Korg PX-3

Turn this bad puppy on and Wha-la, You'll be playing Creating & Composing Like a pro. Turn the knob for a completely unique sound.
Even the up-down & rotary selectors are swappable. Now turn on the drum machine & you'll probably miss Lunch & Dinner, Because you will be so engulfed pure exotic guitar soloing that time itself will fast forward.

Mainly I use this with headphones on (Great stereo sound).
But have Velcro attached to back of the px3 & to the top of my Vox Da5.
Now I have a completly battery powered setup. Great for jamming on the swing in the back yard. or taking to parties. Love the Shuffle Drum beat with the Feedback setting!

I got this used. Dropped it many times no problems yet.
It's plastic though, Be careful.

Great Sounds from this unit with no effort. I even prefer this to my Pod-XT It's Easier, Smaller & Portable. If broken or stolen I would look for another used Px3 on ebay or craigslist again.

very easy to get started making sounds with using the presets, about 1/3 of which are very cool out of the box ("JB" and "Eddie" in particular, 1/3 are just so-so ("jazz", "country"), and 1/3 of which are just dumb or useless ("ozric" and "flower")...

Best part is editing- if you have done any with this type of interface it is totally intuitive and practically foolproof

It's a very versatile unit that I got mostly for PC recording and practice but have ended up using live as well with various SS and tube amps and direct to house PA's.

The various effects mostly sound great with only a few exceptions; the pitch shifting is extremely glitchy and only really usable for octaves.

Biggest drawback is that the time based FX like delays and panning and tremolo all have the intensity/depth and speed tied together- so if you want a slow delay you are stuck with a low effect volume, or if you want a fast trem you are stuck with lots of it.

The choruses and rotary speaker settings are particularly nice, distortions are pretty canned sounding but worth having around, compressor is on the same bank so you can't have, say, fuzz *and* compression at the same time.

The auto wah's are actually kind of cool; not a replacement for a real one but an interesting effect that is less predictable and cheesy sounding than most auto wah/envelope followers.

I can't really speak to the accuracy of the cabinet modeling but the sounds are nice regardless, the 1x8 cab is the ballsiest of the bunch and really gets that old overdriven tube amp sound with the right presets.

never had any issues with it; battery life is good but I use an adapter live.

I feel it is at least as reliable as anything else I might use as a primary FX/preamp unit, and probably more so.

I play everything from jazz to country to art/noise rock and consider the PX-3 a valuable tool in any context. I've played for almost 30 years and have lots of FX going like Mutron Bi-Phases and other cool old stuff- and it pretty much all collects dust since I got the Pandora...the lower noise alone is worth any coolness factor I may be losing by going with the little blue box instead of the giant vintage ones.

I would definitely replace it if lost or stolen, although I would probably seek out something newer that had better control over FX parameters...hopefully Korg's later revisions will concentrate more on performance and less on all the training stuff, which is pretty much useless to someone like me except for the metronome.

I wish Korg would do like Digitech does and release different versions of the same platform, maybe one Pandora with all the phrase training and beat box drum/bass stuff for beginners and another one more dedicated to performance and production work that trades off that other stuff for better controls and more functional real time access to patches...the one thing that I hate that makes it way less functional live than it could be is that you have to scroll through all the patches and the sound isn't bypassed when you do, so you hear every patch go by...if you use it live you pretty much need to set it and forget it or set up all of your patches for your show sequentially and mute everything by hand when switching anything.

I had to set every patch to my style of playing.
Don't we all?
It's not that complicated to tweak the presets.
I think it's very linear.
I set my favorites in order 1 thru 20.
I never use the backlit screen. Saves on battery life.
Next I velcro it to my guitar. No pedals on the floor!

Reverb is fair. I prefer a Fender tank or the Boss RV-5.
I love the tremelo.
Delay is good as well as the chorus, phaser, and flanger.
The distortion sounds to digital to me.
The rotary sound is an interesting effect when combined with the phase shifter. Expermenting is the key. Everything sounds different on stage.

Never had a problem. Used it every weekend for several years.
By attaching to the guitar it looks like new.
I bought the PX4 and also have a PX1 & PX2.
Each has its own unique sound. I prefer the PX3.

Never needed it.
When dropped the case will break.

I play Rock,Country,and Surf.
Been playing since 1966.
I use mostly custom shop Fenders and customized Teles & Jazzmasters.
Amps,Fender tube or steel guitar amps. I prefer JBL D130 speakers.
I don't like cords and effects on the floor.
With a wireless bug and a Pandora attached to the guitar,you can do the ZZ Top spin. Its a cheesy trick but the crowd likes it.
I would buy another PX3 if needed.

Ok, ive got the unit 2 days ago, got it from an exchange (rp100 for this unit). Its really easy of use if you are used to the editing patches process... they all work the same way, no matter the brand... i turned it up, and in 2 minutes was recording my first patches, and editing the existing ones. I found the manual in the korg website... this unit sound VERY GOOD, for the price, the size, it gives you really good sounds...

the sound quality is really good (for the price/size). I??ve been playing for 16 years and had lots of units, this sound very good. Ive got really good sounds in just a minute. I use an Ibanez RG modified and played it with headphones and last night on a fender 30w amp (cheap one), but this sounds really good.

The dist/ods are ok, they sound almost real, the comp sounds ok, the modulations sound ok, the cabinet emulator is ok... i mean, all the effects are good quality (not the best but for the price is amazing).

This is a really good practice amp, line effects, recording unit... i use it live last night and sounded really ok!!!

ok, its a delicate unit i have to say. Ive got it used, it works perfectly fine, but i dont think it would resist too much on a gig... but hey, its the size of your wallet with lcd screen... if you take care of it, you can depend all you want... just... dont drop it...

never used

i play any kind of music from classic rock n roll (guns n roses, sttepenwolf, pinf floyd, etc) to pop rock (even prog rock), it can match any stile...

ive been playing for 16 years, ive had zoom 505, rp100, ax1000g, korg A4(the best one ever), boss pedals (still have), ibanez guitars, marshall valvestate 8040...

if it were stolen id try to get another one, this is a must have for any guitar player... i love the size/quiality of the sound. I use it when i dont want to bring the amp, with the boss effects... its too big... i just carry this unit, and even plug it in on the PA (have to modify a few programs to get it sound right)

the only issue i saw is that the cd inpunt its noisy...

its the best small unit, if you can get one, do it...

Can't be any easier to get a great tone. Plug in your guitar, plug in a amp or headphones. And just go to BLUES or HOTROD setting! You will immediatly get a great tone. Thats is how I bought this unit, There was the PX3 and the PX4D used, with a twenty dollar difference between the two![I plugged it in to a HR-DeVille to demo it]. I tried both. I immediatly got a great tone from the PX3. I set the 4D to a amp model and was immediatly trying to tweak it for better Tone? Si I bought the PX3. I don't have a manual but it can be downloaded from www.korg.com. I haven't needed it yet. If you been around multi rffect units, then you will have no problem getting up and running. To go deep into the memory you will need to read the manual. Pretty impressive unit! Key Transposer? I never seen one on any multi-effects unit. Allows you to play in key to whatever you are listening to...Pretty freakin cool! Unlike MOST multi units ALL THE PRESETS are good. And like all multi effect units it gets to those space effects that you just are NEVER gonna use! The Drum/Bass patterns are very usable. I been gigging live for 30 years, This is the FIRST unit I really liked playing along with! I owned Digitech RP series and Boss Jam-Station. This is a cool unit to jam with. If you are a BLUES player.....you will be in heavin with this unit! You can turn it off, unlike RP by Digitech. I just do not see anything I don't like about this unit.

Never heard a better multi effects unit. And trust me I am criticle! I have owned PODs, Digitechs, Behringer Vampire, Rocktron Chamilion, Johnson's, and so on. This unit I really like! This is one of those units that is discontinued and is now getting a LITTLE harder to find. I would buy this unit before you can't! The PX4Ds are all over the place and still in production. And basically sell for the same price! The presets on this unit are very good. You won't have to tweak this unit at all to find a good tone! Thats something I am NOT use to! With Stereo headphones the unit really sounds sweet. I have heard NO NOISE what-so-ever with this unit! The reverb is probly the best I have heard on any multi-effects. Better than most stomp-box reverbs. And I have a Holy-Grail here. This sounds better! Just a very good practice tool. Don't even think twice about this unit. As long as its NOT damaged, It is a super unit!

From what I see....No Problem!

I play Blues and Classic Rock. For my money I will play one of these units anyday over everything else I have heard out there! Most multi-units sound terrible in front of a amp. This sounds very good. With headphones you hear it in stereo. But not differently!I would buy another in a heartbeat. Matter of fact I am already pricing them on E-Bay! Portability and Practice? You will be hard pressed to find a better unit. For recording? You can record with it. But it doesn't have a USB port? Not that it would stop you from recording but it would be a bit easier. The delays, chorus, etc etc do not have adjustable paremiters. So that would be a issue recording, you would not be able to use the effects except as you hear them! Other than that, I see no negatives about the PX3. You will not get a METAL or Mesa Boogie tone with it! If thats important to you....look elsewhere! The PX3 will help you create. I turn on the Drum/Bass, turn to a pattern I dig, set the tempo to where I want to play behind. Then I am gone. And the Bass/Drum sounds very convicing.

Take a few minutes and you will discover a very easy concept indeed

well, this is gonna blow your mind now, i refuse to post a link but all i can say is that Korg has the best Marhsall JCM 800 saound out there.

Does not say JCM800 anywhere, or Marshall, but yo ube the judge after tweeking a bit one of the few dirty presets, sadly though that most metal fans look for overkill distortion to cover up there fowl playing, but ill say that this Pandora guitar tone has been on some major records and people swor it was line 6 when we told them t was a hand help amp mod., yeah right line 6, try this instead and see for yourself!

easy and never breaks
yes you can gig with it and yes you can record with it

Many people have said it again and again, If Korg work on improving there products to make them applicable in studios, like atleast adding USB and firewire options, then there products would be hot on the rise,

neve had too call

I give this a 9

while other products 4 times the price range have tons more amp mods, the only and most important amp everyone is crying abou is a Marshall JSM800., while they think they get there bargain with Line6 products since PODs have tons of sounds, forget them , if you need a direct from a box Marshall tone and maybe a few things then this is for you, nothing else comes close at all!!!!

It lacks USB cable and things like this though, but that hard edge amp sound is there..

First of all, I'm lazy. Secondly, I hate to read manuals. Third, I hate to browse through directories using buttons. If you are like me, this gadget will be nightmare to use. However, I belong to minority of people and that is what keeps Korg and similar companies in business. The fact that I've spent $100AUD for it made me read the manual. Suddenly, the device becomes more user friendly (or better - EDIT friendly). The technical writer obviously used Google translator to write manual. Occasionally I'd understand the meaning of individual words, but the sentences don't make sense.
With time and practice you'll learn to peacefully coexist with PX3.

Now, the good news. Most presets are very good. The noise is unobtrusive and barely noticeable. Ambience effects are excellent. I like Chorus a lot. Drives and distortions are 7 out of 10. Majority are good sounding, but may become blurred and unfocussed of badly overdriven. Rhytham and bass are good for practise, but I prefer good old metronome.

It looks stronger than average remote control. It even survived one drop to a timber floor without consequences.

N/A

Unless you limit yourself to presets, it hard to use. It's not for gig. It's not for studio either, but it's more fun then barrel of monkeys around home. It was not a love on first site, but I've learned to love it. The quality of sounds is light-years ahead of some other multiFX, though not as good as rack equipment. This is Jack-of-all_trades (and master of few). A Swiss army knife for any gutarist. Highly recommended!

This is a great practice tool for any guitarist, to be honest all i use it for is phrase sampling to learn riffs as far as using it as a headphone amp i dont as that is really bad for the ears and i have tinitis as it is. for learning riffs its the greatest but as you slow down the tempo the sound quality diminishes greatly but you can still pick out the notes most of the time. the manual is good and i understand the functions etc but like i said i use this to learn riffs and solos.

for learning riffs and solos as you decrease the tempo the sound quality deteriates quickly but still useable.

i have hours and hours on this thing! you discover that most lics,riffs and solos are not all perfect scales and the notes jump around from sharps to flats and you hear the note but want to play some other note but after you learn the passage and get it up to speed you find out thAT all the wrong notes they put in fit! really makes you a better player, but you sacrifice alot of time, of course if you want to be a star thats what it takes anyways, practice practice practice!

no problems with machine so no need for c.s.

its the cheapest thing out there for learning riffs and such, works pretty darn good! i come from the old school of slowing the turntable way down but this is way better than that and trying to learn somebody elses tabs w/mistakes drives me crazy. i play mostly rock for last 35 years,playing over 40 years now i have gibson and fender guitars about 100 different ones and many many amps but always use the old marshalls, i would buy again,not many products to compare this to the play along one that uses a CD well you need the CD,i record alot of stuff direct from the radio and put it in the PX,yeah,practice!wish it had a way of maintaining the sound quality as you slow down the tempo but hands down besta unit out there

just spend some itme with it and you'll get everything you're looking for it. certain drives work great with certain mods, like the tremolo and the fuzz distortion for instance. so try a lot of combinations, even if it doesn't initially seem like what you were looking for.

here's most of the features individually. the first score is how good a sound you can get. a 10 means don't hesitate to use it live. a 7 means great for practicing. the second score is how versatile the feature is, and how likely you are to find what you're looking for.
drive: 7 8
there's some good ones, there are some bad ones but you'll get what you're looking for. could never replace a distortion or overdrive pedal though. the compression is particularily nifty.

tone: 5 5
i think some people might like this, but i cant really feel anything with it

mod:
chorus: 8 5
there's a few choruses, not very versatile. it's hard to get the tempo you're looking for.
tremolo: 10 5
a very nice tremolo but very limited options.
pan: 5 5
there's jsut too much lack of control. i usually get so frustrated with it that i wind up using tremolo instead
vibrato: 7 7
nice but limited options
delayvib: 5 7
limited options, plus i never use it
octave: 4 3
isn't reliable at all, don't bother with it. just go get an octave pedal
pitch shifter: 2 2
if you don't know what a pitch shifter is you'll figure it out, but it's pretty off key, and again, has very limited options.
the chord things: 1 1
i haven't discovered a use for these.
autowah: 6 4
again, lack of control makes an otherwise ok-sounding feature less tolerable.
random effects: 9 1
there are 3 random effects, and they're all stellar stuff, that you probaly couldn't find elsewhere. great stuff.

reverb: 7 5
a few different reverbs that do the job, but should never be used live
delay: 6 1
there's a bunch of set times, so it sucks that you can't set the time yourself. also you can't control the feedback or anything. a delay pedal would definently be required.

amps: 3 3
don't really do much if you ask me

i've had mine for a few years now, and i'd use this in a gig but i'd definently use a bunch of pedals with it, and i wouldn't use a bunch of it's features. i don't think it would stop working or anything during the course of a gig. if i was in a serious band i would have to buy all the effects i want so i could stop using this though.

never needed'em.

i've been pretty critical throughout this review. i play pink floyd and hendrix, the smiths and the cure, jeff buckley, radiohead, mogwai, sigur ros etc. i don't get a lot of what i'm looking for. that said, this is just a little box, and there's a lot of great stuff. i got this as a gift a few months after i started playing, and it was great to be able to learn all the different effects it has so easily.
if it were stolen i would definently not buy another one. i think a used analog processor would be a much better idea than this.
the tuner is pretty nice, but it'd be a lot nicer if it would mute the guitar sound.
the drum & bass thing is ok for jamming, but there are a lot better values.
i wish it had more control. if i had the money to buy all the pedals i wanted i would sell this in a heartbeat. i'd definently not recommend this. there are some good features but nothing that makes it worth it's price.
feel free to e-mail me questions, but i've only been playing for a few years so don't expect too much :) make sure i dont mistake your letter for junk.

Once you sit down with the manual and play around, getting solid tones out of it is pretty easy... Sure, it's not completely perfect, but it's the best I've heard for a product this small! Right after I got it, I actually made a copy of the manual just in case...

I just plug my Strat straight in and jam... Most times I'll attach a cord to my discman, pop on my headphones and play along to Arch Enemy- How Swede it is! When I've jammed with other people, I'll use the PX-3 plugged into my 10 watt Vox amp and promptly blow people's minds with the sound coming out of it!

The sounds are pretty good overall- I ended up tweaking the SRV tone and it now sounds even more like him! The clean sounds are all shimmery and the dirty sounds aren't bad, much better than any Zoom pedal, but you'll need to spend a little time with them... Still worth it!

No problems at all, and I've had it since Sept '00... I'd use it for a gig in a second!

Haven't had to deal with the company yet, but at least the website is somewhat helpful with making a purchase decision... Soon I'll have the PXR-4!

Whenever I jam, it's a mix between melodic death metal and some blues... In the near 20 years I've been playing, this is the best effects unit I've seen, if it was stolen, yeah... I'd try to get a new one.

I've been so happy with it, and now that there's the PXR-4, I'm gonna be twice as happy! As long as you take it for what it is (A great practice tool and a decent live performance unit), you'll have a blast!

Very easy to use.

So far I am only happy with a couple of the presets. I bought mine off ebay without a manual so I was limited to just the presets, but I got a new manual from the korg website today, so I will be checking out my own settings.

Sound quality on the presets I like are good. I think I will be a lot happier with the my own presets. I will find out.

I'm at least the second owner and so far no problems at all.

Great! I requested a new manual from Korg USA and they sent me a pretty poor quality photocopy. Turned out their copy was missing a couple of important pages and the support guy at Korg tracked down a PDF of the manual for me. He has posted it on the Korg Website here:
http://www.korg.com/service/downloadinfo.asp?DID=739

Basic R&R/contemporary Christian.

I got this for practice. I'm a brand new electric guitar player (I've been playing acoustic for about 11 months now). Before I got the Korg I was using a transformer coupler into my Mackie mixer to drive a pair of headphones. That sounded pretty dry and the Korg makes things sound a bunch better.

Easy to use once you get the hang of it. Don't loose the manual because you can't find one anywhere. The PX-3 is out of production in favor of the PX-4. The presets are really good! The "Eddie" Van Halen is one of the best sounds I have ever heard!

I use a American Fender Fat Strat HSS Texas Special with it. The blues and Eddie settings are to die for. I use it for everything! I play it through my Boogie Amp, Headphones, Mixer for recording. Through a good amp this thing sings!

After a year I have not had any problems. Seems durable.

Don't know, never had to call for anything.

