Zoom 505

I am amazed that so many reviewers have given a low rating in this category. I had this bad boy figured out in less than two minutes thanks to the multitude of web pages out there (check out: http://users.erols.com/gottstein/zoom/zoom505.htm ). Because of these sites I have yet to even look at the manuals. It is very easy to use.

My setup is a Fender Japanese Strat with Hotrail humbucker at the bridge and stock single coils at neck and middle or a Gibson Les Paul Junior Special. I also have a Pro Co Rat and a Cry Baby Wah. I run it through either a Fender Bullet Reverb, Peavey Bandit 75, or my Yamaha MT 120 Four Track. There is very little noise through my humbuckers, but the single coils can be noisy with some settings. I play all types of music and this has a pretty good sound for most, though I am still trying to find a distortion sound with a little more low end and crung. I just use my Rat when I need that during recording. There are so many damned sounds you can get from this little box, you just have to be creative because the presets are not very good. There aren;t many sounds that you can't get from this thing if you tinker with it (that is half of the fun anyway!)

It is plastic, so I wouldn;t want to beat it too bad. The foot switch is not very smooth either when it comes to changing effects in the middle of a song. I would certainly not want to gig with this thing- studio and home play only here folks. Under those conditions I don't see any problems.

Never had to deal with them and I hope I never do.

I like to play a variety of music and this has been perfext for me. I have been playing since 1983 so I am no rookie kids. I also own a Tokai APB-?64 Bass, Fender Statacoustic (Buy one if you can get your hands on it!), Fender DG-7, Squier II Fat Strat, Boss Dr. Rhythm DR 550 Drum Machine, and Casio CTK-611 Synthesizer. If it were stolen I would be very pissed and buy another. I love the sheer number of sounds you can create. The only thing I dislike is the lack of a smooth transition between effects during a song that you get with the stomp boxes. If anyone can find me an effects unit as complete as this for twice the money I would love to see it. Contrary to other reviewers I do not think this box is only for beginners. I believe beginners should not get this. Get a Rat, Strat, and an amp and get your own style and skills down before you start screwing around with multiple effects. Otherwise, you will not be able to appreciate the sheer creativity that this box offers you. Oh yeah- BUY THE ADAPTER. It pays for itself in a couple of days.

Damn, talk about easy all you whinos should take abit of time to figure this stuff out

I use a tele with mine and its fantastic! With the more powerful distortions and a big amp setup stay the h33l away!!!
Also you can sound like anyone you want no matter what.
The distortions are good on a lower to midlevel but, if you get too high it sounds like abunch of noise

Very reliable and I would definetly use it at a gig no questions asked. ZOOM should seriously think about making a metal version of the 505.

Never had any question or problems with it

I play classic hard rock and some metal and I love it.
I've been playing for 3 years.I own a Telecaster, Washburn(cheepo), Marshall 60W.If stolen I would bouy another. I wish it had a metal casing to it.

This is the worst pedal there is in my opinion...Editing is out
of the question and very frustrating..MANUAL SUCKS!! BIG TIME!!

I use a Fender strat through a Dod Grunge,Boss Xtortion,Boss Metal Zone,Crybaby Wah and a Crate GX15..This is so noisy..On almost every setting...Altough some sounds are cool but not enough..Most of the effects are just a joke..Big joke...I almost fell down laughing at the weakness of some of the effects..This is definitely a tone sucker..Distortion is fair.Chorus and time based effects are average.

Plastic.Weak plastic..Wish it was metal or harder...Never use this on gigs..This is just not meant for gigs..

Never dealt with Zoom..

I play a lot of types of music..This sucks big time...Get a GFX707 instead..It's so much better..I wish it had an X pedal..I would never buy this thing again...

IF YOU CAN'T FIGURE IT OUT YOU ARE A FRIGGING MORON!!!

I'VE OWNED AND USED THIS PEDAL AT 2 PRACTICES A WEEK AND APPROX. 2 SHOWS A MONTH FOR THE PAST 2 YEARS AND HAVE NEVER HAD A PROBLEM.

SINCE I HAVE NEVER HAD A PROBLEM I DON'T KNOW WHAT THE CUSTOMER SUPPORT IS LIKE.

I HAVE TO TELL YOU ALL THAT IF YOU ACTUALLY WOULD TAKE THE TIME TO CHECK OUT THE PRODUCT BEFORE YOU PAID YOUR HARD EARNED MONEY FOR IT YOU WOULD BE LESS LIKELY TO COMPLAIN...MR.$239 CANADIAN DOLLARS!!!

Not bad once you get the hang of it. "Good sound," however, is a relative term, especially concerning the 505.

Wouldn't use it for recording, other than quick and DIRTY demos... too noisey. The only such demo I did with it got a job the first tape I sent out. That is not specifically due to the 505 however... Like the sounds it makes for the price. I'm a pragmatist/cheapie. My guitars are cheap... Mexi-strat and Samick-made Springfields. My amp is cheap... Danelectro Nifty Fifty. The 505 fits right in. I'm into portable and expendable. The 505 is.

I wouldn't stomp on it... I don't stomp anyway... That's for kids. Holds up to a light tap. I generally set it on one patch and leave it there anyway. I gig with it, all night long. Would only use an ac adapter with this... wouldn't even consider batteries. I take pretty good care of my equipment. So far, so good.

Haven't had need.

Would be nice if the delay had more flexibility. Would be nice if you could use the delay and reverb simultaneously. Would be nice if they threw in tremelo. I play rockabilly/blues, so it isn't too hard to get it to do that well enough. I used to tote a compressor, an overdrive, and a delay for my guitar. Not anymore. My "sound" is pretty simple. I set variants of it through about three banks or so, and something in there is going to "fit" my mood/ears at any one time and whatever guitar I've decided to take out and use that night.... I purposely picked my guitars to get three different "classic" styles... strat, 335, and les paul. What "works" for one doesn't necessarily work for the others... The 505 patches make it easy to "get it" without tweaking any knobs.
When something comes out that is better for the same price, or less, I wouldn't hesitate jumping ship... that is, if this thing should give up the ghost. For now, it does the job. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it... or replace it." For simple souls that can play and need something for club work, oakie dokie. It is what it is. You want more, pay for it. Simple as that.

I gave it a seven because I have not yet figured out how to edit the stuff, but the ease of simply flipping through effects appeals to my lazy side.

The sound is pretty good if you're doing nothing but the effects it has. Try to turn up the distortion on your amp, and it's background fuzz heaven. Always plug it in with your guitar through the input jack on the front. If you have an effects loop, it will feedback like crazy on the distortion effects. I play through a Carvin 2x12, and I use it mostly for the tuner setting, which is really handy because it's always set to the bypass. All I have to do is hit the string and look down. However, I tune to C#, it seems to not be able to read anything below D. The acoustic setting sounds neat with the distortion up on the amp.

It has served me well for these past few years, and I take it to band practice every week. I would not want to stand to close to it when I'm on stage, though. I walk back and forth a lot (I picked that up after watching Tony Iommi too much) and I'd be afraid of crushing the little thing, or at least accidentally changing an effect. I've heard of pedals falling off, but maybe they had lemons.

I haven't had a good history with getting help from companies when my other stuff broke, usually some kid that doesn't even know where he works.

