Korg AX1G Guitar Multieffects

I bought this pedal roughly 10 years ago, i recently brought it back home since it's been sitting in a friends basement for a few years. Guitar multi fx's have come a long way since this one came out so I'm trying to review this pedal in the light of what's available today.

Editing is fairly straightforward once you get the hang of it, however it's not as hands on as units with knobs to twiddle. The selection of parameters to edit could be better though, most algorithms only have one tweakable parameter. For example delay feedback is a fixed parameter and only time and level can be edited.

The expression pedal is a nice addition and can be used to control a fair number of effects, not just wah and pitchshift but also phaser and tremolo rate. On the downside, the travel of the expression pedal is way to short, it's still usable however but a longer travel would go a long way towards making is a more usable pedal.

It actually has a fairly exhaustive range of effects and algorithms. Including some more exotic ones like pitchshifters, ringmod, drones, s/h filter and primitive looping abilities.

There is a slight background hiss on my unit, not incredibly important but loud enough to be noticeable. I'm running mine in a true bypass loop to get rid of the noise when I'm not using it.

Distortions are absolutely horrible. Stay away from them. Particularly in a band setting, they can be tweaked to sound ok for bedroom playing but in a rehearsal room they're useless. Absolutely no definition that cuts through the mix, just sounds like white noise.

The eq is ok I think, I haven't used it too much.

Modulation effects are actually really nice, smooth and spacious phasers and choruses, not that full of character but nice sounding. I compared the phasers in the AX1G to a Phase 90 clone and they certainly hold up well soundwise.

Pedal effects are somewhat mixed, wah is decent but the short travel of the exp. pedal is somewhat limiting. Ringmodulation is freaking awesome, considering how inexpensive they are today the ringmod alone it worth the price.

Pitchshifters are ok, it's not a whammy though. And the looping and sampling effects are a little hard to use and suffer from rather short sampling times, a few seconds at most.

Delays and reverbs are again ok but nothing spectacular. The delay where you can change delay time using the expression pedal is cool and can make some weird noises.

It's plastic but seem to be well built. I've had it for 10 years and gigged with it and put it through a fair amount of use and it has never crapped out on me.

Never dealt with them.

I'm still using this together with a bunch of other pedal on my board. It makes a nice addition as a decent wah, tuner and good modulation effects. It certainly takes up a whole lot less space than if I were to replace it with individual pedals.

Positive sides: good value for money today, great modulation effects, decent timebased effects and some weird stuff (ringmod, step filter etc.)

On the negative side: Bad drive effects, a bit noisy and the travel on the expression pedal is too short.

Not too bad. Editimg is a bit of a pain. Def need to peek at the maual. Getting to the built in tuner is a pain on mine as the patch buttons have minds of their own. You end up going up a patch, then down, then up then maybe they'll register a simultaneous hit and open the tuner!!

Rather good. I stick it between an epy LP and a Vox pathfinder and it does well. The distortions are nothing to write home about but the other stuffs pretty darn good (if a bit limited sometimes)It surprised a friend of mine whos a music teacher who thought i was using some fancy acoustic guitar sim while doing some mellow stuff and was shocked i got such a good sound out of "that thing"

Had it years. Been to hell and back and apart from the cosmetic dinks it works like a dream (apart from that darn tuner!!)

Never had to use them.

I mess about with just about every style there is and it has something for every one. Very good value. Am thinking of getting a new unit but will always keep the AX laying around.

Plug it in and start pushing buttons! The factory presets are as easy as making mud, customizing requires a few minutes of (ugh!) reading the manual.

I've used this with a Gibson sonex-180 and a Ibanez sa160. It definitely likes singles over humbuckers IMHO, as you start to get some weird fuzz on the HBs.

Is it gig quality? Not unless you're gigging in a pretty small place. It's perfectly adequate for practice and as a backup, but you're not going to replace your pedal board with this.

So far, so good. It feels lightweight and plastic, but I've dropped it and have put my whole 250lbs on the expression pedal! So, I guess I need to say it's pretty solid!

n/a

I like playing a variety of stuff, and this one unit allows me to do that. Where this comes into its own is on the road. I can run it off batteries, connect headphones, and be totally portable. Hotel, boat, car, wherever!

If you see one for a decent price, you'll probably find it fun and useful.

Use of pedal effects is easy and simple and the colour coded lights (green, orange and red) divide the effects into three sets of 10 allowing you to know where you are in relation to other effects. Editing the patches is quite tricky and you need to really follow the manual as you can get lost within the menus.

Sound quality is good, good range of effects and the pressure pedal works nicely with wah, volume and phaser effects. Overdrive and distortion effects are nice but i prefer to use the settings on my marshall amp for overdrive and distortion.

Owned it for 6 years never had a single problem, been droped and stood on several times (by accident ^_^) Still working as new

N.A

I play a variety of music dependng on how i feel or who im jamming with and this pedal provides a great range of good quality effects that allow you to experiment and be creative in playing your music. Would buy again if broken or lost as its simple, effective, durable and sounds great.

If one just uses the preset than it is pretty easy, but if you want to change the patches than you'll have to resort to the manual (available at the korg website). Relatively speaking, changing patches isn't really that hard.

The reason that someone will use a multi-effects unit is not for sound quality, but for convenience. It's obviously easier to tote around one pedal than 6 or 7 pedals with a board and wires. The downside is that there will have to be some compromise in sound quality.
The setup that I use this pedal for is for my church rig. I use a myriad of different guitars through a simple GK single speaker amp. I can carry everything from my car to the platform where we play in one trip. With just the ax-1, I'm set up in about 3 minutes.
The patches that I use are the more atmospheric patches (violin is an especially good patch) that can facilitat volume swells. Other that that, I've just programmed a couple of cleaner sounds that use the processor's reverbs and compressions, neither of which are great, but good enough in a musical setting where the guitar won't be out front.

Never had a problem after using for about 5 years (and since it was purchased used, who knows how long before that). It's only plastic which seems to me a bit iffy, but it's held up being dragged in and out of my bag 2-4 times a week for those 5 years.

NA

For what it does, it's extremely serviceable. Again, it's not for any one great effect but more for a convenient smattering of many different decent effects.

Easy to set up and get started.
The manual was fine for the basics but when it came to editing, I was lost and gone.
However I need to add that I have to get my teenage son to sort out my mobile phone, so I think it's a generation/application thing.

I use a tele or strat through a Vox AC30 or a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe. I bought the unit about 4 years ago because I'd joined a bar band after a 10 year layoff and needed to add some new colours to the dry sounds I have (and am happy with).
Plus I needed an onstage tuner that was hands-free and offered a mute function. I don't use any other pedals.
The unit has dozens of pre-set sounds which I have no use for - I'm very old school - so maybe it's more than I needed in the first place.
I use a handful of the pre-sets (2 wahs, one distortion, a chorus, a tremolo, a 'Stevie Ray' sound, or a plain bright - one sound per song) or bypass it altogether.
I haven't noticed any extraneous noise from it. I'd like it if there was more range/depth in the wahs and the tremolo.

In 4 years playing on stage in pubs and clubs never had a real problem.
It's plastic, but I look after all my gear and keep it away from trouble and drunks.
However I'm on my second 9volt power unit simply because the crappy power leads short out from flexing. I think the unit should have an AC power lead. I would never use batteries.
A couple of times I've hit the wrong button (because I don't know how to edit it - duh - it's still factory set up) while changing banks onstage and in the dark I haven't been able to work out how to undo what I've done! The unit is probably for someone a little more sophisticated than me.

Never had a need

Been playing for 30 years, I love the tough, clean sounds I get through my guitar/amp combinations and only bought the Korg because I needed some variety for the band i'd joined. Whenever I play my Gibson ES-135 semi I bypass the unit because it's not at all compatible.
I play in an acoustic outfit too and use the Korg as an onstage tuner and just bypass it - expensive tuner, I guess.
I've noticed other people complaining about the quality of the sounds - I'm happy with the sounds I use and don't bother with the rest. Pub crowds aren't that fussy. The Korg does what I need it to do, but I'm not emotionally attached to it. Now my Vox - that's a different story!
I didn't try any other pedals - my Godson had one and it looked like an easy and affordable way to expand my sound palette without taking up any footspace! If mine disappeared I'd just run dry until I could find a used one, or maybe I'd see what else has been invented in the last ten years! There's always something new to make you go Wow!

No knobs to turn whatsoever - hard to get used to. But workable. I always hated to have to program a patch and was glad when I was done. Esp. the EQ sucks and totally unusable. To change patches you can easily miss. It feels like a toy. Cant use it live since it changes patches not on time! For home use its ok I guess. What I definitely liked about it: Runs also with batteries. Used it on trains and buses on vacations. Low budget equipment...

The distortions are decent, overdrives fail completely. Nice phasers. Forget loops etc. One prepatch was the one called "SPACED". This one rules! The delays and reverbs are crap. Use it with headphones its a little better...

It held up so far, dont use it too often though...

dunno

Kind of a metal machine. Good enough for nu rcok etc. No usable overdrive, hard to control, fails in live situations. ok for backup at home. Was my first effect ever, years ago. The only I reason I keep it is I wouldnt get any money for it anymore...

The interface on this thing isn't the easiest in the world, and definitely not the fastest to edit. Using the patches is pretty straightforward, though. There's not a lot of room for custom patches. Only 30 writeable programs, with little flexibility on-stage.

