Korg PX-4 Pandora

The PX4 is releativly easy to use straight out of the box and the controls are fairly intuitive. Contrary to some of the other reviews the patches ARE easy to edit but like with any other programmable effect unit you have to take enough time with it to get it right. There is a reason why it comes with a manual. I am a studio guitarist/bassist and have been playing for 35 years. I spent around 24 hours in total programming the user patches, and have not had to do anything else with it since except turn it on. The manual, while sparse, gives you all the information necessary to make use of all the available functions. My unit is an original-non upgraded PS4-and i have owned it for 4 years.

I don't bother with the pre-sets. They are generic and generally crappy. The rest of the effects work just fine IF you take the time to twiddle the knobs to optimize their sound. Some of the effects (ring modulation; single coil to humbucker for example) are of relatively limited use. The unit is noisy but that can be remedied quite easily by turning the treble from 10 to 9. It also has a built in noise reduction feature(once again; READ THE MANUAL). I own a dozen guitars running the range from hi to lo end ('61 Strat, '63 Jaguar, Les Paul Gold top, Gibson Flying V2, Danelectro Innuendo, Squier '51 etc.) I also have 4 basses('66 Hofner 'Beatle', Yamaha Rbx 270, '65 Jazz, Gibson sg 150). My guitar amps are Marshalls and Voxs. Bass amp is a Sunn Colloseum. I play 50% of the time 'direct-to-board'. The PX4 is my primary effect device. I use it with all my instruments, through all my amps. Is it perfect? No. Since I've never had the desire to clone Van Halens' or Jimmy Pages' sound I couldn't tell you if it is good for this or not. The amp modeling is quite good(IF you twiddle the knobs) I can hear the difference between my Marshall and Vox and their PS4 approximations but you probably couldn't.

I have never had any problems with it, but then again it spends 80% of the time in the studio. As long as it had new batteries in it it has not given me any problems at gigs. It is the ONLY effect device I use live. No backup has been necessary.

Never had to deal with Korg so I have no idea what their tech-support is like.

Since I work as a studio musician I play, litteraly, EVERY kind of music. My solo album-currently being recorded-can be described as The Beatles meet Steely Dan meet Frank Zappa. If my PX4 were stolen I would replace it as soon as my local dealer opened. Since I work in-and own-a studio there's not a unit on the market I haven't had a chance to compare it to. Considering its' features and price the only other products in the ballpark are made by ZOOM.

Well, actually this is not difficult to use. Actually editing your my patches needed a look into the manual. For practicing reasons it's just okay, but too intricate to use as fx-tool for gigging.

Just use it with headphones for practicing with my modified Yamaha 612W (equipped with SD PUs). Absolutely no use as multi-fx. Play a Fender Blues Deluxe and just stay with my analog effects which blow all of this part right away.
For practicing it is a great device. This small box provides an awfull bunch of sound options. If I got noly a short time for practicing this tool is extremly quickly ready to play.
Some of the clean sounds are horrible and sound metallic and artificial. The distorted sounds are okay but tend to create a lot of noise. In some settings it's amazingly noisy and you get it controlled only with NR on 10.
Effects are just okay, the delay settings are pretty weak and all of them sound quite similar to me. The variety of effects of course is very good and the opportunity to combine them.
I just rate it as practicing tool and there it's an 8 to me. As fx-tool I could not rate above 3.

Have this part for almost one month. Had no reason to doubt. Since I don't gig with it I didn't need a backup.

Only tried out the Korg hompage. Was not extremely impressed. No contact to customer service as yet.

I play contemporary worship music, pop-rock, blues, rock. My usual set-up Zion RT Classic (Joe Barden PUs), Yamaha 612W (SD PUs), Boss OD-2, Proco Deucetone Rat, Rocktron Short Time, Marshall RG-1, Fender Blues Deluxe. For practicing purposes I got a Hughes + Kettner Edition Silver as well.
Play acoustics since more than twenty years and started with electrics mid 2005.
If the pandora was lost I would surely go for a new one, since this is a perfect practicing tool. I like to have all these sound options at acceptable sound quality and the mobility that thing provides.

This unit is extremely easy to use, afew things arent obvious right off the bat, like making your own patches, but one glance at the manual and youll get it and its very easy. the manual was therough but i didnt really need it because it was so easy to figure out.