It's really an anti-climactic pedal. It's built up in reviews, mostly by places trying to sell it. It's been dependable for me, for the most part. I like some of the effects, but for the most part, they're pretty useless. My Carvin amp has better built in effects anyway. It does do me good when I have to make quick tunings with that built in tuning feature. It hasn't affected my style much, I'm a Stevie Ray and Black Sabbath fanatic, the amp's distortion does fine. I wouldn't replace it if it were stolen, lost, or broken. I recieved it as a present, so I would be more sad about it in that respect, rather than as losing a valuable part of my guitar setup.

at first, it was like fucking a chipmunk on a bowl of jello, but after a couple of days, i started to get the hang on it. Pretty cheesy distortions (unless you are playing off a mesa triple rectifier), delay is a bit shallow, as well. Good chorus, good flange. Excellent echo. I dont like the fact that you have to pay like 150 bux xtra for an expression pedal, when this ones less than that, and does like ten times the shit!!

cheesy distortions

sounds like a dog raping a mongoloid for the fuzz effect

ive spilt a lot of beer on it, and it still works!

dont think it take it to a gig...maybe

zoom is like the jews of guitar pedals, man

okay i guess

Very very easy to use, but a real pain in the ass to edit effects..If you can call them that. Having two pedals on the unit (one up, one down) can be a really bad experience onstage, especially if you want to change patches! Either you have to hit the little + or - button to switch patches, or program it so you can hit the up/down pedals enough times to cycle through the patches.. I don't know about you, but this is a nightmare on stage... The best advice I can give is; Keep all the sounds you will use in ONE patch, and have it programmed so it will stay in that patch no matter how many times you stomp those cheap little plastic pedals.. Otherwise, you could get a really really horrible response from nowhere...

First off, I must say that anyone who thinks this pedal sounds good is either deaf, 14 years old, or a complete fucking moron. This is by far the noisiest effects pedal I have ever had the misfortune of playing through. My current setup consists of a couple Strats (1973 w/ maple neck and DiMarzio pickups, and a 1989 Custom Shop Strat w/ a maple neck and Seymours) and a Yamaha AES-500. I play them all through my Crate Blue Voodoo 120 Stack with Celesion V30's. THIS SETUP SOUNDS AWESOME!! Without the Zoom 505, that is... No matter what you do to this pedal, it is noisy, it gives off alot of "white" noise. (For those who are unfamiliar with that term, think of turning on your TV with no cable plugged into it. The only way I could get this pedal relatively quiet, is when I ran it through the Effects loop of my Blue Voodoo, as the pedal's noise gate did nothing except for take off high end and make notes die quicker.. and about the distortion.. USELESS!!! There are several types of distorted tones available-I'll give them that-but they all sound like shit!!!! Chorus isn't all that bad, and the flange was decent, but I'm being really nice here. The main thing that makes this pedal suck is the fact that it has such a horrible processor. The response on some effects is VERY slow. Like the half-assed harmonizer, and the doubler/octaver.. I was hoping to get an ok 12 string sound when I turned on the octave feature.. Instead I got what resembled an out of tune harpsichord.. absolutely horrible. And some of Zoom's factory presets are the last thing you would EVER want your guitar to sound like!!! I play Eric Johnson/Joe Satriani/CCR/Zeppelin/Pink Floyd stuff.. and this pedal makes me want to cry..

Made outta cheap plastic.. I am very nice to my gear and barely touch the pedals to activate them... They both came loose and rattled constantly whenever I would move it.. Very light, too.. Can't hold its place on stage, always skids around.

If I let anyone else I know use this thing, it would be long dead..

Not even worth it

I got rid of this thing about 8 months after I bought it.. I was originally looking for a good Chorus/Flange pedal, and was gonna buy a Boss, when the Retard Sales guy told me I could buy this piece of shit for only $30 more and have all kinds of effects.. Being the moron that I am, I bought it.. But I am rid of it now... Thank God!! I hate this thing, and I hope I never see it again (besides on the bottom of my toilet) It is really that bad, don't buy it.. Get a Digitech..

Stay away from this thing, it is so horrible that it has made me anti-pedal for life..

Thanks alot, Zoom.. For having the guts to produce something so horrible at such a rediculous price.

About average for the digital-inexpensive-multi effect genre; read the manual - twice. Regarding the "manual", it's actually a large sheet of yellow paper which folds up a bit like a roadmap, and is vague and frustrating to read. ZOOM has lost what little class it once had, back in the 9002 days, and accept that most effects in the 505 are stuck in the narrow modes they are programmed in. The delay has only 9 settings for delay, no mix, and no dwell. Really! Note that delay and reverb cannot be used at the same time. Various patches have a great range of gain; the ones with distortion generally jump right out at your face, while others are barely audible. And only 4 user programable patches. What were they thinking?

What kind of market are they targeting with this product, 14 year olds? Lovers of distortion will not be disappointed with the number of "electrocuted kitten" sounds, though most people today have no idea what tone actually is. If you would like to seem to play a lot of notes really fast, and need something to cover up the flubs and poor timing, then by all means buy the 505. The famous step effect is really annoying.
To be fair, the chorus is not as bad as others I've heard, compression is handy, though a bit clunky, and noise reduction is a great relief, since this unit seems noisy. The number of effects is a good learning tool for novices, sort of like viewing a movie preview to decide if you'd like to actually buy a ticket. The price puts it within range of many, and a lot of kids will be refering to it and the "good old days" some 20 years from now, I suppose. In my humble opinion, one would be better served in buying a higher quality unit; something tells me that there will be thousands of used 505's for sale cheap in the near future.

I would not be objective if I criticized its reliability, I haven't had the unit long enough to break it (3 weeks), and will be returning it soon. If it is any help, my 9002 lasted for several years, until an electrical storm killed it.

Here we go! If my experience is typical, then it would seem that ZOOM subscribes the "greater fool" theory of marketing. In other words, why bother servicing an existing customer, when new ones will buy before they consider what it's like to not get any response from the manufacturer when something breaks. It's so gratifying for one to be ignored after several attempts to contact ZOOM (Samson); teaches you humility. Why bother them anyway, they already have your money. Did you think they were in business for their health? Once I went in to a local music store and asked if they carried ZOOM products. The salesman's reply was "garbage", just the one word. Now I know what he meant.

I've played since 1964, and have used hundreds of types of gear. I own 7 instruments presently, all top quality, including 3 I built myself. In the past I've owned Fender, Gretsch, Rickenbacker, Gibson, Vox, and Marshall products, to name a few. The ZOOM products I've had in the past were generally good, I think the 500 series might have been a mistake. Likewise their customer service.

This is the second generation Zoom 505 built in green transparent plastic with an aluminium base, taking 4 AA batteries.
As Easy to use as stabdard 505, but its updated GFX-2 processor means there is less background hum. I was editing patches within 10 minutes of recieving it. Manuals come in 5 languages and are clear and easy to use, but with something this simple why would you need one?

Updated processor means that it is much quiter than a standard 505 and the effects sound a lot less digital. Some of the presets are inspired - Metal Overdrive, Acoustic and Fuzz Wah, other are less so but with a bit of tweaking you get a huge range of great sounds, of course it does not sound as good as individual stomp boxes but at the price of less than 1 who cares?

Slightly better built than the original 505 check the aluminium base plate maybe eventually Zoom will build all their products in metal. The change of batteries to AA drastically increases battery life. However I would be dubious about puting full weight on it. But I'm sure if I did it would survive.
I would gig without backup - carefully.

Havent needed to yet,comes with a years guareentee so If it goes wrong they'll soon get it back.

For the price nothing beats it. Better built than the shoddily designed piece of plastic they call 707 and for the money saved I'll get nyself a proper Wah - either a Morley or Crybaby, Hell for the price where can you go wrong.

The Zoom 505 is easy enough to program, and for the price, it accomplishes the tasks of at least 10 stomp-boxes (which are always of questionable usefulness anyway, except the TS-9).WHY WON'T ANYONE PUT A POWER SWITCH ON THEIR STOMP BOXES OR PROCESSORS?!? I did. I drilled a hole next to the power jack, and removed a corner of the battery housing inside.Then I installed a toggle to the 9v wire. That eliminates dead batteries when I return from a phone call offstage.

