Zoom 8080 Super Player

It seems like a good unit. The manual I have is no good as it tells me to turn to page 68 for trouble shooting. Problem is my manual only has 64 pages.

I use the unit with an H&K Triamp. Its fine although you can hear break up when sound decays.

I thought I could depend on it but It let me down at a gig the other night. The unit seems to be powering up getting to the point to sit ready after the start up procedure. When it gets to that point it is as if its lost mains power and sarts to fire up again.
This is happening all the time so at the moment it is useless. Any body got any ideas. I have tried a different adaptor but it is still the same.

I am trying to find there e mail.

Its fine if it works at the moment mine does not so I am very unhappy.
Is there anybody out there who might be give me an idea to fix it.

Well its Japanese , very compact, But the ease of use is ok , but i advise you to to keep the instruction manual in your pocket whenever you are playing it.

Well about the Sound quality ,I guess i was dissapointed after a while .
I played this babe thru a Valvestate Bi chorus, and i must say it sounded pretty good.Till i started to use a big phat Tube amp, and then i reached the Saturation point with this thing.It sounded soo messed up and louzy. No distortion can compete against the Distortion channel on The Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier.Plus all the effects sound so dull on this amp .. i am truelly dissapointed.. plus i tried to use to EXT control out , meaning to use an external Distortion , by using the Send and Return loop level and the sound gets soo compressed that u need Bionic ears to hear the sound that comes outta of the amp.
Anyways , Now i only use the Zoom 8080 as a volume pedal (pretty expensive volume pedal huh).I have 3 other eeffects connected to my guitar, MXR Phase 90, MxR Flanger and MXR analog delay...and like i said the Zoom 8080 as volume pedal.

well as long as your adaptor remains sain you are safe

Well i guess i explained a lot on sound qualities.
Actually if you have reached a professional level and are serious about music .. i suggest you spend more money but buy better stuff.
I play a Gibson Les Paul Classic, Ibanez U.S.A Custom , Fender Strat and a PRS Santana .. i guess my guitars deserve the best. I think i need to go look in the price classes of gear like : eventide , and Bob Bradshaw.. now that kicks butt.

Very easy to use and understand.

Wah Pedal effect is pretty lame, but I still use it.

I play in a band that plays country, rock, and blues thus flexibility of the ZOOM 8080 is greatly appreciated.

I play a Peavey Wolfgang thru two Peavey Renown 212s.

Had no problems, though the plastic case worries me.

WORST CUSTOMER SUPPORT I'VE EVER EXPERIENCE IN MY 39 YEARS!!!!!!

I discovered a bug about a year ago. The problem is the STEP effect in EFF3 and the UTILITY AMP COL = 3. When a patch uses the STEP effect and UTILITY AMP COL = 3, it will cause the unit to get much louder on that patch, and all the patches used until the unit is powered off. As long as I remember this when playing live, it is not too bad, but sometimes I forget and I wind up playing louder than then entire band.

I pestered ZOOM and Samson ( US distributor ) for 6 months before they would even try to reproduce it. They claimed my unit was faulty. I emailed every ZOOM 8080 user I could find, and found that "ALL" units have this problem. ZOOM and Samson tech support for this product DOESN'T EXIST.

This is a great unit, with lousy customer support. Ignoring customer support I would give it a 9. Will probably try to by a used one for backup. Right now is use a Digitech RP-6 for backup.

Great sound I love this thing editing the patches is soooo easy because you can make the sounds so exact and the manual is great.

I am using a boss distortion, two cry babies a whammy and a pod with my seven string and standard strat. It is quiet if it does get noisey just edit the patch I am using a tube amp with it and for stuff like rage agianst the machine this thing is pefect for duplication sound. The only sound I don't like is the distortion which is why I use my boss

You can defanetly depend on. I use it for a gigs

I dunno never tried

I am only giving this a 9 because I have seen better but that is only if you wanna pay 1,500 dollars. For the money I think this is the best you can get.

I was a little confused when i first got it just because it looked complicated, but after playing with it for a while, there was no problems

There is little to no background noise and its very quiet. I use a fender copy and it still sounds good. The effects are awesome but Im still looking into getting that bluesy sound. But its very easy to make sounds for Metallica and 70's songs.

