Zoom 504 II

To get a good sound....ya gotta tweak! It's the same thing with virtually any effects. The manual tells you about the presets and the various features...and is pretty straightforward. It's a fairly simple pedal to edit/use.

I'm using MOSTLY a Washburn Festival Series EA-26K into a Carvin AG-100 (100 watt) amp. The amp has a piezo/tweeter in it which helps with the acoustic sound. I find the delays to be weak, but keep in mind this pedal is fairly inexpensive. I think I paid $60 or so for mine. I really only use 3 patches...dry; chorused; chorused-delay. I tried to mimic a friend's setup: he has an SWR Strawberry Blonde amp (10 inch speaker) and it has a killer acoustic sound (with piezos). I THINK I've found that sound with my little Zoom pedal.

Here's my "dry" patch parameter settings:

Patch Level: 27
Type: RY
Limit/Edge: 10
Low/Body: 9
High/Top: 2
Air: Off
Effect: off
Delay: off
Global De-amp: 51
Global Feedback Suppressor: 11.

I have a friend I run sound with (he's run sound/has the "ear" for tones for 20+ years)...and he says my acoustic ALWAYS sounds great! I can chalk it up to this little pedal.

It's made of plastic, so...I can't say it's as sturdy as it could be, although I've never had any problems. I keep it in its box when not in use and I used to have it in my "analog" pedal board. I've never had a back-up of anything other than guitars, cables or batteries. If it were to conk out, I'd go straight into the Carvin.

N/A; Never had to deal with them.

I play anything from acoustic to rock and have been playing about 23 years. In my old band, I played acoustic 90% of the time and this pedal has been through many gigs. With a little tweaking, you can get some decent sounds outta this pedal. The delays aren't good quality, but I was only looking for a solid, punchy acoustic sound (as if playing through a Strawberry Blonde). I chose it for its affordability. I'm giving it a "10" for its price and what it can do. It's all I need to get the acoustic tone I like!

I bought this after I heard a mate play my then new acoustic guitar through it, about 4 years ago. I thought my guitar was sounding incredibly good and was very pleased.. and then he turned the 504II onto bypass and my jaw hit the floor as I realised just what the pedal was doing to the tone.
The pedal is very simple to use and reasonably intuitive. Turn the single dial to the setting you want to edit, then press the plus and minus buttons as desired. How much easier could it get?
One drawback, and the thing that kept sending me to the manual for a while is the two digit LED display. Great for space saving, and its big enough to see clearly when on stage, but bad for clarity. Kept having to turn to the manual to find out what "r" meant compared to "R" or "C" compared to "c".

Adjusting the patches on a pedal you're playing an acoustic into can be fun. Its hard to cut out the sound of the acoustic and focus on exactly what you're hearing through the speakers / amp. When I was initially setting up the pedal I ended up getting a guitar playing friend to sit and twiddle a bit in another room, with a long cable going to the pedal so that I could hear only what the pedal was producing!

The inbuilt Chromatic tuner is great, intuitive, and sensitive enough for decent tuning. Makes changing the guitar to alternate tunings a breeze.

I've been playing a Washburn D10SCE through it for the past 3 or so years. It gets played through a variety of different thing, but its mainly fed into a DI box off to the PA system, then returned by foldback. I do use it once a month through my electric guitar amp, a Behringer Blue Devil. It also does quite well for feeding my PC when I'm recording. It has de-amping features on it which are a nice touch, and do improve things, but there is only so much you can do to counter an amps natural sound. Don't go expecting it to make your electric guitar amp sound like an acoustic amp!
Occasionally I play my Yamaha Pacifica 112 electric guitar through it, but only when I've snapped a string on my acoustic and really need something aproximating an acoustics sound.
This pedal is great with acoustic guitars. The air sound is fantastic and gives the guitar a much more natural sound, doing a good job of simulating mic'd up guitar. EQ is adjustable at bass, mid, and treble for each patch.
Delay is a complete waste of time. Does nothing to the sound IMO, it might as well not be there.
Auto-wah is again a complete waste of time. I don't think I've ever used it live. Its not sufficently adjustable to be of use for picked bits, and is naturally a total waste when you're strumming.
Feedback surpression is a godsend on a noisy stage, especially as I play a guitar with a dreadnaught body. Its not perfect, but if it helps me avoid blocking up the sound hole its all good.

There are two ways in which this pedal isn't so good:
1) If you've got great pickups in your acoustic guitar. Just don't bother, unless you're playing with other guitars and want to seperate out the sound a little bit.
2) If you're playing an electric guitar. Okay, its great for a distinctive tone. Its great for those "Damn, snapped another string" moments if you've only got a single acoustic guitar, but don't go expecting miracles. The sound you'll get back is still noticeably not that of an acoustic.

Up until 6 months ago I would have said yes to it being dependable. These last 6 months it has gone rapidly downhill, switching off randomly, even with fresh batteries. but that is natural given its age, and the fact its been with me on some good length journeys and taken a bashing along the way. It still works fine when plugged into mains though.

Its plastic.

That has to be my biggest dislike. Why plastic? Most stomp boxes and multi-fx pedals are metal, solid and can take a seriou beating. I'm always cautious about dropping this. It feels solid enough, and its probably me being paranoid, but I'd much rather it was metal.

I would use it at a gig without a backup, but only because it isn't mission critical. The guitar'll still work without it!