After playing for 20 years, and going from cheap DOD chorus boxes up to the ART SGX2000, Digitech GSP21 and RP10, I have to say I'm impressed with this little guy. If it wasn't for the lack of predelay on the reverb (try getting a fender spring-reverb sound from it sometime), and the fact that the distortion doesn't capture the tone of my strat as I bend a string, I'd say it's wonderful. Of course, I had to alter every single patch to get it to be useful, but I've done that on all my processors. It seems sound engineers have no grasp on what we guitarists consider "usable". They tend to want show off how awful a patch can get when you overload it with delay. When was the last time you listened to an album where delay was used, anyway? Okay, I'll get off my soap-box.
The autowah works better than a Digitech product. In fact, I've got the "Sunshine of Your Love" tone programmed in it. Forget the expression pedal, it sound good enough in automode. I also have programmed in The Cars flanged tone, and it sounds great. SRV is a little harder to capture. My "Jimmy Page" patch was easy to program.This pedal is a little cleaner than the Digitech products, when run back-to-back. The Digitechs seem to lose a little more signal - proven by their bypass settings. The acoustic simulator is part of the distortion circuit?!? Okay, whatever. Its weird, and I don't use it. For any preamp, I suggest NOT playing one through a tube amp, or even fender solid state amps, as they are modeled after tube tone. Use a sterile amp, perhaps a keyboard amp. And for any guitarist- lose the 8 inch speakers. It is common opinion in all the guitar circles I've been involved with, that 12 inch speakers are perfect for guitar.

It's done fine so far- nothing's busted yet. Then again, I also don't "mosh" my gear while I play, either. It sure can eat batteries, though. I'm tempted to try a Nimh battery. I tried a Nicad rechargable, but those are only 7.2 v, not 9. How and why they sell them, I don't know.

I've never talked to them.

I play anything from Pink Floyd to Dream Theatre to Beatles, style-wise. It works pretty well, but my disappointment with the reverb prevails, and I've had some problem with noise on occasion, which is hard to duplicate.I'm interested in the RP2000.

I have used this product as an introductory effects unit ages ago and in the way of use, its pretty easy.
Up or down, scroll through the effects pretty easy. the editing, saving, tuner etc however bring it down in ease. But all in all pretty easy 2 use!

mmmm sound quality isnt the best part f this product. It does have lots of effects for such a cheap unit though, however they are very low quality.

Ummm i wouldnt really trust this pedal as far as i could throw it.
It isnt intended for gigging however if i was to use it at a gig i would definatley use backup. Its more for the use of a begginer guitarist just getting into effects.

Never dealt with them

I play heaps of different styles of music and the zoom 505 just doesnt cut it.
If i was looking 4 an introductory effects unit i would be looking at maybe a korg or a boss. I wouldnt waste time on the zoom when youll have to upgrade very soon due to itz lack of quality!

I don't think its easy to edit, but to use it can't get much easier.
The manual sucks!!! It was probalby written in Japanese and translated, it doesn't make sense in some areas like the eq patch.

I use it with acoustic & electric guitar.
you can get a good acoustic patch with limiter, amp sim, chorus, and hall reverb. i was suprised by the sound, just don't over do the effects.
(Try acoustic sim. through an acoustic, can get a cool sound)
I got the petal because I play bass and have a bass amp, didn't want to buy a guitar amp, and needed distortion, chorus, & such. I hardly play electric through it.
the preset patches suck, and you will probably want to modify everylast one of them.

It has worked for me (and my friends who like to borrow) for about 8 or 9 months with no problem. Using the memory it sucks batteries, get a cheep adapter. Play shows without back up frequently

For what I play with (acoustic & electric both straight to system or through bass amp) and for (small groups <100)it is good for me. I have been playing for <2yrs and have a Ibanez acoustic with aftermarket piezio and a Minx110 bass amp, or a BXR100.
If it were stolen I would buy a 707, because they are so much better and it wouldn't be that much more to buy. I wish this petal was as easy to edit as the 707. It helps make music but you have to work awhile on patches to make them sound right.
I is great for the price

Oh yea!!!!, This thing is very easy to use. It has a little "edit" button, just hit it, then go through the effects with the patch buttons and edit with the bank buttons, dont get no simpler than that.

Hummmmmm, y'know....I think this pedal gets a really bad rap. This thing sounds pretty damn good through any amp. I use all the efects, for some reason or another. They all have a great sound if you can think of something to use them with..haha, but they really do sound great!!! I run this thing through a cheap Epiphone LP Special, and a small Fender Frontman 15wt, and there is little-no noise at all, as long as you dont have any gain on the amp- that is, and its gotta be on the clean channle of your amp or you'll end up with a mess. But as far as a good sound, this thing really does sound great. I was very impressed with sound quality. The distortions are excellent, as are the chorus, delay, wah, reverb, phaser, pitch shifter, and whatever the hell else is on there. I like the auto-wah, but I gotta get the expression pedal cause I hate the constant fast paced expression on the auto-wah. Im gonna fork over the dough for the FP02 expression pedal so I can cry the wah into my bends, hehe, I love it, I'm so addicted to that damn wah...hahaha, but that metal distortion on this thing is so killer. Man, just set that distortion, and your ready to go, no joke, and the fuzz, rythm and acoustic simulator are great too. I have found some kind of use for every effect this thing has, I play a lot of 80s type metal, and I do some 90s stuff too, and every opnce and a while i'll mess around with some of the wild effects and do some KoRn or Limp Bizket or something, but I primarirly play stuff like AC/DC, Ozzy, Metallica, Pantera, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Dio, and stuff like that(all requiring different settings wich I have already stored as patches)

I dont know, I havent had it very long, so time wil tell, but Im prety sure as long as youve got the propper adapter, ot a dump truck load of 9volt batteries, this thing will work......did I mention this thing eats batteries?...well, it does!!!!...go for the extra $25 and get the damn adapter..PLEASE!!!! But, they do have a new 505 out that is clear blue and takes AA's for longer battery life.

Hummmm, hopefully I won't have to deal with customer support

I feel like "8" is good for this section, that maybe an overstatement or an understatement, I don't know because I havent had it long enough to tell the reliability yet, but I do know what the pedal has shown me, is that this thing is the best effects processor for the money, no really, it's great for the price, I just wish I would have waited for the new clear blue one that takes AA's instead of 9volts. But seriously, the only things I have a problem with is the fact that it drinks batteries(just get the adapter, it'll pay for itself in like a couple hours), and the fact that the expression pedal is not built in, but I guess not everybody needs an expression pedal, and having one built in would just raise the cost of a very good priced pedal, so you figure, if you buy this thing new for say, $100, and you pay $25 for the adapter, and then $50 for the expression pedal, hell, you've only spent $175, I mean, that's pretty damn cheap compared to other processors comparible to this one, plus, who the hell else makes one this small??, hell, the damn thing fits into a gig bag, gosh, I cant say enough about this pedal, hummm, I got sound covered, I got the eas of use covered, and I had to comment on the other ones, and now im on over-all rating, damn, Im trying to think if there's anything else you might need to know before buying this pedal.......well, I'm stumped here, so I guess that's it, enjoy if you buy one!!!!

I hate the fact that you have to go insane and shift patches to get to effects. Playing with this POS live would kill me. I dont even have one but my friend bought one and he doesnt realize that he wasted his money. Im stickin with the DODtec4X. That thing smokes.

The only good effect on that pedal is the flanger. I liked the way it sounded but everything else sucked. When i used it, I was convinced that every effect was combined with reverb. Its frustrating that the sounds are programmed the way they are and you cant adjust speeds or depth etc....

