Zoom 503 Amp Simulator

The 500 series of boxes are more or less universal in layout of button function and parameters....I find them user friendly and intuitive....learn one,you've learned them all...

I like to use them together...a 505(multi unit) and a 503 next if I'm going direct..with an amp (Crate Vintage 50),I like to use a 508 (delay) in place of the 503 in order to have greater parameter adjustment for my delay...and also being able to switch/bypass delay patches without disturbing my other effects....the gate(s) offered in the unit(s)work well in my amps loop....and even better when I go direct....But my favorite way to use the 503 is as a cabinet/mic emulator with every thing else in the unit off with my Sansamp PSA-1 It provides the "air" that's sorely missing from all the Tech 21 direct to the board products...Although I've switched to line 6,(XTLive,2.0,pod pro)I won,t give up my Zoom or Sansamp rigs...

Plastic is ,well plastic...and eventually moving parts fail...the internal circuitry seems to last indefinitely.....as a performer,I make it a point to have back up gear for everything...the voice of experience rarely stutters......

The boxes are so cheap,I just toss them and get new ones when ever...

I'm in my second Pink Floyd tribute band now...They seem to be warmer sounding somehow,compared to most anything from Digitech or Boss....all my strats have either EMG systems or Fender's Powerhouse pickup plates in them....so a lot of my power and tonal control is under my right hand....so that alone really minimizes the tap dancing on the foot switches...

This is pretty easy to use as long as you have the manual. I've got it stuck in modes that I had to get the manual out to figure out. Other than that it is fairly easy but somewhat limited in the options.

I use this with Jagmaster guitar, a DOD Compressor/Sustainer, a cheap Arion octave pedal, and a crybaby wah in front of it (in that order). I go through a mixer (with a 3 band eq on the channel) and then to my computer for recording. I can get a pretty decent variety of sounds by tweeking everything in the chain. I record original metal/hard rock and have been very happy with the results for a cheap amp simulator. It's much better through the mixer with the extra eq for more low end impact on the distortion sounds.

I've had this thing for nearly 7 years without a glitch. I used to play my bass through into the PA system live and it sounded pretty decent. Now I only use it in the studio. For the price I've definately got my money's worth out of it.

No Clue. The most I've done is go to the Samson Tech web site and download the manual when I lost it.

I use this to record metal and hard rock and this has worked very well (especially with some added pedals running it through a mixer). I've been playing bass for 19 years and guitar for 13 and this has been great for recording original stuff at home for quite a few years. If it was lost or stolen I would probably spring for a POD, but this has been hard to beat for the price. My favorite feature has been that once you set up the patches you like you can leave it alone and I tweek the sounds with my other equipment. I hate the cheesy buttons so I don't like adjusting the patches unless its necessary. When I bought this it was the only product anywhere near the price which I could use to record guitar and bass so it was an easy choice. It has been very helpful with recording music for several years now (I hated trying to mic cabs consistantly). If you run across one of these used and cheap it is very useful for recording, probably less so for playing live.

User's guide quite clear and straightforward (french translation is worth reading whenever you feel down ...). Edit and restore preset patches is pretty easy. For a unit of this price, parameter control is more than basic.One niggle: a more than noticeable delay when switching between patches makes this unit unsuitable for live use.Built-in tuner quite helpful.

Modulation FX are quite ok, particularly the chorus and tremolo. Flanging is just average (don't expect an EH Electric Mistress type of sound-my favourite). Amp simulations: clean Fender sound is OK, crunchy Marshall or Vox quite OK as well.High gain emulations of Boogie, Marshall or Peavey not very convincing but useable. Reverbs and delays come handy but don't expect miracles . Cabinet simulation : once again don't expect to emulate your favourite 4X12's low-end rumble. Simulations of 1X12 and 2X12 cabs are much more realistic. Noise reduction is very effective, as on every Zoom FX unit.
This unit is clearly not designed to be plugged into guitar amp. It's better suited for recording purposes, straight into a multitracker or a mixing desk. Ideal tool if you feel like noodling and you're surrounded by touchy neighbours. I currently use it with a Danelectro Honey Tone for small scale rehearsals, or as FX unit for my acoustic-electric guitar.

It's plastic, so don't jump on it with your Doc Marten's. I only use it live with my acoustic-electric and it never failed until now.

Nevr had to deal with Zoom. If you lose any ZOOM user's manual it' s always possible to retrieve it on their website.

My only regret is that I traded this unit against a Marshall Drivemaster and a Zoom Driver (5000) in 1997. I definitely should have kept these for live use. Athough parameter control is fairly basic and hi gain amp simulations are less than realistic, this unit has proved more than helpful in live or studio situations. If lost or stolen, I might consider a Behringer V-Amp, as I don't want to fork out too much on a unit I mainly use for home recording.

I guess its ease of use is below average in that this is a complicated device with a lot of functionality which is accessed through four program buttons and two stomp buttons. You need to spend some time toying with it, but overall its ok for what it is.

