Zoom 505 II

This unit takes a little time to figure out, but once you get the basics down, it's really not that hard to ues. Editing the patches is easy,And i would suggest you taylor them to your personal liking.The manual is good.

This unit is capable of a variety of sounds,from country, rock, blues...But I must STRESS, it sounds great in the headphones, or for direct recordings, but most of it's best qualities don't transfer over when you use it with a guitar amp! That said the distortions are good, the effects are good,it's a tuner,and it's affordable.I use this mostly for direct recordings, and to practice in the headphones. It does a great job at both of these.I play A Parker Nitefly guitar, and a Kramer Pacer Deluxe, but I rarely use the 505 with an amp.Some of the more distorted sounds are a little noisy, but not any more than a amp cranked up with some gain.

Why they made this out of plastic I'll never know!I don't think it would hold up very well if you used your foot to change patches, or banks!This is not road worthy, but fine for studio, or practicing.

no opinion

Iv'e been playing for 32 yrs,I own a parker Nitefly guitar, a Kramer Pacer Deluxe, A Line 6 Flextone 3 amp, a Carvin X100B Amp, an ADA MP-1 Tube preamp, asst. FX, and a small home studio, with a Yamaha AW1500 16 track digital recorder .I play classic rock, blues,motown,progressive rock, and some original music.I originaly bought this to practice in the headphones, but after trying it out on a home recording, it quickly became my first choice for recording.I love it's ease of use, good sounds and effects,low cost, and it's a tuner!Whats not to love?It's such a time saver in the studio,no mikes or stands to fool with, just plug it in and your ready to go!This device has helped me make ALOT of music over the years Iv'e had it.I've used it for electric, and acoustic guitars.bass, and even run a vocal mike thru it to take advantage of it's clean sound, and effects!I have since replaced it with a Zoom G-2, but my trusty 505-2 has served me well over the years!

pretty easy to use.

I use a gibson les paul and fender blues junior amp. and... it kills the whole sound.

The distortion sucks. really sucks. usually when i play with it a while, i get so frustrated i simply turn the volume down all the way, unplug the effect and play directly to the amp.

The chorus, phaser, tremolo, compression and most of the others "MOD" is ok but not really good.

the delay is too short and it dosen't sound good.

The wah is a shame.

I may have used it once in a while for some nice effect I wouldn't buy a pedal especially for them, but... it's not true bypass! it kills your sound even when it's off! so sadly i kicked it out from my effect chain.

I would never have bought it anyway, I do check my effects before buying, but I got it to my birthday from a friend of mine who though i'd like it... the numbers probably dazzled him (40 effects). I would have gladly switch it with 1 good effect.

it's plastic! and it sucks.

never needed them, because even if it was broken i'd never bother to fix it anyway.

it all comes down to 3 words: don't buy it.

It is absolutely easy to edit the patches. It is also easy to operate the effect. This is my firstmulti-effect, so the whole thing was new to me, but became familiar with it in 5 minutes. I had the manual earlier than the device and I wanted to learn operation from that, without much success. But this is probably because I had no experience at all.

I think it is cool for playing RHCP and that kind of music. Delayed distortion sounds are rather similar to early Metallica solo sounds. Chorus, flanger, phaser, delay great. Distortion: could be better. There are some funny effects that you'd never use, but it is worth to try them out once... The effect is absolutely silent, I just can't hear if it is on or off if I don't see it. Especially if compared to my Boss MT2. I have an Ibanez RX-40 and a Marshall MS-4. I know that's not too much...

I think it could be safely used at a gig, it seems quite reliable.

n/a

I'm not in a band just like entertaining myself and relaxing with some tunes. I wanted to have some low-budget stuff that would allow me to play many styles. I like playing RHCP, Guns N' Roses, Metallica and Faith no More, and I found it an excellent choice for RHCP songs. The chorus, the delay, the flanger and the phaser are excellent. The distortion will never be anything big with my equipment, but it is not worse than my Boss MT2 Metal Zone (that I sold immediately after buying this one). I compared the chorus to my Ibanez SC-10 (which has very positive reviews here, at harmony central), and I'm so satisfied with the Zoom that I'm selling the Ibanez.
I don't know how this effect would sound on a stage, but I'm definetely sure that I made a good decision to drop my Boss MT2 and Ibanez SC10 and pick up the Zoom, and don't forget that it is at a bargain price.

It takes about 5 minutes to get the hang of this. Also you can have some fun making your own combinations as there are 36 channels which are all editable. All programs come with a pre-set unique effect, so you can plug in and play without having to go through, setting all of your patches up as soon as you get it. The pedals themselves are large and make it easy to navigate channels. The manual is good, there is a list of all the patches and the amps/sounds they were modelled on.

