Zoom 5000 Hybrid Distortion Pedal

How easy is it to get a good sound out of it?
Very easy. It's a distortion pedal and a pretty good one.

How about Editing patches?
It doesn't really have patches, but it's two channel and that's easy to work with.

How is the manual for it (if there is one)?
I don't remember but you only need it to "program" the second channel and it's very intuitive.

Do you know the firmware revision number? Has your unit been upgraded?
Uh, this question doesn't apply.

What setup (i.e. what guitars and amps) are you using this with?
It's the only pedal I use. I play a strat through it and it goes to a Lee Jackson pre-amp that's heavily modded to sound less metal-ish. From there it goes to an old quadraverb and then to a Mosvalve power amp, and finally to either a 4x8 or 4x12 marshall cab.

Is it noisy? On what settings?
It's a little noisy but it has a gate on it that does a real good job. You'll lose a bit of sustain, though...nature of gates. Noise isn't overwhelming when it's off. I don't usually have it on at all.

Are the effects weak or do they always sound great?
It's not really an effect. It's a distortion pedal. You can make it sound like crap if you want, but it's capable of very nice distortion.

What amp are you using it with?
You already asked that.

Can you get the sound of your favorite artists? Who are they?
I've never really tried to sound exactly like anyone else. There are certain sounds that I want to get that the pedal will not do, and others that it will do. Between my amp and the pedal I can almost always get what I'm looking for.

Are certain effects (distortion, chorus, ...) very good? Very bad?
The distortion is really versatile. Very hot, too. There are a number of modes like 1x12 combo, "stack", and box or something. They generally sound very good once you tweak them. The only one I never had any use for was R&B. It sounds like a metal sound to me. Some people would probably love that but I don't.

Can you depend on it?
Well, I bought it new in something like 1993 and have used it ever since. It's never broken. I've gigged with it a bunch of times and even toured with it twice.

Would you use it on a gig without a backup?
Yeah.

I used Zoom e-mail customer support for a different product that I bought at a garage sale, and they wrote me back from Japan in broken English. They were helpful. A little difficult to understand and a bit slow to respond, but helpful and either very, very friendly or insanely sarcastic.

What style of music do you play? Is this a good match?
It's obviously a good match or I wouldn't have used it for more than 15 years. I play indie rock. It's a little all over the place. Sometimes GBV-like, sometimes Swervedriver like, sometimes Sonic Youth-like. I generally have a heavy sound but not like metal although it can get sort of close at times if I'm doing really noisy stuff with a wah and other effects. My style has evolved over the years and for the most part this pedal has been able to sound the way I want. I may finally be growing out of it as I go more and more lo-fi.

How long have you been playing? What other gear do you own?
21 years. This is the only distortion pedal I have.

If it were stolen or lost, would you buy it again or get something else?
Since they're so hard to find, I don't think I'd get another. The way I play these days my amp is all I really need most of the time, and the rest of the time one of those Boss blues pedals would probably work.

what do you love about it? What do you hate? What is your favorite feature? I love the versatility and the reliability. I don't like the way it looks and never have. There's nothing I really hate about it, although some people may had having to use an AC adapter. The thing eats batteries so an adapter is necessary.

Did you compare it to other products? Which ones? Why did you choose this one?

I have had so many distortion and overdrive pedals and amps over the years I can't name them all. I chose this one back in 1993 because the other guitarist in my band bought one and it sounded really awesome. He had a tube amp and I've always had tube amps, so I'm not sure if it would sound as good on a solid state. I'm guessing it would be fine. But it's worth mentioning because I've used stompboxes with tubes in them and they never sounded better than the Zoom. I suppose they may on a solid state because you wouldn't have tubes to warm up the sound later.

Anything you wish it had?
Not really.

Does it help you make music, or does it get in the way?
Well, I have found that for some reason, this pedal keeps me from getting feedback unless I'm playing really loud. Overdriving the amp will feedback at a lower volume and so will other boxes. Really, that's my only complaint...it seems to get in the way of feedback a little.

Anything else you'd like to share?
The pedal does have a certain sound. I clearly like it. My old roommate would play through my stuff sometimes and he hated it but liked it when I played through it. So, like everything else, you just have to try one to see if it fits your taste.

I would sort of like to know what it's worth. I may part with the thing after all these years. I do like it, but I'm using my amp's dirty channel more and more like I said. It's not worth selling for less than a certain amount, though. I'd say if I couldn't get 250 USD for it I'd just assume keep the thing.

Easy to use, some knobs, no fancy digital display memory stuff. just a simple but good working distortion box with a noise gate. a know for the mids would be perfect, but so it still works with bass and treb to adjust the mids.

i use the metal sound and the znr ant this works great for me. the znr is one of the best gates around i think.

build like a tank or how the ppl say. no its a metal box and its been kicked for some years, so i would say its reliable.

this is great! i wrote them for the manual and they answered me with a link to the pdf four days later.

