Korg AX1000G

Get a sound is really easy and editing patches is also... "funny". The manual is complete and you can download it from the web.

I use an Ibanez RGR270DX with DiMarzio pickups (Air Norton and Steve's Special) on a Peavy Bandit 112 solid state (80 watt RMS). The Korg sounds pretty cool with a variety of sound and no noise (thanks to noise suppressor): I love Metallica and I can create their sound easily also if I sound a lot of metal, hard rock and so on... Anyway all effects seems very good to me and satisfy my needs.

I use it on gigs and whrn I sound with my band in our garage. I think it's a "must have" pedal.

I don't know

I usually play metal, hard rock and grunge (and many others) and it's definitely a good match. I play with it from 2 years ago and every day i find a new reason to use it everywhere. I've tried many others gears and this one match perfectly my needs and my taste. If it was stolen or lost maybe I'll try something else like Boss GT-6 ($$$$). I love all it's features and distortion and there isn't something really hated. It's a wonderful piece of hardware at a really good street price. Buy it and you'll never regret :-)

The knobs make this unit pretty easy to program -- it's a vast improvement over my old Digitech RP-6 in that regard, and it's far more intuitive than a lot of similar units for somebody like me who's been oriented toward stomp boxes for most of their playing career. The manual is quite readable, but you can get away with abandoning it and just playing with the unit to figure it out, which to me is the sign of a user-friendly piece of equipment. In terms of getting a good sound, after a lot of trial and error I recommend starting with nothing -- no drive settings, cab settings or anything -- and adding in effects very conservatively, since there's potentially so much going on that it's pretty easy to muck up your sound otherwise.

I usually play a Gibson SG through a Carvin X-100 tube combo amp. I wouldn't say I'm trying to get anybody else's sound in particular, but I need access to good distortion, compression, phase, chorus and delay most often. I have pretty much abandoned the distortions on this unit in favor of just overdriving my amp, although I think that shreddy metal types might find a few things in here to make them happy. As I mentioned, I've also ditched the cab simulations, since I found it just too frustrating to get a handle on EQ and fix things on the fly in the Korg rather than just twiddling the Carvin's tone knobs, and I'm not really looking for a wide range of cab sims for live performance. The compressor is passable, although I think it might be the source of some noise in my effects chain. Phase is very good, delay and looping are reasonably versatile (except I wouldn't trust the sample-and-play for a live gig since the switch under the expression pedal is a bit dodgy), wah sucks. It's disappointing that certain effects can't be used together, like chorus and flange, for instance. A lot of the more off-the-wall effect options are nifty in theory, but pretty useless in practice.

I've been gigging with it without a backup, but I'm headed away from that for two reasons: (1) The wall-wart's cable keeps coming out of the clip that's meant to hold it in place, which means it's getting stretched from use, and it now only works in one power strip that I have to carry around, and even then it only works in one direction. If I accidentally kick the power strip, the unit powers off and on. (I've ordered a replacement.) Some online specs I've found seem to suggest that the unit also takes batteries, but it doesn't. (2) The unit may be susceptible to extreme heat. I played one outdoor gig in midsummer where the display started flashing like a strobe, the bank selector would only move in reverse, and it kept skipping the banks where my most frequently used patches were; I wound up having to manually set up my sounds between songs. It never happened again after that day, but that sketched me out. On the plus side, the chassis is extremely durable, and I haven't had anything else on it physically break.

Haven't contacted them directly.

I guess I mostly play art-pop these days with overtones of prog, blues and 70's dinosaur metal; been playing for over two decades. I'm going at least partially back to stomp boxes, since they're so damned satisfyingly tactile and modular, but I plan to keep this unit in the chain at least for now for the delays/loops, the tuner, the phase and maybe a handful of other options. The unit's bypass is non-polluting enough that I think I can do this without inflicting serious damage on the overall sound.

very easy to use

my setup:
jackson jdr94 with a paf pro (w/coil tap) in the neck position and a schaller 2in1 in the bridge position, also replaced the crappy jackson floyd for a lo-pro edge (neat guitar), then, the signal goes to a dunlop wah and to my peavey triumph pag 120 (great amp, cheap too), the ax1000 is in the effects loop of the peavey.
about the effect sound:
modeling is quite good, but doesn't beat the distortion of the triumph (awesome)
it's funny that i use the effects that i actually dislike from the unit. The chorus sounds horribly digital (unless used in stereo, why?) delays are okay by themselves, but combined with reverb, they suck, the rev/dly combinations really adds mud to the sound. Flanger, good. Phaser, really good. Pitch, so so, but i love the ability to delay the harmonized sound (can do vai's ballerina's trick). cabinet emulations..hmm, it depends. they really cut the higher and lower frequencies and takes life away from the sound, some of them are really a waist of bits. Some others warm up the sound, but at the expense of crispness and low end. The distortion emulations are better than others (like zoom), but not enough for me (they are really pick sensitive, but lacks dynamics and presence, and the overall textures of the mild drives sucks) the most importan drawback for me is that when you use the drive+cab+chorus, etc..the sound feels like coming from nowhere, the sounds gets stuck in the speaker and doesnt come out, its frustrating, very uninspiring..thats why i use it through the effect loop, and only use the modulation and rev/dly effects.
pitch shifter sounds bad (harmonized sound sounds totally muddy and digital, and with less volume), but the intervals are ok.
other cools effects are just gimmicks, i dont really use them.
overall, it sounds decent, but not pro. can give you hours of fun, but at last you get bored for the lack of life of the unit.
one thing to the boys from korg "INCLUDE AN EQ MODULE!!!! AND A CLEAN SOUND IN THE PRE MODULE!!!!!"

