Zoom G2.1u

Even if you don?t read the manual, you will figure it out. Read the manual, there are great features to unlock.

Editing patches is a breeze, again read the manual.

The manual is great and explains everything.

Main Guitar is a Telecaster Deluxe and a 62 Strat, sometimes a Les Paul. Main amp is a Blackface Twin.

No noise if you set the noise reduction correctly

Here is the beauty of this unit. I?ve been collecting pedals since 1972 and must have close to 65 of them. This unit nails my OD-1 to a tee. Did a side by side and I could barely tell them apart. It takes a little tweaking but I can get the same creamy overtones as the original. Chorus was very liquid and similar to my Ibanez. The Phaser is absolutely amazing and with the color setting you can really have some fun. I won?t go into every effect, but they are all excellent

Just got it, very nice construction, should last

I play classic rock and have been doing from its inception. This is a great match because it nails so many different styles and tone.

I?ve been playing for 33 years, own a Telecaster Deluxe, 62 Strat, 72 Les Paul, 90 SG. If stolen I would hurry back out a replace it. The best thing about this pedal is I can get all my sounds and leave my pedal board at home. This has make my life a lot simpler.

I have never written a review before because nothing I have purchase over the past 10 years has had this type of impact on me.

if you know Zoom latest gear, you won't have any troubles!

I am using a Spirit Steinberger and a mexican strato on a H&K edition blue 30...I love these stuffs because I haven't spent too much (you know how musical instruments costs money in Europe?. Much more than U.S.A!!!)
Amazing! what do you want from a 150-euro's baby?!? No noise from this unit; the OVD section has three or four very usable amps and some dist pedal may be used with success...the modulations are good (sometimes better than the POD xt that I have owned...now NO MORE!!!). I love the delays and the rev 'cause they don't kill the overall sound of your guitar!

yes, I'll use for (little) gigs in small places and without a backup! But the pedal doesn't seem a thank...but I love it because it fits into a little computer bag!...you know, now I can carry guitar, ampli and floorboard ev'rywhere I go!!!

I hope they'll improve their website in the same way LINE6 does! this was one thing that I have loved of my PODXT (but for the rest...no comment! too complicated!)
Now USB port on this baby can be used for audio only...and if this gear will be a good deal, they will improve the capability of USB.

I play rock with my band and I prepare demos for them using Sonar Cakewalk...this baby is good straight to my guitar amp and/or to my Tascam us-122! I'm thinking that, if stolen, I'll buy another one...or I'll wait for the G7.1t (you know they're doing it!...). I love the simple way of editing a sound (despite of the PODXt!). if the G2.1u should have three pedal buttons, it will be WONDERFUL! (1-clear;2-crunch;3-lead...) but you can use the ext switch pedal as I did. As you have read, I have had the Pod...the sounds weren't bad but once plugged on a guitar amp...you didn't find what you had in your mind!...The buil-in drums? I don't care 'bout it now: maybe tomorrow...

This pedal is easy to get a good sound of it if you can read the manual. Editing patches is simple as I said. Only if you can't read you'll have problems. Manual is very informative and conscise.

I use a DiPinto Galaxie 4 various pedals most of them ZVEX and EHX. This is my b-up for small crowded stage shows.
Very good quality on the OD/Dist/Fuzz area. You can get well known sounds very realistic with this little bugger.Rectifier and high gain settings are noisy as they should with single coil guitars. Not on humbucker one.
Modulations are cool. You can get classic to weird modulation types. Delays are awesome. You can use two simultaneously if you use the delays in mod section. This pedal I like more than my POD XT LIVE it is way cleaner and usable.

Made out of Metal...Sturdy footswtches...

Never tried them

I play shoegaze/ postrock influenced music...I have been playing for 15 years.

Good manual , pretty easy to get a good sound even from the presets with a little tweaking. The options for direct recording and live use are a little confusing at first as the setting for live use is shared with an EQ configuration

I use a very simple live set up of Fender Strat Plus direct to Fender Hot Rod Deville 60w. Only pedals used to now were a Rat distortion unit and delay.
This unit is simply outstanding in the sound quality dept. The Marshall Guvnor patch very accurately reproduces the Rat sound, which to me is the best distortion unit on the market. Any slight hint of digital fizz in the very highest register can be smoothed out easily with the EQ function.
The Delay, Mod and reverb are excellent and dont muddy up the sound at all.
The apm sims are excellent.....the AC30 and Fender Twin are really good clean sounds.
The expression can be set to control the on/off function of practically any module in stomp box fashion via the Control function .This is really handy for delay, chorus etc.

