Zoom 1010

This takes a little work to get used to modifying the sound, but once you know the trick, it's pretty simple. The instructions weren't very good, but it's not hard to figure out when you play with it. One confusing thing was all the options that don't work on it, unless you have the extra bits that attach to it, like optional wah pedals, etc. Without them, obviously, not all the functions work. There are quite a lot of options, and sounds, but it also works well if you have dedicated pedals, and you need some of the simpler effects to go with it. Mine is old, used, but in good condition, and well taken care of.

I play a crappy kramer beginner, a Dean Evo that i've done some upgrades too (my main axe for now) and a really nice Oscar Schmidt semi-hollow that is awesome, but not my style, and I'll be selling. They all work well, and the pedal served its purpose. It is extremely useful, and a good quality pedal. It isn't really noisy, but it takes a LOT of fiddling to get the sound you want. The preset volume often needs to be tweaked depending on what you're looking for. I have played this through lots of things. I've played through a cheap 10 watt kramer practice amp, a peavy rage 158, my personal PA system that serves as a big amp, and through a Mackie professional set up at my youth group, and on several trips with the youth group. It sounds good on all of them, even makes the crappy practice amps sound better, but it is not easy to modify the sound you have on a patch, unlike a dedicated pedal that has knobs on it. Basically I make all the available presets into any/every sound I think I might potentially need, and hope for the best, and that works pretty well: Distortion, delayed distortion, wah-effect (not so good) clean, clean delay, and mixtures of the above. I like green day, goldfinger, blink 182, brand new, the strokes, the used, alkaline trio, and such, and I can get the sound I want, but it's not easy, and I can't always use the same patch for the same thing, so sometimes I have to mess with the amp, or guitar controls. One AWESOME feature is the built in tuner: whatever patch you're on, hit the button for that patch again (as though reselecting it) and the tuner comes on, and the patch goes off, so it's just a clean sound. These days, I use a behringer OD100 overdrive/distortion pedal, and run it through the 1010, into the amp. The 1010 is mainly for tuning right now, as well as delay when I need it. I did manage to model an acoustic sounding patch, which was cool.

It is very reliable, I've had no problems, if anything gets funky, or you don't have time to scroll through all the patches to get back to the one you need, just unplugg it, re-plugg, and it's reset. It is mainly used AS a back-up, just in case I need to use one of the distortion presets, but mainly I use my behringer pedal for that. I do gig with it, almost every sunday at youth group, and it's been on two youth retreats stuffed under a bus in a backpack, with no negative consequences.

Never dealt with them, I got it used, and it had been owned for a long time, so I don't plan on contacting them.

I play punk rock, heavy(ish) rock, and clean stuff. I've been playing for about 3 years now, and I like this pedal, it was my first, and definately worth it. I think it's cool how many presets there are, but it's a little difficult to use sometimes, but that is in part because I don't understand all the terms that are used on it (things like "time", "rate", "ZNR", etc.)I would get something else if it was stolen, but that would suck, cuz it would mean getting dedicated tuners and delay pedals. It definately makes making music easier for me.

Same as most multi effects units, and not much to edit anyway.

Utter shit.
There is no reason why anyone would ever pay money for this.
Crap crap crap. Distortions utter bollocks, and the modulation stuff is so limited that it doesnt make the 1010 worth a tenner.
Very very noisy, and this was when zoom noise reduction was even worse than their more recent efforts. Either a very noisy sound with no NR or a horrible constipated no-attack-no-sustain sound.
bypass sound is hopeless.
only possible use is for a novelty nasty fucked up sound say with fuzz and flanger, but you'd need an effects loop cos the bypass sound is unusable.

Mine hasn't broken, but then i've hardly used it because it's crap.
It won't fall apart, though the amount of noise suggests it's got dusty inside very easily!
But then when you can only rely on it produce a shit sound all the time then what does it matter?

I think SOUND is a fairly important consideration in the creation of music.
This sounds rubbish.
Buy something else.

Rant over - Ahhh feel much better now:)

http://www.add9.co.uk

I have had mine for a little over 10 years now and I love it. Learning curve was easy, after a couple of hours I put the manual away and never used it since.

