Korg AX30G

the ax30g has some good effects. I liked the STUDIO MAN distortion, but you can make better distortions or get patches here in the internet.

the distortion sounds great. i think it sounds better than the boss turbo distortion pedal.it has amp simulator. I'm using an staner kute 25 amp. With a patch i could make a sound like joe satriani. I'm using a ibanez s470 guitar.

i play trash metal, satrini music and progressive rock. It really has a great sound.

Memory use and savings are quite easy.
Searching for the right tones is a real quest, though.
Never used the DSP controls that much.
Also quite empty words in the distortion modelers.
Switching between presets is tough and usually a pause can be heared while switching.

Distortions - 3/10
Modulations - 8/10

I really find the distortions quite AWFULL actually, and therefore I must join those who say so too. I am not the only one. The normal distortions are too synth-like and a real vintage fuzz is not available. The overdrives are not natural responding. Definitely a distortion - digital junk but that was normal 5 years ago.

The modulations are OK. I think I'll use the pedal for these things only and let the distortions die alone... Maybe just that the depths must stay low, otherwise the chorus, phaser and flanger things are unnatural sounding through.

A lot of sounds are useless too.

Actually I have encountered quite some situations where a soft pedal would crack. But I had no problems with this thing. Switching between presets is hard and takes a second to change.

no experiences

Used to play metal, now more alternative-grunge. I've lost the passion for daily palmmuting :-).
This pedal is nice as a modulation support and reverb unit. Do not rely on it as a total unit. Distortions are bad.

THIS UNIT WAS EASY TO GET GREAT SOUNDS FROM, EDITING PATCHES WAS'NT TOO OVER BURDENING, THE MANUAL WAS GREAT, I DID NOT UPGRADE THE FIRMWARE, I DID NOT FEEL THE NEED TO

I TRADED IN MY AX30G FOR A DIGITECH 2120 AND I AM KICKING MYSELF EVERYDAY FOR GETTING RID OF THAT AWSOME BOX, THE UNIT WAS NEVER NOISY, THE EFFECTS WERE AWSOME FOR THE SPEEDMETAL\TECHNOMETAL STYLE I PLAY, I USED THIS UNIT WITH 8 LAYLA 24 UNITS RUNNING VEGAS PRO, EVENT PS-6 MONITORS, BBE 482 SONIC MAXIMIZER AND AN ALESIS DUAL 31 BAND EQ WHICH I NEVER HAD TO STAY UP FOR HOURS TWEAKING, I WAS ABLE TO DUPLICATE THE SOUNDS OF JAMES MURPHY, MALMSTEEN, CARLOS FROM FEAR FACTORY, I HAVE NO COMPLAINTS ON THIS UNIT SINCE I BOUGHT IT FOR 125 BUCKS, I SPENT 800 BUCKS ON MY DIGITECH AND EVEN WITH THE TUBES IT CAN'T DUPLICATE THE SMOOTH SOUND OF MY SORELY MISSED AX30G, I GUESS DIMEBAG DARRELL WAS RIGHT AFTER ALL FOR STICKING WITH THE AX30G...

I CAN DEPEND ON IT AND HAVE USED IT EXCLUSIVELY TO WIN 6 GUITAR CONTESTS IN THE MIDWEST...

KORG HAS ALWAYS BEEN GREAT, MY SYNTHS WERE PURCHASED FROM KORG AS WELL, THEY HAVE ALWAYS HELPED ME..

I PLAY SPEED\TECHNO METAL AND HAVE ALSO USED THE EFFECTS ON THIS BOX TO PRODUCE SOME HEAVY "F*&I&N" ACID TRIPHOP MUSIC USING THE GUITAR, ROUTING A TALKBOX EFFECT ALA CRYSTAL METHOD, I HAVE BEEN PLAYING MUSIC SINCE I WAS 4 YEARS OF AGE STARTING WITH PIANO AND VIOLIN, I ALSO OWN 8 LAYLA 24 UNITS, A DIGITECH 2120 ARTIST, BBE 482, ALESIS DUAL 31 BAND EQ, VEGAS PRO, FRUITY LOOPS ECT..
IF THIS UNIT WAS STOLEN OR LOST I WOULD BUY IT AGAIN IN AN INSTANT.
WHAT I LOVE ABOUT THIS THING IS THE DISTORTION CIRCUIT, IT'S NOT TOO HARD OR TOO SOFT, IT'S PERFECT, WHAT I HATE IS, THERE WAS NOT ENOUGH ROOM TO REALLY TWEAK THE TECHNO SOUNDING FACTORY PRESETS TO MY LIKING..
MY FAVORITE FEATURE IS THE DISTORTION AND DIGITAL DELAY, I WAS ABLE TO DUPLICATE THE JAMES MURPHY VIBE WITH THE DIGITAL DELAY AND A LITTLE BIT OF OCTAVE DIVIDER EASILY, THIS THING IS CAPABLE OF SOME AWSOME TALK BOX SYNTH SOUNDS, SYNTHS THAT PRODUCE THIS KIND OF SOUND CAN COST THOUSANDS AND I WAS ABLE TO DUPLICATE THESE SYNTHS AT 125 BUCKS!!
I COMPARED THIS UNIT TO DOD, ZOOM, SONY AND DIGITECH FLOOR PEDAL UNITS, IT BLEW THEM AWAY..
THE ONLY THING I WISH IT HAD WAS A CHAIN ATTACHED TO MY STUDIO FLOOR, I NEVER SHOULD HAVE SOLD IT..
THIS UNIT WAS EASY TO WORK WITH, ALOT EASIER TO WORK WITH THAN MY STERILE SOUNDING 2120 ARTIST, I WAS ABLE TO TELL RIGHT AWAY ON THE SOUND QUALITY I LOST, I COMPARED 2 GAME MUSIC SOUND FONT LIBRARIES I CREATED, THE DIFFERENCE WAS LIKE NIGHT AND DAY...

