Zoom 9000

I love it!!! Editing patches isn't hard as other processors I've used in the past. The distortion is good for the type of music that I use it for ( I mostly use the clean tone ) I've actually had mine since it came out in 1991 and never had any problems until now. My distortion channel is crapping out now and I'm wondering if it has to do with the internal battery. If anyone can give me some feedback on this, it would be greatly appreciated!!!

I use Ibanez guitars exclusively which I run the zoom through a boss noise gate, alesis EQ, and Alesis, Q20 to my Crate G600 amp. The effects aren't noisy depending on the guitar I use. If I'm using a guitar w/ single coils it tends to get a little radio feedback now and then. I've always been able to get whatever sound I need from it.

I've used it for 12 years without any hang ups until recently. Gigging with it was never a problem for me.

I'm about to try and get some tech help so I'll let you know how it goes.

I play a wide variety of styles but primarily I use a clean tone which the zoom is good for. I've been playing for 18 years now and I own too much equipment to really list all of it but I'm using a Roland xp80, Korg M1, and other MIDI stuff to accompany my guitar playing. If my zoom got stolen, I'd more than likely replace it with a Line 6 POD or something newer. I've always been from the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" mentality! Overall, it's been a great unit for me through the years!

piss easy, i get everything i want from it. editing patches is streightfoward, although the lack of gain on the od channels is a dissapointment.i have a manual, but i dont touch it. manuals are evil.

i use a squire custom jazz strat (emg pickups etc), ibanez rg, crate gx80, dod heavy distortion, dod wah/volume pedal, rocktek flanger (shut the fuck up, it has a weird sound!). its quieter (in the noinse scence) than my dod distortion and onboard. but it interferes with my onboard reverb (prefer to use the tank than the digital reverb), makes it hum a bit. the effects are pretty good if you play with the unit enough.

um, i think after 13 years of service (and still running), i trust it with my life. its an old unit, but it works for me.

never delt with them

overall, it is amazing. i havent changed my pedalboard for 11 years, and this zoom was my first unit, got it when i was 15. fucking awesome unit. I SAY RE-RELEASE IT!!post to petition...

I find it very easy to use, editing [atches is east, i found playing around with it rather than using the manual was easier..trial and error.

I'm using a fender squire, with a fender delux 112. With the amp reverb set to zero and use the reverb for which ever patch needs it at the time. There is a little background noise when using the flanger and phaserbut apart from that you get get the sounds you require by spending a little time setting the patches properly.
The unit has very good overdrive used with compression and a brilliant chorus sounds.

Unfortunatley haven't had the opportunity to gig with it yet, but had plenty of jam sessions using it without any hiccups.

After playing the guitar for over 10years, i've used a fair few different effects units, the ZOOM 9000 does it's job pretty well and i think it stands up pretty well against any other units in it's price range. Playing styles from clean chorus rhythm to slight delay lead with reverb and overdriven power chord riffs with searing sustained solos, the unit has my vote.

Recieved as a present - with manual - but lost it before trading the damn thing. New i think it was about #400 (about ten years ago)

It took me extensive manual reading just to edit the rather bad preset patches. the manual is pretty comprehensive though. the only reason it gets a five is the chunky foot pedal that i understand was optional.

VERY DIGITAL :(

I used this with headphones and my old Strat. It was pretty bad. Some of the effects were great though. The cry Wah i remember was a particular favourite and phaser + flanger were average for a digital effects box.
distortion sounds were terrible. clean and rhthm were almost identical as were crunch overdrive and distortion. Also switching from clean to overdrive was amazing. You would have to set the volume of the clean patch to 200 and the OD patch to 10 - 20 just to get a reasonible level.

NNNOOOOO.

THis thing would swich off because of a dodgy connector and the pedal that plugged into the unit broke ( it is very similar to a phone connector) and caused it to continuously disconnect. but this damage occured before i got a hold of it. its made of Plastic which is never a good idea.

POOR
There was no information in the zoom database when i lost the manual.

