Korg AX3G

I have had much more expensive units, both Boss and Korg. I bought this because I needed a small battery powered unit to go with my EH Freedom amp (Battery)...this way I can go completely cordless. Now I started using this my regular amps too. I do not use it for distortion...I specifically use it for compression and occasional echo. It sounds great!! It really does. And who cares if it's plastic, some plastic is more indestructible than metal anyway...and most more expensive units have plastic buttons anyway...and that's what usually breaks. It is easy to use, maybe not as intuitive as some others, but really not that hard...and I'm an old guy (51).

Great, really. Even the distortion which I don't use can sound real good with a lot of tweaking.

Yeah it's plastic, big deal. It either breaks or it does not. This is very sturdy.

Perfect for what I use it for, works and sounds great, and super cheap. What more could I ask? In fact, I will pick up another as soon as I see one.

Comparison to other multi-effects pedal this one is really easy to use.
Concise and straight forward.

Setup: fender strat and Classic 50
Flaws: It is noisy in one of the options of Drive/Amp mode
Effects: cuz i'm just using it at home i'm not really seeking any
specific tune with the device, but it can't really
get the tune the songs that i want to play, cannot control
the "phaser and wah" individually, in short terms there are
limited options in its functions but is good for its price.

I wont depend on it so much due to the material (plastic) i'll think twice before using it on a gig, however so far seems fine for home practice.

Refer to the manual

This pedal can pull out some jazz, blues and rock etc.
In the future i might consider to get another types of pedals but I would recommend people to use this effect pedal due to its ease of use. But what I hate is the reponse of the pedal, takes time, hard to play in an interval. I made this comment by comparing it to the zoom pedal G2.1 which proves harder to use rather than the AX3G.
With its affordability and the effects it provides i'm satsified.

Not easy to use. Must learn to adjust, some standard settings are weak. Manuel not much help. It shines because the settings you worked on so hard to get perfect are save-able!!
I found this on the net for people to use. The poster stated this is the best he could do but may not be completley accurate.
Cab Models
c0 TWEED 1x8 open back Fender Tweed Champ cabinet with one 8" Alnico magnet speaker
c1 TWEED 1x12 open back 1953 Fender Tweed Deluxe 40 Watt cabinet with one 12-inch Fender Special Design Eminence Alnico
c2 TWEED 4x10 1959 Fender Bassman 50 Watt cabinet with four 10" Jensen P10R speakers with Alnico magnets
c3 BLACK 2x10 Fender Vibrolux Open back 40 Watt combo cabinet with two 10??? 8 Ohm Jensen P10R speakers with Alnico magnets
c4 BLACK 2x12 open back 1965 Fender Blackface Twin 100 Watt cabinet with two 12??? 8 Ohm Jensen C-12K speakers
c5 VOX AC15 1x12 Open back AC15 cabinet with a single 15 Watt 12" Celestion Alnico Blue loudspeaker
c6 VOX AC30 2x12 Open back AC30 cabinet with two 15 Watt 12" Celestion Alnico Blue speakers
c7 UK H30 Marshall 4x12 120 Watt cabinet with four 12" 30 Watt Celestion G12H speakers
c8 UK T75 Marshall 4x12 300 Watt cabinet with four 75 Watt 12" Celestion G12T-75 speakers
c9 US V30 Mesa/Boogie 4x12 Stiletto Traditional 240 W cabinet - four 60 Watt 12" Celestion Vintage 30 speakers

Amp Models
a0 BOUTIQUE CLEAN Dumble ODS 100 Watt Clean Channel
a1 BLACK 2x12 100 Watt Fender Twin Reverb
a2 AC15 VOX 1962 15 Watt channel 2
a3 AC30TB VOX 30 Watt Top Boost (Brilliant) channel
a4 UK 68P Marshall 1987X 50 Watt Plexi amp head High treble channel
a5 UK '80 Marshall JCM-800 2203 100 Watt amp head
a6 UK MODERN Marshall JCM-2000 Dual Super Lead 100 Watt amp head
a7 US MODERN Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier 100 Watt amp head

