Zoom 505

Pretty simple pedal to use, it does its job definately for beginners getting into multi-effects.
The editing of patches is a simple routine of really choosing a distortion, bit of EQ, and maybe a touch of reverb, and you're off. Then you've got all the other stuff like the phase, chorus to place if you wish.
As for manual, well, you've got a good 6 or 7 of em, all in different languages, so you'll be looking about a pile for the english version, but reading through that, it gives you all the rough guide lines etc. and some points of where a certain effect takes a change (for example, flange, then chorus+flange).

My set-up is normally an Epiphone Les Paul Standard, into a Boss CE-2, Tr-2 then this pedal.
The sound quality is good enough for what it is. The positives would be the distortions, which being the strong-points during the advertising for this, theres something for everyone here. The chorus just about gets away with, EQ should be ok with most ppl, and the hall reverb is ok(ish) too. the rest really could have been better, theres simply not enough control or options for such stuff on this pedal. Worse part being theres no tremolo on board neither (nnnooo!!!!) The delay is too short for time, those that like to experiment with it, it'll only be good for lead patches (if its what you desire), Wah is abit crap (wouldn't expect a good one from a multi-effects, nothing beats the real thing!), erm, and the rest are average.
even though theres these limitations, a good factor would be that you can create the majority you like, especially if you plan to make a Van Halen patch or something. Also being these are very popular, you can find sites with patches as well, so in the creating and experiment side, you should be ok. this is where it gets a few extra marks in here because of this (i was gonna give this 6)

hhmm, its still working (bought it pretty much when it came out) i've had it i think 2-3 years now. Although its now getting to retirement age (now buying compact pedals) its last and been through a good few things. The expression pedal too is doing ok (which came with my pedal, as part of a deal), though what lets it down is the fact it is just a plastic cover, and those of us who jump on our pedals like ants, you'd kill this after a good few kicks. Which isn't what i do.

Well like i said, still works, ands thats itself, the epression and the adaptor. so i ain't had to deal with this as of yet (probably never once i get the compacts i want)

For it being a cheap multieffects, it does do its job. This pedal sold because of this factor.
I've played for 9+ years now (at the grand age of 17) and its pretty much been used for all my gigs (then again, i don't really have an option :) ) and it serves well enough. Best bet is to actually to think of it like a bunch of compacts, and pick certain types u like, then save patches of each at different parameters.
But yeh, its good enough for those interested in buying though, it'll be good for those unsure of compact pedals you want, this should give u a rough idea of the good effects (though bare in mind that Wah rules, it just sucks on this pedal).

THis Pedal is overall quite easy to use and customise after reading the manual. But if you are a beginer, which i would say this pedal is desighned for, it might take a while to become aquainted with some of the features and controls.

The sound quality in this thing is not great, The distortion is very tinny and the delay is limiting in that you only have a certain choice of times.On Accation you can somtimes end up with a sound like some of your favorite artists but most of the time a bad sound is inevitable .I think this pedal would be a lot better if the setting were controlled by a nob and not having a choice of numbers e.g A1,A2,C1,C2,D1,D2.

Through out the time i have owned this pedal it has been pretty good but it is unfotunatly made of plastic so i would definatly not do a gig without a back up in case an amp of something was dropped on it smashing it to pieces.

I Play many kinds of music from Vai and satriani to eric clapton and bb king so i would a pedal with a wide range of sounds ,i cant say this is the one but its not bad.I have been playing for 5 years and I now have just stuck to a carvin legacy guitar amp and a couple of foot pedals i.e wah-wah ,pitch shifter.If it were stolen or lost i would not replace it.I rather the sound of the digitech RP models to the zoom because the have a bigger array of sounds and settings.

This pedal is fairly simple. Programming takes a few minutes to get use to but overall an easy pedal.

When I first bought this pedal I was only playing for a year or two so I thought it was the shit. Now that I can actually play and have had experience with other pedals, its just shit. The pre programmed effects are shite. Everything has a "tinny" sound to it, the distortion is shit and so are the acoustic sounds. (i've never heard an acoustic guitar sound like that)

This thing broke down after about 3 months. The AC input jack is screwed so I have to tape it down a certain way to get it to stay on. Eats batteries like they're sweet pussy. Id never gig with it. I wouldn't piss on it.

never dealt with them.

Overall this pedal was cool when I was playing grunge and i wanted to add some "sounds" into my songs. It's been quite a few years and Im not into that style anymore. (I can actually play now) I basically have no use for this goddam thing other than to tune my guitar when I have an ear infection and cant hear right. As I said before, I wouldnt piss on this pedal. It's junk

It's very straight forward, no deep editting, all the effects hace certain presets except for the dist which has a gain control.... but for example the eq 's got 50 presets instead of bass-mid-treble....

It's been a while since I've used it. I think it's a subject of discussion. Nowadays there's a new small effects pedal with good quality on the market every month or so.... But I think the 505 is the trendsetter, and was very good quality for the price back then and still is.
I used a fake les paul with a fender 100 watt combo and it rocked... I used it for nirvana and metallica kind of stuff

It seems very fragile, used it only twice at gigs and it never failed.

No oppinion

Back then I played 'grunge' and some metallica and guns n roses... I traded it for something new when I had the chance. I wish I'd just bought somethin new and kept this 505 as a back up, real easy travelling u know, and to you think the non-guitarist audience is really gonna care what u use????? btw I saw a professional band use one in their riggs...

reprogramming is very simple, as long as the user isn't.
the short delay till the effect "kicks" in, is tricky to get perfect.

for the price you cannot beat it.

never had a problem, I dropped it just before the show, it still worked

I play in a band that sound like a gothic Jewel, and for all the effects my two guitarist need, it works great, they both use one.

Very easy to use, editing is quick and easy.

I am playing my Jackson ps-2, with a Dimarzio Norton Humbucker on the bridge, and a Yamaha amplifier and I get a pretty nice metal tone, not noisey at all,ok let's get into the effects: distorsions are ok but "Metal" "Blues" and "fuzz" sttings suck so bad I never use them.
Metal distorsion is shit, anyone trying to get a decent metal tone try the "Distortion" type it's so much better for metal, better crunch, nice depth, and it's bassy but not as bassy as Metal mode which is way too much for anything to sound clear.This is how I rock:
COMP:3
DIST:distortion
GAIN:30
ZNR:9
EQ:16
REVERB:3(room reverb)
LEVEL:19
This is to me a much better metal tone than what you get with a metal zone which has more gain but sounds fake. Since I have the 505 I sold my metal zone.
I think this sound ok for metal especially if played with a humbucker equipped guitar. The Lead distortion is pretty good too, nice for solos with a little delay, rythm dist is ok too very good for rock or blues, I never use overdrive or fuzz even if they are not bad in my opinion, I just find I already get a cool tone with distorsion.
I really think that the 505 have pretty good distorsions but I also think the 505 have very shitty effects, wah is awful,phase is shit,pitch shifter is a bad joke, step is useless, chorus and flanger are ONLY ok, the EQ is probably ok but is the hardest to use since the 505 doesn't show what frequency you are cutting or boosting, delay is ok but don't even think about comparing this to a serious delay effect stompbox like a boss digital delay.
pretty cheap effects and nice distortions period.

Yes you can depend on it but you better get an AC adaptator because this thing eats batteries like there's no tomorrow.

This is a good effects processor to start to mess around with.
allright some of the effects are so bad you can't use them so for a more serious sound you must get a more expensive piece of gear.

I find it very useful. With a little patence I find it quite easy to find the sound I want. The buttons small, but its not really somthing that I would get bent out o shape over. I never got the manual. The guy that I bought htis off of lost it. I find that usually people that were spoiled and always had fancy equuipment find this too hard to use. But it really isn't if you have at least three brain cells

I use it with an Epiphone Les Paul and it sounds fine. I liked it so much actually that I got two!

I can depend on it. My only ackup is my other Zomm 505

Obviously, reprogramming it is a pain...

I use this pedal with a Peavey Reactor, Predator, and Horizon.
I also use it with a Daneltro Hodad...some keyboard stuff, too.
I think it's a pretty cool little pedal. It doesn't suck a lot of a guitar's tone when it's off, and you can come up with a handful of decent programs. How many hundred sounds do you need at a gig, anyway? I didn't think it's as noisy as most folks, I guess. I play it usually thru a Peavey Transtube Bandit, and I think it sounds pretty good, especially LOUD. It sounds sort of "cyber" due to its digital nature, I suppose, but it's a great tool for twisting ANY sound. I think it's GREAT for recording. Remember how everybody thought the ROCKMAN was so awesome? It would be cool to see what the Beatles could have done with a 505!

It's plastic, but seems pretty tough. Probably not much of a problem as long as long as you didn't stomp REAL hard...

Had a hard time downloading the manual as a PDF

When I bought this pedal in a pawn shop, it didn't even look like it would work. Submerged, but not operational! Took it home, put in the battery, had a friend of mine (thanks, G) reinitialize it, and off I went. If you can find one cheap, SNAG IT!

Cakewalk for the basic features. The other things like Direct Load, tuner calibration, and patch editing are made easier with the manual.

The distortion sounds leave a little to be desired. There are a couple that aren't THAT bad, but none compare to the quality of a stompbox. I have been able to coax some pretty good clean tones out of it, though - but they usually end up being a little bright or a little too loud. Yes, those parameters are adjustable, but not for spur-of-the-moment live changes.

I've never had a problem with it. It'd help to have an auto-save feature when you finish editing a patch so you don't space it and forget to save your changes. I think I've had it a little over a year now. I honestly cannot remember when I bought it, but it's a tough little bugger for a plastic toy.

Also, I bought the Limited Edition model that was offered by Musician's Friend a while back... I must say that if you are going to buy a 505 (first run), buy this edition. It's got the transparent blue shell (which looks a little better), plus it uses "AA" batteries. I put new batteries in mine three weeks ago, and they've been going strong for about 8 hours total on time.

The adapter is a nice addition, though.

Never dealt with them.

Overall, it's a nice toy. And, it's a nice INEXPENSIVE toy. I don't think I'd ever play a real gig with it and definitely would never record with the thing, but it's cool to jam with and I love it as a headphone amp.

One thing that I never liked about it is the tuner never seemed to get it right. It gets close, but I'm one of those perfectionist weirdoes when it comes to my tuning and I can't be 100% happy with the tuner. And I'm convinced that it sucks volume out of the signal on bypass mode... Some of the effects can get loud as hell, but otherwise it's too quiet to be consistant.

It's a good learning tool and a good toy... No serious musician should ever buy one of these with the intent of having anything more than just that.

It's not too hard to use, but the buttons are annoyingly small, a dial would have been much better.

I'm just a home user, and I find the sound quality fine. Does sound a bit "digital" sometimes though - especially using some of the distortion effects.

Well, I've had it for about 3 years now, and the little buttons always get stuck, so editing patches now is VERY difficult.

N/A

Well, it was good for its time, but I think now, for only a little more you can get a lot better. If it were stolen, I'd be surprised, and buy maybe a digitech rp100 or rp200. My brother's got the zoom 707, and I think that's quite a big improvement on the 505 - the internals are very similar, but the casing is MUCH better, and it's got an expression pedal. (and no stupid little buttons!)

Ease of use...It's not too difficult to use, the owners manual gives a bunch of patches, and there's a bunch already programmed into the unit. It does take some getting used to, but it's not all that hard.

Sound quality: Well, I hear some people who really like the sound quality, and some people who really hate the sound quality. I actually found a patch that I'm very happy with. But, I must admit, I really only use it for that particular patch. Some of the sounds are OK, but it's your typical multi-effects pedal. It's not an expensive rackmount unit...So, keep that in mind. "You get what you pay for".

However, it's nice to just take to a jam session, instead of carrying a huge pedalboard around. But, it's still a cheap multi-effects pedal.
Can be a bit noisy as well. Has alot of "humm", which I was able to knock down a little bit with some very high quality instrument cables, however, it's still there in the background, and can be pretty annoying, for sure.

Reliable? Uh...I'm not sure. If you're going to use it at home...FINE! But, taking it to a gig...NO WAY! It's plastic, can't really "stomp" on it, and it's just not made for that kind of abuse.

Never dealt with them, but I have heard that they are a real pain to get ahold of.

Overall, it's a real convenient pedal to have, because it's a "multi-effect" pedal. Some of the patches are cool, some of the sounds are cool. You CAN get some decent patches out of it, IF you take some time to fiddle with all the buttons. Or better yet, check the internet for "ZOOM Patches"...Which is how I found some good ones.

If it were stolen or lost, I'd be pissed, only because I found ONE GREAT PATCH that I use constantly. Even during band rehearsal. I have even recorded with it, and the sound quality was excellent. However, they're cheap enough, and if it were stolen or lost, I'd probably buy another ZOOM 505.

I have compared it to other similar priced units from such companies like Digitech, DOD, KORG...etc, and basically they're all the same. Same cheap plastic, same cheap sounding patches, same background humm....etc But, these multi-effects pedals DO have their place. They are terrific for "home use", great for jamming with friends...etc, and a good bang for your buck.

Even though I've been playing guitar for 20+ years, I DO have a bunch of very high quality pedals, rackmount units, and amps. But, when I'm home, I DO use my ZOOM 505, because it's very convenient to use. Just "one" pedal, instead of 8 different ones. I simply bought this pedal because it sounded a bit better than the other ones I looked at, it's nice to have one in the house, and it's very lightweight. I don't think it even weighs one pound.

I play heavy metal alot, and the particular patches I use really work for such bands as Priest, Stratovarious, In Flames, Iron Maiden, Ozzy, and other bands like them. When I'm NOT playing metal, I really love to jam to Blues, or 70's rock. For those styles, I'll simply use my old LANEY 1/2 stack. You STILL CAN'T beat an old British tube head for that awesome British rock/metal sound. :) You'll NEVER get that sound out of ANY multi-effects pedal. So, I'm going to rate this pedal at a "5", to "7". Simply because, it's got it's good points & bad points. You really have to hear it yourself and see if it's "right" for your needs.

It's really easy to use, but if you want a good sound out of it you need to be the fucking Wizard of Oz...

I can't remember which setup i used, but I know It'll sound just as bad with ANY setup. The distort sucks. It hums and hisses gives a lot of feedback noises, especially with the reverb, which is its best feature. The reverb is almost ok...Everything else pretty much sucks.

It's very reliable. I haven't had any problems with it...

It has a tuner, that works pretty well. That's why I gave it a 5 instead of 4.

