Zoom G5N Review - plus Zoom G3X comparison too

Edit, June 2018 - The 3.0 Firmware for the Zoom G5N has improved the unit especially in terms of range of sounds. There are extra compressors, drives, modulated effects and some interesting reverbs which include a kind of spacey reverb, an almost shimmering / octo style reverb, a reverb with an EHX freeze type of 'hold' (for holding a note, creating a drone) and a particle verb (Line 6 style) effect. Interesting and may have a place in some music. I haven't noticed that the update has made the unit more memory efficient in terms of the ability to have more effects connected. There are new effects / emulations and patches and I'm sure there are other improvements I haven't noticed. Very worthwhile upgrade and makes the Zoom G5N one of the best (for the money and simplicity) multi-effects units around. Still no replacement for tube amps and analogue pedals, but to be honest, most people who aren't musical won't notice!

Zoom G5N Review

Having posted about the Zoom G5N and its flaws, I had a mood shift. Instead of carting around a huge pedalboard with loads of great pedals on for your average worship service, I decided to try the Zoom G5N and its simplicity - and light weight!

The Line6 HD500X (and its equivalent) is a great pedal but it is ridiculously complex. Yes you can get good stock sounds but the Zoom G5N scores highly in that you don't need to spend ages flicking through menus to get good sounds (or get a degree in programming while using a microscope to access the HD500X's small screen)...

The Zoom G5N is pretty simple to use. There is a menu screen at the top; four individual screens across the main body of the unit. Each of these has a click on-click off pedal. Underneath these is a tuner button, a scroll left button, a scroll right button and a tap tempo. An assignable pedal on the right can act as things like a volume pedal / way pedal etc. There is also a 'master level' knob on the top right with a booster and tone knob underneath.

The unit has around 99 stock sound patch setups - these can include up to 9 simultaneous effects. Zoom have put together these stock sounds so you can have an easy setup to get different types of sounds - whether it's a 'rock' sound, a metal sound or some weird psychedelic type setup. Fortunately there are very few of the nonsensical sounds you can get in the average multi-effects unit!

You are able to save you own patches and to edit and save the existing effects within the patches. To change these you click on the Memory / Stomp pedal at the bottom of the board. On the top screen you will then see the list of effects that make up the 'patch'. This is the equivalent of your traditional analogue pedalboard with pedals daisy chained together. The individual effects can then be changed by scrolling through the 'type' buttons above each of the four screens. You can edit the parameters for each effect by twisting any one of the four knobs under each of the screens. You can then scroll through the individual effects you have by using the 'scroll' pedals at the bottom of the unit.

In the image above, I set up my own mini pedalboard for a worship service. At the top of the board you can see the individual effects I've used (and the order). On the four LCD screens below are the current four effects selected. You can see which ones are selected on the top screen (highlighted). On this board I have a tubescreamer emulation (TS Drive), a 'Sweet Drive' which I think emulates the Fulltone OCD. I've then got the rocker pedal setup as a volume switch. There's a delay, reverb and tremolo after the pedal. On each delay/reverb etc effect you can turn on 'tails' so the effects carry on with the volume pedal down (where available). I keep tails on for swells.

On a later setup, I added a compressor ahead of the TS drive (to act as a boost etc). I also added in another delay.

I have mainly used my amp so didn't set up any Amp or Cab emulations, but these can be done if you don't have an amp with you - see here - https://www.zoom-na.com/sites/default/files/products/downloads/pdfs/E_G5n_FX-list.pdf (note the amp list has been updated, unlike this download).

I did use an amp for a recent gig as wasn't allowed amps on stage. Due to the often-found processor overload, I found I was only able to try two amp modellers - the FD-B-M and the FD-DLXR. The FD-B-M was incredibly noisy without any ability to lower the gain. The FD-DLXR was also pretty noisy (the PA guys put a noise reduction on it, which didn't help with swells!) but was needed. The sound wasn't bad to be honest but it had way more noise than my Fender Blues Jr amp.

The Sound Quality

Like the excellent G3X, the reverbs are pretty good and the delays are too. I used the Mod Delay and it really gives a good modulated (almost slightly detuned) decay. The analogue delay was also pretty good.

