artificial infection
04-13-2004, 02:50 PM
Zoom GFX-8 Multi Effects Processor
I've had this pedal for 3 months now, bought new for £200 (sale price) which is around $354. It's retailed around £300 though ($531.)
Information:
The Zoom Is very easy to use, and can store 240 Effects. It's really plug it in and off you go. It has a built in sampler and jam play feature. This pedal can be used with MIDI and conencted up to your P.C. with a the software provided to adjust the Distortion. The Pedal can be used in conjunction with Singular pedals (Stompboxes) with send and return jack. It also has AUX in jack , Left and Right Output jacks for stereo or just L for Mono, Output headphones, and an Output level Knob. The Peal features 4 footswitches, which are drive, mod, dly/rev, and control (tap/sw.) And there's also an Expression pedal, and a Bank up footswitch and a bank down foot switch.
The Pedal also features an eqaulaizer (Presence, Treble, Middle, and Bass This allows to adjust the sound quality to your liking.) and Aimp Simulation (this is best used for recording etc.) A new feature on the Zoom is the RTM (real tiem Doulation) which is basically chaning effect parameters in real time (EG. You can use the expression pedal to change the mix ratio of the reverb sound, or adjust the delay time during a song using a midi squencer.
Like most Zoom pedals, it features Bypass mode and a chormatic Tuner, which you can either tune in MUTE mode or with sound.
Modes:
The GFX-8 has five different operation modes:
Play mode - Patches can be selected and played
Manual Mode - You playing your instrument whilst manually switching the modules on and off
Edit Mode - Effect parameters of the currently selected patch can be edited (changed)
Jam Play Mode - You can record a guitar phrase and play it back in normal, reverse or scratch style
Sampler Mode - You can use the sampler function to record and play back a phrase from a guitar or a source such as a CD player.
Sounds:
The Zoom is quite versatile. The Pedal Is split up into 3 sections (as stated), Drive, Mod (modulation) and Dly/REV., with each having 22 effects. The various effects can be freely modified by using the effect parameters. With the GFX -8, you can use the four effecrs modules, Drive, Equalizer, Mod, and Dly/rev as well as the ZNR (Zoom noise reduction) and Amp Sim (amp simulator) simultaneously.
There are various types of Distortions on the Zoom GFX-8, ranging from Fuzz, Metal distortion to slight overdriven sound, and other distortions such a drive/distoriton sound of a high gain tube stack etc.
The Modulation types are very good, and have good quality sound. There are various types such as Chorus, Ring Modulater, Flanger, Phaser, delay, wah etc. These are easily adjusted to your liking, and using to parameters to get a Distinctive sounds.
In The DLY/REV section of the pedal it mainly conatins single reverb type effects, such as delay and reverb, but also covers combinations with modulation effects and Special effects and contains the Jam effect making use of sampling technology. In this part of the section, you'll find combinations such as pitch shifter and delay, chorus and delay, auto wah and tremolo etc, and others such as Rev hall, or Rev room (reverb hall or room) Ping pong delay etc, and special effects such as Synth, two pitch shifters together, HPS (pitch shifter that allows changing the pitch of the according to the key of the song) etc.. These are quite a versatile bunch of effects.
The Zoom features Aimp simulator which duplicates the electrical Characteristics and cabinet sound of various guitar amplifiers.
Creating Effects/Using Them:
Creating effects is simply easy, it's just a matter of turning the Know of which type of effect you want and modifying the sound using the parameters and equalizer, and storing them. There are a total of 240 patches, these are divided into 80 read/write patches in the USER groups under (U and u) and a 160 read-onyl patches in preset groups name (A, b, C, d.) So storing effects is not a problem, and using them is just a matter of moving the bank up and down buttons.
Also with the supplied software, you can create your own distoriton/Modulation effects using the Midi functions and connecting the pedal up to your PC. This a good function to customise any effects that you would want.
When it comes to creating some effects it's a bit tricky. Such as when using the Wah you need to setup real time modulation (RTM) for the expression pedal, and to get the wah going, other wise it's just wah and the frequency cannot be changed. Others are easy enough, it's just a matter of adjust it with the knobs.
Reliability:
Well the problem i've had with this pedal was the AC Adapter. Make sure they give you a proper zoom one, i went through 3 adapters, but they kept giving me the wrong ones until they actually gave me a zoome adapter. That's the only problem with this pedal, other than that, it's quite soid, made with a metal chasis, and is well constructed. So make sure you get a proper adapter.
Conclusion:
Well i must say it does take some time to get used to, it's a matter of sitting down and getting good effects and achiving good sound. Ive sat down for 3 or 4 months with this pedal and the only distortion effect (IMO) that was good was the patch name 'Distortion'. All the rest sound too digitalised and sound awful, even when the EQ was mixed.
The Modulation effects sound great, i can't complain about them, they have good tone and sound pretty good when tweaked with the effect parameters such as Chorus, Delay Flanger. I think this is the best Part of the pedal. The Dly/Rev section has some greta combinations and odd SFX, which are quite cool. These section is very useful, with reverb and other combinations such as the chorus + delay etc.
The Amp simualtor imo isn't very good, when used into the PC it sounded quite bad, and i think is poor and when used with the Guitar amp.
Overal the sound quality can be too digitalised, although it's quite a versatile Multi FX, and I think it was good of Zoom to supply software and so you could adjust and have your own custom distortion/modualtion effects. It's a good versatile pedal, with various effects, but imo, sounds well too digitalised. Some disagree but that's my opinion. It's well built though, very strong and good for Live gigs. have fun :thumb:
overall rating of this Product (1-5) --> Would be 2 or 3 out of 5
I've had this pedal for 3 months now, bought new for £200 (sale price) which is around $354. It's retailed around £300 though ($531.)