It was pretty simple to use, if a bit awkward for my big fingers on the tiny buttons. The readout was an impressive (hah!) two character digital letter/number deal, which can be hard to read on the fly. Kind of a bummer that all you can do is go up or down, instead of selecting the patch you want, but hey, it was cheap. The biggest bummer, though, is the hoops you have to jump thru to edit your effects. Those dinky little indicator lights were just about too much for me.

The sound wasn't really that impressive. I'm not a real big fan of the digital-sounding overdrives, fuzz, ZOOM effect, etc, etc, but I did like the reverb.

The entire unit is plastic, which seems like it could be easily broken. I tend not to trust those space-age polymers, being fat and all. However, it's not busted yet, so I'll give it a 6.

Never dealt with Zoom.

As far as bang-for-your-buck, it's a good deal. Don't expect to be wowed after the new pedal smell wears off, though. In comparison to the Digitech RP 100, I'd opt for the Digitech, if for nothing else than the metal chassis. Don't expect much of anything resembling an analog sound out of either, though.

Very easy once you read the manual.

I use the 505 with all of my guitars (Cort Solo QM, Peavey Falcon, '78 Gibson SG and a Fender Strat) and Marshall amps (VS15R for practice, VS100 for gigs). I don't like the sound of the wah, but I never use it anyway (got a nice Boss FW-3 foot wah). It takes quite a while to get a nice distortion sound, but you can get a nice dtr from it.
I normally play hard/progressive rock (Rush, Dream Theater) and this little unit never let me down.

Been using it for 4 years, did several gigs with no backup and it never died on me.

Never had to deal with ZOOM customer support.

The 505 is a nice, cheap and reliable effects unit that sounds awesome compared to others in its category. I've played several gigs with it, from small clubs to open-air with a huge PA.
It has never let me down.

Super easy to use unless you get accidentally stuck in "direct-load" mode while you're at a gig without your manual. The manual is easy to follow. (Actually not a manual, just a piece of paper. But hey-it works.)Went to a gig a few weeks ago and plugged it into the external power adaptor. I must have had my finger on one of the buttons, because I got stuck in "Direct-Load" mode. Normally you just step through the programs and it loads them immediately as you step through them, which I'm used to. I this mode though, it doesn't step through all of the presets, instead requiring you to choose your preset first then step on both pedals simultaneously to activate it. Since I didn't have the manual on me at the time, I had to just press & hold buttons at random 'til it cycled out of it. (I wound up holding the "Store" button for 2 seconds to get out of it. It would've been nice if they would have labeled the button as "Store/Load Mode" or something like that but ah well... Live & learn I guess.) Other that that little snafu, no problems at all.

I have a total of 5 guitars. My electrics are a 1997 Fender American Strat with stock pickups, a 1992 Gibson Les Paul Studio, & a 1976 Gibson Marauder. My acoustics are an Alvarez-Yairi and a Fender Avalon, restrung with nylon strings. I run it through either a small Yamaha 40-watt amp, directly into a Carvin PA board or a Crate G-120 C 120-watt stereo chorus amp. I've seen a few complaints that this unit sounds bad when run in conjunction with the distortion channel on the amplifier. That's because multi-effects units are not really designed to perform well when placed before the distortion preamp stage of a guitar amp. They're more suited to processing the sound before feeding it to a clean and reasonably neutral input. I have been playing blues, rock, fusion, and (to a lesser extent) country styles semi-professionally for about 20 years using many different guitars and amp configurations. I have no problem gigging with this unit. I use it for distortions, chorus, eq, reverbs, and delays with no complaints. When i practice it makes my Yamaha 40-watt amp sound MUCH better than it actually is, and when I gig I run it straight with a minimum of EQ thru the big Crate amp. The thing I like about it is that I basically get the same sounds through pretty much any amp or PA. And the sounds are quite good overall. (True, some of the factory presets are way too bizarre and useless but that's why you reprogram it.)I also really haven't had a noise problem with it either, but I use good shielded cables with it. I get great vintage Clapton, Page & Hendrix distorions out of it (I also use an outboard "Bad Horsie" Morley wah with it for the Hendix-esque stuff.) and it has a very nice reverb & chorus section as well. I can't really evaluate the wah though, since I don't have an expression pedal for it which is really required to use the wah properly. I checked out several processors when I bought this one, and at the time it was the best bang for the buck.

I bought it when it first came out 4-5 years ago and I gig with it every weekend with no backup. No problems at all, but I don't jump up and down on it either.

Never needed it.

If you play blues, classic rock, & country, and you don't want to spend a fortune for a processor you'll probably like this little dude. Good basic performance, great reliability, and dirt-cheap. Wish it had a built in expression pedal, but at this price who can complain? In a pinch, I've even used it as a vocal compressor on a couple of recordings! I think you can get it now for about 69 bucks. Yeah, it's not as good as a Boss GT-6, (which is 400 bucks) but for the price of a basic distortion, chorus, flanger, delay, EQ, or compressor pedal, you could have this one that you can easily pack in a gig bag with a minimum of fuss. And it does a pretty good job at all of the above effects to boot. Recently I entertained the idea of upgrading processors. After going to my local music store & checking out a cheap Korg TomeWorks AX1G, and Digitech RP-100, 200, and 300, they all sounded kinda thin compared to my cheapie Zoom. So, I'll stick with it for now. My opinion though is only my opinion. One man's junk is another's treasure. My advice would be to go to your local music store and plug your favorite axe to their effects units & check 'em out for yourself. That's really the only way you can determine which is right for you. But I like my Zoom nonetheless.

Not bad, not MXR Phase 90 type easy, but not too hard to program even without a manual.

I was planning to use the 505 for a few effects along with my overdrives into my Mesa DC-3, but it just lacks in so many ways that I have to send it back. It's nowhere near programable enough to use on stage. Too many parameters are "optimized" (read unadjustable) to tailor anything to my setup. I also don't think this thing is anywhere near true bypass, but maybe I'm asking too much for a cheap multifx. Still is it too much to ask for a speed control on the moduation and phase effects, or an adjustable delay time and level?

I won't hold onto this puppy long enough to find out.

Based on this thing I may never have to deal with Zoom in my life, but this isn't meant as a good thing.

I got the distinct impression that this box was trying to be all things to all players, and was so woefully short on processing power that it didn't deliver.

Just a bit of FREE advice for you Kids. If you have a hard time getting this pedal to sound chunky, or Real, or find the Distortion to be Too Metalic sounding, TRY RUNNING IT THRU A BASS AMP. This will reduce that tinny sound, and ADD CHUNK AND BIG FAT BALLS to your sound. TRY It And SEE.

Sounds like a PIECE OF SHIT thru my Guitar Amp. But thru a Bass Amp It KICKS ASS!!!!

GREAT, if you have a power supply. Eats batteries in 30 minutes flat. MINUS 2 Points.

Like I said, Keep it away from small speakers, and trebley
guitar amps. This toy really shines thru a bass amp or bass head. TRY IT.

This thing is pretty cool. Getting the effect or sound you want is not hard with the 505 as long as you mess around with it for a while and at least read the manual. Its easy to edit each and every patch.

Ok.. I have a ghetto setup but it doesn't sound bad at all. I use a Peavey Renown amplifier to run through and I run all the sound out of a 4X12 Sonic cabinet. There is a lot of woofing and low feedback it you run the volume up high. I can't get the exact sound I want but I love a lot of the effects I use. It has a pretty cool metal distortion and a nice clean sound if you put it on blues and add a value of 5 to the gain. I can't sound the way I want, but it works for my live performances.

Has not broken yet. Thats all I use right now. Just get an adapter because 9V batteries only last about 3 hours with the pedal.

Never talked to them.

I play modern metal/rock. Its very mellow, emotional, aggressive, and soft/heavy. EX: Staind, Tool, Taproot, Mudvayne, Deftones, and much more. I've been playin for 5 years or more. Christmas is comin so I am recieving a Mesa Boogie Single Rectifier which I have tried out and fallen in love with. I never lost my 505 so i don't know what i'd do. The pedal is a good device for a beginner using effects and can produce so pretty badass sounds. Good on perfomances. It does have a little bit of an artificial sound but it is a very good thing if its all you can afford to get many effects you want.

Increadibly easy to use. You have no idea! The manual is simple and to-the-point which means you can easily figure this entire pedal out quickly. No problems here.

Here are the only problems I have with this unit. I must admit, it doesn't lie. What you pay for, you get. The sounds are certainly fun to play with, and one could gig with them, but they are not studio quality. This pedal is absolutely great for a learning tool, and a lot of fun to play around with.

You can definetely depend on this unit. It is solid.

Never dealt with customer support, but no need!

I must admit, before I sold it, I liked this pedal. It was useful, and solid. I am saving for a Digitech GNX3 which will be far superior, but this was a great pedal to own. I play rock, jazz, all sorts of stuff!

I couldn't get a good sound out of this box. Even the reverb sounds tinny and artificial. Editing patches is basically easy, but you really have no idea what the values are (ie- ms, decay, amp model, etc). The manual is close to useless...hard to read due to poor layout, and little info anf effect parameters.

I am using a 62 reissue strat thru a 72 deluxe reverb. This box kicks out huge amounts of white noise...Ugh
I'll shrten this up-everything sucks about this box.

It's a plastic box that sounds like crap. I would never gig with it. I play everything from blues rock to metal-this thing is useless even as a tuner.

Never dealt with them.

20+ years playing- get a ProCO rat for distortion and boost (40-50 used). Don't waste your money here.

I had been looking for a pedal a while before I bought it. Sure, I could go online and blow 200 bucks for a pedal, but that would be stupid. Anyway, I found it in a pawn shop for 30 bucks and brought it home. As I got home, i hooked it up and later discovered that it can create, imitate, and kill any other sound out there. So, if you're looking for a thing to play with and expiriment with, you need a while to get the hang of it, but it's worth it.

A lot of background noise when you flange and turn the gain up, but put it on pitchshifter to almost eliminate that. Use a practice amp to start off with, then move on up the line to monster amps. The auto-wah is weak, so i recommend getting a cheap wah pedal to go along with this.

Pick it up, drop it, have a fat man walk on it, you can't break it. It has a plastic body, but it reacts as if it were steel. Don't rely on 9v to power this, get an adaptor. It eats batteries.

d o n t n e e d s u p p o r t f o r t h i s...

I play gothic, SLAYtanic, death, grunge.......all the stuff your momma don't want you to listen to. this box is perfect for that, it really gets the job done. Of all the things it has, i like the little blue bag it came in most of all.

WHEN I FIRST BOUGHT IT,I THOUGHT I MADE A BIG MISTAKE.BUT VHEN I PLUG IT IN,I WAS AMAISING.IT IS VERY USEFUL AND EASY TO CREATE YOUR OVN EFECTS.

I AM PLAYING A GIBSON LES PAUL STANDARD,AND WITH MY MARSHALL ARTIST 30,ZOOM 505 SOUNDS GREAT.I CAN IMITATE THE SOUND OF MANY GREAT GUITARISTS,LIKE SLASH(SWEET CHILD O MINE...),GARY MOORE...IT IS WITHOUT ANY NOISE,AND I DID ALSO SOME STUDIO RECORDINGS WITH IT.GREAT FOR WHAT IT COSTS

WITH 505 I ALSO USE A JIM DUNLOP CRY BABYAND A SIMPLE PROEL WOLUME PEDAL.IT IS ENOUGHT

SO FAR NO PROBLEMS

I PLAY ROCK FOR ALMOST 10 YEARS,AND DESPITE THE PRICE IT IS GREAT.

very easy it's common sense but u get more info if u go to the manual it's easy

i use a samick guitar with 10watt amp i find it hard to get a tone i want but still i'm happy with it it's not that noisy

great very happy with it shouldn't break

never had to that not saying anything good or bad

green day nirvana etc happy with sound something's up with the tuner it register's as g flat for no reason when i use it but this is rare

You pretty much need the manual to help you program your own stuff. Also takes a lot of programming to switch on and off individual effects (you have to prgram, for instance, patch A1 as distortion w/o flange and A2 as dist+flange to be able to switch effects on and off), but the large number of useless banks make this a time consuming but not difficult task. It would also be nice to be able to adjust depth and rate of the effects.

I've used this with a variety of amps and effects, never got a truly decent sound out of it, always annoyed by the white noise it produces. What it lacks in quality it makes up for in quantity--lots of different types of effects and sounds, but none of them sound great. You'll end up fighting this pedal for days if you want to dial in THE perfect sound. But the accoustic simulator makes my cheezy rogue mandolin sound more natural, which is all I use this pedal for now.

This pedal has broken on me before. The spring came out of the footswitch and I spent the better part of our setup taking the pedal apart and reassembling it. Very tedious and risky, cause I had to snap the plastic footswitches on and off and they could have broken. I would rather use this pedal AS my backup than as a principal effects unit.

This is a decent pedal for beginners or as a second or backup unit. I sold mine not too long ago, but would consider buying a new one, or a 505 II, if a good deal came along. I would keep it with my practice amp, and toss it in my gig amp as a backup pedal in the bizarre event that my boss, vox, visual sound, and other quality pedals suddenly died. If you want everything in one box, a decent practice unit, or an all-purpose backup, get this. Otherwise, spend your money on a good distortion and wah, and forget the other effects for now.

This damn toy is tremendously easy to use.Read the manual while goin' to bed,wake up in the mornin' and start playing.Editing is child stuff.( I'm from India & this is my 1st pedal.)the most notable disadvantage is the edit,store,+,- buttons are toooo fuckin' small.Press 'em hard & u break em fer good.

BALLS!!!!! gives me a headache!!!! distortion is L-O-U-S-Y!!!! i been workin for days & months & I can't get a single distortion sound that makes my solos distinct( i play very long solos). i feel like combining a pinch of delay with reverb but NO!!! u can't use both of them together.I play a lot of Floyd,Scorpions,Zeppelin & originals, & so far i've only got the clean sounds right. Dist. SUCKS!!!

cheap-hunka-plastic. and did u know----the sounds i get by workin for hours on my amp sounds SHIT when I plug in at gigs? U get a totally stupid sound*(artificial as well) on live shows.

U know what they say---Catch us if u can!!!

DO NOT BUY THIS PRODUCT!!!!!!!!!!go for a KORG AX1000G--it rocks.I'm not gonna buy anything in the future that has the name "ZOOM" on it. Not even cameras.