But it's in the overdrives that the sound quality either shines or lacks. So what about the G5N? Well, the G3X overdrives are honestly pretty awful. I've seen some people say they managed to get good sounds from the G3X but I have no idea how! The Zoom G5N was quite a pleasant surprise. The TS Drive does sound quite accurate with that slightly midrange bump and the Sweet Drive does sound sweet, giving a fairly transparent overdrive sound. I put my separate EHX Glove pedal in front of it and the Glove + Sweet Drive stack really well. The Sweet Drive was my go-to sound at church (putting the overdrive setting up very high).  I also played with the Gold Drive and was pretty impressed with that too.

Obviously as ever with these units, in order to match the bypassed volume of your guitar to the amp, you have to turn the overdrive effect volumes down from about 65 to about 20!

Now don't get me wrong. These don't sound as good as the original pedals. There is also a definite (albeit slight) tone suck. If I run my EHX Glove into the G5N (with no G5N effects on) and to my amp - and then compare to the EHX Glove pedal direct to the amp, there is definitely more life, more body and more colour without the G5N. However, the difference is slight and there's no way that 95% of people in your average church (or crowd) will notice any difference compared to an analogue boutique pedalboard!

Usefulness of the Zoom G5N

Having had huge doubts about the G5N (due to Zoom weirdly removing the XLR output), I'm pretty impressed with the G5N. It's about 1/4 the size of my pedalboard and about 1/5 of the weight! It's easy to scroll through the pedals, the tuner is great and the proper tap tempo is a brilliant addition. I still do have one or two problems with the volume rocker (as on the G3X) where often you have to turn it to 'off' then to 'on' and back to 'off' in order to mute the pedal. But I've learned to live with that. I've even started using the G5N without the EHX Glove ahead of it.

I like the simplicity of the pedal and the ease of use of the menus. The sound quality is pretty good and for the £220 I paid for the G5N, I'd highly recommend it. I'm also happy that unlike the G3X, the G5N is packed with useful effects and not the silly useless effects that no-one ever uses! I still wouldn't use things like the Octave pedal which doesn't track even one string let alone six (get a POG for that). But chorus, tremolo, reverbs, delays etc are great. And the overdrives work well too. I haven't used the distortions or fuzz so can't comment on them too much.

What could be improved? Well, things like the particle verb, the shimmer etc that are offered by Line6 (or even other Zoom pedals) would be a nice addition to the G5N but I'm guessing that Zoom want to keep their snappily titled 'MS70CDR' pedal sales up - this being the only Zoom pedal that does shimmer type effects. That would be a great pity though. I'd rather use my Boss RV6 for shimmer as it's better than Zoom. I would however use the Zoom shimmer if it was on-board the G5N.

The other thing that could be improved is simply the lack of on-board memory / processing power. This becomes an issue very quickly - meaning that you potentially won't be able to have all the effects you want - and I'm sure you won't get nine effects on a regular basis. If you get this problem (and you will), you'll get a message pop up saying 'Process Overflow. Change Effect.' (See below).

For example my board was set up like this:

Compressor > TS Drive > Gold Drive > Volume pedal > Analogue delay > Church reverb. The next effect was a Mod Delay which was fine. However, if I replace that Mod Delay with (for example) any of the amp models or other delays / some of the modulation effects / some of the compressors / any of the other overdrives, the 'Process Overflow' problems reared its head - meaning that the G5N has run out of processing power. I was surprised quite how easily this happens and this is quite an issue in my view.

The flip side is that Zoom promised to bring out new sounds every month and they have been faithful to that. More than that, they've made more of their own patches (think of patches as a series of effects) and asked various guitarists to do the same.

I have also used my EHX Glove overdrive at the front of this to give a better overdrive sound but have found in practice it doesn't sound as good as when used with a pedalboard. The G5N is fantastic but when used with 'analogue' pedals I have found it does cut their tone through its digital processing. It may work better with other overdrives that I haven't tested.

In terms of cases, I bought a Gator GK-2110 case which fits the G5N quite well (with a bit of extra padding as you can see in the pic below!)

What about comparing to the G3X?

Well the individual effect controls are the same. However, on the G3X you get more control over individual effects - often getting 2 'pages' of options rather than just the 4 options to control each effect on the G5N. The G3X also has some other controls if you care to look for them. In some respects the G3X is a bit more random in its layout (certainly 'behind the scenes'). However, the G3X gives you an XLR out, which the G5N doesn't.

