Zoom G2

Easy enough to use. Came with many manuals in different languages. Only annoying feature is multiple process assigned to the same controls. So one knob might influence mic placement on the acoustic sims, or alter the tones of the Marshall Guvnor clone or whatever.

It is difficult to bypass the pedal because the switches are too far apart to be hit with a toe-tap. You need to step on it sideways.

I use this thing as a recording interface with my laptop and predomenantly use it to record dark ambient music, for which the reverb models are useful.

However as a guitar pedal it is not so good. Firstly it is clearly voiced to make a small practice amp with a small speaker sound good, so a lot of the patches are completely mushy with no distinction. Secondly the tracking on the harmonizer functions is completely rubbish, and typically one note out of three will be harmonized with some disgusting ringmod type overtone as the processor struggles to harmonize the notes.

Another gripe is the guitar interaction. This thing is a sound modifier, so the amp models are not as versatile as their real counterparts, and one feels that the nuances of your playing style are lost, especially in distortion voices.

The Zoom noise reduction is also pretty aggressive, and on any high setting will rapidly remove the attack on guitar notes. The 'damaged gate' noise reduction setting is second only to the 'digital fuzz' setting is sheer uselessness as it seems more to ape the sounds of a broken speaker.

Oh and if you split your guitar signal before the pedal and run the pedal and the dry signal into two amps there is a slight phase issue as the pedal has a tiny delay in processing your playing.

The drum machine is ok as a glorified metronome, but you cannot put any effects on the drums and getting the drum to guitar mix nice is impossible.

Not sure. One of the microswitches is allready a bit faulty, but then Zoom pedals are always a bad mix of stuff you stomp with your put and little switches you click with a single finger. The knobs are also prone to turning one way but jumping the results the other. So if I quickly try and reduce the delay time with the first knob I find that the first turn will reduce the time, then the second turn of the knob will actually bump the delay time back up and start decreasing the time again.

Other than that no hassles.

Not had to deal with them. If it goes badly wrong I will probably sell it or keep it at the back of a cupboard or drawer.

Meh really. It would be good for a beginner guitarist who wants to hide their technical inadequacies behind digitized versions of Van Halen's Brown Sound or some obtrusive step filter, but once you hear the effects once you quickly decide which are good (delays and reverbs) and which are useless (damaged gate, digital fuzz, sample-and-hold step filter and badly tracking harmonizer).

A multi effects pedal, inexpensive and reliable. Many, many effects and distortions, amp models, basic drum machine, etc. All of these features can be tweaked niceley using 3 knobs. I have been using zoom multi effects pedals for 10 years now and this one is the easiest to use and the most useful. I wish it was easier to bypass, but since I use mine in a footswitchable effects loop, this deosn't effect me much. All other features can be seen on their website or other reviews, but I'm happy with it.

I;m not a vintage guy. I never was. I started playing guitar in the late 90's and have been very into a modern sound. That being said, I find all if these effects to be of great quality for me. My personal favorite is the Harmonized Pitch Shifter, which works and sounds great. There are more effects on here than I'll probably ever use but this pedal makes experimenting fun.

Have had it for over a year and a half and have never had a problem.

This is cheaper that buying multiple effects pedals. While not good for people who like to use multiple effects in a song, it does give you great effects if you try to keep things simple. I love this unit and would definatly get it again if lost or stolen.

The Zoom G2 is not easy to set up for first time users, however once they 'get a feel' for it, then switching between settings is a lot easier. I would have to say that the unit is 'spoiled' by too many 'useless presets' (patches). It would be good if those could be wiped, however storing favourites seems to help you steer clear of the rubbish.

I bought the Zoom G2 to to get that Fender 65 Deluxe Reverb tone and the G2 does that nicely.

I find that the guitar tone quality is spoiled when the drum machine is running, so that seems rather disappointing.

The G2 is housed in a die-cast casing, so that inspires confidence. If it broke outside of warranty it would be a pity, but at the price they are, then a new replacement is relatively affordable.

