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.

its easy... very easy.
But, if you are a TARD... then you might not be avle to use it.
It is very simple and a steal for $100. The other guitarist in my band has THOUSANDS invested in his rig. I take great pride in making him sound like dog %$@# with my $100 pedal and a $300 crate half stack.

If you can't get an amazing tone out of this pedal then you are a idiot. Most of the negative comments on here about this product are made by stpudid kids who wouldnt have a clue how to use or adjust eq or use a real effect. The bottom line is this unit is the MOST AMAZING INVENTION EVER MADE FOR THE ELECTRIC GUITAR. The new distortions and overdrives on this pedal really steps it up to the next level. You can buy one of these pedals for $100 and have every tone imaginable. This pedal makes me feel raped for buying so many effect pedal and line 6 products.
The new extreme distortion setting is exactly like a line 6 insane setting but more raw and real

My old plastic zoom 505 is over 10 years old. I cant imagine how long this one will last considering it metal contruction.

never had to use them.

As long as you have a clear load clean channel, this pedal can create every tone on the plant flawlessly. There is a reason why many music stores do not carry zoom pedal. Because if you buy this pedal, they will not see you for a long time. Because you will not have to buy anything else. IT'S 2008...TIMES HAVE CHANGED, TECHNOLOGY IS HERE, YOU DONT HAVE TO SPEND THOUSANDS FOR TONE.

It's easy to use.

A reading of the manual is advised if you have never used a multieffect before. You can download it from the support section of the Zoom website.

It has deep enough editing to provide a good amount of adjustments, ie most actual effect pedals have 3 (or 1,2,4) knobs on them. The three parameter knobs make editing quick and simple by working just like pedals would.

The display is VERY cryptic with it's two digits. A massive improvement would be to have a display which is alphanumeric and of at least 6-8 digits. I think there should also be indicator led's showing which modules are active within a patch also. Anyway, it is what it is.

Hmmmm, without sounding overly negative I really don't like the sound quality or quality of the effects. IF you had nothing else to use then this would be fine. BUT... if you own other pedals then using the G2 equivalent of that effect is a big let down. SInce I own other individual effects and have some awareness of sounds I don't like the Zoom at all for anything.

The delay's even the EC which is supposed to be warm sound bad compared to my Belcat DLY-303 Delay. The flanger is just terrible compared to my Nady FL-10 Flanger. The wah sound when using a Roland EV-5 expression pedal is just terrible compared to my Cry Baby type wah pedal with reissue fasal inductor. So you can see where I've gone with this, I can't stand the poor quality effects this has.

I can only rate it as 1 - It sounds terrible.

Web site is great, support section is great. I have emailed them about the bypass and got a pefectly helpful and informative reply. I think they have good customer support.

Ultimately this one had to go onto eBay as I just didn't like anything it did. I had owned a Zoom G2.1u a while back just after they came out. I didn't like it much but thought maybe I would try one out again. Yeah, they suck pretty badly.

Overall Rating, to me they sound like what they cost.

They look lovely and are nicely laid out and straight forward to use. Personally I was not happy with the sound quality when bypassed, so I used a true bypass box. Then the problem was I didn't like the quality of the effects themselves. There was nowhere to go from that point except back onto eBay.

Otherwise a good product, lots of things to play with for very little money. Built in a strong metal enclosure with stylish looks.

I've been playing with multi FX processors for years, this box was easy for me to set up. I did have to refer to the manual for which amp sim was which. But i punched in some basic sounds in a few hours, and tweaked them to perfection within 2 days. you can exect a big display on a cheap unit i guess. The manual was easy to read, but after 2 days playing around i didnt need to look at it.

This box ROCKS!!! its warm and sooo clean even when extremely distored. It dosent sound digital like some other gear.

I've run it though 3 setups all sound extreamly good... a Peavey bandit 80 watt combo amp. In to my mixer with the cabinet simulator turned on, and out though monitor spekers and a sub... and my fav rig.. into a Peavey 50/50 Classic stereo tube power amp and out to stereo quad boxes, this rig screams.

The amp sims and cabinet emulators sound very good, but im not an amp conisurer so i can t tell you how realistic they sound... they sound good to my ears.

The zoom extreme distorsion screams for leads and metal, one of the best distorsions I've herd. I have it set to 30% distortion for most of my stuff.. its to driven at higher levels.. maybe some slayer at 70% drive.

It has all you basic FX's + some nice stuff like zoom noise reduction, pre amp frequeny boost ( nice for extra gain on leads ect ), harmonised pitch shifter. It also has stuff i dont use like complex delays, and reverbs for a slighty different effect.

looks like a solid box.

no idea.

I paid AU$150 for this unit, rrp is about AU$250. It sounds awesome for the money...better than my 10 year old rack mount digitech gear that cost me $2500.. I got good sound punched in in an hour and tweeked within 2 days. I'm so impressed i think ill repace my rack with a G7.

If your thinking about buying one, just get it, you wont regret it. I coulnt find anything that came close for the money.

The G1 seemed to have limmited delay settings, and the extra knobs on the G2 make it dead easy to dial in sounds. Spend the extra few bucks and get the G2.

It is easy, you just have to tweak the three knobs an listen. But don't expect too much from factory presets: overprocessed, and digital. A chimp could use this unit (after reading the manual :P)

Distorsions are crap, amp and cabinet models are crap :P Pretty much the same with all multieffects for me... I only use this for modulation and delay, and sometimes some extra reverb.
I want to tell you about the way i use it, hope it helps. I am mainly a jazz guitarist, but i like to play with effects. My pedalboard looks like this: Digitech EX-7 > Line6 FM-4 > G2. The dist (which i don't use much), whammy, leslie, etc comes from the EX-7, the filter stuff for funk comes from the FM-4 and the mod (mainly chorus) and delay comes from the G2. I wish it had a separate bypass switch (like the yamaha magicstomp), to make it more like a stompbox. But it doesn't, so I've set up the programs, so i can always reach a bypass mode (everything turned off in the program) with one kick. I keep my programs on minimal, no amp, no eq (messes up with the amp eq), just one single effect usually. So my programs go like this: A0-clean(i use a bit of stereo chorus for this too), A1-effect, A2-effect, A3-clean, and so on...
So what i have is some separate stompboxes, but programably. I can use 5 different types of delays on a concert without tweaking between songs.
10 for mod, delay and reverb and 2 for distorsions = 7 altogether.

Heard some bad things... we'll see with time.

Dunno.

You shouldn't forget, that playing with effect have nothing to do with music. It's like a programer who plays on the computer occasionally.
But this is definately a killer one! The best in its category, a must have for begginers (if they need games appart from playing the guitar). More advanced guitarist should probably have a look at the magicstomp (which i'm going to buy too, if i'll have the money), same thing but a bit more complicated and avanced.

I think that the zoom g2 is very easy to use, than other multiefects. I compare the zoom g2 with the digitech rp70, and I couldn't understand how to use de digitech.
like all the multiefects units, you have to read some pages of the manual, but just doing that you can understan how to use it.

I like the zoom g2 because it has 13 distortions, and they are very good. If you are just strating on playing guitar it has a very very good souns, but if you have some years playing the guitar, you'll notice that it's not the best sound.
This multiefect is weak on the modulations and in the auto-wah, in my opi??on. But I strongly think that the zoom g2.1u is not better because of the expresion pedal, it is very expensive!!!

I think tha my zoom g2 fell over a million times, and it is still working, like the first day.
I think that the zoom g2 is better than the zoom g1, because of that. The zoom g2 has steel switchs, and they make them using steel, and the zoom g1 is made of plastic.

I did'n have any problem with it, so I don't know

I think that you can play any style of music with it, I play blues, clasical, rock, metal and jazz, and I use my zoom g2 for all of that.

I think that you can get multiefect of the same quality, but for less price, that is the only desadvantage.

Ease of use is not le gran force of any multi effect procecessors. A couple of knobst to do all the job, it is very hard to visually get a hint of the settings. Anyway, I praise zoom for their unquestionable commitment to usability, which might be a hard job in case of this product type - I've been a zoom 505, 505/II and now G2 user, and I can see that almost all my wishes have been developed, without ever contatcing them. Ok, now you can switch it off. Battery life is ******* great! This thing can be operated by four AAs for ages. I'm greatful for its massive design, in contrary to its predecessors, as well as the four analog-like knobs, instead of the plastic moskery.
I absolutelly prefer the new grouping and sequence of effects, its far more logical and usable. The fact that i have direct access to some parameters without havingt to go to editing mode. Please note these, when you buy a product, I am a product designer myself, and i know that usability features never make it to the brochuires. Anyway, there is still place for development, luckily. For G3 I need:
-absolutelly NO harcoded factory effects (they sound terrible, but thats the lesser proble, you cannot delete or edit them at all, unlike the 505)
-one more digit for the display, please, it does not require that much space. the trouible with parameter values over 100 just makes me crazy.
-the too stomp buttons are way too far - Its a drag pressing them together for mute or tune. and add that I have big foot.
-the default volume of the drum machine is way too much. in standard settings it just ruins your amp. note that it is unable to store your last setting after restart, drum volume always starts at 100%
-what else...I'd like to handle boost separatelly, maybe group with the compressors, instead of frequency manuipulators like phase/tremolo/wah
-I absolutelly HATE knobs that turn around endlessly, without the feel of maximum and minimum values.
-it wopuld be good to have a main switch for amp/phones, they require a number of patches duplicated for different settings
-please add at least an ending command for the drum machine
I could go on, but I leave some work to the, too. Its aalready great product,absolutelly 10 for usability, which is often under estimated at this category.

>setup: fenders american standard telecaster > stomp pedal board > fender performer combo for gigging OR
more teles, squiers too > G2 > earphones/mac/soundboard/combo for practice, quick rehearsing and short gigging
>NO noise as compared to stompboxes. might use its noisegate at some extreme settings, but I try to avoid it.
>some effects sound great, and some dont. greats are:
wah, phase (somehow I preferred the previous phaser controls, tough. It sounds more of a Smallstone model.) tremolo (great) delays (absolutelly great and most versatile on the market for digital. you can run 3 delays together!) equalizer (very good feature)
overdrive (yes! I DO use its round, warm overdrive at fine settings, even with amps (only with amps, in headphones they actually sound terrible, which I cannot understand. if an overdriven guitar can sound good in a walkman, why pedals never produce good OD sounds in the ear) Cabinet modeling is very useful if you play through the line.
>crap effects: all factory patches, compressor, which is a fake, any overdrive more extreme than the OD, acoustic simalator, all the amp modeling **** that I never use, funny sounding **** like ring modulators, steps, pitch shifters etc, and I never use chorus or flanger. If I play throu amp, I always use its own spring reverb.
>I cannot really produce sounds like my favourite artists (like neil young, keith richards, lou reed) who are mostly gain wizards, rather than modulators, however, it is goood to develop my own sound.

seems quite relyable, altough i already had some problems with the stomp buttons not working in one direction. they left me in trouble at a gig, but they could be fixed with some contact sray. Now the module srcoll buttons start the same. I might as well get down to fix it again, but I would not rely on it at a gig, cause anything can happen. Two early after owning it for a year or so.

never needed. I guess they have. It would be nice if the company would publish some kind of content, patch lists and tips, like one guy did for 505. these are not usable for the G2 already. it helps learning the game.

I think this is such a great product, it definitelly reaches its target., thats why I decided to write a review on it.
I'd still not use it in the studio, it is still a practice or go and gig thing, but a very handy one. a 9, which is far above the avarage

Took a little time to learn how to change settings. But worth it.

Almost all effects are cool! With an exception of acoustic simulator. But that's still okay.

No problem!

For almost any kind of music style.

considering the number of knobs you have here (not many), it's oparation is very good. it's very vestile, and as soon as you learn how to operate it all becomes pretty intuative, but again, since you have 3 knobs operate all the effects it's a steep learning curve.

i used an american delux strat and a fm65r amp.
i only got the g2 for mods delays and reverbs, and for the most they sound surprisingly good (i didn't like the way the chorus sounds for example, not very clear). nothing amazing, but it does the job very well.
i wouldn't use the amp and distortion models for gigs, but they are very nice for practice, which for the price is actually great. the same with the wha.

the thing is this unit is very verstyle once you get to know it, if you only want some good delay reverb section, i dont think you can beat it at this price range. but if you expect the amp section to do magic you might be desapointed.

well..
mine just stoped working after about a year and a half, and i don't intend to fix it. other then that it had some minor problems before.

on the bright side it's very very raggedly built.

never used it.

it's awsome for thre price. i think that besides some tech problems it's an amazing unit for the begining guitarist, and very good for practice. for gigs it's limited- it's a verstyle and a not bad at all sounding unit if you use it for the things it does good.

Read the Manual. There are so many permutations of possibilities with the different settings available, it pays to know what it is that you're modifying when you start twirling knobs and changing settings.
Takes effort to learn how to create a patch and save it, but once you get up to speed you'll be navigating around easily. Manual is reasonably helpful.

Keeping in mind that I'm running this into a solid-state amp, my experience with it says,"The more distortion you dial in, the crappier it sounds coming out of the amp". I.e. solid state sounds like solid state when it comes to distortion. The Boost setting helps. At cranked amp volumes, I found that I really had to back off on the amp modelling gain settings.
Effects are a mixed bag. I mainly use Chorus, delay, reverb, and the above mentioned Boost. Noise Reduction helpful. Flanger effect sounds processed - I avoid it. I use maybe half of the effects available and avoid the rest, but that still gives me a good palette of things to choose from.
Favourite amp model with this is the Roland JC with some extra chorus, and delay/reverb thrown in. Was disappointed with the Vox and Marshall amp models - perhaps had unrealistic expectations about getting that Marshall sound (with an Epi Les Paul).

I've had it for just under two years. Worked great for the first year. Then, as with so many other G2 users, the foot switches started to fail intermittently. I use it to play on the church music team. Now I'm looking for a replacement.

Well, it failed after the warranty expired. I may contact Zoom - the switch problems are common and I've heard that they may do warranty support even after the product is out of warranty. If I have any work done on it, I'll do it myself or enlist the help of a tech.

I play on the church music team. Musical style varies from slow to uptempo incl rock. I use a Hagstrom Viking through the G2 into a 30W solid state amp. We mic our amps and run the sound through the PA system. Whenever I get comments about my playing, I listen for comments about my tone, as hearing yourself through a stage monitor only tells you so much. Last time out I was encouraged by how warm my tone sounded, the person commenting attributed it to the fact that I was playing a semi-hollowbody. For the price, this was a great buy at the time, it has enough functionality to keep you tweaking for ages. I wish it had the ability to select the order in which effects are applied to the signal (manual describes the order in which effects are applied). Best feature about it is that I get great clean sounds from it.
Based on it's reliability, I won't be buying another G2. But I like the functionality of this thing so much, I'm pulled to getting it's cheaper sibling, the G1, hoping that Zoom hasn't engineered the same defects into it as with the G2. Even with the amp models and effects that you won't use (too processed sounding), there are still lots of features available at this price. It's a roll of the dice on reliability.

Once you program a few patches using the manual, it becomes easy to navigate on your own. I'll still pull out the manual occasionally to remind me of a few things, but for the most part, it's pretty intuitive. It's easy to get a good sound out of it, but there are plenty of ways to get a terrible sound out of it.

You can get these for under $100 brand new, and you can usually pick them up used for around $50-$70. For that price, these can't be beat. The models are very good. Do they sound like what they're emulating? Not usually, but they'll remind you of the amp they're imitating, and they sound good doing it. For example, I have a Vox AC15. The AC30 model on this thing is pretty close to the Vox vibe, though it's definitely different. The same goes for most of the models. Good sounds, although not perfect imitations. The cleans have some character, and the distortions sound nice. Some are a little iffy, but if you can't find an overdrive/distortion sound in here that you don't like, you're obnoxiously picky, and you probably won't even look at pedals that aren't overpriced boutique boxes.

I don't really like many effects, but most of the ones included are usable. Of course they aren't as good as a dedicated stomp box, but look at it this way - a Boss CH-1 costs $90... this unit cost about the same... and the chorus in here sounds just fine. I'm sure others have pointed that out, but I suppose it can't be said enough. The chorus, tremolo, and phaser are just fine. The auto wah is okay, and the flange is passable. Other effects are really just fun to mess with, but you probably won't ever use them.

It sounds great plugged into the front of an amp. I use this at home with a Fender Blues Jr. I haven't used this for gigs, as I have a different setup that I really love, but it could be used in that way as long as you don't need to switch patches too much (there are only two footswitches to cycle through patches). You can run this thing direct into a recorder and get some pretty good tones for demos. You could even use it as your guitar sound for a real recording if you want. It's no slouch. The cab simulator isn't very tweakable - there are two mic models and mic positions, but they seem to just shift the EQ center rather than change anything. Tweakable or not, the cab simulator sounds pretty good. I haven't really tried it direct to PA, but I'm sure it would work. I have the Zoom G7.ut (which I have used direct to PA), and the G2's cab simulator is identical to the one in the G7. For a headphone practice amp, this thing is great.

No problems, but this unit stays at home.

They answer their emails fairly quickly.

I've been playing all kinds of guitar music for twelve years. If you want a fun box for practice or whatever, this is it. For gigs, you may want something a little different, but this unit has the sound quality to hold up to most gigs. As I mentioned before, I've got the G7.ut, and I'm honestly more impressed with the little G2. Give it a try - you'll like it.

OK

Guitars - Jackson, Charvel, Mighty Mite project guitars
Pick up - Ibanez's INF 4 Humbucker and based on Alnico magnet
COMBO - I don't use COMBO ! Combo = Vomit, Combo is not actual for me ! You can play "IN LINE" with ZOOM's G2 "CABI & MIC" Very nice Combo's Simulator !And I even don't want to hear from old rock losers about 'combo is wauh' I'm Modern Boy and I know better ;)
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OK, NEXT, Lets talk about FX
"CABI & MIC" is fantasic as I told You !
"Noise reduction" is wauh, very satisfied
Distortion - I like "Extreme Distortion FX" and "BG Drive"
"Auto wauh" - OK ' plus - minus' I heard much better, BUT Cabinet emulation plus distortion = OK, I can make a really 'vintage hard ' and modern sound !

Reliability = OK ! processor's quality is OK !
No one bug or problem with this ZOOM, even at the dust room

I don't know, because I don't need it

I'm Electro-Rocker 'DJ&El guitar' But I Love 'Hard Rock' And 'Hard Core' too. So this very flexible processor ! just turn handles EQ and distortion level !
Price and sounds = OK !But presets = crap !!! Hey Zoom You must invite James Hatfield or Eddie Van Halen for making new normal presets ;) If they are too busy, so no problem, I can do it ;)Think about it!And Last and I.M.P.O.R.T.A.N.T. ! "CABI & MIC" ! Very nice Combo's Simulator ! Wauh ! I don't need Combo ! Combo Good Bye ! I can play "IN LINE" and it's Amazing !!!
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I love this Guitar Processor and I don't want to lose it ;)

IT'S EASY TO USE BUT BELIEVE ME!CHANGE THE EQ AND EXTRA EQ SETTINGS IT MAKES A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE

EVEN IF I PAID $300 FOR THIS IT WOULD HAVE BEEN WORTH IT.I CANNOT STRESS ENOUGH ABOUT THE EQ.

VERY STURDY

YOU MUST CHANGE THE EQ AND EXTRA EQ SETTINGS TO GET GREAT SOUND AND YOU WILL IF YOU DO.

My first digital piece of equipment, I expected some hard times, but it's quite easy, though you may get a little confused when editing certain effects parameters.

I have a shitty samick guitar fitted with dimarzios, running through a lame brazilian made small cube (warm music, stay the fuck away from it). I'm not really a fx guy, so I can't say much about delays and reverbs, they just seemed OK to me. There are lots of useless stuff, pitch shifters and the like. You may have fun with it for a while, but, really, it's just crap.
The amp simulations, the actual reason for which I bought this unit, are quite cool, especially the MARK and JCM800.The 6 way EQ (bass, mid, treble, bass-mid, presence, harmonics) is very responsive. I avoid those ultra-gain rectifier sounds, but I've heard some interesting dream theater sounds from it in some youtube videos. Noise is tolerable, and features a noise gate as well, but, as you know, at the cost of some sustain. The tuner should be your last resource, it's quite innacurate. The drum machine is a nice feature.

Now that's the problem with this dog turd. As soon as my warranty expired, this shit went all schizophrenic. Sometimes it gets irresponsive and I can't choose any path nor edit anything. Nothing works and I only get the sound of the patch the unit was left on last time I used it. Then, a few hours later, I switch it on again and everything is perfect. There's no way on earth I would gig with it. As a matter of fact, my buddha-like level of patience and love is the only thing that stands between the g2 and a sledgehammer.

I didn't get in touch with zoom, but I may, eventually. At least to tell them to fuck themselves all the way back to japan.

That would be a very nice unit for the sound and features, but, despite it's steel case, it's nothing but a lame, fragile chinese-made crappy toy. It has a line-out recording feature, but I neve even tried it. My tip for a not so lame yet cheap guitar tone is a solid state laney, crate, peavey or whatever combo with an EQ pedal. Stay away from digital gizmos (ok, maybe a POD) and you're safe.

Pretty easy to use, other than the limitation of a 2-digit LED display. I wish that the bank switches were larger for stage use; jumping from A2 to D9 is a bit of a pain. I wish it had a dedicated bypass switch: pressing both of the Up/Dpwm buttons accomplishes the same thing, but it's hard to do with one foot when standing up. I almost bought the A2.1u for that feature (plus the expression pedal), but I like the size of the A2, and DISLIKE to puny little expression pedal that the form factor allows. An extra switch for bypass is mandatory if this is your main/only effects box, in my opinion. The display is nice and bright, and easy to read.

The manual makes it easy to get at functions, but doesn't always display the nuances of some of the settings. The built-in tuner is a nice touch. I haven't found a use for the rhythm box yet.

One of the things that I really like is how fast the unit switches from patch to patch. On many multi-EFX boxes, there is a noticeable glitch when making changes. Not so on the G2: I can change patches during a ringing chord, and it sounds like I'm using an A/B box to go between amps.

