Korg AX1B

OK-this is a follow-up review to the one right below this. I've worked a lot more with this unit as of recent. Getting a great sound is very easy, as is editing/saving patches. Renaming patches is also just as easy. I previously griped about not being able to use the looper/phrase sampler. All you need to do is press(toe up) on the expression pedal firmly(DON'T jump on it). Doing so on other patches where you have the expression pedal programed to do anything will bypass it's use. Repeating this will reactivate it. The self-luminous screen still kinda sucks, but I have incorporated a light fixture with a blacklight bulb onto my pedalboard=problem solved!

I am currently using this live into a direct box going to the mixer, and paralleling out of the DI into my amp's input. I have been very pleased with the results, and more importantly, so has the soundguy! Any, I repeat, ANY, multi-effect unit can be noisy. Learning how to tweak will fix this on any decent unit. That being said, I have no problems with unwanted noise or hiss. The distortion and overdrive is actualy very good on this unit. I know I said differently last time, but again, tweaking and EQing made all the difference. All other effects are acceptable at worst, many being very good(and very usable). Ring modulation and drone effects may not be for everyone, but that doesn't mean they suck. I like that I have such sounds at my disposal, and for soloing and doing ambient recording and experimental stuff, I couldn't be without them. As I stated in the last review, the amp modeling is a bit primitive, but you have enough tone shaping to get pretty much any tone you need. I have written patches for straight-ahead rock, jazz, fusion, and I even restrung my Dean Custom Zone with flatwounds and wrote two beautiful-sounding patches, one for old-school reggae, and one for that Jamerson-esque Motown thump. Also using a Dean ML with a single humbucker, which sounds great for many styles. I wrote the patch I simply called FLEA with this bass, and at a recent gig, we covered Readymade. A fellow bassist in the audience said I had Flea's tone nailed! Does that count for getting an artist's sound? Otherwise, I generally don't try to get an artist's sound; rather, I try to get MY sound(s). This pedal has been a great tool in helping me build my sinature tone.

As stated in my last review, it is made of plastic. It's a very robust plastic, and the pedals are very responsive with a nice resilient feel. I wouldn't go Kurt Cobain on it, but then I wouldn't jump on any of my gear. I believe it's quite a dependable unit, but I always travel prepared. I also own the DOD Bass 30, and I always have it with me just in case. The Korg can be found for a REAL good price, so I do plan to pick up a second down the road.

Korg is a great company, and the website is very helpful and informative on most of their older products.

As stated above, I play a few different styles, and the AX1B has helped me get the tones I need for those styles. It should then go without saying that it helps me make music, and NEVER gets in the way. After having built a very close reationship with it as of recent, I would be devastated if it were lost/stolen, and would be on the immediate hunt for another. I have owned other multi's in the past, and in this caliber, the AX1B simply blows away all others. The Digitech BP200 just sounds TOO digital, and let's not even go there with the Zoom toys. The DOD Bass 30 is nice, but I haven't owned it long enough to give a full honest opinion on it; it does however make a great backup unit and you can plug a CD/MP3 player into it for jamalong and practicing songs. What do I wish the Korg had? Can we say BACKLIT LCD SCREEN?!? As I said, I did remedy that one setback, and it's worth it!

Let's start by saying that I have a fetish with multi-effect units. I have played with many of them, own a few, and for one or several reasons, love them all. And while most of them are fairly easy to use and fun to mess around with, few of them are really stage-usable. Enter the Korg AX1B, a fairly intuitive unit that actually has the ability to give the working bassist sounds he/she can use in the real world. First of all, it's Korg-always quality products. It's got a button layout(some players prefer a knob-based interface, but I don't much care either way)which is pretty easy to work with. Otherwise, it's your typical two-pedal setup for switching between patches and a programable expression pedal. The manual is nicely laid out and will walk you through every function this unit offers. The loop/sample function is a pain in the arse; in fact I still haven't been able to use it. I've read elsewhere that this feature really takes patience to use. Most players looking for an inexpensive unit that they can actually use on stage aren't worried too much about looping anyway. And like most units of this nature, you need to step on both pedals to bypass or activate the tuner. It's not as bad as some reviewers make it out to be, just center your foot between the pedals, push and hold for 1 second, and you have a fully chromatic tuner. Bypass mode does somewhat kill your sound, but there are enough good sounds here to not have to bypass at all. The 3-LED display for tuning is pretty self-explanitory and very easy to see on dark stages. Red LED's to the left and right of a green LED. Red means your are flat or sharp, steady green means your are in tune. The only real con for this unit is the LCD display-NO BACKLIGHT! Well, almost. The screen is made of a self-luminous material which much be exposed to sunlight/blacklight or real bright light to activate(remember those glow in the dark toys you got in the cereal boxes as a kid?) I suppose if this were going to be your main preamp/efx unit, you could get crafty and build a pedalboard with a small blacklight fixture attached and turn it on occasionally. Maybe Korg's thought on this was to save on battery power, but how many of us really use batteries in these things anyway? A 9-volt 500mA negative tip adapter from Radio Shack is an acurate replacement should the original not be available, and can be purchased for about 25 dollars(you'll spend at least that on batteries in less than a few months).

