Zoom 505

Relatively easy to use, deceptively hard to get the several great tones out of it...

I'm not going to scroll down and read the hundreds of reviews already posted, but I just want to mention that this is a great cheap effects unit for your home computer studio. Add some color, compression, reverb to your vocals. The EQ section shouldn't be underestimated. Although it isn't very flexible, you can find that the high/low cut and mid-boost EQing properties can drastically change the way your signal sounds. The same with the "amp simulator" section. If you have a noisey preamp, you can also use the ZNR noise reduction feature. Setting it too high will make the noisey signal funky, but keep it at a minimum and that hissing mic will be much cleaner (until of course you start singing or what not).

It's also a great effects processor for keyboards. Really. All those digital effects will sound right at home with artificial keyboard sounds.

This is a mediocre guitar effects processor at best, but a sleeper preamp multi-effect unit that will give you a lot of tools for your little home studio. I have this plugged into my sound card with a stereo 1/4" to 1/8" converter line. An ART Tube MP preamp is before it in the signal chain to boost mic levels. Otherwise it can be used as a DI preamp by itself for guitars and keyboards.

I've gigged with it lightly, but it rests on my desk top now. Like someone wrote below, the biggest design fault isn't the plastic case, as it's very sturdy, but the fact that the 1/4" plugs are directly on the circuit board.

Again, as a guitar effects processor, it get's a mediocre rating at best, but as a preamp stereo multi-effects unit (especially for vocals and keyboards and microphones) you might be pleasantly surprised. Doesn't add noise if you stay away from the distortion effects so that's another plus.

You can manage it even within 15 mins.
It's a cool thing for BEGINNER like me.

But there comes a little problem when you switch the effect during your play. You couldn't switch without a few steps on it.

I use a cheap Fernandes guitar with a practise amp.
It sound a little bit noisy when turned the volume low.
However, it turns out not think enough with the volume is high.
Anyway, its sound is quite good with such a low budget.

Although it's covered by plastic case, it seems it's hard enough to endure my legs!
Reliable when you've got power supply.

I play heavy music and it does a good job on it.
I used it for 2~3 years and it still functioning well.

If you have enough budget, I recommend you not to buy ZOOM 505.

NOTE: I bought one of these guys in early 1997, just after they came out (and were available in Australia). It was sold in early 1998 when I moved outta home and went to uni. That's like 5 years ago. Since then I've bought far better equipment and my ears are probably a billion times more subjective. This review is based on memory alone, so how accurate a review this is, I don't know. This is my 2 cents.

Very few buttons, 2 character LED display. Not immediately intuitive but with the 'manual' once you figure out what code means which it was a piece of piss. Programming in patches isn't hard but it isn't quickly achieved either. I just set up most of the patches to suit the usual collection of tones/effect combinations I used, and left a few for experimentation.

Only 2 footpedals (UP and DOWN, rather than the BANK/PATCH layout of the other x0x0 systems) is a little limiting too when playing live, you'll need to sequence your patches carefully (at least it was easy to move patches around).

Get's an 8. Pretty good.

'Twos 1996-7, and ZOOM, masters of the bang for buck, and just produced the 505, which delivered a shitload of bang for very few bucks. I, then a cash-starved high school student who played and talked guitar all day and dreamed it all night, couldn't resist.

Of course, they built it down to a price, not up to a standard, and the cost cutting is obvious. In terms of sound quality, the ZOOM 505 did very well considering how little it cost, but for discerning ears it probably would have been too much of a compromise.

Thankfully I didn't suffer any of that back then. All I played were metal covers with my college band 'Turgid Throb' (best band name ever, really) and the ZOOM delivered plenty of cool sounds. Any fidelity or subtlety would have been lost thanks to my Ranger Strat (eventually replaced with an Epiphone LP Special II) and Marshall 10W Valvestate. Not to mention our drummer and the ZOOM 506-equiped Bass player.

Someone here mentioned that the ZOOM sounds great through a bass amp. I'll second that. I'd run lineout from the Marshall into the second input of our bass players' amp and it sounded much thicker. He always whinged that it killed his bass tone but having my own little 'stack' did rock very much.

Of course, in the light of now the 505's effects and amp sounds aren't anything special. Far better units are available for not much more money. But at the time, when ZOOM's other units were several hundred bucks, let alone anything from Digitech, Korg or Boss, the 505 did bloody well.

