Zoom 504 Acoustic

very easy to get started, and play with.

good sounds but alot of the sounds are the same

its reliable, but just like anything, abuse will damage it.

not worth it.. for the same price get the 505. will make the acoustic p sound nice

Not that difficult to get a good sound out of it considering about half of the presets sound good already. Patch editing is really easy but you will need the manual to decode the cryptic effect names given on the 2 character LED display. The manual sucks. My unit and I think all of them was built with the ZFX-2 processor, this one improves on the noisy first generation found in the ZOOM 505.

I use the 504 with my seagull S6+ with L.R Baggs RT system and the sound is beautifull, crisp and natural soundind - no noise at all. The effects aren't bad , the compressor, e.q, and reverb are all decent sounding, but the chorus could use a little boost. I use an old 35 watt Realistic P.A. system and whatever else I plug into at open mikes and the sound is consistent (very little tweaking).

ZOOM put the circuitry in a sheilded metal box already. I have taken it out with me but I am VERY carefull with it.

For the person wanting to liven up their acoustic sound this is the choice. It offers alot for such an inexpensive pedal.

Easy & dificult are abstract concepts - for those guys who are living since childhood among guitars & acessories, it's a very, very easy unit (almost no manual looking...). But for those who are just begining, oh, my... The manual looks like a treasure map - it couldn't be more confusing! The concepts are too abstract (what's a Green Tone for someone who's starting today?). The method of overpassing patches is another problem - the solution is setting your tones in groups, so you can lock the banks and go scroling just whit 4 of them. But there's not about it in manual, too. As I've said, easy only if it's your beach.

I use it with an Applause Summit Series 96, and with a Vantage VIE-218
(2nd line by Samick). First thing to do is FORGET all the presets - try turning the patch to ZERO and feel each effect alone. Then, find your tones and have great fun. As someone said before, the presets are too artificial. By isolating the effects, you can achieve more natural tones. At the other hand, doing things this way let you use it with an electric guitar (as I do): you can have Chorus (a weak one), LOTS of Compression, a good Reverb, a kind of Delay (a short one, useful for leads, maybe) and some tones you can make to break the monotony (everybody loves the strange "pitchy" tones by Brian May...). Plugging an acoustic, you get a pre-amplified sound, with bright, attack, warmth, presence and - this is great - NO FEEDBACK! Talking about power, FORGET the batteries...here in Brazil, it's sold within the original Zoom battery eliminator. If yours don't have one, BUY IT!
At the end, the unit is great for acoustic players, but only use it for your electric if there's no option.

All the Zoom units that came in this shape (504,505,506...) have a delicate look - it seems that everything can happens to it. The scrolling pedals are very weak, and I think it was designed for use at home or studio - ONLY. In a gig is better have 2 more of it in your bag - just in case... There's no way to compare it with Boss or Marshall effects - why don't these guys built it in a metal case?

I use mine at home or little gigs - take care of it like a baby. Never deal with Zoom.

I play acoustic version of Rock'n'roll, pop, Brazilian Pop & MPB. Using my electric, I play Classic Rock, Funk ang a little Grunge music. For the 2 proposites, Zoom 504 do it well (better for the acoustic). Playing for 10 years (today I'm not in a band), I've never had the money to buy what I really want. These Zoom units are not cheap, but for the price, they give you a bunch of tones that you couldn't reach with 2 or 3 pedals - for the same price. If you have one, try using a Wah, some Dirty Box (Overdrive, Dist. or Fuzz) and a Volume control pedal before it - in plugging an electric guitar. Isolating the effects in different patches (1 for Chorus, 1 for reverb, 1 for delay, etc...) it can be very useful for the electric, too. If someone stole it, I would try something a little bit expensive (like newest Boss units) - for the best level control of the effects and better construction. The built-in tuner is another quality of the Zoom (but I don't think mine tunes well...). All the way, it's worth for it's price - and for the variety of tones you can reach, it's good enough for lots of fun!