Again, it's Korg! That's not to say it's perfect, but what digital multi-effect unit is? None of the effects suck per se, but some are better than others. The distortions are, well, digital, so take that for what it is. What I can say to further the distortion topic is that I plugged in an Epiphone EB bass using the BRUCE preset, what I got was as close as I've EVER heard to the tone of the man for whom this patch is named! Seriously, the distortions/overdrives aren't that bad used moderately. They can get noisy or hissy at higher settings, so use sparingly. There is an adjustable noise reduction for each preset, so this does help a bit in taming the noise/hiss. The other drive effects(compressor, exciter) are excellent. But like most multi-effect units, only one at a time can be used. Sometimes I wish the compressor was seperate, but for an older unit, I'm nitpicking just a bit. The modulation effects are quite nice. Some of them, however, are only available by assigning the expression pedal. I suppose for something like a ring modulator, it would be useless without a pedal, so Korg put some thought into what effects would be pedal-use only. The amp modeling is primitive(this is an older unit-don't expect 10 amps/cabs to choose from), but still pretty useful if your using headphones or going direct for recording or playing live. The reverbs are OK, but unless your going for something off-the-wall, you don't need much, if any, reverb anyway. The AQUA preset(which is also included in the AX1G for guitar) is just too cool!!! Using a Dean Metalman ML bass with that lovely exposed-pole humbucker, I created a patch befitting of the single humbucker-FLEA. This was created using headphones, and I recorded direct with it with great results. I have overall achieved great results with the two aforementiond basses, as well as a Dean Custom Zone. I typically don't use too many effects playing live, rather I look for specific tones. So using this with an amp can work, or not, depending on your needs. I'd say it's quiet enough to go direct to the house system(I've done so on occasion), but if that's your type of setup, you're more than likely going to buy something more modern and sophistcated-such as the Korg AX3000B or the Boss GT-6B.

Made from a nice robust, heavy plastic, but it's plastic nonetheless. That being said, be nice to your gear and it WILL return the favor! The pedals are pretty responsive, so there's no need to jump on them. This is not my main unit for stage, but if I had to use it for a gig, I would have no worries. The fact that it's better made than some of the Zoom toys(LOL), I'll still give it a higher rating.

Needed them once for another Korg unit that I got with no manual(the A4 Bass-which I will be reviewing shortly-they emaild me a pdf file in less than 3 days, that's good service if ever there was any!). Never need support/service for the AX1B, but the manual IS available for download on the Korg website, as well as some mp3 sound demos. Pretty cool for a long-discontinued product!

There seems to be a never-ending flow of digital multi-effect units on the market for every budget. Some are really good, some are OK, and some just suck out loud!!! All in all, the year or so I've spent with the AX1B has been pleasurable. If you're a working pro musician this is not the unit for you. If you need a GOOD at-home practice unit that sounds great with headphones(powered multimedia speakers with a subwoofer is totaly KILLER) and will inspire some new musical ideas, or your a rocker on a budget and need something in a reasonable price range that will get the job done, look no further. This thing may not have quite as many features as the Zoom and Digitech units it was built to compete with, but that should tell you that Korg wasn't so worried about a drum machine or pretty lights as they were about QUALITY effects and sound for the money. You can typically find these at music stores dealing with used gear and in Ebay for a very good price, which is quite shocking, again, considering the superior sound quality over the competition. If it were lost or stolen, I wouldn't be in a big hurry to replace it, but I would eventually replace it just the same. In this caliber of multi's, the Korg AX1B is hand-down one of the best sounding units I have ever used, and again, anyone needing or just looking at getting into a two-pedal plus expression multi, seriously consider this one before going with one of the Zoom or Digitech units.