The user manual was pretty clear.

Sound quality, for the most part, is terrible on this thing. The distortion is mostly like white noise, changing the drive level didn't really make it better. The compression (as well as some of the reverb and echo effects with clean tones) pops a *lot* when you hit a string, more than is normal with compression. Stereo effects were good, and the unit offers some interesting effects. Several effects are in stereo, which made it cool in a lot of ways.

Using this thing without an amp or some amp modeller is not recommended. Usually, when you get a floor processor, it's expected to have amp cab modelling. While it does (the "size" feature), it's not very good at all.

Very reliable, always used it without backup.

Not good for distortion, but good for clean sounds and effects. One of the worst things with this processor, in my opinion, is the output. It has stereo effects, yet to utilize them, you'll have to have a stereo cable instead of two mono cables, which means you'll have to most likely have to have a stereo-mono splitter, which is what I ultimately ended up building for it.

Bought this unit used. I've just started to really learn how to play after having a guitar around for several years and I've found this unit to have some really good, usefull sounds for the stage I'm at. It's easy to edit, and you defenetly have to fine tune it to your set up. No manual came with it, but it was easy enough to find on line. Once I read through it a couple times, it all made sense.

I put it through a Peavy Rage 158 amp and play on a Washburn Idol wi14, so I know it will never sound like a Les Paul through a Marshall, but it does sound pretty damn good. I get some noise through some of the pre-sets, but if you torque it, you can really cut out a lot of the noise. The effects really do depend on your set up, some weak, some almost too much, but I have been able to get some really good distortion and an awesome sounding clean through mine. The special effects are kind of weak, pedal doesn't travel al that much, but you can make so really cool sounds.

It is really kind of hard to see the display, so if you don't have a couple patch's real close together to switch back & forth to, I can't see using it live. Then again, most guy's would only be using a couple of setting anyway. It's never gone out or anything, so yeh, I'd use it live.

never used them

I play a wide variety, rock, country, metal and I've found it useful for all those styles. I don't know if I'd replace it if stolen, I'd probably shell out some more money and get something a little newer.
All in all, excellent in giving you a sound to be confident in playing with. Once you hear that you CAN sound like you know what your doing, it really opens up your playing and builds your confidence.
For what I payed for it, it'll always be in my bag.

You must create your own patches with this to fit your style. It is easy but takes time. Keep it simple and don't try to jam all the effects into each patch. I think some of these people are shredding,crunching, and swirling every patch and then wondering where their tone went.

Nothing matches a Fender twin or a roland JC 120 for clean, bright sound [ OOp's forgot about the new Rogue amps.] But for dist., phaser, compressor, flanger, this beats them all. Again, adjust the patches.

I would'nt play Symphony Hall with it. Parties, clubs, jams, it is a blast. Mine is old and used. Still works like new.

N/A

I play mostly rock at parties and small clubs. I have crafted each patch with the most " mind-blowing " effects imaginable. Sure there are tiny bits of hiss or static here and there on some of them, but nothing you could possibly hear with the rest of the band playing. The Behringer XV AMP is comparable but does not have the sampler/loop function that I like.

This effects unit is fairly simple to use, though it is a pain to have to scroll through the menus to get to the disired effect to be preseted. I don't have much recollection of the manual, so I guess it is not that important to use this unit.

I play a Gibson SG Standard through an old Marshall Reverb 12 amplifier. The modulation effects are decent, and the delay effects are okay. The main problem is that if no drive is selected, then the level of the effect drops to minimal. If you want the effect clean, then you must select the compression effect on for it to be anywhere near audible, but the compression is awful. I don't notice any difference between clean and compression, accept for that the compression adds lots of digital sounding noise to your sound. The other drive settings (distortion, fuzz and overdrive) sound really bad. They do not give you the feeling that they are real at all, and sound very grainy with way too much high frequency in them. This box has the some of the worst sounding distortion I have ever heard on it. The wah and volume functions using the expression pedal are not very good either.

This unit is very reliable. The only problems that I have had are when I plug the cables into the wrong jacks (i.e. Guitar into the "output" jack) by accident...

I have never used the customer support.

I play pretty much all styles of music, but this unit is not much help for any of them. It mostly gets in the way of my sound. I have it looped into another switch box, and use it primarily as a tuner. I am pretty sure that they do not make this unit anymore, so I doubt any one will be buying one anyways, but if you are thinking of purchasing this unit, you may want to reconsider.

Quite easy considering how much stuff is in it. The manual is good. Editing patches is very intuitive, simple really.

Well, as with all multi-fx pedals, this one will have things to praise and things to boo. In all fairness, it is not the top of the line, $400 multi-fx unit of today. It's low priced, and a bit out-dated, like your computer you bought in 2000. But it gets the job done.

For what it is, it's actually a nice little unit. Surprisingly good. I like Korg's multi-units much better than Digitech's.

Overdrives are tasteful, Distortion 2 is good, fuzz is bad until you EQ it right (heavy on the bass), otherwise it will split open your ear drums.

The compressor is very good.

I found the chorus to be tasteful and rich, the phaser gives good EH and Boss emulations, and the flanger has an interesting tone... a bit thin, but still good... it doesn't really sound like other flangers I've owned (Boss, EH).

The expression pedal is short on travel, but it does the job. It's great for whammy (very smooth shifting), but the wah leaves something to be desired. I believe the word is "balls."

Tremolo and vibrato are nice too...

I think this is a good choice for anyone, really. Some of the effects may not be to your liking, but for the price, it's a solid little pedal (plastic casing notwithstanding).

Pretty easy, even for a multi-effect pedal. I have the manual, but didn't need it to figure out how to edit.

The travel on the expression pedal is pretty short.

Most effects are good. The chorus, flanger, phaser, tremolo and vibrato effects are particularly good-- very smooth and tasteful. Overdrive is good at low setting (great for solos), but I found it more difficult to find a pleasing, high distortion setting. It can be done, but it takes some tweaking.

The fuzz, also, with enough tweaking, is good. I can make it sound ALMOST identical to my Big Muff, though there was something missing... probably some particular notch in the frequency.

Echo effects are tame and not particularly useful... good thing I have a seperate echo pedal. Reverb is okay.

Pitch shifting is surprisingly good... more realistic than the Boss PS-3... smooth transitings with the whammy function.

The filter is good... not moog good, but good nonetheless. I enjoy the ability to control the filter, modulation effects, echo and other perameters via the expression pedal. W/ the flange, you can manually sweep from high to low w/ said pedal... cool! There is lots of fun stuff to explore.

The scratch function is fun, though I haven't found a use for it yet. The sample and reverse sample are also fun, but too short.

All in all, this is a nice multi-fx unit, for not much money.

3 years, no problems.

I play various kinds of rock and pop. This unit gives me all sorts of sounds and options. I would recommend this to anyone, beginner or advanced. I use it in conjunction w/ various pedals, but one could concievably get along w/ just the Korg and a good delay pedal. Plus, it's not huge like some other multi-fx units... nice.

I learnt quickly how to change the patches, maybe the pedal-controlled functions took a little longer. But it's easy to use, a good multi-effect for the beginner. The tuner is alright, too. It's useful to have it in the box.

The lead distorsion fits me very well, and maybe the other "dist 1" too, but i can't get any decent metal sound, and I think there could have been more different distorsions in it.
Some of the effects are horrible, some are great. It has some great clean sounds, but I never use some of the other effects. I'm using a Fender Strat with my 30-watt amp. I feel that the Korg gives me some variation, the amp-distorsion is too boring.

It's plastic, but it feels and looks OK. But two of my three transformers have broken during use, I don't know why.

Never dealed with them.

It's good for a beginner, but I plan to buy a zoom gfx-5 instead of this, I'd like more features and distorsions.

It's pretty intuitive to use. I did look at the manual to figure out the loop/sample/scratch thing though... which is the beginning of my review: it sucks.

I have a Jackson explorer-body guitar. I cannot remember the model - fortunately it's not cheap enough to have it stamped on the neck or something ;). Stock Jackson humbuckers still in place. I run that into an Ibanez P7 phaser into a Danelectro Blue Paisley overdrive pedal (great pedal, btw) and into the AX1G. I have a Boss DS-1 distortion pedal on the way because I refuse to use the garbage distortion in this AX1G. All of that goes into a 15-watt Marshall paperweight that distorts much better than the A1XG.

When this disposable plastic box arrived, I was quite disappointed. I am a Korg fan (on the keyboard end of the biz) and I'm shocked that they treat their guitar players like this! There is little pedal travel, and what little there is - is too stiff. The wah and every other pedal-controlled effect, IMO, is unusable due to this.

Distortion is very weak. Overdrive is weak. The pitch effects are... wait... I'm going to have to say the whole damn thing sucks.

I spent more time trying to find a decent use for this thing than learning how to use it. Okay, the chorus is nice. The delay is okay. I did finally find a use for it: a noise gate. The 'noise reduction' is pretty good. I dialed in a setting that works for me and it silences all my pedals, line noise, etc.

It should be noted that I am a novice guitar player. But I am a senior production engineer for (I'll omit the name). I know quality and I've turned this box inside out looking for it. I would never (shudder) record with this.

If the build quality is even 1/2 that of Korg's synthesizers, it will last. Korg is sticking it to you real guitarists in sound quality though.

