Zoom 2100

This is actually a supplemental to my review from last year (Stephen: 9/28/200).

Warning: The plastic jacks for the ouput and input do become a little loose, no big suprise there, so make sure you use a good friction cable or make sure the cables that are attached don't move.

When you use the sampler(loop) feature you can't use any settings that require buffer memory, such as reverb, because the memory is needed for the looping. Also, you can't add in phrases to the loop once you've created it, like you can with the Boss delay loops.

This unit offers amp modeling which is very popular now. Everyone gives it a bad rap but I think it depends on what your using with it and how you set it up. Give it a break, it's only $100. You'd pay 5 times that much for something with similar features and only slightly better sound. Don't misunderstand me though, I don't consider it to be a great unit I'm just suggesting that's it's OK considering it's price. Like I said before, I would recommend this to a beginner or intermediate but NOT to a veteran.

Remember, nothing beats individual pedals! They offer better sound, they're modular, they offer easier and faster controls of the sound, and they can be ganged to create wild effects. Plus if you don't like an effect you can ditch it and add on another one, with units like the 2100 your stuck with the entire thing (alot of waste).

(see last years review)

lower because of the jack issue

they suck ass

(see last years review)

I think that the Zoom pedal is one of the greatest deals on the market. For the price, the sound is remarkable! I paid for one, used, but in new condition, and it works wonderful.

I am using a mesa-boogie full cabinet and a Dearmond SG-7 guitar with the pedal. It is not the most "pricey" pedal i own, but it is one of the best. I can get the sound of my favorite artist, "MxPx". It is very simple, just put it into max overdrive, and rock on.

Yes, it is highly dependable, I would, and have used it in gigs without a backup. And, in the future i will again.

I haven't dealt with the company, but i did take it to Guitar Center for a input jack repair. Which was my fault, not Zoom's.

I play punk rock, so, it has all the sounds i use. I have been playing for about 5 year. I love to play. I also own a Les Paul Standard and a Paul Reed Smith. I would buy anoithe if it were lost, i couldn't play without it!!! I like the overdrive, the delay, the chorus is not great, but it works. I also have a supra distortion pedal, and a couple snarling dogs, but this combines all in to one, simple, easy to use unit. Great pedal, great deal!

first, it took a while. then "click!" and it was just as easy
as opening a door.

if you like steve vai, buy this pedal. distortion sounds
are like playing trough some old transistor radio with distortion pedal. chorus is dead, like in all multieffect pedals. the only thing
i liked was delay. well it's quite hard to make bad delay i quess.:)

the one i owned just broke without reason. it was lying somewhere
over a year until my friend fixed it and i sold it.

hey it's a zoom! what did you expect?

simple to get a very 'classy' sound from

editing (thanks to a slightly obtuse manual) could be easier, but perseverance provides excellent results

manual badly written

i'm not aware of any revision number

i'm using a Gibson Les Paul + Strat + Marshall Combo

the sounds are fine/excellent

the effects are labyrinthine

i can sound like me! and like Moore/Beck/Offspring too...

it's fine

i do use it without backup

on the down side, i tried to get more patches on the web, but got a link to some musician's site - curious...

i play sessions, church stuff and lots of live stuff
i'm playing 30 years and have used EVERYTHING
i would buy rhis box (or a newer model) immediately if lost
i love the sounds
i wish it had midi...

a kid who takes lessons from me brought this in b/c he couldn't figure it out. it isn't very intuitive. it has limited functionality but was designed to look otherwise. a 3 is generous.

even for $100 this thing is worthless. if i were FORCED to play through this unit i just might give up playing forever. yes, it's that bad. I play an ESP LTD M350 through a Crate BlueVoodoo tube amp. DON"T WASTE YOUR MONEY PLEASE! I AM A BUSY GUY BUT I'M TAKING THE TIME TO WARN YOU ALL. I CONSIDER THIS WARNING TO THE PUBLIC TO BE MY RANDOM ACT OF KINDNESS FOR THIS WEEK. ;-)

this question is a joke, right?

a few years ago i had a bad experience with Zoom. they are not as fast as their name implies. i tried repeatedly, and eventually they replied after like 7 months. hopefully my experience was the exception. but, my advice is: stay away from ZOOM!!!

it's all above, dude. the kid said he got it as a gift. it's a good thing that it's the thought that counts, b/c this product is trash. i know some novices playing through a 10watt amp will disagree, but you are MUCH better off just getting something(anything) else. i think musician's friend (www.musiciansfriend.com) sells those orange Boss Distortion pedals for like $39 or something. if you're on a budget, get one of those. this is my anonymous caution to the public: don't buy this item!!

Take you time, but after that it's easy

Great distortion. The others are also good.

never had problems

easy to use. Every thing is right there, could be figured out even without the manual.It cant make all the sounds i like to use but for the price i havent seen anything better

sounds good in the effect loop of my marshall vs65 combo but i only use this setup for at home or a warmup.most of the effects are good but i dont care for the auto wah/volume and the ring mod.

never had any problems but i never go to a live gig with it anyway
on stage i use my line 6 which encludes all the effects i need

never delt with them

I've had 2 years and only thought the chourus,delay were any good.But much to my supprise allthe settings I was useing in my 60watt solid state fender sounded like crap in my 60watt blues deville tube,so with alot of experimenting it now sounds unbeleavable-santana,clapton perfect nobody in the band could beleave it was the same unit,either could I.with tube amps turn master way down5-8 solidstate22-28

It requires resetting paramaters but if you take your time to really dial in there is some great sounds in there, distortion that i thought was crap is now perfect, very good chourus and delay.Different amps and guitars might require reseting settings. I play Fender Big Apple & std strats.Both sound alittle different.GREAT

this thing has been droped at least 10 times no problem amazing for plastic.I mean slamed on concrete,aaaaaaand still keeps ticking

?