I've never needed to call them, and don't intend to. I was able to download the PDF owner's manual from the internet, so that's good enough for me.

The G2 was something I actually stumbled across. Initially, I wanted to get that classic 65 Fender Deluxe Reverb sound, so I went to a music store and saw a Boss FDR-1 on sale. I decided to read up on it on Harmony Central and many users were disappointed with the Boss, however one guy mentioned he found the Zoom G2 to be a much better unit at doing what the Boss FDR-1 did at less than half the price of the Boss! Then I read the reviews here and bought a G2. For the price, the G2 has got some great sounds and enough of the essential effects that I'd never worry about ever buying another pedal again (famous last words maybe?).

I was running the G2 into a Fender Champion 600 Re-issue, however I recently bought a brand new Princeton Reverb Re-issue for $667US, so the Champion is just a spare amp now. Although the Princeton Reverb is a great amp, the G2's sound is still very impressive on the 'Fender Clean' setting through the Princeton. I've also got a pair of Sennheiser CX300 earphones (iPod style) and combined with the G2, you get a great sound for minimum expense.

In hindsight, I probably would have been better just buying a Roland Cube 30 and not worry about the Fender Champion & Zoom. I bought the Champion for harmonica use assuming it would be OK for guitar, but unfortunately it's not a good guitar amp. Luckily the G2 was an affordable way to get the tones & effects it has.

For those who are looking to make their own sound patches, then this website might come in handy:
http://www.haax.se/manualsite/index.php?unit=G2

Bottom line: A much cheaper alternative to the Boss FDR-1.

Very easy to use right out of the box-presets are very cool. Takes some patience to edit the right sound you want, combined with whatever amp you're working with.

I only use Gibson Les Paul's and LP types, along with Crate, Roland, and Line 6 amps. My favorite amp models on the G2 are the Marshall stacks and Mesa Boogie. With the right editing you can get killer tone from Dicky Betts to Slash.

It's a great pedal for gigging/practice and recording. I used it on a cruise ship gig out in Hawaii everyday for the summer last year, for recording and practice-you can't kill it.

Piano is my main instrument and livelihood- guitar as a second instrument for 19 years and play hard rock/metal. The G2 even sounds awesome when hooked up to a keyboard using some delay/pitch shift, etc.
I really like the built in drum machine, comes in handy for teaching and writing. Picked up the Twin Tube Mayhem awhile ago, and have been using the Zoom way more. If stolen/lost I would definitely replace it again-it rocks!

Ease of use:
When you know the pedal and have read through the instructions properly it is easy to use. It features a small amount of buttons and knobs which can do a lot of different things.

The manual:
It has it all in there and it explains stuff quite easily, it has a combination of explainations and tables which are very useful.

The problem with the buttons (discussed in the reliability), if this occurs it can make it hard to use.

Rating:
It gets a 7 as it can be easy to use and is well laid out.

There are a lot of different sounds and many combinations that a user can make using all the effects. When setup properly you can make some decent sounds (which you can save as presets) which can comparable with expensive equipment (when used with a decent amp and an EQ).

Distortion:
There is a range of different distortions to choose from, some of them are pretty good but the majority of them sound to digital and 'fuzzy'. Which isn't sound many people are looking for.

Clean:
Again with a decent setup you can have some nice clean tones which sound equally good with reverb or mild chorus. Some of the clean tones are borderline disortion and dont sound brilliant.

Effects:
There are a large number of different effects to choose from and some of them are quite fun. In reality you are only likely to use few of them but you can vary each the characteristics of effect considerably which is useful.

Drum Machine:
The pedal incorparates a simple drum machine, with 30 different beats to choose from and variable timing it can be useful for keeping in time and practising.

Why an 8 rating then?
A rating of 8 high but it gets this it is able to produce decent sounds but only when setup and you siff through most of the effects and distortions.

As seen with many other zoom products of this nature, build quality can lack in important areas. With the G2 it is the 2 main buttons, the change up and down buttons which are required for changing through distortions/effects stored on the pedal.

