Zoom 3030

This pedal was really easy to use if you have some common sense. And if you still don't understand something the manual is straight-forward and can explain everything. Editing patches can take some time if you want to get it perfect. Some of the presets are ok for a general type sound.

I'm runnin gmine from a Jackson guitar with stock pickups into a 15 watt crate practice amp. It sounds alright out of the box but definatly needs some tweaking of the amp and pedal. Not all that noisy unless you crank the gain on the heavy distortions. Most of the effects are super. The only dissapointment I have with the thing is the pitch shifter. I was goin for a Korn type octave bend and you can hear the steps. You can sound just about like any guitarist from Metallica to CCR. The distortions are more apt to metalheads but there are a few others that are sure to please everyones taste. You can get some thick sounds from this machine. Damn good buy for the money!

I've had this pedal for about a year now and it hasnt busted on me yet. The plastic over the buttons has started to bubble but that wont hurt at all. Ive been pretty ruff with it. Its survived two frat parties so hey, not to shabby. Would give it a 10 if it was metal.

Never dealt with em.

For playing metal its a damn good pedal. Ive tried playing a few different types of music and the pedal has performed wonderfully on all of them. If it were stolen I would save up and buy rack equipment, even though I really like this pedal. If I had the cash I would buy one for backup, but not as a main pedal if I could go for the full rig. The only thing I can think of to fix on this would be make a bigger expression pedal and fix the steps on the pedal pitch shifter. If your looking for experimentation qualities, this is your pedal. It has mass funky sounds you can make. Great pedal for 2C's.

ZOOM 3030 IS AN EXCELENT GADGET. YOU CAN USE IT IN ALL KIND OF SONGS YOU LIKE, THE ONLY PROBLEM IS THAT IT HAS TO MANY EFFECTS FOR
SUCH LIMITTED PEDALS.

SOUNDS GOOD. I,M USING FOUR DIFFeRENT AMPS AND NO PROBLEM.
(I WANT SOMETHING LIKE KIRKS CRYBABY)

i,M ACTUALLY USING IT ALONE, EVEN ON BATTLE OF THE BANDS.

Editing is very easy. The manual is great and very easy to understand . Even after misplacing the manual I have still been able to get edit patches to get the sounds that I want.

My current rig is a Fender M-80 head and cabinet and a Kramer Focus 3000 guitar. Sounds good through this setup, but the distortion falls a little short of other pedals I've used in the past. I have also used it with a Ampeg V4 head and the sound was greatly improved. I have read though that there are some issues with the Zoom 3030 and Fender heads.

It looks like it would fall apart quickly, but after 2 years of playing live with it and about 100 large Doc Martin clad feet slamming down on it in that time it has held up. Everything, but the pedal that is. I have to do constant maintenance to keep the pedal from falling apart. The pedal itself has taken very little abuse, but it is very weak. I use it without a backup, only because I don't have one, but I wouldn't recommend it.

never dealt with them

I play in an old style punk band (ala GBH, The Business, Exploited) and it really doesn't match well with that scene, though having the range of effects to use is great. I've been playing for about 14 years and this is the 4th pedal I've owned, if it was stolen I would go back to a DOD.

To a simple minded guitar player (such as myself), it seems to have too many effects. I'm use to using a Boss DS-1 and an amp. But within an hour or so (using the straight-forward manual) I got the hang of it. One tip-try not to mess up the manufacturer's presets to much.

I run an Epi-Les Paul or Ibanez Destroyer direct into the multi-track and to me it sounds much better than miking an amp. It's the best with headphones. A little fuzzy on the distortion, but I like it that way. Never could get it to sound good through my 50-watt solid state amp (too many Eq choices on both). I think a power amp and speaker while using the amp simulater might be the way to go. P.S. I agree with everyone else- the Harmonizer function really sucks. The wah-wah is also a little weak- I recommend using a Crybaby externally.

Plastic-but aren't they all. I never worry about it.

na

Seems to be designed for us metal-heads. It almost inspirational in the different sounds. Couldn't live without it.

Extremely easy to use....anyone can push a button....editing is easy too once you read the manual and have time to sit and make 8-12 sounds you like.

I am running a les paul copy and fender strat into the zoom 3030 and out a peavey bandit 112. I havent noticed any real noise problems with it. I would say some effects sound good and others dont. Distortions in particular. At first some of them sounded real good...then i heard ones from boss pedals and stuff and they sucked. But if you sit with it and edit it....i cant imagine a solid state distortion you couldnt get out of it. The wah is ok...nothing special. Other effects are pretty good. I dont play with many of them or have an ear for good or bad flanges or phasers, so these sound fine to me. One thing i wish i could do was kick out effects on the fly...like have a wah going and kick in a distortion to it or something.

I had to have the input jack fixed because it didnt always work. And it could go out when using the pedal...kind of sucks then you are using a wah and you push down the sound cuts out. But i had that fixed locally and it works fine now.

havent tried to fool with them.