From the first minute I plugged a guitar into the 504 I loved it! The first patch alone was enough to hook me into buying it. Editing patches was fairly easy once you took a look at the instructions and still fairly intuitive now that I've lost the instructions. I used batteries for awhile until I realized how much money I would be spending and then I bought the Zoom power supply from MusiciansFriend.com.

I play a Takamine N-20 jumbo body with an L.R. Baggs saddle pickup plugged directly into the PA. My favorite effect and the one I use 99% of the time is the D2 effect, and sometimes I use the A1 and A2 effects (to which I have made some minor adjustments). At home I play through a Peavey KB100 Keyboard amp.

My 504 has been very reliable, but I take good care of it. I would have no problem using it on a gig without a backup.

I play in an acoustic driven worship band in my church and the 504 is a great match for that setting. I have been playing acoustic guitar for about 27 years. I also own a Jasmine (low-end Takamine) classical with pickup, an Alesis NanoVerb efx unit (which got replaced by the 504), a Boss DR-5 drum machine (love it) and a Peavey KB100 amp. If my 504 were stolen I'd replace it in a heartbeat. I love the sound(s) I can get from it, the ease of use, the size, the built-in tuner and the fact that I can edit any of the effects to suit my taste or style of music. I never could quite get the sound I wanted from my acoustic until I bought the 504. It gave me not only the desired effects, but also the deep, rich tone that I was lacking.

See other comments about manual. However, once you figure it out you shouldn't have to open the manual ever again. Easy to navigate the controls. Easy to edit and save.

I play in a contemporary church band. We perform many different styles of music, from country to alternative-type stuff to ballads. Acoustic is a huge part of our sound. I have always plugged straight into a direct box with my Fender acoustic (sorry, don't know which model, but it's a higher-end guitar with ebony fingerboard, hole inlays, onboard e.q., etc.). I had tried numerous things to try to give the guitar a little more "life" and presence in the mix, like graphic e.q., Digitech RP-1, compressors, etc. I wasn't happy with anything. A fellow guitarist (uses Takamine) runs his through an RP-10 and gets a pretty good sound, although the compression seems to take some attack out of things.
So I decided to give this thing a shot since it was cheap. I know Boss makes some more expensive acoustic effects boxes, but this is the first one I tried. It ended up doing exactly what I wanted it to do. It really brightens up and gives presence to my acoustic. It uses a "limiter" instead of compression. I don't know exactly what that is, but I know it definitely doesn't deaden the attack like a compressor seems to. I have a little bit of chorus, a little bit of reverb, and there is no other word for the tone except "sweet". I love it.
I will say that I'm not looking for this thing to do much more than this. I'm not really interested in running my acoustic through an amplifier, or making an electric guitar "sound like" an acoustic guitar. I tried both these things however, and was pretty disappointed. Also, the 12-string effect totally blows. Not sure what they were thinking there.
The module I use is the first one in line, and I never change it. It gives me exactly the tone I was looking for. So that's what I'm rating it on.

These are pretty cheap-feeling units, not very hefty. The clicking mechanism seems like if you constantly stepped on it, it would go out. I have no experience with this however. I'm not planning on changing the settings much, so I'm not concerned. Also the atmosphere I use it in is fairly calm, no stomping. I probably wouldn't buy this pedal for gigging or constant stage use if I planned on changing the modes a lot.

Also, buy an adapter from Radio Shack or something, don't try batteries.
To recap: I think $100 was a fair price for the one thing I wanted this thing to do. It totally improved my acoustic sound. For some of the other things it claims to do, I'd look elsewhere. Of course, the Boss pedals don't claim to do 12-string simulations, so I don't know where you'd find that feature elsewhere!

8 I'm not a gearhead, but I didn't have too bad a time getting it up and running. I second every comment made about the manual, every time I use it(not often), I'm tempted to ball it up.

I use an Epiphone Sorrento w/ P-90's(any comments on these guitars, I couldn't find any), a cheap Regal Acoustic, and my father's old Dreadghnout(set-up for slide). The acoustic simulator is what I use it for most and it sounds ok to my hunble ears, perhaps a little too trebly though. I thouroughly disagree with the last assessment of the 12-string simulator. I think it sounds good, especially direct to tape, which is what I use it for mostly. Also, I've found you can get a decent Byrds-type sound if you turn off everything but the 12-string simulator. The chorus is a bit cheesy, but the delay sounds excellent, especially for this price range.