The two buttons can stick, as in they they only change when they want to which can be very annoying and embarrasing when performing. This tends to happen after prolonged use, not neccesarily abuse to the pedal but through every day use. This deosn't go for all G2 pedals.

However the casing quite ruggid, its solid and has rubber pads to improve its ruggidness and has metal control knobs. Some plastic parts make up the pedal but its still quite strong.

Why a rating of 6?
Overall package is ruggid but the button problem unfortunately lets it down as it could be a serious problem when gigging.

I have had no experience with zoom about this product.

Who would I recomend this pedal to?

Beginners to advanced players who require a number of different effects and sound chanels who does the occasional gig. If you are gigging a lot or have more money to spend I recomend using a boss product.

Features I would improve:
I would improve some of the distortion sounds to make them sound less digital and more analogue. Replace the buttons with better designed switches.

Overall:
The zoom G2 effects/sounds need to be setup properly and you need to learn how to use all of its fucntions. Once you have come to terms with it is a good product and very good value for money when you compare it with other pedals for the price. The down fall is the button problem, however this wont happen to all G2s. You just might be unlucky.

I tend to play speed metal and classical style music on clean sounds. Although I play speed metal I tend to use a mild distortion with a small amount of hall delay which gives a nice clear and precise tone. I run the guitar into the pedal then into a seperate 8 chanel EQ which really helps bring out the sound I want and then run it into a crystal clear 70 watt speaker system or a 500 watt system.

Despite some of the flaws, when you have learned the pedal and produced your own sounds it is a good pedal. I would Recomend taking a look at the Zoom G2.1 which features a dynamic pedal as well as the two main buttons you get. The G2.1 is about 40 pounds more though and for that price you can buy a lot of other pedals. I would certainly recomend the G2 though for the money!

Any questions, please email me: oliverjenner@gmail.com

This unit is about the easiest you'll find to operate in regards to the number of effects and amount of parameter controls. A novice/beginner would surely need a couple months to become competent so I'd say it's more of an intermediate level.

I've owned a dozen processors, some of which are very complex. While this unit was incredibly easy for me to use, mastering it sadly took a few years for the simple fact that, getting usable tones from EVERY am/distortion model requires some odd EQ parameters.

I found I could get any tone style I wanted from all distortions, it just sometimes required using a lot of negative values in both EQ modules.

Modulation and time based effects are of course a no brainer. Over time you'll certainly refine patches but it's pretty easy to get a good sound from them on your initial programming.

It's a more basic unit but still doesn't qualify as a beginner's. The G1 is a very basic and fairly limited beginners unit.

The sound quality is outstanding.
It takes quite a while to really master getting the distortions smooth and refined as opposed to sharp and grainy. I appreciate both distortion tones and fortunately the unit does an excellent job of both.

The dual EQ modules are crucial for nailing sought after tones. It's also incredibly important to use the compression and bS(boost) modules to overdrive the distortion module. With these maxed, you can set your distortion at 30 while having a very clean, noiseless distortion thus eliminating the need for the noise gate.

The boost module has a tone effect ranging from 1-5. 1 gives you a thick, rounded tone, 5 gives you a slightly thin, midzy tone and an intermodulation effect desired by most players. It functions much like a tube screamer overdriving an amp.

The modulation effects are extremely close to analog. When you get the mix ratio and feedback balanced out, they give a very analog feel but of course it's not QUITE the same. That being said, it still manages to perform without the effects mutilating your notes in swirling digital goop.

The reverb and delays are great but definitely don't pass for analog. They sound great, you can get a really good blend and balance but one major issue is when you use the drum machine module, the reverb turns off. This means relying on the delay module for adding time depth.

You'll find that ultimately the way to get a smooth, fuzz like distortion that can still give metal shred is using the distortion tone control, the boost tone control and both EQ modules treble settings all in conjunction. Generally dropping the main EQ's treble to negative settings then balancing out the other 4 in relation to one another does the trick.
Some distortion modules require all the treble settings to drop into the negative values to sound good but, it enables every distortion to deliver a scooped tone, a midrange driven tone, a flat tone etc.