A six because you could probably buy one for about twenty quid now and zoom are great.. I part exchanged this pedal in and got a zoom GFX-707. This pedal functions alot better but i only use it for practice. My main unit is the Zoom GFX-8 and it is a considerably better multi effects pedal. DOnt buy the zoom 9000 for gigging - you will regret it!

Understanding this thing is very simple. I've got the manual, but never read this, just learning by doing. Programming the patches is a bit tricky, if you want a spezified sound you have to try several hours to get it, but I think its a problem that all effect units have.
My German manual is great, I've transcribed it for someother players into English.

I'm using a B.C. Rich Warlock and a Fender 57'Strat with my Hughes & Kettner ATS (160 Watt) and my Hughes & Kettner Attax 80 (80 Watt) for stereoamping. Some of the sounds like flanger or chorus sound much better with stereoamping.
The effects all are great, but the distortion sounds are too loud, may be 10 times louder than the other effects. It's hard to get the effects to the same level.

Don't know, because I use it since 2 weeks.

Customer support?
If you try to find a manual on the net, it's hard to get one. I was searching for some other guitarplayers, but never found anything.

I think the zoom 9000 is a good match for that price. The floorboard works fine and if you want, you could use the zoom 9000 in the park or the train. The only disappointing thing is, that the zoom 9000 only has 20 user presets, I wish it had more. I also have a zoom 1010, it has 42 presets ( all programmable), thats much better.

Easy, I love it's easiness...

I use it with Prince HM-12 (Local hand made guitar I use often) with Di Marzio X2N Pick Up. I Also use it with Gibson LX- Custom 1979. Fender Bullet Reverb Amps. Just great... Sometime it sounds to thin with some amps, but I add Boss Comp/sus & Boss Eq sound better. use it as my first choice FX when I need to look for sound for my guitar.

YESS !!!! But I always bring back up.

Yess, Once I was having "locked" error on my stage. I contact the store I purchased it in Singapore. They show me how to fix it, they even told me I can do it myself.

It is very easy to setup. I didn't even read the manual.

I've been a guitar-audiophile for a long time and am very picky about my equipment. This unit sounds a lot better through headphones than it did through my amp. I gave it a fairly low number because it is not very customizable. You selected from several types of distortion, but you can't tweak the gain settings. There isn't really anything wrong with what is there, but there are a lot more capable effects units out there now for around what I paid for this one. I only had it 3 days before I returned it to the pawn shop where I bought it.

I also had the foot pedal board that seemed to work fine. I just replaced this unit with a Digitech RP200 that pretty much kills the Zoom in every way.

.it is almost impossible
.it looks easy
.if only I could get one
.havent got a clue

.Kramer Beretta & Peavey bandit stage master
.overdrive and distortion are 10 times louder than other effects
.especially when on clean you can hardly hear it even if level is set to 200
.combo 200W
.I've been trying really hard but I've always failed. it is almost impossible to get the sound like deep purple, pink Floyd or even gnr
.flanger and cry are excellent, tremolo and chorus are ok too, I cant stand the sound of distortion thats why I have to use the boos metal zone or distortion

.the remote usually unplugs (just in the midle of the solo)
.i think not

. I haven`t had the chance
. my friend tried to get his gfx-707 repaired but after 3 months of waiting nothing was done

.i usually play hard rock, but when we`re jamming with the band we sometimes play a litle funky stuff to.
.for about 5 years, I also have an old zoom 505, few boss efects like distortion, metal zone, delay
.probably not
.the main part is very small, it has a built-in-amp... it is a great pece of gear but if only someone could show me how to take out the best it can give me
.

Sounds great and easy to program
got the manual but never read it!

I use to use this with my Telecaster direct into a power amp and have also used it with bass and acoustic with good results.

I had another one that died, power supply went faulty and took out the main unit as well. The one I have now is great

Never delt with them

Great for a wide range of stuff and cool for headphone use
I wouldn't use it for gigging as I have a 2020, 9030 and a 9050
All of which sound better at gigs.

BTW this is for sale rory if you are interested
(to mail me remove NOSPAM from my email address)

Good manual, easy layout, nice big switches on footpedal

Sounds good for Charvel Predator through 4 kW Marshall with Peavey Speakers. Nice distortion and compression, excellent echo and a good fat chorus. Used it for 8 years as main gigging unit.