I'm using this with an Fender Tele with Rio Grande pups, an electric 12-string, and occasionally, a Danelectro '59. All of these go directly to a Traynor YCS50 upgraded with a Celestion Gold. Thus, I'm not as concerened with the "tube tone" of the Zoom box as some players might be. I like the sound of the YCS50's clean channel way better than the drive channel, and the G2 allows me to get a good crunch without losing the great bottom end.

There are a pretty wide variety of Drive models, so clean or dirty, there's probably a sound that can start you off. I rarely record direct-to-board, so I have not played much with the cabinet simulations. The effects aren't especially imaginitive, but I would expect that most players buy this box to cover the standard bases, and this box does the trick. The Vox AC30 model turns my YCS30's clean channel (with 5881's) into a very passible copy of George Harrison circa 1965, and the JCM 800 model provides either a third alternative clean sound, or a nice rhythm crunch. The Peavey 5150 has good lead-tone roots, and the "Fender Twin" model can morph into a '59 Bassman with the drive on 100 and a little EQ. The Fuzz Face makes a pretty good approximation of Satisfaction, and the OD-1 is close enough for my needs.

The overall sound is very quiet, and I don't hear any noticeable tone drain compared to a direct-to-amp connection. The delay is good, the reverb a little less so.

What don't I like? Both the Marshall Plexi and Fender Tweed Deluxe models only seem to run from pretty-overdriven to very-overdriven; there is no way to get a clean tone, other then to turn my guitar WAY down. (I mean, even the 5150 cleans up better!) The Fender Twin, on the other hand, can't get very dirty at all. The adjustment of the Flanger and Chorus are pretty limited. The Wah tone will never replace my Clyde-modded Cry Baby.

It's got a metal case that looks pretty rugged. It feels "substantial." If an '80s MXR stomp box is a 10, this is probably about an 8.5 or so. I'm not sure about the footswitches: they LOOK like old-school on/off types, but they appear to be more like a ruggedized momentary switch. I would gig with it without a backup, but I'm something of a risk-taker by nature.

I haven't had to deal with Zoom (or Samson) Support yet.

The G2 gives me access to 95% of the sounds that I need for rock gigs. (My wah and the built-in spring reverb in the amp take care of the rest.) The sound is clean and natural, and the response to patch changes is phenomenal.

Much of my critique takes the cost into consideration: This is not a top-end multi-EFX box, and obviously some compromises have been made, but generally, $100 gets you ONE effects box these days, and the G2 covers the ground of 3-8 of them. Looking at it that way, it can't be beat. If it were lost or stolen, I would gladly pony up another $90 for a new one. I also have an A2 (acoustic guitar model), so the learning curve was shared.

I considered simlar boxes from Digitech, Korg, and Boss, but I liked the Zoom's size and metal body, which is hard to find in this price range.

Not the easiest multi-effector to use, but to make it any easier, it would have to be bigger..and I don't want that.

For $100, I'm very pleased. I use this unit for chorus, vibrato, tremelo, octave divider, and a tuner..basically to replace 5 separate pedals which would make my board unweildy..that I would only use on one tune each, respectively. It's inconspicuous on my board and covers almost every base that my Boss gt6 used to. I love it.

The stomp switches are starting to fail...they had to cut corners somewhere, and it's probably in this area. The exterior are nice looking metal switches, but I'm sure what's going on inside is corner cutting.

Overall satisfied with this product. Even if the switches fail, I'll fix them or buy another one for $100. I'd pay that much for each individual pedal.

You have to read the manual to fully understand the potential of this pedal!Once that's done it's pretty easy to get a good sound.The knobs are great to work with and the footswitch buttons seem like good quality.

I can get some great sounds with this pedal.The effects really sound quite good! Some sounds in there are not for me but the reverb - trem - phaser - and delays all are pleasing to my sound. The pitch harmonizer is a plus and it does it well. I even get a great blues distorted sound but I had to work at that one. Some people say it doesn't have one but you can find it in there.It took a few days for that. I wrote down my settings so I don't lose that sound! NO NOISE! that's what I love about this thing it's QUIET! I'm runnig it thru a modded EPI Valve Jr. This pedal made my amp sound great! I had a PodXT and it sounded so digital but this thing is warm and so much better to record with than my Pod which I sold on Flea-Bay.

No problems - seems well built

never needed them yet!

I play mostly blues and R&B. Been trying to play for 20 yrs. I use a tele and my Epi. I'm glad I bought this and if I needed another I do it again! This is one of the best deals out there.it's stereo output-4AA batteries for portability which is a nice feature.

I have owned several processor based effects units. The most recent being the Boss GT-8. This is WAY easier to use...not really much harder than a stomp box. You need to keep the manual handy to know what all the abreviations mean though. The only knock I have is the display...it is hard to tell what you are doing from two digits. Once you get where you want, tweaking is very easy. It is just the right amount of tweaks to make it your sound, but not overwhelming like some of the other processors.

I don't go for artist sounds, I go for my sound. I own a very nice all analog pedal board with Analogman, Barber Electronics and Fulltone pedals. It really sounds good. I find my self using this all the time instead of those. I originally bought this to record on the computer with, but started messing around with it directly into my amp. I have a 5-watt Valvetrain tube amp with only a tone control, 8" speaker and nothing else on the amp. This works great with any effects, since there is not a preamp per say, other than the tone control.

I get some great sound out of this thing. You need to send it to a tube amp...it really smooths out the sound. The secret to getting good sound was written a couple of reviews ago. Keep your settings at a minimum. Keep the gain on the amp modeling below 20. I keep mine below 10...normally use the Boss OD-1 and I get a GREAT blues tone...breaks up very nice. If you keep the settings on the amp modeling way up in the 50s, it really does not sound smooth.

The same applies to all the setting...I keep the compressor on but at "0". Very slight compression, but enough to even out the sound. Same goes for any of the modules...less is better.

Can't say...I have had other Zoom products last a long time...

Never had to deal with the company, so anything I told you here would be untrue.

I play in a church worship team and tour with a Christian singer/songwriter. This fits the bill perfectly for me. We not professionals, but good sound is important. I am very anal about the sound I have. I like tight distortion or overdrive...get into an occasional Santana sound, and lots of cleans. I can use this effect for any sound i am looking for. Remember, less on the gain and the settings will give you a better, smoother sound.

For $99, I like this much better than my Boss GT-8. It sounds better and provides just the right amount of tweaks to get my sound, but not require a college degree. Go out and get one...$99, I spend that much on a night on the town...

Moderately easy. About 15 - 30 minutes with manual, then it's easy and intuitive.

Excellent. Varies by effect, but generally, amazing how well it captures sound spot-on or very close to the original. I A B'ed it against original pedals and it nailed most of them.

Seems moderate. Wish they had a more robust version for a few shekles more.

Nice. Helpful.

Much better than POD-XT and easier to use. Excellent sounds: Auto-WAH, distortion, clean Fender. Will use it to play live, with added TC Nova delay. Generally, I've played with tube pre-amp (Groove Tube Trio). Play articulated style (e.g., Garcia) for 40 years. Picky about finding great tone. This is amazing IF you send output into a POWER amp and NOT a PreAmp.

The G2 is as easy to get a sound out of as any other multi effect unit.

Amazing for the price. The chorus, delay, tremelo, vibrato, auto wah that I use this unit for are as good as any stomp box that individually would cost this much.

Stomp switches are crap and are failing after having it for about a year. $99..you get what you pay for, I guess.

Excellent sound quality, lots of usable effects, crap stomp switches.

I've had this unit for about 6 months, and just wanted to post a little info based on my experimentations with it. As far as ease of use I'll give it a 9, as it's very easy to use for a effect in this price range, plus it gives you some real knobs to play with, and those knobs serve logical and easy to remember functions. It loses a point because you have to keep the manual around to remember what all the exact abbreviations are for. That's not a big deal though.

Here's what I really wanted to say... I first tried this unit into the front-end of both tube and solid state combo amps, and was not impressed. I was going to sell it. THEN.. I plugged this unit into a Behringer Keyboard amp (which is like a guitar amp, but with no built in pre-amp) and was in love. Duh. This unit only requires a clean power amp as it already is a preamp. When I used the combo guitar amps, the distortions on the G2 weren't very good. Straight into the keyboard amp, and all of the distortions are exceptional. I can get Megadeth tones, VH tones, Vai tones, etc... that are just fantastic. I'm really floored. So... never one to leave things alone, I then routed the keyboard amps output to a Celestion Greenback in a 1x12 and it just got better. So, even thought it's just a conglomeration of cheap stuff, I honestly have never had better tone in my life. Just in case you're wondering, I'm using a Behringer KT108 as the keyboard amp. It has some VTC (Virtual Tube Circuit) that seems to add a little warmth, but at 15 watts I can finally get cranked tube tone at home. The effects on this unit, the G2, are really good for the price. I mean, come on, a 5 second delay on a $99 effect, that's awesome. The reverb could be a little bit better, but so what, don't use them at 100%... more like 10% reverb is what you hear on records. Anyway, before you ditch this unit, run it straight into a good keyboard amp (take a little treble off the amp as they have full-range speakers), then make your decision. Used in this manner, this is an incredible deal.

I've used it alot over 6 months and it still works great. I'm very happy that Zoom put an on/off switch on this. They seem to care.

I've never dealt with Zoom customer service. But the place I got this from has always treated me well.

I really want a couple of good clean sounds, a couple of decent crunches, and a couple of good distortions so that I can play a variety of styles. I love Country tones, but I also love Heavy Metal tones. This one device has given me exactly what I want in terms of tone and feel, so I'm pretty happy. I think that if you used a more powerful keyboard amp, or maybe straight into a powered mixer, you could easily gig with these tones. I'm very pleased with it.

I'm only giving this pedal a 9 out of 10 because it takes a little getting used to. This isn't a bad thing at all. This pedal is worth the time it takes to get used to programming it. The fact that it has three knobs instead of the one that's on the cheaper ZOOM pedals makes it really easy to program once you're used to it.

I'm so happy I bought this pedal. For $99, which is the price of some distortions or chorus' ONLY, you get a ton of good useful stuff. I opted to get the one without the expression pedal because I made my own out of an old volume pedal so I can put it anywhere I want on the stage.
The effects in the G2 sound great. I wasn't happy with the flanger, but I made my own flanger sound with the vibrato voice with the speed at zero and the mix at less than half. Try it, it makes a pretty good flanger sound. I also liked hooking up the expression pedal to control the rate of some of the effects so you could ramp them up or down with your foot. The wah is also controlled with the expression pedal and the wah's in this pedal sound good, believe it or not. I like using the Vox Wah voice.
Something else I love that doesn't seem to be available on the lesser ZOOM models is the fact that you can virtually set the Phaser or Wah to be Before or After the distortion, just like in a real rig. I really appreciate that feature because I always liked my phaser and wah before my distortion so I didn't have to give that up in this pedal.
A lot of other people here have gone into more details about the pedal so I'm not going to waste my time doing that. I'm just here to convince you to give it a try. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

I've gigged with it and no problems yet. I doubt there will be.

I've contacted ZOOM before for about other products of theirs and they've been good enough to send me spare parts and manuals at no charge. Even on parts for some discontinued items.

I originally bought this pedal for using at some gigs where the stage is small and my normal 8 pedal chain doesn't fit very well. I normally use a BOSS Tuner that daisy-chains to power a Bad Dog Phaser into a DOD Milkbox Compressor into a CryBaby Classic into a Crossroads Distortion into a DOD FX75B Flanger into a Line 6 Space Chorus (that I swap the modules onstage to be a TapTremolo or a RotoMachine) into a Ernie Ball Volume ending with a Ibanez DE7 Delay/Echo. Whew.
Normally I don't have a problem having all of that in front of me, but I needed to shrink my rig for smaller gigs so I researched the G2 and it seemed like the trick and it is. Now all I need are the BOSS Tuner, the Milkbox Compressor (the G2 has a compressor but I prefer mine), a Voodoo Lab Micro Vibe (the only effect not in the G2), the G2 and a Volume pedal. Also the expression pedal.
I really like this pedal. Plus it's made of metal so it's sturdier than other ZOOM pedals. Try it.

Sound quality is very good except for reverb (decent) and cabinet simulation (although tone is good, you don't get "punch" like from real thing).

At first glance it looks reliable (metal and rubber), but then after a month or two micro-switch mini buttons starts failing. First was one under "patch down" foot switch, but after a year I had to repair most of them (didn't want send to shop because repair takes 30 minutes and sending takes box away for period of days or weeks). Thankfully it's easy operation, but nevertheless -2 for using cheap buttons.

I play mostly metal stuff, and it suits me very well. I have been using it for over a year now, and if it were stolen I would check before buying new one if there is something available without it's shortcomings but in this price and compactness class. Namely: more user programmable banks (well, I don't use all 40 of them, but I use groups like Ax for hifi/phones, Bx for bass patches, Cx for Laney amp, Dx for Line6 amp, and I'm out of banks regarding that I play on two or more amps in different places and this requires different settings; also you cannot insert or move groups so it's better to have spare placeholders around), "LOW inverted" option in CONTROL module ("LOW" lets you modulate effect from n% to 0, meaning that after engaging patch it starts from n%; inverted would start from 0% [yes, "UP" option works from 0 to n%, but n equals 100%, so it is different scale of adjustment]).
I also had Zoom GFX-707 and Digitech RP50, and G2 is way better (i.e. unnoticeable patch switching time and low noise level).

I wouldn't say this is the easiest unit to navigate. Yes, there's lots of flexibility built in. However, getting good sounds take time. You really have to understand the unit and how all the parameters interact with each other.

This is my main reason for writing the review. I'm using the G2 as a stomp box directly into the input of my Ampeg J12-R tube amp since it doesn't have an effects loop. At low volumes, the G2 sounded decent. But using it live was a different story. At gig volume, almost every amp module was either fizzy, mushy or very harsh. The cab sims were off, as the manual suggests, and I tried EQ-ing every which way I could think of. It didn't help. Then I got a tip off a forum that changed everything. I lowered the Gain in the amp modules to almost non-existant levels. Instead of 40-50 (out of 100) they're now between 0-15. What a difference! All models now sound tight, warm and alive without being harsh.

I've had a little problem with one of the bank button sticking, but it seems to have corrected itself.

n/a

For the money, this is a great unit. I've never used it for recording, so I can't comment there. Most people should be prepared for a learning curve, though, to really dial in their sound.

I reviewed this unit a few months ago and I loved it then and I love it now. I am submitting this "review" just to mention that this unit has a feature that many other fx/digital amp modelers dont have. The ability to TURN OFF the amp simulations. My amp already sounds great so why should I lay a digital emulation of some other amp on top of it. I use the G2 for all the nice effects it has, but I like to use it with the "amp" settings off. Oh, by the way, it lasts maybe 6 hrs on 4 new AA batteries.

The G2 has too many features to really drill down into for this review. Here's the simple, basic lowdown:
There are several effect suites-all accessible using a simple rotary knob in conjunction with three multi function (assignable parameter adjustments per suite) knobs to adjust effects for depth, time, etc. Scroll through the various suite parameters using two buttons. The patch select buttons are stomp-box types; one for patch up and the other for patch down-only one patch at a time, either up or down. Store button to save the patch. About 40 patch locations for user patches in 4 banks of 10.
Delay tap function and drum machine built in. Drum machine shuts down the reverb suite when actve. There is a jack for a footswitch that can be assigned to perform various, limited functions with a momentary switch or a CC pedal. No MIDI. Stereo or mono output. Sturdy construction. For the price paid and the physical dimensions of this unit (about the size of two BOSS pedals) this is the most feature laden box on the planet, at this time. Versatile in the extreme. New, FAST computer processor and very, very high quality sampling / processing speed.
Takes a while to get the hang of creating superb patches. Well worth the time spent experimenting to find your sounds.

In terms of achieving the sounds of various artists we know and love there are enough tools here to mimic any genre, style or artist. For example, using a Jay Turser Les Paul copy with Dream 180 pickups I can faithfully recreate anything from a wicked Telecaster clean tone for Surf and Oldies; early British Invasion jangly cleans; Cream/Hendrix/Zepplin-era overdrives/fuzztones/fat woman tones; hard rock ala Lynyrd Skynyrd / Santana / Ted Nugent / ; and modern Metal tones from 80s hair-band metal to Metallica / Creed / Shredmiester (Satch, Vai etc) artists and beyond. NuMetal / Death Metal-the VERY hard stuff....it's ALL in there somewhere and it all sounds good! I mean SURPRISINGLY good!
You can EQ any guitar to sound like many different guitars, provided you start with a decent, clear sounding set of pickups. As mentioned, my LP can mimic a Telecaster well enough to fool Brad Paisley.
Once again, it's just too deep to explain all the "sound" possibilities so here's the short version:
I have 3 Les Pauls...two Jay tursers (both have upgraded electronics and GOOD pickups) and a Gibson with 498T and 490R pickups. I have a modded Telecaster and an Ibanez S-series Fat Strat clone. They all like the box and the box likes 'em back.
My favorite amp models are: Fender Twin (called FC), the BOSS OD-1 (called od) Roland JC 120 (called JC) and the Peavey 5150 (called PV.) These model designations are reference points. You have to work the amp models to suit yourself. To work them you have a TON of EQ options, delays, modulation effects, pitch shifters that track VERY well, reverbs...you get the picture.
I run the G2 in two ways:
1. As a mono stomp box, using a Roland Blues Cube. Sounds killer! All EQ knobs on the Roland are set to 12 o'clock. I have 4 basic "live" patches: Super clean for jangle / surf / some blues. Clean with a bit of hair for blues / British Invasion stuff. Heavy overdrive for the Marshall Plexi-era tones / heavy bluesy stuff and a very heavy distortion for hard rock stuff . Charming, to say the least. Add a bit of delay, 'verb and chorus.
2. As a stereo processor through a Dynaco SCA-35 tube, integrated amp with 20 watts per channel through AR reference monitors. I have lots of patches using lots of amp models, drive levels, mod effects, pitch shifters, delays and more delays on top of delays. Sky is the limit in stereo. WooHoooo.

The stompbox / Roland amp thing works well for live shows. No worries.
The processor / Dynaco setup is more spacious sounding and takes full advantage of the formidable stereo effects.
So...very versatile box that works well with guitar amps or reference / home stereo amps & speakers. I even run this through a stereo boombox from Wal Mart and it works just fine for jams and composing. I don't like using headphones for guitar but you could.

Okay...for the rest: It's quiet, even at high gain settings. The effects are pretty darn good. Pitch shifters (there are several) track very well and sound unbelievably sweet in stereo...not as great in mono (duh!) but still quite useable. Drum machine is cheesy and one dimensional but it works and keeps accurate time. Believe it or not, we used it for a gig when our drummer couldn't make it. It got us through the night. I wouldn't recommend it...but I was glad we had SOMETHING for drums, which is better than nothing...y'know?

Looks pretty tough to me. Built from steel. Switches are right. No worries. I use batteries and DC adapter to run it. No wories.

I've been around guitars pretty seriously since the 80s. Like most players, I went through my woodshedding years. At this stage in my career I think i know what good sound is. I know good tone and good effects. This box is a winner.

The enclosed patches are pretty good and form a good basis for generating your own.

Editing patches seemed a little daunting at first but it's soon easy enough. I think it'll take a little while to learn what all the options are.

Manual is short and to the point, doesn't really need any more.

Through my amps this sounds good at room levels, haven't tried it loud yet.

The effects sound fine to my inexperienced ears, doesn't seem to generate any noise.

I use a Yamaha pacifica, and play through a home brewed Marshall 18 watt, driving celestion vintage and g12h30 speakers.

I find it a bit dead using headphones.

NO problems yet, had it a whole 24 hours so.....

NO problems yet, had it a whole 24 hours so.....

This is my first effects box of any type, I wanted a reverb but was also interested in experimenting with other types of effects and this seemed a cost effective way forward.
I've only been playing a few months so have a lot to learn regarding effects. Would I replace it, at the moment yes but would probably buy the G7 or G9, as I always like to move forwards.

Very friendly interface

Wonderful sound, imo.
I'm a novice so, no special needs. Just G2 and headphone.
I purchased Zoom G1 too.
I'm writing this not as a review, but as a resource to make
you all know the center frequency wich are boosted with the..
ehm the BOOSTER, selectable in the 2nd module of G2.
In fact, i wrote to ZoomJapan which kindly answer to my inquiry
in just one day. Should be nice to find this information in the
manual, but it's no.
so, here they are those center frequency

1: 100 Hz
2: 500 Hz
3: 800 Hz
4: 1.5 kHz
5: 3 kHz

Strong, made of steel.

Very good, they reply to my answer about the booster
in just one day since my e-mail was sent

Very very good.
Again, i don't really want to review this wonderful product
'cause i feel all has just been said about it.
I just would like to make you all know an information which
is not reported in the manual, about the frequency which are boosted
in the BOOSTER effect, 2nd module of G2.

Wonderful sound, imo.
I'm a novice so, no special needs. Just G2 and headphone.
I purchased Zoom G1 too.
I'm writing this not as a review, but as a resource to make
you all know the center frequency wich are boosted with the..
ehm the BOOSTER, selectable in the 2nd module of G2.
In fact, i wrote to ZoomJapan which kindly answer to my inquiry
in just one day. Should be nice to find this information in the
manual, but it's no.
so, here they are those center frequency

1: 100 Hz
2: 500 Hz
3: 800 Hz
4: 1.5 kHz
5: 3 kHz

This unit is fairly simple to use. The manual is very helpful and shows you exactly what each twist of a knob does. You have a limit of 40 patches to edit for yourself, alongside 40 preset patches which you can't edit. Very large variety of options for such a small unit and at such a low price.

I use either a Gibson SG Special Faded or a Dean Razorback with this, through a Line 6 Spider II. Starting with the clean tones, I tend to use either the Roland Jazz Chorus or the Fender Twin Reverb models. These both work well for either sparkly or warm clean tones, and if you like boosting the treble for a spanky, country style twang with a little grit. The Marshall JCM 800 model also provides a sort of dirty, sharp clean which is useful for the rock 'n roll clean tone.