This pedal has been great. Its made my guitar with its cheap pickups sound better than guitars two or three times its value, I've regularly recieved compliments for the tone. Their jaws hit the floor too when I put it on bypass to show them how much the pedal is doing.
Its not stolen or lost.. just dying a slow death. Time for a replacement, I'm getting the a2.1u which looks to be replacing this model in Zoom's lineup. If it had died a year ago I would have bought another 504II without a seconds thought.
There is one feature that would have been really handy, an expression pedal. You can buy one for it but it struck me as a little expensive to justify as an add-on.

I've posted a review here on this unit previously and am adding to it now...

Easy to use like any Zoom pedal.

This is an acoustic sim, but it really doesn't make an electric guitar sound like a flattop. What it is good for is giving you a variety of clean tones to use. I like it with a jazz archtop and a tube amp, using the 504-ii to add ambience via reverb, chorus, and tone/EQ. It works well for that. Strangely enough, I've never used it with my flattop, but may try it sometime. I really just use it for jazz, which I don't play often enough.

Once you play with it, it's not too hard to coax a decent sound out of it. Editing patches is fairly easy, and the manual is very straightforward.

Setup: Epiphone Les Paul Standard with Flextone III XL.

The pedal is noisy. If you reduce the high end you can get rid some of the hiss, but this reduces the realism of the acoustic emulator.

As an emulator, it's almost as good as the Boss Ac-2 except for the annoying hiss which I could not get rid unless I drastically reduced the high end.

I exchanged mine for a Boss Ac-2.

I only had it for two days. It's built out of plastic. If it got stepped on, it wouldn't be a good scene.

For use with an acoustic guitar, this pedal would probably be fine. As an acoustic emulator for electric guitar, though, the high level hiss is very frustrating. The Boss Ac-2 was an excellent upgrade (and so much easier to use) for only $30.00 more.

It takes a few minutes to set up and store your settings, I really only use a few. There are 36 storage spaces for your settings by changing presets- I didn't spend much time tring out the presets and searched for my own sounds. It did not come with a manual(used) by I easily downloaded the manual from Zoom. I do keep the bass response down somewhat, the effect sounds clearer.

I use Martin Ian Anderson signature model 028 with Martin thinline gold, Martin 00cxae with Fishman Sonicore 4, Gibson Hummingbird with Fishman natural matrix,Ibanez GA6CE classical with piezo, Washburn acoustic with Shadow soundboard transducer. I go direct to the PA, but it can sound good into a keyboard or acoustic amp. I got this effect at the direct recommendation of Ian Anderson. There is no question I can duplicate the live Tull acoustic sound ( a very nice sound,by the way) using this and the IA sig model. I found that the best aspect of the effect is the "air" setting which is why Ian Anderson uses this effect. It seems to eliminate the "quack" associated with piezo pickups by simulating the sound of a mic'd acoustic. I also have a Roland/Boss acoustic processor with a mic simulator but this sounds better-with all my guitars. The resonator simulator also seems to give each string a bit more clarity. The reverb and delay are just OK. I use the chorus spaningly and it is adequate. It also has a doubler and wah-both fair. I would recommend this if you want to reduce the piezo sound in your live performances. So, it gets a 10 "air" effect and probable 7 for other effects.

I have had it for 5 months(used), never any problem.

I play rock, classical,folk, jazz. I never use it except live through a PA. It is very close in sound to a mic'd acoustic- isn't that what we want? I have played for 29 years. I think more expensive acoustic processing units have better reverb and delay and effects except for the "air" setting. I have used it in a solo setting however, and it is better than a piezo into PA tone. For under $50.00 new, this is a good choice even for the fingerpicker.

Pretty Easy, but you need to spend some time with the book. I find it a bit limiting, though.

I am using either a Carvin C780 or a Taylor 310CE, both with Fishman Prefix Plus systems. It sounds OK at low volumes, but once you pump it up the sounds seems to deteriorate quickly. I recently just unplugged the whole thing and went straight into the PA in the middle of a gig just to get away from the mud sound the pedal created.

I don't know if you can depend on it. My partner uses one, too, and his is always crapping out. The batteries go quickly, so I recommend an adapter if you play out often.

Thankfully, no need. But I suspect I won't, since this will quickly become a home-only pedal. Back to the Boss for me.

Overall, the first time I used it, I like it. The second time, not as much, the third...you get the idea. It wasn't the ultimate pedal for me. I will go back to what I was doing back in the day (Boss pedals) and, since I only really like the chorus on an acoustic, and maybe a little compression, there are all sorts of effects that are wasted on me.

Having read the other reviews on Harmony Central I was a little unsure if this piece of kit was going to be ok. However after a bit of tweaking, actually I dismissed the presets and started again, I thought it was pretty good. I only use 4 patches a clean, clean with a bit of compression, clean with a bit of delay, and clean with both. I play in an acoustic duo through a MArshall AS50r then a line out to the desk. Really easy to edit, after a few mins was whizzing round the various settings and options. Its a bit of a nuisance having to re-hit one of the buttons to fine tune, a knob would have been better. But once you have your settings your done.

The guy in the store( I can recommend him ) said that there may be some white noise, but in a live situation I found it almost not noticable. I use it with an Ibanez and a Washburn and once you get the anti feedback working and the right tone settings your away. I found it better to keep the bass and treble down a bit to eliminate boominess and sharpness. The digital reverb is nice mixed with a bit of spring reverb built into the amp. I did a gig last weekend and when it was all connected up was very very quiet( volume) so I checked back with the manual and found I needed to set it up for high gain, this boosted the signal and then it sounded great. Keep the patch volume at about 23 or 24 because higher than this and its starts to have that horrible digital break up that nobody wants. The tuner is adequate, I use it to get in tha ball park , then I use harmonics , then I de tune the b strings a tad( it works for me).