Only damage was snapped plastic on footpedal plug (while packing up after a very drunk gig)

Happily depended on it at over 200 gigs.

After 8 years it died completely - so I moved to a 4040 which ain't bad, but I can't use it in the park:(

Very crap support - after it died no-one offered any useful info. I tried contacts in UK, USA and Japan

For blues or rock this is a good box - the classic Zoom sound. For heavier thrashing, it isn't quite fat or crunchy enough. Nice and light, so good for picnics and busking, along with my 1W Marshall baby.

IF ONLY I COULD FIND SOMEONE WITH SOME TECHNICAL KNOWLEDGE SO I CAN FIX IT. I MISS MY 9000!!

Bought it used no manual, was a nightmare till I tinkered around with it after that no problem.

To me I think the sound quality is excellent for the money. I like
the pitch shifter and delay the best. Distortion could be better with
a tad more gain settings etc but overall good sound.Its easy to get that Rhoads or van halen type metal sound or anything else really.

This is the third zoom I've bought, my little 9002 died after years of
faithfull service. Dont know if I would like to depend on it for gigs though, I would probably use just some of the mod effects like delay
chorus etc.

Never had to deal with them, had to take my first 9000 back to the shop for repair as the power in socket was faulty after that no problems.

I like the 80's metal sound, Rhoads van halen etc and it does the job
very well, its not something you have to wrestle with to get a good sound.My only gripe is the small delay between patch changes and the distortion could be better but for the $$$ I think its unmatched.
Definitely by it again as its relatively cheap compared to other brands and you get a ton of effects for the price of one pedal so its got my vote.

Well, since I got it used, I didn't get a manual. It took me a few days of dinkin' with it to really figure out how to access all of the settings. If you get one, be sure to spend lots of time checking out all the settings. I've found that the overdrive/distortion sounds much better if you dink with both of the EQs just right. The foot controller doesn't have a straight-forward bypass which sucks.

I've been using mine with a '67 (SG-body)Melody Maker with a Tele pickup at the bridge and a humbucker at the neck. The sound is pretty good into a 50W Marshall, but I've had the batteries run down on me live so I mostly use it to record into a PC. Sure it's noisy, but with the kind of gain/distortion settings I use, anything else is just as noisy. Gotta love the harmonizer. It does drop out momentarily between settings, which is disappointing. Also, don't try to use it too close to an FM wireless... you'll get lots of digital buzzing.

It eats batteries like crazy, and I hate having 50 wall-warts. If you abuse it the connectors will screw up, but they are easily fixed if you're good with a soldering iron. Just on general principles, I'd never go to a gig without backup gear, but that's not a reflection on the unit, just my own paranoia.

I own three pieces of Zoom Gear... the 9000, a 9001 and a Zoom Driver. The 9000 and Driver were bought used. None came with any manual, and I've contacted Zoom about all 3 with disappointing results. Once I was overjoyed to get a large envelope in the mail from them, but it had none of the info I requested. Just adverts for new gear. Typical engineering types. Build great stuff, but don't tell anyone how it works.

It's a pretty versatile piece of gear. You can create patches for any style of music. Like any unit with a ton of effects bundled in, some are not perfect, but the convenience of having all your effects in one box makes up for that.

Pretty easy. Not too many parameters. My unit was packet with footpedal for selecting presets and tuner mode. The combination worked very well in band and live situations.

The sound is quite thin and modern. Allways sounds like ZOOM. Won't let the sound of your guitar and fingers through. The by-pass mode isn't true by-pass mode. Has actually only one distortion sound, which is good for modern high gain things. Clean sound is also suitable for modern things. Basic effects are pretty good for the money.

Mine survived for 8 years until it said bzzzzzzzz and become totally silent. Had problems with the power-in connection. Sometimes lost all user presets. Don't drop it on the floor too many times. Otherwise solidly made.

Good for modern sounds. Not suitable for root music. Works well in live and band situations with build-in tuner and optional floorpedal.

