Zoom G9.2tt

Relatively Easy to use and figure out. After six months in your free time, with the User Manual, you can eventually master about everthing. I'm running this thing thru my H & K Warp X, an already great metal amp...thru my Bogner UberCab, and its like powering the thing with a nuclear reactor! There's no limit to the tones you can create with this thing. And OMG LOUD. ATTENTION - BE SURE IF YOU DO THIS WITH YOUR EXPENSIVE TUBE HEAD YOU'RE ON THE CLEAN CHANNEL WITH ALL YOUR EQ SETTINGS DOWN VERY LOW.

This is why I decided to write this review. I've used a few other modelers before, high and low end... and this thing takes the prize! Incredible. Transparent, yet totally pure and no weird "reverb sounding" overtones. Responds to your individual guitars. So many features here to discuss. The best thing I like is the noise gates, THREE of 'em, and if they're ingaged use 'em all. Dead quiet at scary, headache-inducing volumes with no feedback, hums or hisses.

Can't say just yet but so far so good! I got it used at GC for $150 bucks and the idiot who owned it must've put a nick in the power supply cord and "camoflaged" it with black duxt tape. I'm gonna contact 'em to get another one and fresh tubes for this beast.

I'll let ya know!

I'm a fairly decent, well-rounded player/instructor/session guitarist and I've played for 30+ years now off and on in numerous rock bands. I had a Vx Tonelab SE and paid $400 more and it and couldn't use it live. I knew exactly what I wanted for years and I got it with the Zoom G9.2tt. No more "stomp boxes! Samson Electronics has just fairly recently bought them out, so I knew this thing would be awesome based on the quality/reliability of my Samson wireless system. Only the "perfect" processor that exists in the future gets the 10 here...

I was surprised when I bought it at how easy it was. I had spent the two weeks waiting for it to come, endlessly researching it and was prepared for a challenge but when it turned up, i was surprised. It was very easy, almost plug and play. The presets needed to be fiddled with as a lot of them simply showed off the pedals capabilities rather than being genuinely useful sounds. I found difficulty in renaming patches and also some of the editing was a little bit confusing. Nonetheless, I have never used the instruction book and it is still running perfectly, and with sounds I would have thought impossible!

It is, to sum up, absolutely incredible, the depth of every sound is incredible. My setup is as follows:
Jackson SL1 USA Soloist
Behringer V-Ampire 120w stack
Zoom g9.2tt
I also play on hybrid 9-11 strings.
The drive sounds are amazing, I have always wanted that very smooth overdrive that I hear other guitarists use, my main influence being Dave Gilmours signature sound, (smooth overdrive + delay). I use this one patch for a lot of things, due to the eq, the bass is picked up incredibly, i can get so much of a slam out of each chord that it is like im playing through a 300 watt amp at full volume. The tubes are a joy, the energizer tube just transforms the sound into an incredibly warm, deep sound that slowly decays (like a valve amp) and never feeds back (unless I want it to :-)) Overall, I cant put in words how good the sound quality from this pedal is, it is unworldly, and every other company is going to have incredible difficulty in even coming near to their quality and uniqueness.

I've so far only gigged on this pedal 6 times, and every time without backup. It is my trusty little tank - completely indistructable. I have put a set of plastic table-leg ends over the upper switches to make them more easily accessible. I've had it nearly a year and there is no sign of wear, despite it being used every day. The pedals have remained stiff and I have not tightened them yet (which is a nice feature) and the tubes show no sign of wear. Very very reliable - hasn't given me a seconds trouble

Overall I would say that this is the best accessory I have ever bought for my guitar, the sound quality is unlike anything I have heard and it is built like an armored tank. The Z-Pedal is genius as you have full control over the sounds and assigning them to the axis is a piece of cake. No company, boss, technics, digitech etc could even hope to compete with this pedal, it does everything i could possibly want and more. It will be a long time before I replace this pedal and i have no doubt that it will be a replacement of the same, or zooms next model which, if is above the standard of the g9.tt, will be one badass piece of kit :-)

I never updated the firmware because it's already updated to the latest and there's really no reason to unless there's some huge change in performance.
The G9 is laid out nicely and is different (but easy to grasp) from other models like the G1. It's easy to tweak your tone on the fly as well as do some eye-deep editing and really shape your sound the way you want it. It is slightly confusing if you don't take the time and experiment or memorize the manual.

The sound of the G9.2TT is, simply put, lifelike. Even through good headphones, you'd think you had your head close to a huge stack pumping out some saturated tube tone right in your face. The cab sim and EQ are both very powerful, and I personally like the ZNR gate, it's fast and can get pretty mechanic sounding at high settings because it cuts out with no background noise.
As in other reviews I've written, gain is great to have on tap. the G9 surpasses my need and gets pretty washy on high gain amps which leaves a wall of distortion that becomes overwhelming. I enjoy the Engl drive setting and the Boogie distortion is brutal.
Nobody else has really touched on the tubes an their character and how they affect the sound, so I'll say this. With the stock tubes it's awesome and you have more than enough tube warmth and grit. If you can't notice the changes as you turn that Energizer, something's wrong. Obviously, on high settings it's overkill and sounds like almost blowing power tubes because they're running insanely hot. A gentle mix of the thin solid-state and tube warmth is usually what I shoot for with both excelorators half way.
Effects are awesome and do what they're supposed to do and there's even some original Zoom effects that sound trippy and crazy. There's a synth that mimics the note you're playing that sounds neat and the Z-Talking is unique. Very good sound, full and huge. Better when I replace tubes though.

This beast is huge and darn heavy for an effects box, but the tube circuits and solid metal construction are the cause of that. The pedals and footswitches are stiff and secure, solid metal, threaded ratchet jacks, and heavy everything. The knobs (or most of them) are chrome and the others are hard plastic that require effort to turn and feel snug. But I will probably get a backup because if nothing else, two Zooms are better than one and it's better to be prepared. Haven't had it long though so can't really comment on long-term use. Hopefully the tubes aren't really annoying to get at.

Good but never needed them and their website is helpful.

This unit is probably the king of multi-effects with modeling capabilities, after that is TC Electronic rackmounts and really expensive stuff without amp and cab modeling. Well built and unique Z-Pedal make this unit stand apart from the G7.1ut and that's why I baught this instead. Two tubes (1 pre 1 post) give you loads of warm tone that can be different than anything you've heard before. I like the USB in/out and on/off switch, that's classic.
If you're thinking about upgrading your rig and need an effects unit that can drop your jaw, this thing has it all, even an effects loop for other pedals!
I love the almost instant patch change, no huge gap in time before you hear the next preset. And the interface is sweet. So if you want tone and don't feel like buying 40grand worth of amps and stomps, GET THIS!!
I know I'm a Zoom freak.

-It is easy to get a good sound ,
-you can spend hours tweaking the possibilties are endless
-Manual is ok ,assigning control targets to the expression pedals could be better explained.
-firmware is original

-Gibson M 111 guitar and Ross RC10 amp
-only noisy on very high settings otherwise brilliant
-the modulation effects could be more tweakble 1-50 for the rate isnt really acceptable for the chorus effect for example, maybe lose some of the silly effects, and make the common ones more programble that would make sense
-I can get many of the sound Im after- woman tone with the MS 59 and the booster set at 1 , heart full of soul Yardbirds with the rat,Pink floyd songs are easy to to get, Ive setup a a few patches copying pedals like Redwitches empress chrorus ,moon phaser and Fuzz god also E/h Polyphaser and stereo mem. deluxe these two companys pack allot of effects in thier pedals at least with the G9-2tt you can control everything with the expresion pedal and turn them on or off in Manual mode
- The Ms 59 plexi is brilliant so is the twin booster is great but could do with more than 5 settings, the accelerator and energizer add tube warmth but arent programable to each patch which is a same ,the Tone feature part of the eq helps getting the right sound as well , bright or dark or inbetween all the eq buttons are functional

Had it two years still going well , will change tubes soon, dont know about the Z pedal though its really an unknown how long it will last it seems a little flimsy, it is a musthave zoom should keep it for future models

Haven't needed them

-Mainly play rock , and heavy rock this unit will cover most music styles .
-If it were stolen Id possible buy another or maybe wait for the latest model from zoom or vox .The Tubes are what makes this unit great
-It would be good to have a proper rotary effect and more speaker cabinet otion like vox's tonelab le
- For once zoom have come up with a real winner thats better than line6
boss, and digitech , if they had more fuzz pedals like the tone bender m11 professional etc and got rid of the common ds-1 ,metalzone , guvnor dist+ and some of the silly mod. and wah effects , this would be a collectors item .

Quite nice amp simulations with acceptable dynamic response (Rect Vnt), but what can you expect from chip. Reverb is not very good sounding. This pedal seems to be only for amateur recording directly to PC via USB (Cubase) because for live performance is lacking necessary attributes of live sound. Tubes are noticeable and makes sound more real.

2 years and still working without any problems.

Better than creepy Behringer. Overpriced. I would recommend it for beginners.

Factory Patches are quite good, yet they don't use all the features this unit offers. Editing patches directly on knobs can be challenging, but via midi cable, using PC patch editor it is piece of cake. I would advise anyone with this unit to get midi interface and tweak the sounds using PC. Operation manual is supplied and is very useful, but it requires timo to read (100 pages.
When you get through it you find out some really mazing features, like you can in just one patch control Delay, Gain, Reverb, and Modulations with 3 fully programmable expression pedals and 2 function pedals, while you are playing live.

I am using this unit with BC Rich Warlock, an Jackson jdr94 made in japan, both sounding nice, through Roland Jazzchorus 120.
Every patch realy depends a lot on parameter settings, you can realy ruin it with bad EQ settings, which include bass, low mid, mid, treb, presence, harmonics. However, drives and amp sim sound really cool, modulations also, and delay is great.
You can download a lot of patches from internet and transfer them through midi cable into your g9.2tt

I am using it without a backup. Its made of metal, built like a tank :)

I only used the zoom website for download, and you can find useful software there.

I play progressive metal, but try to cover as much styles as i can, this unit is great for its versatility. Compared to other ME units it is great because of its smallest patch change latency, and the two tubes give some natural character to the sound.

I bought this unit only some weeks ago, but it is quite easy to tune up. I come from a Boss GT-6, which is far more complex than this unit. Maybe the semplicity is because the zoom G9.2tt has less parameters, but I think that it is more user-friendly than Boss GT-6. EQ, gain, presence and other parameters are very fast to set up and this is very good when you are in the middle of a sound check!
The manual, in my opinion, is very poor. Various links are not well explained and many topics are treated superficially.
It is a shame that you can't control patches via USB cable. I also have a Midi-Usb interface, but it doesn't work with the Librarian Editor (don't know why, maybe it's not compatible... But with the GT-6 it works perfectly!).

I am using this unit as a preamp, plugged directly in the return of a Carvin MT4200 head, with a Marshall 4x12 1960 lead cabinet (Celestion t-75 speakers).
I have to say: with this unit you can get a really huge distortion! For now, the best I have ever heard from a multi-fx unit (I tried boss gt-6, gt-8, gt-10 and line 6 pod xt live). I bought this unit to play melodic death metal and I can get a brutal distortion that sounded not so digital as the Boss GT-6 ones (in my opionion the distortion is better even than the Pod xt live). I think that the two tubes really make the difference.
Pedals and effects are fair. I think that GT-6 has better (and more) effects, but you can get a very warm clean, a huge distortion and some nice effects and that's enough for me.
Great noise reduction.

As I said before, I own this unit only since a couple of weeks. It seems solid, but I think it is better to use it with care. Switches and knobs absolutely doesn't seem indestructible to me and replacing the tubes is quite annoying.
For now I don't use a backup and I hope never need it.

Never dealt with them for now.

This unit, for my use, has a really good quality/price ratio.
I think that if you play metal or heavy music, you can get very good sounds just because there are distortions with a huge quantity of gain. For other styles I don't know... Maybe I would not recommend it if you do not care about distortions, and if you need a lot of particular effects and modulators.
The display should be larger, the switches should be more solid and the tubes should be more accessible.
Great thing that you have 5 buttons in a row to switch patches, but upper row buttons (channel, tap, and banks switching) are not so easy to press if you have big shoes or boots.
In the box you have the unit, the plug, the manual and a cd with Cubase LE. It should be great if in future they put in the box a compatible midi cable, an usb cable, and the editor librarian cd.

