Zoom G1

This unit is relativley easy to start up. Plug it into your axe and amp, put batteries in and choose your effect and away you go! the pedal is quite complicated, but you get used to it once you start using it for a while. The manual is also easy to use. Switching through the effects is a bit annoying but you can set your own order of effects.

There are different effects for different artists as well as other settings. Some of the artists are: Led Zep, Jeff Buck, Cream, Pink Floyd, Van Halen, Adrian Belew, Metallica, Santana, Nirvana, ZZ top, Rage against the machine, ACDC, El Rayo-X, Pearl Jam, The Who, TOTO and Joe Walsh. The efects are: Drive, Clean, Blues, Phaser, Auto Wah, Vibrato, Guv'nor, Lead, Flanger, Acoustic Sim., Hot Box, Xtreme distortion, RAT, Fuzz Face, Overdrive, BG crunch MS #1959, Mono pitch, Ensemble, Slow Attack, Chorus, Pitch Shift, Step. The complex effects are; Comp/EFX, Drive, EQ, ZNR/Amp, Delay, Modulation and reverb. To me most of them sound good.

I can trust it, though i may not gig it, but if i do gig it, i'm sure it will be trustworthy. If you run it on batteries it will last up to 12 hours and on mains, for ever!

Haven't had any problems so far.

I play music like Metallica, Van Halen, Bon Jovi, Pink Floyd, etc., and this is a good pedal for what style of music i play. If it was lost or stolen i would buy this again. I compared it with overdrive pedals that were $80 NZL and this pedal was the best because it has so much more options than a normal pedal, but you can't adjust the amount of distortion, chorus ... on the Zoom G1. But overall the pedal is an awsome thing!

Fairly easy to use if your using presets, however can be a bit messy if your setting up your own sounds. As well as the list of presets however there is a card that gives you the "codes" for the display and what each 2 digit code means.
Also you would have to plan ahead a set if you use a variety of sounds (ie a clean sound, dirty sound and then a lead sound) so that they are next to each other as you can only scroll through each sound.

Im using an Epiphone SG through an Ashdown amp, there isnt any additional noise to the amp. I wasnt expecting Line 6 quality reproduction of artists sounds, but the ones that are there are pretty close - which for the price of one DOD or Boss pedal is not bad at all. Even if you are only adding a bit of effect to your clean channel, or adding to your dirty channel then this should provide you with some difference to your normal sound

I used a zoom 3030 for years no problem - similar construction to this except the pedals seem a bit stronger. For me I use my amp for my main sounds and this for some additional effect - so I could probably gig still if it went down - but if I start to rely on it I would probably get a backup

N/A

For me it is a good match to my styles - and means I can start experimenting with older material put to the side.
I paid ??35 new with PSU in a managers special - compared to the 3030 which I paid nearer ??200 10 years ago which sounds the same but is minus the epxression pedal this is a BARGAIN. Even if you used this on one song I think you would get value from it!

Extremely easy if you just read the manual first. Simple.

I've heard many put the G1 down for poor quality modeling and I just don't get it! These people must not be very patient. They must want instant gradification no matter how they have the G1 set up. No $50 modeling pedal could ever live up to this standard.

Yet, with a litlle patience and willingness to do some "trial and error" testing with your personal rig, the G1 shines like a diamond! Has anyone ever heard of terms like "pre eq" and "post eq"?

Look! Here are some Do's and Don'ts to help you get killer tones from your G1 immediately.

DO: Use humbucker equipped guitars so the digital modeling sounds fatter and quieter. [Ok, use Lace Sensors or the equivalent noisless pick-ups, if you absolutely must use single coils.]

DO: Run your guitar a good compressor [such as a Aya R-comp or a Barber Tone Press] then into a good graphic eq [such as a Rockman 10 band GEQ, a Maxon GE601, or even a Danelectro Fish & Chips GEQ] then into the G1. Now you've just HUGELY expanded your tonal palette with the G1!!!

DO: Run the G1's output into a "post-eq" and then into a BBE Sonic Maximiser and then into an Ebtech Line Level Shifter.

DO: Run the Ebtech Line Level Shifter's output into either:

A: Your guitar amp's effects return imput.

B: Your power amp's imput. [also- make sure cabinet modeling is OFF as your guitar cabinet's speakers are definitely NOT "Full Range".]

DON'T: run the G1 straight into your guitar amp's imput. This will degrade and overly "color" the tone.

DON'T: use the G1's cabinet models unless you run the G1 directly into a "Full Range" PA System - - - NOT your guitar amp!

These are just a few ideas that will enable you to get the most KILLER tones from your G1.

