8 Tips for Getting the Most out of Your Boss ES-5 (featuring 1973 Fender Stratocaster)

The Boss ES-5 loopswitcher is a great centerpiece for any medium size pedal board. Here’s some tips on how to get most out of your ES-5 controlled pedal board ... especially if it includes MIDI controllable pedals.
My approach is having a good combination of “Total Recall” Presets on one hand, and on the other hand as many options for customizing them on the fly as possible.
00:28 - #01: Use Patch Select Mode 2
03:10 - #02: Create dedicated Mute/Tune Patches at *55
04:23 - #03: Use the BANK footswitch for Tap Tempo
06:07 - #04: Add another MIDI controller to your ES-5 board
07:56 - #05: Use the MUTE footswitch for in-Patch switching
08:48 - #06: Change effect presets within one Patch with MUTE and CNUM
09:59 - #07: Add external footswitches and use them cleverly
13:05 - #08: Use template Patches
Fender Stratocaster from 1973 into pedal board into Real Guitars Leo 2×10" Combo (tweed 5E4A Super Amp clone) and Vintage Sound Amps Vintage 15 (Princeton Reverb Clone w/ 12" Jensen speaker). Also, Korg Electribe 2 Sampler.
Rockboard Stage pedal board powered by Truetone CS-12. Disaster Area DMC 3XL Gen1, Dimehead patch and switching box, Boss ES-5, Prostage Remote Wah Wah, Kingsley Minstrel v2, Sonuus Voluum, Line6 M5, Strymon Timeline.
Recorded live through Sennheiser 421 and e606 mics through a RME Babyface Pro into Cubase.
Copyright for the cover songs by their respective writers and publishing companies, for the rest © 2019 TheGuacamoleXplosion

[@iambeetle]

This is seriously the most useful video about ES-5 that I have ever seen! Thanks!

[@TheGuacamoleXplosion]

thanks a lot, it means a lot to me if my videos are useful for others 😎

[@billytremoloband7456]

After being inspired by your es5 videos and my es8 braking I finally took delivery of an es5 today, really looking forward to programming it and coming up with some cool tones, thank you again for all your great videos

[@CristobalMuerto]

Very nice demo of the ES-5. Nice to hear a bit of So era PG too.

[@LyndonWesleyMusic]

You’ve got some great sounds on your board! Nice playing too 👍🏻 Thanks for this video. We just bought an ES5 to help with our ever changing switching requirements from show to show.

[@TheGuacamoleXplosion]

thanks a lot :-)

[@siddcoutto]

I've used an es-5 for the last 3 years. It's done everything I needed it to do. But I wanted to dig deeper and get even more out of it and your video has helped! Thank you!

[@TheGuacamoleXplosion]

Great :-)

[@siddcoutto]

TheGuacamoleXplosion great music and playing as well. I keep forgetting I'm trying to learn something because i'm enjoying the music with my eyes closed.

[@billytremoloband7456]

TheGuacamoleXplosion Hello greetings from Ireland 🇮🇪, bit of a techy question for you, I’m looking at getting a es5 and a voodoo labs hex as my es8 finally gave up just a month out of warranty at the start of the lock down and looking at all the different switchers I’m thinking es5 May work best, only issue is no stereo and I’d like to use my dc2w, just wondering if think this would work , if I ran the tuner out of the es5 into the #1 loop of the hex (which is independent of the other 5 loops) and split loop 5 of the es5 with it there for being able to connect up the dc2w stereo in/out ....? Other possible hack I was going to try is to loop the midi through on my dd500 back into the es5 and assign a button per patch (external momentary switch) to use a replica of the patch I’m in (what ever pedals are on) but in another bank and assign the button within the next patch to bring me back to the original patch rather than just bank up/down, was thinking it would be handy to save assigns........!

[@rogersolano2323]

I love it! The best killer board I ever seen! Thanks for this video

[@dudedavid522]

Amazing video. Thanks for putting your time and heart into this.

[@TheGuacamoleXplosion]

thanks

[@HomeStudioCorner]

Super helpful. Thanks!

[@ErGoyoTV]

Excelent video!! MIDI is essential to create an advanced pedalboard. Came here to check the Boss switcher tips, and enjoyed by your warm rendition of Don't Give Up. I am a PG fan and definitely will steal it and add it to my playing.

[@TheGuacamoleXplosion]

thanks :-)

[@PuRe_AdDicT]

So inspirational, Guacamole Xplosion pwns ES-5 like no other, thanks for the video!

[@danieloux]

One of the best and most helpful gear feature videos I've seen online thank you bro!

[@TheGuacamoleXplosion]

glad you liked it, thanks :-)

[@billytremoloband7456]

Set up the board tonight with the es5, really looking forward to making up some patches/ come up with some cool tones! I’ve used my dm2 W as a splitter going back into the es5 and into one side of the dc2w and es5 output into the other side of the dc2w and them in stereo into the dd500 which now allows to run my chorus/ flanger and phaser either in to both amps or in a kinda wet/dry set up while the dc2w is always stereo.

[@ThanhMaiWorld]

Very Informative video! Thank you 🙏

[@kirkmulder1599]

I figured out I had thought I needed bank set to off but that is why play (patch select mode) mode 2 was not working. Thanks so much

[@gusbus442]

Wow helpful and refreshing. Could you please do more tips on the Es-5 not many videos regarding its complexity. Thanks

[@TheGuacamoleXplosion]

Thanks. Did one on the combination of ES-5 and Line 6 M-5: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mpXceoB5a7eIrZI ... there may be more in the future when I’ll have time :-)

[@billytremoloband7456]

As per usual top notch video/playing! Still waiting for a firmware update for the es8 to include patch select 2 option as all the banks in the es8 are a pain to click through to select the patch you need! Grand in a studio situation or if you use the same set every night but not so good in a situation where your mid song/solo and you want to go for a particular sound!

