Zoom GFX-707

It's a pretty straight forward unit. If your familiar with the effects units then this one will won't surprise you. The manual is really easy to understand. The jam which is the most copmlicated is also the most pointless. And of course ZOOM did their usual thing and tied the hands of the user quite a bit, usually this isn't a problem, but expression pedal assignments and wah/wammy range isn't as variable as I'dd like it.

I'm using a Peavey Predator and an old Samick amp. I don't use the preamp on my amp anymore I just go in through the effects return and use the units amp simulator, (I like combo A). The noise level is really low, a definite improvement from the 505. The zoom continued it's trend with of masking guitars and making all guitars sound the same, which doesn't really bother me. The sustain of my guitar has dropped considerably, as well as my ability to use the volume control to lower the amount of distortion , this I attribute to the digitalness of this pedal. The distortions sound good sometimes, like when playing power chords and punk stuff, but you can't get a nice Steve Vai scream out of it. If you try to hold a steady, distorded, high-pitched note, (say high-e string, 10th fret), then along with the sustain being bad, the note's gain fluctuates, it doesn't sound very good at all, (try playing the intro the Bed of Roses - Bon jovi). This may be a problem with just my unit, try it out and email me to tell me if the same thing happens to your unit. The effects are great, the delays, flanger, chorus and even the odd effects like the time trip and ring modulator, they're very well done. It would be nice if the patches faded from one to another instead of a straight jump (just enough so the reverbs and delays don't die so fast). The EQ is a phenominal improvement over the 505, so finding a nice sound is pretty easy. The only real problem with this is sustained distortion that I spoke of above.

well it's plastic, but I don't use it roughly so if I had to gig without a backup I would but I'dd prefer not to.

I sent an email to zoom conserning the problem described above, and got an automated responce but nothing concrete, I haven't phoned yet, but I will soon.

Overall I play every type of music from jazz to alternate and celtic music. It's a great unit for the price, the acoustic simulator is great. I've spoken of the good and bad things above, this pedal falls short only when playing slow-rock solos, other then that it's great.

some of the factory patches are useable without modification, but like all units you have to play with it most of the time to get a good sound out. the manual is easy to understand, but the interface isn't the most user friendly and you HAVE to have the manual around for editing patches. there's no way out of it.

i'm using the gfx707 with a schecter a7 7-string guitar and a pair of headphones at the moment. i plan on recording directly with the unit soon. the quality of the effects surprised me, especially for a unit in the "under $200" price range. the unit isn't noisy at all through headphones (unlike the whole line of DOD products). the distortions are very varied and versatile. it should be understood that in my opinion, no floor unit will EVER rival the sound quality of a good rack unit. the one thing i don't care for is that the expression pedal can't be mapped to a specific parameter (zoom decided what parameter it should operate at the factory for each effect, and you can't change it from, say, the factory setting of flanger SPEED to the DEPTH. then again, for the price i'm surprised it even had an expression pedal. the drum settings are pretty basic and have a slight electronic sound to them, but if you're playing over it, it's not that noticable. it beats (no pun intended) the monotonous sound of a metronome.

well, like everyone else, i think the bright idea to make the whole unit plastic is a poor one. when i use the gfx707 i don't feel lik ei'm about to break it, but i wouldn't want to accidentally step on it or drop it. because of the way you have to access patches (sequentially [eg you have to cycle through each track, one at a time] instead of direct access [eg you assign the patches to individual buttons]). for home use, practice, or if you're a one-setting type of person, it would be just fine. i haven't had any problems out of the unit as far as normal operation goes.

haven't had to deal with zoom.

the price doesn't include an adaptor. i ordered it from musician's friend, and got the processor, the adaptor, and second day air shipping for under 200 bucks. i play lots of things: goth, industrial, metal, deathmetal, etc and i think that this unit is suited fine for that. i like this unit better than the digitechs (they and DOD are made by the same company, which erases all respect i have for them), but the boss pedals (mainly the gt3 and the gt5) beat the zoom. for the money paid, this unit is well worth it. it has decent sound quality, doesn't give you that oh-so-famous 60Hz hum when you plug it up, and after you read the manual once real good and toy with it, it's easy to operate.

It is extremly easy to start out with, and it has some brilliant little hidden features. The drum beats are superb. The manual is great, as this tells you how to use some of the hidden features.

Superb for a unit at this price. I'm using it with a Colombus Series II, and a Marshall 50watt combo, and with these it sounds great. With this effects pedal, it has a great blues sound with some of the effects. And it is possible to get the sound of the best artists, with some time spent.

It is extremly reliable, and on a live performance, it is easy to access the presets and user settings.

Never dealt with the company.