I got my 9000 new in 92, and I think they'd been out about 2 or 3 years at the time. There are some decent presets on the unit, but all are editable and this should be done to fit your guitar and amp. It is not difficult to get a good sound out of this little processor. A manual will go a long way in speeding up the learning process, but I lost my manual shortly after learning to use this thing and haven't needed it since. The manual was actually quite good considering it's a manual for musical equipment (and we know the general quality of those!). However, this isn't a programmable processor to fear like some others out there. The biggest problem I have is the small size of the buttons, the closeness of the buttons, and the relative similarity of their appearance. Quick changes in the dark could cause problems.

I got the optional footswitch with mine so changing patches while playing is quite easy. I've done it while singing and playing onstage, and I'm not a brain surgeon.

I'd suggest ignoring reviews of the 9000 if they were made on cheap guitars and amps.

I have played this unit with American Strats w/ stock pickups & EMG's, a LP Custom (the guitar I bought and got the 9000 with for free), a custom made tele with Van Zandts, a JB Player with EMG 81's, other guitars; and for amps it's been Peaveys, Fenders, and Tubeworks.

This processor has consistently delivered quality effects and sound with all my equipment over the last 8 years. Sometimes I've put it down for a period of time, picked it up on a whim and rediscovered just how good it sounds! True, there are some cheesy effects in here ("metal" and "cry"), but everything else is great. My favorite guitarist is David Gilmour of the Floyd, and with this Zoom I was copping his leads with my Les Paul - years before I got my strat. This unit is very flexible for its size, and while it does have some shortcomings like the eq parameters, well that's what you have knobs on your amp for! Even still, for a while I ran the 9000 straight into a Tube Works MosValve 920 amp which only had volume and presence controls for each channel.

For my tastes, the distortion and overdrives on this sucker are awesome. Mix in some delay and chorus, all little reverb, and crank it up. The octave on this thing kicks ass too: I just mix it in at a level of "1" for one octave down ("-12" on the menu), then thrash on my LP along with RATM's first album. Beefy! The choruses, reverbs, and delays on here are excellent and quite flexible. The flanger and phasers are okay - definitely not Electro Harmonix or old Boss quality, but good enough in the mix. What I also like to do is turn the first effect type off, the one that sets crunch, overdrive, clean, distortion, etc. With it off you just get the tone your amp puts out, or run it direct and it sounds nice and spanky clean. Very nice. I have also used a Dunlop crybaby with the 9000 as well as the Boss GE7, both to great effect. When using pedals with the 9000, experiment with putting it before the input or in after the output (prior to amplifier).

One big problem I have with the 9000's sound quality is the delay between patch changes. The sound drops out for a fraction of a second. The Super Player (8080, I believe) was supposed to "seemlessly transition when switching patches" but when I played one in a store it wasn't what I expected. The delay is manageable if you practice your transitions (I was in a serious band when I used the 9000 exclusively and I was forced to!). Some of the compressor levels on the higher gain settings can be noisy, but I've heard worse from overdrive pedals. It's not bad in my opinion and has never presented a problem for me. I guess if you were at full volume alone in a stadium and held your guitar instead of playing it....

Here's where the 9000 falls short. I went through 2 units before I got one that wouldn't die on me. In order to keep these suckers from glitching and resetting all the patches to factory default DO NOT USE BATTERIES. You must have an a/c adapter. Also, the plug receptacles aren't very sturdy, especially the "mix in" one - mine is defunct. Be careful that you plug & unplug the power smoothly and firmly.

Otherwise, this sucker has been everywhere and taken some abuse. A few scratches but otherwise no other problems. I gotta give a lower rating due to not being reliable on batteries.

Never have. When the first two went tits up I dealt with the store.

In the words of the great D. Gilmour, multi-effects processors due many things but don't do any of them particularly well. This is very true. What the 9000 does for me is give me all the sounds I need in a small, easy to use package. To match or surpass the amount and quality of effects that I get from the 9000 I'd have to spend a lot of money and lose a lot of space in my gig bag. I will eventually replace the 9000 with a pedal set-up, but I still haven't found the pedals I need to make that a superior, pragmatic and tonal option.