***** one good sound i got is--
L7
Ld
27
6
50
of
d8
27. this is a solo setting.

i just started playing again about 6 mos. ago, after a 6 or 7 year absence. i was very surprised at the ease of use of this unit. To me, it is easier than the days i had of making sure i hit the right pedal in a string of 5 or 6. and they have made the patch editing process very straight forward.

i am playing through an old "stage" explorer copy w/ a humbucker, and 2 single coils through a zoom fp01 (used for us $20) as a volume only, and a used yamaha fifty 112. once again, i am very pleased with the sound i get from this unit, mostly because of the lack of noise. the stock patches are neat, but i do recommend playing around with it to get the sound you need. i have to subtract 1 point for the stock pathces.

i have only had this pedal for a week, and the guy i bought it from had it ?. however, it has taken my stomping dr martens so far, so i feel it will be quite reliable. if not, i will strip it and enlose it in a sturdier box, and give it sturdier pedals.

i have yet to deal with zoom, so i give them benefit of the doubt.

i have played all kinds of music: from originals in my former band, to everything from punk (real punk. not this blink 182 sugar stuff), to hardcore, to metallica, to 60's and 70's era rock, with a little 80's rock thrown in for good measure. from the sounds i have been able to get out of this pedal in a week, i have no doubt it is one of the best musical values i have ever come across (other than the $130 i paid for my yamaha). you need this pedal!

Easy to use...I got this a few months after learning to play. Very simple, good instructions.

When I bought this, I was using a 15-watt Crate practice amp. Frankly, it made it sound much better with this amp. Once I moved to a better amp, though, it became worthless. The background noise is unbearable, and the effects themselves sound corny and artificial.

I used it for about two years, and never had a problem with it.

A fun toy for a beginner, worthless for an experienced player.

I got this thing for free without an instruction manual, and had it figured out within the hour. The only problem is finding out how to bypass without a manual.

When I got this I was a beginner, so i pulled it through a fender squier strat and a low watt peavey amp. It was very noisy on distortion settings and phase settings. You could hear feedback and noise even at low volume levels. The distortion sounds like shit, like crackling paper or something. But, if youre a beginner and youre looking to start playing with effects this would be a decent bet.

I dont know about depending on this thing, but it has never broken down. I wouldnt gig with it because of the low to mediocre quality of the effects and the feedback and noise.

N/A

I play blues and melodic rock and jazz, and this doesnt work that well with it. Its mostly good for like when im at my sisters place and i just have a small amp and my strat i can bring this over rather than haul a dozen pedals. Ive been playing for quite a while, i like a tube screamer, fuzz face, dunlop crybaby, big muff, and a whole bunch of other shit and the only thing this baby can hold a candle to is a piece of shit danelectro distortion pedal i have. As I said, its fun if youre a beginner or just looking to lighten your load for a trip or something, but dont expect anything but mediocrity all the way.

This is your best value, all round guitar effects unit! It can coaxe so many sounds and it doesnt cost a fortune! You can have chorus effects, Thin Lizzy-style Harmony sounds and a whole lot more. Although not the best wah wah effect in the world.

Great sounding! As I say, very versatile unit with plenty of sounds and textures. The wah effects is, quite honestly, one of the worst i've heard, but it's worth subsidising that one thing to have access to so much else! Overall a very useable and versatile effects unit.

NO I COULDN'T DEPEND ON IT LIVE! I wrote a piece of music called 'Majestic' using this pedal and the music I wrote sounded fantastic. THE DAMN THING CUT OUT ON STAGE! The music I wrote was so great that I thought I could get away with it, but I had the HARMONY effect on and it just kept resetting itself! It was a shame and I havent played through it since!

Havent dealth with 'em, but I probably should! lol

I play blues and rock music and the sounds out of the ZOOM are still pretty high class despite my little incident! It's not too noisy as well which I think is important. It's good stuff anyway.

It's very easy to use, I've never neded to read the manual

My first amp was a little frahm shit, my guitar sound very better with the zoom, but since when I bought a Marshall VS80 I've never used it again, only for tuning my guitar.
If you don't have a good amp it can be a great help, but if you have a great stack it's better to get analogic pedals...

I think that the little edit controls are very fragile, sometimes the buttons get stucked and it keeps saving the effects infinitely

It is a good choice if you din't have a realy good amp, but now it doesn't worth to buy cause now they have the GFX series that are much better for a little bit more money

This pedal takes a little learning, but it's pretty easy after you figured it out. I recommend looking at the manual, because it tells you everything pretty quickly. The factory settings are kinda lame, but after fooling around a little, you can get some nice sounds. The distortion isn't really good for palm muting or anything like that, but I've found it to sound cool for soloing, combine with other effects.

My setup is a fender strat > Crybaby > 505 (w/FP01 exp. pedal) > Ibanez Smash Box > Boss PS-5 > Fender Princeton 65 Amp. This pedal goes good with my setup, because it can maek pretty cool sounds for a lot of different styles and techniques of playing, but I don't recommend it for a distortion with a punch. It just doesn't sound as good as the smash box, which i chose over the metal zone. The pedal can sound like many artists, i suppose, but not really that close. It can sound a little like satriani, but not exact, and it can sound like metallica, but not exact. This pedal is more for unique sounds, i guess. If the distortion were better on this pedal, I would have probably given it a higher score.

Can you depend on it? No. Mine's broken. I've had it for 2 years, and it still sounds the same. But the buttons stick, and my patch down button doesn't work unless you stand on it and wiggle your foot around. That's a pain when i want to bypass the pedal. I also had a problem with the power adapter that came with it, but i managed to replace the end and get it to work again. The expression pedal that i got with the pedal sucks. It doesn't work well either.

I've never dealt with the company, but maybe I should have... they might have helped me fix it. Oh well, too lazy.

I play all styles of music, just about, so this pedal is a good tool to get the variance. It's not as good as it could be, but since it can do so many differnt things, I really like this pedal. I've been playing for 7 years, and this has been a cool addition to my setup. It gives me the cool effects that I don't want to spend more money on, like flanging, even though it may not sound as good as a regular pedal, it's a cool addon to what i've already got. If it were stolen, I would be upset, but then I'd probably look into other multi-effects pedals, which are maybe built stronger, like the 505II or one of the boss ones.

When I got the pedal a year ago I immediately started
programming my own patches since I read here that the
factory patches are mostly crap. And they are. Through
any amp the effects were weak and unnatural sounding.
So, first thing I made a custom distortion that I still
find pretty good (I've played guitar for 1,5 years)
So here it is! The best distortion I've managed to
pull out of the pedal:

COMP: of
DIST: dt
GAIN: 30
ZNR/AMP: A9
EQ: 25
MOD: C1
DLY/REV: of
LEVEL: 28

Pretty neat when played to my SB16 Soundcard's Line-In.
Well, more of the sound quality later on.
I really hate the 0.25 sec delay when changing patches
and also it is impossible to take full advantage of the
24 patch slots since you can't change to a third effect
quickly enough, no problem with slower or less guitar-ey
songs, but when you need to switch quickly from distortion
to clean then to some effect and back to distortion it
starts to get tricky. Zoom really should add a remote switch
jack in addition to the expression pedal jack, so that
you at least could jump between banks without having to
go through all the effects between the desired effect and
your current effect.
Programming patches is really easy, but it cost the
programmability of the effects. It's really annoying that
you don't have much control over the effect parameters. It
would be nice to get the flanger to follow song tempo but
you can't get it that accurately, instead it's just 1-9
selection which really isn't to my liking of parameter
adjusting.
If you had more control over the effects I would have given
the pedal 9, but since it's so innaccurate I gave it 6 for
ease of use.

Most of the effects sound really plastic when played through
even a moderate amp. But if your amp is about 30w or less,
this pedal really livens it up. With my first amp, some cheap
ass chinese B2-Bomber 15w, I could get pretty good sounds
and when me and my band recorded one of our trainings to a
casette my $100 amp sounded more like a 50w Marshall!
But I recently tried the 505 through a 65w Peavey transtube
(the new version, with orange lines) and it sounded like shit.
Tinny, flat and plastic (in addition to the casing) would be
the most fit words. I would recommend this as a first pedal
to be used with your first amp until I are ready to buy your
first decent amp. The analog pedals are out of the question
with the cheapest amps since they need a little more powerful
amp to work properly. But the 505 is perfect for use with
cheap amps. I recently bought Boss GE7 Equalizer and boy
did it do wonders to my zoom! Try it yourself, boost bass and
treble a little (no more than +5 dB) and slightly middle (about
+2 or +3 dB) and then fine tune it to perfection.
The factory distortions are of no use (except for the blues dist)
try my favorite patch (above) and decide yourself.
The wah is fair, chorus is average and rest of the effects
are below average.
Some people have complained about the noise/ringing, but I
haven't had any such problems with my gear:
Yamaha EG-112U Guitar -> Zoom505 -> B2-Bomber 15w amp
you could try turning away from your amp so that your guitar's
mics are not facing your amp, or try setting ZNR/AMP to A5-A9.
One of the biggest problems with the 505 is the sustain,
which doesn't last for more than about 3-5 seconds on the high
strings and about 6-8 seconds with power chords on the low strings,
and I also have a suspicion that the effects are looped, try
it yourself: play a single high note and listen. Well, it sounds
like loop to me, it isn't natural at all.
On a cheap amp the 505 is pretty powerful but the better the amp
is the weaker 505 gets.
Don't even think about buying that $50 FP-01 Expression pedal, get
a Bespeco! Mine is VM-18L Volume pedal and it works fine and only
costs $16.
I give it a 8 if you play it with a cheap amp (9 with the Boss GE7 Equalizer),
but only 3 if you have a more powerful amp. So it averages a 6.

I really don't know how long the batteries would last since
I already had an AC adapter prior to buying the 505.
I would take it to a gig, but I would be constantly worrying
not to step on it. Plastic, man, Plastic *headshake*
The left switch has also recently started to get stuck
(not because of sand, I have cleaned it) and sometimes the
store button goes berserk and starts saving a patch endlessly.
I have accidentally dropped the pedal twice and also my guitar
strap snapped and my guitar fell on the 505, but everything is
still working out fine.

You know what they say: Catch us if you can!

As a first pedal I would give it a 8 or 9, but since it's
of no use after you buy a better amp I only give it 6.
If you just started playing guitar I definitely recommend it
but when your ears start improving (musically) buy an analog
pedal or use your amp's distortion (if it's good).
I tried an Ibanez Black Noise with a 65w Peavey transtube
(the new version) and it sounded really good. So try the
Black Noise in the store when you buy your second amp,
the 505 is useless with better amps.

As with all effect boxes, there is way too many stupid ass features that you have to sort through when using this. I'd never play live with it.

Honestly, out of all the cheesy effect that Zoom incorporated into this thing, maybe three effects were good; a distortion, acoustic simulator, and a compressor.

This piec of plastic shit broke within 1 month of using it for no apparent reason!!! DO NOT BUY THIS PRODUCT!!!! BY THE DIGITECH RP-100 instead, it's much more durable and of higher quality!!!

ZOOM DOES NOT CARE ABOUT THEIR CUSTOMERS, PERIOD. WHEN I EXPLAINED TO THEM HOW THE 505 BROKE ON ME VIA E-MAIL, I WAS IGNORED FOR THREE WEEKS UNTIL I PESTERED THEM AGAIN. AT THIS POINT I WAS GIVEN A RUDE RESPONSE TELLING ME I HAVE TO WAIT LONGER FOR 'PROCESSING'. ZOOM IS A LOW QUALITY, SHITTY COMPANY THAT SELLS HORRIBLE EQUIPTMENT. DO NOT BUY THIS THING!!!!!!!!

BOTTOM LINE: BUY A DIGITECH OR BY SEPERATE, DEDICATED PEDALS; ZOOM ROBBED ME OF A 100.00, AND I WAS DUMB ENOUGH TO BUY IT!!!!

just as easy as any other multi effects..as far as i know..

im using a Jackson JDR-94 GUITAR.. with the zoom505..somtimes a dod equalizer..threw a crate 2x12 amp...
dont underestimate this little monster...i found my ideal sounds in this thing that i couldnt get out of any other pedal or effects...
the distortion...umbaleivable man... i dont know one bad thing on it...and its runs like under 100$...i wish it had more heavy distortion choices...but im still glad with all the crap in this thing...really rocks

oh yeah definetly.

never had..probaly never will.....even tho this is made out of plastic or whatever...its all good..and never had a problem with it...

i play HEAVY SHIT...but when i play heavy i play no games..i play heavy... but when i play melow..i play no games ..i play melow..
this has it all..
if i lost or broke it...i would buy another one..but first try out the BOSS multi effects..there pretty damn explosive i heard... but also more money.....nothing can beat the z00m 505 and its price..
this thing could probaly get a lot better then i think...just cause theres so many patches u can use..its nuts..so hopfully someone would nail me in on some patches. and ill get back to u all again...
so long my good friends...
i like chud.

Very easy to use. Editing patches is easy. The great majority of the time you don't even need the manual.

All I can say is, how good or bad this pedal sounds will greatly depend on what gear you have, more specifically, what amp. I played it through a cheap little 25 watt amp and no matter what I did the sound was shit. I then played it through a Peavey Bandit and it rocked.

Also, you need to know how to set up a good sound for yourself. My friend owns a Boss Metalzone. One day we were jamming, and it was thoroughly clear that despite him using his Boss, and me using the distortion of the 505, my sound was waaay better. If you don't know how to tweak your settings on your amp and the pedal, it will not sound as good as it can.

You can get some good sounds out of this pedal, a lot of people just don't know HOW TO.

Currently my band covers a lot of Slayer and Sepultura type stuff, and it does the job very well.

The wah isn't that hot though, neither is the delay. Otherwise...

I've had it for a year and a half now or something. No problems whatsoever. I have used it on numerous occasions without hesitation for gigs.

Batteries don't last a great deal though. The only time I use batteries is when I'm sure they are brand new, and know I won't be using the pedal for more than an hour. The adaptor is a must.

Never had to deal with them.

I don't think you can beat it for the price it is. My only regret is that I could've bought the pedal second hand for $50 less.

