Korg A1

VERY EASY. JUST SELECT THE CHAIN, MODIFY AT YOUR OWN AND YOU GOT AN SURPRISING NEW BRAND TREATMENT PROGRAM EFFECT FOR YOUR SIGNAL.

NOISILESS IN STUDIO. I USED ON STAGE WITH A TWINREVERB AND A VOX AC30 IN STEREO WITH SUPERB RESULT.
THE BEST: MAYBE THE REVERBS.

SINCE I MARRIED I JUST DON'T PLAY ANYMORE ( YES, I KNOW...!). I NEVER USED A BACKUP FOR THE PROGRAMED EFFECTS, THE UNITS ALWAYS BE VERYSTABLE AND SURE.
DOES ANYONE INTERESTING IN IT?
400 EUROS FROM SPAIN
nenemalo@msn.com

Only change the internal battery one time. No problem at all.

When I bought it brand new, i choose Korg A1 among many alexis and Yamaha units. This baby was the apropiated one for thge music i played (Pop, funk and new wawe)

For this level of flexibily I would say it's a cake walk to program. The A1 was designed during the era where units had MASS amounts of buttons and dials. Such a pity with today's gear using multi-function buttons (some buttons serving the purpose of 5 - 10 different variables to control - *grief* - for the sake of higher profits?)

I liked the sound of the A1 so much that I had recently bought a 2nd unit off Ebay. In clean modes like chorus/flanger/delay, it is incredibly quiet. It's a pity that the majority of namebrands do not stick with rack mount effects. Your modern floorboard effect units can not match the A1 in flexibility and sound. Why? Because floorboard units DO NOT use TRUE balanced circuits (XLR I/O). Those into electronics understand what I mean by CMRR. When you're running 30 or 40 foot signal cables from your floorboard affects pedal on stage, you can't say that interference isn't an issue?

I will have to agree that the A1 is more suited for studio use. I've found that my A1 needed some serious sound tweaking when running it through a Marshall 9100 amp and a 1960A 4x12 cab.

Unlike the A3 and A2 units, I havn't heard of the LCD on the A1 wearing out. The only problem I had with my A1 was the internal lithium battery went dead. After 10 years of owning (bought it brand new), I thought it did a great job with NO broken buttons or dirty dials like other gear.

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SHAME on you Korg for not continuing the roots of the A series processors. You are as bad as Sony on how they discontinued their Mobile ES line in car audio - now they just make crappy stuff that is destined as landfill within 5 years. The world already has too much plastic landfill.

On the good part. To give you an idea how thoroughly designed the A1 is. When changing the voltage of my A1 from 117 -> 234 VAC, all that was required is unsoldering 1 wire inside and moving it to another tap on the power supply transformer. Markings on the rear are dead on clear. There is nothing more annoying than trying to find which pin is hot and cold on XLR connections. It is common for pins 2 and 3 of the XLR connector to be swapped around depending on which continent you live on.

I think the only alternative to the A1 is one of those new Eventide DSP 7000 units. For all other makes today (Boss, Roland, Lexicom, etc), they seem to cheap out on using smaller LCD screens with fewer segments and using more LEDs if they can get away with it. Right down to the cheap buttons and dials that feel like they will break off after a hard days use. Real musicians know what quality is and to pass them off with cheap components makes your company look bad.

What is it with all the floorboard gunk sold today. I remember last summer visiting a Jennifer Batten promo where she demoed the Digitech all-in-one recorder. It just amazes me they claim they are a 1st for being able to program chains when the A1 had done it over 10 years ago.

There is no substitute for quality!

The editing is pretty much easy.....I even didn't read the manual....I also own a KORG A3 for which I read the manual...surely it got something to do with it..Anyway, it's a COMPLEX unit with SIMPLE editing !!

This unit is very quiet...I use it for studio and live. Sure the distortions settings are noisy, even more if you are sitting in front of your PC, but if you put in the threshold, you will not hear any noise at all....this threshold is fantastic and simply the best I've ever seen...The best setup is to put a TUBE preamp in before the A1 or with the effect loop....then you get superb sound quality of the A1 with the warmth of the tubes, simply excellent. It would be even better if you could get distortions from this tube preamp ! Anyhow, all the effects are of very high quality ! This unit can do it all with no shame ! Also you get: balanced in/out, true stereo effect path, +4db/-10db independent switches for in/out and everywhere possible, RE1 remote editor, FC6 foot controller, a lot of presets (400), RAM and ROM cards slut, etc. Simply a professionnal unit !

I've got some questions for KORG and they offered a more than honest support...a guy gave me the name of persons who would be interested in selling their Korg A1....That guy was extremely kind and helpfull...can we say the same for KORG ??? That's the question...I hope that you get a good person too !!

I'm very satisfied of this unit....you simply plug your guitar in it and it deliver professionnal processing and leveling...no use of preamp unless if you want...I would buy it again anytime or maybe I would try an Eventide...Because I'm a guitarist, I want a unit suitable for the guitar needs but also for studio use...so that is the reason why I wouldn't try the new Lexicon guitar processor...(Lexicon quality but just for guitar !!)...otherwise I simply think that there are no units comparable in terms of quality...