As mentioned above, the overdrives are a definite improvement on the G5N (from the G3 / G3X). There are fewer effects on the G5N but that's because there's less 'fluff' - fewer pointless effects no-one really uses. The G3X is probably a bit more 'experimental' and the G5N knows a bit more what it is - really being aimed at dialling in effects easily and simply. Both pedals are actually pretty good. I will now use my G3X for acoustic and the G5N for simpler electric setups in worship. 

The G5N is an improvement with the easy tap tempo button and having the ability to easily scroll between effects and see which effect you're looking at more easily. The screens are bigger and easier to see in varied lighting. The G5N looks a bit more the part, whereas the G3X is smaller and looks slightly less professional (if that matters to you!) It has good big pedals and footswitches that look resilient enough (having said that my G3X has been used all over and survived nicely!) 

So there we are. I can't say that each effect on the G5N accurately reflects the original effect it was intended to reproduce but I'd recommend having a go and seeing if it works for you. Yes you will lose some tone but it's there to make life simple, easy and lightweight and it does that very well.

Multi-Effects Pedals? Zoom G3X. And thoughts on Zoom G5N XLR failure

UPDATE Sept 2016 - To see my change of heart and review of the Zoom G5N click here

Back in the day I had a Boss ME-50 multi-effects pedal. It was fairly small, had a cool blue colour but the effects were absolutely horrible and difficult to tweak. Yes it was early days and yes the Boss individual pedals are absolutely amazing!!

I quickly moved to using individual stomp pedals!

Then one day I stumbled across the Zoom G3X and this has been the mainstay on my small venue electric guitar playing - and always my acoustic guitar playing. It's small, its (non-overdrive) effects are brilliant, the volume pedal works (although admittedly sometimes I have to rock it back and forth a couple of times). You can also record and play with some of the effects via the USB!

Front of Zoom G3

But more than anything else, its advantage is the XLR / DI output on the back. This means I can use it easily at church and elsewhere and play electric without an amp. Priceless. Literally.

Rear of Zoom G3X with XLR balanced output

Now I've been meaning to upgrade for a bit and it's tiring hauling round a pedalboard in a beasty case to be honest! Sometimes you just want to go simple. I've looked at the Line 6 HD500X but the level of options and messing around via the tiny LCD screen (or even spending hours on my computer) is a bit of a deal breaker for me. I love my Mac but I spend much of my work using it, plus recording, doing videos etc. Yes, the sounds from the HD500X are perfectly good and useable but the very small LCD is a strange decision.

So ideally I'd kind of like something more easily tweak able! So I've looked for something else.

Computer software for Line6 HD500x

So when Zoom released their massively upgraded model, the G5N (upgraded from the G5), I thought to myself, "Aha! This is what I need." It has fewer sounds, yes, but is pretty simple and has a slightly better layout on the unit - plus improved sounds and tones with upgraded processing power. The opportunity to edit and add sounds is also there for those that like it.

Except no it isn't because Zoom have decided quite unbelievably, not to have a DI out at the back of the G5N. Who is this pedalboard being aimed at? People at home in their bedroom? It even has 10 of their best used amp models on there - presumably so you don't have to output to an amp on stage. Great. So where is the balanced XLR out / DI on the back?!

Zoom G5

Rear of Zoom G5 with XLR balanced output

New Zoom G5N

Rear of Zoom G5N and no XLR output. Why?

Huge oversight and huge fail from Zoom in a moment when they could have delivered a killer pedal. Yes, you can use a DI box and a patch cable etc and that's not a hassle. But what was the thinking from Zoom behind this decision, effectively downgrading the pedal from the Zoom G5. I truly believe they will lose customers because of this which is very unfortunate.

Maybe I will get that HD500X instead!

Any thoughts out there?

Review of the Zoom G3X

Update - some of the minor quibbles and issues in this are fixed by the Zoom G5 which I'd highly recommend above the G3X.

Back to the original review...

Having played at church and lugged my pedal board in time after time, one day I had a revelation. Why not get a compact pedal board?

Hmmm... But the thing is that I used to have an old Roland (I think) pedal board back in the day and the sounds were, well, terrible. Especially the distortions which were like listening to a squeaky old radio rather than an overdrive pedal! And besides I quite liked doing my 'post rock' style guitar riffs and volume pedal swells etc so could anything do this vaguely adequately?