I've not dealt with customer support. I've dealt with Korg on endorsements and the like and its made up of some great people. And as long as they keep sending me free gear, I'll keep thinking that too. Maybe Korg has come around with guitar stuff lately, I really only know about the synths and this one guitar device they made.

Again, I'm shocked at Korg. Apparently its resources are funneled into its synth line.

It was my first Multi-Effects Processor which was made in Japan.I bought it in 1999.And I still use it for practice although I'd had the GNX 3 and Behringer V-Amp 2.To edit the tone is so easy that I could adjust it without looking it.I read the manual when I used it for first,but soon I put it away.

My rencent setup are an ESP Eclipse FR!?and an old Charvel Strat into a Conquest T65R Combo.
The Chorus effect is so good,so is the overdrive.Usually I'd like to close the cabinet modeling when I play the AX1G 'cause I connect it into the effect loop of my amp. It sounds smooth.
Distortion needs to be more crunch,I mean is not so HEAVY for me.Maybe it's enough for guitar solo but ain't so good for metal rhythm!
Wah Wah is not bad.

I know I've play it for so long,but I still want to say that some buttons of my AX1G need to be prepaired.5 Years is not a vacation,but not a decay too......

Never contact with them.

I play Progressive Metal and Thrash Metal.And I'd like to play some like jazz or blues in common.This material is suit for different style---but suck for record.I've played for 5 years,my first guitar is a solid green Samick guitar(somehow like JS...but I really don't know the name of it...) ,and I had a GNX3!?a Metal Master,and a V-Amp 2#?they all worked amazing!The next one that I will buy might be the GNX2,'cause it's good for live and recording---by the way,I need the Whammy badly!
I think the Tone Works and the Tonelab are collided.I don't need the ring effect but really need more Amp modeling.That's what I want to say.

Its a verry easy beginners panel.
Also works great on-stage (used it in a little ballroom for over 200 people). The distortion's are verry good and I never had problems with adjusting the pedal for my own great sounds!
I never used the manual, so I don't rate it.

I'm mostly using my room amp. It's an Ibanez 15 watt's bass amp. reset to a guitar amp. I can get a real great whah with this amp and with the adjustible bass you can get a real metal/gothic distortion (dist. used by Korn/Soulfly/Cradle of Filth).

I was tuning my guitar once on the pedal and forgot to turn it back in effect mode. When i smashed the strings the pedal went off but a couple hours later it worked again! I was stunned!

Never used the C.S.

Mostly I play Blues/Rock/Metal/Grunge(Nirvana, Pearl Jam, NIN).
It's perfect for playin' Nirvana shit!

Very easy to use. I didn't need the manual.

Good clean sounds, as everyone says. The chorus is nice. Flanger and phaser are good too. I enjoy the whammy effect ... good w/ distortion for a My Bloody Valentine "Loveless" sound. Good compression. I didn't think the distortions were that bad. The fuzz and Distortion 2 are good, overdrive is good... it all depends on how you eq it... if you don't eq it right, it will of course sound like merde. That goes with all distortion effect... all sounds in general, really. EQ editing on the pedal is nice. Backwards sample is fun but short. DJ scratch is fun, as is ring modulator. The filter effect is awesome!

Wah is okay, but a little weak. Trebly for my tastes.

I've had it for several years with no problems.

Very nice little multi pedal. I use it with various other effects... I wouldn't use it as a stand alone, but even just as a compressor it's worth the money... cheaper than, say, a boss compressor, less noisy, sounds better, and plus you get a bunch of other fx with it, some great, some rather fetid, but those is the breaks.

Very easy to use. Editing is a bit slow, but once you get the hang of it, it's not too bad. I really hate changing the name of patches, because you have to cycle through the ASCII character set, which is slow. The manual is fine and useful for reminding you of the stock settings if you're looking for ideas.

Actually, the sound quality isn't bad, if you use it right. I think the stock settings are pretty bad. They sound cheesy, thin and generally lack luster. They do catch your ear the first time you hear them, but you tire quickly and get annoying.

However, I've come across a way to use this pedal that really is great. I don't use it as a direct box, but to drive a Kustom Tube 12 (two actually -- in stereo!) It sounds really great. I've created a couple of patches using the Line DS and Line OD and through the Kustom, man, it sounds really great. The Kustom adds warmth that is missing from the direct out signal and the AX1G is capable of driving things so that some really nice and natural break up happens with the tube preamp. I typically have the Kustom set like this: bass - 9, treble 5 or 6 and the thing totally rocks. When I run into 2 Kustoms, I get a really nice live stereo sound that really sounds great. I would highly recommend this set-up as it's cheap (AX1G ~ $50, Kustom ~ 70) and very lightweight. For $180 you have a very useable tube-sounding set-up. The AX1G provides everything you need for effects and the Kustoms give you that tube warmth. My rating is pretty high with this set-up. I plan to post the specific settings of my patches on a website TBA.

Others have had problems. I haven't.

Can't say.

Overall, I'd give a fairly high rating for it's flexibility. If you drive a tube amp -- even a small one like the Kustom -- you can get some really great sounds for practice, recording and doing small gigs. I got the idea to use it this way from the Kustom 12 reviews here, and it was a good thing to do!

It's very easy to use. There are tons of presets to choose from, and you can easily edit them to make your own settings. I got this when i first started playing, and I had no problems figuring it out. It even has the presets listed in the manual in case you need to get one back.

My setup is a 1988 Charvel Model 4 into a Peavey 5150 combo. I originally used this pedal with a cheapo Marshall MG10CD. It was fine for when I was first getting started, but I would never dream of using it with my Peavey.

I tried using it for recording recently. It was the first time in over 6 months that I had used it. I had forgotten just how bad the sound from this thing was. I was running straight from the pedal into the mixer.

Clean sounds are actually decent. My clean setting that I had logged with a little bit of chorus and delay sounded quite good, and was noise free on the recording.

The distortion on the other hand, is just aweful. It is impossible to get a semi-full sounding low gain distortion out of this box. And the high-gain distortion just sounds like a chainsaw.

Effects that can actually be used on this pedal are chorus, delay, and (kind of) distortion. The wah is useless, along with just about everything else.

I gave it a 3 and not a 1 simply because of the clean sounds.

My first AX1G was defective, and I had to go back to the guitar shop to get a new one. That one works well most of the time, but it will randomly cut out, even with new batteries.

I wouldn't gig with this without a backup. I would'nt gig with this period if I had a choice.

Never dealt with the company. Just returned my defective pedal to the guitar shop.

I play a very wide range of music. I'll play lots of thrash such as Slayer, old Metallica and Megadeth. Then I'll move on to progressive stuff like Dream Theater and Symphony X. I even try my hand at shred songs once in a while. With one band I play a mix of punk and metal, and the other softer stuff, sometimes using an acoustic.

I've only been playing for about 2 years now. I don't use any effects right now; I just go straight into my 5150.

If it was stolen, I'd make a half-assed attempt to get it back, then give up. If I could find a buyer, I'd sell it any day.

Very easy for editing. You don't need the manual. The presetes are not good so you must do your own.

I have a yamaha pacifica 112 (SSH) with a seymour duncan distortion humbucker. I use it on a Crate GX15 (15W) and a fender ME80 (i think...) on the studio.
The sound is completely digital (that's bad). You may finally get some good sound but...
The distortions are very thin and flat compared to an analog pedal.
All effects don't have enough parameters. For example you can get delay for ...400, 450, 500ms... and you have only the volume for parameter.
The pedal sucks!!! Very small "angle" and not accurate!!! (for everything)
Loops, scratches, rings, "voice" are useless!

It's made of cheap plastic. I had some gigs without a backup but i wouldn't rely on it. I feel that it may break apart at a heavier push on it Although I don't have any problem yet (5+ "light use" years)

I play mostly rock. From classic 70s (zeppelin, purple) to alternative (red hot chili peppers, radiohead) and some metal. I play the quitar for 6 years. I don't have another effect unit. If it were stolen i would buy something better (and more expensive :)). I would probably go for analog.
Finally:
This pedal it's good for absolute beginners! Very soon you will find to need something better. For this money it's not something better... (unless sou want to start "collecting" stompboxes)

I expected from Korg a better manual, but io have to say that it's quite easy to edit preset patches and to get some good sound.

I use it at home with a little but good Fender X15 amp (or with an headphone) and with an old but gold Peavey T-60 guitar. There's some noise, most of all on distortion setting, but for my need it's acceptable. I've never tried to "imitate" the sound of some rock star, i'm not interesting in this exercise, i've only tried to obtain some clean or creative sound for recording on my computer: distortions are a bit noisy and some are weak, but chorus, delay and reverb are quite good.
Some presets are just an entertainment for kid, but with a bit of patience you can obtain your own sound, of course with not little limitation, but at the same time with some satisfaction.
It should be better to find a lower noise, a display backlight, a couple of tone controls and a longer sampling (at least 10 seconds), but you can enjoy it as it is, of course if you pay the right price for what you get and if you know what you need.

It's not made by stone and iron, at home i think it's reliable and on stage you have not to use marines boots or elephant kicks.

I've never dealt with Korg.