I've owned a ZOOM 9.2tt since 2007. I also own a marshall combo,various other combo's and heads 1 of which is an EVH 5150(which everyone knows is a monster).
Now i've told you some of the equipment i have at my disposal i hope you'll understand me when i say i've not used my EVH 5150 or my gig gear in the way i used before i purchased the ZOOM 9.2tt.

Getting a good sound from this bit of kit is easy,sure have a play with the presents,which are accurate enough( wicked when ya play covers as the tone is there no messing about). But dialling in your own killer tone is easy.

editing patches is far easier than the competition,again mostly works like the front of an amp.just take ya time then it will click into place.

The manual is fine and will show you how to operate it perfectly well,it's always gonna be a bit difficult going from pedals to an effect unit but in the long run you'll not regret it.

I've only replaced the asio driver other than that its standard

I use 7-strings of various types that are modded from orig spec.at the moment my mane guitar is a 7-string floyd rose washburn with emg707 & 81-7 pick ups in with an after burner.

MY LIVE SET UP IS:
WASHBURN GUITAR
CRATE CLASS D POWER AMP
ZOOM 9.2tt
SAMSON WIRELESS SYSTEM

The unit is silent on all settings. the noise gates and reduction system is 2nd to none set it correctly and you will not feedback and with no signal loss.

As with all effects time needs to be taken but you can find a sweet point on all the effects to suit your style. i've not found a weak effect yet for my needs.

You will find the tone of your favorite bends fairly easily (thats if there isn't a prsent).

The distortions are awesome and wah's are equal to stomp boxes.

YOU CAN RELY ON THIS UNIT. JUST DONT THROW IT OFF THE BACK OF THE TOUR BUS WHEN IT'S MOVING AS YA MIGHT SCRATCH THE PAINTWORK.

I GIG THIS UNIT EVERY WEEK AND RECORD REGULARLY HAVE DONE AND WILL DO. I DONT SEE THE NEED FOR A BACK UP AS I DO TAKE CARE OF THIS UNIT.

I FOUND IT HARD TO GET A HARD CASE FOR TRANSPORTING ON FLIGHTS FOR A TOUR WHILE IN EUROPE....BUT..

YOU CAN GET A CUSTOM BUILT 1 IF YOU NEED 1 LIKE I DID FROM.
THOMANN CYBER STORE BUT YOU WILL NEED TO CALL THEM.

Never had to deal with the company as never let me down.the unit for me is rock solid.

I've only ever upgraded the asio driver

I play metal and is the perfect match for me(www.myspace.com/shatteredallianceband.com).
I've been playing 18 years and the list of gear that i own has decreased massively since owning the zoom. but i do own marshall, peavey 5150,laney and various guitars out with mates on permenant lone if ya know what i mean.

If it were lost i'd get another 1
If it were stolen i'd hunt who ever it was and torture them slowly.
Either way i'd end up with a zoom 9.2tt again.
The only way i'd not have 1 of these is if a newer version came out.

I mostly love the ease of use and tweekabilty on the spot.IF you turn up at a gig and all's there but a crappy amp to plug into you'll have know problems as you can Di it straight into the desk and bingo there's your killer tone.

I compared all the top makes and there is only 1.

ANYTHING I WISH IT HAD--- MAYBE STOCKINGS AND SUSPENDERS...

This bit of kit can't hinder your making music only inspire.

ANYTHING ELSE I'D LIKE TO SHARE?.....NO BUT YOU WONT BE DISSAPPOINTED

"How easy is it to get a good sound out of it? "
Defaults patches, suck a little. It??s very easy to use and get very good, fat, warm sounds.
"How about Editing patches?"
Very easy, and if you happen do have midi interface, it??s piece of cake
"How is the manual for it (if there is one)?"
Ohh, I dind??t read it :P
"Do you know the firmware revision number? Has your unit been upgraded? "
Yeah,I??ve upgrade it myself. No issues at all

"What setup (i.e. what guitars and amps) are you using this with?"
I??m using an Ibanez EX370.
"Is it noisy? On what settings?"
It was a little noisy at the middle switch, but I lowered the midle pickup and noise went gone. Did the same on a Fender with the same result. Noise gone.
"Are the effects weak or do they always sound great? "
In my opinion, they always sound great.
"What amp are you using it with? "
I??m using a Fender FM25DSP Guitar AMP but I play with headphones most of the time.
"Are certain effects (distortion, chorus, ...) very good? Very bad?"
Distortions great, and are much better that what I got from Boss GT-10

"Can you depend on it? "
I would like to play live with it, but I??m not sure the amp valves wouldn??t crash
"Would you use it on a gig without a backup?"
I would like to play live with it, but I??m not sure the amp valves wouldn??t crash with water. Well, not every equipment is ready for the rain, we know that! :)

"If you've dealt with the company, how helpful/friendly were they? "
Never had to. Bit the site has all the info and software I need for both mac and windows.
"Ever get an upgrade, or try and get it repaired? "
Never had to.

"What style of music do you play? Is this a good match? "
I play stuff like Steeve Vai, Pink Floyd, Yngwie J. Malmsteen, Satana, etc
"How long have you been playing? What other gear do you own? "
I??ve been playing for about 17 years. I??ve got lots of gear, too many to write here.
"If it were stolen or lost, would you buy it again or get something else? "
I would buy it again for sure, or and updated version of it. I love the valves. They produce the sound I need.

Plug 'n play.........but...
Phew, this puppy has just sooo many options, my mind was boggled. My burnt-out old BOSS ME10 was not nearly as complex. I've had it just over a year now, and I'm still just using the presets.

I was not too impressed with the Cubase s/w, seemed convoluted and there are easier ways to record for dummies.

So, I'm lazy/dumb.

These pedals really shud come with a DVD/VIDEO which steps the dumb and lazy through the options. Reading most manuals is always like studying for an exam.

Anyways, there are some velly nice presets, warmer tone than BOSS IMHO.

Has anyone tried the additional patches?

Amps...Meassa Boogie and Roland Cube....strange combo, i x tube, 1 x SS not the best idea I guess, but still get the stero effect.

Mex Strat, if it was not for the effects I'd toss it in the garbage. LOL

I've had very limited time to experiment so far. Have added external WAH pedal to avoid having to fiddle with presets. LOL

Fav guitarist...Frank Zappa...anyone have tips to get close to his sound?

Can you depend on it? Hope so...

Gig: Sure

n/a
n/a

Style...Rock

Playing on and off 20 yrs, I godda find another hobby!!!

If it were stolen or lost, would you buy it again or get something else......not sure

what do you love about it? What do you hate? What is your favorite feature.....TUBES give more realistic warm flavour vs BOSS

Anything you wish it had? I wish it had come with the right side foot switch that could reach the switch beneath it. Had to fiddle and attach a gizmo to do the job. Stoopid design error by ZOOM.

BOSS appears more rugged, but have not had this pedal for 15 yrs, so hard to compare at this stage.

I found it quite easy to get good sounds out of it using the G9Ed software.

However there are lots of parameters to I wrote a program to automatically
generate a random patch (which can be based on a supplied favourite patch).
See Zoom Random Patch Generator (For G9.2tt / G7.1ut ) at:

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/davieses/Zoom_RPG/Zoom_RPG.htm

There is a good PDF manual.

I haven't upgraded to the latest firmware revision as it offers no significant improvements.

I'm using a Fender Telecaster direct, the noise gate generally ensures
it is quiet, but some "breathing" can be heard on some effects.
I found the giasso Steve Vai patch "For The Love Of God" stunning.

I have gigged using it without a backup.

Zoom do reply in a friendly way to emails, but they have not made
any significant software upgrades available for the G9.2tt.
For example new features have been added to the B9.1ut but it is unlikely
that these will be backported to the G9.

I play rock/pop and it suits me - I even managed to use it on a bass
guitar. See G9 bass patches at:

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/davieses/Zoom_RPG/G9Patches.htm

My favourite features are the amp models, the tubes and the 3D pedal.

Pretty steep learning Curve if you dont know what your doing, not at all like the super user friendly Boss GT10 (only played it in the shop for 30 mins and was already sussing it)

All in all if i play around with it enough I get what i want, I owned a Boss ME-50 and a zoom 707 before this (both really easy to use) and while at the start it was harder to use since theres so many features, but once you get going its gets easier all the knobs are clearly labled and now i can make great efx alot faster than my previous older, smaller pedals.

Sound is amazing, Z pedal does things that Experimetal guitarists dream about, ive already made this thing make sounds ive never heard any artist play, you can do so much its not funny, it can shift pitchs while also adding effects only when it going to the side, So i have my standard wah with up and down, then if i go left or right it raises an octive, adds some reverb and wahs at the same time, I cant stress enough how cool this is, a revolution no doubt.

2x Tube seems to be undeniable also, gives my solid state 60 watt amp a beatiful realistic tube sound and now my artifical harmonics sounds like a screaming banshee on fire that just got kicked in the nuts with steel cap boots.

Its awesome...Ive tried this with a varity of friends guitars/pickups (Schecter/Jackson/Ibanez and even a cheep Ashton)(EMGs 81/85 combo, Dimarzios and Semour duncan livewires and Ibz/dimarzio super lame stocks) and it just doesnt matter, while it brings the best out of a good pickups, I can make my no name 100 dollar ebay speacial (Sterling) sing like it never could.

I have created teh perfect Satch efx,... I can get the perfect Vinnie Moore sounds also, A Thrashy Megadeth Metal? you bet your ass.. The amp sims are great, does a very nice ENGL and Super Distorion.

Heard some bad things and has some bad experiance with Zoom reliability , but this is a studio pedal for me and stays safe under my recording desk and will never move, i wouldnt even gig with a Multi EFX pedal, just looking at them Tube warmer bulbs through the slits makes me really nervous...but so far in 6 months nothing has gone wrong yet

My 707 input jacks died (as they always do) and Zoom company wouldnt do **** about it had to pay to get it repaired. I dont trust em.

People lean towards teh latest Boss and Line 6 pedals cause there more renound but I have to say Zoom hasnt let me down yet, they are definatly an innovative leader in todays multi EFX market. Ive been playing about 10 years now and of the 3 multi efx pedals ive owned and 20 or so Ive played this one stands out among the best and most unique.

I was looking at alot of efx pedals before making my choice and the reason I went with this is cause it was cheeper than its rivals but after owning it for 6 months, I have no regrets at all. If it was stolen or broke id get another......Z pedal for life \m/

It doesnt have a loop feature or drum machine and for that i was gonna go for a GT10 but I just ended up getting this and a Boss RC-2, now i have loop and drums + Tube and Z pedal, beatiful combo... As soon as I get a Sweet Roland GR 20, ill be laughing...

How easy is it to get a good sound out of it? Ive had it for awhile now and i can get some lovely tones out of it .
How about Editing patches? Its pretty easy to edit the patchs i find.
How is the manual for it (if there is one)? It explains enough in the manual to give you a understanding of its basic functions .

What setup (i.e. what guitars and amps) are you using this with? I use a Ibanez S670FM straight into the G9 , i basically use it as a modeller direct into my comp , i also use various pedals with it aswell .
Is it noisy? On what settings? I do find its a touch noisy, as i don't think much to the noisegates on the G9 , so i just have them on min , but in honesty i think thats more to do with outside interference then the unit being noisy .
Can you get the sound of your favorite artists? Who are they? I play alot of diffrent styles and i find the G9 is excellent for recreating tones on , i can get a near perfect Satriani , Vai , Timmons tones out of it , then get some other lovely tones to like blues, clean , jazz ,neoclassical, rock, metal , fusion , in honesty you can recreate pretty much anything you want to on this (if your heros don't use heavily modded setups ) .
Are certain effects (distortion, chorus, ...) very good? Very bad? I wasn't sure about the delays , reverbs when first using them but they have grown on me now and seem to be decent, as do alot of the other effects aswell , the only thing i can really fault is the noisegates , i don't think there very good but everything else sounds excellent .

Can you depend on it? Well i haven't had it long enough to say if its super reliable but i had a podxt before this and that started to go wrong only after a year n a half, so im hoping this will last longer lol .

If you've dealt with the company, how helpful/friendly were they? Once again i haven't had to contact them yet .

