Korg A4 Guitar

The A4 is quite easy to use. You can create a nice sound in under 2 minutes.

The sound quality is nice, but the distortion could be better. This is my first pedal so I don't have much to compare it to, but I the distortion makes high pitched noises when you put the gain too high. The effects are limited.

Mine's kinda old and it was free. The compressor button doesnt work sometimes so no I definetely wouldn't gig with it.

I found the effects on the A4 were limited. You could good a good range of sounds of the OD and Chorus/Flanger, but I could think of a whole lot more this pedal could have. If this was stolen, I woould feel bad for the person who stole it. This pedal isn't all that great. It's old and limited (and quite bulky) for my taste, so I will keep looking for something within the DigiTech 100-200a range.

Its really easy. I got it second hand for 80 pounds. Didn't have a manual and didnt need one. You can edit the patches to what you want easily.

I play a schecter C1 Hellraiser through an Ibanez TB100R amp half stack. I play stricktly metal music, and althought the sound quality isnt quite the same as some rack mounted digital effects processor that cost a years wage, its alot more handy and a hell of a lot more cost effective. The effects do sound really good though. very little noise.

I'd use it without a backup, its pretty simple, nothing can go wrong.

I play heavy heavy metal. it works great, but i can see it workin well for other genres, its pretty versatile, if it got stolen and I saw another i'd get it. I love how cool it looks and how easy it is to use. Wish it could be battery powered though.

operation and adjus. is like tying shoes. its my third unit never seen a manual dont need it.

i play a tv-twenty with seymours a-4 through effects loop in a peavey classic 2-12 tweed I play all music styles my sound is 1980 38 special
to brent mason it creates and delivers

I allways use it without backup because i cant find another one played in clubs 4 nights week near 10 years if i had a gig and it quit id have to find a replacement because i wouldnt play!!!~

Ive never contacted the company and I dont want an up grade sure a couple switch buttons have gone bad no wonder full of beer spills and cigarette ash stomped on 5 million times I just pull a couple screws and fix it bout 5 bucks r. shack

just tell me what sound you want besides grunge and ill produce it.be patient cuz it'l take about 3 minutes.
its easy to give up when hunting a sound and blame the unit its their just take it one effect at a time

Great - been using it for ~7 years. It was my first multi-FX unit after I got fed up daisy-chaining individual stomp-boxes. Never looked back and have no reason to change - it's got everything I want at the touch of a button. Once you figure out the (pretty easy) logic behind the method, it's so easy to use.

Ibanez and Fender through H&H. Great sound and versatility from blues/rock/metal - got everything.
Favourites are : Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Uli Jon Roth, Gary Moore, Ritchie Blackmore, Chris Oliva

Good reliability - only broken down once and threw a fit a couple of times where I lost my delay on a certain patch. Switch off and on - it came back again ??

Broke down once - had to send it Korg service centre under warranty about 6 years ago. Had it back within days and it's been working ever since.

Would like to know about upgrades, but there doesn't seem to be any info. onthe website any more ?

I maybe not buy an A4 again - I look at newer models and see what I could get, but I would definitely buy Korg again. Very happy with product and reliability.

Compared it to BOSS at the time.

Great to use, easy to get a variaty of sounds.

With the noise reduction unit in it, the noise can be altered anyway. The sounds are great, but hard to get to many variables

I havn't got anything else, and don't need anything else with this thing. I've had one crash, I think, and every now and again, one slot (ie. "3,4") might go and disappear, producing no sound whatso ever.

Bought it second hand, haven't even had to worry about repairs

I'm a laid back sort of pop/rock/blues player, in a Christian band (http://www.apocalypse.am5.com) and use this pedal for special fx in the band.
I've used this pedal for 4 or 5 years and have tried many different combinations. I've tried everything, but am finding it hard now to come up with any different effects out of it.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Please email me at anorexic_tinman@msn.com with the numbers you use on an effect.
For instance....