Drive Models
d0 TUBE OVERDRIVE Ibanez Tube Screamer TS-808
d1 BOUTIQUE OVERDRIVE Klon Centaur
d2 FAT DISTORTION Pro Co Rat
d3 ORANGE DISTORTION Boss DS-1 Distortion
d4 METAL ??? ???Simulates the metallic distortion of the 90???s??? Boss MT2 Metal Zone ?
d5 SHRED ??? ???Resembles the sound produced by a large amp stack??? Marshall Shred Master ?
d6 FUZZ Gibson Maestro FuzzTone
d7 OCTFUZZ Tycobrahe Octavia

Pre FX
f0 COMPRESSION MXR DynaComp
f1 PICKUP Humbucker/Single-Coil
f2 ACOUSTIC SIMULATOR
f3 WAH VOX wah pedals; the V847 and the V848 Clyde McCoy
f4 AUTO WAH Vox
f5 VIBRATO/PHASER
U1 UNI-VIBE Vibrato mode
U2 UNI-VIBE Chorus mode
or TC electronics XII Phaser
bL MXR phase 100
f6 CHORUS/FLANGER
f7 OCTAVE
f8 RING MODULATOR
f9 DRONE

Modulation
f0 CLASSIC CHORUS chorus and vibrato built into a Roland Jazz Chorus combo JC-90
f1 MULTI TAP CHORUS
f2 CLASSIC FLANGER ADA Flanger
f3 BI CHORUS unique to ToneWorks
f4 DUO PHASE Mutron Bi-phaser
f5 TREMELO models tremolo circuit in Fender Twin
f6 ROTARY Leslie stereo phaser
f7 PITCH SHIFTER
f8 RANDOM STEP FILTER
f9 FILTRON unique to ToneWorks

Delay/Reverb
f0 ECHO PLUS Echoplex
f1 MULTIHEAD tape echo unit Roland RE101 Space Echo?
f2 MODULATION DELAY Korg SDD-3000
f3 STEREO DELAY Korg DL8000R
f4 PP DELAY
f5 SLAPBACK ECHO
f6 SPRING REVERB modelled after Fender amps
f7 PLATE REVERB
f8 ROOM REVERB
f9 HALL REVERB

Learn to tweak it and you are on your way to inexpensive multi effects heaven. I used it through an Epi solid state and it sounded great. Used it through a Vox AD30 VT solid state hybrid sounded better. Used it through my new Super Champ Tube amp and a big WOW!! The sounds you are looking for for your studio, it's in there. The Police, Crazy Horse, Yes, No, etc.. etc.. all there. My fave, spot on ,is Robert Plant's "My Love is a Freeway". I owned it for a few years and I am still in love with it.

I bought it when it first came out about 3 years ago? and it still works perfectly. It is plastic so giging with it is possible. I would build a box for it and buy a backup in case you mistake it for your Fuzz Face and slam it like the gas pedal on your Mustang. I am looking for another one because they do not make these anymore.

Never used them.

Due to it being plastic and the difficulty to learn, worth it, I do not give it a ten. I can't complain due to the price. I would replace it if it were stolen. It definitely helps me with my music. Recommended for the beginner to the pro. Something for everyone.

I rate this based on the $50 street price these go for. It was pretty easy to get going on it. I skimmed through the presets which as normal are overdone to show all the crazy sounds you can get. I pretty much started from scratch and build my own presets. The layout is pretty easy to figure out although the manual is no too helpful. The back has the various tweaks you can make for each effect. There is a lot of tweaking that can be done to dial in the sounds. They generally sound pretty good to start with though.
It is compact and fits in well with a small working situation.

I use very conservative old school tones for a jazz-blues band and similar for home practice. I use this pedal in two ways.
For gigs use I run it into fender tube combos and disable the modeling, so I am using it for effects and reverb only. The tone is muffled and poor sound when using the modeling functions, particularly the cab modeling. The rotary and u-vibe sounds are great as well as the reverbs.
For home use, I run it into headphones or into a home hifi system. I use the modeling features and get good ans sometime great sounds from it. I primarily use the fender blackface, AC3TB, 68 plexi and tube screamer (DO) and Klon (D1). I miss it not having any tweed fenders like some other Korg/Vox modelers. I think the sound quality is pretty passable and I think is better that what you would get from the real thing assuming you had to play reasonably quiet at home. This is why I have found myself using this quite a bit over real tube amps (I have several). The ability to throw in effects without digging through your analog pedal collection is a plus.
I have since compared this to a Digitech RP-150 and Vamp and these sound like crap for the tones I am seeking. I think those are better for heavy distortion sounds.