I play Van Halen, SRV, Tom Petty, Beatles And OZZY. I like to call it shredding blues. I was so impressed with it, I went out and bought one of their Multi-effects pedals (AX-100). It sounds good too. It is the perfect pratice amp/device I have ever seen in my thirty years of playing. The thing I like the most about it and I would go out and buy another one if I lost it or it was stolen, is the Key Transposer. I can run any device like a CD player into it and transpose the key without changing the tempo. So many musicans play a half step lower than the standard tuning such as SRV and Van Halen, Metallica. With this, all I have to do, is change their key to mine so I don't have to play lead patterns lower or re-tune my guitar. It will play the song to what ever key you want it to be!! Also, you can record parts of the lead through it and slow it down in the same key to learn it. It is the size of a pack of cigaretts. For recording I can take a song, change the key, lay it as a reference track to play to and then back it out after I'm done with it. Feature for feature, there is nothing out there that compares to this!!! Except maybe the newer PX-4 which I have not tried. Some people tell me this one sounds better than the new one.

Very easy to use. The manual is helpful. Editing patches is easy.

I'm using a PRS Santana SE and earphones. The unit is not noisy, although some patches and programs produce some digital noise but you can live with it.

The factory presets are actually very good, whis is not very common with digital processors. The time-based effects are good, but the distorted and overdrived effects are not, many of them produce digital noise and a cheesy sound.

Most of the effects work on a pre-programmed basis -chorus, flanger, delays, etc.- but that's not that bad. Some of the effects can't be mixed, wich is not bad since the unit doesn't allow you to over process your sound.

I agree with many other reviewers: this is not a recording quality unit, nor is versatile enough for live performance. But IT IS A VERY GOOD PRACTICE PROCESSOR. The sound quality is good enough to obtain a satisfying tone for practicing. In its arena, the sound is good, but not incredible.

The case and overall unit feels dependable. I was surprised that the buttons are cheap and less reliable. I was used to better quality from Korg. The unit resists reasonable shocks. I wouldn't gig with this machine.

I owned once a PX1, and at that time (ca 1997) I was absolutely amazed. The PX3 is like a PX1 on steroids. It has all the great feature of the original machine plus a bunch of goodies: rhythm and bass generator, cd-in plug, sampler, good backlight, etc.

The problem with the PX3 is that today there are many incredible processors that are so truly great that the Pandora Box doesn't seem as good as it did some years ago. But it is still a very good practice device and a good value. 10 years ago you needed a $50,000 effect rack to get the same sound. I think this PX3 may be a great entry level processor and a great learning tool for rookies.

The PX3 is not a recording tool nor a unit to take to the stage. But it can acomplish most of the usual tasks that a guitarist needs in the bedroom or practice room. It's also a lifesaver if you can't take with you a lot of equipment (like being on vacation).

For the pro-musician may be a toy, but for the beginning guitarist is a wonderful tool I wish I had in 1987 when I learn to play an electric guitar for the first time.

I understand that the PX3 is no more being built by Korg, so if you want a new unit you'll have tho check the PX4. If you find a used unit, don't hesitate and buy it. You will got a great price for shure and you'll take with you a wonderful practice and learning tool.

It took about 30 minutes to be able to do the basics. Editing is out for now as I dont have a manual for the box. Help anyone?

I enjoy the sounds, 10 points

It seems to be a rugged little box. This one has been through the wars and it still works.

Ah, here we have a problems. I've been trying to get a manual from Korg, they respond quickly by email. But the content of the email is "we dont have any try your local shop". Maybe one of you guys can help?

I guess if the box got damaged, I would go out and buy something else (perhaps a PXR4 or a Digitech GNX3, something new with good user instructions.

This is a follow up to my previous review.

Unfortunately, I've discovered the delays and tremolos only have preset speeds...which makes synchronizing to a random beat practically impossible (in other words, you wont be able to tweek how fast the delay echos). Like others have said, it just a practice tool - NOT FOR RECORDING.

Because of this simple flaw, I'm going to have to drop the average rating down a few notches.

Extremely easy to use. Patch editing takes a little bit to get a grasp on to use it effectively, but it works fine. The manual is helpful and informative and not generally needed after about 2 days.

I play MIA Fender guitars -- not because of some snobbish attitude problem, but because I like them the best. The modern Fender "C" shaped neck fits my large hands perfectly, and the tone is to die for IMHO. In deference to the truly angry person below calling people over 40 morons because they like a more vintage tone, I liked this unit in its intended use as a practice tool. If people are mistaking this unit for a performance unit, blame Korg for touting it as such. It is most assuredly not well designed for that purpose, although it COULD be used for that if desired I suppose. I would run it through the PA myself in that situation, but tone is a personal choise after all.

All that aside, this forty something with vintrage Fender gear likes the PX3 just fine. It is clean and quiet, and produces a strong array of tones from the available amp/cabinet model combinations. I am able to get good clean tone as easily as a variety of distorted tones as a base, and the effects are first rate for such a small, portable unit. I do wish you could get both a reverb AND delay effect at once, but this isn't too big a deal in the end. As far as any particualr artist's sound, I believe this unit can get there most of the time anyway. I personally play original material in the blues/fusion/jazz vein, and for those things this unit is excellent. The metal/shredder sounds seem a bit harsh and tinny to me, but then I don't play that kind of music so that is just a layman's opinion.

All in all, for about $100, you can get one heck of a good practice amp that loads into a case ready to rock and provides a wide variety of usable tone bases to play around with. Is it perfect? No, but it is very good.

I have had my PX3 for over a year, and when I travel -- it goes along. It has taken minor abuse such as drops to the floor from my lap when I am practicing and so on and never given me a bit of trouble. I wouldn't drop it from 10' onto concrete or anything, but reasonable use should yield a long life I think.

Never dealt with them -- a testament to their product I think.

Overall, this unit rates high. I would purchase this unit again before I spent double on the newer PX4 unit simply because I think the price/quality ratio of the PX3 is so excellent. There is definitely NOT twice as much bang for the buck with the newer unit IMHO. Also, I like the older Korg amp/cabinet modeling better than the newer REMS algorithm they are using now. I also own a Korg PXR4 digital recorder which employs the REMS modeling and I definitely prefer the PX3's sound to that unit. For someone who might be looking for a good practice tool that sounds great, this is the ticket. It adds solid practice aids such as phrase training capability and jamming along with CD's plus things the competition doesn't offer such as center channel cancellation (to kill guitar parts on CDs that are centered in the sound stage) and key transposition to avoid retuning your guitar for the sake of learning a particular phrase. These things alone make the money spent worth it I think.

This little wonder is very easy to use. A little reading of the manual is helpful, anyway, but it's very intuitive, so no big deal. You just plug it in and enjoy it out-of-the-box; however, the more you experiment with this thing, the more it amazes you, it has LOTS of clever features in a small-sized package. If you ever used a Zoom 505 then you can use this easily. Some things are exceptionally cool for such a small device (some of the rhythm patterns, the lick-decoding feature, the master volume rotating knob, for example), but some things require a little more patience and are a little tricky (the tuner... I've used better ones, the harmonizer is very synth-sounding, plus when you bend notes it goes crazy). Reading the manual doesn't hurt, but if you're familiar with digital multieffects then this one will be no mistery, but always keep in mind that this is intended for being used as a pratice tool; if you try to use as a live-performance multieffects then it's very rigid and limiting (changing between patches quickly, for example would be Hell...)

First off, let's put one thing clear: THIS IS NOT A PROFESSIONAL LIVE PERFORMANCE OR RECORDING DEVICE, IT'S DESIGNED PRIMARILY AS A PRACTICE TOOL; once this is understood I must say that in this field this box excels!! I can imagine some stupid 40-something year old jerk saying "this thing sucks, I can't get the sounds I get with my "vintage" Matchless with "vintage" (HELL, I hate that word so much!!!) speakers and my $1'000.000 dollar rack stuff!!"; of course not assh#$$e, it's for bedroom practice, it's even unfair trying to put this against a POD. Case scenario: you just can't plug your 100W head full-throttle and your pedal-chain or rack gear at 11:30pm and jam with the whole band (bass & drums included) when you just got inspired and a great idea strikes, without being threatened to death by your neighbours/wife/parents/whatever unless you live alone in the desert, plus the time required to mount and plug everything in your setup. Then this is when this little treasure comes in your help, packed with lots of sounds and features to make your practice time more inspiring and enjoyable (anyway, playing guitar alone is already a thrill, doesn't it??).

Moron-bashing aside, let's focus on the sounds: The clean ones are very enjoyable, mellow and clean, the chorus and reverbs are quite nice and you can play some beautiful stuff (strange thing for me to say, I play Death Metal!) with them, and the patch "flower" sounds very new-age-ish (does that term exists?). The delay is good, not much flexibility time-wise, but good for practice. The pitch-shifter and harmonizer sound very fake, lifeless and synthetic, but it works OK for arranging ideas of your own to later translate them into real sounds with real gear and a real band. The distortions and overdrives are very similar among them, so I'd say that this is it's weakest spot; anyway they're usable enough to serve as practice aids to put down your ideas. The flangers/phasers are very digital but OK. The auto wha sucks, but it's forgivable. It has some cool effects of it's own such as "random". The cab simulation is weak and could be easily
ommited. All of the effects can be tweaked in very basic and limited way (one parameter per effect: gain, speed, depth or speed, depending on the effect), but what the Hell, is just for practicing (am I being repetitive???). The lick-slowing capability is nothing to write about but it has certainly helped me a bit in pin-pointing specific parts of songs; nevertheless at slower speeds the sound is worthless.

The best patches, or at least the ones I enjoyed the most were: subharm (a nice bass guitar mimic), 90's (best Metal distortion in there), eddie (delay-loaded), jimi (nice for Rock n' Roll), flower (New Age), chorus (pristine), SRV, among others.

The rhythm patterns are a cool bonus, and the ability to change keys and turning on/off bass lines is way too killer for a device in this price range. Some people say that this drum patterns sound very fake... of course they do, but remember what this thing is for! If you like something better, just buy a fu*?#$%ng drum machine and stop crying, butthole. You can turn off the bass lines and you have such a cool metronome : )

By now it should be understood what this box is for, so a 10 it is. If you're stupid enough to insist using it onstage, then the rating would go way lower... but I'm not that stupid! I always take care of my gear, even if it just costs US$10; I have to earn each and every penny, money just doesn't rain from the sky...

No idea.

It is truly a pandora's box, it can unleash very useful sounds to sparkle new ideas and to make practice time more enjoyable and creative. I guess that the PX4 is a little better, but this one was cheaper and has everything I expected and then some; I needed a cool and portable practice tool, for the rest (performing live & recording) I have my own real gear. I would strongly recommend grabbing one while they last; it doesn't matter if you play Country or Black Metal I bet that you'll find something that suits your style.

It's fairly easy to use. I usually only need a few sounds. The sound is very good for practicing

The sound is excellent for use with a headphone amp. I don't intend on running it through an amp. Just for practice. It's difficult to imagine a smaller unit offers the amount of sounds. Some of the drums thing could be omitted - I have no use for them

The unit has been very reliable - I recommend you buy the adapter. Alternatively, the new rechargable batteries are another good option. I don't think I would use for gigs - mainly for practice.

I have to rate this highly because of the features and function per square inch. It can fit easily in any guitar case and is very handy on the road.

Ok i suppose for the time that i had with it.

Sounded great while it worked.

Tottaly fukked.... played it for about 10 mins after purchasing (brand new).. turned it off, unplugged my guitar.. left it on the bench, came back 10 mins later, back of unit was so hot the batteries had melted big lumps in the battery cover. and the contacts for the batteries had melted and fell back into the innards of the box... batteries where untouchable due to heat for about 10 mins, brand new energizers and they were tottaly fukked as well

taking it back to the store tommorrow for refund, im getting something else.

sounded ok from the presets i went through, the bass and drums sounded a little like they were taken from a cheap casio keyboard. Although i cant really comment on this as i had no time to root around with patches, ,etc. but the fact that the bastard melted after 10 mins of play was a real let down, this was my first effects unit, been playin off and on for a few years....

With the aid of the manual, I was programming in no time. Had 21 patches made in 2-3 hours.

The cleans are sooooo nice. I play 50-60s so clean with a hint of delay, or a hint of chorus or???? was very good. Some of the FX are over done, but you can turn down the extent to which the effect takes hold just by turning the dial. 1/3 of the FXs (the major and minor overtones) will be useless to the average player (like me) but there are plenty left for the $$.

It is light. This may be a benefit for some, but it's too light. It can fall off an amp or a surface easily with a mild nudge for a cord. If you are going to use it live (as I am), you'll have to come up with a way to stabalize the thing.

I play 50-60s so the cleans are great (typical korg!!!). I don't generally change FX mid-tune, so this is perfect. If you want to switch FX mid-tune, the is NOT the unit for you.

I bought it on ebay and I knew from reviews that this was just the ticket. I've only started to play with the CD-record aspect and for an enthusiest who has the patience for that sort of thing, this is great bang for the buck.

One thing....YOU NEED AN ADAPTER!!!!!!! Don't kid yourself. It takes a + ----- - 9V with a wide barrel (like a BOSS PSA120) The wide barrell is needed to ensure the connection is solid, else you get an intermitant signal.

I've started to collect settings I created and I have downloaded others off the net. If you have any, please share them at the email address below and I'll reciprocate.

Overall....fabulous bang for the buck

Fairly easy to use. Not as easy as my zoom 2020 but much more easy than my lexicon MPX-1. Decent manual.

Very good clean sounds and very good reverbs.
Amp simulation rather weak.

Don't know. Have this unit for about a year. However, lack of editability and cntrol make it almost impossible to gig with it. (It is supposed to so anyway).

Don't know. Haven't dealt wih. Own this unit for a 8 months now.

I own or used a lot of preamp and effects stuff mainly for direct recording. Among others, POD 2, Zoom PS02, Zoom 2020, Lexicon MPX-100, Hughes & Kettner: Cream machine, Tubeman and Crunchmaster. Main setup for direct recording: ADA MP-1 + Ampulator + Lexicon MPX-1 or Peavey Valverb.

The PX-3 is in the first place a very good effectprocessor. Reverbs are comparable with lexicon MPX-100 (though less editable), so pretty good. Far better than the PODs reverb. Ultra clean sounds (using only compression) are very good too (better than POD). Very usable for direct recording. So if clean sounds are your thing the PX-3 can't be beaten.
The POD and Zoom PS02 have better distorted sounds. But I found the POD pretty weak on effects, especially reverb. At the moment I am quite happy with the Zoom PS02. This unit has more or less similar effect quality as the PX-3 but better amp simulations (slightly less than the POD though). The Zoom PS02 has better drum sounds too + recording capacity. Therefore I would not replace the Pandora but go for a Zoom PS02.

In short my opinion on the Pandora PX-3
pros:
- good effects (especially reverbs and tremolo)
- good clean sounds
- small and fairly easy in use
- excellent built-in tuner (better than many tuners I have used)

cons:
- distorted sounds weak and digital sounding (metalheads look elsewere)
- weak when used in front of a guitar amp
- not 'gigable'
- I used it with 4 rechargable batteries and they run out of energy pretty fast (something like an hour and a half or so). Dropping dead of the batteries gave a hard and through headphones very annoying bang.

pretty easy to use. sometimes i get confused with the dial and the button when i want to change the volume or the preset.

although, this thing is very well made, when it comes to changing from one setting to another it really takes time. for instance if i'm tweaking with the distortion section and i want to go to the delay part, it takes a while to move to the next.

also naming each preset is a pain in the ass...starting from 0 and looking for the right alpabet was time consuming...

i use a fender japan 1991 strat with Evolution pick ups install on the bridge. this effector's basically noiseless, but i only use it as a practise effector.

but, the sometimes i got disappointed with the distortion. although, i know its digitally processed and the price they offered was one of the best, i still couldnt stop thinking of the BIG stack marshall amps with finer sound. the sound i get from this effector is basically rough and suits blues, style. its a little difficult to punch out cleaner and smoother sounds. if you're imagining satch, vai and santana you really have to put in some effort or get the right pick upss.

another multi-effector that i own is a zoom 2001 player, and that has a smoother sound, but even more of a digital feeling.

i'll give credit to one aspect of the drum program...the metronome kicks ass, but that's about it all the other drum presets have poor sound.

this is good on home recording, and another amazing thing is that you can use this effect on a cheap synthesizer, like the ones you can buy for like 300 dollars. you can get the wah sound and make the violin sound strange and mimic tangerine dream...lots of possibilities if you dont limit this machine to only to guitar.

this deserves an 8.

very reliable unless the program patch is setted on the dial. sometimes, the dial is turned accidently when i put the thing on the floor and the program jumps from one to another...

never dealt with them

i play los of alternative, guitar instrument, and practice mechanical stuff on this. i try to play satch, vai, Mattias IA Eklundh(if anybody knows him) and other stuff similar to those music.

ive been playing for about 5 years and i own a zoom 2001 player. at home i basically use those multi effectors and at live i use a distortion pedal and that's usually it.

i might buy it again, but i'd like to first try out the Adrenalinn and the px-4 before i go for px-3 again.

i love the size! it's small and you can carry it around all over the house. i love the little metronome! some distortions are cool and the delays are quite nice. i hate the quality of the distortion, sometimes the sound is not smooth enough.

i didnt really compare this product to anything. the zoom effects seemed to hard to use...my friend got a gfx from zoom and the poor guy got too confused when it came to tweaking.i guess korg figured out the right interface.

i wish it had a better sounding drum program...korg should have dropped everything else and put in only the metronome. the drums were waste of effort for them.

i chose this effector because it was on sale, when px-4 was about to come out.

i compose on this one, because it works with headphones and its light. plug your guitar, choose your preset and you're there! no waiting like tube amps!

Extremely easy to use/edit patches (but, then again, I've had it for 2 years).
Manual is good and organized.
Firmware?

I'm using a Texas Special Strat thru PX3 to PC.
It has adjustable noise reduction.
It doesn't sound as good as those separate analog effects stomp boxes, but the effects sound good enough. There are some preset patches that sound close to some big-name artists.
The sound has an nice, lush stereo quality to it, but can be used with a mono plug with satifactory results (you'll just hear the left channel).

I've dropped it a few times and it still works perfectly.
I wouldn't use this for a gig because you have to manually change effects which takes too much time and there is sometimes a pop or click when doing so. One should have a stomp box(s) for gigs - period!

My style is...whatever sounds good. I've been playing for about 3 years.
If it were lost, I would get another one because I don't "gig" and IT'S SO SMALL! Regardless of the (low) price, where else are you going to get a unit with this many effects/features packed into this small a box? The whole thing is only about the size of a cassette and I LOVE how portable, light and good-looking it is. I also like that it has a display backlight which you can turn off to save battery life.
What I don't like about it is the rythm sounds are very "casio" - and you're basically stuck in 1 key/style. I also don't like the sustain of the effects, in that they have a mild "stepped-off" quality just before the note/chord dies out. Finally, if the batteries die while you have it cranked w/earphones, you WILL loose some of you hearing - UNCOOL squeltch!
I use it to proccess my guitar/acoustic, bass, and vocals before it gets to my PC recording software (ever tried software effects "plug-ins"? The majority are...well...yuk!)