Seems reliable , too early to say , although its plastic with a metal base, I look after my gear anyway, its money after all. I would use it without a back up.

Never used them, but Sound Contol in Birmingham is very good. Used them for over 20 years, the guys in there have treated me well.

Got it from Sound Control in Birmingham, at that price you cant go wrong. I would recommmend it. We play everything from Police, Paul Weller, Clapton, Green Day, Santana, Beatles right across the board. I found the Zoom gives me strumming and picking control I was looking for. I would get another if lost or stolen, its small neat and works. I use a power supply, dont like batteries, they always go when you need them. Does not get in the way of the music provided you play the songs dont overdo the effects, punters want to be entertained they are distracted if your sound has too many effects going on.

It's easy. At this point, this kind of interface has been everywhere and no one should have a problem using it as intended.

That said, like all other menu-type multiple effect units, you get the stock discomforts, like doing a lot of button tapping and not being able to overview the settings, and scrolling, scrolling, scrol- blah, we've all been there. Not hard to use, but I love being able to see the settings, and a few knobs (let's face it) just make things easier and faster to fine tune, so they're missed.

The newer Zoom 5whatever interface (with an actual knob!) is better than the old, but still the one parameter that really, really needs the knob does not, which is the NOT the parameter selector, but the VALUE of that parameter. I'm game for some downtime setting up a piece of equipment, but you're going to do a fair bit of knob tapping.

Which, I guess, for the price, is still fair. But a VALUE knob would go a long way.

I have an oldie Zoom 505 for years and expected similar returns, as far as what these things are capable of, and what their limits are. I haven't had this unit that long, so I'm talking more about what's good, what's improved, and what's ...just... disappointingly the same.

Sounds good and bad, nice and nasty, all depends on how you set it. Purists will be rudely awakened to its quite digital feel, but then again who cares, it's a digital processor. What's the surprise, and what's the crime?

2 points on the bottom line, for me, are 1) it beats mic headaches in a recording situation where the environment is not a studio and/or cheap mics are the only on hand, and 2) it's got a nice variety of fx to play with, i like to experiment a lot and I love these kinds of toys.

On the downside, it's easy to have noise problems, and the scrolling programming makes it a pain to find the right settings quickly.

Definitely could be better sounding, but she tones are really varied, way more so than an average preamp.

I haven't had problems with my old 505. I use that and this as table-top units though. I would not gig with this, the sound is too processed for my tastes to be used for anything other than studio exploration, but nevertheless for that purpose it is a very nice addition to my tool box.

I don't care about all the plastic so much. I'd rather they put the bucks into improving the sound than house it in metal, to be honest. But a little of both wouldn't hurt this product, that's for sure.

N/A all the way

Good product, but would be vastly improved with:

- stereo I/Os and programs (wishful thinking?)
- more global control (i can't really stress this enough, especially for I/O levels)
- more effects (the phaser and deeper pitch-shifter in the 505s can't be hard to add)
- better sounding delay OR more control (either would do)
- a dial for setting VALUE (less tap, tap, tap, tap...sigh...)

I can't give it more than a 5, it's good, not great, but not bad at all. I like all the features and love the idea behind it. For all that it can do, a pedal like this little ol' Zoom could be my never-leave-home-without-it best friend, if only it was just a little BETTER at what it does. Hope Zoom reads these things.

I bought this pedal 3 1/2 years ago to go with my Aria Sinsonido.
Very easy to get a nice sound, and editing/tweaking the patches is a doddle. The manual was pretty self explanatory - only really used it for the preset list.

I use it in a chain of effects - Vox wah, Danelectro frenchtoast fuzz, Roctek phaser, Flanger, Zoom 504, Zoom 505 delay. All in a pedal-board/box. I play a mixture of acoustic and electric guitars through the setup (takamine 12 string, yamaha semi-acoustic, L'arrive electric, aria sinsonido) all going into a Viper Pro-amp 1970's valve head with a 4x12 celestion cab.
The sound is great for acoustics and electrics alike, i especially like it for adding a bit of reverb or light delay, and the auto wah is lovely for putting a bit of an edge on when playing Ska.
It is a bit noisy on one or two settings, but this only appeared after a nameless friend spilt a pint of beer over it just before a gig - Put it under the hand drier and it was fine!

I have been using it for gigs for the past 3 years - no problems at all. obviously it's a bit plasticky, but as long as you don't jump on it it'll be fine - especially on a foam covered pedal-board.
I would recommend using a power supply rather than batteries, but that's just so it doesn't run out just as you're about to start playing!

Never broken, so haven't had the need.
I did lose the manual and was able to download it in PDF format from their website.
Not sure if the warranty would cover beer damage anyway :-)

I play all types of music - the band I play in 'The Toretz' play a blend of Ska, jazz, punk, and anything else we're in the mood for. Been playing the guitar for about 13 years so I know what sound I want and this helps me get it - I don't want to sound like anyone else, just me :-)
I'm not really using how it was meant to be used, as I use electrics and acoustics through all the effects, but I like what it adds to my sound, so.........try it out, you may like it. It's never going to be the best effect out there (it's only #45!) but it does the job.
Check out our website - www.toretz.com - and hear it in action (mixed in with all the other effects of course!)

