Zoom 2100

OK, a monkey would find it easy to use as a BOSS pedal, then again, any another other higher primate would probably prefer the possibility of doing something different and original with his guitar... The 2100 is a hassle to programme, then again, it is not boring and it is worth the headache. Tiny buttons, tiny writing, just TRY to edit this on the fly... The 9030/9050 and the 9150 were perfectly easy to operate, but then again why make things easy, eh?

Zoom sound quality, though they have progressed alot since the 9002. Can get all common sounds and alot of original ones, good range of choice effects, from subtle to, well, NOT subtle. They doooooooo colour your sound, and what I'd pay for a 9002 with MODERN and VINTAGE sounds that DOES NOT COLOUR my normal sound...

Zoom reliability. You never know... ALWAYS keep a backup if you're using a Zoom live!!! I've had them all at one time or another (9002, 9000, 9030, 9150, 505, 1010, 3030, ok, who can remember all the fx they've had???)

Never contacted them, but heard that even the notorious 9030 front panel was easy, if expensive, to obtain from the dealers. They've got all, well, most I guess, of the old manuals on their Japanese site in all sorts of languages.

OK, no 10's before this one, but be honest... Zoom makes great stuff! For the guitarist never happy with his sound these things really opens up the mind with a vast assortment of fx! AND they're cheap too! I use Zooms when I travel and I keep a Zoom as a backup for any concert I have to do. I TRY to use Zoom front line, but hey, I use Hiwatt amps and a 1963 Gibson Les Paul (SG shape...) so I don't want extra "colour" useless my usual fx fry on me 2 minutes before a concert! As 10 says here, it is fantastic value, the 2100 and most every other Zoom too...

So.. it's zoom.. and it's a multi-effects pedal.. which probably means that it won't be very good.. right? Well, sort of.. As far as using the thing goes.. there's lots of fun to be had here, but obviously you must read up on it quite a bit and mess around to make any sense out of those little blinking lights. The manual could have explained things better and been more detailed.

If you want great sounding guitar distortion.. do NOT buy this pedal! Get something made just for distortion. For the price you'll pay for this, there are some nice effects.. especially the delay and reverb. I mainly bought the pedal, however, for the looping feature, which is pretty cool. You can either loop one sound for 14 seconds.. or 32 seconds in a bit reduced quality.. or do a jam function which allows you to store three loops at once.. The problem is that the 3 loops can only be 5 seconds each which makes it pretty useless in most cases. I don't know of any other zoom pedals that have the looping feature.. and this pedal is MUCH cheaper than any other looping pedal out there that I have seen.. so although it has its limitations, there are some neat uses. As far as connections.. there is one 1/4" in, one out, and.. this is really weird.. there a stereo AUX in... but it's 1/8"!! Why???? I have no idea. Stereo RCA ins would have made a lot more sense to me, but you can always get an adapter. The box is kind of cool for voice FX also. Definately a lot of fun for the price.. but just know what you're getting into.. this is a box with lots of options, although limited.

er... well the pedals are kind of close together, and when looping, I get kind of scared that I won't hit the record button right or something.. but if you get creative in how you use it... it could serve its purpose nice.. (such as using the box for vocals and pushing the loop buttons with your fingers). The box is obviously plastic, so not the highest quality, I wouldn't throw it around.. but it's been working fine for me so far.

Probably non-existent, but I haven't dealt with.

It does a lot for the price.. and could be a great find. It's discontinued now, but I was glad to pick it up from an ebayer who had one for sale. The pedal has the same features as pedals like the Line 6 delay modeler, but is more limited. I wish it were easier to use and sounded better.. but for the price, I can't complain.

pretty ease to use. i had to get used to the banks of presets that zoom tends to use nowadays, but it was easy. it was pretty easy
to edit patches as well.

i thought the distortions were pretty good for digital and considering that this was a discontinued and a few yrs old when i got it.. i bought it mainly for the delay (10 sec) and the sampler (16 or 32 sec). but thought all the effects sounded pretty good. and it had a ring modulator for way out sounds. i'm sure most don't like it tho. i mostly used it as a stand alone unit with headsets. i found that it didnt' work as well with my rack set up, couldln't get a very good sound. and since i bought it for the sampler, the plastic buttons didn't work so well since it was used. so it was hard to access that function and make it work. but if you need a cheap sampler for ambient sounds, this is it!