I purchased a backup in case as it could be crushed by a careless step. It is all plastic. Made in Japan surprisingly. I have dropped it a couple times without problem. I am sure some careless folks will need a more durable unit.

No idea. The Korg website could use some updates but you can get manuals and such for their gear.

I have to rate this pretty high based on the price/performance factor. This was my first modeling unit that I purchased after reading a Guitar Player article on budget modeling pedals. I thought that I would give it a try. I was not impressed until I used it direct into an nice hifi system. I now use it for home practice and the effects part for gigs into a tube amp. I have thought about going direct sometime or buying a full range keyboard amp to run it through. But I still like my tube amps when I can open them up. I have since purchased an AX-3000g when they went on sale. It think this sounds 95% as good as that unit and has most of the functions and is more compact. It is easier to tweak settings on the Ax-3000g as it has more dedicated knobs. Unless you need that, I would suggest saving your money.

If you spend some time with it, it's very easy to get good sounds, and it it works well with other effects... I don't use the amp/distortion modelers because they don't sound very good IMO. They seem really muffled and lifeless, regardless of the different setting I've tried... They may sound better with a real amp, but I'm too ghetto to get one, so I play into a mixer going into my sound card. I would've expected the modelers to improve the sound at least a litte, but they don't do it for me... And I am NOT one of those complaintive, stuck up, "noting is ever good enough" tone snobs either! All the other effects are quite good, depending on how they are used (It's not hard to get a big, nasty digital-sounding mess if you want to, though!)
Editing/saving pataches takes a little time getting accustomed to, but it gets easier once you're familiar with it. Some parameters take a little guess work when trying to figure out how they should be set (Don't consult the AX3G manual for ANYTHING... It does not have any helpful info. at all!!! Aparently the AX1500G manual has the neccessary info. though.)

This unit is only noisy if you try to run it in a daisy chain (and GOD is it ******* noisy... all kind of hissing on several setting, and bleeps and bloops from the tuner when in BP...) There's little-to-no noise when using the corrdt adapter, though.
As stated above, the dist./modelers are pretty blah. The Wah sounds good and is very smooth, but if you like smooth "Whammy" effects, don't get this-- The PS is Chromatic, and it has some "artifacts", but only if you go to extreme settings. It's capable of very musical pitch-shifted effects though. The delays are really great for a cheap multi-effect, (I stress REALLY GREAT for a multi effect, not really great FOR A MULTI-EFFECT!-- There's a difference ;)) and so are the modulation effects. The Ring Mod leaves something to be desired, but is not all together terrible (It just seems pretty undynamic. not very "inspiring" to use.) The only effect on the AX3G that I still haven't gotten to really sound good was the "Drone" effect (A sort of Sitar simulation) It's an interesting effect, but it's a little bit confusing to set up to get a consistent sound (some notes ring longer than others, some seem to spike the output volume more than others... It's weird-- but in an annoying kind of way.)
If you're into Shoegaze, Post-Rock, and Dream Pop stuff, there's a lot of fun to be had. Using it's pitch shifter/delays in tandem with other delays/reverb/mod. pedals, you can get some great drones and what have you...
Oh, the tuner is quite handy too. It can get a tad confused sometimes, but it's still accurate.

It's plastic... Like, the whole damn thing seems to be made of plastic! That being said, the pedal is extremely compact, and has little "open space" inside that would make crushing it very easy. The plastic is thick and sturdy, and everything inside seems to be snug and secure... I believe it could really take a beating... I mean, you'd really have to want to destroy it to do so. Foot switches are snug and feel sturdy... They won't likely break from being stepped on, and the unit is incredibly light-weight. You could toss the thing like a frisbee.

No idea...

If you need a cheap, quality multi-effect, this is certainly worth looking into... I can't remember how much it was, but I think I payed roughly 40 dollars for it, so it's certainly more than reasonable, even if you only use the modulation/delay settings. Editing takes getting used to, the distortions are crummy, but everything else is quite good.

