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.

Too aggressive; it can dirty the sound of the preamp...but I like its effects!

No problems

A good old mchine.

I have just bought this unit second hand.The editing seems reletively easy but the presets are not very useful.I am having problems getting a good rythmn soun (with a touch of phase) and cannot achieve a good lead sound aka Gary Moore etc.,any suggestions?

Sound quality is harsh distortion,crunch,overdrive lacking tone.

So far dependable.Would use it at a gig if I could get some suitable editing.

Tried for a manual from Zoom.Still awaiting a reply

We play rock,modern blues and pop.So far not compatible and a bit of a pig in a poke.

This is a very easy. I like it.

Support is'nt good. I can't find electronical manual for it.

I mostly play bluesrock and some kind of hard rock.

Very easy to use if you're familiar with processors at all. Simple straight-forward interface. The panel looks nifty too.

Okay... I give it a ten here... allow me to stress. "For what it's good at!" This unit has a very digital sound. It's hard to be warm and smooth with it. For most guitarists, that's a bad thing. For the cold, industrial, digitized sounding guitar, it can't be topped imho. Distortions can be very harsh and the resonators make them extremely metallic. No other distortion sounds like the ones in this processor. I learned about the unit through Trent Reznors use of it on the Broken EP. Two guitarist friends of mine have them, and I borrow them frequently... so I'm looking for one now. Great unit for industrial guitar. The 9050 offers basically the same setup with more patch locations. But it's quieter and I'm not sure I'd like that for my purposes. Other than the industrial application, I'd go 9050 over the 9030 all the way.

These units have rather cheap little cases. The lithium batteries do run down. One of my friend's units won't accept the expression pedal input... since it was new. I'd be nervous of it in a gigging rack, due to the cheap construction. I'd probably want a backup. I've seen too much go wrong with these. Not often... but something's happened to every 9030 I've seen within a year or two.

Never dealt with them

Again... a ten here. As an industrial guitar unit. This unit is not warm and expressive. The reverbs are not lush, they're cold and digital. The cleam sounds recall early '90's glam rock. Sparkling clear, but cold. With some programming, you can make beautiful noises with your guitar. Fabulous unit. Way different from everything else I've used. (SGX-2000, Quadraverb GT, several Digitech units, even the Zoom 3030)

The manual is not very well written. Seems to have been translated directly from Japanese!!! You need to put aside a couple of hours to get to know the unit. Once you do this, editing becomes second nature and the whole process is very intuitive. The knobs give it a sort of "ampish" quality.

I use the unit with a Marshall 80 watt valvestate amp. I use it "in line" ie, not in the effect loop. This is fine for low volume stuff (and keeping my neighbours happy). I find, however, that the sound quality suffers as the volume increases. I am generally happy with the sounds I get. I only use 3/4 different sounds anyway and I wrote my own patches, 'cos the factory presets are a little thin sounding. The factory distortion/overdrives are very processed. It is possible to get a realistic overdrive from this unit. I have a patch which is quite close to late 80's/early 90's George Lynch and sounds pretty good. Chorus and delays are good but phaser is harsh and tremelo/auto wah are not very good. High gain settings can be edited to sound good, but crunchy sound (Bluesbreakers etc) is poor.

I've had mine since 1992. It's an early model. It's never broken down. I've used it for studio work but wouldn't gig with it because of the sound quality at high volume. I have the floor controller which is all metal and very strong. Batteries go (but can last ages)and wipe the memory so beware, make a written note of your favourite patch parameters.

Never had to contact the manufacturer.

I bought this unit when it first came out and I've used it ever since. You CAN find good sounds in it and I have some patches I'm really happy with. Although the unit is getting old, I would argue that if you have a sound that you are really happy with, why change? Just because there are newer units available this shouldnt be a reason to change in itself. Having said that, I'm keeping an open mind and am looking closely at POD's new units. I play mainly rock/metal and would recommend the 9030 for this type of music, particularly as used ones are so cheap thesedays.