Information:
The Zoom Is very easy to use, and can store 240 Effects. It's really plug it in and off you go. It has a built in sampler and jam play feature. This pedal can be used with MIDI and conencted up to your P.C. with a the software provided to adjust the Distortion. The Pedal can be used in conjunction with Singular pedals (Stompboxes) with send and return jack. It also has AUX in jack , Left and Right Output jacks for stereo or just L for Mono, Output headphones, and an Output level Knob. The Peal features 4 footswitches, which are drive, mod, dly/rev, and control (tap/sw.) And there's also an Expression pedal, and a Bank up footswitch and a bank down foot switch.
The Pedal also features an eqaulaizer (Presence, Treble, Middle, and Bass This allows to adjust the sound quality to your liking.) and Aimp Simulation (this is best used for recording etc.) A new feature on the Zoom is the RTM (real tiem Doulation) which is basically chaning effect parameters in real time (EG. You can use the expression pedal to change the mix ratio of the reverb sound, or adjust the delay time during a song using a midi squencer.
Like most Zoom pedals, it features Bypass mode and a chormatic Tuner, which you can either tune in MUTE mode or with sound.
Modes:
The GFX-8 has five different operation modes:
Play mode - Patches can be selected and played
Manual Mode - You playing your instrument whilst manually switching the modules on and off
Edit Mode - Effect parameters of the currently selected patch can be edited (changed)
Jam Play Mode - You can record a guitar phrase and play it back in normal, reverse or scratch style
Sampler Mode - You can use the sampler function to record and play back a phrase from a guitar or a source such as a CD player.
Sounds:
The Zoom is quite versatile. The Pedal Is split up into 3 sections (as stated), Drive, Mod (modulation) and Dly/REV., with each having 22 effects. The various effects can be freely modified by using the effect parameters. With the GFX -8, you can use the four effecrs modules, Drive, Equalizer, Mod, and Dly/rev as well as the ZNR (Zoom noise reduction) and Amp Sim (amp simulator) simultaneously.
There are various types of Distortions on the Zoom GFX-8, ranging from Fuzz, Metal distortion to slight overdriven sound, and other distortions such a drive/distoriton sound of a high gain tube stack etc.
The Modulation types are very good, and have good quality sound. There are various types such as Chorus, Ring Modulater, Flanger, Phaser, delay, wah etc. These are easily adjusted to your liking, and using to parameters to get a Distinctive sounds.
In The DLY/REV section of the pedal it mainly conatins single reverb type effects, such as delay and reverb, but also covers combinations with modulation effects and Special effects and contains the Jam effect making use of sampling technology. In this part of the section, you'll find combinations such as pitch shifter and delay, chorus and delay, auto wah and tremolo etc, and others such as Rev hall, or Rev room (reverb hall or room) Ping pong delay etc, and special effects such as Synth, two pitch shifters together, HPS (pitch shifter that allows changing the pitch of the according to the key of the song) etc.. These are quite a versatile bunch of effects.
The Zoom features Aimp simulator which duplicates the electrical Characteristics and cabinet sound of various guitar amplifiers.
Creating Effects/Using Them:
Creating effects is simply easy, it's just a matter of turning the Know of which type of effect you want and modifying the sound using the parameters and equalizer, and storing them. There are a total of 240 patches, these are divided into 80 read/write patches in the USER groups under (U and u) and a 160 read-onyl patches in preset groups name (A, b, C, d.) So storing effects is not a problem, and using them is just a matter of moving the bank up and down buttons.
Also with the supplied software, you can create your own distoriton/Modulation effects using the Midi functions and connecting the pedal up to your PC. This a good function to customise any effects that you would want.
When it comes to creating some effects it's a bit tricky. Such as when using the Wah you need to setup real time modulation (RTM) for the expression pedal, and to get the wah going, other wise it's just wah and the frequency cannot be changed. Others are easy enough, it's just a matter of adjust it with the knobs.
Reliability:
Well the problem i've had with this pedal was the AC Adapter. Make sure they give you a proper zoom one, i went through 3 adapters, but they kept giving me the wrong ones until they actually gave me a zoome adapter. That's the only problem with this pedal, other than that, it's quite soid, made with a metal chasis, and is well constructed. So make sure you get a proper adapter.
Conclusion:
Well i must say it does take some time to get used to, it's a matter of sitting down and getting good effects and achiving good sound. Ive sat down for 3 or 4 months with this pedal and the only distortion effect (IMO) that was good was the patch name 'Distortion'. All the rest sound too digitalised and sound awful, even when the EQ was mixed.
The Modulation effects sound great, i can't complain about them, they have good tone and sound pretty good when tweaked with the effect parameters such as Chorus, Delay Flanger. I think this is the best Part of the pedal. The Dly/Rev section has some greta combinations and odd SFX, which are quite cool. These section is very useful, with reverb and other combinations such as the chorus + delay etc.
The Amp simualtor imo isn't very good, when used into the PC it sounded quite bad, and i think is poor and when used with the Guitar amp.
Overal the sound quality can be too digitalised, although it's quite a versatile Multi FX, and I think it was good of Zoom to supply software and so you could adjust and have your own custom distortion/modualtion effects. It's a good versatile pedal, with various effects, but imo, sounds well too digitalised. Some disagree but that's my opinion. It's well built though, very strong and good for Live gigs. have fun :thumb:
overall rating of this Product (1-5) --> Would be 2 or 3 out of 5