Zoom BFX-708

Very easy to use for all of the basic functions. Some what confusing for a beginner when it comes to editing and other advanced functions. The manual is adequate

I run a Pedulla 5 string through a Peavey Combo 115. The Zoom box is a little noisy but not terrible. I do enjoy playing with the different sounds and I can usually find something that sounds like what I want.

The big issue with this unit is the cheap 1/4" female input and output jacks are very light duty and are only held onto the unit by the prongs that are soldered to the circuit board inside. Mine failed just like the guy a couple of postings down from this one. The deal is this...When the unit is on the floor and someone steps on the Guitar chords or trips on them or knocks the unit around the solder joints crack and the unit will only work (for a while) when you jiggle the chord. I had an electronics friend of mine go inside it and hot glue the female 1/4" jack/receptacles down to the circuit board and re-solder the connections (3 for each jack) which were obviously coming apart. Now I use the effects loop and leave the unit on top of my amp.

Sending it back when I knew what was wrong with it seemed like a pain in the a**

Hey this is a very cool gizmo for 129.00 at ZZounnds.com. The drum machine is fun and the headphone practice amp with all the cool tones is worth the money alone. Someday I'll upgrade to a pro-quallity effects unit when I have the time and $$$ but I would not hesitate to recomend it...Just be careful with it cause they just don't build this stuff the way they used to.

The BFX 708 is mass EZ to use. !! !! and !! !! !! !! !! the patches are perdy cool and it's hella sick.

I use a phatty Dean Markley Five string edge 5 fretless. The sound quality is too cool to explain. The dandy knobs make the bass sound much better and they allow for you to shape the sound-Dyanamics and faster attacks.

I can really depend on my pedal because it is dandy wandy. It hasn't failed me yet. And i'm sure it won't. I would use it on a gig with out back up but i would prolly use more than one pedal.

I haven't tried the customer support yet but i'm sure it's all dandy.

This pedal is phatty and dandy wandy.

I really dug this pedal, until something went wrong with the input, where it wouldnt work unless I put weight/pressure on the cable where it conencts to the pedal. When I sent it to be fixed under warranty, it took them a couple of weeks. When I got it back it worked fine for about 2 months then the same problem came back and now its not under warranty. It was nice when it worked....

ampeg b100
hartke 30
Ibanez Soundgear 990

Not at all!

IT was nice when it worked

Editing patches is difficult as there are a lot of button presses and the funny "digilog" (my word) knobs to get there. The knobs are strange in that they are digital, not analog, so the place where the little tick mark is turned is not where you are in the dial unless you touch it, at which time it immediately goes to where it's turned. So if you wanted to tweak a default setting just a little, you better look where it is before you touch it!

The manual is sufficient to explain patch editing and gives you a few to try for practice.

I use this pedal with a Tobias Toby Deluxe 4 (with a Peavey Fury II as a backup) for gigs. I run it through my Peavey Combo 300 at practice and have run it through an Ampeg SVT Classic w/8x10 when we open up for another band (his rig). It has a good low end through the Peavey (I guess due to the 1x15) but overloads the 8x10 pretty easy on my EQ patches. This is not the fault of the pedal, I just don't like that rig as much...

The effects sound pretty good and there are a lot of options, but they are rather noisy. It's not noticeable during a song, but the unit's effects are somewhat "sound activated" meaning if you don't palm-mute your strings or turn down during breaks, you will get a "sizzling" sound through your rig. Changing patches during a song is impossible unless you make them consecutive because you can only go up or down. On the good side, the effect switch is instantaneous unlike other pedals. It has a good tuner, but it works in "bypass" or "mute" mode only, so you have to press both buttons down at "exactly" the same time with one foot, which is nearly impossible and takes several tries (even with practice). I am considering opening it up and making my own switch that activates both buttons!

I find that I mainly just use the EQ, and tuner and am happy with that as the noise is minimal without having the effects turned on. If you want to customize some effects and use them to emulate cover tunes, you could do it, but if you want to develop a nice warm personalized tone, you don't want this pedal.

If you wanted weird effects like space aliens and crazy stuff like that, you can easily do it with this, but as I would like to get a nice warm low end, I can't with this pedal.

I have never had a problem since switching to the adapter. Don't even try to gig with batteries as they die at unpredictable intervals -- get an adapter!