I agree with most that the distortion and amp sims suck. I can get some good distortion when I combine it with the distortion on my Crate GX-60 but for the most part I use a seperate pedal. An effects loop is essential to eliminate the noise and level the volume. The optional pedal is a huge plus. Wha is ok but the volume control is excellent. I play a Fender Ash Strat and the compresion works great with it. Delay, reverb and modulation are very useful.

I have played MANY gigs with it used it for both electric and electric acoustic gigs with no problems. I have run it through the board on it's own for recording and have never had it fail on me.

Never had to call on them ! Never a problem.

I play everything from folk/country to thrash and jazz and use it for all. If set up right and tweeked it is a good box for tweeking acoustic sound into a board as well.I have been playing for....40 (!!!!) years now and it is as reliable as any effect I have ever used or seen. I would definately get another if lost or stolen. I love the fact that it is so easy to program. I hate that you can't go back to a patch but have to scroll up to change patches. I have compared it to many other single and multi effect. Except for distortion it workes just fine for me. And at the price it is amazing.

Muy facil de usar. Buenos sonidos, simple layout. Viene con 30 presets (algunos estan buenos, otros directamente malos) y tiene 12 patches para grabar tus propios efectos personalizados. El manual es facil de leer, y en realidad uno aprende usandola, probando, metiendo la pata y modulando sus propios sonidos. Ahora consegui una Korg AX10G que es mas versatil y tiene mejores sonidos q la 1010.

La uso con un equipo Peavey Bandit 112, Jackson JSX94, Epiphone Noel Gallargher Supernova, Gibson Explorer y la verdad q andubo muy bien. Buenos efectos de modulacion, al igual q el ecualizador, noise supressor y compresor. Lo unico q no me convencieron fuerona las distorsiones, a las cuales me costo agarrarle la mano, ya q estan seteadas para un tipo de sonido mas crudo al q yo buscaba. Otra desventaja es el hecho de q la velocidad de repeticion del delay no era muy ampli, y ciertos temas de u2 q queria tocar, por el tempo no llegaba. En general, muy buen sonido limpio, mas los efectos de modulacion. Creo q nunca use el efecto doubling, y algunas distorsiones son muy sinteticas.

Use la pedalera en alrededor de 10 shows en vivo, nunca me defraudo. Lo q si vi, es q sus pedales, sobre todo el tone bank, el de mas a la izquierda, fue severamente da?ado, a tal extremo en q tiene muchos arreglos caseros realizados. Tuve q cambiarle los jacks de input y output, pero eso es mas q todo el gran uso q le di. La carcasa es plastica, por lo cual es menos duradera que una metalica, pero eso es otra historia.

nunca hable

En general es un lindo equipo para principiantes, o como parte de un seteo mayor. La utilize junto con un jimi hendrix wah wah de jim dunlop, con noise gates, digital delays y etc, siempre respondio bien. La use tambien un par de veces como efecto para voces, teclados y bajo, siempre respondio en optimas condiciones. Es un equipo simple, para autodidactas, ofrece modelar tu sonido mejor q algunos pedales por separado, pero si queres un sonido profesional, comprar otras pedaleras o pedales separados. la verdad q el bichito me gusto

A bit of touch-and-go really. There are absolutely no surprises. I could do this in my sleep.

I've been using this with different amps for seven years and I've found that other than the distortions, which are admittedly a little weak, it sounds better than anything I've ever plugged in to.

I play a lot of goth/alternative and the chorus and delays are just too sweet to leave out. K, The distortions are still weak but will do just fine live. The equalizer is the only thing I never use. Total BS. But then again, noise is good!

You can get just about anything out of this one. As long as your amp does the crunching.

Except for all the plastic that has to be caressed gently I've never had any problems with this unit.

And since I can't afford a backup... I bloody well have to rely on it!

It's second-hand.

OMFG! I really love this pound of plastic! It gives me just about everything I've ever wanted.

It's usually complemented by a 20 yr old yamaha distortion and has gone straight in the board this way dozens of times. Else, I use a H&K 60W combo and they sound great together. I think I've sucked up every single drop of reverb out there...