It's a good pedal for the money. You can't really go wrong with it.

pretty easy

good sound, but alot of background static. maybe if you have a gate it will be ok

never failed me

never used

Get individualy FX that you want or a better FX pedal. you'll like it for a year....then you'll see the mistake

My roomate last year had one of these (he paid 150 big ones for it brand new). I never edited the patches 'cause I didn't know if he had preset them, also didnt have instructions, but it was easy to use. Then I finally got one off of e-bay (used but in great condition along with a FP01 Expression Pedal). It's lovely trying to download the instructions you need 13 X 16 inch paper to print it. Fortunately I got the instructions after getting the pedal its a big poster. The 505 is quite easy to use and the instructions are overall helpful. (Although they didn't provide very good tips/instructions for the FP01 pedal, getting it to do the wah/pitch stuff was tricky).

Ah you're going to laugh at me. I am an amateur guitar player. I have several guitars (a hohner, kramer) but I mostly use that popular standby Mark II (a strat clone, mass produced, POS). The amp I am using is a Fender Squier 15. The amp itself doesn't sound very good in my opinion, and when plugging the zoom in, didnt sound much better (especially using the distortion from the amp with some of the cleaner effects is a harsh combination).

So I have now been using the Zoom with a set of headphones instead of an amp (Koss Sonic Boom 30 Stereo Headphones, dont worry guys, I didn't pay for 'em, took 'em from my college! Fight the system!) and with the 'phones it sounds awesome! Barely no noise at all (I've got a 5 way selector-switch on my POS Mark II, on switch 2, 4 I believe they are called out-of-phase modes, there is even less noise).

The distortions are ok, not great, some are good, some suck, mt and dt are pretty good. I have a dod Supra Distortion pedal which blows goats and my amp distortion is not too bad, but I have yet been able to find the kind of distortion on the zoom that I've been looking for.

I also find some of the effects unapplicable to music. The step effect especially. Some of those pitch harmonies are stupid. I'd rather have a 3-step than a 4 step! Doesn't metal lead guitar use 3-step? Of course you can arrange that with a FP01 pedal but its cumbersome. Chorus is ok I have an ibanez stereo chorus pedal which is pretty good. One big issue I have is that I with the 505 had a longer delay effect, it goes up to 370ms. I wish it could go up to 1 or even 2 seconds. But hey, its a cheap pedal. Quality costs more.

It seems like it will be reliable if kept in good condition. I usually keep the pedal next to me at a desk or bed so I switch the pedals with my hands. Obviously since its plastic, It shouldn't survive a thorough stomping.

I did have a question that I later solved myself, they havent gotten back to me yet. I've only had mine for a few days and its in great condition.

I've been playing guitar for about 10 years but haven't really developed much until the last 2 years. I like to play metal/rock. If this pedal were stolen or lost, I'd be pissed off considering that I have very little money. If I had more money I'd go and buy a better pedal. But for the price you can't beat it, especially if you are permanently strapped for cash.

I like that you can create so many different effects and tons of people have posted patches on the 'net. Sure there are things I don't like about it, more customizeable effects, easier patch switching. But for the price you can't really complain.

Pretty easy to use.

Except for the overdrive and lead, crappy. I use a compressor and an Ibanez Tubescreamer into it. The compressor on the 505 is not very good. The gain on the overdrive is good for gind, but has harsh and brittle overtones. I set the attack at 9'oclock (on my compressor pedal) to try to smooth it out. The noise reduction is good. Lead patch is squawky and bright. Sort of like Mick Ronson on Bowie's "Spiders". I use an Ibanez RG, a tele and strat (copy) guitars. I use the chorus when playing "clean". The reverbs are ok, but not really heavy. Good output volume to headphones. I never use any of the other effects. The tuner function is erratic.

Seems to be reliable, I have owned it 5 years now. They don't make these any more (thank god). With the 300+ reviews, I thought I'd put my two cents in ! You can get better $100 stuff these days. I only play through headphones. I use the Tubescreamer and the 505 for reverb and volume. Like I said, the distortions are (for the most part) crap !

Never had any dealings with ZOOM.

At the time (5 years ago) this was all the rage in the multi-function digital stompbox. But like I said, now you can get DigiTech's RP-100 and other cool crap for $100. The Johnson J-Station is now only $150 and POD is offering $100 rebate on the POD 2.0. Who knows what's in the future ? As for me, I'm savin' up for a Blues Junior tube amp ! The digital boxes have so much stuff I'll never use.

It was good for when I was a beginner, but now, at my 3 year level, Im buying a GFX-8.

It's long to preparate , but the patch is quick.

The distortion sounds sometimes too digital, but for 100$US or 150$Can, it's great.

I use the blues distortion, the delays and the metal distortion the most. I play Tool/Pink Floyd style, so heavy distortion and effects are needed.

Never had problems. Would keep one with my normal set up, a a backup.

Never, but it seems they are bad on the american continent.

I give it a 9 cuz the stuff you get for 150$ is awsome !!!

Effects are pretty easy to edit, though it can be somewhat cumbersome at times...
The manual explains all its operations pretty well.
Editing the effects is a MUST because almost all of the factory presets sound hideously overprocessed.

I use this with a number of guitars into a Peavey Bandit 112, and it sounds quite good. Filters with heavy distortion, especially those with compression get damn noisy, but the built-in noise suppressor works pretty efficiently overall.
To the point: the 'Metal' distortion is worthless; I never use that. Ever. All the rest are fine. Being that it's an effects processor, the point of the thing is to alter the distortion tones (or whatever) with EQ, modulation, delay, etc. I'm not especially fond of most of the distortion tones by themselves, but with a few effects they can sound very nice. In fact, I recently finished recording a CD with it. Most people who've heard the CD thought better of the sound of my guitar through my 505 (recorded direct no less) to that of my friend's Gibson SG Special through a small Fender combo (a Stage model, maybe?) which certainly sounded very good.
Fact is, the 505 can sound extremely nice, or it can sound like a cheap uberdigital piece of crap. It depends entirely on how the effects are used. I can get a reasonably close approximation of Eric Johnson, Jimmy Page, Alex Lifeson, John Petrucci, SRV (the list goes on...) out of it. I guess your mileage may vary.

It's plastic, yes, but it's fairly tough. I've been using it for about a year and a half and the only real problem is that once in a rare while the buttons on the side stick, but that's easy enough to fix.
The sound quality remains consistent regardless of the battery level (until they're absolutely dead, of course), but getting an AX adaptor really is advisable.

Never had to deal with them

I play a very wide variety of styles, and this suits me well. I've been playing for around four and a half years, and I use this with a Dunlop wah, Big Muff, Boss Noise Suppressor (which the 505 does sometimes necessitate), and an Ernie Ball volume pedal.
If the 505 were stolen or lost, I think I'd go for one of Zoom's higher-end processors, but for $100, I'm very pleased with it.
The phaser effect often makes things sound overprocessed, and the Metal distortion and step effect are both absolutely worthless, but I'm very satisfied with the rest, and it's pretty versatile. It's very gratifying to be able to play Under a Glass Moon or La Villa Strangiato or something, and then bust out with a fusion/funk-rock jam mainly making use of a single pedal.

Tres facile a utiliser. Lire les instructions avant! Inserer une pile, ta guitare et des ecouteurs ensuite explorer les possibilites de cette machine qui est capable de produire des milliers de combinaisons de sons. Les instructions sont tres completes et facile a comprendre en anglais et en francais. Chaque bouton peut accomplir plusieurs taches.

La qualite du son depend de votre selection. Certains sons sont accompagnes de bruits. Il y a des milliers de possibilites et la plupart sont tres bons....meme excellents. Tout depend de votre selection. Il est possible d'avoir des sons de 2 ou 3 guitares a la fois ou meme d'un orgue. A vous de choisir. C'est certain que la distortion ou chorus ou delay d'une pedale a $200.00 sera probablement meilleur mais que voulez vous d'une pedale qui se vend moins de $150.00 et qui peut produire autant de son qu'une armee de pedales a au moins $100.00 chaque. C'est possible d'avoir un son comme Santana avec une guitare de $50.00 et d'un ampli de $30.00. Je le sais....je l'ai faite. Parfois, il y a un bruit de cillement avec le son choisit mais, ce bruit sera perdu lorsque vous aller jouer avec d'autres musiciens. Pour reduire ces sons non-desires, utiliser un adapteur 9 volt d.c. de bonne qualite. Au lieu de payer $15.00 pour un ordinaire, achete un adapteur avec un voltage d.c. regularise qui va couter quelques dollars de plus.

Increvable! Cependant, elle n'est pas faite pour celui qui veut sauter dans les airs et atterrir a deux pieds sur la pedale. Encore lire les precautions a prendre qui se trouvent dans les instructions car c'est possible de causer du dommage aux circuits si la pedale est mal utilisee. J'en ai 2 Zoom 505 que j'ai achete usages.....pas de probleme.

Je n'ai jamais eu besoin d'aide de la part de la compagnie Zoom mais, il y a des sites sur l'internet consacres au Zoom 505

Je joue surtout du blues donc, c'est possible de trouver des centaines de recettes pour me donner differents sons "blues" sans avoir d'autres bruits indesirables. En plus, je joue quelques tounes de Led Zeppelin etc qui demandent des effets speciales comme "octave" que seulement une pedale dispendieuse peut me donner. C'est certain que si vous voulez employer de la "distortion" tout le temps, du "wah" du "chorus" ou beaucoup de "reverb", c'est souhaitable d'avoir une pedale qui specialise dans ces sons mais chaque pedale va vous couter plus chere qu'une Zoom 505. Ces pedales sont merveilleux et quand vous voulez les vendre, il y aura toujours quelqu'un qui est pret a l'acheter. J'ai vendu mes 2 Zoom 505 et mon Korg G3 afin de me payer un plus gros ampli. J'ai d'autres pedales specialisees comme la CryBaby Wah, Morely Volume, Arion stereo phaser, Ibanez DDL delay, MXR dyna comp, Morley fuzz/wah, DOD FX56, distortion Rogue, Ibanez dual chorus PC10, Ibanez soundtank, Arion stereo chorus SCH-1, Danelectro BLT et un accordeur Korg (la Zoom est aussi un excellent accordeur). Mais je suis sur que bientot je vais m'acheter une autre pedale multi-effets economique pour avoir des sons qu'on utilisent que de temps en temps. Donc pour le prix, pour le fait que vous aller utiliser la Zoom 505 tout le temps, je dirais meme que la Zoom 505 ou un autre pedale du meme gabarit est presque essentielle pour celui qui veut jouer de la musique semblable a celui qu'on entend sur la radio ou lors d'un spectacle. La Zoom 505 n'est pas parfaite mais assez de trouver quelque chose qui peut la remplacer facilement.

For an entry-level, multi-effects pedal, editing patches is relatively straight forward. I takes a lot of noodling to get the sound you are looking for hence the programming aspect. The manual is well laid-out althought I would have preferred it to be like a book instead of a folded sheet of paper.

I currently use a Fender Standard Strat into a Peavey Bandit (85watts). For the most part, any distortion/overdrive/fuzz etc. patches are quiet. Most of the distortion/overdrive/fuzz etc effects are not good. There is very little control over parameters. I have only been able to get one good distortion tone similiar to Def Leppard's Hysteria-era but that is about it. I did not care for the chorus and flange effects. The ZNR is the best feature of the product. The acoustic simulator is OK. The delays and reverbs, in my opinion, are horrible. For those expecting any vintage sounds, forget it. This is a completely digital processor. The auto-wah is not that great either.

I have never gigged with this pedal but, being that it is plastic, I cannot imagine this holding up too well.

Never dealt with it.

I play a lot of classic rock and roll and some 80s rock as well. Playing for over 15 years, I am from the old school of rock (i.e. pedals). I own a Boss Blues Driver and Boss Super Chorus which I like much better than this pedal. While this is an entry-level multi-effects pedal, there is just not enough flexibility and control to keep me happy. I bought this to try out multi-effects programming and have been turned off by it. I prefer the pedals. They seem to have more flexibility in sound. I will be trading this pedal for another Boss pedal (probably a Boss DS-1 and receive change). The plastic just does not seem sturdy enough to last for years. I know other Zoom products sound much better than this pedal. But for me, single-pedal effects are the way to go. Sorry Zoom, I am not impressed.

The pre-programmed patches are shite, but if you can edit well, you can difinetely get a good sound. Manual easy to follow. Ver Easy to use.

Using a Squier strat and amp. You get slight SNR on the F4 acoustic, but easily fixed in edit mode. Like I said before if pre-programmes... The Distortion are crap, but edit mode. Thank God for edit mode.

No problem. I don't really use this one for gigs, only if I'm doing an acoustic piece. I use it a lot in edit mode and make pre-studio studio recordings as a practice for the feel I want. F3 and F4 are about the only pre-programmes I rely on for good sound, but mind you I'm really a jazzy and acoustic player.

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Overally. I'd say it totally *** and you're better off buying single effect units.

easy to use but changing between patches that are far apart is a pain. i only use it for playing in my room and the occasional band practise and most of the distortion is fine for what i play.

efects are good, just flicking through often i can find an effect that resmebles what i am looking for, though it is sometimes hard to find that 'perfect' distortion. the editing function is useful then. used with a fairly basic amp and old epiphone les paul it seems to be well suited but i feel that if i upgraded i would have to upgrade the pedal aswell.

seems fine, the only problem i have had with it as teh previous owner did before me is with the battery connector, though i always run it off a mains supply anyway so not really a problem.

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for playing alone or band practise (not gigs though) it is fine and both guitarists use one. i would replace it with something a little higher spec should i lose or break it but overall it is good. anything is better than nothing. versatility is the key i think, and it certainly is versatile.

Fairly easy to use. Unless you're trying to fiddle around until you get the perfect distortion, in which case it is IMPOSSIBLE to use. The fact that you can only switch to the next effect with the footswitch can be a pain in the ass... if you've got one good effect in A1 and another in C3, it's move one of them or don't use them together.

This pedal is absolutely USELESS if you're looking for a good distortion. Some of the other effects are neat, but are still not quality reproductions of the actual effects.

Though i haven't thrown it out the window or anything yet, I haven't had any problems with it. It is pretty wimpy, all the same... i like big metal boxes on my pedals.

I like playing metal sometimes, and this pedal is simply USELESS for metal. You can dial in some cool sounds, but it's simply not a versatile do-everything type pedal. If it suddenly disappeared, I'd go get something else. If this pedal had at least one decent distortion, my opinion might be a little higher.

I found this unit very easy to use. I've used various multi-effects (Digitech, Zoom, ADT) as well as stomp boxes over the past 35 years. This unit is very easy to program, once you get the feel for the 4 programming buttons (yes...only 4 buttons.... figure it out!)