[@eatth1s]

Wow intricate stuff. I have an expression pedal connected to my ES5 so that I can control any parameter on my CBA pedals, but was thinking having additional external CTL controls would be good. I was thinking of making a box that allowed me to swap between EXP and CTL.. i didn't realise you could control other pedals from the sonuus, that's a game changer.

[@TheGuacamoleXplosion]

The Sonuus Voluum is a fantastic pedal that can do a lot of things (including MIDI expression with defineable channel, CC#, Max and Min values per preset). It does have some firmware quirks, but you can learn to work around them. Check my blogpost and demo vid: theguacamolexplosion.eu/sonuus-voluum-the-most-underrated-analog-fx-pedal.html | kzbin.info/www/bejne/rWWZiX-EhqZod6s

[@eatth1s]

@@TheGuacamoleXplosion already watched it and helped me decide to get one but just missed bidding on eBay. Going to be interesting to see how good each individual effect is, but the controls and packaging look very tidy. More midi pedals please pedal makers! The software also looks good for setting up presets. CBA pedals are fantastic but being able to check your presets would be great for them

[@TheGuacamoleXplosion]

@@eatth1s yep, absolutely ... recently got a CBA Condor, amazing pedal, but adding a USB port and editor software would make it much easier to handle

[@kirkmulder1599]

Help!! Thank you so much btw! Great video and even better article on your site. I had things working but somehow messed up and can’t get bank to behave right for tap tempo. Not sure where I went wrong. It’s not doing mode 2 and tap tempo just resets to 500 bpm when I press bank. Pulling my hair out

[@TheGuacamoleXplosion]

The Assign should be: Sw=ON, Src=Bank, Mod=MOM, Cate=BPM, Target=Tap, Min=OFF, Max=ON

[@kirkmulder1599]

Just saw this. Quick reply! It’s working but one push on bank does not bring me to bank select mode though I’m set to mode 2. I screwed something up globally I guess.

[@TheGuacamoleXplosion]

@@kirkmulder1599 sorry for the late reply ... there’s a few other settings in the Play Option menu which you may wanna check (I assumed them to be on their factory defaults in the vid): Switch Mode should be PUSH, and Bank Chg Mode should be WAIT. Also, the BANK switch should have it’s default function activated. To check this, go to the EXP/CTL menu, to BANK, Enter; there, Func should be BankM.

[@IvanTirtiaux]

Thanks a lot for this very useful video! Had watched it in the past when I got my ES-5 and came back to it today, made me answer some tough questions I had about midi. I read your blog too, but there's still one answer I can't find insofar there is one. Is there a way to make a patch a momentary switch? E.g. playing on patch 211 and activating patch 212 while holding down an external switch (or Cnum), and go directly back to 211 while releasing?

[@TheGuacamoleXplosion]

Hi Ivan, thanks! What you plan is not really possible, since the ES doesn't store Patch navigation history. So, if you have an external switch in Patch 211 set up to go to Patch 212, as soon as you will be in Patch 212, the ES will have “forgotten” that it was on 211 before.

[@IvanTirtiaux]

@@TheGuacamoleXplosion ok, this is too bad, I'll try another way to do that, thanks any way for this very clear explanation!

[@nxpster91]

wtf switch master 🤩🤩

[@ojreindal]

Thank you so much! This was so helpful:) is there a way to make the tap tempo changes to the “bank” button global?

[@TheGuacamoleXplosion]

Yep, you can make them global by setting “Tempo Hold” to ON in the Playoption menu (requires firmware 2.x). This will work no matter what source/footswitch you use to set the ES-5 master tempo. But then it will be really global, that is, once you tap in a tempo, it will override the BPM settings stored in your Patches. I think until you either set Tempo Hold back to OFF, or power on/off the ES-5. Unfortunately, there’s no such thing as “Tempo Hold only within one bank”. For me, the global Tempo Hold doesn’t work; I need pre-programmed BPMs in many cases. I might activate it when I’m at home experimenting with different sounds for a new song; or when I’m playing at a fully improvising jam session. But never when playing regular gigs.

[@nathanbendik9491]

It wasn't clear to me how you set up tip 5, using the MUTE button as a boost. I unassigned the mute button in CTL/EXP, but how do I now make it boost?

[@TheGuacamoleXplosion]

Hi Nathan, tip #5 is “use the MUTE footswitch for switching stuff within a Patch“; not “turning the ES-5 MUTE button into a boost switch without additional gear”. While the ES-5 mixer is able to do some boosting (up to +6 dB), unfortunately, ES-5 mixer level cannot be switched by assigns. So, you will need some external pedal that does the boost. It could be A. just a simple boost pedal in one of the ES-5 loops; in that case, you would assign MUTE to turn that loop on and off (which would give you comfortable direct access to that loop in Memory Mode, without having to enter the troublesome manual mode). B. a pedal which can give you MIDI controlled boost. Like, the Strymon Timeline and BigSky can give you +/- 3dB of boost/cut via MIDI. I have a Timeline on my board. I could program all my regular Timeline Presets to be at - 3dB; and then assign MUTE on the ES-5 to toggle CC#23 between values 0 and 60 on the Timeline’s MIDI channel. This would give me a +6 dB boost switchable from the ES-5. You can of course also do this with any other pedal that has a MIDI controllable output volume which can go above unity gain; like, Sonuus Voluum, many Chase Bliss Audio pedals etc.; what I’m using in the video is my ProStage Remote Wah (mounted under the board), which not only does MIDI-controlled wah, but can give you MIDI-controlled clean boost of up to +29 dB. Finally, there IS a possible way of using the ES-5 MUTE footswitch to boost (by controlling ES-5 mixer level) withouth an additional pedal; but this comes at a cost. This would be using the easter egg functionality of the ES-5 carry over function ... described in my blog: theguacamolexplosion.eu/boss-es-5-tips-iii-building-patches.html#mcetoc_1dcm2c62g7

