Korg AX30G

Once you get used to it, it's pretty easy to tweak the parameters
for the different effects. You're limited in the ways you can combine
and sequence effects, and figuring out how to put them together can
be a pain. Manual isn't of much use.

I play an American Std Strat with a Seymour Duncan Lil 59 in the bridge, so essentially a humbucker, through a Marshall JTM 30 tube amp. I have been pretty disappointed with many of the effects. The all-out metal distortion is very good, but it's kind of all or nothing. The milder distortions aren't any good. The chorus is horrible, so I still hook up my Boss chorus pedal. The flanger isn't much better. The pitch shifter always sounds a little off, even when I try to fine tune it. The wah is completely useless - I can't stand the stupid pressure pedal. The delay/reverb is fine. I basically use this unit for distortion, delay effects, and as a chromatic tuner (works well). Many of the novelty effects they threw in seem to be designed by engineers, not musicians.

Structurally it seems ok. I've had it for 4 years with no problems.

N/A

I play mostly metal, but also blues and classic rock. This unit is ok for a pantera sound, but I can't get it sound worth a crap for anything else.

AX30 is really great!
I've been using multi fx for a while and I believe that this is one of the easiest ever.
It really rule!
The Manual is good, editing is easy, you just need a bit of practice..

I'm into a Laney GC-120, with an awesome clean channel, a Washburn with floyd rose and 2 humbuckah's and 1 single coil. The clean sound are better than ever! And the distorted ones...hey my friends, they are amazin'!! I've got an thrash metal band, and recorded all guitars at my cd with Dist2, and it sounded really heavy. Moreover, that why Pantera's Dime uses Korg, the ultra-heavy-soundin' of its distortion rules!!

Certainly, it's my one and only multi-fx, 'coz I need nothing but this!!
Nothin'!! it also got a pedal wha, that can be controlled by a pressure pedal, built into the multi-fx!
So,I've also put my old Boss wha at the corner for a while.
And I've never caught into trouble at a gig, nevah!!
korg, congratulations for it!

As I've said befor', I play thrash metal, and it fit perfectly with my kinda sound!!
I've been using it for over 2 years, and it sounds as great as a just-bought one!
and I bought it used!!!If I lost it,I'll surely buy a new one! I got an Rp-5. but, the sound sux, DIEgitech doesn't know how to make a good drivah, so, here I am, with a great distortion!!

You can check it out at:

http://www.skullptor.com
Songs section, and hear what I am talkin' 'bout...
C-ya!

I found the AX30G to be relatively easy to use - althought having been a long time Korg user gave me a head start on what to expect. The manual is absolutely useless so throw it in the bin as soon as you can...Editing patches hmmmm well as with all machines u r better off sitting down with the interface and just pushing buttons - messy to start with, but all is soon revealed and once u r familiar with the simple operations everything becomes a piece of piss.

I use both a 100th anniversary Les Paul Standard and an early 80's Tele running into the straightest undirtiest loudest motherfu*ker of an amp I have ever heard, it is a Roost Sessionmaster 300w head; into a Marshall Silver Jubilee slope front cab(4 by 75w Celest.). The distortion sounds are good but as always, need that extra tweeking. I found no playable user presets, god there is some shit in amongst those sounds! I upgraded from the A5 and personally, I feel that the A5's distortion sound absolutely shit on the ax30g, but still they pretty much measure up for a unit of this price range. I have pulled excellent tones from this unit in a variety of genres including Jazz(good Robert Crayish/Robbin Ford tones),Rock, Grunge,Metal( think Alice in Chains, Metallica, Sepultura, Pantera, even Pearl Jam)Bluesy stuff as well as Funk(rhcp Stevie w. etc). Ihave never had a situation where I couldn't find the right sound/tone. But with the pros there are cons. The gap between patches is fucking huge and must be compensated for in your playing - a real bastard to get 'un'used to...and yes as someone mentioned before, it does fu*k with your signal even in bypass mode.I think the best thing is the 'exciter' try adding full boost at around 8k - the results can rip your head off as well as giving the tone a bit of life and energy.My other beef is that you can't select chorus or phaser on its own without changing the chain block configuration.What is up with that idea??

I have found the AX30G unit itself totally reliable. Punters have jumped on it, drinks spilled on it, roadies have abused it and it has accompanied me around this huge country(Australia) to many nasty and dirty gigs playing all sorts from death metal to dance/pop and not once has there been a hiccup. The only hassle i have is with the fu*king pathetic little power cable that came with it, but they are always sh*t aren't they! So i just did like thousands of others and made my own up.

never dealt with 'em.

Great for most styles - fairly adaptable - I would like to try the 300 but haven't yet. I have been playing 20 years and i have never used any other multi effects units besides Korg. I have played in many bands with others who didn't use Korg, and they were consistently having many more hassles than me. I have an old Ibanez Tube Screamer (TS-10) and the Korg seems to be able to reproduce that sound with minimal dramas. The only thing that seems to beat it is the traditional Boss stomp boxes, it blew the Zoom away.Overall i feel it is very competitively priced. If it was stolen, I would not hesitate going for a Korg unit again.