If u weight over 200, stay away from this frail little pedal. My god, its made of plastic. Im sorry but when I play on stage, I like to jump around and go crazy and if just once i came down on a Zoom pedal, goodbye. Using this at a gig would be totally senseless unless your a backup guitar player and you have 5 minutes between parts to shift throught the patches to find your effect.

I wouldnt call if it broke. I would kick myself in the @$$ for being stupid enough to buy it. Im sure that if i called, they would laugh at me and put me on the suckers list.

Do not buy this pedal. I would recommend the DODtec4X. I was jammin on another bands equipment and is discovered that they used DOD processors. I tried the tec4X just to see how it compared to the zoom and i almost wet my pants. Its so awesome. The bipass is done on individual pedals instead of pressing on both. The effects kick @$$ especially the wah wah. I never had any trouble, plus its made out of a hard material that would withstand anything. If elephants played guitar, I would recommend this.

This is an update to my previous review about a year ago. It is quite easy to use, but it is not flexible enough - way too limiting.

I am using pretty much the same gear. Except, i borrowed a trace elliot stack, and used it with that. It sounds really bad. honestly, most of the effects are unusable, the distortions are too digital. I went out and bought a fab-tone, and it is so much better. The problem now is if i put the fab-tone before the 505, then the 505 makes the distortion shite, and if i put the 505 before, then all the 505 effects become really weak. So i decided to bin the 505, and buy a dod flange, and i am currently saving for a nice delay. oh yeah, and no matter what anyone else says, this is possibly the noisiest pedal i have heard ever in my life.

i gigged with it, broke off one of the pedals, it is so light that you have to tape it to the floor otherwise it doesn't stop sliding around. fortunately i had my fab-tone to save me.

don't know, don't care.

i play everything from led zeppelin to soulfly, and it is only really good for clean stuff. i like the delay, but that is it. if it were stolen or lost, i probably wouldn't notice because i never use it. seriously if you are thinking of buying this pedal, then think what you want it for. if you want it for distortion, buy seperate pedals. i suppose if you don't care about sound quality, and never go at high enough levels to hear the noise, and you had no money, you could buy it, but it really is more effort than it is worth. just save for a bit longer and buy either the new zoom, which is supposed to be better or seperate pedals. in my opinion seperate pedals is the only way to go. then again, if you can get one really cheap you might as well go for it as an introduction to the different effects, but don't think of it as a serious pedal. i have given it four, because without it i would never have moved on to better pedals, but now it just seems crap.

Very easy. But I forget which button it is but if you it and anthor it locks up on one set of patches which sucks.

Very good if you want to record I think you should not hook it up to the amp just to what your recording on.

You can fit it into your carrying case. I would use it for a gig but you have to do a lot of shit to it.

nope

I play a lot of Ratm if you don`t know they have a lot and I mean a lot of effects so what I do since it only has two peadles and 24 patches is I set the effect on it but I set just a regular electric gutiar before it so I can switch back and forth easy.

When I first got it, it took me a while to figure out how to edit patches but after about a hour I started to get it

I liked the sound it was a big step from the push button distortion and reverb on my Peavy Pacer and it sounded a whole lot better with my Strat than it did with my Peavey Preditor. I love the reverb effects and the lead and metal distortion

I never had any pronlems with reliability the only thing is man that thing eats batteries.

never called

I love playing Metallica and Sabbath through it but I still haven't found a good setup for RATM. if I lost it I would most deffinatly buy a new one!I wish the Expansion pedal did more than it does I was dissapointed.

Easy? No i don't think so. Only 4 buttons for editing. And how about live concerts??? How to select patches with *ONLY TWO PEDALS* It sucks!!!!!

In that little box called zoom-505. There are so many Fx. That's why quality of sound is not good. How can 24 fx in little box souns great. Sure if you never listen great tube sound, or real analog distorthion, may be for you this sound will be great. Distortion sucks!!!!!! Digital distortion - yack! go listen pedals distortion or another effects processors (such as boss, digitech...)

Never deal with 'em

I play different styles of music.
My setup is: Guitar - Aria Pro II,
Amp - Fender Bullet Reverb Amp
Fx - Boss Dual Overdrive

I'll never buy it even for 5 $

it is very easy to use. i never even looked at the manuel and i figured out how to edit and use everything that it had to offer.

i'm using a jackson, and an epiphone guitar with a 15 watt epiphone amp(not the greatest, but it gets the job done). it isn't too terribly noisy, just on the metal distortion, but that sounds great anyway. i can get a pretty close megadeth sound out of it. i haven't had it long enough, but i am in pursuit of a randy rhoads sound. i think that i am on the way to getting close to a zakk wylde thing too, but he is too bad. i love the reverb on it, it works great!

i can depend on this unit, but the AC adapter is a must. i would definetly use this on a gig!

i play for the most part megadeth, ozzy, and black sabbath. i have only been playing for4 months now, but this unit is helping me learn as i go along. overall, this is a great deal for the money. you get a lot of good effects in a small affordable package, i would much rather take this along with me instead of something bigger.

this is very easy to get right sound of it.i only read the manual for 25 minutes and this is all.editing patches is very easy just push edit button and skip whit two pedals.there is a very huge and good manual,that tells all the things of this pedal.

i m using jackson guitar and a small amp.This pedal isnt noisy(thansk zoom noise reduction)on anything.Effects is great for th?s price.Distortions are great.chorus and delay is excellent,and cleans are good to. i m cathing all sound that i want from satriani to malmsteen,metallica to iron maiden

this is also made in plastic but i have no problem about 505
i dont use this on a gig
but two months later i will

i m playing rock and metal for 1 year(but i m playing at 8 hours a day )This is very good pedal for beginners and intermediate players.I dont want to lost that pedal.This very small and easy programmable pedal and it helps to my music really well.This is so cheap.Get this pedal!!!

I found the zoom very easy to operate and the manual helped me with anything else. It is a bit tricky to change settings within a patch at first.

The distortions are good, great range from a tight crunchy distortoion to a fat fuzzy sound. The clean settings are OK but mostly pretty dodgy. Plenty of little wierd sound that can be fun too.

The unit as far as i have used it is reliable and i would definately use it without a backup.

I play metallica, slayer, sepultura and cannibal corpse and it is very effective for emulating their sounds. I play a gibson and a jackson through a marshall and it improves my distortion and range of distortion hugely. The clean sounds are OK. It is a hard to change patches on while playing but it is otherwise a good pedal. It is good for a tight metal sound I dont know how it would sound for other genres simply cause i dont play them much. I would reccomend it especially for its price if you are looking for a cheap way to get a good sound.

It is very easy to use. A great manual came with it, which helps very much. Editing patches is very simple...after you get the hang of it. It does, however, take some time.

Well, this is a very touchy subject. This all depends on what equipment you use with it...I used it with my Squier Strat...I thought it sucked. I then got a Metal Zone, and a Standard American Tele, and I thought about bringing the pedal out. When I did, it HONESTLY sounded BETTER than the Metal Zone! No joke...But I use more than 1 effect, and the Zoom is a bit too hot for the other pedals.

So far, nothing is wrong with it. I've had mine for about a year..It's made of plastic, so I guess it could be broken very easily, but what can't? (Eh hmmm...BOSS). Anywho, it's pretty reliable. I probably wouldn't gig with it..only for say one or two songs. I gave it an 9 because of the plastic.

I have never dealt with them. I hope I never have to.