As far as distortion and overdrive go, there are not many useable models in the Zoom G2. The overdrives are often either too thick and flabby (Dallas-Arbiter Fuzz Face and MATCHLESS Hot Box) or too thin and useless (Marshall JCM 800 and Boss OD-1). This is very disappointing, as it is hard to find a good classic rock tone or punk tone.

However the unit somewhat redeems itself with the distortion. I am partial to the Zoom Extreme Distortion for Dimebag's (Pantera) scooped sound. But when the mids come in it sounds a little too digital for my liking. The Peavey 5150, Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier and ESPECIALLY the Marshall JCM 2000 are not very useful, as without the booster they are far too flabby and farty, whereas with the booster they have a lot of feedback and unwanted noise. Not to mention the fact that all of these models sound very digital. The JCM 2000 model disgusts me beyond belief. It's just UNUSABLE. Even with the bass turned down to -12 (yes, minus 12) and the booster in, the bottom end is chubby and annoying.

There are a few other effects which I don't use very often such as the Zoom Dynamic Fuzz, Marshall Guv'nor and Fender Tweed Deluxe which all sound okay as far as digital modelling goes, but do not often suit my needs.

Last but not least it the Mesa Boogie Mark III model. This is probably my favourite of all of the models on this unit. It has a warm, valve-like response which sings beautifully when driven hard, and a sweet trebley crunch when the gain levels are lower. Not so good for metal as I like to play, but nice for rock and punk.

The effects on this unit are quite good to my surprise, and work well with the better models on the pedal. The chorus and delay especially add together for a lush clean tone which I do enjoy, and the vibrato sometimes creates a nice surf or funk tone. I have used the vibrato for one tone which I do like, however, which is the clean sound from Pantera's 'Floods'. The noise reduction is good on this pedal, but when the booster is engaged it all gets a little too much for the ZNR, which means using the gate which I don't like (cuts off the sustain). The compressor/sustainer helps with sustaining distortion and the reverbs are pretty good, but echo perhaps just a little too long on most models.

This unit is very dependable. I've never had any problems with it, and I have gigged with it four or five times. Definitely a sturdy pedal.

For my main style of music, metal, this pedal is not brilliant. The best distortion available for metal on this pedal only sounds good when scooped, which is a disappointment. If it were stolen or lost I'd get another one because I'd use the effects on it (once I get a better amp, valve next time). I only wish that this thing had a more useable metal distortion model.

I had no problem, so if you're as smart as me you'll be fine.

I used this multi for a little while, but I have since removed it from my pedalboard. The thing about the G2 is that the effects are pretty good, it doubles as a tuner and replaces several single function boxes taking up less room. Unfortunately, the bypass is not true, and it sucks the life out of your tone if you're using a good tube amp. For me that's a 78 Fender Deluxe, a great amp with an excellent sparkly yet warm clean tone. Running the G2 in line basically takes away the sparkliness, which for me is really not a good thing. A lesser amp like a marshall or something probably wouldn't suffer but I'm not going to use this anymore.

I should also mention that it is a little bit noisy. But then again my telecaster is noisy and i've never complained about that.

If you're using a solid state or digital amp it should work well. They don't sound that good to start off with so you're not losing much. sorry but i'm just over pretending that solid state amps actually sound good.

It's well made, and doesn't look immediately breakable.

One of the reasons I still enjoy playing guitar is because i've invested in some real quality gear and can get an amazing sound. The G2 gives me some new effects to use, but decreases the fundamental richness of my sound, hence i've decided not to use it anymore. It would be a great pedal for beginners or those who are not using absurdly expensive equipment.
I'd actually reccomend it to some, but not all. It's a good pedal overall and it's inexpensive, so i'm still giving it a 7.

Muy muy facil de usar esta pedalera, y el manual explica todo muy bien. ademas que muchas pedaleras nisiquiera traen manual en espa??ol, y estas zoom nuevas lo traen. una vez que la tienes solo te toma poco tiempo entender el funcionamiento de la pedalera.

En la parte de las distorsiones le falta mas a esta pedalera, la cual a mi modo de ver suena muy digital en cuanto a distorsiones. estas suenan un poco filosas en amplificadores de transistores. sin embargo si tienes un buen amplificador esto te ayudara mucho. lo que si le encuentro bien a pesar de esto es que puedes hacer distorsiones con bastante gain.

Los acusticos suenan bastante bien, creo que esta es la parte mas fuerte de la G2, si te tomas un buen tiempo en hacer acusticos bien estilizados lograras muy buenos sonidos acusticos los cuales sonaran limpios y transparentes. estos acusticos suenan muy bien tambien cuando usas la pedalera en modo de (simulador de amplificador) y te conectas con audifonos (auriculares), o al conectarla directo a un equipo de sonido, a una PC o a una consola.

en cuanto a los efectos el Chorus, el Chorus Stereo, el delay, las reverbs, y el Phaser suenan bien, pero mas que todo los Chorus, con los cuales puedes colorear muy bien tus acusticos. de las Reverbs solo me gusta la Hall, y la uso en poca intensidad solo para dar color a mis acusticos.

los simuladores de amplificador son mas o menos, te sirven para gravar ideas en el PC, tocar directo a un equipo de sonido, a una consola, auriculartes, etc, pero no son lo suficientemente buenos como para hacer una gravacion profesional, y en cuanto a la parte de simulacion de amplificador la pedalera suena mejor en lo que respecta a acusticos. Si realmente deseas gravar algo semiprofesional o algo profesional directo a una PC no debes usar el G2, para eso esta el POD2.0 de Line6.

no opino.

no opino.

La pedalera brinda buenas posibilidades en cuanto a su costo, a pesar de ser economica no perderas tu dinero si la compras, pero lo malo es que no trae transformador de corriente y esto al comienzo me dio problemas por que cierto tipo de transformadores generan ruido al momento de tocar. el transformador tiene que ser de polaridad positiva pero con polo central negativo, si no es asi te generara un poco de ruido.

en cuanto a que usa pilas esta bien, si te compras unas 4 pilas AA recargables puedes tocar durante unas 6 o 7 horas seguidas sin problemas.

La encontre facil de usar, al primer momento que la usas tal ves te enrredas un poco pero ya en cuestion de pocos minutos se entiende muy bien el funcionamiento de la pedalera para hacer tus presets.

Las distorsiones suenan bastante digitales, es lo malo que le encontre a esta pedalera. en cuanto a cantidad de Gain, puedes hacer distorsiones con bastante distorsion. Estas suenan un poco asperas y filosas, por mas que ecualizes los bajos altos las distorsiones no dejan de perder el caracter filoso, en otras palabras les falta un poco de cuerpo.

He provado esta pedalera en amplificadores de transistores. Influye mucho el tipo de amplificador que uses, si tienes un buen amplificador puede que te suene bien. aunque solo la he provado en dos tipos de ampli Marshall y Crate de esos peque??os tuve mejores resultados con el Crate.

Normalmente la uso con auriculares (audifonos), y el 90% de mis presets tienen seleccionados la opcion de (Simulador de amplificador). Los simuladores de amplificador en realidad no son muy buenos pero si te sirven para tocar directo a una PC o con auriculares.

los limpios o acusticos: en esta parte la pedalera si tiene fuerza, puedes hacer exelentes acusticos que sonaran transparentes y nitidos siempre y cuando pases unas cuantas horas dandole premormance a tus presets acusticos. no es muy facil hacerlos buenos pero si te lo propones lo logras, esta pedalera tiene ciertas ma??as en la configuracion de los acusticos con lo cual tienes muchas opciones para provar acusticos simples o acusticos coloreados con Chorus, Reverb, etc.

En la parte de efectos me gusta como suenan los Chorus, tanto el normal como el estereo Chorus, el Phaser tambien anda bien, el Delay esta bastante aceptable, y las reverbs tambien. sin embargo algunos de los efectos adicionales de la pedalera simplemente suenan de juguete, pues esto es un contraste dentro de la pedalera por que le puedes encontrar buenos efectos y malos efectos.

en cuanto a sonido la pedalera se come un poco el tono de las guitarras, yo tengo una Legend Les Paul y una Legend tipo Strato, y un amigo mio tiene una Joe Satriani JS-100. la JS la provamos en la pedalera y resultado fue que la guitarra sono practicamente igual que la Legend Les Paul la cual es una guitarra economica que es una imitacion de las Les Paul.

la zoom G2 esta util para tener en casa pero no la veo como una pedalera para usar con una Banda, tampoco para gravar en estudio ni para gravar por linea directo a una PC. en todo caso para provar ideas pero no para gravacion profesional a exepcion de sus acusticos los cuales si me han parecido buenos.

en la parte de acusticos la pedalera se defiende muy bien. Tomando en cuenta que la G2 es economica pienso que no vote mi dinero, le he sacado algunos buenos sonidos.

A las distorsiones les falta calidad, suenan muy digitales.

Otra cosa que no me gusto es que estas pedaleras bienen sin transformador, tuve algunos problemas a la hora de conseguir el adaptador indicado.en algunos casos cierto tipo de transformadores pueden generar ruido a la hora de tocar.

Una ventaja de la pedalera es que puede usar 4 pilas AA, y puedes usarla unas 6 o 7 horas sin el transformador.

el Manual de la pedalera a mi parecer biene muy bien explicado y esta todo facil de entender echandole una simple leida.

i was looking for a good multi-effects pedal as i was becoming bored of only really having 'one' sound when using my marshall all valve amplifier 50w combo. i wanted a small multi-effects pedal though, i didnt want the typical large heavy awkward thing. i was reluctant though as ive always seen multi-effects pedals as the jack of all trades, but master of none. the zoom g2 is small so this is why i chose this model. it is also cheap to buy used on ebay so i felt there was no harm in giving it a try. im very glad i did. it takes some time to learn how to use the many features of this pedal, but the manual is good so it is not too difficult to learn all of the features.

i love this pedal but i think the sound rating really does depend on what amplifer you use! i am putting my zoom g2 through an all valve marshall 50w combo, so what happens is you have a digital pedal going through a valve/analog circuit. the sound from the pedal is going through 3 mullard preamp valves and then coming out of the two larger output valves. what does this mean? it means the digital sound from my zoom g2 is really fattened up going through my valve amp! you could say it is changed from digital to a more analog/valve/fatter sound, and due to this procedure it sounds GREAT! the distortion sounds i get from the zoom g2 sound much better than my marshall amplifier's built in distortion. it just sounds much clearer, more focused, less mushy and raspy, and has more life. if you put this pedal through some cheap basic digital aplifier though theres no way it's gonna sound as good as the sounds i am getting through my valve amplifier. sorry!

i would give the zoom g2 a 9 out of 10 when used with a decent valve amplifier, but if you use a crappy thin sounding weak digital amp maybe the sound is gonna be a 7 out of 10 in my opinion.

finally i get a huge range of sounds from a nice small compact multi-effects pedal, while still retaining my valve tone. i get a nice range of clean sounds, through to standard rock, overdrive, fuzz and hard rock sounds, and finally now also i can get really high gain huge sounding metal tones, which i could not achieve just using my basic marshall valve amplifier on its own. i can finally do the maiden/metallica thing properly (ie. a huge sound and plenty of bass in there too), so now im very happy!!

the pedal has many effects built in such as flanger, phaser, delay etc. i would say these effects are quite standard, dont expect absolute perfection here. the delay/echo i quite like. it's just good enough to warrant me sticking with it rather than having to use some analog or valve based echo/delay unit instead. the built in noise reduction is excellent, especially when using the high gain metal tones! there is a built in drum machine which is fun, but you have to use the preset patterns, you cant program your own beats (still good for jamming/practicing/metronome though). the built in tuner is very good but it is a pain to turn it on (you have to press and hold both footswitches at once at the same time, which is awkward). sustain from the pedal in general is excellent. i have never gotten so much sustain from any other pedal, and i've owned a lot. im really impressed here!

seems fine, it's tough and well built, solid feeling, weighty not cheap, with tough casing and rubber 'bumpers' on the side

the zoom website seems ok, but i have never asked for support so do not know how they rate on that, so i have no opinion here.

i think this is an excellent pedal. in the past i have had several different distortion and echo/delay pedals, as well as a noise reduction pedal before i bought this zoom g2 pedal, but now i sold all of the other pedals and only use the zoom g2 to do everything. im very happy and dont bother looking on ebay for effects pedals anymore as now i have everything i need here!

dont forget the important thing though. if you want it to sound really special, use a decent amplifier!! it might still sound ok with cheap equipment, i suppose it all depends on how fussy you are.

Yes, you do have to read the manual, but you'll catch on.

I can hear the analog qualities of the guitar strings better with this
unit than I could with either the Line6 pod or Damage Control womanizer
evidently due to the sampling frequency of 96 kHz. A previous reviewer
hit the nail on the head ... all amp sounds are good, but the Marshal,
Boogie, and Peavey models sound real good! The reverb and the EQ functionality is excellent. Good to very good clean, crunch, and distortion tones are achievable with the unit. Patience has to be applied, when using the flexibility of the EQ options, but the results are very satisfying. And for $100 you get many other effects, such as a very good tuner and a drum machine.

Looks reliable, but I have only had mine for 4 months.

I have never used their customer support.

Like I said earlier, the unit shapes the sound, but allows the analog string subtleties to shine through. It is the best $100 that I have ever spent on musical equipment.

After reading the excellent manual by 13 mins I was ready to use completely ; nothin bad to say bout it. as with the stompbox like controls it's really very easy to use

Although I rate this item with an 6 because I found the Dual rectifier , the MT-2 , Zoom Extreme's , and the Peavey's one very usable and it's sampling of 96Khz and 32 bits Proc. ; this thing has very major features that makes an owner of high input humbuckers like me dissapointed. this thing is not ready to handle such kind of high power humbuckers ; the emulations of JCM2000, Guv'nor, HotBox just SUCK !!, they all sound exaclty the same 4 me and have no use because those distortions sound just horrible; I play many styles but I wouldn't know how to use them (if you don't use the booster with them they just sound like a damn fuzz (unusable and horrible). and 4 getting an usable sound you always have to use the booster 4 the freqs the Humbuckers eats that way ya can't use other effects like the tremelo together with the distortions. The reason for the 5 points is that the usable models sound quite good once you have spent enough time tweaking them and you get no noise at all when you record even with the higher gain settings and also 4 the modulations.
but if it's gonna b your first multieffects, you'll be the happiest guitarist around your block.

Although with the usable sound you can record with good results
Im gonna sell it right now to buy a real effects processor like a POD XT. if there's not something better I would use it , maybe you can say your cables we're working bad...

Couldn't find in their site where to leave your questions like in other sites of other companies

I play rock , jazz , metal , Industrial and everything I want.
been playing by 8 years; own an old PS1 with Duncans.
I wouldn't buy this again. I hate that you have to use the booster to get something sounding acceptable. the favorite feature is that you can make it sound almost good everywhere.
I would buy an GNX1 instead of the G2. with other products in its range of price its acceptable.

Factory presets are pretty useless but that goes for every multi fx I've tried so far.

Don't fool yourself that this thing is going to replace a great sounding amp. It could have worked great for practicing and recording though if Zoom knew how to engineer things with life expectancy of more than a week (see below).

Ha! That's the reason why I am spending valuable time of my life to write a review about this P.O.S. To warn you my friend. One of the only two switches died within two days! Yes you read it right. TWO DAYS OF USE IN A NON SMOKING STUDIO ENVIRONMENT. Now, if that was a 60 switches 30 knobs complicated machine I would have understood it, but this is an as simple as it gets only two switches crapola. To last only a few hours...
Here is the best part. After I returned the unit I decided to not be very critical about Zoom and purchased a few months later the G1 model.
Ha! again. This one had a noise gate with phsycological problems. It was trying to refuse its exsistance as a noise gate and was trying to act as a volume pedal! It would give a volume swell effect even when it was set at 1!!! Never experienced anything like that with any other noise gate and believe me I have tried a few. Needless to say that the G1 went back to the shop too.

Yeah, right.....

Overall rating? Just save your money and buy something else. Actually just buy anything else but Zoom. As the text for rating mark 1 reads: What a hunk of junk!

I bought this unit to solve on problem. I play guitar and sing lead in a gigging band and I do not want to futz around with a bunch of pedals to get different tones and effects for different songs on stage, let alone setting it up. So for on-stage ease of use, I would rate this box an 8.5. Just get to your "home" bank, and switch back and forth with your feet. Easy.
As far as setting up and editing your banks, once you get over 15 - 20 minute learning curve (and RTFM), it's pretty easy to use.

If you have the ear and the patience to get the tone you want to get, I think you will be pleasantly surprised with what you can achieve with this box. If you already have a good sounding amp, go in with the attitude less is more. Use the modeling lightly or turn it off altogether. Use a bit of EQ. A touch of a chorus. A mid-boost in the beginning of the "chain". Go to the extended EQ. Back to the modeling tone parameter. The overall mix. It's all there, and it's all ganged together, and you can get the sound you want. It's actually alot of fun to do if you have the time.
The alternative use is as a the main tone-maker in your rig (you have a cheap amp and your gonna try spend a $100 to fix the sound.), or using the box to record to your computer. You CAN do this, but I have to drop the sound quality number down a bit. The modeling is adequate and not as good as Line 6 or Roland, and the more you rely on the modeling and EQ to MAKE your sound, the more your gonna hear the $100 band-aid.
For computer recording it's a very fun tool, and the cabinet/mike modeling is O.K. - good for noodling around, but not much more.

ADVICE:
-If your try this device in the store, realise that the sounds are examples of what can be done. Some are OK starting points, but you won't get the idea of the power until you go into edit, turn every effect OFF, and start from scratch. Ask to see the manual.

-The compression is AWFUL. Turn it off.

-There are 2 different settings for 'live' and 'recording'. Use the right one! Live settings opens up 3 more EQ bands, while recording is an cab/mike modeler.

I'd be lying if I said I thought this thing could take a beating. It's got a good weight to it, but I'm treating this thing with kid gloves for quite a bit.

I play in a band where I need to be able to go from a country-twang with a fat slap-back delay, to a mid-scooped metal sound, to a bachata lead dripping with chorus, and then back to MY AMP! sound with out a cumbersome and goofy pedalboard. Ok, maybe they're just not me, but I know when I see some dude setting up a huge pedal board with boutique pedals and vintage gear, he BETTER blow me away - and I know I'm NOT that kind of player! I like the footprint, the price, and there is a quality sound to be gotten with patience.

I recommend this product. If you can afford something (you think is)better, get it. If not, just know that your not throwing your money away. It's fun to experiment with guitar sounds. It's just a little more requisite with this product.

Pretty easy right out of the box, but...
If you really want to tweak and get the most out of this unit, you have to sit with the manual and hack at it. Editing is a bit of a trick, but attainable with patience & practice. The manual is NOT as user-friendly as (let's say) a Line 6 or Mesa Boogie or others. After going over the manual with my students & other players, we all agreed that we've seen better.

On one hand: this thing sounds pretty fat & massive with great parameters & relative "tweakability". The amp sounds and FX are admirable with a great sampling rate and 32-bit sound. But remember tubemeisters and tone freaks: it's still synthetic. This was purchased to add to a Crate Powerblock Head loop to provide extra tones & wet signals. Very quiet and has NR capability. All the FX are good for the most part, but don't expect TC Helicon or Lexicon sounds. Just know that the line out CAN handle headphones, 1/4" mono AND stereo Y-cords so you can use two amps/stereo recording: nice feature. BUT THE BYPASS IS NOT TOTALLY TRUE! There is a slight bit of smudge to it.

It's made well: solid metal & plastic casing with clickless switches. Seems better made than most pedals under $100.00. So good so far.

Zoom is overseen by Samson, and wit a pair of glasses on you can sleuth out their toll-free number. They answered and a pretty sharp tech answered my questions. But this is a Chinese company that could have hired some normal gear nuts from the USA to help make the manual's word-usage a bit more "real world" and less complicated.

Just another lazy old-timer who needed a small, well-made piece to add to a head that has no FX whatsoever. Playing for many years with a vast array of amps & rack gear. On the plus side: compact, feature filled & well made for the cost. Negatives: the manual just does not fully explain an E-Z route to tweaking & maximizing FX and boosting presence/EQ/tone shaping.

I know there are a few people out there who may be looking at this unit from the same perspective as me. I basically wanted a unit which handled all modulation and reverb effects, just to keep things simple and replace a whole lot of individual analogue boxes. I have what i believe to be the greatest OD ever, and yes i've tried them all.

I'm also using this thing as a kind of "poor man's" EH HOG/Whammy. The octave effect on this unit is really something. Also, the mono pitch shift effect actually sounds better that the octaver, but tracks SLIGHTLY less well. If you're into these effects, you absolutely must try this unit. It really blew me away how good these effects are.

The main reason i wanted a HOG or Whammy was for single octave up effects, similar to what Matt Bellamy from Muse has been using as of last year.

As a cheap substitute HOG it does the job very well. You only get 1 voice at a time but that's ok i only wanted 1 at a time. The big plus is that you get presets, in addition to a whole lot of other FX.

Actually it was mrmojo's review two below prompted me to write something about this unit.
Firstly I'd have to say i totally agree with him. I use the volume knob on my tele as pretty much the primary tone modifier while i'm playing.
I'm running from my guitar to an Ernie Ball VP, MI Audio Tube Zone Overdrive (best OD EVER!), Boss DD-20, Zoom G2, into my amazing 72 Fender Princeton Reverb.
Basically my idea was to replace a whole lot of pedals on my board. The G2 would cover modulation effects and reverb, and also give me a reasonable tuner. The effects themselves are really quite good. The only problem is that while this unit is in the chain, it pretty much destroys the 'natural' vibe that i get from my amp. The touch responsiveness and amazing sparkly shimmery Fendery goodness is gone. GONE!

If you don't play through a good tube amp, then really you can probably ignore my review.

Even with all effects switched off, this thing just colours the sound a little bit and makes it sound somewhat "not as good". I have considered buying a true bypass looper to use with it. As i mentioned, the sounds are really very good (especially the pitch shifter). Only problem is, most loopers are made by boutique makers, and the looper would cost as much as the Zoom!