Sound quality is fine, if you want to monkey with it a little (or a lot). The factory presets are cheesy for the most part, but there are some great internet sites that contain many decent patches. I now use one of the blues distortions, clean and dirty wah (use a pedal), phase, and clean compression. I also have a nice acoustic setting that I use frequently. I use a Strat, Epiphone Del Ray, Gibson 335 primarily with a Peavey Bandit 112 or a 1968 Super Reverb. Music styles vary from jazz to classic rock to funk to blues. I've got patches for each. All sounds that I'm using sound fine.

I've been using this unit about 5 years with no problems at all. I use it on stage and perform about twice a week. It's great and hasn't let me down at all, even when folks get out of the audience to dance (stomp) all over the stage, this unit (even though it's plastic) has held up great.

Haven't used them. Haven't needed them.

I use this unit very often for a wide variety of music styles. So far, it's filled the bill. But you HAVE to spend some time with it and for gosh sakes....record your patch settings somewhere!!

Editing is easy and the manual is great.

First let me say, for the price this thing is awesome! But... if you play live, you will definitely be ready to stepup before long. I use mine with a Hamer Daytona and a Fender amp, and I get decent sound out of it. The distortions leave a lot to be desired. I would say that all the other effects are decent. The EQ sucks! But again... for the money, you can't buy anything better!

So far so good, it hasn't let me down yet.

I've not needed them yet.

I play rock music and it gets the job done. I've played it for a year. If it were lost, I would probably not replace it. I love the price, I hate the distortions!

It will be great if it is possible to randomly navigate thru the patches. For ex. A1 (pres right pedal) A2 (pres right pedal) C1 (pres right pedal) F3...

I have Ibanez RG guitar and Fender Frontman 25 amp. I have many problems with noise, thats why in all my patches I use maximum ZNR. Distortion is good but in ACC mode great gain value produce distortions in other modules. Bad EQ. In clear acoustic sound there are many low fr. It result to distortion in amplifier.

Dealers in Ukraine are not competent

once reading the manual, its easy to program and operate. i just wish it had an on/off switch so i dont have to unplug the power supply every time.i give it an 8. 10 if it had an on/off switch.

sound is very good but limited, the only distortions i use on it are the ry and bl and sometimes the od. the others sound too midi for me. the fuzz is good for using the auto wah. hall reverb is very good, noise gate is good but takes away from the tone a little. too many unwanted effects and not enough useful sounds, wish it had tremolo. play an american standard strat. through a musicman 212-hd amp and it sounds great but limited but for 59 bucks, i cant complain.

so far its been reliable and no problems. eats batteries in a matter of minutes.

havent had any contact.

for the price (new on sale from musicians friend) it cant be beat for what you get but its sometimes too much of nothing. few very useful sounds. they really should have put an on/off switch on this thing.

I'm giving this a 6, because it isn't totally impossible to edit patches. It is a big pain to go through all of the little parameters and change them with those cheap plastic buttons, though.

Basically, this pedal is just about as cheesy as multi-fx processors get. I bought this pedal about 6 months after I got my first electric guitar. I went to the music store and played around with it, and I was really amazed by all of the "neat" sounds that it made. Then, when i got it home and played around with it for about a month, the truth hit me. With the exception of maybe the distortion and delay, this piece of crap is a waste of money. All of those phaser/octave/compression effects are pointless unless your ideal tone is that of a $15 casio keyboard.

I did play a small gig with it once, and it was very distracting. You have to use the standby-switching mode unless you want to have people hear you cycling through all of you patches. I just wouldn't use this live at all.

never bothered calling zoom

I play all kinds of music, and I have been playing for about 4 years now. I sold this pedal off for about 50 bucks, and I was just glad to get rid of it. I just hated how fake the 505 sounded and after a while, a couldn't stand playing through it. If you're thinking about getting a 505 as your first pedal, let me make a suggestion. Get an EH Big Muff. This pedal kicks so much ass, and i couldn't ask for more in a fuzzbox(plus it's only $50). You'll be so glad you bought a decent first pedal. Don't be fooled by the hype surrounding the Zoom 505. Either get some analog stomp boxes(in my opinion, the way to go) or at least save your money and buy a higher quality digital fx processor.

To get a good sound out of this thing, you have to play around with the settings for hours. I ve had this for a year and a half and stil haven't been able to get the sound i want out of it. Also, there isn't nearly enough buttons, there is like 10 things one button can do. It gets confusing with all the "push the bank up button and hold for three seconds while pushing the bank down button three times".

I use it with my Squier Sidekick practice amp and it sounds OK, but when i put it into my Fender Stage 112SE and it sounds like crap. It gives it a distorted sound, not the good kind, the bad kind that makes the notes unintelligible at high levels.

One time, it broke because the input jack got stepped on. I'm sorry, but something that has to be used by stepping on it with your feet gets broken by stepping on it...COME ON! The thing is like a china plate. You have to make sure you don't touch it the wrong way. I would NEVER use this at a gig, it would break in three seconds.

I got it fixed once by the dealer, not the company, so I don't really know.

Hate it.

If you wanna change the settings in the banks, forget about doing it with ease, after awhile the selector buttons start to stick making it difficult to change the settings

It's very easy to use

I have a marshall amp,Esp Guitar,and play Heavy Metal,the (zoom 505) distortion sound is preety good, the other effects is not bad. I prefer Use a boss pedal to distortion and the zoom for other effects.

I don't have any problem!!!!!

It's a good pedal effects, I council for to begin or in studio session.

This pedal was hella easy to use, a blind one armed monkey could have figured it. Ill give it an 8 because it requires you to read the manual

I was using a jackson ran through a line6 flextone xl and its sounds fucking awsome. I can get any sound out of it(distortion). the efects however suck ass and are unable to be tweeked. the distortion gets a 9
the effects get a 4

SUCKS I was practicing today and when i stepped on it the fucking cheep plastic switch poped off and cracked. now its useless. I have learned to never use it withoput a backup. ever

it was great un till the thing broke. im going to go buy some real distortion pedals. ibanez tone lok tubescreamer and a smash box they sound awsome

Once you read the manual it's easy enough

I like the distortion on the pedal. I use it with a peavey 50 watt amp. I use it mostly to play punk and deftones type metal.

I have never had any problims with it.

overall it's a very good pedal for the price. you may still want to get a wah-wah pedal though as it is not for very advanced style playing because you have to kinda switch through the other effects to get to certin ones or use bank hold which is a pain in the ass.

I would have to say this pedal is pretty easy to use...Everything is pretty much straight forword. I've had no problem with trying to work it. Editing the patches is simple to, I thought it would be hard to get used to it being so small and digital, but I was wrong. I've found no real difficaulty

I use my Zoom 505 with a Fender Frontman 25A (75 w) amp and a Gibson Epiphone Les Paul Custom guiatr and I found the sound quality to be very good, but I admit a couple of the distortion effects have to much reverb or treble sound to them, but thatnks to the ease of use,that can be taken care of by using the edit fucntion. I've found that the distortion has increased volume over other effects. Now I have read a few of the reviews where the author has complained of of some kind of buzzing noise while using the pedal, and I don't hear anything like that with mine, which leads me to think it could be their amp. All the efrects have a good strong sound to them. I have no problem what so ever when try to get a particular sound from my favorite bands wheather it be Pearl Jam, Creed or The Tragically hip

Reliability is something that hasn't been a problem, although being made of plastic and not metal, I take more special care with it...but as long as you don't go bashing it around and dropping it, it's safe to say you should have no worries about using it without a back up. I also like how it comes with a built in 9v battery adaptor

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Well overall I give it and 8. I play alternative Rock and a little bit of punk music and it's a good match for me. This pedal hasn't given me any trouble in the entire 10 months that I've had it. I've been playing for 5 years now and its the only pedal I have as of right now, but Im sure it won't be the last. If my pedal was somehow stolen or lost I would replace it if I can get it for a cheaper price then what I paid for it brand new, if not I would have to by something different to my dissapointment. I like everything about the pedal except for the fact that it's made out of plastic

Im not sure, i played my band members for a bit, about 4 hours total.

The sound was very very good.I mean the modulations were cool, distortions had a good range, and delay was very clean and digital, how i like it.The effcts did add noise, but not toomuch for the evel we played at.We were at about say 70-80 watts i beleive, and feedback was a buzz( not a screech, but not a hum).

Hes had it since it came out, only complains its too small.No big problem.ill give it a seven because its made outta plastic,and i am used to decent metal cases.

Overall id say people are a bit harsh on this effect unit.I mean, if you complain about distortions alot(like some ive read) think about these two words:multi-effects.You shouldnt be worried about being a crazy metal thrasher if this is what you bought, this is meant for trippy allover sounds, and a decent variety.I personally wouldnt buy one, but thats only because im getting a digitech rp-200 in the mail.I think expermental people should try this out, not everybody.Ill reveiw the rp--200 later so look for it.This pedal, though, deserves at least a 7, but i liked it a whole lot and will give it a 8.Not muddy, not to screechy.

When I first got my Zoom 505 it was smaller than I had expected. It's ease of use was ok except the bank up/down pedals were sort of hard to push down.

There are some effects that work good and some that don't. The chorus, reverb and delay worked great but the distortion sucked. I played this through my DeArmond M-65C.

It had pretty good reliability but i drained all my batteries. I recomend getting the APA adapter unit

Takes some time to figure out (the manual makes excellent bathroom reading), but, once you understand the thing, it's easy.

Well, despite contrary belief, you can get a decent metal sound out of this, but, it takes so much tweaking of the different parameters that it's almost not worth the effort. As far as the other distortions and effects go, they're average. Nothing to cream your pants over, but nothing horrible either. Could use some analog adjustment elements though (ie more solid speed, depth, and regen controls for the modulation effects), and the EQ could offer a scoop function. But, for the low price, whaddya expect? For the money, it's worth it.

Haven't had any problems with it yet, but every time I look at it, I still worry I might step on it too hard and crack it in half. Electronically, seems to keep up well enough.

Well, they gave me a manual for free (I bought a demo model cheap, minus the box and manual), so I guess that counts for something.

I play all kinds of music, from thrash metal to jazz and blues...This pedal's versatility suits me nicely. It's not the most customizable thing in the world, and it's not the greatest sounding, but, it's cheap and gets the job done.

Fairly simple to figure out. Switching could be made easier and I suppose that's why there is now a 505 II out with more conventional controls to supplement the digital ones. Pretty easy to get some nice tones out of it.

I use a mid 80's Standard Strat (made in Japan) through a Peavy Bandit 65. The amp is a bit fried and the effects actually sound better when I'm recording direct through a 4-track than through the amp. There is the expected noise for the price but this pedal if manipulated properly can emulate close to any artist's sound. The metal heads probably won't like it though as much as some of the other effects out.

So far so good. I'm really careful with all of my equipment these days.

No need so far.

This is a perfect box for me. It's inexpensive and very versatile. I tend to play a lot of different styles and textures and I'm still finding out new things about it daily. The pre-set patches are actually pretty good tooo, with the exception of a couple of sounds no one would ever use. I've been playing for 16 years. I haven't gigged with a band for some time so what I do now is mostly home practicing or recording for my own enjoyment and this has been a God send for that. I'd definately buy it again.

This is very easy to use, once you get the hang of it. Patches are simple to edit, and there are very good sites online with new patches you can program in.

Good enough sound for what I do right now. I'm currently using a used Yamaha SE112, which is not that great, but then again, I'm not Eric Clapton. I usually plug it into my Leem practice amp. The effects are generally strong and sound pretty good.

This thing hasn't broken down on me once, and I've had it for over a year now. The only problem is that when it gets unplugged it erases your patches and restores them to factory settings, but I might be asking too much on that one.

I usually play rock, but I dabble in other areas. I'm mostly interested in innovative sounds, so this pedal probably isn't right for those who are more experienced with effects. It's great fun to use, and makes you sound professional for a cheap price.

This thing is a piece of shit. It's not too shabby if you don't like real heavy sound. I wouldn't recommend it for those who really like to R.I.P. Editing patches is fairly easy after you read thr manula for about 3 fuckin' hours. If you're a begginer, forget it, get something less complicated. The adapter always comes loose in the power outlet. If you stomp hard to switch around, this is not the thing to get. It collects dust like crazy, the buttons jam, and the screw that hold it together like to come out quite often. The manual for it explains a little bit about it's effects but it takes a long time to even remotely close to the sound any metal warrior likes. If I were ZOOM, I would be embarassed by this pansies grind. As for the other effects, they're not too bad. The best thing about this pedal is the Noise Reduction effect. This cuts amp buzzing pretty well.

Wouldn't turn by back on it for very long.

Never had to deal with the company.

I like to play metal. This pedal is not what you want to use for such music. I've been using it for about 2 years just to get by. I'm thinking about investing in a BOSS MT-2. I doubt anybody would want to steal this pile of trash if they knew what it was. All the distortions suck my balls but the rest of the pedal gets the job done, or to some extent

This pedal has easy programing options. Its no frills editing most of the effects are preset so you are limited to some factory settings, you can adjust the volume or the distortion to taste but not the delay or most of the other important effects, so finding the right amount of delay or flange may not be possible. It is some what limited. The manual is a folded sheet of yelow paper.

The sound quality is ok but, again nothing to brag about. Since all the main effects are preset you are stuck with a technicians idea of what sounds good. I can never guite nail the sound I want. I have been using it with my Epi '56 Gold Top W/soapbars and my Fender Blues Jr. I have also tried it with My Strat and Twin Reverb, I get about the same results. I do wish it had tremelo a big part of my sound you want it if your doing CCR or Oldies, the best effect ever! I guess the younger guys don't use it.

I think it is to limited for my use as a main pedal but I use it as a backup and for more choices, since my Twin has two channels I use an AB switch and two lines one to each effect and one to each channel.

I bet its not too good. A cheap pedal like this is not worth trying to fix if it breaks throw it away or use it for target practice or give it to the Good Will.

I bought it from AMS so I hate to ship it back so I will use it until it breaks or If I fnd someone who likes it they can have it CHEAP! Since I don't play out much anymore (sort of retired after 25 years giging) I don't care if it aint the best pedal I ever used it is far better than many I did use back in the 60's and 70's when most pedals cost as much and did less, but today most the new stuff is so much better.

The tone is absolutely THE worst pedal tone i have ever heard. Editing patches is easy but the sound is so bad you will spend most of your time doing this. The manual is okay.

I have a Kramer Baretta going into an Ibanez ToneBlaster amp. The distortions are terrible. The break up and are the noisiest thing ever. The effects are weak and sound crappy. You cannot get any kind of good metal tone from this amp. The only good thing about this is if it is your first pedal and you are 11 years old you might like it.