I just bought mine used, and it did not come with a manual. However, I figured it out pretty fast after listening to the different sounds.
It is very easy to use. Once you get a hang for it, there is not much to it.

My guitar is a Hoener Les Paul and a Peavy RAGE. the effects sound very good but the noise does become a problem. This can be remedied
by just wailing on your instrument and playing fast so the noise gets kind of mixed in with the sound. The flanging is good, but not great. Very analog sounding.

When I put batteries in it it just refused to operate. After playing around with the battery themselves in the unit everything is A o.k.
I might use it on a gig without a backup, but be very careful and know your 9000 well, because it might malfunction when you'll need it
most.

N/A..so far have not needed to do this.

I give this a rating of 8. Great used price for such a great little processor.

The unit has a great sound overall. I can get any sound I want out of it. Editing patches is easy to do even if you don't have the manual.

I use the Zoom with an Ibanez EX series through a Peavey Audition 30. It is not noisy at all. All the effects are great on it too. The distortions are not too good for palm muting, and the EQ has a very limited range (only 2 bands).

I just got it so I've never dropped it or anything

I play lots of different kinds of music so it helps me expand my musical composition ability. I wish the EQ setting had 3 or 4 bands instead of two and I wish the distortions were heavier.

Well i would say that it's very easy to use even without the manual. Editing patches is quite a easy too ,except that every buttons has so many purposes that first i was bit of confused ,but when you use it enough you'll learn it.

I'm using this unit with good old Fender Stratocaster and Marshall Valvestate amplifier, and i think they fit together quite nice. Zoom 9000 is noisy with some settings ,that's true and some kind of noice reduction would be really good. But it's not SO noisy as some people says . Distortions are quite a identical but those are decent i guess, larger variety of distortion sounds would be nice. Reverb is pretty good and delays work fine. Modulation effects are absolutely good for the price;phaser,flanger pitch shifter and others are good, tremolo effect is nice too. But i have to say that metal effect is totally useless, it's sounds really weird.With adjusting the effect parametres you can get very futuristic and strange sounds.That cry effect is good but i would like to have more options to adjust that. After all i think this little box really have good range of effects inside.

Well i haven't got this unit with gig yet but i think i would depend to it . I have dropped it many times to floor but it still works fine.

This unit is really good and fantastic value for the money, it has so many effects inside, that it's hard to find as good processor as this with so little of money. This processor is good and i would buy it again i guess.

I bought this unit used, no manual came with it -- but it's pretty intuitive once you start pushing buttons. I was editing patches in about half an hour or so. Each button serves more than one function so it gets kind of confusing if you forget what mode you're in, but a little patience and practice solves that problem.

I agree with others who say the sound is somewhat mediocre. Kind of thin and over-processed. I'm using it with a Washburn Shadow played through a Peavey Bandit 112 Transtube amp, and the Zoom tends to suck the bottom end right out of the sound unless you handle the effects settings with some delicacy. Otherwise you just heap layers of inherent noise into the mix. Reverb and delay sound pretty good but the controls are kind of limited. Chorus, flange, phase, pitch shift and tremelo sound quite good to me -- good range of controls. The Cry setting (auto-wah) is ok, but do yourself a favor and get a real pedal for that. Later for that "Metal" mode - totally useless. Onboard memory could have been put to better use.
The distortion effects are nothing to write home about. There's very little difference, really, between the Distortion, Overdrive and Crunch modes. The compression isn't all that great, either. These are analog effects & it doesn't seem like the designers put too much thought into it or paid too much attention to user input. I usually use the distortion/overdrive on my amp and let the Zoom handle the modulation effects.

It's pretty reliable, but I would definitely bring backups to a gig. The unit was not designed for stomp box use -- more of a set-and-forget thing that you stick on top of your amp. The buttons are far too snmall and close together to try to operate with your feet.
Even though the case is plastic, it's pretty sturdy. It can take a few falls off an amp and still keep on ticking.

Only had to call them once, to mail me a manual. Other than that I've never had a reason to contact them.

