Zoom G9.2tt

The setup on this little box is great. It basically gives u a trully intuitive interface with little or no breakdown of tone along the way. You basically assign a preamp, ie a amp sim or a stompbox model. Then you can adjust not only low, mid, high, but also presence, harmonics, and low mid which is the utlimate for scooped settings. The manual is very helpful and I literally studied the thing in order to set up each patch, which is the best part. Because of the way the amp sims are set up, you can dedicate each patch to have a certain amplifier's clean and distortion. In other words you can have 2 mesa cleans, 1 pure clean, 1 with echo, then 2 mesa distortions, 1 pure dist, 1 solo function. This interface is the best I've seen and this is like pairing a Line 6's simulation ability with great tube warmth. Because I use this as a preamp running straight into a Carvin power amp, the need to adjust room eq's is vital and eq'ing this thing is as easy as dialing in an amp eq. Plus in addition to the 6 band eq, you then have individual tube dials for the two 12AX7's in this thing. You can adjust your preamp tone between tube and solid state and then adjust your post effects tone with tube and boost knobs. The benefit to the tubes is not only the warmth but with the dials, you can virtually adjust that warmth and add clarity through the solid state circuit.

Awesome!!!!! I use a Schecter C-1 Exotic w/a Dimarzio tone zone pup in the bridge and a Schecter 006 Blackjack w/a Dimarzio D-Sonic pup in the bridge. I run the Schecters through the G9 and then into my ART HD 2-15 equalizer, then into the Carvin TS100 power amp which is sent out to a Peavey 412MS that's it. SIMPLE. The reason for getting this unit was to cut down equipment and boy did I. All I need is my cab, rack unit, guitar, and processor. The amp sims are simply incredible. Mesa, Marshall, Diezel, Jazz Chorus, Acoustic, Fender, Hughes and Kettner, Vox,,, their all there, packed into this tiny unit. I use mostly a distorted Mesa Modern which just gives you that high headroom, harmonic filled tone. The effects themselves are pretty solid. Delay is absolutely fantastic, I like this delay better than my boss dd-6. You have your choice of chorus, flange, phase, and pitch modulations that are standard with all the other effects processors. I find that the chorus is great for lead and rhythm settings while the flange and phase work good for more of a clean setting, but again, if you know not to overpower your effects, you'll get any sound you want from this thing. Now the only thing I don't love about this unit yet is the clean sounds. There a little harder to dial in then a great crunch tone but with time I'm sure I'll find the niche. Don't like the Z pedal but I knew that before I purchased, otherwise standard wah is pretty solid and I love the two pedals, 1 for volume/gain settings and the other for frequency changes, all easy to set up and manipulate.

Had for 3 months and have had no issues at all. NONE.

I purchased the item through Carvin. Their staff is aquainted with Zoom products and it's easier talking to them then someone over in China. However I did send them an email concerning a question I had about the patch editor software and they responded the next day.

I play mostly heavy metal type stuff, anywhere from old metallica type stuff all the way up to new and upcoming type bands. This thing covers the gammet. I've been playing for about 7 years now and I have been through solid state and tube heads. I've had a custom pedal board with anything imaginable, the G9 is just simpler and easier. I hate being limited to 1 tone from 1 amp and the G9 eliminates that all together, I now have over a dozen amps to choose from that FEEL like I'm playing through them with limited coloration. This thing is an incredible value for anyone to use. The options are limitless and cannot be found for this price.

So far so good. The manual is clear and the midi-linked patch editor is pretty much a no brainer.

I absolutely love it. I owned the Zoom GFX-8 for almost 2 years and managed to tweak and finesse the thing into getting some good clean and distorted sounds that worked well with my JCM900. Within 10 minutes of playing around with some of the features I was getting that fresh organic type of sound that means to me that digital effects have come of age. This pedal is a watershed in my opinion.

The GFX-8 was absolutely solid throughout and the G9.2tt is built more solidly so I'm sure it will be great. I've already hauled it in and out of cold weather going to gigs and it's been fine. On last note. I bought the pedal from Music123.com and had it shipped via fedex. The box looked like it had been dropped off the truck about 10 times. Even the FedEx rep. wrote down the condition so that in the case of damage I could get some coverage. Came home, plugged it in and it's been working fine. Even left it on all night by accident and still no overheating of the pedal or powersupply.

Haven't needed it. Doubt if I will.