Very dependable, never gigged, but its sturdy and reliable

Don't know yet

This plays very well to my style which is like Metallica. I've been playing for 3 years and I would recommend this pedal for anyone. But I've yet to try the boss gt5.

when i first got this it was a lot more confusing than it looked in musician's friend, but ten minutes out of the box, and reading the manual for about 5, it was like i'd had it forever. the distortions on this pedal are good but i reaaly can't get a good bass undertow on them but i read on this page about how to fix it to your marshall preamp. i didn't understand why the zoom corp. used delay on 99.9% of all the effects i edited them out so it would sound to my taste. editing has this really cool thing where you can just press the little button where it says eff1 or delay and it goes off so you can experiment without the mess

i am using an ibanez s-series custom, with flame maple/mahogany, and a floyd rose edge trem. i am also using the new marshall vs-100h watt head. and a jcm 900 cab. the clean really sounds good on that amp. but the distortion has no bass undertow for heavy rock. but i know how to route it so it does

i have bought lots of zoom products like the 505, and the 510 and 3030 but there is a signifigant differance in quality.

n/a

i play heavy metal. it works good with all types though except for blues. its blues were not good

On first getting the unit I spent the evening reading the manual and got myself really confused, but when you actually have a go, it's dead easy to edit, apart from a few little niggles that the manual doesn't say how to do (rocker pedals, fading in an effect e.g. chorus, have the effect mix in the module set to zero, and the pedal action inverted). Some of the distortions sound pretty good but I can't really comment on these too much as I have connected the unit up to use the preamp of my Marshall combo for the distortions. If anyone wants to do this it's dead good, you can get effectively 3 channels out of a 2 channel amp (more gain variations possible if you vary the send level on the Zoom). What you do is plug the guitar into the Zoom input, then connect the Zoom's ext. send to the amp's input, the amp's effect send to the Zoom's return and the Zoom's output (L/mono) to the amp's return socket. Hey presto! Compression & wah, real valve distortion and then all the weidness/delay/reverb afterwards. Use your amp's clean channel for a dirty crunch and the Zoom only (distortion module off) for clean sounds.

I use my home made custom guitar (maple/mahogany/maple through neck with poplar body, fully sheilded pickup & control cavities with a Seymour Duncan JB in the bridge, Little '59 in the neck and an alnico 2 pro single coil in the middle) and my Marshall Valvestate 8080, connected up as described. I find that if I have the master volume on the Zoom up more than halfway I get digital noise coming through, this, given the slightest bit of string squeak quickly becomes a nasty squealing feedback that goes on regardless of what you do afterwards, the only way to stop it is if you play something & switch to a cleaner or quieter patch. The noisegate has no effect on this, also I dislike these things as they tend to make the note cut off at the end, even if set quite low. To combat this I have the Zoom set at half volume, and the amp's master volume flat out. this is fairly loud, enough for most bars/pubs etc. but it would be nice to have some in reserve. I have tried reducing the treble of the reverb/delay on the various patches afflicted with this problem, but this does not work either. It may make a difference if the Zoom master volume is turned down a bit more but the patch level boosted, I will probably try this later. The effects themselves are great, some good Brian May sounds possible using the 2 part delay, Thin Lizzy type sounds also available using the pitch shifter (Eff 1- haven't tried the intellegent harmonizer yet). One point that annoys me is the control switches, in my opinion you should be able to set these up as the master volume, then you could leave it about halfway & adjust it as necessary. Sadly this is not possible, you can only turn the volume down with these as it starts off at maximum when you select the patch - Argh!!

The unit itself seems very solid apart from the data wheels & master vol & presence controls. Power supply is pretty poor though, I may get a mains extension lead, plug the PSU into it and mount the whole lot on a wooden board. This means less stress on the plastic earth pin ( Urgh! ) and less flexing of the crappy wires. Paint the board black and it will look OK, mount the unit with heavy duty self adhesive velcro ( from Tandy ). It would be advisable to use a padded bag or case for transporting the unit in. Yes, I would use it without backup.

Don't know - never needed them.