Distortion: 5, 7, 4, 4, 19
Pitch :12, 13, 4, -12, 8, -, -, 18

(or whatever the relevant numbers are for your cool effect)

I know this could take ages, and possibly wreck up ur effects, so no reply would be predictable, but any reply would be greatly appreciated, even if the numbers are only approximate. ie, if Flanger speed is set high, and depth set low, with a bit of Stuck Wah Distortion.....all comments would be greatly appreciated.

very easy to use, a piece of p*** realy.

I use a Fender strat and the A4 direct into the PA. Fantastic

When I first got the A4 it was forever crashing and loosing my patches and I was concidering smashing it to smithereens. But a friend of mine had a look at it and sorted it out. God only knows what he did to it but I would'nt be with out it now.

I play indie music and I am allways on the look out for a new sound. The A4 has loads of options to create new and interesting sounds and just buy mucking about with the controls you can come across something fantastic by chance. Ive wrote whole albums worth of stuff just by experimenting with effects.

THE first program 11 is just right for songs like hotel california and typical eagle oriented overdrive songs.The delay and the dist is jus right!THE other sounds are okay!
Editing programs is abreeze on my A4....i do it with my little finger and the scope for enhancements is marvellous!
LIKE most other manuals, this one too is precise and to the point.you have too work hard on the gadget if you are to master the parameters.
I have no idea about the firmware or any upgrades...i would like to have some advise regarding this!

I have been using a KUSTOM audition 20 with my A4.{A PEAVEY replica}while driving a YAMAHA hollow-body , made in JAPAN semi-acoustic electric six-string.
USE SOME noise-gate and the distortion wont jarr your bones and ears.
THE fx are great but I liked MY A5 better!
Like i said before, my KUSTOM AMPLISPEAKER is the perfect mate for A4.Its` got a SATURATION button which puts the A4s dist into a FRENZY...added power makes it work well...TRY KEEPING the input level FULL.... ON THE A4 ...ALSO THE KNOBS ON YOUR AXE....TURN THE TONE PARAMETER OF THE DISTORTION TO ZERO , PUT A LONG FEEDBACK DELAY WITH THE MIX LEVEL A LITTLE LESS ADD SOME REVERB AND SETA DEEP CHORUS....AND WOW YOU SOUND LIKE I DO!
I GET SLASH, EAGLES AND ROQUES` SOUNDS.
THE DISTORTION COULDNT BE BETTER ....SOUNDS RIGHT ON A 4 WAY P.A...I DONT LIKE METAL SOUND
[WHICH THE A4 DOESNT HAVE INCEDENTLY}SO ITS AWRIGHT...THE CHORUS AND FLANGER DONT SEEM TO BE SO DIFFERENT FROM EACH OTHER THOUGH.AND I REALLY MISS MY WAH-WAH...AND VOLUME PEDAL BUT THERE IS MIDI....YOU CANNOT HAVE ALL THE GOOD FRUITS FROM THE TREE OF LIFE.

NO WAY !it has conked off and got it self locked a million times...you have to reset all data..to get it back on the road!
NO WAY...the KORG MAKERS HAVE MADE A BIG BLUNDER IN THE HARDWARE ....TRY STORING A PROGRAM AND PUT OFF THE UNIT...THE PARAMETERS ARE CHANGED OR THE DEFAULTS ARE RESTORED...ALL THE A4S IN INDIA HAVE THIS PROBLEM....CURSES ON THE MANUFACTURERS.....I DONT KNOW BOUT OTHER COUNTRIES ALL I KNOW IS...MY 23000 RUPEES INVESTMENT STINKS!----THAT WAS MY 10 YEARS OF SAVINGS.

THEY ARE IN JAPAN AND I; IN INDIA.....THE PRODUCT VERSION HAS BEEN CL0SED DOWN.
I WOULD LOVE TO HAVE AN UPGRADE AND GET THIS GADGET REPAIRED...NO ONE QUALIFIED OVER HERE.