very reliable.sturdy.

no opinion

i play mostly vai an satch, and blues (yeah really, dont laugh), any style, actually.
overall this is a wonderful practicing unit, but not suited for professional uses.
good sounds, good looks, good price..best for the buck.

well, it looked kinda scary, me coming from the wee zoom 505-II pedal, but its so straightforward, and easy to use. individual effect mode for a conventional footswitch feel makes this quite versatile :)

the sounds are great on this pedal, the only quibble is over the drive amp, cannot have compressor on with distortions, or acoustic sim with distortions, and the distortions aren't amazing, they're good, but im picky! the noise reduction circuitry is awesome, get the noisiest son of a single coil and hold it at a CRT monitor, plug in and yank up the noise reduction, and it'll be quiet as a quiet thing! perfect pedal for metallica/pantera/iron maiden you can even got korn ish sounds, steve vai's sound is easy to get very accurately but i find it hard to get yngwie malmsteen's sound, but i play an ibanez and a kit les paul not a strat, so what do you expect!! in play this thru my homemade amp, and it sounds well, great bass response and tonal clarity, but thats because solid state rules

its a strong mother! cups of coffee saturated it, it lived and is fine, dropped etc... its built like a Panzer! however the knobs on it seem to want to come off quite easily now, but its gettin on, and super glue would fix this, definately gig without backup.

i havent talked to them, but when the previous owner wanted to order a powersupply from them, they told him to send it in, and it would take 2 weeks or so!

i play many styles, mostly heavy metal/prog metal/shred and its perfect!! i also can use it for blues well, and there are some good jazz tones. it has a reasonable acoustic simulator, but dont dump that dreadnaught!! sturdy build. if it were lost or stolen id probably buy its big daddy the 1500G or invest in some rack mount equiptment. it would be cool to have another 4 buttons below the ones on it to control the drive amp/modulations etc.. separately, like in individual modeaswell as being able to change the banks with the origional 4 pedals.

This box is a piece of cake to use.I bought it used for $150 u.s. and never got a manual untill 2 months later.The guy at daddy's junkie music made a copy of the ax1500 manual for me to try.Same unit.Just no A-B switch.

I play thru an '87 peavy backstage plus fitted w/a '65 fender 10" cone.'92 Hammer Studio,'96 Peavy Preadtor(u.s.)'03 Yngwie Signature,'02 PRS Tremonti make up my guitar lineup.Any sound I want I can get.
I play everything from Stevie Ray to Metallica,Primus,Bloodhound Gang,The Cars,Pink Floyd,Patsie Cline,Country,whatever, and can usually find a sound I can live with.Just turn the knobs carefully!

I've been playing for 5 years and hade this for 3 of them.This thing is bulletproof.I throw it in and out of my car in a duffelbag and it takes it with a smile.I only bring my amp,2 guitars and this pedalboard.

Korg dicked around for sevral months before sending me a manual and as I said before,the guy at daddys' gave me the one for the ax1500 and it was all the same.Daddys' rocks.Korg sucks!

I didn't buy this pedal to get "xyz"'s sound.If thats what you want,Buy a diffrent pedal.I bought It to find MY sound.In this respect it is perfect.Just twist the knobs(I do llike the chickenhead knobs on the ax1500).If it was stolen and I could get another one for $100.00 or so, sold.If not, Oh well,I MIGHT give the ax1500 a try.My friend and fellow bandmate has had a Rpx400 Digi and I still would take the ax.That little plastic box feels like your stepping on a childs toy.The ax is a tank!I did have to make my trigger for the recording switch under the WAH pedal longer so I didn't have to press the pedal down so hard.I do wish the loop was longer AND SEAMLESS! I sometimes record direct to a tascam 4 track and the sound sucks.Mike your amp.The results are 10 fold better.As a simulator....eah, it's ok.As a pure noisemaker....awesome.

