Zoom G2.1u

didnt take long to figure out how to use it, the 2 digit dispay is pretty sufficient to my surprise.

this thing has great Marshall amp emulators, the ones i like best is MC (marshall clean) used with gain all the way up and a strat with bridge/middle pickups for rhythm. Also MD (marshall drive?) with gain down almost all the way and the NECK strat pickup sounds great for solos also . That's all I use as far as guitar effects, and i just add a bit mid spring reverb, and sometimes delay..Works perfect and sounds great!

Micked cabinet simulators dont work too well with MC and MD though, but i was able to dial in a good sound for recording no problem.. Worked great - use a standard printer cable, no need for drivers, works great with cooledit.(you have to plug your computer speakers or headphones into the back of the Zoom instead of sound card)

used it for about a year, rehearsals , gigs , no problems

Update from previous review. While editing on this unit is easy (once you read the manual), and control is precise, the precision eans you have to tweak a LOT to get the sounds you want. You get what you put into this box -- you won't just turn it on and get the sound you want in half a minute. For computer recording it's a plug and play interface, love it.

I use inexpensive modellers like this for travel play and recording, and live through a Kustom Tube 12A (GREAT small amp) and Crate Powerblock. I don't try to sound like anyone else; I do love the sounds of Cooder, Fred McDowell, Steve Cropper, Muddy Waters. I need a good overdriven single coil slide sound, a HB slide sound, a Rockabilly sound, and heavy slide rock sounds, all with clear separation of bass, mids and leads, so the crowd can hear bass lines, partials and slide separately. I can get that from the G2.1u, but it took time. It sounds MUCH better with my Reverend JS390, a P90 axe, than with a Curlee equipped with Dimarzio super distortions.

The unit is noiseless. Reverbs are OK but choice is limited to room, Hall or spring; latter can get muddy fast. Delays are nice -- The clean slapback sound on this unit is delicious. Tremolo sounds like a more expensive unit. Octave effect is excellent, clean and punchy, and lets top end come through on chords. Chorus not as rich as I'd like.

Distortions require some thinking ony our part. You can't get an overdriven Fender or AC30 sound out of this box, the models stay clean however you set onboard gain. You could input a OD stompbox to the G2.1u model... Instead, I set up the G2.1u as I want, then use gain on my amps to get overdrive, and it sounds very, very good. Like reverbs, the distortion settings are limited, especially for blues -- the Boss OD setting, my favorite, sounds very dark. I find the Marshall Clean setting (MC) most useable -- a slight overdrive with a clear high end.

Wonderfully reliable, light and sturdy. I DO use it without a backup. Battery operation is a huge plus (7 hrs on 4 AAs).

Never contacted them. The manual is great.

Play Delta modern, fitting stuff from Handy to the Police into a Delta slide style. Played 40+ years, own or have owned Gibson LP standard, Reverend USA and import, Fender guitars and basses and tube amps, yada yada. Compared to Digitech RP pedals, I own a few. In its class, this is the best. I've put aside my Digitechs to concentrate on this box, because the battery operation and USB out make it so flexible. I like inexpensive light and sturdy gear, and this qualifies. I'd buy it again in a shot. I may also buy the G2, which has no footpedal and so is even lighter. It ain't a rack of high end effects, but it's a powerful device that has good sounds in it, at a very decent price.

I had 505 in the past, this thing is similar, a little easier to tweak, but it keeps only 2 digits on a display which may confuse new users. Basicly you have to hit the strings to hear what effect you're tweaking.

This is a part where I'm dissapointed. I wanted a device for home practicing/recording, playing with backing tracks and jam along with my favourite songs. I don't care much about all that weird sounds with modulations. What I need is good clean sound, good rock sound for riffs (like Guano Apes), good metal sound for making slaughterhouse(like Nightwish, Lacuna Coil) and modern solo sound with high saturation and delay. Unfortunately G2.1 didn't deliver. Sound is weak, canned, with narrow EQ and not enough punch. It also kills character of my pickups - Evolution and PAF Pro form DiMarzio. And yeah, Wah is crap. Sorry, but Line6 is far better (not perfect though).

Good sides? It's not noisy and changes patches immediately.

It's made far better than its descendant 505, however I wouldn't use it live, because I don't wanna be associated with sound that comes out of it.

No experience with ZOOM support. They can work better with their website.