It is a superb match with the music I play, Indie and Blues. I've been playing for 3 years now. I would not buy it again if I lost it, because I couldn't afford it.

Very easy to use. Except for the jam function which takes some set up time. Manual is very nformative

Distortions not that great. The pedal wah suck because pedal has small range Trem effect is poor.There are a lot of unnessesary effects that I would never use.Sampling and drum machine are cool.

Looks as if would be easy to crack the plastic

NA

Good for practicing and well worth what i paid for it. wish the drums could have parameters.And would be worth twice as much if it had a 30 sec sampler instead of 6 & 2.

It is better than the last time I responded and the things that I was having problems with are history. the JAM function works (MY FAULT), and the patches sound extra good now that I am comfortable with the pedal. I imagine it will take me until february 2000 to develop part of my custom patch list, the possiblities are endless.

The last time I responded I said that the "JAM" function was hard to operate....well.....I feel a bit stupid, the problem was that the expression pedal sensitivity needed to be re-adjusted, all it took was a small adjustment and the "JAM" function jumped to life it's so easy its embarrasing that I actually wrote "that they could make it easier to operate". and it works great. the sample time is way to short and the fact that you can't tell where the time starts (no metronome or click) makes it a pain to find the correct stop point. So it requires some trial and error. But overall it is fun to experiment with.
Also after some time getting to use the pedal in different environments and settings, I am amazed at the possible combinations that can be setup as a patch, tiny rotations of the knobs in conjunction with other settings can give you a whole new sound. I spent over 4 hours just writing down new patch combinations just with the modulation setting and no adjustments to anything else, and I wasn't even close to half of the possibilities. I was able to get sounds from Hendrix to King Crimson to Zappa. The possibilities are endless. So for those guys and gals who think its just junk or just a toy. I would suggest trying a patch other than distortion and noise and try the cleaner tones with various settings, it will allow you to hear the quality or lack of quality in your real skill. It will also allow you to stop covering up "the lack of" with volume and overdrive. The pedal doesn't sound bad or good its the player that makes the pedal do what its meant to do.

so far so good, I work for NASA and some of the guys I work with, that design hardware told me that they make plastics that are more durable that any metal, and if a company makes a product that is made to be stomped on and kicked around, there is a good chance that it was made of a plastic material that will do just that...take it. so yes I would use it on a gig.

To upgrade my answer from the last time, the day after I submitted my comments, I got an e-mail from sampson. They gave me an 800 number to call. so in all fairness to them they are pretty responsive and they really seem to want to be helpful. so my apologies.....(The web site still sucks, if your not going to maintain up-to-date sites.....shut it down!!!

I love it, and with the sound I am getting I think it loves me too!!!!
Nuff said!

In one whole day i learned the ins and outs on patch editing. There are so many variations to each sound that it's almont mindboggling.

I'm using a Epiphone Les Paul though a Crate GX212. When you use headphones to jam with the GFX it sounds great but there is an annoying hum-like noise that the GFX produces when used with an amp. All the effects are great, I can replicate the exact sounds of 311, the Police, Smashing Pumpkins, Rage etc. It's a very versatile. I'm still looking for a good distortion setting ( like Creed). The flanger and chorus are great. The pedal Wah is very weak but the auto-wah is good. It can get very confusing to use live due to a lack of buttons ( only 2).

The plastic is what worries me and the other thing is that the GFX tends to tilt when the wah is being used.

I wish i came with more pedals and buttons. Othewise it's a great starter unit and easy to operate.

It is pretty easy to do quick editing with the knobs; however getting you have to break out the manual for doing things like EQ and more advanced stuff. The parameters of the knobs change depending on what effect you are editing, so the amount of tweaking you can do can be overwhelming sometimes. That can be a good thing too--this pedal is very versatile.

I am using a Standard Strat with a Champ 110 amp. Mostly, I run it through my Yamaha MT120 4-track as a mixer and then into my SB Live for recording direct in Cakewalk. I found that for mono recording it seems to beef up the sound a bit for me to run it through my amp first, then out to the mixer. Noise is almost non-existent with the noise gate enabled; in fact I would suggest turning the noise gate down a little. Some of the presets are OK, but most will need tweaking for recording. I was quite surprised at the quality of effects--only a slight hint of "digitalness." The saving grace is the amp modeling which adds a nice warm tone when you want it. I can't get a lot of scream on the dirty patches, though that is probably my low-output single-coil bridge pu. I am picky about dist/overdrive but this is pretty good. All of the modulation effects are great (Chorus/Vibe/Pedal-Wah) except auto-wah, which is a tone sucker. You can get just about anything you want with some adjustments.

I don't gig, but I couldn't see doing it with this. I think it is designed for home use. It's plastic and light. I wouldn't step on it with a heavy boot. I think it will hold up if you treat it accordingly. It seems dependable in terms of functionality.