Im using this with my Charvel. ive only used this with the headphones and the sound is great. ive heard that the distortions are too digital sounding but i have no complaints about them. I can get nice bright tones out of it and heavy crunchy distortion sounds out of it or crazy ass synthasizer sounds that sound horrible. the presets are very hit or miss, some of them are awesome while others i could never imagine using like the synth sounds although they were kind of fun to mess with for a few minutes when i first got the thing. The rythems are fun to play with and most of them are decent, the bass features are the most disappointing part of it but i dont think that its too big of a deal. the JAM feature of the phrase trainer is great, you can pick a drum beat and then record up to 32 seconds of you playing along with the beat then the thing will loop that while you play over it, ive have hours and hours of fun with that feature, thats probably my favorite thing to do with it.

all in all i am very pleased with the sound of the px4. i think it is what it is, a practice headphone amp, im sure if you put it through a big system then you wouldnt be as pleased with it, but if you just want to practice and have tons of options this thing is definatly great.
i give it a 7 here because the bass feature sucked and the sounds arent top notch, but they are very good and thats what you should expect from an all in one gismo like this... you could spend as much for one effect pedal if you want that kind of sound.

i havent dropped it or anything yet and i hope that i dont, it feels solid like it could take some dropping, and the buttons seem pretty solid too, the only thing that seems delicate are the tuning knobs on the top, the manual says not to apply pressure to them. i hope they hold up over time.

never had to deal with support, hope i dont.

I play mostly metalish stuff. ive been playing for 2 years now, ive got a charvel guitar & a marshall atx 20 practice amp.

if it was stolen or lost (god forbid) i would definatly want to get another one...being as broke as i am i probably wouldnt beable to till the px5 comes out though.

i love everything about the px4 and really have no complaints exept for the bass rythems being bogus but i dont really mind it, the drum rythems are lots of fun to play with. my favorite feature is the jam option on the phrase trainer which lets you record 32 seconds of playing with a rythem and then play over the recording, so fun!

i didnt compare it to any other products.

the setup for making your own patches is like this: there are 7 catagories and you can choose one effect from each one to make your patch, adjusting the levels and such on each effect. i wish you could use two effects in the same catagory, oh well maybe next time korg!

it definatly helps me make music and makes me want to play more. before getting it id play 30-60 mins a day on most days, now i play for hours on end, theres so much to do with it!

i am so pleased with this unit, dispite its few shortcomings it is still a great all around unit and i am so glad that i got it.
thanks to my mom for buying it for me!

USING THIS ITEM IS A PEICE OF PISS, U PLUG IN & PLAY , HOW HARD CAN IT BE?..READ ON.....
YOU DONT REALLY NEED THE MANUAL, EXCEPT FOR THE ODD MINOR DETAIL, LIKE WHAT THE HELL DOES THE HEADPHONE SYMBOL DO?( YES! I KNOW NOW ....BUT DIDNT HAVE A CLUE WOT IT MEANT THE 1ST TIME I SAW IT).

FOR SOME REASON THE ENGINEERS AT KORG (AS SEEMS 2 BE THE CASE ON MOST EFFECT UNITS) CREATED PRETTY SHIT PRESETS, BUT EDITING PATCHES IS PRETTY EASY AND YOU CAN ACHIEVE QUITE GOOD RESULTS AFTER A BIT OF TWEAKING, BUT WRITING THEM CAN BE A LITTLE CONFUSING IF UR USED TO A DEDICATED "WRITE" OR "SAVE" BUTTON BUTTON.

STILL PRETTY EASY THO!

THIS IS A HEADPHONE /PRACTICE AMP 1ST AND FOREMOST, SO IF U DONT EXPECT TO TRY IT THRU A MARSHALL STACK, U WONT BE DISAPOINTED. ITS DESIGNED FOR USE WITH HEADPHONES SO U'D HAVE TO BE A BIT THICK TO EXPEXT TO D.I. INTO A 20K RIG AND MAKE IT SOUND GREAT....

"USE THE PHONES LUKE!!!)

THAT SAID THO I "AM" HARD 2 PLEASE AND EXPECT ALOT FROM MY GEAR. I HAVE BEEN ABLE TO CREATE IN MY HUMBLE OPINION, A VERY GOOD SET OF PATCHES RANGING FROM BRIGHT JANGLY CHORUSES, ZAKK WILD OVERDRIVES, SRV ROTARY BLUES, TO A U2 EDGE TYPE CLEAN DELAYED SOUND, WITH LOTS OF VARIATIONS. ITS ALL THERE IF U LOOK!