Gets a 5 in 2003, but got a 7 in 1997.

Light plastic with a thin sheet metal base. Not so much of a stomp box but a gentle-prod-with-your-toe box. I only gigged it a few times, we did more practising than actual gigging back then, but the jams were furious and I never damaged the thing. Took pretty good care of it though... it was cheap but still took several months of delivering papers to buy, was my most prized possession (for a while anyway).

Gets a 6. Take care of it and it will do the same.

Dunno about ZOOM back then, these days they're ok.

I dealt with Pro Audio back then, they had the cheapest prices in Australia at the time. Unfortunately the 505 was in such strong demand back then that I was on back order for some 6 weeks until I got it. The guys at Pro Audio were extremely apologetic (it was ZOOM's fault for not allocating enough units to Australia), they were also very helpful in providing a 3rd party power adaptor and expression pedal too (the actual ZOOM unit was nearly the same cost as the 505 itself, I used a $30 volume pedal and it worked brilliantly).

My musical tastes are far more refined now, but back then I breathed ate and shat metal... Pantera, Marilyn Manson, Tool, etc. I've been playing since 1993 but still considered myself a rank amateur back then. The ZOOM 505 was a great little unit, and despite it's obvious shortcomings it was a barrel of fun for me. I couldn't afford a brace of BOSS pedals, nor one of the better multieffects units that cost over AU$1000 back then. The ZOOM allowed me to play around with what were at the time pretty decent sounding effects without having to shell out a small fortune. With the cheapo volume pedal attached as an expression pedal, I also had a nice wah wah pedal, though I would have even been more impressed if the pitch shifter worked like a whammy pedal and not like a second harmony (the 506 worked this way).

Say what you like about the 505 now, but back then music retailers couldn't get enough of the things... they were the hottest thing for a while, bar none.

Of course, that was back then and now things are much different. My crappy guitars have now been replaced with a lovely Tele, plus a Kramar 7 string and Yamaha acoustic. I can now afford separate pedals and use a JStation when recording into my DAW setup. I now know and appreciate good tube tones and quality effects. If I heard a 505 today I probably wouldn't be impressed.

To recommend one today isn't easy. The 505 is now a second generation unit which I'm told does sound better, but with so many different units from Korg and Digitech, not to mention things like the POD and JStation, which do so much more for so little money, it would be hard to recommend it new.

However, if you're a young muso with fook-all money, the 505 can be found on eBay for virtually nothing, and while its distortions and effects aren't fabulous, they're certainly enough for you to experiment with.

If this was 1997, it'd get a 10. But it is 2003, so it gets a 4. Isn't progress wonderful?

Very easy to use, i got it years ago when i was young and go into it right away!

This multi effector isn't generally noisy, although on some distortions it's stupid noisy but on those who cares man that's what you want! Some of the effects to be frank suck! however, if you want all plush effects then you're gonna have fork out a lot of money! This wee thing is the bee's knees for some stuff! The delay and hall reverb can be used in great combination, i mean a GREAT combination, when i learned how to use the e.q. on this thing i was blown away. Turn off all the effects on use the c9 at the start a mid range e.q. the hall reverb and delay and oh my word. maybe add in the rhythm effect and som distortion on the next patch up and you're off! So nice even for expensive effects!

Sound quality if used right is TEN! if used wrong like most of the lower range zooms is one

Hasn't shown ANY signs of breaking yet and i've had it for about five years and have been gigging for two of them!

Never had to use it! But all shops know all about them!

I play quite rocky stuff! I like atmosphric sounds! It's a great all rounder! Good clean sound and good Reverbs/Delays not a bad wah either, One of the distortions i use on it is quite beastly for the money

Well, with about 450 reviews already submitted, what do you expect?

This is a beginner's box that I bought to mostly to experiment with combinations of different effects.

It's easy to learn and difficult to use. That means, the controls are logical and you'll figure it out in a minute, even without the manual. But editing the patches is somewhat painful, as you have to step through the modes -- lots of button presses to do.

The rating?

For the price, it's awesome. You get a lot for 50 bucks.

But then, 50 bucks is not very much, and the sound quality is poor, digital, cold and distorted when compared to professional units.

