Foxrox ZIM

Very easy to use and get a great sound out of this pedal. Two pedals built into one box. Two footswithes to switch between Vintage tube boost or H9 for a great overdrive sound.

Using a Road worn Strat loaded with Fralin Blues specials pickups into a Keeley modded Wah>Analogman Bi-comp->Foxrox Octron>Foxrox Zim w/H9 and VT cards>Bluesdevil overdrive>Keeley Fuzzhead>SIB Tubedrive delay(original blue one)>Boss DM-2>Tex-Rex Roomate Reverb>Dr. Z Maz 18NR amp.

This is the quietest overdrive/distortion pedal that I have ever owned, including the Klon Centaur, Analogman Silver modded TS9, Bluesdevil, Xotic RC Boost and others.

There are so many great sounds that you can get out of this pedal, that it would take too long to describe them all. The H9 with the voicing knob allows you to dial in any overdrive sound you like. The VT Vintage tube side of the pedal gives you great boost sound also.

I also own a Foxrox Octron and hope to own a Foxrox Aquavibe. These pedals are made to stomp on and last. Heavy duty casing. Very dependable.

Dave Foxx is a great guy and has to stay pretty busy, but he's always replied to my emails.

Also I have to mention that I order this ZIM from his website and I ordered the B-Stock pedal because it had a lower price. I got the pedal a week later and he sent me a new one at the B-stock price because he had sold the last B-Stock one. How's that for customer support?

I've been playing Blues/Rock/and Jazz since the mid 1960s and through the years tried many different pedals,amps,guitars,etc. and have worked as a Quality inspector for a major amplifier manufacturer. The ZIM is built like a tank and would definitely buy another one if it was stolen.

I'm on the Aquavibe waiting list and looking foward to getting one. I take my hat off to guys like Mike Piera(Analogman),Robert Keeley, Mike Fuller(Fulltone) and Robert Fox(FoxRox) that take the time to put Quality in thier pedals and know what guitar players need to get the sounds that they want. Thanks!

This pedal is modular meaning that you can buy replacement circuit boards which plug easily onto the master circuit board. There are a wide variety of pedal clone circuit boards available from Foxrox - mostly based around the tube screamer but there is also a big muff, rat and silicon fuzz face as well as buffers, clean boosts and mild overdrives.

All the clones, at least, the two i've heard sound very authentic and are easy to get good sounds out of.

Pedal also includes a voicing circuit which acts, kinda, like an EQ. You can either cut or boost a preset centre frequency for a wide array of sounds. However, it's based around a single pole phaser design rather than a filter like an EQ is... as far as I understand.

The voicing controls are very easy to use and you can quickly dial in the sound you're after. Boost all the way - dial through the presets and listen for your sound then dial back the boost for a bit more subtlety. Or cut all the way, etc...

Doesn't include a manual but you should be up and rockin' within half an hour. However, there is so much variety in terms of cards, it can take a while to find the combination of cards to fit your sound.

Here's the thing... while the cards sound pretty darn cool, this thing is NOISY! Sure, I have a high gain tube screamer and a big muff but even so, I'm sure the original pedals don't make that much noise.

It's a shame because it's an extremely well made pedal and a truly original idea (of which there are few in this era of stomp box over-supply).

I probably shouldn't be comparing it to another pedal, but, I have a hot cake which can get to fairly similar gain levels as the TS clone, which is nowhere near as noisy.

In the ZIM's defence, though, it is two overdrives for about the same price as a HC.

But that's not really the bad part - the thing sucks tone in bypass which I almost could not believe when i discovered this fact at a recording session. It's very quiet as you'd expect from true bypass - what i didn't expect was the extreme loss of highs (which, for a tele player is sacrilege).

When the pedal is on and rockin' it sounds good - but I don't play with it on all the time, and sometimes it's just not possible to dance on the pedals fast enough when changing sounds mid song to eradicate the noise.