i should qualify, i give the low rating b/c the plastic buttons were a bit worn out for sampler use. so it wasn't good for me in that aspect. but other than that it seemed to be a well built device (plastic) and i'm sure will hold up for most peoples use (w/ distortion and effects). live use w/ those plastic buttons i'm not so sure about--i wouldn't want to count on them.

overall, this was a decent pedal, for the amt of time i had it and the cost. i just couldn't get the sampler to work w/ the buttons worn out. i should say that i thought the sound quality of the sampler on both 16 & 32 sec mode were quite good for a 'budget' pedal. it's just that i don't think the buttons were made for "stomp box friendly long use". all the effects were decent as was the distortion options it offered. i think it's made for a beginner "all in one" pedal", and i think it would serve most well. I bought it for the sampler option, and since the buttons weren't so rugged, it didn't perform as well as i'd like. hard to access the sampler, hard to get it to go.

This is an update to an earlier posting because I now have a different Amp and Guitar.

I use an Epiphone SG-400 and a Peavey Bandit Transtube 112 amp. The Delays and Reverbs on this Zoom are superb which is handy for the stuff I play. The overdrives are poor, you're better off using distortion set low. The grunge is OK, I can get a decent Nirvana/Stiltskin. I compared it to my DS-1 and its on a par once you do some editing. Flange is fine and so is lead. I don't use the amp modeller because I have a decent amp and I put the Zoom through the Effects Loop which is much better than using it in line. I use this live and probably need about 7 different effects from grunge to delay and they all sound fine. TIP: DON'T USE THE COMPRESSION!! All it does is create a warbling noise and keep the ZNR as low as you can because it can take the crispness off the effect.

It's never let me down and I don't have anything to back up with other than a DS-1 and Danelectro Fish'n'chips EQ which is brilliant. The biggest problem with this unit is the varaition in volumes. If you turn your amp up, the volume on the Zoom doesn't go up in line and different effects will react differently. YOU HAVE TO RESET THE VOLUMES ON EACH EFFECT WHEN YOU PLAY IN A DIFFERENT ROOM. This is a pain BUT you would probably have to do the same with any effects box/multi.

N?A

For the price this is fantastic. You have to edit the User Bank to get the best from it and it is a little awkward to program BUT for the price I don't believe you can knock it.

Just got the unit a couple of days ago. I am a bass player at heart but I also play rythm guitar in a covers duo, playing a wide variety of music. To do that you really need a wide variety of sounds available on tap. This unit can give you that. I'm no programmer but with the aid of the manual I managed to figure out how to edit the patches pretty quickly, though the manual could be better. You can also make quick changes to patch levels which is pretty handy.

I have 2 guitars I use regularly. One is a Squire standard 'Fat' strat and the other is a budget strat modified with 2 Entwhistle white single coils and an unmaned humbucker. Depending where I'm playing it could be through an H-H p.a. head and 4x12 Laney cab, or straight into a Spirit Folio 12-2 desk and then out the P.A. speakers. I bought this unit as emergency backup to my GFX-8 and and i'm confident of using it in that role. For what I paid for it the sound quality is more than adequate. sure, some of the distortions are a bit harsh (it is a Zoom after all), but with a bit of care you can smooth this out. In my opinion if the thing makes you smile after the first few presets then you're o.k.....I was smiling.

The case is a bit plasticky so I wouldn't use it for punk rock. The input jacks will be soldered directly to the main board so care will be needed when plugging in/unplugging. However, all of the budget Zoom models are like this. For the sort of stuff i play i'd be happy to take it out.

Never used though Zooms customer support though their site is pretty good for downloads

This pedal is an ideal backup for the wide variety of stuff I play (U2, CSNY, Stones, Blues Brothers, Marillion, David Gray to name a few). I have been playing guitar for a quite a few years now, though bear in mind I'm usually a bass player. My other pedal, the GFX-8, blows this out of the water. However, thats at a very high price. I would be more than happy, at the right price, to buy another. I have tried the Korg AX-10 and prefer the editing facilities and sounds of the 2001 more to my liking. I also like the built-in tuner, headphone socket and aux input for practicing.

An earlier reviewer, a guitar teacher I believe, really slagged this unit off. well, that's o0.k. for someone who has paid the prices he has for kit. Most of us don't have that sort of money. Zoom products have always been good value for money, look at the success of the 505/707 range. If one of these comes up at a bargain price take it.