First of all I have a Jackson KE3R and a Fender Princeton 112 amp.
I got the PX3 a year ago. Its very easy to learn how to get a good sound out of it the first time you use it. Later on it still have some surprises for you. The editing is very easy but is hard to get a really good distortion in the begining because of the narrow eq. posibilities. The manual is very useful for tips and in more advanced use.

Great sound overall. I don't really use the efects but the distortions are great once you get the feel of them. The presets were a surprise because most of them are great (especially SRV, EDDIE and OCTAVE). The harmonizer is great to and has no delays. Cabinet resonator is a very versatile option to give some "body" to the sound and it works really good even if I go out throu my amp.

It has felt quite hard a couple of times but after a little silence rigth after the hit, no harm that I have noticed. I would definetly use it in a gig without backup (after a battery check of course), but I would really like a footswith or something to make the effect toggle easier.

Never needed to use it

Great value overall. I play my music mostly but with this baby I can go from Megadeth to Van Halen to Blues with no problem. Its great for practice an the metronome, the bass patterns and the tuner are just perfect for that. The sounds I get out of it are awesome and I never stop finding new thing. Back a year ago I was a little away from music but after I got this little box I'm back on the road and I'm not planing to stop. I had a DOD GS30 that I sold to bougth this... Couldn't done better. If some #$%&#@ would stole it from me I woul buy another (but I would try the new one first).

Je vais faire le review en francais, ca manque un peu ici ;-)
Le manuel est super clair mais il n'est pas necessaire. Si on vous revend un Px3 d'occaze sans manuel ce n'est pas un probleme tellement c'est intuitif (et je suis plutot dans la categorie sous-doues en chipotage de parametres). Les presets de base sont deja excellents pour s'y mettre a peine l'engin deballe.
Au niveau de ce que l'engin propose on est bien plus loin que ce que proposait le Rockman il y a kkes annees.

J'ai essaye plusieurs configurations.
1. chez moi avec un casque "Walkman" : bonne stereo, reverb et chorus agreables, la disto ne vrille pas les oreilles et ne fais pas trop distortionner le casque. Donc on peut jouer + de 5 minutes sans attraper la migraine.
2. chez moi avec la config : guitare, px3, ampli.
Peu importe l'ampli utilise, meme un crate 15w a 75 euros : ca sonne.
3. en repet avec la config : guitare, px3, ampli a lampes 100W. La aussi le px3 donne sa couleur propre a l'ampli, donc un peu trop "type" dans ce cadre la.
4. j'ai donc essaye une derniere config : en insert dans la chaine d'effet de l'ampli. C'est la que ca coince. Que ce soit en serie ou en parallele, le px3 bouffe de la puissance de l'ampli, le son bien rond et pechu de mon ampli est anemie, il faut donc augmenter le volume. en mode bypass on retrouve un son plus "normal". Autre probleme : certains presets comme auto-wah, flange etc.. produisent un horrible larsen lorsqu'utilises avec la disto.
Seul la reverb se revele alors silencieuse.
Bref : le px3 n'est pas fait (a mon avis) pour l'utilisation 4 d'autant plus qu'il n'y a pas moyen de le piloter avec un pedalier.

Il tient le coup pour l'instant.
Au niveau alimentation, les 4 piles sont usees assez rapidement : mieux vaut acheter une alimentation.

.....

Je ne pense pas le revendre ni acheter une nouvelle version si Korg devait en sortir une. C'est juste ce qu'il faut avec le prix qu'il faut pour une utilisation domestique.

It's easy to get good useful sounds, presets aren't bad & can easily be customized once familiar with the manual.

I use through Fender hot Rod deluxe, Roland Blues Cube & Peavey Envoy. Sounds are good with any amp I've tried. I use mainly Strats. I like the modulated effects best for quality - chorus, delay, tremelo, phaser, flanger. Distortion acceptable but could be improved on.

I have used in live gigs many times with no back up. I built a stand for it using black aluminum tubing so it's handy on stage. No problems so far with reliabilty after 3 years.

Never needed

I play classic rock, blues, some country. I bought it mainly for size & the rythym functions. I would like better drum sounds & the ability to select Bass pattern separately from Drum pattern but for it's size & price, it's an excellent product. I found I stopped using my various Boss footpedals since this would do so much well in suh a convenient size.

This product is very easy to use. I bought it without trying anything relitively like it, and I learned it in less than an hour. The manual is good, but you don't really need it.

This box has a great sound! The effects with it are very strong. You cann play along with awsome guitars like Hendrix or Clapton. Jeff Beck is one of my favorite guitarists and he sounds just like his guitar with this box. Theres no way to tell. The Pink Floyd feature is very good because it has a heart beat after it just like one of his songs. You get great song out of this box.

I've had Pandora's Box for a long time and it's never broke down. It is very dependable.

Never needed to.

I play alot of rock guitar, and this is a great match. I can play along to my favorite guitarists. I've been playing for about 20 years, and the only other gear I own is the older Pandora's Box. This is a huge upgrade from the other one with up to 50 styles you can play with! If someone stole it I would surely buy another one because it is one of the greatest effects box I have ever tried. I love playing along with Jimi and Ray Van. The only thing I don't like is that some of the light effects on it all sound the same. It's not something I would play with in a consert, but its great to practice with because it makes you want to play more. It will sound great no matter what guitar you have, or what amp you have. It's super reliable and it's worth buying!

Very easy to use. I just plug it in a have fun. Manual is easy to understand.

Great sounds! Not noisy. Cool effects. I use it with a 52' Telecaster RI with both my Fender Hot Rod Deluxe Amp and headphones. Headphones are the best!!! I play lots of vintage rock from the 60s and 70s (and 80s like REM).... and can find most of the grooves I need, but of course, would like more!

I would not gig with this without a power supply. The battery drain is fast and furious if you use the back light in the LED. It seems fragile, so if you step on it it would surely break; but, when I dropped it a few times off the kitchen counter, it survived without a scratch.

No opportunity to deal with Korg.

I play vintage rock and it works fine. I've been playing on and off for 30 years. I had a Boss Metal Zone stompbox and like the Pandora much better (got rid of the Boss Metal Zone, use the Pandora every day!) If it were lost of stolen I would buy the new PX4. I love it because I can sit on the couch or in the bed with headphone and this little wonder-of-a-box and be in guitar-heaven. I don't like the battery drain but like power adapters even less, so I just buy lots of batteries!! I wish it had more patches out-of-the-box because I'm really lazy to create them. I program and work on computers for a living so when it comes to music, I just want to plug-in and ROCK! It certainly helps make music and I think everyone should have one if they like to practice with headphones. I've written a a few very cools guitar tracks with this magic-box and recorded the tracks with Calkwalk Guitar Tracks 2.... great combo! My advise is to purchase the PX4 now that the PX4 is coming out in Feb 2002, if you can wait a few weeks.

Depends how deep you want to go... out of the box you can get some useable noises, along with some rather more 'outre' tones that you first categorise as 'wacky' before considering them 'grating'.

Nonetheless, you can have a simple blues rhythm, bassline and a.n.other guitar effect of you choice going in seconds and, wa-hey, instant band!

It's a small unit, and Korg have crammed a lot in, so by it's nature it can be a little elaborate to edit, but you can save your revised patches, so it's not too much of a pain.

I bought this as a headphone amp, and play an Epiphone Les Paul and a Yamaha 102s (tele-style single coil). There can be a hum with the single coils - the cure? Twist your body around until you're standing at a different angle to the Pandora (or just move a little further away).

The effects' qualities are variable - don't even TRY using autowah!

I'm not overly sold on the end sound for a performance basis - it sounds 'processed', but for practicing it's fine. For the price, what do you want? Blood?

Battery life is a pitiful 9 hours. GET A POWER ADAPTER!!

Interesting note - the unit uses 4xAAA batteries for power, so that's 1.5V x 4 = 6 volts. BUT the DC input jack asks for a 9 volt supply, so make sure you match your power adapter correctly.

Battery life aside, it's dependable, sure, but I'm not sure that it's a gigging box, really.

I've been playing a year, and have yet to adopt a style of music. The different sounds you can get out of the Pandora mean I keep on exploring different sounds and such (for a while, I made a point of ALWAYS using a new setting for practice every night).

If it were lost/stolen...hmmm If I could afford it, I'd probably consider getting a POD - but then I'd need a drum machine too. Alright, the end result would be more flexible, but also damned near quadruple the price!! There lies the beauty of the Pandora, an attraction only added to by its tiny size and hence great portability.

If I ruled the world, I'd make it possible to splice the different rhythm and bassline patterns together to form song sequences, and would add some kind of interface to allow 'deep editing' via the PC. Oh, and infinite battery life, and the ability to endow upon the user godlike playing talent...

For a headphone amp/practice tool, for the money, I don't think this can be beaten, but if you're looking for something to use live, maybe you should look elsewhere.

I own both the PX2 and the PX3. I loaned my PX2 to a friend and missed it so much I bought the PX3 - even better. It's really easy to program, once you get the hang of it (read the manual, it's very detailed). I can get numerous great tones out of this little bitty box.

I own a variety of tube amps, but have been looking for a way to reduce the weight and still capture a great tone. The combination I found is this PX3 through a Polytone MegaBrute (75W, 2-channel, 8" speaker - really wicked little amp!). I can get great tone out this thing. If I need more ooomph, I just plug a cabinet or two into the Polytone. Although limited in the number of effects combinations, I can easily dial in something I like. I just set up six patches with varying combinations of distortions and effects and set the unit on top of my amp (which has a channel footswitch, so I can switch to a louder, heavier channel). I've been using the PX2 and PX3 live for quite a while. The unit is not very noisy. I use a Schectar custom shop strat with two Humbuckers and single coil in the middle, with a coil splitter for the buckers. My favorite setting for the PX3 is a slightly modified Blues patch. I also use the Angus patch, the R N B patch and a few others. The Unit is also a wonderful practice tool, with the ability to change pitch without changing speeds for the cd input, and the ability to switch off the center channel of the cd input. It has a metronome and a tuner built in, also. I like the effects and the simplicity of using them. For the size of this unit, it sure packs a whallop. The only effects I've not been fond of are the pitch shifter presets. I haven't spent any time messing with them yet, so I may find some functionality there later. The PX3 has no preference for pickups, even providing a switch for low or high input. I can use it with any of my guitars. Like any of my other preamp type effect/modelers, it needs to be used with the right amp to give me what I need. It works well with some and not with others. I think it gives me really great tubey sound when used into the Polytone. I'm sure it has a lot to do with the output impedence of the PX3 and the input impedence and type of IC or transistors used on the amp. Try it in various combinations and I'm sure you'll find one you really like. For ease of use, size and functionality, this little beast can't be beat.

I've never had a problem with either the PX2 or the PX3.

Never dealt with them.

I play blues, rock, soul, and whatever else I find myself doing in fill-ins. The PX3 can cover all the bases. I've been playing for 35 years and own tons of tube and solid state gear and lots of guitars. If I lost this PX3, I would DEFINITELY get another one. If you have the opportunity, try it with a good solid state amp. Find one that is light, with a great clean tone and plug the PX3 into the front end, mess with it a little and VOILA, you have TONE! For quick gigs, auditions, or rehearsals it is a great, lightweight way to go. In combination with more speakers and the right amp, it kicks serious BUTT. The only thing I wish it had was a way to switch patches via footpedal, but how are you going to program that into a box the size of a cigarette pack? Maybe the AX1500 will work for that....This unit is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, whether you play out a lot, or just sit in your room with headphones.

Beginners can use this little gem, though once you start exploring its capabilities, the sky is the limit. I've had the Pandora PX3 for 2 years and I'm still juicing it for sounds.
Editing patches are good, the only thing i really wanted to mess around with is get arena reverb with delay, which you can't set.
Firmware wise, im not to sure about, though i do know there have been 3 Pandora effect proccessors, each sound a little different though there are more options on the latest model. Better backlight on the latest model

sound quality is really crisp, makes my playing sound good! i use a marshall 2 x 12 inch combo, but I can also use the effect box on its own with headphones with its volume control and battery pack. It also plugs into a stereo for home recordings.
10 different distortion/ overdrives, multiple effects including flanger, pitch shifter, chorus, vib, etc, different reverb settings from room to arena and dig. delay plus cabinet simulator. few other things like dolby nr

you can combine all these and save your setting, put your headphones on and have your own personal concert in the privacy of your room.

The auto wah sounds a little poxy, but thats personal opinion. I rather use a wah pedal.

I am pretty much positive i can rely on it in a gig, battery wise there are no problems. I havent tested it with an adaptor yet.

I play a mix of rock metal to neo classical. I either like my tone high and clean or heavily distored and clean with a little experimenting with flanger and mild overdrive. most of the time I use generous amounts of reverb to make my playing sound good! The pandora is capable of meeting my needs.
I've been playing for 8 years, though I have only used analogue delay, compressor and wahwah pedals in the past and distortion direct from the amp. the amp is a 2x12 marshall combo, my 2 guitars are a 'les paul copy' sammick and a carson.

If my Pandora had vanished I would definetley buy another one, depending on money surplus.
Its all good, it has all the effects I mentioned, metronom and other bass and drumbeats to practice and jam along to. Auxilary input so you can plug in your discman and jam along, phrase trainer to record a small section of your favourite cd and change the tempo or key. Also a chromatic tuner.
I like it for its portability with battery support, headphone output or being able to plug it into your stereo or computer to make recordings.
The px2 had a slight different sound when you softly touched a string, making a nice soothing violin sound which the PX3 has changed, but no big deal. It's like water off a duck's back as a friend of mine says
Price wise, its worth it in the long run

OK. REVISING THE PATCHES IS EASY. FOR HEADPHONES USE CAB SIMULATOR. FOR AMP TURN OFF C/S. BY TWEAKING PRESETS I LIKED, I WAS ABLE TO SET UP USEFUL BANKS (AS IN GROUPS)OF USER PATCHES. ONCE YOU ALTER A PRESET AND SAVE IT, IT BECOMES A USER PATCH, LEAVING THE PRESETS AS THEY WERE ORIGINALLY. HAVEN'T TRIED THROUGH AN EFFECTS LOOP YET. WE NOW BUG KORG TO INSTALL MIDI CONTROLLER PATCH.

FOR HEADPHONES, XLNT. FOR AMP, OK. I VELCRO IT TO THE INSIDE OF MY GUITAR STRAP AND SET UP THE PATCHES IN SMALL GROUPS SO I CAN CHANGE PATCHES DURING A SONG BY THUMBING THE SWITCH. VELCRO RULES. XLNT DELAY AND CHORUS. DISTORTIONS OKAY. FOR CLEAN, ADJUSTING THE EQ AND MINIMIZING THE NR AND USING SMALL CABS WITH LOAD AT HALF OR LESS GIVES GOOD BRIGHT CLEAN TONES. I'VE MODED FLOYD AND JAZZ AND ARENA TO SEVERAL VARIATIONS.
AS FAR AS THE DISTORTS, I LIKE ONLY ONE OR TWO WHICH I USE OVER AND OVER AGAIN WITH VARIOUS LEVELS OF LEVEL. MY FAVORITE ARTISTS ARE ME, JH, JB AND ME AGAIN. SO I CAN GET 2 OR THREE OF THOSE FOUR AND THEN I DON'T KNOW WHO SOUND LIKE WHAT, SO I GIVE UP. I USE SONY HEADPHONES OR A PEAVEY BASS AMP OR A DELUXE DEVILLE. RUN PRE OUT FROM DEVILLE TO A BASS AMP WITH THIS AS PREAMP. I'VE YET TO TRY THE LOOP AS I HAVE OTHER STUFF THERE.

IT WORKS FOR ME. I'LL BE IN GOA FROM NOV 12 TO NOV 24 SO CHECK ME OUT AT THE WEDNESDAY SWAP MEET. I'LL BE PLAYING A TRAVELER ELECTRIC GUITAR (THE ELECTRIC NECK AS I CALL IT).
USE THE RHYTHM PATCHES OFTEN, REMEMBER SOME OF THE PATCHES HAVE SIMPLE BASSLINES THAT WILL WORK FOR HARMONIC CHORD CHANGES EVEN THOUGH THE BASS NOTE IS CONSTANT. GOA RAVES AWAY!!!! YEAH.

EMAILED SEVERAL TIMES ASKING, IS THERE A KORG PEDAL BOARD WITH SAME QUALITY SOUNDS. THEY RESPONDED DAILY. (NO!)

I PLAY ROCK, BLUES, JAZZ, HOP, HIP HEP AND SOMETIMES HUP TWO THREE FOUR SORT OF HOPPED UP ( AS MY MOMMA USED TO SAY) SINCE THEN I'VE BOUGHT THREE ANALOG PEDALS (vintage ones, baby) AND WILL DUMP AT LEAST TWO OF THEM WHEN I RETURN FROM THE ARABIAN SEA. A MIDI PATCH FOR A FLOORBOARD MAKES THIS FINE. COMPARE THEN BUY THIS ONE. I'LL BE SPONSORED BY KORG.

Out of the box, it's got lots of good patches, both of the usable kind and of the kind that, while not terribly usable, illustrate various effects.

Editing patches is pretty easy, though a tad tedious. You get the difficulty that comes with putting everything in here in a box the size of a deck of cards. Not a lot of parameters for each effect--only two (type and level, rate, depth, depending on the effect), in fact, except for the EQ (three--high, low, level). But pretty good.

At times, it can get a little confusing--do I use the value dial, the +/- buttons, or the < and > buttons--when editing. But it just takes a bit of getting used to.

The manual covers everything, and is easy enough to get through. I wish it had about 20% more depth, but it's good enough to get in and get going.

The machine has a good selection of use options. A switch for pickups--one position for weaker single-coils, one for pickups with more output. Light or no light. You can reprogram the value wheel's functionality.

The interface for editing and moving around is a little confusing, though very compact and efficient. 6 buttons, three of which are multifunctional. The multi buttons have more functions than are shown on the unit, and you just have to get used to using them. But they pack a lot of power into a few buttons. It's a good trade-off.

The screen is excellent--informative, easy to read--the backlight is very cool, and you can turn it on and off at will (uses batteries faster).

Excellent. I use it with a Japanese strat, 1986, with humbucker in bridge position. Lots of good tones with this guitar.

Noise is more a function of where and what you're playing than the box itself, I find. (Play around fluorescents, computers, or other big electronic things, and you're going to get some noise. Otherwise, not much.) The Noise Reduction effect is very effective.