I have used it without a backup, but I could still play fine without it as I use it for a tuner and EQ (I am repeating myself now).

It's all plastic and really feels and looks like a little toy. I feel like a half-dozen more gigs and at least one of buttons will probably fail completely. The buttons are getting looser and more difficult to put it in "mute" for tuning as time goes by...

Also, I hadn't thought about it before I did it but I took it to an outdoor (daytime) gig and I couldn't use it because the lights and LED display are absolutely invisible in daylight! You can't even tell it's on, so no tuner or anything. Yikes!

Never dealt with them.

I have been playing for about 6 months and am in a 80's-90's rock cover band. The pedal is good for a tuner and EQ, but I don't use the effects for anything that we play. If it broke, I would not bother with it unless I could get one for less than a good tuner and stomp EQ.

If they made a new version that was all metal, had several progammable buttons and reduced the noise, and had one button MUTE/TUNE, I would consider it. A cross between the ZOOM and a Digitech BP8 would be nice and I would consider that as an upgrade.

The unit has two large patch control stomp switches for accessing patches up and down and it comes with an expression pedal. Top panel has five dials for additional adjustments on patches for gain, amp simulation, and three for effects levels. The on/off switch and AC adapter cable hook are super. Something the Zoom 506 did not have. The unit also has eight smaller buttons for adjusting modules, editing, storing, rhythm and sampling.

This unit is very easy to use but it takes some time to learn all the features.
The unit has two sets of patches; 30 presets and 30 user patches. There are some incredible effects with infinite variation. Of course, the many sounds are not for everyone. This pedal is only for the calm and patient types that understand the English language. You Neanderthals should steer clear of this one even though it is cheap.

There are a lot of opinions about this unit here, and they vary greatly. I believe the manual is well laid out, organized, and VERY easy to understand. Everything you need is there and it makes a good reference source after you're on your way. I have read many kinds of technical manuals in my time and this one is easy to understand. But, when it comes to manuals there are two kinds of people in the world, those that read the manuals and those that do not and say they have. I think you will see some of each in this section and I think that might explain the high degree of variability in the ratings. Some don't bother to read the manual which is a major mistake. Others just have no understanding of the English language and have less patience. If you don't believe that, just look at the spelling and grammar in this section and judge for yourself.

The drum machine is excellent for practicing different styles and different timing. It has many ways to adjust both. This is especially good for rookies and the ?rhythmically challenged?.

The six second riff recorder is excellent for picking up on very fast or complex riffs. You hook it up to a signal source (music source for you stompers) record the riff, then play it back. What's more, you can slow it down without changing the pitch to figure it out; a very nice feature.

Many of the sounds are excellent like the phase, chorus, reverb, delay, tremolo, octave, and amp simulators but like every other unit like this, there are some bad ones too. This is where the ability to make adjustments becomes important, you can create your own settings and store them. Setting them up is easy too.

Unlike its cousin the 506, this one has an on/off switch which is a great addition and it saves your batteries if you use them. I use the AC adapter ? the same one from the 506 as it turns out. Incidently, you can get the same ones at Radio Shack for only 4 bucks; but you have to read the manual.

This unit sounds great with headphones, my small amp (a 10" 25 watt practice amp) and my big rig, which is an Ampeg SVT III.

Unlike its cousin the 506, this unit has no noise or hiss which makes many of the effects clean and very nice.

So far so good. It would appear that the box will be sufficient for many occasions. And it should be able to stand up to normal wear and tear, it has up to now. But for those who wish to 'stomp' their stomp boxes they should opt for the boxes made of stone, brick, hair, and mortar. The ones with the two page manuals and single syllable words like - pres dis dare! Yah. Daats Eet Now Pley!

I have contacted Zoom in the past and they were very responsive. I haven't had the need for support for the 708. However, they have a good website for accessing information and the manuals are available on line for downloading. Sorry, it is more than two pages.

I have been playing bass for close to 25 years. I am currently playing a Fender V with active electronics and a Badass II bridge, a California P-Bass and a Fender Mexican Jazz fretless also with a Badass II bridge. I use a Park 25 Watt practice amp and an Ampeg SVTIII for jammin? with a single 15? cab, soon to be enlarged. I hail from a time when bass effects were a dream and a novelty (like fuzz and phasing) to be used sparingly because your job was the bottom end. Now it?s a whole new world which is good and not so good! This unit is an excellent buy because it is useful for playing out and for practicing and exploring at home.