Haven't dealt with them...yet.

I really wanted to get a POD, but just couldn't justify the cost. The POD is $100 more without an expression pedal. Once I heard the ZOOM I was satisfied. I compared the mono POD sounds on tonefrenzy.com to the ZOOM mono sounds and couldn't tell a lot of difference. If you have to have name-brand amp sim and have more money to spend you might want to try the POD. For me, the overall quality of the GFX 707 is good enough to keep me happy and keep me from spending more money on pedals and batteries (get the optional AC adapter).

This unit is easy to use you can get started without having
to read the manual and refer to it as you get further into it.
This is a well thoughtout and well engineered product. The knobs
that let you change settings on the fly are a great feature.
The EQ settings / names are somewhat confusing at least for me.

This unit is significantly improved over the 505. I didn't keep
the 505 because it was too noisy. Zoom fixed that problem with
the 707. I've only had this for a few days, it is quite versital
in it range of effects some of which I probably will never use.
I like the on board drum machine feature, as I plan on using it
mainly as a practice unit and also to record a rhythm track that
I can jam along too. For this I think this unit is perfect and I
can see it being a excellent learning tool. As far as using it
Live on stage, I'm not there yet and this may not be the effects
unit you need at that level.

Seems well built to me albiet plastic, I'm not sure how it would
hold up in a giging situation but I didn't buy it for that.

No comment, just got it.

I play mainly Blues and Rockabilly with that swing thing.
I've dialed in the shuffle beat along with some light dist/od
a touch of reverb, the amp simulator set to combo and away I go!
Heck you don't even need an amp just some head phones, pretty
cool little unit. Some people love it some people feel it is
a waste of money and just a toy. It depends on what your looking
for and what you expect. For me at $150.00 bucks this is a great
product and like I said some thought was put into this unit
before they put it out. And so for the price and comparisons
to other cheap multi fx units I think this one can't be beat.
But it's like a computer I'm sure there will be something better
and cheaper than this down the line. Ahh technology gotta love it!

THE UNIT IS VERY WELL THOUGHT OUT THE EASY EDIT FEATURE AS WELL AS THE FINE TUNE EDITING IS VERY GOOD. THE MANUAL IS EASY TO FOLLOW, AS WITH THE ZOOM RHYTHM MACHINE THAT I PURCHASED A YEAR AGO, I LIKE THE WAY ZOOM'S MANUALS ARE WRITTEN. AND SOUND WISE, BUTTON UP BUTTON DOWN, USER PATCHES- (LETTERS), PRESETS PATCHES- (NUMBERS). VERY EASY

I USE A CUSTOM FENDER STRAT WHICH USED TO BE A SQUIRE BUT THE ONLY THING SQUIRE ABOUT IT IS THE NECK, ITS A STRAT WITH 3 GOLD LACE SENSORS TWO DBX TONE CONTROLS ALL NEW WIRING, AN LSR ROLLER NUT WITH SCHALLER LOCKING TUNERS AND A FENDER DELUXE 2-POINT TREMLO LOCKING BRIDGE, ALL ELECTRONICS WERE GUTTED AND REPLACED WITH TOP OF THE LINE ELECTRONICS AND GOLD CONNECTORS. AN ASH BODY WITH A GOLD ANODIZED PICKGUARD. THE GUITAR SCREAMS WITHOUT EFFECTS BOXES. I PLAY AT MY STUDIO THRU 2 (TWO) CRATE GXF-15'S SPLIT WITH A (Y) TO GET THAT STEREO EFFECT, ITS A SMALL AMP BUT IT HAS GREAT TONE AND IT SERVES THE PUROPSE WELL. THE ZOOM GFX-707 COME THRU LIKE A PRO UNIT THE SOUNDS ARE VERY WELL DEFINED AND THE EXPRESSION PEDAL ASSIGNMENT FUNCTION IS GREAT. I LOVE THE REVERSE, VIOLIN,AND PHASING/CHORUS WITH THE FULL DOUBLE STACK SOUND (B), TALK ABOUT "PHAT". THE SWELL SHAKES THE WINDOWS. I LIKE ALLAN HOLLDSWORTH AS FAR AS GUITARISTS SOUND GOES AND I CAN GET IT FROM THE GFX-707. THE ONLY THING I REALLY DISLIKE IS THE JAM FUNCTION, NOT THAT IT DOESN'T WORK, BUT IT IS A PAIN IN THE ASS TO PROGRAM. AND IT TAKES ABOUT 12 SECONDS TO GO INTO RECORD MODE AND BY THAT TIME YOU FORGOT WHY YOU HAD THE PEDAL PRESSED DOWN. THAT NEEDS WORK BUT....WHEN IT WORKS, IT IS GREAT. ALSO THE SAMPLE TIME COULD BE LONGER. AND ITS VERY QUIET.