Possibly, this pedal would sound better with a solid state amp where a tubey tone is required.

So well constructed I would gig it after running over it in my car without testing it first. Solid.

I emailed Dave Fox about the noise issue and he sent me something back very quickly with a number of solutions based mostly around my settings. He also told me that I should get faster at turning it on and off in time so that you don't hear the noise before distorted passages in the song... thanks Dave...

He didn't think there was anything wrong with it and I think I agree - the ZIM is what it is. A bit noisy at high gain and a bit of a tone eater.

But as soon as they receive an order they ship straight away and they ship anywhere in the world.

Top customer support... can't fault it considering I live thousands of Km from him.

This pedal is original, looks great, is extremely versatile etc etc and the last thing I want is to give it a bad review - but for me, it's noisy and takes away quite a bit of the Tele brightness in bypass (which may not be such a bad thing...lol... but in this case is just a bit much).

It could be the combination of the pedal and my guitar or cables... I dunno.... but I like my guitar and amp more than the pedal so the pedal is being sold on. Someone out there might be able to fit it into their sound better. I've talked to someone else who owns one of these and they say it's the single best overdrive they've ever owned - so go figure? And check out the other reviews here - glowing to say the least.

Generally easy to use. I found the channel B EQ a little unintuitive, but got it eventually. I wish it had EQ for channel A.

Changing Zim cards is very easy. I ended up with 4 different cards and swapped them out in all combinations until I found the one that worked best for my setup (CS in channel A and B9 in channel B).

Using it with a PRS CE24 through a Bogner Shiva with various other effects, particularly an Analogman Bi-Comprossor. I like the Shiva overdrive channel with very low overdrive and the Zim.

I've tried numerous overdrive/distortion boxes, most notably vintage, Keeley and Analogman silver TS-9s. I'm not crazy about any of the TS pedals, they kill the low end and squish the sound too much.

The Zim is awesome. To my ears it sounds very high-fidelity, altering the sound without killing the punch or the low end. It handles guitar volume changes well. Switching from no Zim to Zim overdrive to Zim distortion in a song is quite natural, the sounds all blend well. It handles compression well and all in all gives me a set of sounds that is just right.

Haven't had it long enough to know, although it seems very well built and Foxrox has a good reputation. The jury is always out until you've used something for quite a while, but so far the Zim has given me no reason to worry.

Dave has been very friendly and helpful. I get the sense that he's a little busy these days, but he's been fine in all my dealings with him.

I've had a Zim about 8 months and it is the only overdrive I use. It sounds great, is quiet, flexible and has just generally impressed me. It gives me the sound I've been looking for.

To be up front, I haven't tried some of the other boutique favorites, fulldrive, klon, KoT etc. But after years of this and that, have happily settled on Zim.

The card switch idea is cool - you get two different sounds, and if you like one but not the other, you can try different ones. I found 2 that work just right to my ear.

I'd recommend trying one out.

The unit I own is one of the very first. The cards are two variations of the H9 card. The transparent one is put on channel A and the dirtier one is in channel B, which leads you to use A for boost and B for dirt. Each channel has a volume and a drive knob whereas channel B has two extra knobs for the voicing circuit. There are outputs / inputs that allow you to put whatever wherever in any possible order.I opened the box to set the trimmers on each card counterclockwise at my liking (full bass with no treble loss either). There is the very intriguing option to swap cards on the channels so B becomes a boost with the extra possibilities of colouring the sound via the 8 settings of the voice section, leaving the A to be a pure distortion channel. However leaving it as it is gives me an unbelievably wide palette of voicing the distorted channel that makes me reluctant to swap cards yet. In short, a beauty.
(I'm sorry I don't give 10s to pedals that eat batteries like peanuts AND expect you to stop, unscrew four tiny black screws, lift the bottom surface, change the battery, put surface back, find the tiny screws somewhere in the floor beside you, screw them back AND don't feel like a jerk. This is the 00s, hello!)