What style of music do you play? Is this a good match? In honesty for modern hi gain settings the G9 is fantastic , the tubes do really just give it a slight edge and more realism i find to settings like these (like legato feels alot less work on this , as it was on my podxt), one thing i will say tho is i think the G9 can be tweaked to suit many styles/tones etc but if your looking to buy one and your coming from other modellers like the line6's etc , then make sure you have some decent pedals (like distortion, overdrive etc ) , as the G9 as a modeller dosen't have its own stomp boxs to go with your patchs(it only has them for its preamp use with a real amp ) , still with pedals infront of it i think it sounds fantastic , i do prefer it over the line6 podxt .
Anything you wish it had? One thing i wish it did have is a tube preamp model , i understand running it into a amp like that is np but for using the G9 as a modeller i do wish it had that feature, so you can use it for vocals/acoustic mic'd up , although you can use it for those through other means it would still be cool to have on this .

Its easy to edit patches. The input settings are simple knobs.
Beware the depth. SOOO much depth, it'll take a lifetime to explore all of the options this thing has.

Excelent. Considering the number of options its ridiculous. The feel is great.

NOW LISTEN CAREFULLY. I NEVER DID WHEN I READ REVIEWS CONTAINING THIS KIND OF INFORMATION.

It is not as simple as editing patches to get a good sound from a multieffects. When you open up the box and plug it in and start having a tantrum, " Its so digital and horrible, i wasted all that money," etc. It takes tweaking of the things you're plugging it into. Im not going to go into detail my problems, but I will tell you that WITH TIME, this will produce a kickass sound, just give it time, figure it out.

Tankos.

i sent 2 emails. 1 got replied to.

Overall give it time and a bit of effort, you will love it.

Well,that part is kind of a trick,it is easy enough to just plug in and play,using their presets while you take the time to read the book and make your own.That is a good trade,the presets arnt that great but you do get a sample of what you can do.You dont have to read the manual before you play it you just must before you make your own.I pluged into mine 10 min after it arrived and played for 5 hours non stop without touching the book.Only made it through a few presets too,each one just inspired jamming more

the sound quallity is flat out amazing,sooooo much more than i expected.I have been building my own pedals for 15 years and have either owned the real deal or made clones of any boutique pedal you can imagine,i wanted a compact multi effects unit for practicing with out all of the patch cords and pedalboards and deciding if i wanted the wah ect ect.I would have been totaly satisfied if it was half of what it is.Any sound that is in your head is in that box,it just might take time to adjust it in,there are so many good even amp models that it is easy to wander.i finally settled on working on 1 patch at a time and man,with just 10 full patches i can call up anything from country to metal.It would be impossible to tell this thing from the boutiques,i can tell if my bias is off .5 volts in a fuzzface but i cant tell this thing from my fuzzface,well its not my fuzzface anynmore,after this alot of my old gear went on e bay.
After owning it for 3 months,you could give me a cd of anyone and i can make you a patch that isnt just close or in the ballpark,you would be playing the cd.

so far no problems,it is built like a tank but some of the stories make me wonder.I use it live now and with all the loot i made on e bay i bought another that only came out of the box 1 time to make sure it worked and to transfer my presets in case i need it quick.I made so much on there i almost felt bad for selling a tonebender for 360 when the poor sucker could have had one of these for 40 more.I can call up the tonebenders sound so closely that the only difference is less noise.

no need yet

the biggest thing that i can pass on or mention is this,if this is the most expencive peice of gear you own,you will not be happy,it will not turn your gorilla into a firebreathing marshall,or you kalamazoo into a fender tweed.noor will it turn you epiphone into jimmi pages les paul.if you love the sound of your guitar plugged straigt into your amp already and are looking for versitility and great effects then your search is over brother,buy one of these and start getting the sounds out of your soul,the long journey is over,it took me 25 years of playing and literally tons of gear and money to get here,but man it is so worth it.a few tips i have learned that are worth noting start with amps,i have several tube amps and loath solidstate amps.i have 1 roland cube and while a nice amp it didnt respond well to this board,all of the tubes sounded amazing,even a epiphone tube 10 with just 1 preamp tube.it wont make a small combo sound like a stack like aloot of people expect apparently,but through a 4x12 it will make any tube amp go from sparkling fender to out of control boutique,i even a/b ed my krankenstein and a fender blues jr with a 4x12 and it sounded like the same amp in stereo,just took some time to figure what i was doing.another weird thing is it seems to like hotter pickups better,even for mellow stuff,the acoustic simulator is so acurate but when you would expect to be using your necck pickup with the volume rolled back,it sounds better with an invader in the bridge position cranked.i used an ibanez neckthrough with ann invader and an esp neck through with a jb and they sound awesome,i just couldnt get my sg with burstbuckers to sound right till i plluged the guitar into a tube pre amp first,then it sounded great as well.i tried 3 different emg active pickups and was disapointed,go figure

This is a revision to my comments from:
Submitted 12/19/2006 at 03:23pm by Jim G.

First off, after going through extensive frustration with my sound between my guitar and amp, I spent lots of time researching, evaluating and experimenting with all of the components of my gear.

My main conclusion about the Zoom G9.2tt, is that it does not have a high quality bypass like I originally posted and simply sucks tone. While initially it may appear to be transparent, once you start really testing this against other resources, you find that it does suck tone, which is unacceptable IMO.

I started with changing my cables to Fulltone, which produced a substantial difference in my tone. Once I was able to test the basic tone of the Zoom v. straight into the amp, the tone difference was obvious, especially in areas like pick attack and articulation. No amount of tweaking I did with any of the basic knobs on the unit would solve this issue.


At this point, if someone is serious about having great tone from the devices they use with their guitar amps, I recommend they stay away completely from ME units and move towards some of the higher end pedals that really make a difference.

I think once someone begins to really dig into this issue, they will find there really is a difference and the difference will affect your playing and tone substantially.

Save button and one of the other ones basically broke after 1.5 years. I did save lots of times, but a $400 unit broke after 1.5 years?

This is my 2nd ME unit to do this. No more for me.

N/A
Out of warranty.

My advice: If you can afford it...dump your MEs and look at using devices made by Fulltone, Xotic and a few other boutique pedal makers. Also use rack mounted devices for any effects loops.

Some of the top selling brands of pedals suck tone if you take the time to check them out.

Do your homework and always buy where you can return the items. You efforts will be rewarded with better tone than you've ever had.

They all have a bit of learning curve, all multi-effects devices. To save settings is simple, but it takes a bit of time before you see the simplicity, as there are so many features.

Great, this is the draw, the tubes make a difference.

This is the one I had bad experience with. I am updating an earlier review, having new information. See customer support below.

Earlier I complained about warranty being voided because they found animal hair in it. I still feel strongly that the switches should not have failed so quickly, and am doubtful some animal hair was the cause. I have many computers and keyboards in the house, on the floor, have had not problems. And I leave them on all the time.

But the technician got on my good side, he told me I could attempt to fix it myself, I should be able to replace the switches if I am careful and patient about taking it apart. He sent me some diagrams, and offered to give me some advice when I did it if I needed that. So I will give him good marks on that.

Well, with premature failure in my opinion, and it not being repairable, well I can't be real favorable. But still, if I can't fix it, I may buy another, and just be careful about not doing anything that could void warranty, to keep it covered when I am not using it, as I have a dog and cats. AmericanMusical doubles your warranty. I mean, it really is a nice sounding unit. And I like two expression pedals (I consider the 3 useless, the one that swivels). I just wanted to be fair to the company, the guy was decent as he could be I think, under his circumstances. I will just be careful to get 2 years warranty, and be real careful with it as I said, keep it covered when I am not using it. That is, if I can't fix the one I have now.

it's easy to use

i use a fender strat with a marshall valvestate,there is too much noise in the dirty channels but the Znr kills that noise but it kills the sustain as well i don't know what to do for keeping the sustain without noise.

I play guitar from 12 years ago i'm into the blues,rock & jazz.
i have a zoom 4040 which has a great sound.

I'm still working with the G9 & i hope i could get the sound that i want.
It's prests needs a lot of adjustments to hear a good sound from it.

The G9.2tt has ready to use patches that need slight tweaking to sound fantastic. As with most pedals, most patches are completely unnecessary--used only to show all the effects and combinations. Setting up A/B channels s simple, programming the pedals is logical, and anything that doesn't make sense is easily found in the manual.
The pedal is surprisingly easy to pull apart as well (you will too when you realize the low quality of the factory tubes). Much more simple that I would have thought.

On a scale from "vintage tube amp" to "the eighties" this effects processor gets pretty darn close to "vintage tube amp". I have replaced both tubes with a JJ pream tube and a Tungsol post amp tube, and the sound has improved dramatically. I primarily play through a pair of Etymotics with my Epiphone Les Paul, and I have loved the sound. There is a lot of cabinet modeling and "air" effects that really bring a sense of space into the sound. I also play through a blackface Fender Princeton which allowed the pedal to open up.
I would rate this a 10 in comparison to other effects that I have played (VOX, Boss, Line6, etc), but let's be honest--we're all looking for more than just sounding like a good multi-effects processor. We want to sound like boutique effects and vintage amps, right. So an 8 is quite generous.

I have not had it that long, but I do feel like this is built exceptionally well. The tube sockets are of low quality and are poorly attached (crooked), but that has little to do with reliability. The pedal is solid and the switches are quiet and responsive. I would feel a lot better with a gig bag, but everything seems just as solid as the other pedals of this ilk.

I play a host of music in a host of styles. I mostly fall into an alt-country, blues vibe. I have been playing for about 12 years, and have needed a quiet solution to playing electric guitar. This fit the bill precisely. I love that I can play great, distorted rock n' roll in my small apartment as my son sleeps... I also love the auxiliary jack to play along with other music through headphones or through an amp.
Knowing what I was getting into, I have not been disappointed. This is not a replacement for great vintage amps. The effects are digital, though they are also smoothed over with a tube preamp and post-amp. It is what it is, and it does a better job of producing musical sounds than any other pedal I tried. I am a penny-pincher as well as a tone-monger. I found the best deal for my money in this pedal.
All that aside, this pedal does sounds great. It's probably not as great as buying boutiquey effects, but no one's going to notice besides the guy who is out more than $500 on his pedal collection--and even he might not notice.
I have also used the Z pedal more than I thought. I generally use it for gain settings, which works really well for a bit of a boost.

Not real easy to figure out from the instructions, but not a big deal, you get it eventually.

This is the good point

This is the bummer. A few patch switches started required several pushes to work after about 4 or 5 months. Over time it got worse, and then about 10 of them failed completely, meaning I could make no more changes. It took a month for them to get to it. It was out of warranty, but my credit card doubles the warranty. I was told that he found animal hair in it, voided warranty. I can understand that, have cats and a dog. But I have had them for years, and 7 or 8 computers on the floor (I am a programmer) and other electrical devices, and have never had problems. My TV has worked for 10 years. CD player, every thing. No problems. Not sure why the cats picked on the Zoom box. Keyboards work on computers, and they all get junk in them. I don't believe for a second that a few animal hairs causes 10 switches one by one to fail. I will NEVER buy another product from ZOOM. They do not support their product well, that is obvious, and will use any flimsy excuse to void your warranty. Parts are probably junk, you get what you pay for. Switches should not fail because of a few animal hairs, it they did, it was poorly engineered. I know what junk gets pulled into my computers, never a problem. Besides, I think the animal hairs had nothing to do with this, just an excuse.

Slow

I just will never buy another product, from a company that I have judged to play hard ball regarding warranty. Many companies will give you the benefit of the doubt, they want a good reputation. Oh, you have to pay for your estimate. Between shipping and that, I am out $75 to be told my cats did it.

Tricky catagory...
this pedal has a ton of effect potential.
you can layer up 2 effects at once and control them with one foot on a 4 way pedal (up, down, and side to side)
dont know much about the processing unit inside it, but it provides an a huge variety of chorus, wahs, reverbs, delays, and amp models.
coupled to that are the energizer and accelerator tubes that are completely variable

translation:
get ready to sit down for a loooooong time to find a sound that really suits your taste, or maybe im just picky.

Good news, its got 50 preset patches, so you can ultimately plug in and play off the bat. some are pretty accurate, some are abismal. go figure.

one huge advantage of this thing is that patches can be edited or swaped to different bank locations.
Translation: you can assign the 5 tones you use most to a single bank, which is accessible from the 5 foot switches.