I am using an Epiphone Slasher with dual humbuckers connected to the low input. For output I use a 1/4" stereo to mini stereo headphone adapter and run it into my computer on the line in of a Soundblaster Live! running Debian Linux with the Advanced Linux Sound System. I then mix the guitar with various MIDI and synth tracks. I think it sounds pretty great with some of the drive and crunch presets. Nice clean crunchy distortion, no wild feedback or noise, overall the default patches sound pretty good through the computer. I have run across a web page with some custom patch settings that look enticing but haven't tried them yet. If you want a good rock sound without a lot of noise then this is pretty good, easy to get artificial harmonics and it sounds better than any other setup I've used. I'm not a pro musician, but this thing will work for me for now and I'm real happy with how it sounds. I'm sure it doesn't hold a candle to a POD, but its a lot cheaper, and overall it sounds good running straight into a computer. Really, my tiny Altec-Lansing computer speakers sound like a wall of professional cabinets and way better than just running a fuzzbox, there is good distortion, some effects, yet minimal noise, and this thing is quite configurable. I'd say its perfect for computer music tinkering for anybody except pro musicians who would get a POD or such instead.

It is made more for studio work than gigging, and its plastic. It looks tough enough for studio use. No knobs to break off anyways. I guess its pretty good for its intended purpose.

Naah. Its a commodity. For as inexpensive as it is, I'd just chuck it and buy another.

Even though this is an older unit, it is still quite good. I try to play new-wave / alternative type music with my guitar tracks mixed into synthesized MIDI background tracks, and this thing is perfect for what I need. I don't want a whole string of noisy pedals, I just want a good somewhat distorted sound with some effects for direct WAV file recording on a computer, and this gizmo seems do do the job fine, I'm giving a it a pretty good rating because its a bargain item nowadays but it is nonetheless still a good unit and a great addition to a budget computer music system.

The 24 banks are very useful in setting different sounds side by side. Especially putting one clean sound with effects next to a
distorted sound making it very easy to switch between the 2 without switching off the unit's effects. It is the best function that a more balance and consistant tone quality of amp sound can be obtained at just a tap on the paddles. The memory setting is far too simple for most guitarists.Use it for stage work is easy without worries of stepping on a wrong paddle. The manual, forget it.

Sound Quality: 8
Though it doesn't produce correct amp sounds as the factory decripted, it sounds very nice through my amps.I can get very fat and powerful overdrives with just my strat's rear pickup. It seems single coils sound better than dual coils through it. Putting a Boss Distortion box before it can drive a clean channel with other effects' combinations to construct very distinctive tone colors according to my will.The 503 is far more quieter than my other effects with the gain control at lower levels. In fact, it is not necessary to keep high gains because most amps are bright enough and with the use of a decent EQ, most of the unwanted hiss and whatever rubbish frequencies could well be filtered.
The factory presets were useless and ugly. So I have my 24 banks all set up to my desire.There is one major draw back that the unit tends to soften the input of the pickups especially for the humbuckers. The original guitar sound would be altered even when switching off the effects. I guess it is not a 100% by pass of its circuit design. It is necessary to patch one more channel of my guitar's natural tone to combine with the processed tone to avoid losing any of the good tones from my axes. It works well with my patching design. It sounds great.
I use a Strat replica of alder body with all 1M pots and 0.047 cap on the rear Fender 80 single coil pickup. It has a switch to put the neck PU and the rear in series for high power playing. This setting
drives the 503 to a warm an victorious kind of distortion through a channel set to:

AMP-PV Drive(G6) BANK -D3 GAIN-8 HIG-(-4) MID-E6 LOW-10 DEP-C2 MIC-F9 EFF-C5 REV-L3 VOL-2.2



I run it through fender Pro reverb and Roland JC amps with Strats replica ,Fender us Telecaster, Tokai LP and Epi Les Paul. The
patch chain with other effects:
Guitar-Electro Harmonics DrQ-Boss distortion-Danelectro Pasrami overdrive-Zoom 503-Boss Octava-DOD phaser-Fender 70s volume paddle-Amp.
For the clean channel I use a Roland SDE-1000 rack and a BossDM300 delay to get the chorus effects. The final mix proved the 503
is a versitile effect unit for works.

The plastic case is strong enough for most stage works. The light weight paddles design is better than most other metal boxes. It is a
musical instrument, not someting you dump from the 2nd floor. I don't think it will break so easily. The Japanese electronics are very reliable. Also,top rated QC.

I would not bother for its low price.

I spent about 3 weeks in finding some very nice combinations before I gig with it. It is not easy at all to find proper set ups. The
distortion sounds are variable by setting the tone controls and the cab types to various dials. By twisting a little of some of these
settings, I can get almost over 15 kinds of rich and big fat quality distorted sounds. Its a quality product.