Again, this is a beginner's unit, and usable for trying out different effect combinations at low volumes.

I have a Tokai Les Paul and a Charvel 475, and a Mesa/Boogie Studio .22. But mostly I use the Zoom with just headphones, e.g. when playing and experimenting at night.

It hasn't let me down, except that it eats a lot of batteries -- in practise, only useful with an external power supply.

But the construction looks very easy to break. The case is plastic, but that's not a problem; nowadays plastic can be very strong. The real problem is that the input and output jacks are directly on the circuit board. You kick or step on the plug that sits in the jack, and it's gone. The lack of reliable construction would prevent you from gigging with this thing, if the sound quality would not.

No experience here. Bought it used, don't expect any support.

If you are a beginner, get it!

It's a piece of junk, but good value for money.

The 505II (which I don't own but have tried out) is considerably easier to use and sounds better, although it's still fundamentally the same kind of toy.

If you don't have any effect pedals yet, this is a good piece to start with. You'll be going up in quality and price after this, but with the Zoom you'll have an idea of what the compressors, distortions, flangers and delays do, and you'll get some experience.
Then you'll know what pedals you need and what not, or if you are going for a more advanced multi-effect device, you'll spot the differences more easily.

I've been playing 20+ years myself, and I find this toy sometimes useful when trying out different sounds, as I don't own too many other effects (I use mainly just a Line6 MM-4 modulation effect box on a Mesa/Boogie amp).

If you read the instructions that come with it,you'll soon figure it out :)

I used this unit with a tanglewood starfire,and a strat,through a peavey rage 158 (sounded good),and a marshall g80rcd(only 1 setting was tolerable).

When i was a guitar newbie,the variety of sounds impressed me and got me used to what effects did what.
Some of the effects are silly(delay,pitch shifters ,etc),
Some of the sounds are o.k like the fuzz,distortion,and it's easy to change the tone of the sounds also.
If your into hendrix this will do it for you!,
My unit seemed to lose alot of sound quality towards the end ,but i did have it for four years,and it served 40 hours each week.I think i wore it out.
It's pretty quiet too,not much buzzing or anything.

I wouldn't gig with it,but i had it four years,and it only died recently ,R.I.P lol

Never dealt with them.

I play blues,metal,and i used to play hendrix stuff when i started playing,you can get a good hendrix tone from it,especially using a good wha pedal.
I think this is a good buy for people who are just starting out playing guitar,i've heard worse multieffects that were twice the price (korg ax 1g for example,which someday i'll review on here too).

I own a marshall g80rcd,but the zoom is horrible through that,
My zoom 505 sounded best when i played through a peavey rage 158.


I had some great times on it,but i've moved on to the seperate pedals now.
If you have a dodgy amp,that will affect the sound,obviously.
I wouldn't buy another one,i prefer seperate pedals nowadays.
Hope that helped :)

I got the pedal on eBay, and it didn't even come with the manual. I figured out how to use it in about ten minutes.

I play a Fender Strat on a 30w Marshall. I'd say that the advantages of the sound is that there's so much to combine, and you can get some really unique sounds, however a lot of the stuff really does suck. I very rarely touch the distortion, as it really is horrible. The only major thing I've got against the pedal besides that is that it increases the level of static on the amp enormously, so that if you're, say, wanting to switch between clean and an effect, the clean setting will be really shitty sounding.

It's perfectly dependable, but I wouldn't use it on a gig, purely because of the quality of the effects at any louder level.

Never used it

I play an enormous variety of music, and this pedal does have a lot of potential for PRACTICING a lot of different types. I've been using it for PRACTICE for about a year and a half. I'd probably buy another if it were stolen, because you can get one on eBay for between thirty and fifty dollars, and it's worth that for a couple of effects and the chromatic tuner. I've got a Boss multi-effects pedal as well, and it's got four effects, as opposed to something like thirty, and I really like it (the Boss) a lot more. Once you get some really nice effects down, this is an okay pedal-just don't plan on depending on it.

very easy to use. editing patches is a breeze. the manual isn't really needed for this product. if you need a manual to operate this, YOU SHOULDN'T BE PLAYING GUITAR!