This pedal is extremely easy to use.You just have to fiddle around with the effects,get a good sound which sounds okay to your ears,add the effcts accordingly,and after 20 minutes or so, you can get a fabulous patch.Editing patches are very easy.However, there are 2 limitations.One is that the bank down switch is a combination of the bank up & 4th patch switch,which means that by pressing both together,you can get to previous banks.There are 40 user patches and 10 user banks,which is just about enough.People who want more should not go for this pedal.The other limitation is that you cannot use modulation & pedal modulation together,which is very annoying.

I use a Fender 57 Relic strat and a Samick amp.The distortion and delay are kick-ass!Giving some time to edit the patches,any damn distortion tone and delay tone can sound awesome and absolutely pro-level.This is where the pdeal scores way above Digitech.However,thge distortion can be damn noisy if you don't know how to set the noise reduction.Once it's done,you can sound like a king.The amp simulator is grrreat!!! You can get the closest sound to any guitarist you like.The Flanger is good,Phaser is good,Filter is awesome,but the chorus,wah and talker are PATHETIC!I would suggest install a Vox wah,a DOD chorus with this thing and it rocks!!

It is indeed very reliable but not at all suited for hot & humid conditions.The switches might fuck up once in a while due to dust or moisture accumulation.In that case,cover the switches,I mean ALL the switches with cellophane paper and wrap it tightly,insulating it from weather conditions.As far as rigidity is concerned,it's built like a tank,with solid metal body and very good backlit LCD and powerful LED.But no,I won't use it without a backup.

Never had any experience.

This is a tremendous value for money investment.I play in a psychedelic rock band called INSOMNIA and as a guitarist playing psychedelic music,it is an exceptional pedal. Barring the limitations,it is an excellent buy and definitely scores way above Digitech and Boss ME 30.

it is very easy to use and you shouldn't need the manual to much

for those who like it noiseless this box is for you, but then this unit doesn't give you any sound either. Digital distorsion sucks and there is only two or three types that are even usable. The compressor sucks too. The cab simulator is ok but i could only use two of them. The modulation effects are pretty good especialy the phaser and tremolo. The wah sounds muddy compared to the cry baby.
the pitch and talk sucks. reveerb and delay are quite good.

yes you can depend on it but you will need a backup of analog stomboxes when your band starts jumping on it.

if i where Korg support i wouldn't answer the phone...

This unit is only good for mod and delay effects but you can buy them in stompboxes and you will get much better effects all though a little noiser.

*This is a fairly complex pedal. It is easy to get a good sound out of it because the user has control over every aspect of each effect.
*Editing patches is a little confusing the first time you enter the first effect- the instruction manual will walk you through this. After you made your first patch, you know how to do it and it is easy.
*The manual is excellent. It is easy to follow and does not get more complicated than it needs to.

*I have used this system on an Epiphone Studio 10 (10 watt amp). I have friends who have made my little amp sound like a vintage tube amp with no problems.
*I also use this pedal on a keyboard amp (fender 80 watt) and directly plug the pedal into my computer. The effects sound excellent on these systems as well. I sometimes put microphone and my keyboard through the pedal- flawless sounds

I have not had a problem yet and I would certainly take this to a gig without a backup...

I'd bring a backup guitar and amp, but I trust this pedel

No problems with the pedel so no idea

I play rock, bluegrass, techno, classical, blues, funk and anything if I'm jamming with someone else. Been playing for 7 years. This and my tele- I can play anything. I would get another one if anything happened to it. The value of this pedal is incredible... this is basically a combination of over $1000 worth of effects built into one reasonably easy to use (sturdy) casing. Some people think this is a difficult pedal to use, some can't get a good sound out of it- I would probably explain that by a lack of experience. In the right hands, this pedal can do anything.

Everything is laid out for you to use, and the manual is actually very helpful, unlike most other pedals/processors. Editing a new patch is cake, and will sound good, as long as you don't put too many things into one particular patch.

Obviously, there is no true bypass, but when put on "bypass", this is about as close to transparent as you can get. I'm currently using this with my Aria Pro II LP copy in the effects loop of a Marshall VS265 Valvestate Combo, along side an Ibanez DE7 Delay/Echo. I originally owned a Digitech RP2000, sold it because I hated it, and bought this for $150 less than the selling price of the Digitech. I must say that this is a better investment. Most of the "normal" effects (i.e. chorus, reverb, delay, echo) sound nice, and, like every other processor on the market, the distortion is lame as hell. I like the noise gate feature, love the U-Vibe (Uni-vibe for those of you who have every used one) as it is fantastic, the tremolo is decent, the ring modulator is ok, and the phaser is EXTRAORDINARY. But, the wah is even more lame than the distortions, the compressor sucks, and the pitch shifter is the worst I have ever played. The amp models would seem to be very useful to record direct, until you realize that this sounds like puke recording direct. For the record, out of every patch I've made and kept, none of them use the Drive-Amp, Cabinet, or Pedal functions on this pedal, meaning that approx. 60% of this pedal is useless to me. But, the other 40% is definitely well worth what I paid for it. Oh yeah, if you put this (or any other overdrive/distortion) pedal in your effects loop, and trying to use any of the distortion effects, you will end up overdriving the power amp and not the pre-amp, making for some very interesting feedback.