The sound quality is superb. You have to dislike the cheap effects by Boss etc to appreciate the ZIM and understand its high price. I know that another dual overdrive unit, the KOT, which I haven't tried yet, is selling nowadays for even higher prices, but I am not a person to be counted as a tone maniac who is after holy grails and meanings of life in sound circuits. I even hate Trower for god's sake! I am just a musician that plays his own music and wants clarity, integrity, versatility, transparency, hisslessness and inspiration I suppose as anyone else. And the ZIM is quiet, transparent, versatile, handy
(A,B,A+B), punctual and absolutely inspiring.
In my book I rate it higher than the CaptainCoconut2 which I also own and has caused some sensation as well(remember the Trower issue). I enjoy every nanosecond of my notes ethereally overdriven with channelA's purity and then dragged to dungeons by channelB's voiced up distortion!

Excellent choice of elements and the best knobs I
've tried. I constantly use it without a backup. It will eat a battery after 2 to 3 hours' heavy use, though. Be prepared.

Well I live in Athens (that's Athens the original, not Georgia) and I am the happy owner of three FoxRox pedals, the ZIM, the CC2 and the TZFParadox.
Given that I was lucky enough to get all three of them in flawless condition, I pray I will not be in need to send them to the US to be cured. Having said that, I might try to get some ZIMcards, though these two I have are already the bassier of the collection and anyway CC2's fuzz unit provides some serious heavy distortion sounds that put ZIM to its place: an inspiring overdrive pedal. So no need for RATcards either.

I use Fenders and a Gretch. All my pedals are boutique/analog and the ZIM is very friendly to all of them. The chain goes gtr>wah>cc2 oct&fuzz>zim>cc2uni>tzf>delay>fender silverface twin.
As a coda, hats off to the guy who conceived and made it. AnalogMan's KOT, or Hermida's Mosferatu/Zendrive might or might not be even better tonewise, but I don't think I would kiss ZIM's voicing goodbye for all the other so-called holy grails of the world.

very simple. Get the stock cards in it though because they really compliment each other well and if you think about it there is probably a reason that it comes with those in stock! Swapping the cards out is a piece of cake though all you need is a phillips head and you're done!

I use a strat or sg >crybaby>qtron+>cc2fuzz>cc2octave>analogmants808 w tv mod>zim>cc2 provibe> marshall tsll 2000 Head with a paradox flanger and bbe sonic maximizer in the effects loop. I ordered the zim with the cs card instead of the vt and don't get me wrong I love the sound of the clean smile card but I had a hard time getting the right sound cascading it into the h9 or ts808 so dave being the hell of a guy that he is sent me a b9 and vt card when i ordered my tzf and zim and expression pedal, He says he always gives away free stuff when you buy multiple things! Is this guy great or what! Any way I ended up putting the vt card where the cs was and wow does this this tear it up!! That is why i recomend the stock cards. I also really like the b9 card and each card also has a trim pot on it to either brighten up or dull the sound!!

built like a tank!!

dave is a great guy and a hell of a businessman I would highly suggest his pedals to anyone!

mostley blues to rock and trust me I don't care what kind of music you play I guarantee you can get the sound you're looking for out of this pedal!

Bone simple. If you read the guide on his website, it is
a cinch to get great tones out of this box. Swapping zim cards
takes only a minute, once you get the four short screws that
hold the unit together out.Well designed unit. A nine just because
the B channel takes a second to figure out.

I've been using the zim with the VT and B9 cards, and it
is like adding two more channels to my amp. Three, if you
count using both channels at the same time. It has tone that
inspires you to play, that is very musical, and yet you can
really drive it if you want. I've been using it with an old
70's Princeton reverb II (Rivera era fender), and have yet
to play it through my boogie. One of the best toys I've ever
purchased. Only good feedback from everyone who has heard it.

Very solidly made. I don't bring a backup.
Better made than most everything else out there.

