PROS:
inexpensive at $150 at most online music stores
plenty of customization of your modulation and ambience effects
a switch to switch between amp or line
built in tuner, you can mute the whole thing for silent tuning
built in expression pedal
CONS:
horrible presets
hard to get to the channel you want
not enough variety in amp models/the amp models don't sound good
has features that you would never figure out if you didn't read the manual
a switch to switch between low output pickups (single coils) and high output (humbuckers)
takes four AA batterys which only last 3 or 4 hours
no on-off switch
hard to read the knobs (white writing on polished silver knobs!?!)
REVIEW:
ok, so, I picked this pedal up for $200 a couple days after christmas last year at a local shop. only to find out later (after it was too late) that it sells on the internet for $150. oh well, it was my parents money. so, one good thing about this pedal is that it has plenty of customization of the modulation and ambience effects. there are 11 modulation, and 11 ambience (along with 11 amp models but we'll get to that later) there is tap tempo, which I kind of wish that there was just a knob or something to adjust tempo, but for those who like tap tempo, it's here. then you can adjust the 'depth' and 'speed' of your modulation effects... how? well, in order to adjust depth, you just push the two buttons underneath the knob with all the modulation effects. well, in order to adjust speed, you have to hold down the function button and then push the buttons... this requires two hands, and gets very annoying... you must also know that you can't tweak anything while playing live, it's just too hard. but it does have plenty of variety with the modulation and ambience, more then you'll ever need (who needs 5 different kinds of talk box?) ok, another thing about this pedal is the abilty to switch between amp and line, so, you can use it for practicing in your room, live, or for recording. ok, another thing is the built in tuner, which you would probably have to read the manual to figure out how to turn on... you have to push the two bank buttons at the same time, which is hard to do with one foot, and even harder with two! you have to press them at the exact same time or else the tuner doesn't come on, so it can take 2 or 3 tries to get it. and, in order to go into silent tuning you have to press and hold both buttons until the display on the led blinks rapidly. that's about it for the good stuff on this pedal, now for the bad...
ok, the presets are horrible, I only use 3 of the presets. the presets can be a foundation for your own customizations though. ok, another thing about this pedal, is that, if you you are a channel, and need to get 15 channels up for the next song, then your gonna have to step on one of the bank buttons 15 times! you can't just press and hold.. another problem with this thing, is that out of the 11 amp models, one 2 or 3 sound good... and since you are using the same ones over and over, there really is not much variety among channels that you create. it's always the same RECTO amp modeler for all your distorted channels... it's very old to me now after about 7 months. ok, another thing with this thing, that there is a learning curve, and you would pretty much have to read the manual in order to figure out things like how to use the tuner, how to use the noise reduction (hold down the function button, then adjust the volume knob) etc. etc. ok, and another thing, there is a switch on the back to switch between using high output pickups (humbuckers) and low output pickups (single coils) which completely defeats the purpose of having a pickup switch on your guitar if you have both humbuckers and single coils. also, this thing takes 4 AA batterys and goes through them pretty fast... so, it's a good investment to get an ac adaptor like I did. but I'm not sure if there is a specific ac adaptor that is supposed to go in here, but I got sold a boss adaptor, and it works fine. ok, and another thing that I don't like about this pedal is that there is no on/off switch, so, if an ac adaptor is plugged into it, then it's constantly on... and if using batterys then whenever there is a cable plugged into the input, then it's on... which makes it annoying because then you have to unplug the cable when you are done... then plug the cable back in to use it again. ok, one last thing and then I'll be done ranting... whose smart idea was it to put white writing on polished silver knobs? it's not super easy to read.. not impossible though... but still
CONCLUSION:
sure, this pedal has it's faults... lots of 'em... but, what can you expect for $150? that's less then the cost of 2 stomp boxes. so, this thing would be ok for a beginner who wants a cool toy for practicing in his room... not for the professional on tour... I have used it live several times, and it gets the job done as long as you set up all your presets in a row so that you only need to hit the button once to get to the next preset that you need. I don't really recommend it to experienced players as it is no substitute for a pedal board full of stomp boxes. but if you are a beginner thatjust wants something to mess around with, and have no intention of live use for it, and you are on a budget... then this one is ok, I'm not sure if you'd be able to find something better for this price range. but I'm sure that this thing is probably better then the zoom that I almost got!