Not too hard to figure out. Editing is easy, even renaming patches is easy. The manual is very informative and lists everything it can do, which is not always evident from the presets.

I'm giving it a 9 only because it's not true bypass and there is considerable level drop when not in use, but the Yahoo users' group for this unit has some cool patches to use instead of bypassing it altogether. I'm not fond of any of the distortions, but the exciters are very good, as is the EQ. This thing sounds incredible through headphones. And, I'd give it a "10" for the "drone" function alone--this patch absolutely sounds like the musical (non-tabla)backing you hear in Indian music. With my Conklin GT7 and a phaser patch, I can be George Harrison meets Ravi Shankar all night long.....

Plus that "Disco" patch gets pretty close to the synth sounds in
Edgar Winter's "Frankenstein" ---try using the heel of your picking hand and hitting and sliding it over the strings near the pickups--you'll be able to cop most of that syndrum part as well as the descending "swarm of crickets" sound out of that too. Hours of enjoyment to be had there.

Pretty sturdy unit, but after about 2 years, the screen backlight crapped out on me. If that happens to yours forget it. There is no real light there, it's just a piece of reflective paper and here in Nashville the top notch repair shops couldn't fix it.

Not very helpful. This unit was discontinued and Korg doesn't seem to care about keeping parts for it or even helping you find any.

I play "bar music" and this thing is fun as a noisemaker. I got it because it was cheaper than comparable all-in-one fx units and it's pretty much been worth the money. It needs a truly-led lit screen and true bypass. If it were stolen I'd get another as I've seen them REALLY cheap used.

In short, it does some cool fairly high quality stuff on the cheap, so get one if that's what you need. Like I said it's hard to beat even as a headphone amp.

Much easier than anything else I have tried.

The sound is brilliant for the price. Much better than other units I have owned that were much more recent and advanced (and expensive!!!). Those units I found to be very obviously digital and plastic, crappy sounding. Some patches almost pass for dedicated analogue.

I haven't owned it long enough to say.

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I play Jazz, Blues, Funk etc. I would definitely buy it again for the same price if it was stolen! I love it's sounds and affordability. The wah could be better and the phase is not to my tastes , they could be improved. I actually love the distortion though, unlike most people. It is a useful tool if you use it for one patch per song.
I put a Double Bass through it and it improves the sound wonderfully, I wouldn't be able to play my Double Bass amplified without it, it sounds too spoofy with the cheap bridge contact pickups.

I haven't really gotten into editing the patches much. There are a couple stock patches that are just about perfect. Reading the manual, however, it doesn't seem like editing would be difficult.

The expression pedal could have a little more range of motion, but isn't bad.

When I use this pedal, it's usually going into a Yorkville 200B, from a Yamaha BBN5. I find the pre-programmed effects to be fairly decnt, though most have no functional use in my repetoire of play. There are some fantastic distortion sounds (ie "Bruce") and some of the modulations can really create interesting sounds for your bass. There's not much, if any noise.

I've gigged with this, but only because I didn't have a dedicated effect pedal available and needed some overdrive. It did the job, but it's more of something that you play around with at home/in studio.

Switching between effects can take a second on stage.

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As far as multi-effect pedals go, this is about the best I've played. Patches take about a quarter of a second to kick in after you switch, so your best bet is to use a single effect per song, rather than using it like a stomp box to turn an effect off and on, unless you time yourself just right, there will be a delay. Several of the stock patches are pretty damn good too.
The mute tuning function is a nice add on.

Generally, a dedicated effect pedal is a better choice than a multi-pedal, but if you just want to play around with a variety of sounds, this is a great multi to do it with.

This was the first pedal I had ever bought, after I had been playing for about six months. Still, I found the Ax1B to have an extremely easy editing interface. After three years of experimentation with other processors, I feel like the AX1B has one of the most ingenious editing sytems around. Unfortunately, the LED screen isn't backlit, which used to pose problems at shows when I forgot to charge up the screen (put it under a black light for a few minutes and it glows). But now I have had the pedal so long, I have memorized where all of my effects are.