The quality of the various distortions is very good to my ear--lots of choices, and they range from spanky to insane. You can get good clean sounds (I had read somewhere that this is hard; I haven't found any difficulty getting good clean sounds), get it to just break up when you attack it hard, or a range of out-and-out overdrives and distortions.

The other effects are pretty decent too. Smooth chorus, good vibrato, good phasing, adequate (not great) autowah, decent reverbs, and a large selection of delays. I would prefer a couple more parameters to the reverbs and delays, but . . . look, it's a little box, and it can't have everything.

The rhythm unit is a cool feature. The sound quality's not realistic, but for just noodling and jamming, it's pretty good, and to fit it in the box... well, see above.

Just got it, can't say. Would I use it in a gig? Haven't even plugged it into an amp. It's probably not intended as a gigging machine, but it does have some great sounds, and you could probably do it.

Haven't needed any, so I can't rate support.

I was looking for a good box I could carry around the house and practice with--I just don't have a set and good practice space. I also wanted to be able to plug a CD player in, and to be able to plug the unit into a BOSS JamStation JS-5 (which lets you plug in a guitar, but only dry). This meets my needs and exceeds them. I can plug in the CD player, and it can even change song keys on the fly (with darn good quality)! Stevie Ray often plays tuned down half a step; I can bring him up to standard tuning with this. Very cool.

Oh, it also looks great.

i bought it in Japan and they don't have an english manule. but this unit is very easy to use, it took me only 5-10 min to figure out how to use it. easy to edit the patch, just roll the rotary switch for add&name the effect.

the preset's sound are pretty good. though u might have to EQ them little bit. editing patch is very easy, thanks to the rotary switch, it's very usefull. the distortion is pretty good for practicing. but i don't like the chorus and other effect are useless. the rythm function are very usefull for me, i can practice scale, arpeggio, phrasing or what not. the key-change function is good but sound little bit fake.

i bought this unit for practicing only so it satisfy me! i really like it becoz i can take it and practice anywhere i want.

i've composed an e-mail to the company about the english manule but they haven't reply so i went back to the shop where i bought this unit and i gotta pay 2,500 Yen for the english manule. it's very non-sence. i bought their product and i still have to buy their manule?

mostly i play rock&roll stuff but i also play blues and Jazz. this unit match good for practicing only! i used Ibanez jem with Marshall MG15RCD amplifier, sound ok for me but not enought for a gig. if it were stolen i'd try the other practicing unit. i like this unit becoz it's very easy to use and easy to bring it anywhere. i wish i can edit my own chord progression for bass or more drums sound. if u have any question i'll be welcome to answer.

Very easy to use presets. Just click on the switch. Editing
is not that hard, but the unit is very small and nothing can
make it as easy as a large rack mounted unit. The manual is
ok.

The sound is excellent for playing out of a headphone and more
importantly, recording. It is a little noisy. The clean effects
are great. The distortion is OK for recording or headphones.
The doubled notes effects (several of them) where you pick a note
and another note in harmony comes up is totally worthless. It is
a piss-poor imitation of Queen's Brian May guitar overdubbing.
Very important - the unit SUCKS with an amp. I even tried it
in 2 amps and it was stereo, but sounded very FAKE. The presets
sound like a parody of the artists. I found the Stevie Ray,
Jeff Beck, and Van Halen patches very amusing. But, there is
something about the presets that make you want to play for hours
and hours. I think the unit is VERY gimmicky, but lots of fun.
The presets are sort of like the artists sound. For example,
the Stevie Ray preset has a Vibrato that is supposed to sound
like a Leslie. It is a cheesy version of a Leslie. But, I
don't expect Korg to duplicate a real Leslie or Hughes and K.
$300.00 Leslie simulator in a little headphone amp!

Have no idea, since I just got it.

Have no idea, yet.

I record weird music and play in a more conventional band.
Check out
http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/16/the_thereminbilly_explosion.html
and click on Pandora Blues and Pandora Blues Part 2 to get an
example of what the PX-3 sounds like, since I play guitar using
the unit on those tracks.

OH man this thing is simple, takes about 15-20 minutes to master, then you have every little control at your finger tip. the jog dial is very helpfull and speady and everthing is intuitive. nothing to learn!!

the sound is pretty damn good. the distortion is a little lacking, but hey, come on man this unit rocks for practicing. dont go into a record contract with it but its a damn good tool. the rythms are really good, fun to jam along with, making this a good practice tool!

built pretty solid, nice colors!

dont know, its too good for me to call em up

this thing rocks, dont hesitate if you need a little sized (pod is too big) modeler, its worth the money, come on go get one NOW!!!!!

I bought the first and thought it was average. The PX3 however is capable of so much more. It's rhythm section is ideal for playing along to an sharpening your chops. It's easy to edit once you've remembered all the short cut buttons etc but the manual is wellindexed and takes you through t hings step by step. I do think the PX3 produces better clean sounds than overdriven ones. The clean sounds are sparkley and transparent and I found them really inspiring to play with. The overdrive sounds are not bad 9often have to add a little chorus to get a fuller sound) and just show the limitations of a solid state derived distortion. This is a practise tool and not a substitute for 'proper' gear. I never travel anywhere without my PX3!

I used a Hohner GT-3, Ibanez 540 Radius and Ibanez J-Custom.

Dependable, but can be battery hungry. i wouldn't gig with this as it'sa practise tool.

N/A

I play rock.

Figured out most things without the little book. Instructions are well written, and in several languages. controls are easy and changeable (you can swap the roles of the up/down arrow and the wheel). Not perfect, there is no way to use a foot controller or any means of attaching it. Too light to sit on the floor by it self. I put Velcro on the back of mine and stick it to the music send or the guitar strap. Works OK.

I use both a Strat and a 335. through various headsets the sound is fantastic. The better the headset the better the sound. It sounded wimpy through the practice amp at the store. In the effects loop of my Fender amp didn't work too well either. It looses body, sounds AM radio like. Between the guitar and the clean channel it is OK but not as fantastic as in the head set. Direct for recording or direct to PA for gigging works great. If I could change voices or turn effect modules on and off while I play it would by perfect. But that isn't part of the sound quality.
I play bass sometimes, I have a cheep P-bass copy without an amp. I used the "Jazz" preset. Minor eq tweaks and direct to the PA. Everyone was very impressed, even me. I have never heard a bass amp sound so clear and alive. An amazing little box.

Great. Mine has been dropped, left on until the batteries died, left plugged it for three days, spilt on, rained on and it still works.

I play swing, rock, blues and jazz. this little guy is a great practice tool the phrase trainer works well. The only thing better is Slow Blast on the computer. The rhythm section is great too. I haven't used the center channel cancel feature. the effects, though limited, sound great with both guitar and bass.
If you use it through an amp as an effects unit you will be disappointed. The box was designed to feed a full range source: headphones, PA tape direct. Any of these full range devices will sound great.
This is a practice tool. As a practice tool, it is the best around. I was not meant to be something to gig with. It does sound great going direct to the board. I put a piece of Velcro on the back of mine. There is a corresponding patch on the top of my amp, on a cloth sleeve I can put on any guitar strap and on one of the music stands at the church I play in. As long as you only need one voice per song and there is time between songs to find the next voice, it works to gig with. Just remember, it wasn't ment to do this.

I got this thing used so I didn't have a manual, and it took me a few hours to get the hang of it, but it's really easy to use. The phase trainer is easy to use, and editing patches is even easier. The only reason I'm giving it a 9 and not a 10 is because I haven't seen the manual for it.

I no longer own the PX-3, but this was my setup when I was using it. Gibson Les Paul DC Standard --> Morley ABY Box --> (A) Used for clean channel Marshall JMP Pre-Amp --> Marshall VS256R Amp (B) Used for PX-3 --> Marshall VS256R Amp. The sound quality was really good. Very low noise. I gig a lot, so the PX-3 wasn't great for me. I used an A/B box so that I could change from the PX-3 to clean (I had to use a pre-amp for clean, because the signal get split in half...) I was really happy with the sounds I got out of the PX-3, but I ended up selling it because I need pedals, because I gig a lot. But, the PX-3 is great for recording. I wish that I still had the PX-3 for recording, becuase I bet it would sound sweet with my new amp (Fender HotRod 2x12 Deville.) My favorite settings had to be the Hendrix and Van Halen patches. The distortion sounds really good on the PX-3, and even comes close to a Metal Zone. The 90's patch on it is perfect for Nirvana sounds. When I had the PX-3 I was in a band that played a cover of Smells like Teen Spirit and the 90's patch was perfect.

The pandora seems very reliable. I only owned it for a few months, and I giged without a backup.

I play blues, classic rock, shred, pop/rock, rock, jazz, and a little hard rock. The PX-3 is good for any style of music. I've been playing for 7 years. I wish that korg would build a pedalboard like the POD so that it could be used for gigging!!! The thing is really made for recording, not gigging. It would be nice if it had a belt clip.

i just got this a few hours ago, i haven't looked at the manual yet but it's pretty easy to use. i just plugged in and started playing with the buttons. i really like the rotary wheel, it makes adjusting the volume and tempo very user friendly. i haven't tried to edit the presets yet, but i'm sure it's not difficult.

i never write reviews, but i liked this thing so much that i have to give it an endorsement. i'm using a fender strat. the sounds on this are pretty clear, i'm really happy with this and have no complaints. the effects are fantastic for what this is, a little all-in-one effects box to be used with a good set of headphones. most of the presets on this are very usable. with a little imagination, i'm sure even the cheesy ones could be cool, although limited in what you could do with them. what i liked most is its versatility. it has a pretty good dirty sound as well as heavy distortion. the rhythm patterns aren't great, needless to say i'm not as thrilled about them as i am with the effects, but they are fun to jam over.

don't know, just bought it.

don't know

i play a lot of different styles - classic rock to metal. i've been playing for 10 years now, i have no aspirations of playing out or anything like that. i just enjoy jamming along with my favorite tunes or coming up with my own stuff. i've owned a fender blues jr. (back when i didn't live in an apartment), various transistor amps, and countless pedals. if i lost this i would get another one. i really like the versatility of this thing, as well as its size which makes it very portable an easy to store. i've looked at the zoom 505, and i found that to be somewhat limited in it's range when looking for a sound that wasn't heavily distorted. it wasn't bad, but the px3 is just that much better. far more versatile.

so to sum up, if you're like me and find yourself having to live in an apartment, want some effects and a cool sound but you also want your neighbors to have peace and quiet, this thing is perfect. i'm not disappointed in least, but instead pleasantly surprised (how many times can you say that about something!!!)

Straight forward to use and immediately usable through 50 preset patches. Easy to get the hang of editing and saving user made patches. Other features are easy to use although some which sound a great idea I rarely use. Used on stage but can be tricky, could do with belt clip. I eventually hooked the end of mine under the strap for carrying my amp, it certainly didn't budge then. Like to use batteries but can run out quickly especially if backlight is on. Manual is clear and easy to follow.

Effects tend to be good and most are in some way useable although my biggest complaint is which effects can be used simultaneously. The effects are all broken into groups of which usually only one in each group can be selected. For example, If you want a compressor you can't have any of the distortions. They are in the same group! Also, Chorus, Flanger, Phaser, Autowah, Pitch Shifter share a group. Only one of these at a time. Also, noise reduction slightly deadens note sustain.

This is my second Pandora 3 due to major malfunction of the first (constantly resetting, screen displaying garbled info, after about 6 months). Was replaced by dealer under warranty. Have had replacement for 1 year and is functioning fine, don't know if I fully trust it though.

Although replaced by dealer after malfunction, this was after the dealer returned the unit to Korg who refused to take responsibility for the unit failure. The dealer replaced it through good will and customer loyalty.

Enjoy using Pandora, useable amongst various styles. If lost or stolen would consider replacing with the same but would have a look at other available alternatives. Like the practicality (Size, few buttons, clear backlit display). Wish it had belt clip. Saves a fortune considering what effects it does contain, but not as flexible as individual pedals (obviously). Worth considering but try before buying if possible.

Very easy to use. If all you want is to use the presets on it, it has a total of 50 programed patches and a lot of them are pretty cool. You can also edit and program 50 user patches and name them whichever way you want to name them so you can know what they are. It is very easy to edit and program your own patches and sounds once you read through the manual which it's pretty easy to understand. The manual looks intimidating at a first glance because it seems pretty thick, but that's only because it's written in about 3 different languages. The phrase trainer feature is great and easy to use, and the tuner, rhythm, and metronome features make this unit even that much more versitale and fun to use.

I use an Ibanez Prestige USA Custom 6 string and an Ibanez RG 7 string through a Mesa/Boogie 3 channel Dual Rectifier head, a 4x12 Mesa Recto cabinet with vintage 30's, and a Line 6 AX2-212 combo amp for most of my wet sounds. I haven't tried using the PX3 in a live set up, but that's something I might want to try out to experiment with the Mesa head. This unit is not noisy, although it has a very faint buzz that you won't hear as you are playing. Most of the effects sound very nice for the price of the unit, sometimes you can tell cheap effects versus expensive ones, but this unit sounds a heck of a lot better than some other effects that cost more. If you want to get the sound of some of your favorite artists with this unit, you might get close depending on who you are trying to emulate. I would find it very hard to emulate a tone from someone like John Petrucci, Frank Gambale, Scott Henderson, or Greg Howe with this particular unit....Rather than doing that, I would prefer to set my own unique tone with it, but you might have to spend some time tweaking to get that "special" tone you want, just as you would with any other effects processor. Overall, the sound quality of this compact unit is very nice.

I haven't had it for very long, so I don't know how reliable this unit is through some years of use and normal abuse. I might use it on a gig as tone experimenting in conjuction with my Mesa Dual Rectifier head....But it might be a little difficult to change patches in a live situation since it's not really made for that purpose....Unless you leave the same setting during your whole live performance.

I never had to deal directly with Korg in the past.

I play lots of styles of music, from flamenco-classical guitar to funk, blues, fusion and heavy metal. I am in a cover band, so we do cover a lot of heavy material. I've been playing for a total of 9 years. This unit is a good match as far and a practice tool, I don't know how reliable it would be on a live situation, but that's something I'm willing to try out. If stolen or lost, I would buy it again because it's just a nice piece of equipment to own, it does many things in one pocket size lite weight unit. I love the size of it and the lite-screen, and how I can use it as a metronome to practice accuracy.

I had the first generation of Korg's portable effects boxes, the PX-1. I upgraded to this because I needed more patch locations - the PX-1 had 20, this has 50 user and 50 preset. It's pretty easy to use. The wheel is a big help in getting changes done quickly. It does have a lot of features, so the manual (which is excellent) is important, at least at first. You get the hang of making changes quickly. I was creating new sounds within half an hour. There are some limitations, though. Each component of a patch has only one adjustable parameters, and there are certain combinations that you can't use - compression with distortion or delay plus reverb, for example. There are an awful lot of features packed into this box - tuner, metronome, and built-in drum and bass patterns that you can jam along with.

I use a wide variety of guitars (and more importantly, pickups). There is a low/high gain switch which can adjust to different sorts of guitars. The sound quality is excellent, but will vary based on pickups. Using very quiet pickups (Lace Holy Grails) it is hard to get a good distorted sound. Using high gain humbuckers, it is hard to get a good clean sound. With most pickups, both are possible, and there are many useful sounds. I found about half of the presets useful (I don't have much use for the pitch shifted ones). This is very quiet for an effects box, and the stereo output is a great plus through headphones. I have also run it through solid state (Fender Amp Can and a variety of mini amps) and tube amps (Laney LC15) with no problems. One of my favorite setups is a Parker guitar through the PX-3 into a Fender Mini-Twin amp. Ultra lightweight, portable, and all battery powered. Forget havng to carry an acoustic for playing by the campfire! I find the effects comparable to what you'd get from a (non-boutique) stompbox. There is a wider variety of distortions than on my PX-1. I particularly like Tube, Crunch, Valve, and Crush.

Never had any problem with my PX-1 and this looks at least as solid. It is not great for a gig because it's hard to adjust parameters on the fly, it's light enough to be yanked all over the stage unless you tape it to your guitar strap, and the parameters are less adjustable than most of the alternatives. However, it makes a SUPERB backup to a bunch of stompboxes or another multi-effects box. It's very small and light, and, if you're going to carry a tuner anyway, why not use this, which offers you an awful lot more flexibility.

Not very good. Korg's Web site has little information and doesn't have the manual available on line. Even the third party Web sites I've seen for this are pretty poor. I may have to start one myself...

I play rock of all different types. Stylewise, this would be useful for almost anything from jazz to metal. I wish it could take a foot controller, which would make stage use more practical. This is one of the best products I've ever bought. My uses for it are: 1)headphone practice - I can avoid bothering my wife and the stereo sound is great, 2)playing along with the drums and bass to practice improvisation, 3)ultraportable electric guitar rig as described above, 4)onstage tuner/backup effects box, and 5)use at home as a regular effects box (get an AC adapter for this). There are sounds on this which just aren't on my other boxes, so I use this rather than trying to reprogram the others. That's an awful lot of value, and the fact that it fits in your pocket is a huge plus.

He comparado la programacion de este efecto con el ZOOM 505 y definitivamente la programacion de KORG es muy superior en cuanto a su facilidad de uso, rapidamente uno ya puede estar creando sus propios sonidos o modificando los ya existentes, el manual si no es muy util no trae mucha informacion considerando que mas que un manual es un folletin, mas facil es meterse directo al aparato y empezar a pasear por las opciones, le pondria un 10 pero el manual le quita puntos, no hay informacion sobre el firmware de la maquina y menos is es posible su actualizacion.

Los sonidos son muy buenos, asimismo la calidad de los chorus, delays y distortions tambien son buenas, el noise reduction es bastante bueno y se puede graduar de una manera mucho mas suave que en otros efectos que poseen saltos parametricos, el unico detalle es que cuando hay determinados golpes de la pua con determinados efectos como chorus o delay solos hay un peque?o zumbido que no lo he escuchado con otros efectos pero esto es casi imperceptible yo lo notado usando auriculares y tocando solo guitarra ya que con los demas sonidos de un acompa?amiento esto queda opacado.

El equipo es muy confiable se puede usar tambien baterias aunque usa las AAA las cuales son mas caras y mas dificiles de conseguir (sobre todo alcalinas) en cambio las AA se encuentran en cada esquina de mi ciudad, no he probado aun usar el equipo en un concierto solo con pilas ya que he escuchado que no duran mucho tiempo y no quiero arriesgarme aun tenre que probar.

