Zoom 505 II

Relatively easy to use... Simple and easy 2 use knobs 2 select the parameters you want to edit. A little reading of the manual is required though in order to learn how to store and move patches.

I use this with my ibanez RG and Marshall MG100. I mainly just use it for distortion and its relatively decent.. i can some really thick distortion from it for rythym playin and sum really nice lead tones as well, its also got lots of other cool effects. Its very quiet on most settings and only creates a small amount of noise on sum patches where the gain is high.. one problem is sumtimes when i plug it in it just makes this horrible squeeling sound and u have to fiddle with the input to make it stop, but i have a strong feeling thats jus my problem.

Its relatively reliable although it is plastic which could pose a problem.. myn has a problem sumtimes it just resets if i stand on the side of the peddal while changing patches.. one thing which is good is it lasts long on batteries provided u unplug it wen not in use.. i use it at gigs without backup.. but i know if sumthing does go wrong i can always use the shitty built in distortion on the amp.

havent dealt with them

I play mainly metal metalcore and this actually doesnt do such a bad job for its price... i mean dont get me wrong there are better peddals out there bt in this price range its up there at the top. If it were lost or stolen i probaby wouldnt buy a new one purely for the fact that i've had it about a year and a half and im bored of it and want to try sumthing new... I love the versatility and ease of use and of course the price but i hate the way i can create lyk 10 nice distortions but none of them are perfect for me, but hey thats just me.

Switching through the factory presets is a breeze, although the volume of those presets is all over the place. It's reasonably easy to figure out how to tweak the patches. Controls are very simple and the manual is quite clear.

My general setup is a Fender Standard Strat through the 505 II into a Fender Frontman 15G practice amp. I don't have impressive gear. I've also played through a Peavey XXX head and 4x12 cabinet.

When I took this pedal home, I thought it was amazing. Since then, I've realized that the quality is very poor. It has settings that sound fabulous - as long as the amp is quiet. No matter what distortion setting you use, it will sound terrible if you turn the amp up loud. There is no clarity to the sound. It just becomes noise. Most of the distortion modes are extremely harsh and totally unuseable.

Most of the other effects are of a reasonable quality, but they don't offer a lot of room for editing. I found the pitch effects particularly limiting: the unit only offers a very limited selection of intervals for harmony, and they aren't particularly useful intervals either. The wah settings are almost completely useless without an expression pedal. The step effect, however, does sound pretty cool.

Another huge problem with this unit is that it adds an incredible amount of bass to the sound. I suspect this is to cover up the quality of the effects so that the unit sounds amazing when you first plug it in and so that in theory you buy it before you realize what it actually sounds like. This bass CANNOT be lessened by tweaking the 505's EQ settings or even by turning the amp's bass knob down all the way. This is not a guitar or amp issue: the amp and guitar both work fine without the ZOOM unit plugged in.

The unit is made of plastic and doesn't look like it could stand up to a lot. The patchcord connections are terrible. If the unit is moved at all while plugged in, a tremendous amount of noise will be heard through the amp, as if a cord had accidentally been unplugged. Once during a gig I shifted the pedal with my foot and it began to inexplicably feed back on me and I needed to turn the amp off to stop it.

Also, the output patchcord connection no longer works properly. It has come loose somehow and so the guitar signal occasionally cuts out without warning. I have checked very carefully with various patchcords and the cord is not the problem. Furthermore, when I opened the pedal up with a screwdriver, it turned out that it is actually impossible to adjust and tighten up the patchcord connection: it is encased in a solid plastic box which cannot be removed. A year ago I could have relied on this pedal but I no longer can.

I've tried to deal with the company before, to get help with a friend's desktop recording unit. There was no e-mail address listed on the website and the only tech support phone number listed on the website or in the manual was a phone number in Japan.

If you're strictly a recreational player and you never intend to turn the volume up too loud, this pedal could be perfect for you. It does provide a lot of effects in a lot of combinations that sound pretty decent at low volumes, and clean sounds are pretty decent even at higher volumes.