[@twanto]

@@TheGuacamoleXplosion Thanks, I get that the ES-5 doesn't boost itself, so I apologize for being unclear. I guess my question was how to do I "assign MUTE to turn that loop on and off"? Is that through the "Assign" options?

[@TheGuacamoleXplosion]

@@twanto Yep, you can make an Assign with Src=MUTE, Cate=LOOP, and Target=L1 to L5. You could add a second assign to turn the MUTE LED on whenever that boost loop is active; attention: You need to save the preset with the LED in the state you want it to come up :-)

[@dzxcqwe]

Amazing video! For tip #5 Can you tell me how you were able to make the mute button do the boost and the change? I have a boost pedal in loop 5 and wants to use the mute button to trigger it within patches. Thank you!

[@TheGuacamoleXplosion]

Hi Fred, thanks :-) First Step, you need to unassign the MUTE footswitch from its muting functionality, as shown at 08:40 in the vid. You can do this on a global scale, by setting PREFERENCE for the MUTE fs to SYS, as described in my blog: theguacamolexplosion.eu/boss-es-5-tips-ii-setting-up-your-es-5.html#mcetoc_1dmdncr4a0 Second Step, you need to make an Assign in the CTL/EXP menu; Sw=ON, Src=MUTE, Mod=TGL, Cate=LOOP, Target=L5, Min=OFF, Max=ON ... check theguacamolexplosion.eu/boss-es-5-tips-iii-building-patches.html#mcetoc_1dd8k2t3m0 for details 🙂

[@nicholascarroll7239]

Hey, great stuff and killer playing! Are you running stereo, or wet/dry? Could you please explain that for me?

[@TheGuacamoleXplosion]

I'm running stereo. At least at home and when playing duo gigs ... in larger live band contexts, nobody will hear it 😀 I have two pedals that can generate a stereo signal, Timeline and M5. Since I want to change their order in some ES-5 Patches, I have both of them in separate ES-5 loops, left outs from both FX going to their respective ES-5 returns. Right outs from both FX however go to a relais-controlled A/B switcher (inside the yellow pedal on the bottom right), switched by the ES-5 CTL Out. So, for each ES-5 Patch I can decide whether I want the M5 or the Timeline to create stereo; and I will move that pedal to the end of the ES-5's variable signal chain, and switch that pedals right output to feed my right amp (left amp is fed from ES-5 main out) using the ES-5-controlled A/B switcher. Check also my blog article: theguacamolexplosion.eu/beyond-mono-part-one-stereo-rigs.html

[@paulflieshman4430]

Thanks so much for this Sascha. Great stuff! A question - how is your MIDI routing connected? The Sonuus is both sending to and receiving from the ES5, the M5 and Timeline both receive, the Disaster Area presumably is in between the ES5 and the Timeline?

[@TheGuacamoleXplosion]

Disaster Area DMC3XL goes first, since it only has a MIDI out (the newer versions have MIDI in, too, via a Y-Cable; but mine is Generation 1, so it needs to come first). Then ES-5. Then the Sonuus - Sonuus doesn't need to send MIDI back to the ES-5; ES-5 tells the Sonuus via MIDI PC what to do; like, to go to a preset where the Sonuus pedal controls Wah, or the M5, or the Timeline; or just a standard Volume pedal preset; also, ES-5 tells the Sonuus via MIDI CC which of the sections (Gate, Compressor, Tremolo, Volume control) to enable, and can send one CC parameter for Compressor, LFO and VOlume each. Then the Prostage Remote Wah (mounted under the board), then Timeline, and finally the M5 that needs to sit at the end of the chain since it doesn't have MIDI Thru.

[@joshhorne]

I’ve got my ES-5 setup and I’m integrating your tips. The mind boggling thing will be remember which bank has which presets. Any tips for that? I supposed I could incorporate preset numbers into my set list. 🤔

[@TheGuacamoleXplosion]

yep, I do that sometimes, to (write the preset numbers on the set list)

[@sundokim4708]

Love your video, I showed it to everyone that I know who owns a boss es 5. Have a question, I have bank 1 all set up for different stages of drives (clean to lead). I am trying to have bank 2 to control my midi pedals. However I want my tone still be the same that I had in bank 1, so far whenever I switched to bank to and to a patch, the tone changes. My plan is have clean tone while I am playing (bank 1) then I will go to bank 2 to turn on a preset on my reverb pedal via midi, all while having my clean tone from bank 1. Please let me know if this is possible, I am still trying to figure it out. Thank you!