Manual was good. i didnt read much of it, but it did offer some cool tricks.

also comes with a direct digital out and cubase recording software.

yippee, hooray!

i play 4 guitars through this:
- fender showmaster
- Jackson rr24
- Jackson kelly
- fender HM strat

What i have really been leaning toward while using this unit is metal. not so much thrash and death metal, but lead driven prog metal.
it took me a looong time to find the lead tone i was looking for, but DAMN am I now glad.
Quality of the sound is really expandable because of the tubes, which really fill out your sound and brighten harmonics.
some of the amp models available are really well done. you can get excellent driven tone from the modern rectifier, and boutique preset diezel and engl. IMO the marshall drive is a little muffled and bass heavy, but im sure tweaking it could yeild something good.
on top of amp models, you have a bunch of stomp box models, which are dead on to the originals (or at least the ones i have owned).
The only thing i have to say that i do not like about the drive channels on this thing is that i havent found a good setting for rythm playing. i cant get good chord articulation for fast stuff on the lower strings, especially in lower tunings. if you are someone who LOVES to chord on the bottom strings at machine like speeds, you may need some extra tweaking, but may have better luck dialing it out of your own amp.

the crunch presets are pretty good, but i prefer using any of the high gain ones and turning the gain down and tubes all the way up. not enough info to give a good idea...

the cleans on this are reaaaaaaaally versatile. you have everything from your Fender clean (that gives you a nice bluesy/jazz box sound) to your Roland JC series, that gets along GREAT with all the effects (just like the real thing!)

I only have 2 problems with the cleans, and they are more to do with the effects associated with them than anything else.
1) the compressor does not seem to want to compress the sound with any of the clean settings. instead of sustaining, it does some weird noise gate/ reverse delay type thing whenever you hit a note. cool if your trying to sound like satriani, otherwise a pain in the ass.
2) the tube settings are universal. that means if you have them cranked all the way on your favorite drive channel and switch to your clean setting, your shimmering cleans are breaking into crunchy overdrive. would have reaaaaaaallly been happier to see the tube settings assignable to each channel, but i think that would have driven the price of this through the roof.

i definitely depend on this thing. i have dropped it out of my car on various ocasions, and everything still works.

no repairs necessary. tubes are still working fine, and circuitry seems to be holding up. the zoom website has downloadable patches, which can offer some cool ideas.

VERDICT:
i have found a tone that i dont think i will ever get out of an amp (tube or otherwise) on its own.
personally, dont use this much for effects. its got them if i need them, but i use it as a colossal preamp in stead. its kind of funny when people come over and play it and say "its too easy to sound good through". lucky me.
this is definitely the tone i was hearing in my head, although it took the better part of 6 monthes to dial in.

again as a warning:
for intricate lead work, arpeggios, scales and the like... this thing is awesome, absolutely awesome.

getting your heavy chords works, but at subsonic speeds. not saying you cant do it, its just muddies up. strangely enough, you can play single note runs even faster and theres no problem....

the tubes in this thing are probably the biggest selling point. they were the reason that this tore the boss GT-8 apart when i was trying it out, as well as many pods.

i will be critical on one thing...
the usb direct out is easy to use, but the sound of the console on its own sounds sickening. coming out of the amp, everything is wonderful. plugging it in straight to your sound card (or headphones straight into the effects unit) gives the most sterile and sucked dry tone i have ever laid ears upon. you can still manage a decent sound when recording via direct out, but your gonna have to eq the damn thing for a while. from my experience, the pod xt sounds much better for direct out recording.
however, if you want any recording to sound really good, your probably going to mic your amp anyways. i mostly use the direct out to save a cool idea when it happens, not for making recording quality music, so the abismal direct out quality is not really a significant factor.


***side note: my direct out issues may also be the result of the sound card in my computer. im still not convinced this is the case though, because listening through headphones into the pedal itself is just as bad. definitely do yourself the favor and plug your headphones right into the amp....

Hard to be satisfied with this one, the distortions and OD's just don??t sound right, and the cabinet mods and the tubes tweaked don??t help. Beatiful effects though, I use a lot of delay, you can do amazing things with the Z-pedal.

Don??t expect to get all that this thing can do in a week, it took me a month to get used to all of the features, but over all, once you get it, it??s easy.

Manual covers just about everything in a detailed way.

I??m using an Ibanez RG with various amps, from small 15w to 100w marshalls. Advice: tweak the tubes and DON'T use the cabinet mods, I wanted a heavy but defined sound for riffs (I play mostly prog-alt-rock-metal), and it??s practically imposible, I was never satisfied. Although it has quite a large selection of preamps, none of them felt right for this. Too fuzzy, or not too defined.

Delays are really great. The z-pedal is like heaven, every mfx should have it.

Most of the distortions and OD's are just lame, unless you want it to play blues or alt-rock, then maybe you'll like it. None of the preamp models sound like they're supposed to sound, but if you're not too critical, or you never heard them before, they're fine.

The tubes are the only thing that keeps the distortions for being a complete failure.

This is where I drop the hammer.

My unit lasted 4 MONTHS. Then some power failure due to the AC adapter failing turn it completely useless. The backlight of the lcd display turns on and nothing else happens. So I took it to an official tech help and they said, after 2 weeks, that the Mainboard is damaged, and that fixing the unit could be done by replacing it with one new, wich costs about 75% of what I originally paid for it.

5 months later I??m still pissed. DON'T BUY IT.

When this happened I e-mailed everywhere, even zoom corp on japan, demanding an explanation. They said they regret what happened, but couldn't help me. My local distribuitor (audiomusica.com, in Chile) only gave me a 3 month warranty. I??m not willing to pay that much for fixing it, I only used it 4 MOTNHS, I still can't believe it. So yeah, costumer support, CRAP.

I play Prog-rock mixed with diferent styles, but always with the element of heavy yet defined riffs. This unit didn't cut it for me.

I've been playing for 10 years, I own a BOSS ME-50, it has never let me down, although I'm not satisfied with the sound, at least I can trust Boss.

I'm now saving to buy a Boss GT-8 or something better. I??m NEVER buying ZOOM products again.

I loved the delays and the built in tubes. Hated the cheap Zoom reliability. Fav feature: Z-pedal.

I just bought this because in that time I couldn't afford a Boss Gt-8, or Line 6, and I was in a hurry because I had gigs to do... never again. You get what you pay for.

I wish it had MORE RELIABLE PARTS.

It helped for a while, experimenting with it opened new creative ways. But then... don't buy it.

I just want to say that Zoom products have this bad reputation for a reason. Now I know it for sure.

Stock sounds are ok. I don't know why they made so many factory sounds with crazy effects. I really just wanted to have lots of GREAT sounds I could tweak just a bit for my own use. Anyway, I created my own sounds using the software editor and a MIDI connection.

Editing patches is good, but not great. There is a USB port on the back, but it's only for using this unit for recording. I don't know why they couldn't use this port for editing the patches. Anyway, you need both the MIDI In and Out ports connected to your computer to utilize all editing features. Once I installed the softare, it took about an hour for me to figure it out. To write save changes on the G9, you have to send ALL data to it. You cannot edit one patch at a time, but it only stays in the computer until you "Send All" to the G9. Not the greatest, but it sure beats editing on the G9 directly.

Manual is good. I've had to refer to it several times and found my answer each time.

Firmware was 1.07 and 1.08 was posted on their website. So I attempted to install it from Windows Vista. During the firmware update, it errored out. When I powered on the G9, it was dead. I had power, nothing else happened. I tried several times but got the same error. I dual boot my computer between XP and Vista, so I gave it a try from XP. Same error. However, my XP installation didn't have .NET 1.1 installed (which I thought it did), and this is a requirement for the updater. So I installed .NET 1.1 and installed it under XP. The update worked just fine, and the G9 started working again. Whew!

I use an Ibanez S520 guitar plugged into a portable Yamaha mixer and then into my computer. I mainly play at home writing and recording. For live use, I'll play this through a Marshall MG250DFX, but I'll connect the G9 to the left and right Return inputs on the back. So the amp is pretty much just loud box.

The G9 is pretty quiet except when using patches with lots of gain. But that's to be expected from anything with lots of gain.

Effects are good. I upgraded to the G9 from a BOSS GT-3 which had wonderful effects. But I don't get crazy with effects, and the G9 does a good enough job.

As I stated, I mainly plug the G9 into my mixer then into my computer. I like the fact there 10 banks to be used for "direct" play into a mixer and another 10 banks for "live" use. I was hoping I could edit a patch for "direct" use at home, then just turn off the cabinet simulator and save the patch in the equivalent "live" patch area. Depending on the sound, you may need to adjust the preamp settings a bit between the "direct" and "live" patches to make them sound the same.

Looks like it was build very good. Seems to be solid and durable.

I can't afford a backup, so I won't be using one. I'm not worried about it though.

I've emailed Zoom in Japan and Samson in the U.S.A. (the Zoom distributer here) asking some presales questions. The Samson rep emailed a reply the same day. And a reply from Japan took a few days. Both answered my questions. I even spoke with the Samson rep who was very helpful and courteous.

I play melodic rock. I've setup my own patches to give me some clean, blues, and rock sounds. I'm not into metal, but there are some awesome metal sounds here.

I've been playing for 20 years. Sold my old Boss GT-3 and upgraded to this. Definately a step in the right direction.

If I lost this thing, I'd probaby buy it again. For the features and prices, it's awesome!

What I love: I love the sounds, the sexy look, the price.

What I don't love: It's kinda big, so I'm having a hard time finding a case for it. Editing patches from the computer could be improved. There is no digital out on this! The USB audio port is only 16bit. If it was 24 bit, I wouldn't care so much for the lack of digital out. So I'm better off just recording this using the audio out ports into my M-audio 2496 sound card which supports 24bit audio.

I was looking at the Boss GT-8, Line6 X3 Live, and the VOX Tonelab LE.

Listened to the GT-8, but I didn't really hear a lot of difference from my Boss GT-3. I'm sure the quality of the sounds is better, and I did like the dual preamp feature.

I really considered the X3 Live, but read so many negative reviews about the construction of the unit and so many firmware issues. So I stayed away.

I almost bought the Tonelab LE. I really believe having a tube warms the sound up, which is what I like. But then I found the Zoom locally and had to buy it.

For the price, features, and quality, this unit is wonderful!

If you're reading this then you're like me and researching.I bought this item and can honestly say I love it.A person can tweak on this thing forever.It's not real hard if you read the manual.I sold a Zoom G2.1u to get this and don't regret it a bit.Like I said ,the sounds you can get, if you take the time, are limitless.You can edit patches directly , or with a downloaded librarian(requires a MIDI/USB interface).However the manual is helpful,if you are doing it directly.10 because I understand it, a novice may have difficulty.

I am running various Ibanez (7 different ones total) guitars through this and a Randall half stack.The sounds I'm getting are awsome.But, I took time and tweaked the sound.The ZNR is top notch.It eliminates a lot of noise, and can be tailored to suit.So far I haven't found any bad effacts, but I've tweaked on almost all of them for my sound/amp/guitar preferences.If you take time with it ,it'll make you very happy.Remember though,it's a board, not individual effects.There are combinations of effects that can't be obtained because they are on the same "bank".But overall I give it a 10 because I can manipulate it very well.

So far it's held up.However, I'm very careful with my equipment.As with anything i'm sure , if you abuse it , it'll fail.I, however ,don,t anticipate any problems.I'd gig without a backup.

I haven't had to deal with them,but ,I've used other ZOOM products without a problem.

I don't know if there is a style I don't play.I've played for 25 years,used several pedals/amps/guitars,etc.I am pretty impressed with ZOOM.I would more than likely buy another G9.2tt if this one were stolen.Ther isn't too much I don't like about it.Don't get me wrong, it does have it's limitations(it's a processor,not individal effects),but I can deal with them.Take your time, do your research.If you're like me , you pinch pennys, get the best sound for your buck, and have the ability to use what you have.I've done that with this processor,and don't plan on getting rid of it for a while.(until the next latest and greatest.lol).
Buy it , you won't be disappointed

You must spend some time with it, like a girl, to get best results.

Editing patches is a strange mix of knob twiddling and routing parameters which turns out to be pretty comprehensive, but a bit awkward.