If it were stolen or lost, I would not buy this again. I would probably build up an effects collection from higher quality pedals. A year after buying this pedal I am extremely dissatisfied with the tone and it is breaking down on me. For the money you would be far better off buying any Boss or Digitech pedal that you can count on to last.

This piece of kit is VERY easy to use. If you want, you don't even need to look at the manual until you've finished playing with it. The controls are intuitive, clearly labelled and they respond immediately to any and all changes. Within a couple of minutes you can work out for yourself what each button, pedal or dial does. No confusions whatsoever. Very high rating.

Mostly, I use a Peavy 50 watt practice amp (clean inout channel), but I also use the 5050II with my headphones for a lot of quiet practice and experimentation. (ie: 'quiet' for all those others in my house or room). I also use it for some direct recording and it's no problem there either as regards noise.

Using headphones, I find the 505II to be incredibly quiet - virtually silent. The effects are very good and distinctive, although many of the factory presets are incredibly harsh, but then, I'm not a thrash or grunge merchant. My preferred sounds are country, blues or smooth sustain and reverb. With a bit of tweaking and a LOT of fun, all my preferred sounds are available .... I can even get close to pretty accurate Roy Buchanan, Hank Marvin or Gary Moore sounds.

For me, the strength of the 5050II is the speed and ease with which you can experiment, change and store settings.

I use the 505II with both electric (Strat) and acoustic (Fender 6 and 12 string) guitars - the acoustics being fitted with 'soundhole pickups' as opposed to piezo. For acoustic, the 505II works best with the more subtle effects and I generally steer clear of much distortion - but that reflects my preferences rather than any weakness on the part of the Zoom. Once again, I've had a lot of fun trying to emulate the sounds of favoutite players such as Gordon Giltrap, Billy Strange's original 12-string sound or John Martyn. The latter's weird tones and FX are a real challenge, but I've got close. (Just wish I could play as well !!!!)

I have no comlaints here - but (as you might guess from my previous comment about preferred music styles), I'm not a stamp 'n' stomp sort of player, so the unit isn't getting a true hammering.

As for using it on a gig without a backup - I have a 2nd 5050II still in its box after my initial setting-up. I've never needed to unpack it again. Nuff said?

Can't comment.
Never needed to try.

I play country, folk, blues and medium rock, not grunge, thrash or Satriani ! The 505II does almost everything I could wish for in terms of helping me create the types of sound I like to use.

I've been playing on and off for 45 years and used to use a gaggle of separate FX pedals, but now the 505II does virtually everything.

It's compactness and power are fantastic - as is the value for money BUT, BUT, BUT I wish there was a button or easy way to obliterate all factory presets so that you could start with a clean sheet for each effect or even for the whole lot.

I would guess that fully pro, or even a lot of semi-pro musicians who do a LOT of gigging, would need something a bit more robust or with more pedals for instant acces to settings, but if you're a beginner looking for a high value FX processor or someone like me who plays a lot but is not a fully-fledged and really frequent performer, then the 505II is virtually unbeatable.

I've only had the Zoom 505II since Christmas Day (5 days ago) and I've only used it for 2-3 hours, but I've already got excellent sounds out of it without even scratching the surface of its potential. I have already edited one or two patches and found the process very easy. The manual is fine, but with my ropey eyesight I downloaded it in pdf format from the Japanese website and I've printed it out full page size! Much better. As far as I'm aware, its not been upgraded in anyway.

I'm astonished to read that other users have found it noisy. I have found it whisper quiet (in term of unwanted noise). The effects are as loud or quiet as I want to make them. As I'm a home guitarist with no delusions of being a rock star and with a little Marshall combo, I'm not looking for seriously loud anyway.... I've not tried to emulate the sounds of my favourite artists - I don't tend to go for that anyway. I've still got a lot of playing to do but I've tried all of the standard effects and one or two of my own and I'm very satisfied.

