Going beyond the conventional standards of multi-effects pedals, Zoom is introducing the new Zoom G9.2tt guitar effects console with 3-D Z-Pedal, which provides high-quality effects, recording options, and expanded control from the studio to the stage.
Featured review by:
unregistered, on march 18, 2008 1 of 1 people found this review helpful
Price paid: $ 399
Purchased from: ProSound in Colorado Springs
Ease of Use: Stock sounds are ok. I don't know why they made so many factory sounds with crazy effects. I really just wanted to have lots of great sounds I could tweak just a bit for my own use. Anyway, I created my own sounds using the software editor and a MIDI connection. Editing patches is good, but not great. There is a USB port on the back, but it's only for using this unit for recording. I don't know why they couldn't use this port for editing the patches. Anyway, you need both the MIDI In and Out ports connected to your computer to utilize all editing features. Once I installed the softare, it took about an hour for me to figure it out. To write save changes on the G9, you have to send all data to it. You cannot edit one patch at a time, but it only stays in the computer until you "send all" to the G9. Not the greatest, but it sure beats editing on the G9 directly. Manual is good. I've had to refer to it several times and found my answer each time. Firmware was 1.07 and 1.08 was posted on their website. So I attempted to install it from Windows Vista. During the firmware update, it errored out. When I powered on the G9, it was dead. I had power, nothing else happened. I tried several times but got the same error. I dual boot my computer between XP and Vista, so I gave it a try from XP. Same error. However, my XP installation didn't have .NET 1.1 installed (which I thought it did), and this is a requirement for the updater. So I installed .NET 1.1 and installed it under XP. The update worked just fine, and the G9 started working again. // 8
Sound: I use an Ibanez S520 guitar plugged into a portable Yamaha mixer and then into my computer. I mainly play at home writing and recording. For Live use, I'll play this through a Marshall MG250DFX, but I'll connect the G9 to the left and right Return inputs on the back. So the amp is pretty much just loud box. The G9 is pretty quiet except when using patches with lots of gain. But that's to be expected from anything with lots of gain. Effects are good. I upgraded to the G9 from a Boss GT-3 which had wonderful effects. But I don't get crazy with effects, and the G9 does a good enough job. As I stated, I mainly plug the G9 into my mixer then into my computer. I like the fact there 10 banks to be used for "direct" play into a mixer and another 10 banks for "live" use. I was hoping I could edit a patch for "direct" use at home, then just turn off the cabinet simulator and save the patch in the equivalent "live" patch area. Depending on the sound, you may need to adjust the preamp settings a bit between the "direct" and "live" patches to make them sound the same. // 9
Reliability & Durability: Looks like it was build very good. Seems to be solid and durable. Everything seems to be metal. I can't afford a backup, so I won't be using one. I'm not worried about it though. I've emailed Zoom in Japan and Samson in the USA (the Zoom distributer here) asking some presales questions. The Samson rep emailed a reply the same day. And a reply from Japan took a few days. Both answered my questions. I even spoke with the Samson rep Who was very helpful and courteous. // 9
Impression: I play melodic rock. I've setup my own patches to give me some clean, blues, and rock sounds. I'm not into metal, but there are some awesome metal sounds here. I've been playing for 20 years. Sold my old Boss GT-3 and upgraded to this. Definately a step in the right direction. If I lost this thing, I'd probaby buy it again. For the features and prices, it's awesome! What I love: I love the sounds, the sexy look, the price. What I don't love: It's kinda big, so I'm having a hard time finding a case for it. Editing patches from the computer could be improved. There is no digital out on this! The USB audio port is only 16bit. If it was 24 bit, I wouldn't care so much for the lack of digital out. So I'm better off just recording this using the audio out ports into my M-Audio 2496 sound card which supports 24bit audio. I was looking at the Boss GT-8, Line6 X3 Live, and the Vox Tonelab LE. Listened to the GT-8, but I didn't really hear a lot of difference from my Boss GT-3. I'm sure the quality of the sounds is better, and I did like the dual preamp feature. I really considered the X3 Live, but read so many negative reviews about the construction of the unit and so many firmware issues. So I stayed away. I almost bought the Tonelab LE. I really believe having a tube warms the sound up, which is what I like. But then I found the Zoom locally and had to buy it. For the price, features, and quality, this unit is wonderful! // 9
Reviewed by:
unregistered, on december 24, 2007 1 of 2 people found this review helpful
Price paid: $ 300
Purchased from: eBay
Ease of Use: I know some people wanted a review, so here is one. So easy to get a good sound out of it. Just Pick a distortion, ZNR noise reduction, and EQ and it sounds good. Editing patches is real easy once you get the hang of it. The manual tells you everything you need. // 10