I play this through a line 6 hd75 head and a 4 x 12 ashdown fallen angel cab. I find that even though it is 'stereo' the sound is too thin and scratchy. I play a crap squier strat and the factory single coils are soo noisy, but the ZNR (Zoom Noise Reduction) takes most of the hum away, which is probably the best feature of this pedal. The set effects are pretty crappy, they don't really fit in with any style of music. The wah is pathetic, i think if they knew they couldnt make it even close to a cry baby, they should have left it off the pedal altogether to save from embarrasing themselves. I usually find myself using this as a tuner (it has a decent tuner) and using the amp head's built in distortion and effects.
Sometimes, the tuner will refuse to work, and just sits there with a blank screen (not good if you're at a gig) I have never gigged with this, though i do use it at band practise and it has been ok.

However, this pedal would be ok for complete beginners, who don't know the difference between distortion and a paul reed smith.

This pedal is not the most reliable in the world. Sometimes (even after putting fresh batteries in) it will turn itself off, and back on again, and it always turns itself on on the effect A1, which is at default distortion, so when this happens, you get the amp head distortion and the pedal distortion mixing to create what can only be described as NOISE. Again, NOT GOOD if you're taking a lead part at a gig.

N/A never dealt with them

I play in a band, covering foo fighters to senses fail, but in my own time I like to play some older rock (guns n roses, thin lizzy, bit of metallica..) and it doesnt really suit any of them. I think this pedal goes from general effects to wierd exotic ones (A1 being the standard distortion and F6 a pitchshifted tremolo delay crunch or something) and none of them comes close to matching the sounds of slash's marshall stack/ jubilee head. I have been playing about 3 years, and apart from the rig above, i own nothing more except a westfield p bass copy, a battered acoustic and some practice amps. If this zoom pedal was stolen or lost, it would'nt stress me out, just motivate me to get some decent pedals instead. My favourite feature of the Zoom 505II is the noise reduction. If i went back to the shop where i bought it, and had the same 60 pounds in my hand that i used to buy this, i would ask for a boss pedal instead.

Pretty easy to use. Takes a 10 minutes to figure out, but after that its simple.

I have been playing for a long time (I'm old!) and have lots of professional gear. I play lots of styles of music, and the ZOOM does not really cut it for any of them. It sounds "someting like" alot of stuff, but doesn't really nail anything. The distortions are not sweet or pleasent, the modultion effects, compared with a good peddle, really are pretty thin and cold. Same goes for delay. In the grand scheme of things, it is not great sounding. But it is not horrible or anything. I use it as a headphone amp, and because of my life style, I probably end up using it more than any other single peice of gear that I own, so if it was really bad I couldn't do that.

I've had it for years (maybe five?), and have used it for over 2 or 3 thousand hours and it is still like new, and I don't take very good care of it. It's easy on batteries too!

When I purchased it, I was looking for a simple headphone practice amp. Nothing more than a clean feed, maybe with a volume control. I expected to pay about $100. I got this for about that much. So when you consider that I got a complete self contained "multi-effects/amp modleing/headphone amp" for less than some tuners (which this also has, and it very funtional and accurate I might add), the ZOOM really is remarkable! It is an absolute best buy, and a real conveniant,compact, flexible low cost solution if you are the player who spends alot of practice time on the road and need a practice headphone amp so as not to disturb those sleeping in the next hotel room. I would not recommend it beyond that. So in short, not suitable beyond private practice, butI think it may be the best around for that.

The sound I was able to get out of this pedal was astounding although it was my first pedal that I have owned. The manual was easy to read and wasnt really required as the unit explains itself by being there

I use an Ibanez GAX70 with a Crate amp, I was able to achieve kind of a SRV tone which I really like. Its never too loud and the tone is pretty even.

This product never failed me and I would use it yeah its my only one

I play a mix of classic rock and the blues, and every once and a while I play some harder riffs. the pedal handles all of it. ive played for two years and own my guitar thats it. i plan on buying another one because mine got ran over by a truck. i dont realy dislike anything except the effect where it makes like 30 different sounds at once from one string, not sure what thats called.

hi everyone.

the zoom 505II ist very easy to use, you can edit a patch very easy.

there are a lot of drive modules, it depends on what kind of music you play. but i have to say, you CAN NOT GET A METAL sound out of it(not enought gain). for blues, punk, funki, or rock it's ok, but not for metal.

the EQ sucks, there isn't an normal 3.band EQ, there ist a kind of 1band EQ from 1 to 50.(1-14 bass, 14-25 normal, 25-40 middle, 40-50 another bass). the EQ SUCKS.

and this thing ist very noisy.


the effects, chorous, oktave etc are all very good.

505 had senn some stage und studio, and every one has stepd on it because they haven't seen it, but, ist ok, it's not damaged. very robust althought ist made from plastic.

you can play every thing with it, but not METAL, and noisi is it too.

I find that is is really easy to get great sounds out of this unit once you understand the manual and understand what every effect does. You need to fiddle with everything and find what tyou like, then make your own patches, which is easily explained in the manual- the manual is a great helper. This unit is stock.

Needs a better master volume control for us occasional headphone users.