I used this effects unit when recording guitar for Adam Wakeman on his first two albums, it was easy to find some great sounds.

The sound quality is quite superb, the clean sound when played with my Fender Strat switched between the bridge and middle pck-ups (out of phase) is awsome, very Alan Murphy/Scritti politti sounding.

N/A Unit belonged to the studio.

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I play Fender Stratocasters through a Mesa Boogie pre amp. My style is Nik Kershaw/Francis Dunnery/Alan Murphy, plenty of whammy bar on the Solo's and Chords. I would buy the A1 just for the killer clean sound alone.

Very very easy to use to get a good sound out from it,
to edit, I did't read its manual...I don't know the firmware version,
but no need.

Only you connect from instruments to A1, and to amp, you can get excellent sounds everytime.
Both clean sounds, distort sounds, I can't play without A1.

Ah, I must say you 2 weak points of A1.
One, because of its oldness, when it changes programs, it shut sounds up.
Two, harmonizer patch is old. So I use digitech/whammy and eventide/H3000 with A1.

I don't know who uses the A1 among famous people...but no problem.
I don't want to be someone. Be myself.

Once upon a time, its internal battery was dead,
but I changed to new one by myself...
Type of battery is the same as watches or pokemon-games(LOL)
Only 3steps, open the rack, change batteries, close the box.
That's All.

No Need. Very reliable one.

Actually, korg/A1 is very old architecture, I bought first A1 is about 10 years ago,
serial number was about #2500, it might the last one, second was about #750, third is about #150.

Though there are many many effect products, but I think there are not so much superior to A1,
there are many "different good", but.....

I play guitar/bass, and synths with korg/A1 as a guitar-pre, mixer-aux-send/return, and freely use,
totally 3(about $1,200/new, 800/used, 600/used)...WANT more and more!!!

In Japan, A1 is not known so much or forgotten(korg is japanese manufacture tho...haha),
so when I seek out A1 at the shops, I buy it, not so expensive,,,selling about 300~400USD,
and shops buy it about 100~150USD.

Yes, I know there are a lot of great effects...digitech, rocktron, eventide, tcelectronic, lexicon, etcetc...
But, if, I must choice one effect, I WILL prefer to A1.

Thank you for reading my issue. Happy playing.

Since I have been using my A1 as a guitar processor, most of the patches and chains focus on studio use and only a small handful of them were for guitar. Using the existing guitar patches and tweaking them were easy. A nice feature is the ability to copy a favorite single effect setting from one patch and place it into a different patch. Very time saving.
The manual was well thought out and easy to use.

My live setup is a Marshall JMP-1 into the A1, then into a Marshall 9100 power amp then into two Marshall 1960 vintage slant 4-12s. I play various guitars thru this. All guitars are fitted w/humbucking pickups including the single coils with close to the same output levels. I have separate banks for the different guitars I use. The system is so quiet I've never needed to use the noise reduction feature. I have used this setup for a wide variety of music styles and it's very versatile so I can get just about any sound I need. I use an FC-6 foot controller W/volume pedals and the A1 changes the JMP-1 patches It's great for stage use. as far as effects, I'm happy with all of them.

I've been using it for years live and has been bounced in the rack a few times. It's never failed.

I've never needed to get it repaired. so I haven't contacted the company.

When I need a replacement I will have to buy from another manufacturer since all Korg is making for guitar are footpedals, not rackmount. If Korg reads this, PLEASE consider continuing this series and upgrade. It has been vital to my sound. And if you do, feel free to contact me!

It is a computer in a multiefect unit. Very complex but when you read the manuals is a piece of cake. You can do anything you want with about 60 chains and 60 efects.

I read the submission above of cupax@geocities.com and i don't agree with him. Yes he (or she) is right about the studio use, it is really the piece you must have. But about live use he is wrong. I use the unit with my hughes & kettner amp (stereo send/return) and the sounds that i get from my A1 are absolutely amazing. I have a FC6 controller and i change the channels on my amp via midi. IT IS A PROFESSIONAL UNIT. I'm VERY happy to get one.

No problem.

Can't rate. No problem.

This is real great unit expecially if you use it with a amp with preamp for live. I sugest stereo equipment for real 3D surround sounds. For studio use is esential. My suggestion - BUY IT.

Not really easy to use for the beginner, but there is a huge manual (4 books) that explains everything. Have about 60 different effects, 100 user patches and a ram card for aditional 100. The great thing is that there are totally indipendent 2 channels in the unit that can be used also as normal stereo or mono.

For a studio recording this is a piece that you must have. I use it for home recording with my PC with SoundBlaster LIVE! becouse there is a digital in on it to connect with Korgs digital out and in. Great no noise with no professional sound cards. The unit is ment also as a guitar preamp for gigs. IT IS NOT TRUE. Don't buy it for guitar. The worst thing on it is a about 1 second of silence between patches. Useless. For direct recording the sound is beautiful but when you plug it into Guitar amp it just don't have the right sound. Something closed and dim. It is a studio recording unit.

No problems at all.

Second hand

Great for recording (I sugest to try it with sound cards with digital in) useless for live.