Zoom G2

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.