Takes a few minutes to get your head around the double functions of the controls but once the penny drops its easy. Editing is easy, but you dont get much information from the LED screen. But hey, you can get it for the change you take home from the pub. Manual is something you MUST read, its not great, but OK. The unit manages to sound good quite quickly. Pleasing little thing...

Guitars are vintage Gibson The Paul and modified affinity Squier. Can get noisy,) on high gain-level settings' but this is easy to put right. None of the effects are truly weak for the money, it manages to sound large and airy, but you MUST tweak! Presets are a no-no.
Amps are Vintage Roland hybrid and modern Bolt amps.
I bought this unit purely for modulation and portability, and its very nice for that.

All the knobs and switches are fine. It weighs nothing, but its made to be stomped upon, not used in a war. Will do fine. Backup always useful...
Works flawlessly, no glitches.

No idea

I would replace this, yes. Its a very handy thing to have around, at home or away. Its the perfect backup unit. But WHY still no separate delay/reverb functions? Will Korg never learn?
This little fella I'l keep.

I wo'nt be using the presets at all.The unit is easy to use but the manual is'nt very good.They do'nt go into detail about the perimeters and they do'nt explain what the different effects are modeling.Google the manual for the AX3000g and it will explain everything much better.

I have found this to be a very interesting unit.I bought this to use with a crate power block and it sounds pretty darn good.The amp models work very well with a solid state amp .The effect pedal models do'nt sound that good through the Crate but they sound pretty good through my tube amps.I'll be using this when I'm lazy and just bring the power block to a gig but I'll still be using pedals for my other amps.Changing the cab sounds and the amp/line on the amp models really gets you some interesting sounds.The UK68P(plexi) sounds with the amp/line set on a3 and the cab set on c3 is worth the price of the pedal.I've also found the compressor to be very usefull.I've used it with Gisons with Humbukers'Fenders with single coils' and a Hamer special withP90's and they all sound good .The delays 'reverbs and other time based effects are nice but it needs a tap tempo.

It does'nt give much confidence with it's cheap plastic frame but it's made in Japan .My son has one of thoose plastic Zoom units that he's abused for years and it still works fine.

I called Korg the first day with a few questions and talked to a real person who helped me out all in the space of 5 minutes

I play all styles of music,I've played for amost 40 years(since the summer of 69)For 29 dollars this was a no brainer.We're all so spoiled now days.I remember saving 39 dollars to buy my first pedal(a Cry Baby) in 1970.Thats like 300 dollars now at least.I would definitly buy another one.I think my Traynor with pedals sounds a lot better then this unit but when I took the AX3 to a jam yesterday all the guys I played with comented on how great my sound was.Go figure.

Got this for Christmas, and have been playing with it solidly for the past week, that's how much fun it is! (I think my wife is now wishing she hadn't bought it for me...) Have got sounds that I've really enjoyed without trying toooo hard, as a mainly acoustic player I'm not into fiddling with patches for ages. BUT I did have to read the manual, and even then I could only work out what was going on because I know my way around sound equipment really well. Shame, because otherwise I would unswervingly recommend it as a beginner's box (and that's not meant in any derogatory way, just as a beginner's guitar should be good, simple, work, and give you plenty of possibilities).

Saving patches is straightforwad and sensible, although no method I could find for comparing original and modified sounds before saving.

Plugged in an old volume pedal for volume/wah - worked fine. Wiring of the jack plug is tip goes to the 'hot' end of the pot, sleeve to the other end, ring to the wiper. (found by searching on the web for Korg pedal wiring.)

Using an Epiphone Les Paul straight into the pedal, then into a self built (clean) power amp and custom built 2x12" cab; playing folk rock, jazz, "Dad's rock", new age-y whiffly stuff, even some classical.

Only one or two of the distortions that I really liked, but that's ok. Basically I would need to modify all the presets that I would use to get the distortion I want and also to turn the bass down for my rig. For the money I'm impressed how quiet it is, perfectly usable even in an acoustic setting. It would be nice to be able to use more of the effects simultaneously, but given the price this is not a problem.

To get better control I will be experimenting going back to my Crate amp for distortion and using this box in the loop for effects.

