my multi-effect experience

This is the story about how I ended up buying a Boss ME-50 multi-effect unit. There's a link at the end to some samples of what it sounds like.
Some way back, my wife actually confessed as to how my wailing through amps was sometimes less than restful. She's a saint, having put up with my music jones for more than 30 years, so this seemed reasonable.
I set out to find an effect unit that I could record through my Boss CD 1200 using phones only and quiet monitors. The recorder has effects, but they suck. I love the sound of a good amp (my Mesa, Peavey or Line 6 Flextone) mic'd and recorded the old way, but needed a new alternative.
Did some research and narrowed it down to a couple of options within budget. Tried some Zoom stuff, didn't like the tone. The playoff was between a Line 6 POD X-3 Live and Boss/Roland ME-50, both of which have pretty good reviews.
(Aside here: I know I'm a dinosaur, not yet recording with a PC. That'll probably change when the Boss 1200 croaks, but right now it works for me. The multi-effect units in question are equally adaptable for computer recording or my old fashioned way.)
Found a little extra money and went for the X-3 Live. Got it home, unboxed, and found one switch didn't work, another worked sometimes and there was volume loss on some patches. I'd read about this, but gambled I would get a later one with problems solved. This was a Saturday evening, so kept it for Sunday and played it as the store was closed. (I'd pretty much already decided to take it back. You can download patches to fix some of the problems, but it's a pain, and the hardware failures were disconcerting.)
This thing sounds great, though. It's complex, but no doubt there are some great tones (to my volume-damaged ears) out of the box and many more with customization. I loved the tweakability of the presets, and even the wah had four models, some of which were very cool. But in the end, I took it back and went to a different spot to buy the Boss ME-50. Haven't had it long, but I think I'll keep it. It's much more analog in functionality, which is good for old farts like me. Also very sturdy, which could be major for someone gigging with it, though I probably won't as I'm a Mesa/Blues Driver/Tube Screamer and one wah live player (can't handle any more complications!) Oh yeah, the Boss was $200 or so less, too!
The wah and related effects don't match the X3-Live, but the rest of the tones, flexibility and ease of use make up for it. Here's a link to some samples. I didn't master them to make it as close to live as possible, so the volumes etc are uneven. Pardon some of the playing, I was trying a bunch of different styles to learn about the unit and to share the potential variety with you folks. I have my thoughts on it, but won't air them for now. See what you think and feel free to comment about the tone or anything else (playing too, though I'm probably past helping in that regard.)
Cheers...

http://www.box.net/shared/70385aowk4