Zoom 9030

It's easy enough to access the patches. What I didn't like was that the various patches had dramatically different levels. I would have to edit each patch to even them out or adjust my guitar volume with each effect. There was also no bypass patch accessible by foot controller. Don't know if this is available with the 8050. I would have to bypass by pressing a button on the unit, which is not practical mid-song.

This unit tends to dominate whatever guitar and amp you are using. The effects are not what one would call transparent. That's fine if the unit has the sounds you want. It seems to do well with chorus, flange, various reverbs and delays. It has Trevor Rabin's detuned harmony from "Owner of a Lonely Heart". I liked the BOMB patch and another one that added a lower octave note to distortion.

Was reliable until the battery went out for a while. Then the power came back. It's probably not a good idea to rely on an effects unit for most of one's sound. Stuff happens to electronics that you can't fix on the fly. It held up on a short tour my buddy and I did.

The company responded to my email concerning the lack of a bypass, but their suggested solution didn't work.

I learned through my experience with the 9030 that I prefer less heavy-handed effects. I now use a G Major. That suits my style better.
However, there are a couple specialized effects on the 9030 that I miss (it was stolen). So perhaps I will get another one at some time.

easy to startup, no chance getting into individual tuning without manual

great presets, everything likely to be covered. I remember I had some problems using live equipment when I checked it at a shop some years ago, seems to have been my fault. I use it for rich clean rhythm and heavy lead with large rooms. After 1 week of testing: nothing is really missing, I can keep my rack at home for sessions and plug anywhere. The noise is much lower than I believed it could be, especially on heavy sounds the comp/lim is very efficient

no chance to check it yet

really great, it seems, emailed the japanes suuport and got a positive answer hour later (asking for a German printed Manual, they promised me to send for FREE, just giving my adress and ser No, and they gave me the hard to find link to the english online.pdf)

I waited really long time to make a decision, it's a bit like what I experienced with having children: if I had known before how great it is I would have done earlier:-)

Got it used with no manual. Though not impossible, it takes a few to understand how things work because of the cryptic FX naming the other reviewers talked about and because of the multiple functions given to the buttons. Once you understand how this box works it's as hard to program as any early 90s multiFX unit was, which means that you have tons of parameters to set that interact between them and a few multifunction knob/buttons to deal with...I also own a TC Electronic G-Major and I find that the TC is BY FAR easier to program and more powerful/flexible...Anyway, 10 years have passed between these two machines, so that's no true comparison.

RATE: 5 Time consuming, touchy and complicated to program.

I use this box in my practice rig which consists of

ZOOM 9030 -> Torres Tiny Tube 1.5W amp -> THD Hotplate -> Marshall 8412 4x12 cab

I use the amp (which is EXTREMELY loud compared to the power rating, that's why the attenuator) mainly as a poweramp, with the volume and tone knobs at full throttle and tweaking volume and EQ directly from the 9030.

I find that Delay, Chorus, Reverb are still good quality compared to most recent equipment I've owned in the past (Alesis Quadraverb and Ibanez DE7 digital delay/echo pedal),usable and enjoyable.

No idea of how the compressor works, my unit's comp is dead and ZOOM doesn't support this model anymore.

The amp emulator is something that's not comparable to the latest technology marvels (Line6 just to mention one) and really doesn't make the job if you intend to plug it into a mixer/headphone, anyway I have found that dialing in a small amount of amp emulation to the sound sent to the amp gives a nice color to the overall tone... That's my taste of course!

The distorsion sucks bad, but the crunch sounds good enough and I was able to obtain a good distortion by using the crunch of the 9030 with a high output volume in order to obtain also power stage saturation on the amp...The big fat sound of the pentode saturating blending with the flat trebly digital crunch gives a nice warm high gain Boogie style distortion... At a volume that's barely higher than the guitar's own sound!!

Of course if I turn up the volume the magic screws up ending in a piercing and weak tone, anyway loud levels are not what I ask to this rig :D

The other FX are not worth mentioning as they aren't more than something to have fun with when you got time to waste and nothing to do. The pitch shifter is too darn slow and has intonation flaws and the autowah sounds like shit.