I play everything. And jam with a lot of varied players. For the first time since I have known him, a gear head buddy of mine actually called me up to say he was blown away by the pedal. If there's better out there , I haven't heard it yet.

How easy is it to get a good sound out of it?
Really easy. Actually, the factory patches aren't too bad (which is unusual for most factory patches). With my setup, I needed to tweek the high end a bit as all of the patches are pretty flat. Editing is also fairly easy (until you get into the effects and assigning to the pedals, etc).

How about Editing patches?
Fairly easy. The Zoom manual is a pretty simple read. Also, you can go to the Zoom website and download the editing software to do it with your computer (need a midi interface for editing).

How is the manual for it (if there is one)?
Pretty easy. Zoom likes to use a lot of little pics and diagrams and they always start their manuals with quick how-to guides.

Do you know the firmware revision number? Has your unit been upgraded? Look out. I had the G7. Tried updating from 1.04 to 1.05 and it hosed the operating system on the G7. Heard of others having the same problem. It doesn't work well with all midi interfaces. In my case (and at least one other), it was a Tascam US-122.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

I don't like the fact that the low-mid and harmonics section of the EQ are under the editing section and not the amp section, but I guess there is only so much room for knobs. Also, the amp and distortion models should have been on seperate banks instead of sharing the same one.

Can you get the sound of your favorite artists? Who are they?
I'm less concerned with sounding like someone versus getting good sounds. Yeah, there are patches that sound like certain audiences and it's easy enough to create a Brian May sound, etc. but ultimately, this unit is capable of achieving good, useable sounds whether you are in a cover band or doing originals.

Are certain effects (distortion, chorus, ...) very good? Very bad?
Yeah. Some are really good, others are ok. Nothing that's really bad. I think some of the effects do lack some sparkle and don't quite compete with some of your more dedicated processors (Like the TC Electonics chorus or even the Digitech multi-voice chorus/flanger) but they still sound good and are quite useable. The unit could actually stand to benefit from running a BBE processer.

What setup (i.e. what guitars and amps) are you using this with?
Lot's of different gear. The good thing with this unit is it's one of the few that actually sound good through both the amp input (through the preamp and power amp stages of the amp) and the amp FX return (the power amp stage). I primarily run it into a Peavey Classic 50/50 power amp feeding two 2x12's with Eminence Texas Heat speakers.

Is it noisy? On what settings?
An extremely quiet unit. The Zoom Noise Reduction is actually very good.

Are the effects weak or do they always sound great?
In regards to tone, some are ok (such as the chorus mentioned earlier). In regards to the effects available, great. Sure, it would be nice if, like the Line 6 stuff, if there were half a dozen different flanger models available, etc. but what is offered is pretty good plus there are some effects offered here that aren't available on other units (the synth is pretty impressive). Plus being able to assign/control effects, etc. with the Y/Z pedal is great.

What amp are you using it with?
Peavey Classic 50/50 primarily, but I have tried it with a Peavey JSX and a Rocktron VTM60. Worked well with all of them.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Of note, if you demo this thing at your local store, DO NOT BASE THE SOUND OF THIS UNIT ON THE HEADPHONE OUTPUT. The headphone output is some of the worst tone I've heard on a modeler. Even my Zoom PFX-9003 sounds better than this. This unit needs to be demo'd with an amplifier and you need to turn the volume up a bit and let it breath. Like a real amp, you need to drive this unit. The sound really opens up as the volume increases.

Can you depend on it? I think so. Heavy duty construction. My only comment might be that it seems like one of the footswitches on mine (button 4) seems like it needs to be pressed on pretty heavy sometimes.

Would you use it on a gig without a backup?
Yeah.

If you've dealt with the company, how helpful/friendly were they? Well, when my G7 OS got hosed, I was able to speak with support right away. They weren't really able to help me but I pretty much figured that given the problem, the only thing that was going to work was getting a different midi connection somehow to update the OS.

Ever get an upgrade, or try and get it repaired? As just mentioned, be careful with your system update. The G7 just did not like to work with my Tascam US-122 and I don't expect the G9 to be any different.

What style of music do you play? Is this a good match?
Play mostly hard rock and classic rock. I think it would be a good match for most any style (well, maybe not Jazz....not enough cleans). Very flexible unit. I hope Zoom follows Line 6 in offering updates that provide additional amp and effects models.