[@TheGuacamoleXplosion]

this is at least not what the ES-5/ES-8 were designed for. The ES cannot "memorize" stuff when switching between patches/banks. So if you get the different stages of drive in your bank 1 from different combinations of loops (rather than from sending Midi CCs to MIDI-fied drive pedals), there's no way to keep those different combinations of loops you can chose in your Bank 1 when going to Bank 2 to switch MIDI pedals. You may consider getting a Musicom Lab EFX-LE2 instead ... similar form factor and price like ES-5, slightly more audio functionality (more loops, stereo, two detailed volume control elements), and you can have several pages of footswitches there within one bank. Like, page 1 one could control your drives, page 2 your MIDI pedals. Or, what I currently do with my ES-5 board: I have some basic sounds in the banks of group 1. I have my most-used presets on my MIDI pedals close together (like, Bank 0A to 9B on my Strymon Timeline). So I can always easily get my desired sound by combining the ES-5 group 1 basic sounds (like, different levels of drive, same with wah, compression etc) with different kinds of delay, reverb and modulation when I'm jamming/writing/experimenting. Then, for structured live sets, I save the desired combinations of basic sounds and MIDI pedal presets to the other ES-5 groups.

[@stevelynnworth8322]

Great playing and demo. If I may ask, how are you getting that bass tone?

[@TheGuacamoleXplosion]

Thx :-) There’s some slightly different bass sounds in the demo, but all of them have the Line 6 Bass Octaver model at the core (on the M5, but also available on M9, M13, Helix/HX etc.). Typically, I will put the Sonuus Voluum with strong compression active before the M5 doing bass. Sometimes, like here on “Don’t Give Up”, I will add stereo flanging from the Strymon Timeline. At 5:10, Sonuus Voluum also adds sawtooth tremolo.

[@stevelynnworth8322]

Thank you!

[@nunocastro1810]

It`s possible to assign the “mute” function into a “booster” just for a specific preset (patch) or this change it will affect all unit? And for this propose, the boss ES-5 had an internal boost that we could assign, or the only option is to conected a boost pedal? I saw your change settings on vídeo : Edit-CTR/EXP-Mute-Func=OFF, but I dont know how assign/add the Boost insted the Mute (2ºpart to edit for propose)? Thank you for this great video!!!

[@TheGuacamoleXplosion]

Hi Nuno, glad you liked the video. The mixer level of the ES-5/ES-8 unfortunately cannot be target of assigns in the current firmware (as of May 2020). So, currently, there’s only three options to make MUTE control a boost within a Patch: A. The most common would be to put a boost pedal in an ES loop, and assign MUTE to toggle that loop on/off. B. In case you have pedals allowing MIDI control over their gain/level, use that one. On my board, there’s four pedals which can do this; in this video it’s mostly the Prostage Remote Wah mounted under the board which serves as MIDI controlled clean boost. MUTE is assigned to send MIDI CC data to the Prostage, with a Min value resulting in no boost, and a Max value resulting in something like +12 dB (pre drive, that is). Be aware that also Strymon Timeline and BigSky allow analog boost/cut of +/- 3 dB for the full signal (CC#23, values from 0 to 60). C. Final option: There’s the “easter egg” feature of the ES-5 carryover function, described in my blog: theguacamolexplosion.eu/boss-es-5-tips-iii-building-patches.html#mcetoc_1dcm2c62g7 ... this CAN be used as a assignable boost, but only in patches were you don’t need one of the ES-5 loops, and either leave it completely empty, or bypass the pedal(s) in that loop (by foot or by MIDI).

[@nunocastro1810]

@@TheGuacamoleXplosion Thank you a lot for your quick and helpful answer!!! Very well explained, and your blog are very useful too!!! I have 2 midi`s on my ES-5... Strymon Timeline and Boss DD-500.. Thank you one more time for your time and atention with me!!!

[@ThrashRoC]

Phantastic Video about the Boss Es-5 ..I bought one used (great Conditions) I´s a VERY Fine and Professional Piece of gear ... I Have the Boss SY-200 (Synthesizer) and a T.C. Electronics Nova Systen + 5 Analog Pedals . I want to controll both Midi Units wih the Boss Looper , but there is only one Midi in/thru and one Out .. How can i put more than one midi Pedal on the Looper ? (Split Midi Cable ?)

[@TheGuacamoleXplosion]

You can chain MIDI devices. This is completely independent of the audio signal chain, since MIDI is only control signals. I've never owned the SY-200 nor the Nova System; if either of those has a MIDI Thru (or a MIDI Out which can be set to function as a Thru, too), you can just cable ES-5 MIDI Out to first device MIDI In, first device MIDI Thru to second device MIDI In. Make sure the SY-200 and the NOVA receive on different MIDI channels, so you can control them individually from the ES-5.

[@ThrashRoC]

@@TheGuacamoleXplosion Thanks for the tip to assign the midi channels separately. I'll take care of it at the end of the week.

[@seandavidharris]

This is my fav ES-5 video I have found. Can you explain how you were able to get the Timeline loop to fade out like that using the extra midi controller?

[@TheGuacamoleXplosion]

Timeline loop level can be controlled via MIDI with CC#98. Most Disaster Area MIDI controllers, like the DMC-3 XL Gen1 which I am using here, can be set to have a mode with 2 footswitches dedicated to increase/decrease Timeline looper level; either in single steps, or fading up/down by holding those footswitches.

[@seandavidharris]

@@TheGuacamoleXplosion That is amazingly useful. I was about to sell my timeline because it infuriates me that the loop can’t naturally fade out. So would the ES-5 be able to control this function by itself also?

[@TheGuacamoleXplosion]

@@seandavidharris not exactly like the DMC, which gives you full control over level up/down; this requires an internal counter in the MIDI controller remembering what value was sent last, and the ES-5 doesn’t have counters like that. You can however receive similar results with the ES-5 ramp generator (called INT). Assign a footswitch to trigger INT, and it can send slowly decreasing values over a defineable time. So, it can make the Timeline looper fade out; you just have to program the time in advance

[@seandavidharris]

@@TheGuacamoleXplosion This is next level midi knowledge. I am going to have to check this out. Thanks for your responses!