I tried out the OD/distortions, they weren't to my liking, but then again i wasn't going to use them anyway and i'm comparing them to the best overdrive in the world! You may like them just try it out first.

It's metal with rubber bits. If i wanted to make myself more durable i would TOTALLY cover myself in metal with rubber bits.

It could be good. Dare someone to call them.

To those who are pretty careful about their sound: This is a great unit, the effects are very good, BUT your sound may get a little bit messed up. If you don't use your volume knob (you absolutely should btw you're missing out big time) you'll probably have less of a problem with this. Also if you use a tranny amp, it'll probably actually make your amp sound better so just go for it!

Pretty easy to use if you can read instructions. There is a section in the manual that shows how to make your own patches step by step. Its alot like the old zoom 505 processer but it has more control knobs.Someone on here said that it took three months to fully tweek the parameters in each effect. I could see that if you turned every effect/drive ect off and started with the first effect(compression) and worked your way to the end. The way to do it right is to start with the Drive Module then dynamic effects like compression/Eq/noise gate then reverb/delay then post amp modulation fx, wha/front of amp effects last. I wont go to far into ease of use because its pointless. If you can use a multi function remote for your tv you can use and program this pedal.

When i first got the pedal i pluged it into a crate xt 120 combo amp on clean chanel all eq's on 5.The first thing i noticed is that the preset levels were to loud.Even when i turned them way down they were still higher than they should be.Also the tones were muddy even when i adjusted the preset EQ...also the effects like reverb/delay sounded like they were all coliding together.I changed guitars from my homebuilt strat with a distortion pup to my epiphone LP standard with a REAL gibson 57 paf pup.This helped clear up the sound a little but the level was still to high and the effects like verb were sounding to lush-thick.What i found out is that when you plug a mono 1/4 inch jack into the STEREO 1/4" outpute, the ground of the jack dosent shut off the right side it causes the right side signal to go to the left or mono side increasing the level and blending the stereo effects.This sounds crapy. What you have to do is buy a stereo 1/4' jack that y's to two 1/4" female jacks and plug into the left if you want mono and plug into both if you want stereo into two different amps.
ZOOm should have pute in two rca outpute jacks and included a y cable to two 1/4" female ends if they wanted to save space on the unit.They dont tell you you CANT use a mono jack from the outpute but if you do the sound will suck.
As far as the sounds went...well its digital and you can easily tell just like every other modeler out there.When i got the first problem figured out i turned off all of the fx on a patch and turned on the PV drive (peavey 5150) added some eq and........was disapointed.It sounded like a muddy distortion pedal.I played this unit through the combo mentioned above a marshall dsl 2000 clean-rythm-poweramp, a crate powerblock, crate bv 120 clean-rythem-poweramp and it never sounded good at all. The best sound was through my crate xt120 combo but even that wasnt that great.Also if you use the outpute for headphones like it says you can, it wont be loud enough...not even with earbuds.

Havent had it long enough...had other zoom products that held up well and it looks solid so...

-na-

After i played this on my friends amps trying to get a good sound i came home, pluged into my crate on the lead chanel, and ohhh sweet analog distortion!!!! No the crate aint the greatest amp but it beats the digital crap anyday.No more amp modeling stuff for me unless its analog like the Tech 21 sans amp.I mainly bought this pedal to play around with as an addition to my combo and as a headphone amp but it failed at both.Oh well ill get my $99.00 back that will go to the eventual purchase of a peavey xxl.

Its fairly easy to use given it limited user interface.
Manual is easy to understand.

My setup: Fender standard strat, Morley Wah, Peavey Valveking 112.

I did not find this thing lending itself to my particular setup and needs.
I am very much into SRV type blues and as such really use and rely on the guitar volume (that is the volume control of the guitar) to get the right drive and tone from song to song from my tube amp. This thing only really sounds good when the guitar volume is at the full.
I bought solely to add some reverb and delay???now I know what you???re thinking???SRV did not use delay, but us mere mortals have to cheat a little. The point is, It still very much ???colored??? my tone to a very cold, edgy, digital sound even using nothing but the reverb effect. This, added to the extreme lose of dynamics when I cut back on the guitar volume makes it pretty unusable to a blues guy with a tube amp. I tried it in-line and through the effects loop, still had much the same results.
But I will say this for it???I ran it through and crappy realistic power amp and a 1-12 enclosure I keep around the house and it sounded pretty good. There is actually one patch (with some tweaking) that had a fairly good SRV dirty sound???think ???Tightrope???. It also had a somewhat better ???feel??? to it also when using the guitar volume. It seems to be much more suited to this type of application.
Patch changes are fast and seamless. The Boss DS-1 and the MT-2 are pretty closely reproduced. The rest, to my ear anyway, was not too good of a ???model???. They can be tweaked to sound pretty good as a sound in general, but do not live up to their namesakes.
I could go on boring you with the details???but I???ll Just give it a rating of 7???all things considered.

dont know...am gonna either send it back or trade it off after only two days of useing it...

Again...won't know

A lot has been said about this unit that I won't repeat, but my review is from the perspective of using this for live performing. In that regard, here are the critical features...

1) Small enough to put in your gigbag pocket.
2) Looks like a boutique pedal, not like a computer on stage--unlike POD, VAmp, ToneLab, etc.
3) Large, bright stage-friendly readout.
4) On-board tuner.
5) Instantaneous patch switching.
6) Sturdy construction.

I have spent a few years now making a science out of crafting tones with completely solid-state gear to rival the old venerable tube amp--the search for the holy grail. Why? For the consistency, reliability, portability, affordability, and versatility of SS components. But like everyone else, I first do not want to compromise tone. Having said that, I will say that if anyone gives this unit less than a 9 in sound quality, I will guarantee that they have not spent the requisite amount of time with the G2. I say this because it has taken me close to 5 months to settle on 5 main patches: 2 utility (clean, crunch) settings and three dedicated lead settings. This by using a single-ended Class A EL84 tube amp with vintage tubes side-by-side as a reference point for dialing in the right tube harmonic envelope.

Why so long? Here's the secret. You have to fully utilize the G2's up to 9 EQ parameters to get the right sound. And all nine are highly interactive with one another so you have to spend session after session bumping one knob a click this way, another knob a click that way until you learn how the whole system fits together. Select one of the amp or pedal sims and you have a tone control for it. Then you move to the standard 3-band EQ and adjust those, then you absolutely HAVE to use the extended EQ section, which provides three more parameters governing low-mid, presence, and high harmonics. This last one is one of the magic elixers. Take the traditional treble on the 3-band down a bit and boost this instead, keep the presence just below where it sounds too blunt, keep the low-mid just below where it sounds too thick. A little too thin at this point? Just go back to the 3-band bass control and nudge it up. A little too dark now? Go back to the amp module and raise the tone control a click. Still something lacking in the punch department? Go to the Boost module in the first EFX section and now choose one of five frequency bands to accentuate, and here you also have another tone control. So there you have it--9 possible EQ parameters. If you are willing to gut out the time it takes to truly understand this system, then you will be rewarded with some very nice tones. And this going into an old Jazz Chorus 50! That's my setup--hot three single-coil guitar --> G2 --> Jazz Chorus. Done deal.

My base for the five settings are...

Clean: No amp, using just the JC, or better with some Vox AC30 dialed in.
Crunch: Fender Tweed with gain turned to zero.
Leads: each using progressively higher gain...
A) JCM800
B) Marshall Guv'nor (amazingly enough gives one of the best Marshall sounds on this unit)
C) Mesa MarkIII (pinch harmonic city)

In today's class of modelers a 10. Even the dynamics are there but you have to work harder for it, over a large range of pick attack and guitar volume than a good tube amp which can go from clean to crunch more controllably. But when Zoom figures this one out in the next version (memo to Zoom), be very afraid.

I would not spill anything on it--too many routes for your drink to find a way in to the electronics, but construction-wise it is very sturdy. Will the electronics be reliable over the long-run, only time will tell. I'll conservatively give it an 8.

10 means "fantastic value" and for less than $100, it definitely is.

Listen, if you think your Marshall sounds more Marshall-like than this, and you don't mind always sounding like a Marshall, then be happy and play yer guitar. If you think a real Fender twin cannot be equalled by this, and you don't mind always sounding like a Fender twin, than haul it and your army of pedals around and your search is over. If however you want to craft some very credible tones drawing upon the best characteristics of all these great amps, then pony up your Franklin for the G2. Nuff' said.

pretty easy to use, the knobs make changing parameters easy. the only hard thing is remembering all the abbreviations for different effects or amps, but you get used to it after awhile. i will say that after i got it i bought the expression pedal to go w/ it, and thought that was crap. my setup on my table was too high for the short cord, so i sent that back....i will also say that i love the tuner, i have been playing this strange detuned tuning of CGCGCD and it keeps my homemade guitar in tune perfectly...

i think this sounds great. actually i had purchased the new digitech rp350 this week, and thought the zoom sounded better amp model wise and effects wise than the rp350 which is double the price of this thing (i should also note that i thought the rp350 sounded no better than my old rp100 from 01) i think the amp models are decent, exact i'm not sure, but decent. w/ the eq, you can get a wide range. i'm finding that i mostly use 3 presets: the green day 5150 preset, the clean after that, and then the santana preset. i toggle between those for most of my sounds, and i like it. i also like the hotbox-has a nice warm tubey sound,and when i want extreme i use the extreme digital distortion from the zoom tri-metal pedal. and i think the effects are good too. the one thing i like is how there are 2 sets of effects, the phase/tremolo/autowah/ring mod are early in chain, and you can add other modulations (chorus/flange/pitch etc) also if you like. the pedal can really get some crazy whacked out sounds. and ther is also options of delay too, there is one delay option in the modulation section (2 sec), a standard delay option (5 sec), and tap delay in the reverb section, if you set those to random settings you can have some whacky delay noises like no other pedal. the potential of the pedal for as cheap as it is is quite good. i only wish that the delay would modulate from slow to fast when you go from short time to long time or vice versa, when you try to change time, it just stops and resets. but the tap tempo option is good. the only other thing i don't like is the presets being basically duplicates of each other, one set for live, one set for recording, i realize what they are doing, i'd rather just have more preset options....and the other thing, i always thought zoom pedals were supposed to be the crazy preset co (remembering my zoom 9150 and 3030 pedals) i think most of the presets are tame on this, most of them are quite dry sounding, i usually add some reverb to them for my taste. but some people hate dripping sound of reverb....over all a good pedal...

had it for a yr, still works, seems solid so far.

haven't had to deal w/ them, hope i never do...they do have web info i guess...

over all i think this is a great value of a pedal.if you hate digital sounding anything, stay away, but i think its versitile, can get a wide range of sounds from usable normal stuff to way out there if you want. only wish the delay time was able to modulate instead of resetting when you play with that...the pedal is easy to use...and its small... i will say the one thing in the ads was the almost zero time lag between changing presets, when i was playing w/ the rp350, i was amazed at the time lag of that device, so i can see what people complain about, it doesn't bother me, since i mostly play in my studio, but this is a powerful little pedal....

You must read the manual first, but after that it's not to hard to figure out.Editing the patches is easy,the manual is simple.

The sounds are all good on this, but some are better than others.The Marshal, and Boogie models are real good!Great effects, reverbs,delays.and its a drum machine and tuner, for $100!I play nine with a Parker Nitefly guitar, and it sounds great. I use mine for recording, and praticing in the headphones, but don't usually play it thru an amp.It sounds great in the headphones, and great for direct recording,but loses that great stereo sound when you plug it into a single amp.This unit is very quiet, and adds no noise.The drum machine is OK, but when you play the drums the guitar tone/effects suffers.

Nice metal case, with rubber sides. metal switches,looks reliable. Had mine 2 yrs, no trouble!

Iv'e been playing 32 yrs, i play classic rock, blues, and some originals.I also own a Kramer Pacer DEluxe, a Line 6 Flextone 3 amp, a Cavin X100B amp, an ADA MP-1 tube preamp,and asst.FX.The G2 is a big part of my studio sound and i'd be lost without it.I love it's ease of use, great sounds and FX,drum machine and tuner for 100? It's a no brainerIt's helped me make alot of music in the 2 yrs iv'e had it.

All I can say is WOW! Thirty two bit processing and a new Z3 computer finally enable the digital sims to very nearly match the musical sounds and feel of the analog music world. All the modeled amps and pedals are adjustable for drive, tone, harmonics and there's even a boost for one of 5 specific tone ranges that you can select for each model. Suffice it to say that the EQ suite leaves no frequency orphaned. Reverbs are good. Other standout features are good modulation effects and two different delays that can be layered.
The effects are downright stunning in both quantity and quality, at this price point. I'm absolutely blown away that $100 can buy this kind of quality and ease of use. Piece of pie to get great sounds here. I was creating patches within 15 minutes, which is the total time spent with the excellent user manual. No worries, lads...for sure! Easy to program...easy to play. The drum machine is cool-nothing special, but it's nice to have for headphone jamming.

Setup 1: I'm using it in stereo with a pair of Roland Blues cubes. This setup requires a stereo, 1/4" plug and two cables-one for the right and one for the left. With the amps about 20 feet apart, using the stereo ping-pong delay or the stereo chorus (or both!) I have a huge soundfield to play with. Awesome for spacious, 3D, textured backing rhythms that fill every space in the mix. Extremely fat stereo image.
Setup 2: Through a single Roland BC 60 or my Fender Champ it has a very "real" sound that is hugely versatile in terms of tones and drive. All the effects are really good in mono when using a single amp, which is what most players will use it for. It has a touch sensivity too...something I've NEVER encountered in a digital modeler before. I won't say it's as sensitive as a good tube amp but it does noticeably respond to pick attack, which is light years ahead of anything else in the digital effects domain.
I'm using this with a Les Paul, Ibanez S series guitar and a custom shop Tele. All of these guitars retain their character through this pedal. This attribute alone is worth the price, IMHO.

The amp models sound good. The only one I'm intimately familiar with is the Fender Twin Reverb, which Zoom calls FC. I played through one for years and Zoom's rendition is so spot on that it's downright scary. Close your eyes and you'd never know.

All of this with absolutely ZERO digital fizz or artifacts. The ZNR works perfectly to support your sustain and kill unwanted noise. This unit is TOTALLY noise free.

As for copping the tones of your favorite artists...the big rockstars have gear that's way beyond this little guy. Nevertheless, you'll probably get reasonably close to your personal favorites with this box.

Steel construction. Mucho hefty. Switches and buttons look top notch. This will take a beating. Impressive build quality. Gig w/o backup? Sure!

Zoom offers upgrades and other support software for their stuff. The G2 isn't software upgradable as far as i know. Other products with the USB interface are.

I've been playing the electric guitar for decades. My current project takes me into classic rock, 50s and 60s rock & surf, some jazz and some heavy stuff. What I've heard from this box has prompted me to buy the G7 1UT so I can have all the different tones, drives and sonic landscapes available on a more gig-friendly platform with bank select, A/B preamp choices and an expression pedal. Believe me...I NEVER thought I'd see the day when I would actually use a pedalboard, let alone shell out the dough for a DIGITAL one!
I'm someone who wouldn't go near digital effects until now. ALL of my amps and pedals are analog...until now. I tried the G2 pedal at a local music store on two occasions before breaking down and buying it. I was so impressed with the livliness and quality of the sound from this little box. For 100 bucks it was a no-brainer...just BUY IT! This new generation of processors seems to promise really great things for modeling and sterling effects that rival the big buck machines. In the end, the more robust Z3 chip and the improved processing / sampling rates have broken the "sound" barrier for me. I bought a G7 1UT to prove it. Overall I have to give the G2 a solid 10 for it's unbelievable low price / high performance ratio. Well done, ZOOM!

It's about as easy as one can imagine for the number of available features. Go to their Web site for the effects and sims listing. But their use of multiple knobs makes patch settings fairly quick and intuitive--that is, after you've digested the manual. But this unit is a live player's dream--metal and rubber construction, solid switches and pots, knobs operate with detents, instantaneous switching; and on-board compression, noise reduction, global volume, and a tuner! Signal chain effects are in the right order. A simple red LED readout that's easily visible while performing. A compact unit you can throw in a gig bag pocket without worrying about screwing up your knob settings, and it looks like a boutique pedal on stage, not like a computer. (I don't like computers on stage. PODs, VAmps--too computer-y.)

That said, prepare yourself to spend some real quality time looking for "your sound" because this thing has really sensitive and wide-ranging tweakability. If anyone gives this box a rating under 9 without having used it for at least a couple of weeks, you can pretty much disregard their conclusions.

Seems very solid mechanically, but I can't speak to the reliabiliity of what's inside until it's been through some actual stage wars. I baby my stuff but it looks like it could take a pretty good kicking around. I wouldn't go and spill any drinks on top of it though. Too many ways for it to get inside to the electronics--like throwing water on your laptop.

Now the dynamics and tonal nuances here may never be enough to convince a tube snob to give up his Road King or Dr Z, but keep in mind that the EQ tone-shaping ability of the Zoom far surpasses anything that the boutique amps have to offer in that regard for $1,500 to $3,000--tubes or not.

If you've found "your sound" with a Mesa / Fender / Marshall/ Carr / Bad Cat / whatever and you're happy with it, and that's all you need, then rock on. If you're one that want's more range, less stuff to haul around, no tubes to worry about, fast stage and recording versatility, then spend a lousy hundred bucks on this thing, plug into any good clean amp, tweak it for a couple of weeks, and as Zappa said "Shut up and play yer guitar."

A beginner might become frustrated by the effort it takes to program, edit, tweak, etc; this guitar processor. I've been at programming multi-effects units for lots of years now. I enjoy it. It's a labor of love for me. But, getting the best sounds possible out of the Zoom G2 has taken some serious, time consuming, trial and error, and down right WORK. The manuel is vital for programming this unit!! I have the FP02 and couldn't have assigned parameters to the pedal etc; without first setting down and reading the owners manuel. Maybe not life and death, but very important to have the manuel.

The sound quality in the Zoom G2 is several steps toward a pro sound!
It is quiet. The noise reduction, gate, or dirty gate take care of any high gain or compression hiss etc;. This is in fact a quiet, pro sounding signal processor!!
Of all of its included functions; I only find fault with the chorus and flanger. The step is not quite as good as the Zoom 505!!!
The distortions and ods tail end decay is smooth; not clippy.
I am programming this through a Crate GFX 120 solid state.
There are quite a few ways to get different colors out of one effect.
The wahs are very good sounding, especially the Vox

Outwardly the Zoom G2 made of metal and rubber and metal jack imputs seems road worthy. I would use it without a backup. I have tweaked on the knobs for hours and hours at a time constantly twisting and turning and it hasn't "coughed" once, so maybe it's solid inside as well. My power supply was included.

I play doo woop to metal, to country to classic rock, and lots in between. I compare it to the newer RP digitechs. If the banks and patches scrolled like the RPs would be better. The drum machine is pro sounding also!! The RP 50,100,200, etc; are easier to get a great sound, but are slightly noiser. I would have preferred other amp simulations such as the JTM45, Dumble, Blackface Deluxe, a cleaner Bassman sound. But overall, Zoom proves it is still very much in the game with this 32 bit processor,

The G2 is reasonably easy to use and a good read of the short manual is essential. You WILL have to read the manual. I have no problem quickly programming the sounds I want.

The sounds in this box are excellent for my use. I don???t use a whole lot of extravagant effects. An occasional chorus, phase, tremolo, flange, etc. The reason I got the box was to get an assortment of modulation sounds and a couple of delays without having a huge array of boxes. This fills the bill nicely and has a very small footprint. All of the sounds are more than adequate with clean clear tones when needed and dirty enough when the situation calls for it. I don???t really have a favorite. The decent tuner is also a bonus.

The overdrives sound nice and should appeal to most folks. I don???t use them much, though because I prefer the overdrives in front of the amp, not in the loop. As I said, with the G2, the loop is the only practical spot for it. I use a Tubescreamer and the amp???s lead channel and really don???t need the drives in the G2.

So far, it's reliable. Built solid and I have had no issues with one exception:

The harmonized pitch shifter sometimes seems to lose the patch. Just goes to some bizarre harmonies. Mostly at lower volumes, so I'm guessing it may be an issue with not picking up the signal. Later, it just comes back. Still researching why this happens. Rare, but it's there

Sent an email(see below) and got a reply. Short but sweet and not a "real world" type solution... but I did get a reply.

The G2 has features galore. There are more effects in this box than anyone would possibly use in a real world situation. Programming takes a bit of learning, due primarily to the 2 digit LED. A 5 digit would be better, or best would be a small backlit LCD screen similar to Yamaha???s Magicstomp. That would add a little to the cost, but would be worth it IMO.

The new chip in this box provides for practically instant patch changes. Much, much quicker than the Magicstomp. Changes are seamless.

The Harmonized Pitch shift works very well (except as noted above) and I???ve found several uses for it. I can even get very close to the double lead solo in ???Still The One??? by Orleans. By myself!!!

Tap tempo for delays in a box priced like this is rare even in dedicated delay-only boxes. This box has it included along with all the other sounds. Too bad you have to add an extra, external switch for that feature, though.

I love the fact you can run off of batteries. Get some rechargeable 2500mh batteries and they???ll last you for a gig at a time, easily. Or use the included (yes, included) AC adapter. Nice touch, Zoom.

Here???s the main problem I have with the G2. If you have a patch at, say position A2 and you want to go to the A5 slot, you have to listen to A3 and A4 while on the way. To put the unit into bypass, you press both buttons together. But it comes OUT of bypass by hitting just one of the buttons. It should also require both buttons to come OUT of bypass. This way, you could scroll from one patch to another without hearing all the intervening sounds. To me, this is a major design flaw.

What???s puzzling about this is that the old Zoom 505 had this feature. This machine, while playing patch A2 would let you scroll to any other patch while still using A2 tones. The display would flash, indicating a new patch selection. When ready to use the new patch, you just hit both buttons together. This worked great for live applications. (Unfortunately, the 505 tones were lacking and my box didn???t get much use.)