I love for live playing ,I set each bank (3setting)to what song or artist were playing so I have 3easy access sounds at once. The main complaint is the power supply cord is to short need ext cord. I unleased the santana sound i was trying to perfect.If this box was set from zoom to the general sounds most users want it could of been a favorite for the price.I only use it with a crybaby now simplifing everything.for someone with alot of patinence and little money!

It's a multi-effects interface, so you always have setup the patches
before you use them. It's not something you'd want to mess with while doing a live performance. Patch editing isn't that bad. Takes a little while to get used to the UI. Came with a good manual; it can also be downloaded in PDF format.

I play a Westone Spectrum through a Laney PL50R (sucky amp). VERY low noise (if any), even when using the death-metal distortion settings. The ZNR tecnology is great, much better than a noise gate. Zoom has come along way since the early days of the 9000(sucks)! The effects have a good sound, not as much range as i'd like, but with multi-effects processors you never get much range(not like a pedal). It has tons of settings to simulate cabinate, rack, combo, which actually do something. It also offers every other effect like delays, reverbs, pitch, chorus, ring-mod, wah, auto-wah, trem, flange, distortions, compress, blah, blah, blah. I mostly use the sampler loop function, which is great. Up to 32 seconds it can loop. Great for throwing down a riff and soloing over it, or a double up live or in the studio. I'm shooting for the sound that Tim Ramenofsy from Loppybogymi gets, but he runs Trace Elliots with a custom Ibanez.

Seems reliable so far; I've only had it for about 6 months. I haven't had a problem with any of my other Zoom stuff yet.

I've sent their email site a couple of questions and have had no response, just that stupid automated crap..."You're request has been process and will be handled in the order in which it was received."...yeah, thanks.

I play anything from Jazz to Death Metal. It works great for the entire range. I've been "pick'n" for 9 years. I own a Taylor electric/acoustic (Awesome acoustic, f%$* Martin, Guild, Fender, Ibanez, Takamine...I've played them all and this sum-bitch beats 'em).
If stolen/lost, I believe I would buy another one. Even with its clean/dry setting it just adds something to the sound, like the famous BBE but not exactly. I played without it last night and there was a big difference in the sound (that could be from my piece-o-s$*% amp though). My only beef is with the sampler(endless loop), I'd like to make a few changes that would make it more versatile and easy to use, but it does a bunch for the price so I guess I can't complain too much. I would recommend this to a beginner or intermidiate, or as a good live setup addition. It adds a broad spectrum of tools for a very low price.

it is pretty easy to change patches and stuff but i prefer knobs to switches and buttons. i thought it was hard to get any good sound out of for the most part. the manual wasnt too bad but it helped if you played with the pedal cause i just read through the amnual and didnt learn a damn thing then played with the pedal and learned how to use it. ill gove it an 8 just cause like i said i hate buttons and i like knobs like on stompboxes.

i have a yamaha pacifica 112 (stock) into a morley wah into 2100 into DOD death metal pedal into a crate gxt 100 head. i know my gear isnt the best but i can get a pretty good sound out of my rig. unfortunately for zoom, the 2100 does not play an important role in this sound. some of the effects are ok but most of them really suck. the distortions are generally the worst. they have no warmth at all. i bought this unit for $100 thinking it would be a good deal and i would never need to buy any more effects. the only reason its still on my pedal board is cause it has a tuner (hey jackasses who say it skips around alot, turn the volume knob on your guitar back to like 3 and its all good) and the mod effects. thats all i ever use it for...tuning and flange and phase. these effects are ok. everything else is pretty disapointing.

well its made of all plastic besides the metal back cover. so no, its not bulletproof. but i dont stomp on my effects so i dont really forsee it breaking. i havent had any trouble with it not working yet. i dont really think i would gig with this thing. if i really had a use for mods other than maybe sparking my creativity and annoying my bandmates i would go buy a superphaser or something. and i dont need the tuner except for the fact that i am lazy.

never dealt with them. it would be cool if they had a spot on their website to exchange patches. i was just looking at their site and this thing isnt even there anymore. are they trying to hide the fact that they manufactured this crap?

i play some classic rock, some hardcore and some metal. it doesnt help me all that much. i have been playing a little over a year but iv been told i progressed much more quickly than most. probably cause of my years if violin. oh well....back to the subject at hand... i mentioned my other gear above. i bought this around the same time i bought a squier affinity strat, when i knew very little about guitars. if it were stolen i would be a little mad just cause something was stolen. then i would go buy a super phaser or something like that and screw it to my pedal board in this things place. it was a stepping stone i guess and it does help me make music sometimes. i really should have gone to stores and compared this to other stuff, but like i said, i was too stupid then and i was a catalog shopper. im glad i spent $100 to find out that multi effects are not my forte instead of 3 or 4 hundred. oh well, you live and learn....