I've been playing for more then 10 years, mostly on Ibanez guitars, hybrid Marshalls, different digital MultiFX, some analog stompboxes. I'm not a tube purist, but I like good sound. My ears can't find one in ZOOM G2.1. It's time to test POD XT and get rid of ZOOM product without regret.

It's set up like this:

Guitar
\/
{Compression} -> {Wah/EFX} -> {Zoom noise reduction/Gate} -> {Amp sim} ->
{EQ} -> {Extra EQ/Cabinet sim} -> {Mod/SFX} -> {Delay} -> {Reverb/Rhythm Machine}
\/
Amp/Headphones/Mixer/USB-out


Pretty intuitive interface, though fans of signal chain tweaking will be disappointed that you can't rearrange the modules like you can on a Boss GT-8/GT-Pro. However, Boss is the exception; the norm is more in Zoom's area. You CAN put the {Wah/EFX} module before or after the EQ module, so you can get pre-gain or post-gain filtration. That's a useful feature.

Editing patches reminds me of Kantian ethics: easy to learn, complex to master. You'll get the hang of it quickly, but getting really good sounds takes a bit of deeper tweaking. Still, won't take you more than a few days of playing around if you're technically apt, and the rewards of mastery are quite tangible in the form of great sounds!

A brief breakdown:

{Compression module} has a variable level from very little compression to big time compression, and can either be set to fast compression to even out the attack of notes or slow compression to kick in for sustain while leaving notes' attack relatively untouched. I don't use a lot of compression with any kind of distortion because the Zoom pedal models a tube amp's natural compression really well in my opinion. The old pedals didn't really do this at all, and it's a huge step in the right direction.

{Wah/EFX} has quite a few things, all of which have multiple settings and parameters controllable by the built in expression pedal (or pedals, in the case of the more expensive units). Included are Auto-wah, auto-resonance, booster, tremolo, phaser, ring modulator, slow attack, Vox wah, and Crybaby wah. As mentioned, the Wahs can go in front of everything or after the EQ. I don't like the phaser very much (MXR for me, thanks), but the others are useful in some way or another.

{Zoom Noise Reduction/Gate} is awesome and beats the hell out of my Boss noise suppressor. It has a variable reduction level, and does a very good job if you're going to be using roughly the same guitar volume level on a patch. Even harmonics come through with their natural note trails, and no hum is to be found. On the gate side of things, there is a clean gate and a dirty gate. The clean gate is just what you usually think of in a noise gate, while the dirty gate couples well with Fuzz pedals.

{Amp sims} is actually labeled "Drive," probably because not everything emulated is an amplifier, but that sounds pretty dumb. The amp models here are Fender Clean, Vox AC 30 Clean, Roland Jazz Chorus clean, Marshall Crunch (between clean and crunch, think 1970s rock), Fender Tweed Deluxe '53 crunch (blues machine), Mesa Boogie MkIII combo, Marshall JCM2000 Stack, Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier on Vintage voicing, Peavey 5150, Boss OD-1 pedal, Marshall Guv'nor pedal, Hot Box, Fuzz Face pedal, MT-1 Metalzone pedal (I have a physical MT-1 and the emulation is uncannily accurate, though the adjustment settings don't have the same ease of use - digital versus potentiometers), Zoom Extreme Distortion (not a bad sound if you're looking for enough gain to destroy a house), Zoom Digifuzz (a high gain fuzz, also not bad). Without going into exhaustive detail, suffice it to say that all of the amps are at least close, and all are useful. This also has the first stage of EQ, as each amp model has a tone knob to let you start getting the general shape of your sound. I can't believe how well the amps respond to picking dynamics and guitar volume changes - I didn't think modelers could do that.

{EQ} gives you three more frequency bands to dial in the sound you're looking for, and is very handy.

{Extra EQ} does two things. It either gives you three more EQ knobs (bringing the total up to seven), or it houses the cabinet and mic simulation. What kind of cabinet is modeled depends on the amp sim you've chosen. Some use a 1X12, some use a 2X12, some use a 4X12. The cabinet sim has a simulation of a dynamic mic and a compressor mic, both quite useful depending on which amp model you're using (I like how a dynamic mic sounds with cleans, personally), and three placement options, specifically dead center pointed at a speaker cone, pointed halfway between edge and center, and pointed at the speaker edge.