I still get an old Zoom 9002 and i think that the perfect contemporary substitute of this vintage nice (and noisy!) effect could be the Korg Pandora FX4, that maybe will be my next self-gift.
I've bought this AXG1 s/h from a kind person only one week ago, i think i've got a good quality box for what i paid (1/4 of a Pandora...), some effects are not different from what you can find in more expensive gears.
The worst aspects are a bit of noise (mainly on distortions) and the quite invisible display, the best are pedal and clean sounds.
If you are involved in a specific kind of guitar music, buy a specific effect, but if you like to play with an acceptable and personal sound, paying a cheap price, look for a s/h one and pay it not more than 50-60 $.

Once you've read carefully the manual, it's easy to use. The menus are quite intuitive and the multi-color light helps a lot. The manual is easy and complete.

I use it with Fender Strat(DiMarzio's s-s-s) through Marshall DSL100. The wha-wha, overdrives, equalizer and almost ALL the effects are CRAP. I use it ALL BYPASSED as a tuner (after all is a korg tuner, isn't it?) or as a metronome when I'm practicing at home. The tuner and the metronome are the 2 reasons why I don't sell it.

It's plastic shit. I use it in the gigs as a tuner.

Never dealt with the company.

I play metal, 12 years now. The thing is not good, at all. I use other pedals for the effects (MXR distortion+, Vox wha, Boss Super Chorus). If I lost it, I would replace it with a tuner. I think it should be good for a beginner, mainly because of the metronome and tuner. Don't but it.

You pretty much have to have the instruction manual to get started, it's not a real self-explanatory piece of equipment. Once you get familiarized with all of the functions - and there are A LOT of functions - it's easy to manipulate the settings, but be warned, this processor requires a bunch of little tweaking here and there. I guess that's how most of these types of units work, but you can literally spend hours programming one single channel. I don't like the fact that the channels are set up in a linear fashion, like you really only have access to three channels at once (the one you're using, then one up and one down in the chain) and you can't bring in other effects in on the fly. Example: say you have a channel that's set up to sound one way, but you want to kick in some overdrive for a lead you have to switch to a whole different channel. Maybe I'm asking a lot from it, but it's kind of restrictive.

When I bought this pedal (about five years ago) I was playing a Japanese-made Fender Jazzmaster reissue into a Crate GT80-DSP trans-tube that had a solid-state channel and a tube preamp channel, rhythm and lead for both, so four total. It also had like 30 different types of digital delay and reverb in the amp - I was into effects, can you tell? anyway, it always sounded like total crap, and a Japanese Fender should not sound like crap. The processor seemed to be sucking the life out of my tone, making it just sound thin and fuzzy. If I used the processor on a clean channel with just effects, like chorus, flange, wah, etc., and relied on the amp to handle the distortion it was better, but still very digital sounding. I didn't use it very much for quite a while, probably about a year. I was getting tired of being in solid-state hell, so about six months ago I bought a full tube amp (which, by the way, is the best thing you can do for yourself - there is no substitute for real tube warmth, but that's an entirely different conversation). I now have a 40w Pignose G40V powering a 2x12 cabinet that I built and loaded with some high-end Jensen speakers. Started using the AX1G again...not much improvement, as far as the sound goes. It will definitely sound better through a good tube amp and speakers, but don't expect much.

Some people don't mind/can't tell the difference between digital and analog; if you're one of those people this unit might work well for you. Me personally, my ears pick up the difference between the two instantly every time, blindfolded, miles away, doesn't matter. I'm not saying I'm better than everyone else, I can just tell, and other people will tell you the same thing. This unit makes all of the sounds "choppy" in a way, like you can hear the bits of sound coming thru the amp. grainy.

as far as the effects go, some of the modulation effects are decent, like the chorus and flange. Decent octave effect, doesn't seem to track very well when the signal decays. Delay, reverb - typical, it's not too hard to find a decent reverb or delay, but again the digital sound... The nice thing about all of these is that there are several different variations on these effects to play with. The wah is not very good, it doesn't have much range and you can't modify the sweep range either, which for something as important as wah it would seem like they'd make this effect more versatile. Ring modulator is simply annoying. The cabinet simulator...???? sounds like it's trying to add subtle low end, but it's not going to make you sound like you've got two Marshall 4x12's behind you. The random effect is pretty interesting if you can find a use for it.

Overdrive effects...essentially worthless. If you bought this pedal to sound like Jimi with a Fuzz Face, or Eric Clapton from the Cream days, you might as well have just set fire to the $100 you payed for it. The distortions are just so thin and grainy-sounding that it can be painful. I stopped even trying once I got the tube amp and realized it wasn't helping the sound of the pedal.

Also, don't try putting any other individual pedals around this thing. I had some other effects, like tremolo, delay, a fuzz effect, that I tried using to get around the linear-switching problem. I thought my tone was weak before, it was unbearable with other effects around.

I have to complain about the detune function. It works pretty well as far as tracking the notes, but it's not very smooth when you use the expression pedal. It's one of those deals (like the cheap DigiTech Whammy copies) where it bends the pitch in mini steps instead of sweeping through the entire range. Also the further down you detune, the more you get a delay between when you hit the string and when the note actually comes out.

The one thing that is really cool about this pedal is the sampling effect. It takes practice (well, doesn't everything), but once you get good at it it's a lot

It never failed me. I never relied on batteries, I bought an adaptor for it right away. It's made of plastic, so don't drive your car over it. I never had any real problems other than not being able to get what I wanted out of it. In five years of owning it I never had the balls to gig with it, so I don't know how it would handle "road use". From the looks of it, I'm guessing not well.

never had to deal with the company. It's nice that you can get a replacement instruction manual online at the Korg website, which I had to do when I broke it back out after getting my new rig and couldn't remember how to do anything.

I ended up selling this pedal on Ebay about three months ago for an unbelieveable $71, and I felt bad about taking the guy's money. Sorry, man, you got suckered.

When I bought the pedal I was into the Tom Morello style, I was huge into RATM and thought I could manufacture cool sounds by loading up on effects. Well...let's just say it's not the ship, it's the captain. You will never sound like Tom Morello with this pedal. End of story. He's got active pickups and vintage Whammy's and thechniques that just can't be copied, let alone with this toy.

I guess you can say my taste in music has "matured" because now I'm a little older and am really into gettng pure and beautiful tone. I listen to a lot of classics (Zeppelin, Hendrix, Cream, Rolling Stones) and newer bands that have helped to bring that sound back (Jack White, the Strokes, Kings of Leon), I've also gone back to my grunge roots a bit (Pearl Jam, Screaming Trees, Neil Young if you think he should be in that "category"). Anyway, this pedal will never - and I cannot emphasize this enough - NEVER produce great tone, with any amp, guitar, whatever, that you have. If anything, it greatly detracts from the tone that you could be getting. I may just be biased against digital processor effects, but in my humble opinion you're better off taking the $100 or so and putting it towards building a pedal board that has all of these effects on it. Really, I've never known anyone that uses, or would use, all of these effects. Pick a few sounds that you like and go out and get some good high-quality stand-alone pedals. Believe me, DON'T BE FOOLED by the discount super-value that this pedal seems to be in the mail-order guitar catalog...YOU PAY FOR WHAT YOU GET!!!

editting not too complex, push some buttons, save, repeat, etc...

i've used this thing with a variety of amps (mostily combos) and guitars (mostily strat copies w/ bridge humbuckers), it seems to work against every amp when use one of the distortions settings. way to much mid-range, imagine a worse sounding dod grunge pedal, yeah, horrid. overdrive is better but still, i've got a $20 danelectro mini pedal (pastrami) that blows this away. pedal is way too noisy, noisy gate sucks, cab-simlu suck, just adds cracks and pops now days. the wha sounds like it's missing some high and low end, and the foot pedal does'nt controll it very well, no smooth low to high, it kind of jumps. oh, and the tracking on the pitch shifter is awful, so bad it's kind of funny hear. i would'nt use this ofr live or recording, mostily i use it as a headphone amp or just to goof-off.

i've had it since 99 and no problems that kept it from functioning. made of plastic, so i can't really say it's going to be reliable forever.

nope

well, it's like this. you want the g.i. joe amry super battle station and you get the dollar tree tank and a 100 green army men. you can still have alot of fun with it.

Editing patches is easy. The only problem is that it's easy to hit both the switches and go into bypass/tuning mode if you're careless. The manual is fine.

I have a fender strat (2 humbuckers) and a cheap 20 watt practice amp. I used it at a gig once with a borrowed amp. The chorus/flanger type effects work really well. However, the distortion effects are weak and the wah is decent. Some of the preset effects are corny, but I was able to come up with some good stuff by myself.

I used it at a gig last year without a backup and it worked fine. I've had it about 2-3 years and in the past few weeks it's had a loose connection or something. The sound will suddenly go off and you have to push it with your foot to get it working.

This is good for beginners because you can get a lot of good (not great) sounds out of it for a great price. If you are serious about guitar, you're better off buying individual pedals. If it stopped working next week (which seems likely) I would buy something else.

It is easy to use, after reading through the manual a little bit. It does require effort though if you are looking for specific sounds.

Im running through a crappy little yamaha practice amp, but ive ran it through my friend's peavey transformer 112. I play on a Ibanez GAX70. It is excellent for clean sounds, but the distortion sux really bad. I cant get any of the sounds i want for the heavy rhythm i play. It is kinda noisy really the noise reduction is not that great either.

I dont really depend on it but it is all i have right now. I wouldnt even use it on a gig. It has had a short in the adapter jack since a couple of months after i got it and it is made of plastic so im kind of afraid of breaking it.