[@PinchTune]

I heard that to put pedals in the amp's effects loop with the ES-5 you have to give up one of the loops for it. I don't understand why, Any ideas? Regardless, I currently have a Source Audio Collider and an incoming Eventide H9. Apart from, a Maxon Stereo Chorus. The previous two have MIDI, so I'm thinking I'll just keep them OUT of the ES-5/8's loops and put them directly in the amp's effect loop and control them via MIDI, but outside of the ES5/8 loops. Would do be possible. Not sure about the Stereo Chorus. I might have to keep that one in front of the amp.

[@TheGuacamoleXplosion]

You can of course put the ES-5 (and all which its loops contain) in front of the amp, and put additional MIDI pedals in the amp’s FX loop, controlling them via MIDI from the ES-5. If you want to use the Maxon chorus also in the amp FX loop and switch it on/off from the ES-5, you could either have somebody mod the Maxon for you to have a remote switching jack; or (more expensive, but I would prefer it since it won’t harm your Maxon) get some relais-based loop switcher that can be remote controlled from the ES-5 CTL outs. Like the GigRig Remote Loopy 2: This would allow you to put 2 additional pedals in your amp’s fx loop and switch them from the ES. About loosing one loop when working with the ES-5 and your amp’s FX loop: This is when using the so-called 4 cable method (4cm) to connect your ES-5 and your amp. 4cm means that you basically treat your amp as two devices, separated by the amp’s serial effects loop: The preamp section (input is the amp input, output is the FX loop send) and the power amp section (input is the FX loop return, output goes to speakers). Now, you can think of the preamp section as just another drive/preamp pedal, and put it in one of the ES-5 loops. This allows you to decide for each ES-5 patch, which effects you want to put in front of your amp, and which ones you want to have in the FX loop. And yes, this way you have to sacrifice one of the ES-5 loops. If you don’t need this flexibility of the signal chain order, the solution with MIDI pedals in the amp’s loop will work better for you, since you will have more free ES-5 loops.

[@PinchTune]

​@@TheGuacamoleXplosion Oh wow, I've kept seeing the 4cm being mentioned, but no one has explained it as well as you. Thank you for that. I don't need that kind of flexibility because I already have a system as to which pedals will go in the effects loop and which will go into the front of the amp and they don't really change. So I don't need to switch the order of them via the switcher. For example, I suppose that with that 4 cable method I could switch a delay pedal from the effects loop to the front of the amp if needed, right? But I just recently bought an MXR Echoplex to be exclusively used in front of the amp, so my Source Audio Collider can always stay in the effects loop. I do understand the separation between preamp and power amp well, but had no idea on how the ES-5 could switch pedals between them. Technically, without the switcher, I use a 4cm method. 2 cables for the pedals that go between preamp and power amp (effects loop) and 2 cables for guitar and out to front of amp. I like the idea of the relay-based switch. I'll have to look more into that. Thank you so much, because that could be the one thing I was missing.

[@themouth-breathers7610]

Great Information! Do you have any idea why after I turn off the unit, it goes back to Mode 1 on start up? I want it to stay in mode 2.

[@TheGuacamoleXplosion]

No idea, my ES-5 doesn’t do that. After some years of operation, it did however start to sometimes “forget” changes saved to Patches, reverting to the previous version. So, the ES-5 seems a little prone to, well, selective amnesia ...

[@nohmygawd7855]

Rad vid. Thanks for this. Any links on where to find the Dimehead box? I'm looking for something to act as an expression with a switcher, rather than using a footpedal, I want to use 'a button' to act as a 'glide' between two settings (eg a slow rise in pitch). Reckon that would be achievable with the Dimehead box and a switcher?

[@TheGuacamoleXplosion]

try [e-mail] (based in Germany). In case you already have an ES-5/ES-8, you will not need external gear to get glide (ramping) between two settings; with ES-5/ES-8 Assigns using the internal ramp generator (INT), this can be achieved on-board (or, with regular external footswitches hooked up to the CTL In jacks). However, with the current firmware, you cannot have ramp up and ramp down on the same footswitch. But rather, there’s two options: A. Use one footswitch to ramp up, and a second footswitch to ramp back down. B. Use only one footswitch that will ramp in one direction when held, and instantly jump back to the original value when released. Im demonstrating this in my vid kzbin.info/www/bejne/mpXceoB5a7eIrZI ... also, described in my blog: theguacamolexplosion.eu/boss-es-5-tips-iii-building-patches.html#mcetoc_1ddt6jrc90

[@nohmygawd7855]

@@TheGuacamoleXplosion hero. That's a lot mate, much appreciated

[@adrianobaldussi]

Great video! Can u ask a question?! I want buy a Boss ES5, but I dont know if my power supply is enough. My pedalboard have 2 overdrive + tuner + boss Rv6 (+ boss es5 in the future) ... the power supply is a MXR M237 DC BRICK de 2000mA. Do u think my power supply is enough?

[@TheGuacamoleXplosion]

Should be enough mAs, ES-5 just needs like 125. However, the MXR bricks don't have galvanically isolated outlets AFAIK; so they may cause noises like high pitch squeals when running digital fx. But try it, if there is no excessive noise floor bothering you, stick with the MXR :-)

[@barefootbeardedwizardry]

1st I really appreciate all this info! I’m confused on the tap tempo though.... it doesn’t seem to send via midi. (I’m connected to Nemesis it is set to accept external midi clock.) When I set a specific bpm for a patch & save it, then it transmits that tempo when the patch is activated, however, nothing seems to be transmitted simply by tapping in a tempo on the ES-5...it changed the tempo displayed on the ES-5, but no change is sent. Any ideas?

