Zoom 505

The 505 is easy to use in some ways and not in others. Its easy to change patches but some of the effects settings are a bit funny so you have to consult the manual (which is a single sheet).

I think the sound is quite good for the price. There is a distint lack of tone on the high gain settings.

Im never gonna play a gig so this bit of plastic is fine. You can't stand on it though.

never needed support

Its okay, I would rather have 10 seperate boxes but I don't have A$1500 to spend. It is GREAT value, if you ask me.

I bought mine about 1 month ago and the "manual" is falling apart. Extremely easy to edit patches, and found it pretty versatile. Been playing guitar for about a year and started editing right away. My wife used to complain about tripping over pedals: not anymore.

It is a bit noisy when routed through the pre amp. Much better sound quality through the effects loop, and I really suggest to lower the main volume. You can adjust it so you get the same sound through the clean or lead channels and effects loop. I mainly use the metal and fuzz distortions, but have to edit the patch to get a decent sound: really put some time into it, but with this unit almost anything is possible. The EQ sucks: basically I turn it off in every patch I edit. The rest of the effects leave a door open to some creativity. I think it is great for the money. About 3/4 of the pre-programmed effects are useless, but that gives you space to come up with your own effects. Great feature: if you mess up you can recall all the patches to factory settings or restore one patch at a time. Suggestion: write down the parameters for each patch you edit just in case you erase any of your edits.

The case looks sort of weak. I always keep my pedals in hand because I tend to abuse it, but it is still in one piece, and I really abuse it. If interested in purchasing, you definitely have to buy an AC adapter. Batteries do not last.

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I definitely recommend it. You know you've got something good if your friends keep trying to borrow it. I love the ease of editing, the enormous amount of combinations, and if put through the effects loop and use the amp's overdrive, you can come up with some extremely interesting and wild effects. I've used it with tube amps, transistors, but mostly with Peavy "Transtube" and always get great effects. I love it, and for the money I'd recommend it to anyone.

Most of the presets are just awful. A real shame, because with a little editing, some pretty decent sounds can be had. The manual could be a little better, but it gives enough info to use it. I didn't find editing to be that difficult, but it took a few minutes to get the hang of it.
The EQ section, in particular, could be a little easier to program. The way it is set up makes it difficult to nail a preferred sound. But eventually it can be done.
I've also set my unit up so that a lead sound is only one or two steps away from the rhythm sounds. I've had no problems switching between effects quickly.
It would have been nice to have more pedals, but that would put the price up. The Zoom 1010 is a little easier to switch effects, and the individual effects can be modified. On the 505, almost nothing about an effect can be modfied (but that's not much of a problem; there's about 9 versions of each effect).

For the money, it's pretty good. The strong points are: good reverbs/delays (most, if not all, are in stereo!), limiter, chorus, auto-wah, noise reduction (gating), etc. I really like the Acoustic guitar simulation, which allows my electric to sound pretty close to an acoustic (as heard through a PA).
The weak points of the unit include: most of the distortions are just horrible, but I was able to get some decent tones out of the Rhythm distortion (the others sounded better through a guitar amp, but I play straight into a PA); the EQ was difficult to set up, but usable; and (as with all Zooms I've tried) the phasing and flanging effects are annoying and unmusical. Also, the amp simulation could be improved a little; a couple of different choices would be a big improvement, and couldn't add much to the cost (there's only a choice of amp simulation on or off). The amp simulation tries to give a Marshall-like stack sound, and I would have preferred something Fender- or Boogie-like.
The noise factor wasn't really a problem through the headphones or a PA. The only time I noticed it was when I first got the unit and plugged it into my guitar amp. Sounds much better though the effects return than through the preamp. The gating is pretty good. I did not find noise to be a problem.
I'm in a band that plays out, and run the 505 straight into the PA. The soundman just loves it! Makes it easier to keep the volume and mix stable. Sounds fine for what we do, but really heavy rock or metal folks might want to use something else for distortion.

