Foxrox ZIM

How to get a good sound out of the ZIM:

Step 1: plug your guitar into one end, and your amp into the other

Step 2: play to your little heart's content

unfortunately, there is no manual right now, however, none is really necessary unless you're looking for specific sample settings. basically what you have here are 2 overdrive pedals, each with volume and gain control. the B side adds a voicing control, which can be easily bypassed by setting the depth at 12 o'clock.

my setup runs as follows:

ibanez rg/gibson sg/danelectro convertible

dunlop crybaby -> bruce bennett insane gain -> FOXROX ZIM ->

mesa boogie subway rocket

(in amp effects loop)
ernie ball volume -> boss tu-12 -> digitech digiverb -> foxrox paradox tzf -> fulltone supatrem -> boss ge-7

the only time the ZIM is noisy is when you cascade both channels with the gain on full. otherwise, its dead quiet. i've found this pedal best for everything but metal. if that's what you're looking to do, then don't do it here, with the ZIM in its "ts-9" incarnation. maybe later, once foxrox introduces higher gain cards, but not now. but if you're looking to nail the classic overdrive tones, then this is the pedal for you. i've captured, with ease, the tones of gov't mule, sloan, frank black, god street wine, and many others. in most cases, i haven't even touched the voicing controls, just plugged in and played. and it seems to be the only overdrive that agrees with the danelectro. even my amp's 2 overdriven channels give the dano a harsh, tinny tone. but the a side of ZIM seems to be the perfect match.

like my TZF, its a brick shithouse. i don't fear it breaking, i fear it getting stolen.

dave's a great guy. he answers all my e-mails, asks me about my jazz lessons, and chews my ear off on the phone. while some companies have made me wait the better part of 4 months for gear, i've received all of my orders from dave in 3 days.

my style is "rock music." take that for what it's worth, i have too many influences in my 13 years of guitar. as i said above, in its current incarnation ZIM is an overdrive pedal, and should not be expected to play your favorite slayer tune. but all the classic overdrive sounds are here. you really shouldn't need more, as the voicing control really runs the gamut. the problem you'll generally run into is remembering every setting you liked.

the only thing i wish the ZIM had is an input for a GIR expression pedal, possibly to control the voicing depth, or to do exactly the opposite of what you want it to. (fans of jhonen vasquez will understand that one).

I wanted to give it 1 because of the B side, but there are people out there who wouldn't know I was joking. I've spent about three weeks sitting on my cold basement floor because of all the different tonal options from the B side. This is a dual overdrive pedal in it's first release, as it's it designed to be a modular system with cards that you can swap in and out, example; overdrive, boost, fuzz, distortion...etc. It is also two seperate pedals if you want to run it that way as Dave has designed it so you can insert other effects between the two overdrives or send a signal from each one to a different amp or whatever you want. Channel A is very straight forward with volume and drive, it gives a very smooth yet clear overdrive tone. Channel B is where the fun begins, it gives you more of what A has, it also has the volume and drive controls, but also adds depth and voice. Voice selects different frequencies and depth adds or cuts those frequencies. It some what reminds you of using a wah pedal as a tonal boost, but alot more. Finding a great tone on channel A was very easy, finding a great tone on channel B, there's too many to choose from...a good problem.

Right now I mostly use a Fender Strat, with two single coils and a pearly gates in the bridge position with 12-52 strings. Using a Carr Rambler and Hammerhead as I run a stereo set-up. The pedal is very quiet and also uses a standard Boss plug and 9v AC/DC adapter, it works fine on my Voodoolabs Power Pedal II standard outputs of 80mAs.
I can get just about any overdrive sound I can find in my head from the B side. The A side will do your typical SRV tone and both sides together will take you almost to some of the high gain Mesa/Marshall style tones. Sounds great at low volume playing also, alot of sustain with no amp volume. Works very well with my other overdrive/distortion/fuzz pedals; Klon, Death Rattle, Captain Coconut II. Did take a little moving arround to find the right spot for it though, as when after the Death Rattle and the fuzz it took some of the edge off those effects as it smoothed out the fuzz and distortion tones. When before them it kicks them up to a new level. I also don't have words to describe how good this pedal and the Klon sound together, I use my Klon as a VERY light overdrive and is more of a boost. I have only used the ZIM with cranked clean amps as I get all my tones from pedals. I also use vibe(CCII), flange(TZF), chorus(CE-20), and Delay(DD-20)with no problems.