I don't know whats easy to use means, I think the manual is really unuseable. It needs a lot of time to get firm with the console and the settings. But if you got it......and you've saved your sound, its easy.

The settings are very strong, its made to demonstarte the Power of the DSP, but no useable sounds, I've even found 5! useable sounds in the presets. But with a little help from the effectguru I've got some good sounds like Byrds, John Denver, a.s.o. Using the Box with a Fender Tubeamp you will get Problems, the sound ist to modern for Vintageamps. I use the AX30G only with an straight Amplifier for little halls or at home, the sound then is very good.

I use only for some effects with my Fender SuperTwinReverb. A good programmed AX30G is very useful as a multifunctional effectpedal.

This manual is a mess! If you haven't had to handle amother mfx-unit before, better reserve some time buddy, this will take you hours. Annoyed by the chinese-like language of this manual, I initially surrendered and did just copy some suitable preset-sounds to the user-databank, restricting creativity to just altering some levels and stuff. Meanwhile I've made my way through this ridiculous user-interface and I'm able to fully handle this unit.

Most of the presets sound kinda artificial, some are obvously just to demonstrate what the tiny chpis inside are capable of. I considered approximately 5 sounds as useful ones and put them into the user-database. Another topic is to create new sounds, which, regarding the complexity of parameters adjustable, takes quite some time and surprisingly often doesn't deliver the desired results. BTW: The distortion sounds mark the weakest point of this unit, they mostly come close to the overdrive produced by older non-valve amps (I don't mind too much as my Marshall does this job for me quite well ;-} )

Didn't have problems so far (2 years) but I don't trust the cheap powersupply cable.

Just can't tell.

Initially to sounds and merely unlimited possibilities this unit deliveres seem stunning. Only little later reality get you back and you might share my conclusion that this is a nice toy, but, relating the expensive price to what you can really use it for, I'd now prefer a more professional 19"-device (more expensive but worth it) or a few easy-to-use floor-pedals.

This unit is pretty basic to use. It took me awhile of reading the manual to discover some of the "inner workings". Once you get used to it it's piss easy to edit stuff.

Getting a good sound out of this unit is easy no matter what styles you like. The distortions are good once you get them set right. I like metal and it's fairly easy to get a good "crunch" sound or a cleaner distortion for solo's. On some of the heavier distortions I get a bit of a buzz when you mute the strings.

The pressure pedal of mine is fucked. you have to hold the thing down freakin'hard to get a slight change in sound. I'm not sure if it's meant to be like that or not but I don't use it much anyway. If anyone knows what it's meant to be like please e-mail me. I would use it live but I have massive feet and find the pedals small and a bit hard to always hit exactly.

I would be curious to find out about that pedal and what they would do about it. The owner of the music shop I bought this from swears thats how it's meant to be but I think he's pulling his pisser a bit much.

This is a good unit if you like metal and want some good distortions for a good Metallica "sad but true" crunch sound. Some of the presets like hyper zone are fuckin useless unless you're some hippy on weed. I want to buy an expression pedal but I don't have the funds at the moment. If it was stolen I would be realatively angry because that pressure pedal situation is bloody annoying. Also there are heaps of delay's and shit like ring modulation that I wouldn't touch with my foot.

To the AX300G (and AX30G) community:
After a long, long, break, I'm finally getting back to revising and updating my AX30/300G page. If you have designed any cool patches in the past year, please e-mail them to me. If they sound halfway decent, I'll be glad to post them (giving you full credit, of course!).
The address of the AX30/300G page is: http://www.wizard.net/~jtsinger/ax30g.html
If that doesn't work, you can try: http://www.wizard.net/~jtsinger/ax30g1.html
Sorry about the delays in updating this page!
--Josh (jtsinger@wizard.net)

Manual/Editing is good after you learn to speak the language of this particular unit,easy to step on more than one pedal at once though (Arrg!#@!*)(now where did I put my pointy toed "Beatle boots"?) It's good to keep going back to manual,easy to forget all that this unit can do.I like to see the big picture all at once sometimes