Simple but good. the znr makes levels it up for me. actually im looking out for another one, but they are not so easy to find. i dont use it for my live setup, cause i use the distortion of my amp, but i tried it out and it does a good job on that.

I like the 2 programs it has, handy if you don't mind the switching sequence (can't do prog1-prog2, only bypass-prog1 or 2).
I like the znr noise reduction, and the fact that it processes the guitar noise only and not, like the korg od105 I have, the noise the pedal produces by itself...
The distortion circuit is analog, soft and on the warm side.
The character switch is sort of eq with 6 distinct flavours, but alas always on, not to my taste most of the time.
The 2bd eq is not aggressive, respects the sound and is useful.

I am not that impressed, because of the speaker modeling always on. It adds a dark shade, not quite usable IMO maybe except for the metal thing. This is with a guitar amp.
The speaker modeling is better when using full-range speakers, or the line out of the amp, in this case results are good overall.
The distortion produced is not a good overdrive, nor is a good aggressive chunky sound. It's soft, and not that versatile in fact, whatever you do after it (the character switch).
As a result I am not using this thing, is still new in its box.
And for the 9002 sound, I prefer to stick with the...9002 of course.
In fact the 9002 pro (artist edition, serious upgrade) is ten times better than this 5000 pedal, and you can have no speaker sim on, letting it be usable in front of a guitar amp.

Provided you use the proper psu, zoom products are very reliable.
The only problems I encountered with the 70 or so zooms I have/had were the ones I bought second-hand...

Zoom in Japan answered personally by letter to some requests I made, about 15 years old products. If that's not first class...

Strange product I think: with the speaker sim always on it won't do great in the typical guitar-amp application.
And not being a preamp it is even worse straight to the board, or keyboard amp.
The best is to use it with a clean bassman or deluxe reverb or twin reverb, but then you won't miss the lack of dynamics and of clarity of the pedal.
The line6 crunchtone and dr distorto I have sound hugely better, and the korg od105 is the real deal here (in digital pedals) even if it's noisy.
My mini marshall mg10cd (emulated line out)sounds way better than the 5000 too, lively and gutsy. Sure you can buy it, sure it has no eq, sure no programs too, but hell one enjoys playing it.
The 5000 leaves me cold, I seriously can't use it, it is a collector...

Serial Number 000561, I guess that makes it an early one. In my opinion there are 4 very usable selections from the 6 available, the other two may suit players looking for something a little out of the ordinary. Dead easy to set up a good sound from any of the sounds available. I use an additional footswitch so I can have a choice of two different patches, very cool as I don't think that is available on any distortion pedal since this, I could be wrong.

It has been mentioned previously that Zoom broke the mould after they made this. I bought this from new in the short time that it was readily available and wanted something that would better digital effects pedal type distortions and this was it. The sound quality even by todays standards is excellent and I use predominantly Line 6 gear ie PodX3 Live, Vetta 2 amp. Amp modelling the 5000 isn't and it does not pretend to either, it is a distortion pedal and you either love it or you don't and it has not been disliked by anyone who has heard it. Those of us still lucky enough to own a working one is probably a small club indeed.

Can I depend on it? Er Yeh, how many gadgets have I owned and used for 15 years that still work like new? This unit is still in great condition and has never failed. I use rechargeable batteries and use it all the time at jam sessions hooked to the guitar input of the clean channel of my Mesa Boogie Nomad 45, sounds great.

Never had to call them.

I have been playing guitar since 1973 and currently play classic rock in one band and soul and motown in another. Not really suitable for the latter but I would use it in a classic rock band if I did not have the current versatility of Line 6 Vetta 2. This pedal would also suit anyone playing in a metal band as the distortion can get very saturated but still has focus which is what makes this pedal stand out for me. Similar tones can now be had by Line6 and other manufacturers too but there is something about this pedal that is just so unique. The 5000 is something you can throw into your gig bag and get good tone dead easy into virtually any amp or desk. If it broke now, I would miss it but it is not the end of the world. It would be very hard to find a replacement which Zoom should address as this is probably the best product they have ever made.

the 5000 is not very difficult to understand. there are already built-in presets and the only thing you have to do is to tweak the gain, vol and tone controls (bass & high). its very convenient to use and lets you play along while the tweaking

i personally test every guitar gear i buy with the low-end equipments the average guitar player can usually afford. that includes the un-branded ones.

i tested it with a fender-copy strat and a 20-watt practice amp and produced very good, even-quality sound. the presets were very nice and covers a lot of tone musically. i'm sure it would be appreciated by musicians-on-a-budget.

the zoom-noise-reduction is a plus, especially if you are not so patient with all the tweaking required before a gig. although i somehow detect a decrease in sustained notes.

and yes i sure wish there was a mid-range control knob for more modelling control over your sound, but fiddling with the amp makes up for it.