The Zoom 9030 has lots of presets so a person can use it right out of the box. If you play guitar through it you pretty much must have the 8050 control pedal to easily change presets. Most of the presets are very metal oriented. They are very heavy in an artificial sort of way. I never used these much but I have taken some of them as starting points to create patches that are usable.
I rate the ease of use this unit very good for a digital multi-fx which by nature has many parameters to set and require lots of scrolling to get to the different parameters. This Zoom in particular has practically every effect there is and it has several adjustable parameters for each one. Editing is easier than with some due to the four rotary knobs. Many others have only up and down value buttons. The rotary knobs are tiny but so is the entire unit.
The manual is also typical. Things are not always explained in a logical manner but I have been able to understand most everything after reading about it a couple of times. If you have not had any experience with digital equipment you might think that this is a nightmare to program.

I use either a Strat or an SG for guitar and either a Mesa Boogie Mk II or a 50 watt Marshall stack for amplification. I do experience noise especially if the amp is on the lead channel. I used to get a lot more noise when I had a Boss SE-50 plugged into the same electrical strip. Since both the Zoom and the Boss had wall wart power supplies I think they interreacted and created noise. I also began plugging everything into a Furman line conditioner and this seemed to reduce the noise further.
The effects are a mixed bag. Some are very good some very weak. However with tweaking, most of the effects can be made usable. The chorus, flanger, and leslie effects are rather weak and artificial sounding. But combining these with overdrive and delay etc. can still result in good sounds. I have read other writers comments that the wah was no good. I was able to get a decent wah sound by tweaking the parameters and adding overdrive and other effects. I use the Zoom pedal which plugs into the 8050 control pedal. With that setup I can program the pedal to control all sorts of things besides the wah. That is perhaps the best feature on this product. I was disappointed in the tremelo. I was hoping for more of a Fender type sound. With a Fender, the tremelo speed stays constant no matter what you play into it. With the Zoom the tremelo is triggered somehow by the notes you play. If you play several faster notes the tremelo sort of stops until you slow down again. In the meantime the tremelo has lost the rhythm. Its not a bad sound but hard to keep that tremelo rhythm going as it should. The pitch transposer is typical of less expensive effects units and I find it ok for guitar. I don't think the Zoom sounds as good as a Digitech 2101 or a T C Electronics G force but those are much bigger units and cost much more.

I have used this without backup for several years now. It did break down once at home and I sent it off for repair. It took a few weeks to get it back. I have never had any further problems with it.

The company representatives were always helpful and friendly during the few conversations I have had with them. Repairs were made in a reasonable amount of time.

I use the Zoom for various types of music from blues to alternative grunge to psychedelic. It is very versatile. If anything happened to it I would consider getting another but I would also consider the later 9050 which has a build in tuner and a noise gate. When I got the Zoom I tried the ART and Digitech models that were available at the time. Those also sounded good but did not have the variety of effects that the Zoom had.

The unit is quite easy to use; the large and logical display and the four parameter knobs really help make this a very user-friendly gadget. The manual is average, and the "helpful hints" are just that. Some cryptical sections concerning the memory areas and editing buffers though. My unit is probably of an early version. Hence the limiter doesn't work (it never has).

