    The loops are always on or I'll have a switch to alternate between MS-3 TS and the LGW. they sound pretty similar but the MS-3 TS is sounds best for neck pickup stuff and LGW sounds better for bridge pickup stuff. So, when I want both off, I just turn MS-3 TS off and LGW off too.
    I have a switch for delay (leads), one for a low mid EQ boost (à lá Klone), a switch for tremolo and I usually use the external 2 button switch for rotary and rotary speed.
    In Memory mode I can turn the reverb on/off.
    One of the things I like to do is, since you can only use too modulations at the same time, i set on switch to change the Mod type and turn it on.
    For example: I have the Rotary assigned to the first switch of the CTL pedal. I never use Rotary with tremolo but I like the tremolo and the vibrato together to give me more of a brownface type of tremolo so, I set the tremolo switch to turn the Rotary into Vibrato and turn the tremolo and vibrato on. Step on it again and I have rotary available again.

    Sorry for the long post.


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  • jeztone2jeztone2 Frets: 2160
    No it’s cool. Many Thanks. 
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  • PaulMHPaulMH Frets: 16
    edited April 2018
    I'm using one on my over complicated board and it does a great job. I run a couple of similar crunch drives through one loop (so I only have the one I want on at any one time etc), a couple of heavier lead drives through another loop, and a mobius through the third loop, with a timeline after the ms3 but able to switch patches on the mobius & timeline via midi from the ms3, so I'm using the ms-3 for switching everything practically, but I do also run a couple of drives and a comp in front of the ms3 so that gives me the best of both worlds for adding in stuff on the fly.

    Switching banks between songs is quick enough and I only need about 10 banks to cover a large versatile set. I have a few patches with the ms3's own drives but prefer to use patches with the the drive loops on mostly.

    But the ms3 is a great all rounder for my needs and I have the switching convenience of a multiple effects and can still mess about with pedals!


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  • JotaJota Frets: 463
    @PaulMH 10 banks?!?!
    I thought I had too much presets in my most complicated band and I only use 3 banks!
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  • PaulMHPaulMH Frets: 16
    To be honest, about 4 banks cover 3/4's of the set! Just the few odd songs with unique patches etc!
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