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Average Price: $90

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$501+

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Description

The Boss SE-50 is a compact yet powerful effects processor designed to elevate your studio recording and live performances. This versatile unit packs a punch with its advanced digital signal processing capabilities, allowing musicians to access a wide range of high-quality effects. From reverb and delay to chorus and flanger, the SE-50 brings a professional touch to your sound with its intuitive interface and reliable performance.

Engineered for both amateurs and professionals, the SE-50 offers a user-friendly experience with its straightforward controls and easy-to-navigate menu system. Its compact design makes it an ideal addition to any setup, fitting seamlessly into your existing gear collection without taking up valuable space. With its robust build quality, the SE-50 promises durability and long-lasting performance, ensuring it's a steadfast companion for your musical journey.

Whether you're crafting intricate soundscapes in the studio or adding depth to your live performances, the Boss SE-50 stands out as a reliable tool that delivers exceptional sound quality. Its flexibility and ease of use make it a favorite among musicians seeking to expand their creative possibilities.

Key Features:

  • Advanced digital signal processing for a wide range of effects
  • User-friendly interface with easy-to-navigate menu system
  • Compact design suitable for studio and live settings
  • Versatile effects including reverb, delay, chorus, and flanger
  • Robust build quality for reliable performance and durability

Product specs

Brand Boss
Model SE-50 Stereo Effects Processor
Finish Black
Year 1990 - 1993
Made In Japan
Categories Multi-Effects Pedals and Processors
Pedal Format Rackmount

FAQs

What types of effects does the Boss SE-50 offer?

The Boss SE-50 provides a wide range of effects, including reverb, delay, chorus, flanger, and overdrive, among others. It's designed to be a versatile multi-effects processor suitable for various musical applications.

Is the Boss SE-50 suitable for live performances?

Yes, the Boss SE-50 is suitable for live performances due to its rackmount format, which allows easy integration into a live rig. Its stereo outputs and robust effects make it a reliable choice for stage use.

How does the Boss SE-50 connect to other audio equipment?

The Boss SE-50 connects to other audio equipment via standard 1/4-inch inputs and outputs. It supports stereo connections, making it compatible with a wide range of studio and live sound setups.

Can the Boss SE-50 be used with both guitars and keyboards?

Yes, the Boss SE-50 is versatile and can be used with both guitars and keyboards. Its broad range of effects and stereo processing capabilities make it suitable for various instruments.

Does the Boss SE-50 require any special power supply?

The Boss SE-50 requires a standard AC power supply, typical of rackmount units from its era. Ensure you have the appropriate voltage and plug type for your region when setting it up.

zibbybone

zibbybone

Boss SE-50 Stereo Effects Processor Demo SE50

Video thumbnail for Boss SE-50 Stereo Effects Processor Demo SE50 by zibbybone

Boss SE-50 Stereo Effects Processor Demo SE50

zibbybone

zibbybone

Video thumbnail for Boss SE 50 - a few presets with electric guitar by Thomas Atzinger

Boss SE 50 - a few presets with electric guitar

Thomas Atzinger

Thomas Atzinger

Video thumbnail for BOSS SE-50 [ Plate Reverb ] by Kick.S

BOSS SE-50 [ Plate Reverb ]

Kick.S

Kick.S

Video thumbnail for Boss SE50 DEMO by Clifton Wright

Boss SE50 DEMO

Clifton Wright

Clifton Wright

Video thumbnail for Boss SE 50 delay(preset NO9) function check video by JakeBox

Boss SE 50 delay(preset NO9) function check video

JakeBox

JakeBox

Reviews

PROS

  • Compact size with robust capabilities

  • Excellent sound quality without digital harshness

  • Wide range of effects: delay, flanger, chorus, etc.

  • High ease of use with fast midi response

  • Bulk dump/load feature for easy data management

  • Useful for both live performances and studio recordings

CONS

  • Consumes backup/storage batteries quickly

  • Some effects sound dated to modern ears

  • Replacement parts (like input knobs) can be expensive and hard to find

Owner Insights

We analyzed real musician discussions from forums and Reddit to find what players love, question, and tweak about Boss SE-50.

Comparisons

  • Users suggest the SE-50 is a budget-friendly alternative to the SE-70, despite the SE-70's superior reputation.

    Source
  • The SE-50 is considered a "test run" for the SE-70, which features superior effects and is more highly regarded among users.

    Source

Features and functionality

  • The Boss SE-70's Wave Chorus offers three stereo choruses with configurable waveforms, with sounds reminiscent of the Dimension D chorus.

    Source
  • The SE-70 includes a 20-tap delay that can emulate Lexicon's "Circular Delays" and "Pan Delays," noted for its stereo capabilities.

    Source
  • The Boss SE-70 includes a stereo modulated delay, providing a classic 2290-like modulation, unlike TC’s Toneprint pedals, which add chorus or vibrato post-delay.

    Source
  • The Boss SE-50 is praised for its versatility, being a good option for synths and vocals despite its age.

    Source

Use cases and applications

  • Owners note that the SE-50 adds characterful noise, which can enhance synth sounds.

