Korg AX3G

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.

This unit is very intuitive and it's easy to create great sounds! You have many parameters for all effects, so you can do a lot of different sounds! You can combine some effects to. It has a great layout!

I really don't like to use artists sounds... I really like the exclusives, and in this unit is so easy to get them. I bought this to use specially the delays and the accoustic simulation, but I have a surprise when I heard the other effects. Specialy the filtron!!! I will sell my envelope filter after him!!! Rotary, Chorus, vibe, tremulo, flanger, the delays are all amazing... Only the distortions sounds like a Atari, but, they can be usable to make some eletronic effects, but don't expect hot vintage sounds!!! I use the unit with a transistored Fender, an it sounds perfect and hot to me!!! Not plastic effecst, except the distortions like I said before.

I use the unit on stage, and it's perfect for me. But, the box seems so fragille... Korg could put in a better quality box, and the price could be the double. For the great sounds, it will be a nice price yet!!!

I don't use it.

Like I said before, only the distortions sounds plastic, an the box is cheap, but, for the price, you buy a tube screamer or other analog distortion that you like, and you will have a great set!!! So, this is a great buy!!!

It's not a plug and play device. All of the presets are crap, as is always the case with any multi-effects unit. But, once you figure out how to program the thing, you start finding the good sounds. It's not that difficult. Just glance through the manual and you'll have it figured out in no time. There are 40 user presets and another 40 presents that you can't edit, and will therefore never use.

There are a surprising number of editable parameters, generally four or five per effect, sometimes just two or three. I had older Toneworks models back in the day that would only let you control one or two parameters. Much better.

I was really, really pleasantly surprised with this thing. It looks and feels cheap. It's very light, it looks like a toy. However, this has the basic sound engine of the AX3000G, a $300 unit. In fact, you can use the AX3000G owners manual (do a google search for the pdf) to figure out what the effects are supposed to be modeling, since the AX3G manual never explains it. The AX3G has 90% of the effects/amps contained in the AX3000G, but without some of the extra bells & whistles (pedal-controlled modulations, etc). So, don't judge it by its looks or cheap price tag.

At the very least, I can honestly say this is the best delay pedal out there for under $150 (this is $50). The delays sound phenomenal. You get self-oscillation, high or low tone cut, delay modulation ala Memory Man, and when you change the delay time on the fly, you get that wonderful dying turn table sound. You can get the The Edge, Andy Summers, David Gilmour, etc. no problem. I haven't had this much fun with delay in a long time. HCFX forum geeks, take notice. I ought to record some clips. I had a lot of fun last night with extreme high cut and feedback set almost to the point of self-oscillation. The only functions I'd add would be reverse delay, tap tempo, and the ability to go 100% wet.

The modulations are also extremely cool. The Boss CE-1 model sounds true to form, and even includes the vibrato mode. There's another vibrato in there too, in the pre-effects section (it's in the same bank as a chorus, a univibe and a phaser). There are like four different choruses and two vibratos, all good. The vibratos seem to be square wave - I wish they were sine wave ala the Boss VB-2 or BYOC Vibrato, but what can you do. Still pretty cool.

The rotating speaker sound is also very nice and fairly convincing, not to mention the univibe and the MXR flanger model. The tremolo is very good, as are the phasers. Really, outstanding work on the delays and modulations here. I have no complaints, and I was pleasantly surprised on all of them. I'm more of an analog guy, but digital can sound great for these kinds of effects. Any guitarist could conceivable use this as his/her main modulation/delay pedal, and skip the rest of the effects in favor of "real" amps and overdrives.

The reverbs are okay. The "spring" reverb doesn't sound like a spring reverb. They have some decent halls and more studio sounding verbs, but not very convincing spring.

I do like some of the clean amp models, which are nice for direct recording or playing with headphones, especially the boutique (Dumble?), Fender Blackface (Twin Reveb), and the two Vox models. They sound pretty good with a bit of grit too, but the more you turn up the gain, the less real they sound, at least so far as I have used them. Maybe I need to tweak them more. I've gotten some nice chimey sounds, and I use some OD pedals in front for dirt rather than from the AX3G itself. Not bad.

The stompbox dirt models range from okay to crap. The Tube Screamer model is okay, the Klon is okay, the Rat is okay, the Fuzz Face is okay, and the octave fuzz (Foxx Tone?) is kind of cool. The rest are crap, IMO. But then, so are the real pedals they are modeling (DS-1, Metal Zone, etc). The best of them sounded a bit muffly to me. I prefer my analog dirt boxes. Maybe they would work better with more tweaking, who knows.

The compressor would be nice, except it's a bit muffly as well. I haven't played with the acoustic modeler much, so I won't comment.

Not sure. Everything about it looks pretty cheap. But, I had an AX1G kicking around for years, no problems with it. Even if this goes out in a year, though, I wouldn't be too upset. I'd just get another one for $50. Well worth it.

By the way, the sounds on the AX1G are 10% good, 90% crap. With the AX3G, it's the other way around.

My setup is as follows:

Fender Telecaster
+
Custom-modded orange DOD compressor
Boss PS-5
Rehoused, "creamy dreamerized" Big Muff
Monte Allums SD-1
Monte Allums TS7 with some extra modifications
OLC Supreaux
OLC Professor Tweed
EHX Electric Mistress (Howard Davis'd)
Boss PS-3
Korg AX3G
+
Amps

Overall, it's a fantastic value. Just buy it for a delay/modulation pedal, you won't be disappointed. The rest is icing on the cake.