I've found this pedal really easy to use - like most pre-sets, the factory supplied settings are "over the top" but a little tweaking is very easy. For fooling around using the presets it's the easiest thing in the world to operate.
The manual is clear and answers all my questions.
I don't think there is firmware available but you don't really need it, everything is there from the offset.

I'm using this with various acoustics - Washburn, Fender, Vintage, Yamaha etc with a Fishman rare earth and a Dean Markley Mag. I wouldn't bother using the acoustic simulator for an electric because thats a bit of a daft idea - but if you're going to remember acoustic simulators only really work with single coils, not humbuckers.
It is fairly noisy on some setting, mostly the ones I use which are to replicate a more "acoustic" sound from my soundhole pickups - but aa a previous reviewer noted, in a live situation this slight noise wouldn't be noticed. In the studio you just use a mic anyway, right?
I run it into a Marshall 50w acoustic combo and it sounds great.
I play mostly Neil Young, Steve Stills, John Martyn type stuff so just wanted to get that lovely natural acoustic tone live - and it really works. As I mentioned before the presets are a bit too lively but they are really easy to tweak and get a thoroughly useable sound from.
The built in tuner is always useful, especially as it has a mute so your audience don't have to listen to you tune up.
I also wanted the feedback eliminator because it's a real problem for me as I use sound hole pickups so I can't use a feedback buster bung. The feedback eliminator is REALLY good and works brilliantly but there's one problem - if you encounter feedback during a performance you need an optional footpedal to control it - and I don't know where to get one from, my dealer doesn't stock them and ebay isn't throwing anything up at the minute.
Some people have mentioned they like the 12 string effect and this is quite good if you don't over cook it - it does sound simulated.
The auto wah is effective and could be a nice touch to a song or two depending on your style of playing.
It's a fine unit for live work if you spend a couple of hours just fiddling with the presets to get them to where you want to be. I only wanted the one, natural tone and found it in about half an hour of fiddling - great stuff.

Seems pretty reliable but is plastic - as a few other people have mentioned it would be worth spending a few quid more to get a metal casing - maybe Zoom should offer it as an option.
I'd gig without a backup for sure but I play seated and wouldn't really go all Hendrix on it so it's not a worry for me - but a metal casing would be nice so it's more sturdy when being transported.
For the money though, no complaints here.

Not had to deal with Zoom, can't foresee a need to.

For what I bought it for - to get a natural acoustic sound from my soundhole pickups and to eliminate feedback - it does the job perfectly. My only gripe is needing that footswitch to get the most from the feedback eliminator. At this price it's not an issue although it should state on the box that it's a recommended extra. That's the only thing that stops the overall rating being a 10.
Don't expect to put a Les Paul through this and into a Marshall stack and think it will sound like a pre-war Martin D45 - it won't, but thats not what it's for and in that was a couple of previous reviewers have missed the point.
For getting a really nice, tweakable, natural tone from an electro or an acoustic with a pick up you can't go wrong for the money.

I play a classical guitar with under the saddle pickups. As I was playing through the effects to hear them, I found myself looking around me to make sure no one was laughing, especially my 9 year daughter.

You probaly know about the plastic by now.

Didn't use it.

I play pop standards, jazz, classical, latin on a classical guitar. You know, I've heard people say here the presets are bad but you can tinker with them and sound good. Well, I don't feel very motivated to do that because I sound bad with this device. If I atleast sounded good to begin with it then I would have been motivated to make it sound great.

How easy is it to get a good sound out of it?
Very easy to use. Absolutely no effort. The manual is people who cannot operate one knob and 2 buttons. Getting a good sound from this garbage can? there is no good sound on the zoom 505ii

How about Editing patches?
No different. Very easy to edit patches. There is absolutely nothing in this thing. Its got nothing.

How is the manual for it (if there is one)?
The manual is for lighting on fire because of frustration.

I hate this unit. I regret spending money on this rubbish.

I am using an Ibanez RG deluxe with Dimarzios and a Marshall tube Stack.

Noisy?? YES! VERY NOISY! Everything with distortion or reverb is NOISY.

The Weakest Effects I have ever heard in my life. The weakest! The WORST OF THE WORST distortions come from this thing. Not even one distortion effect sounds good here. I mean it. The REVERB SUCKS! The most artificial sounding reverb is here. I CANNOT BELIEVE THAT ANY EFFORT WAS PUT INTO MAKING THIS PEDAL! The delay is miserable. Sounds very very CHEAP! I HAVE NEVER SEEN A DELAY EFFECT THIS TERRIBLE SOUNDING!

I am using a Marshall tube stack! the DISTORTION ON THIS THING IS BOGUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can not get even get the song of my most hated artists. Forget about my Favorite artists!!!

EVERY...I MEAN EVERY EFFECT ON THIS PIECE OF $H!T is miserable! the WAH EFFECT IS A DISGRACE TO SERIOUS MUSICIANS! THE DISTORTION BLOWS! THE REVERB BLOWS! THE DELAY BLOWS! I HATE THIS PIECE OF $H!T!

This thing can break in 2 seconds. Its cheap plastic.

I WOULD NEVER EVEN GIVE THIS TO MY WORST ENEMY! FORGET USING THIS AT A GIG! DO NOT EVEN USE IN YOUR BEDROOM! NO! THIS WILL NEVER WORK LIVE!

I WANT TO CALL THEM AND TELL TO STOP MAKING THIS PIECE OF SHIT AND GIVE ME A FUCKING REFUND!