Manual is in about 4 parts, it includes an in depth look at all the effects and modelling amps presets which will have guitar fx anoraks creaming themselves with joy, also instructions on how to use it as an asio driver via the version of cubase it is shipped with.

I dont copy anyone else, I want my own sounds and with this its fairly easy, the distortion and double tube is what is immense about this pedal board - two tubes, three controls, accelerator, energizer, and boost. It can sound totally filthy if you turn them all up, or you can turn them all down and just have solid state sound.

No noise, the znr noise reduction is astounding. I think zoom do the best NR in the world.

Im not using it through an amp, Im DI'ing it into my pc soundcard for recording.

Its metal innit. One of the switches has started to go though after only a couple of months use, so thats crap.

Never dealt with tme, yet.

May try and get the switch repaired if it gets worse.

I play everything really, I am a sound artist, so it literally is a sound pallette for me.

I wish the FX section could be configured more in order and that it had a few wider parameters, I was very disappointed with the intelligent harmoniser. Its toss. But it was damn cheap for what it has done for my creativity so...

I found it to be a bit intriuging, and i think its the first time that i have really read a product manual thru n thru.
The manual is not perfect (somehow, i think Line6 hits the right note in that dept). Am still fuzzy about assigning mods to the Pedals.
Apart from the pedals, i think everything is pretty straightforward, and marked out clearly, so u need not have a steep learning curve to get the most out of this one.

The Z-Pedal is an intuitive control. You can spend hours experimenting on the possible combinations of sound that you can make up with this. Not to forget the extra pedal on the left is always handy for vol or mod effects.

Another gripe is u need a MIDI interface to edit patches using the computer. Crazy!
Also, the USB audio monitor seems to have a very low sound. Am not sure how to work this out. But again, the manual is not of much help.

Out of the box, it is amazing. Actually, about half the patches are really great and need very little tweaking. The artist tones seem to be okay. Not perfect, but usable.
The tubes really set this baby apart.

I play a Kramer 422SM Striker (1 Quad rail, 2 Dual rail pix).
I use and old (really OLD) indian made amp (which is basically a speaker, connected to a amp circuit, with 3 knobs, bass, treble and vol, packaged in a wooden box). Damn thing doesnt even have a plug. And I have never gotten any sort of "tone" out of this amp.

Until now. The tube adds an amazing amount of warmth and crunch to the tone. I used a Korg 3000G on the same amp and it gave a muddy and digital tone. The 9.2tt seems to just take the amp for a spin and churns out an amazing tone. And there are two tubes! And u can hear the distinct difference in tones from either of them very clearly.
The option to mix the analog signal with the solidstate signal makes this a true hybrid.
Tried the 7.1t at the shop. It just cant compare to the 9.2tt in terms of sound. Podxt Live sounded as good (maybe slightly better, if you are not into metal), but was ridiculously expensive (1.5 times the cost of the 9.2tt).

I luv it.

Have had it only for a day now. But the damn thing is built like a tank as I have read on so many reviews. Apart from breaking the valves, i cant think of a way how the 9.2tt can go bad in the immiediate future.

In India... hah!

The website is good. Got to download some interesting stuff. Not bad i guess.

I play stuff from Satriani, Metallica, to a bit of Indian classical and pop rock.
The tones I get from the 9.2tt seem to be very versatile. What really blows my mind is that I can get a great tone from a screwed up amp like the one I have.
In fact, I think the best option for an amp would be one without any drive/effects channel. I plan to buy a bass amp to use with my 9.2tt.

And I got it cheap (comparatively). I actually went to buy a Podxt live. But when i heard both 9.22tt and Podxt live, they sounded pretty close to me in terms of quality. The two tubes on the 9.2tt make all the difference. And its way cheaper than the Podxt live.

I have recently purchased this Zoom Pedal from local dealer. This is a Multi-Effects pedal.This pedal comes with a manual and it tells you want certain things do, but it is not very informative. You have to spend some time with it in order to get the fullest amount of it. I still dont know how to use Two amps to produce different sounds from each one. If someone does please tell me.

This is very good from what I used to use (an old Digitech multi-effects pedal). Turning up the TUBE control to drive the 12AX7 produces warm crunch with rich harmonics. Popular names such as Fender, Marshall, and VOX to modern amps including MESA BOOGIE, Hughes & Kettner, and Diezel. G9.2tt comprises 120 effects in 10 modules. I am trying to run a VOX ac30 Combo one the right and a Marshall JCM 800 stack on the left. I dont know how to switch from the two I dont know if it is capable of doing it.

Only owed it for about a month.

Its a great Multi effects pedal only it doesn't really go into detail of what certain effects do and how to do different Sets ups and why.

It's easy for me though, maybe cos I'm used to most of the multieffects. If you're having a hardtime with editing it use the editing software(you need to download it) The manual that came with it is very detailed as well.

This is got to be one of the best at the moment, I've got digitech and line6 product this item is just badass, seriously though I sold off my podxt for this, this damn thing have got two tubes in it, I think that's the main reason it sounded damn good, it's just thick and juicy, The preamp modelling too is great, I've never tried any other amps that it modelled after but I do try the fender twin reverb and it just react and feel the same way as the original. I normally use this product bypassing other preamp. The ZNR that came with it is just magic, it doesn't suck the tone like the normal noisegate, and it's just damn quiet. The other effects like the delay and the chorus are just great!

Yeap I can but the knob drop off and I need to use glue to stick em back, other than that it looks like a tank.

I've emailed em before buying, and I have to say the reply quite slow.

I'm playing for a progressive metal band, and this thing just handle it like a pro. At home I play mostly blues and rock stuff and it's jsut great.

It's not really plug-n-play. There are a lot of functions and settings and in order to get the most out of it you have to spend time tweaking it. That said, you don't need to be a rocket scientist either.

The sounds here are really top notch. You can find everything here from crystal cleans to Hi-gain stuff and everything in between.
The accelerator tube really adds warmth and dynamics (The crunch sounds are really dynamic compared to other digital processors).
The effects are very good. You have all kinds of choruses, delays, reverbs and others to choose from.
The only thing I don't like is that you can't change the order of effects freely. You can control the order of general blocks, but not everything. That said, this is not that annoying.
The cabinet sims are also great and I use it a lot when playing through headphones.

This thing is built to last. All metal with heavy duty switches.
I wouldn't kick the expression pedals too hard though

Never had to use it.

I've been playing for 5 years on and off, and this thing is very good for the price.

Its more easy to use than my old Boss GT-6, changin patches its really a matter of taste and almost all Pre amps are really good
Got to be carefull when creating a patch and giving it the precise amount of Accelerator (tube or solid state) and again with the Energeizer (tube and boost)
Creating Patches its much more easy if you use the Editor Librarian that you can download at zoom web site. Some things are a bit dificult to understand in the manual concerning Midi Capabilities of this monster, and yes i think in the future The firmversion will be available as the zoom guys told me in an email.

This is where the G9 comes best performing, with internal 32 bit audio engine chipset and output at 24 bits you get the best of the best. I have worked with it in my simple stereo and sounds pretty pretty amazing and tweakin the Energizer and Accelerator knobs the right way you can feel you are playing a Tube Amp (sounded much better than my Marshall Valvestate, wich i used to love) and get amazing tube sounds with my current Marshall Stack 100W and with the right Pre Amp you can get distort as hell. The ones i like personaly are the Marshall JCM 2000, the Engl Drive, The Rat Stomp box and the Extreme Dist, but you can choose others like Metalzone fanatics, Peavy, Diezel, Fenders, etc. I dont know why some G9 users claim 2 things. First, they claim that the Wahs are not good, Damn i recorded some track with my sonar along with Timmo Tolki Song "Are You The One" and the Vox, Crybaby and MultiWah sounded Exactly the same as for Range and Sound....yeah yeah you probably want to buy an external Wah that use Mr. Vai or Mr. Satch but then is just impressions, i found the Wahs better in sound/range than my old boss GT-6 (when run high gain sounds on gt6 the wahs go almost unreachable) with the G9 i can use Xtrem Dist and the Wahs does not lose Range or Sound (sorry, i cant explain better in English, i am a Colombian user. the other thing was the Pedals to be fragil. i cant understand those words, mine is built like a tank. i have to recognize triggering the wah with any of the expression pedals its hard but i found a way to get them more easily. Just put some kind of sticker into the trigger button under the pedal, the amount you think you need and problem solved.

Ok, finally i am very happy with a Multieffects, Nice sounds Nice Cleans and Nice Crunch and High Gain Sounds

And guys, learn to dial your own tones, the Cleans are ok not bad as some users claim.

I only use it Live and in the Studio so i depend on it a lot.
One advice: you can have the G9 to act like a professional Audio Interface and play with all your Amp Sims the best way and use the G9 Tubes to get tubes sounds from let me think...ohh yes, that amplitube 2, Guitar Rig 2 and Revalver 2. The Combination of sound are endless and dont worry if you only have one Cab Sim, get it to work with The Cabs Sims on Revalver II and/or Trash Cabs and you will rock hard, Althought The G9 Cab Sim is pretty Amazing only thing is that lack on Parameters

I have mailed at Zoom several times, and several answers i got.

I Play Almost Every music i can lay on my guitar and hands and yes, its a good match but i think is aimed more for Metal Users than for lets say Jazz or Pop users (better stick with Boss Gt-8 for those Special Effects). I??ve been playing for 3 years and owned a Boss GT-6, Pod XT Live, GT-8 and some Amp Sim Plugins and nothing of the above match the quality of my Zoom G9 that i think personally of course so dont go to discuss with me, the G9 does the Job for me because i Love Metal and Guitar Playing. If it were stolen then i buy my self another G9 or expect to Boss to come out with a unit that has same features like the G9. Personally i think GT-8 is the winner in Modulation Effects and G9 wins on its Killer Tones, Clean, Crunch or High Gain Sounds.

Great sounds right out of the box, some editing is tricky (for me), but read the manual a couple of times and you'll get it down, REALLY versitle!!! Extra assignable/programmable pedals are the best thing since sliced bread!!!

Use with a B52 AT212 or Boogie Nomad 212 100 combos and it sounds killer with either. Only downside I could find are the wah simulations. Just can't tweak them enough to sound right so I'm using an external Crybaby 535 since my OLD DeArmond weeper went out on me. Also wish I could get that "strings" sound that my Boss GT-6 gets.

Here's where it's hurting. After about one year, the right pedal started to get this loud "squeak". After numerous messages left and emails written to Zoom, they finally told me to return it for repair since there is nobody authorized in metro Atlanta GA. Rather then packing it up and paying $20. shipping, I decided to take it apart myself to check out. Amazing what a little WD-40 can do!!!! BUT! One month later the #2 footswitch went out completely and again numerous phone calls and emails finally got me an RMA # to return to factory for repair so I shipped it right away. THREE WEEKS LATER I still have not received it so 2 more phone calls I got a guy who told me repairs should take 4 to 6 weeks from day of receipt!!!

See RELIABILITY above! They are BAD...Nice guys but the service is SLOW SLOW SLOW!!! Still waiting so I am glad I didn't sell my GT-6 which I am rediscovering.

I'll play just about anything from country to metal and everything in between. Been playing about 30 years and have the BOSS GT-6 and a gazillion stompboxes, an original Line 6 AXYS, and misc. vintage heads, cabs, and combos. Main Axes are an older Parker Fly Deluxe, 69 Paul Goldtop with mini 'buckers and an Ibanez 540S LTD w/ Dimarzios. If it got stolen I would definetely shop for another brand. Been looking at zoom drum machines but after this I will have to go with Boss. I LOVE the sound and versitilty and especially the dual pedals but the reliability is just not there. I shopped ALL the other multieffects before buying this. Really do love it but it is way too FRAGILE...

This unit is pretty simple to use when it comes to editing patches. There are several amp models. Combine this with a ton of tone-shaping controls (3 band EQ, presence, lo-mid, harmonics, etc.) you can come up with any sound. Zoom even took the time the describe each amp model with their actual real-world counterpart names a separate sheet. Needless to say, the manual is good. I didn't even read the whole thing, I just read as much as I needed to understand how to start creating patches. And they aren't kidding about the save speed, this thing saves your patches instantly. The USB output is nice, except I have Windows Vista and getting the drivers to work was too much of a pain. Besides, I prefer the sound of the unit through my amp and mic'd rather than the built-in cab simulator, which I find muddies the sound.