The Zoom 9000, for all its weaknesses, is fairly impressive for its size. I think, though, that they tried to cram too much into such a small package. Quantity over quality is not always good.
If your style is more manic/effects driven, or if you gig alot, maybe you should consider something sturdier or easier to operate "on the fly". If you're someone like me who does a lot a solo projects in his home studio and plays out only occasionally, this unit is very good -- although I probably would choose a rack system for my next purchase.

You will definetly need the book to get started. The manual is sufficient, but nothing special. Have to do a lot of foot tapping to use it live. Would be nice to have a backlit display on it to see settings better.

As others have mentioned, the distortion has just one sound to it. Ok for awhile, but it gets old pretty fast. The worst thing is the EQ - it must be digital with too low of a sampling rate: extremely noisy when trying to get any treble boost at all. The chorus, delays, and reverbs sound pretty good to me. The maximum delay (500 msec) is just a little too small for some things I'd like to do with it.

Mine failed once under warranty and had to be replaced. Also had to replace the RJ45 connector that plugs the foot controller into the main unit. Sent the unit back another time under warranty because I thought it must be defective to sound so bad with treble boost, but later found out that is just the design. Have had trouble with it losing it's battery backed up settings.

Support seemed reasonably good. Everything handled well.

I liked it because it was small, but since it really requires a foot controller to use, I would buy something in a foot controller only format if I had to do it all over again. No way would I buy it again unless the EQ section was drastically cleaned up and more distortion types were included. However, it is handy to have in your bag and can help in a pinch - have used the reverb for the house mix with surprisingly good results.

Easy enough to use and program. You need the foot board for full effectiveness. It isn't real friendly about changes at the last minute. In other words, set the effects how you think you'll need them before you go to your gig or jam because by the time you mess around with it on the spot, the song will be over.

I've used it through my 100 watt Carvin effects loop and straight in the front. Basically it thins out your sound. If you're looking for a warm tube sound then beware! I think it sounds thin and harsh unless you max out the low e.q.
An irritating aspect is that there is a moment of silence as the effects change. There isn't a clean, instant change between patches so if you want to change effects mid phrase forget it. The sound cuts out while it gets its bearings then comes back in on the new patch.
Overall the best sound I've ever gotten has been adequate, not great. Distortion is thin and generic but not digital. If people would read their owners manual they would see it is indeed analog.
I must say though, if you like an 80's type of processed sound (smooth compressed, delayed, it does a fairly good job.

I had to send mine back to the repair place to have it fixed. Cost me $80. Not sure what went wrong other than it wouldn't turn on. That was 3 years ago and it hasn't happened again. Wouldn't spend another $80 to fix it again.

Repairs were done in about a month with no gliches.

The only reason I don't sell it is that I like the fact that I can listen with headphones and it sounds "o.k." I can patch a c.d. player into it and play along. It also lines out to a recorder and sounds pretty good when I make jamming tapes and write songs.
Beyond that it isn't very impressive. Like others in this review I bought it before I knew much about effects and was impressed with all I could get for the money. It turned out to be quantity instead of quality. For the record, I haven't been impressed with any multi-effects processors in that price range either. It think they're for people who want it all for not much money.
I wouldn't buy it again but I wouldn't buy a different multi-effects unit either. Luckily, I don't think they make them anymore.

Mine didn't come with a manual, so I had to figure it out for myself, which was actuall pretty simple. A very straight-forward design and full effects manipulation make it very user-friendly.

Honestly, the distortion is pretty thin. The other effects make up for this defeciency, however. The delay, reverb, and flanging is studio quality. The phasing and tremolo are decent, but the tremolo can sound more like a machine gun than a tone modulation. The wah-wah effect is decent, but you can't shift the pitch without messing around with the tone settings. There is nothing like the real thing. Kind of noisy with some effects, but mostly pretty quiet.

I got a dud. I played with the thing for about two months, then it totally went downhill. It just died. I probably got a dud, and I bought it used, so that probably had a big part, too, but it should've lasted a little longer than two months.

N/A

It's a small unit, which can actually get kind of annoying after a while, since it tends to be pulled over by the weight of the plugs. I wouldn't buy one again, and you can probably figure out why...