I guess you're going to make me say it...built like a tank!

I have three of Dave's products; CCII, TZF and now the ZIM, with another one ordered with the release of the next two cards. Have never had a problem with them!

You can't beat Dave for service, almost always answers my emails in under 24 hours. Offered to call once when having a problem in setting up the TZF flanger for a desired effect, he really cares that you're happy with his product, and wants your feedback so he can make any improvements if needed.

I play a wide range of styles from classic, new, to original. I have played guitar since 1965 and still have all the equipment that I have ever brought, my basement looks like a small music store. There is nothing that come close to the tonal options offered in just this one pedal. Not to mention the smoothness and clarity of its overdrive cards, except maybe the Klon and this goes way beyond the Klon in overdriven sounds. If lost or stolen, get another one.....in a heart beat. Wish for anything else I don't know as the ZIM is not a closed end pedal with card changing. I do know what the future holds, another ZIM, I can't wait for a distortion and fuzz card to see what the B side can do with these tones.

If you can't get a good sound out of the ZIM, something is wrong with you. The problem is every setting sounds good! The coolest thing about ZIM is the circuit is on cards that can be modified or changed out if you are looking for a different sound. Dave said new ZIM cards will be available in the future. Some cards that are being considered are Clean boost, compression, heavy distortion, possibly fuzz and others.

There are 2 channels on ZIM. Channel A & B. Channel A is your lighter overdrive, but still with a quite a bit of gain. It has a volume and drive knob. Channel B is a more transparent overdrive that has more gain than channel A. What is really cool is to boost the B side with the A side. Also on the B side is the coolest feature of ZIM; the voicing. The voicing circuit uses a type of non sweeping phase shift. This works really well for getting different lead tones. There are two knobs, one for voice and one for depth. This works well for using different amps, guitars and playing in different rooms. You can cut or boost with the depth knob and you can select through 8 different voicings.

This sounds like alot of options, and it is, but you can get a great sound right off the bat with the depth knob left in the center.

First, here is the setup I use:

'68 Fender Twin Reverb and a Gibson Les Paul Standard and a American Deluxe Stratocaster. I use a ton of effects between my guitar and amp. Guitar-->EB Volume Jr.-->Teese RMC2-->Boss TU2-->EH Q Tron +--> EH Bass Microsynth-->Analogman Bi-Comp-->FoxRox ZIM-->Fulltone SupaTrem-->Analogman Clone Chorus-->Maxon AD900-->Boss DD5 with analogman hi cut mod-->Boomerang Phrase Sampler.

The ZIM is not noisy at all. That is the first thing I noticed. The only time you could possibly hear any type of noise would be if you had both gain knobs and the volume way up. If you need that much gain, you would need to get the heavy distortion card for ZIM. On all setting I've tried with ZIM, it sounds great. The hardest part is picking one sound and sticking with it. I mostly use Channel B for my rhythm sound and boost it with channel A for leads. This is the best way for me to use it. I fiddle with the voicings and boost/cut knob fairly often just for fun. There are no bad settings. Everything is very useable.

FoxRox products are known for being very reliable and they are built extremely well. Dave knows what he is doing.

I've exchanged plenty of e-mails with Dave and he always responds quickly and answers my millions of questions. I know that if I ever had a problem with any FoxRox product that he would take care of it.

I play everything from alt. country to 80's new wave to heavy rock. When I say heavy rock, I mean 80's Metallica, Slayer, etc. I'm sure ZIM would work well with any type of music you wanted to play. I like mine so much, that I will be ordering a second ZIM to use with other ZIM cards, when they become available.

Let me just say that I have tried tons of overdrive and distortion pedals looking for the right sound. Some of the pedals I've had sounded great and some of them weren't so good. Here are some that I've had: Menatone Red Snapper, King of the Britains, Analogman TS9, Analogman King Of Tone (awesome pedal, sounds just like a cranked blackface Fender), Proco Rat, Tonebone Classic, Keeley BD2 and tons of others that I can't even remember. All of these pedals work well in their own way, but none of them bring everything together like the ZIM has done. I don't believe that I will ever need another distortion/OD pedal again. I think it's a great deal for what you get. 2 pedals in one with the option of swapping out new cards in the future. What could be better than that?!!?