BTW, if anyone wants to share patches then drop me a mail.

it can be alittle 2 much button pressing aat times. im not going to lie to you. but all the sounds are in there, so its easy to experiment with several sounds at once.. the reason i bought it was for the fact that you can rercord 40 seconds of your own guitar line by tapping a button w/ your foot and stop it so it will loop with another buton. then you can solo over it and get ideas without 100 wires and a studio, or a second guitarist for that matter

i like certain ones and others arent as smooth and professional sounding. i use a Peavey Rage Poop model 158 so i dont know how it sounds through a tube, but it is pretty good through that. Not noiy at all. i like the Amp Simulator effects and the built in EQ. the reverb if great, and the compressor is Sweeeeet...i can emulate van halen pretty well and alice in chains, linkin park stuff sounds realistic a times, depending on how loud it is and how bent i am

very reliable no malfunctions after 3 yrs of steady abuse

it is a fantastic value for a beginner ecspecially... im an intermediate but i like the fact that i have 50 or so effects to use for 200.oo thats why i gave it a 10.....its good for home use....if i was a prick like some other reviewers ide rate it as if i was going to record a platinum album with it, witch is not something id recommend, because you wouldnt sell 1000000 thats 4 sure. but its very versitile and im happy with it..PS--- the BEST EFFECT on this is easily the fact that you can r3ecord and play back 40 seconds of music and then it loops so u can solo over it....thats hard to get in 1 small easy 2 use 200 dollar piece, im not going to lie to you

It's the ZOOM thing. Hard to understand the first time. But when you have pushed the right buttons. Kabang! :P

I loved it! I can't blame anything. I sounded like the stars after 3seconds. The good thing is that you mix them yourself and then have a personalised effect.

Yes I would used it on a gig without backup. and I haven't had any problems.

Don't know? But you can download the manual from their website! Good thing!

I love it! No problems at all.Love it, the sounds and everything. And it got a tuner too!

The panel's a bit of a pain but if you understand how the individual effects are supposed to work it doesn't take too long to figure it out.

Used with a Yamaha stereo P.A. using the speaker sim setting and a Strat Plus deluxe. Impressed! Good reverb for the price, better adjustment than most competitors and the Auto Wah sings! I use it a lot for clean sounds and usually use the 'Manual' mode for turning on the individual parts of an effect when I want to stomp on the 'nasty pedal' for a solo. The distortion sounds are great too...

Infinite delay (with feedback at 10) is really good with a nice long max time and little in the way of sound degradation - don't use the sampler feature, use this instead!

Never gone wrong and been abused plenty in gigs and thrown around in a gig bag with lots of other stuff. No problemo

N/A. Except that I checked out the PDF version of the manual before I bought it so that was good.

Been playing for 20-odd years and play everything from pop/rock/indie covers to jazz and so on, the 'I like what I like' taste of a real musician! I wouldn't buy one again as the quality of these things go up so fast I can now afford a better one - built in pedal, more efeects, more memories, etc.

I get hacked off with thes stomp box twats though, how do you call up different settings instantly from a memory with a line of manual analogue boxes? If you just need a load of non-variable effects that you turn on and off then I guess that's fine, but why go to the expense of buying a multi-effect box with memories if that's all you want? Duuurrr!!

There are 2 banks of 33 sounds and you can edit all of them. However you can only save the changes on one bank. Editing is fairly straightforward but the manual takes a bit of understanding. The chorus is rubbish but the delay is good, the distortions are metallic rather than heavy.

I use a Yamaha Pacifica 1230s guitar and play pop/rock stuff so I like overdrive, delay and distortion. The sounds are good on this unit and it features a ZNR noise reduction function to keep hiss down. The biggest problem with it is the difference in volumes between effects. Although you can edit the volume it would be better if the volume scale were the same across the board. I practice with a Fender Reverb Twin 25 and I use a Yamaha DG60-112 for live.

I have used this live and would again. Since it is the only effect I own I don't use a backup. The Yamaha amp has inbuilt effects for emmergencies.

I have never used.

This is great for playing with at home and it is usable live. I think next time I will get pedals but for the price you cannot criticise this Zoom. If I were to recommend an improvement it would be to the volume so that all the effects have the same volume.

Pretty easy to use once you learn the manual.

This unit has pretty good sound for a $99 unit. The available adjustments make quite a difference in the variety of sound modifications you can reach. Used this with an Ampeg AX-70 and it sounded pretty gig-worthy.

Never had a problem with this unit in reliability. Always works without little glitches.

I play hard rock and blues and this unit was alright for the job. I've been playing about 4 years and this was my first effects. It will not be my last. I can't seem to get the great, warm clean sounds out of it and there's some tinny, overcompressed traits. Great learning tool and also potentially valuable for someone who wants to put the time into getting their sound out of it.