It`s Very easy to use!

The sound quality is quite good for the price, a bit noisy though. Distortion is a bit weak for my taste.

It trusted it with my life.

Never talked to them

Good for the price. I sold It. But i Have used for 3-4 years!

The 9000 was my first processor, and consequently I didn't yet have the experience to use many of its features. After a while I began reading the manual and soon came to realize how easily it is programed.

Sound quality on this unit is not up to par with most "rack unit" processors in this price range. It is difficult to elliminate the high level of noise produced by the 9000 on most settings. Many of the effects are useless and/or to noisy to use effectively.

The 9000 is dependable and solidly built. Sometimes it won't boot up right, but this isn't a big problem. The main problem is the unit's size. Although such a small package may seem like a good thing, the 9000 can easily be disconnected if you stretch the cord out.

No need to contact them.

If I had an unlimited cash flow and collected old effects processors, I might consider buying another 9000. Since this is not the case, I would not mess with another. Going for a DigiTech or Alesis seems like a much smarter choice.

This is definitely EASY to use. Without a manual and a couple of minutes you can do what you want with it. It is also quick to use which can be an advantage.

The unit tends to be noisy in some combinations. It has pretty goog chorus and distortions. Pitch and delays are excellent. Reverb is OK. It is also capable of some very weird sounds. I never understood what that Metal effect is for, it sounds awful. I think it's great value for the money.

Never had a problem with it. Practicing or in concert.

No contact ever. Didn't need to.

I would buy it again. It was my first digital processor and I've had it for years. I'm thinking about selling now 'cos I want something more powerful like an RP-12 or something. It's a brilliant first processor.

Quit easy to use. Simply chose a patch, the effect, and the parameters. After setup confirm your settings. The manual is rather short but sufficient for this unit. Once you managed the weak details of this unit its easy to get the sound you want - if possible at all. Generally, the control range of the parameters are very limited. Especially equalizing is too weak. Forget about the enhancer and the mid boost; they only produce plastic like colours.

This unit IS noisy. There is no noise reduction, so you cant get rid of noise once you have it. The problem is, that nearly all settings produce noise. Only if you add very light and smooth effects, e.g. light chorus, you will get results you can accept. Distortion is quite nice if you like the ZOOM-sound. Very bity and present. Also crunchy sounds are possible. Compressors work nice for sustain enhancement. I like the pitch shifter, it allows nice chorus/detune effects. Also the chorus produces nice results. Forget about the reverb, it will sound like in the toilet of a big train station. I use the reverbs of my amp. Delay sounds not natural enough, but its okay for soloing if you add it a little in the background.

Reliable in general. Sometimes it started rebooting after plugging the cable into the input jack. For me it was not too big a problem because i used only 4 settings for gigging. Editing is easy so you can recover sounds in minutes.

Never had contact with ZOOM.

Definitly not! For live gigs its too noisy, not flexible enough and simply more a toy than a piece of good equipment. The unit is very small and fits into every gigbag or something. Its also quite nice as practicing tool. Compared to other units it seems to expensive for the value you get.

easy to get good sounds/edit patches I bought mine second-hand (no manual)

NOISY! Wish I could set mix between "wet" and "dry" sounds I like the chorus, phaser, ring modulator, pitch effects, delay not enough character in distortion sounds

Experienced a problem (similar to that of another user): When power plug is disconnected patches may be erased (I'v had several gigs where I had to sit onstage and re-program the whole thing Bring back-up floor pedals just in case

would probably buy a unit with noise reduction, expression pedals, loops for external effects (thingsI wish this zoom had) I like that it has all these effects in one little box Hate the noise and undependability and a somewhat metallic sound to some effects (reverb?) By the way, where are the 20 factory-preset patches and where are the 20 user-defined ones? There are only banks 0,1,2,3,4 with 4 patches each (5x4=20)

This was my first multi effects processor, and I got used to using it within a few hours of buying it.

Although I am very impressed with the sound that this processor creates for its size, I would have liked it to have a better limiter. But that is easily solved with a seperate one. It gets a bit noisy when in distortion mode.