If this unit was lost or stolen I would buy another without hesitation. It is worth the money, in my view, for a variety of applications and just practicing solo at home. And yes, the unit and the manual is easy to read and use and it will provide many hours of fun and enjoyment.
I will give it a 9 because nothing is perfect but this one comes close in its use and functionality.

This unit is pretty easy to figure out. Editing the patches is not really that hard (you're gonna want to edit them since the preset FX need to be tweaked to get desired sounds). Everybody seems to hate the manual, and rightfully so. Not that its full of technical jargin only engineers understand, it just isn't that informative.

I like the fact that this is a digital processor that you can edit. As I said, you're gonna want to tweak the settings to get *your* sound--it'll take a week or two to figure out all of the sounds and how to edit them.
The expression pedal has no travel whatsoever, giving the impression of either too much or not enough feel.
I don't like some of the presets (mainly the reverb/echo -style patches like TIME, ECHO-LD, etc.)--they sound kinda weak--like they lack volume (even when you edit the patch volume).
It has a built-in drum machine so you can jam without a drummer if you have to. You can't edit the FX patches "on-the-fly" while the drum machine is going, and "noise" artists will probably be disappointed over this.
All of the distortion/octave/flange/fuzz FX are noisy - has ghosts, hums, and buzzes - which seems to be the case with just about anything (I'm sure there are a few transparent models out there, but I haven't run across any). It has a noise gate thankfully, so the noise isn't overly annoying.
I'm a guitar player that has crossed over into bass. I have 12 years with the guitar, and 3 with the bass. I play just about every style of music (STP, TOOL, Dave Matthews, James Brown, Stu Hamm, ZEPPELIN, Chili Peppers being my influences), and this little unit can pretty much emulate everything - just as long as you figure out how to adjust the presets. It does sound like a DIGITAL processor (mainly because it *is* a digital processor), and if you can get past that prejudice, you'll be alright.
I play a 75 Fender Jazz Bass through a Marshall amp with a 15 and 2x10 cabinet. This unit suits my needs perfectly.

This thing is made of plastic. Therefore, it can't be too reliable. For the touring musician, I would not recommend getting one.
The display is sunken in, and seems like a good place for liquids to pool up (spilt beer, water, etc.). The control dials have a couple of neat-o walls built around them so you can't kick the knobs off. The expression pedal feels like something that would break if you're the type that doesn't take care of your equipment.
For the studio artist, this is an excellent alternative to a POD.

N/A

Overall, I like this unit. It is a great little toy. I would get another if this one disappeared.
This thing needs to come with a power supply. The drum machine's volume adjustment could use some fine-tuning. It also does that annoying power on/off "pop".

Not as easy as a stompbox, but ok if you're used to multieffects pedals...my major grip is the mixed function buttons - each button does a different thing depending on what mode you're in

But I got the hang of it pretty quickly (1 day)

hehe. I'm using it with a noname shithouse LesPaul imitation that sounds like shit. And a poxy 2nd hand fender 15watt Bass amp! Does a good job of exciting the tone, make it interesting.

Pros:
Good EQ
Tons of compression options (if you like that)
Tons of different effects, especially wierd ones (time trip, ring mod, pedal pitch, flanger with negative feedback, etc)
Cheap (got mine for AU$165 2nd hand)!!
Tons better than shitty 500-series => three parameters per module, rotary dials, expression pedal, naming patches, etc.
Noise reduction is very effective when you're not playing ;-)
The ring modulator is insane - especially when you link the carrier frequency to the expression pedal! Sci-fi dive bombs anyone? *g*
Ability to have multiple delays+reverb is nice.

Cons:
A bit of hiss durin playing if you turn up the treble
Some effects suck bigtime: Octave, pedalpitch (whammy), vibrato...but the big one is.........SYNTHESIZER! This SUCKS do not use it! Remember kids, this is a _simulation_ of a bass synthesizer, not a real one! This gives real synths like the Boss SYN whatever a bad name!
What else sucks...The pedal has hardly any travel, and it's impossible to centre it accurately to a point which isn't full on or full off. (but hey, I paid AU$165 for it, what do I expect?)
The onboard amp simulator is no POD....but you get what you pay for.
You have something like 49-50 different effects, but you can't use all of them at once (but only I'd want to do that - I'm a nut).
Jam play is useless (or I haven't figured it out yet I've only had it one day). Even still, 2 seconds - what can you do with that?
Sampler is ok....but you can't change effects while playing with yourself...it would be good if the sampler were combined with the Jam play, to give 6 secconds of reverse playback, foot-triggered blis... *g*

I'm also going to use it as a mic DI for my computer cos I'm a hack.


