Thoughts On Zoom G3

robkay

Just wondering how good the amp simulations, delay and reverb are on the g3, i'm more of a clean player so not to bothered about the distortions. Whats the best price you've seen them for?

Thanks

Rob

monquixote

The amp simulations are pretty good, but they don't take pedals well.

The delays are very good.

I didn't like the reverbs, but I'm insanely picky about verb.

Megii

^what he said, except to add that the modulations are also very good, and the 'verbs aren't at all bad - some better than others maybe, but all decent. Strangely, I think the spring reverb model is one of the best, and sounds quite natural to my ears. I'm very much a clean player btw - I haven't really explored the amp sims in truth, but I should really see what I can get from those.

Alnico

The amp sims are excellent.

The G3 Needs to be hooked up to a computer to edit it properly and adjust each of the settings but everything on it is top quality and sounds excellent when it's adjusted properly.

My board went from 12 top end pedals to just a G3 because it's that good. The controls on each of the amps are very good and really change / shape the sounds, as they do on the effects so it does take a while to get the best sounds but on a computer screen that's so easy and it takes no longer than it would if you were plugging into the actual amps / pedals concerned.

It's also a USB interface for recording.

It's also Stereo output which with some of the stereo effects is absolutely awesome.

For the money they are great but even despite the bargain price, if you spend time setting up the patches and sounds properly, you will get some incredible sounds out of it. I run mine through an old 80's SS Peavey Solo and it sounds bloody incredible. When the amp sims are running, it's every bit as good as a valve amp, but through my Peavey it works at any volume.

The best set up i've ever had.

Nomad

I play at home, and use a valve hi-fi amp into a pair of 1x12s loaded with V30s. The amp has no tone controls and no voicing, and sounds pretty bland. I got a G3X for the amp sims and it makes all the difference to my setup.

It is worth spending some time with it to work out what sounds you like. I guess the first thing everybody does is go through all the patches, and then use an empty patch to check out all of the virtual pedals and amps individually, giving each a twiddle to get an idea of what they can do. You could spend a very long time getting into the nuances of each thing, but I tended to stop at amps that sounded in the ballpark and investigated them more. It's also a good idea to try different cab models when you find an amp you like - of my three main sounds, none uses the cab proper to the amp. (Fender Twin uses the Bassman 4x10, plexi Marshal has no cab, and Carr Mercury uses the Two Rock 1x12.)

It's important to remember that the amp/speaker system you play it through can affect the sound. A proper hi-fi or monitoring system would affect it very little, while a guitar combo can affect it quite a lot. It took me a few days to decide that I like the plexi Marshall with no cab model - just the physical V30s at the end of the chain. Similarly, you might need to change things around for recording DI or playing into headphones.

Overall, sound quality is excellent and it's superb value for money.