I play mostly rock, and this is a good match. The distortions are analog, so it has a unique sound to it. The preset factory patches basically are useless, but if you really fiddle with this thing, there are some nice sounds you can get out of it. The delays could be longer...and the flanger could be deeper, and the phase could be more rotary...But who cares? It's a wonderful deal. A wonderful pedal...both for beginners, and as a backup or a practice "weapon" for pros and great players alike. If you want something that will sound good with your GOOD guitar (cause like i said..with a bad guitar, you get a bad sound), then buy this pedal!

This pedal is easy to use. I looked at the maunal after and realized that I had already mastered the patch editing system and other things. This is a good pedal for use in gigs. I played a few gigs that I needed loads of effects one after the other, so I simply laid the patches up one after the other. No problems with this pedal even if you are technologically impared.

The sound quality on this and my Carlsbro GLX 100 is great! Recording, practicing or even gigging is no problem. The sound is always top quality and I could not ask for more. I play Grunge, Metal and Rock/Pop. This pedal is all I could ask for. Great sound quality is always an important thing to look out for.

I have never had any problems with this pedal! I would take it to a gig without even thinking about a second pedal as back up!

I called once to ask about somethings about the pedal. I asked about things that could damage the pedals and they were very helpful.

This is the best pedal that I have used. My message to professional players, amateurs or begginers is: GET ONE! They are great. Orginally I was going to use it as a flanger only. I needed a flanger but the shop did not have the flanger I wanted so I bought this pedal thinking that I would only ever use the flanger. The flanger is cool! Very! I have used much more than the flanger now. I use it alongside my Danelectro Fab Tone and my DOD Ice Box Stereo Chorus. Many people that I know have bought this pedal and they love it. I love this pedal! My advice to all those people who are not to sure about buying it, go to a shop and try it out. There is no harm in asking. This pedal really is great for whatever style. GET ONE!

Very easy to use after a week or so of perusing endlessly the instructions.

I use it with a 15 watt Bullet, Fender sans reverb and a Washburn BT-8. I can't say much about quality of sound as I don't have that much experience. Some of the patches seem silly to me but most are at least interesting.

No comment: it's still new.

No sign of guarantee with this model. Their motto is "catch us if you can". Ha-ha!

This thing is good for getting your feet wet in the effects box quagmire. THE reason I decided to put my two cents in is to say that it is DEFINITELY worth getting the optional AC converter. I don't think batteries are strong enough to carry the whiz-bangs and they're expensive. the AC converter made all the diff. in the world between idiot noise in some patches and understandable intent.

very easy to use, nice and compact...... will fit right in the case with my guitar.... dual power option (cause batteries suck) Editing patches is great, because you can listen to the changes as you make them and fine tune your sound..... there's no guess work

As far as sound quality, you have to realize that this is based on so much more than just the pedal itself..... your guitar, pickups and amplifiers make such a difference.... I am using this with an Ibanez Ax 7 string guitar.... it has humbuckers, which definately make a difference in overall sound..... people who complain of static noise alot most likely have crappy pickups. You can make effcts sound weak, or you can make them sound kick ass. At home i use a small fender bullet amp, and even that sounds fine... my roommates Peavy Audition Chorus sounds great when using the pedal.... At gigs with big ass Line 6 amps and stuff like that, the sound was Primo..... heres a little hint: Louder is better. I do dislike the way there is a slight pause while switching effects, but that is common in a lot of multi effects pedals, as the patches need to be loaded.... much like a computer program..... it takes time.... The chorus sounds really good, and the delay effect is cool, it could be longer though.... phaser and flanger also sound great....the acoustic simulator is not super, but NOTHING is perfect... I give it an 8

Reliablity? Of course.... I've had mine for 2 years now, it sits on the bedroom floor, i try not to abuse it too much, but occasionaly step on it or kick it around in the dark..... infact i've even spilled water, soda pop, etc on it...... didn't do a thing to it. Of course its not made to jump on, i wouldn't even jump on a metal pedal. i like to take CARE of my stuff...... so as long as you're not playing floor hockey with it, it should hold up great

yes, infact i had accidently hit a button which locked the effects.... it was a feature of the pedal....... to prevent accidental switching of effects while playing........ i couldn't figure out what the hell was going on, but i emailed Customer support and recieved a response right away, and the information given to me was very helpful. I've also requested catalogues and information about other products, and they sent them out to me right away

I play a lot of different styles, from Korn to Limp Bizkit, No Doubt, Lit, basically the top 40, whatever is going around.... it works good for all types..... except COUNTRY..... as the acoustic simulator isn't great, it takes a lot of tweaking.... A tremolo effect would be nice. I've been playing for about 3 or 4 years, but i probably put in 3 or 4 hours of playing a day. If i lost it, i would probably buy it again..... if i didn't i would definately consider buying a differnt Zoom pedal again...... I love its small size, dual power option. The built in preamp is great..... I can plug in earphones and jam away into the night..... it also makes great for recording. However, if you are going to be recording a record under a major record label.... you can probably afford a little better......though its well worth its price..... and more.... if you're a beginner, this pedal is a must, it makes playing guitar much more fun..... and once you are ready to step into doing gigs, maybe you can use it.... maybe you can't...... But i recommend this pedal to anyone who wants to enhance their guitar experience without paying a whole wad of cash for the 24 different pedals you would have to buy seperately

Easy to use.......of course if there are only 24 efects and editing is piece of cake.
having to push both pedals SUCKS!!!!!!! and can be a real problem when playing live

acoustic simulator sucks the bass is extremely loud and it usually gets distorted
disytortions have no power
i'd have to say that the chorus is the only good one if you have a good guitar and amp
all the effects are sh*t the only ones i use are the distortion and the chorus, maybe sometimes the flanger
but things like the auto-wah, acoustic simulator, pitch shifter all are worthless

it will die in some months
i can't even turn it on now, and when i could, i couldn't go down because the pedal didn't work, which meant i couldn't change the effects 'cause one pedal didn't work and you need both to do so

the only good thing is the price
and the only reason i bought it, but it sucks if you consider yourself a beginer-intermidiate playerf don't buy this you'll regret it, like i did.
DON'T BUY IT UNLESS YOU DON'T HAVE MONEY TO BUY A BETTER THING
oh and hail HEAVY METAL

THis is very easy to use.

The sound quailty sucks if your into recording.
But for a starting out gutiarist its good.

THis is not really dependably.

This is a great machine your a starter
but if ur an established gutiarist looking to record
I would simply suggest going with BOSS.

This pedal is very very easy to use! it's very small, but u can gat a great sound out of it!

I have a Hughes & Kettner Edition blonde amp,and that's the amp for this pedal! it ruuuuules! You will get the fatest pantera sound and a very clean sound like "Nothing else matters" intro by metallica!
I also have an Ibanez RG 270 dx guitar and it sounds very good! U can get the fatest metall sound, to the cleanest sound on this pedal

I have never had a problem with it, but my friend has!
I have used it on gigs and it worket out pretty well!

If you play Heavy, and then I MEAN REALLY HEAVY METALL this is the pedal!!! it's also good for clean sound too!

I have found that this pedal is extrememly easy to use but what sounds good at home may not sound good when the volume is increased.

I use a Fender squire bullet and a Peavy Scorpion 165 watt amp. There are about 7 good sounds that you can get with this pedal from the manufacturers settings. The rest of them pretty much suck but you can edit those out to put in sounds that you prefer.

Reliability... Hell No, but its still cool to mess around with.

The input jack on my pedal lost a connection some how and I took it in to get it fixed.... I did'nt see that fucking thing for about 6 months. Customer support sucks. I'm pretty sure that they have only one phone line so if it ever breaks under warranty Kiss that sucker good bye for a while. Oh did I fail to mention that when it came back one problem was fixed but it had a new problem. My local guitar store fixed the problem the second time because they didnt want me to have to wait another six months

Other than it breaking and taking it for ever to get repaired. I really cant bitch to much. Some settings and sounds are weak but for 130 bucks Im not complaining. The batteries do not last long but a 20 dollar power supply has seemed to take care of that problem. I think this pedal has good bang for the buck but is hard to match sounds of other friend amps when jamming for fun.