Well, I would say its fairly simple to get a good sound out of this baby... As far as user friendly interfaces go, this thing couldn't be easier.

I used to use this with a les paul, and a yamaha rgx, but i think its irrelevant what kind of guitars you use, theres no big variation of tone, but i would definitely rank this highly if your after a first pedal to get you into FX.. it was my first..

Being an amp simulator, I would assume your not using a particular amp with the pedal, otherwise why buy this model? I haven't compared the sounds with the actual amps its simulating, but i never foudn myself bothering changing the amp simulator.

The distortions are cool, and so is the chorus and delay and tremolo effect. I'd buy this if I was interested in getting all those effects but too broke to buy single units for each of them.

Well, It never blew up... Our bass player had a 506, and that blew up one day in the studio, and i assume that it runs on the same kind of hardware etc.. but that was a second hand baby, and i imagine it had been through a lot of shit in its day and it time just came. I never took this pedal out on the road with me, by the time i hit the road I was using a zoom gfx-8, then i got a Boss Gt-6.

However, this is still in the band setup at the time of writing, because i gave it to our bass player to replace his 506 when it blew up. Its a guitar and bass amp simulator, so its a diverse piece of kit... If your in a band it works as a good bass pedal backup, whether you use something better or single units, if they go, you can always rely on this.. just make some rough patches, and keep it there just incase..

I wouldn't know, I've never contacted zoom in my life. I don't use zoom in my setup now so i assume i never will.

Get this as your first pedal, or as a cheap alternative to a few single units, and get it if you want to copy the sound of amplifiers cheaply

Dave
http://www.thechaossociety.com

All pretty easy to understand, manuals pretty clear. Getting a good patch......not so easy.

Using it with anything, the distortion is AWFULL. The only thing its good for is for its other effects like delay. But it makes such a noise even on bypass, its only a tuner for me now.

Well its never broken, though I realy must try harder. Hatefull thing.

Dunno.

Bit waste of money, youre better off buying analogue effects, certainly no good distortion, but it makes a lot of noise when just using othre effects, presets are awfull.

Within a short amount of time (and WITH the instruction manual) it is simple and fun to get great sounds, but almost all patches need to be edited. They are there only for a starting point. THIS IS NOT INTENDED TO BE A DISTORTION PEDAL. The beauty of this unit is the amp/cab simulations, mic postioning and some usable effects - in my case for home recording.

I'm using a variety of guitars with a variety of effects for straight recording. The on-board reverb is adjustable, and sounds nice. The preset patches should be tweeked to get YOUR sound. So much better than I thought it would be, especially at the price.

Logistically it might be hard to gig with, but that's not why I bought it. Seems very dependable.

N/A

I play mostly original stuff - been playing for 38 years, much of that time semi-professionally. I don't think that I could ask for anything else in one small pedal. I'm not a multi-effects guy, I like individual units, and this one shines for the variety & complexity it offers. Discontinued, but a steal if you can find one.

The only good sounds you can get out of this are clean sounds. DISTORTIONS ARE HORRIBLE!
Editing patches is ok. You can mess around with the buttons or use the manual. Manual is kinda weird though.
Im giving it a 7 just for the ease of use.

I read all the reviews below, got excited, and like a fool got this from Ebay.
Ive connected it to my Marshall MG15RCD amp and to the line in of my Pc. This unit is crap, and the people Zoom should be shot and raped for making this product. Its noisy inspite of its ZNR. Effects are weak and sound horrible. I just could not get good distortion sound out of this.

It has a plastic body. Destroy it as a favour to the poor soul who might purchase it.

Emailed them a couple of times. No answer. They care a fuck.

Ok my favourite bands are:
Megadeth and In Flames. Ive been playing for 2 years (horribly).
If it was stolen, I would laugh my head of at the guy who might kill himself after he tries it.

Very easy after spending a few minutes with it. Patches can be edited quickly and easily but keeping the instructions around that list what each parameter is helps.

For the money it's very good. Some of the presets sound really good and others sound bad. Most of the heavy distortion presets I didn't like but was able to dial the sound in I wanted quickly. Some of the presets like clean tremelo and jets (killer flanging) sound great. I was able to get great clean sounds all the way to full black metal type distortion. Delays, Chorus, Reverb sound good but they're pretty much preset to 9 levels not letting you adjust any effect parameters. Flanging sounds great and is fun to play with. Noise isn't an issue the NR circuit works good with 9 levels of sensitivity. I haven't tried it through and amp just my studio headphones/mixer and a stereo system (which sounded really good).

I haven't had it very long.

I play everything from clean blues to black metal. I have a few guitars and some synths (should make an interesting synth distortion box as well). The main thing I wish you could do is edit the effects as well and not just the level of effect. I chose it because of good reviews and the price of it was very cheap. If you can buy one of these for $50 go for it. I didn't get a chance to try the input line yet. I planning on using it to record directly into the computer to add some guitar textures to my ambient music.

www.mp3.com/isomorph