I beat the **** out of my first G2, it still works.
To my dismay however, it can't be powered off batteries which I've never been able to make sense of.

For that reason alone, it's of course not earning a 10.

I'd like to get the battery issue resolved but, I'm sure the cost would make it rather pointless.
Maybe they'll help me trouble shoot since I'm a competent hobbiest tech and could identify and replace the dead components but it's rare a company will do this when a repair would put money in their pocket

I've posted a couple other reviews but thought maybe this one would help users understand the versatility of the unit when the EQ's are manipulated properly and the compression and boost modules are used to overdrive the distortion module.
Some of my patches have been fundamentally the same but tweaked periodically over the last 2-3 years until reaching ultimate perfection as well as a better understanding of the unit and just how deep it's abilities actually run.

I've used the more extensive Zoom G tube models but found they were extreme overkill. Far too many modules and far too many parameter options. You will literally spend a decade perfecting patches on them thus making the units useless in many respects. My advice is stick to the G2, even if you have all the money in the world to spend.

In comparison to the competition, the only brand that can compare and compete is Line6. My Pocket POD gives some very round and smooth distortions with a richness associated with tubes but the G2 still exceeds it in countless ways. The POD also isn't as easy to use due to the interface having a limited amount of buttons.

Ultimately this is probably the best unit on the market even with the competition cranking out new designs a few times a year.

I prefer to run the unit on the clean channel of an amp with the eq of the amp set for slightly above flat frequency response. It can be used to overdrive an amps distortion but you'll find it introduces some white noise which is typical of all digital distortions when used this way. Currently it runs through my Ashdown Mini Stack and my Crate V33H all tube head. Oh and when I feel the need, I have the beat up G2 that lives in my car which I jack into the axillary input of my stereo so I'm never without when out on the road.

I own two G2's and will probably snag a third when I find one on Ebay for a bargain price. Stolen, destroyed or whatever, I'd replace it within a few days. The G2.1 is great with it's USB, expression pedal and Cubase software HOWEVER, an external, analog expression pedal plugged into the G2 allows for more range of movement. The foot pedal on the 2.1 doesn't have much range which is consistent with most units equipped with a built in expression pedal.

I'm not a salesman and typically oppose brand loyalty.
The bottom line is that this model performs extremely well and is as close to the real thing as you can get from units of this type.

The unit is really easy to use and modify/create presets. Most of the pre-programmed patches are not useful at all, but the manual is clear and easy to follow, even for newbies.

I am using it with a 2007 Ibanez GRG270 with a DiMarzio DP200 bridge pickup, modified for series/parallel and a 1979 Giannini Supersonic with individual phase switches for the pickups (a copy of the Fender Jazzmaster with 3 strat-like pickups). The G2 is really quiet, and its noise gate works like a dream, as well as the effects. The 5-second delay is really good. The chorus has a stereo option, and the other effects, like the flanger, phaser, wah and the equalizer work really well, and accept complex configurations. The pitch shifter could be better sounding, for the pedal pitch (altering the fundamental) makes the original sound of the guitar quite strange (badly distorted), unlike a Digitech Whammy (which costs lots more...). The distortions are accurate and some are very intense. The emulations, such as the OD-1 and the Fuzz Face are just like the original ones, only a bit better because we can enhance them...

I play Rush, Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath, Scorpions, Deep Purple and David Gilmour songs, and it is easy to reach the sounds I want, even using a transistor amp (125W RMS).

The unit looks very sturdy, and seems to endure a lot of hard work. I would use it to play live, but I would carry a lesser distortion pedal, just in case (I am a careful person), or another older Zoom 505II I have.

Once I had to repair my 505, and the folks at Zoom Japan were very helpful and friendly. For the G2, they even gave hints on how to build an expression pedal, something I had never seen before.

