Zoom 2020

Easy to use and get the best sound possible, intuitive user interface. The manual was very comprehensive, a nice touch was the seperate sheet for the pre-defined patches.

Decent sound quality, but at the time I was running it into two peavy practice amps, so as a comparison anythings sound quality would be great. I don't like the distortion at all, I found it most unusable at any setting, I really didn't see any "analog sound". The delay sounds were great, as were the chorus, tremelo, and flange. Not too deep, but decent. The reverb was usable, but only cause the two peaveys had none of thier own. I'd never use it in a performance situation with my fender amp

Not at all! A tragic incident happened one day <WARNING> do not try this at home or $240 pedal goes down the tubes. My guitar tipped from it's stand and fell slowly and gracefully onto the Zoom, with the tiniest piece of headstock hitting the Zoom square in the middle of the edit panel. Well the damage was done, once opened revealed a crack in the circuit board, which, even after repairing the traces, still refused to work. I guess some chip was fried, and there ain't no way you're gonna find anything like it at any e-tronics store, much less be able to repair the compact surface mount stuff. I would shudder to buy one again, as a hit like that could easily come from dropping the pedal, or maybe even a tough stomp durring a crazy solo. Buyer beware! This thing is delicate.

Did'nt ever try

I would never buy it again. The box sounded good at the store, but I found it was just not that versitile, or good sounding for me. I mainly chose this because at the time when I bought it it was the only thing in it's price range that could do what it did. About a week later the ART ECC was relased as well as several others that were better for about $20 more!!! Boy was I pissed. That and my horror story with it's durability or lack thereof would make me think twice about ever turning one on again.

About as easy as any other effects processor that requires patch editing.

The noise reduction is excellent. I've heard better distortion but the Zoom's isn't bad - especially since it's so versatile. The compression effect is as bad as everyone says it is. It has 4 settings (0-3) and I can't tell the difference between 0 and 3 on any of the patches. The phase, flanger, auto wah, and chorus effects are all pretty good. The pitch, reverb, and delay effects sound OK and create good stereo signals which is nice if you use 2 amps like I do. Most effects, especially the distortion, sound better through a clean, or close to clean, sounding amp.

It's never given me a problem but I don't operate the selector buttons with my feet and, given that the unit is plastic, I don't think I ever will.

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I would buy this unit again. Like other multi-effects processors, this lets you change between radically different sounds with just the press of a button rather than dicking around with each individual effect. The key to being happy with this unit isn't just to learn how to mechanically program it, but to also learn how to get it sound good. You can get some good heavy sounds by maxing out the distortion and combining it with the pitch effect to throw in an octive down element. Versatility + low price is why I like it.

Easy enough. I set up my own patch minutes after plugging it in. I really wish I had a manual so I could see exactly what some of the settings mean.

Whoah Nelly! Man, when you set it just right, this baby's so crunchy, it almost bites your hand off when you try to change the settings!
The compression and overdrive are weak, like everybody else says, but man, I love that distortion!
The pitch shifting is neat, too. When you set it to 7 tones up, it makes your guitar sound really full, and you can play cheesy soundtrack music.

Well, the pedals look kind of dodgy, but I suppose they would hold up, unless you're Yngwie Malmsteen or something.
One thing that would keep me from using it in a live gig is the slight pause between switching patches.

I haven't needed this yet. I hope I never do.

This isn't the best of units. If I were a feature freak, I'd get a Boss SE-70 or something. But for the price, I don't think you can do much better. I was considering getting a Korg Pandora, but the Pandora wasn't as flexible.
I'm a happy camper. I wanted bone-crushing, full-tilt shred and I got it, along with several other effects.

Very easy to use thanks to the effects map on the top of the unit. I was familiar with programming it within minutes. I didn't get a manual.

I use a Marshall Valvestate stereo chorus combo which sounds amazing on its own. I wanted to use the Zoom to add effects to my Marshall. With the Zoom plugged into it (even with no effects switched on) it colours the sound very badly, it totally destroys the sound of my amp. The only way you can use it is to use the clean channel of your amp and let the Zoom take over. The distortions are terrible and you can forget about the compressor (I think Zoom must have disconnected from the chain and forgot to tell anyone). It is possible to get one or two decent sounds if you spend a long time with the EQ but overall the Zooms just to muddy. Noise isn't too bad so long as the distortion doesn't go past 6 (1-8) Clean sounds are fine. The chorus and delays are good. The reverbs not so hot, theres not much depth there even with the mix on 10.
I also wanted to go some recording. Its okay at getting madly distorted chorused industrial sounds (e.g. Cubinate) but the closest you'll get to a natural guitar tone would be to plug the guitar straight into the recorder! (Thats a bit unfair, the clean sounds are okay).