I've used a PodXT Live before and the only thing I prefer on the PodXT are the larger "pad" buttons which are easier to tap with your foot on stage as opposed to the little stomp buttons on the Zoom G9. Also, the unit is tremendous (2 feet wide!) because of the extra pedal. Also, the placement of the Channel A/B switch can cause you to easily misstep and hit a separate bank...

My amp is a Marshall AVT20 with a replacement tube and a new Eminence Ramrod speaker. People say that you should use MFX with a flat-response amplifier like a keyboard amplifier, but I actually really love the sound of it through the AVT. A lot of people don't like AVT's, but running this through the clean channel sounds great in the bedroom or for recording.

Lately I've been playing Eric Clapton, Eric Johnson, and Dream Theater stuff and you can land all those sounds on this.

At first, I played mostly with the hi-gain models. The 5150 model is very "thrashy" and gives a lot of feedback. Harmonics are easy, but its way too dirty for me. The Marshall JCM models sound nice too, but my favorite model for distortion must be the ENGL model. You can get a wonderful all-purpose crunch sound without getting too dirty and it palm-mutes well.

The clean settings are excellent. There unit has built in reverb, chorus, and delays so you can really layer your clean tone if you're into that. There are models for Fender Twin Reverb, Bassman, Roland Jazz Chorus, VOX, etc. There are also slightly overdriven Fender and VOX models simply called US Blues and UK Blues, which I assign as Channel B of my clean tones. Works great. I'm not the type to try to exactly match the tone of my favorite players, but this gets me pretty close and what more could you ask for?

It comes with many presets of specific artists, but I haven't touched them. I start tweaking right away. As for noise, there's built in Noise Reduction can make your guitar dead silent based on the threshold you set, but I turn it off because it kills the sustain. But its there if you want it...

I do use this at gigs without backup, but only because I can't afford more than one! I bought a cheap case for it from Rondo Music because it would suck if this thing messed up. Its pretty tough except that one of the knobs fell off while it was in the case I bought for it. Not too big of a deal since it went right back on. Otherwise, this thing is a tank. I bring this everywhere now, despite its size simply because I can get great tones easily with any guitar or amp. If I ever purchased a backup, I would probably get the G7 because I never use the extra pedal on the right (nor do I use the Z-axis functionality).

Never dealt with Zoom, never had to.

I play whatever I'm enjoying at the moment, whether it be progressive metal, blues, rock, funk, whatever... this handles it all. It is equally adept at handling hi-gain models as well as clean models.

I've been playing for 7-8 years. I replaced all my stompboxes with the Zoom because I didn't like tap-dancing on stage. I have an Ibanez RGT42DXFM with Evolutions, Epiphone Les Paul Standard with Seymour Duncan Jazz/JB, and my amp is a Marshall AVT20 with an Eminence Ramrod speaker.

If this were lost/stolen, I'd be very pissed and I'd probably have to raise money to buy another one. I love the versatility and variety of tones you can get and I love that it replaced a multitude of my other gear (tuner, recording interface). I wish the channel A/B switch was easier to hit. I don't care for the Z-axis pedal. I've tried a POD XT Live and I prefer the Zoom to it because it sounds much more natural and organic compared to the POD.

I don't understand how some guys saying this thing is just fair to middling. So far I never got a tool with such easy to use effects. You easily put it on, pick a Bank and an effects set and then start to take off. Modifying the presets the same manner. Select a bunch of effects by pressing the according button in the effects block, check the details by turning the right knob in the detail block and thats it. Than it may be important to put the controll of one or more effects to one of the 2 pedals. Nothing easier! Press the pedal button and select the preferred effect with preferred control parameters. Now store it down to one of the user presets. Than get started. And thats only the hand operated part. With the MIDI interfaces and a notbook or something like this and the provided application, all settings are in perfect overview.
Reading the manual is nearly unnecessary. Nevertheless if you have to, the manual is very easy to use.

Don't get me wrong! But my rapture for this thing is almost unlimited. For example the Marshall JCM 800 not only sounds is very close to the original but also during the act it feels like the original - perfect! The same to the ENGL or VOX AC30 Sound. Same to the effects. The Delay delays, Flanger flanges and the others do what they should do. No particular howlers.
I play it directly to the music stand with a DI box in between and a speaker simulation (4x12). The capacity is like a real tube amp, however without the well known dubbing problems.

I've got the impression of a very robust chassis. The buttons and knobs too. The pedals are looking a little bit fragile. However during the up to now appox 50 gigs there are no damages.

So far (1 year) I didn't need it.

My favorite style is Rock and Heavy metal. Sometimes a little bit Jazz and Folk. For this and in considering of size, weight and price its the ultimative hard worker on stage. I'm now playing the rock guitar since 12 years and the ZOOM G9.2tt definitely helped me to become a more soulfull player because of the abundant great sounds and effects. For me: Classic Tops and Amps are out.

I give it a 5 on ease of use, because of the many settings and tweaks you can do with this one. If you like to experiment with dialing in a multitude of sounds, then you will love this unit. If you just want to plug and play, then you're in for a bit of learning curve.

I've owned a PodXt (biggest hunk of junk I've ever heard) and have played Digitech RP350A and Boss ME-50, and this thing blows them all out of the water. I was easily able to get real tube tone of it (well duh, it does have 2 tubes inside) and emulate the best hard rock sounds. In fact, and I'm being totally serious about this, I took it to my rehearsal room that I rent and cranked it through the clean channel of my Randall stack. After I finished jamming, someone was waiting outside the door and said "oh, I'm sorry, I thought George Lynch was rehearsing inside." I got embarrassed but just said "thanks, I wish". (I later learned that George used to rent rehearsal space at this place, so that could explain the mistake)

Like I said above, I've cranked this thing flat out for hours at a time and have never had a problem with it. I imagine the tubes will need to be replaced eventually, but I can't foresee any other issues with it. I will use it at gigs.

Never had to get support for it as of yet.

No matter what style you play....blues, country, surf, hard rock, nu-metal...this thing can dial in any sound you've heard on album or in your head. But you gotta be patient with it due to its many setting possibilities.

This is not a review, but a response to one reviewer who expressed that he could not find a gig bag or case for the G9: I had the same problem. There is no official case or gig bag, and the G9's dimensions are unusual enough that nothing seems to fit it well.

However, after 10+ hours of searching, I found a gig bag that fits it just about perfectly. It is a gig bag for a midi keyboard called the "Edirol PCR30." Many sites (American Music Supply, Zzounds) have the wrong picture posted for this product. Sweetwater has the correct picture posted and that's where I bought mine from. It works great and runs for about $40.

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/PCR30Bag

Some of the pre-sets are over-effected and would need tweaking. To get the best out of this effects unit you do really need to read the manual and dial you're own tone in. Then editing patches clicks into place and is an absolute cinch. The manual itslf is very readable and simple to understand. Once I started to see what the capabilities of the unit are, I wanted to read the manual anyway to make the most of what it offers.

I am using this with a 7-string Washburn fitted with an 81-7 and 70-7 and a PA2 booster, a Peavey 5150 head and a Marshall 1960 4x12 cab. This is for gigging and recording.

It is possible to get the sound of your favourite artists, using the amp simulations, without too many problems. For me this means Dimebag, Hetfield etc. This unit is infinitely tweakable, possibly even too tweakable. You could spend a lifetime fiddling with the knobs, making very fine adjustments. But I love that about it.

The distortion affect of the dual rectifer and diesel amps are great for 7-strings, picking out the harmonics that other amps can't. This unit is great for metal, which I what I use it for, but I reckon it'd be equally good for for any other style, which I have tinkered with.

The chorus, modulation patches are all to a very good standard and ver useable. I haven't yet come across an effect it doesn't do well.

This unit is amazingly silent even at gig volume - the noise gates on it are fantastic and the ZNR is great for leadwork when you need sustain.

I haven't had it long enough to comment on this but I will be using it without back-up so we shall see.

No need.

I've been playing guitar for nearly 20 years and have built up a huge collection of effects pedals in that time. I have now sold ALL my individual pedals because with this multi-effects unit I just don't need them. I spent many months reading up on multi units before deciding to buy this one and I couldn't be happier with the performance - it is above and beyond my expectations. I also considered a Line-6 XT Pro, a Korg 3000, Boss GT8 amongst many others.

I love the fact that it looks the dogs bollox, before you even switch it on. The only complaint I have is that it doesn't come with a gig case and as far I can tell it isn't possible to buy one for it, although I am still looking.

My favourite feature is the energiser and accelerator tubes which add real warmth to your tone - just don't overdo it.

It makes producing my tone and switching between sounds much much easier. I play metal and this unit is perfect for the sound I want. If it was lost or stolen then I would replace it (and kill the person who nicked it if I ever found them).

Anyone who can't get a good tone with this piece of kit needs their head examining.

I have two guitar effects before this unit came,BOSS ME-50 and Pod XT, so I find easy to get the tones that I wanted.

I have to say that the Zoom G9.2tt has a much better sound quality to Pod XT, BOSS ME-50 and even Boss GT-8. My friend has BOSS GT-8 and I found that the distortion effect of GT-8 is quite weak (rather thin). Zoom G9.2tt has this rich sound to it when playing metal. For Amp modelling, ofcourse you cannot compare to the real thing like the tube amps but it sounds way better than other multieffects can provide like GT-8, or Pod XT(I previously owned one). Overall, I am very impressed with this unit and it costs way cheaper than Pod XT Live or a GT-8.

It feels solid.

Never have to deal with the Zoom people.

I would give this unit a 9 for its tone and ease of use. I can get alot of tones that I really like eventhough some of the tones are not applicable to the kind of genre that I am playing. I am happy with it..:)

I DO NOT USE ANY OF THE AMP MODELS AND I DID NOT BUY THIS UNIT FOR AMP MODELS.
This is my 2nd review of this unit since I???ve now been using it for over 6 months. I am running this unit into a Rivera R-55 and using the Zoom as a pre-amp controller. For $400 it is a good deal when considering what you can do with it even if you turn the amp models off. This is a quality unit made by someone who understands guitar players. Here are some features that I think make it a good unit:

1. Gain booster for twin channel amps. You can use the input and internal volumes to get all kinds of gain boost if you want. You do not need distortion boxes with this unit if you are running into a twin channel amp with gain knobs. I am overdriving my Rivera with this unit and I have some of the warmest overdrive imaginable. Very similar to EVH brown sound. You can also use the EQ settings as a gain booster.

2. You can use the patches to store all kinds of different patches, as you desire. Each patch can have its own volume as well so you can have pre-set volume/gain boost settings and switch by changing patches. You can make patches specifically for your clean channel and specifically for your distortion channel.

3. Volume pedal. Works great!

4. A/B channel switch: You have A/B channels in each patch. I set the EQ for Humbucker/Single coil sounds. All I have to do is switch the channel and I get a different EQ in the same patch. It sounds like I???ve just changed guitars.

5. Wah-Wah: I like it. It???s probably not as good as some separate units, but most people will not know the difference and it is programmable.

6. Noise gate: This unit has a nice one.

7. Compressor: You can set one of your patches to have some compression and get nice sustain if you want.

8. Whammy: You can have a nice whammy with this unit.

9. Tremolo: You can also have a tremolo that is controlled by one of the expression pedals.

10. The reverb & delays are nice. If you run this through your effects loop, you can do stereo effects. But the amp models may not work properly in this set-up.




Unlike the review below this one, this unit did not color my sound. I tested this many times while working on my sound and I find this unit to be very transparent. I turn all the speaker simulator stuff off.
The only other effects device I use is a delay that I run into the effects loop. I could use this unit for my delays, but effects sound better in the effects loop.

Overall this device works well with my Rivera amp and I have good tone with this set-up. If you buy this unit, maybe try from someone who can let you return it.

I have been playing guitar for 34 years and my current sound is by far the best I???ve ever had. And this unit is a large part of it.

Is fairly easy to set up and get good sounds, but when editing it can be hard to know what your original settings are since the 'E' comes up if anything is changed. Is also very touchy as the four main knobs are overly sensitive.

You can get great sounds, but it is very finicky when used with a tube amp. I use a Mesa/Boogie Mark II and it is easy to go overboard with the tube pre- and post sections.