I mainly play rock covers, anything from The Beatles to Blur via Queen & Guns'n'Roses, the unit is pretty good for this sort of stuff, I particularly like the slow gear effect, I use it for the intro on "I Want To Break Free." I've been playing for 6 years now, this is the best unit I have tried, better than a friend's ME8 and a different league fom my old 1010. The wah is a bit honky when in the fully dark position though, and will probably wear out in the end, not like my old Morley. I love having my amp's channels change as part of a patch - Dead Good!!! I hate the volume/control switch thing as mentioned above - major dissapointment. It is the only unit in this price range with 2 rocker pedals, that's why I bought it. I do wish there was less noise but I admit that using the amp as I do is probably not the quietest of ways to use the unit. The only other thing that bugs is the delay (only slight) between stomping & the unit changing patches, not as instant as the amp's footswitch. Apart from that it really helps the music making process.

Before buying the unit, I thought that it would be hard to use it. It seemed complicated with a lot of leds, footswitches etc. One hour after I took it out of its box, I used it like I had it for ten years. Very easy to use. There are programmed pre-patches on it and I don't think that you will need to make another patch, everything is on it. However editing is fairly easy with four control knobs. I didn't like the manual much to tell you the truth. I think it should be enhanced to help the user. Troubleshooting section is very limited.

I had a Boss MT-2 Metal Zone pedal before, It had a quite good sound, but there was a humming sound, even though I had a humbucker in the bridge position. Now I use Zoom 8080 with a US Fender Strat Floyd Rose Classic and a Korean 20W Ross amp, the noise problem is gone. Even try it after you crank up the amp. ZNR(Zoom Noise Reduction) really does the job. Most of the effects are awesome (especially distortions, delay and chorus), however Pedal Wah and Autowah should be improved. Also Pitch Shifter doesn't sound natural. I get really good Deep Purple and Malmsteen sound out of it. But you can play any style with 8080, from Heavy metal, grunge to the softest tones.

I don't think that zoom 8080 is going to break, if it's used properly. I would definately go on stage without a backup. However the LCD screen can be scratched easily, beware! :)

I never had customer support, I never needed it. 8080 works good as the first day that I got it. I don't know about the guys in Zoom dealers, never seen them.

I play hard rock, sometimes grunge and metal. And Zoom is definately the choice for my music. I've been playing for four years now. Before Zoom, I used Boss products and I think Zoom effects are better. If I lose 8080, I would buy another one. I would be happier if it had a better wah effect. Crybaby is far more better than Zoom pedal wah. The delay effects are marvelous, especially the hold delay, which holds a lick of 4 seconds and repeats it over and over again. You can easily write a solo over a rythym sound this way. Go and buy this unit.

You need to read the instruction very good to handle this artwork but when you understand the basics it is very easy. The 4 knobs that control every effect are very useful, accurate and easy to use.

Killer distortions, flangers and chorus and every effect sounds perfect and you can control many things that are unusual with other multies like if you want the wah-wah before or after the distortion and the volume of each effect. These things help to create your own special sound and to create magnificent patches. One thing I really loved is the option to adjust the input according to your guitar pickups like humbocker and single coil to get the best results I have never seen this before

So far so good, massively built and I am really satisfy of this machine.

I didn't have to deal with them but for Israelis here is a tip: The guys in Kley Zemer don't have a clue about it and cannot help you with problems but I believe that any one who can read English will be able to mange with the 8080

I play especially rock and jazz and this effect gives me many hours of enjoyment, I am playing guitar for about 4-3 years and I had Digitech RP-1 and it's sucks comparing to variety of effects and effects sound, I really like the idea that I can control three different variables like flanger depth distortion and volume with three different controllers the thing I hate the most is that I cannot get to a specific patch by its number (like the RP series) I have recorded one song with it and the good thing I didn't use my amp I use my guitar through the 8080 and straight to the console the sound was great and even through my amp fender performer 70W it sounds great. I wish it would have a gig bag (I don't if there is but in Israel we don't have) it would make my life easier

Takes a few minutes, but is fairly easy to use. Would have liked the Group button to be footswitch accessible however.

This is just a general notice to potential buyers of this effects unit. After receiving the 8080, and playing with the effects, I found the unit to be very nice. However, when I attempted to use the Pedal Pitch Shift, I found that the sould was really 'robotic'. Not smooth, but choppy. I also did notice that when pitching up rapidly, the sould seemed to jump around a little.
Bottom line, you need to spend a good hour at the store with this unit before you make a decision.