I have used this off and on for 2 years now. At first it seemed to complicated while on stage, but in time, I developed some very nice patches for the type of music I play which ranges from soft & mellow to "in-your-face" thrash rock. I did buy an expression pedal because the "pressure" pedal which is built in seemed "cheap" !

I use either a '72 Strat or PRS McCarty with this device. The guitar first goes into a Thomas Cry Baby, then thru a Sonic Maximizer, then into the Korg AX30G and out into a Mesa DC-5 with cabinets stacked.
Sometimes I split cabs on stage for nice panning. I like the noise gate, without it maxed, this unit gets pretty noisy !The factory presets are good, but even better after modified and renamed. For example, "Black Sabbath" factory patch without pitch shift, gives a nice Jeff Beck "Wired & Blow by Blow" tone. The best factory patch is the AmbiChorus without a doubt !!!

The "FAT" lady could sing and dance on this unit and I believe it would still work. It is built rugged a la John Deere Tractors...!!!

I've never needed factory support....yet....

As I mentioned earlier, I use this "off and on". Sometimes I just run guitar thru Crybaby and 60's MXR+ into amp, but in the 20 years I've been playing, this is the best multi-effects device I've heard.
Sometimes, I'm "lazy" and don't wanna mess with the wall wart, expression, etc..setups.

This effects pedal is _very_ easy to use. It has basic menu based effects parameter setting, four pedals, a bank switcher, and buttons to control individual effects with ease.

This is running from my Ibanez S470 to the effects return of my Crate GX-130C. It sounds much better that way than through the input (always a good idea to not double up on preamps). The board has some really nice distortions, a good reverb, nice delays. The wah is tolerable, but the pitch shifting is definitely not to be used. :) The chorus leaves some to be desired, as it's kinda synthy and not too warm. Overall a decent sound for what was a $250 pedal new 5 years ago.

i wouldn't depend on this much, I use it for home practice, will probably get a boss GT-3 or a roland VG setup for playing out. the pedals are plastic and the pressure pedal is plastic too! luckily you can hook up an external expression pedal for the wah or pitch, etc. Also my power connector has gotten loose over the years and randomly cuts off/on.

haven't dealt.

I play all sorts of music, but generally stay around the blues/classic rock/metal areas, although i am delving into bach piano sonatas a bit. :) It suits my needs, although i don't like the chorus one bit. It's good for what it is, no more.

There is two way of programing these unit:
first- standard way programing is when you can set every parameter of each efect
second-easy way for quick programing with already preset sounds
Patches is quite comfortable for editing, and leavs you enough place for playing with your own ideas of sound. I have found manual for ax30g on the web, it has got quite enough pages and it is very useful for advanced users. Korg ax30g was upgraded with his younger tween brother caled ax300g. The difference betwen them is number of user patches, and nothing else, the sound is identical.

I have used it with several kind of amps and setups. It sounds best on combo, with good and strog speaker, cause ax30g has got very loud output (be careful with preamps!). At home I play it on (do not laugh on me:-) stereo PC active speakers, and it sounds good enough for practising and programing sounds. I think that strongest side of this multiefect is delays and other timebased efects (flanger, reverb, phaser..). That is why it sounds best when I have play the Police, Pink Floyd, or others like this kind of music.
Distortions are quite too hissy for my ears. When I play distorted solo I must set gain on minimum and add some EQ. For hard rock and blues there is a fiew patches, but for HM and progressive metal players this unit is a heaven!

I did not have any problems with my ax30g ever. It has got everything what I need on stage. Only problem I have had was when decides to put it in the same bag with my guitar. Ax30g is belong in longer units with its dimensions.

Never had a need for that!

I play some Rock, HardRock,Funky, and Soul kind of music. For that ax30g is more than I need! If I lost it I would buy the same unit cause it is the greatest processor for the money it costs. Alternative for it would be only boss me30 or zoom 4040, and both of them are much expensive. The only thing that I would like it to have is MIDI in/out, cause I think that this kind of multyefect must have it for connection with other midi devices.