This is where it failed BIG TIME for me. The vacuum switches began to fail only a couple months after buying it, especially the up/down bank switches (of course the ones you need the most for live use). They also began squeaking very loudly. Then one of the patch ones began to fail. You could step on them repeatedly and they would do nothing. Sent it back to Sampson and had them replace all switches. Took them over five weeks to fix it and they had the nerve to tell me only one of the switches was faulty. It was sent back in the same box I sent it with but with no packing material! I got it back a month ago and am still having problems with one of the bank switches. Played a gig last night and had to step on it repeatedly to get it to switch banks.

Overall they were way too slow and did not follow up at all on something that is pretty expensive and crucial for a working musician.

Overall rating is that it is a great product (much better sound than the GFX8 I had before) but is made with cheap components that are unacceptable for live situations.

Its fairly easy to use and get around. Some EQ parameters are difficult to adjust because the controls are scattered all ofer the board. Its difficult to know what a patch controls, especailly the foot controllers. The LED is very limited. Editin patches are easy too. The problem herer is that there are many things to take into account to get the sound you may want. The manual is okay for the most part. I did notice that it doesnt tell you where the tuner is located in the signal chain. I think the firmware version is 1.02 and it has not been upgraded sinc I purchased the unit 3 months ago in January 2007.

I the unit has some pluses and minuses. On the plus side is that it does have decent AD/DA converters and sampling rate. Not much complaints about the digital noise due to conversion and bandwidth limitations. It has all the effects and controls that one would evere want and they sound very decent when the unit is used generically.

On the minus side there are many things that are troublesome to me. The preamp models are okay but to me they do not have the dynamics that a real amp would have. You cannot control overdrive or distortion with your guitar volume or pick attack like that of an amp. The unit also colors your guitar tone. Even with everything off when the unit is in your amps effects loop you can hear the difference when you switch the amp loop on and off. The preamp section colors the tone more than the effects section. I wish there were a way to have the model section on without and amp selection to take advantage of some of the preamp controls. Since I dont find much use for the preamp models the input tube isnt that impressive. The ooutput tube selection is also not much use to me either. Besides, you cannot change the settings from patch to patch anyway which is a big limitation in my book. The units effects loop is verry noisey and has very limited headroom. The I/O amps in that section are subpar. It is very difficult to control the volume of this unit between patches and even in the same patch. I have heard my unit change in volume, on the same patch, without changing andthing, over time. This is annoying and unsatisfactory. I think its the preamp section (tube).

I would like the I/O section to be improved so that an amps preamp can be used in the effects loop of the pedal (4 cable method). Right now its too noise and verry limited. As stated above the preamp section should have a selection where you can select no preamp and use it with the preamp controls such as the stomp boxes. You should be able to move the pedal loop anywhere in the preamp chain or in the intire effects chain for that matter. In addition to being noisey, the effects loop has very little headroom and is easily overdriven. Maybe its has inferior I/O amps and AD/DA converters in this section.

I have tested and tested the unit in many different configurations using a Marshall TSL 100 and a B-52 AT100 and received similar results.

I first used the entire unit in front of the amps and tried out all the presets and preamp models. Like I said above, I didnt like the lack of dynamic control of the preamp models so I wanted to try my amps preamps (both sound great with dynamic control from clean to distortion with your guitar volume)in the preamp section of the Zoom. Turned off the Zoom preamp and this setup sounded okay but the noise and the limited headroom (can we say digital distortion) made this unusable. Too bad too as this configuration would allow me to use the Zoom's cool pre-preamp effects before the amps preamp and the cool modulation, delay and reverbs after.

I then placed my amps preamp in front of the Zoom, going out the loop send of the amp to the input of the Zoom. The output of the Zoom went to the loop return of the amp. This, I learned was limited in that all the cool effects such as WAA, Phaser, Compression, and those that sound cool befor the preamp, sounded terrible. This is also where I experienced problems controlling the volume of the Zoom. You could never know what level the Zoom would be at. This was very annoying as I chased this problem for weeks and couldnt figure it out.

My current setup is my amps preamp, out of the amp effects send, into the effects loop return of the Zoom and out of the Zooms out put back into the amps effects return. This setup sounds real nice as I have pretty decent sounding modulation, delay, and reverb. Althought I still have a headrooom issue at times and I cannot use any other part of the Zoom except those thre effects.

It seems pretty sturdy. I dont like the volume swells.

I have tried to contact them via their website and havent heard from them.

This thing would be excellent to me if the above issues were resolved. Its a pretty cool toy for some but does not have the flexability that I need or want. This pedal is the closest thing to my utopian pedal but just not there yet. The GT-8 was also close, but it has its own issues. I would rather zoom, or any pedal manufacturer, pay more attention to the effects, I/O, flexability, and overall sound of a pedal instead of modeling amps and preamps. These models are not there yet either.

If you are familiar with multieffects units its fair easy to get a good sound out of it. The manual its ok, I would like to have more parameters in the Whammy effect (it has no Mix for dry and affected signal) , other than that is a very good unit.

For me this is the best multieffects unit I have used, definitely its not perfect, but it works great, this is one of the few multieffects in which I can obtain a decent distortion (not digital sounding), modulations and delays are very good, whammy needs a mix control I feel it is a little weak but sounds real !
I bought this after a gig nightmare I had dealing with bad patch cables, so again I send my pedal case to rest for a while(Boss delay, chorus, flanger, noise supresor, ibanez tube screamer, jekyl & hyde distortion, bad horsie & whammy) and gave a try to this zoom, I can tell you that I do not miss the pedals, I can not hear quality differences between them.
I am using this unit in front of a Carvin Legacy head for my main set up, and also with a Roland cube 60, great results both.

Looks undestructible but who knows, ...

I play in 2 bands one is a heavy metal / hard rock band who plays in clubs (from 70's - 2000's rock hits) and other one who plays at weddings and family parties (latin, pop, ballads, some jazz) this unit is working for me right know, I used to have : boss gt6, gt8, m e, toneworks korg, digitech rp2000, pod xt live. this zoom sounds real and I like it better, I also still keep my rack (Rocktron piranha, TC G Major, Mesa 50/50 and BBE) but there is long time I dont use it. Zoom + Legacy has worked great for me.

Its easy enough to use

It trys to be this and that and fails!! comes nowhere near the quailty of modded pedals. Just one modded Boss DS-1 by Monte Allums blows away any overdrive/distortion sound this can do!. Also I dislike amp sims!! stop thinking your getting loads of pricey amp sounds out of this unit? your not!

Built well

Do you want afew top notch sounding pedals of your personal choice or a unit with tons of average effects? any self claimed pro that praises this is deaf! if your a serious guitar player! keep it real

How easy is it to get a good sound out of it?

Pretty easy, you need to read the manual though! tried using headphone and it rips my g2.1u in sound, in front of an amp its awesome

How about Editing patches?

confused at first, with a lot of button and parameters to choose from, but after reading the manual, its a breeze.

How is the manual for it (if there is one)?
easy to read, no rocket science here, but have some errata that s not too serious

Do you know the firmware revision number? Has your unit been upgraded?

no idea!

Can you get the sound of your favorite artists? Who are they?

i like to have my own sound with this unit so no comment on this one

Are certain effects (distortion, chorus, ...) very good? Very bad?
preamp/distortion sound is a topnotch, i can make a very close sound especially to those high gain sound, very authentic.

What setup (i.e. what guitars and amps) are you using this with?

im using a yamaha AES620 through a p1 tube amp, and it rocks!!

Is it noisy? On what settings?
high gain, noisy but you need to use the ZR (zoom noise reduzer)

Are the effects weak or do they always sound great?

very usable effects, its what i need

looks and built like a tank

not dealt yet

from blues to rock to metal, this is a good match. i use pedals before , but i need to switch from clean to high gain distortion so i purchase this unit and it suits me well

How easy is it to get a good sound out of it?

\It takes a little manipulation.

How about Editing patches?

\Same as most similar units. Just grab a knob or click an effect module. Then save if you like what you hear.

How is the manual for it (if there is one)?

\Decent. A little non-linear.

Do you know the firmware revision number? Has your unit been upgraded?

\No, and I wont upgrade. This only adds new patches, Not new sound engines. I can achive any sound I need with the unit stock. And if I need to restore it to factory defaults (which I had to do when the unit arrived from Music123)I can do so with out loosing any upgrades. I can just re-load my saved paches from my other G9.2tt.

Unbeleivable... This is like having a massive rack system including multiple preamps. The two tube cuircuits operate as individual pre and post amps. Adding three stages of gain with enough eq to get whatever you want. I am a Tube and Solid State user and this would satisfy tube purists. The modulation effects are plenty but not necessarily spectacular. The Z-Pedal is groundbreaking however.

I have never had this type of equipment fail in 16 years. Boss, Zoom, even digitech is all extremely reliable. If you have good gear and have not abused it you will allways trust it.

Never.

What style of music do you play? Is this a good match?

\I play Blues, Jazz, Metal, and Rock.

How long have you been playing? What other gear do you own?

\17 years. Many different 4x12 cabs and combos with celestion g12t7516 speakers, G12H100s, G12M70s, and peavey Sheffield 1230's and Black Widows. Too many effects and multi effects to mention.

If you decide to purchase this....Enjoy..I sure have.

* How easy is it to get a good sound out of it?

alot of the presets dont sound good, but they are a good starting point to see what is possible, and you can use them as a starting point to get a sound you like.

* How abou2100 player t Editing patches?

i had a zoom before this, almost identical system of editing, except you have alot more controls to use, i didnt read the manual to start editing stuff on it, i only needed to read the manual for a few extra features like the AARM and assigning the custom buttons.

* How is the manual for it (if there is one)?

fairly well layed out, except the special patches that are meant for using the Z pedal are on a separate sheet of paper, i understand this is because they were added after the original specs were finalise and manual written.

* Do you know the firmware revision number? Has your unit been upgraded?

1.07, no upgrade is available

* Can you get the sound of your favorite artists? Who are they?

i dont really try to copy other artist's sounds, but as for my own sound that i like, i have no problem finding numerous sounds that sound great. i like guitarist like Adam Jones, Omar Rodregez, Jeff martin, and so call post rock, bands like mogwai, Isis and GYBE!, but i like alot of different genres of music.

* Are certain effects (distortion, chorus, ...) very good? Very bad?

there are alot of distortions and amp models, personally i haven't tried all of them, but generally with a bit of EQing you can get them sounding good. im not obsessed with all the amp tone stuff, so im not concerned if they dont sound identical to the original, the Gt9.2tt has 2 tubes, one at the input, and one on output, the first is a parallel circuit of a transistor amp, and tube, so you can blend a digital or analog signal as the pre amp before any of the effects, adds warmth to the sound, and alone can be used as distortion. unfortunately it can not be turned off, and you cannot store different parameters with each patch.

generally the effects are good, ill list all my gripes with the individual effects:

Wahs: dont have alot of range, and sound quite weak in comparison to other stand alone wahs.
Phaser: not as much depth as say a small stone, and compared to the phaser on my old Zoom 2100, it lacks the different tones that were achievable. there is only 4 ranges of colour, where as the 2100 had 10 different depths of the 2 phaser types (like the colour switch on most phasers, then 1-10 of the depth from subtle to over the top.. i like over the top ;) )
Flanger, much the same as the phaser, it doesnt have alot of options, but i really liked the flanger on the 2100, the flanger on the G9.2 sounds alot more like the boss flanger on the GT8.

Overall i wish all the effects had more parameters, there is already a Page button, which is only used for setting up the ARRM feature. it would be nice to see this used for the effects, so each effect could have more then 4 parameters, to allow them to have more variation.
ild love a more customizable pitch shifter (whammy) there are 8 different presets which you cant change, ild like to see one that has the Low pitch, High pitch, Balance, for me it would be more useful.

the unit does contain some nice effects that you cant find in other pedals,

Reverbs are great, as are the delays as far as digital go.
also has a compressor, which i guess is ok. i HATE THE ZOOM NOISE REDUCTION. it destroys quite dynamics when using distortion. ill take a bit of hum over that anyday.

one problem with the delays is when you switch the amp position (before or after the delays/effect2) it will cut the signal of anything that is delaying. so does changing the delay tone or delay time. can be annoying if you have the delay held, and the delay feedback is set to one the pedals, and you bump it, all your delay disappears

the Z pedal is realy great, but setting it up does get a bit difficult. it lets you assign 4 different effects parameters to each axis (4 to the left pedal, 4 to the horizontal right, and 4 vertical right) setting the range (can also be set inversely) and each vertical has the ability to switch the effects on and off, when you stomp down hard (switch under the pedal) it would be great if this could be extended so you could set the parameter range, and also the range of the pedal the effects it,

EG. you have the wah pedal going from the pedal fully down, to half way. then at half way the pitch shifter goes up to the fully depressed state.

the AARM, forget what it stands for... but is an oscillator that can be assigned to any effect parameter, has alot of different wave forms, but unfortunately can only be assigned to 1 effect, would be cool if it could be assigned to 2, and have an offset on one of them.