Comparandolo con el ZOOM 505 lo siento mejor en muchas cosas parametros de programacion, memorias de usuario, facilidad de uso, sin embargo le veo como desventaja en que no se le puede conectar un pedal externo o un switch externo que pueda servir como pedal, para detarminadas ocasiones es mas util que estarlo accionando con la mano, sin embargo todas las demas caracteristiscas de sampler que permite grabar la entrada de musica por el auxiliar y reducirla en velocidad sin alterar la tonalidad son realmente EXCELENTES!!! para sacar canciones y practicar solos, la modalidad de supresion del canal central es aceptable y sirve tambien para practicar pero puede mejorar en la calidad del sonido resultante, tambien es muy buena el acompa?amiento de bateria y bajo estas cosas la verdad no las he visto en otro efecto, creo que compraria otro igual pero buscaria una pedalera tambien porque para practicar y ensayar el PX3 es fabuloso!! no hay comparacion pero para excenario en vivo creo que preferiria una pedalera. aun me falta probar esto en vivo, todavia no lo he hecho...

Well, it's really simple to use for a first approach. The doc is quite good, the quick select is a good feature regarding PX-2.
The edit patch is classical, you select an amplifier type, set the gain, then set the equalizer, choose an effect (chorus, flange, wah...) and set the level, select the reverb/delay, select the speaker.

I heard it on Marshall, Peavy bandit, Peavy Chorus 212, it always sounded great. In fact, there are so different effect embeded, that some seem useless but I can't tell.
My teacher went through all factory settings and for each did a demo of the style. How impressive ! Already I found it great, myself playing, but definitively I was proud I bought it !
The delays are very good, the distos also, with several flavours, lot of reverbs also, all very good. I couldn't imagine so many quality effect in such a small single box.

I can't say anything about it because it's a practice tool.
So not gig. Otherwise, quite reliable.

never dealt with korg

I play Pink Floyd, AC-DC, Trust, Gun's Roses, Hendrix, and it fit all those. It's the only effect I have, I use also my Bandit 112 disto and reverb, very good both.

I first wanted to buy a Zoom GFX 707, but I tried it and the PX3 just after and there was no comparison. Ok , 707 is a pedal, so you can select patches while playing, but nothing to do regarding the sound quality, Pandora overrides its competitor, for drum machine also.

I advice you test it, and after buying it becomes obvious. I just finished playing AC-DC with the CD, the sound is the same (but it's not Angus playing !).

I think the price is due to the fact it's not a pedal, but for the sound, you get it for the bucks !

I stolen or lost, I would immediatly buy the same, it's so cool practicing anywhere with the good sound !

Ah some people say it's better to conect it on the effect loop out, but I get a better sound on the classical guitar input of my amp.

Ease of Sound: Very easy to get sounds.
Editing: you must use the manual.
Manual: Foreign Languages are mixed with english--should be separate.
Firmware: Don't know.

If you view this as an inexpensive practice tool, it can't be beat. That's what it is. It is not going to work live, it might work in the studio, but it is not going to sound as good as separate, high-quality boxes and an amp is going to sound. IT IS A PRACTICE TOOL! Thas is why I give it a 10.
My setup is an Es-335 and an SG.
It is not really noisy.

YOu should create your own patches!

It seems to work without a hitch. I have dropped it 2x.

It IS cheaply made and lacks rubber feet to keep it stable on a table (hey, that rhymed!).

It should have a belt clip as well.

Haven't needed to.

Practice tool!

this thing is pretty easy to use.most of the patches sound pretty good.and editing the patches are simple.the manual will clear up everything.i only had to read it once.the only complicated part is the phase trainer. and that is still easy

i have mainly been using it and old kramer with a humbucker.and it is pretty quite.i played it with my fender with the single coils and it is a little noisy but it does have a noise reduction feature and it helps.the px-3 sounds a lot better through headphones then an amp.it is the only way to hear the difference in the amp modulation.the distortion is a little lacking it is either too much or not enough.there is really no bottom end to it.but you can find something to work. i really like the chorus sound and the reverbs,and i was really suprised with the auto wah. it is one of the best i ever heard.i have a dod effecs board and the auto wah sucks so i bought a cry baby.the patches are mainlt for soloing and learning licks. the s.r.v.,jeff beck,jimi.and eddie patches sound pretty close to thier sound.also i really liked the octave features and harmonies.
the rhythm and bass patters are a joke.like something off an old keyboard.but there are alot to choose from and you can change the basskey,and tempo.the phase trainer is neat it hase a center cancel with take the lead guitar and vocals out of the recording.you can record up to 16sec. in a loop and then you can slow it down with out changing the pitch.or you can change the pitch of the recording to match the tuning of your guitar.
but all in all it sounds really good

i have only had it a short time but is seams really reliable but it does eat batteries so get the adaptor. i would never gig with it. it would be really hard to use,but i will record with it

the korg web site sucks and i bought the thing used off e-bay.the manual gives you alot of information.i think i'll get better support from the guy i bought it off of then the korg website. the support rating is so low just because the korg site sucks.

i play alot of different types of music so the px-3 really suits my needs. i have been playing guitar for more then 15 years and this is the best personal playing devise i have ever used.if i ever broke of lost it i would replace it.i wish the distortion was alittle better.and the volume was alittle louder.but for the price and the size of this thing you can't really beat it.this this i just fun to play around with. i highly recomend it you will enjoy it

You will probaly need the manual, but all and all its pretty simple.

For such a extreamly small device and considering the price the sound is good to excellent. I use a standard mex. Strat, and a Gibson 330. People need to understand that the px-3 was intended for practice use and not giging. For this purpose the sound can't be beat considering the price and portability. I have heard lower end stomp boxes that can not compare in soud quality. I also own a DOD fx7 and the Korg blows it out of the water.

I have droped the unit a number of times, with no ill effects. It has a plactic casing that I doubt would take any serious abuse.

Never had any dealings direct with Korg

I play just for self enjoyment, and experiment in many styles of music. for this purpose the PX-3 suits my needs perfectly.

The PX-3 is very easy to use, but it is not totally intuitive so you will need to read the manual. Once you know how to navigate the buttons, the thing is a piece of cake to operate. I read through the manual once & have not had to go back to it. For the features it has & it's size, I don't think it could get much easier than this.

The manual itself is pretty clear and is printed in four languages, so it's not quite as big as it may seem at first glance.

Editing patches is very easy and the effects are set up to enable you to dial in a decent sound quickly and without having to know a lot about how to get a good sound. This is good & bad, which I'll comment on under "Sound Quality"

The phrase trainer is incredibly easy to use. The only other one I've used is on a BOSS ME-30, and this one is better all around.

For what this is, the sounds are fantastic. I'm using the PX-3 as a practice amp with headphones, and I might record a bit with it. Compared to other effects rigs, this doesn't have the best sounds. On the plus side, the sounds are quite good and you can dial in a good sound quickly, without having to know a lot about what you're doing.

The distortions sound a bit harsh to me, but I find them to be more than useable for my purposes. (My preference is for the Tube Screamer or Marshall Tube amp type of sound.)

For EQ you get 2-bands, Hi and Lo, and a Hyper-Bass-Boost feature. You don't have total control of your sound, but you can get a good sound out of it and it is easy to use. I think that adding more bands would be a bad idea, as that would get too cumbersome to deal with in a package this size.

The modulation and delay effects are quite good. You get 4 chorus sounds, all of which sound lovely! I have noticed that the modulation effects, particulary the choruses, tend to introduce a bit of noise into the sound. (The unit has a noise gate that allows you to achieve complete silence, but you can still hear the chorus noise on top of your sound.) The delays allow you to select from several of the most common delay times from 20ms to 2 seconds, so you can get slapback and echo. The effects are limiting in that you can't tweak every parameter. For example, you can't get a 93ms delay time - you have to choose from the options given. You also cannot change the feedback on the delay, or at least I haven't found a way to do that. You can change the level of delay signal to dry, but that's about it. Again, the setup is not as flexible as other rigs, but it's really not designed to be. Adding such tweaks would make it more cumbersome to use.

The best thing on the PX-3 is the "Key Transpose" feature, which lets you alter the pitch of the signal that is plugged into the "Auxilliary" jack, like a CD player. I didn't expect this feature to work very well at all & it's pretty much flawless. You'll get a bit of audio degradation if you try to drop things more than a step, but for moving a few cents either way it works great!

The metronome is great & is pretty ear friendly through headphones, which is unique among the electronic ones I've tried in the past. The drum machine & bass accompanyment are alright. It's not a sequencer and it is not even remotely close to a DR-5 or anything like that. It's not something you would ever perform with, but it's great for practicing with.

The cabinet simulator is, well, okay. It sounds pretty good & is rather flexible. I also have a J-Station, so I feel that I'm a bit biased in this area. The best way to put it is that compared to the J, the Px-3 cab simulator definitely comes in second. If I were to compare it to the cab simulator on my ME-30, the PX-3 wins hands down and by several laps!

The overall sound quality does not compare well to what you'll get out of a high-end rack, a POD or J-Station, but it is very nice. If my rating were comparative to those types of devices, I'd have to give this unit a 6 or 7 at best. I would not recommend using this as an effects unit for a live rig. It will work okay, but there are other devices better suited to that purpose. If that's what you're looking for, you should look elsewhere if you have the means.

Compared to other devices of it's kind, like a Rockman or other headphone gear, the PX-3 rules. It far exceeded my expectations! I'd give it a 10, but I think KORG can improve on the noise issue I mentioned so I'll say 9.

I haven't had mine very long, so I can't say a whole lot. It's mainly plastic, so I wouldn't want to drop it from 6 feet onto a cement floor. It seems pretty solid and well made though.

I have not had to contact Korg with any issues or questions, so I'm no help here either. I was able to find out some decent information about the PX-3 from Korg's web site prior to purchase. so they were quite helpful in that regard.

I like to play a variety of stuff, mainly Rock and Jazz, and this is certainly a flexible little unit capable of delivering lots of good sounds. I'd buy this again in a heartbeat if I had to replace it.

There are some things I initially thought I'd like to add, such as MIDI or the ability to tweak additional effect parameters, but I've now come to think that doing so would spoil what the PX-3 is and make it harder to use. It is not a POD-type device or big effects rig, and shouldn't be viewed as such as it will definitely leave you wanting. However, it is a cute and friendly little practice partner, and in that realm I don't think I've seen better.

I am a keyboardist/acoustic guitarist who has also been playing Rhythm Electric for the past 11 years. My overall style is in the vein of Journey/Rick Springfield. This unit is very easy to use and edit. To me, there are an awful lot of parameter settings in a such a small box. The manual leaves a bit to be desired in terms of descriptions and elaborations, but the diagrams are self explanatory. I found it a breeze to get clean sounds and chorused sounds, but have yet to be able to get a good distortion sound that will reproduce in computer speakers, the headphones, and also an amp. Instead I have to constantly tweak settings for each, as what sounds great in headphones tends to suck on computer speakers. Is this normal?

I am a keyboardist/acoustic guitarist who has also been playing Rhythm Electric for the past 11 years. My overall style is in the vein of Journey/Rick Springfield. I generally run a Roland XP-10, my Takamine EF381C Acoustic/Electric 12 String, Ovation CC0026 Acoustic/Electric 6 String, and my Cort Strat Faker Electric Guitar through my keyboard amp with the PX-3 in between for live performances.

For home recording I run direct through the PX-3 into a mixer and then into my DMAN PCI soundcard into Cakewalk output through PC speakers.

I found it a breeze to get clean sounds and chorused sounds, but have yet to be able to get a good distortion sound (either of my own or my favorite artists) that will reproduce in computer speakers, the headphones, and also an amp. Instead I have to constantly tweak settings for each, as what sounds great in headphones tends to suck on computer speakers. Is this normal?

I have used it in both professional studios, and live and would continue to do so.

Have had no problems as of yet.

I am a lead vocalist/keyboardist/acoustic guitarist who has also been playing Rhythm Electric for the past 11 years. My overall style is in the vein of Journey/Rick Springfield. I like the size and portability, the multitude of features. The factory presets all need tweaking, but I think you can get a good sound. I just wish I could understand why I can't seem to get any good distortion sounds. Before buying it, I spent 3 weeks trying out every floor multi effects pedal. To me this one won hands down. But opions vary.

Once you understand the way the menus are organized, it's piece of cake!

The sound quality is excelent for the kind of device I tested. My amp isn't great, but this little box gives me a very good sound though. One of the things I enjoyed most was the noise reduction. I only hear sound when I hit the strings.

It is a very good device to have at home for practice, but not very practical to use when playing on stage.

Never needed, just finished buying it. :-)

I consider myself a beginner, though I play guitar for several years. I don't take guitar in a professional way, but I like to strum once in a while. My conclusion is if you're up to do something only by yourself at home, this is the best thing to buy. If you go on a trip you only need 3 things. The guitar, headphones, Pandora PX3. Great Portability.
If you need something to go on stage, this isn't for you, unless you figure out a way of using your feet with it's little buttons. ;-)

The menu layout isn't as intuitive as it might be, but it doesn't take long to get used to it. The LCD panel is clear to read and most of the time you know exactly where you're up to.

I record direct to my PC, or through a pair of Technics headphones for practice. Although most of the 50 presets are unusable, you can get great clean sounds with little effort. However, I reckon the distortions on this unit are as bad as I have ever heard, and I have not been able to create one decent patch. Obviously I would be better off going into a tube amp for overdrive, but the Zoom 505 unit produces better sounds for me, although it is not as refined or versatile. I would give the PX-3 a 9 for clean but only a 5 for distortion, so that's a 7.

This thing wasn't designed for gigging as the battery life is poor and there is no external controller. I don't think it would have added too much to the price to have some sort of optional external controller, perhaps just replicating the patch +/- buttons.

Never had a problem with it.

I mainly play Steve Vai and Joe Satriani stuff, and this doesn't really fit the bill. I can get reasonably close to Metallica, but if you're a speed metal merchant then you'll be disappointed. I was expecting great things, but the PX-3 doesn't have all the answers. My advice is to do this little guy a favour, and buy him a friend to help him out with the distortion.

easy for me

I don't want to contribute to the final rating of this thing,Just several tricks I found:
1. the out put impedence of PX3 is not the same as the input impedence of ordinary amps. you need to input it into aux. input, instead of input.
2. if you use common input,don't use full distortion. The sound is pretty good if you use slight distortion, it'll be warmer and fuller.
3. you can get some good effect by yourself. eg, modify Jazz-->
valve(full) + (don't change the hi and lo gain of Jazz) + reverb(e.g. garage)+ 2x12 cab , I like it.

To be honest it's not the easiest box to get started with, it takes
a few hours to get to grips with the menu layout and how to get at all
the functions. They could have made it much easier by including a
chart showing where everything is hidden away.

When you do work it out, it's effective but not perfect (e.g. unless
you've setup presets switching off an effect takes a number of
different button presses to get to the control)

I read the reviews online and had some concern over the sound
quality - I'm glad to say these worries were unfounded.

The factory presets aren't fantastic - make your own and you'll be
a lot happier :)

I havn't stomped on it yet. It's a plastic box, the lcd screen
seems protected well enough to take rough treatment but I'm not
planning on giving it a beating, it wouldnt stand up as well as
your average metal stompbox.

I got the leaflet sent from korg before buying it, it took two days
to go from leaving a message on their answering machine to getting
the paperwork through the post.

For my general rock/blues style at a moderate level it's a very good
box, I tried some other kit and couldn't find anything nearly as good
for the price.

I like the sounds you can coax out of the effects and that the phrase
trainer is actually usable, the tuner and the drum machine are a
bonus.

Compared to what? It isn't a stage stomp box
and it isn't a rack effect. It's complex, but learnable

It's a wonderful sounding unit. The amount of sound processing
tech in this little package is astounding.

It looks very breakable, unfortunately.

I have absolutely no idea. The Korg website is an absurdity.

Get the AC converter from Musicians Friend. Batteries are a joke
in this.

Look, like some others have indicated below, this is NOT
an effect you plug into the front of an amp. It goes into the
auxiliary input (if you have such) OR it goes into the effects
RETURN (in other words, you don't "loop" it. Guitar -> PX-3 -> amp
effects Return input. Ok?) part of the effects loop, and takes
over the control of your amp. You no longer use the front face controls
of your amp (Volume, Tone, etc.), you use the PX-3 to control your amp.
*ALSO* - you have to get a converter plug from Radio Shack to
convert the PX-3's output from stereo to your amp's mono effects input.
(Unless, of course, your amp has a stereo effects input).

As far as the criticisms I've read concerning the PX-3's reverb and
delay, I have to wonder if some people have ears. They aren't the most
tweakable effects in the world, but what's there sounds fantastic.
I'm not overly crazy about the distortions, but, basically, nothing
beats a good guitar straight into a great tube amp for OD, feedback
and distortion, and you ALL KNOW that already. :)

Use good earphones, or follow the amp setup I've described above.
This thing works fine, and this kind of stuff is only going to get
better as time goes on.

(Tips: Arena (and its adjustable componants) are where you want to
start for clean stuff, Rasta is good also. Work the amp and speaker
sims for distortions and sustain, and especially the Pitch effects
at "d" and "-d". Use the Comp amp setting when you go through your
amp effects loop. Use the hyperbass button. Chew your food thoroughly
before swallowing and don't talk with your mouth full. Good luck).

Pretty simple for a digital piece. Easy to edit patches just click the arrow buttons and you're good to go. Manual is very good. I've had it for 8 months and have made my patches so that's cool.

Fender Tele and Fender strat w/ emg single coils. The unit sounds real good for the money. I am very critical of gear and I tend to buy way too much stuff and end up pissed. So, the amp simulations are very godd but you may have to tweak them to get the sound you like. The effects are very good, the modulation fx are good, esp. the phaser. The reverb sounds pretty lame. The delay is okay but it, like the rest of the unit is digital and it just doesn't have that warmth like a slew of stompboxes have. But as a pratice tool and midnight playing with headphones, it is good stuff. I plugged it into my Fender tubeamp and it just sucked the "personality" out of the guitar and added it own sound. With the emg pickups, it sounds like a toy. Its not too full sounding.

Plastic, about the size of a small wallet. Don't plan to gig with it. Just a pratice tool.

never contacted them.

Good for me for practicing at night, but I probably won't record with it. It is small and that is what I love about it. But not quite studio quality. Very impressive for the price and range of effects.

Easy to use personally.Very easy to get a good sound. Easy to edit the programs.
But might not be easy on the stage.

I'm using Fender standard strat and earphone. Sound is incredible clean. Even when I am using one of the single coils(which will hum when I use the distortion effect on my fender box),it's still like the machine is not on when I mute the strings.
Great 3D depth feeling.But it seems to because that the output is stereo.I doubt if it can exist when I use a speaker.
I don't quite like those distortioned pre-sets,which are not quite enough. But I can make my own "hard" sound out of it,which is really low-mid and heavy.
Sounds are beautifully trimmed.Though you might feel that they are too much trimmed,too clean,while not so bright or enought charactoristic.
The worst thing is lack of sustain.

