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.