Sound: I run it through a Fender Squire Stagemaster into a Crate GT120. The amp is just for loudness, and the guitar is decent (getting Ibanez S470 soon). This pedal makes the setup kick ass. Somewhat noisy, until you turn noise gate or ZNR on, then it's dead quiet. A few distortions sound weak, and wah is a little weak, but in general the effects are awesome. Fender clean, Marshall Drive and JC Clean gets RHCP and Sublime. Rectifier Modern gets Metallica, Extreme Distortion model gets anything more metal. English model gets Dragonforce and all that stuff, great for palm muting. The two tubes make these distortions far superior to any other multi effects pedal. You can even blend tube (warmth/crunch) with solid state (loudness), and you can raise boost (loudness) versus tube. // 10
Reliability & Durability: It is made out of metal, and is very reliable. The footswitches seem very sturdy. The only thing that could possibly break is the 3-D pedal, but I usually keep it latched so it's just a normal expression pedal. I would gig with it without a backup. Hasn't broke since I've had it, for about 4 months. // 10
Impression: I play alternative, punk, reggae, rock, metal, works good for all of them. Instead of buying a different guitar or amp for a style, I just hit a Switch to change the patch. I've played for about 5 years and would definately buy another if it was lost. My favorite features are the amp models/distortions. I compared it to Marshall DSL's, Triple Rectifiers, Twin reverbs, Valvekings, Spider valves, and the distortions are just as good as them for far less price. The only things I might wish it had are drum Machine and dual inputs like the POD X3. // 10
Reviewed by:
Panguin, on june 12, 2008 0 of 0 people found this review helpful
Price paid: C$ 550
Purchased from: Long and Mcquade
Ease of Use: From my experience..Well I have no real experience with effects, since this was my first guitar effect. I found it real easy to use, after surfing through the manual and playing around with it for a while. The patches are very easy to edit and save, also with the handy Swap setting, which swaps two patches. I also heard that it's possible to download patches from websites which sounds pretty cool. // 9
Sound: At the moment, I connect it to my mini amp (Fender 15G), and use an Epiphone Les paul. Playing Live, I connect it directly to the PA system. The sound is actually Very Warm and Good. On distortion, it sounds amazing with a little bit of delay and reverb. Overall, Distortion sounds very good. I've also heard about many people saying that the Wah pedal isnt very good on this Machine, but I was able to create a sick wah effect. I was able to create sounds which sound if not exactly but very close to songs such as (For the love of God, Knocking on the Heavens door, Voodoo Child, Stairway to heaven). I play mostly distiortion, classic, jazz, blue sounds, mostly at church; playing Live. It fits very well with other instruments. Overall, Sound quality is excellent. // 9
Reliability & Durability: Its very handy, and well made. I carry it in a pretty soft bag, because I couldn't really afford to buy a real case for it, but it seems to be well maintained and built very strong. Well I don't really have another effect to back this one up, but even if I do, I don't think I'll need to back this up, because this thing is a beast. // 1
Impression: I play a lot of christian rock, soft rock and gospel songs, and it matches well with many instruments (Piano, Keyboard, Drums, Vocals). This being my first gear, was a very successful purchase, because from the G9, I was able to develop many sounds, which came useful in anytime. Before buying this product, I was having a hard time between this, the GNX4, Boss GT-8, and ended up purchasing this one. If I were to lose this or if this was to get stolen, I would definately re-purchase this, but sad thing would be that all the patches would be gone. One thing I was disappointed in with this was the Whammy pedal. It sounds very choppy compared to others, but overall, a very good product. // 8
Reviewed by:
ierostyle, on september 12, 2008 0 of 0 people found this review helpful
Price paid: £ 187
Purchased from: imuso
Ease of Use: Getting a good sound of it seems to be somewhat tempermental, and it's not the easiest of things to use if your not using your computer. The unit itself is a great multi fx unit with some of the best abilities I've come accross in a multi Fx. The Z pedal is truely marvelous, the manual however isn't the best or most helpful you will ever find! // 8
Sound: Well I used to use it for every show, and play it through the front imput on a Marshall Valvestate 100w amp head. I now use a Marshall JCM2000 TSL, thus negating the want for amp modeling to a certain degree. The wah is pretty bad in my opinion but then I expect a lot from a wah, Some of the effects are pretty knarly and you can do some really radical things with the effects on this unit, the pitch shifter pedal can create some awesome effects for bridges in your songs, and the ability to tweek gain and chorus and delay all at once, simply astounding, superb. Thus beeing said though, it overal falls short of my requirements, just doesn't have a profesional enough sound to it. I pluged it in before my Marshall JCM and it is a complete tone sucker! recomended for people with out really high end amps, and it will have you rockin, for those with there dream amps that want the serious refinement of top quality stomp boxes, look else where, but certainly a storming buy for the price! // 7