IT COULD, HOWEVER DO WITH A FEW MORE PARAMETER OPTION IN SOME OF THE EFFECTS....MINOR GRIPE THO.....

I HAVE OFTEN WONDERED WHY COMPANIES NEVER INCLUDE INTELLIGENT PITCH SHIFTING WHEN THE TECHNOLOGY IS OBIOUSLY REDILY AVAILABLE, AND THIS IS ONE OF THE THINGS WHICH SOLD ME ON THIS UNIT. ITS EXTREMELY GOOD FOR THE PRICE WITH JUST ENUFF PARAMETERS AND KEY OPTIONS TO KEEP ME HAPPY...I DO LUUUUUUV MY PITCH SHIFTERS!!!!!!

THE "JAM ALONG" FEATURE IS QUITE COOL AND THE RECORDING/SAMPLING OPTION OFFERS YOU THE OPTION OF RECORDING THAT KILLER RIFF...NICE ONE!!

ONLY HAD IT 1 MONTH, BUT I HAVE DROPPED IT ....SO FAR SO GOOD ...A BIT WORRIED ABOUT THOSE BUTTONS THO...THEY LOOK A BIT TO "PLASTICY"

I WOULD NEVER.... NEVER GIG IT. BUT THEN AGAIN, I'D NEVER TRY TO PUT OUT A BONFIRE BY PISSING ON IT NOW WOULD I?

N/A

I PLAY MAINLY ROCK AND HAVE ALL MANNER OF DIFFERENT RIGS INCLUDING A GUITAR PORT (WHICH I LUV BTW), BUT MY PC AINT ALWAYS FREE, AND I CAN'T TAKE MY GUITAR PORT TO BED OR TO THE BATHROOM (COME ON GUYS ....WE'VE ALL DONE IT & LETS FACE IT SOMETIMES IT'S THE ONLY BLOODY PLACE TO GET SOME PEACE!!!) .

I WOULD, HOWEVER LUV 2 FIND A PAIR OF THESE ELUSIVE RADIO HEADPHONES THAT IT WORKS WITH....TRIED 3 SO FAR NO JOY...A MAUFACTURER'S COMPATIBILITY GUIDE WOULD HAVE BEEN CLEVER GUYS!! ...LOOSE A POINT!!

LIKE MY FREIND BELOW, I MAINLY USE MY HOHNER GT3 WITH THIS AND IT MAKES PRACTICE SOOOOOOOO EASY. THE ONLY GRIPE IS, I WOULD HAVE LIKED TO HAVE A STOMP BOX OPTION FOR THAT LITTLE EXTRA , AND A FEW MORE PARAMETER OPTIONS ON THE CHORUSES ETC...BUT ON THE WHOLE THIS IS ALMOST A TOTAL PACKAGE IN MY OPINION, WHAT WITH THE RECORDING/SAMPLING & JAM ALONG OPTIONS IT REALLY DOES DELIVER, YES...IT COULD DO WITH A VERY FEW IMPROVEMENTS, BUT WHAT UNIT COULDNT?

WELL DONE KORG!

The Pandora series seems to have been designed for simplicity and ease of use but, being the fourth generation of this device, it seems to have collected some tricky-to-access extras on the way. The end result is that it is mostly very easy to use once you have the basic concept but a few things are a bit counter-intuitive. The manual is, thankfully, pretty good and explains all of these wrinkles very well. It's jsut a matter of remembering them, sometimes...

Being easy to use has its downside - some of the effects just don't have enough controls for the tweak-freaks amongst us, but that's missing the point a bit.

I use this mostly for practice while at work or travelling (hotels, etc.) with a Steinberger Spirit GT Pro headless guitar, through a variety of headphones/earphones. This set up is great - I play more guitar now than ever before because of the convience. I can now practice in time that would otherwise be lost. I also use it sometimes with my Washburn MG40 which I mostly use for recording (has more character than the Steinberger). I don't record with the PX4 because I have better rack & software effects, but recording is not really what it's for.

In this context I think the sound is pretty good. It covers the range from clean to wild with some reasonable crunch in between. The effects are good enough to be useful (apart from a few weird bits like the ring mod and "synth") - particularly once you get into the mindset that they are there to be quickly dialled up and used rather then "designed" in meticulous detail. It's not really a box for recreating the exact sound of your guitar hero but is great for practicing a load of different styles.