I havent used the customer support, i got it from Musicians Friend, which i wont do that again without trying the pedal out first.

I play music like godsmack, and a metallica. It doesnt work for that style, but it would be ok for clean stuff. I have been playing for about 8 years, and have used a danelectro fab tone, and messed around a little bit with some of the boss distortions. If it were lost or stolen, i would either get individual boss stomp boxes, or the a boss multi. If i werent going to get a boss i might go for a digitech but i would not buy this again or recommend anybody that needs distortion to get it.

This pedal is easy to use but without a manual it takes time. The sampling time sucks goat balls because you have to put your leg on it to work but all around pretty easy to use.

This is a very good pedal for cleaner sounds. I am becoming a more seasoned guitar player and i think that the ditortions are just shit not good enough for my tastes i play alot of metallica, alice in chains and nirvana i am getting into speed metal and i just bought a boss mt 2 off of ebay i got it because the ax 1g was not up to the job of what i needed. Back to the clean you can get alot of good clean sounds with some time and a little bit of tweaking. The best heavy sound that is good for metallica is dis2- 30 6,2,-13,6 OFF volume pedal Hall 2 17 and then cr 19, 22 good luck. Has devloped a loud hummmm and the noise reduction is no good.

Hasnt gone out on me yet but i can tell that the little buttons are showing signs of use it takes multiple times of pushing them to make it work i havbe only had this pedal for about a year to. Sampling sucks! ASLO the adapter plug in has shorted out on me and doesnt work i think that sucks because i bought an adapter just for that so it fucking is not worth it to buy an adapter. Has developed a loud hummmmmmmm. and is not good about keeping the ringing down

Dont know

I play alot and i mean alot of metal and this pedal i dont think i s up for the task it will give me clean tones and all but it just doesnt get the job done i am running an ibaz ax 120 > Ax 1g > Boss mt 2 metal zone this is good for the at home player but not for large audiences

First it took a little time to find out hov to get the best out of this unit. The factory settings sound a bit plastic and articicial. The manual is typical in the world of japaneese electronic devices -complicatd but after a good comprehension things started to get clearer.

The sound quality of agx1 is excellent when using it through effects loop of almost any amp. Er.. I mean the compressor, modulation, delays and reverbs are good sounding but the distortions are not.They seem to sound thin or too high-gain for my idea of good sound. I use it with my Marshall JCM 2553 and I think that I wont be needing another chorus, flanger etc. - pedal or prosessor for awhile.
I've allso used the unit with keyboards, vocals, bass guitar and in my four-track tape deck/mixer as a effects prosessor. So it still is quite wersatile. At least in my standards. Plus it inclues chromatic tuner with a bypass!

It eats batteries but with ac adaptor it is very care free. Though it is made of plastic so it should not be stomped on.
I have had it now for allmost three years with no problemo.

Like I said before I've had no problems.

I play mostly afro-american music, so AGX1 inclues all those effects that are wanted under the sun...
I've been playing since 1996. I have various distorto boxes and one surprise surprise: cry-baby wah-wah. I would buy something more "professional" if my agx1 gets stolen or whatever.

It's pretty easy to use, not too complex. Editing patches is very easy. The only problem is too many buttons, you begin to get confused.

It's not too noisy when you use the noise reduction. The actualy effects sounds are not too great. It doesn't compare to the analog effects. It's hard to a get a specific sound, but if you fiddle around long enough you can get pretty close. I use a Fender Stage 160 DSP amp with it makes the effects sound better. If you are running through a smaller amp the effects get distorted. The distortions you can get with it are not to great, your better off getting a stompbox. They only effects I enjoy is the flanger, add a bit of flang to anything (delay, chorus, distortion...) and it makes the effects sound 10 times better. But if you use the flang on its own it's not too great.

Not too reliable. Sometimes it dies off for a bit if you use it too much. It has never messed up at a gig but at practice it has. My friend has one and it's pretty much dead and I got a feeling mine doesn't have much time either.

Never called.

It is a good pedal to get when starting of, or too use to write songs if you don't want to break out your effects board. I have used it up enough and I think it is time for me to buy better pedals. I will probably still keep it around and get some crazy sounds out of it, because if you fiddle long enough you can get some crazy sounds out of it.

This is the pedal for quality tone!!! For around 100$ you get a very reasonable little unit worthy of the KORG label! Compared to any of the ZOOM's for less than 200$ and the Digitech RP3, sound wise (this is after all why you're buying it!) its tops!
Easy to use!!! I only read through the manual about a week before I bought it, I havn't used the manual since, its a sinch! F88k'n "KORG for dummies"! You'll have patches a million before the first week is up. There are also some good presets: Funky (reminds me of the KIDS duo Robbie & Kylie), chorus (the chorus on this thing is great), aqua (you feel like you're in a fish bowl), redhouse (infamous), edge (good if you're into U2 guitars)!

My setup is a beat up Ibanez RX20 (slightly modyfied), which actually has a rather presentable sound, especially with the neck pickup! When giggin I usually plug straight into the mixer, otherwise I use a 10R Park (by Marshal, muahhahahahaha) bullshit practice amp and a VOX V847 wah wah (real squeelly f88ker, needs greese). The noise reduction actually works & most patches are relatively quiet after some foolin around! Just keep the level between 18 - 23!!!
Asskickin effects are: Compressor- excellent, Chorus-excellent, Octave-excellent Just for these three its worth the money!!
Not -so -bad effects: Overdrive- its Ok, it does sound like an overdriven amp, so it qualifies, the LineOverdrive is actually a superb drive effect, the phaser effects are really quite good if you can achieve stereo sound! Flangers 'r OK ( I really do not like this effect to start with)! The random effect is cool!!! Pitch shifters do what they're suposed to! The wah is only a wah if you readjust the settings for the expression pedal from MIN to MAX, but it will not replace the VOX I use, so buy a wah wah and you're set, maybe a good distortion if you don't like these, cause I don't really - three distortions to choose fron I go with the DIST2 sounds good for single string riffs, appart from that distortion is pretty sucky, but what the hay, you can't have everything for a 100 bucks, now can ya! Fuzz sucks, there's a preset Hendrix patch, well poor Jimi(may he rest in peace, all the respect, I lov 'im)twiching in his grave is that what "I sounded like"???? F88k nooooooo, you want a Hendrix sound use LineOverdrive instead you'll get there eventually. Autowahs dont really wah, do they? Fixed wah sound like a fixed wah.
Can't tell you about the sample & play feature, cause I havn't used it yet when I do I'll let ya know.
Ambience: Delays 'r good, though you cant adjust feedback boohoo! Reverbs are good, but don't use reverb in large amounts if you're playing with other people, you kill the guitar sound! Filter Echo and Ring can be used to make some weird sounds!
Overall sounds great like a true multieffects should, KORG rule the guitar world, does sound odd though doesn't it, ohhhh! TUNER is awesome, now you can stay in tune for most of the time YEAH!

I am trustworthy, but its made of plastic, you never know!
I have used it on a gig works fine, compared to the RP3 I would say superior!

No comment

I play radiohead meets Massive attack meets Jeff buckley meets Chris Cornell meet Kim Thayl meets Dave Novarro meets Bad boy Hendrix (GOT THE PICTURE?????????)I like weird sounds , lots of dynamics, little or no distortion, a lot of wah wah wah wah wa hwah w3ha hwh ah wh a! WAH! All kinds of delays, I usually borow a second delay & use two at once YEA!
I've been playing for 12 years!
If it were lost I'd cry three days straigh, drink large quantities of tequila 'n BUY A NEW ONE
For the price WOW! But if you can afford it and you want to make music get a wah wah som ecool distortion Ibanez or Boss, and save up for the ax1500g, that is what I'll be buying, if I can ever afford it, KORG I love you!

Editing is easy, although it takes a lot of button-pushing. I hate buttons, but bought this one 'cause it got good reviews, & it was cheap. Manual is OK, but your better off learning by doing. Foot buttons are too close together. I try to click the right one, but the Expression pedal gets in the way. I often mistakingly turn on the tuner by pressing both buttons while over-compensating to the left. Digital readout is about 3/4" under the surface, without a back-light. Impossible to read. Although, there is a well-lit numerical readout next to it showing the patch & bank number, so you have to remember those numbers...

Les Paul through a Peavey Express 112. Like it's brother, the higher-priced AX100G, Flanger & Chorus are a bit weak. I added a bit of OD to bring it out a bit. Sound quality is relative to what the user want's to get out of it. It's all opinion. I'm still trying to get a real good sound out of it, but I did get some OK stuff. Has a lot of useless patches (Aqua, Ringer). Bender SUCKS. You have to bring to top of the expression pedal TOWARD you to do a Whammy Bar dive. I Hate that!!

Seems dependable...

I play Classic/hard rock/ & metal. This is OK. I just bought the Korg AX100G, and it is sooo much better. I liked the AX1G until I got the AX100G. The AX1G is a decent, inexpensive multi-effects processor. It's good if your looking to experiment with lots of effects.

AX1G is easy to use, if you have a manual. I have bought a new unit with a manual, but without an AC adapter. But that was not a problem - I have got an AC adapter for 15 DM (7,5 US$) in the big supermarket nearby. There are 30 slots in the memory, they are all filled in with default presets, and you can change all of them as you wish. And you can play also while you edit the sound - that means that you can modulate sound during the recording.