    Source

Value and pricing

  • The SE-50 stands out as a cost-effective secondhand option for multi-effects processing.

    Source

Critic Reviews

The Black Magic Box (SOS Oct 93)

muzines.co.uk

Boss's SE70 multi-effects processor impresses with its high-quality effects and unexpected features like the guitar/bass synth and vocoder. While it's a worthy successor to the SE50, it comes with a higher price tag and faces stiff competition in the crowded effects processor market. Ideal for creative musicians who appreciate the Roland sound, the SE70 offers a compact form and ease of use, though it lacks the groundbreaking appeal of its predecessor.

Add

4.5 out of 5

Based on 4 Reviews and 20 Ratings

5 star
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drey_andersson

Buy the Boss SE-50 now, thank me before the YouTube hype hits

Everyone's out there hunting Lexicon PCMs, dusty Eventides, vintage 480Ls. Meanwhile the Boss SE-50 sits on eBay for the price of a decent dinner and nobody's paying attention. I think that's a mistake.

This thing came out in 1991, half-rack, 16-bit, all the limitations you'd expect from that era. And those limitations are exactly the point. The reverbs aren't pristine. They have this slightly cloudy, slightly metallic dimensional thing going on that you cannot get from a plugin no matter how many UAD verbs or Lexicon LXP emulations you stack on a bus. The early reflections behave weird. The chorus has a slow grain to it that sounds like nothing else I've put a signal through. The pitch shifter is grainy in a way that ruins everything in the best way.

I run synths and samples through this thing for the stuff that needs character. When I want a patch to sit in a mix and bring its own atmosphere, this is the first stop. My DAW reverbs are too clean. My Lexicon plugin is too polite. The SE-50 does something the algorithms in modern plugins don't bother doing anymore because it's "wrong" by 2026 standards.

That's the whole pitch. It's wrong in a useful way.

Stuff that's been bulletproof for me: chorus into hall on sustained pads, there's a 3D quality I haven't been able to clone with anything else. Pitch shift into a verb tail on lead lines, slightly detuned, falls apart at the edges, perfect for anything that needs to feel a bit broken. Gated verb into drum bus, not SPX, not RMX16, its own texture.

Honest take: if you're producing right now and you have 50 bucks burning a hole, skip another plugin subscription and grab one of these. They're cheap because nobody's covered it properly yet. That window closes the second one of the big YouTube channels does a deep dive.

Until then, more for us. - Drey Andersson

drmotte

used in 1992

i have used the boss se 50 completle for my first album "chill out planet earth" which came out 1992 on space teddy

jaccos

Great original sounds of the 90s!

So much to tune! This is a great way to find out how effects are produced.

tmaxxuk

early multi effects unit

sounded great in the day, but a little dated now. still has some great reverbs for the studio

Artist usage

Add artist
See how James Hetfield uses Boss SE-50

James Hetfield

Singer, Guitarist

Metallica

...
Verified via Photo

On this photo, you can see Boss SE-50 in James's rack.

See how Buckethead uses Boss SE-50

Buckethead

Guitarist, Bassist

Guns N' Roses

...
Verified via Guitar World

"In the track “Jowls” [from Monsters and Robots], the “chandelier” scrape at the beginning of the song is achieved with the trusty Roland SE-50 set to produce two pitches descending and two pitches ascending, thus creating the sound of four minor seconds. No delay was used, the level of harmony was 100 percent on each note, and the volume levels of the actual note and the processed harmonies were equal. Save me the slunk!"

See how Kraftwerk uses Boss SE-50

Kraftwerk

Composer, Music Producer

Kraftwerk

...
Verified via YouTube

can be seen at kl 2:40

See how Klaus Schulze uses Boss SE-50

Klaus Schulze

Guitarist, Bassist

Tangerine Dream

...
Verified via Muzines

From the February 1993 issue of Sound on Sound, Klaus Schulze's equipment list includes:

EMT 250/251 reverbs AKG ADR 68K reverb + editor Yamaha SPX1000 multi-effects Roland SRV2000 reverb Korg SDD1200 Korg SDD3000 Korg DVP1 harmoniser Ibanez SDR 1000 Boss SE50 Eventide Harmonizer Moog 16-channel Vocoder

See how NIgel Tufnel uses Boss SE-50

NIgel Tufnel

Guitarist

Spinal Tap

...
Verified via MusicRadar

"I go through an SE-50 BOSS effect processor, so it's got a little bit of chorus and delay,"

See how John Abercrombie uses Boss SE-50

John Abercrombie

Guitarist

Kenny Wheeler Quintet

...
Verified via Guitarplayer

"I use a Boss SE-50 for delay, reverb, and chorus, and I split the signal into two amps…" (Originally published July 2007)

J

Johan Van Roy

Music Producer

Suicide Commando

...
Verified via Suicidecommando

Suicide Commando / Johan lists his equipment on his official website - see link.

See how Cinthie uses Boss SE-50

Cinthie

Music Producer, DJ

...
Verified via MusicTech

As seen in the rack photos of this MusicTech interview.