Two emails responded to with questions answered in less
than 24 hours. Can't ask for better than that!

For me, I'm a totally happy guy. I bought the Zim used
for $200 with 4 Zim cards, and have yet to really experiment
with the T+ and H9 ( only into the board, so far) , because the other two sound great. I've been playing 25+ years , tried all different stomp boxes out there, and this is one musical overdrive/distortion unit. I play rock/funk/jazz world fusion...and the tone works.

Muy facil de usar.Si estas leyendo esto habras visto la web de este pedal.Dos overdrives: el primero con controles de ganancia y volumen y el segundo con ganancia, volumen,voz, y el control de voz.La verdad es que es imposible equivocarse con este pedal,tiene un buen sonido pongas como lo pongas(en la web de foxrodx explica el porque).El selector de voz en el segundo overdrive es un potenciometro con 8 posiciones que produce 8 estados distintos de distorsion, la verdad es que son 8 tonos increibles que mediante el booster de voz, puedes cortar o incrementar.Creo que es el overdrive mas versatil que he visto nunca y sin duda tiene una coleccion de tonos que van del overdrive a la distorsion con altos niveles de ganancia al poner los dos efectos a la vez que seguro has oido en tus discos favoritos.

Sin duda.Se nota la diferencia con el tipico ts-9 esto es alta fidelidad.El overdrive A es muy limpio y suena caliente con la ganancia al minimo.Con la ganancia al maximo tienes el tono perfecto para rimar.El overdrive B tiene mas nivel de ganancia perfecto para solos.Este pedal tiene un sustain natural que nunca habras oido si solo has provado los tipicos pedales fabricados en serie. Los dos overdrives se complementan uno a otro, yo digo que son dos, pero suenan como uno solo.Simplemente: perfecto

Es una idea bien pensada,sin duda creada por un guitarrista para guitarristas, una herramienta imprescindible para hacer:ROCK AND ROLL.

Tengo otras cosas hechas por Foxrod y son de "primera".Ademas de mandar su pedal por medio mundo despues de previo pago siempre contesta a mis mails.

Con un pedal asi esta claro.Conectado a un JCM 900 a un Mesa Nomad 55 y a un blackface 65 twin y realmente suena cojonudo con todos,con fender Standart y con Les Paul.Es una maquina de rock and roll.

Very straightforward, channel A has your basic two knobs (Volume & Drive), Channel B has the same plus the all-powerful voicing section(more on that later). You can play just channel A (a low gain OD, just channel B (high-gain OD/dist), or cascade them both together for extreme sounds. There is no manual, just came with a few photocopys of information on the web site. Really, the web site has more info and will tell you everything you need to know from wiring setup options to card replacement (more on cards later)

There are really two categories for sound quality in an effect. The first concerns matters of noise, tone coloring, etc. In other words, is having this thing in my signal chain going to change my tone just by virtue of plugging it in? The ZIM is extremely quite, true-bypass, and will leave you with what you started with when not in use. The second category has to do with the actual quality of the effect. How good does it sound, how versitile is it, how usable is it in live situations, etc. This is where the ZIM stands head and shoulders above any other gain-increasing pedal I have used.

I have been playing through a 1965 Super Reverb (not a reissue) for almost 25 years. Incredible tone, with one flaw. It cannot produce high-gain (think Marshall) guitar tone. My band plays a variety of music (Waylan Jennings to Metallica, no shit!), and the Super covers the country, pop, ballads, etc. immaculately/ But when it comes time to push the pedal to the metal, it struggles to achieve that high gain distortion and overdrive those type of tunes require. I have always run the amp on 10 to maximize the overdrive and just dialed back my guitar volume for cleaner sounds. I have searched for years to find a distortion/overdrive pedal that I could use to "get over the top" on heavier material, but still keep my amp on 10. The problem is that all other pedals I have tried just give me distorted mud and feedback. The genius about the ZIM is the voicing circuit. It consists of two knobs, one selects any one of 8 voices, the other cuts or boosts the frequencies selected by that particular voice. In simple terms, it gives your guitar tone a different "flavor" while adding distortion/overdrive. The results are dramatic! You can dial in just a touch of flavor, or radically change the sound of the amplifier, and you even have another channel you can cascade into the other for more variety!