How long have you been playing? What other gear do you own? I don't know, 20+ years but I still suck. I've owned and own way too much gear. I've owned about 80% or more of the modelers on the market. The only one tonewise that beats this is the Tonelab/Tonelab SE. This (the G9) is what the Line 6 XT would sound like if it didn't have that horrible fizz.

If it were stolen or lost, would you buy it again or get something else?
I think so. I may be done buying modelers in fact until the next generation Tonelab.

what do you love about it?
It sounds fairly realistic. The Zoom doesn't try to mess around with cabinet modeling. It functions more like a preamp. Less coloring of the sound.

What do you hate?
That the amp and distortion models are loaded on the same bank, so you can't run an amp model and a distortion pedal at the same time. When running a distortion pedal, you are essentially running it into a clean channel no-name tube preamp.

What is your favorite feature?
Well, that cabinet emulation is simply on or off (with mic placement). I've got my own cabinet, I don't need one modeled.

Did you compare it to other products? Which ones? Why did you choose this one?
Heck yeah...nearly eveyone of them (Boss GS-10, GT-6, Tonelab, Pod, Pod XT, V-AMP PRO, J-Station, SansAmp, SansAmp GT-2, GNX3000, GNX3, etc. The G9 doesn't necessarily win at any one thing but excels at a lot of them. The Boss stuff tends to have more effects and control but the distortions sound a bit digital, the Tonelab sounds great, but is really aimed at classic rock, blues, etc. Not really a hard rock modeler and it offers fewer effects and editing. The V-AMP sounds fantastic for direct recording but can't compete with a real amp for live work. The Pod XT offers great flexibility, huge number of effects and amp models but it sounds fizzy. The G9 is like the second place winner in every category. It's not a one trick pony is probably the best way to describe it.
Anything you wish it had?
Does it help you make music, or does it get in the way?
Anything else you'd like to share?

This unit is fairly easy to use...If youve used a Multi Effects processor before then you'll find this a doddle. The presets are in 9 banks of 5 and have channel A and B for all presets. The two pedals come in handy..especially when you want one for stand alone Volume leaving the other free for Wah etc.

Editing patches is fairly easy....while in the patch you simply press the effect button you wish to edit and edit the parameters you feel need changing...couldnt be easier really.

The manual is very good....it is the annoying blue text colour on white pages you get with all Zoom manuals unfortunately...but the manual is concise and clear and gives you all you need to be able to get the G9 working how you want.

For me, the G9 was a Jeckyl and Hyde Effects unit....Straight through the front of an amp with the Pre-Amp settings off this sounds simply amazing...the tubes really give your sound the edge and you can get pretty much ANY sound out of it...All the effects sounded good through an Amp..I have a really cheap Kustom 50 Watt amp and it really brought it to life.

Here is my gripe with the G9...i plugged my headphones into it...and it all changed....the sounds became sterile...weak...lifeless!!!..where had all that amazing sound gone that id gotten from it thru the Amp!??. I am strictly a beedroom player and so most of the time i play through headphones (so not to annoy the neighbours) and the G9 dissapointed me in this area. I tried everything to get a decent sound with headphones, i made sure i switched the cab sim on and tried to create a patch from scratch...but after 3 days of trying i finally gave up and returned the G9 and got a refund.

You CAN get the sounds of your favourite artists..and many of the presets have artist settings..ie Satriani,The Edge, Santana ,etc etc and they do sound quite like the intended artist.

The effects all sounded good to me...the only weak effect i would say is the Delays...i couldnt get a perfect one time delay at 200ms without getting some mush coming back at me in the delay.

My Main guitar is an Ibanez RG2550 Prestige with a Dimarzio Paf Pro in Neck and Tone Zone in Bridge...backup is a Yamaha Pacifica 112...My Amp is a Kustom 50 Watt Solid State.

This unit is dead quite..there is no noise at all between pauses and whatever noise there may be can be got rid of with the ZNR.

Ive had to give this section a 5...not because it is bad...but because through an AMP id give it 10 but through headphones its a 0...so 5 is the average score between the two.

The G9 is built like a brick...and weighs a ton so i cannot see why it wouldnt be reliable..

It should withstand live playing no problem.

The one problem i did have is that there are two button switches under the two expression pedals which should be able to click on and off when the pedals are pushed down..BUT the pedals do not press down far enough to click them on and off....having spoke to Zoom,it is apparently a design flaw with which they suggested rolling a piece of tape up and sticking it under the pedal so it actually comes in contact with the button!!!....not an acceptable thing to have to do to a new pedal!!