IT SEEMS DEPENDABLE SO FAR, SINCE I ONLY USE IT IN MY STUDIO IT WON'T GET KICKED AROUND TOO MUCH. BUT I FIND MYSELF BEING CAREFUL (SINCE IT'S PLASTIC I AM ALWAYS CONSCIOUS OF THE FACT THAT IT IS) AND THAT IS SOMEWHAT OF A PROBLEM ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE REALLY INTO YOUR PLAYING AND THEN YOU STEP DOWN AND THINK, OOPS DID I STEP DOWN TOO HARD?

THEY HAVE A CRAP WEB SITE AND NO 800 NUMBER. SINCE THE CALL IS OVERSEAS IT WOULD BE NICE, OH.. AND THEY DON'T HAVE AND E-MAIL ADDRESS LISTED ON THE WEB SITE. THEY CAN'T BE THAT CHEAP ....CAN THEY?

I PLAY A WIDE VARIETY OF MUSIC SO IT SUIT ME WELL.
I HAVE BEEN PLAYING FOR ABOUT 8 YEARS.
IF LOST OR STOLEN I WOULD GET ONE IMMEDIATELY WITHOUT HESITATION.
I LOVE THE SETUP THE ANALOG AND DIGITAL COMBINATION THE PCM SOUNDS AND THE RHYTHM MACHINE, THE SAMPLER AND THE JAM FUNCTION (WHEN IT WORKS).
I HATE THE FACT THAT IT TAKES SO MUCH TO SET THE JAM FUNCTION UP AND I NEVER KNOW IF ITS GOING TO WORK CORRECTLY.
I HAVE BEEN SHOPPING FOR A PEDAL FOR ABOUT 4 MONTHS THE ONLY OTHER PEDAL I HAVE IS THE ZOOM 505 AND HAVE NEVER FOUND ANYTHING ELSE I LIKED AS MUCH OR WANTED TO PAY THAT KIND OF MONEY FOR.
I WISH IT HAD AN ADJUSTMENT FOR THE RHYTHM SECTION AS FAR AS THE INDIVIDUAL PIECES FOR THE DRUM KIT.
IT IS THE BEST PEDAL I HAVE USED. AND I HAVE USED THEM ALL. I PLAYED WITH IT IN THE DEMO ROOM OF THE STORE I PURCHASED IT FROM AND WHEN I WAS DONE I TOOK IT HOME. I HAVE NEVER DONE THAT BEFORE, I AM THE TYPE OF PERSON THAT WILL GO TO THE STORE 10 TIMES BEFORE I BUY IT.

I auditioned both the Zoom and the Korg AX-1G for about an hour before I decided on taking home the GFX-707. I made my decision based on the fact that the 707 has knobs and the Korg doesn't (when you need to pick up a manual in order to adjust the volume you know the unit's for engineers or they just cut corners on cost way too much). The easy edit function on the Zoom is exactly that. The manual does what a manual should do, inform.

I use my Carvin, Paul Reed Smith, or Heartfield guitars into the Zoom GFX-707 & out to the Power Amp In of my Fender Deluxe 85. I don't run it through the combo's preamp at all. Let me say that the dynamics are impressive for this unbelievably priced unit. Just back off the effects mix on some of the user presets and you've got good tone. In the music store I thought both the Korg and the Zoom couldn't hold a candle to my studio/stage rig (tube pre-amp, f/x processor, mosfet power amp, & two 2x12s) but, when I got home and plugged the Zoom directly into the power amp...let's just say I've yet use my $2,250 rig since the Zoom came home with me. The cabinet simulator knob is very versatile for dialing in a scooped mid crunch or a more open lead sound. For the price paid the f/x are very useable. Just the pitch shifter leaves a bit to be desired (doesn't track fast enough).

To me it seems like unless you mistreat it (throw it 10-20 feet or spill liquid on it), it's durable enough to use on stage. I know it's plastic on the outside but, the way the circuit boards and LEDs are mounted (and their quality) on the inside is what makes a unit reliable or not. Since I'm not going to void my warantee and open the unit up...

There is a long hold time for technical support and questions but, once you get through they'll spend as much time as neccessary to answer your questions.

I play rock, blues, jazz, and latin music and the Zoom can hang with me. The drum machine is cool to just pick a pattern, start it, and start jamming or writing a song. I've been playing 10 years now and technology never ceases to amaze me. If it were lost or stolen I would audition the Boss GT-3 or the Roland GT-5 against the Zoom and decide if the $150-320 extra gives me at least 50% better sound. If they don't, back to Zoom I'd go.