Zoom Customer Service informed me that this feature was not available on the G2 and that I should just line up the patches in the order I use them. WHAT??? That???s crazy. I want any patch available at any time. I play with several groups with several formats and I rarely play the same tunes in the same order. Their solution is not a solution.

In my opinion, this missing feature makes the G2 unsuitable for live performance, unless you put it into the effects loop and switch it in and out with the amp???s loop select. This is what I am doing, but for users without a switchable effects loop, you???re out of luck. No way to effectively bypass and select more than just the current patch or the one next to it.

I gig regularly (30-40 weekends a year), but it???s a side job. I???ve played for over 40 years and play an assortment of music from instrumental jazz to blues/funk to classic rock to Top-40 and acoustic. Guitars include an American Fender Strat, Gibson ES-135, Taylor 410ES, Ovation Tornado, etc. Primary amps are a Tech21 TM60 (direct out to the board built in) and a Roland Cube 60 (mainly for the small jazz jobs).

In front of the amp, I use a Tubescreamer into a Budda Wah. I use the G2 with the Tech-21 because it has the switchable effects loop. The G2 drives my modulation effects, and delays. I???ve got about 8 simple I use and that???s all I need. They are mostly single effects, such as Chorus only, Phase only, a couple of delays, etc. I don???t have many combined or multiple effect chains programmed. The Budda Wah, Tubescreamer, G2 and Tech-21 3 button amp selector gives me just 4 boxes on the floor and all are pretty small. But with this, I can get practically any sound I need.

This setup works for me, but if I had an amp without the switchable loop, I???d be forced to look elsewhere.

Very easy to use, program and store patches. Manual is laid out well, as is the G2. Everything is pretty easy compared to the deep edit type boxes I've used before. This is extremely good as I want to play my guitar, and not endlessly tweak for tones. With this, I can dial in anything I hear or think of within minutes. Never before have I met a box like this.

The Zoom G2 uses the new 32 bit / 96 kHz chip which I can only describe as A GREAT LEAP FORWARD in processor technology. No digital hiss, no digital artifacts, and incredible sounding models both direct into an amp and direct into the board. I've had literally ever other floor processor you can think of and I've never been happy with the amp models. This thing just rips, whether it's distortion, crunch or clean. I use it directly into the input of a Crate V58 tube amp, then record with a Shure SM57 and I'm blown away. I hate to say it, but obviously 24 bit processing is not enough to accurately model guitar amps and stomp boxes, but 32 bit seems to do the trick. It's got every effect you could dream of, including delays in 3 different modules. The delay module gives you 5 seconds of delay!! Again, unbelievable. The only effect module that I don't use is the Extra EQ. I leave them all set to Cabinet Modeling and that works both into an amp and the board much better, because I'm too stupid to adjust that many EQ points. As a side note, this thing switches patches INSTANTLY. No matter how complex the patch, they switch in 5 ms or less. It's unbelievably nice compared to the 1 or 2 second switching delays you get in other boxes. I don't use the drum machine so no comment on that except that it doesn't seem to matter that it's there. The tuner works great. The only thing with this, and all processors is to get ALL the levels set correctly. On this you have to check your amp/stompbox level (usually 50%) and you have to check the Control main level (again usually 50%) as well as your various effect levels. It's just a matter of continuously comparing your patches while editing to the volume of your amp in Bypass mode. Keeping them about even makes sure you're not clipping the front end of your amp (since most amps don't have a clip level light on them). You just can't go wrong on this box for $99. It's way better than any 24 bit box at any price. I've had the Boss GT6 / Vox Tonelab SE / Behringer V-Amp Pro / Korg Toneworks / Digitech RP's / Korg AX1500 and numerous digital distortion pedals. I do not work for Zoom. I'm just a wanker.

It looks beautiful in Black and Chrome. Is quite heavy for it's size, made of metal. My old plastic Zoom 505II lasted forever, so I'm hopeful. I've never dealt with Zoom but I do have one of their old drum machines, and that's lasted forever (and you actually do beat on those things). Sometime digital stuff goes haywire, but Zoom seems to have the experience to pull this off. First Class look, feel and sound. Time will tell.

Never dealt with them. Their other products I've owned have never broken.

This kicks butt for any style, whether you need Fender Clean / Tweed, Roland Jazz Chorus, Marshall or Matchless Crunches or JCM 800/2000, Mesa Boogie Shred tones. I really would recommend this for anyone who needs professional tone. Even if you have $$$ to burn, no processor sounds better than this one. Again, I don't work for Zoom, I'm just really happy with this thing as I can once again concentrate on actually playing guitar.

Good manual! Editing is easy.
I can easily get the sound I want to hear.

I can compare the G2 with the Vox Tonelab SE and I have to say that I like the G2 better. My instruments sounds very 'direct'.
It's not noisy at all, there's no hiss.
I play an electric Violin (yamaha ev205).
My Yamaha strings amp is dead silent and so is the G2.
Extra EQ is really, really great!
Roland JC model is very convincing. Can't compare the other models to the real thing because I've never played with those amps and somp boxes. They sound good, though. Fender clean sound is also very usable.
I don't use the virtual mic. It destroys the clarity of the sound imo.
Effects are ok. Reverb is very good, which is important to me.
Effects I rarly use, like pitch shifter, ring modulator and harmonizer sound a bit digital.

I bought the G2 for the purpose of playing with headphones on, or recording with my Boss br864 recorder.
I think I'll also use it during rehearsals and jam-sessions.
I don't experience much signal-sucking.

I play electric violin. Pop/rock/jazz/prog.
I play the violin for 25 years.
What I love about G2: it's small, light-weighted, very cheap, versatile, SILENT unlike most acoustic amps, and sounding very good.
You only need the G2, an instrument and a good, clean amplifier.

I see no point in spending 400 dollars/euro's on big pedalboards with onboard effects. They look very impressive and versatile, but soundwise G2 is even a better choice, I think.

Never thought I'd ever buy a Zoom pedal. I used to hate them.
But this one is really good.

I also own Boss DD20 gigadelay, reverb.
And a boutique distortion pedal.
I will continue to use them when I play live on stage with my band.
They sound a little better (they are two times more expensive, each) and make a very easily operated pedalboard.
But at home, during rehearsals and little recordings or jam-sessions the G2 will be a capable substitute.

I got a pretty decent tone off of it right from the get go. The models are pretty close and though not spot on how could anyone expect them to be!? The patches are pretty easy to edit and store and all I would up doing was modifying a few of the pre-sets and away I went! I don't really use it inline with anything, I pretty much use it to practice late in the evening when I want to go crazy! The manual had the latest revisions but I referred to it only once to reset the damned thing when I fucked it up.

I like the sounds you can get out of this thing as I already stated. I'm not trying to sound like anyone else and I use it as a portable practice rig.

I don't think I will ever gig with it, I have more than enough gear on my pedaltrains to fill any sound but if need be I'm sure it would hold up well. It's built very solid.

I sent them an email asking about warranty coverage etc and received a response the next day. No other contact.

I like hard rock and metal but I love blues too. Been playing 30+ years and have all kinds of gear and amps. I paid hardly anything for this thing and if it got ripped I'd definitely buy another. It does a good job and if you got one I don't think you'd regret it!

At first when I bought this little box I really was disapointed about it. But then when I figured out all its specs and possible variations in effect moduling I really understood why it works out the way it does. Now after 3 weeks of experiencing I find this pedal more that enough for my purposes. It just took me a while to understand how all the things work.

Im playing in a band and also building a little home studio for my band and my friends bands and before I bought this pedal I were not able to get nice line-sounds for neoclassical-power metal. Now combined with my Tech21 - SansAmp GT2 and Boss - MetalZone MT-2 I have found the perfect sound for my recording purposes. Factory presets are totally shiet but once you make your own sounds this unit kicks ass.

Now this pedal is irreplaceable part of my homestudio well atleast for the time being... (mostly because of the fact this pedal was absolutely bargain with it's 99$ pricetag) I've never heard another pedal this cheap sounding as good as this does. I do recommend this for everyone who want to record with line input nice stereo guitars with warm and dynamic sound and well balanced effects. I've used this pedal 3 weeks day and night and it works perfect... and the structure seems firm enough and the footswitches are metal so no worry about them breaking down easily.

Never needed to contact em'

This baby works fine with any amp and sounds good even with 15W practice amps. You'll get the most out of it with another pedal (distortion or overdrive) and use this one as the reverb/comp/delay/amp sim. effect processor. When in recording use I recommend that you use analog or digital tubewarmer with this to get the ultimate sound. I truly think this is one of the best multieffectpedals there is below a price of nearly 500$.

well ive owned a Korg AX1000G before and was pretty used to tweaking sounds with knobs on the fly. well for a compact unit i shouldnt be expecting much save for the three knobs, and lkasjdaksjdsdicantudnerstandsometimeswhatthecodesmean codes for the effects i think for this baby you just need to have a good background on effects, what they do and how to mix them up. i managed to figure out how to work the pedal on my own without the manual. up down switches. pretty easy to use.

i use a Gibson Les Paul Gothic Edition and an old strat through a small marshall combo amp. this baby is THE SHIT when it comes to audio quality especially the distortions. though id love to have more freedom to choose the cabinet sizes, mic placements etc etc like my Korg, well but this baby kicks. i loved the MesaBoogie thingy and the crunch it gives me.

deserving of a 10. ive got a dozen effects and this baby retired my entire pedal board save for my wah pedal

its made of steel i can throw it around and i think it wouldnt fuck up

i play in a jazz/metal hybrid band and the really insane metal distortion is what i love.. the harmonics scream like analog. this is the shit for only $100

FANTASTIC VALUE zoom is like giving these babies away for free

How easy is it to get a good sound out of it?
- plug yur guitar and play, some some good some lame.
How about Editing patches?
- easy to understand manual makes easy editing
How is the manual for it (if there is one)?
- same as the above answer
Do you know the firmware revision number? Has your unit been upgraded?
- no idea about here

i bought it for practice using headphone, and it sound awesome. on its own its great, then tried experimenting with it guitar->danelectro fish n chips->bad monkey->g2.1u->headphone. start w fender clean drive and some reverb, the rest of fx off and u can have some srv tone here. tried marshall crunch drive and same setting as above and you can get zz top tone. bad monkey adds some organic tone and girth which i love. tried with a tube amp the above setting and blows me away.

solid built ......

no support neede here built stable as rock

i play blues to rock to some metal and this unit can deliver. with some experiment , you can have a sound of your own. bad monkey gives this unit a more organic tone

IMHO: Easy to get a "great" sound out of it... Editing is silly easy... The manual is OK (a bit cheap)... If you are used to zoom interface it will be much easier... ADVICE: DON??T FORGET THAT YOU CAN TWEAK A LOT (A LOT!) IN ORDER TO GET WHAT YOU LIKE... AND THEN, WHEN YOU ARE DONE EDITING AND SAVING YOUR CHANGES, YOU GO BACK TO PLAY MODE AND GIVE "A FINAL TOUCH WITH THE THREE MAIN KNOBS"... THAT ADJUSTMENT WORKS LIKE ANY SIMPLE AMP ADJUSTMENT AND HELPS A LOT IN GETTING EXACTLY WHERE YOU WANNA GET...

Rating sound quality is too subjective... IMHO you can get great sounds out of the g2, but hey that's me... Anyway -within the wide range of do it all low price machines- i consider this has no rival...

I play at home (old man), and it looks sturdy enough for that... I don't know if digital gets old and sounds crappy with time... I never deal with zoom guys (not in the states)... Anyway it's so cheap that i do not really care if it works only for a couple of years...

Never done it...

I agree... You just can't beat the G2 for the price (even if it was like twice the price it has now). I was one of those who used to hate ZOOM effects like many more. Then once I bought one of their drum machines for a ridiculous price and it had great resolution and tons of goodies. Still have it and it's great fun to play along. Anyway I tried a 504 series pedal for electric/acoustics and did not like it at all. So my opinion of zoom used to be pretty discret on guitar stuff, but, hey, when I saw the G2 at a store I kind of felt it was different. I didn't even tried it at the shop. They are my friends and said to me it was worth the 90 usd price. God! It was that and then some more! It's been a very nice piece of gear for everyday practice. Just like many of you guys, I do not especially like heavy distortion (Well... it depends on what sort and what the artist does with it...), so I'm programming my G2 pretty much departing from a pretty clean fenderish sound into heavier clean and effected sounds... Here, a guy has said you can not get a bluesy "just about to break" overdriven sound... In my opinion you can do it if you don't forget all the tweaks you can and "have to do" before you find what you want. Fot the sound I'm talking about, you can use the booster (bs) there is in the wha-wha section. This booster has like three positions & it is good for getting that VOX AC30 sound I was talking about... Feels like I still do not know how to get all the juice out of this little guy (how can I get a nice flanger sound?... how do you use the 3 delays.... etc...) but I'm happy with it...

The factory preset patches seem unusable and not worth wasting time trying to tweek. The key to this pedal is to read manual thourghly and start at A0 and clear out the factory settings and starting from basics create your own good sounding settings.

I am using small tube amps. I have a standard strat clone and a les paul clone then a bad monkey, G2, then Fender Pro- Junior and or epiphone valve junior(the hum reduction mod was done) After creating my own patches I have 7 seems I am only using 4 most of the time. Have gotten great vintage Rolling Stone sound from Fender Clean Patch.The Roland Jazz chorus patch is very similar with a bit of vintage distortion. The Peavey stack patch is excellent for Jimmy Page sound. The point here is shape your own sound. Play with it the good sounds are there.

It is built solid I would trust it anywhere. If I were on the move I would definately have a spare power pack or batteries. Since they have the highest failure rate

Never dealt with company

I play mostly vintage rock- Rolling Stones,Led Zepplin,Tom Petty, Bad Company, Eric Clapton, and even a couple of Stevie Ray Vaughn tunes.I originally purchased because my amps do not have reverb,chorus,delay or any real EQ. After 2 weeks I was discouraged because the factory presets were so lame and tossed it in the corner.After reading lots of reviews here decided to give it another chance. I can not emphasise enough create your own patches from scratch and you will find some great sounds.

Once I figured out how to MOVE the patches around it was easy to get great sounds. Editing patches seems easy enough. I added some delay, chorus and reverb to some patches and they turned out fine. The manual is pretty good but could use some tweaking especially in the directions for moving patches from one bank to another.

The patches have names and some of them are right on the money like the SRV and Heart ones. I really like the Twin Reverb patch too.. The suggested patches sound good and you can tweak them by adding a little delay, reverb etc.

I bought this pedal to use at practice so I don't have to bring my stompbox pedal board with me all the time. I can throw the G2 in my bag and away I go; just my bag, guitar and myself. However, I am now considering using the G2 on stage as it doesn't take up as much room as my pedal board. The G2 has enough patches that I can manipulate for the music my band plays so it has become an option I am looking into.

The G2 does not appear to be noisy but I've not used it on a gig yet, only for practice or in my basement. I use two Historic Gibson Les Pauls, a Historic SG / LP, a Firebird V and a Custom Shop Strat through either a 59 Bassman RI, 68 Bandmaster, JTM 45 in an 18 watt custom cabinet or a Gibson Goldtone GA 30 RV.

I have to think that if you are patient enough you should be able to use this pedal for just about any kind of music.

Several years ago, I had a Zoom 505 and it was pretty realiable. The G2 is a fairly rugged unit made out of metal so I don't THINK there will be any problems but you never know. The price is relatively cheap, so I can afford to buy a backup just in case.

I called Zoom and I am still waiting for a reply. They make decent stuff but their Customer Service is marginal at best.

I've been playing for 40 years, since 1966. I've owned all the standard pedals, guitars and amps over the years and this is the best $100.00 I ever spent. It does EVERYTHING that I need; it probably won't work for everyone. That's just the way people are. I don't usually do reviews but I wanted to for the G2 because I think it's a really good piece of equipment.

I play in a classic rock and roll dance band and the GR does what I want it to do. I would defintely replace it if it were lost or stolen.

I've tried some other digital stuff in the past, Boss GT 6, V Amp, GT 8 etc, and this Zoom pedal sounds really good. It does not have the decay that I experienced at the end of a passage using other processors. In my book that's what sold me on the G2.

The trouble with this is that the distortions are SHITE. Absolute rubbish. Maybe usable for over the top metal and stuff but for ebverything else they suck. I had a 707 and presumed the distortion on this would be better but they are actually worse. Zoom make a big fuss about the new modelling but I couldn't get a usable tone out of any of them. The good thing is that you can chain this up and sounds good so I can use my pedals and if I use the effects loop the distortion comes through real nice.

Don't get me wrong I use this every time I play and am very happy with the patches I have created but I can't stand the sound of any of the onboard distortions.

The up switch has failed after 6 months playing.
SHOULD NOT HAPPEN. Did not happen on my 707 or any stompbox I ever owned.
I do not own 2 sets of pedals so I have no choice but to gig withoput back up. I will have to pay attention to the switching once I get it fixed.

It works fine but like most processors it just has too much stuff on it. The first thing to do when making a patch is turn all the shit off. Get rid of the distortion, compression, noise reduction and eq and the patches really come to life. Then only use the basics to get the sound you want.

it is very usable and sounds great after lots of tweaking.

this is a very cool machine. imo easy to use and edit patches. the tone is incredible.

i bought this is really a new toy that the reviews were great on. man, they were right too. with heaphones or through an amp,it sounds awesome. each effect sounds very nice. and the user patches are very good as well.

the metal housing and the rubber ends are a really good deal. i would use this without a back up for real.

*ATTENTION*

on the LCD screen i believe there is a plastic film over it to protect it maybe during installation which some products do have and thats good but if anyone knows for sure and has pulled it off, please mention it or email me so ill know for sure.(im old lol.)
thanks.

never dealt with them. i bought it through Sweetwater and they were great!

this is a kick a** unit! and for 99$ U.S. it cant be beat.

not easy, bear in mind its my first effects box, but im starting to understand it..seems a little clunky, i mean if it was a lil bigger they could have laid out out alot better in one word zoom..simplify..but the knobs n buttons r easy enuf, still cant figure out editing patches yet, only had it 1 day..manual is so so..
an actual readout would be better than the dodgy led thing. like a calculator from 1983, i mean how hard would it be for zoom to add a decent lcd so you can see the names instead of their own codes ??

well i have nothing to compare it with but.. im very pleased with fender clean, i just wanted that smooth santana sound and now i have it, i have a westfeild e4000 les paul copy, cheap but well thought of by all who bought one.. and a erm..soundking 30w amp. i find the overdrive /distorsion a bit over the top, but im sure i can tame the beast as i get to know it better,
its such i HUGE difference now i bought this, and i love playing to the drum thingys..i acctually sound pretty good heh..
well happy with the sound

looks hard enuf to be scottish !

dunno

yes im very pleased, ok so i know i wont use most of the effects, but its nice to know they are there,
i said to the guy in the shop, i will pay more if you have a better one ??
he looked about scratched his head and said there was nothing better in the store altough he had loads of different ones..
i was not sure about the makers zoom as the earlier ones looked chep and a bit shite, but this one is fabby !
buy one.. would have gave 10 but the display is poor, in this day an lcd would be common !

Need to read the manual first, then fairly easy to make changes.

I have used many effects units from Digitech, Korg, DoD, Ibanez, etc. I ultimately sold them all and just used a pure amp tone for recording projects (Marshall DSL201 or Fender Blues Junior). But I have been exploring another effects box for direct recording to a DAW, particularly when looking for chorusy/flangy type sounds. The G2 is the perfect fit and at an excellent price. The reports of low noise are all very true and I have never owned a guitar processor that is a quiet as the G2. You really would have a hard time knowing that it's even on without the LEDs. Clean sounds are awesome. Distorted sounds are equal or better than I've heard before from an effects unit. Similar to my Korg PX4 (which I use only for headphone practice) but without any of the noise. But I'll still go through a tube amp when recording anything with mild to harsh distortion (maybe with the G2 in the chain). In my opinion, amp modeling is not quite there yet compared to the real thing.

Haven't had it for long. But it sure seems like a tough little unit. Very cool design as well with the chrome hardware.

For $99, it would be very hard to find anything comparable with such low noise and modern technology. Direct recording with my Echo Audiofire 8 is spankin clean.

this box os very easy to use if you have used zoom's other multi fx. But if your new to the world of zoom, it will take quite some time for you to get the hang of it. The manual provided is very easy to use and understand. just make sure to read it very carefully and after that no problemo!!

i am using a crappy no name amplifier (practice amp).ive used it for 2 months now and i was blown away with what it can do. Imagine i could get professional sounds from a crappy amp, what more if i play it with a marshall of mesa stacks. this is amazing...

there is a noise gate noise reduction options. basically there is no noise at all unless your pickups are single coils.

chorus is great. Flanger is nice and very flexible.delays are magnifico!!! I could even emulate incubus' pardon me.. Just combine flanger, delay and phaser and tweak it a bit then do wolume swells then set up a good distortion (peavey distortion, its good, pick it!! i've used it live and i was amaze by the crunch of this thing. I could get that chug-chug sound!!) and youll gonna be nailing it good!!

metal chassis and rubber cheeks.. very reliable, you could use it live!!

i dont know themu

i play mostly heavy metal and punkish tones. if you want to get chug-chug sound, buy this pedal. if you want to enjoy professional sounding effects, buy this pedal, very affordable.

Very difficult to use. It makes up for thel ack of individual knobs in its size, though. I love the super-compact size. It's the best part about it.

Un-freaking-believable. It sounds so good, it makes you wonder how in the hell they did it: 32-bit at 96-Khz sampling. I like the distortion the best. The modulation is the weakest part. No Small Clone or Small Stone sounds here, unfortunately. No Big Muff distortion sound, but every Boss or Ibanez distortion pedal you've ever had is in here.

Metal casing...very nice...built to last.

(Unknown)

It's the best little digital box you can buy, but a pain in the ass to program...four knobs to upwards of 16 different functions. I personally will just have to get used to that. I have always used Boss and Ibanez and Electro-Harmonix pedals. Digital stuff is new to me. If you are used to digital layouts and controls, this won't be a a problem for you. get it for the distortion sound alone, which is absolutely fantastic. Zoom truly amazes me in the sound quality department. The best 99 bucks a guitarist will ever spend. I like it and I'm keeping it.