I PLAY EVERYTHING! BEEN PLAYING FOR 3 YEARS! I would never give this to anyone! this is a pain! I wish it had a self destruct button than blew it to pieces!

This posting is a follow-up, two years later.
I find the hi-gain procedure (depress left pedal while powering up the box) pretty annoying, a second input jack would have been far better. As on the 504...
I cannot use batteries since the tiniest shock cuts off the power supply, even with tightly secured battery housing. Very bad point.
Problems with the jacks too, had to resolder them a couple of times.
My unit does switch off intermittently for no reason, so it is absolutely not reliable.
The feedback suppressor is absolutely unbelievable: easy to use, fast and effective. A real wonder, too sad I have those reliability problems.
In fact I'm happy I just kept my old zoom 504 because this one works perfectly, and with a better sound quality (18bit converters instead of 16bit for the latest version, go figure...)
So take my advice: shop on ebay for the first version...

Usually I do not read manuals !! But this time I did and I was up and running with it in a matter of minutes. The manual was easy to understand and clear. With in no time I was editing and storing sounds. It?s great.

I have an Ibanez classical guitar, which I have been playing for the last 12 years. Thought it was about time to get one with built in pickup. So my wife kindly got me an Ovation CC057 for our 10th anniversary. Now it was about time to get me a nice effects pedal and the Zoom 504 II got my eye. Bought it off the Ebay #31.00
The Ovation sounds like a million dollars using this pedal.
I absolutely enjoy using it although I have bought it only a week ago. The sound quality is excellent. Every effect on this pedal is great. Just what I needed. I use the FATRAT 15 watts acoustic amp and it sounds great. I have no regrets buying this pedal.
I use to play in a Jazz/Blues/Rock fusion band for about 5 years (university years). I still continue to play but mostly in my local church.
I play the likes of Kansas, Simon & Garf., Doobie Brothers, some Latin etc - mostly acoustic based.

Won't comment on this section yet, as I have had it only for a week.

Not used yet

Excellent for the price.
I have been playing for about 15 years ? combination of base guitar & acoustic. Now I just stick to acoustic. And now with my Ovation and Zoom, I have a renewed enthusiasm to keep on playing.
If the Zoom were stolen, I would go out and get another one straightaway.
I like the Delay and the12-string effects particularly. They are great.
I chose this one because it has got the ?all in one?. This just suits me fine for what I am doing.

Once you get a hang of it, it's easy. Got to do some reading though.

I have Yamaha FX-310 piezo pick up and a Montana MT-105N. Noisy in some settings probably because of the patch level. But you can correct this since you can change the settings right? Got some really good sounds from this Zoom. Man i was surprised. You can actually copy the sound of high end acoustic guitars through this box. I'm running it through a locally made electric guitar amp. And before i got the Zoom, i plugged directly to the amp the sound was of course unnatural. the Delay and reverb are acceptable.

Looks dependable but man it's made out of plastic so a little care would be needed. Look at it as an extension of your guitar and treat it like your guitar since it's helping your guitar sound better.

none yet. Just bought this a couple of weeks ago.

I play Folk, Rock, Blues, Jazz or whatever the crowd would like when i play in our gigs. But of course acoustic versions of all time favorite hits. The Zoom can handle any style i play and then some. I played for 5 years during my college days many years ago. After that i had to face life and get a 9-5 job. my wife bought me these guitars a year ago so that makes 6 years of playing. I'd buy another one of these Zooms if it were lost or stolen or broken. I like this so much because it can shape the sound of my entry level Yamaha to a high-end sounding guitar. I like the emphasizer and wah effects which has given new dimension to my acoustic guitar playing. Haven't compared this since there's none to compare it here in the philiipines. Not that i know of. I was looking for an effects box in the internet and this one had a very reasonable price tag and had some good reviews. So when this hit a local store i snapped it up immediately no questions asked. It does help me make music very beautiful sounding music. If your just starting out with an entry level guitar, get this box and you'll be surprised at what it can do.

I don't like Zoom's way to change patches, but I reckon it is possibly the only way to do that with two pedals...

Sound is OK
Fx are OK, reverbs are good enough
But this thing attenuates the instrument's signal. The Hi-Gain setting is not so, the signal is always halved at the input circuit, and when you select "hi-gain" the processor restores the normal output. This is crap, I don't like a processor killing my guitar's output.
The input circuit also kills the bottom a bit (poor bass response). Try unplugging your guitar and going straight to the amp and you'll know what I mean.

It is crappy plastic, and its size means the floor has to be leveled, otherwise it moves. Don't wear big shoes, you'll habe trouble stepping on just one footswitch ;^)

Once you figured it out it's easy to use, I wish it had leds to let you see which module is on or off(like on the 504). It is not noisy at all, if you use good cables and on. You basically have preamps, small eq(only boost,no cut and that's a shame), plenty of useless effects and honest reverbs. The antifeedback is effective, but must be seen as on-stage salvation operation because your sound gets very much changed. I still haven't discovered the utility of the de-amp function,and I also own a 504 for years...
It accepts 4 aa nimh batteries and they last very long before recharging again, so it's hassle-free for stage use.
By depressing the left footswitch when powering on you get the high gain setting(for weak instruments or,via passive transformer, microphones) and that becomes interesting.
Versus the 504 it lacks definition and details(the 504 has 18-bit a/n, and the 504 2 has 16-bit a/n in order to keep the battery consumption as low as possible) but has an emphasizer effect which adds a lot of clarity so it's better onstage.
With a vocal mic it's perfect...