Guitars used with it: Fender/Squire Stratocaster, Bass - Yamaha RBX Series. Some effects can be rather noisy, but most of the effects sound great. Nice DELAY/FLANGE/CHORUS effects. Also good effects for distortion, overloading, etc.
I have tryed to copy an early Black Sabbath's sound and the sound of early The Cure. It wasn't exactly the same, but very close.

This effects processor is one of my favorites. Using in the gig is not a probelm, as long as you do not change the sound too often during the song. But I will recommend a big heavy unit that has more pedals for the gig.

Never had any technic problems with it.

I play alternative & experimenal music, post punk, early new wave, and record samples to use in the electronic music. The output sound is not very clean, but the effects are great. I play with AX1G since 2,5 years and the best thing in it for me is a good opportunity to create the own unique sounds. I use innovative guitar playing technics, and this unit is a "must" for me. I have tryed to use it with keyboards and microphones - sound is rather dirty and noisy but at the same time with EXCELLENT effects! Very good for the experiments. It helps me to make music a lot.

One more good feature - tuner for guitars. It tells you the note and if you play too low or too high.

I do not really dislike anything in it, but the pedals do not seem strong enough for me. I have always fear to press the pedals with the whole power of the foot - that is normal with the other processors. And the access to the effects from the memory is a little funny - this unit has 3 lamps (orange, green, red) and there are 10 effects for each colour (0-9). You switch them with the 2 small pedals (left for previous effect and right for the next).

Overall rating: very good, a "must have" for me. But I also search for some other effects processors now to use in a combination with AX1G. Maybe I will buy another KORG :)

easy, but pots would have been better so you could change quickly

i use a epiphone sg and a 15w peavy trans tube, the sound is ok, but i just can reach jimmy pages sound, the wah wah pedal is SHIT. Can be noisy when using compression, but that happens with most comp peadals

its made of plastic, that has both good and bad points. The expression pedal is getting lose so i have to tighten the screw, but its not working like it did when i bought it. (1 year ago)

haven't uesd it

It would have been better with a good wah wah, metal case and pedal, but it was cheap

Well i frankly would prefer pots to dial in ur tone. But it is definitely easy to figure out.

Artists: Metallica, iron maiden, judas priest, black sabbath, Deep Purple, Malmsteen, joe satriani, steve vai, Pink Floyd
Alan Parsons project ,Simon and garfunklel, Dire Straits,Eric clapton , richard clyderman (yep no guitar here but its agreat way to build ur ears since a piano is usually in true pitch)
Some french bands like jean jacque goldman, Florent pagny
, classical pieces from beethoven, mozart, vivaldi.



I have a Jackson soloist SSH kentarmstrong pickups through the AX1g into a marshall g-10 10 watts amp at home.

I used to like very heavy sounds but now i am mellowing a bit. To my ear the majority of the effects are thoroughly useless. The noise gate a mucks up the highs in my guitar (yes i know that's how a noise gate works but still..) and cuts the transparency and sustain. Add to the fact, that the bypass mode actually filters ur tone well..

On a positive note the LINE DS distortion suits me just fine. That's all i use right now, switching off evry other effect. I tweaked my guitar's intonation to perfection(in tune all over the neck and yes it can be done without buzz feinten or the earvana if the manufacturer of ur guitar got his basics right and intonated all strings properly at the SAME interval, like some older fenders and Aria Pro guitars) and adusted the pickup heights so that the guitars natural eq clean through the amp suited me (soft creamy with very soulful highs on bends, but enough sustain to even fret tap on clean). Single coils usually lose highs when the distortion is increased, but the Line DS is a little more trebly than DIST1 or DIST2 so what i get is just right for my ears, and it cleans up alot more easily than the other two when i turn the volume down.

My g-10 volume is turned all the way to 10, and everything else is turned down to 0(gain, contour). That way i get as much as an uncoloured amp setting as possible. And VERY IMPORTANT the input switch is set to H. (This is the switch next to the input socket) EVEN THOUGH MY PICKUPS AREN'T HIGH OUTPUT why? the switch if pushed towards
L actually acts like a preamp boost. So what it does is actually fatten up ur tone. This makes the entire thing muddy and any subtleties in tone are lost. If u want to get as transparent a tone as possible then push this switch at H.

If u think ur guitar feels hard toplay at this setting then ur guitar isn't setup properly or ur amp sucks major (trust me i found out the hard way). This setting will give u as close a tone or feel as directly plugged into a amp i.e as close as the ax1g can get to that tone that is.

Even the LINE OD effect seems pretty nice. On my g-10 when it is cranked up to 30 it sounds mellow and transparent though for the best tone u gotta go through a fender tube one of the smaller amps with the 6L6 tube. But the price this does fairly well.

NOW MOST important , this pedal is at best an addition to ur sound. What guitar or amp u have makes a great difference on how this sounds. Plus it is pretty noisy if the volume is cranked up on a bigger amp.

Most jacksons(for the matter most floyd rose guitars appear to be intonated a little sharp ). Even mine was in the beginning. Now some effects pedals can claim to give u infinite sustain, but to my ears they are atmost artificial and very shallow. I have tweaked a 4000 rupees (that's around 100$) worth PMG guitar, such that it can sustain almost endlessly on its own and too improved its feel to no end (harmonics just leap of it now). Even a cheap guitar can be made to sustain if it is setup properly as long some basic things like nut and fret placement has been done right, and the wood is fairly good.(if u make it out of plywood forget it!!)

So don't blame the ax1g if ur guitar doens't sustain. Since both my processor and amp(its solid state after all and has no eq either) are so limited in options it kind of brought the defects of my guitar glaringly to the forefront, so i could easily detect and fix them. Now if i plug my guitar in m

It's made out of plastic.I have had it for a couple of years now, and the left foot pedal conked. I had it replaced. the samller switches are alos slowly giving way.

Never dealt with them directly in india, though there is a shop that is supposed to do authorised korg service but they said they arren't authorised to do internal repairs?! what are they for to jus clean it up?

Here is the deal. All i want is tone where i can finger pick comforatbly in clean and even in heavy distortion a guitar that responds to touch. Well i have got it quite comfortably with this processor(even in full dist and voluem i can finger pick and the guitar responds to the attack of ur picks from mellow sweetness to a sizzling heat though its more due to the guitar and amp rather than anything else. But it definitely is better than the zoom 505.

Well i din't choose this, my uncle bought it for me. At that time i was an ignoramus and wanted a Boss Gt-5. But now that my ears are pretty good i can see that nothing can match the tone of a tube amp cranked up to 10. So I am quite willing to settle for a cheap digital processor that sounds ok than buyoing an expensive digital processor liek the gt-6 that also sounds to my ears just ok. Especially now that i am leaning more toward clean tones rather than distortion.

If this were lost or stolen , I might just take the plunge and buy myself a tonebone tube pedal(classic or british i'm undecided). It seems more oriented to my needs. I really don't need much variety, and i am not hunting for someone elses tone, so it make smore sense. A harmoniser ,a crybaby, an doh ok maybe BOSS CE-1 (if i can find one:) would also be on the shopping list, but that's it.

Why i am mentioning setting up ur guitar here is that most ppl here atleast get the ax1g caus ehtewy can't afford a more expensive one, which means its very likely they would have got a cheap guitar which doesn't sound all that great. The following can drastically improve ur tone or worsen it depending onm how ur guitar already is and how good ur ears are so use it at ur own risk. The tip about tjhe nickel is here at www.billlawrence.com.

With regards to setting up ur guitar, a general setting is like this on the higher E string, put a nickel (i put a 5 ruppee coin works for me:) between the string and bridge pickup and adjusted the height till the string touched the coin. Then on the lower E, i lowered the pickup down it almost touched the cap. On the neck pickup i raised both ends till they had the same output as the bridge(i checked by playing the 24th fret on either string for both pickups alternatively). Then adjust the middle pickup the way u want( This is what determines how much body ur guitar has i keep mine similar to the bridge but with the lower E end a bit lower, the higher u go the more woodier ur tone becomes).

My action is like around 6mm from 12th fret on lower E (fromthe frretboard not the fret,and around 3mm from the higher E, and it gives me a nice round tone not too thin nor too thick clean , a little fatter than mark knophler something like the opeing of shine on u crazy diamond by floyd(that's default tone plugged clean) .But the action is purely a personal thing, I usually set it around apoint where the top string doesn't buzz. and the higher
E feels nice and full up higher and not tight and tinny. But this is also dependent on the following

VERY IMPORTANT: THE GUITAR HAS TO BE INTONATED TO PERFECTION (i.e harmonic on 12rth fret equal to open string equal to fretted note equal to fretted note on 24th fret equal to harmonic on 24th equal to open (whew!). Don't squeeze the string on the fret too hard it will sound sharp if u do that. Flat makes the strings bassy(even if one string is a little flat and especially the G and the D, woe betide if u got them wrong.ur guitar becomes unplayable.)sharp makes it harsh and unpleasant.
(also what happens is at the 24th and 12th fret u'll hear discrepancies in volume with either pickup i.e when inonated flat, the neck pickup will sound louder at the 24th than the bridge while the bridge will sound equal or louder at the 12th) May be the otherway round not sure now but that was the case on my guitar u will not be able to get the same volume for both pickups on all parts of the fretboard(used singly). But this gets corrected when it is intonated. and the feel

If you can use this thing, you are an idiot, editing effects is the only thing that is dificult but anyway is in the manual.