Very easy to use, the manual tells you almost everything you need to know. Editing is very easy but it's kinda hard to shut down the effects in the middle of a performance (you are supposed to press the two switches).

The 505 sounds good with me, but it won't with anyone. I usually use my Gibson Les Paul Studio in it and it sound very good, specially the distortions but my brother's Fender Squier Stratocaster, doesn't sound that good. So, with a good equipment it is a certain shot!

You have to be careful with it, it's made of plastic and feel afraid of breakin' it everytime I press the switch. But taking care, you can depend on it.

Never dealt with them.

I use it for heavy metal : Iron Maiden, Metallica, Helloween... the 505 is not the best but it makes a good sound. It is missing a drum maker (like the GFX - 707 one) and it could have the wah - volume pedal (FP - 02 witch I bought) included. But at all it's good and it defenetely worths.

The editing is so simple. When you read the manual and figure out how the thing works, you'll be overwhelmed by the possibilities. Editing averages to about two minutes per patch.

I have a standard fender strat with a 30 watt Peavey.
Sounds great. Plugging straight into the recording studio through the preamp works perfectly. Only probablem is the acoustic simulator produces a slight hissing that increses with the high. The metal distortion is unbeliveably good. I'm not into soloing, but the solo distortion is clean, tight, awsome.

I have never had a single problem with it, and i've had it for more than a year. I very nearly jump on the damn unit when i use it. Its got a sturdy body. I do use it for gigs. Guzzles batteries, though. I uses a wall pluggin.

Never had to deal with the company.

I play from the deftones to silverchair to metallica to 311. its good for all. you can even tweak some patches to sound techno like orgy and incubus. I would most certainly buy it again if it were lost. Its so small too. The size of a book. I just wish it had a blender. It certainly stimulates your creativity. Really hard, sometimes, to decide which sound to use in a riff. The most awsome thing is that at the most it costs $150. Unbelievable. Just get one.

The only thing good about this pedal is that it's easy to use. Manual tells you nearly everything you need to know.

I used an Fender Strat with a Roland DAC-15 amp when I was using this efx. Notice the past tense here. This is a totaly crappy pedal and after patiently having it for like 6 month, I had to sell it away! The compressor/limiter is shitty and the distortions are noisy as hell. I've tried to do some recording with this pedal and went through hell doing it. It is by no doubt THE NOISIEST pedal ever! The reason I gave 2 points is because the reverbs are kinda cool and so is the pitch shift and stuffs. Other than that its totally crappy. It also sux the batteries real bad. A 9v can only last you for like 45 mins. If u got S$150 to spare, spend it on hooker or something.

No and I wouldnt even use it for a jam session let alone a gig.

OK, the people dealing with the stuff here in my country are pretty cool people but if its spoil I would just threw it away though.

I play nearly everything, from Dream Theater, Oasis, Radiohead, Nirvana, GnR, Lunasea, and stuffs. This is a totally crappy pedal. Please dont waste your money. Dont say I didnt warn you.

The editing of the patches is best done once you pick at it a bit, seeing what you like, but the accessability of this petal is outstanding.

I have an Ibanez RG1320 with a Marshall '60's tube amp. The effects petal is great for any type of playing or distortion. It gives you the heart-wrenching distortion patterns, all the way to the beautiful clean tones. It's just a matter of what the user likes. I was able to copy the sounds of Green Day, all the way to Eddie Van Halen. Even Hendrix!

I would definately use it on a gig without a backup. I know I can depend on this petal, and I plan to record with it, although the battery doesn't last long, the memory is permanent.

They are great, but I don't deal directly with the company.

Killer Dismount and I play everything from ballads to punk rock, to metal, to blues, to oldies, to vintage, etc. With such a wide variety of music, I find I need a wide variety of petals, right? WRONG! All I needed was this petal! I have compared it to many other products. Nothing adds up. (unless it's a higher model ZOOM petal)

This pedal is very easy to use. One look through the instructions and editing is a snap. You may have to have the instructions handy for the first few times through to find out what all the abbreviations stand for, but after that it is smooth.

I run this through a crappy bass 10 watt amp and a crappy guitar most of the time. When used with a larger amp it sounds okay until you get the volume turned up real loud. Nothing that can be used at a big gig. It has a lot of unrealistic factory settings that were probably just put on their to make it seem as though it was loaded with everything. With a bit of editing though you can get just about every setting you could want (remember only at lower volumns)

I would definately not use this for a gig. The two pedals are too close together. you could accidently try to hit it for a heavy mud sludging chorus and end up with a wack digital sounding pansie riff. It is plastic which kinda sucks but it is a very durable plastic.

N/A

This pedal is great for a beginer trying to find the sound that is right for you. Also when used with headphones directly into the output jack it is great for practicing. Just get a better pedal when you find the sound you like

It's very easy to edit the patches, but to get a good sound from it is a difficult task. The manual is very useful, may seem confusing at first, but after a while you can survive without it.
Learning how to get a good sound out of it is like playing chess, it's easy to know how to move the pieces, but it's difficult to become a real chess player. It takes time to really know the unit. It's recomendable to program it properly before a gig, since patch edition is easy but it takes a while.

In order to get a good sound out of it, you need to have good equipment. Most of the people says it doesn't have a good sound, but they have guitars with noisy pickups and very small amps. It works better with bigger amps and good pickups. I use a Washburn KC-630 and a 65w Marshall Valvestate VS65R. Initially, I used a cheap Squier guitar with really noisy pickups, and I blamed some of the noise to the ZOOM, but when I changed the guitar, the sound really improved.
Some of the distortions have a bad sound, like the Fuzz, the Distortion and Metal. Overdrive, Blues, Lead & Rhythm have a nice sound. The patches using the Blues distortion are more difficult to create, because maybe they sound good with low volume, but when you increase the volume, it can sound weak. The acoustic simulator doesn't have a good sound, it doesn't sound acoustic at all, and puts too much bass. The modules are mostly useless (lots of weird unnecesary noises) but the Chorus and Flanger are pretty good. The delay is quite good, and the hall reverb works good. The room reverb is quite useless.
After almost two years of owning it, I could find some good sounds for blues, classic rock, 80's metal and jazz/fusion, such artists like Eric Johnson, Hendrix, Van Halen, Santana, Zeppelin, Metallica, Al Di Meola, Brian May and Joe Satriani.
The pedal controled pitch is a good feature, but doesn't fit my style of playing. The auto wah wah is useless, the pedal wah wah is way better.

The box is plastic, so you gotta be careful with it. It's resistant, but not resistant enought to really depend on it for a gig. The Volume/Expression Pedal (sold separately, and really useful) is also plastic, so the whole package gotta be used with care.

I haven't dealt with the company, and I've never had to get it repaired.

I've been playing for about 6 years now. This little box lets you make sonic experiments, specially with all the weird noises. It fits any kind of music.
The main reason I picked it up was because of the price. It's really cheap for all the features it has.
If I loose it, I'd probably buy something more professional and spend a little more.
Overall, this product is a good intoduction to the complex world of Multi effects Units.

Very simple to use, great for the beginner to the more advanced. Won't take very long to understand and use.