I have only had the thing for a week, so I'm not a very reliable source

I would definately buy it again. I think they packed a lot of power into this little processor.

The 9000 is a pretty easy to use effects processor that you don't really need the manual for. The manual for it though is fairly good. Editing patches is basically as easy as changing settings on any effects pedal.

I've noticed that people's opinions on the sound quality of the 9000 is pretty subjective and varied. Some love it, some hate it, so if you can, try to hear one before you buy it. My personal opinion is that overall it's a fairly nice sounding little unit. I must correct the previous post, in that the distortion IS NOT digital. It very clearly states in the manual that the compressor and distortion effects are anolog. To me they sound pretty fat, but it's hard to get a real crunchy death metal tone out of it as it lacks a good mid eq. The compression on it also is nothing to write home about. It sustains the notes a bit but doesnt limit too well. The speaker simulator also wasnt too terribly impressive, and sounds better if you run it through a Red Box or Sans Amp cab sim. The distortion also sounds way better if you run it through a good tube amp, or run it through a stereo guitar amp setup. The chorus and flangers are very good. Pitch Shifter is decent, delays are nice sounding, auto wah sounds alot like a talk box, and is pretty nice. The random step filter is a interesting effect but not very useful. Ring modulator can give you very interesting special effects espeacially on vocals. Tremelo is alright. Reverb is well, kinda metallic but still very usable. My main complaint is that it doesnt have the new Zoom Noise Reduction and is a bit noisy sometimes, espeacially with distortion.

The one draw back of something this small is that it is easy to step on, drop, or lose. Several times I've gotten a little a bit too rowdy and have yanked my poor little zoom off my amp onto a hard cement floor. But it kept on ticking. I have though had unrelated problems with the internal memory battery shorting out and a loose input jack, both of which were repaired promptly by Zoom under warranty and it has worked perfectly since then. But because your rowdy bass player or some crazed stage diver may step on your zoom or accidentally yank it clear across the stage or worse yet off the stage, I would recommend taking a backup. Oh also the footpedal that came with mine is pretty tough and highly recommended if your're going to be doing live work.

I dealt with the store I bought it from who handled everything with the company and everything seemed to work out pretty well. As I stated above I've had repaired once but have had no problems since then.

Over all this is a great home studio processor. It fits anywhere on top of your equipment. Mine sits on top of my mixer. I think I would probably buy it again for that reason, but for playing live would probably go for the new Zoom 3030 which goes for a similar price and has a nice expression pedal.

The Zoom 9000 is a fairly good unit. The modulation effects, especially the stereo chorus and flanger, are solid and have good parameter ranges. Reverb and delay are also very good for a unit in this price range.
The Achilles' heel of the Zoom 9000, however, is its distortion and compression. The distortion is digital and weak, and getting a warm overdrive sound is impossible. Its either really fizzy or not there at all. The compression also is too weak and only has three settings.
The built-in tuner is pretty good, though, and the foot pedal easily lets you select one of the 20 programs (but not individual effects). The unit has 20 presets + 20 programmable patches and the presets are of varying quality. The only presets I really use are 23 (chorused dist.) and 41 (rhythm flanger). Programming this thing is really simple once you get used to it. Unfortunately, my unit has a problem with the power and occasionally when I plug in the AC adaptor the unit won't start. It eventually starts working again after repeatedly unplugging and replugging the unit, but by the time it is on again all the user programs are gone. I should stress, however, that I know other people that own 9000's and they've never experienced this problem.
The amp simulator is pretty good and this unit really shines when used with a good pair of headphones. The stereo modulation effects come out clear and deep and it doesn't bother your neighbours! :)
If I were going to buy another multi-effects (which I am) I would go for something a bit more powerful, maybe the ZOOM 9050, 9002 Pro, or the Korg AX30G, although these units are much more expensive than the 9000.
Other than that, this unit is tiny weighs next to nothing so if you travel a lot it is very handy. I would say its ideal for a beginner who wants to experiment with a great variety of sounds and have a limited budget. Overall a good buy.