[@TheGuacamoleXplosion]

seems very strange ... normally, MIDI Clock is sent permanently, as a steady pulse of data. Changing the tempo on the ES-5 - no matter whether via a Patch change, or via tapping in a new tempo, or via altering the tempo with the cursor keys - should change the speed of that pulse. And an external device listening to MIDI Clock, such as your Nemesis, should sync to that. I don’t have a Nemesis (or any other Source Audio Pedal); but with my ES-5 and all my MIDI pedals which can sync to MIDI clock - the M5, Timeline and Voluum you can see in the vid as well as my new HX Stomp - it works just as it should.

[@barefootbeardedwizardry]

@@TheGuacamoleXplosion 🤦‍♂️ had Bank set to Sys instead of pat in the preferences menu (or wherever that is... there’s too many menus 🤣) There’s no way I could figure any of this out without your blog & videos, so thank you!

[@kirkmulder1599]

I got bank tap tempo working again. I have mute as group up working. But tho I’m in play mode 2, one press of bank does not activate that mode???

[@TheGuacamoleXplosion]

as posted above: there’s a few other settings in the Play Option menu which you may wanna check (I assumed them to be on their factory defaults in the vid): Switch Mode should be PUSH, and Bank Chg Mode should be WAIT. Also, the BANK switch should have it’s default function activated. To check this, go to the EXP/CTL menu, to BANK, Enter; there, Func should be BankM.

[@MowglyOficial]

Hi greatings from Perú very nice video, in your tip number 6 in the assignment when you go to CATE I cant find the Pat.M as in your example just the regular option wich is MIDI that doest allow me to set PMidi2 just allow me a CH and a CC# for a minor change. Can you please help me with this issue?, Thank you very much.

[@TheGuacamoleXplosion]

Hi Mowgly, you are probably running an older firmware. You need firmware 2.0 or newer to get Patch MIDI (PMIDI) as an assign target; you can download it from the Boss website.

[@MowglyOficial]

@@TheGuacamoleXplosion Thank you very much, it works :) but still dont get the awesome function :( you get in tip #6, how do you create a second patch midi in the timeline? I know we got 2 patch CC#0 value range 0-1 as I know we can give one midi number to our Timeline in my case is number two. In this tip all moves so fast that I cant figure it out how you got it. can you please help me out?

[@TheGuacamoleXplosion]

@@MowglyOficial You need to create two different Patch MIDIs on the same MIDI channel (in my case, ch. 1 for my Strymon Timeline). Set one Patch MIDI to “auto” and one to “manual”. The “auto” one is what comes up whenever you recall that preset. The “manual” one need to be triggered by an assign. Check my blog: theguacamolexplosion.eu/boss-es-5-tips-iii-building-patches.html#mcetoc_1ddtv665l3

[@MowglyOficial]

@@TheGuacamoleXplosion You are the best, thank you very much :)

[@billytremoloband7456]

Hello again, it’s only been a few years! How have you been? Just wondering did you ever start using musiconlab switcher after? If so did you ever figure out if second preset button press (like cnum on boss switcher) could be set up as a secondary function like on the boss units say for example to turn on a boost etc within any preset…? Any info would be greatly appreciated!

[@TheGuacamoleXplosion]

Hi, still using my old board with the ES-5, it just works and sounds so good :-) I'm a bit further on my way to new board, though; only missing 2 or 3 pedals, one of which I will have to wait for until January. Still a bit undecided about the Musicomlab EFX-LE2 ... while it has some great functionality, there’s two ES-5 features that I would miss a lot: A. The option to recall presets in a kinda decimal way in Patch Select Mode 2 (i.e. get immediately to any of the 25 Patches in a Bank by 3 kicks: BANK - Number - Number). No way to navigate so fast on the EFX-LE2; in a set of 25 Presets, there will always be some requiring 5 kicks to get from A to B. And I would strongly prefer a fully decimal approach, where I can get to any out of 100 presets with 3 kicks, but don’t know any controller/loopswitcher yet that can do this (would require 11 footswitches at least; BANK plus 0-9). B. Dedicated local per-preset functionality. The ES-5 allows me to set up my MUTE, CNUM, Ext1 & Ext2 footswitches to do specific things in each preset. MUTE will often call the lead sound, but it will be a preset-specific lead sound. EFX-LE2 cannot do any local preset-specific footswitch programming; all footswitch functionality is global. In exchange, you get up to 6 pages of footswitch functionality, where te ESs have only 2 - Memory + Manual Mode - the latter of which cannot really be customized. Re: Your CNUM question ... the EFX-LE2 can do one out of 3 possible things when hitting the current preset footswitch for a second time, that is 1. nothing, 2. recalling the “Global Preset” (which is just one preset that is available from everywhere), or 3. Page Down. No chance to use it as flexible as on the ES, where it can have different specific functions per Patch. Described on p. 31 of the current 2.2 manual.

[@TomGledhillMusic]

how did you get the bank tap tempo LED to flash?

[@TheGuacamoleXplosion]

it flashes in tempo by default on the ES-5; AFAIK this is something the ES-8 cannot do

[@sandrokan231077]

Is it not possible to just assign to those two footswitch a dedicate up/down bank change function? it would be much easier than those 2 showed patch modes.

