Zoom G1X Four Multi-Effects Processor with Expression Pedal for Electric Guitar

The Zoom G1X Four is an excellent multi effects processor that can power up to five effects at once. Pretty much everything you could ever need is included here & there are meaningful emulations of some esteemed pieces of gear. I got this for processing synths & guitars. I use it multiple times a week & for the money it just can’t be beat. I haven’t played with the presets much as they are designed for guitar & I mostly use this to process two Linked Korg Monotribes. I don’t know how “true” the emulations are but I am happy getting a variety of different effect tones. I mainly use it for cabinets with various mod effects & the seven band graphic EQ & so far I haven’t had any struggles or issues at all. You CAN max out the processor power & I suppose at this price that’s just what you get for not spending more money on more expensive computing. Similarly there isn’t “room” on the device to house all the potential effects at once. You have to use a software editor to swap in & out what you do & don’t want accessible. This limits creativity surely but also makes you commit to certain effects which can be a good thing too. I would potentially gig with this but so far it has just been home studio use & has delivered sonic fun pretty effortlessly. There are both a looper & a drum track that I haven’t played around with but based on how well what I’ve explored is laid out I expect these to be pretty top notch too. I recommend this multi effect to anyone. At this price point it really can’t be beat. I had a Line 6 POD X3 Live before & I enjoy this wayyy more. That was convenient for toggling on & off the effects within a patch & for being controlled via MIDI but with this you have such a beautifully small footprint & if you want to toggle a certain effect just copy the patch into the next memory location & make your changes. I’ll almost certainly purchase whatever follow up there is to this when it comes out. ANYONE looking for a studio or live solution for multi effects should at least investigate the G1X Four. Also just pay the extra $20 for the expression pedal. Better to not need it & have it than to want it & not have access.

I love this stupid little thing, though my use-case scenarios are... a little odd. But it is useful in several different situations.So, a few months ago, my lead guitar player gets it in his head that he wants to do this song we wrote in 2016 that has me playing a wah-wah pedal, and it was recorded-- weirdly-- on an old Zoom 606 that had been sitting in a trap case for about 5 years until a few months ago. I actually had just used the 606, for the first time in 10 years, for some fly dates in NYC! It was a bizarre show, in that one of the acts I played with was acoustic, but the other three bands are electric, I can't bring two guitars on the plane, so I brought the old 606 because it has a great "acoustic" patch for electric guitar. Problem solved-- the 606 made my electric sound acoustic enough so that it blended in fine with the 'real' acoustics.But I did notice-- the switches on the 606 were a little dodgy when I was rehearsing to track on the east coast. It got through the shows with no problem, but it's clearly at retirement age.I looked at standalone wah-wah pedals, but they all have tone pots in them, and I know what that means-- the WILL get dusty and go bad sooner than I'd like, and some of them can't even be opened and cleaned. The cheaper multi-effects units have optical or digital pots or something that are less subtle, but more reliable. First, I tried the MOOER GE100, and whoa, what a POS that was-- the switch for the wah-wah turned on and off every time I pressed the pedal, so back it went. Grudgingly, I shelled out an extra $30 for the Zoom...And man, it's SO much easier to use than the old 606! You can SEE which effects are turned on or off, and it's pretty easy to modify a patch on stage-- tap the button to change the display, bring up the individual units, change some of the parameters or remove them from the signal chain, takes no more time than adjusting the tone or drive on a TS9 or whatever. The pedal is also better ergonomically than the one on the 606, though obviously not in the same league as a CryBaby-- I HATE playing wah-wah, by the way-- and the pedal just pivots better, though I can't explain why.Then, we get to the showcase, and this time I'm playing a real acoustic-- but a 3/4 size, because my osteoarthritis has gotten so bad, and the 3/4 is easier to play with Silk and Steel strings-- but being mahogany and a smaller body, and also with the Silk and Steels, it doesn't sound QUITE like a "real" acoustic.So I did something truly demented: I used the "Acoustic" patch on the G1X4 to make the 3/4 mahogany sound... more acoustical. It was FANTASTIC; we did six songs counting sound check, and everyone loved us. I was on the edge of feedback for the whole set, but I got some really wild psychedelic sounds just using the factory presets. Best of all, if the feedback starts to really get out of control, just hit the two pedals simultaneously to engage the tuner, and you're back to a clean signal immediately. Much less disruptive to the set than trying to kill the feedback by turning the volume down or adjusting the tone pots, which will involve more trial and error.It's capable of some of the same zany psychedelic weirdness as the 606, but the audio quality and UI are way better.I don't know that I'd use this for the larger shows I play once or twice a year; even for a compact fly rig, I want a bit more control, a dedicated chorus, phaser, delay, distortion, etc. But the G1X Four is TOTALLY fine for smaller venues. Obviously, it's not gonna have the same sound quality as high-end boutique pedals, but for smaller clubs with beater amps in the backline, really, no one is gonna care.The only thing I noticed: In the effects loop of a BantAmp hybrid, it doesn't play nicely with the solid-state power amp stage if the Gain is set past 9:00. But nothing else seems to, either-- my Mystic Edge and Tube Pilot don't really work in the effects loop either, though the G1X four sounds a bit worse than they do in that particular configuration. My guess is for that particular hybrid, with a tube in the preamp and a solid state power amp, I should keep dirt pedals and overdrives in the input part of the signal chain anyway. So it may not even be the pedal. And could be a non-issue for a full-on tube amp.Highly recommended. Didn't even buy it on sale, but if it were lost or stolen, I'd buy it again.