I can depend on it.

This pedal can be a real bitch to work with. I had to have someone experienced help me with it. If you like to fuck around a lot you can get it.

I use a B.C. Rich Warlock and Jr. V with an Epiphone amp and I like to play death metal and other metal. This fucker will get the job done if you like pussy music or rap but it doesn't get very raunchy and grungy. I made my effects with as much grind as possible but it just doesn't cut it. My DOD death metal pedal blows this little bitch out of the water. Ialso can't get good chorus or any of the sounds that I want.

This fucking thing is always cutting out, the buttons stick, it is made out of cheap plastic, and the 9 volt battery connecter ripped off.

I have never had to deal with the company.

This is a chinsey piece of shit. I am selling mine so I can get a ZOOM 510. I have been playing 5 years, and I like to play metal and this fucker doesn't cut the shit

It's fairly easy to use, but it took me a while I found to figure out what all the abreviations ment, especially for a beginner. In here the manual helped a lot.

Sound quality was rather poor I tought. I used the Zoom 505 with a 1982 Gibson U2 (with a humbucker at the bridge, a single coil in the middle and a single coil at the neck) and a Peavy Studio Pro 112. I know it isn't the best amp, but to me the amp gives a warm sound on the clean channel and I guess it should stay that way when the effect comes between. I found that when I got a warm sound with the Zoom 505 there weren't left over that many high and mid tones, and when there were highs and mids there wasn't any bass. There are lots of effects in it, I think 33, of which 9 at ones, and that for a low price, but the wah wah, chorus and so one really sucks. I never heared the whawah in it. There comes out a pretty good distortion and the acoustic effect is very good I must admit. The flanger is good but could do better I think.

I think it's very though. It screwed up 3 AC adapters because I put 12V in stead of 9V on the Zoom. Out of one adapter came smoke, so the wiring inside the Zoom is good. I never used it on a gig, but I think it will last when it gets it power from the AC adapter and not from a battery, because it eats batteries. I dropped it a few times and it still worked.

Never dealt with them. It's a big company so I think they would help when it would be broken.

I play everything, from blues to metal. Personaly I think it sucks for my needs. I like to have control over my effects, with this it is impossible. When you wanna use distortion with some other effects, you have to program that in a bank. When you like to ad in the middle of a song a flanger effect you have to program another banks with the identical effects and parameters as the other you use and program in this bank the flanger also. When you actualy swich from one bank to another it cuts off the sound for a second and then comes up with a totaly different effect in the second bank in stead of just the original sound of the first bank with the flanger. It comes in handy when you like to explore new sounds at a cheap price, but it doesn't really satisfy when you become a little bit more experienced in guitarplaying. Buy yourself something larger like a Korg AX1000G or something. I've learned many things after 3 years of guitarplaying, but the most importand thing I learned, cheap products don't always work. Don't give your money on something cheap, but save it for something more professionaly. When you don't like that it's easier to sell it again in stead of a cheap no-good Zoom.

this is sooo easy to use, all there is are 4 buttons, it cant be that hard. and everything with editing patches is written out clearly for you.

my setup is a fender mexican deluxe fat strat floyd rose straight into my brownsville thug, and the 505 in the effects loupe. this thing's distortion sounds HORRIBLE. the acoustic is ok if you can take some of its bass off. its has nice reverb and chorus, the flanger is ok too, but not great. it has quite a few options and would probably be a lot better with the optional expression pedal. the distortion is noisy as hell, even in the effexts loop. the noise reduction takes off a little bit of the noise, but takes away all your tone. this is great for only $70, but for a couple hundred its worth it to get something that sounds much better.

its pretty damn reliable, ive had it sitting on my amp for a while since i need to go get a longer cord, it still works fine even though it bounces up and down so much from my amp. i have gig'd without a backup with this thing, but i would never do it again, i need something better.

never dealt with them

it has a couple nice effects, and i'll keep it just for that so i dont have to use those on a new one i'm getting. it it was stolen i wouldnt really care much, its not that great, but for a beginner its a great value.

Very easy to use and editing patches is real easy. I didn't have to read the manual to figure it out.

Sound quality is decent although its best used for practicing. There are unlimited amount of cool effects that can enhance your playing style. I was using the 505 (got ripped off) with a Peavey backstage in my bedroom which I really enjoyed! I tried it with a Carvin 100W tube head half stack and it didn't work all that great.

No problems.

I been playing on/off for 15 years and mainly play hard rock, Sabbath, Rush, Maiden and Zep. I also like to play chords and folk music like Neil Young sounding stuff. The 505 is very versatile and can be used to play all kinds of music. Mine was stolen and I do miss it. I'm thinking about getting another one off e-bay. Although its best used for practicing and probably would be pretty good for home recording. Setting A1 was very cool and had no hissing or inteference of any kind! I feel the 505 increased by playing ability and allowed me to play tunes that I would have never even thought about.

This pedal is easy enough to use. It has preset sounds, but you can create and save your own. Spend time creating sounds that fit your style, then practice using the pedal on songs, using the sounds you created. I created several varieties of lead and rhythmn sounds, for different styles of songs. Then those sounds were available for the songs.

It really depends what your'e using it for, and how you have it set up in relationship with the equipment your using. The basic setup, w/ guitar plugged into it and it plugged into the amp is acceptable for live rock style performance, because even though there's a little bit of quiet swishing sound in it, you just don't notice that stuff at a rock show. Its got some cool reverb, distortion, chorus, etc sound effects, plus its got some compression that helps but is nowhere near as good as say a dbx compression unit. Its reverb isnt as good as alesis reverb either, but you see this thing has all that stuff in one box. So sound quality is what I'd call acceptable for live shows. You'd probably want something more refined for recording. But that level refinement probably wouldn't be even noticed at a live rock show.

Its dependable enough. Ive used it for about 10 performances. The one thing I noticed, was when it is still daytime at an outside gig, you can't see the numbers, so unless you get it in some serious shade, your'e screwed when you try to use it with your foot in a song. Also, don't bother w/ batteries - it burns em up too fast.. get an adapter and plug in. You may not get thru your gig w/ the batteries.

Get real. If this thing gave me any problems when I got it, I don't want to mess around calling people, I want my money back. If it gives me problems six months later, I figure I might have busted it. I just want my stuff to work right the first time and if not just give me my money back and I'll never buy from them again. For something this cheap I don't like to mess around with customer support.

Its really handy for live performance and rehearsals. For recording or if I was in a more serious situation, like doing it for a living, I'd invest more money into more serious equipment, probably of the zoom brand, because these guys know how to build this stuff, but this is the low-end of their equipment, so they probably never intended me to believe that it can compete w/ their best stuff, otherwise why do they bother making it? I have a dbx compressor and an alesis nanoverb and a marshall pre-amp (for distortion) that I also use together and they create some higher quality sounds. But they are also more gear to carry, and harder to setup and break down. When I don't want to mess w/ all that gear, I just bring the 505, and you know what? I'm the only one who ever has said anything about the difference in tone. Its as though no one notices anything but me!. So since THEY are my audience, its something worth thinking about.

It aint too difficult to use, and it's an all in one effect divice, for those who don't like a jungle of footswitches to trip over.
If you're an effect junkie, it's a bit too simple.

I scream with a gibson sg through a beautiful 30 year old 100W tube amp. A beautiful warm sound, if you manage to overhear the humming:-) I used the zoom 505 to give me a bit of sound diversity. And i must say, at first i was impressed. but after a few gigs, i noticed the zoom filtered out the tonal depth. It's a great effect device if your just wanna rock, and hey, try to find a multieffect device for that price! It's great for startup new bands, or for someone seeking a cheep way to widen one's sound spectrum. The sounds are divers, yet lacking fine-tuneability.
In my eyes sometimes a bit too plasticky for serious music making.

seeing there aren't any tubes around, i doubt anything fatal would happen electronicly. With the digital circuitry i never experienced any trouble.
Only, after heavy use, the pedals can start to jam. Simply put a drop of grease in the hinge and that problem's solved.

never had any probs.

For me as a blues / jazz player not the right choice, yet i often jam with rockers and hardrockers, where i often bring along the zoom 505. It's pretty handy, like a box full of different sounds. and seeing i don't use it every day, i'm happy it didn't cost me the whole world.
The Zoom 505 is ideal for guitarists looking for an affordable all in one solution, giving a wide spectrum of sounds. Small drawback is a lack of fine-tuneability, essential for professional music making.
If you're a hobby guitarist, get it! It's Affordable Fun...

When i first took this thing out of the box, it was a little difficult to edit the patches. But after a few hours of pissin around with it, I started to get the hang of it. The manual, in my opinion, was a bit difficult to comprehend, so i figured it out
myself.

I use a Les Paul custom and a Marshall amp and it all in all doesn't sound too bad. The distortion is a little hard to get just right, but with a little tinkering... it's all good(some patches are noisy). I have found that the acoustic setting has alot of bass in it, but can still be adjusted to sound great. Like I said before, you have got to play with it to make it just how you want it. For all of you metal fans out there, this pedal's distortion sounds much better than the dod's death metal. Just thought I should let you know. This is a very versitile pedal but if your looking for "oh my God my ears are bleeding distortion", buy something else like a MT-2.

I have had this pedal for a little over a year and it works like new. Only downside is it's made of plastic.

Never needed them

Beginners and experts can use this because its an all-round good piece of equipment. If it ever died, I would go buy the same thing. For the amount it costs, it is worth it.

The ease is really easy just a little getting used to
good manual
editing patches, a breeze

ahhhh- no to good not to good at all the dist is ok but everything like wah,chorus,and delay is not very plesant

good and will last for years

n/a

id say its good for begginers if u wanna move on up check out the boss gt-3 effects those are great

The effect was pretty easy to use, with simple "Step be step" effect building where you wen't in every effec module until you came to level and then ended the building. The bank system is pretty easy even though you do run out of space to put new effects very fast. The effect muting option was abit disapointing because you need to press the two foot swithces at the same time and if you did it fast you sometimes just changed effects and in concerts that isn't good, I solved this by putting a seting of nothing on it next to each distortion i needed to get clean after. And that caused more of a problem because as i said, There's not enough room for Settings.

I use it as my only effect, i bought it one year after i started playing the electric because i needed something better than a 20V amp distortion. It's conneceted to my guitar (an Epiphone) and to my 20V amp. The sound is ok for most, when i play with it i can't complain, but it does have alot of noises when the guitar is silent, You can feel this noises when you change effects and you hear the sound changing from alot of noise to a little but reverbed ect...
it wasn't too bad.

Because this is the only thing i had i used it on gigs and stuff, but after about two years it started malfunctioning badly. It actually became unusable and now i need a new one. The warrenty is for a year so i can't go complaining, but until it got ruined it was pretty reliable, no malfunctions at all until this one

It got problems one year after the warrenty ended, i guess they knew what they said when they gave only one year. i didn't even try complaining, it's cheap so it was worth the money, it had to die someday :)

I played alot with it, I allways managed to set the effect i wanted so i guess it was helpful. I bought it because of recomandations and they were pretty true, it's CHEAP, VALUABLE, and compact, that's important too.

Not all that difficult, but it's constrained by the simple two digit seven segment display (along with a column of LED's). It took me just a few minutes to figure out how to set it.

The sound quality was, quite frankly, a dissapointment... although it's the first guitar effects processor I've used in 30 years, so perhaps I'm expecting too much. I'm using it with a Squier Affinity Telecaster, and a Fender BXR60 amp. The distortion effects consist of just nine non-adjustable types, none of which provide the smooth warm sound I was looking for. Ditto for compression. Many of the factory default setups are VERY noisy, with substantial hum and hiss. There's a lot of inconsistency betwen the output levels of many of the factory defaults. The reverb and echo aren't really very adjustable, although the 'room echo' effects were pleasing.

I haven't used it much, and don't play professionally. Judging on it's construction, I see no reason why it wouldn't last.

I'm strictly a hacker, playing guitar by myself in my office when I need a break from writing firmware for industrial instrumentation. I bought this thing on e-bay, figuring it was cheap and I might like it... and I didn't. What I'd much prefer is a smooth, quiet, hiss-and-hum-free device to give me slight distortion, compression, and perhaps a bit of room ambience, with continuous adjustment... but I've got no clue as to what products can do that.

The clean patches sometimes gives out slight dist that pisses me right the fuck off. Editing patches is good D2 and B2 are exactly the same so i edit D2 which is relatively easy. I wouldn't recommend editing w/out guidelines. The manual helps like a stick up your ass

I am using a Fender Squire and Proaxe Whatthefuck though Godknowswhat amp. The slight dist on clean is annoying. The effects F2 and 3 are about as strong as gay bar whisky. I can get a good Dave Gilmour Sound and some good punk and rock dist.

I do depend on it.
Yes i would if a had an adaptor

never broke on me. it rips the shit as they say

it kicks a fuckload of ass but if it got stolen i would buy a zoom 707 cause it has reverse thingo. Zoom gets the money anyway. It helps me play funk pre-1995 chili peppers style and some comfortably numb solo like bits. Chorus is great. If anyone finds a reverse tape patch send it to me

Pretty simple if your just going to use the presets. I didn't get a manual with it and acidently set it so that you have to press the micreoscopic button to change letters(a-b)

I run a Epiphone Les Paul custom into the zoom 505 into a Ibanez tube king, into a fender prinction 65. Sounds awsome for punk.

I use it for gigs. Eats batteries though. Get an adapter. Plastic but fairly strong.

sounds great for punk but run it in to a real tube overdive. That de-digitizes the sound.

THIS PEDAL IS THE CHEAP PROCESSORS KING.ITS EASY,LIGHT,FUCK EDIT A PATCH IS EASY,THE MANUAL IS VERY HELPFUL,AND THIS IS THE KING.

I USE A PEAVEY GUITAR WITH PIEZOELECTRIC SYSTEM,A CRY BABY,A CHORUS AND AUTO WAH,AND A MARSHALL AMP.THE EFFECTS ALWAYS SOUND GREAT.I LIKE:PANTERA,CRADLE OF FILTH,SEPULTURA,UNLEASHED,JAGUARES,LA BARRANCA,SATCH,MALMSTEEN,MICHAEL ANGELO,KORN.OF I GET THE SOUND I WANT.THE ONLY THING I DONT LIKE IS THE CHORUS,IT NEEDS MORE BODY,HERE'S WHEN I USE MY CHORUS STOMPBOX,AND THE WAHS ARE NOT SO GOOOD,THE AUTOWAH IS REGULAR,BUT THE 505 SOUNDS GREAT.