I PLAY GUNS AND ROSES ONLY.YEAH THE SOUND IS AUTHENTICX WITH A LESPAUL AT HAND.
I AM 26 ..BEEN PLAYIN SINCE I WUS 7.I HAVE ROLAND W30 SAMPLER/WORKSTATION....ITS MY LIFE.
NO I WOULD SWITCH TO UNPLUGGED GUITAR.
I LOVE THE LOOKS ..I HATE THE BUGS...MY FAVOURITE FEATURE IS THE DISTORTION/EQ..LATCH...ITS WONDERFUL.
I TRIED A ZOOM 9050....DIGITECH RP-12.....ME-10..ME-X BOSS....ART NOTHIN GOT CL;OSE TO THIS SEXY SIREN WHICH TURNED OUT TO BE A SLUT.
WHAMMYPEDAL...WAH..VOLUME EXPRESSION AND FX INSERTS..SEND/RETURN.....FLOPPY...STORAGE SEQUENCER---I COULD GO ON FOR DAYS,..
MUSIC FINDS ITS WAY EVEN IF IT HAS TO CLIMB THE A4 HIMALAYA OF BURDENS AND WORRISOME BUGS.
YEAH.....GIVE ME A FREE A4 AND I WOULD GIVE IT AWAY FREE.....TO A DRUMMER TO USE THE COMPRESSOR FOR HIS KICK.

Pretty easy to use once you get the hang of it. If you try and ignore the fact the individual patch footswitches are labelled with an effect name (this only means anything in program mode), you'll get along a lot better with this gear. Its a load easier to use in practise than a zoom 707 as you can select which bank/patch you want directly rather than having to scroll though all the patches that you have.

I'm currently using a Marshal GRCD80, and a squire Jagmaster. The Korg is a tad noisy on certain effects. The most annoying thing though are the discrepancies in output level between certain effects. Although you can sort this out in the user patch area your stuck with the levels in the preset area. A limiter in front of the box maybe wise.

The quailty of the effects are great, apart from the overdrive/distortation. The OD is laughable, if you haven't got a seperate fuzzbox or OD chanel on your amp, forget it. A lot of the preset sounds make me sound like I'm playing the theme music to Tagert (or maybe Mami Vice), this is not good !.

Having said that the delay/pitch shifter is fantastic as is the chorus/flanger.

No, I'd never go into a gig without backup gear, thats asking for trouble. Having said that, this things pretty sturdy so I'd imagine it would take some abuse.

No idea.

I pretty much play anything. I really wanted a multieffects pedal which would allow me to use long delays mixed with chorus, and also a guitar tuner. For what I paid for this you'd struggle to get a decent guitar tuner, so in that respect its perfect.

I've been playing for nearly 20 years now and I've owened way to much gear over the years to list here.

If it was stolen I'd buy another one, but not for more than #50 UK though.

Personally I think this blows a Zooom 707 or 505 out of the water. The effects are far better and much more configurable (apart from the overdrive)

Very easy to use and has a great sound. I like the stereo outs even though you have a mono input guitar. Very nice compact unit and very practical. I don't know if there is a firmware upgrade but the one I have sounds great. Editing patches is pretty easy and it has a whole lot of locations for custom patches. The expression pedal is a "must have" because it gives you more flexibility. I also got it with a padded gig bag that was pretty cool.

I used it with a Mosvalve stereo amp and used a PRS guitar. The unit is surprisingly quiet. I play a variety of music and I needed an effects setup that could capture different sounds from Santana to Benson.

I found it very reliable but I did have a problem at gigs when other musicians accidently stepped on the power supply cord and disconnected it.