Emailed Zoom customer service about the pedal switches and they replied pretty quickly...no worries there.

I play mainly instrumental Rock...Vai , Satriani, Petrucci, Gilbert and this unit can replicate all of those artists with ease with a bit of tweaking. I have been playing 18 years and have tried almost ALL multi effects units ever built....the G9 through an Amp is the BEST MFX unit on the market today by some way....the tubes really make the difference and push it to the next level....through headphones the G9 is just average.....The tubes are the best thing about the G9, they give your solid state amp a real tube sound...worst feature on the G9 is either the pedal switches ot headphone sound....I chose this G9 because id tried most other MFX units and the Tubes really appealed to me as ive never owned a Tube amp before and love the sound....Through an Amp the G9 keeps you wanting to come back for more...you simply dont want to turn it off....through headphones it makes you sound bad and you cant wait to turn the thing off and even made me sound bland and toneless and a bad guitarist!!....through the Amp i felt i could be Vai Satriani or anyone!!

IF you play in a band or can play mostly through an amp or speakers then this G9 unit is a real beauty...you wont go wrong with it..the sounds are just devine. If you play a lot through headphones the i would look elsewhere...maybe the Boss GT8 or Vox Tonelab.

fairly easy to use, having owned a zoom 2100 for 5 years previously. so its fairly similar. get yourself a midi cable, and it s too f**king easy. you can store patches on your computer so if the unit dies, or you acidentaly delete a patch, you got a back up.
the Expresion pedals are awesome, being able to assign almost anything to them is realy good, the boss GT8 only lets you assign voloume, wah, pitchshifter.
i do have a few small problems with the unit:
1) you need a midi device to be able to use the software, would be great if you could just do it over USB.
2) the Switches beneath the two expresion pedals dont trigger properly, i had to put a piece of gaffer tape over the switch to get it to work.
3) the midi implementation is not very versitile, might be useful for connecting 2 of the same units together, but not for what ild like to be able to use it for.
4) the amp knobs range is missing... the first and last 10 degrees of rotation do nothing.
5) the effect knobs are all digital encoders, which is fine for some things, but trying to get your delay up to 5000ms from 10 ms takes about a minute of turning.
6) the effects seem to be missing some parameters, each only has at most 4 parameters, and anything in the wah/EFX1 module only has 3.
7) both the pedals creak when moving up and down.
8) changing the order of the pedals (pre amp chain) will kill anything being delayed
there are probably a few otherthings, just dont remember atm.

apart from those things, i realy do like the pedal.

sounds alot better then my zoom 2100, imediatly i noticed the bottom and high ends were alot fuller. the distortions are quite varied, and with the EQ you can shape the sound so much that it doesnt sound like the original distiortion anymore.
compared to my 2100, i think all the effects sound superior, except the phaser, and flanger. they sound alot cheaper then in my 2100, and you dont get as much options with the phaser.

i love some of the weirder effects in this unit. the fixed phaser lets you use the phaser like a wah pedal, and the combfilter is the same, but a flanger.
the Z-Oscillator is ok, has a few tracking problems, but the sound isnt versitile at all, it would have been nice to see some of the synth effects from the B2 (it is a bass pedal)

the volume is almost un useable. i can hear tiny clicks. so it means i still have to use my seperate volume pedal.

only thing i can potentioaly see is it runs on a 15V power suply, so if it breaks just before a gig, it would be alot harder to replace then a 9v power suply.

before i bought the pedal i emailed zoom, asking some questions about the unit.. after 2 weeks no reply, i re sent the email and had a reply in a few days. apart from that, havent dealt with them

For the money, its well worth it. has alot of different 'normal' effects, and alot of 'weird' effects. its quick to learn to use, and has enough controls to easily change on the fly, unlike some of the rack units avalible.
i play many different styles, and i think this suits most of what i play, metal, rock, prog, ambiant.

Not to Hard to get good sound because that tube...
Editing Patches From PC need Midi Connection...
but i don't care about that...

This Unit has good quility of sound overall is good but... USB recording not too good for me... the USB output volume is cliped....and i can't config vol. of recording from USB... if someone know how to fix that problem please tell me how... ( my system os is winxp )
and noise from USB output very high for me ( in bypass and close all tube it still sending noise -69db ) only this USB Recording is my problem i can't record that good sound - -"....