Over all i like it. Does what i need to do usually, and if it doesnt i can make it do that. I agree with the bad points described in other reviews...ie..one second delay in switching effects, and pain to edit, and volume change from bypass to patches is huge. I play all kinds of stuff it hasnt failed me yet. If i lost it i would buy a Boss Metal Zone box and crybaby wah...but that is only because i use those 2 effects a lot and i would have quicker control of them.

Sure its harder to use than a stomp box, but it can also do a thousand more effects than your stomp box. Everything comes at a price, and the virtually endless sounds you can get out of this unit comes at the price of it being a little fidly. Its by no means difficult to use, just a bit trickier to use than a dial on a stomp box. The manual is not bad and pretty much does what its supposed to do.

Ive used it through 2 different solid state amps and 1 valve amp. It fed back at first with one of the solid state amps (dean markley practice) but we tweaked it out. The effects sound great. Especially the heavy distortion. You can also get some very funky sounds happening also. Just like stated in the other submissions most of the presets are useless.
I have made custom patches with minimal fuss for a clean sound, Metallica, Hendrix, Queen and pink floyd

Well its made of plastic. It should be ok as long as its treated like...plastic.

N/A

I play a very wide range of music, thats basicly why I brought it. With this I can hear a song I like... Find the tab, dial in the correct sound and go for it. It can sound a little bit "fake" at times but for value for money and versatility you cant go past it. If it were stolen I would buy another one. All up its a great fun little unit.

There are a great many things that can be set on this thing--and you will probably need the manual to keep straight on what you are setting and what it means--but after you have set us your basic sounds, it is really easy and straight forward to make minor changes.

I am playing an Epi Sheraton II into an old Peavey Classic (50w tube amp). I occasionally play it into a Peavey Studio Pro 40 (solid state, 40w). I sometimes have a tube screamer following the 3030. Overall, it sounds better through the solid state amp--for some reason there is less noise (which is exactly opposite of what I would expect).
The distortions are useless to me--HOWEVER, I only use distortion for blues, and then it is just overdrive. I have a tube amp which does this so nicely, I can't imagine many pedals that I would have any use for. As a former owner of a Zoom 505, I can tell you that these distortions are a definite improvement--many more settings than just "type" and "gain" like the 505. There is one that comes within the ball park of a lower level Tube Screamer--ball park only, though. As for the other effects: Compressor works nicely for rouding out the tone--I don't use it for sustain (the Sheraton needs no help), and the phaser and chorus are great--many ways to tweak the sound. You can also do your equalization before and after distortions which adds a great deal of flexibility. The unit also has flanger, delay, pitch shifters, wah, auto wah, temelo--it basically has a ton of effects, but I don't use these so I won't rate them.
The expression pedal is assignable in your programing, so for particular patches it can regulate various items (the "rate" for the phaser and tremelo; the gain for distortions, etc.). This can be a great advantage.
The biggest problem for me is the noise. It has its own noise reduction circuitry which does it's job for the typical noise problems, but the unit itself has a constant buzz that is amplified the moment you touch your guitar--even in bypass mode, and even with the output of the unit turned as low or as high as you can make it. It is this problem on which I base my sound quality rating (6), otherwise, I would probably give it a higher rating for most of the other effects (other than distortion).

Well, my Zoom 505 simply stopped working after 1 year (shortly after the warranty ran out) and it never went to a gig--so, no, I would not use this without a backup. It's plastic and that speaks for itself. Actually, the Zoom seemed sturdier than this. This is a "press" pedal, not a "stomp" pedal. But it hasn't broken down in the 30 days or so that I have owned it.

I play mostly blues and some jazz and I have been playing for about 30 years. If it wasn't for the noise, this setup could have saved me a lot of time. I don't use "heavy" effects--just a little reverb, a little chorus (very little)--and, of course, a small smattering of others to have fun. If you can get an opportunity to check one of these out, by all means do so--but do it with your own amp. If you don't get the noise problem, this could be a good pedal if you don't have heavy feet (plastic is plastic). I don't do heavy metal, so please take my comments about the distortions with a grain of salt. I can't rate them very accurately because I am into tube overdrive--but I do think I know heavy solid state when I hear it--and if that is the tone you want (and, really, there is a lot of it around), you can get it here. I was able to get some touch sensitive overdrive going with this--didn't sound great, but it at least had some dynamics (which is the name of the game for blues). If it were lost I would not replace it. Actually, I intend to trade it in on some stomp boxes. At this price, DON'T DISMISS THIS UNIT WITHOUT TRYING IT IN YOUR OWN SET UP!
I would probably rate this thing as a 7 if it were not for the noise problem.

It's fairly easy to use. It does however take time edit patches to get the best sound out of it. The manual does help.

I usually use a Ibanez GRX 20 or Epiphone LP custom to Danelectro Daddy-O(for extra gain) to the 3030 in stereo into a Peavey Studio Pro 112 and a Mesa Boogie tube amp with 12" speaker. The usersets are actually the better effects. Most of the presets are useless and need serious tweaking. Overall the effects sound awesome. If you play with it long enough you could get almost any sound you wanted. The harmony effects on this pedal don't seem to be that great. The autowah is a little harsh. The choruses sound great. The distortions can sound awesome if you work with them long enough. The lead tones you can get are unbelievable. As far as noise, I have noticed very little. The worst thing though is the delay between switching patches.