In short, my Super can now sound like a Marshall, or a Boogie, or like any other high-gain amp out there. I just dial in the Drive knob to about 9:00 - 10:00 (I just need a little estra oomph to get me over the top), and then select what kind tone I want using the voice circuit, and I am in heaven. And here is the KICKER, my guitar still sounds like my guitar! Previous pedal of this type that I have tried just fuzz out my tone, this pedal allows me to retain the playability of my rig. For years (about 25 years now) I have stood on stage playing a song and thinking "I wish I could kick my sound in the ass just a touch, then it would be perfect", now, with the ZIM, it is perfect.

Note: I know many of you fun your amps clean and use a pedal to get your dirty sound, I do not. I run my amp at 10 at all times (a Super at 10 with your guitar volume set at 3 yields a beautiful clean tone). Therefore, I am reviewing The ZIM for its performance with my rig, the way I like to run it. My need was for a clean, non-tone-coloring device that gave me a way to push my sound over the top when necessary with a large tone palate to work with. The ZIM does exactly that - a staggering array of high gain tones that are extremely playable, all contained in a little box.

I ordered my ZIM on line from Foxrox and recieved it a week ago. I wanted to spend time playing with it before I reviewed it. However, since it is brand-new, all I know is that it has worked great for a week, so I will not rate its reliability, but it weighs a ton and looks like it is well built.

Haven't needed any, so I won't rate this either, but Dave did write "Enjoy!" on my packing slip and signed his name. A little thing, I know, but it does make a difference to me.

I like everything about this pedal. Mine came with the H9 and VT cards. My review is kinda long, so I didn't to into the cards and swapping options, but check the website for information on this feature. The whole card thing is a brilliant concept, and I will be trying others out in the future (the Tar+ card sounds cool). It is mind-numbing to think that with the hugh amount of tones this thing will produce, I can get other cards and get even more options. the voicing circuit makes the ZIM the most versitile box on the market I have seen, and additional cards available means it will stay that way. If you are like me and have an old vintage amp with great tone, but you need a OD/dist pedal to get you over the top without destroying your tone and the playability of your rig, a pedal that does exactly what you want it to, when you want it to, I highly recommend the ZIM. It is the only pedal of this type that has worked for me, and it works better than I had hoped it would. How often can you say that about an effect pedal?

It's easy to get a good sound from the pedal. My biggest fear was changing cards, and that's very easy... just have Phillips screwdriver handy!

I haven't gotten my mind around the Voicings yet, hence the Ease of Use is only an 8. It isn't EQ, but a phase thing that boost or cuts certain frequencies. But you can't tell what the Voicing settings do for you till you invest some time in it. Based on my HC forum discussions, I seem to be the only one with a problem here. But the Voicings just don't sit well with me yet.

Excellent quality. Keep in mind as you read this I'm only a 'basement' player, so someone who plays in clubs might have a different experience.

The Zim has gotten superlative reviews from a number of good folks at Harmony Central. The cards I've tried have been the CS and B9 together, and the BB and TAR+ together. So, it's kind of hard to give this any overall review.

The CS is a very musical clean OD. Reminds me of the Keeley BD-2 I had. The B9 is a boutique version of the tubescreamer, and it's my first tubescreamer of any kind. (No, I don't count the BD-2 as one.) It's sounds great, but I'm not really into the B9 sound.

So I swapped those two card for the BB boost/ clean card and the TAR+ Rat clone. I've never owned a boost pedal, other than my EQ. I have a Vintage Rat. And I have a Keeley Ultra DS-1, which isn't a Rat, but delivers dirt in roughly the same ballpark. Anyway, I'm really pleased with the BB. I'm driving it hard into my tiny 1/2 watt Nano tube amp, and getting some very cool extra juicy overdrive tones this way. The BB also does well going into dirt pedals, or following dirt pedals.