I have not had to deal with the company because I never really had any problems with the unit

This unit is very easy to figure out! I bought mine off HC w/o a manual and was tweaking and copying between patches in minutes. I couldn't get the channel switching function to work on my Peavey classic 30. But it works on my pre amps in my rack rig so it's something about the C30 not the A-4.

here I'm going to practical for a gigging situation. It sounds fine in the mix with a band. The audience isn't going to be able to tell the difference between the chorus on this A-4 vs a Analog mike clone clone. Which I do have and for recording there is no question which one I would use but for gigging the sound is great. give it an 8

haven't had it but a couple of months. I packit to church and back and gig with my secular band no problem. Korg is good stuff.

On the phone they are great.Their web site leaves a lot to be desired for discontinued stuff. I think they just live in the moment and the past is just that.

I play in a cover band and church. Classic rock band for 10 yrs. been playing for 30. I play a PRS CE24 and a American Strat with EMG DG-20 pups. A Peavey Rockmaster/Mesa Boogie Studio preamps into a Peavey Classic 50/50 Power amp>BBE maximizer>Ampeg 4X12 stereo Cab. I use this A-4 for gigging simplicity. I have a custom pedal board for stomp boxes for recording.The channel switching function is worth its weight in gold...Are their any other floor boards that do this? Great Idea...one less pedal on the floor for me. I would definitely try to find another if lost or stole but good luck....!give it a 8.5 it's not studio quality but extremely practical.

Was a little tought at first but once you play with it about 5 minutes it becomes cake.

I dig the fact that each effect is not an on/off sort of thing so you can mix as many effects as you want per one preset pedal. My rythem chanel is a mix of reverb/chorus/distortion/compresor and it sounds like god! This is some deep chunky metal stuff here. All of the other reviews that say the distortion is week do not know how to tweak with it. My clean channel is a combination of a ton of other effects and it sounds incredible too.

Had a crappy power supply that I got with it. Replaced that and it became fine. Practice, gig and record with it.

Had a bad down button on the effects selector. Called Korg and they where very helpfull. Said that it would cost about $15 bucks to take care of it. They directed me to my local korg dealer and he said that if he was bored he would even do it for free. <shrug>

I dig this board. I bought it off a friend who was in desperate need for cash. He really did not want to seperate with it.

Its pretty easy to use. Takes a little practice to know where everythings at though

Sounds Pretty Good..... you have like 30 factory presets and 30 of your own you can program yourself

Yeah its pretty good once in a while i get a little static or something. thats not very often though maybe its bad electric in building im in but its reliable for band gigs and stuff

I play heavy metal and when i preset my own distortion and effects its great for my music.. its also great for all types of music

Very easy to use right from scratch , the presets are easy to edit and getting your own sounds takes about 2 minutes. The manual is really good , it's small but explains stuff in a very easy to understand way . I learnt everything i know about effects from my A4.

I have used my A4 with a few amps , a 5150 , a Laney , a JCM 900 , but it only seems to work well with a valvestate , believe it or not .I canget better sounds with a valvestate and an A4 than with any of the other amps . The best thing about the whole unit is that it changes channel on my amp for me as part of a patch , which is the best thing ever , especially live. Use the A4 with your amp's distortion and it sounds cool. The best sound is to use your amps distortion , with the chorus on the A4 with everything turned down to minimum but the mix on full , instant Pantera.

Had it 7 years , still going strong , gigged it many many times , and dropped it. Still mint.

never had to

I play everything from metal to blues and it always copes well , some of the clean sounds are fantastic . I want to replace it but i don't know if anything else will work as well with my set up , so I'm hanging on to it for the time being.

It's pretty easy to get the clean sounds from this unit. The distortion sounds leave a lot to be desired. After reading the manual once (sort of) I was able to edit the patches with the greatest of ease. The manual is pretty good at explaining the different features on this unit. The reason I'm giving it an 8 is beacuse I haven't had a chance of messing around with the midi side of it.

I'm very happy with the clean, delay, reverb and noise reduction on this unit. The built in tuner is also good. The compressor I really don't use much, and the pitch shift only a little here and there. I'm kind of in the middle when it comes to the chorus/flange effects. The flange I don't use at all and the chorus is o.k. I guess. I keep going between the chorus on my ADA mp-1 and the A-4. It has a a preset called "George" which supposedly it sounds like George Lynch, NOT!! The distortions are weak and I feel that they don't "sing".