Seems to be sturdy enough. Certain made of sterner stuff than some of the pedals I've owned over the years. As I don't play in a band I tend to operate it by hand anyway. I don't see any reason why the unit shouldn;t last, but at the price I paid for it, I'd have no hesitation buying another if it broke.

No dealings as yet. I've no reason to suppose any difficulty. This is an unfair subject to rate anyway. So I will score it high.

I was forced to put my "electronic" pen to paper to write a review because I was stunned by the wide variety of reviews, particularly from guitarists who rated it very slow. For #29.99, with the AC adapter thrown in free, I think this is a superb piece of kit. I'm no great shakes as a musician and, at 48 years old, having bought a new electric guitar this year for the first tome for about 25 years, I bought the Zoom 505II because it was sooooo cheap. It lives up to all my expectations. Perhaps its because I would have KILLED to have something like this back in the mid-70s when I had my first Les Paul copy, that I like it so much. I suspect that some of those who are younger than me are frankly spoiled by their expectations. Its a bit like when I wander into the big new music shop in Southampton and listen to some of the excrutiatingly bad guitarists making a mockery of Gibsons and Fenders - makes me feel quite good that I can sound just as good with my #47 Ebay Keiper, my tiny Marshall amp (another Ebay gem) and the Zoom! If you can afford hundreds of pounds on guitars, effects, amps and whatever, good for you - but don't look a gift horse in the mouth - this pedal cost me slightly more than half a tank of petrol in my Lexus.........

Very easy to use.this one is simple to use and the sounds are great.
zoom are japanese based so a lot of the mauels were in japanese but there was one really good one with information on the different effects. switching patchesis really good but i wish the button to change banks (group of 6 patches) was built to use with your foot. editing is nice and easy.

i use a 40 watt roland amp and a cheap strat style with it and it sounds great. the distortion can be really grunty, light, really gainy and much more. the accoustic and foundation clear types arnt that great though.

The zoom site seys that the plastic is extremly durable, but it looks kinda flimsy. i cant afford to use a back up, but if i could, i wouldnt need to as it has standed up to the knocks i have given it so far. i sugest using a power adaptor with it as it chews battery really fast

never delt with them

i play punk mostly but i think it would also be great for metal.
I read in the manual that you can buy an optional expresion pedal for it (fpo2) but i tried it out in the shop and it sounded crap.
overal its a great pedal for beginer-intermediate and it makes me want to upgrade my guitar. also its a geat price for the quality. you just cant beat zoom when it comes to effect pedals, although there were a few unusal sci-fi sounds that i dont think i have any use for. its a great pedal and you should buy 1. much better than the digitech 1 i tried out

really easy to work out, although creating a patch from scratch takes some time. the manual is very good, and includes a full list of what all the different mods do, which i find helpfull.

This pedal makes my relatively cheap guitar sound better than it really is, especially when being played through a powerfull amp.
(eg 100 watt marshall). lots of the pre-programmed sounds are very noisy, but by playing around with them a bit, you can make it pretty quiet. All the distortion sounds are great, although the clean and acoustic sound tend to sound whffly down the bottom end of the guitar. There are also lots of wierd sci-fi sounding things that i have no use for, but i just delete or ignore them. the equaliser function is pretty much useless, as the sound dosnt really change much from one end of the scale to the other.

my pedal has never let me down on stage or off, but i dont think its had that much of a beating. The casing looks a bit flimsy and so i wouldnt go throwing it around as i might a stompbox. I will, however, say that i once got some water all over it, and it didnt seem to have any effect. i gig with this pedal without backup and its survived so far, but it does eat through batteries really fast.

ive never dealt with zoom so i have no idea.

overall, i really like this pedal, and for the price, its a great option. it works well with most styles of music, but its distortion patches are extremely strong, and it would suit anyone into medium and heavy rock, although the clean sounds can be dissapointing. Im thinking of getting a zoom fp-2 (expression pedal) to go with it. If it broke or got lost, i think id upgrade and buy something like the zoom GFX3, but only because my needs as a guitarist have grown since i bought the 505. its a good pedal, and its cheap as anything, so go and buy one.