I use a Jackson DR-3 and a Marshal 30w amp, the distortion is fairly good, the chorus, flanger and eq are great, the wah is crap

Is made of thin plastic, be careful.

good

Its very versatile, you can play anything with this thing, but if you`re a metalhead you`ll probably dislike the distortion, get a MT-2

It's pretty easy to use.The manual explains how to do everything easy enough for anyone to understand it.

I'm using this with a SansAmp psa-1,Marshall power amp,and Marshall 1960B cabinet.The guitar is a Les Paul Studio.I'm not much into effects,I just got this for shits and giggles.This is a very fun unit to play with,it's got a lot of stuff in it.All the distortions sound like complete shit,but I got it for clean reverbs,delays,choruses etc.All the effects are great.I put a soft chorus on my distortion from the psa-1,beautiful.For the price,it's well worth it.

Only had it for a couple of weeks.

Don't know.

It's a really cool unit.It'll definitely tie you over until you can afford mac daddy effects.

Very easy...

I play Kramer 620 > Korg AX1g > Trace Elliot Brat 15w, for pleasure only. But,I play about 15 years and I know a little about tone.Many people say that AX1 has good distortin, even compare this with boss Metal zone or DS1. I dont understeand these people. Distorsions are extremly bad,weak,artificual and no sustain.Usual thing about every multi efx under 200$.Equalizer is bad too, no way to get mid scoop tone.Modulations and ambient are good only on low setings, on high become noisy ond bad.Only tuner is always good.Rating is: for amp 2, for headphone 5 , but value for money 9.

I think this is for home use only, because it is plastic box.

LIke every multi efx this is a toy.I will trade this,processor and solid state Trace Elliot, for for rael tone machine,all tube little amp like Laney LC15.
Rating is 2 over all, and 9 for money.

A retarded monkey could work this thing, easy to use. Manual is simple. Editing patches is easy.

Good sound. I use a Les Paul Special through an old Silvertone 100W amp. With this pedal I can make my guitar sing. All effects are good but there is a bit of noise on the distotion setting and the noise reduction doesn't work all that great. If you use it through an Effects loop, the noise goes away.

I'd say it's reliable but I'm careful with my stuff. It's only made of plastic though. I use it without a Backup because I don't have another pedal, but I don't think I need one.

Don't need 'em.

I play blooz and classic rock, this pedal is perfect for my style of playing. I've been playing for 5 years, in a band for one. I bought it so I could have SOME effects and this was the most for the money. I'm very pleased with the sound of this pedal. If I could I'd buy three more just in case it were stolen I wouldn't have to go any time without it. They're pretty inexpensive, so money isn't a problem. Great pedal!

Didn't even have to open the manual! Manual, you could use for fire starter, because its so easy to use. Only thing is some things take a little screwin' around to get to work.

Nice flanger pedal. Nice wah pedal. Nice drone effect pedal. NIce everything. I'm using it with a cheap peavey practice amp and its great. I have a Squier Strat, but a very nice Yamaha FG-470SA acc/elec guitar and they both sound AWESOME through the AX1G. Plenty of patches for great bands, like a pink floyd patch, metallica patch. Distorion is better than the gain knob on my amp! Chorus is great. Drone effect is awesome for Sitar like stuff, like in "10 years gone". Just buy it, its THE Best-Bang-For-Your-Buck deal around.

Only had it a few days, but besides what other people say about battery usage, its reliable and so far I have had no problems at all.
Also, I bought it for $75 new because I got it off ebay. Nice deal, I saved myself $30.

Great for classic rock, blues, alternative rock, just a great pedal.

NOTE::: You probably don't want this pedal if you are professional, because you are probably rich enough to buy 300 small pedals and you can pay some German midget named "Hans" to run out on stage and hook each one up for you.

Or just don't complain, look at the positive side, and see that you got 68 more effects for the same price of a 1 effect pedal.

I thought this pedal would suck, but then i actually bought it bcuz i was like out of money and stuff.... but i tweaked some of the settings and made my own and this pedal kiks serious ass. editing patches was really easy to do... i didnt really need the manual for this because its soo easy to tweak effects and edits...

umm, my setup is a BC RICH Warlock and my amp is a marshall valvestate... i get some scratchy noises at times, like static sounds, only for distortion effects, and i have my level up to 30....the effects sound really good... i use the distortion a lot if i dont want to use my marshall's distortion.. umm, i can get the sound of some artists, like kirk hammett, the distortion, but for the wah, i just use a pw-10 vwah and it sounds good.... i always play some slipknot and i can get mick's tone too...

this is very reliable, but it eats up the batteries really quick.... maybe like 5 packs a week... but ever since i started using the energizer titanium batteries, its lasting a little longer..... if ur going to use it live, u should have an extra battery pack with u just in case it runs out.... but when all else fails, i just use my pw-10 for distortion and overdrive and stuff.

never dealt with customer service.

i play music from punk, rock, metal, emo, and sometimes soft rock... its a pretty good match ... i been playing for about almost a year now and i own ( pedals ) pw-10 v-wah, crybabygcb-095, bcrich warlock, marshall valvestate v65r and yeah.... i'd prolly get another ax1g if this was stolen because i would need the distortion tones cuz its good. i love how its soo portable.. i dislike how i get staic noises.... email me if u have n e questions or wanna share stuff...

as easy as a mfx processor can get... the presets are not too cool except some but its really easy and great to make some of your own.

american stratocaster or an ibanez s520ex into a Boss MD-2 (ownage) and a NS-2, into this pedal, into the roland bc60/310.

distortion of the unit aint too good but hell i use a very fine distortion pedal anyway so it doesnt matter. All the other effects (and i mean all of them) sound good. It's great when you dont want to buy a different pedal for every single damn effect, cause they sound just about the same. And, switching between presets is much easier live then having to bend over and adjust everything manually!

its dependable.... just be careful. Much plastic.

never dealt with

still an excellent pedal after all the time ive played. Just make sure you make all the presets before you play, cause the display aint lit. The rest rules.

I bought my AX1G used and it didn't come with a manual but that wasn't a problem because the controls are pretty inuitive and in just a few seconds I was able to get it up and running. Editing patches is as easy as tweaking the settings and pushing the "enter" button. Even the stupidest person could figure out how to use this thing without ever looking at the manual.

As fan of notoriously anal tone freak Eric Johnson, I'm pretty anal about guitar tone myself. I use a Les Paul and a Japanese Fender 60s reissue Strat with a Marshall 50 watt combo. I play a wide range of styles from blues-rock and fusion to metal, shred and classic rock so I have to have an effects unit that covers a broad range of tones. The AX1G gives me just that. With the push of a button I can get the guitar sound of Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Stevie Ray Vaughan, or even Jimi himself...just like they sound on the CDs. In the past I've owned & played a lot of effects units such as the Line 6 Pod and Digitech RP100, and I've been frustrated with all of them because it took a lot of tweaking to get the perfect tones I was looking for and even after tweaking knobs and pushing buttons for hours I'd still only have four or five tones I could actually use on gigs or in the studio and feel totally satisfied with. When I bought the AX1G and tested it out for the first time at a band rehearsal, everyone noticed the difference in my tone. The bass player stopped playing and commented on how full and bally it sounded. Even the drummer noticed a difference, saying it sounded like I had a huge row of stacks. With this unit not only do I get killer modeling sounds that duplicate all the artists I like, I get tons of effects that I can use at the same time such as different types of chorus, delay and reverb; whammy bar and pedal steel effects, DJ/scratch effects, different overdrives and distortions that DON'T SOUND LIKE WEAK DIGITAL REPLICAS OF REAL AMPS, speaker cabinet emulation, and most importantly, noise reduction cuz my Marshall's loud enough to wake the dead, especially with the feedback from the single coil pickups in my Fender (which I haven't had a problem with since I bought this unit). BOTTOM LINE: If your guitar tone sucks, get an AX1G and you'll never have problems again!

I'm going to give this a lower rating on reliability even though it sounds kick ass because it's made mostly of plastic and we all know cheap plastic parts break easier than a glass pinata. Plus, it eats
batteries by the truckload (one to two packs A DAY) so if you use it at gigs like I do, DEFINITELY pack spare batteries...you don't want your guitar sound to suddenly go dead when the spotlight's on you and it's time to take your big solo and impress all the chicks. I tried using an AC adapter with it, but it only worked half the time so I'm stuck using batteries, I'm not sure if that's a problem with the AC adapter or my AX1. Either way, I'm gonna have to give this a low reliability rating because as a gigging musician I need more dependable features, and this doesn't even have a backlit display for
night time use.

I haven't had to deal with customer support yet, I hope I won't have to.

Overall, this thing KICKS ASS. If it was stolen, I'd buy a new one.
I've been playing for six years and I haven't heard anything better, even the more expensive effects units that guitar mags try to con you into buying because they're OBVIOUSLY better if they have huge price tags (which is pure bull). My favorite thing about my AX1 is the distortions, I can get a good metal sound a la Zakk Wylde and company
or George Lynch and also great tube amp sounds even though my Marshall's solid state. I used to own an original sixties Fender tube amp and with this pedal I can get the same tones from my solid state Marshall. I bought this to replace my Digitech RP100 and I'm sorry I ever bought anything else. If someone offered to trade it for something else, I'd say no way...NOTHING sounds better than this thing (except expensive rack effects units), which is amazing considering it's really cheap price. Next time some old fart starts rambling about how great tube amps are and how you're not a guitar player if you ain't got tubes in your rig, turn your AX1 way up and blow them away. I'd give it a 10 if it was made of all metal instead of plastic.