It seems a bit lightweight. I just bought it and I'm in between bands, I don't know if I'd use it onstage. Maybe if I were playing solo, but probably not in a band.

I've never dealt with them

I play Rockabilly, surf, acoustic, you name it. It works out pretty well, especially the delay. The delay is comporable to any dd I've used, and it's as cheap as most delay units themselves

This unit is very easy to use and program. The manual should be a booklet and not one large confusing piece of paper

I use my two guitars on it: An Ibanez EX series (electric) and a Performance 10 (acoustic-also from Ibanez). The EX has a hum-single-single config and I use a Don Lace Acoustic pickup for the PF-10. I pipe both into a Peavey Audition 30. Thanks to the feedback supressor, unwanted noise isn't a problem. The only gripes I have about it are its unnatural and inferior sounding 12-string effect. The octaver takes it up either two or three octaves and not one like a real 12-string. Also, the regular chorus is extremely weak and the light chorus is almost non-existant! I have my own sound and I get what I want out of it.

I'm not really in a band (just a couple guys I play with) so I don't take it to gigs and stuff but it's pretty good for home and studio use. If I DID have a band then I'd use it at a gig, I'd just be really careful.

Never dealt with the company

I play pretty much everything from Classical to Heavy Metal so the pedal is good for my purposes. I've been playing for 3 years and own the two Ibanez guitars mentioned above. It helps me compose music. I view it as a really good paintbrush that helps me use my imagination with more material to work with. I wish the 12-string effect was more believable, it's a lot of the reason I bought it. I also suggest to Zoom bringing the price up a few bucks and including booklet-style instructions and an AC adapter.

Hate the manual. It's a lesson in map-folding every time you pull it out. Editing is really pretty easy once you get the hang of it, but it isn't exactly intuative at first. Pre-programmed patches sound pretty good, though.

I use my 504 with an Ovation Elite and (usually) with a Peavey KB60 amp (yes, a keyboard amp, but really does the job well).
I like the chorus and reverb, and I can get a very nice sound out of it. My favorite effect is in fingerpicking -- the 504 can give an "attack" as if you're using a pick. Very useful.
I don't use the acoustic simulator patches.

The plastic casing does not inspire confidence. Also doesn't come with an AC adapter, but you can buy one at Radio Shack for a few bucks.

Never dealt with Zoom.

Good value for the relatively cheap price. I play in a large church setting and usually go through direct box straight into the PA mix. I use it all the time to get the sound I want before it goes into the system. I'd buy another in a heartbeat.

The unit has 5 banks of 4 patches, each pre-set at the factory, but they can all be completely re-programmed as needed. There are 4 "acoustic" and 4 "electric" pre-amp models - the electric ones are supposed to make an electric sound like an acoustic - they do if your idea of an acoustic sound is a bad under-saddle transducer...
You change patches by using 2 pedals to scroll up or down. A useful function is you can lock the unit to only use one bank, then scroll through the four patches in it withiut accidentally overshooting into the next bank.
Hit both pedals and you switch off the effects. Keppe both pedals down for a few seconds and the unit mutes it's output and you can silently tune.
There is also an anti-feedback feature which automatically cuts the frequency that's howling - you do need an add-on footswitch to do this. This feature actually works quite well, though it won;t completely kill really manic feedback.
the patches as supplied are all over the top - huge amounts of reverb and modulation effects and a lot of compression. Altering setings is easy, though like any multi-fx unit it takes a while to set up.
If you buy one in the UK you should get a power supply included - don;t be tempted to use batteries, it eats them.