Overall, sound quality is great considering you pay peanuts for it. It doesn't get a ten cos I'm still pissed of with some of it...

Well, I got mine 2nd hand, and it's in perfect condition. Yeah ok it's plastic, but it's bloody tough plastic. I think Zoom have a deal with Lockheed to use up all the material offcuts from making stealth bombers. Dials are protected by walls on each side, so they won't get kicked off. This thing will probably outlast me, but I'm not the type to abuse my gear...even still I'd imagine it would take a lot of effort to make a dint in this thing.

I'd gig without a backup because I'm too poor to buy a backup.

Haven't delt with them in person, but their website rocks - straight to the point, includes sound examples (A little cheezy tho) and ALL MANUALS FOR DOWNLOAD!!! Not all companies do this. Reading the manual is the best way to determine how good a piece of gear REALLY is, behind all the marketing hype and all. I'll give an N/A because I haven't actually spoken to anyone from ZOOM, for all I know it's run by robots...

I play wierd styles, on the strange and noisy side of the spectrum...I baught this for two reasons:
a) brighten up my shitty guitar sound
b) make queer noises

Does both of these great. Great value.

It can be a bit daunting at first if you've never used a multi-effects before, but if you have even just a little experience using multi-effects then it's pretty easy. The manual's not too bad, I needed to read a few things several times before I knew what they were talking about but overall pretty well explained.

I've been trying it with a Warwick Streamer through Warwick Profet IV and Warwick 4x10 and I didn't find it to be noisy at all. I wasn't very impressed with the presets though. They all seemed a little harsh sounding to me, especially the Synth sounds and distortions. I liked the autowah (fatwah, I think it's called). Most of the presets did not sound good to my ears and I think you need to do a lot of tweaking to get a good sound, but I do believe it is possible with this thing.

I think Zoom is a pretty reliable brand. As with all things like this you just have to look after them and treat it nice and it should serve you well.

I play every style of music but the pedal is for experimental music, to try and get some way out sounds. I've been playing for 6 years. I think the sampler function is the best feature on this thing. 6 seconds is actually quite a bit of time to lay down a bass line or padding to loop so you can play over it. It's terrific. I think the biggest selling point for this pedal is that you are getting so much for what you are paying. The sounds didn't grab me that much, but I'm sure it'll be very useful for a lot of other bass players. BUT... Try this pedal out carefully before you buy it, trying all the presets and tweaking the analog knobs to see what other sounds you can get, etc, try the drum machine and the sampler thing (ask for the manual or download it from the zoom site). Because I don't think it could be for everyone. But once again, great for the money.

Everything is so easy to do on this. Editing patches are a breeze if you know what you're doing. The Manuel could be a bit more in depth though.

I am using an arbor bass guitar on a microbass amp (not the best but works for me). The effects are great and you can tweak them almost any way you want. Personally, this is the best multi-effect box I have ever heard.

It always works when I use it.

I've never had a problem with it.

The way I see it, this box has some of the best effects I've ever heard.

I don't think this is the easiest thing in the world, but if you try (very hard!) you can get something close enough to the sound you imagined!(but never exactly) I think the manual is ok but it needs a careful reading.

I use an Ibanez SR-400 with a TraceElliot-30W and i think this is the weakest sound i have ever heard (+ a bit noisy). When i play at home everything is ok, but in the studio with a Peavy 300W things are getting very bad. The sound is very weak and low (i tried all the EQ possible parametrs)

No,no,...NO! This plastic thing sucks! Especially the Wah Fx is the biggest problem. For example when you want to use the pedal for wah you must be very gentle because it will brake, also the two switches.
I will use it on gig only as a backup for my Digitech

I play from old rock to death metal and i think this effect works only at home for private studying. I play with it for about a year and i will not buy it again. The only way i use it is when i want a very heavy and "catastrophic" low sound, otherwise it's high sound sucks! I must warn you, if you want to buy it, you must test it with a big and proffesional amp.