The ZOOM G2 is a pretty intuitive product. It can be daunting at first and you might wonder what all the knobs and buttons are for. Do yourself a big favour and read the manual a few times over. The ease of use of this product hits you like a brick in the face afterwards.
Editing patches are quick and simple. Simply go to the patch list beginning with A0 and turn every effect off. After that, simply dial in whatever your heart desires.

I'm using this baby with a modded Godin Freeway Classic. I dropped a Carvin AP11 in the middle and a Dimarzio Tone Zone in the bridge. I'm playing it through a Roland Cube 30.
Generally there is little to no noise unless you play through some interference such as a computer monitor. Other than that I haven't noticed much noise. Furthermore, the G2 has a soudgate and other noise reduction options if need be.
Many of the pre-loaded effects are unnecessary. They are over saturated with effects that I will never use. I recommend dialing in effects that you want and store them in a patch.

I play all sorts of music. I finally cane get that sweet clean palm-mute delay to a T on "Basement Ghost Singing" by Armor for Sleep. Also it is very easy to dial in a delay patch for "Bug Eyes" by dredg. In my opinion, the delay and reverb effects are the holy grail for such an inexpensive multi-fx pedal.
Wah/EFX are good. They aren't spectacular. Ring Modulator is interesting and a bit harsh, but anyone who's wanted that NES sound, you've got it.
Also, some criticize the Slow Attack. It's true it does feel like it picks up your strumming, but played with a quick response time and delay to cover up the hiccup, Slow Attack can get the chords of Pacelbel's Canon if you wanted. It's not suited for fast play, but then again that's why they call it "Slow" Attack.

I was a little concerned with the Drive section initially, I found what I was looking for in PV Drive. This little pedal can give you more sounds than the Metal Zone at equal or better tone. (I own the Metal Zone and believe it is very overrated) I think the Drive section is the Achilles heel of the pedal. Having said that you can still dial in competent tones, especially for the price.
I'm very happy with the mod/sfx section as well. Chorus is great, pitch shifter is excellent. The rest is very, very good. There are a few effects you probably wont use such as Step, Ring Modulator and Vibrato is not nearly as good as Tremolo, but generally the rest of the effects are capable of satisfying your needs.

This little number also comes with a pretty nifty drum machine. It sounds a bit pop-esque and kinda Michael Jackson-y, but there are over 40 different drum options to keep you occupied and you can switch the tempo very easily. If you want to jam with a friend and dont have a drummer or need a metronome, the drum machine does the trick.

Favourite effects: Slow Attack w/ Delay, Pitch Shifter, PV Crunch, Stereo Chorus, Spring Reverb.

I would gig with this pedal. It can work in a pinch if you cant afford anything better and it looks like it will last. It's built around solid metal casing and rubber sides. The knobs feel solid and so do the footswitches. I dont have any fear of this thing breaking at any moment or failing to work.

Never had to deal with ZOOM so I have no opinion.

There aren't enough reasons not to give this pedal a ten. The effects are generally superb, the ease of use is great, it's very sturdy and the sheer amount of options will keep you entertained for hours. For the money, there simply isn't another multieffects pedal that comes as such a full package. Some parts are flawed such as some distortion patches or the ring modulator, but just because it does so much, was above my expectations for $140, the amount options it has and how little I feel it does poorly, this little wonder receives a perfect rating. You will definitely find something to suit you in this pedal.

It's a snap ... especially if you've ever used their 505 or 505II boxes. The pre-programmed patches are great starting points for polishing your own sounds.

The manual demands some attention (and a reasonable fluidity in the English language) but is logical and graphically intelligent. The pictures help make sense of the many layers of possiblity in each patch.

(And NO ... I'm NOT a guy working for Zoom!)

The sound is KILLER! Clean and noise free with fast switches between patches and a very hi-speed internal data handling rate.

I don't understand the folks who don't give this G2 a great rating. I've played Zoom stuff since their original 505 back in the early 90's, and even then they gave WAY more for the money than any other stomp box out there. The 505II I got around 2000 was even better ... more places to put all your custom patches, and tremolo too!

This G2 is the best yet. All the massive sounds, options, and features of the earlier 505's but with ZERO background noise, smoother tone all around, and more places to fill up with your own custom sounds ... while keeping all the original factory patches as "reference" for further mods.

The only thing I've done with all my past Zooms is to re-arrange their patches into a more "logical" order ... which was especially necessary with the older 505's which always came up with "A1" for the turn-on sound. Why the heck did Zoom make that first sound a nasty, screaming distortion setting? Hey guys, most folks are NOT in a heavy metal band! So I've always re-programmed things for a nice clean Fender reverb sound at A1 startup, with more "normal" effects nearby, getting wilder and wilder the further you go away from home base. I also spend time setting all the volumes close to each other ... I hate surprises when I'm "shopping around" for a new sound. This is necessary with the G2 too.

But the G2 solves Zoom's "A1 problem" by turning on with the LAST patch you were using. Brilliant!

Solid steel frame and buttons, what's to go wrong? I never had any problems with their plastic 505's either ... but then I don't travel the road with a drunk thrasher band either!

Never needed it. Probably won't with this G2 either.

I'm an old picker ... been playing rock and jazz and country since the early 60's, starting with Ventures surf guitar. Still own the Fender Jazzmaster I bought in 1961 with way too many other toys added to the wall over the years. Ask my wife. I think some of these young players don't understand just how amazing their new toys are compared to the simplistic stuff we used in the "good ol' days" of the 60's and 70's.

As an engineer type, I've built and maintained my own gear since the days when transistors were "brand new." I know that tubes sound good and "warm" mostly due to their lack of high-end and over-pumped bottom end, so I know how easy it is to EQ anything into that kind of "tone." It's not magic ... it's how we fall in love with the imperfections ... like the dust and flicker of old movies that seem so "romantic" compared to much cleaner video material.

Replace if lost or stolen? Hey, I've bought THREE of these Zooms in the past 15 years just because I like 'em. One more would be a given.

Does it help make music? You BET! Every factory patch makes me PLAY in a different way. Then, when you've mastered the customizing possibilities, you can hone G2 patches into very expressive and transparent creative tools.

These Zoom computer driven chip wonders are astounding ... the most "bang for the buck" in the market. (So, Guitar Center, tell me again why you refuse to carry them...)

I read the manual online before trying it out at the music store. When I got to the music store it took about a minute to program my first patch.

I play a warmoth strat with a dimarzio air norton in the bridge and virtual vintage single coils in the neck and middle positions. My strat > jekyll & hyde overdrive pedal > Zoom G2 > Peavey Delta Blues. It is dead quiet even with the noise gate off. The noise gate is only needed for super high gain sounds. The effects are top notch. My only complaint is that I have not found an overdrive that I really love. The clean and high gain sounds rock.

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I play everything from Pop to Jazz to Metal. This pedal is a good match because it is very versatile. I have been playing for 16 years. I also own a yamaha DG Stomp which is awesome but lacked some of the effects this unit has... i.e. pitch shifter, noise gate....and the high gain sounds are tighter on this unit. If it were lost or stolen I would replace it. I love it's size and the price is unbelievable. It's worth a lot more money. I wish the expression pedal would control more than one parameter at a time. My DG stomp controls up to eight at once.

Fairly easy. You MUST read the manual sice the display is very criptic. But keeping the book around for reference ease things a lot.

I suppose a larger display would rise the price but it's a shame nevertheless. Not the end of the world by any means though.

Somewhat easier than my old GFX 707, the modules are more inmediate thanks to the rotary knob.

One thing that I'm not sure I like is the cab emulator settings on every patch, for me a global cab emulator would be better, but I suppose having those in a per patch basis gives you more possibilities.

Other than that this little wonder is really easy to program... once you read the manual.
Talking about the manual, it's fairly concise and right to the point. Not a problem with it.

I have a switch pedal connected to mute/unmute the unit, stepping at the two switches at the same time tend to change the preset before muting and is a little awkward with the switches small and apart.

I own a Washburn Lyon Series guitar (two single coil and a humbucker in the bridge), connected to a Jim Dunlop CryBaby, Boss Metal Zone, Zoom G2, to a splitter DI: one end to a Laney TF-200 combo and the other end to a mixer and PA. The Laney combo has a volume pedal and Boss Digital Dealy in the effects send/return.

Well, at first this baby sonded really dark to me. I mean I got to switch the bright on on the amp to get the distortions to "shine"... no good, I was so disapointed, I was considering taking it back to the store. Then I try it through the mixer... another story!! and the cab emulation is terrific for the size and price of this baby.

Then I realize that all the distorions have a tone control with a defaul value at 5/10, which make it sound somewhat dark when connected to a cab, or a least with mine.
Crank the tone value up and voila!! :) Now the sound through the Laney combo sounds MUCH better.
Now we are talking!! a little touch of EQ and you probably will get the tone you are after!
Granted, you shall not trust the presets, you need to program from scratch this baby to make it sound like you want. For me at least.

The effects I think are awesome, a lot of amps to choose and they are very good. Obviously not EXACTLY like the real thing, but for this price, believe me, you can't go wrong.

I wanted to get a sound like the Metal Zone, a little hard at first before realizing the distortion module tone control, but after that, fairly easy with some tweaking with the EQ. I can't make it sound exactly like the MT-2 obviously because the G2 doesn't have a parametric EQ which is what makes the MT-2 (metal zone) so special, but I got a really close sound. Very nice. The MT-2 stays in my setup though: the low end is bigger and fatter in the MT-2. The G2 with the EQ low freq at max can't get those bass frequencies...

The modulations are very good, so the reverbs. Like some one else said, good for a gig or for a quick recording but you will need to turn those effects off of a professional recording. Engineers have much better stuff at their disposal.

Noise.... noise?? are you crazy?? this thing is the quietest effect I ever had. Of course if you use a high gain module and you try to play with single coil pickups you WILL get a lot of noise, but that's how those pickups work, it's not the G2 fault. With a humbucker or "humbuckered" single coil duo there is no noise. Zero. I try to play the G2 through the high gain channel of the Laney amp with the gain at max and the noise was not higher than without the G2 connected: IM-PRE-SSIVE!!!

IMPORTANT: A little note on DAW: if you (like me) still use a CRT display and play your guitar near it, or happen to have a TV set near you (when turned on, of course) it will induce a lot of noise, specially with single coil pickups and high gain modules (distorions, amps with high gain), the only solution is to turn the monitor off (at least while recording), or replace it with a LCD type which doesn't induce noise.

That said, I must say this little baby is incredible for this price range.

I think is very dependable, is very well build. On a gig I will have a spare probably not because I think this may fail, but because always there are things that can go wrong. You should always have double equipment if possible.

Never dealt with them.

I play progressive rock.
I think the G2 transcend music styles, I think you can play almost anything with this thing.
Is simply amazing, theres nothing quite like it (yet).
If were stolen or lost I think I will bought one again, or maybe upgrade to a better model, you know with a better display :)

Very easy to get a good sound out of the g2.
Easy editing for patches BUT you will spend some time editing. The pre-set patches are OK. You'll find yourself editing over them quickly but the factory settings can be restored if you want.
Manual is very useful and easy to follow.

I'm playing a samick through this plugged into a crate mx20rc and also an ampeg gemini 2.
Haven't had any trouble with any noise. no buzz or hums. nothin
I'd have to say that the effects are pretty strong. the problem here is that you really need to pay attention to the settings on your amp as well as the settings for the EQ on the pedal. this is the part that makes the editing a little time comsuming. Some of the effects I will probably never use but they're there just in case.
I've been able to get some good sounds out of it when it comes to diffrent bands. I like heavy metal so the Megadeth sound is easy and of coarse the Metallica sound is easy to get. You can get the sound of system of a down out of this too. I havent been able to not simulate a sound of a band YET.
Haven't found a bad effect yet but I use just a few like chorus, flanger, phaser. WAIT!!!!the WAH is a little weak but this isnt a wah pedal either. want a good wah? buy a pedal dont use this if you want a good wah effect.

this thing is made out of steel!!! its been very dependable.
Havent giged in several years BUT if i still was i wouldnt without a back up. i'm not saying its not reliable thats just how i am.

no problems to complain to them about

Like i said earlier I play heavy stuff. with the diffrent distortion effects and cab simulations like a mesa boogie and marshall its a good match to what i play.
Been playin for 18 yrs have owned several digitech pedals and was turned on to this by the local music shop. listen to the zoom and then the digitech rp50. the zoom blowed the digitech away.
If it were stolen i would buy another.
I've said a lot of good things about the zoom but i gotta say the one thing i don't like about it. there are only to switches for going through the patches 4 would've been better.
i've already typed way too much but if you've gotten this far go buy the g2 you wont regret it.

How easy is it to get a good sound out of it? Several of the presets are very good, but to really narrow down on what you want, expect to spend a couple hours learning how to program and safe your own settings.

How about Editing patches? Again, alocate a couple hours for learning the device and you'll be set.

How is the manual for it (if there is one)? Good manual, fairly short and to the point.

My rating is 9/10 because I'm used to working with alphanumeric text displays instead of just 2 LED readouts, but they make total sense once you learn the "code."

What setup (i.e. what guitars and amps) are you using this with?
Mostly through studio headphones or a cheap 10-amp practice amp. Makes the amp sound much bigger.

Is it noisy? On what settings?
Very quiet, high-resolution sound. The changeable noise gating is also excellent.

Are the effects weak or do they always sound great?
The distortion is better than most digital models you've heard, but not the same quality as analog pedals or professional (studio-quality) effects. However, some of the effects really are excellent...

Are certain effects (distortion, chorus, ...) very good? Very bad?
The chorus, phaser and flanger effects are top-notch. Reverb is good enough for live guitar, but don't use it in a studio setting or the engineers will take the G2 away from you. The G2's distortion settings are quite good for a digital unit (probably thanks to the high-resolution sampler) but don't throw away your vintage pedals. Still, for about $100, you can't expect to sound *exactly* like Clapton, Metalica and Floyd. Close enough for horseshoes and hand grenades though.

Can you depend on it?
Seems very well built with a metal chassis and rubber ends. Switches and dials feel like quality stuff.

Would you use it on a gig without a backup?
Yea, but a paltry $100 will get you a second unit - why risk stopping the show? Get a second one if you love the pedal and play out.

If you've dealt with the company, how helpful/friendly were they?
Never needed customer support.

Ever get an upgrade, or try and get it repaired?
No, haven't needed to.

What style of music do you play? Is this a good match?
I'm just a beginning guitarist (a semi-professional keyboardist stretching his wings) so I just need something to sweeten the sound a little while I practice fingering & strumming. The G2 more than meets that goal. The built-in drum machine is perfect for rhythm practice. Generates ideas too - easy to plug in the guitar, G2 and headphones and have a ball.

How long have you been playing? What other gear do you own?
Guitar for 2 months, keyboards for 20 years. My guitar is an entry-level Brownsville strat copy. The G2 makes it sounds better than it is, which is encouraging while I see how far into this geetar thing I want to go.

If it were stolen or lost, would you buy it again or get something else?
Yea, sure would get the same thing (or upgrade to the built-in pedal version).

What do you love about it? What do you hate? What is your favorite feature?
I love the sounds quality, great construction, easy programming, drum machine, battery power, included AC adapter and tons of effects and modeled amps to chose from. The distortion could be better (tubes and vintage pedals have no fear), but that's not my primary use anyway. Others may be perfectly happy with the distortion through, recognizing that I may not know how to play well with it yet.

Did you compare it to other products? Which ones? Why did you choose this one?
I looked at the Digitechs, Korg and Line 6 products in this price range and decided on this one, mainly because of its solid construction and full feature set.

Anything you wish it had?
Stereo MP3/CD input and center channel canceling would make it more versitile as a "guitar karaoke" device.

Does it help you make music, or does it get in the way?
Definitely helps me learn and have fun. It's just so darned easy to stuff the G2, two patch chords, my guitar and headphones in a bag and be ready to plink around anywhere. And all for a hundred bucks!

Very easy to get a good sound out of this pedal. It comes loaded with 40+ sounds right out of the box, you don't need to adjust anything to start playing. The built in tuner is a great feature too.

Manual is very comprehensive too. I won't give it top marks for ease of use because something with this many features isn't going to be as simple to use as a single effects pedal.

I've played this with a dean guitar and a marshall amp. On some distortion settings it seems to cancel noise, to the point that when you're picking very lightly you can feel the line where the pedal decides the note you played was too soft to be intentional, and won't amplify it. This is great in some ways as it masks minor mistakes, but a but frustrating in others. Mind you there's not that much music I can think of which calls for distortion & very light picking so I suspect it's really a non-issue.

It has a ton of preset sounds, I haven't even needed to experiment with custom ones yet. Has many different distortion tones ranging from a slight distortion through to the "big wall" which is a massively fuzzy distortion.

Clean sounds are very good too, with some very warm tones with a nice ring and echo.

I haven't found any effect on here which I feel is lacking, and if a sound isn't quite what you're after, you can simply copy that sound to the user memory bank and then tweak it to your liking.

From all the photos I saw of this pedal online, it looked like it was plastic, and quite big. It's surprisingly small compared to what I expected, and was very pleased to see that it's made of metal with rubberised edge pieces. The foot switches feel very sturdy, and the adjustment knobs feel pretty good too. I think this pedal could take a few knocks, the only thing I'd be concerned about would be stepping hard on the adjustment knobs. Haven't had a single problem with it since I've owned it (about 3 months).

Haven't dealt with them.

I'm still a novice player but play several styles including rock, blues, classical/fingerpicking.

I've found sounds on this pedal which suit all of the above for my liking.

I'd definitely buy this same pedal again if it was stolen or lost.

Favourite feature has to be the fact that it comes preloaded with so many sounds. You can start using it immediately.

I compared this to a couple of digitech pedals and this one seemed to have nicer features, including a harmonized pitch shift. The drum machine/metronome on this one is ok too.

Considering it's the price of one or two stomp boxes, I don't think the average player could go wrong with this pedal. You get a vast amount of different sounds out of it, and it's one unit vs. having several stomp boxes with their own link cables and power adapters.

How easy is it to get a good sound out of this thing?Let's put it this way...a trained monkey with 2 fingers would have no problem..

Im currently using this pedal with a Gibson 84 Flying V and Les Paul Special,noisy?With 120 dec.dynamic range i think not.If it werent for the leds i wouldnt know if this baby was on or or not.Let's start on how much money you save with this pedal.It is by far the most technically evolved of all the"bang for your buck" pedals out there.Not one comes close.Not even Digitech.But you have to play this thing through Roland amps to get EXACTLY whatever make and model amp you want.I'm a profesional world class guitarist,currently with the band Duel,and i don't rely on tube amps because there is AALWAYS something going awry with them(and i cant stand that midrange mud you play through without the amp being fully cranked)i had a jcm 900 for a while.The power amp blew and i had to replace 3 tubes within 1 WEEK of having the p.o.s. Anyways,here's how much money you save:power brake-$199marshall 900 head-$1,299 peavey 5150-$999 mesa rectifier-$2000 noise gate$99-$200 world class 32 bit effects-$1000's.I'm in my early 30's now and back when i started out in the late 80's,i had an ART rackmount,Digitech rackmounts,T.C. rackmounts etc.and the effects are just as good.When you want to channel swith THERE ARE NO DROP OUTS,you get your next sound in a millisecond.

It seems pretty sturdy and reliable.And forget about filling up the van with outdated rackmount $%^& and useless junk pedals......

Not yet.......

First,if your in a gigging band don't ever come to Jamestown N.Y.,there is no music scene here (as the town is dominated by cops,vagrants,and the spirit of Lucille Ball)The only musical entertainment around here is a drug-addled band called Synergy who people pay NOT to play.I enjoy playing respectable venues,as i need the right gear to get me through every gig.With this pedal and a Roland JC120 coupled to a Marshall 4-12 cab,i can sleep well at night without worrying about my sound.Keep an eye out for "Uncle Bob" Lindbeck yall!Some people have said i make Zakk Wylde look like $%^&(but shhhhhhh,thats our little secret,i love Zakk and Randy,and i have no ego like those gerbil &^%$#@ elitist tone snobs)peace!

Con un poco de paciencia le agarras el hilo, no tiene mayor problema si ya haz usado otras multiefectos de Zoom aunque coincido con otro "reviu" de mas abajo sobre que el manual no ayuda mucho ya que es un tanto pobre.

Mi setup es: gibson explorer o Ibanez RG370 o Epiphone Fat210 o Fender Srato mexicana o Yamaha RGX220DZ conectadas a la G2 y salida a un Marshall Valvestate 2000, o a un peavey TripleXXX combo 212 (uuff... me encanta este ampli) y mas frecuentemente a un minicomponente sony genezi RG575S (en el auxiliar de audio o en la entrada de microfono); lo cierto es que de acuerdo a el equipo en que lo conectes el G2 sonora distinto; la guitarra que mas uso con la G2 es la yamaha RG220, el sonido que da la G2 es increiblemente bueno si tomas en cuenta que cuesta mucho menos que otras multiefectos que dicen tener buen sonido (entiendase Boss, Digitech... suenan chafa)... Ademas hay que ser realistas: es verdad que el G2 nos lo anuncian como un simulador de pre amps Marshall, Fender, boogie.. es obvio que es mentira, este aparato no reproduce muy fielmente el sonido de cualquiera de esos amplos (que ademas cuestan diez veces mas que este aparatito), asi que no esperes que comprando la G2 ya la hiciste y ya te libraste de comprar algun dia uno de esos amplificadores.... Es decir, si cuestionamos al G2 desde ese punto de vista, obviamente sale perdiendo, la G2 no reproduce tan bien un sonido de tales amplos... pero, si hacemos a un lado semejantes palabras (simulador de marshall, bla blabla) y lo vemos solo como una multiefectos, la G2 sale bien librada, el sonido es muy bueno, mucho mejor que su antecesora la 505II e incluso que todas las multiefectos de la serie GFX anteriores; los solos suenan por momentos para mi, sin exagerar, inspiradores; con las pedaleras anteriores de ZOOM los solos y en general todo el sonido era medio chafa, no pude nunca paracticar bien un solo (notas agudas) porque el sonido era como salido de un juguete; en cambio esta G2 ahora es una excelente herramienta para practicar o componer o grabar, hay que tenerle un poco de paciencia al principio, y ya veras que por el precio es de lo mejor en su categoria, y hay que hacer enfasis en "categoria" por que esta G2 es como un automovil compacto, es decir, no seria justo comparar a un Pontiac Matiz con un Ford Mustang 2005, digo, igual en cuestion de Audio para guitarras hay de categorias a categorias, y la Zoom G2 es de lo mejor en su categoria (llamemosle la categoria de los compactos).