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This little box is terrific! Right out of the box I was able to edit settings and change presets. If you take the time to read the manual,you're set. It is short, but clear.

I am using my trusty Fender American Standard Strat Modified with Fender Noiseless Vintage P'ups, Bullet 350's set for low action, and the Tremolo is blocked, A La Clapton. I Pump this thru an Electro Harmonix Micro Synth and a Stereo PolyChorus. For Recording I use a Johnson J-Station, and now,the PX-3! The PX-3 was as noiseless as my pickups. SOme of the presets are "weird," but the signature settings are tremendous. My Amp is a Fender Hot Rod DeVille 4X10. The effects are about as good as your decent (Boss) stomp box.

I don't gig anymore, but I do a lot of recording -- aspiring songwriter, you know -- and I plan on recording using some of the awesome signature settings.

I have not dealt directly with Korg.

I play Pop/Rock, Power Pop, and 70's / 80's Rock. I have owned a guitar since I was seven -- I'm 44! I am self-taught. I own a Fender Jazz Bass, and a Fender DG31 Acoustic equipped with a Fishman. I have a fairly well equipped Basement Studio. I would replace it if it was stolen (it is insured!!!) I love it's size, I think it is a marvel of technology. I wish the case were stronger, like made of aluminum or some light metal. It is great for practice, self-amusement, and I feel it will be a great studio tool.

I found this unit very easy to use, and I'm particularly impressed by the size. Attach it to your strap, use a decent wireless, and it's superb for playing live without having to remain static on stage - brilliant for all aspiring Eddie Van Halens !!!

Sound quality is generally very good, although there are quite a few pointless patches (see interval layering and strange keys). 'Arena' and 'Eddie' are impressive, sounding absolutely brilliant when DI'd !! Try using 'Eddie' as the rythmn for Satriani's summer song and you'll see what I mean !!!

Very reliable, and it will last quite a while on batteries, especially if you turn off the display light. Totally dependable.....

Not needed............

Having tried just about every effects unit, I found this to be consistently good in all areas. It comes very close, and can surpass on occasions, my Line6 pod.

how to get a sound of violina ,klarinet like vasilis saleas if ist posible and i like to have an etno tones with pandora because i heard ist posible with pandora please send me the patches how to edit this sounds thank you advanced

i play casio mg 510 midi guitar and the jaz chorus 120 amp.may favorite artist is vasilis saleas he playing a klarinet and he have veri special tone whith klarinet .
i whant to get thet his tone if is posible . distortion and chorus are very good.

i play a etno orient music. im very satisfied whith pandora px-3
it help me to make a good music

I was looking for a gizmo that I could hook up to a CD player for playalong practicing. The PX-3 was useful for this right out of the box - I plugged in my portable CD player, popped in the Jamey Aebersold/Andy Laverne playalong CD "Songs You Thought You Knew", plugged in the Sweet 16, and away we went! The factory presets that I paid attention to (WES, B.B., and JAZZ) worked very well, and were easy to tweak. I don't care much about distortion, so I won't comment other than to note that all the distortion settings sounded like distortion to me. I liked being able to alter the room ambiance and the speaker cab emulation so easily.

Using a couple of buttons, you select the effect family and type (e.g., ambiance/room 1), then adjust the level using a wheel. The display is easy to read if you have the backlight turned on, and gives both graphical and numerical feedback for the current setting of the effect being adjusted. Saving patches is easy, but I'd recommend making up your own parameters table form.

The manual is brief but appears to be complete. The one I got had English, French, and German sections. It seems only to lack a blank parameter-recording table for one's own settings. I wish the manual were available online as a PDF file.

Sound quality of this device was good to very good. I used it with a set of Sennheiser headphones (ear-covering but not sealing), a Panasonic portable CD player, and a Heritage Sweet 16. As I said above, I didn't spend much time on the distortion settings, but the straightahead settings I used all sounded pretty good to me. The PX3 seemed pretty quiet, except perhaps on some of the higher-gain distortions (while not playing), and even then it wasn't bad.

I tried it through my amp, an Evans 80, and it might get some use there, though I'm not much for effects. If one wanted to use this in a live situation one would have to set it once and use it that way pretty much all night - its user interface, though very nice in a practice/studio setting, does not lend itself to adjustment during performance.

Can I sound like my "favorite artists", namely Jim Hall, Keith Jarrett, Mike Noonan, Jack DeJohnette, et al.? No, but that's hardly the gizmo's fault. I can certainly imitate my favorite guitarists' tones, but that sure doesn't give me these guys' "sounds".

The effects I used all seemed to be high-quality to me. Again, I didn't use distortion much, so don't look to this review for info on whether you can sound like Ted Nugent playing Green Dolphin Street. It didn't quite sound the same as an amp on a chair 2 meters away in a room with a quartet on stage, but that's not a surprise. So sound quality isn't a perfect simulation of a live situation, hence the 9.

I've had this only a short time so I can't comment on its reliability. Although one could use this device for live performance, it's really not designed with that in mind IMO; and since I usually play live without any effects at all (occasionally with a detuner), sure, I'd use it on a gig without a backup. If it failed I'd just plug straight into the amp, no worries.

No experience.

Korg's website is awkward and difficult to use, though. Guess it looks nice, which after all is what counts, yes?

I play (at) jazz. The PX3 fits the job I had in mind for it perfectly. I'm not older than dirt, but I remember when they patented it, so I've been playing awhile - I should be better at it by now. My usual order of battle includes a Heritage Sweet 16 with a Kent Armstrong pickup, an Evans 80 amplifier, and a cable. Sometimes I use a Gibson ES335 or an Ovation Elite, or a Telecaster, and even more rarely I'll use a Boss Harmonizer. I like to practice late at night when everyone else is asleep, so I like having a headphone amp - this gizmo works far better than anything else I've tried, so I'll replace it when my son smashes it with a hammer. The PX3 does what it does pretty well, it's easy to use, it doesn't get in the way, and it's not annoying, so I give it pretty high marks.

I LOVE THIS BOX !!!! i've owned the PX-1 and PX-2, also. I love love love jammin along to the patterns. its very easy to get a great sound.
manual for the unit is ok.

i think the sound are really great. i really love play'n through headphones, really sounds good. very little noise with the unit.
i'm using a fender hot rod amp. i was able to get a good SRV sound. the SRV preset is aweful !!! i think the guy who programmed it at KORG was on drugs; way off dude !. the pink floyd sounds were also way off.
if anyone out there can instruct me on how to get a great david gilmore sound, please write me. i thought all effects were pretty good. there are some effect that i thought were useless, and wonder why they're in there.

no problems for a yr. seem reliable.
just make sure your plugged into a surge protector
i think the unit would be ok for a gig. i don't gig though.

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i play blues !!. been playen for 7 yrs. i would buy another if stolen, but i feel sorry for the asshole, if i find him. i love the jam along patterns. i love that i can change the key of the bass. i love that i can plug a CD into it and record. i love that i can slow the recording down. I love that i can play it on my couch. I just love it !

Read the manual! This is true for every gadget which has more than two knobs. It's simple, well written and very useful. A must if you want to use all the capabilities of the Pandora and KNOW what you're doing.
After that, it becomes very easy and quick to use. A very well concept! When finished playing, you can put it in your pocket :)))

The sound quality is great. A Korg. Some effects (those using LFO) are having some background noise due to the minimal input signal and the nature of the effect, but it's unnoticable while playing. Anyway, the NR (noise reductor, another great part) can handle it without problems.
A lot, lot, lot of features and effects. The EQ could be more parametric, but the other effect are great and really useful.
The technical design (number of bits in the AD/DA, the DSP, the sample rate) is far better than those of any competitor now (July 2000) - even the several times more expensive ones!

No complaints, but don't step on it! If jumping around on a HM gig, place it on a safe place and use a long cord. Or use wireless.

I hope I'll never need it!

If you are playing a lot of different kind of music, it has the effects for all of them: from ballroom oldies to the wildest, hardest, loudest Metal - almost everything is covered. No effect can do all the signal shaping you imagine, but with the PX-3 you can set up an appropriate one for the song you are going to play. As I mentioned before, the only thing I'd improve, it's the EQ. It's OK for a multieffect, but compared to all the features of the other parts, it seems shallow.
The most surprising is - the size. Like a cigaret box! It fits in your gig-bag or jacket pocket!
And don't forget: it's only $200! Incredible!

I have reconsidered my opinion of the PX3. I bought the PX3 again and have changed my opinion of the sounds you can get from the unit. Previously, I thought the distortion sounds were inferior to those I can program on my PX1. While I still think that almost all of the 50 factory presets are terrible (who programs this stuff anyway?), you can edit your own programs in the 50 user programs and come up with some very good sounds. It is alot harder to get what you are after from the PX3 than the PX1 IMHO, but the PX3's distortions are almost as good and the overall sound quality is superior to that on the PX1. I have discovered that the cabinet choice is critical in getting a good sound. For a Tubescreamer-type blues sound with a Strat, the 4X10 selection makes a world of difference (i.e., Fender Bassman type of tone). I have been able to come up with some good SRV, Jeff Beck, Hendrix and EVH programs on the PX3 by spending alot of time. However, for metal or heavy shred type distortion, I still think the PX1 is better. The fuzz is pretty cool for Hendrixy-type of sounds.

The reverb, delay and modulation effects are very good, but not as good as you would get from individual stomp boxes. For example, the vibe does not sound like a Rotovibe or Univibe, but more like a chorus.

I think I gave the PX3 an overall rating of 5 last time. After buying it again and spending more time creating patches, I think the unit should be given a higher mark. Also, the drum/bass loops are alot of fun to play over. While the presets are terrible on the PX3 -- and face it, all multi-effects units come with horrible preset programs IMHO -- if you spend some time with the PX3 you can come up with some extremely good sounds.

The PX3 is definitely the best unit on the market for headphone practice. While I am keeping my PX1, the PX3 provides alot more options and sounds.

This unit, in my opinion, is much easier to use/more intuitive than some of the other multi-effect units I have tried. I was able to get some really good sounds right out of the box. If you read the manual, you will have no problems.

I am using this unit with a Fender Mex Strat, Epiphone Les Paul Classic, Crate GFX-30 amplifier. A couple of the preset programs (ones with high gain) had a little noise, but not any more than just using high gain on the amplifier alone. Most of the preset sounds are just as they are named. A couple of the sounds are probably not very useful for performance, but are kind of cool to play with.

I don't think I would want to use this live, or bang it around a lot because of its size. Other than that, it seems reliable.

Don't know, haven't had to deal with them.

I looked at several multi-effect units before trying this one. After plugging this one in at the store, the first few sounds I heard were great - right out of the box. Other units I tried were not like this - you had to tweak the effect for it to sound like anything decent. The size of the unit makes it perfect for practicing with headphones. I love the rhythm/bass accompaniment feature. For all that this little unit does, it's great!

Well the amount of parameters that can be tuned is rather limited (no 5-band parametric EQ here :-) ) but upside to this is that you can dial in great sounds in a matter of minutes. Having a knob to twist and turn is also definitely an advantage for some fast tweaking. All effect options are very cleverly chosen, so that the limited adjustable parameters are never an obstacle for getting great sounds.

This little box really surprised me... sound quality through headphones is simply excellent. There's a variety of distortion colours to choose from, and the tiny hi/lo EQ allows you to do just enough tuning to get some superb tones out of this: anything from crystal clear to some crunch to tube screaming to razorsharp riffin' sounds is available, it's so simple to get just the sound you want and it all sounds amazingly truthful. My hat off to the cabinet emulator, because there are very few units that sound this great through headphones or for direct recording (I know a couple of high-priced rack units that cannot match this): even the harshest metal sounds can be tweaked to sound sharp, cutting and real life. Modulation effects shine through as well, and there's even some choice in chorus'ses, flangers and phasers that make up for having just one tunable parameter in the effects. Especially the chorus is pure crystal, Police- or Marillion-style sounds are there for the taking. Add to that both chromatic and harmonic pitch shifting and you've got one very complete package; the only remark I can make is that it's a pity not being able to combine both delay and reverb. Apart from that the unit offers some astounding sounds; from time to time I'd swear the PX-3 is a more than worthy match for my trusty old Rocktron Chameleon. If it came with a MIDI plug, I'd be quite tempted to hook up a foot controller and try it out on stage :-)

It does look and feel a bit more solid than its predecessors, but this is clearly more of a home/studio device than a gigging device. Haven't managed yet to blow it up either :-)

No clue whatsoever... a more extensive manual may have been nice.

Not having the luxury to crank up my Rockton Chameleon / Marshall combination in the confines of my appartment I was looking for a unit to do both quiet practising and recording. I must say that the PX-3 surprised me quite a bit; for a limited price you get a very complete and superb sounding package of effects that is perfectly usable even with headphones (which is something many units claim but very few manage to deliver). Calling this merely a practice toy is not doing it justice, despite it's limited tweakability this unit is more than usable for some direct recording as well. Soundwise this baby definitely has what it takes, and will outclass some more famous and expensive units when used with headphones or DI'd.

A small tip: try some thrashy distortion sound with the Pitch4 pitch shifter set to "d" (detune)... it's the good old trick of panning one guitar to one side and a slightly detuned one to the other: great lush stereo twin-guitar riffin' in an instant :-)

If now they'd only fit that MIDI plug :-)

user friendly.

great clean tones.
good distortions , but not enough.
if you like to have some higain low mid dist. this device dissapoints you.

yep.

no idea.

I mostly play Speed Metal ,
I`m huge fan of Dimebag Darrell , and usually I use a low mid. higain crunchy dist. but this tiny device is not as kick ass as I wanted it to be :))
Clean tones are incrediblly nice you can get almost anything you have on your mind.
You should buy an adaptor or soon you`ll pay a lot for the batteries , AAA size almost 8 bucks for a pack of eight !!
great built in rythm and bass for the beginners.
accurate built in tuner.
some of the presets are great and some are USELESS but there is nothing to worry you`ll have hard time to finish user programs !!!
the only thing that I didn`t like was that the compressor effect is parallel to the dist. and the only control you have over dist. is the gain and that is ALL.

generally I`m satisfied and I recommend it to any body who wants to PLAY SOMETHING GOOD !!! AND WILD !!!

Very easy to use. One quick read of the manual is all it takes. Patch editing is straightforward. Part of this is because there isn't a lot in the way of choices compared to other products, but there's more than enough to get good sounds.

I am using it with a G&L Legacy Special. It's only noisy when running amp sims that would be noisy in real life, for example &quot;SCOOP&quot; (aka a Mesa dual rectifier) with the gain cranked. There is a built in noise gate, too. The effects are of acceptable quality. This thing is really a practice tool, in my eyes. It would also be great for scratch recordings. I like the pitch shifting on it better than I did on my Digitech RP2000.

Very reliable. I already dropped it once, and it was fine. I wouldn't gig with it, because it's not meant for gigging. Unless you just leave it on the same preset for the entire time.

Korg's website contains little to no information about the product, other than the press release and one photo. No extra patch settings, user forums, or anything. This is about par for the course for Korg, apparently.

I like to play everything. I like to experiment with different sounds. The Pandora covers rock and roll sounds nicely. It doesn't provide much in the way for country sounds. It's an outstanding practice tool. The built in rhythm section is great for practice. I play it through headphones, but I also heard it through a small amp and it sounded fine to me. Of course, it helped that the guy playing through it was -very- good. It's a great little processor for bedroom jamming and practicing in out in the living room while not disturbing anyone else.

This unit is very easy to use...........because the buttons are all multi-functional you DO have to read the manual, but it's very well written

I use it through a fairly cheap pair of headphones or through a pair of Koss powered speakers. The sound is PHENOMENAL! I've bought so many battery powered small amps and headphone units.....they've all been very disappointing......the PX3 is unbelievably rich......and unlike most multi-effect units, the factory presets are VERY useable. I still can't believe Kord packed so many effects into this little thing........the distortions are-believe it or not-great....very creamy.....I've been able to get santana like sounds, death metal, van halen, whatever....obviously they don't sound just like a Mesa boogie or plexi marshall.....if it did, they wouldn't make tube amps any more.....but they're WAY better than what one would expect..very nice sustain.....the Chorus is probably the best effect in the unit.....it's the best chorus I've heard in a multi-effect processor, period.....and I own a GT-3!!. My favorite factory presets are &quot;summer&quot; an &quot;Every breath you take&quot; kinda sound, &quot;GooGoo&quot; a very creamy distortion, and &quot;Chorus&quot; a great stereo chorus clean sound. I use this for personal practice (I'm really into practicing with a metronome) but I may actually gig with it. I play two &quot;real book&quot; jazz gigs per month, and with a little bit of tweaking on the factory preset, &quot;wes&quot; I get a better jazz tone than I can get out of my GT-3!!! The drums sound as good as some drum machines.....you get 50 patterns with bass lines which you can turn on or off.....also you can select the key of the bass.......if you need to practice your improv skills, there's not a better tool on the market.

Well, this thing is not meant to gig with, I'd only use it on a gig for a song or two to get a specific tone, like the &quot;wes&quot; patch I mentioned earlier....but that'd probably be too much hassle. I haven't had it long enough notice any malfunctions......it seems about as sturdy as the typical walkman.......It comes in a card box, with the unit itself in bubble wrap...I suggest keeping both to store the unit in.....one thing I should mention....go to radio shack and get an adaptor for it. Mine ate 4 AAA batteries in less than two hours! OUCH!!!

Never dealt with Korg

I play in a straight jazz band doing Ellington, Coltrane, Davis, pretty much all standards. Hell, two of the dudes in the band are high school band directors, what does that tell you? LOL Also I have an all original rock band that actually thinks we're gonna make it. My guitar influences are the big 3:vai, satch, johnson, also michael hedges, dominic miller (from sting), andy summers, and pat metheney.........I've played for 11 years and taught for 5....I bought this unit mainly for personal practice..making use of the built in metronome for finger exercises and the drum/bass patterns for practicing my improv skill......it has way exceeded my expectations.....the sound is frighteninly cool. The other night, my band needed to finish a song, so we plugged the pandora into my koss powered speakers, got a drum and bass line going in the key of the song and started screwing around with ideas...it was so cool to be able to do this at a low volume with everybody around throwing their two cents.....it has made writing very easy. I think this is the best value of any guitar product out there. It's almost useless to gig with unless you only use one sound per song. It's just not convenient to reach down and change patches while playing. Imaging trying that with a rockman and you'll see what I mean. One change I'd make is to give it a belt clip. That would make standing practice a lot easier.