I run my setup in this order: Fender Jazz - Boss EQ - Korg AX1B - Mu-Tron III - Ampeg SVT350h powering a Hartke 4x10. I never have noise problems with this model, seeing as how I can edit how loud the effect can be either in edit mode or my lowering the master volume.

I am very happy with the sound of most of the effects. The distortion isn't very good by itself, but when blended with other effects it sounds fine. I have used many other processors, and none had effects that sounded this good, or rather, this usable. The sampling system is pretty much worthless, but the other delay, echo, and reverb effects more than make up for it. I love the versatility of this processor; I get multiple types of almost every modulation: wah, chorus, phaser, flange, trem, pitch, etc. My favorite effect on the presets is DISCO, which I tweaked just a bit to fit my bass better. I have a Mu-Tron III and I favor the AX1B's autowah over the real deal. It's much more drippy and disgusting, which is what that effect should sound like.

I have a few effects to get the sounds of a few artists I like. FROGGY gets me a Claypool sound, SLAPPY gets me a Flea sound. The 5-band EQ and amp modeling system really gives this thing lots of versatility

My favorite effect on the presets is DISCO, which I tweaked just a bit to fit my bass better. I have a Mu-Tron III and I favor the AX1B's autowah over the real deal. It's much more drippy and disgusting, which is what that effect should sound like. I also love messing with the pitch shifter. I have five different effects that use it. I love being able to raise the pitch with my pedal while still having a low-octave effect on! Usually, when I set out to create a certain sound (explosion, wind chime, plunger, etc.) I can get it. For the price, I got way more than I could have bargained for.

When I first got this pedal 3 years ago, I was unsure of how it would hold up. The biggest issue most people have with it is the plastic case. I have dropped this thing multiple times and even run it over with my car accidentally and it held up fine. Honest. I have run into some issues with the AC input. It cuts out sometimes, and I have to be pretty careful not to touch the AC jack once I plug it in and get it to work. I love the cord-catch that keeps the AC cord from moving around. It would be easy to fix the problem.

I have been considering buying another one of these just so I can play with both at the same time. I have used it on multiple gigs without a backup. With the AC Input problem, I would want a backup handy. Other than that, I am pretty comfortable with this pedal.

I play lots of funk, jazz, and pretty much everything else. I usually play a lot of slap and flamenco strumming (claypool). I do lots of progressive music, and am also a connoisseur of experimental noise music. This pedal fits me like a glove. It really defines my tone.

I have only been playing for about 3 years, but don't underestimate my bass knowledge. I own a Roscoe SKB3006L lefty six string, and a Fender Jazz bass hybrid with Bartolini pickups, Warmoth neck, and Hipshot tremolo bridge. I also own a Dobro Resonator bass that I converted to a 2-string slide bass.

If stolen or lost, I would buy this pedal again in a heartbeat. I have played the new AX10B, and it pales in comparison to this one. The AX10B has some cool new features, and better amp modeling, but is not nearly as versatile in the sounds you can get from it.

I love the versatility of this pedal above all else. I hate that Korg had to change so much in the new pedal. What I would like to see would be this pedal, with some of the ritzy features that the new version has. My favorite feature is the Editing.

I have played a Digitech processor in the same price range, a Digitech processor that's about $200 more, the Boss GT3B, the big fancy Yamaha processor, and the replacement for this pedal, the new Korg AX10B. Digitech's effects sound way too digital, which is something I should have figured out from the name. The Boss had excellent sound, but was so confusing that I couldn't get anything from it. The Yamaha was confusing to edit. It's effects were cool sounding but in no way usable in a band situation. As I said above, the new AX10B is better for amp modeling, and has some really cool small features (tap delay button, versatile expression pedal), but lacks any substance beyond that.

I wish this pedal had a tap-delay button, a more versatile expression pedal, and a backlit LED screen. Alas, I would have had to pay more for that.

I made a whole noise album through this pedal. This pedal is a huge part of my bass playing.

