The effects in the ME-10 are laid out in a similar way to the ME- 5 although it uses a different programming method. There is a membrane pad on the top with individual buttons for every parameter. The parameters are adjusted using a jog dial so settings can be changed incredibly quickly. Another huge asset to the ME-10 is the sockets are of the extra heavy-duty variety and in five years of faithful service I haven’t had so much as a crackle.

There are also a few extra effects including Pitch Shifter, Wah (with expression pedal), Phaser and the Delay and Reverb are separate and can be used simultaneously as are the Flanger and Chorus. The ME- 10 also has a built in tuner and Guitar amp simulator, which makes it possible to plug straight into a mixing desk.

The weakest effect is probably the Wah. This was included pretty much as an afterthought. The idea is that you choose between EQ and Wah. The Wah works OK with clean sounds although you really need single coils, as you can’t use the EQ to clean up humbuckers if you’re using the Wah. Also as the Wah is part of the EQ, it comes after the Distortion section. This means your distortion gets “Wah’d” and the effect is useless. On machines where you can change the order of effects in the chain, the Wah should always be at the front, or at least before the distortion.

I used the ME-10 each time I played at the Guitarist of the Year final including the 1998 where I won. Dan Rosigana also used one at the ’98 final - he was my closest competition as my live video clearly shows. So the ME-10 is a natural progression from the ME-5 more sophisticated but still very intuitive and because of the sheer speed of operation its probably easier to get the sound you’re looking for.

SECRET SETTINGS:
There are two useful parameters that can only be adjusted when powering up.
a). You can get the Delay to continue when you change to a patch that doesn't have delay by doing the following:-
1. Hold down pedal 4 while switching the ME-10 on.
2. Use the Value Dial to select "d-1" in the display.
3. Press "Play".

b). You can get the Bank Up/Down pedals to switch immediately to the patch in the next bank (on the same pedal) by doing the following:-
1. Hold down the Bank Up pedal while switching the ME-10 on.
2. Use the Value Dial to select "P-2" in the display.
3. Press "Play"

Rhythm Sound:
1.Distortion
Mode: d-2
Drive: 100
Tone: -50
Level: 100

2.Noise 10

3.EQ
High: –3
Mid f: 630hz
Mid g 9
Low: -6
Level: 0

My approach for setting up the EQ was if the total gain of the High, Mid and Low came to, for example 3, I would set the level at - 1. If the total gain of the High, Mid and low came to -6 I would set the level at 2. The formula, then is (H+M+L)/3.

The point of this exercise is that the EQ shouldn’t change the volume of your sound unless you specifically want it to. The EQ was quite difficult to adjust - I found it very bright and overpowering. Also different guitars needed different treatments. The EQ shown above was set up for my Parker, which used a DiMarzio Tone Zone pickup. The EQ for my Charvel was as follows:-

EQ
High: –9
Mid f: 630hz
Mid: g 9
Low: -12
Level: 4

And my Peavey:

EQ
High: –12
Mid f: 630hz
Mid g: 12
Low: -12
Level: 4

These are all fairly extreme settings and part of the reason for this was to compensate for the rather basic Amp Simulator.

4. Reverb
Mode: h-2
Pre Delay: 60ms
Time: 40
Tone: -10
Level: 15

5. Master 75

6.G. Amp Simulator On

Lead Sound My lead sound was the same as the rhythm sound except I swapped reverb for delay and I increased the Master level to 85 for a bit of a boost. The delay settings are:

1. Delay
Time: 578ms
Feedback: 40
High Cut: -8
Low Cut: -8
Level: 25

This gives a fairly subtle echo to your notes. I don’t like strong reverbs or delays, as they tend to muffle your sound and give the impression you’re playing at the bottom of a deep well!

Clean Sound

For the clean sound, the main components are the compressor and the EQ.Once again, there were different settings for each guitar.

Parker Fly- using “in-between” pickup selection:

1. Compressor
Sustain: 68
Attack: 50
Tone: 2
Level: 60

2. Noise 10

3. EQ
High: -6
Mid F: 630Hz
Mid G: -3
Low: -6
Level: 5

Charvel Fusion - using Bridge humbucker:

1. Compressor
Sustain: 58
Attack: 50
Tone: 12
Level: 60

2. Noise 10

3. EQ
High: 0
Mid F: 315Hz
Mid G: -9
Low: -6
Level: 5

Peavey Tracer - using Bridge humbucker/middle single coil:

1. Compressor:
Sustain: 68
Attack: 50
Tone: 2
Level: 60

2. Noise 10

3. EQ
High: -6
Mid F: 630Hz
Mid G: -3
Low: -6
Level: 5

Once past the EQ stage, the other effects were the same for each guitar.

4. Chorus
Pre Delay: 1
Rate: 50
Depth: 60
Tone: 0
Level: 100

This is a fairly typical chorus setting. I usually set the rate to about half way and the depth to just over half. I spent a long time experimenting with different settings but I always come back to these settings.

One slightly different sound I programmed was for the Fleetwood Mac instrumental “Albatross”.

The settings are as follows (Peavey guitar):

3. Compressor
Sustain: 80
Attack: 50
Tone: 0
Level: 70

4. Overdrive
Mode: od-1
Drive: 25
Tone: 0
Level: 40

As you can see, the overdrive is set to create a soft overdrive - it’s not squeaky clean, and the compressor is set quite high to give loads of sustain but without adding extra drive.

1. Noise 10

2. EQ
High: -6
Mid F: 630Hz
Mid G: -3
Low: -6
Level: 5

3. Delay
Time: 882ms
Feedback: 30
High Cut: -8
Low Cut: -8
Level: 35

I used to use the ME-10 for vocal effects when I had my first 4- track. On one song, I used the pitch shifter to create a real “Monster Voice” by juggling the pre-delay and the feedback and setting the pitch to about -7 so you get a downward spiraling effect. Scary stuff.

The next machine I’ll be looking at is my AWESOME Boss GT- 5, which, after over 200 gigs is still serving me very nicely, thank you.

I currently use the ME-10 for Budgie gigs but I'll be looking to upgrade in the near future. Where the ME-10 scores over the GT-5 is in the quality of the sockets which are extremely robust. Also, I tend to use Marshall stacks on stage with the band so the amp simulation isn't important.

It's been a long time since I last programmed the ME-10 and over the last few months I've developed some new settings which really kick ass.

These settings are designed for connecting the ME-10 to the clean input on a guitar amp.