Zoom 510 Dual Power Driver

It was hard getting used to it at first, all of the editing and stuff. But after I figured out what to do it was easy to getting the good,heavy distorted sound I wanted.

It has a few good factory settings on it, but being able to make your own sounds makes it great. I don't know how many effects I've made on it since I got it. The distortions I made are great for metal. Espeecially Metallica and Megadeth stuff. It's noise reduction is great. My pickups suck. They hiss through about eeverything, except this. I've even made some halfway descent clean tones on it, and it's a friggin' distortion pedal. It also has a descent wah, and a bad metal octave on it. I can't say ennough about this pedal.

I've took it to friends' houses before, but that's about it. I,ve never dropped it and I hope not to. It's pretty much all plastic. I bet something would break though if I did.

Never had to talk to them.

It's a great pedal for practicing at home. One thing I have noticed about it is that the sound tends to die when the volume gets louder. I think that can be by either lowing or highing the level on the effect. If it was lost or stolen, I would definetly buy anohter.

the menu-structure is logically designed, changing the effect parameters is quite easy when you got used to it...

when i got this pedal about 1 ago i had absolutely no experience with guitar pedals and effects. i was told this pedal would give a wide variety of distortion/overdrive sounds which is correct. but playing heavy metal (death/grind) the choice of extrem distortion is quite small. i use it with a marshall vs8080, the distortion set to maximum sounds digital. when i do palm muting, the sounds gets very "muddy" (but this can be caused by my guitar which is a simple yamaha rgx model). so at first i was happy with it (because i had no other effects to compare it with). but some months ago it sounded all too similar to me, i think there are not enough parameters to create the sound i want... so i checked out a boss mt-2 pedal and WOW, this pedal produces much heavier sounds. when i compare the two i think the sound of the boss is much more harmonic, the sound of the zoom VERY digital and kind of indistinct. also, when i use it as a compressor only and distort with the marshall there's lots of noise in the sound.

i used it only at home, i never stepped on it, it never fell onto hard floor... so nothing ever broke... the case is all plastic with a metal bottom-plate

never dealt with them

i definatly wouldn't recommend this for heavy metal (unless you like the digital anmd muddy sound at extreme distortions). for that style i'd say a boss mt-2 (or a mesa boogie :) would be the better choice... one good point about it: since it's a multi-effect, it has some (more or less) usefull effects included, such as a compressor, auto-wah, octaver... but after all, i think i'm going to sell it very soon.

The unit is very straight forward to setup and access all of the patches. Editing can get annoying if you press the button and skip past the bit you wanted.

I use a Fender Telecaster with a Fender Princeton amp. The unit can produce some interesting sounds but after a while the distortions all seem to sound the same. The parallel setting can be interesting to phase in and out of effects depending how hard you play it. Also i used wah and Fuzz together and it seemed like my amp was gonna pop. Far to much bass output. The wah by itself isn't great for recreating music from the film 'Shaft' and other 70's type things. But it's good enough hidden behind distortion.

It's never gone wrong since i've had it. Wouldn't like to stamp on it. To much plastic!!

Never dealt with them.

The unit itself isn't designed to make wird space noises and i find it best for distortion on songs like REM's Departure and indie songs. The wah combined with amp distortion is quite good for cranking out Voodoo Chile. Overall well made and good quality, just needs a little more weird effects.

This puppy's simple as it gets. One pedal patch up, one pedal patch down. I don't actually stomp on it (I keep it at arm's reach), so I can't vouch for its stompability, but it's been a complete no-brainer so far for me. Editing patches is a little frustrating (the cycling and keying can be tedious), but it's no worse than most others I've worked with. Tuner is especially nice IMHO -- very easy and straightforward. I actually prefer it to my dedicated tuner.

It's a nice, fine spread of noises. The distortions are crisply digital (I happen to like that personally, but some don't), and the overdrives are IMHO some of the nicest, roundest ones I've heard from digital gear. All but the spadgiest, noisest of 'em don't lose the natural sweetness of my Les Paul Standard, or the dark sizzle of my Gibson Flying V, and even my Ovation Elite sounds good through it. I typically use headphones for output.
I particularly like the Auto Wah on this one. I normally hate Auto Wah effects, but this one is clear, smooth, and broad, and doesn't lose the subtlety of the instrument. I use it with a hint of external overdrive to do reggae, or funk.
The Metalizer patch is really gimmicky, but fun. A little too clean perhaps, and not really for the serious musician, but it's a fun toy for the lazy. I've used it occasionally to lay down mindless power-chord lines that my fingers can't quite manage when gripped into power chord configuration.
My only complaint, personally, is that the fuzz-type distortions just aren't deep and meaty enough for me -- they don't really sizzle and growl like I like 'em to.