I've been practicing with it for a couple months, and have done a couple shows with it. No problems that I've found. I'm now using my guitar amp as a cheap monitor. So far, so good.
While it is obviously a cheap plastic unit, the springs on the pedal seem pretty sturdy. I wouldn't stand on it, like a Boss pedal, but it's about what you expect for the cheapest possible multi-effects unit available.
I use a Radio Shack AC adapter, and have had no problems on the power side. No difference in sound between a new battery and AC.

I have had no need to deal with them so far.

For those who are cash-strapped, and would like some effects, this would be a great deal. Also good for beginners. I like it a lot. I would prefer the Zoom 1010, for its pedals and editing ability, but this gives 90% of the usabilty, and the sound quality is about the same.
You have to expect some limitations for being the cheapest multi-effects unit around (and there is certainly room for improvement), but I love it! It's a great value.

Easy once you figure out how to edit patches. Good manual. Forget changing effects mid-song, theres about a .25 second delay when doing so -- totally throws you off. Also, you always accidently get the wrong effect, which will really piss you off

Fairly noisy. Almost all effects are WEAK and unusable unless you spend hours tweaking them.

I wouldnt use it as a stomp box -- very flimsy. Using it for a gig would be a JOKE.

Im returning mine, exchanging it for a wah and distortion. Maybe someone could learn to love it, but I think it SUCKS. Its tempting to buy these multi effect pedals but DONT. Just buy individual boxes for some REAL sounds.

The good effects (or rather- the ones I like) are pretty good sounding already. However, there are some pretty terrible (or should I say unusable to me) sounding effects - rather key ones for a guitar effect pedal that I can't get to sound to my liking. Editing is pretty cryptic at first but after about 10 minutes, it's pretty easy.

The unit uses ZNR which is a type of smart NR that works pretty well - silence. All the effects sound great with the exceptions of any of the distortion settings, the amp simulation, and the compression. The distortions sound really tizzy and "processed". The Amp simulation won't fool anyone and the compression tends to lose the character of the guitar. I'm into retro 60s and 70s rock so maybe it's just not to my liking. The distortions put a very distinct character into the sound and I just don't like it. I've tried for hours to get this thing to sound like tubes and blues and crunch but it just sounds like tizz. However, the chorus, reverb, delays, EQ, and everything else is excellent sounding. The auto-wah, and wah simulation (optional pedal needed for crybaby-like sound) are unheard of in this price range. It's kind of a mixed bag. In order for this thing to sound good, it MUST go through a guitar amp. The amp simulation isn't worth anything to me.

It's plastic- but it's under $150. Don't stomp on it too hard and too much unless you buy an extended warranty that covers abuse. As long as it's physically pampered, it will probably get beat up. The electronics are probably pretty reliable, but this is a foot pedal and that's more than half the game.

You cannot get a better multi-effects unit for under $150. Period.
I'm returning this to the store though because the distortion/amp simulation are pretty key for a unit of this sort and they just don't cut it for 60s and 70s rock. I have to spend more money.
If you like the ZOOM sound- this is killer.

Easy as. I was using it straight out of the box, and its the first pedal I've ever owned. The manual is very good, it explains what you need to know. Editing is a piece of cake (as I said before its the first pedal I've owned, so if i can use it no troubles it must be easy :) ).

Some of the factory presets aree fantastic, some suck. It is a little noisy on some effects. The volume on the distortions is too high, and on the clean tones it is too low. Not good for songs that make quick tansitions between clean and dirty tones. But for the price, and for my purposes (I've only been playing a year) it is fantastic.

Don't know, only had it a month but hasn't broken down yet :)

Ditto

Fantastic value for money :) Id buy it again no hesitation.

Very good sound right out of the box. Many have complained about hiss and noise, but mine's very quiet with Fender Strat Plus through an old Twin Reverb. Haven't had lot of time to try editing yet, but looks simple enough. Manual written by Japanese High Schooler studying English as a second language, not too helpful. Would like to hear from anybody willing to share creative new patches.

Sound quality excellent to my ears, but then I have little or no exposure to any of the more expensive units.

Built sturdier than I expected for the price, but still wouldn't depend on it too much for professional use other than studio.

No need to deal with them so far.

Would buy it again in a minute - I don't think I have ever seen a better value for the money in over 30 years of buying musical equipment. If I were still playing out regularly I might spring for a more rugged unit, but for casual use this thing is incredible.