After much research and plucking out actual guitar pedal reviews from among the excited and the overly dramatic, I wondered about the Zoom G3 so went to purchase one from Digital Village in the UK. While looking I found they actually had the G3X on sale much cheaper than the G3, at just over £100! The 'X' means it has a pedal (sounds a bit better than a 'P' I guess, the 'H3P' doesn't sound quite so funky).

So I listened to a few online demos and sounds from Zoom's page before quickly getting one before it sold out or went up in price!

So the lowdown...

The Zoom G3X - three screens / 'pedals' (can have up to 6 selected) and pedal (5 assignments)

[ For a full set of features visit the Zoom page - http://www.zoom.co.jp/products/g3/features/ ]

The Spec / Lowdown

The pedal board is an integrated one and is very sturdy. A good thing. The individual 'pedals' have a solid metal clicker on them and it gives you a lot of confidence when stomping down (gently, in my case).

You have three LCD screens on the pedal board, although you can have up to 6 pedals chained together. You have buttons on the unit to scroll the LCD screens backwards and forwards 'through' the 6 pedals (hope that makes sense). So you may have two distortions and a delay on the three screens. Then by clicking small buttons at the top of the unit, you can then choose another simultaneous 3 effects (but only see 3 of the 6 at any one time on the 3 LCD screens).

The unit also has a number of 'patch' sounds which Zoom have pre-programmed. You have the ability to change those and create your own. You access these by holding down the left 'clicker' for a moment or two and can then scroll through preset sounds made to sound like various bands and genres. I rarely use these to be honest but would if I were using this for more live / pre-programmed work. You can scroll through 'Banks' of sounds once in the Patch mode.

You also have a tuner (holding down the middle button for a moment) and you have a looper (holding down the right hand clicker for a moment to access the looper). The looper gives up to 40 seconds of loop time and once you've understood how to use it, it's pretty effective. Obviously a dedicated looper is even better (e.g. Boss RC3 loop station). But this is a great function to have and I've used it on the odd occasion.

The unit is also capable of putting out some 'delightful' backing beats. They're certainly OK for practising and having fun with but as you'd expect, not really a professional sounding tool! But it's great this is included!

The Inputs / Outputs

The rear of the pedal holds lots of goodies that really help. There's a guitar input (helpfully!) plus a balanced output (XLR) as well as a L/mono and right direct output (Jack). There's a Passive / Active button for different guitars, a pre / post output button and a connect / lift button - all to enable you to go direct out as well as a balanced output. Then you've got a control pedal in for an expression pedal, a USB socket (you can power the unit and even programme it using software). Then the dedicated power supply and the unit can even be powered by four AA batteries!

Yes, yes, yes, but what about the 100 plus effects. How do they sound?

OK so here is where the pedal shines and also fails, despite brilliant attempts and incredible processing power for your buck! I'm going to focus on the kinds of sounds you're likely to use playing in a worship band. There are many others.

Patches

I don't use the patches very much but what I would say is that these are the most 'accurate' sounding effects if you are aiming to copy other classic sounds.

If you go to Zoom's page here - http://www.zoom.co.jp/products/g3/demo/ - you can compare the G3 sounds with the original pedals they're designed to model. Really helpful and actually very honest and courageous of Zoom to do something like this as for me, you can clearly hear the differences in sound - with the original pedals understandably sounding better to my ears. But the G3 sounds aren't far off.

One thing I would say about the patches is that they put out very varied volume levels and certainly compared to when using in 'non patch' mode. So that is something to really think about and tweak before any live performance. Bear in mind also that clicking on the patch mode loses your sound setup you may have had.

Delays / Modulation

The upsides include the reverbs, delays, tremolo and other similar effects. You can choose a number of parameters within each sound effect (using the 'page' button above the LCD screens) for example the delay time, the feedback and how much of a dry / wet signal etc. These are fantastic, with the pedal offering dotted eighth delay as well (go into the page and scroll through the time beyond its maximum and there it is!) There are a huge range of delays and reverbs. In fact there are so many variations and options within most effect types that it can be hard to know where to start and which ones to use, so experiment and see what you're happy with.