For what it is it would deserve a 5 (most of the FX are unusable) but considering the age of the project and that it does the job for what my needs are I give it a 6

Mine is broken, the compressor doesn't work. Considering that we're talking about a hi-end (for the time) digital multiFX i would expect more. And this unit has never been gigged (and never will). There are tube amps (which are usually unreliable compared to digital equipment) out there which are as old as my father and still kicking and they never needed repair (except tube replacing)!!

People at ZOOM, are you kiddin'??? NO SUPPORT?? Great, that'll definitely prevent me from ever buying ZOOM stuff for the future!! My Triaxis is 12 years old and I can still get parts and service from Mesa/Boogie, even if mine is still version 1!!!

For the time this unit was first released it was probably a good multiFX unit (forget about distortion), actually is outdated and there's lots of stuff out there that sounds way better at 1/5th the price this unit was originally sold. Anyway if you buy one used you will get good FX at a reasonable price, but you'll have to go thru programming, and lots of guitarists just don't like it.

As per me programming it's not a problem (I am experienced in digital FX tweaking) and the unit did the job I wanted it to do at a good price so I'll give it a 6.

I've been playing guitar (and playing with guitar stuff) for almost 13 years now, I play blues, hard rock, prog rock and metal. My guitars are Ibanez (S and RG series) all fitted with DiMarzios Air Norton in the neck position and Steve Special in the bridge.

getting a usable sound is easy, but the abbreviations of the fx types are quite cryptical (if you don't have the manual); using the 9030 with a midi-controller is really easy; I've used it with a behringer fcb1010, so I had 2 CCs, controlchange-commands, tap-tempo, etc.
the 7 is only because of the cryptic abbreviations; I had not known the meaning of some fx' or parameters, until I got a manual.

I play the 9030 through the serial fx-loop of my beloved hughes&kettner tube50; when I connected the H&K's send to the 9030's input, there where problems with terrible whistling (maybe because of the analog preamp in the zoom); now I connect the H&K's send to the 9030's fx-return; now I can't use the compressor but all the noise and whistling is gone.
I give it a 8, because of the considerable delay-time using the pitch-shifter; the other fx are quite good and range from usable to sick and unnessessary; I even use the amp-simulator, which gives my tube50 more balls when i play silently).

yeah!
I bought my 9030 used and therefore without a manual; I conntacted zoom via e-mail and just one (1,!!!) week later I found the air-mailed, copied original manual in english in my postbox (they even sent it for free).
so before searching the manual in the internet (and you won't find it there), e-mail to zoom.

I get MY sound out of it, and any other I want to (but always using the distortion of my tube50); I love using the distortion-curcuit of the 9030 as a sustainer.
I love this good old fx-unit, but I give it a 7 because of the pitch-shifter's delay-time and the noise concerning the preamp/compressor(?).

It's very easy to edit patches and use even without the manual.

I give it a 10. Way better sound than the new pedals coming out. Blows the GT3 out of the water!

Havne't had a problem with it in 5 years since i got it.

Never had to contact them since i've had no problems with it.

Man i had this pedal for a year before the person i got it from actually gave me the manual. And I had already learned everything there was to know about the pedal. Editing patches is totally easy and since i've had the pedal now for about 5 years there hasn't been a single problem with it. When my friend got his roland gt3 he found out the he couldn't get near the sounds that i got with my pedal. His distortion sounded like 60's old rock with a lot of flat bass and treble and mine sounded perfect. Overall i think this is one of the best pedals out there. I picked it up for $500 canadian. Origionally with the 8050 it would come close to $1600. It's a good buy

I got mine without a manual, and I could edit sounds easily. However, the names for the effects choices are a bit cryptic.

I just used the headphone output, so far just experimented with the distortion sounds, and got a reasonable sounding one for a box of this vintage. I expected it to be noiser than eIt's no "COSM" modeling processor, although...

Haven't used it long enough for it to die...the jacks are mounted to the back panel, so the chance of a jack coming off the circut board is minimised. Front panel is a little flimsy, and my #2 knob has a parameter 'drift' problem.

They were willing to research stuff for me, but there are issues that will keep me from considering Zoom products in the future:

1) This unit is 6+ years old, and *no longer supported* in the US. I can't order replacement parts anymore for this unit. All you ZOOM owners who love their boxes should call them and make noise about supporting their products longer. Roland, on the other hand will still support my U-220 synth module.