[@TheGuacamoleXplosion]

Of course you could assign e.g. the MUTE and BANK footswitches to be Bank up/down. Advantages: 1. It might be an easier concept to wrap one’s brain around. 2. For 48% of the Patches in a Group - those that are one bank away, plus those that are two banks away but on the same number footswitch - you will need less footswitch kicks to reach them from your current Patch. Disadvantages: 1. Out of the very few footswitches available for in-Patch changes on the ES-5 (besides CNUM, you only have MUTE for this, plus optionally up to two external footswitches; only with an additional MIDI switcher sending CC to the ES-5 you could get more), you would lose one footswitch. 2. My approach of having the BANK footswitch double as a Tap Tempo switch (tip #03) will not work anymore. If you would want a tap tempo control on the ES-5, only CNUM and external footswitches would be left for that. 3. The approach of memorizing constant 3-step-footswitch sequences (like “BANK-1-1 will always take me to my basic clean sound, no matter what Patch I’m currently on”, or “BANK-5-5 will always take me to my mute/tune Patch”, as in tip #20) wouldn’t work. Also, while the average number of footswitch presses to reach any Patch within the current Group *would* go down with two footswitches dedicated to Bank up/down, you would still need three kicks to reach Patches two Banks away from the current Patch. Bottom line: My approach gives you reaching all Patches within a Group with a maximum of three kicks and a tap tempo footswitch (via BANK), while still having MUTE, CNUM and the CTL in (either expression pedal or dual external footswitch) available for additional in-Patch switching functionality. The “BANK and MUTE dedicated to switch bank up/down” approach will also give you reaching all Patches within a Group with a maximum of three kicks; if you also need tap tempo (which you could get with CNUM), you would only have the CTL in left for for additional in-Patch switching functionality (unless you add another MIDI controller to your setup).

[@slickcross]

All of this can also be done on the ES-8 correct?

[@TheGuacamoleXplosion]

Mostly yes. I never owned an ES-8 - what I know is that preset management is different there: While the ES-5 has 8 Groups × 5 Banks × 5 Patches, the ES-8 has 100 Banks × 8 Patches (so, no “Groups” level there). Also, the ES-5 has one LED functionality feature (was it Bank LED blinking in time of the master tempo?) that the ES-8 doesn't have AFAIK.

[@gregs6424]

Why do you have patches for the same song in different banks? In other words why not keep all of the patch presets for a particular song in the same bank so that they are all next to each other? Wouldn’t this make more sense than having to bank up within the same song? Maybe I’m not understanding something. Maybe you have grouped the presets a certain way for a different reason or maybe organizing them by song would mean duplicating the patches which would take up too much space on the ES5’s memory?

[@TheGuacamoleXplosion]

Hi Greg, of course, if I'm playing a gig with written material, I will mostly not change Banks mid-song, and never Groups. But when improvising / songwriting / experimenting at home or jamming / arranging with others, I like to be able to quickly access a variety of Patches. I have two groups (= all in all 50 Patches) dedicated for experimentation / creation. Based on those 50 Patches, I compile / adapt the Patches that I need for gigging. And I put them in the other 6 Groups, normally using 1 or 2 Groups per band/project, trying to use not more than 2 Patches per song.

[@billytremoloband7456]

Do you know off hand with the mods in the m5 can you kill the dry signal and add the mixer in the m5 to give analog dry signal....? I’m thinking of setting up a really small two tier board with just dd500 and m5 up top and 2 drives, a boost, analog chorus and comp on the bottom tier , one of the drives is a modded boss od3 that can be switched on/off via es5 ctrl out! Just wired the on board button to a 1/4”Jack socket.

[@TheGuacamoleXplosion]

unfortunately, the M5 has no dedicated killdry function (which would be very convenient for operation in a parallel loop). So when I use the M5 for modulation, I mostly put it in serial loops. You can however use the Pitch Vibrato model in a parallel loop to create a Chorus type of sound.

[@billytremoloband7456]

TheGuacamoleXplosion I think I had stumbled on the pitch vibrato thing in parallel! It sounds very much like that vibrato setting on the ce2w which is great as a faux rotary sound! Plus it means not having to reach down to the board to change the ce2w to vibrato mode for certain songs just call up the preset on the m5 instead!

[@billytremoloband7456]

TheGuacamoleXplosion another m5 question for you I’ve tried calling up the tuner on the m5 with the es5 it works ok but for some reason it seems to only mute for a split second then the tuner stays on but there is audio passing through still ! Ok think it’s actually an issue with the es5 it’s like as if the mixer is switched on when in fact it’s off! With just m5 in a loop in tuner mode and loop on and es5 mixer off the audio comes through where as if i plug into m5 and out straight to amp and call up tuner with the es5 it mutes!

[@TheGuacamoleXplosion]

@@billytremoloband7456 IIRC that's a setting on the M5 ... you can either have it bypass sound or mute in Tuner mode. The split second mute that you hear OTOH probably comes from the ES-5; when you set "Patch Chg Time" in the Play Option menu to a value above 0, the ES-5 will mute for a very short moment when changing patches, to supress the popping noises that some pedals can make

[@billytremoloband7456]

TheGuacamoleXplosion Thanks for all your help, I shall check it out when I have a bit of time! How are you getting on with the new musicomlab switcher ...? Haven’t been on Facebook so I didn’t see the es page with nearly a year!

[@jazzcat1056]

I am having issues with MIDI. When I do a PC it changes 2 pedals instead of 1. What could I be doing wrong?