very complicated impossible to use at a gig. You must read the entire owners book and re- read it many times to fully understand how to use this gizmo

Im sorry folks, This piece sounds like crap. There were little to no sounds that it produced that were pleasing. I am not a HOME Metal head wanna be but, that is who this pedal is for.

the one I bought would switch to different modes all by itself. That was when I decided it was not usable professionally.
I cannot have stuff crapping out on stage.

the info you need is downloadaBLE FROM THEIR WEBSITE

I am a blues / rock n roll player. I have several amps with no effects so, I thought this gizmo would offer lots of nice settings for me to mix tremolo, reverb, echo and maybe even some distortion although I think I can get the sounds I want from My various amps without a pedal. I do like the tuner part of the pedal but, that was it. I had to send it back.

This is an update to an older review I did here...

the 505-II is very easy to use and program. The only gothca is that you have to round robin through patches as opposed to being able to select a bank of patches at a time (unless you want to bend down and press a button with your finger). You learn quickly to put most used patches adjacent to one another and to arrange banks more carefully.

Editing is a breeze but because of that you have certain limitations. For example, some of the amp models have automatic, unprogrammable parameters associated with them. For example, getting a non-tubby clean on the 505-II is not easy unless you are willing to give up on good bass response.

On successors like the GFX-5, Zoom has add'l parameters like LOW F and LOW G to get rid of the tubbiness without overly impacting bass response.

Still, it was the original 505 that got me hooked on Zoom's interface and since then I've had the GFX-1, GFX-4, GFX-5, GFX-8, GFX-707, 505-II, and 504-II.

The closest living relative to the 505-II was the GFX-1 until the new G2 came out recently.

Overall, very good. I used mine live for several years in bar gigs. Worked great with a variety of guitars and amps plugged straight into the front end of an amp. Gave me a variety of tone needed for the music we played. If it wasn't for tubby cleans, I'd give it a "10".

It was very reliable during live use - never a problem. Afterwards, it developed a problem of going into bypass. I traced it to a problem with the foot pedals, took it apart, sprayed contact cleaner fluid everywhere and it works fine now. Even so, I'm also using the GFX-1 and GFX-5 more now since I moved up after having the problem and before trying to fix it.

I've gotten good support form Samosontech. It hasn't always been correct, but they've been helpful.

Easy to use, very small footprint, decent sounds after tweaking to fit your guitar/amp/music style, cheap... I've had several of these and they are an excellent value.

PRETTY EASY TO USE AND GETA DECENT SOUND FROM
EASIEST THING TO EDIT IEVER WORKED WITH,have you ever had a digitech rp1!
manual is well laid out easy to understand

I have used this pedal for a while now and have used it with a few amps,marshall 250 dfx g50 vs100 and it performed well I played a epi les paul and it sounded good.I used this for gigs every week and it never let me down in 4 years,once the singer jumped all over it once and bust the ac power lead but the pedal kept going which is pretty good considering its made from plastic.I replaced my amp again with a dsl 2000 and this thing does not work with it at all,but you get what you pay for.If the boss me 50 doesnt measure up I would probably have another one and work a bit more with it,for the money there is no comparison.

used for years with out backup and never let me down,that said the bass player bought one(the bass version)and bust the footswitch in about two weeks but he is a bass player,nuff said!

never dealt with them

cover band doing standards need a good spread of sounds
25 years gibson sg marshall 100 watt dsl 1960 cab
overall I would have to give this pedal a 9 like I said for the money you cant go wrong

I've used this product for around a year now and just now learned how to tweek everything just right. when you first get the pedal you will be extremly confused, but as time progresses it will be exalent and one of your favorites.

The sound quality depends on the way you choose your distortion, but to so many features, it can get to high or to low if you are not careful.

one thing that this pedal has is durablity. I personly play metal and beat the living crap out of my equipment, but my zoom has held up very very well.

This pedal is nice if you are into digital effects and alittle distortion... a definate buy if you have the money