I'm using this unit through two amps- their basically speakers (Drive cd300 combo and a Jay Turser 10 watt)- since the output on this unit is stereo I fashioned myself a cable that splits the left and right channels to two amps. The manual mentions this kind of cable but it is extremely had to find. And when you find it, it's kind of expensive for what it is... Anyways using two amps makes all of the effects sound WAY COOLER, and fuller than one amp alone, especially chorus or delay/echos. My guitar is a Jay Turser JT-100 Les Paul copy, bolt-on neck sadly, but I've got this baby rigged to be better than the epiphone starters that cost more, the epiphone owner agrees with me on this.

When some Nady headphones, I could hear some strange backround noise that isn't audible when I play through an amp. Very high-pitched noises. Anybody who gets unwanted noises with this unit has too many effects turned up way too high. The manual mentions that some guitars do this. Read the manual people.

-The delay/echo have a cool ping-pong effect in stereo, this is great!
-The reverbs are pretty decent too, they add a good character to your playing
-All of the amp/distortions are pretty good- they're far better and far more versatile than what small amps such as mine have built in.
-I really like the tremolo and chorus effects, and the EQ/Phase controls are really helpful to tailor your sounds.

ZNR (zoom noise reduction) is a great feature!

NEGATIVES: All of the distortions are sort of harsh sounding. I like them, but I really wish that the unit had a smoother, mellow tube-like tone. I've tried everything to get it with my setup, but maybe it's my guitar.

-The cabinet modeling sucks, I don't care for that at all because it takes away the character of the sound that i like.

This unit is totally reliable, but I suggest using an AC adaptor (9V DC 300ma; tip negative) because well, it's better that way.

This thing is really tough, surprisingly. I've stepped on it in all the wrong places and there aren't any knicks, scratches or stress marks. Still functions perfectly.

I've never needed to deal with any customer support, nor have I ever tried to get an upgrade or some repairs.

If you want tons of tonal possibilities for $50 or $60, go for this thing. I can't emphasize enough how much better using this is than using a small amp alone. It's really able to help you get cool tones. I can get some decent blues or jazz tones and piercing leads out of this thing even though my guitar's not the top of the line. I plugged my friends Fender into this once, found the right switch position, put it on a setting that I made- I call it my "RUSH" setting. It sounded awesome! I played parts of Fly By Night and the chorus effect made it so fun to play along to.

I chose this thing for the price and the multitude of features it had, and was very pleased by what I got. I'm sure you could get better effects but I'm not about to go buy multiple pedals!

I wish this thing had a better master volume control! I didn't even know it existed until recently by closely looking at the manual, but it's just becoming an annoyance to turn down the unit every time i need to use headphones.

I wish that this pedal had a left channel output and right/main output so that the option to use two amps was more readily available.

This is a musicmaker for sure; fabulous for the price.

I picked this up used a local music shop for $50.00 cdn. I'm impressed with how easy it was to get going with it. It didn't come with a manual so I downloaded one which answered any questions I had.
I just started with a preset that I liked, fooled around changing settings them saving them as a patch. Once I got into this I found myself moving around this thing quite easily.

I play mainly bluesy rock with a Roadstar II and have come to like the hall settings with some gain.I play mainly through headphones for 2 reasons- I have 3 little kids and my amp is a Traynor 6x10 cabinet with an old Ace Tone head(pretty much overkill for the house, but that's what I've got!).I'm able to get Stones type sounds no problem-I've got a humbucker in the neck and I can get lots of cool blues sounds.

I don't play out hardly at all- I would bring this to a gig because I wouldn't be stomping on it a lot. Just set it and forget it.It seems fairly sturdy but by no means bulletproof.

Bought it used.

I've been playing on and off for 20 years-by no means am I really good, but I do enjoy fooling around with guitars and gear. I only have the Roadstar and a Yamaha acoustic(FG410),nice guitar. If it went missing I would definately replace it, it's just too versatile for the money.

Looked a bit scary when I first saw it, but after 10 minutes, I got the whole thing figured out. It is extremely easy to use, though its a shame that you cant switch banks without leaning down and pressing a button, which is kind of akward when you're trying to play. You can buy an outboard pedal to switch banks but I wouldnt consider buying it.

I am using an Epiphone Les Paul and a cruddy 10 watt amp(I am 15 and on a budget, thats why I am not reviewing a Boss MI60 or something). If you use the noise reduction, the noise is er..reduced. So its not noisy. The distortion is great for metal, and I like the wierd space effects because you can get a great Muse sound.The effects are very high quality and clear, which is great because you dont have to pay through the nose for individual pedals. The flanger and the delay is great.

I dont gig. I am not very skilled yet. Itlooks pretty durable.

Never dealt with them. Hope I never have to.

This is a great little gadget for people on low budgets. I [lay mostly metal and the distortion on it is great. If it got stolen, the thief would get their eyes gouged out, 79euro is a reasonable sum of money. This was cheaper than all the other single effects in the shop, and is great value.