I'm using it with a Simon and Patrick electo and a fiddle. Either into a solid state guitar amp, or more usually into a PA. It sounds better into the PA, (although the "de-amp" control - essentially a presence adjuster - does a reasonable job of compensating for the kinds of tones amps intended for electrics produce when you feed a piezo pickup into them).
The chorus/modulation produces some hiss, especially at the more extreme settings (i.e. the default ones). the reverb isn't entirely convincing, but again the factory settings don't do it justice. the modulation also sounds a bit synthesised if you overdo it.
I suppose the best thing I can say is that simply by changing patch I can completely alter the tone of my guitar - e.g. bright rythmn sound to a warmer, fatter jazz tone. It isn't as good at producing the natural tone of the guitar as a decent condensor mic, but I've yet to hear any piezo system that is no matter how it's amplified.

It seems reliable. These little Zoom units seem stronger than they look. time will tell i suppose

It does what I exoected - it adds buffering and more tone shaping than the 3 way EQ on the guitar can give. That plus the tuner and the feedback suppressor make it a useful little gadget. On the other hand if you spend lots more money you will get better (e.g. dedicated acoustic amp and a rack fx unit).

This processor is fairly easy to use. The preset effects are simple enough, one pedal scrolls up, the other scrolls down. Changing the effects to fit your own style is a bit of a hassle. You have to read an owners manual that looks like the instructions to a box of hair color. I don't get the poster-like instruction book. If you can't figure this effects unit out on your own, then forget it because the instructions are of little help. But, everything is well-labeled on the unit itself.

My setup consists of a Washburn D-17CE, an old Fender Electric Lead I, and a vintage Peavey Decade amp.
The effects with the acoustic guitar sound very true, giving the tone brightness and a rich flavor. It's amazing how great my acoustic sounds through the Zoom and the little 10 watt Peavey amp.
The settings for the electric are a little disappointing though. The simulated acoustic tone of the electric guitar is really thin... almost like playing through a tin can. It sounds slightly better when I play through a PA system, but not much. If you are buying this pedal to make your electric sound like an acoustic, I'd recommend saving your money and buy a Parker Fly.

This box is very reliable, as long as you have a power adapter for it. The battery only lasts about 2-3 hours on a good day, so it would be wise to invest in the optional power supply. The pedal doesn't look very sturdy (the casing is all plastic) but I have dropped it a few times and it keeps a licking and I still keep finger-picking. The electronics inside must be pretty well put together in order to take that kind of abuse.

n/a

My style is alternative rock Christian. This pedal is awesome for this style, because it helps the acoustic cut through two electric guitars with distortion, a bass and drums. The acoustic really stood out when I used the Zoom pedal, where before the piezo pickup alone was letting my acoustic get lost in the mix.
I have been playing acoustic for about 3 years now, 2 seriously. I've had my Fender electric for 6 months.
If the Zoom pedal were stolen, I'd promptly replace it.
I love the Zoom 504 because it has a great acoustic tone, and gives me the "Goo Goo Dolls" sound that I was looking for. It really helps my acoustic stand out in a crowd of distortion and bottom end. I also love the fact that all of the Zoom pedals have a built in auto-chromatic tuner built in, and when you step on both the up side and down side at the same time, the tuner is activated. It is simple and easy to use.
There was only one other pedal in this price range that I considered, a Boss Acoustic pedal. The downside of that pedal is that there were tone knobs instead of preset pedals, and you can't change your tone or sound quality in between songs without bending down and turning three or four knobs. The Zoom is faster and easier (for lazy players like me).
The only feature the Zoom is really missing is a bypass for the tuner. When you activate the tuner, it would be nice if it would cut off the sound to the amp or PA so you could tune in silence without 250 people hearing you tune.
The Zoom has helped my creativity, because I can now change my acoustic "sound" to emulate great alternative sounding bands like Jars of Clay, Smalltown Poets, DC Talk, etc.
I'd recommend this pedal to anyone who has a on-board pickup in their acoustic and can't afford to buy a Fishman Pro Gold to replace the old one with. This pedal will enhance your tone just as much without costing you a fortune, plus the Zoom pedal is fun to play with. With 24 settings, you can play until the cows come home (or your wife, whichever comes first). The 504 is perfect for someone who wants a better tone from their acoustic guitar. Hmmm, I actually sound like a good guitarist now...go figure.