{Mod/SFX} is a big one, and I'm not going to go into what individual effects do, but suffice it to say they're all remarkably more useful than in previous versions where some effects are just plain stinkers. Here's a list: Chorus, Stereo Chorus, Flanger [unremarkable], Pitch Shifter, Pedal Pitch, Vibrato, Step filter, Harmonized Pitch Shifter (key-specific intelligent shifting to various intervals), and a few more.

(More to follow in Reliability section)

I feel that it is very reliable. The construction quality is solid, mostly made of metal. The input jacks are fully metal as well, not plastic like some other units. That said, gigging without some kind of backup is never a good idea, especially with only one point of failure like a multieffects unit. What if the power at the venue is so dirty that your unit doesn't want to work, and your batteries die? What if your unit gets broken somehow, or something is spilled on it, disabling it?

These are things to keep in mind. Don't gig without a backup.

Now, for more Sound Quality information on the remaining modules:

{Delay} is the dedicated module for delay which allows up to 5 seconds of delay and has a hold function. This is feature and sound competitive with the Boss DD-6 and the whole Zoom G2.1u unit costs about as much, so if you're looking for a long digital delay and a stage tuner you can get them both here and save money. You can use this in conjunction with the Delay and Tape Echo in the previous bank to get some really cool multiple delay sounds. The specific delay modules here are Delay, Pingpong Delay, and Echo (for a more analog delay sound).

{Reverb} is exactly what it says it is, and has Hall, Room, and Spring reverb with adjustable duration. It also gives you a tone knob for the reverb, so you can get some cool sounds out of it (and, if you want to count this in, it would be the 8th EQ option you get in the signal chain). The reverbs on this unit are way better than previous ones and are all quite useful. Apart from the traditional reverbs listed, you also get Early Reflection which gives you only the early reflection components of the reverb with an adjustable decay and envelope shape. Finally, you get a cool multi-tap delay in this module as well, with adjustable times of 10-990ms and 1000-3000ms respectively, with 8 different patterns. Oh, and it houses the rhythm unit as well, which means when you turn the drum machine off you get none of this. That is a gripe, for me, but it hasn't been a problem - I just record the drum track first if I am using it to lay down a basic track, and then I can go back and rerecord my own drums later (drummer first, guitarist second), and when I'm just practice jamming it's not a big deal at all.

Never had to deal with them. I have a 505II (which has horrid sound quality, but was fun to practice with) that has been working perfectly since it came out.

Overall, this is an excellent unit for any type of music. Compared to other units of the same type in the pricerange, here are my observations:

It is far better than the Pod 2.0 in every way except time-based effects. The Pod's time effects are great.

The Tonelab (not Tonelab SE) has better low gain models, but the high gain models on the Zoom unit are superior.
Price:performance is great!

I found the pedal to be pretty easy to edit once I scanned the manual. The "canned sounds" are horrible. This is MY opinion. You may like them but I found them to be unusable.

KNow where I am coming from first....... I normally use pedals in front of old Fender Tube amps (boss, keeley, mxr). I usually use a strats, parker, gretsch guitars...mostly strats. I have owned many zoom multifx pedals only long enough to return them before the money back guarantee expired! Owned boss gt3, gt5, gt6. Digitech early and recent RP stuff. Sorry, they don't work for me.

As of late, my gigs have had me cramped into a tiny space where my pedal board takes up just about all the room I have to stand. So, I decided to buy one of these to reclaim some standing room for myself.

Here's what I have used so far: Parker, Gretsch, Strat->Zoom->Bandmaster, Deluxe Reverb, Pro jr, and Epiphone Valve Jr -> Behringer Ultra G DI box to the PA. All usable...the Gretsch requires the most tweaking as it does with my regualr setup.

As I said earlier, the canned sounds are not good. After a week of evenings, I have been able to create 3 clean patches and 2 overdriven lead patches that I consider more than usuable with one of my Strats. This in itself is enough to make me happy with the unit and keep it. I haven't made an attempt to put a distortion pedal in front of it to see if that will work, I doubt it will.

As others have said, it is harsh sounding, but, diligent tweaking of all of the EQ options will get some very pleasing sounds out of it. You may even find that the cab settings work better going into the amp than the live settings.

I have been able to program a usable reverb, delay, and compression. I didn't find the unit noisy...I normally use analog pedals so I am used to a bit of HISSS. I really haven't heard any noise that is worth mentioning.