I've done alot of soul searching about whether to use this in my set up.I'm pretty fickle,and I have some days that I'm more purist than others,maybe you can relate.To be honest though,this is a very good sounding unit.You can get it to sound quite organic(with a fair amount of thought and tweeking)and,as dumb as it might sound,it even apealed to me asthetically,which is important to me.I had no problem picturing it out in front of a Vox style combo, etc.It did'nt look like some self imploding timewarp space modulator in form or function.After I was done making clocks and psycho phantom theater party favor sounds I began to realize some more "real" sounds,but it took some digging. I agree with other peoples assessment of things like chorus(I burned out on chorus in the fabulous 80s via Police covers so I realy didn't care).Phase is fantastic,lots of posible variables from lighter Mick Taylor(Doo Doo Heartbreaker)delicacies to heavier Jimi in a whirlpool to the bottom of your soul plunges.Still wrestling with some of the distortions to utilize them, there are so many to chose and try to get the jist of.Someone else mentioned the fact that it colors your sound,even when in bypass and they were right on about that.That is probably my main quandry about this unit ,but actually ,I don't know if it's just me but this coloration,a sort of inherently compressed presence,really helps your guitar sound record well.A good presentation to tape if you will,seemingly easier than a straight signal(guitar to amp),so I try to work with it instead of against it.(I might try a little mixer,Boss,etc and put the Korg in its effect loop for a straighter signal,ie.I have no effects loop on my amp). The presets can discourage someone away pretty easily as they can harsh or over the top, but I also think they are a good place to start to learn some of the AX-30's capabilities.(also the great patches at various web sites,Thankyou for these)A good example would be;Blues Breaker-an attempt at the "Beano" album sounds I believe, a good way to start hearing and thinking in terms of different room settings for example,as opposed to the same cavernous hall all the time,also I learned a thing by hearing the mild vibrato that I probably wouldn't have used otherwise,and it helped me to start listening and digging more for the subtleties on records.One more thing(so much for keeping it short,Yikes!)The input/output levels can really push an amp overdrive style,but it's this factor,(along with the handy high damp control good for aproximating older dark rooms and verb etc.) that can make,or help not make your settings too wet and/or "digitally".If you have a problem finding natural sounding reverbs or distortions ,I would say experiment with these levels as well as your pre gain volume(mast.vol.amps)Less seems to be more is the premise when it comes to the reverb/louder push equation.Hope this helps someone. This page and other web sites have helped me(thanks)and I've had my AX-30G for almost two? years now.I'ts nice to learn the different mindsets and ways of doing things other people have.Working with units like this and all the potentials is a bit like organizing chaos sometimes.

No problem so far,though like everyone I'm no fan of the "lil'wart" I guess I'm spoiled by the ergonomic days of just batt. powered boxes and cords at my feet. I'd gig without a backup. I guess I can take the chance of missing a gig in my bedroom playing to my cats(God,I need to get out more!)

I don't know.

I play alot of styles(Jack of all trades,master of non I suppose) I've made sounds ranging from Doors(Riders on da'Storm) and convincing "Pipeline"Surfaris to subtleties of Jimmy Pages guitar "bite" on things like"Heartbreaker" with this unit.(it's in there) other things like a Yardbirds fuzz (I'd like to leave at somebody's web page if they think it worthy)To Dark shadows theme sounds and something that sounds like "GOD almighty" clearing his throat. You can do more subtle things too like make a clean country sound and make a high end E.Q. spike w/compressor and assign them both to switch 1 to step on for more bite or twaang. About the one way this unit could get in the way of a song is it's tempting to spend time filling up your banks with "toys" instead of working on songs. Thats the premise I run on is "write down the toy sounds/store the song sounds" though it's hard because the real sounds come harder of course and can be seamingly less impressive. I would buy another AX-30G if lost or stolen.I've watched the price of these drop considerably since I bought mine.I've seen them new for $150(clearence for new AX-300s' I guess)and it was a deal at my price.I keep finding tapes of stuff I did that I forgot about and it usually makes me go"oh yeah,thats the Korg.What was that setting again?"I'd hate to have that happen and then realize I don't have it anymore.(The ultimate compliment for a piece of gear I guess)It's a drag losing ground you didn't know you made (Huh??)

see below for all, forgot my name and address

I'm going out on a limb here. I don't like the AX30G all that much. I've had the unit for about 2 years, and am not all that impressed. Who knows why, maybe I'm doing something wrong with it, but I find that it is erally difficult to get a decent sound from the box. Any help would be appreciated. I also find that the configuration with the effects in the "chain blocks" is inconvienient. I could just doing all the wrong things with it, who knows.

In contrast to most of the reviews here, I think that the distortions are awful. I can't seem to get them to be useful. However, the modulation effects are great. I do like the chorus, flange, delays, etc. As for noise, that's not really a probelm, the noise reduction is great. In agreement with others, many of the factory presets are useless, "Hyper Zone" V12 Engine" I've used this unit with several amps amd gotten the same results. I find myself using it more for novelty type things now. One example: set up a preset that has pitch shift about an octave down, and set the feedback to 0 on the left channel, and all they way on the right. Then send the left output to your guitar amp, and the right output to a bass amp. That's just fun to play with. The other main gripe that I have is that even on bypass, it seems to effect my signal greatly- in volume and overall tonal characteristics. I've never been a strict guitar into amp with no effects type of player, but i can't stand to have my signal altered as much as this does. Anyone else have this problem? It does get a little better in my effects lop though.

It seems flimsy, but I tend to get a little excited when i play shows, and there's never been a problem.

I have no idea

I play mostly straightforward rock (if there is such a thing)and blues. Not to be overly harsh, but if it were stolen or lost, I would stifle a small grin, just knowing that it was out of my hands.