Hmmm, I have the 504 for years and it has always performed very well despite stage abuse but the design is made this way. Since the 504 2 is editing-oriented I would absolutely not step on it because it would break, one have to choose here...
This said it is electronically very reliable, I own several zooms and no breakdown ever so I guess the people who makes them are not choir girls...or boys,more likely

Forget it, NO support here. They don't answer mails so what could you do?

It is a lovely little machine! I use it with my acoustic, even my fretless bass and it helps me have a good sound without engineering. I use my old 504 with my vocal mic and that's it. Talk about simple and effective... I am thinking about purchasing Alesis's acoustifx in order to have a better sound(20 bita/n/a, 4bd eq,) but you won't be disappointed in the zoom. Unless you take it for what it's not lf course...

If you've used effects pedals that permit patch editing, this one's pretty simple. Use the knob to scroll through the various parameters, tweak for optimal sound as you go and save to a location. I take off points for the foot pedals' lack of an auto-scrolling feature. You have to press the pedal each time to advance by one patch with no option to hold the pedal down and quickly scroll through patches (as in the Digitech pedals). The case is kinda cheesy so it would save wear and tear on the pedal components if they incorporated this feature.

My situation is sort of unique which is why I'm bothering to post here. I'm using a Godin Solidac which pairs 2 humbuckers with a single coil and then an LR Baggs acoustic pickup in the bridge. Similar guitars are manufactured by Parker (Nitefly), Carvin and Fender (Nashville Telecaster w/ Powerbridge). I channel the electric pickups to a Digitech RP300 pedal and the acoustic pickup to the Zoom 540II. Each goes to a dedicated channel on my amp. The overall effect is incredible. I can switch from acoustic tones to scorching electric leads on the fly. Before using the Zoom pedal, the acoustic pickup was okay but generally lifeless. This pedal makes it come alive, the best $70 bucks I ever spent. The 12 string emulation is awesome, choruses are lush and even a fairly dry patch can sound very much like a miked acoustic. I'm very happy with the tones and effects I'm getting from this product. By mixing the acoustic signal with the electric signal, I get some really fresh sounds. I'm using the Zoom direct to a Behringer KX1200 amp. Some of the effects are useless of course, like any other mutli-effects pedal. The most efficient use of this pedal is to dial in maybe 6 or 8 great sounds, from dry to light reverb to light delay to light chorus, etc. and then assign them in sequence where you can easily get at them. By the way, I also tried it with my Guild F47CE having the fabled Fishman Blender system and it sounds absolutely fantastic. Again, the sounds just comes alive. Most patches are pretty quiet. The "air" parameter seems useless. The patches that supposedly make an electric guitar sound acoustic are weak. Your bang for the buck is in the straightforward acoustic patches. Forget the autowah and other crap. The feedback suppressor seems like a good idea but I won't need it with the Godin since it's a solidbody guitar.

As most everyone else has said, the case is pretty plasticky but if you set it up with your favorite handful of patches and don't literally use it as a "stomp" box, it should hold up. Hey Zoom, how 'bout making a metal case and raising the price by 10 bucks? Otherwise, who knows how long the electronics will keep on ticking. I'll gig with it but will throw a chorus box in the bag just in case it craps out mid-set.

No opinion on customer support.

Been playing let's see, about 30 years now. I do the fingerpicking James Taylor thing when I'm out solo and switch off leads and rhythm when in a band situation. This pedal is perfect for both. I'm in a Country cover band right now and the Zoom, coupled with my Godin Baggs pickup lets me emulate an acoustic guitar sound without switching axes. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that it sounds better than most electric/acoustics I've heard played straight to the board. It records better too. I would buy this pedal again in a minute. For the price, it's a great little gizmo. Even if you only come up with a half dozen patches you really like, it's worth it.

Easy enough to use. Editing patches - not bad - fiddly, but simple enough to rescue a bad sound in a live situation if need be. As far as I'm concerned, you have no choice but to get to grips with patch editing, since almost all the preset patches have crazy levels of reverb/delay (why do they do that? - is there some fashion I missed that says that acoustic guitar has to sound like the haunted ballroom?). Anyway - it's OK - the manual is fine, but you do have to read all of it before it makes sense. Also, it would have been friendly if they'd included a table of default settings for the presets. Firmware - no idea.

I use a Taylor NS32 (nylon string) and an old Ibanez CR100(?) that plays like an old pair of slippers. I use a Samson PA system, the guitar is DI'd from a Laney GC50a (acoustic channel, with everything flat and the reverb off) using an active LEEM box. Some of the effects are teeth grittingly nasty (the 12-string thing is horrible, to me) and some of them are a bit hissy.
The sound quality, from an engineering point of view, is about what you'd expect from this level of bit resolution. The reverb is a tad clattery, and if you're not careful you can introduce weird artefacts by overdoing the limiting.
Given time, I'd like to edit all the patches a lot - I don't like the presets. I've collected 6 tweaked versions of favourites, and parked them in bank F. I need time to work at this. A facility to back up the custom patches onto something else would have been handy, but at this price you can't expect that.
Main use for me is hiding that awful quack noise that a transducer pickup makes - with effort, the pedal helps a lot. It still doesn't sound as good as a real microphone, but it's handier for gigs. I wouldn't use it in the studio.

No problems so far - i would hesitate to use it without a mains adaptor. I am nervous about doing a gig where my sound is manufactured by a pedal - very nervous.

Not contacted them. Their website is quite useful for manuals etc.