I currently am endorsed by Yamaha guitars, so I use a Pacifica 112m with a duncan screamin demon trembucker in the bridge position, and two stock single-coils, running through a marshal valvestate vs100, an alexis quadraverb, then running through my marshall 4x10 cabs. This thing is very noisy, but i use a noise gate (i put my noise gate RIGHT BEFORE my cabs in my setup)so that's not an issue anymore. Some of the effects are great, others suck really bad...... depends on your taste. you can get some excellent clean tone out of this mutha, but most of the distortions blow. HOWEVER>>>> certain patches generate killer tone, remenicent of george lynch, or maybe jake e lee...... i use this thing to record albums and tour with it, and it sounds good, not great. the delay lacks something, the hall effect is killer...as are the flanger and the chorus, but overall this unit sounds too contrived... like something i payed little money for.

I have spilled beer on this thing. I have dropped it dozens of times. I have kicked it, thrown it, done various other things to it... and it still works flawlessly. I have toured alot with this thing, and never needed a backup.

N/A

I write music in the style of 80's guitar-god metal, and overall this unit does add some flavor to my tone. I have been playing for 11 years, and this is probably the best 30 dollars i've ever spent on anything music related (i only say that because all my other music gear is WAY more expensive!). I currently own and operate my own studio and distribution center, Weird Fucker Records, and just about every other song i've ever produced has the 505 in there somewhere....
i use it on my own albums as well. if this thing were lost or stolen, i wouldn't cry....i'd just spend 30 dollars on another one! personally, i'd say go with rackmount processors, but at this price (30 to 60 bones) pick one up, just to have one, i guess.

Well, the Effect settings are pretty easy to configure: just a sheet of paper and playing around- you can figure out how to set up the delay with distortion and flanger at one go... editing is just as easy... the only thing is its DIGITAL, which means you can forget turning knobs on pedals but slowly go through the patches and numerals ONE-BY-ONE... sometimes during jam sessions you'll have a pissed off drummist waiting for you to come out with the right distortion for the correct amp setting...

I use a Fender Squier with an old vintage amp made in the 70's... and boy it does make a lot of NOIZE ... now thats a fact most would agree... the effects could have been better, but come to think of it, this small box has SO many effects all compliled together with an affordable price (you'll have to pay much more $$ for numerous analog gadgets...) Well in the past I started off with bands like early radiohead... considering this was my 2nd pedal I ever brought, it really impressed me alot initially... not until I can't exactly get the distortion/feedback that I used to love... went back to a simple DS-1 at times and still sound better ...
This gadget's great for switching heavy sounds to a jazz tone at just ONE step.... did a recording with it, and sounds rather good, not that bad as most had imagined... but I felt if you need something to just jam along anywhere anytime with roughly the sound you want anyplace this IS the PEDAL!

As long as the adapter works fine, you won't have a problem... just handle with care, all pedals will be reliable as long as you value them

I play all kinds of music English-Chinese-American-whatever-Jazz-blues-experimental... actually frankly to say this box has EVERYTHING that you want to do in music, just that it doesn't sound that great... you want a good overdrive? you got it... Add a delay to it? You can do it too... question is you can't just exactly set it to your expectation on the frequency like analogs... great for beginners, and meeting up with new jam sessions.

This is an extremely easy to use pedal, it was the first multi effects i ever used and itw as breeze even when i ahd no clue about what individual effects actually did. Great for a beginner

i use a marshall valvestate 8080 with a less paul. i ahve to compete with a much bigger amp on stage (as my bands other guitarist has a top of the range stack) however although the sounds are very basic and feedback can be a problem, with a bit of work some acceptable tones can be generated. The delay is quite nice but could prolly do with more user definability. my band play alot of heavy stuff (www.sixstagesuicide.com) and ive managed to make my sounds cut through. for the price its a good sound.

its never let me down i stamp on it it normally gets kicked all over the place jumped on etc. and considering its only made of plastic it has done well (though gaffer tapping the power supply in is advised). ive played many big gigs (along side the likes of suga coma and the buff medways) and its not let em down yet

have had no need ofr custommer support

I feel its more of a pedal for someone starting out although i still sue it (simply cos i cant afford another 1) it serves me well enough but does let down the sound. i wouldnt record with it. a more user definable set of effects would be nice rather than the straight forward 9 settings for each sound but not a bad lil pedal