I think it's easy to use, above all for the settings: many parameters to use, but thanks to CMP (compare) button I can always listen every change.

A good sound (I use a Hughes&Kettner 65W tube)above all in distortion and it helps me in chorus for what regards clean channel. Furthermore I appreciate the low noising product and the clearaness of sound.
I notice only a important negative feature: when I change effect, sound stops itself for at about half second... and I don't like it, because (above all when I play a solo) I gotta change before the exact moment I wanna start.

I've been using it for a year and I never had problems... and I think it's a really though item... actually during a concert a drunken man poured on my ax30g half litre of beer... and anyway it still works perfectly! Even if I had to clean it, because it was sticky... :-)

I play with a band and we make hard rock, blues, raggae... pratically many differents musics. I'm satisfied, because ag30x is very ductile and allows me to play so many different styles. I'm also satisfied for what regards sound: enough strong when I make tapping on Deep Purle... enough sweet when I play Clapton.
I think that 2 things are not very well, or well developed: 1. the interruption of sound when I change effect,
2. PRESSURE pedal... I rarely use it, because it doesn't convey a meaningful improvement for what reagards sound. According to me this depends on the fact that less parameters are "pressurable" and even if changeable, the difference is not so great.
In the end I'm satisfied of my multieffect, above all for it ductility
and also for the ease of setting.

Its pretty easy to get some good sound out of it, but don't panic when you first get it and can't vigure out how to do anything. It took me about 3 to 4 hours to vigure the basics out, and over the next day I figured out the other stuff. The manual is pretty confusing, and a little bit frustrating. If you have an Xpression pedal, don't even read that part in the manual. Nut if you have any questions, feel free to ask me.

I'm using a Lotus Strat-Copy (HB-SC-SC) w/ a Marshall Master Lead 30 amp. You migh twant keep keep the distortion on your amp down if your going to use the distortion through this thing, becasue it will squeal like a stuck pig if tis up. But if you put it through an FX loop, its pretty calm. I've got a great distortion patch reminicent of Metallica. I'm still trying to get a good Wah without it having no bottom end. I like the Random Step Filter, kinda futureistic, and the other FX like the bender, flange, phaser, and chorus are cool. The pitch shifter is a bit squirly, but I'vew got a good setting for it.

This thing is awesome, and Its pretty well built. The Fpression pedal might give way w/ to much force, but the overall unit is pretty sturdy. An add purk is if you are at home w/ out shoes, you can edit the patches with your toes, if your talented!

Not needed to ask

Its sounds great, I use it for heavy metal, good clean sounds, and some classic rock. I just wish you could use more effects at once, and place them in different positions (inront or behind others).

This is one of the easiest units to use! I love the dial that can scroll through everything in it. The presets for the most part suck but there are a few that are worth keeping. The manual does suck for this but once you learn to mess with it afgter a couple of hours, the manual starts to make more sense and features you didn't knowe where possible start jumping out(like setting up an expression pedal or using the tap delay).

I am running <b>2</b> of the units through the switchable FX loop of a Crate Blue Voodoo BV120H into a 4X12 Crate cabinet. I plug my Strat(SC+SC+SC) and my Peavy Tracer(SC+SC+HB) into the amp itself. These units sound a lot better through an FX loop than staight in if you like the natural tones of the amp. The sounds that come out of the unit can be so good that if needed you can make you own amp sound like something else! I used to run one of them in front of a 100W Fender amp with some cruddy distortion and basic clean sounds and made it sound like Billy Corgan's JCM800 head! It was great!
If you blend these effects with your amplifiers natural sounds, the chorus, flanger, anbd phasers kick some ass. I wish the the phaser was a little bit more "tweakable" like the Boss PH-2 but I finally came up with a phaser patch that really sounds awesome!
If used through an effects loop, turn off the compressor, wah, distortion, EQ as soon as the patch is made. Figure out the delay/reverbs, other whacky stuff first. Then, set the level to 50. This will give you a basic effect. Then tweak away. After yuou have finally made the sounds you want, turn the EQ on and set the Trim Gain up around 2.0-4.0, depending on your amp. This compensates for the loss of signal strength that results from using the effects.
I don't recommend switching between patches on this. I have yet to find a floor-based model that doesn't have a 1/2 second delay between patches. I would recommend using the effects and bypassing them as needed. Then switch pathces during the bypassed mode. That way there is no loss of signal when switching.

I have 2 of these units for a reason...they're easy to use and can take a MAJOR beating!!! Definitely good for any situation.

I play modern rock, so this unit fits my style perfectly. BVut I feel it could fit anyone's style if they really wanted it to. I have had the unit in ym possession for almost 2 years now. My sounds are heavily dependant on these units so if I lost one, I would be SOL.
For the amount of money I paid ($275 first time, $70 the second), I gget a LOT of FX. and especially having two, now I have some more flexibility in ordering the FX chain as opposed to having one.
The only other thing I wish it had was a built in expression pedal vs. the pressure pad for more control. But with the expression pedal jack, that can be certainly circumvented.
I recommend this unit for anybody!