If you just want to keep things relatively simple just run a stereo rig like this:

Guitar into G1 [use cabinet models] into BBE Sonic Maximser into an Ebtech Line Level Shifter into power amp [Carvin DCM-150 is great] into "full Range" speaker cabs [Carvin 1584 is great]. That's only seven items including your guitar - not bad!!!

I've had zero problems so far.

Never needed it.

I've been playing guitar 28 years [10 years professionally] and have learned many things along the way that I wish I had known years earlier. In fact, it is only since the Internet came along that I learned enough to have climbed out of the guitar "stone age". With all this new digital, analog, hybrid, modeling, whatever - technology, we guitarists need to really start thinking about our tone like a studio/live sound engineer would. That's the only way we are going to consistently have great tone with every new digital modeling box that comes along.

The G1 is 21st century technology. A Marshall stack is 20th century technology. Is it any wonder why some people say their G1 doesn't sound good through their rig? Duhhhhhh. :)

To hear the G1 in action:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVm8A0aibVk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUR3HTYI9xQ

Very simple to use. I plugged it in and started playing. Then I read the manual to clarify one or two points. Like the two patch banks are copies by default. First 40 can be written over and the second 40 keep a store of the factory default.
The drum machine is nice for practice, I wish it could be stopped and started with a pedal, but hey ho.

I have been playing off and on for more years than I care to remember. I will have a stab at anything. Influences are Led Zep, Clapton, Cream, Eagles. So I guess you have my era now.
The G1 gives all of the sounds I wish that I had 20 years ago. You can plug into any crappy amp, with a cheap copy guitar and a very acceptable sound comes out. I am just an ordinary Joe guitarist, but this makes me sound several times better than without it, so it is okay in my book.
So far I have used it with a LP copy and a very cheap practice amp as I am away from home. I look forward to hearing through my Fender amp with my Strat.

Cannot comment. But my last Zoom pedal was a 505, and it is still going after many years, and it still looks like new.

Never needed any support. But it is simple to use and cheap enough to throw away, so what the hell

Well I love this little box. With it I realize that I am not that bad after all... If it was lost would I get another? you bet I would, in fact I am thinking of getting a backup.
I plug in the headphones, get the drum box feature going, and play un til my hearts content. I have also plugged it into my Alesis 8 channel mixer where it also sounds sweet.
At the money everyone should have one.

Not too bad, few tweaks and 30 minutes and your are in complete control.

I must have messed around with this little plastic box for 35 minutes before finally telling the salesman that I would take it. I had found two sounds I liked??? out of the 40 or so options, but they were pretty decent renditions of my fender tube amps and that is all I really cared about anyhow. He laughed and told me that most people buy these gadgets for less then 30% of the sounds. To be honest if I was a metal head or played stoner rock I would have been very pleased with most of the preset patches. However, I am a singer songwriter who plays indie pop, bluesy rock, and alt country on occasion, so the large and in charge fuzzed out wash of distortion does very little for my tastes. After getting the unit home and messing with it through the home stereo I found the zoom clean patch with a nice delay can be EQ???d to sound very similar to something Jeff Buckley would have played solo through. I also tweaked the ???wannabe Vox AC-30??? patch into something semi worthy, and then explored the fender bluesman patch to a place that could be creative as well. This is exactly what the doctor ordered.

very plastic, we shall see...only have had it about 24 hours now. I would say its just fine if you are not using it for gigs.

yet to use...

Lets put it this way, until line 6 makes a fifty dollar pedal that is basically ONE fender twin amp modeler with a simple verb/delay/tremolo switch???this is your ticket for a great little coffee table songwriter tool. I would never use it live, and I would never record anything more then a scratch demo for my band to hear an idea. However, when one day I found that all of my recording gear and tube amps where in the studio space for a few months of writing and recording I realized I needed something better then my home stereo to amplify my guitar with. I would sometimes use the home computer (garageband) guitar patches until my wife or daughter came along and begged me to let them check email or whatever. I knew at this point I needed a tiny little solution that didn???t cost me $200 to have a semi decent tone for my tele in the living room. I will take it on vacation in place of an amp, I will sit in the living room and turn my stereo into a cheap twin reverb copy, and I will probably never get another little practice amp again???I mean, why would you want one? It sounds better then a 15 watt little tweed twerp, and it weighs about a pound so taking it up and down the stairs is a cake walk. This is something the market has needed for a long time??? a cheap amp modeler that has a couple of good sounds and a decent amount of tonal control. Good on you Zoom, the G1 is all I need to plug my guitar into to write a decent tune.

Not too bad, few tweaks and 30 minutes and your are in complete control.