I wasn't too pleased with any of the preset patches, but a little tweaking made them all sound pretty good. It's simple enough to completely replace them with patches of your own design, provided that you know what each individual effect sounds like. Switching between patches and use of the expression pedal is very straightforward, and the manual covers everything you could think of.

My guitars are an Epiphone Les Paul Standard and a Squier Affinity Telecaster, amp is a Laney 30W combo. I don't like any of the distortion effects on the pedal, I think they all sound too cold and harsh. The overdrive and fuzz effects are quite good and warm sounding though, but I usually find myself not using any type of drive atall. The pedal really shines when using the tremolo, pan, filter, delay and echo effects, these are all adoreable. The 'hold' feature is excellent for building up loops. Chorus, flanger and phaser effects are okay, but the settings all sound very similar for these. Then there are all sorts of other bizarre effects like 'drone' and 'random' that can keep you entertained for hours!

Problem is, it's made out of plastic. I managed to snap the expression pedal right down the middle just by standing on it, and I wouldn't even say that I'm particulary bulky! Apart from that though, I've had it for nearly 4 years without any other hitch at all, and I regularly gig with it without any backup.

Never dealt with them.

I play mostly post / noise rock kinda stuff - Mogwai, Godspeed, Slint, Sonic Youth etc., but I dabble in most types of music. The AX1G is good for getting the quieter aspects of post rock, but you really need a much better distortion for the loud parts! I've been playing for about 5 years now and the AX1G was the first FX unit I purchased, when I'd been playing for about 1 year. I found it a useful tool to let me know what different effects sounded like and what I actually liked using. I've gone on to purchase separate units for the kind of effects that I use most often, like delay (Boss DD5) and distortion (Marshall Shred Master) etc, but the AX1G is still great for effects that I might use once in a while. If it was lost/stolen I think I'd probably buy it again, despite its shortcomings. I love the fact that the tuner is a nice big LED screen that you can see clearly, but I hate the fact that it's impossible to see the LCD display in anything other than bright light. But for its price, it's pretty much unbeatable.

Easy to use.Editing is very simple.The manual explains everything
very well.
Really a nice and handy device.

It offers a wide vareity of different sounds and effects.
It makes a little noise,but the Noise Gate will help.
The sound architecture and routing is fine adjusted and designed.It
should be possible for every one to get good sounds out of it.
there are machines out,wich are much more expensive as this thing.
But with wrong handling or no experience of the user in sounddesign,
also this machines will sound worse.The chance to get a worse sound
out of a high class device is thousand times higher as with this thing
The advantage of such "semi preset" devices is,that you can adjust a
new sound very quick,without this parametric frenzy of the upper class
but on the other hand,you have to live with a more "fixed" sound or
limited bandwith of sounds with such a device.

I think,the AX1g has a very balanced and usefull basic sound.

Distortion and Overdrive are always a question of taste.You can like
them or not.
The compressor works like a compressor should work,wich was designed
for guitar.It is OK.The EQ is simple but useful.A limitation is the
Middle EQ,where you can choose only three Center frequencies.I wish it
had more choices in that section.But this three Mid frequencies were
selected in an acceptable way.
The FX sections Mod and Ambient are selected fine.But they have
preset character.Delay times are fixed and reverb too.Chorus,Flanger,
Phaser also.
Nice gimmick is the Ring Modulator.

All and over the AX1G offers a lot of good sounds in many ways.
It is an all in one device.

For this small money a good deal.

Functional never had trouble,
I am a little sceptic about the plastic design.But it seems that
it is solid plastic.

Never needed.

A great device,not only for begiiners.For rehearsals,practicing,in
Studio or also live it can make a great job.

I like it,because I don't need to start my big rig.A big helping
tool,with a good sound.
Live I use it for my electric mandolin.In Studio I use it together
with other devices in many ways.
A very functional device.
Only the short Pedal Way,makes me a little mad.I guess it was designed
for the size of japanese feet...:)

Its damn easy to get a hang of the gadget. But its ok if u understand the gadget. u can get some preety good tones, but if ur lookin for a gadget for rock or metal . the ax-1g is not the one for metal or but otherwise its preety good for the price ur payin.

i use a custom made guitar with a marshall amp. it is a little noisy but u can cut the noise levels. all the effects are ok but the distortion needs more crunch or power. otherwise its a decent gadget.
u can manage and get some tones for blues , rock, and metal.
distortion needs more crunch.

i already use it live and one recording session.
and its never let me down in a show but u go to work on ur tones before u use it live.

i ususualy play blues,rock, and more of metal. its ok for a begginer.
around 8 yrs, i also have a jackson, zoom, and a boss metal zone.
first of all i wouldnt lose it . if lost i would go in for a used one
if i can get or else no i wouldnt by a new one. i like the features available. makes no difference nothin gets in the way of makin music,
one thing i wish it had more was a better distortion and more sustain.

This is definitely a studio pedal, although not a very good one at that. I have found that trying to bypass the thing is very difficult, The bypass also cuts out a lot of the signal. Setting up an effect is also quite difficult, I think my problem is that I was using it as a stomp box rather than a proper effects unit.

Once again the bypass REALLY REALLY annoys me! when you try to turn it right up there is a lot of hiss. One good point is that it has a wide variety of fx you can use, the flanger is particularly good and I love the hendrix preset.

Never breaks, although I would not use it at a gig.

I have been playing quite a long time now and rely mostly on stomp boxes, I play everything from punk rock to blues. I would not buy another if I did loose it, I did try the korg's rival unit - the zoom thingy, and found that much more favourable, although it cannot match the korgs build quality, I was given the korg as a birthday present when it first came out and it was a bit of fun, but as I progressed as a guitarist it became a hinderence, I wouldn't recomend it for anyone who wishes to become semi-pro or pro.
KORG AX1G - bit of a laugh, but not that good.

Ease of use? Once you look into the manual (I hate manuals) and find the magic keystrokes...programming and setup is simple and fairly quick. The manual was very good, I have to admit.

I'm using an Epiphone LP Xtreme guitar with this processor and it works great! The presets are BOGUS but after tweaking, I've stumbled on some fantastic sounds for a cheap pedal.
It also works great on my Bass guitar...Korg makes a bass processor for $99 too, but I've found that the AX1G actually has great sound with my bass. Worked on a patch that sounds just like Geddy Lee's Rickenbacker...it's awesome!
From the guitar side, I've got a Clapton sound that is flawless...I've Tweaked the Rush guitar effect to perfection. And I've developed a distortion/fuzz box sound out of the 60's that blows my mind.

Very dependable and surprisingly well built for the price.
Not a bit nervous about it on stage, (I do carry a backup though.)
and have used it for 3 months in my regular performances with no problems at all.

Never had to call Korg...use the Internet to get my questions answered.

I'm a 35 year Jazz/rock veteran performer and the AX1G fits into my style and act perfectly. I'd buy another if something went wrong with it.
It's a bit noisy on high volume leads though...some hiss...but I've found ways around that using some programming tweaks.
What do I hate...no backlight on the display...this is a serious flaw in my estimation. If the display was larger, maybe it wouldn't be that much of a problem, but as it is, the foolish 'phosphor' 'hold it in the light' display is a joke...Korg should be ashamed of that lackluster feature.
I'm going to modify mine with a light addition I found on the Internet. If I break it...I'm only out $99 for a new one.
I got mine on Ebay auction for $63 bucks...well worth that, believe me!

this unit is easy to use, that is, the factory presets are easy to use. you actually need to read the manual to design your own sounds. so all in all it's more complicated to use than a single-effect stomp-box...

my setup is a 30 watt bass amplifier, through wich i play a strat-copy. but i don't really use the amp a lot, i record straight into my 4-track. and despite the other reviews, this unit is slightly noisy, but it has adjustable noise reduction, and that works for me.
i like the distortion! it sounds lo-fi! the sound of my boss distortion is better, but that pedal cost 3/4 of what the ax1g cost me. the flanger on the ax1g is very usefull, the chorus is good...
but the octaver and 12-string functions suck hard...

it's made of plastic, and the expression pedal seems fragile. i only depend on this without a backup because i have to. but my unit has worked well for 4 months...

i haven't had to deal with the company...

i play sort of punk-ish black metal. the different kinds of distortion on this unit works when you layer several riffs. more effects in one unit mean less cables! and if the expression pedal was more sturdy, i would probably love this pedal. the two control pedals sit too far apart, since you have to step on them both simultaneously to bypass the unit...
if this was stolen i'd buy the zoom505II. or a couple of danelectro mini-pedals...

The sound is great and very easy to get a good sound ut of it. I like how easy it is to edit patches and combine the effects.

My setup is an Ibanez RG220 and a Crate GFX 20 but im going to get a Marshall VS65R soo. The sound isnt noisy on any settings. I'm still trying to get the Metallica sound, if any1 could email their settings of the wah wahof Metallica, thatd' be great. my email is Jynx152@aol.com

I guess i could depend on this....

I dont need customer support.

I like to play any kind of metal. I been playing for only 1 year and 3 months.