Jazz, blues, folk.
I've been playing for 35 years, pro and semi-pro. For electric work, I have a Gibson L5-CES and a (1948) ES-150, also a Telecaster. I use a Godin ACS (with Roland synth) in the studio. Normally i use Fender amps for jazz work.
The pedal is good value for the money, it helps with a long-standing problem with the sound of amplified acoustic, which is a good thing, but I'm not particularly attached to it. If I got serious about this, I might look at the Yamaha AGStomp instead.
It would be nice to be able to store edited patches somewhere off-line, and it would be nice to have some spare patch addresses to keep them in. In fact, I can happily overwrite most of the presets, but I have to be organised to remember what's what. As in a lot of devices like this, I find nothing intuitive in the layout of the patches - i just get the hand of where to find the few that I like.
I like the size and the simplicity of use.
I'd like to find a source of patch edits on the Web - I haven't really looked.

I found this processor fairly easy to use because it basically only does one thing: restoring the natural sound of an acoustic guitar when amplified. The other effects are pretty much a waste of time. The exception to this is the digital reverb and the feedback suppressor which justify the price of the unit.

I'm using a Washburn Monterey for an acoustic through a custom amp setup consisting of a 15" speaker and a tweeter with about 80 watts of power. To try out the simulator I used a Vox Phantom with Kent-Armstrong pickups through the same amp setup. I don't know if there is something wrong with this particular unit, but the simulator sounds terrible to the point of being unusable. (distortion or something) This is the great part: within a couple hours of buying the unit, I took it back to the store I bought it from to try to bug out the problem or exchange the unit. The owner asked me what I was using the unit for. When I answered "acoustic" his advice was to avoid the simulator!

I just got this thing so I don't know how reliable it is. I imagine I will have to baby it since it is plastic. It seems like the type of unit I'll carry in the storage compartment of my guitar case.

I've never had to deal with Zoom but like almost every other company I'm willing to bet that customer service is lousy. The onus has to be on the store you bought it from. I'm afraid that we are getting our come-uppance for letting mom and pop businesses go under by giving our money to Wal-Mart.

Here's the only sequence I'll ever use: Patch A1. Patch level:30 > Type:Mild > Limiter:Off > Low:5 > High:5 > Air:Don't insult my intelligence. > Effect:Touch9 > Delay/Reverb:Large1 > De-Amp:Same as Air. > Feedback Suppressor:Search. These things should only have one patch. Let's face it, these would be a great stocking stuffer for a 16 year-old kid who fancies himself as the next Hendrix-or-whoever-it-is-now, but the reality is that it will be in a chain of MXR or Ibanez compressors, choruses, E.Q.s, etc.
But hey, rock and roll ain't for wimps.

it's very easy to use. You just click the foot switch and bloop it goes where it needs to go. It's easy to edit patches and to store. It's pretty simple.

very good effects. I wish the delay was a little more flexible. Maybe it is...but as far as I found out, you don't really have a strong delay effect.

But the chorus and other stuff is really nice, it adds such a sweet sound to an already sweet sounding guitar. I mainly use it through a PA at the church. It's pretty sweet. You get it just right, more so out in the house than in the monitors so you can barely hear moreso in the house than in the monitor and then you rock hard.

i'm so glad that one of the other users posted how they keep the thing from popping in and out. What i mean is, after a while, it seems as if the cable just doesn't work unless it's JUST RIGHT inside the pedal. It's so freaking annoying. I cannot stand it. I want to throw it sometimes because it always pops.
And I tried to write the company and they said they'd fix it for $29 an hour! YEAH RIGHT! That's some crap. I'll just use the toothpicks and see how good that works.

some guy wrote me back like, 3 days after I wrote. And said very simply "it'll cost $29." I was like DAG and I didn't write him back

eh. Whatever. The whole "popping out" thing ticks me off.

Very easy, just read the manual and you are on your way.

Okay, this is the tricky part. I use this with my electric guitars, a Riff 330 copy, a Samick Greg Bennett Tele and an Epiphone Genesis. While the acoustic simulator part of this pedal will not turn your guitar into an acoustic, it does give a fairly realistic tone. I found the Tele in the middle position works best. The setting on Jumbo is good, especially in the 12 string setting. I have also found that if you finger pick or pick in a staggered way as opposed to strumming, the sound is more realistic. The twelve string setting is really nice for rythym. Now for the added plus, leaving the setting for electric, but using the tweleve string setting, I was able to make a setting that makes the Riff Rickenbacker copy sound very very similar to a Rick 12 string. The twelve string simulation is great, and adjustable. Nice touch. Have not used with an acoustic guitar so I will give the rating as such.

Zoom pedals are very reliable, wish the cover was metal though.

No problems, they are fast to respond to e-mail.

I like power pop and 60's and 70's classic rock, as well as some country. This pedal will be very useful.