It seems reliable enough. The case and pedals seems solid. If for some strange reason I did decide to use it at a gig the Zoom would be the backup.

At least its not the worst effects unit on the market, its miles better than the 9002.
Final verdict:- Try before you buy.... and then don't!

Sort of a trade off : this is a cheap effect with LOTS of programmability for the money, so all these possibilities have to be dealt with. Considered this it is a eazy machine. But not the the one for "push and forget" type guitarists.

The compressor is weak and the distortions are the worst on the market. I personally know a few seasoned semi-pro's who can't program a good overdrive/distortion with it. So CHECK BEFORE BUY!!! The modulation / chorus section on the other hand is excelent especially the autowah and Phaser effects are very well executed. You got a good delay, a sober EQ-section but the strangest thing is the Reverb wich sounds like a spring-reverb tank?!? I mean, if you got a reverb in your amp you probably don't need this effect sounding the same.... Bottom line : average sound. plan on buying a seperate distortion.

I know LOTS of gigging musicians with zoom-effects and never heard of defects. Altough it looks fragile it apparently doesn't fail live. I DO use it live without backup. Carry it around in the gigbag. No problems.

Never needed CS

Nowadays you have better competition in small programmable effects with more allround capabilities. ZOOM (also the bigger types) doesn't hold it anymore in the sonic department. It is eazy and fairly powerfull, is excellent for funky non-distorted effects. Just don't buy it for compression/distortion! I think I would recomment a entry level KORG or digitech now.

The compressor is SHIT!!! If you want to get some fucking sustain buy somthing else. I liked most of the other mod's and effects. The distortion is a little weak, but i found a cool thing to do with it. First you max the dist. Then you swith on the flanger. Then turn down the peak(strength) of the flanger to zero, so that you dont really hear the flanger. This will make the distortion really FUCKING!!!! BrUtAl.

Well i think i can depend on it, but i want some more fucking distortion without using the flanger.

Simple, just watch the flashing lights, and change the number, the manual is pretty simple too

Not really noisy, the noise reductions works well. So does most of the modulations effects I had some difficulty getting good distortion out of it, but after a while, and messing with the eq, it sounded ok

It seems dependable enough

I doubt i'd buy it again, its not bad for the money, but i guess i should have waited for the 3030 to come out

Very easy to get sounds out. Intuitive operating system. Manipulating patches is easy.

BAD for distortion. Distortion has no depth, no warmth and is too damn thin for a lead sound. Other DSP effects are remarkable. There is coloration in sound even with the distortion block off. I tried coupling it with an XXL. The XXL sounds good alone. But the ZOOM's coloration destroyed the XXL's warmth and depth.

Not dependable alone. Probably have to depend on other distortion boxes. I would probably get by better with an all analog setup of stomp boxes.

Never dealt with them.

Not recommended for those seeking good lead sound. Effects alone are great it you don't mind the whole chunk of coloration in sound from your other effects / distortion that comes before it.

I find it very easy to get good sounds out of it editing patches is a breeze the manual is not very comprehensive

it has a noise limiter which is very effective the effects are powerful all are great especially the dist.

it is very reliable yes

Quite easy to program - the flashing led system works OK and is fast to get to what you want to tweak. No adjustment of effect sequence - less flexible perhaps but keeps it simple. Not enough patch memories (are there ever?). Manual is OK Cant name patches due to limited numerical display.

Generally good sounds - high quality digital stereo processing. ZNR noise reduction works quite well but can reduce attack if overused. Distinctive distortion which can be tailored by the excellent 3 band EQ with swept midband. Chorus phase and flange quite good but not as good as the best analog pedals around. Compression disappointing - I bought a BOSS CS3 to augment the 2020. Pitch shift better for subtle detune than large intervals. Autowah good. Tremolo good. Dig delay excellent. Reverb average. Stereo cascaded double stage stereo delay possible! Wide range of example sounds to modify. I use the amp simulator output for direct to tape recording.

So far so good. Quite robust.

Very good value for money - you could get better individual effects but at a what price?