The TAR+ is better than the Vintage Rat, mostly because it's less noisy. Does the TAR+ beat my Ultra DS-1? Hard to say. There are different, and there's more variety to the DS-1. Maybe not a fair question.

Another note.... There's some value in just having two pedals like this together. No chance of extra noise from a cable. They are both there working together in high-quality fashion.

I'm afraid I'm not giving a 10 here, probably because my expectations were so high. Maybe I'm expecting each card I've tried to be jaw-dropping amazing and best-of-breed, which isn't fair to Mr. Fox.

I don't gig, but this seems put together well. Like someone else noted, the only perceived flaw is the battery compartment, which leaves the battery a bit loose.

Dave has answered a few emails. I bought this off eBay, so I appreciate his willingness to correspond with me.

An important feature of this whole deal is the card swapping. Dave turned around the swap quickly. The only quibble here is Dave didn't respond to a couple of email asking how much it would cost to swap two cards at once. Not a big deal.

I'm a classic rocker, playing electric for 4 years, and guitar in general for over 20 years.

You can't go wrong buying this pedal. The swap ability makes it especially attractive.

Honestly, the jury is still out for me on whether or not this is a keeper for me. The Zim is helping me discover the joys of a good boost, and will later help me discover some quality fuzz cards. If I get excited enough by what I hear, I might opt for single pedal versions of the cards I like the most.

In other words, it's hard for me to tell if I will end up keeping a $200 pedal for two great pedal sounds that are worth that much. Probably will. It's hard to find any two pedals of this quality for that price.

i didn't have any trouble getting good sounds out of Channel A, but getting used to the voicing thingy in CHannel B took abit longer and thus the 9.

I bought this unit with the Stock cards (CS and H9) and i plan on keeping them both in my ZIM, if another card impresses me, i guess i just have to get another ZIM...

The Cs delivers one of the sweetest and more transparent overdrives i've ever experienced, and it's knocked my keeley ts-9 and Bd-2 off my board. Like someone here said before, it sounds like it's part of the amp. I use this channel basically for low gain smooth lead tones and some crunch, one more thing i love about this channel is that it LOVES chord play and works amazingly with my TMB.
I use the H9 for heavier rock tones , and it delivers a very natural sounding overdrive, and with the voicing/depth controls (i use it in Channel B) one can find alot of tones in this channel. This channel is like a Tubescreamer on drugs, and i use it when i need something extra to heat up a song w/o going into massive distortion. The sound i get really reminds me of my Ibanez TUbe King (with some unknown tubes in them). This channel however generates abit of noise, which is still very bearable even at louder volumes.

Dave has really outdone himself with this unit..

8 although this thing really looks solid and well built, i've been having some problems with the input jack which i'm still trying to solve, the volume on this unit sometimes just dies on me sometimes.
i think it's just a loose connection somewhere and will get a friend to open it up (i'm a nut when it comes to repairing stuff like this.)

I hate to pour cold water over all the good reviews of his customer service, although i love this pedal, i was pretty fustrated when he did not respond to my emails when i enquired about the price and etc when ordering it from Asia. I had to get a friend from the US to order it for me then send it to me...

I play all types of rock (alternative, classic, progressive, pop) and this pedal really helps me in getting the sounds i need for most of the music i play..
I've had it for just over a month, and it has a firm place in my pedal board which includes Time Machine BOost --> ZIM --> MOdded Sd-1 --> Ibanez Tube King --> ToneBone CLassic --> Line 6 Modulation MOdeller --> Digitech Delay
i just wish the voicing control was available on both channels... but i know it would be too much work and cost involved. I would buy this if it were stolen, but i would have to sell a whole lot of shit to get it again... a worthy investment for 260 i must add.