La G2 tiene una construccion solida, no como sus antecesoras que eran de plastico (la 505II o la 707II), no dudo que aguante un toquin en vivo, sin embargo, para tocar en vivo no estoy seguro de usar esta multiefectos, creo que depende de el estilo de musica que vayas a interpretar; en mi caso prefiero usar pedales independientes conectados a un amplificador como el marshall o el peavey que te dan mas potencia en una interpretacion en vivo (claro, en lugares no tan grandes); pero creo que el G2 tiene el aguante y confiabilidad para una interpretacion en vivo.

Nunca he tenido bronca con algun producto de Zoom, de cualquier forma en donde lo compre (en una tienda del centro de la ciudad, DF) me dieron garantia de un a?o contra cualquier falla que pudiera tener.

Llevo 11 a?os involucrandome con las liras, lo mio es el Rock en general, desde algo de los Beatles, pasando por Hendrix, Doors, LedZepp, pasando por Maiden, Accept.... del Rock al Metal pues, claro, con las debidas escapadas al blues y al jazz... en fin, esta multiefectos me parece una gran opcion para esos estilos que menciono, aah e incluso suena muy bien si le conectas unos buenos audifonos. Si la perdiera claro que me doleria y muy posiblemente me compraria otra, ya que como mencione, es una excelente herramienta para ensayar o practicar, aahh y tambien hay que mencionar que puede funcionar con 4 pilas AA, cosa que ninguna otra de su categoria (y que tenga buen sonido) te ofrece. En general me parece uno de los mejores productos de zoom.

If you never have used this type of ZOOM pedals, it may take you around ten minutes to start creati0ng the tones you are interested in; but if you have used the 505 II and such, it will be only a matter of seconds to start rocking. Of course, there are always details (like the line/amp option, tghe three different delays & the second EQ) you have to check in the manual once or twice. In summary: it has an easy interphase IMHO...

Have different setups. Let's talk about pickups instead of guitar collections: DiMarzio (Fred, PAFPro, Twank King) Seymour Duncan (Pearly Gates, Stacked tele p/ups (STK2?)) Gibson (57 classic)and a lot of different systems for acoustic guitars (di marzio, fishman, martin, yamaha, etc.) Sounds quiet well with all of them, and sounds like it could handle voice quite well since it is so clear sounding...

Noise is minimal... How come?... The sampling rate?...

Effects are not my specialty (particularly digital)but as long as I can hear the reverb and delays are fine. Do not know how I should rate the flanger, phaser, rotary and other effects. They sound OK but not that good (are they weak or what)...

I have been using it basically with a mixer and phones, but it did not loose tone quality when used with my Champ-25S amplifier by Fender. It sounded quite impressive indeed... Anyway, I go completely analog with my amplifier set-up (have you heard about VHT valvulator? It makes your pedals set up the quietest and best analog sounding thang you can achieve by bringing down the impedance from "high" to "low")...

I'm pretty sure you can get the tone from other guitar players, 'cause this thing is pretty flexible. Anyway, I do not care about a particular player's tone... (Don't get me wrong, I love some guitarists tones I unconciously go after, but do not try to nail them) I can get the ones i like & that's good enough to me...

The most interesting effects are the amp and speaker emulations...
Does that mean I like the distortions? Well, I like the reverbs too...

Now, here's my main commentaries:

1)A reviewer said he founded hard to get a "slightly broken amp blues tone" I don't understand. May be he is talking about the presets. The many chances you have to alter the tone MUST LET YOU DIAL UP THE TONE YOU WANT, EVEN A NICE JAZZ TONE FOR YOUR ARCHTOP GUITAR... Just be patient, keep on tweaking (bring the gains down a bit, try different amps and consider the minimal changes are noticeable and don't forget there are two volumes you can deal with)...

2) Nobody has said a word about using this box with electroacoustic guitars. I have been trying different ones. Even a classical guitar with nylon strings (Yamaha hybrid piezo pickup and microphone)sounds....GREAT... This box kicks the sorry %&$#$% of many dedicated acoustic guitar gadgets (not all, but many) that I have bought throughout the years... Most of them were so expensive and so, so weak... I will do you a favor and warn you about the worst one: the so called "Platinum-Pro EQ/PreAmp (bought from a suppossed to be great company) and paid for more than 300.00... mmmh... All of my acoustics sound great without too much tweaking (clean am sims of course)...

Looks quite sturdy... Hope it will last a long time... won't buy a backup because soon we'll meet better and cheaper gear by zomm itself or someone else's research...

Anyway, kudos to ZOOM! cause they nailed with this one... I have PX2 (KORG), V-AMP-2 (Behringer), SansAmp Classic (Tech 21) and so on... This one is another keeper...

I confess I do not gig anymore... Getting too busy and too old I supposse...

Never dealt with the manufacturer...

Of course I would try to repair or upgrade this thing if broken...

Play different kinds of music. I'm mexican, so I'm a natural fingerpicker, but I play electric (old style rock, rockabilly, blues & jazz, mainly, flamenco guitar, etc,.... Been playing for 22 years... I own too much gear...I'm a (GAS (gear acquisition syndrome) patient in recovering...

Anyway, I would buy it again... because it is too good for the price (don't understand guys who complaint on this one... Really, just don't get them...) There are single compression or distortion pedals (by BOSS or Digitech) way more expensive than this little wonder! As I said: I just don't get it (No entiende!)...

not rocket science, but depending on how many of the features you decide to use and how much tweaking you do, you may need to refer to manual frequently or have a great memory. not a problem for me. took a little bit of time getting familiar, then deleted the crappy presets, laid down my settings from scratch (WHICH EVERYONE SHOULD DO) over about 10 patches (which is way more than enough for me in a live situation), and done. manual is GREAT and very detailed.

absolutely teriffic (GIVEN YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING, AND TAKE THE TIME TO CUSTOMIZE IT). dont listen to any negative reviews on this. it doesnt matter how long these people claim to have played guitar, or how many tube amps they've had in the past. none of that matters. The versatility and capability of this pedal are technical fact. In fact i think the tech aspects (ie. harmonic distortion levels etc) are listed and available from zoom. There is not a similar unit (as it is still very new) that even matches it. This is the limit (maybe not for long but until the technology is outdated again). so any of these so called "experts" that complain about the sound either don't know how to set it right for them or have become such tone snobs that they lose their minds and reach the point we they really can only feel reassured by brand names (we all know they exist). playing guitar for 50 years doesnt mean you know everything about technology and a product that came out less than a year ago. I tell you sonically and in regards to tone, presets sound like shit, even starting from scratch a bare amp/sim or distortion may not sound how you like. but there is a crazy amount of tweaking and utilization of the pedal's gazillion other features and adjustable settings, past that point. our studio at first thought the quality was ok. the more we adjusted it the better it got. we had a wide array of popular rigs, (mesa rects, marshall jcms, peavey 5150, etc). It took a really really long time but we got to the point that with the right combination of other equipment and VERY precise & refined settings on the pedal running to our DAW the result was a near perfect sonic match to many of the rigs (but only with the original tubes) which we were then able to sell off. we were stunned. to our ears the tone was exact none of the produces, techs, or musicians could tell when the tracks were switching from zoom to actual rig and vice versa on the DAW playback. i will admit when we sent the signal through audio spec analyses and such, there were differences between the actual rig and the zoom. however, the differences were quite insignificant and measured in ranges virtually non-audible by the human ear. that being said perhaps some of the so called "expert" complaints root from thinking for example you can run a mesa rect sim through a crate cabinet and expect it to sound like an authentic mesa rig coming through a mesa cabinet. DO YOU REALLY THINK THE PEDAL "KNOWS" WHAT SH*T YOU INTEND USE WITH IT? objectively a very powerfull tool given you are the right kind of person to use it.

built well. constructed to withstand more than i could imagine throwing at it. obviously its not invincible. seems to me thats the reason some snobs on here have deducted points. it was 100 bucks and is built with more durability than a lot of high end equipment. lets be realistic. 10

never had to deal with them

after really exploring what it can do i would be willing to pay a lot more than 100 bucks for one of these.

If you have used Zoom before you already will know how to use it

The Best Zoom has done yet, really sounds good on my peavey amp,and through my computer

think it will last longer than their previous ones. Pretty solid

Havent had to use it yet.

Just what i was looking for, I really like the fast switching on it, perfect for switching between rythem and lead, the auto wah is much better on these also, only wish you could label each patch, but otherwise great product and cheap in price.

Easy to use once you read the small manual a few times. You twist a knob to select the module to edit, press another button to turn it off, press another pair of buttons to step through the effect and then there are three knobs to vary effect dependent parameters. Although the 2 digit LED display is large and easy to read from a distance, it's difficult to work out the two letter codes displayed on it.

I've used it with a variety of new and old gibson and fenders. As with real amps and effects, some work better with some guitars than others. Lots of nice sounds covering clean to over the top fuzz/distortion amp sims and delays, reverbs, phaser, harmony etc. Sounds best through my hot rod deluxe clean channel. I reckon anybody will find at least 5 amp/distortions they like. The effects sounds go from adequate to very nice. Finding it a bit hard to get good bluesy crunch but it is excellent for light to heavy distortion

I play blues, rock and classic metal. I'm continually finding new sounds that inspire me. It's cheap but not nasty. Probably one of the better values around today. I'd probably buy another if it was gone.

Very easy to modify. Easier than I initially thought.

Tried it with headphones, a 30watt amp and a hifi-system on a american series strat. Sound quality is often very high though it starts to clip and mess up the sound if you decrease the gain (below 40-50%) on some of the amp models. Also decreasing gain gives a quite unnatural faded sound (unlike their "real" counterparts). Most of the amps simulated are very "metal/hard rock" the only ones which were flexible and pleasant sounding were the OD1 and the clean fender. Also the effects were topnotch; good effects without killing the sound.

Seemed very sturdy. Knobs were tough and stomps had a good resistance.

Got a very nice site, demo sounds and manuals.

I had my hopes that this would match my taste. After reading about the high sound quality and reading rewies, I got kinda dissapointed when I tried it. Not of the quality though, but of the lack of flexibility. The amps while sounding good, if you like metal & HARD rock (duh, its a zoom), don't have as much gain control (as say a POD, Vamp or Tonelab)and don't really suit "older" type of rock/country (apart from the OD1).

Really easy to use if you've used a digital processor before. If not, then you should still be fine just as long as you read the manual. The controls are intuitive and clearly labeled with a solid feel to the knobs/switches. The only drawback is the minimalist screen and the resulting cryptic abbreviations that you have to learn. It took me a few days to memorize all the two-letter names for some of the more obscure amps/effects (it ain't hard to figure that CH stands for chorus). So, there's a small catch.

Ok, good things first... It's extremely quiet compared to pretty much anything except rack-mount studio processors. The instant patch change is AWESOME!!! Your standard effects like chorus, delay, phaser, are as good as any analog pedal and will make you wonder why you dropped a hundred bucks on your Phase 90/Small Clone or whatever you've got. Seriously. Some of the amp/stomp simulations are right on point, namely the Roland JC-120, Boss OD-1(so I was told), Fuzz Face. The acoustic simulator doesn't really sound like an acoustic-electric, but gives you a great sparkly rich sound. It has a six band EQ with low-mids, presence, and harmonics control on top of the usual bass/mid/treble which I found very useful. The tuner tracks well and the rhythm machine is realistic enough not to be offensive to your ears and also includes a few metronome options besides the many beats. Also, the noise reduction is nice if you're playing with a strat, but it hardly needs it with humbuckers.
As for the rest of it... The compressor is pretty crude, it jumps from having very little effect to huge squash and kills your tone. The reverb is so-so; just crank your amp up or plug in headphones and you'll hear all kinds of digital crap going on there, although at low to moderate volume it's OK. I was really looking forward to the "intelligent" harmonized pitch shifter which turned out to be slightly "retarded". It works well for slow sustained lines, but starts messing up when you ask more from it. And finally... the ditortions. I have to say I expected more; not perfect recreations of legendary amps, just more. I guess they still haven't figured out how to stuff a tube amp inside a computer chip. Even for a digital processor they're only OK at best. Some are better, some worse, some leave you wondering "what the hell were they thinking?"(ahem.. Metal Zone). With enough tweaking you can find a liveable compromise for almost every model but only the select few distortions are actually good.

Hard to say, it looks sturdy and the feel is of quality, but don't expect it to last a lifetime with regular use. Footswitches and input/output jacks are the usual suspects.

Like other reviewers said, it's hard to criticize this box for the price. However, nobody wants another "bargain" collecting dust in the closet either. Here's the thing: if you're a beginner or a casual player you'll be very happy. It will let you get the sounds of all your favorite artists close enough to impress all your non-guitarist friends. If you're looking to record into a computer using the cabinet emulation then look to something else unless you're absolutely strapped for cash. If you're a performing musician (also strapped for cash) then get this thing for the great effects and the stellar overall sound quality. For your first preset, turn every module off, turn the harmonics up a little to restore your true guitar-to-amp sound and save it. Afterwards, start from there in creating your presets. And remember that the most important part with any digital processor is the balance between your amp volume, pedal master volume, and amp model volume. It's the key to making them sound real and not digital.
Bottom line is this: the G2 makes a world-class effects pedal; it also makes a great beginner/first processor to keep you playing; but as a do-it-all unit it probably won't meet your expectations due to limited input/output options, somewhat lacking distortions, and very average DI performance. My rating for this category reflects its use as an effects box only. I wanted to be as honest and objective as possible for the people who are likely to purchase this unit online without a chance to play it first since that's what I had to do.

Ok so the screen is extremely minimal, but the dials tell you everything you need to know. I was tweaking this sucker out of te box, although it probably helps that i owned an older zoom product. The manual is very helpful too.

Ok you've really got to consider he price of this unit whilst describing the quality of the sound. I have to say it's extremely impressive. I use it mainly running through a PA in stereo, to save me lugging my amp around, and to use it as a backup. A lot of the effects are very similar to the older Zoom units. The distortions have really come a long way, especially with the cabinet modelling, you only really realise how good it is when you turn it off.

There's 20 distortions to choose from, I went through them all critically and found about 5 that I really liked, what more does a guitarist need? My only complaint is that the difference between 0 gain and 100 gain is not really noticable on most of the distortions, the same goes for when you lower the volume on your guitar, they don't really clean up the signal, except for a few of the crunchy, bluesy distortions. This isn't even a bad thing when playing live because it's a lot easier to get even signals between all the patches, almost as if they were compressed.

All the other effects are great, although I'm never really a fan of the Zoom flange sound, and the gimmicky effects aren't really useful. The delays are very good, and you can have two, even three at a time because theres different delay effects in each module. I love the tape echo because the repeats lose bass with each repeat, and the echo effect does the opposite, it loses high end. The reverbs are good too. The pitch shifters are good but I wish they'd put an octave effect in there. The harmoniser is good too (considering the price of the unit).

You can't really knock this unit for the price, and I honestly think the the higher sampling rate has made all the difference to the sound quality.

The case is a lot sturdier than older Zoom stuff. And the footswitches are tougher than the plastic things that they've used in the past, but I wouldn't hold my breath, they're probably still stuck straight to the circuit board. And there' no telling when a jack socket might die on you. These are worst case scenarios of course, but you really can't expect a unit of this price to withstand too much abuse. It's probably unfair of me to be so negative without a good reason, but if I were honestly going to use one of these fulltime I would definately buy a second one as a spare.

No idea.

This pedal is ideal for beginners, all the way across the spectrum if you ask me. I've been playing over ten years and I've gotten some amazing blues-rock tones out of this beauty. If you're going to listen to the presets and call this pedal names that's your problem, presets are never good, start from scratch, and only use cab modelling if youre not using a cab and vice versa.

I wanted to use a cheap volume pedal as an expression pedal but it didn't really work (needed a stereo cable, and didn't cover the full sweep), so be careful, might be worth buying a zoom expression pedal for it.

Like all effect units, take a little time and READ the manual!!! I know it's hard for us guys!!! But give it a shot!!! Zoom makes it very easy to create some truly great sounds from this amazing unit!!!

I use it with various setups. Home run through a vintage Dean Markley RM-40-DR (absolutely killer amp!!!) I use a variety of guitars,(Fender Tele heavily modified, Schecter PT Custom, Vintage Hamer Special, Steinberger Stick, and a Handmade Strat ala San Dimas style. The unit is absolutely silent!!! I have owned the original 505 since it came out, still going fine!!! This pedal is the Rolls Royce of the Zoom pedals!!! They really put on their thinking caps this time!!! I have played for over 25 years, I have played most every effect pedal you can get, I have also suffered through some really lame multi-effect units!!! This unit is quite simply stunning!!! Even the factory presets are really good!!! I won't sit hear and pick it apart because I am NOT a "tone snob"!!! I've got better things to do than spend my life whining about my search for the "Perfect Tone" Get A Life!!! The amp patches are great!!! If you want to nit pick about certain nuances of classic amps, then go blow you dough on a room full of vintage amps!!! Every effect on this pedal is good, Chorus, Phaser, Delay, and on and on. It's all good!!! I have a pedal board full of great classic pedals,and this Zoom pedal had me jammin for hours!!! My pedal board is quite jealous!!! I also have a Digitech Rp 50 which is a Turd compared to the G2, it is out the door next week!!! Another amazing feature is the fact that the G2 features a harmonized pitch shifter which means you can select the key and scale according to the phrase you play!!! This is worth every penny by itself!!! Don't waste another minute!!! Get one on ebay or rush to your local music store and demand one!!!

Regardless of whats others have said, if you treat your pedals with care, you will get years of use from them!!! My original Zoom 505 is still going strong after 9 years!!! The new G2 is much more sturdy, with a heavy metal (no pun intended) case, and great rubberized sided. I will use this all the time without a backup!!! What kind of faith would I have in my pedal if I carried around a backup???

Never had to call them. If it aint broke, then you've been taking care of it haven't you!!!

I play for my church every week, Contemporary Christian. At home I play Blues, Jazz , and some Classic Rock. I've been playing over 25 years. Other Gear is listed above. If it were stolen, I would order another one them same day, and lament the lose of the other G2. I love the whole concept of this pedal!!! Well thought out!!! Just try and find the same features on another pedal in this price range!!! Favorite feature? The amp models!!! Have tried most of the multi- units out there, my most recent was the Line 6 POD XT Live, great unit, but confusing, and huge, not to mention expensive!!! The G2 hold it own very well against some of the big boys out there, and icompact size, and price will give you some dough left for other things, like more guitars!!!!

Relatively easy to use, considering the small number of controls available. I mastered it in a few days.

I bought this to replace an old Korg PX4 I used for teaching at home, but ended up using it live as an amp modeller direct to board. Here are my opinions, compared both to amps/pedals and other modellers I've owned,such as POD and Tonelab:

1. The clean sounds are very crisp and usable.
2. The hi-gain sounds are nice and full sounding, and they sing when playing single notes, which most modellers won't do.
3. Several effects are outstanding, the others usable to good (except of course ring modulators and other gimmicks). The phaser, chorus,flanger and slow attack are excellent, good enough to use in place of a rack effects, IMHO. The spring reverb is so-so. I found the compressor to be functional but not close to a good pedal. The pitch shifting is as clean and smooth as any I've used on a guitar system. Pick attack is instantaneous, as is program change.
4. The Zoom noise reduction does a credible job, but I found it to be a little less smooth than other units I've used like POD or Korg.
5. Here's the bad news for me, and it's a pretty big deal. There really are not any good sounding "amp just breaking up" or overdrive sounds here to compare with a real amp or other modellers. The ground between BF Twin and Soldano is pretty shallow. I had to buy a cheap OD pedal just to get some non-metalish breakup. Also, the unit does not respond to the guitar's volume control like an amp would, or a good modeller like the Tonelab.
6. The outputs are guitar level, not +4, so there could be some issues with noise and gain when going direct. I run mine through an EQ with +4 TRS outs.

Seems very well built for a $99 pedal.

No experience here.

I play a lot of different styles but lean toward more classic tones. The hi-gain sounds on the G2 have opened up my playing to new possibilities, and I have several effected clean sounds that are as good as any I've ever had. If this unit had better overdrive sounds I would consider buying the G7.1ut as my main rig. As it is, I'm thinking of going back to a small amp and pedals for live use, in which case I will initially use the G2 for some effects and distortion. I recently sold my Vox Tonelab SE and switched to the G2 temporarily, with the loss of overdrive sounds as a result. The fact that the G2 can hang with the clean and hi-gain sounds of other modellers for $99 is pretty impressive to me. A flawed but good effort.

My son is 1 1/2 yrs old and he is editing patches as I type this! He could've read the manual but it is too easy he didn't need to.

I am using a $10,000 les paul and sometimes I use a guitar my grandma bought me from walmart THEY BOTH SOUND TREMENDOUSLY GREAT through this pedal. I'm glad they put lights on it, because it's so quiet I didn't know if it was on! Auto makers should learn something from this pedal. The sound is SUPER, I was playing some Vai stuff the other night and my neighbors were outside my house selling tickets because people actually thought STEVE VAI was there playing!! The distortion is TOP NOTCH I play everything from Wynonna Judd to Accept.

Seriously, I think this is built out of titanium, I accidently dropped it from our balcony on the 41st floor and I thought "oh no" but, when I went down to the street everyone was just standing around saying "now, that's a well built pedal". It was still in ONE PIECE not even a scratch!! Come to think of it, It almost sounds better now, if there can be such a thing!!!!