Very simple to edit patches, the hardest thing is memorizing the button combonations to do the various functions (they needed to overload the button functions due to the small size and cost). I wrote a cheat sheet and left it on the floor during gigs the first couple times.

I never tried another zoom product, but I bought this from a catalog with out even listening becase of the price and number of effects. (I also own an RP-5 and the distortions, both grunge (TM) and OD are totally useless to me). I liked the sounds particularly A1, B1, and F2, presets. NOTE: as with most effects units the default volume is WAY too high, the power amp is supposed to handle that not the preamp. They do that so it doesn't sound wimpy at first. So if you find the thing noisy, first lower the overall volume to about 22 or 24 which makes the clean sounds only slightly louder than your natural amp, and the heavy settings more as it should be. Digital effects are fine but not too flexible (for the price, I'm surprised you have any choice). Also, no noticible delay in switching which is great (you have to be in skip/confirm mode). Wah is better than digitech, but it still can't vomit like a cry-baby. Expression and Pitch shift are pretty smooth. Before, I would never use anything but a vintage dist, but I found lead, blues and OD pretty good.

Yes, because I always have a Rat and TS-9 on the side; with any digital device, switching programs always requires a tap dance. So you have to step with care anyway. So I stomp on the Rat or real Wah when necessary :-)

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Again for the price I think it's worth every cent, I bought it for rehearsal, now the RP-5 has that spot :-) NOTE: I'm compring it to units in the $100-150 range.

Although the manual is skimpy, it explains the unit well enough. Programming is easy to do, but you have to know what you want.

Sounds great. Has noise reduction on it which helps a bit. Distortions are OK. Be careful not to have too much reverb/delay at the same time as some raunchy distortion type. Effects sound good, but are limited in how m much you can manipulate their properties. Like the phase shifter. Haven't messed around with the eq, but it seems kind of lame. Can't adjust frequencies independtly, have to give an eq rating of 1-50. OK, but I like to have more freedom with my eq.

It seems to be pretty sturdy. It is made of plastic so be careful. Eats up batteries so either have whole lot of 9v's or get an adapter.

Would buy it again, but if I could afford the 4040, or an ART ECC, probably get one of those, but I don't that kind of money right now, nor is a more expensive pedal a neccessity. Most factory presets are crap. There are a couple that are nice though. Programming is hard if you don't know what exactly you want. I would like to be able to just browse through the effects, but instead I have to go through and program it (though not neccessarily save it). Would be nice to have more control over effects. For example: with the auto-wah, you just give a rating of 1-9, you can't specifically control the rate or depth. This is the same amongst most of the effects. Nice features include: jack for expression pedal which can be used for wah, volume, or pitch shift. if you don't want an expression pedal, you can get a foot switch so you can move through the banks easier. The output can be used with headphones which is especially nice because I always wanted a headphone amp, well yeah for me. I strongly recommend this unit for anyone, especially someone just getting into multi effects like myself, or that is strapped for cash, like myself. Its a nice little compact unit (about as big two stomp boxes), and for that size you get a lot.

Editing the patches couldn't be much easier ! But the manual is a bit thin...

Most of the modulation effects ( chorus, flanger... ) are pretty good, but the distortions aren't that good. But then again, what can you expect for $120 ?

Hmmmm... it's a plastic case, and it doesn,t take much abuse. Wouldn't use it on a gig.

Do repairs myself.....

Fair enough for practice purposes, but not a professional piece of equipment.

this is a great compact tool for any guitar player great sound and great reliability You can use the patches that are on the pedal or you can edit and save - there are 24 different effects and and out side pedal can be hooked through this pedal and control it's wah. It even puts out about 6 watts of power and can be used as an amp simulator. no manual though. as far as I know there are others but not of this king this is bran-new and it kicks ass too.

you can have it noisy like an amp's distort or put it on a different setting and have all of the noise cut off in a natural sounding way. The effects are never weak they offere a spot for a battery but It wore down with only two hours of use- just goes to show how much power it has. Every thing is very good - 8types of analog distortitions room reverbs hall chourses auto wha's even sudio type effects.

yes- mentioned above-yes rp-6, a little over my supply of money-pedal on the thing it self-helps-no

The manual, slim as it is, gives ample explanation on how each effect works, and how to change the settings on it. This is my first digital effect, and it seems quite simple to operate.