Dropped, carried around in a backpack, stepped on (and I'm one *fat* guy..), and they come back for more. Plastic schmastic, it's durable.

Never needed 'em.

I've been playing for about ten years, and my work ranges from classic rock to classic hard rock to New Age/ambient, to Celtic, to folk rock, to metal, to reggae. I play everything I like, and this box is the meat and drink of my distortion/overdrive needs. I wouldn't go anywhere without it, if I were planning to play there.
I don't think any one effect in the box compares to a dedicated Boss pedal, but hey, you're getting a bunch of effects in one simple package for the price of one good Boss pedal. If you're like me, and want to set your parameters and leave 'em there forever, this'll be a sweet little addition to your collection.

Editing the patches is easy enough but the simple manual is needed to get use of all the options. The distortions in the Pre Drive(Booster, Rythm, Light Over Drive and Dynamic Over Drive)and Main Drive (Over Drive, Blues Over Drive, Fat Drive, Distortion, Fuzz, Grunge, Lead and Metal)are decent, but only in certain combinations. The 510 destroys tone. Do not buy this pedal unless you have an excellent amp.

The noise reduction is the best feature, (even on fuzz or metal at full gain)hissing and feedback is eliminated. This is through my Ibanez Talman and a peavey 212 special. The sounds are cold and chords are difficult to decipher at 15-30 gain. The range of sounds isn't that good if you play many styles of music, but the 510 works well enough for a beginner, I suppose?

Very reliable, average distortion unit made of hard plastic. The battery lasts only 4 Hours, so buy an adapter. No backup is necessary.

N/A

I have been experimenting with this pedal for three monthes, and I haven't found one setting that comes close to the sound of a Tube King. The Wah and Octave is interesting but not be compared with a Crybaby or Boss OC-2. The Expression Pedal is useful to adjust gain, volume, Wah and Pre Drive/Main Drive levels but not worth the $100. I would not buy the 510 again and I am ready to sell it.

This is effect is from the same range as the the 505, so editing patches is similar. This pedal is in fact a distortion unit. It has a Predrive and Main Drive part. Predrive can have a gain between 1 and 16, and Main Drive can have a gain between 1 and 30. These two gains can be combined so the number of possibilities is near endless. Each possibility can be stored in a patch. There are 24 patches available for storage, grouped in 6 banks of 4 patches. Each bank is assigned a letter, so A to F. A patch has a combination of letter and number, so A1 A2 A3 A4 B1 B2 etc. Selecting a patch can be done by pressing either the Up or Down pedal. Very simple to use. It's also possible to hold a bank, so you can cycle within that bank. Pressing the two pedals at the same time pops up the chromatic tuner and functions as a bypass. Pressing a pedal again return you to the last patch used. The tone of a patch is adjustable for highs and lows only. No midtone. There is also a Noise Reduction and Amp Simulator. The Output level is adjustable between 1 and 30. There is also an Autowah and a Octaver. There are many possible combinations by adjusting Predrive, Maindrive and the way of using them (in series of parrallel, in different settings). However, there are in fact too many possibilties and the difference between all these settings is marginal. Who needs 24 distortions anyway and how can you remember them by their letters/numbers? In a gigging situation you better restrict yourself to two banks, so you can remember the sounds you stored and you can easily switch between them. By the way, it is possible to go to a different patch while still playing in the current patch. By pressing the pedal again you actually select that patch. This is useful when you have to go from say A2 to E3. The sounds are not that good and I am soemwaht dissapointed by them. I bought the effect without trying it out in the store and now I regret that. While the metal and grunge sounds are decent and useful, the overdrive and milder distortions are lacking warmth and depth. They sound too sterile and I cannot create a really warm and creamy overdrive. So when you are into metal it may be the right choice, but otherwise you may be better of with another effect.

I use a Ibanez Les Paul with two humbuckers. It is not very noisy, only in the high gain grunge setting you hear some hiss. But actually the Noise Reduction is quite good. My amp is a solid state Aria combo. Maybe with a tube amp the overdrive sounds are better... I cannot create a Santana tone or a some Gary Moore or even Slash with this effect. The sounds are simply too sterile and lacking warmth and depth.

It is made of plastic with a metl chassis underneath. Pretty sturdy I think. I would gig without a backup, no doubt about it.

I bougt it some two weeks ago. I think I'm going to sell it, because I cannot get the sound I want from it. I would not buy it again. I'm glad I still have my Pearl Overdrive (I love it) and my Ibanez Fat Cat Distortion. However, I'm still looking for a replacement effect to replace these stompboxes.