2) I got the impression that Zoom Japan may still have parts but I have no way to get them: If I were to contact Zoom Japan, they'll refer me back to the service center that told me there are no more parts. I didn't get a straight answer out of Customer Service wheather Zoom Japan made anymore parts for the 9030

-I have to use this unit for a while, so far it meets most of my needs.
-Been playing for 20+ years, own multitrack recorders, synth modules.
-Can't buy it again new, have to search the want-ads for one, and they don't alway pop-up.
-STRENGHS: a lot of effects in a half-rack, having settings for bass make this unit a big plus, knobs on front panel, effects loop, level control on panel to adjust effect level,
-WEAKNESS: product support, better tracking on the pitch shifter (there's an annoying delay), crytic effects names. Wall-wort power supply.

-LACKS: no noise gate (at least I couldn't find one), "up/down" push button inputs for momentary switch control. Better control over the distortions, not arbitrary numbers for distortion settings, phantom power for MIDI footswitches.

This pedal is very easy to use unless you are going into more complicated things like sampling and using the midi features. Editing patches are very simple and it is quite easy to find the right sound you want. The manual does not go into as much depth as it could have but the simplicity of the pedal makes up for it. My unit has not been upgraded.

I use this pedal with a Peavey bass amp and A fender stratocaster. There is some feedback when i use heavy distortions but by adding external effects when there are none it reduces the noise. All of the effects that i have made sound better than any other pedal I have ever tried to use including the Gt-6 And GT-3 by roland. The distortions and sound quality are very good. I can easily manipulate the sounds of other artists distortions or effects including stabbing westward, limp bizkit, blink 182 and pretty much any other band.

I constantly use this pedal without a backup when performing. It is very reliable and with the 8050 it is easy to change effects and control sampling when performing.

I always thought the 9030 was pretty easy to use. Most of the time I used preset patches and then tweaked them to make my own. Some of the clean guitar presets with chorus or flange sound really great, especially through headphones. I like the knobs on the front for tweaking and for editing patches. I have the manual but hardly ever used it. I'm currently trying to sell my 9030 with the 8050 foot controler AND the instruction manuals for both for only $200. I've owned the units for several years now and I'm just ready to move on.

Some of the sounds are really cool, great delays, cool flanges, nice chorus... but I do get some noise in the distortion channels. However, I used to use the 9030 as my main tone running into a Fender solid state 85 watt amp of some sort for power and it had a pretty good sound. It was very flexable, I could footswitch into whatever sounds and volume levels I needed with just the touch of one footswitch and my sounds were very consistant. I also liked the way you could add extra octaves or intervals to your notes, like you'd have 3 notes sounding, the one you were playing, one up a 5th and one down a 7th. Cool to play with, but not real practical to use live unless you're Steve Vai.

My 9030 and 8050 stood up to years of use, hours and hours of playing and I only had to get a new battery in it once. I got good service from Samson/Zoom and all these years later the unit is still working well and I love to play it late at night through headphones. The way the clean sounds sparkle and bounce around through your head in the headphones is really wild. If I do sell my unit, I'll miss that feature the most.
I used my 9030 and 8050 units on LOTS of gigs without back up. I always trusted it, it always worked, and the sounds were consistant. I suppose if it would have crapped out on me I could have used the fender amp for back up, but I never thought of it that way at the time. I was real happy with it, but like I said, now I'm thinking of getting away from effects processors like that and I'm moving on. I think I'd like to just have a basic tube amp, like a Mesa Duel Recto and be done with it.

I got pretty good service the first time I needed some help. I was really pleased with the service, the speed of the repair and the cost to replace the battery and check out the unit was very reasonable. But the last time I called Samsom/Zoom to ask a question, the tech I talked to was kind of rude.

I play a little bit of rock and roll, some top 40, country, metal, and just whatever I have to play at the time, depending on the band I was in. It worked well for everything, really. You just have to tweak the sounds to fit what you want, program the patches and you're ready to go. I've been playing guitar for about 25 years now, I've owned lots of ROLAND geer and I always thought the ZOOM 9030 was a comparable piece of geer. If it were lost or stolen I don't think I'd replace it since the unit is so old. I'd still buy ZOOM products in the future if I found something cool. I loved the great clean sounds and how they would sound through headphones. Some of those sounds would make me want to play for hours! I hated that there was so much noise on some of the distortion channels. And when you run the 9030 direct through a board instead of an amp it has a real "small" sound to it. I did like the BOMB you could activate by the force of your pick attack and the delays are great. I love the clean chorus, flanges, and delays... very nice! At the time I bought the 9030 I had looked at just about every other processor on the market. This was in around 1990 or so. The 9030 just seemed to have the best sounds and the best features for the money at the time. Although I wish it had come with a built in tuner and some type of noise reduction or "HUSH" technology so that you could really crank up the distortion and not get all that circuitry noise.
Over all I really liked the unit when I was using it out on the jobs. But now that I'm so bored with the unit I want to sell it. I still like it and if I don't sell it, if no one wants to buy it, I'm happy to keep it and I'm sure I can use it for something.... for just playing by myself through headphones for fun at home, I can get some use out of it.