I couldn't tell whether the noise was from my amp or the box, but some of the more subtle patches needed a volume boost on the amp, causing som ehiss. The distorts were great, although the metal setting was a bit thin. (The again, so are all the metal distorts I've heard, analog or digital) I was amazed at the range of sounds my crummy old guitar and amp could make.

Plastic case. Plastic pedals. Disaster in the making. This box'll last forever with me, because even in my most frenzied solo, I don't *STOMP* on any of my pedals. Maybe I'm just old. Oh yeah, plug in a battery adapter, or you'll be paying loads of money to the Energizer bunny.

I fix 'em myself. The company'll never hear from me.

I like it. I'd like to convince the other members of the band to buy one, so that we won't have to swap all the time. The case could use some beefing up. The effects could have more settings to adjust, but hey, it's only got six push swiches on the whole box, and any more settings would make it impossible to program quickly. A steal for $100.

The manual is clear and editing patches is very easy. I've never had a multi-effecs box before and I was surprised how easy it was to use.

It has just about every effect imaginable. 8 kinds of distorions, EQ, chorus, phaser, flange, delay, 2 kinds of reverb. The distortions have a 1-30 adjustment on gain. All the other effects have a 9 fixed settings. They all sound decent but you don't have the adjustability of individual stomp boxes or higher end multi-effectors. The only problem is noise. The thing is noisy even in bypass mode. This is a very big design defect as far as I'm concerned. On a noisy amp (like my Traynor) the hiss is noticeable and objectionable.

Only had it a week. It's all plastic. It will eat a 9 v. battery in about 2 hours. Can't really tell.

Never had to use it.

The store where I bought it has a 2 week return policy and I'm seriously thinking of returning it due to the noise. The effects and programmability are great for the price but it shouldn't be noisy in bypass mode.

Very easy to get a good sound. Very nice and clean. Although it is not possible to "finely tweak" the effect. The variety of parameters is extensive and covers most of what I want. Controls are pretty intuitive.

Great sound. (it is a zoom after all !). Good noise gating.

Great little piece of equipment. Could be built into a sturdier case. But hell, for $120 it is the best value you can get. 24 effects, 24 patch locations (user writable) and it comes with the famous zoom step effect. Very cool.

The 505 is easy to use, but it takes to much time fideling through the menu's. It's my first digital effect, so I can only compare it with my other analoge effects.

It's quite noisy. The sound is shit. Period. Im selling it.!!

Made out of plastic. Compared to my proco rat, this unit looks like a bycikle compared to a tank.

Dont know.

I wouldnt by it again. ... The tuner is quite okay..!

It took me about 30 minutes to learn how to program this thing. I was pleased with how easy it was to edit patches and store them. Maybe easy programming is what ironically brings to the downfall of this unit. It's so damn easy to program, because each effect has only one parameter you can change. An example of this is the flanger module. The only thing you can manipulate is the speed of the flange. There's no controls for depth, regeneration, etc. The same goes for chorus and the phaser.

Certain effects are better than others. The compressor/limiter did'nt seem to do anything to the overall sound, even when I put compression up to 6.\ The metal distortion sounds artificial and weak. The fuzz sounded plain and boring. The "blues distortion" was pretty good, but it didn't sound bluesy to me. The delays were decent, as well as chorus and the pitch shifter.

It's made of plastic. So you people who go beserk while playing pumpkins or nirvana might destroy after one gig. To tell ya the truth, I really don't know how reliable it is. I sent the unit back after 2 days of receiving it.

Never dealt with the company.

For a 100 clams you cant' beat all the effects and programming power the ZOOM 505 gives. But that's if you're into cheesy effects and are not a conisseur of great guitar tone.

A compact multi effector we all need!!!

It is as good as other zoom effectors.

The body is made of plastic. You cannot abuse the effector like when you do on BOSS.

Good! Easy! Powerful!