I will try to depend on it but I will always have a backup pedal board since I cannot take chances at any gigs.

I play blues/classic rock/female pop rock. The pedal works okay, my analog stuff is better but I can use it in order to save some space and setup time on stage. Been playing for over 40 years. I own a tone of gear..mostly old Fender Tube amps...boogie Z etc.

I wouldn't replace it if it was stolen. I would laugh knowing that whoever wound up with it will likely have a hell of a time getting a good sound out it LOL! It takes some work if you ask me.

I chose this one because I have had all the others and I wanted to mess around with an intelligent harmonizer (haven't played with it yet though). I also wanted to play with Cubase LE (haven't tried it yet though).

Very easy to use.

Here you have to choose: if you want a good multifx to use in front of your amp, look elsewhere.
This thing sound quite good if you plug it into a mixer(or into a stereo amplifier), or you listen it through headphones. If used in fornt of an amp it tends to sound harsh, digital and artificial: only a few distortions sound decent, the clean sound is quite good, instead. Plugged into a mixer it is more usable because most of the distortions are quite warm and balanced; the clean sound is better, too. You can also use it to make some records with your pc: if you don???t have a professional soundcard, miced amps etc it is a good starting point, fast, easy and really not bad. It???s also very good to practice: it has a useful drum machine (that,on the other hand, sounds almost terrible and, misteriously, turns off the reverb).
In any case, don???t expect studio-grade quality! For its price it sounds good (even better than other more expensive devices) but don???t forget it???s only a cheap digital multifx.

Very well built. Only the pedal looks a bit weak.

I've been playing for 7 years,classick rock and hard rock.I'm using a stratocaster with duncans and a good solid state amp: Peavey Bandit 112.

The Zoom is worth the money, but it has some limits. Good for practice, for making some small records, for reharsals(if you don???t have anything better), and for beginners.

It's not idiot proof, like, let's say, Boss pedals.
BUT, the day I bought it, I thought "Oh God, I'll spend one year tweaking this thing so I can learn it all". Sweet mistake.

The day after I figured everything out!
It is a bit complicated, but for the complexity and versatility of this unit, it's really worth it.

Many delicious simulations that sound very real. The ones that are not close, can express a very carachteristic sound, wich is good.

If I say that every single sound this pedal makes is good, it'll be a damn lie. But the possibilities are so immense, that you can pretty much overcome it.

If you're looking for a completely silent pedal, you're in the wrong century. Altough, it's got a couple of very good noise gates wich makes it the most silent pedal I've ever played.

Just have in mind that the factory presets SUCK. I really mean they suck. They try to emulate carachteristic sounds of this or that artist, by mixing a giant amount of effects hence simulating a whole pedalboard of effects set to the edge.
You can simply use a clean Wah and play Hendrix or use a down and dirty tone to suit your Metal needs (Instead of adding delay, reverb, compressor, and wah to the same patch. It is just so ridiculous!).

I'm not a big guy, but I have projected my whole weight to the expression pedal and it remains as solid as before. So as the rest.

It has rubber protections on the sides and it's built like a tank.

(I'd definetely use it on a gig)

I play heavy rock, blues, and m??sica popular brasileira (brazilian popular music). If your only concern is that if this pedal can really suit your style, buy it. It's like it's been made by Victorinox.

The guy whom I bought this said he sells five of these everyday. I can also add that I'm very happy with it (when I say happy, I mean that I stopped worrying about building a gear out of analog pedals and started just using this - It just gets the job done).


PS: FORGET THE ZOOM 505II. This unit is a completely different deal.

Very easy to use as long as you read the manual. I Think a patch edit software through USB will be useful if we want to share patches to other. The effect tweak cheatsheet is necessary and can be found in the G2 user group at yahoo.

Very good! I compared this unit to RP250 which I also own, and this one is better than that new Digitech unit! It might not be as versatile but the sound is warmer, thicker, and the harmonics complexity is there! The only complaint that I have on this unit is the volume USB playback after recording is much lower and almost unheard (I tried using Cakewalk Guitar Track Pro, Sonar LE, Cubase LE). If Zoom want to consider this unit as recording tools, they need to fix this flaw!

Good design and I think it's pretty reliable.

Never used them. I hope they read this review on the USB playback volume.