It is childsplay to edit it. One editable parameter per fx, I think trained monkeys could produce patches with this. There are two tricks, one is if using a bass synth, ensure you input is no more than -10dB, that is it's kick ass input level. Second trick is deciding what to put on the one pedal "coin toss" or "experience" are all that is needed here. I downloaded the manual at Korg site, simpleton description, easy read, but it lacked the input/output dB ranges (which is important for mixing).
* Advertised as a 7 fx unit, but at most it is a 6. The only downer is only one modulation fx at a time, so know flanger->wah settings, same idea with chorus and phasor. But distortion and overdrive can be included with modulation fxs. As for sonic quality, I notice on some FXs a bit of digital disonance, but overall it can be creamy, ragged or funky.
* I tried using this off mixer board, but it was too painful. The dry input level would be very weak, while the mixed input very strong, and return amp was adjusted for every input mix split (Yuck!)
* However if one uses it as a pedal (which it is) no-problems, either 100%, pedal FX amount, or By-pass for dry.

Considering only one editable fx parameter, and only one modulation fx per patch, - it is freakin unbelievable it has so much variety. I use about 9 synth bass patches, covering many styles, and this baby just using the 30 presets had at least 2 good sounding patches for each base.
* This is not like make any kind of bass sound you can think of toy, but it is like - freaken amazing in the variety if offers, and usable.
* This is mono outs, which I compared it uising Boss se-70 stereo bass fxs, I prefer mono, it provides more power and center to the bass sound.
* If properly mixed, this sounds great (but it is not like end of the rain-bow wow, this would take another class of bass fx unit)

My back-lite is burnt-out.
I feel comfortable with dropping this less than three feet.
- You can stomp on it, and it still plays.

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I like to feed a synth bass out of my M1Ex. It rocks for many styles. Not the highest end sound, but if set-up right its very good usable. Doesn't have analogue so look else where if you are a retro purist. Dollar for dollar at 86$ US you can't loose, on its pure creative fun. Very strong value play just using the presets (but hey you can create 30 of your own).

Basic functioning is pretty straightforward. It's not easy to do something like, play and tweak the EQ at the same time---no knobs. The manual examples it connected to anything. Do they really engineer a piece of gear to sound as optimal with a bass amp as a home hi-fi or headphones or direct? I wonder what compromises are made trying to be all things.

Through my mixer direct, the overall sound is good, save the distortions as others have mentioned. I wish the output were hotter. I usually add some mic-pre to get the level up. Most of the presets straddle a line between lacking OOOMPH & mud which is fixable with a little patience. The time-based effects are above average, as they are with my Pandora. The wah works well with a guitar; I don't care for it so much with bass.

I think mine was originally a floor model, which shouldn't matter, but I do wonder if that's the reason the sample/playback function doesn't work. I bought it for a good basic DI sound, so I didn't bother with the problem. Sometimes the pedal mod gives out when set to any effect except for volume. I don't know if this is a heat issue or what, but it seems to happen when using the wah a lot & it hasn't been happening recently.

never bothered with support.

I'd buy it again, which is probably the best thing you could say about a piece of gear.

You can edit a lot of great sounds on it, except distortion - big minus - . The other effects are great you have n posibilites for editing, but i repeat distortion stinks !!!!

If you know how to edit it sounds great if you don't bad for you...you'll lose a lot of time trying to make it sound clear...i have to repeat myself...distortion stinks i had to buy a x-torstion to repear it...

In a concert it sounds great !!!
I used in 6 concerts and with no problem, i used even distortion (WOW), it was so good that i didn't use my zoom 505.

In overall it is a great processor, but the lack of distortion is a big think...I used it o bass and electric guitar and it sounds equal great...i recomand it at this price...BUT i think that if you buy it you'll need a distortion pedal too.

Not easy. Takes half an hour. After that "piece of cake". It's worth it. Yes, Zoom is better, but what are you looking for; a Hi-Fi effect box or a toy.

Distortion is not good.
But all the other effects! -> WOW!!!
Good s--t, some of the presets are good, but when your searching for your own sounds, wow, even better!
If they let the distortion out, I would rated the sound a 10.

Looks steady, is steady. But still it is plastic

Don't know a thing. I hope I never need it! ;-)

Good stuff. I was thinking 'bout buying the Zoom BFX708, and I got the Korg. The thing that "did it for me" was the fact that there is a group at Yahoo (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/korgbass/) special for the green devil. Nice guys, you can ask everything, and great for patches.