Reliability & Durability: It's not as strong as it neets to be for me, mine has a crack in the screen and nobs have had to be put back on before. Gig with it, well I used to and actually it broke down on me so there you go. So I depended on it and it let me down! I have always been nervous ever since about using this, and don't really incorporate this much anymore. // 7
Impression: Just for the fact that cubase comes with it it's worth something and the Z pedal, hell yes!!! it's pretty good, but for a serious pro I would suggest maybe not, unless you find specific sounds from it that are perfect! Maybe I will find a way to incorporate this into my sound again one day, but I think, I will build my own effects rig instead. // 8
Reviewed by:
CrazyJester, on march 03, 2008 0 of 0 people found this review helpful
Price paid: $ 457.5
Purchased from: Imuso.com
Ease of Use: This Unit is rather easy to use, and the manual explains everything you need to get the sound you want. Editing patches and creating your own patches is really easy. Be sure to read the manual first though otherwise you will get a little confused. // 10
Sound: This Unit sounds great. It has a wide variety of effects and you can get almost any sound you want out of it, especially after a little tweaking, almost everything can be tweaked! I play a lot of metal and old school rock such as Metallica, Black Sabbath, Led Zepplin, Dio, along with artists such as Steve Vai, Paul Gilbert, Michael angelo Batio etc and this unit does it all. Select "ExtremeDistortion" from the Pre-Amp section and you get an amazing, extremely dirty distortion that even Slipknot couldn't handle. You can get clean crisp sounds, and bluesy-crunch sounds, and it has no unwanted feed back, especially when you turn on noisegate. The only problem I have with this unit is the wah effect(s). They do the trick, definitely for beginners and even intermediate players, but an advanced player might want to get an extra wah pedal. You can't expect too much though due to the price of the unit. I got the weeping daemon wah and I'm pleased with the setup. // 9
Reliability & Durability: Not much to say here other than it is reliable. The thing is made of metal and weighs quite a bit. I would and have gigged without it, after having the unit for almost 5 months now, it has never let me down, and everything is still in tact without ever having to repair a thing. It can handle a beating, although it is wise to always back up no matter what you have. // 10
Impression: The thing is definitely worth the money. You get some truely amazing sounds out of it and it won't break down on you very easily. The wah is a little weak but hey what do you expect? a decent wah pedal will cost you around £70. This entire unit now goes for around £170 Brand New. My friend has the DigiTech GNX4, this thing is much cheaper and the sound quality is the same if not better than the GNX4. If this thing was stolen or broken, I would buy it again. If you're thinking of getting this pedal, let me just say it will be worth the money you pay. If you're a big fan of wah like I am then just get an added wah pedal, you will still save a lot of money on effects. // 10
Reviewed by:
12.Gauge, on december 24, 2007 0 of 0 people found this review helpful
Purchased from: eBay
Ease of Use: The Zoom is easy with a few minutes of tinkering to get used to. Editing patches is all straightforward and logical. The editing is moderate not so complex as to have you dialling tones forever instead of playing. The layout of the Zoom is great, really practical and efficiant with heavy duty dials and pedals. A couple of things that might work better would be both pedals on one side for easy volume then wah/modulation pedal changing but this isnt a big issue. The pedals are also not so wide in soundscope I.e. you can go from zero volume to full too quickly, although there may be a function to amend this (let me know if you know how). The Zoom has the quickest patch change ever apparantly which with the nice softclick buttons makes it unobvious on stage and comfortable. The screen could have been a bit bigger, especially when tuning on stage. I haven't used the system with the built in cubase package but I have heard it isnt as user friendly as the pods but I couldnt substantiate this. // 8
Sound: I bought the pedal for use at wedding gigs where true tone isnt an issue and really just to di into the pa and have a silent tuner also, but the unit really exceeded my expectations. I've bought Multifx for 15 years or so and had the GFX in 1999 but this is a different league. The unit contains 2 12ax7 valves (tubes) which make all the difference to shaping the tone and eliminating the saturated digital sounds especially on high gain patches. It definately gives an overall Marshall style warmth when the valves are cranked. Unfortunately it seems when cranking the tube levels over 1/2 way this distorts the clean channel (this may be my settings). The individual sounds are all very nice-on par with most of my electro harmonix and boutique pedals, the tremelo is very analogue sounding, the delays are substantial and there is 2 modulation choices so you can do loop FX using 2 long delays. The chorus/flange and phasers are decent not to Boss or EHX standards but nice with particular patch settings. Harmoniser and Whammy a shade off my DigiTech Whammy and wahs suffer from the pedals lack of width. One of my favourites is an AIR modulation effect which acts as air between speaker and amp I guess, really adds realism. The acoustic simulator is really sweet sounding once dialled in well. The amp models are really great in general. Some favourites are Diezel, Engl, Recto, Roland JC, HK Clean. All very realistic and great for emulating fav artists, I can get a great adam jones sound with the Diezel. For the brutals it does better than my 5150 anyway IMO, and isnt far off Powerballs heads etc. // 10