* What setup (i.e. what guitars and amps) are you using this with?

i got a Tele 68 custom, and an

* Can you depend on it?

it looks like you could beat someone to death with it and it would still work, it weight in at 5KG. sturdy metal case... only thing i recon would kill it easily is someone spilling beer in the tube vents

* Would you use it on a gig without a backup?

i do, have no worries ever

* If you've dealt with the company, how helpful/friendly were they?

i find the language barrier the biggest problem, as Zoom are japanise, i have emailed them a few times and have got help, but not as percussed as i would like.

* Ever get an upgrade, or try and get it repaired?

nope

* What style of music do you play? Is this a good match?

i play what kids these days call post rock, which as far as equipment goes is large pedal boards, and anything goes. i recon the G9.2 does the job great, as well as some effects i dont think would be possible on single pedals. one pitfall is to edit effects you have to press a few buttons, that is understandable, but when an effect is off, you can not edit the whole block, so say its on wah. to change it to a ring modulator, you have to go through all the other effects while its on, which makes a few clicks and glitches.

* How long have you been playing? What other gear do you own?

8 years... to much to list

* If it were stolen or lost, would you buy it again or get something else?

buy another one of these.

* what do you love about it? What do you hate? What is your favorite feature?

ive listed my loves and hates though out this review. one other thing that i dont like, is it doesnt have a full midi implementation, well not as much as i would like.
it would be great if the pedal would receive MIDI SysEx data, so you could change the effects type, or parameters from external devices. afaik most roland equipment lets you do this, and it would be a great feature for the G9.2, but it is not something alot of others might find useful. the unit will send midi SysEx data, but not receive it.

it would also be great if the signal path was more routable, currently you have 2 switches, effect1 before/after distortion, and distortion before/after effect2/delay giving you a total of 4 options, expanding on this, and allowing any pedal in any order like the GT8 can do would make it so much more versatile.

the computer editing software is really nice, shows everything layed out well.

* Did you compare it to other products? Which ones? Why did you choose this one?

i tried the GT8, POD XTLive, and researched many rack units on the Internet, i found this to be the best i could get for the price, with out going for a expensive rack unit.

* Anything you wish it had?

alot of things listed thought out the review

* Does it help you make music, or does it get in the way?

ive practically mastered it now, so if im thinking of a sound i can get it fairly easily, but it was hard to start with, cause there are so many effects, and so few buttons and knobs

* Anything else you'd like to share?

no

Firmware version 1.07

Well the g9.2tt is difficult to use at first and some time is required to learn the g9 and how each patch re-acts wih the accalerator and energiser settings.

After about a week of use it should be very Easy to use and program

Literally Perfect; really

If you take the time to learn how the unit operates with each effect and setting you can get some truly amazing tone from it.

i'll give you some tips; using a fairly low gain sound with NO ZNR (it cuts off notes too soon even at setting 1) turn the tube accelerator knob up full for a truly astounding dynamic reactive tube distortion. Hell I was even able to get the Guthrie Govan sound from the unit.

there is no flaw in sound once you have programmed your own patches

never had any problems; solid and sturdy piece of equipment

the only thing I could see go wrong with it would be a powercut LOL

never dealt with them

I'm 19 and play guitar more than I sleep; I love all music styles especially all types of shred guitar (huge shred freak)

I love the sound quality of this thing (turn the znr off though, unless you are a sloppy player)

he unit can get fantastic sounds for any style (try the jc clean with a booster in efx 1 and some chorus, tasty clean patch) the Z stack distortion sounds fantastic for any metal type shred and us blues is great for soulful soloing


if stolen; i would buy two more and maybe a g7 as a spare spare LOL

After opening the box the first impression is one of confusion. But i found that although the manual is very good, it is better to have a fiddle with it before reading the manual. This is because the manual refers to some of the components on the effects box which will seem alien to many. It is very easy to get a good sound out of it as it has the same knobs that a conventional amp has. Editing patches is very easy as you just turn a knob to add more bass and press store/swap and you can store it wherever you want to. The manual is very good, it explains every parameter and component in high detail.

The sound quality on this unit is very good. The overall tone that comes from it is amazing. I am new to effects pedals, and i wasnt expecting a large amount of tone and sound quality to come from it. The unit has many patches that recreate the tones of favourite artists: The edge, Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Kobain, BB King, Slipknot and more. Some certain effects are especially good. The Marshall TSL and DSL patches are great. A friend brought his TSL 60 stack for a practice and it sounded identical. Hughes and Kettner patches are also good. You can of course save all of your favourites in your own custom banks.
I am using this board with a PRS Santana SE running into a Crate Powerblock 150W head and 4x12 cab. The Crate Powerblock 150W Head is very good as it only has one channel and no effects, so i am using the zoom g9.2tt solely for sounds and effects.
The board is not too noisy as it has built in ZNR (Zone Noise Reduction) which you can set the sensitivity for, it can eliminate all of the hum of any loud pickups or other pedals.
The effects are very good. Some are virtually useless but are great for a mess around. The delays and Wahs sound good and the reverb is very nice.

I have had this unit for 3 months now, it has never turned off or malfunctioned in any way. It is very sturdy and rugged - encased in metal and hard rubber ends. However i do want to buy a hardcase for it as I have found one scratch on the base. If anyone needs one a very good site with the correct size is at >>http://www.flightcasewarehouse.co.uk/music/typeproducts2.asp?id=3149-2678<<. I would defianately gig with this without a backup. This is a very reliable piece of kit.

I am in a blues/rock band and I also play in a very lively church. This suites the style to perfection. The abundance of great sounds has really boosted my playing in both situations.
I have been playing for 5 years now and am at a high skill level. I own a PRS Santana SE II and a crate stack (which is very pleasing).
If it was stolen or lost I would defianately buy another one without a doubt. I have tried the Boss GT-8 and the Line6 Pod XT Live and this exceeds them by far. The two 12AX7 tubes really make a difference.
I love the sounds and range of effects on offer. I dont hate anything I just love it!
It defianately helps my music as I said earlier it has boosted my skill and ability to try new things and to play "outside the box".

I wouldn't say it's easy to use. There are so many options, it's easy to get confused with it. The instructions are good, however, and it doesn't hurt to keep them close by. I've never owned anything that has this many choices. It's incredible!

I'm playing a Gibson SG standard with EMG's into the G9 into headphones mostly, but also into a Marshall JCM800 sometimes. Great sound. When into my amp, I only use the noise reduction, compression, and Eq. I then switch on the Univibe, delay, and talkbox as necessary. I've got it sounding just like "Rocky Mountain Way" and "the Star Spangled Banner". At this point, that's enough to make it worth the price and that's not even the main reason I bought it! Into headphones, I'm getting almost any tone I want(although it takes awhile to find it). I haven't tried to record straight into the computer yet, but I definitely will. It also sounds great with my cheap back up guitars, a Squier Strat and an OLP Axis copy. I'll put up a few samples on my soundclick page in a few days.

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=460225

This thing is solid!

I just got it for Christmas '06. Last year I got a G2.1U and never had troubles with it. That's why I decided to upgrade.

I like to play old rock in the AC/DC and Led Zeppelin style. This is great for that, either into headphones or an amp. There are so many amps, effects that it's mind boggling. I can't wait until I master all of the possibilities of this thing! The different settings of the pedals can give you so many tones at an instant. It's amazing!

Highly recommended for tube amp users.

I have had this unit for about 6 months and am still getting used to it.

This is a good unit if you are picky about your sound and are still playing a tube amp. This unit has true bypass and will not change the tone of your guitar unless you turn something on that is supposed to change it.

I have spent a little time with the amp models, but so far have not been using any of them. Instead, I use this unit only to overdrive my amp and to use compression, EQ, noise gate & pedal effects. I play a Gibson LP DC customized with Duncan pickups into a Rivera R-55 amp. The LP has coil tapping as well so I get both humbucker and single coil sounds similar to a PRS. I also still use the channel switching in the amp which means both clean and distortion channels are used.

The G9 switches patches so fast you can just hit the buttons and change patches while you are playing without any problems. It also has quite a few effects that I???ll never use but are fun.

The compressors in the G9 are some of the best I???ve seen in a multi-unit and I like their noise gate.

Having 2 expression pedals are also very nice. You can set the range of the volume pedal and actually control the gain on your amp with it as part of one of your patches. I use the right pedal for wah-wah and a few other effects like whammy, depending on my patch.

While I???m sure this unit could have had some more controls added, the key is it is a player's unit designed for simplicity on the stage so you can just hit your buttons or pedals and go without lots of other complications. This helps for people who play and sign and cannot look down all the time at the unit.

I???m sure some of the other reviews have covered the other details of this unit, but in a nutshell.???this unit works well with tube amps and can be used to replace quite a few stomp boxes. Once you get used to the layout and figure out how you want to use it, you can set-up this unit to perform quit a bit of stomp box functions and have more control over them as well.

Easy to use i thought, though sometimes the layout of the EQ controls can be a bit annoying (the Low Mids and Harmonics are over on the left, the rest are on the right).
Manaul is good though i still haven't got to grips with all the pedal assigns :(

Editing, saving etc are pretty simple, everything is in the manual

Well..... I am comparing this to my huge pedalboard full of classic pedals (Boss CS2, CE2, BK Butler Tube Driver, DAM Ramhead, Electric Mistress, Barber LTD, Dynacomp, Mojo-vibe etc... etc....), my Boss GT6 and a few other multi-fx i've owned.

Ok, the preset sounds are ok but nothing special, too many unusable sounds and generic tones. However, im not interested in presets, it's all about creating my own patches.

Overdrives/Pre-amp: Great, the highlight of the unit. The Muff, OD1, Fuzz Face and other simulations are really fun to use, pretty accurate and sound analogue rather than the usual fizziness of digital FX. The amp models are good, again very useable and pretty authentic. 9/10

Wah/FX1/FX2/Modulation: The Wahs are not good, the Delays are nice but not brilliant (a little digital thud in the repeats), the compressor and noise reduction are very good, chorus and phase are great but the uni-vibe lacks that sticky gnarly sound of the real thing. Most of the modulation effects are good but not spectacular. For live use everything in these modules is certainly good enough, but i feel the GT6 has the edge here.

Delay/Reverb: Again, lots of options, very adaptable, competent sounds. Nothing brilliant, but good solid sounds. The ability to layer multiple delays is great, and the overall quality is high.

Overall Sound: Great. I intend to use this for live use, straight into my Hiwatt Custom 50, for that scenario this is the perfect multi-fx. It sounds great live.

Dont know yet, but i had a Zoom 5040 and 3030 for years without any trouble.

I play in a Pink Floyd tribute band, i've been playing guitar for over 19 years. I own several Strats, Les Paul and other good quality guitars.
I use Hiwatt amps and have spent a lot of moeny getting the best gear over the years.

This is a great unit. I had decided a few years ago that multi-fx were not for me, but this one is good enough to make me want to use it. Its easy to set up, has loads of options and above all, sounds great.
Like i said, there are a few negatives - the wah sounds are weak and some of the modulation effects are a bit flat, but the overdrive and pre-amp sounds make this worth the money alone. The Muff almost sounds as good as my DAM Ramhead and sounds better than my USA Muff and Frantone Sweet. The Fuzz Face and Rat are great to use and even the more over the top distortions still sound good.
Clean tones are very important to me, i reckon the Hiwatt and Fender clean models are actually very good on this, but its better to turn them off and just use the compressor/delay/EQ to get some nice cleans.

Overall, i love it...... the 2 12AX7 tubes do add some warmth and tone to the overall sound and even though there are a few downsides this is still the best multi-fx available.