Ohh man this is such a good pedal I just can't handle it. The manual is really easy to use, and after about 20 minutes, you don't need it at all.

I use it with a schecter guitar, and a crate amp, and it sounds great. It has many different choises of sound to choose from, with almost everything from jazz to heavy rock. The distortion is ok, but a bit fuzzy at times, but other than that it is flawless.

Yes of course I can depend on it, it is the only pedal for the low price and high quality out there.

I bought it off of ebay, so I didnt deal with the company.

I play rock, and it is a great pedal for this style.
I have been playing for about a year and a half.
I would buy another if I lost it.
I like the sound, and the set up of it. I don't like how some of the distorion is fuzzy.
I haven't compaired it to other products.
It has every thing I need.
It helps tremendously when you play.

very straight ahead design, ez ez. You have all you need for rock'n'roll and even more.
I like when you are in edit mode: you then can use the footswitches as pedals, it is absolutely convenient on stage. Of course you have to program the unit accordingly.
The chromatic tuner is very welcome, as is the reduced timelag when changing patches.
What I do miss is a master volume, I take care of that with a controller pedal (there is a jack for it, great since it works before the delay or reverb block so you keep the tails of them when violoning for example).

First, I only use it straight in the power amp of my 112 combo. So it is not colored by the preamp of this.
I find the compressor fantastic, you can finely tune it, and it comes juicy as I like for funky stuff. Warm sounding.
The chorus is the best I've come across in such devices, very warm while definite, hats off zoom.
The eq is very useable, as are delay and reverbs.
Now now now... THe distortions!
First, the amp sim setting of each one is crap period so don't use it.
You have 8 types which covers a lot of stuff but only 3 of them are to my taste, which is enough for most stuff indeed.
Solid tight rock rythmic thing, lush delay solo lead, maybe a bit of crunch blues, all comes honestly (provided you play properly because crap in equals crap out but worse)

Very reliable, 10years old and no sign of premature death...The same for all their stuff except newest.

I come back to this unit very often, because it is usable on stage without having to play the engineer. Pods and alike are a real nightmare live. And don't sound that much better in the configuration I use the little zoom. Not to mention the fabulous chorus and compressor.
So why spend time, nerves and money when this little one does it?
An audience won't make a difference, as long as the player does well.
And this is it.
This thing spared me settings nightmares, and I can play jazz, funk, old rock to heavy stuff with it so for me it is a blessing.

I've had this unit for roughly 10 years, so it's hard to remember what the learning curve was like. All I know is I can program it w/ my eyes closed, very easy to use.

I've never used any of the amp or distortion modelers, they're pretty cheesy. I've always thought that the modulation & delay effects were pretty good quality, though there's the dreaded "drop out" delay when switching between patches. I got around this by running it through an effects loop which I could bypass. So, I'd only change patches while the loop wasn't engaged.

Like I said above, I've had it for 10+ yrs & have easily played 200 shows with it & never once had a reliability problem. Very durable.

N/A

I have to admit, it's got sentimental value to me & I still use it at home sometimes. If you have a bypassable effects loop, give it a try (I've seen them preety cheap on ebay).

Easy enough. After a few days you'll put away the manual. It's easy to stack a few sounds into a single patch and the navigation is simple.

Let's be honest, this is a budget unit. To begin with the unit is a little noisy and it does affect the direct sound of your guitar a bit but some effects are quite useful. The delay and chorus are average. There is a decent range of parimeters on the chorus but the delay is a little too short for my taste. Still it's long enough to be usable. These aren't stellar sounds but good enough for stage work. The reverbs are fairly good here with enough range to satisfy most, especially the smaller halls. Any digital reverb beats spring for me. The real winner here has to be the EQ. I can easily program a third channel by programming a scooped setting against the midrange settings on the amp, along with any effects. Another good feature is the mute which is easily engauged by tapping a program twice - once for bypass, but it's not true bypass. This unit also has a guitar tuner that actually works, but it's slow. Best bring along a dedicated tuner. On the down side are the destortions - god awful, totally unusable. I'm currently using a Charvel strat through a Tech 21 Trademark amp and use the 1010 mainly for the delay, EQ, and reverb. The sound is quite good for live performance of heavy rock and blues.