See how Morgan Geist uses Boss SE-50

Morgan Geist

Music Producer, DJ

...
Verified via Soundonsound

mentioned in article "or those who, like Morgan Geist, learned to produce electronic music in the pre‑YouTube days, success hinged upon being lucky enough to know someone who could teach you or winging it in the dark with a badly written manual. Without the former, Morgan and Dashan persevered with little success for many years with the latter. It wasn’t until moving to study at Oberlin College, a sister school of the highly regarded Oberlin Institute where Kelley Polar studied, that Morgan’s perseverance caught the attention of Midwest techno legend Dan Curtin. By this time he had amassed a Roland Juno‑106, a broken ARP Axxe, a Kawai Q80, a MIDI‑only version of MOTU’s Performer sequencer, a Boss SE‑50 effects processor, a Boss DR‑660 drum machine and an Alesis ADAT 8‑track digital recorder, which at the time was a revolutionary machine for bedroom producers. “I saved and saved for one. It was so expensive, and now people won’t even use them as doorstops.”

See how Lagowski uses Boss SE-50

Lagowski

Keyboardist, Composer

...
Verified via Lagowski

For those interested in the gear I used, here is a list: Mutable Instruments ‘Shruthi’ synthesizer, Bastl Instruments Trinity Poly, Roland SP404SX Sampler, Bleep Labs ‘Nebulophone’, Phonic 12:2 mixer, Mute Dirty Synth 1, Boss SE50, Boss Tera Echo, Koma Elektronik BD101 Delay, Sony MiniDisk, 4:1 submixer…

See how Paul Robb uses Boss SE-50

Paul Robb

Keyboardist, Composer

Information Society

...
Verified via Soundonsound

List of effects at Paul Robb's studio:

Aphex Type C2 Exciter. BBE 462 Sonic Maximiser enhancer. Drawmer DL241 dual compressor. "I generally strap this across the stereo buss. At some point I'd like to get a better compressor, though." Boss SE50. Boss SE70. "I primarily use these for distortion." Digitech VFX Valve FX. "This is an awesome distortion box. It's so bright it will rip your head off." Ensoniq DP/2. "I also use this primarily for distortion. All four of my distortion boxes [Digitech Valve FX, Roland SE50 and SE70, Ensoniq DP2] are absolutely critical to me. They're indispensable. I rarely use synthesizers anymore without running them through a guitar box." Eventide H3000 multi‑effects. FMR Audio RNC1773 Really Nice Compressor (x3). "These are my new favourite boxes. They make them in Texas, and they're incredibly cheap — 179 dollars, I think it was. But they're great, and on a par with the Drawmer compressor." Focusrite Red 2 Dual EQ. "It's mostly just gorgeous looking! Everyone who comes in here notices it. It looks like a piece of candy, you just want to bite on it. The thing is, it's so intimidating to look at, you really can't tell if it's any good or not — it doesn't need to be any good! I like it, though it's not quite good enough to strap across the whole mix: the EQ3D is on a par, even though it's half the price." Focusrite Red 7 Voice Channel. "This has a mic pre, a compressor, an enhancer and a de‑esser in it, which we use for recording vocals." Lexicon MPX1 multi‑effects. Lexicon PCM70 multi‑effects. Nightpro EQ3D filter. Peavey Analog Filter. "I actually very rarely use this. I've run some loops through it to make them sound crunchy and lo‑fi and it works OK. These techno people use outboard filters all the time — it's just that this one isn't a particularly good one, and I can't justify spending a grand on something like the Waldorf DPole or the Mutator." Roland SDE1000. "I just use this for simple delays." Roland SRV2000 reverb. SPL Vitalizer. "I think this is a lot more popular in Britain than it is here. I like it, but it has so much background hiss that I can only use it in loud noisy music. The great thing about it is the way it spreads the stereo fields, it's got some kind of phase." TC Electronic M2000 multi‑effects. Yamaha SPX90 multi‑effects. "This was the first effects box I ever bought and it's totally on its last legs. I keep it for its stereo split program, because it sounds so grainy and nice."

See how WATCHMAN uses Boss SE-50

WATCHMAN

Drummer, Music Producer

...
Verified via musit(ミュージット)

In an interview with Musit, WATCHMAN confirmed that he used the Boss SE-50 multi-effects processor during the early days of his band The Sleepwalk:

"使用機材は姉から譲り受けたYAMAHAのストラトキャスター(型番不明)に、音楽仲間たちから頂いたBOSSやMAXONなどのコンパクトエフェクター群、それと自分の最初期の宅録機材であるROLAND:W-30(シーケンサー/サンプラー/キーボード)、BOSS:SE-50(マルチエフェクター)、TASCAM:PORTASTUDIO 424(4chカセットMTR)を使っていました。歌は当時マイク知識がゼロだったので笑、普通のカラオケ用マイクとリハスタにあったSHUREのSM58か何かで録っていました。

Album Usage

The Boss SE-50 has been featured on the following albums:

Genre Usage

Based on how artists on Equipboard use this gear, it is most commonly found in the following genres.

Used With

Based on how musicians on Equipboard use Boss SE-50, it is most commonly used with the following gear.

Community setups

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kolkoz

kolkoz

Gear IQ 119

fryta

fryta

Gear IQ 157

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