Well here is the catch. If you use cheap gear(amps,guitars,etc) dont expect killer results! It's that simple. If you have better equipment then you'll probably be a little happier with it. But heres the real deal. Dont go out and pay $100 and think this is all your gonna need! Because it probably wont be. I mean you pay a $100 and your going to get a $100 worth of happiness. If you really want quality sound your gonna pay a whole lot more than $100. I read where all these people are bitching and groaning about how this thing sucks, didn't you try this pedal out before you bought it? Your the only one to blame. I could see if you spent a grand or more on something and you weren't satisfied but you spent a $100 on it so remember, you get what you pay for. This unit probably suits newbees more than veterans but, try it before you buy it!

It's built fairly sturdy and I wouldn't be scared of it fallng apart but, I also wouldn't jump up and down on it either!

Never dealt with them, never needed to.

O.K, I play what in my opinion is real music, METALLICA. Not that new sissy sounding metallica but, old metallica and megadeth,you know before they started acting like a bunch of trend followers. Maybe they were abducted by aliens and it's not really them! But right now slayer rules the roost because they stayed who they are and not change to fit in! I would have to say the best feature of this thing is price and reliability. No I wouldn't buy it again because I got it just to play around with, and it doesnt do awhole lot for me personally, but I knew that when I bought it so I not bitching (hint,hint). I got it for just a toy.

i thought that it was very easy to use except for programing it but i got used to it after a while. even though i am a beginer i think its a great pedal to start out with.

i thought the sound was very good but also very tech like. i liked it but again i am only a beginer and i have no true experience on the subject.

very reliable. i accidently stepped on it with like full whieght and nothin happened to it.

good

very nice to work with for a beginer but if yoyur more advanced then u might want to go another route

i takes about months to really know how to get the sound you want...
the preset really sucks because you need to edit it in order to suit your amp and your guitar...but after you get a hang of it...you can get ALL the sound you want yes ALL(pretty close to all)
im a tone freak myself and im really happy with this cool toy..

i use a strat and a fender frontman(the loudest small amp you can get ) you can get all kinds of sound you want..IF YOU KNOW HOW TO USE IT..
i can get the van halen sound very close...eric clapton's bluesbreakers sound..to metallica sound...all are possible the manual doesnt expalin how you get the sound you want..it just says what buttons do what..dont you the preset...
GET the sound you want with this!!or else you waste this baby's talent....the DELAY and ROOM REVERB and DISTORTIon suck!!! the blues distortion is not BLUES!!the metal distortion is garbage...the only good one is the LEAD DISTORTION....with the compreser and limiter in the box..oh yea and the very flexable EQ with the lead you can get the sound you want...in addition...if you set the volume of the effect FULL UP and then adjust from the amp....
you can get a stack like sound..
very crunchy...

i had it for a year...NO PROBLEM!

n/a

it the best for it's price..if you have the money and want something really last and reliable
GET IT!

After about 5 minutes of reading the manual, I found it easy to use and edit different patches

I use this with an Epiphone Les Paul Standard through a 10 watt Fender amp. I bought this because I wanted a many effects to mess with and create my own sound. The compression and sustain effects are totally crap. Acoustic sounds are ok. Distortions are ok, if you are a kid wanting to copy crap like Nirvana, but are totally rubbish for Megadeth stuff. I play mostly Steve Vai, Joe Satriani and some traditionalal hard rock/metal, and I have to say that the 505 is somewhat fundamental where creating sounds are concerned.

It's plastic, but it is a pretty strong. I would not rely on this for a gig, as I could just imagine it reseting all the patches on me in the middle of a song.

Never dealt with them.

Overall I would say to stay clear of this product. But If you are not too bothered about the actual quality of the sound, but more of the quantity of effects - then consider buying it.(But who is?)

After reading the manual for thirty minutess, you can work the thing without a problem. It's kind of self explanitory. I use a cheap stratocaster through a marshall amp, and I could get a decent sound from it.

Using my standard strat and a marshall 65-watt amp I can get the sound that I want from it. There is virtually no noise thanks to the ZNR (Zoom Noise Reduction). I still have to play around with the patches to hopefully get the sound of Lynyrd Skynyrd and Led Zeppelin. Theres eight types of distortion, they are all okay, but I like the overdrive and the blues. They are the only natural sounding effects. The other ones are very harsh and digital sounding.

It's made of heavy-duty plastic. If you really stepped on it hard I guess you could break it. Zoom claims that a 9-volt battery could last 22 hours, but I wouldn't trust that. Get the adapter. I would use it in a small gig, but nothing really important.

I never dealt with them.

I've been playing for two years now, mostly rock and alternative. This is a pretty good unit for the price. If you bought individual stomp boxes to make all these sounds, you would probably spend $500. If it got stolen or lost I think I would try something different. I like the convienience of having an all in one unit, if I wanted the best sound in the world, I wouldn't have bought this. I like the reverb, but I wish the distortions were a little better.

This pedal is fairly simple to use, there aren't that many buttons to confuse you!

I thought this pedal was ok when I first got it, now 2 years later I think it's awesome for what you pay for it! The best way to find out what this pedal can do is get a mate to jam on whatever riff he wants, and you just change the pedal settings as he plays! You'll be amazed at the sounds that come out of it!

It's only made of plastic but I've never had any troubles with it, I wouldn't recommend it for gigs, but then if you wanted a pedal for gigs you'd be looking at spending a lot more than what this costs.

I just surfed the net to get a copy of the manual (I bought it second hand and never got one) other than that I haven't needed to call them.

I'd like a crunchier distortion on it, but it does me fine for jamming with mates at home. If you want something cheap that has a shitload of effects, then get this pedal. Nuf said.

I find is box to be an EXCELLENT pedal for its price range. I use a
a SAMICK WARLOCK which is an absolutely beautiful guitar any rock/metal styles , i have a Fender Original for more flexibility.
Reasonably quiet unit,Good for metallica , others

could be better could be worse, nice all around unit for all styles

100% dependable for me for five YEARS, YA , i d trust it for a few gigs for sure..

Never repaired, no dealing with the company

Yes this is a good match if you want variety at a low price. great blues , acoustics and distortions in this box

Alright, I don't know about anyone else but its pretty god damn simple. There's some features that I don't believe are mentioned in the manual such as when increasing (press +) to go faster, hold down the minus and then press the plus. Same for going down but reverse order of buttons. Makes setting volume or eq much faster.

Ok, i'm using a _REAL_ guitar (American Deluxe Fat Strat) and the sound is very very sweet. I haven't used it at gigging volumes so I don't know. For home use its one of the best. I love the distortions, the reverb is pretty nice too. Flanger is alright, phaser I dont' use too much.

Dunno, it's plastic. Probably not safe to jump like a monkey around it.

Never dealt with em.

classic Rock, blues, etc..very nice tones. I'd get somethign else maybe because i've matured as a guitarist and would get something that sounds better at high volumes

it sounds so great until you deside you wanna change patches mid chord. then here hear thios horrible 2 second delay and a change in volume. editing is simple. and the manuel is a godsend considering every effect is rated just by two numbers which mean nothing without the manuel

i use and electra pheonix and a prinston chorus amp. it feeds back on the acutsitic setting which i guess does make it pretty realistic. like i said it sounds awesome as long as you want to keep the same sound through the entire song. you can get some nine inch nails tones if you fiddle long enough though

i doesn't seem like it would break. but live i have messed up in the whole have to step on both pedals to trigger an effect.

just got it and it hasn't broken yet

it's weak but if your poor and wanna make some effects it's for you deffinately a poor mans processer which is all it was meant to be

With 8 types of disortion from acoustic to blues to metal, and crystal clear CD-quality sound, it's no wonder the 505 was the most popular pedal when it was released. The compression and noise reduction go great after a distortion stompbox, and editing the 24 patches is a breeze. The only downside is that some effects can't be used simultaneously, like chorus with flange. The manual is needlessly deep, yet easy to understand. You should be able to master the pedal's capabilities within a week, if you practice frequently.