The Zoom 1010 has been in service with me since 97 with no problems. It's as well built as most hard plastic units but I am careful with it all the same. I carry an old digitech delay as a backup as delay for me is the must have. I've never needed it however.

Never needed them.

This unit currently serves it's purpose well, that being to give me a usable all in one unit for basic effects in a small package. The time based sounds are moderately good, it's reliable, the switching is quite, and the reverbs, delay and EQ are good enough for most types of music. The chorus is good for most situations (but my EH Clone Theory smokes it) and all of the effects sound well enough stacked together in a single program. Avoid the destortions at all cost. Bottom line is that the 1010 keeps my peddle board tidy and it works on stage. This is a bang for the buck product. IF you want prestine hi-fi effects this thang ain't Lexicon. Now if I could only find a product this size with the same features but higher end sounds I'd be set. Wish it ran on batteries.....

Not too bad as far as setting up. The manual is helpful to get you started on editing the patches and tweaking the sound, but it's pretty easy and you won't need it after awhile. Have fun trying to get a good sound out of it though!

Crap. My main gripe is that the distortion effects are weak. I play a lot of metal and these are just sad. You just can't get a good sound out of them. The factory presets are pretty much useless. Some of them might be promising if you could edit and store them. I guarantee if you get this you'll be hanging around the user presets area, of which there are only 12!!

I've had this since 1998, and started out using it on an old USA made Peavey Predator with a Peavey Audition 110 combo. I was expecting more than what I paid for, I guess. The Pred only had a single coil at the bridge, and at the time, the 1010 distortion sounded better than the built-in on the Peavey combo. However, I found that when I put a humbucker in, the Peavey distortion sounded GOOD and the Zoom sounded awful. Since then, LP's and DeArmond have been played thru it, and it is just cheesy. If you have a cheap Strat-style SSS axe and a crappy combo amp, this may be worth a few bucks to you. Like maybe 10-20 bucks. Otherwise, steer clear.

Sadly enough, I've used it more for vocal effects (!) lately. Wrong I know, but you musicians out there making minimum wage know what I'm talking about when it comes to scraping by with equipment. I was just beginning to think that all of these cheap multi-effects pedals were junk until I heard a buddy's DigiTech RP100 and I was blown away!! Now THAT'S what this Zoom should sound like. If you're looking to try out multi-pedals, I'd start there.

Put it this way, it hasn't broken yet. I've been pretty careful with it, but it has been hauled around a lot and it's still in one piece. However I can see how it could get damaged if it were thrown around too much. And I'll agree that it doesn't have the construction that matches some of my other stompboxes.

I will say whoever designed the wall adapter for it should be severely beaten. The prongs are on the same side as where the wire enters it, so if you plug it in the top of the receptacle, you block the bottom, but if you plug it in the bottom, the stupid wire is in your way and gets bent severely to allow another plug to be inserted above it. Stupid. I know a buddy who had his Zoom crap out on him because the wire broke in the adapter at this stress point.

I wouldn't gig with this if only for the reason that the bank/bypass switches are really touchy. They are in the DigiTechs also unfortunately. I once used this live where I bypassed between clean and the effect and effed it up every time in the song because the pedal was too touchy.

So an 8 might be too high a rating but it gets that since it hasn't broken. Yet.

Never had to deal with them.

I play different genres, but a lot of distortion-based stuff. So this thing may as well go out the window. I've been playing for 12 years, but don't have a lot of gear because I am poor :( I will soon be owning a DigiTech pedal when I can get the money together. The fact I hate this Zoom yet I've stuck with it since '98 is just sad. If it were stolen, I'd laugh at whoever got it. I lent it to a friend for awhile and he gave it back without me even asking for it! That tells you something.

I like it because it's pretty easy to tweak and the noise reduction is good. Generally easy to set-up and is reliable, but trying to get a good sound from it is like polishing a turd. Wish I would have done more comparision at the time, but it looked good in print! Definitely going with DigiTech in the future, at least this time I've heard it firsthand and know what I'm getting. If you already don't like DT's effects, then stay away from Zoom.