OF COURSE I WILL DEPEND ON IT AND I WILL USE IT ON A GIG.

THIS IS THE FUCKING BAD POINT.HERE IN MEXICO YA SEND IT TO RAPAIR WITH THE DEALER WHO SOLD IT TO YOU BUT NOT WITH THE COMPANY.SO ONE TIME THE 505 FUCKED UP BECAUSE I DIDNT USE A GOOD AC ADAPTER AND THOSE IDIOTS HAD TO GIVE ME A NEW ONE AFTER 2 MONTHS OF COMPLAINING.WHAT KIND OF ASSHOLES.THE DEALER IS SHIT,BUT WITH THE COMPANY I NEVER DEALT WITH THEM.

I PLAY METAL AND GOTH STUFF.AND SHIT THIS IS A PIECE OF GOLD!!!!!!I'VE BEEN PLAYING FOR 1 YEAR AND I DIDINT HAVE ANY PROBLEMS WITH IT.IF IT WERE STOLEN I WOULD BUY IT AGAIN OR I WILL BUY A BOSS GT-3 OR GT-5 OR THE ZOOM 3030.I CHOOSE THE 505 BECAUSE IT WAS CHEAP AND SO FUCKING GOOD!!!!!!!!I WOULD WISH IT TO HAVE TREMOLO,MORE DIST AND FUCK THE OVERDRIVE,IT IS UNDEPENDABLE,AND SHIT THE DELAY IS THE BEST!!!!!!!!!OH,AND MAKE A WAH PEDAL AS GOOD AS THE CRYBABY PLEASE!!!!!OH YEAH IT HELPS ME TO DO FUCKIN GREAT MUSIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 505 IS THE KING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

easy to use

I bought mine only for practice situations and it does fine. I like the chorus because at its lower settings(3)it has the "frozen" chours sound I like. Several of the distortions were unusable for me, but the overdive and blues settings are pretty good. I wish the echo was slower. Again, I bought this because I wanted chorus with my practice amp. For the $80+ I'd have spent on a chorus, I got all the extras.
I wish I'd have waited on the digitech rp100 though,..its got drums too!

no problems so far

never had to call em.

For practice situations, thur my Vox Pathfinder at my friends house, it works like a charm and gives me what I need. I have no noise problems using my strat, other than the 60 cycle hum that ALL strats produce in the 1,3 and 5 switch positions.

I never got a manual for the Zoom 505 guitar pedel. In the beginning, the pedel was a pain in the ass! Then it got a lot easier to use.

The setup I'm using the pedel with is a Marshell double stack. The sound quality is alright. The bands that inspired me was Led Zeppelin and Guns n' Roses. I can get an okay Led Zeppelin tone, but no Guns n' Roses!

I can depend on the pedel very easily. It has never once fucked up for me.

No!

I play classic rock. This pedel is an alright match for me. I like my cry baby wha, wha pedel a whole lot better!

Not very easy
Editing is straight forward
Crappy
WHAT?

Crate 6x-65 and BC RICH WARLOCK
Yes. Put it to 30 on the EDIT mode
Crapy distortions but for reverbd and funky sounds it is good.
Crate 6x-65
No not really. Metallica, Pantera, Pennywise, etc.
Distortion bad, Reverb good(COOL)

NO, my is on the frits
Hell no

Not very helpful, but they were friendly
No not yet a just gave up on it

Metal, punk, alternative, rock and roll. Not good for most of this
7 years, i have a Marshall stack and A BC RICH WARLICK. With the Marshall i use a Boss Metal Zone 2. I would get something else if it were stolen or lost.
The reverb is the coolest and it has other funky sounds, but the distortion sucks balls.
COMPARE...NO
Good distortion and easier to flip tyhrough the 25 sounds.
Helps...a little bit.
DON"T BUY IT...GET SOMETHING BETTER.

Easy to use, 1 pedal up, 1 pedal down, pres both pedals simultanious & you get the tuner (not silent). Editing is simple & the manual is informative for finding all her nuances.

I got a Squire Strat & an Epiphone LP-100 & I run these babies through a Fender Automatic GT. ZOOM DISTORTION KICKS ASS ! I never had the ZOOM experience before this & I want to explore more, cuz I know that the 505 is lower level. The effects are pure cheese, I dont use them, ONLY THE DISTORTION & EQ (which is quite effective). I've had Korg, Boss & they don't touch this DISTORTION at a fraction of the cost.

If it breaks, so what!

I play 70's & psychedelic metal. Been playing for 6 years (started when I was 32). I love the DRIVE of this unit, gotta have 12 inch speakers people, for the thump. If it was lost or stolen I would buy a GFX-8 or GFX-4 or 707, I will anyway! ZOOM, catch them if you can. I also like the easy stomp for the different patches.

The ease of use on this pedal is great, but if you dont have a spare pedal to change banks it could be a problem

I am using a gibson SG through this litle baby into a laney TF320 120watt amp. I mainly use it for acoustic and distortion, if set right and worked on it sounds great, giving a real beefy distortion. The only main let down is the in built wah wah which doesn't wah much

I can depend on it until the amp is turned up higher than abut 60 watts and it cuts out sometimes( yes, it is the pedal not my amp)but that has only happened once or twice at practise. I have used it at 13 gigs and haven't had a problem but I have another one as a backup.

It is a good punk rock pedal, if it was stolen i would probably get another, I love the look, and the lightness, it is no where near as heavy duties etc. as a boss pedal though.
I suggest you go to the shop and test one out, they are good machines!

This pedal is really easy to use. Just take 20 minutes to read the manual. Manual is a bit confusing but take time to go through it section by section rather than be overwhelmed with the size of the fold out manual. Really, it's quite easy once you understand the patches.

I use a Washburn N2 with a Gibson 57 PAF reissue pickup in the neck and the stock Washburn pickup in the bridge, through a transtube 80-watt (100 watt with the extension cab). I am amazed that this pedal is so quiet. I set my amp flat on the clean channel and let the pedal do the rest. I don't care for the distortion settings and prefer to run the pedal through my effects loop so i can turn it off and use the lead channel on the bandit for heavier stuff.
I can get an awesome clean Skynyrd bluesy sound out of it for sure. I was a bit dissapointed with the presets, but hell, there are so many variables (ie. brand of guitar, pickups, amp, etc.). Once I started creating my own patches, my disappointed quickly turned to appreciation.

I did depend on it during a gig and it worked great. One note though. Don't waste any money on batteries. This puppy needs an ac adapter. Used it for a practice with a brand new 9 volt Duracell (Can't speak on the double A anniversary model), lasted 20 minutes and I thought something was screwy with the pedal. Picked up an adapter and haven't had a problem since.

Never had a problem

I play a wide variety of rock, pop, and country. For $150 this pedal is a definite match for me. I've been playing for 22 years. I've bought, sold, and traded gear all my life. I'm definitely hanging on to this pedal. Had a DOD TEC 8, paid $350 for it. The TEC 8 in my opinion is just plain noisy junk compared to the 505. I wouldn't say it helps me make music but it does provide the sound I was looking for on various cover tunes. Nice little experimental pedal too. If you buy one and just mess around with the presets you'll probably want to get rid of it shortly after, but, as I said previously create your own patches and you won't be disappointed. I really like the 1/4" headphone jack. You can create the sound you want through the headphones and then it's there as true as you created it when you play it through your amp. However, this only works with the amp set flat on the clean channel. If you are going to use the features on your amp as well then it is best to create your patches with the pedal through the amp to get the right blend. You can't beat the quality for the price!

Okay, it's fairly easy to operate this thing thought
it is hell trying to change banks when you quickly need
switch to something else. The problems are that when you
press the switch you never know for sure on which patch
or bank you are going to end up ..

I use a slightly modified Epiphone with two EMG singlecoils and one SeymourDuncan-LWHM-humbucker. My amp is a cheap Samick transistor thing. There's a constant background noise when using the zoom, it *humms* rather loudly whatever settings you use.

This is an only plastic barely hold together piece of trash. See 'ease of use', I would never use it on a gig nor on stage.

Never been in contact with 'em ..

I play little of everything from jazz to metal and I've been playing for some odd 6 years. Got a Marshall Guvnor that I use for dist sounds + chorus on my amp for the clean sounds.

A monkey could program the effects on this proccessor. Reading the manual just confuses you so figure it out yourself. It's pretty easy switching between patches, although editing them is a pain in the ass. Not bad though.

I'm using a Fender Strat through the 505 into either a Marshall MG50RCD or a Fender Princeton. As in many Multi-Effects units in this price range, the distortions are weak and nasal. The acoustic simulator is noisy as hell. The auto-wah is pathetic. The major high point is the modulation and reverb/delay effects. These are quite usefull and have much better sound quality than the other effects.

I haven't gigged with this yet (I'm afraid to). Unless you have a AC adapter with this thing, the batteries could leave you with only you "A1" patch available. Also, it's a pain in the butt to hit the bypass switch, which by the way isn't a true bypass.

This thing is a good start for beginners who want to have a decent sound to make practice more fun. Bottom line; it sounds terrible through a tube amp. If you use it as a direct recording device, it is pretty good. My suggestion if you're thinking of buying this thing: save your money and buy a good digitech or a Toneworks.

the manual helps alot. My only trouble is that it's somewhat hard to switch from one effect to another (if they're far away). I find it hard to customize your effects to make them sound the way you want them to

i use an Epiphone Les Paul and a Peavey amp,so my equipment is pretty good. I get alot of noise on some of the distortions, but i think the quality of the effects are very good, especially the blues lead, rythem, and acoustic simulator. I have a Dunlop Crybaby Wah, and when i use it, however, i get incredible amounts of noise

I'd trust if for playing a gig, as long as i practiced my switches. It has, however, gone on the fritz several times. When i would use the bank switch down button, it would get stuck and cycle through all the banks, and i had to use my pick to pry it up. Once i took the button off, and put it back on the problem stopped

for the price i paid, this is a wonderful pedal, especially for blues, metal, fuzzy stuff, and acoustic simulation

At first I thought the manual was confusing and I din't really get it then instantly, I knew EXACTLY what to do! Very easy to do just you have to know what everything does, which is also in the manual...

Ok now here is the thing...I really believe it depends on the guitar and amp. I regularly play with an old vintage Fender Telecaster which is very nice but I get alot of noise with it. When I say noise I mean buzzing and feedback on some of the distortions. I also believe it may be because of my amp because I have a really cheap Up-Town amp which is along the production lines of Crate. I've been playing for 2 or 3 years and think I have accomplished alot! I play alot of fast, and bluesy lead. But my point is I have never had a different pedal and think I'm still not even satisfied completely with it. Now I've only had it for 3 days so I can't say to much cause' I have to still fool with it. I also have one of those new Kramer Focus's and it sounds ok on it. All in all it's an ok pedal but could be better.

Haven't had trouble mechanically yet.
I will find out if it works at gigs this weekend!

Haven't had to deal with it at all but if you don't have an adapter, don't buy their's! Go to Radioshack and buy one of their adapters and get the M size connector piece for more than half the price!!!!!

I basically play anything but country, and heavy metal...I perfer stuff along the lines of Eric Johnson, Satriani, and other "Guitarist" style stuff but I have a band that plays all kinds of rock...It works for something but I only used it just once for pratice. If it were stolen, I'd catch up to the guy and kick the crap out of him! Make sure he never steels again! Then I'd take it back, but if it broke, I'm not sure...If it was unfixable, I would probably get something else or the same again, but if it was fixable, I would get it fixed and maybe sell it to buy something else. I like the way it gives me warm bottom to my guitar. It has some really nice reverbs and stuff, and also has a nice acoustic if you tweek it just right. I really only hate the noise it sometimes gives. I wish this was bigger to give it better sound, or just wish this had a better sound period! I've wrote 3 or 4 songs, starts of them anyway with this thing! I just would like to tell you make sure you have the right stuff before you buy this thing, or listen to it first...I really like it but I think I need different stuff...

Anyway, I hope you see me fame wise on the TV or on the radio when I'm a bit older...PEACE!!!!!

well i had to coment on this as it seems this FX box thing has scored most out of anything else ... maybee its just a lot of fun to stamp on it .. H I !!! Well after owning several racks & yamaha keyboards this baby is a doddle to program .. maybee guitarists have a lack of patience .. only joking .. its a lot easier i can assure you .No different than ... Well u try to get any sense out of my wife !!! sorry dear ..

I must say i use my 505 thru a 1201 Zoom .. & into my mixer ...NO AMPS
The 505 i use just for sustain or very bright chorus ... & the 1201 i use only for reverbs .. this seems to work fine for me ... ive never used one live ... so wot do i know ... ok indoors on the carpet .. it dont slip either .. mmm !

so far ....

errrr ????

screechy ... mostly rock / blues & sometimes a bit tunefull ???? now how did that happen ??? err i must have bin something i ate ...!!
Yeah i wish it came with a couple of blondes & unlimited money in the bank !

The "manual" is a pamphlet which folds out like a map. Learning to edit the sounds takes about an hour of relatively focused reading and thinking. Once you've mastered it, it's easy to adjust (then save) any of the 24 pre-sets (Using my bare toes I can adjust it while playing, so it can't be that hard to use.) The factory settings can be re-loaded if you screw up and want to start over from scratch.

My setup: Vintage-series Stratocaster through Carvin SX-200 MOSFET amp. Tthe ZOOM pedal is run only through clean channels -- with five distortion types on board this unit, there's just no point trying to run it through an overdriven channel. With the overdrive circuit turned off, my Carvin amp is clean and quiet -- a good starting point with any effects pedal.

The noise gate works well. Learning to adjust it properly is important, because on distorted settings the compression effect amplifies hum from my stock staggered single-coils.

The two dozen pre-sets are generally extreme examples, intended to show off a range of effects. The average player will find some useless, but all can be adjusted to fit your taste (once you spend a reasonable 30-60 minutes learning how to program it).

I'm not trying to "get the sound" of anybody. But I can report this unit has some great basic sounds which seem fully adjustable across a wide spectrum. The noise gate keeps my strat quiet (amazingly!) on all five (quite different) distortion types. Excellent flanger, chorus, hall and room reverb, and digital delay.