all that circuitry encased in die-cast metal, the knobs very firmly in place, add to it a rubber base..its very dependable.

i've used it in gigs for 12 yrs now, and not all of them on the best-looking stage, and it hasn't failed me yet.

i choose to power it with the ac adaptor. the batteries were too inconvenient to use (6-AA batteries)

i've tried looking for information at the website but it isn't even listed anymore. correct me if i'm wrong, but i believe the 5000 has a "twin" which was a set of delay/chorus effects. i was intending to buy them but i could not find any information on their website.

i'm primarily a blues player and i do a lot of clapton/srv/page playing for the past 12 yrs. but i also dive to fusion and hard rock whenever i feel like it. it has been a good gear for all these styles.

the zoom box has a very unique sound to it. a lot of people don't appreciate it but i do. "brian may" comes to mind whenever i hear it.
the other presets are very good too. i rarely use the "r&b" setting though.

of course you would still need other effects to augment the power of the zoom 5000, but its a good effect pedal to have plus it isn't picky with what kind or type of amp you use.

i wish zoom would re-issue the 5000 back along with its "twin" delay/reverb pedal. i surely would buy them

Fairly simple, 4 knobs, voicing switch, footswitch jack, ac jack. Eats batteries pretty quick, but so do alot of effects pedals.

I bought this pedal because it was the distortion Steve Baily barrowed for a bass clinic and was amazed by its sound. It was comendeared by my guitarist shortly there after. He use it through his Sovtek Mig 60 for several years. It had a great rock tone, then we went more punk style and the "stack" settings came in real handy for that. He used it until it's unfortunate demise 10 years after the purchase.

The footswitch jack came in real handy when the pedals footswitch carapped out. The pedal had been disasembled many times in the 10 years of its life in order to keep it going. when it could not be fixed anymore, it was replaced with a Tech 21 Sansamp GT2 which is still going strong.

10 years is to young for a pedal to die, especially one that worked (soundwise) as well as this one. It served a short time as a bass pedal where it made for a great heavy distortion (until replaced by a Rockman Distortion Generator), then as a multi distortion guitar pedal.

Tons of sounds choices. There are six different sounds to chose from. Output, bass, treble and gain knobs.

I bought this from a guy that I had originally went to purchase a Keeley modded rat from. I had heard good things about the modded rat and he had it so I went to check it out. Just before I left his house he says "If you really want high gain check this out" I was instantly impressed. I bought both pedals but returned the rat to him the next day because the Zoom put it to shame.

This pedal has a hell of a lot of gain! - Made in Japan. Good components. Very good treble and bass response - you can get a small amp to sound really big. I use this pedal with a old Ampeg V-4 with matching v-4 cab.

There is a noise reduction knob on the back that helps out a lot. It can get noisy but I keep the output level at about 3/3 o'clock which is high but the noise still fairly low

Never failed. It's old built in Japan - it's really solid a tank.

Never needed it..Knock Knock

This pedal is amazing. I haven't tried a lot of pedals out there so I can't say it's the best, therefore it doesn't get a ten but it beats all the other Boss pedals I've tried.

For those of us who play a 100 Ibs violine the Fulltone DP-1 may be the better choise but for real guitarplayers this is the absolute No. 1 in high gain.

Bought my first more than 10 jears ago. Bought an other one two years later as back up but never needed it.

Never dealt with them.

My No. 1 in high gain territory.

very easy... a distortion box!

great sound for heavy metal and new metal players.
my gear-> les paul studio - zomm 5000 driver - marshall jcm900... that's all that I ever wanted.
I think this is the best drive ever made...

never brokes

never used

I play metal stuff and this a good match.
I've been playing for 15 years, and this box is great for recordings and live situations..
great box... If you find one, get it!

This pedal is very easy to setup..no digital bullshit patches to program..the manual is vey straight forward..hell i think i looked thru it once.

the sound is the best i have ever gotton out of anything ..amp or pedal or combination ..ive owned marshalls ,yamahas,classic fender amps,hiwatts, vox...too many to mention here....anyways i also have used many guitars...and right now im only have 12 guits..strats jackson...roland gr33..also a couple of jay tursers..they are fairly good..at work i use a gibson studio les paul...i play most styles of music from mellow jazz to in ur face ramstein..this zoom pedal covers every aspect of my playing.

this pedal i bought in 1995....but now(10YEARS LATER)IT NEEDS REPAIRS THE INPUT JACK IS MESSED UP...HELL I NEED A BACK UP OF THIS UNIT.

DONT HAVE AN OPINION ABOUT CUSTOMER SUPPORT...HOPE TO BE ABLE TO FIX IT MYSELF.

I BELIVE THIS TO BE THE BEST OF THE BEST...ZOOM SUCKS FOR STOPPING THE PRODUCTION OF THIS VERY FINE PRODUCT.