I use a cheap Squier Strat and a cheaper Crate amp, but even so, the pedal makes a great sound. The only time I get any noise or feedback is when the volume and distortion levels are WAY up. I can get fairly close to Metallica distortion, and chorus that sounds just like Nothing Else Matters. As for acoustic simulation, it's pretty good, although sounding more like Everlast's acoustic stuff than a live acoustic sound. Grunge is no problem if you crank up the gain on the blues distortion. The compression make any clean sound more professional, and the flange and phaser give you a good idea of what you should expect in a stompbox.

Being a plastic unit, you can't expect to jump on it and still work perfectly, but it's pretty reliable. The built-in chromatic tuner is nearly perfect, and the tune-without-hearing-it function reached by pressing both pedals and holding them is great for live stuff. I have had a few problems with patch copying though. Very occasionally, it has switched into copy mode without my knowledge (or my action) and I have saved over a favorite patch.

Haven't had any problems not remedied by cutting the power for a couple seconds.

I play basically anything that rocks, and this pedal gets close to any but the weirdest sounds I want to imitate. If it broke, I might go for the ZOOM 707, just for its pitch-shifter knobs, but this is almost as good. The only thing wrong with this pedal is the fact that a few of the effects are on the same "track" as others, forcing you to choose one or the other. The best features are the silence you get when you dampen the strings, and the extra-smooth distortions. Paired with a Boss DD-5 and a Dunlop Crybaby, in the following order: 505, Crybaby, Delay, I can get extreme versatility. One strange thing you can do is run headphones directly out of the line out jack. This gets you the real guitar sound, not how the amp and speaker interpret it.

Fairly simple to use considering the number of features. With the price I paid I shouldn't complain. The manual is good.

Using with a 70's Fender Squire II Fat Strat and a Peavey 300Watt RMS amp. If you turn up the distortion on your amp AND on the 505 you can get some really great dirty distortion. Especially by increasing the distortion at your amp too. I have tried the Boss MT-2 Metal Zone and I think that the ZOOM pedal compares fairly well especially since it can do more. Nevertheless, the pedal is somewhat noisy on some patch settings and not on others. I have noticed that increasing the Zoom ZNR and decreasing the patch output level on the last patch setting can help. Each function such as distortion, chorus, etc. on the pedal may cause different levels of noise. Anybody have access to an audio analyzer or oscilloscope to test? A good way to use the pedal is to adjust your amp and pedal so that the noise level is low and the sound level is where you want for the current patch and then control the volume for all patches with the volume knob on your guitar.
There are great patches on the web. Just search for em. There is a free patch database at http://net.result.com/~jay/index.html
You can preview some of the factory patch sounds at: http://www.musiciansfriend.com/cgi-bin/shop.dll?doc=zoom505.html
However I think that zZounds.com is probably a cheaper and better place to purchase from though.

Has not broken yet. It has a plastic case though. I not hesitate to use it on a gig if I was playing through a good powerful amp.

Never dealt with the company.
Never needed any repair work done.

If I were to do it over again I would probably purchase a Zoom GFX707 instead. It is rated better at this website as far as sound quality (less hum noise) and has a built in pedal. If you buy the wah pedal for the 505 and the 505 itself you will be paying as much as buying the GFX707, which has a built in pedal and more features. I would also purchase the 9VDC 300mA power supply from some place like Radio Shack. (They have a good variable voltage 300mA power supply that is cheaper and you can use it to power other things too.)
A good way to use the pedal is to adjust your amp and pedal so that the noise level is low and the sound level is where you want and then control the volume for each patch with your guitar volume potentiometer. There are great patches on the web. Just search for em. There is a patch database at http://net.result.com/~jay/index.html
Listen to the pedal sound at: http://www.musiciansfriend.com/cgi-bin/shop.dll?doc=zoom505.html
Nevertheless zZounds.com is probably a better place to purchase from though.

This is an easy system to use and there are plenty of capabilities to edit patches. The manual is good and shows all important points.

The only reason that I defend this little processor is because I play a lot of Metallica, and I have been playing for five years, and even with basic equipment including a 15-amp and a BC Rich Bich, I can get some nice metal and distortion. I would definitely not recommend it to someone looking for a clear sound as this is the weak point of the pedal. I do intend to get an Ibanez JEM 77FP and a big, nice amp in the future. Naturally, I will have to get an zoom 8080 to go with it, for a darn good setup.

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Great, no, perfect for beginners, as beginners will spoil their potencial with a processor that is too good such as the 8080, and that should be saved for the developed and stylised guitarist that has been playing for enough years such as myself. I am 16 years old and have been playing since I was 11. I have developed my skills and I am not in a pointless shoddy indy or gothy pants band. Metallica rule, Megadeth are the daddy, new guitarists forming a band suck! The 505 is for you and I have owned one since I had been playing for 1 and a half years. I feel that you should not even use the 505 immediately as you learn to play as you will cack about with the delay and use preset sounds. The real 505 user will customise a strong distortion of even better, metal, with little bass and tone, just perfect for the first solos. Please follow the musical (not image) musical line of metallica, not marilyn manson, yes to megadeth, and please, please steer clear of pop and indy, please, in the name of humanity.
im Edd D and you should write me about anything to do with music and guitars and im sure to reply, I am also looking for other wannabe bandies who are already quite good at their instrument, Metallica style music, and I myself am a lead/rythm guitarist.
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egd99@stvincent.ac.uk

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It's really easy to use once you've been playing around with the functions a bit

Overall is awasome....I have a strat but i can simulate the les paul sound..the lead option is my favorite..and the Hall(reverb) the Blues sound is too distorted to me..and the delay is just too vage to be edited...by using the EQ you can really get your own sound

GOOD unless you use a hammer to smack the crap out off it

DONT KNOW
never dealt with it

The only way this would be easier to program would be if you could just "imagine" the sound you wanted...and have it automatically adjust itself to make that sound.
The unofficial webpage has thousands of patches...all these people bought one...can they ALL be wrong??

If you progam in someone elses patch..verbatum....you might get some hiss or feedback..but some common sense shows you can adjust some of the gain settings and balance all the patches to work with your amp.
I have a Peavy Heritage and 12 guitars. I once had to play a gig with just my 505 and a battery powered Peavy practice amp with a mic to the board..i sounded great...come to think of it why DO i haul a 90 pound amp..pedal board and 2x15 cabinet to gigs??
The endless list of patches..including descriptions..artists..sounds like this song..etc....are beyond incredible.

I've used it for gigs every weekend for over 2 years. The ONLY problem i ever had was getting it into Bank Hold mode and having no idea how to get it back to Normal...I ended up resetting the original preset patches..of which only a few were useful for rock.
I wish they put a few instructions on the bottom of the unit!

Zoom has a PDF file of the user manual to download on their website...for ppl like me who..lose the original.
It's never broke on me..and like the rest of my pedal board..has had its share of less than sober dancers fall/trip/step on it.

I love this pedal...I dont like the expression pedal Zoom sells..but its just personal preferance..I like a longer pedal travel. Just remembering I played a whole gig with just the 505 and a tiny amp...says it all!! It does up to 9 effects at once...and most sound really good if you spend time to tweak to your settup. 9 pedals fix-mounted on a pedal board would be one HUGE thing to haul around.

One drawback..when i have to sing is that I sometimes hit the wrong side of it..and go to the wrong patch...epsecially coming out of solos...I'd suggest you set your patches so every other one is semi-clean and ones between your distorted patches. That way if you miss...you dont end up playing a steve via patch when you need a matchbox 20 clean acoustic chorus patch.