Zoom G5n vs Boss ME-80 guitar multi-effects comparison

This will be probably of no interest to my regular readers, but just in case anybody Googles this looking for a comparison, the Zoom is infinitely better than the Boss. I bought the Boss first (about £250) and was not happy with it, so I then bought a Zoom (also about £250) and that thing is a joy.

The Zoom distortions and amp simulators sound awesome, unlike the Boss ones which simply aren’t very good at all. The other effects are probably not that much different, all in all a bit better on the Zoom (although there are too many of them).

The Zoom is also easier to use (you don’t really need the manual), it has far more user defined patches, you can see what you’ve saved etc. Sure, I have a couple of niggles with the Zoom (like scrolling through hundreds of options by hand with no ‘fast forward’ button), nothing is perfect, but there is no question about which one to buy.