[@TheGuacamoleXplosion]

Probably both pedals are set to the same MIDI channel? Set each pedal to its individual MIDI channel, then it should work fine. You may wanna check my blog, too: theguacamolexplosion.eu/boss-es-5/

[@jazzcat1056]

TheGuacamoleXplosion thanks. Will check out your blog

[@jazzcat1056]

The actual pedal or is this in MIDI settings on the ES5?

[@TheGuacamoleXplosion]

@@jazzcat1056 both. You need to set the actual pedals to different MIDI channels (on most MIDI pedals, you can program those freely. Check their manuals. If you ever plan to work with a Disaster Area MIDI controller in addition to your ES5, its recommended to use MIDI channels 1, 2, 3 and 4, cause most Disaster Area controllers can only address those channels). Then, on the ES5 in Edit => Patch, you can create a Patch MIDI (PMIDI) setting for each pedal. By setting the channel there, you define to which pedal this Patch MIDI will "talk". Then, you can set the preset (Program Change / PC) for that pedal. Sometimes you may also need the MSB / LSB parameters that you can find there to define the preset bank; for devices which have more than 128 presets (such as the Strymon big boxes)

[@jazzcat1056]

TheGuacamoleXplosion than you for your assistance. Stay safe.

[@Lucjan-Siedlarczyk]

Hello. I have a question about cooperation between Plethora x3 and Boss ES-5 via midi. Is it possible to turn on, for example, the delay effect in Plethora x3 on button No. 1 in Boss ES-5, and then clicking the same button in Boss ES-5 a second time will turn off the delay effect and turn on another effect in Plethora?

[@TheGuacamoleXplosion]

Hi, the Plethora x3 is uncharted territory for me. What the ES-5 definitely can do: You can program 200 patches, each of them can send up to 8 MIDI Program changes to different pedals (i.e. on different MIDI channels). You can also make Assigns triggered by CNUM; that is, by hitting the footswitch of the currently active preset for a 2nd, 3rd, 4th etc. time. What the ES-5 canNOT do: Toggle between sending two different MIDI Program Changes (PC) with the same footswitch (you need two different footswitches for that). But if I understand you correctly, you don’t want to change presets on the x3 with CNUM, but rather, you want to activate/deactivate single effects within an x3 preset. Looking at mediadl.musictribe.com/download/software/tcelectronic/Plethora_X3/PX5_3_MIDI_CC_table.pdf it seems like this can be done by sending MIDI CCs 102, 103 and 104 to the x3. Lucky you, other than PCs, CCs CAN be toggled with a single footswitch. So, you could set up two assigns, both with Sw=ON, Src=CNUM, Mod=TGL (toggle), Cate=MIDI and Ch=[whatever MIDI Channel your x3 is set to). If you want to start with x3 Pedal 1 on and x3 Pedal 2 off, then alternate between Pedal 2 and Pedal 1 being active with each press of the current ES-5 Patch’s footswitch, settings for Assign 1 would be: CC=102, Min=127, Max=0 - and Assign 2: CC=103, Min=0, Max=127. Also, in the ES-5 Patch menu, you would have to make settings to call the x3 preset of your choice, and maybe also initialise it to your starting point, like, send CC#102 with value 127 and CC#103 with value 0.

[@Lucjan-Siedlarczyk]

@@TheGuacamoleXplosionOkey :) Thanks a lot. I will check it today.

[@Lucjan-Siedlarczyk]

​@@TheGuacamoleXplosionI tried it but it doesn't work as it should. When I program Assign 1, such as turning off button No. 1 (CC 102) in Plethora x3, it works properly. each subsequent click on the same button in the boss turns it on and off. The problem occurs when programming assign 2 and button no. 2 (CC 103) in plethora. When I click the same button in boss, it sometimes turns on (CC 103) in plethor, and when it turns it on, I have to click again for a long time to turn it off. What could this be caused by? When I replace CC102 with CC103 in Assign 1, then switching this effect into plethora works fine.

[@Lucjan-Siedlarczyk]

​@@TheGuacamoleXplosionit looks as if the assign 1 command was colliding with the assign2 command and with subsequent assign3, assign 4, etc. A single command, for example assign 1 or assign 2, works as it should, and the problem occurs when another assign command is configured

[@TheGuacamoleXplosion]

@@Lucjan-Siedlarczyk Do you have A. more than one assign triggered by the same action (CNUM) and B: more than one assign sending to the x3 MIDI channel?

[@paulcowart3174]

Lovely looking Strat ? ?

[@gaspardmurphy2792]

Hello! I am trying to contact you through your website... I have some questions about es-5 programming and thought you could help. Thank you!

[@TheGuacamoleXplosion]

quite busy at the moment, but you can send me an e-mail (address in the imprint of my blog theguacamolexplosion.eu/impressum.html )

[@RoryRocking]

Hi! you seem to know this device very well. Do you have an email address where I can send my questions? i have an annoying problem between bluguitar and es-5.

[@TheGuacamoleXplosion]

Hi Albo, I prefer to answer questions in public places like here, or the FB group facebook.com/groups/1700135030208635 ... this way, also others can profit from answers. Not sure if I can help though, since I have never workt with bluguitar.

[@borisfan1992]

how did you program the group up / down with the external switch?

[@TheGuacamoleXplosion]

Hi Alex, this works with the dedicated pages for each internal and external footswitch in the CTL/EXP menu ... explained here in my blog: theguacamolexplosion.eu/boss-es-5-tips-iii-building-patches.html#mcetoc_1dd58903s2

[@borisfan1992]

@@TheGuacamoleXplosion thanks so much! this is incredibly helpful