I must have messed around with this little plastic box for 35 minutes before finally telling the salesman that I would take it. I had found two sounds I liked??? out of the 40 or so options, but they were pretty decent renditions of my fender tube amps and that is all I really cared about anyhow. He laughed and told me that most people buy these gadgets for less then 30% of the sounds. To be honest if I was a metal head or played stoner rock I would have been very pleased with most of the preset patches. However, I am a singer songwriter who plays indie pop, bluesy rock, and alt country on occasion, so the large and in charge fuzzed out wash of distortion does very little for my tastes. After getting the unit home and messing with it through the home stereo I found the zoom clean patch with a nice delay can be EQ???d to sound very similar to something Jeff Buckley would have played solo through. I also tweaked the ???wannabe Vox AC-30??? patch into something semi worthy, and then explored the fender bluesman patch to a place that could be creative as well. This is exactly what the doctor ordered.

very plastic, we shall see...only have had it about 24 hours now. I would say its just fine if you are not using it for gigs.

yet to use...

Lets put it this way, until line 6 makes a fifty dollar pedal that is basically ONE fender twin amp modeler with a simple verb/delay/tremolo switch???this is your ticket for a great little coffee table songwriter tool. I would never use it live, and I would never record anything more then a scratch demo for my band to hear an idea. However, when one day I found that all of my recording gear and tube amps where in the studio space for a few months of writing and recording I realized I needed something better then my home stereo to amplify my guitar with. I would sometimes use the home computer (garageband) guitar patches until my wife or daughter came along and begged me to let them check email or whatever. I knew at this point I needed a tiny little solution that didn???t cost me $200 to have a semi decent tone for my tele in the living room. I will take it on vacation in place of an amp, I will sit in the living room and turn my stereo into a cheap twin reverb copy, and I will probably never get another little practice amp again???I mean, why would you want one? It sounds better then a 15 watt little tweed twerp, and it weighs about a pound so taking it up and down the stairs is a cake walk. This is something the market has needed for a long time??? a cheap amp modeler that has a couple of good sounds and a decent amount of tonal control. Good on you Zoom, the G1 is all I need to plug my guitar into to write a decent tune.

I'm totally new to guitar effects, so I had to consult the manual to understand what I was doing. The manual was clear, the G1 is actually very easy to use.

I can't compare to any other products as this is my first ever effect module. I looked at a lot of reviews before choosing it, and I am amazed by the sound it produces. Fantastic product!

I have only owned it for 24 hours so far!

As a novice player looking for an inexpensive effect module, this is a dream come true. It gives me the ability to explore different sounds and greatly enhances my playing experience and fun.

I'm not planning to go on stage anytime soon, and I feel that the G1 is more than enough for gigs and home practices. For that price, it is a dream.

I also bought this so that I could plug my headphones into something and play in the evenings when my young kids are sleeping in the next room. I do not own an amp yet and do not feel in a hurry to buy one since I have the G1 with a built-in preamp.

One thing I would have appreciated: clear info on the zoom site about the differences between the G1 and G2. I wondered why I should spend more for the G2, and decided the G1 was enough for me. I can't really say what I'm missing, but I don't care! I'm extremely happy with my G1.

Pretty simple to obtain good sound out of it,
patches can be edited /stored / copyed in terms of second,
the manual is small but complete and can also be downloaded
for free and without registration from ZOOM website

My favourite artist are AC/DC, Metallica, and all the classical
rock/metal bands of '80s and early '90s
Factory patches list one setting for Angus sound and another for Kirk,
so... here they are and those patch sound good too!
It's not noisy at all and in my opinion all effect sound pretty good,
as good as in the big brother G2 even if with less tweakability.
Modelled ampli/pedal sound good, with good dynamic.
I own just an used SG alike guitar which i modified with used Duncan Designed Distortion pickup
100 euros (guitar) and 40 euro(pickup).
Just the guitar and the headphone. I also own the big brother G2 (used, 60 euros)
and a Digitech Distortion Factory DF-7 (used, 70euros)
I purchased the G1 for its incredible low price as a backup
for the marvellous G2, -same electronic- and i've been shocked for some characteristic
which make the G1 even better then the G2
All the modelled ampli in G2 are in G1 too, roland jc excepeted.
But the G1 also has Diezel, Hiwatt, and Mxr+ and ProcoRat too!
Less parameter settable, just the gain, but it's enough
Other characteristic that make G1 an improvement versus G2:
-3 speaker simulation selectable for each of ampli/ stombox selected
(combo, bright combo and stack) While in G2 for each ampli the choice
is only between cabinet(generic) and extended eq.
-overall volume stored for each patch in memory (with G2 the overall volume is the same
for all stored patches)
-Preset patch feature. A big critic to G2 in fact was that for reaching
a certain patch from another, you have to walk on each of them between
and listen to your sound changing on and on till you find the patch desired.
With G1 you can use a preset patch mode, which let you scroll with footswitch
all the patch you need to reach the desired one, with sound still on starting patch.
Then pushing both footswitch you confirm the new selected patch changing sound to
new patch selected. Feature present in old zoom generation but not in G2!