I would be easily happily using the delays and reverbs. The tremolo / vibrato sound are great, as are things like the chorus, flanger and phaser etc although I use these much less. The more 'complex' phase type sounds like Bend Chord, Pitch Shift, Slicer and Octave etc as you'd expect don't work so well. They need much more processing power so cannot 'track' individual notes and don't even try with chords without a mushy mess of a chord! But to be fair this is to be expected as it could never compete with a dedicated unit like an EHX POG / HOG worth much more.

The Pedal

Some of the options within the Zoom menus are quite complex so to setup the pedal as a volume pedal is possible but it requires a bit of internet research and experimentation! The pedal can also be assigned in 5 other ways (only one at any one time) including things like vibe, pitch, way etc. You can also set the volume pedal as a tap tempo (although it's really not as effective as a metal clicker).

(Go to the 'Total' button then click on 'Page' to access the CTRL SW/PDL option on the middle Number 2 LCD screen. Then use the button to twist between options to assign to the pedal. If you want the volume pedal, choose 'BYPASS/MUTE').

Overdrives / Distortions

So the overdrives and distortions which are always the hardest to compare and contrast. Overall, Zoom does a brilliant job and for the price you just cannot go wrong. Let's face it: while us guitarists and gear heads compare, contrast and assess tone, most people in church don't know what an overdrive (or any other) pedal is, let alone any difference in tone! So let's not get too hung up on it.

Having said that, the sounds are a mixed bag for me. Having said that, there are so many it'd be hard not to find some sounds that work for you / that you can tweak.

One thing that does need looking at before using live is to try and match the output levels of individual sounds (as you would on a pedal board). Some overdrive / distortion / amp modelling sounds are much louder than others.

My preferred sounds include the OverDrive, the Governor, Dist1 and the ZDream. I found that the T Scream and Dist+ sounded too weak / too processed. Other sounds like some of the fuzz sounds are OK if that's the kind of thing you want. I found the 'booster' pedal sound changed the nature of the distortion sound it was boosting so don't use that. The different drives are done to copy other more well known pedals.

I often use some of the many amp modellers which 'live' after the overdrive / distortion sounds. The 'US Blues' and 'Vox Combo' both have their strengths.

Overall the drive sounds simply don't have the character, warmth, depth or tone of those I regularly use such as the Fulltone Fulldrive 2 and the Visual Sound Open Road. I would liken the difference in tone to be like using a modelling amp compared to a tube amp. The sounds lack that kind of fullness and depth. But I would say that you may not notice it as much with your setup and your church or small group probably won't either!

With or without an amp

Remember that using the 'Global' button on the unit, you can select the output (under the LCD 1 screen) - so if you're using a tube amp, choose 'combo front' for example. Or you can set it to go out direct. What I did find is that choosing 'direct' causes the sound quality in my opinion to dive markedly. So I would always leave on 'combo front' for example when using an electric guitar. Of course when using an acoustic (which I do all the time), set it do direct.

And I have had one or two times where the PA guys have asked me to turn down the master volume of the pedal because it's set too high. So increasingly I'm going to use this with my tube amp when playing electric and with an acoustic amp (with a balanced out) when playing acoustic.

Other issues

The G3 is amazing in that it has a tap tempo. It's another outstanding touch on such a great price bit of kit. But the tap tempo button which can be tapped, is a very small plastic button at the top of the unit. It needs to be bigger, metal and set on its own. For example, where the pedal says 'G3X' on the image above, why not put a tap pedal there? (Yes you can use the pedal but it's not the same as a dedicated clicker).

The same goes for moving through the patches / scrolling, as this is done by another small button along the top. Again, these buttons all just need to be bigger and more accessible.

My suggested improvements

I think the G3 could like a bit like the example in my quickly done Photoshop mockup where the buttons are more widely spaced apart and bigger. Zoom, if you're reading, this would make it a more killer pedal. This plus a larger button to quickly scroll up and down the patches. Oh and of course larger and clearer LCD screens will no doubt come in time.

Conclusion

I have used this in smaller venues with both acoustic and electric guitar.

Overall, Zoom deserve huge credit for this pedal and the sheer range of options it has. I would rate this 7/10 without any doubt.

My final improvement suggestion to Zoom is to consider creating a unit with fewer but higher quality sounds and one that has less 'pzazz' like the backing drum beats etc. Instead focus on the drives and the accessibility and design of the pedal. If you do, it will be an awesome bit of kit.

Well done Zoom!