Generally easy to use-Ive consulted the manual several times for refining the sounds I'm seeking. Didn't take more than a few minutes. Several knobs have multiple functions when pressed in combination with another or when the dial is moved to be able to edit presets.

This doesnt have the sound quality of my small 15w VOX valvetronix amp as the amp actually has a tube. I purchased the toneworks ax3g hoping It would be close to my VOX (I know the Valvetronix is in many ways essentially a KORG amp now). I made my purchase to play through headphones and for portability. Im a little disappointed in the reverb, yet I really haven't heard a good reverb from anything digital or relatively in expensive. The spring setting is probably my favorite, yet Im still tweaking it. It really depends on other settings *great sound is greater than the sum of the parts (GESTALT). Many good options for any digital multi-effect pedal.

Im scared here-It really wouldnt take KORG much more $ to utilize better materials. This goes to most manufacturers out there-better materials could be accessed for a cents to few dollars. The jury is out here!!

I e-mailed korg for settings for Vaughan Bluz from their site- Im still waiting!!!

I fluctuate with music style. I like Jazz, Blues, and some alternative stuff that integrates traditional vintage tone(s) with a new spin here or there. Im not looking for massive distortion (this clealy does not provide the tone of a muff!--or I haven't found the right settings!!) Essentially this is about what I expected and is better than other products in this price range. I would purchase it again-I still have the opportunity to return it for my $ or something else and IM keeping it unless another company releases something new in the 50$ price range. If I had $ Id probably look at Pandora or a higher level Korg product-I make plenty of $ but cant justify it when my kids need braces and take dance, lessons..... This is truly adequate! Guitar greats don't need expensive equipment to define greatness -Sound conme from playing and exploration-again the product is adequate-the greatness comes from us as players-or giftedness from our creator*!

A bit confusing if you stupidly try and figure it out without reading the manual like i did. :) Hey, i was anxious. But seriously, it's simple once you get it, which would take about 10 seconds to learn if the manual were written by someone who's 1st language was english. Otherwise maybe 10-15 minutes.

Having tried a number of modelers i always notice the same sort of digital coldness in the high end distortion tones, especially when playing open position chords or picking high notes. This is no different. I've heard better and i've heard worse. The RANGE of tones in the amp models isn't nearly as varied as some others i've tried. Overall tho not too bad thru a good tube amp on clean or in the loop. Make sure to set the cab simulator to LINE tho ! I think a lot of people probably make the mistake of using the cab sims thru a tube amp. Thats muddies the tone and just kills it. The cab sims are meant to be used thru a mixer or direct recording. Anyways, set it to line and tweak it and there are some decent sounds there. Nothing at all eyepopping or very inspiring tho.

I should have mentioned hat was all about the models. As for the effects, i'm not very picky about delay and verb as long as it's got tone perameters so i can take the brightness out of the wet signal a bit so it doesn't interfere. It does, so i'm fine with the verbs and delays. The rest are of. Decent chorus' and flange and all that. Nothing amazing tho here either.

The parameters for most models and effects are enough to get what you need from them, so no problem there. There is no EQ which i found kinda lame. But nothing else is really lacking as features go unless you're real deep into effects and tweaking. But it's got all you need if you're into simplicity like me.

I guess i should sum up by saying nothing about this box sounded real bad to me, and nothing sounded any better than i've heard in most other boxes. When i really think about it, most modeler/effects multis i've tried are really about the same with a few exceptions. This one isn't groundbreaking, but it sounds good in most ways and nothing stood out as horrible to me off the top of my head.

It's inexpensive and built like it.....all plastic. It does feel pretty strong for plastic tho, and at the price it's fine with me.

don't know, don't care.

Been at it since 71, played in cover bands for a couple decades and live i never could make any digital modelers/disortions work right. But i didn't buy it for that, and I think as much as this is far and away from being some sort of great magic tone box, you really have to consider it a VERY good deal. After all, for 50 bucks you get a tuner, a couple dozen amp models, and a bunch of effects. Considering any ONE of those effects alone in a pedal would cost about the same as this box ! So for example, i personally don't find anything special about the boss digital delay pedals. Yet they sell for 2-3 times as much ! So for much less money i got a delay thats much more versital than the boss because it has many different delays and verbs, but has models many other effects and a tuner ! I mean, these stupid plastic boxes nowadays are just rediculous values. If you want a delay, buy one of these and if at a gig your amp dies you have a device you can plug into the PA and save the nite for you, even if you don't care about the dozens of other effects and models. It's just a killer deal at $50 WHETHER OR NOT the models or effects kill. And while they don't, they are still plenty good. Only the models need some tweaking to get the best. Like with any digi multi you should know by now factory presets always blow.

I have a dynamic playing style so digital modeling isn't ever going to work live for me. I need to be able to control the amount of drive to clean with my guitar's volume and have lots of dynamics in the picking. No modeler will do that. They are meant to be used with the guitar volume on 10......it's a whole different world that i find fine for recording and practice. But live they will more often than not ruin the nite for you.

So if you just want a small light cheap box of sounds and a tuner, you just cant possibly lose with this. If you are looking for a box thats as close as digital modeling can get to real amp tone and/or killer effects with huge versitility in the parameters and routing, forget it. It's simple a dirt cheap tool that may or may not come in handy for you depending on what other gear you own.

In short, It sounds fairly to very good (depending on what model/effect you are talking about) and therefore is a stupidly great deal considering how much you get for so little $.