I just got this unit and I haven't had a chance to use it other than in rehearsal, but it seems pretty rugged and our rehearsals are pretty crazy at times and so far no problems. I was lucky to have purchased this unit from a guy who really took care of his gear. He bought when it first came out, I got as new.

Never called them

I mostly play "all things metal" and it's o.k. Like I said, the distortion isn't to cool, but everything else is great. Right now I switch between my H&K metal shredder and the distortions on my MP-1. I use the A4 for all the other effects. One thing that I like is the feature which lets you use the A-4 as a regular footswitch. I use this for my metal shredder since it's not midi and at the same time I can change the patches on MP-1 thru midi. The only thing I wished it had other than awesome distortions, is phantom power.

I feel that this is one of the best digital units for the guitarist to learn these concepts on. The owner's manual does a good job explaining the effect and how to use it on the A4. Doesn't cover very well how the effect may respond when used with other effects. The only thing they don't address is how to integrate it as an effects unit into different pre-amp effect loops.

Crystal clean on everything. I have a patch for 'Dance the Night Away' that sound great through the direct out.

Throw it against the wall and it's not going to break.

I have spoken with them several times about how to combine the A4 with a particular amp that I am working with to maximize both the A4 and the amp. They have really good info, and usually would answer my question before I could finish asking it. I would give them a 10 if they had an 800 number or link on their web site for direct support.

I bought this to accomplish a whole lot of needs that I had for a guitar processor. I really didn't have a lot of experience with big stacks, and had to learn a lot about how to get the sounds I needed with this unit. That approach worked out well, because now I can really maximize an amp with or without my A4 because of what I have learned.
The A4 really never took off because Zoom put out a lot of competing products at about the same time. The success of the A3 was a big lead in for the A4. Korg came out with the AX30 to fill the gaps that the A4 had option wise. I like the AX30 also, but the A4 is bigger and easier to work with when it's loud on stage and I am sweating like crazy. Don't use it without a volume pedal attached; the Compressor doesn't accomplish that much load balancing, but itis close to the Hush as far as quality. Overall, a good decision that I made.

I feel that extensive use is required in order to get good sound out of the product. Editing each effect, however, is a simple task. It is also possible to chain multiple effects easily.
The manual is thin and contains mostly midi setup information.

The sound quality is supurb on clean sounds. For distortion, however, it is difficult to achieve a heavy chunky sound.
Again, I feel that extensive use is required in order to get extremely good sound out of the product.

I haven't had any problems with the rig. It is a floor mount model and seems pretty sturdy unlike its predecesor, the A5.

Never contacted.

This is a nice unit for someone wanting a lot of bang for their buck especially if you can find one used. It has lots of the most widely used effects. Compression, Distortion, EQ, flanger, chorus, delay, reverb, and pitch shift; all of which are chainable. It supports MIDI for patch information and outputs in stereo.
I've been playing guitar for 10 years. I play hard rock and classic rock. It is a decent match for these genres especially where clean sounds are needed.
If it were stolen or lost, I'd replace it with newer technology.
Its built in chromatic tuner is great for live gigs.

It is easy to learn and use this thing. Editing is easy too. You get all needed information from the manual.

Sounds are great. I like pitch/delay section but don't like chorus/flanger altough it is easy to get good chorus or flanger sound and there's inverted feedback control to imitate phaser or something like that but it is not useable. Good thing is that you can use almost every effect at once so you can create sounds from outer space. Sweep delay is funny.

I haven't no problems.

Never dealt with the company or retailer.

I actually love the sound of it but I won't buy it again. I have already sold it to my classmate and I'm going to buy Digitech RP-6. I have no complaints about it but it is already old-fashioned and too expensive. If you want basic effects like chorus, delay, reverb ,EQ and distortions with good sound quality this is for you.

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