The pandora was very easy to use,since i had just graduated from the ax1g,which basically has the same interface.The drum/bass editing feature kicks ass,and is extremely helpful in recognition of beat patterns,and its just a fun backing to solos.I bought this because i needed something that sounded better than my previous unit(which is hard to beat),so who could beat korg but korg itself.
If you dont know how to use this thing right out of the package the manual is extremely helpful,and i read over it just for good measure.It also comes in 3 languages,which explains the thickness

The first time i plugged in i was using headphones,and what can i say, the sound was amazing.It's quality and tone could stand up to my friends rocktron voodo valve.The px-3 generates a world of sound around you,and i completely lose track of time.Some people say it doesnt sound as good through an amp,of course almost nothing sounds as good through an amp compared to headphones,unless you have a pretty damn good amp(i have a princeton,which is pretty good).

The ONLY thing i have with this awesome efx processor is the placement.I just kind of put it beside me on a chair or something,because i dont want to step on it or drop it.It would be quite useful to have a holder or something to strap it to the guitar or strap,but im thinking about velcro which could do the trick.One of the many things i love about this is the back lit lcd,which is extremely useful in darker settings and dim stages.When it comes to durability,many people say it's not meaty or heavy enough,but i think it could take a couple hard falls before being damaged.I would gig without a backup,and it has this "lockdown"feature that lets you lock all buttons except the program select feature,thereby eliminating embarrasing drum beats going through your solo because you accidentally hit the rythm effect button.Overall a well designed machine.

Ive never dealt with them,but ive had alot of korg effect units before so i like em,and the website is cool.

I play really heavy stuff like korn and some classical with some southern rock for good measure,and this unit more than suits my needs,and all of it is packed into this little box the size of an mp3 player!!!!!!!I dont know how they packed so much in there,its the best thing to ever to happen to me equipment-wise(is this review rave enough?).
I ve been playin for about a year or so,and i have a fender standard mexican stratocaster and a princeton chorus hooked up to an ax1g,which i am selling to a friend due to my newfound prodigy of an effects processor.I really love this box,it kicks ass.If there were anything that came withit besides the manual,it would be a leather case for it,like those cell phones have-that would be cool.

Very easy to get started.
Definitely need the manual for more complex (beyond headphone practice) settings.
This is ready to go out-of-the-box to blow you away.
Gotta give it a 8 though overall because, even once you've gone over the manual a couple times, some of the complex operations still don't match the labels on the keys and it's a bit tough to remeber some of the key functions.

Sound quality is simply AWESOME!!
Stratocaster guitar.
There are a few presets that are useless in my opinion:
o All the pitch shifters
o Flower
All the rest are outstanding, especially:
o Eddie
o Floyd
o Jimi
o FX Wah

Where's Alex?

So far, so good.
I don't think this is really set up for gigging though.

N/A

Overall rating is a 9-plus because the key functions really need to be a bit more obvious when it comes to the phrase trainer and the Center Cancel and Transposition functions.
I wish it were MIDI - hey, I can wish............

Takes just a bit of experimentation to get control over the different features, including programming your own sounds. I lasted a day before I lost the manual, and it really wasn't an issue. A couple of minor issues are rather than having the patches be numbered 1-100, they are numbered 1-50, then it repeats 1-50, but there is a small indicator that shows these are the user presets. Confused me for a bit because I thought I had lost my programmed sounds, then there they were again! Maybe I'm just dense. Other than that, haven't yet been able to figure out how to remove the center channel of the input channel. Finally, the ads say it will record up to 16 seconds of audio and will allow you to slow it down, but it only records 8 seconds. Maybe there is a lower quality sound option that extends it to 16 seconds, but I'm not sure. Need to fiddle iwth it more.

I'm using this with a Yamaha AES 800, directly into a $99 boom box. Believe it or not, it sounds great. (Even better than I used to get with my Rivera amp, since I play at low volumes. The presets didn't blow my socks off (the "funky", phased, and a couple of others were pretty good. The distortion didn't impress me especially, until I began tweaking sounds. Then I was much happier. Versatile. The only gripe I have is with the distortion sounds, there isn't much sustain. I can get a great Gary Moore/Santana lead sound, but it will only sustain for a few seconds. Bummer.

Very versatile. I wish there was a web site where people could exchange settings and compare them to song sounds (e.g. here is a "Europa" setting. . ."). If anyone knows of a site, please drop me a line.

Very pleased overall.

This unit is really easy to use. Although I am fairly technology literate I fine that many of the multi effects units out there can be difficult to navigate through the effects and editing. This is not the case with the PX-3. What really makes this useful is the LCD display that at a glance tells you most of what you need to know. I found the dial a good concept for controling the volume, but somehow wish that there was another dial for scrolling throught the presets. In addition, eventhough I have worked with the rythm section considerable, I still reach down and turn the wheel to adjust the volume, which inevitably changes the pattern I was working with. I have to agree with the other evaluations here - this unit would be outstanding for the price if there were a footpedal for live performances. That and a belt clip or something for the unit. Other than that, anyone can be jamming with the PX-3 within a few seconds of pluggin it in. I have toyed with the editing features, but haven't done enough yet to make a valid comment.

Quite frankly, I found the sound quality to be excellent. I was considering a number of other effects units including the POD and Zoom 505, but as soon as I heard this machine, there was no question. Definitely more than twice the machine of the Zoom, and although not as good cabinet simulation as the pod - the overall flexibility certainly sets it apart.

Sound quality wise, for most people this is king. Through the headphones it sounds great - If you have good headphones. Put it through a practice amp, or any single amp for that matter, and it falls apart. But that's to be expected. This is a stereo unit! You definitely need 2 amps or speakers to make this work. But don't go out buying a new amp. Most people have a stereo in their hose, so this is what I reccomend - get a patch cord that goes from 1/4" plug to two RCA connectors (actually I use the cable that came with my portable CD player and an adapter that takes the 1/8" plug to 1/4") and plugged it into the AUX input on my stereo. NAD Amp, Paradigm Monitors and a Mission Passive sub. In this configuration, anyone can make this puppy sound good. The Eddie setting is HUGE.

They couldn't have put a better sound for the first one as well - Summer - which is clean with chorus and delay. Very nice. Also - their named presets are probably as close as you are going to get to the sound of your favorites. Floyd - try playing Brick in the wall part 2, Angus - do the intro to Thunder Struck or Highway to Hell. I also like Subharm which is a great jazzy tone.

On the flip side, some of the pitch shifting sounds are really useless to the average player. I think they could have found some better patches than these for the presets. Pretty obscure. Because of these, I would have to drop the score down a little.

The presets should keep most people happy for a long time.

Oh yeah - I like the noise reduction feature. Makes the PX-3 as clean as you want it to be.

Not had it long enough to comment. One word of advice - watch those batteries!

Havent had to use it. Heard it's good.

A definite must buy. If you had to replace this with the equivilant number of pedals and rack units, you would be into the big bucks. I think that any beginer should save the money spent on a practice amp and buy this thing. I usually don't buy things on impulse, but one chord out of the PX-3, and my credit card was out!

With a built in tuner, rythm machine, playalong with cd ability including the feature of removing the center channel (gets rid of lead guitar and vocals) for play along, as well as the ability to sample a segment of a cd, slow it down and maintain proper pitch for learning riffs, and to much for me to type, the PX-3 is one of those must have items for the beginer. I have been playing for about a year and nothing has prompted me to play more and helped me move my playing to the next level and above. Oh yeah - the fact that it fits in your gig bag is just sweet! only as big as most tuners!

Easy and selfexplanatory to operate right out of the box. HAven't played around yet with customizing it as I am having way to much fun with the factory settings

Using it with a Mexican Strat and Kramer Pacer with 2 humbuckers. I like the sound I get with the strat much better so far, especially when using the headphones. The factory settings are superb, again this is primarily through headphones. The built in drum machine is great as is the ability to plug in and play along with a CD or tape

This is a great little toy. I would not use this for a gig as changing the settings on the fly would not work well at all. The piece is extremely light weight, and I don't know how many hard knocks it can withstand. Time will tell. But I think that Korg is a very reliable and respected brand, and this is the third generation of Pandora. So I give it an 8 mostly because of it's plastic case

Worked great right out of the box

Playing on and off for 20 years. This is the third headphone/practice amp, multi-effect box I own. It beats anything I have, and have tried so far. Was looking into the POD as well as Tech21 amps for simulation, but the factory settings alone on this one made it a worthwhile purchase. All the other features are an added bonus.
This little gadget is usefull for any style of music. I play hard rock, blues, heavy metal, and progressive rock. But this thing is so versatile and sounds so great that I find myself trying out all kinds of sounds I have never tried before.

To make a long story short, I cannot put my guitar down and have to stop simply because my fingertips cannot take the abuse anymore.

Really easy to use, although some of the button selections to get at some of the 'deeper' options are a little cryptic. The basic options are really easy though, so it is straight out of the box, and off you go.

Overall the sounds are good rather than spectacular (although the Jimi H effect is quite something). Usual range of distortion / delays make for useful rather than exciting settings. Haven't used it much through an amp as it is really setup for practise situations - the controls wouldn't support use on stage.
Clean sounds are good.

Seems solid enough - although I haven't owned it for that long. Not likely to use it for a gig though becasue (a) the controls are inappropriate for quick, onstage changes, and (b) battery life is only some 9 hours max with 4*AAA, so it would be risky....... Could use it in conjunction with another footpedal as an effect to be sent/returned....if you see what I mean. This would allow you to use it as a single sound setting on stage, and to run power rather than batteries to it. Culdn't us eit on it's own though.

Never had to use it

I play mostly rock in a covers band. So for practice it's excellent. Sounds are fine, I can take an inline feed from my (small) minidisk player & jam along. The inline pitch-shift is wonderful for this too. Backing bass/drums are OK - but very limited. If the primiary aim is practise - then it comes highly recommended, but I wouldn't labour under any illusions about using it live. The controls are wrong, there is no clip to clip it anywhere useful (although I have heard that certain cellphone leather cases will fit).
I'd buy it again if lost/stolen, it sits fine alongside my Digitech RP-1, and is very useful in my home studio. The only alternative I considered was the (discontinued) Zoom 9000 series.

Pretty easey, you'll need the manual for a couple of things.

For what I use it, it's great. When I go on vacation, I take this along with my Yamaha travel guitar just so I can practice an hour a day and stay in shape. I play chord solos with a little reverb, and practice scales with the rhythem patterns. Some day, I'm sure, they'll have one where you can program the bass instead of the presets... Lately I found another great use for it: I play weekly solo guitar at a very small (but classy...) restaurant with my Godin nylon. Iv'e been using a Fender AmpCan so I can move around easily, and I just started using the Korg for a little reverb. I use the "Garage" setting at around 12. Nothing else. It works great. There's only one problem, see next category.

The thing works great, and is reasonably solid, however... DON'T LET THE BATTERIES RUN DOWN!!!! Keep an eye on the battery indicator, you got, at most, half an hour of playing time before this thing emmits the most horrible squeal you've evber heard. At home that's fine but live it can be a little embarrassing. Other than that, no problem.

Great! For practicing on the road, small gigs etc., I couldn't think of anything that works as great as this one. It's VERY small and the backlight is great for those dark restaurant situations. Just don't let the batteries run down...

If you want to play the Pandora straight out of the box, it is pretty easy. When you want to start getting deeper into it's features (programming effects and using the rhythm section), you'll need the manual. Once you get the hang of it, though, there's not much to it.

The sound varies depending on whether you're playing through an amp or if you're playing through headphones. I'd give the sound quality through an amp an 8, and a 10 through headphones (hence the overall rating of 9). For reference, I'm using a Fender California Stratocaster and a Fender Blues Jr. tube amp.

The Pandora doesn't sound it's best through an amp; it seems to lose some of it's sharpness, but it still sounds pretty good. Some of the presets don't sound too good, but many sound great. My favorites are Jimi, Eddie, Flowers, Phased, BB, 90's. The presets of famous artists come pretty close to creating their sounds. The reverb settings on the Pandora are excellent. You can choose different sounding reverbs, like Hall, Arena, and my personal favorite, Garage. The built in rhythm patterns, while a bit corny, are quite fun to play around with.

I first tried the PX 3 through my amp, and I was quite pleased with it. When I plugged in a pair of headphones, though, I was extremely happy with this purchase. Using the headphones, the sounds seem to really come alive. The stereo chorus, which sounded good through an amp, is aboslutely beautiful. The phaser jumps from side to side. The reverbs sound even better they did before. The distortions and overdrives sound much more powerful. It might be useful for you to know that the output jack on the Pandora is 1/4 inch. If you have a pair of headphones with a 1/8 inch cord, you'll need to pick up an adapter from a place like Radio Shack.

This unit has a very warm, tube-like sound. Most of the effects are quite good, but some of the pitch shifters leave something to be desired. While there are some preset programs that you won't ever use, you'll be able to program just about any sound you could want (and you can store up to 50 of your own programs).

For home and studio use, it would be quite reliable. I don't gig, but if I did, I don't think I could rely on the Pandora. It is small and made out of plastic, you know.

Haven't had to deal with Korg, and I doubt I ever will.

Since this is a multi-effects unit, it is suitable for just about any style of music you can think of. There are hardly any sounds that you can't get out of this little thing. For the price, you'll have a hard time finding anything that matches the features and great sound of the Pandora. You'll have a hard time finding a better headphone amp. If it were lost or stolen, I'd definitely replace it. I feel the PX-3 is well worth the money I spent. Let's hope Korg puts out a PX-4. If they do, I'll surely pick it up.

The PX-3 is extremely easy to use once you give the onwers manual a brief once over. You can definetely just plug in and play without ever touching the owner's manual but to learn all the little intricate stuff built into this little blue box, the owners manual will provide that. Extremely well written, not like some others I've (can I get an amen from all those Digitech onwers out there!!). It features a rotary wheel for preset changes, 50 factory and 50 user presets, one 1/4" input, one 1/4" ouptput which is stereo and a 1/8" aux jack for bringing in an outside audio source (CD player, tape, etc). You can jam-along with the outside source and there is a center cancelling feature to try to wipe out the vocals anf guitar solos. This I haven't really messed with, it will only work if the vocals and guitar were recorded on the center track. There is also a phrase trainer which will allow you to record up to 16 seconds of a song, loop it and even slow it down to as much as 25% without changing pitch. This is a really cool feature and works as advertised. Also built in is a rythym section, both drums and bass. The PX-2 had the drums but the PX-3 adds bass lines. Pretty cool for soing little jams. One complaint I do have is the inability to hook up some sort of foot controller for patch changing. I realize that the intent of the PX-3 is for personal practicing but having the ability to use a footcontroller would make it that much more versatile for those planning on live use. I know other processors like the Zoom Fire and the discont. Zoom 9002 offered this ability. I went to a Korg clinic a few months ago and the guy running it said he used his PX-2 live all the time, he taped it to his guitar strap. Interesting but...ahh no.

Right now I'm using the PX-3 as a headphone practice amp/learning tool. I'm using it with all three of my guitars, PRS Swamp Ash Special, EBMM Axis and Ovation Standard Balladeer. They all sound great. I haven't tried it with my amp yet (Fender Hot Rod Deluxe) and I probably won't for two reasons. One is my buddy who has a PX-2 tried his through his Fender amp and it didn't sound that great, seems as though the Pandora series suffers from the same ailment as the Line 6 POD, they all love full range applications (i.e. headphones, direct to mixer/multi-track, PA system, etc) and don't shine through gear specifically designed for guitar. Secondly, I have a separate effects setup for my Fender HRD (Marshall Jackhammer, Boss Super Phaser, Boss DD-3 Digital Delay and Dunlop Limited Edition Crybaby) which I wouldn't think about replacing with the PX-3. This may sound whacked, but when I'm using my full setup, I may put the PX-3 in line in bypass to take advantage of its tuner since I don't have a play through tuner. Today I was pleasantly surprised however when I brought the PX-3 to the studio. I was too lazy to bring my amp and effects board with me so I brought the little guy with me instead. Holy crap, did it sound awesome!! Straight into the mixing board in mono, this little walkman sized toy sounded fantastic, even when thrown into the mix of a Fafner bass amp and a Line 6 POD. Made me think twice about my full sized setup. As far as presets go, alot of them were really good (surprisingly enough!!) especially some of the artist style presets (AC/DC, Van Halen, SRV, Deep Purple, etc). All the effects are really good. Very simple stuff (flanger, chorus, phaser, reverb, delays, cabinet sims, etc) and simplified tweaking. If you're looking for stomp box tweakability, this isn't for you. I wasn't looking for something that was to complex so I give this category the highest marking.

I could definetely depend on it for what I'm doing. If I were to gig, I highly doubt I would use this over my full setup. This has nothing to do with reliability, this is due to lack of foot "controllability".

I've never dealt with Korg.

I've been playing for over two years now and have been through a lot of gear on my rocky road of learning and determining what is right for me in all applications. I've owned various multi-effects processors which had all the in depth tweaking one could handle: Alesis Midiverb IV, Boss GX-700, Boss GT-5, Zoom 510, the POD and have tried various others such as various Digitech products (from RP-7 up to the 2120), Zoom products, Johnson Millenium, Rocktron Voodoo Valve, various modelling amps, the list goes on. After finally settling on my current full setup (HRD with the above listed pedals) and forever swearing off multi-effects processors and going tube with the bare necessity of effects, I found I really wanted something I could use in my living room, my den, anywhere on headphones with some effects capablility. I was using a JD-10 for that but it really wasn't what I was looking for. I had been busting my buddy's chops who has a Pandora PX-2 since he bought it and what did I end up with? Well, not a PX-2, but close enough! :) It really is great for private practice and the fact it sounded awesome in direct record was an added bonus. As I stated before, the only downside I can see is the lack of foot control. I do find I like to turn effects on and off while playing and switching over from cleans to distorted tones and when I need to do this, I'll have my full setup ready to work. As far as convenience , sound quality at $189.99, built in ryhthym machine, jam-along, and phrase training, it can't be beat in my opinion.

Considering all the features, I found the PX3 to be very easy to use overall.

I bought the PX3 hoping that it would sound as good as the PX1 with more features. Unfortunately, while the clean sounds are definitely superior on the PX3, the distortions do not sound anywhere near as good to me. I was able to program a great SRV, EVH, blues and metal patches on my PX1, but there is a certain buzzy quality to all of the distortions on the PX3 that I could not get rid of. Also, all of the presets are horrible and you cannot program over them like you can on the PX1. The drum/bass presets are fun to jam over, but are rather limited. I used both single coil and double coil guitars when using the PX3 and was not impressed with the distorted sounds. I returned the PX3 and will stick with my trusty PX1 for headphone practicing.

I really love the Pandora PX1, but the distortion, overdrive and fuzz tones on the PX3 are not anywhere as good. I spent enough time trying to program decent sounding patches that were at least as good as those I programed on the PX1, but had no luck. Others may like the distorion/overdrive sounds on the PX3, but to me that had a very "beer commercial" tone to them. To bad, because many of the features on the PX3 and the clean sounds are very good. If Korg comes out with a PX4, I give another shot, as I generally like their products.