I think this is very easy to use if you can read

I have an Alvarez Yairi Jacaranda Dreadnought with a Fishman Matrix as well as a K&K sounds Pure Western (don't ask!) I run the guitar into a Bags Para Acoustic DI with the Zoom in the effects loop into a Carvin 200 watt PA system. It is slightly noisy with just the Fishman strapjack preamp but with the extra boost of the para Di it's negligible. This actually a follow up to a review I wrote a couple of years ago when the 504II 1st came out. I was still new to the world of acoustic ampflication and thought my Fishman sounded thin and brittle. The Zoom improved my acoustic sound immensely. But I thought it seemed like a toy being all plastic and everything and that there were even better things that I could do that would allow me not to have to use the Zoom and make me sound more professional. I installed a K&K Pure Western Pickup because they claimed to be the most realistic pickup out there. I STILL, needed the Zoom to get that sound. I recently bought a Baggs paracoustic DI thinking I could use that instead of the Zoom and be like the "pros". It really gave the pickup a boost and some EQ but I STILL needed the Zoom the get a good sound. I short, of all the crap I've bought to get a "natural" sound, the cheap "toy" 504II is the best $80.00 (or $100 or $150) I have spent to date. I am not an "effects" guy, I want a natural sound and occasionally cheese one or 2 sounds up with the A-2 12 string setting. For 95% of my songs I use a tad of L reverb and a tad of C chorus and ALOT of limiter/compressor and air. I think it's the limiter/compressor that really gives it the natural sound, I don't know. I have played a baggs dual source and K&K trinity western through a Baggs para acoustic DI (all 3 or good products) but the Fishman matrix straight through the Zoom by far gives the better sound IMHO. Although right now I run the Fishman matrix through the baggs para DI with the zoom in the effects loop. The K&K pure western just gave me too many feedback and boominess problems when I played out at gigs, while it sounded more microphonic, it also sounded less clear than the Fishman. Just a bit of info for those of you who think this is a cheap toy (which it is, if they would house this thing in metal and charge another $50 I would buy 2!) I just read that Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull runs a Fishman Matrix through a Zoom 504! (Bet he can afford a back up though)!

It's cheaply made compared to a Baggs Para DI. I've used it for 2 years and the inputs jacks are loose and cause it to cut out if the cords aren't positioned just so. I jammed some toothpicks in between the housing and the jacks and they aren't loose anymore (mcGiver to the rescue). For cying out loud, just use metal will you?
I have to gig without a back up, who can afford backups of everything?

There is no customer support. They don't even exist! They are like trying to talk to the Great Oz! If you want great customer support, buy a Baggs or Fishman product, those guys will get back to you!

I,ve rambled on long enough, yes I would buy another if stolen. Compared this to para Di, Fishman pro EQ platinum. Only thing I wish it had was a sturdier (metal) housing. THIS THING BY FAR IS THE BEST VALUE vs. $$$$$ YOU CAN SPEND TO IMPROVE YOUR ACOUSTIC PICKUP SOUND SHORT OF GOING THE MICROPHONE ROUTE! bELIEVE ME!

Ease of Use, well, if your foot bends at the ankle, your in good shape with this. EASY to use, EASY to edit, its as simple as plugging in and clicking on the different settings. There is SOMETHING in there that you were looking for!

I use a Fender, Rosewood back and sides, my guitar is over 33 years old. My guitar has a good deep sound that I very much like, the 504II just made it sound like it was worth a thousand dollars more! No kidding, I didnt think my guitar could be improved upon (sound wise) but it did.
I run straight through our church's PA, no amp at all. Just the Fender, a DOD EQ and the 504II, I found what I'm looking for.

I didnt read any other reviews before I wrote this, I did however read them before purchasing this 6 months ago. I use it in our band at church and it's made a difference in my/Our sound. I havent had one problem out of it.

Havent needed help so I havent asked for it.

I want to tell you this before You head on down to the next review. I had wrote a song, I thought (like every other guy I guess) that it was decent. Well, when I got the 504II I sat out on my deck messing with the different sounds I could make and then found A6 (sort of a wha wha). Played it for the intro of my song, it was like the first time I'd ever played a complete song on the guitar all over again. It just made my song "AWESOME" in my eyes.
If your an all acoustic player, you wont be disappointed with the 504II. I sit out on my deck, plug in the head phones and go to town hearing music all over again, songs sound so much better, my guitar ust got an overhaul and it was never touched. Do I love it, yes. Would I buy another if it were lost or stolen, only after I hunted the guy down and castrated him. The only thing I could improve on the 504II was to give it away for free.
Acoustic player for 12 yrs now.

This product is a no brainer. If you have even a slightly musical ear you can get great sounding effects and equalization out of this thing. The manual is a big help, although it is very short, I feel that it gives you enough to start playing with it one your own and feel okay with that.

I am extremely happy with this pedal. I have tried many others, and researched many others, and this one by far has the prime spot in my gig bag. I am not sure if I would use it in the studio because why? For an acoustic just record it using a Shure Condenser Mic and call it a day. But for live gigs, this thing is great. I gave it an 8 because the high end is a little much at times. I turned it down on the amp, I turned it down on the guitar, and even turned off the High end boost, and there is still a little "twing" left. It does go away on many effects, but of the delay, and a few of the Acoustic processors there it stays. Other than that, it sounds incredible. I am playing with a Seagull S6+, and not the new cheap ones, one of the original with the mahogony sides and back, with the cedar top. A very good sounding guitar made better.

I am not sure about this one. It feels pretty lite and cheaply made. It sounds great so it obviously isn't cheaply made, but I would be afraid of it breaking. Actually I ordered it through a guitar store I trust, and they had to order me a new one because it got destroyed during shipping. The box it came in was okay, but the pedal itself was cracked practically in two. I would bring a back-up pedal that is made of steel!

Don't know yet!!!

Overall, I love this thing. So what that a stiff breeze could break it, I am not hard on my stuff. If you take care of it, it will take care of you. I have been playing guitar now for about 6 years. Mainly acoustic guitar. This is the best pedal I have ever heard, especially for the money. I do a great deal of studio recording in which I doubt I will use it, but for shows, I will use it proudly.