My first thought on unpacking it was how flimsy the case seemed. It's probably tougher than it looks but I would be nervous gigging regularly with it.

Can't give it a rating as I haven't tried breaking it!

30 years' experience playing keyboards, bass, sound engineering, and designing professional sound equipment. Took up acoustic guitar a few years ago, bought the electric for a bit of fun this year. Most effects experience is with high-end rack mount kit.

For the money much, much better than I expected. To be honest I got my wife to give it to me as a bit of a toy for Christmas, but having played with it am now looking at using it live and for recording. For the occasional guitarist I couldn't fault it, and yes, if it was stolen (or more likely, smashed) and I could get another at the same price then I would.

It's not a very complicated unit but as with all multi-fx, at some point you will need to have a look at the manual to figure out what is what.
When this point comes..................GOOD LUCK !!!..............This unit comes with the crappiest manual in the history of electronic equipment. Until now I thought that Arion is publishing the worst manuals in the world. Until I had to read the AX3G's manual. It makes Arion's manuals look like literature masterpieces.

Man, I really like it. I just got it for late night practicing with headphones and to my surprice it's capable for much more than this. I'm not a big FX user so I'm happy with a few classic FX. Having said that, I want these few FX to sound good and be tweakable. The AX3G offers this.
Modulation and delay/reverb sections are very very good. The best I've heard in a small muti-fx box. Not separate delay from reverb though. It's either or. Tone control for the delays and hi and lo dump for the reverbs gives a lot of possibilities for fine tunning. Maximum delay time is around 500 ms and not 1 sec as some people believe. All delays sound very very very good!!!!!!!
I also managed to get a very sweet reverb setting to use with my reverbless amp. The tuner works flawlessly and allows silent tunning too. Big plus in my book.
The amp sims come handy for headphone practicing, direct recording, etc. I only use one of the clean sims and let my dirtboxes provide the crunch (or the fuzz, depending on my mood). What else can I say, very nice sounds and way more tweakability than Zoom and similar products.

Ok, this is the funny bit. I'll start by saying that this thing is made in Japan!!!!! Yes, not China, not Taiwan, non of that. Good ol' Japan!!!!!! I don't even remember when was the last time I saw something made in Japan and wasn't some "vintage" Boss thingy having a ridiculous price tag or a high-end piece of gear having a ridiculous price tag. This alone gives me a good feeling about it.
Now the bad news. This thing is made out of cheap plastic. To bring the Arion comparison again into play.....it makes Arion pedals look like bulletproof.
BUT....Although I always try to be very careful with this pedal because it looks so flimsy, I ended up accidentally throwing it on the floor and kicking it around more than most of my other stuff. My Russian green Big Muff sets the standard for how much panishment a pedal can take and still be in perfect working order. This ain't that tough for sure. It's way tougher than it looks though.

Forget it.

I dig it. Before I bought this I tried everything in this category. This looked the less impressive of the bunch. Not as ugly as those Digitech RP units but less impressive that the G2 let's say. By the way, I owned briefly both Zoom G1 and G2 and they are the worst pieces of junk I ever got my hands on. I returned both of them within days. So the Zoom units were junk and the Digitech stuff were butt-ugly and didn't sound all that much interesting and were made out of cheap plastic too. By elimination of the competition I ended up trying last the humble and unpretentious looking AX3G. I'm glad I did. It has its shortcomings as far as quantity of amp simulations and construction but most of the FX which are packed in there are of very good quality and for as long as you don't forget that this is not an Eventine (neither costs as much) you will find enough room for tweaking things to your liking. Good job Korg! Not perfect, but very good.

My main reason for commenting is that I'm having issues where it seems to get stuck on one patch/program. I still don't have quite enough experience to say it won't happen without it, but I now have the feeling that it may be a result of using a 3rd party (Roland) expression pedal plugged into the pedal jack. At first I couldn't get it unstuck by any means but power down/up. Later I determined that using the pedal seemed to bring on the problem, and in some cases the problem could be solved by pushing the pedal all the way in (in one case) or unplugging it.
However, I think I found one state where
The pedal generally seems to *work* as a wah/volume modulator, which makes this more frustrating.

I haven't gone through Korg yet to try to determine whether this is a problem with the particular unit.