I love the PX3. It is very easy to use and get good sounds out of, at least in headphones. Editing the patches is a breeze once you figure out how it works. The manual is decent and will get you started, but it doesn't take long to put it down start playing. I give it a ten rating for ease of use. If you have any experience using other effects processors, like the Digitech RP series, for example, this thing is a peice of cake.

I mostly use the PX3 with and American Standard Strat and a pair of Sony headphones to practice at home. This is what I believe the unit was made for. The sound qaulity is nice with this setup. I've tried to use it with my band, through my Roland JazzChorus 120, and it sounded kind of weak and trebly when it was cranked up, compared to my RP-1. Maybe it was just my setup and I didn't really play around with it to try to get a better sound, so your mileage may vary. Some reviewers have had better results.

The drum and bass sounds are fun to use, but they sound like your little brother's old Casio keyboard rhythms, in other words, pretty cheesey. But hey, whatda ya want, its not a drum machine! If the next version (PX4?)improves on this, it will make a great product that much better. I'll give it an 8 for the sound quality.

I've had the PX3 for about 2 months and so far so good. It is a light little thing, mostly plastic, and it would be nice to see it a little beefier, but if you are careful and don't drop, it should be fine. I wouldn't use it for a gig.

Haven't had to deal with them.

Overall, it is a great little toy. I play mostly rock and blues (been playing for 9 years) and it suits me. Great for practice and jamming in your living room without having you wife tell you to turn it down (use headphones!). Go get one!

The manual is well-written & editing it is also easy. The presets cover many styles, U can use them to start your own sound.

It has most of the guitar efx U can think of, the compressor, distortion & the delay sounds very good to me. But the modulation type efxs are too digital to my taste. It also gives me very good direct recording results.

I broke my PX-2 for dropping it many times on ground, that's why I bought this PX-3. U really need to find a way to settle it in studio & gigs, the guitar lead would pull it on to the ground.
Dropping the PX-2 many times before it's damaged also showed the PXs are quite tough- not the best way to test gears though.

I mainy play easy-listening jazz fusion, this Px-3 acts as my major recording preamp in studio & I record my lastest cd with it. Of course it can't be compared with my Boogie in gigs but it does help me to lay down good tube-sounding guitar tracks in recording situations. I would buy it again for its price/quality. I do wish Korg put out an upgrade of it with footswitch & proper power supply (When I bought this thing in the shop, I was not told that Korg has an optional power supply for Px-3). I do use it for rehersals sometimes & playing live in a really small space, especially when I don't feel like carry things around.

The manual was cool and helped with the bits where one button press means the difference of losing the patch or not.

Had difficulty understanding why sound jumped to one side if Chorus was not on. All in all sounds are good and I will be gigging with it soon. Pity there was 'nt an option to add compression before the overdrive section. Distortions/overdrives were natural sounding and really lets my strat sound classy.

Cant say until I've tried it. Missed oppertunity with no solid clamp (for mike stand) or amp holder as it may hit the dirt if it's moved suddenly.

I play all types of music in semi pro covers band , from Blues Brothers to Pink Floyd via Gary Moore and Santana. I've been playing for 23 years (yes i'm that old !!) I own mainly Jap guitars (USA too damn pricey) Tele/2 Strats/Les Paul. I liked the PX3 coz its portable , good sounds , and has a CD aux in so I can practice without disturbing the street. I just wish thought had gone into the live band situation eg a holder / stand clamp etc, also it could have had small footswitch (only up or down change would have been godsend). I have had most models of this type from the Roland "Playbus" via Zoom 9002 and JHS Rock box and found (obviously !) the latest incarnation is the best. I may even be selling my zoom 4040 if this blue box works out well enough!!

The Korg Pandora PX3 is well worth the the $200 I spended to get it. Once you read the instructions and learn to use it, it's as easy as breathing.

I'm using my PX3 with a Fender American Standerd with three gold lace
pickups and a 25db mid boost and TBX. Mines sounds (at least I'm told)
alot better than the Fender Eric Clapton model Because of my mid boost.(I'm not telling where I got it. Ha.Ha.) Now if I could only play like him. But any way my Fender sounds like a dream through the PX3. I can make any sound I could dream of through this.

I've accidently dropped mine on a studio floor and it still worked like a charm.(although I don't recamend this) I've used this through a mixing board on gigs and it is just marvalous.

I've never had to deal with Korg,but if I do, I hope their not like Fender.

I am a blues player and the blue Px3 fits my bill to a tee. I've been playing for about four years and I am pretty damn good.( I better be; I practice for at least four hours every day.) I love the fact that I don't have to hook up all of my pedals to get a particular sound. I just pust a button or two and thats it. It's the greatest thing I've bought since my trusty mid-boost. Comparing the PX3 to the PX2 is like comparing the 96' Impala to the 99'. This product is totally outstanding for any level of player. When I first got it, (mail ordered from Musicians Friend) I was kinda mad because the thing is so small. But once I used it, I was blown away.It was well worth my very hard earned $200 on.( I'm a college student) If it were lost or stolen, I would some how put the whole country under marshall law, and when I find the bastard that stole it, I would cut his %&*! off with a
dull kitchen knife.

Unit is easier to use than the mark 1 or the mark 2 .The wheel is a real plus point as is the backlit display.The tuner is better than the previous models.

As with earlier models the sound quality and effects are very good for a unit of this size.The drum and bass sounds are ok but sound a bit old compared with most drum patterns/sounds out now.There are more presets now and I did not like that many of them.Too many distortion sounds not enough clean ones.Having 50 user patterns is a very useful addition to the mark 3.

Here is the problem ...If you have the drum pattern running and you change the effect as you change the drum pattern misses beats and speeds up and then down.The mark 2 did not do this.Had a problem with the wheel when changing the drum tempo sometimes changing the tempo caused the unit to crash drums just stopped.Had to switch off unit and switch on again.Unit did the same on another unit too

N/A

Think the mark 3 has potential but I think Korg have tried to cram too much into the new unit without pushing price up..think they should have looked harder at quality of drums/bass rather than the price of the unit.

Wow, can you say easy to use? When I played with it at the store, it seemed a bit confusing. (but then again I wasn't playing a guitar, just pushing buttons) Once you parouse thru the manual for a few minutes, it becomes easy to figure out. The Patch editing is a breeze and can be done in 30 seconds once you get the hang of it. This thing is packed with a ton of little features, like the bility to change the function of the jog whel in the corner. (it can serve as the master volume or patch selector, depneding on how you set it) The manual is long enough to get you going in the right direction and explains all of it's features, but not voluminous like some others. It is thinck because it has three or four different translations in one book. I do agree that I wish they hadn't folded the manual to get it in. Oh well, no big deal... I also have a DOD FX-7 that is nowhere near as powerful as this is, and this is still easier to use.

Wow again. This thing has unbelievable sound quality. The distortion processors are actually very faithful. The tube setting sounds as close as you can get to a tube without real tubes. (The only thing closer is my Crate CX-40C, The clean channel is so good that people mistake it for a real tube amp)Some of the heavier distortion settings (they call it scoop, crush, hotbox etc..)tend to sound alot alike. I almost wish that they had made it one kind of "Heavy" distortion with alot more settings. But there are 9 different types of distortion and a compressor, so you ought to find something you like. The Graphic Equalizer settings could stand to be a bit better, as it is now you can only boost/cut your high/low only. (two channels) The list of effects is amazing. There are four different kinds of choruses, Vibrato, four typres of flanges, two kinds of Double Vibrato (I dunno what it means either, but it sounds cool) four kinds of flangers, 2 tremelo settings, 2 pan settings, 2 autowahs, a fixed wah settings, (you dial up how open it is and it stays there) three random step filters, (once again, I have no clue what this is but it sounds real cool, kind of a spacey feeling) and a bunch (eight, I think) of pitch shifters. All of these are very good, some of the choruses tend to sound alike, once again I'd rather they just have one kind with more settings. All of these have one parameter that can be changed, and that parameter depends on what kind of effect it is. The manual tells you exactly what it is changing, I just fiddle with it until it sounds like what I want. The only disadvantage to this is that you can only run one effect at a time. IE you can't do a flange and chorus at once. I'm not an effects guru, but it seems like only the real high-end processors (like the Digitech RP 10's and up) actually let you do this. I once read somewhere that these are not effects that you would run together anyway, but I like to play around... The next setting in the patch programming is the Reverbs and delays. Once again, bunches of types of delays, inculding a stereo pong effect. However, like with the effects section, you can't run reverb and delay at the same time. (or if you can I didn't see it in the manual) Next, there is the cabinet emulator. Six different cabinet settings give you a wide variety of choices. And all of these settings actually sound good too. There is also a noise gate, (which cannot be turned off, but can be dialed way back) It even lets you name your patches, which helps. The factory presets are pretty good, I'm not sure as to how accurate they are to the artists they claim to emulate, but they're a good starting point for ideas. The sampling feature lets you grab ten seconds of a CD or tape and slow it down all the way to 25% speed. It doesn't distort the sound at all, but the way they do it it gets hard to hear the individual notes at playback speeds lower then 50 or 60 percent. It's got a tuner that is pretty good, it shows you how far off the mark you are so if you want to hone in on a specific tuning you can, like Drop-D or going a half step down. (you can even change the reference pitch from A440 to another pitch)Overall, the sound quality on this box absolutely amazes me. I cant believe how well this thing sounds for such a small box.

The unit is of course plastic and looks pretty cool. I don't know about how sturdy it is, I haven't played on stage with it. It feels incredibly light. I'd feel alot better if it was a bit heavier, that way you know there is some meat to absorb any impact. It's primary job is to give you a reliable way to pratice with your headphones at home, and it should hold up beautifly if you use it for that purpose.

Just bought it, hope to ver have to use CS.

By far this was worth the money. I went into MARS Music to buy the Pandora PX-2, but the salesman told me about this. I was reluctant to part with almost 230 bucks (the AC adaptor is NOT included and you have to buy it seperately, MARS sells one that works with it for 8 bucks)but I am glad I did. It truly is a great processor if you want to practice on your own. It doesn't come with any footswitches, so it would be difficult to use in a concert setting. I do wish it had a way to switch patches without having to stop playing, it really kills the guitar solo when you have to stop to switch between your lead patch and your rythm patch. The main purpose of this processor is to give you the best way to play at home with headphones and a CD player. ANd it does this beautifly. My advice, if you have the money, and you are looking for something to use at home, then get this. It is well worth it.

Fortunately, the PX-3 is very easy to use. That is important, because you are likely going to want to tweek the patches that come pre-set at the factory. The addition of the wheel is a vast improvement, and the back-lit screen is much nicer than the PX-2.

How do they do it? This thing is so small, so light...but it kicks-ass! I run a custom strat through it and use Sennheiser headphones. The sound is phenomenal. I do think, however, that the pre-set patches kinda suck. That said, some minor(or major) tweeking, and the sounds are great!

Never had a problem with the PX-2, but I do agree with the another user's commnents that the power switch is a little flimsy.

Never needed customer support

I think you would be hard-pressed to find a better value. For about 200 bucks and some change, you get a light, portable, yet powerful and easy to use personal amplifier that kicks-ass. What more could you want? Buy this product...you wont be sorry!

As usual, right out of the box the factory settings are so-so. A few patches like "Eddie" and "Angus" are simply incredible. It seems as if the PX3 design team tried to match up patch names with the people they sound like. That makes great sense. The manual is very easy to use except for two annoyances: the book is folded during shipping and now it won't bend back to being flat, and the list of presets doesn't give the actual settings (like in the PX2's manual). If you want to see the settings, check out my web site at http://www.users.fast.net/~jwoertz/music.html. The PX3's new data entry wheel makes it incredibly easy to create and edit patches. And the enhanced LCD display screen is a real plus. In less than half an hour, I completely understood how to create and edit patches.

I use a Fender Strat Plus with Lace Sensor pickups through a Fender Deluxe 112 amp. Compared to the Pandora PX2, this unit is EXTREMELY quiet with my setup. Korg did a fantastic job on all the new patches. I am happy to see that every patch doesn't have to use the noise reduction all the way up to get a good sound. I also noticed that the noise reduction doesn't "fade out" as obviously as with the PX2. I also own a DigiTech RP-7 and the Pandora PX3 sounds better through the headphones and the amp. The COMP (compression) is outstanding and I can get a beautiful clean sound by mixing compression with chorus and delay. Then I choose which type of speaker cabinet emulation (almost always "4X12"!) and name the patch, and I'm set. The auto-wah is also an interesting effect. If you tweak the EQ right, you can get a great slow auto-wah Joe Satriani sound with a little delay. Awesome.

THE PX3 seems to be built very well. I guess the only thing that doesn't impress me is the flimsy power switch. It slides over and is a little too loose. A button would have been much nicer. But all in all, it seems about as durable as one could expect from such a small piece of electronics. One drop on a hard floor might kill it - not because it isn't made well, but just because of the small size and complexity of the thing.

Never had to deal with them. I used to work in a music store and Korg didn't have the best reputation with customer service. Maybe that's different now. WHo knows. I can't really give them a fair rating here, so I'll leave this one blank.

I play all kinds of music except country and rap. I like the sound of Angus Young's setup but something about Satriani's wah technique really is the perfect sound for me. The PX3 (believe it or not) can really match any sound I'm looking for. Of course I would buy one again if it were lost or stolen! I love the fact that it's so tiny. I can sit on the couch and jam all night without getting yelled at! And the fact that you can name each patch instead of giving it some meaningless number is great. I do wish Korg would have upgraded the drum samples, though. Even with the addition of the bass guitar to the drum patterns, the drums need lots of work. I never use them. The backlight and tuner are great. It really brings out my creative side more than any other effects unit I've ever owned. Please check out my "PX3 Patch Sheet" on my site at http://www.users.fast.net/~jwoertz/music.html

Switching around is easy, and the data wheel is a nice feature. Other features include, rhythm/bass patterns, intelligent harmonizer, built-in tuner, and the usual dist/modulation effects. Manual is not needed to get going, but is useful and is in fairly understandable Jap-lish. Had to consult the manual briefly to figure out how to change tempo and key on the rhythm/bass patterns. The funk and blues patterns are fun to jam with. Also has straight metronome, useful for practicing scales. I'm trying to give out less 10's because these reviews are not particularly useful with all raves so I'll give it an 8.

Sounds are much better than the zoom 505 which I recently sold. Blues and Jazz tones are nice, it's the crunch/gain stuff that always leaves me wanting with typical headphone units. This one is better but not great.
First a few notes about using a headphone unit. I'm not an electronics guy, but let's apply a little common sense. Most people are going to say here that the "sound is OK thru the headphones but sucks through an amp." Fine, but remember it doesn't have a line or instrument output, it puts out enought power to drive a speaker (headphone) albeit a small one. Do you think if you plugged your guitar into your beloved Tube Screamer and plugged the headphones straight into the output of the TS-X you could hear anything? (Actually, I think it would come thru very faint, almost inaudible).
The point I'm getting at here, is turn the volume way down to match your guitars normal output. Let the power section of your amp do the work. Of course there's going to be hiss etc. if you have it cranked to (small) speaker levels. I did this through a pignose 40w tube amp into a 2x12 cabinet. Sounded decent, NOT pod or flextone, but decent.
Another similar point, with getting better tone out of this unit. If you use $200 home audio headphones or even decent $50 sony's the highs are going to sizzle. On any headphone unit I use, I seem to get better tone from these cheaper Koss closed headphones. When listening to a home stereo the Koss has significant loss of highs. It worked perfect for guitar applications. Point: You don't plug your Marshall super-lead into Polk Audio home stereo speakers right? Of course not, you use special mid-rangy guitar spkrs. Same applies to the headphones, it would be neat if someone made a set of cans for guitar only. The koss thing was a fluke and not perfect.
So, don't get me wrong with the 7 rating. The sounds are very good and much more "real" tone than the previous PX versions. Is it tonal nirvana? No, but it's a great practice tool. The effects section is fine, don't notice anything special or worse with their modulation effects.

Not really a gigging tool, but I wouldn't want to drop it. It would be decent enough to use *as* the backup if your amp fried, you can put the pandora through the PA, remembering to roll down the highs on the board. It would get you through the set at least.

I won't say but I wouldn't expect "boutique" type support. You probably would get shuffled around in a huge Japanese company, might be better to go your dealer.

Great practice tool! Forgot to mention digital phrase sampling (or riff slow down without pitch change). I think they give you 16 seconds to sample riffs from your cd and learn them. I paid almost $200 for a unit just for music study (it samples several minutes however). So I give the korg an 8 for decent tone with a tone of useful features. A great practice tool!

All Pandoras have a great sound using Sony studio Monitor headphones. This newest offering has 100 presets, a built-in 8 second phase sampler for jamming to loops, etc. Best feature yet- a bass-player-in-a-box, that follows the drum machine perfectly, doing 1/4/5/ blues progressions in ANY key you select. It really sounds like you are play to a band! The new rotary wheel makes volume changes, etc. even easier than before. This unit is somewhat complex, and requires that you read the manual to really learn how the features work, editing, etc. Many of the switches have multi-functions, and you can't just wing it until you understand it. The manual is well laid-out.

Many of the factory presets are kind of funky, basically used to showcase examples of what can be done. 50 factory presets, and and additonal 50 blank preset for storing your favorite tones. I use these exclusively for headphone practice, and they are GREAT! I don't think they sound outstanding through an amp, however. But what do you want out of something 2 3/4" X 4 1/2", and less than 1" thick.

I have never had any trouble with ANY of the Pandora family. This new unit uses 4 AAA batteries....PX1 & PX2 used 2 AA. But this thing does SO much more than the other two units. The color is blue-chrome over a matte finished plastic case- really cool.

I have never delt with Korg directly, but did have the opportunity to meet one of the key designers at the NAMM show in L.A. Jan 99'. A very friendly and informative guy- he REALLY knew the Pandora family! And was rightfully very proud, and gave great demonstrations!

When I'm at home, I play only through the Pandoras. I can get the 'Wall of Sound' and not disturb the rest of the family. They have been a real marrige saver! And the stereo imaging of the echos using good headphones sounds better than playing out of an amp, to me.

Data wheel is a big improvement over previous models

Much improved over previous versions. Especially the voicing of the Distortions. Sounds especially good through a PA or direct recording. not nearly as Processed sounding as the other versions.

Who knows, just bought it. I have had both the PX1 and PX2, never a problem with either.

Excellent for direct recording, personally I don't like the sound of most other direct recording devices but this sounds excellent on tape. a tremendous improvment, also quieter than the previous versions. the harmonizer effect could be better but for the size and price it's great