It's in a metal chassis, so that's no problem. But, before I could try absolutely everything with the expression pedal, something broke in it, making it so it has no resistance, meaning it is very floppy and wobbly. That, and 3 of the 5 adjustment knobs broke off, all this within the first year. No worries, small things have happened before to a lot of my gear, and most of it is fixable/replaceable. Of course, you will just have to read down below.......

All I have to say is....WOW. These people seriously have a big problem talking to people. I called the service line about getting the pedal fixed when it broke, and the guy i talked to was seriously the most rude and pompous person I have ever spoken to. These people make Ibanez look like really wonderful, knowledgable folks. Basically, after this pedal broke under totally normal usage (I own many many different pieces of gear, and treat them all with care), I called them to see about replacing the part. I told the guy that the expression pedal broke, and wondered how much it would cost to repair. He asked me if I had been abusing the pedal, because electronics do not take too much abuse. I told him no, and explained what happened. So, this guys like, "you must be abusing the pedal, i've heard a lot of kids call up and say their pedal is broke, and this is because they beat the hell out of it and don't know what they are doing." Now, I'm only 20, and it was about a year ago when I called, but I've been playing guitar for about 12 years now, so I'm not a newbie to the game. I also play 6 other instruments with high proficiency, so I know how to take care of instruments and gear, and this ass accuses me of being irresponsible and abusing my stuff, only for him to say that usage such as I must have been inflicting on the processor is NOT covered under warrenty, and a replacement pedal would run me $100, plus shipping!!!!! Basically, I swore at him, and went out to buy a Morley Wah, since the korg Wah sucks anyway. Bottom line, if you own a Korg (or a Marshall, for that matter, since Korg "takes care" of both), pretend these people don't exist, because they won't help you if you need them to anyway. I wish I could give this category like a -200, just to show you how bad they really are. But, since this is a 1 to 10 scale, I'll just have to settle for the lowest score I can give.

If this was stolen from me, I would suck it up, be bummed out for like 2 days, save my hard earned college tuition loan money, and buy a few nice effects pedals that this processor gave me, like a Uni-Vibe, an Ibanez PH7 Phaser(the best phaser under $100 ever), one of those new Danelectro Reverbs (VERY nice pedal), and an Ibanez PM7 Phase Modulator (quite unknown, quite underrated). I wish they would have made some more of the effects useable (the pitch shifter, talker, and Mu-Tron simulator come to mind), and/or expanded the CPU to accommodate ordering the effects and being able to use the modulation and pedal effects simultaneously. Maybe ditching the Drive-Amp and Cabinet effects for this could keep the pedal in the same price range. Oh yeah, and make the sampling feature useable. Does anyone actually use this? I know how to use it, but it's pretty lame, and I play some music that could really use a decent looper. Bottom line, I don't regret buying it, because it has helped me with both gigging and (non-direct) recording, but ya gotta trim some fat to make a good steak, right? At least it's better than a Zoom.

Extremely easy to use, manual is decent, simple layout.

I have had this unit for over 2 years and it has taken a lot of work to get decent sounds out of it. The distortions aren't usable to me after 2 or 3 and a lot of them are pretty useless. The modulation effects are ok...i can get good tones out of them but they are not incredible. The delay and reverb aren't that good, but with some serious tweaking i have made some good sounds. I have played live it a couple dozen times and although it has done well, it just struggles at high volumes. Overall it has been a joy practicing with this thing at home and low volumes. I used it direct to the P.A. tonight and it worked out ok, it took some major tweaking and some various techniques to get the tone less brittle, but it worked out well. It's a cool piece of gear, it would just be better if all the sounds were more pro-like. I don't really want to get any rack gear and i would like a floor unit to control everything, but there isn't anything that is suitable for my style, which is a very eric johnson type of clean, dense chord work, and leads that are dissonant and spacy but without the heavy distortion, joe satriani-esque on his less heavy distortion. This unit is good for practicing, it has definately inspired me numerous times, and has been a blessing.

Never had any problems, couple of quirky knob changes that make it skip around effects but other than that, i have used this without a back up for over 2 years sucessfully.

i have been playing for about 10 years and have an interesting style which necessitates different sounds than your average run of the mill rock guitarist. So i would say this unit has worked out for me well, but might not be so suitable for a metalhead. I have used this to record a bunch of material direct to my computer, all of which have turned amazing! I can dig it.