I am a vintage guitar player, over 34 years on the road, and I like to play hard rock, progressive, heavy metal and ballads. I also have some other old pedals, like the Ibanez Standard Fuzz, Sound ES2 Wah, Boss Turbo Overdrive, Giannini Super Fuzz, a Tube Screamer clone and some other distortion and compression pedals I built myself.

I liked the unit very much, but Zoom could work a little more on the pedal pitch. Were it lost or stolen, I would definitely buy another, maybe with a built-in expression pedal.

I have been using Zoom pedals for about 10 years now and this is by far the easiest I have ever had. I consider myself a musician of simpke tastes and this pedal is more than enough to keep me satisfied. I really don't use the amp modeling except when maybe recording some riffs to a recorder, and the drum samples and metronome are an awsome tool to have, really everything I need, but if you don't have an FX loop, I can't see you using this live.

I find the FX very easy to use and plentiful in range and diversity. I have been almost always been able to dial in the sound I want and they always sound great. I usually set a specific patch for a song and just hit the FX loop on my head when i need the effect. I used to use it with a Marshall TSL 100 but I have since upgraded to a MESA Trip Recto....the interfacing with the marshall was much easier but the result nwas ultimatley the same, awsome effects sounding great, I really have no complaints here.

This is the most well built of all the Zoom's I've played. Hasn't given me any problems and I don't see it doing so.

Haven't need them.

It really is great for what I do, and for the price i paid and how I use it...it is pricless and resourcful. I would get another one immediatly if it were lost or stolen. This little wonder probaly exposed me to so many effects at a fraction of the cost...thank you zoom.

the operation manual is there for a reason. if you dont read through it then your stupid. the knobs are very intuitive and editing patches are as easy as a flick of a switch.

i plug this pedal through a dean P series VX into a roland cube 15X. there is a decent amount of amp models and effect models for gigging, recording and practice. i can get all the metal tone i want out of this thing ( Megadeth, Testament and such). afew notable amp models in this unit that i like is the Zoom extreme distortion pedal. it has really good gain. the only downside to it is that it sounds WAY to digital and fake. the feature i hate is the gate.it takes ALOT of gain out of the sound. so that definately sucks.

decent unit. i dont think i need a backup for this. its really safe.

never dealt with them yet

basically i play lots and lots of high gain metal so this unit(especially the amp and pedal models such as peavey 5150 and Extreme distortion) is very useful. if it were stolen or lost i would get the zoom g2.1 with cubase instead.

First of all lets remember this is a $99 pedal and it has limits. I think that however it is a good pedal. It's so simple to use once you look over the manual. Editing patches involves turning the correct one of three knobs and then storing. How much easier can it get. Then you can make adjustments on the fly as easy as bending over and tweaking a knob. The manual is pretty easy and resonably clear to understand. Even if you just buy this pedal for the tuner its pretty cool. It's also great for a practice amp that's battery powered with earphones so you won't disturb anyone. It has a quick and easy drum machine where you can find a beat to jam to or try out new licks or chord patterns. Not great in variety but nice sounding and easy to adjust on the fly. After you set your guitar volume you can still adjust the drums up or down without effecting your guitar volume. Slick! Weather the effects sound good or not depends on your setup and weather or not you use amp modeling and the EQ's correctly.

Distortion is always a subjective subject. I'd say you can go all the way from way too much to way to little but in the end it's always not quite right. I think this is because it isn't very touch sensitive and therefore will always sound phony and digital. If you're playing balls to the wall it can sound fine, but if you want to use a light touch it still has the same general sound.
The delays can be made to do most things most delays do especially long delays. Many of the effects are pretty interesting.

No problem yet

Never delt with zoom but generally find there products to last resonably well if care is used.

I do a lot of studio work and I use this pedal mainly to add interesting colors. Trems, delays, echo and other time based effects mainly. Also I use it a lot to practice quietly.
There are many better pedals out there but if I only had around a hundred bucks I'd buy one again. You get a lot for the money and most of it is good.