I've been using the 9030 with different setups - within the effects loop of a preamp in a rack system, and as a preamp/processor into the input of a combo, using the 9030's own distortions. I's essential that you turn off the horrible speaker simulator when not recording directly to tape - or even then - and make the necessary utility settings - otherwise the unit sounds laughably thin and muddy - like most of the presets, of which most utilize the speaker simulator. Compared to current units the 9030's effects generally sound a bit too "digitized" and thinnish to my ears - especially the flangers and phasers, of which the latter does not sound like a proper phaser at all. The SFX are funny, but not very useful, and the intelligent pitch shifter isn't very intelligent... The delays are really good though, epecially the complex stereo "echo", although the tap tempo options are ancient. The tremolo is another highlight, with a very useful parameter selection. The distortions does in fact sound OK through a good amp, although the "crunch" is horrible (use lower gain settings with "OD" instead). The choruses are also OK, but you have to make some silly compromises as far as effects combinations are concerned; if you want, for instance, chorus and delay, you can't use the stereo chorus, which resides in the same effects module as the delay, but you have to use the far less disirable sounding mono chorus, which has only two chorus parameters (effect level and depht - the rate is fixed!). When connected in the effects loop of a preamp you'll notice that the unit steals quite a bit of the preamp sound, making it harsher and muddier. It's not critical though, but annoying, as most current units will not do this. The noise level is quite low; if you listen very carefully, it sounds as if there is some internal noise gate in the unit, as a signal's last second of decaying sustain will be cut off. When changing patches the 9030 mutes the sound far too long for my liking (about half a second), and the option of turning effects on and off is not very useful, as the the unit also in this case will mute the sound, as if you were changing patches.

My 9030 has never let me down on a rehearsal or a gig (the 8050 foot controller has though), and after five years of use the lithium battery still works. The EQ module lamp goes out occasionally, but it's not a very big problem. When using it live with my current setup, my only fear is that the memory goes down due to the lithium battery (as I don't mind changing it). Thus I run it in the effects loop of my main processor, so that I can bypass the unit if it goes down. I only use the 9030 for particular effects these days, for instance only as an additiolal tremolo unit.

I have never been in touch with the company nor the importer.

The 9030 was a good and useful unit five years ago, but is now superseded by today's far better units, which have less limitations concerning the effects combinations, steal a lesser amount of your preamp sound, and have faster patch changes. Today's units are in general far more well-spec'd, and you get more for your money now than then. As mentioned above I'm kepping the unit just in case I need to throw in an extra effect to make some REALLY complex sounds that rquires more effects than my Roland GP-100 has on offer. I've not come to that point yet though... Anyway I can't part with my 9030, and it certainly still looks VERY nice in the rack...

Sorry!!!! A correction to my review (12 Nov). The 9030 DOES support Continous Controller inputs. This is not clear from the manual (which refers to synth joystick data). However... I have persevered with this and accidentally fell on the right setup a couple of days ago. It IS possible to have a CC-pedal (0-5 volt)pluged into an Analogue to MidiDigital converter (I use a Rolls Midi-Wiz with a DOD FX-17 CC pedal) and be able to alter multiple effect parameters, on the fly, with a volume type pedal. This allows you to really use effects like the built in "Pedal Wah" via MIDI. Because the 9030's pedal WAH sound isn't great, you can also play around with having other effect parameters change along with the wah. Eg. Equalisation, Pan, echo, reverberation etc. If you work at it, you can get an OK sound out of it. Almost all of the 9030's effects support parameter change via CC pedal but you can only select ONE parameter per effect to be controlled via one CC pedal. (eg While controlling Equalisation, you can control Low-EQ, Mid-EQ *or* Hi-EQ). To alter multiple parameters in a single effect, you'll need multiple CC pedals. Imagine the possibilities! Sorry for the wrong info in the last review. (Grovel Grovel) I really thought that after owning this unit for 4 years, I really knew it inside out. I was wrong. Now I know it supports Continous Controller pedals, I would certainly buy this unit again. It's doubled the unit's fun value.

Easy but those *small* buttons and knobs!! It's a small unit (1/2 rack) so that's just what you have to put up with. Takes a short while to understand which combinations the unit will support in simultaneously. It will not run everything at once. Pretty easy to get sounds from it. Pretty hard to get the sounds you *want* from it. A pain in the arse to set the patch descriptions up. Each letter can take you 30 seconds of dinking the button.