Reliability & Durability: I would say it feels very reliable nothing has went wrong with my Zoom FX in the past and it's very sturdy. I use this through my mackie PA system live and I think this sounds better than through my 4x12 because the sound is clearer. I have a backup pedal just for di purposes as you never know but the chances are it's more likely not to get used if I forget the power supply. // 9
Impression: I play death metal to bossa nova, just about every genre as I teach, play in wedding bands and play in a prog metal band as well. It covers all the bases. I own a lot of high end gear and this is amongst with pride of place. After I've hooked up a Carvin V3 with Holy Grail, Crybaby, Whammy, Small Stone, Big Muff and all those patch cables it is a seriously cheaper, more convenient and high quality alternative. I don't know if multifx would ever exceed amp heads of boutique pedals but this is 95% of the way there. I would reccommend it anyday over the Boss GE-8, this has too much tweaking and too saturated a tone despite having some nice add ons like dual outputs and the synth sounds etc, and I would take it over the Vox Tonelab SE for it's superior cleans and organic sound. I do like the Tonelabs SLO and 5150 patches but this is cheaper and higher quality. Favourite feature is the dual modes (you can go clean to gain on the same patch which is really useful), and the least favourite the small screen for tuning. I would definately replace it if lost stolen. I wish it would have a dual output and synth as well as a function to combine amp models ala Adam Jones Recto and Diezel, but that would be cherry on the icing on the cake. // 9
KingJustinian25
: You can edit the parameters of the pedal like from 0 volume to 100 volume so it edits it a lot, or like 10 to 50. I don't know if that fixes the problem though... The tube does distort cleans on higher levels on mine also. I also love having the stomp pedal so you can have two distortions on one patch, along with being able to stomp an effect on/off. POSTED: 12/24/2007 - 04:24 pm / quote|
reilly91
: I want this pedal so bad POSTED: 12/25/2007 - 09:50 pm / quote|
12.Gauge
: thanks King. I also said ge8 shouldve been gt8. Having played for longer im addicted to the engl model its really fantastic. Some of the other triamp etc aint so good compared to the original but okay. Im also not sure to assign on and of the wah. When i select wah it sometimes doesnt work. POSTED: 12/28/2007 - 08:19 am / quote|
amanbh
: sometimes you have to hit one of the function keys to turn the wah on... otherwise the pedal just wont do anything (talking about play mode here) POSTED: 01/08/2008 - 04:49 pm / quote|
face_the_fear
: I had one of these agers ago. At first it's pritty good but the tones then become weak and boring. It shouldn't be used as a profesional piece of equipment, just something to play around with really. Well that's my opinion anyway. POSTED: 03/18/2008 - 01:59 pm / quote|
I had one of these agers ago. At first it's pritty good but the tones then become weak and boring. It shouldn't be used as a profesional piece of equipment, just something to play around with really. Well that's my opinion anyway.
i use it every weekend for 'professional gigs' try using the engl setting with high tube saturation via a mackie pa..very nice POSTED: 03/18/2008 - 06:27 pm / quote|
ral8667
: Yeah, I use the ENGL on my main patches. Very cool sound. POSTED: 03/18/2008 - 07:30 pm / quote|
sebar001
: the best damn pedal known to man comes with computer program . such sound variety insane piece of equipment
hail to the g9.2tt zoom makes good quality pedals POSTED: 03/28/2008 - 12:08 am / quote|
Draconey
: I got to try this pedal at a shop and i loved it
it plays almost every genre i can think of!
it has a really nice death metal soloing with the wah and pitch effect for the expression pedal
Bling Dogg
: how is the quality of this pedal when it's hooked directly to a computer? Is it as good as when connnected to an amp?
Also, how is the quality connected directly to the headphone output? POSTED: 05/25/2008 - 09:25 pm / quote|
dodz07
: which one is better this or the boss gt10??? POSTED: 06/15/2008 - 12:44 pm / quote|
shred_meister
: i got this pedal about 7 months ago and i wasn't too sure at first but now that ive played around with it a bit and figured out the sound i like, i love it. I'm going to use it in my band practises and take it gigging, it's well built and has an amazing tone to it. BUY THIS!!! 9/10 POSTED: 08/18/2008 - 06:28 pm / quote|
/ my profile 
Was this review helpful to you? 