It has a bunch of accompaniments with drum machine and bass, in a limited number of styles. It also has the ability record a few bars of your guitar along with these (up to nearly 32 seconds worth). The quality of this recording gets pretty poor as you go over 8 seconds and then 16 seconds, but it's still musically fine.

Having said all that I find it sounds good enough to make me want to play more - and that is what I wanted. As a pratice headphone amp with an amp simulator it's fine... and then it has all these extras (drum/bass machine, tuner, pickup modelling, compressor, autowah, modulation effects, delays, reverbs). These make it great, but start making you forget what it is and start comparing it with much more expensive alternatives.

As a practice amp for headphones it is pretty much what it should be. I would dream of taking it on stage - or anywhere near other band members! In that context I'd still have to say that the slide switches for input HI/LO and for POWER/BACKLIGHT are crap. They don't belong on anything above a keyring torch - and a free one at that. I cringe every time I turn it on or off and I'm convinced these switches will be the first things to break. The rest of the unit is excellent, though, with nothing sticking out waiting to be snepped off. Shame they skimped on those slide switches.

My rating is for a practice amp, not for a stage effects box.

Never dealt with Korg - even though I have had quite a few bits of Korg gear (four synths & two effects boxes). Maybe thats' a good sign in itself.

I'm actually mainly a keyboardist - I add a few bits of guitar into recordings. I'm adding more guitar now, simply because this and the Steiny have let me practice more and get better. For that it has to be excellent value for money.

I play in a number of styles - ambient/new age, drum'n'bass, blues, jazz rock and indie. But nothing really thrashy. The PX4 gives me great support in practicing (and writing) any of these. I use other gear for recording.

After just a few moments staring at the manual, it was pretty obvious what this can do, and how to access everything. This was my first multi-effects box, so that's pretty good.

If you play this thing through headphones you will adore it.
If you play this through a stereo or the PA system it is so-so.
If you play this through a guitar amp, it's really horrible.

(I would love to poll the other reviewers here who have rated this gadget and see if the previous statements explain why some scored it increadibly high and others increadibly low.)

Some day, some wise manufacturer will put on a switch that tells the device what you are playing through so that the settings will be modified accordingly. Playing an amp/cab simulator through an actual amp and cab makes for an uncontrolably bass-y sound.

The chorus is modulated too much so it always sounds as if you're playing flat. There's no way to adjust this.

Let's not get too picky about overdrive sounds. Like most digital approximations, it has severe limits. It is no worse than others I've heard, but that isn't holding the bar very high. It does leave you with some dynamic range and some touch sensitivity, which is better than others (I'm thinking of the stock settings on the Yamaha Magic Stomp - never had time to tweak the UB99 to see if it can be brought under control).

I'm giving this an acceptable grade only because of how it sounds as a practice device through headphones.

It's a little small and made of plastic. It can't take serious abuse, but with a little care it shouldn't be a huge issue.

Haven't had to deal with them yet, but they do give you decent downloads at the web site... Like the manual.

I'm into jazz and blues. If lost or stolen, I'd likely replace it, but *not* in a big hurry.

+ Pandora isn't one of these very difficoult effects. After reading the manual you can get used to it, but still it isn't as simple as using a standard multi-effect as DigiTech or Zoom.

+It isn't hard to get a good sound of it, but, editing patches is a bit wierd and impossible to manage without the manual.

+The manual is great! Lots of info's, grat way of introducing the effect and it's abilities, very clear, and even a bit gripping :)

I give it 8, becouse without the manual i just couldn't do a thing with it.

+ My setup: Ibanez RG 370DX (with DiMarzio: EVO.), Marshall MG 15CDR, ibanez SM-7, DOD FX-86, Boss HM-2.

+Using the Pandora by it selfe is a terrible sin! The effect by it self dosen't have enought gain and range of sound abilities, but combineing it with the three last of my setup list, it is truely great!

+The stadard patches are awsome. They aren't noisy and too bassy. But after some renovations of your own it might be screamin' a bit at some points, but still not often.

+Yes! If Satch, Vai & Petrucci uses it you can actually get a similar sound out of it! A bluesey sound like Satch's, a big gain (after connecting with SM-7) and delay/echo sound like Vai uses. This isn't a effect for people who want to use it for Heavy-meatal or Death-metal!!! It hasn't enought gain. But if you love experimentung with effect's and your guitar's "voice" you'll love it.