Nits to pick:
1) Though fun to play with and certainly usable onstage for a clean sound, the acoustic simulator at best does a good take on an Ovation's plasticky tone.
2) The wah-wah and pitch-shifter effects sound great and can be programmed to follow various rythmns or intervals, but a separate "expression pedal" is needed to get the most from those patches.
3) This hasn't yet become an issue for me, but most of these effects are grouped together in six or so effects "banks" (not counting separate controls for parameters like volume, intensity, EQ, etc). They can't be combined WITHIN a bank -- you select one setting (controlling one effect) per bank. These groupings seem to make sense: for example, room and hall reverbs and digital delay are packaged together, and you're not likely to wanna link those. I'm not so sure about some other effects, however, and potential buyers may wanna check out the manual (viewable at the Musicians Friend website.)

No electrical problems yet, and though the body's plastic, the pedals seem durable.

I play mostly electric blues with a fair amount of clean rythmn comping. I've played 21 years, with several struggling bands and in a range of recording situations.
This pedal is cheap, sturdy, and comes loaded with a range of infinitely tweakable patches. The 24 pre-programmed effects it comes with won't satisfy many users -- you have to learn how to use the editing features, and then it'll come alive.

pretty easy to use, good clear manual.( read it twice and it all makes sense) with fender guitars and the auto wah i reccomend playing with the pick up selector to get the right sound

only brought this for the auto wah, but got quite attached to the other effects, good all round pedal for price

seems pretty reliable,
use it on gigs regularly

never talked to them

i play hendrix covers and it does exactly what i want it to do,
maybe the foot controled wah could be better but apart from that its a good pedal

A slice of pie. I didn't have the manual for the unit, and it took about 5 minutes to figure out the effects/edit/save/bypass functions. The parameter settings are in a numbered list--in other words, you can't set a specific delay time, you have to just page through the parameters until it is close to what you want. In addition, you can't put the unit in bypass mode and then scroll through patches -- the unit goes back into active mode as soon as you try to scroll through. For that reason, you can't really use this for gigging if you use more than one patch in a song unless you store them side by side. Yuck.

I was going to use this unit for band rehearsal with my Carvin SX-100/Marshall 412 and my humbucker-equipped mutt guitar. The effects aren't bad for an inexpensive unit, and it sounded rather nice through the clean channel. The distortions were okay, but not something I'd likely use. Then came the bad news.
I use the amp's distortion and not the unit's. When I switched the Zoom into bypass mode and switched to the amp's drive channel, HOLY CRAP! A wall of white noise hit me like a ton of bricks! It sounded like I was on the runway with a 747. And that was in Bypass Mode!! Turn the volume of the guitar all the way down and you can't hear yourself think over the hiss. Patching back in to the Zoom didn't help at all. Just lots of noise. Nasty noise levels. Sounds fine on the clean channel, but for god's sake use the unit's distortion to comabat the noise. My buddy has an old Zoom distortion box that suffers from the same problem. Come on Zoom, get it together. Because the noise makes it unusable if you want to use your amp's drive channel, this category gets a 1.

I'm a bit weary of the plastic construction. The foot switches feel alright, but the buttons are pretty flimsy feeling. Somewhat solid, but I can see it failing with an overly-excited player smashing it into the floor to change patches every few minutes.

Never dealt with them.

I have been playing progressive hard rock for about 8 years and own a load of equipment. This was going to be my easy-to-carry rehearsal effects box, but I'm getting rid of it because of the noise problem. Completely unusable if you have any respect for your tone or noise levels.
For $200 bucks,you can pick up the Carvin XP2 processor that is dead quiet and has studio quality effects. No brainer.

it is semi-easy to use, but it could be a little more user friendly. not too hard getting a good sound.

it is pretty good, but, as others have said, it sounds digital. it sounds digital because it is digital (makes since). the distortions are the main complaint. the only distortion i really like is the fuzz. the acoustic simulator is pretty cool, seeing as the entire unit cost me 20$. the mods are a little stiff, but are better than nothing. the delays and reverbs are nice for amps with no verb. all the effects are just pretty good, nothing to write home about, but still rather good if you just want a compact pedal.

seems very dependable despite the plastic casing.

i dunno

It is very easy to get a good sound out of.You can get the sounds you make when playing air guitar.Editing patches is exteremely easy I had the perfect patchs in Literally minutes.Pretty good manual.It's easy to use.If you don't read he manual It'll take you awhile to learn how to operate it.

My setup is a Squier strat ,boss bd-2 blues Driverand a Fender Frontman 15g amp. There is no noise it it's very silent.The efects sound great all the time thers not a time when tone gets wimpy. I got all my favorite sound from all my favorite artrists, I almost thought I was listening to the albums.I got the sounds of Jimi Hendrix,Nirvana ,Offspring,Red Hot Chili PeppersLed Zeppelins,Sugar Ray,Green Day ,Stevie Ray Vuaghn,limp bizkit and many,many more

I can defintely depend on it.It dosen't need a backup.

Never dealt with them

I play Punk and Alternitive.It dose that very well. I've been playing for 3 years now.I have a Boss blues driver ,Squier Strat and Fender frontman 15 amp.I would replace it if got stolen or lost.I love the features,my fav feature is the Fuzz effect ,it's very viscous.
I Chose it because of The great thing I heard about it.It has everything Ineec and want. It helps make music, it contributes to alot of the riffs I make.
I would recomend it to any guitarist looking to get an effects pedal
Very few mulkti effects pedals are made for the guitarist looking to jam with their friends in a garage Thats what this is made/priced for.that's the best feature.
If any one has any good Classic rock,Punk or Alternitive patches E-mail me.

It's easy to get a good sound you just have to know what you want. I don't know why people have such a problem with the editing you couldn't make it any simpler, the manual is very clear and tells you everything you need to know.

My band BlUSH uses the 505 as a voice effects pedal. Our female vocalist wanted a pedal that had a very clean sound and had all the basis effects. We tryed 5 different voice effect pedals and hated them all. Everyone had a muddy sound or bad effects. So we tryed hooking up to our guitarist zoom and she has never sounded better. You would not believe what a great voice effects pedal this is. We even tryed the 405 accoustic and that sounded great as well it just doesn't have as many effects.

The zoom is very dependable as long as you are not jumping up and down on it. BLUSH has been using it every rehursal twice a week and every weekend we play for over a year and have had absolutely no problems at all. My advise to any user is to learn everything there is to know about it before you get on stage because if you mess something up and don't know what you did it can be frustrating to fix.

I have never needed any customer support but have visited the Zoom website which appears customer service oriented.

Most guitar pedals don't work well for vocals but the Zoom 505 is great. Each time my band BLUSH plays a gig we have people asking us what we use to get her voice to sound so clear. After spending hundreds of dollars on other voice effect pedals and getting a terrible sound, the Zoom 505 is a steal. We even used the pedal in the recording studio. Our sound engineer thought we were crazy for wanting to use it but after he heard the first take of her vocal track he was impressed. I would have to say that the best effects are the HALL and DELAY. They let her voice carry and project over the rest of the band. Another good one is the STEP effect which let's her sing harmonies.

not that great. there is too much to full with. If you used it when gigging you would have to hit the pedal 20 times just to get the sound you wanted

sounds ok. All effects are very thin sounding and pretty much cheap imitations of the real thing. It pretty much sounds the same no matter what guitar you use. If you use a good amp you will get a good sound but it really wont be from the pedal, it will be the amp. It is really designed to be a "practice" pedal for people who are going to play at home or at low volumes.

from my dealings with it i wouldn't trust it. I know of several that quit working just days after they came out of the box. I mean just totally quit. Sometimes the thing wouldn't even come on and if it did the effects would not engage. It eats batteries but most effects do so that is really no big deal.

here is the bottom line. If you havent been playing long and plan to practice only at home by yourself or others houses with friend you will love this pedal. It gives you a large variety of sounds in a small box. Once you have been playing for a while and you hear a killer pedal through a good amp you will be ready to sell the zoom and wonder why you ever bought it in the first place. My advice is save your money, play and listen to many different kinds of music, do a little research and then buy the effects that best fit your playing style. You will be much more statisfied and have a much better sound.

it is a little hard to understad the manual that came with it but once you grasp what they are trying to tell you it isnt all that bad

i have used it through a crate amp and it didnt sound so good but when i use it on my main amp a fender delux tube amp it sounds pretty good. i am playing on a older model pro tone strat i have some favorite artists but mostly i just try to sound like me. the flanger is ok the delay could be a little better the wah is great when you use it manualy with the volume pedal and not on auto

yea you can depend on it a little bit but i wouldnt use it at a gig without a backup. seems to be made real cheap

never had to have it worked on but i have had some troble with the ac adapter not wanting to work when plugged into box you have to wiggle it a little. that just sucks

i play all kinds of music but i prefer blues and hard rock. i have been playing for 10 years no i probably wouldnt buy another one i would go with a korg or a pod 6... the built in tuner works pretty good.

At first i thought it would be difficult to program this thing but after an hour it was easy so i giv it a 9

i use a 20 watt marshal and i think the distortion is good but not very good but the i only thing i hate abt this pedal is that the acoustic sucks man .....

i cant depend on this and would rather by a more expensive pedal not made of plastic....

I play a show band kind of music and hardcore for the other band....I think this is a good match for small time gigs....ive been playing for more than 5 yrs but i just can get enough of it i would rather buy a more expensive and not made of plastic.....ayaw nalang pagtugatuga ani kay banga kaayo!

Well, it's very simple to choose and edit the patches. i dunno why so many people have had problems with that. Manual was a little silly but made sense. It's kinda hard to get a good sound out of it without tinkering a good bit. Hell, I'm 16, and it's was second nature to me after a half an hour. I've had it for about a month or so.

Mine was a model that had 4 AA battaries rather than a 9v.
Don't ask me how it works on 4 AAs, that's 6V i think.

well my setup a Harmony H-802 (which by the way can sound good when you put some slinkeys on it, raise the neck with washers, and raise the pickups), the 505, and usualy some speakers which have some nice low ends. but I usualy use headphones out the zoom. I had to lower the bridge pickup 'cause the distortions make the pickups sensetive.


no feedback. I do play using headphones (KOSS RULES! with an added heavy duty cable, the stock cables on headphones suck). But when I use it with my amp, it sounds fine. a little loud though, but no feedback. maybe it's the soapbar pickups.


the effects range. I can't tell the differance between the limiter and compressor being on or off, the amp simulator doesn't do much. the noise spressor is good. distortions are a bit generic, but usable (the interface is digital, what can you expect?), chorus and flange are pretty good. this one funky effect called the "step" or whatnot is compleatly useless, unless you wanna scare old people and say "THE MARTIANS ARE INVADING!!". the otave aspect of this is ok, but a little too "synthy", but i can use it once in a while. the delays and reverbs are exquisit. phaser, well i dunno im not into phasers so i can't give a good rating. i think there's some other features. like the tuner, which is handy if you switch tunings often. i usualy just drop D or Eb.

in short it's good for beginners. I can already get a Creed sound. and a semi decent Jimi Hendrix version of the Star Spangled banner sound. trying to get a Siamese Dream sound. but not close enough.

Yeah I guess I can depend on it. I mean I don't chuck it across the room or anything. heck, i don't even step on it, since i play sitting down i just sit it next to me. I doubt I'd use it for a gig, except maybe the delays/reverbs or chorus. i'd just get a DS1, or Smash Box, or Bigmuff or something for distortion.

Well I got it from guitartrader.com, it came in about 9 days after with all the manuals and things.

Well I play smashing pumpkins, pink floyd (haha I wish), led zeppelin, and some other stuff. but usualy i just play some nirvana or something easy. I've been known to drop D and crank out "new fangled simple crap" as I call it. just for a testosterone rush.

I've been playing for about.. ohh 7 to 8 months. no lessons though.
If this where stolen, i'd probably see if anything else was. then hunt for the dude, pimp-smack him and take it back.

it's pretty sweet for $62, a good investment in my opinion. though a few effects are useless.

nah i didn't compare products. i just heard it was a nice pedal. seeing as how I could save $20 I was hooked.

I wish it had a decent octaver. or some better distortions, that sound different. maybe some knobs for fine tuning various effects.

I can't say it helps me make music, as I only make little riffs and things once in a while. it kinda helped me learn about effects though (I had flanger and Wah confused).

last words? yeah, don't get the adapter, or the expression pedal. they're both a waste. I had a cheap 9v adapter around the house that works great. if you don't have one, it'd be much cheaper to get a $7 one or something than whatever ZOOM will charge you. You can make an expression pedal for a little under $30 using some guitar cables, plug adapters, and a $20 volume pedal.

oh yeah, don't forget to get an extra cable before you get it.
there's also a few pages on the web dedicated to the ZOOM505 with settings and guides.

easy to use after about a half hour of fiddling.

I am using a Fender Squire Stagemaster through a cheesy practice amp. I bought this thing for $60 to improve the sound on my amp and I was astonished. YOU WILL NOT FIND A BETTER SOUNDING BETTER BUY ANYWHERE!
The distortions are limited, so you may want to use you own pedal, but the distortions sound great, just not tweakable. It seems everyone that complains about the buzz is using the same setup. Go figure. I had no buzzing with mine. I haven't played with it long enough to try to copy other artist's sounds, but I'm positive it can be done. This thing sounds so good that when I was playing it in the store someone else went and bought the thing after hearing me play it without even trying it. I am into all kinds of rock (except trendy crap with strange band names to cover up for lack of talent, i.e. blink 182...)

I would use it at a gig. No back up needed. Yes, it is plastic, but how much damage do you really plan on doing to a pedal? If you're trying to break the thing, it's gonna break. But if you break it at a gig, I think you better start paying more attention to your playing and less to your antics. people will be just as impressed if you don't break you're hard-earned equipment, and you won't look like a schmuck.

dunno. haven't called them.

This thing sounds really amazing. It's on sale right now at various shops and websites, they're blowing them out for less than wholesale! Get a move on it.

hit edit ,pick youre effects,and there intensity. smack the store button once,pick a channel hit store again .youre done now wasnt that easy!!!

ive played many differennt effect units this unit is the cheapest,and it sounds great.(i highly recomend the expression pedal)then ya can use pedal wah,detune up,detune down,or as volume pedal.

even though its plastic its very dependable,ive had mine for almost 2 years and the only little problem i have is the + button button sticks sometimes.prob needs cleaned .

never used costomer support

now the 505 is only like $90 and its got a new style. you wont find a better sounding pedal under $100.get the expression pedal, and the 505 processor and you cant go wrong!!!!