If you just started playing guitar or want to switch from other modeller, choose this one. Don't buy the Digitech RP series as the sound is thin and lifeless. This is what I need to plug into clean amp. It delivers the sound. I have other effects like BOSS GT-8, POD XT, Yamaha Magicstomp, VOX Tonelab, Amplitube, Guitar Rig. This unit has it's own distinct character I cannot find in my other units so I'm gonna keep this.

A little daunting at first as others have said but once you have got your head around the unit it is ok. Actually much easier to use than my old Korg AX1G. The presets are actually OK - quite a lot of fun to be had - some really weird sounds. The manual is really good - they have gone into lots of detail even giving you background information on the amps that they have modelled. Screen is only 2 digits - hence the lower score - if it had a full backlit LCD would give it 10.

I love this unit! It kills Korg, Line 6 and Boss! Line 6 really sounds pants compared to this ( I tried out the HD147 qnd I cannot believe a unit costing 8 times less can sound betterthan their flagship amp!!!). THE DISTORTIONS ARE AMAZING. The effects are great - can do whammy very well, love the reverbs and delays, chorus is fine, the special effcts make me laugh! Quiet as a mouse. I can nail anything from Satch to Iron Maiden to Pantera and Metallica. I have funky wahs, ballsy Blues, Full on death metal, Dimebag Metal, Classic rock, Beatles - you name it, it can do it. The only small quirk (apart from display) is the fact the reverbs go off when you use the drum machine - but thats ok - I only use drum machine sometimes for practice.

I'm using this with a Crate Powerblock (which I got for an increadable ??50) running into a 4x12 ashdown cab. Sounds great.

I have only used it for about a week, but the construction is very good - metal and rubber - nice. I would think it could withstand a lot of abuse. Nice pedal action, nice switches - can't fault it so far.

Can't comment.

I play rock / Metal / Blues / acoustic - suits all these styles very well. I have played for about 6 years - this is the best multifx I have used and tried - forget Korg / Boss / Digitech - try one you'll be very surprised. I used to think zoom were not very good - all that has now changed. Might even get their flagship model - the G9 in the future with x2 tubes! Would definately buy again if it got stolen or maybe try the next one up, the G7. I use it with a Schecter C-1, Crate powerblock..also use a Black 13 Digitech pedal - can cover anything with this kit. Total nails any metal / hard rock sounds.

Since I have bought the Zoom G2 I have been really inspired and have played every day till my fingers hurt - Buy one you won't regret it!

As has been mentioned, the UI is a little quirky at first.

It's second biggest limitation is the 2 digit interface. It forced them to use cryptic acronyms for each paramater.

The manual should have a key that lists ALL the acronyms in alphabetical order. (Which I would've done had I kept it) But you're forced to sift through the manual and supplements to find the one you happen to be looking for.

This was my first experience with Zoom. I had stayed away because of the stigma of the name and their poor reputation when they started.

I was extremely pleasantly surprised.

The sound quality is amazingly good. Especially for a unit in this price range. It is very quiet.

Like the previous reviewer, I too missed the AC30 Top but I figured I could overdrive the Clean AC30. Nope. But I don't think this ME is trying to be a tube modeler.

The delays and mods are excellent. High gain is also quite good (Although that's not really my "thing") The overdrive is so-so. Somewhat hollow and lacks depth/character. Maybe more tweaking was required.

The sweep of the expression pedal is (predictably due to it's size) very short.

I don't really think this unit is built for live use but since it's built like a brick sh!thouse, I guess you could.

Anything with a drum machine built leads me to believe it's more of a "practice-at-home unit."

Outstanding. Flat out. I have received prompt, informed and professional replies to all my questions. YMMV but mine has been excellent.

*Anything you wish it had?

Ok, here's the kicker and biggest limitation:

When you start the drum machine, the Reverb automatically shuts off!

So, you go from a nice, lush ambient patch - then hit the drums and it's dry and flat.

Why bother putting a drum machine in the unit?

Frankly this was a "deal killer" for me.

That said, I was so impressed with this unit otherwise, I am now eagerly searching for a different Zoom model that does not have this "issue."

I've been playing semi-serious 25 years. Blues, Surf, Psychobilly and have lately been getting back into Ambient. Mostly Strats/Jags (Single Coil) guitars. Current amp; Vox AC120.

As much as I like the pedal, the reverb thing is enough of a turn-off, I have to ding my score here.

Frankly, I'm very surprised it hasn't been mentioned.