I have actually dropped an amp on this thing. It did leave a minor dent, but I felt lucky. I use it all the time without a backup, mainly because I can't afford one. You do have to be careful with it. The expression pedal seems to be the weakest part of the pedal. It is definitely not that sturdy.

n/a

I play most styles. It is very versatile and can used for nearly anything. It definitely opens new door to creativity. I would buy it again, but if I had more money I would go for a rack system. As mentioned before I really wish it didn't have the delay between patches. It is an awesome value!

Well, the patch system is really easy. If you can't use the patches then you shouldn't be playing the guitar... Everybody seems to say that patch editing is difficult and that the manual is very basic, but I found that it explained everything (albeit simply) and told me what all the features did, and gave a good guide to editing the patches. But for $220, it's amazing.

I've used the 3030 through loads of setups, from my Peavey 158 to a full blown miked Fender tube thing running through a 300W PA. The guitar I use is a Yamaha Pacifica 512 with a H-S-S. Using my little Peavey, there is a bit of noise on all of the patches, even with the amp volume right down, but using the miked amp through PA there is not really anything more significant than the average pickup noise. This is more down to the amp quality then anything else.
The distortions on this effects pedal are its weak point. Over a PA and a nice amp, they come through very nicely to give a smooth an compressed sound, but when recorded (I made my last CD with this thing) all of the distortions are buzzy. To get the best out of this thing, you have to run it through a tube amp on the clean channel, but even then there is a slight buzziness to it.
When using the modulation effects on this pedal, there are effects like the flanger/phaser which make more noise that others, but it's not something that will upset a drunk audience.
The one annoying thing about this is when you change patches, and you get the notorious death silence...

I don't actually have a backup effects pedal. Being a full time student I can't afford one. But it has never given out on me, and because our soundman is very good, I don't have to worry about changes for leads or anything. True it's not built to Peavey/Mesa standards, but who says you have to jump off the top of your stack to change effects?

I've never dealt with the company, and I don't think I'll ever have to.

I play any type of music that will enhance my vocabulary of my guitar. This processor is basically God's gift to the budget stricken guitarist because it does everything I need it do, whether that's mean the heinous grinding of some thrash metal, or the bluesy, flowing melodies.
If it was stolen, I would be in trouble because I couldn't afford to replace it. Given a large supply of cash, I would probably get a professional sound engineer, a huge rackful of digital effects and a earth-shattering tube poweramp. Nice.
The only thing I don't like about this pedal is the death-silence in between each patch change... that means I have to stop playing and let the other guitarist play solo for a second... ARGH!
I didn't get a chance to compare it to anything. I was stuck in a price range, and the shop only did Zoom. Recently, I compared it to a RP20 which wasn't really fair, but that's it.
This thing has probably helped me in making music, because it has opened up a huge new range of effects to me.

The editing process takes getting use to, and editing is necessary with the crappy presets on this thing... the manual is short and too the point, but certain things could use some extra explanation (like "Q" i still have no idea what that is...) The worst thing about this is if you're live on stage at a gig or something, and something needs tweaking, yer screwed, 'cuz editing's not an easy process, and you can't do it w/ yer feet... at my first show, i had to use a friend's amp, and i started out on a spacey-type effect, then when i switched to distortion, it screamed at me and all i could do was turn the volume knob on my guitar to zero... sucked sucked sucked...

My setup is an Epiphone Sheraton through a Peavey Audition 110, a very small practice amp. No problem w/ noise, but you've really got to work to get the distortion sounding *decent*... Crank the bass, put the gain on 16, and the other gain on +3... unfortunately, the distortion on my little amp has more balls than the fx processor... however, all the other standard effects are really good, phase shifter, chorus, tremolo, reverb and delay... there are a few completely useless effects, like pitch bender, and for some unexplained reason, the pitch shifter doesn't work on all the patches...

Well, if yer using yer amp at home at gig levels, you can prolly get a feel for how loud to set this thing so that it doesn't scream onstage... i'm just waiting for some asshole to jump onstage and walk on this thing and completley smash it for good... the flimsy plastic body REALLY makes me nervous...

Nice chourus makes it good for clean gothic guitars, and there's an effect called metal which sounds very Einsturzende Neubauten, which is a plus... however, if yer doing crunchy loud metal or industrial, these distortions just won't cut it... the one thing i hate most about it is the wasted memory for the presets on this thing... they all suck suck suck, and i never use them, and the preset are half of all the effects, only the user patches can be edited... this is a never ending source of frustration for me... if it were lost or stolen or broken, i'd prolly replace it w/ one of the cheaper ones, 'cuz the best thing about this unit is the affordability... for the price of 2 or 3 Boss pedals, you get, like 5 times more effects... but then, in some cases you get what you pay for... i've had it for about 3 or 4 years, and i've been playing for 6, so...