Great...

I Don't Know... but there likely nothing on it's website... it likely not need to upgrade .... ? ( why it has version... of software ? ) ...

I playing on Heavy Metal , Hard Rock for 12 years if i have lost this ... i'm not sure to buy it again.... i like this unit ... the H.P.S very useful for me ZNR not too bad and i very like it's Pedals ...

I LOVE THIS PEDAL! I was running a Digitech 2120 Artist through my Rivera TBR-2SL into a set of Celestion G12T-75's. Nice setup, but I had four different pieces to deal with: the 2120 rack unit, the J12 foot pedal, a Cry Baby and an Ernie Ball Stereo Volume Pedal (because using the J12 for volume control was not working well. The 2120 had a lot of clipping in the noise gate, but was doing the job. But this thing is awesome. The tension control on the pedals is great. The Editor/Librarian is simple but does the job just fine. Two tips: If you are running into a Rivera Stereo amp as I am, you have to adjust your input so that you do not overdrive the pedal. This can be done in a number of different ways. My volume control on my Strat Ultra actually works like a gain control on this setup. I could not run my volume on my guitar at less than 10 with the 2120 or it would not have enough juice to drive the processor. This setup is much better. One big tip: SWITCH OUT THE TUBES IMMEDIATELY! The low end was very muddy and you could overdrive some preamp patches to the point where they just gave up and started erupting with noise. It's the cheap Chinese tubes. I put JAN Phillips 12AX7's in this thing and it made a world of difference.

Outstanding. Pegs a Mesa Boogie Modern sound, has good clean sounds (best with a bright tube amp). The effects are good, but I think the Digitech 2120 did this slightly better. However, the effects are very usable, just have to find a happy medium between distortions and effects levels. The Zoom has 2 patches per footswitch, GREAT ZNR noise reduction, etc. Like I said, replacing the tubes with some high quality tubes made all the difference. Be careful when doing so, as the electronics inside the case are pretty delicate. The tube circuitry does what it advertises (gives you great tube distortion and harmonics out the wazoo!

I think this unit would hold up to about anything, and look good doing it. The looks of this thing are one of its best attributes. Very sturdy construction.

No dealings with them.

This is the only multi-effects pedal (or rack unit) that I have ever used that had all of the appointments that I wanted in one package. The Cry Baby Wah is good enough for me to sell my real one. There are a lot of really neat effects that I am planning to use in new patches. This is a really fun piece of gear. A purist may be able to pick it apart, but I have been playing for 32 years and I love it. A am going to sell about $750.00 worth of gear and replace it with this $400.00 unit, cutting down my hassle factor substantially in the process!

I have owned this unit for about a week and I have been tinkering with it for several days. Right out of the box, I could tell that I could get good sounds out of it for playing through my amp, a Rivera TBR-2SL. But I was not convinced with the sound when run through headphones. Since tinkering with it, I have discovered the following, which may be helpful to some. The Rivera has all kinds of controls for line and amp output, as does the G9.2tt. If not adjusted properly, you will get a lot of clipping, miscellaneous feedback, background noise, etc. This pedal is clearly designed to be used as a dedicated preamp, fed into a power amp. However, if you use the setting "Front" under the "Amp Select System" button, then turn your volume and master volume to about 5 each, you can get great sounds through the line outs of the amp (both clean and dirty). I would have to say that this device would be great for people who like to tinker with knobs, settings, etc. If you need certain sounds at your feet consistently, this may not be the device for you. I plan to set up a couple of sounds for consistent use initially, then gradually build other sounds. I have been using a Digitech 2120 Artist (with RPEdit) with my Rivera. It is always touchy when you are running one preamp through the stereo effects loop of an amp that also has a preamp. When I got all of the clicking, feedback and background noise, I plugged my headphones into the phone jack on the back of the G9.2tt. The sound being output to the phone jacks sounded clear, so I knew that my amp settings were not right. You have to play with the line out levels, send and receive levels, and as mentioned previously, the volume and master volume need to be set at about 5 each. I backed my pickups away from the strings. With the 2120 Artist, I had the problem that, unless my volume knob on the guitar was all the way up, I did not drive the 2120 enough to get consistent input level. With this device, the volume knob on the guitar is actually usable again. If you have all of the settings right on the G9.2tt and the amp, and you are overdriving a particular patch, you can back off of the volume knob. There are two sets of tube controls (one for tube drive and boost and the other is for tube (volume and distortion) and solid state (volume only) input levels. Zoom definitly needs to wire the next version of this pedal so that these controls can be built into each patch. They are independent of the patches now, which means that you have to tweak a patch with the tube controls manually every time you switch to it. You can find settings of each set of controls that will suffice for all patches, but that kind of defeats the purpose. My 2120 has these controls built into the patches, so it can be done. The effects are adequate, but not as good as the 2120 Artist. Digitech's effects can't be beat in my opinion. If Digitech had a newer pedal that had tubes built in like the older ones did, I would own one, but the new Digitech pedals do not get the harmonics that I want. This pedal does. A lot of the patches sound really godd, and I think I am going to be able to set up several good clean sounds as well as all of the dirty ones. One other beef I have with this pedal is that the different effects are set up half under FX1 switch and the other half under FX2 switch. So if you wanted to have two effects that are under FX1 switch available to you in one patch, you would have to come up with a work-around (like two patches next to each other with the desired effects one in one patch and one in another. The next version should allow any effect to be put in either FX1 switch or FX2 switch. Also, you have to hold down one of the upper foot switched for 1 second to switch the bottom row of switches from patch selection to effects selection. This is not good, because if you pick a patch when playing live and you want to turn off an effect, you have to change the switch function (1 second delay) before you can turn on or off the effect. Then you have to hit the switch again to change back to patch selection mode. This is probably not going to go well for a live musician, unless he is thinking about his pedal rather than what he is playing (not a good thing). Having said this, you can get some really great sounds out of this thing, and it is very dynamic sound (the guitar rings through when patches are set up right).