Dont have it long enough for a rating here

Never used

I play mostly blues and rock and this unit nails all the sounds I need very well.
The Guvnor patch cuts through very well in live situation for a good solid rock/blues lead sound.
I was very pleasantly surprised at the quality of this unit....it goes way past all my previous experiences of multi effect units and I would advise any curious guitarist to try it out ....you wont be disappointed.

love the knobs for tweaking instead for boring buttons. the layout is pretty intuitive. you'd only need the manual to figure out the meaning of various the 2-digit display. even without the manual, you should be able to set up your basic sounds still.

despite my less than enthusiastic responses to zoom's products recently (i.e. the gfx series), i was drawn to the higher sampling rate used for the g21u. soundwise, this is miles ahead of the older zoom lines.
i've tried this mainly with an ibanez strat style axe going into a fender tube amp direct.
this unit is surprisingly quiet. the nr works very well on higher gain settings without any displeasing cutoffs.
the overdrive effects are surprising dynamic for a digital effect, cleaning up as you lower the volume of your guitar.
fair nuff this unit is not going to replace my other dedicated effects anytime soon but it will be a shame to merely dismiss it as another zoom toy. to me the g21u is like a hot little jalapeno pepper, small yet firey.

as with all digital stuff, you'd need a backup..

no reason to deal with them yet. although the availability of the various manuals online is a nice touch.

my first multi-effects unit was a zoom 9002 when i started out playing. i then moved on to other makers. it seems strange that i've come full circle after so many years of playing back to zoom but you will understand why if you give this baby a try.
i was pleasantly surprise by the availability of a delay hold function. this allows me to do my sound-on-sound thing without having to plug in my boss dd6 or my line6 dl4. speaking of the dd6, the g21u costs about as much but does so much more than the dd6.
and speaking of delays, you can actually have 3 different delays on simultaneously: there is a tape echo and dynamic delay in the modulation module, a normal delay, pingpong delay and echo in the delay module and finally a multitap delay in the reverb module.
the addition of the pedal is a great improvement from the older g2 unit. this allows you to make full use of effects like wahs and whammy (which the zoom does very well).
the only drawback that i can come up with is the fact that the reverb module is disengaged whenever you decide to use the onboard rhythm machine. but as i hardly ever use the rhytm function, this is no biggie.

It's quite easy to use, although you have to remember what the
2-letter symbols mean for each module. Previous Zoom pedals used to
indicate what the saved value of a parameter was while you were
editing it; this one does not unfortunately. The manual is good, although it could explain some of the effects a little better. I've always thought Zoom's manuals were organized well, and this one is no exception. Getting a good sound on this unit is much easier than on previous pedals (I have a 707 and 707ii). Of course, it's
a small unit so there aren't lots of knobs for instant access to each
parameter, but that's common for multi-effects. Even so, their effects have always been a little thin on parameters. No patch editor available or even possible since the USB port is for audio only (I emailed the company and asked).

I have an American Strat through a Mackie mixer (home), and a Peavey mixer head at gigs (solo musician). I have not played out with this unit yet, but I can't wait. This unit is head and shoulders above their previous pedals and better than a lot of other brands. This is because they are processing with 32 bits and 96KHz sampling. It's dirt quiet. I haven't spent a lot of time with the effects, but so far they sound fine. Not a lot of options on the effects, but they're usable. There are some gimmicky ones, but also the standards.

I've only had it 5 hours, but it's built solid. I've gigged with
their plastic pedals for 7 years now and have had no problems, so I don't think there will be a problem with this one, which is much sturdier.

I emailed them with a question and the responded in a couple days, which seemed quite reasonable since they are half-way around the world.

I think this is going to be an awesome pedal. I own the two previous Zooms 707's, a Digitech GNX-1, a Korg P2, and a Boss GX-700. This may now be at the top of my list. It's not as flexible as the Boss or the Digitech, but the tone is really good, playing nuances come through, and it's very quiet. I wish it had a patch editor. The cabinet emulator is not directly assignable - it is automatically chosen for you for each amp model. You do get a choice in simulated mic type and placement, though. The only other thing that I wish Zoom would change is more flexibility in assigning the control pedal. Minor complaints aside, I'm very excited about this pedal. Don't be put off by the name this time - this is an incredible pedal that sounds better than others costing a lot more. FYI this is the time I've been motivated by a product enough to write a review here.