And, with G1 is also given a small paper card with all the display symbols explained.
Don't have to check always the manual while beginning with G1!

It's all plastic, so not bullet proof..

No idea

I "would like" to play rock/metal music but i'm an absolute beginner
and i'm that from just ten years, lol. But i'm also a willing self made guitarist
so i take my time, and my time for guitar is just nightime when
free from work and family duty (i've also a daughter of 14 months, so..
small time for myself and even less time for sleeping)
I would definitely buy it again, for such small price and such big quality.
I love dynamic, responsiveness and choices of modelled ampli/stompbox.
Even modulation reverb and filter are pretty good too.
It's really a good choice for a beginner and maybe it's sound
good in an absolute way, but consider that multifx with modelled
sound must be used with monitors speaker, headphone, or mixer (not guitar ampli!)

Kudos to Zoom, because it seems they know what a player needs. It's very simple, smart and fast to be programmed, the expression pedal is very useful (I got the G1X) and the wah is good. The patch change is ultra fast (Yamaha, please, listen to it!). And for a cheap price, it includes some good delays, reverbs and even a decent harmonizer (but you can't chose the interval). But the basic tone..... it's bad. Period. Nothing to compare with POD or the Yamaha Magic Stomp. I always mean with a direct connection to a keyboard amp, or to a PA. It seems to me that the tones and simulations are still the ones from the Zoom 505 or even older pedals. Maybe now the circuits are lighter and cheaper, but the algorithms are still the same. I'll try to make some usable tones from it, but I'm afraid it will not be easy. The Guv'nor amp model seems to be not too bad and very flexible, and the Lead is the one I'm using for lead tone.
It's a pity, because the the features of this little thing are ideal, but first I need a good tone... The major mistake for me is the equalizer. It's fixed for certain frequencies, like a mixer or a hi-fi, and it's not useful to shape the tone (specially the high freq.). The range you can really use is very very small. The rest (of the eq range) gives bad and harsh tones. They should learn from POD, using a specific EQ for each amp model, with all the range giving a different but usable sound. I'll try to build the Condor Cab Sim (from the schematics you can find on the web); I hope it can help to take care of the harsh sound of this G1, because I'd like to use it live. I'll tell you later.

This pedal has a brillant sound. Once you get use to its operation which requires sometime then it will open a whole new world of sounds. The editing of patches is also very easy and interesting as well which gives you total and comprehensive control over sound variety. The operation manual is very well described and contain all the fundamental information.

This is one the best top sounding quality effect pedal I ever used. It has equal rather better sound quality than some of the best highly priced pedals in the market. It has amazing sounds variations and it is a great fun to play like some of the famous guitar players in the world and you will never get bored with it. I have found almost all distortions very impressive and the modulation effects like chorus, phaser, flanger, delay and reverb are simply a pleasure to play. I have not yet found anything bad about it as far as sound quality is concerned. Oh I just forgot to tell you that the Harmonist inside it is a classic and it sounds so cool and sweet that I immediately fell in love with it. The Harmonist works equally great with and without overdrive but personally I like to play it with distortion/overdrive with some analog delay, hall reverb and finally compressor flavours added with it and for that you have to edit the patch for your self and it is very easy to do. This pedal is very queit and I have not yet noticed any noise even at high volumes. May be some very high gain distortions get noisey at very high volumes but I found it very impressive in this sense. I use it with Yamaha G50 112 III, JX50 and Fender FM212R amps. I found all the effects strong enough to use in all situations and of course these are extremely great.

Though I have just purchased it last month but I am pretty sure that it will work without any problem. Oh yes sure I will definitely gig with it without a backup.

I have no experience with these guys as this pedal is my very first one which I have purchased from zoom. You see I live in Pakistan and here we have 220 main voltage but when I bought it from United States it had a AC adapter which only operate at 120 volts. So I contacted the international technical/sales team twice to replace me the AC adapter according to 220 main voltage requiement in Pakistan but I am surprised that they still did not reply to my request. I rather wonder didn't I ask anything free of cost from them.

This is a very versatile effect pedal. I feel very lucky that I choose it rightly. I have been playing guitar for the last 27 years. I have a lot of guitars and Boss effect pedals. If this is being stolen I would definitely buy this one again. I love everything about it but I love the Harmonist even more. I choose this one because it was not very expensive and got so much sound variety. I do not find anything yet to hate about it and my favorite feature is the drum machine which allows me to jam alone and let me improve my timming. I wish it would had some of the Harmonist Minor keys as all the key are available in Major keys. I like to share that it should have a separate stereo output jacks for true stereo chorus sounds.