Sound quality is awesome when all parameters are set up properly. Sound is god-aweful if they are not. This device is much less forgiving than others I have used. As I mentioned, my setup is much more complex than most, because I like using the amp controls for tweaking on the fly, and I like utilizing the tube preamp in my Rivera to get all the tube humanly possible. The manual tube controls work much better than those on the Valvetronix unit (which I sent back after trying it out - the tube in the front of it was just for show in my opinion). These tubes really make a profound difference in the sound of the unit. But they have to make the patches control these tube settings and then allow a manual override using the knobs on the pedal with the next version. I would not let that stop you from buying one though. I still plan to sell my 2120 and make this my only unit. It also seems that the output is not well stereo balanced, and when I switch from the 4-db to the +10 db on the output control, the balance of the stereo changes, and not in a good way. I am able to overcome this with the send and receive controls on my amp. This may not be the unit, but I think it is. I can live with it, I have VU meters in my Sansui QRX-9001 Quad Receiver that I use to balance the stereo levels with (a one time setup type deal.

Heavy duty construction, thoroughly pleased with the look and perceived quality and craftsmanship. It will definitely get attention at a gig. No problems with the unit.

No experience with them

I play mostly hard rock in my home (jamming with records, etc.) This pedal gets great hard rock sounds and I have heard it do some good heavy metal sounds as well. It can peg a lot of the trademark sounds (rectifier, grunge, hendrix, etc.) With my current setup, I use a Strat Ultra dressed out with Lace Sensor Chrome Domes into a CryBaby 535Q into the Rivera amp, out to the 2120 Artist with a J12 foot pedal, then into a Ernie Ball Stereo volume pedal. I can replace all of that with this one pedal. The wah on this is adequate but not quite as good as the real thing. I do feel confident that, with a lot of experimentation and trial and error, that I can get this unit to do what I want it to do, and ultimately give me a better setup. The ZNR Noise Gate is awesome, A&B patch per switch, are all things that I wanted. The volume pedal is butta (not so with the 2120/J12 setup, that's why I had to add the Ernie Ball [a real tonesucker]). I'm willing to put the work in to get it to sit up and spin.