Easy to use out of the box. Editing the sounds is pretty simple also, simply turn 1 of the 4 knobs on the front panel. I don't have a manual, this unit was given to me for free.

I use it with my bass guitar (pedulla) and a bass amp (swr)and yes some of the patches are relatively noisy. I would say that the effects are pretty good (remember, I'm a bass player). My guess is that this unit would be a great toy for a guitar player but as a bass player who doesn't really care for alot of this stuff, it's kind of useless to me... however, since I got it for nothing, I think I will be hanging on to it at least until I get bored with it.

I will probably never use this thing on a gig.

n/a

I play a variety of music and have been playing for over 25 years, this item is of no use to me but will keep it anyway. Would I recommend it to anybody else...Absoluetly, if you are looking for an effects processor for a guitar and you can get it cheap.. go for it!

As for sound, I wanted a wierd noise box, not an imitation '50s guitar-cord-amp sound, so I loved it. It comes with mostly metal guitar sounds, so editing is required. First level of editing is easy (pick an effect, and 4 knobs let you instantly twiddle settings). The hard part is, IT IS COMPLICATED. I rewrote much of the manual for my own and studio use, and it takes a whole page of compact English just to explain all the stereo routing options! The manual had all the info I needed, but the Japanese had been translated into Urdu, then to Tagalog, then to to Norwegian, before it got to English.

I use it either guitar-zoom-mixer, or use the loop input (thereby bypassing the entire analog compressor/distortion stage) with an input attenuator (+4 to -20) in an effects loop. I wasn't really happy with the distortion, but I'm comparing it to my homemade 6u rack panel which is a modular analog distortion synthesiser. Likewise the phaser sucks - it gets a couple of classic, but bad, phaser sounds. The reverbs and ER effects are useful and distinctive, but make no effort to sound smooth and professional. More for the 'guitar speaker in the wierd hallway' than the slick Massenberg-processed-EMT-plate sound. I like it for the same reason many others don't - it is more like a sound laboratory than a push-button-to-sound-good box.

Because the compressor and distortion are analog, they are modifiable (hard but I did), but you have to be able to solder surface mount parts and measure part values, as SMT parts are typically unlabeled.

re sound in general - the slightly improved different 9050 is good enough for Bill Nelson...

umm...mine fried itself, and Samson, who bought Zoom, was no help. One day, over a period of about two minutes, it started getting simultaneously louder and uglier, till it sounded like Satan's own fuzzbox, or a 1-bit digital/analog converter, then silence. The next time I powered it up, it wouldn't boot. The opening intro screen comes on, but it never gets to the actual operating screen, and no sound goes through.

It did, though, work great until then - I used every feature, including 4 MIDI CC's PER EFFECT (yes, you can twiddle twenty or thirty parameters simultaneously through MIDI with it.)

I would't gig with it unless I owned three of them, with the same sounds loaded in all of them.

I tried to get info or repair, apparently right after Samson bought Zoom. Absolutely no help at all, and not because of bad faith or attitude on Samson's part. I just couldn't find anyone there who knew anything at all about Zoom stuff.

Asking me what style I play is about like asking me what road I drive on. I used it exclusively in my home studio.
If they replaced the input stage with a programmable SansAmp and put it in a full rack with big knobs, I'd kill for a new one.

I like(d) that I could ALWAYS find something different in it. I liked how it responded when you hooked its output into its input.
I liked especially controlling it from a sequencer. With no patch changes, I could competely transform a sound a dozen different ways without any glitches. (not necessarily how most guitarists play, though)

I would rate it higher (maybe 9) if it hadn't fried, and/but would definitely say 'try before you buy', as guitar tone snobs seem to almost universally hate it.