Sound quality is the bigest possitive aspect of this thingy!

+Yes you can depend on it. But for a gig... hmmm... it might be difficult. Without the footswich, and with the hunger of it... (It eat's batteries alive !!! :))

+It's done well and shouldn't brake after one fall from your hands. I have it for about a half-year and nothing bad hasn't ever happened to it.

7 - for the missing footswich! The company should at least think of giving a ability to plug the footwich. But propably in the next model...

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+I play a kind of music that might be the closest to Satriani's or Vai's creations. The effect suits me great! I love combining effect's with it and making good sound of it.

+If it was stolen or lost i wold deffinitely buy another one!

+I love the light of it. It light's orange! :D cool isn't it?
I hate it becouse it's hard to use it on-stage, but i bage you KORG give a ability to plug the footswich next time !!!

+I recomend it truely and honestly ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

Very easy to use. Lots can be gained by looking through the manual.

Sound quality is excellent concidering it,s small size. A little on the digtal side, but much nicer than my zoom. You can also use your own effects and amps. I have used this unit to make some sample recording,s and it woked quite well.

I have abused this unit, dropped it stepped on it, you name it and it still work's fine.

No need to use it.

Can be used for all style's of music.
Been playing about four years.Own a mess of gear.
If lost would buy it again, great practice gear.
Built in backing track's.
Wish I had when I first started out.
Can pratice without waking the neighbor's.

Could be better -but not rocket science either.
In other words ideally you souldn't need to open the manual but with this unit sometimes you do to learn certain functions.

It's transitor/ digital and it sounds like it.
No warmth, no dynamics typical solid state sound. No suprise here.
Looking at other reviews apparently alot of people think that recorded music (CD or MPEG) sounds better than an actual (professional grade) amp? This is what I hear comming from these toys! What is it that people like about these things? Is it the severe compression they all seem to have or the lack of "detail" or do the kids of today think that "buzz" is the definiton of tone?
On the plus side I do think it sounds better than the POD...

Who knows? Except for the obvious consumer grade construction.
For those who don't know: Consumer grade construction is at the bottom.
The next step up would be commertial grade. From there it goes up to industrial, medical and military (not necsessarly in that order).

Haven't dealt with em so I can't comment...

I bought this unit so I can play while I am travelling. It is exclusively used in Hotels, airports, and on ferries etc. This is why I give it an 8 while all the other catagories scored much lower. Yeah it sounds so-so and (the tone) gets on my nerves at times. But hey, it's got a drum machine, a tuner, lots of effects that I will (hardly ever use), a phrase sample (I definately can't see ever even trying out) and a few so-so guitar sounds too (with lots of tweeks ofcourse).
I bought a Steinberger GL-8 and the optional gig bag (from Music Yo), a set of Sure in ear monitors, cut a six foot guitar cord (Bill Lawrence) and ofcouse the Pandora -all to be used for travelling. For this application it scores high. But as soon as I get home I use better sounding gear (a tube amp,4x12 cab and all wood guitars).

Bottom line, if you think this thing (or anything similar such as the complete Line6 lineup) sounds great you need to start listening...

If you have played with multiFX before you'll probably won't need the manual. It's a very easy to use device.

The PX4 sounds incredibly good. Don't use the factory presets but listen to them once so you will get a pretty good idea what the PX4 can do. Create your own patches that actually suit your guitar and sound.

I use it with a variety of guitars including Les Pauls, Strats and big jazzboxes. Some patches I've made are for one guitar only, others are more general. The PX4 can sound good with all guitars.

The amp models are pretty good. I also have a Line6 GuitarPort which has slightly better amp models but the PX4 still performs well.
I really can't tell if the models sound like the real thing but there is a nice variety in models so you can pretty much create any kind of sound you like. It has very nice clean sounds, good overdriven sounds and acceptable hi gain sounds.

I have used the PX4 also with my guitar amp. When plugged into the FXloop return it can act as a very versatile pre amp. You'll have to turn off the cab modelling off but it can really good in that situation also.

It's about 2 years old now and never had any problems.

never had to deal with them.

This is the perfect tool for practising. Just plug your guitar in, headphones and play. Need something to play along with? Switch on the rythm box and select your style of music. It has drums and bass in any style, speed and key. Sounds good enough too...
Want to play along with CD's? Plug in your player and play !