Ease of use:
I only needed to read through the manual once, after that, the uner-friendly concept makes editing lightning-fast. Example: Bought the G9 around 14.15, went through the manual, and had all sounds programmed for rehersal at 16.30. Rehersal started at 19.30 and all the band was happy about good sounds, that didn't need to be worked on (!!!) during the rehersal. The USB port is good for direct-to-PC/Mac homerecording, if a sofwareupdate brings it to 24bit it'll be even suitable for professional studio work. The "double Pedal" is an absolute killer feature!!! Take a clean guitar, and control Chorus AND Delay with one foot! Take a soft crunch sound and control Gain and Wah simultaniously. you see: I love it :-)

Setup 1: Worship Band in church: Ibanez JS 100 -> G9 (Cabinet Sim ON) -> DIBox -> Mixer/monitor.
Setup 2: Rock Concert setup: Ibanez JS 100 -> G9 (Cabinet Sim OFF) -> Dynachord Bass King T Amp -> Orange 4x12 Cabinet
Noise: The G9 "produces" less noise with all effects on than my old Boss SD-1 alone :-)
Sound: Best All-in-one on the market. I agree with the comments that it easily beats the Boss GT8, Korg G3000, POD XT Live. Two tubes are more than no tube! You can come to 100% satisfying results in short times, and for a fair price. I especially like the crunch sounds, which are warm and full of dynamic.
Effects: Tons of them on board. Some strange, but interesting. All are easy to edit and of good Quality. (I could replicate my CryBaby, Visual Sound O2 & Route66 so well that I sold them for some good money :-)

Reliability:
All Metal case. Very solid. I would not stand with all my 160lbs on the pedals, but who would? I'd gig with it without backup and would not get nervous about it.

Customer Support:
Yet to be experienced
Upgrade:
Not yet.

Overall rating:

I'm professional in praise&worship, and the G9 gives me all sounds I need with outstanding Modulation capabilities at a good price. It replaced my old big heavy floorboard (H&K Tubeman, Vis.Sound O2&Route66, CryBaby, Little Alligator, Boss SD-1, Tuner, Loads of short cabels...) with more&better sound(s), less weight and more effects. I'd buy it again without hesitation. I love the easy to use interface, and like best the horizontal/vertical Pedal. This is an incredible feature. The Price seems to be a bit higher than in the USA, but is still fairly low for the worth you'll get.

It was (i think) 50 or so pre amps, with some crazy number of other effects built in and you can intertwine all of the effects... IF you cant find your sound you are either deaf or shouldnt be playing guitar. Havent tried editing the patches. The manual isnt that straightforward but is aceptable. Looks very impressive too.

Im using a ZOOM fire-15 (an older one) in conjunction with a Godin SD. Sounds very nice, very professional. It has 3 different kinds of noise cancelling, ZNR (zoom noise reduction), Noisegate and Dirtygate, all with changeable settings so if you want noise you can get it, if you dont want noise you dont need it. The effects are pretty awesome! ive yet to find a sound that i couldnt be able to use. Within the effects there are lots of different kinds of effect (for example, the wah pedal has a choice of a voxpedal, crybaby, etc for really specific sounds) and you should be able to find what you want. If comes prebuilt with patches for various artists like santana, hendrix, blackmore etc and sound good when playing their stuff, as well as others. I have only had the box for a few days but am very happy so far. with the amount of effects you could easily lose days finding them, and ive been told that people have lost days finding them... all the effects sound good so far though.

It is solid as, rather heavy and the pedals are very sturdy. Everything that can be made of metal has been made of metal. All of the knobs feel sturdy and are well weighted. Youd have to do something pretty drastic to scratch it let alone break it, however im not going to perform any tests to prove my theory... I would gig this without a backup, it just feels that solid.

As mentioned before my amp is also zoom. My input jack broke when the amp took a fall some time back, it put it in to my local shop and it took 4 weeks to get repaired. Whether this was the shops or the manufacturers fault i do not know but i have never dealt with them directly. Never had too either.

I play mainly metal but i have ben expanding into blues, classical and psycodelic rock... groovy. It sounds good with anything i play. I have found all the effects ive tried usable, and the amount of preamp settings is astounding. I love it! If it were lost or stolen yes i would buy one again especially since i got it sourced for the price of a lesser boss unit which i looked at before purchasing this on advice from someone in the business. I love how i can have ANY SOUND I WANT!! The 7 band eq is fabulous! The Z-pedal which has vertical AND horizontal movement, and theres another pedal ontop of that, which means you have THREE PEDALS!! Its great! However i have found some of the functions hard to get as the manual isnt very clear. I havent quite figured out how to make presets and that stuff.. the manual isnt clear. I havent compared but i think this is the best in the business. It truly is. Anything i wish it had? A better manual! Other then that no it is truly perfect, and helps master any kind of music you want.

If you want a truly universal effects console, just buy this. Spend that little bit more and get something that has everything! If you are willing to learn to use it a bit, it is very rewarding.