Like I said it's so quiet, so I called tech support to see if they could tell me if it was on and the SUPER NICE guy on the other end told me about the "lights" and that they would be on if the unit was on so.. WHEW!! They are TOP NOTCH, he even offered to send me a case of my favorite beverage!!

I've been playing for 75 years. Someone DID already steal the first 3 of these things I bought so now I have a backup of 5 of them. The only thing I don't like it sometimes I hear voices coming out of the unit (cross-comms w/telco I I think) I've owned every effect pedal made by every company ever and this is the best one! I used to just play in my house but recently there was a MAJOR band in town and I guess they heard me and stopped so now I might be going to be on tour with them, I can't say who, but I'm not sure if they were on a bus or a Crazy Train HEHEHE. The only thing I wish this thing had, was a bottle opener on the back because those Mexicans put their caps on the bottles so tight!! The only thing else I would like to share is that if you don't go buy one of these right now then you should probably sell all of your gear and move to iceland and plant daisies on the beach!

The two-digit display is irritating, but for all that, it isn't very hard to program.

For a $100 device, this thing is marvelous. I won't rehash what people have said below, but you CAN GET NATURAL OVERDRIVE OUT OF THIS THING. The way you do it is to choose the "booster" option from the WAH/EFX module, and use it to drive the clean amp models--the Twin and AC30. You can also drive the Deluxe model nicely by turning the gain all the way down and using the booster. The booster is the secret weapon for natural overdrive. Seriously. Also, this pedal is VERY quiet and the delays are great.

I play indie rock and electronic/experimental music. This will replace a large pedalboard full of stompboxes AND an amp in my live electronic-music rig. It's a great deal for the dough.

very easy if you are not trying to do many things with it. simply turning knob 1. to control, for instance, will allow you to use knob 3. to attenuate master volume, which on mine was at 86, a tearyourheadoff setting. then, for instance,turn knob one to mod/sfx and then use one of the little selectors just below to scroll through the various effects-------try them one at a time, adjusting each with the other three knobs. different effects reflect differing values in the three adjuster knobs.

as the manual reads: adjust your instrument and your amp accordingly as in any common sense audio setting.

never weak. thing one on this box is big sound. thing 1.1 is distortion. i play ten guitars, from a custom Chris Sayre, chrome and ebony strat to a 1931 martin 017 with a bartolinni A2. depending on venue and effects, either a quadrophonic systems of battery-powered amps between 30 and 50 amps, or a marshall plexi +/-.

i do no covers.

best effect is tape echo.

once again, you have to adjust the noise factor........it is possible to go totally clean.........but why? the thing is inyourface, satan, distortion paradise.

ps.......the word pristine, is lame.

so far. two weeks in, and it does what i have programmed. i never use computers except for writing. the effect has to be easy to understand, or i send it back quickly.

i never go w/o backup.

one time five years ago. real guy on phone helped me solve problem myself.

i've played for 29 years and am producing an albumn and a show during 06. my guitar sound has a large dynamic range, from unplugged little old martins to my chrome strat (with Black Ice) through G2.

Boss DD-3 & DOD250.

Boss ME30.

DanEcho/Dunlop rotovibe.

Most of these are souped up by my tech, the luthier, chris sayre. Write him at choreopera@yahoo.com. Chris also voices my guitars for the various tunings and beefs up the bracing, customizes the profiles, etc.

I play both neo-Broadway pop, prog-rock, and what is usually called classical music. most of it on guitar, some on synth and one piano, a little on pipe organ. my present project, The Last Ingenue, is a musical/rock opera.

One can also write choreopera@yahoo.com for information as casting is underway for guitarist/singer/actors.

i'm a private detective; no one steals my gear. and if your head's in the game, no one will steal yours either.

like big sound and for 100 bucks, it would be worth it if it did one really good thing. it does at least ten for me now, and the number one, the tape echo is not only a better sound than an echoplex, which i have used and owned, but there is no echoplex noise, which can be dreadful, and i am not tight assed about noise.

i can play 4-8 guitar parts on this setting, and the machine defaults to it (because i saved it 2 or 3 times) when turned on.

i can skip to the chase and attack immediately.

if you don't like distortion, or at least distortion laying back there like a caged tiger or a nuke meltdown waiting to happen, then this probably won't work for you.

i can share my music. again, choreopera at yahoo.com.

I used the 505-II for years at about a zillion gigs, and then went to the GFX-8, so I was familiar with most of the concepts of the G2 and the editing procedure. For the novice or someone never owning a Zoom, I'd think editting the patches might be tricky, at first, until you get a feel for how to do it. The 505-II, I'd give that a 10 for ease of programming. The G2, probly a 6 or 7.

Its quiet, I'll say that much. the effects are generally quite good. the Vibro-tone is excellent, as good as pedals I bought for the sole purpose of that, for much more. the chorus is also good and the delay is much improved over the 505-II, with longer delay times available.

However, the drive modes are not satisfactory to me at all. I dont play metal, and altho there are a few really good hi-gain drive modes, that isnt what i do (classic rock and country rock). the 505-II had a great basic rock guitar drive mode called OVERDRIVE. Very warm, natural sounding and responsive, to me anyway. The GFX-8 has it too. Zoom blew that off with the G2, and instead, has gone to amp modelling and nothing on there, to my ears, comes close to the old OVERDRIVE mode on the 505-II. A real disappointment. I was hoping to use the G2 as my only onstage box, with maybe a wah wah, but it wont happen. I simply cannot find a basic rock tone I like out of this, and grew tired of messing with the extended EQ settings thru three different tube amps, over about 2 or 3 hours.

I have not tried this directly thru our PA but that isnt how i like to play a show anyway, I like a little tube amp behind me. the 505-II and the GFX-8 work great in this manner. so far, the G2 does not, not for me, altho if you played metal or heavy alternative, or grunge or goth or whatever, it probly would.

At this point I've got it on my big pedalboard to use in a true bypass loop as a time-based effect generator only. Delay, chorus, echo, vibro-verb, stuff like that, and it works well that way. You can turn off everything except the effects module, including the EQ, that is helpful.

However its pretty much one effect per patch and with only the two digit display, its tough to remember at a gig, which is which. You need a printout, just like with the 505-II. the GFX-8 fixed this by having a multiple character readout, but the GFX-8 wont run on batteries, has a weird and delicate power cord, and has the half a second delay when you switch patches. the G2 is an improvement over all those things.

Still, I'm unhappy with the G2 drive modes, and altho a couple were ok, notably the Boogie Mk 3 and the OD-1, still, when A-B'ing them with a 505-II set up in Overdrive, it wasnt a good comparison, for what I wanted. Zoom screwed up, in this respect. Most amp modelling to me, sucks. I dont like Line6's stuff, either.

I havent used the G2 at a gig yet, but have used the 505-II and the GFX-8 at many shows.

I've emailed the company a few times over various issues, andonly got one response, which was obviously written by a japanese person who had limited english skills. not great.

Easy to use. Editing is not to bad to get around the unit. The manual is helpful if needed.

I'm using a Gibson SG. Also processing raw guitar samples through this unit, just like you would a real guitar. I am going strait to a mixer. The amp simulations are basically trash. Only the clean sounds are decent. This is supposed to be the heart of the unit and 90% of it sucks. Please give me a good amp sound first, before you give me any of the fillers and dressings. What a disappointment! With a sampling rate of 96k you think it would be better. The effects are good and useable. Clean but thin sounding. Good noise reduction. Cab simulations sound fair at best. Maybe this thing sounds better through an amp. I doubt it.

Well built.

Never have.

I would not buy it again. For around a 100 bucks your getting a lot of stuff hear. It's digital and it sounds like it. After a half hour your ears are tired of it. The ZOOM 5000 pedal is the best thing ZOOM ever made. You need to get the tone down first before any thing else, and this falls way short.

Features listed already. 2 digit display with 4 knobs a few little buttons and 2 footswitches. Display is nice and bright. But as mentioned getting into effects takes a while with the manual to hand as some of the names for amp models etc are a little vague.
Power switch is a nice touch though.
Presets are gash in general and it took me at least 30-60mins to start getting the sounds i wanted out of it.

I have used this unit now with- straight into my DAW at home and in the studio through a desk and a DI unit, through a HIWATT 100w head, a peavey classic 30 and my Vox AC30. Oh and headphones.
Patches need to be tailored to whatever you are running it through obviously. It has switchable cab modelling for running direct.
First impression was how scarily quiet this thing is. I mean seriously quiet.
Plugged in direct to my audiophile at home in stereo it sounds very useable. Some of the amp models are pretty good like the boogie, marshall and JC120 sounds. Some are not that outstanding but still quite useable such as the vox. I dont think the pedals through the cab sim sound that great in general. Not bad just not great.
Plugged in to an amp with the cab sim off is a different story. Some of the amp sims still sound good and most of the pedal sims sound pretty good. The only complaint with the pedal sims is that they are a little too smooth sounding to my ears next to analog dist pedals but still reasonably faithfull to the modelled sounds.
Ok the next bit is easy. The delays, reverb and modulation are superb. There could be more reverbs maybe and maybe 100% wet mix and stuff but they just sound great anyway. Add a pedal for delay hold and have loads of fun looping and stuff.
The compression too is very useable and good sounding. The noise gate is effective without too much artifacts. Intelligent pitch shifting is a thin lizzy heaven.
And strangely enough there are only one or two special effect type things that will probably be quite usefull.
Overall I would say this pedal is very useable as a single unit for live or recording. Used in a bigger rig it is excellent for using for filling in gaps. Upto now I have been using it live for delays,comp,chorus,trem and a touch of reverb.
Oh the drum thing is ok. Not much i can say about it really as i have only used it for about 5 seconds.

Solid unit. Nice rubber edges and tough feeling footswitches. I havent checked but it doesnt seem as if the jacks are pcb mounted although i may be wrong. But all the same they feel very solid too.
Patch switching is instantaneous. I would happily gig it without a backup.

This pedal is very usefull and great sounding. The only quibbles I can raise are just petty as the unit is so cheap. I cant think of anything in this price range with such high sound quality. I am just a little gutted I didnt shell out the extra for the exp pedal version. I didnt realise how good it was gonna be.
I didnt buy it for dist but I have found myself using some of it at home for quick stuff into my computer.
I havent used any digital gear for 4-5 years because I realised how rubbish they sounded next to analog stuff but my space echo broke and I needed a delay so I looked into this. It was intended to fill that gap till i fixed the tape delay and I was just gonna give it to someone who needs it.
Well I forgot about fixing my tape delay and I am keeping the G2 for the forseeable future.
For this price right now I think this unit is unbeatable.

Just bought one of these for my son (for Christmas) so, of course, I had to try it out. If you can operate a bunch of separate stomp boxes then you can work this beasty - just turn the switch and the knobs will set up each virtual stomp box in turn. I can't see how it could be much easier in that way. What makes it a bit more difficult is the two-digit *numeric* LED display. This is great to read your patch number from a distance but pretty limiting for editing because every parameter becomes a cryptic two "character" code. Takes a bit of getting used to, so you'll need to keep the manual handy to start with. So... good news and bad news.
Any more bad news? Yup, there aren't enough patch memories! With a box that sounds this good and has so many possibilities it needs more than lesser units, yet it only (really) has twenty. It has forty user patch numbers but half of them are for stage use (no cab models but extra EQ) and half for studio. The Korg AX10G (my daughter has one) does a similar sort of thing but just has a simple LINE/AMP switch. Why can't Zoom do this (Answer - they want to appear to have more memories than they really have!).

I have only tried the G2 with headphones so far but the verdict is... WOW! It brings VST plug-in or rack unit quality to a stomp box. At last every effect sounds clear and detailed - even distortions! I have a Korg PX4 for practice, which I use with a Steinberger Spirit GT Pro. This is fine with average headphones but I'm reluctant to use it with my studio AKGs because they show up the digital mess around the edge of the sound. No such problem with the G2.
I can't vouch for the accuracy of the amp models but they give a great range from squeaky clean through to something like a buzz saw cutting through a tin shack - and everything in between. You will probably need to ignore the presets and set up your own sounds, but you should be able to find whatever you want. The only limitation I've found is that it seems quite tricky to set up a touch-sensitive crunch for blues, where quieter notes are clean but as you pick harder the distortion comes in progressively. The sound *is* there but I haven't yet got it as responsive as I could on a good amp - or even my PX4.
The effects which go along with the amp models are excellent: clean and easy to set up, with just enough controls. You can get a pretty ridiculous number of delays - three sections can each be set to delays simultaneously. The noise gates need to be set up properly to get the best out of each guitar (another good reason for more memories!). You can even dial up a knackered noise gate to go with a crappy digital distortion. Not sure why, but you *can*...
The built-in rhythms have pretty good samples and above-average patterns. They are only any use for practice (you can't edit or chain them, there are only about 35 rhythms plus 5 metronome "patterns" and switching them on cuts out the reverb) but they do the job.

Zoom gear always used to be a bit cheap and nasty - though I'm told not as breakable as they seemed to be. This is a different ball game - it seems really solid and chunky. The controls feel great, the footswitches are positive and solid and, all-in-all, I can't see how they do it for the price. This is only the price of one of the cheaper Boss boxes and feels very bit as solid - but does as much as a whole bunch of them!
Unless it starts showing electrical problems of some sort (I've only had it two days) I would trust this on stage. Probably not with the wall-wart power supply, though - that's just a cheapo average consumer unit.

Never dealt with them. Hope I never will.

I am primarily a keyboardist but using guitar more and more over the past few years - it's nice to interact with something real and immediate. I play a wide variety of styles from jazz, through blues and indie to the occasional thrash. This will do the lot. I have used it with both of my guitars (Steinberger Spirit and Washburn MG40) and the SG copy I've bought for my son (his other Christmas present - shh!) and it makes everything sound great. I like the size, the looks and the price - as well as the wonderful clarity of the sounds.
I don't like the limited display (why not two-digit alphanumeric, at least). I like even less the lack on memories but, hell, for this price?!
Would I buy another? Well as soon as I recover from Christmas I think I'm going to buy the G2.1u - can't let my son have better gear than me! ;o)

It took me all of 15 minutes to completely understand every aspect of its programming capabilities.

The sound on this unit is brilliant. I've been looking for the perfect direct recording interface for computer recording and I think that I've found it in the Zoom G2. Zoom has set the bar at a new level with this product. It is extremely quiet. The noise reduction makes the buzz in the treble pickup of my Strat virtually nonexistent. The distortions are fantastic. There is enough gain programmability to execute blazing solos without the need for any other effect pedals. The amp sims are amazing. The clean guitar sounds are superb as well. The effects are unparalleled for a unit at this price. The best 100 dollars that I've ever spent.

All metal build. Solid. I just bought it but can't foresee too many problems.

I play alternative/industrial rock along the lines of NIN, gODHEAD, Rammstein, TOOL, etc. The Zoom G2 definitely fits the bill for this type of music. I own lots of other gear including the Sansamp GT2(which is also good), the KORG ampworks device, the BOSS Metal Zone and various other effect pedals. I play through a Fender Strat. Until now, I've had to use various devices simultaneously to get the guitar sound that I want. Thank you Zoom.

Easy to get some great sounds if you take the time to adjust the settings. The presets, aren't great. Editing is pretty simply but for most of it you need to use your hands. Some memorization or frequent manual referencing may be needed for more complex effects and operations but once you've got your settings save em and leave em.
There is a manual. It is very thorough, detailed, and relatively easy to understand.

I use mainly epiphones, PRS, fernandes, and Gibson, with hard rock or metal type pickups and tones. Peavey, Marshall, and Mesa heads with marshall lead and 1960a, and berhinger cabs
A lot of people not giving high ratings here are just being ANAL. like this reviewer who posted his review a couple below me making ridiculous subjective claims and presenting them as fact. As far as digital multieffects pedals go this is one is right up there. I've used many different ones in the past: digitech, boss, other zooms, dod, Line 6 etc. This is one is in an entirely different world. Sure the presets are lame but the quality of the individuals effects, distortions, amp sims, etc is incredible. It is VERY clear sounding in general as someone else as mentioned (yes on distortion as well, it is very tight). Zoom was extremely thorough with this pedal, giving great versatility and variety. For once a digi multi effects has a decent amount of gain with tons of options for adjusting tone and overall sound. The person a couple of posts below says the amps models/sims are poor..... THAT IS BS, sounds like he/she's trying to make themselves seem extra professional. well stop being so anal you little babies, its just a pedal its not designed to read your mind and mutate to the gear your use it with. but hey NO pedal does that so get used to it. giving this pedal a 7 because stupid crap like that is ridiculous that would make the majority of other ones out there 3s and 4s. i wonder if these people are even comparing to other products or keeping in mind what it is.
as for the amp models/sims they are actually very good its "scary" as someone else has said. obviously when you hook it up to your rig its not going to be a "replica" of the sound its trying to model because your running it through an additional, preamp section, power, amp section, likely diff cabinets, etc. DUH. but the signal actually coming out of the pedal before it goes through all that extra crap is very good, and if you can get your amp to some very neutral/flat settings the simulation is again so good that its "scary". I have a mesa dual rec half stack, and a Marshall JCM, as well at the same place i use this ZOom pedal through just a solid state peavey. WEll with the right settings on the peavey and zoom, they can sound RIDICULOUS similar to either when on those amp sim settings. And you can test this out by running one of those original rigs into a DAW with no additional preamp, and then the same straight frmo the zoom to the DAW with no rig infront of it. VERY good job by zoom. By the way, even if you are running it into an amp zoom even acknowledges the fact that this affects the sound and even has a section in the manual which says how to set some popular amp models to use the zoom pedal with to bring out the intended sounds. like i said, very thorough by zoom. i mean even by just looking and and thinking about some of the samp models/sims they have on there, like for example, the roland chorus amp, or a couple of the clean/semi clean fender ones - these are unique sounding amps but lets face it they are not that shockingly distinct - yet zoom takes the time to model them anyways even for the finest and most subtle of tonal details that make them unique - can you say THOROUGH? anyways im not going to go through every little effect and detail but overall the sound quality is very impressive compared to other so-called "pristine" digi effects units/modelers. I think that this new line or chip by zoom is a huge leap for these kinds of products. and of course its not automatically going to make you sound like a million bucks fix all your problems, replace other shitty equipment, or read your mind and tastes. but like i said no peice of equipment does that (especially just a 99 pedal) and likely wont any time soon. So i'm not going to dock points for that. I'll judge it for what it is. It does its job very well and completely meets and EXCEEDS expectations for a $100 pedal. I would give it a 9 but i haven't seen another unit in its class for under 5 times the price, so bumped up to 10. oh and the acoustic sim is the best so far of many i've tried. and the tuner tho i thought it was funny and cheap at first (check it out you'll know what i mean) it turned out to be insanely accurate/sensitive. you need to have your pitch nearly POSITIVELY correct or it will read out of tune. just wish the display was better

damn this thing is sturdy. wouldnt expect it to give out (inless electronically some how). For a unit this compact that really went all out on making it tough. Made out of solid sturdy materials, good design. I've been depending on it so far with no problems and would definately gig without a backup and not feel worried. Not docking points for ridiculous hypothetical siutations or because its not completely indestructible like my favourite review from 2 down did. of course it can break, EVERYTHING can. but this one is right up there.

never had to deal with Zoom directly. but the manual is great. its very detailed and thorough. babies you and makes you feel like they care about how you're using their product.

Well is mess around with all types of music. mainly play harder rock, punk, emo, metal, alternative, but also play around with a variety of other stuff. pretty picky with tone and overall sound but dont need to be spoonfed everything. just need something that is CAPABLE of bringing out my desired sounds dont care if i have to mess with it. thats exactly what this pedal is. so i really like it. has everything i need and more. and its not like you pay little money and get lots of effect but they are shit. not at all like that. the effects are high quality. why go out and buy a boss metal zone, or line 6 uber metal (like i did) at $130 when you can get this unit with tons of effects at the same quality and better for less? and with much more versatility. this pedal solved a lot of my problems and saved me a lot of money (and i expect will keep saving me from buying other shit as long as i have it) and dont get me wrong i'm not wowed because this is my first multi effects or something i've had MANY suggested pristine quality ones in the past. but they were just lacking, didnt meet expectations, and were not all that they were boasting to be. i have no problem keeping this one tho. very satisfied. the pedal is still a new advancement and is at the top of its class so i'll give it a 9. there wil probably be improvements in the future (at this rate it will be zoom exceeding themselves) but until the i'll leave it with a 9 docking points only cos it should be a simpler and easier to use and read layout.

It takes some tweaking to get sounds customized to your amp, guitar, and music genre preferences as it would with any MFX pedal.

Editing patches is a little more difficult than it was with a 505-II because the G2 adds deeper editing parameters that force you to reuse knobs meant for one purpose in "play" mode and another in "edit" mode.

That said, you have much more control over parameters affecting EQ, FX, and patches than you ever did with the 505-II.

I like the ability to turn off every module individually - EQ, FX, drive, etc if you want.

I'd put the 505-II at 10 for ease and the G2 at 8 - oly because it has many more parameters to edit - that's a good thing.

The manual covers all the ground you need.

The unit is not noisy.

I use mine with a Gibson archtop and a fender tube amp.

The effects are very editable and customizable with some deep edit parameters. A six band EQ allows fine tuning of the EQ. Three types of reverb - Hall, Room, and Spring along with a "pre-reflection" setting and other parms allow tailoring of the 'verb to taste. Chorus is decent as is echo/delay.

I usually turn off the compressor altogether as it just softens the tone too much most of the time.

Overall, I am very happy with the tones from this unit. I also have the GFX-5 which is even mroe editable, but it only has 20bit AD conversion compared to the G2's 24 bit.

I'd give it a "10" for the $$, but the compressor and the lack of a limiter is enough to bump it down to "9".

I've owned Zoom's 505, 505-II, 504-II, GFX-1, GFX-4, GFX-5, GFX-8, GFX-707, and now the G2. I've not needed much support in the past but when I did need it with my GFX-5, they were helpful even though their "fix" did not fix the problem at hand. No biggie as I fixed it.

Includes a $29 power adapter, unit is mostly metal, good metal connectors, lots of good sound in a small package for short money. i think it's a terrific deal.