Simply *forget* using this as your sole distortion source. It can reasonably enhance another (pre amp?) distortion to drive the sounds into the "crazy" zone. Autowah - Laughable (forget it). Has a "digital" edge to it. Can lose the "warmth" of a guitar. The 9030 messes with the levels and quality too much to be put in line between guitar and amp. (so don't use the "Hi-Z" input on the front). Better wired in an effects loop of a pre amp to enable total bypass. Chorus-8/10 1sDelay10/10 EQ-useful. Special effects(explosions etc.)-Hilarious fun. Some interesting stereo stuff.

Rock solid for 4 years BUT beware of the internal battery. When it dies, you lose all of your programming. The unit then fires up in default setting. Not something you want to let happen. Manual says "do not open - no serviceable parts" and specifically instructs you to return the unit for battery swap after 3 years. I've opened the box and swapped the battery with no problem when time and location has left no other option. Batteries are clip in. Easy to change and are about a buck. I always keep spare batteries. When you change the battery, you lose all of the programming so plan for it. I'm thinking about modifying the unit to take 2 batteries in parallel to avoid this ugly issue. The manual says batteries last 3 years. They don't!!!

Never talked to 'em.

This is a good unit for messing about with and learning about how differrent effects sound but has some limitations compared with separate units. Don't expect it do do everything that a complete set of separate effects pedals/units will do. It can't. Pretty good unit for the MIDI pedal brigade but does not support continuous controllers so don't think you'll be able to control any of the settings via a MIDI pedal board attached to a volume pedal or Continuous controller pedal. (You can't). I've had a lot of fun with it. I won't sell it but if it was stolen, I'd look around at other stuff before buying this again. I have augmented it (and will continue to augment it) with other effects. 1/2 rack size. Good utilisation of space in your rack. I use it out of the effects loop of a Marshall JMP1.

I really like the little knobs, also they might be a bit too small.

I wanted a device to plug directly into my computer. (for D2D recording). It does the job pretty correctly. It doesn't replace a proper amp though, as its sound is a bit too "produced" in my opinion. It's difficult to have a "Raw" guitar sound, or a crunchy distortion.

After I move to South Africa the thing wouldn't work ! I opened it and apperently and additional board inside was disconnected, as it wasn't fixed with screws. It re-connected it, screwed it and ever since everything is ok.

Is there a customer support. ?

Yep I'd buy it again. Good sound, good effects, wonderful amp simulator. But don't expect to much : there are no tubes inside !
I'd like to swap sounds with other users : so get in touch with me !

Fairly easy to use for an effects processor. Manual is good and should clear up any confusion. The 4 data knobs are great but a little too sensitive.

For the price, the sound quality is quite good. I wouldn't suggest it for serious studi work, however. The sound is a little thin going direct to the board but you can get some good tones using it as a preamp and then to a nice cabinet. It's got great harmonizers but for some reason there is a very slight delay on the lower pitches. I don't notice the noise as much as others have stated, esp. in comparison to other effects processors in the same price range.

I hade the display lighting go out on me after only having it for 1 1/2 years have light use. The guy at the guitar shop said this happens all the time... It also took a while to get it fixed.

I went through the dealer for repair, but as mentioned above it did take a while (3 weeks) to get it fixed. If I remember right, this was a delay in parts from Zoom's service company (Samsung??).

The Zoom 9030 is great for practice, home studio, and gigs (provided you have a foot controller). I wouldn't recommend it for serious studio use.

Very easy to adjust an parameter. It only takes a steady hand to adjust the knobs to fine tune your tone.

Noise supression is a must! If you drive it at any loud volumes you'll hear the hiss. Reverb will also produce a hiss if you don't adjust it just right. The chorus is a favorite of mine. When you add the chorus to the doubling effeect it creates a really mellow spact tone. The distortion could use a little more programability. I find it hard to get the perfect distortion from this processor.

I would use this in a studio rather than a live gig.

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