Zoom 505

[Spinning Slowly]

Do any of you have the Zoom 505? If so could you give me you thoughts on it? Thank you.

[Snowdog]

I have a 505 and 506. I use the 505 primarily for "Direct In" recordings with excellant results. The key is to dump all but about 2 of the factory presets and program in better patches that are easily availible on the unofficial zoom site. The 506 however is not as impressive as the 505.

[reco]

yeah reprograming is the key with the 505..
I like it though I had my first one for a while used it on recordings and live with a cover band and i tell ya, I had just a cheap epiphone lespaul special II and a barowed yamaha 112 combo and I programed it and It sounded really good.

[reco]

hey by the by do ya have the url for the "unoficial" zoom website?

[Spinning Slowly]

No,I don't, what is it?

[Snowdog]

Give this a try guys. http://www.safaricomputer.com/home/505/index.html

[bonch]

I don't know guys, I have a Zoom 505 and I think the tone really sucks. The 505 is generally dissed for its bad distortion tones. I play metal, and the metal tones I get from it just really suck. I messed with patches off the net, making my own, to no avail. Noisy, unclear, etc. Then I bought an Ibanez Smashbox and all was good. In my opinion, you're better off getting something better like a dedicated pedal if you're overly concerned about tone. The 505 can do some good sound effect stuff like flanging, reverb, and pitch effects, but as I said before, the rock tones are thin and noisy. You'll just have to listen for yourself somehow before you buy, because maybe you'll have better luck with it playing it through your gear. Good luck.

[This message has been edited by bonch (edited 05-31-2000).]

[reco]

its all about how ya use it i guess cause I use it for blues and alterna rock and love it and a band i know (kloey) uses one on the (very talented,she rocks)vocalist guitar for entire sets. so its all about what you playin i guess. I like it.
check out kloey at:
http://www.nucleargopher.com

[reco]

theres somthin up with that url

[Mooseboy]

I'm with the pack that says to dump all of the presets and go at it yourself. I needed a small box that would fit into a guitar case and travel easily, and the 505 pretty well fit the bill.

It does take a lot of tweaking, and even then, your best tones are still somewhat lacking IMHO. But for a casual gig that you just want to walk in with a guitar case, it's a good unit.

[Spinning Slowly]

Thanks for all the help. Could any of you let me know how well the delay on this thing works- delay length, endless delay option...?

[Proveras]

zoom 505 Patch List.
http://thor.prohosting.com/~benkad/patch.htm

[Proveras]

I dont like the "step" effect.

[Snowdog]

Reco, I tried to send you a link to the Zoom site and it came back. Sorry I didn't get your message sooner. Send me a valid email addy and I will return the link seeing how it won't work thru this board. 225 patches!

[windowman]

Hey there Mooseboy; I got a 707 for the same reason, needed something small, light, dependable, extremely adjustable, and something that wouldn't kill my pocketbook.

The tones I get aren't perfect, but it does everything I need it to do and does it well enough. The headache I save myself by way of it's "convienience" has been a real blessing.

I grabbed the 707 unit (w/expression pedal) because I didn't want to have to drag around my volume and wah pedals either. The wah wah sounds I've programmed aren't state of the art by any means, but again, there's a lot to be said for taking the simple route while having a sound that's "more" than passable.

[Jason001]

I had one for awhile and liked it. You really have to work the eq to get decent sounds. If at all possible save an extra 200 and get a pod. Even if you have to wait 6 months it will be worth it. Best 300 I ever spent.

[reco]

Jason U the man!
I just got Rid of my 505. and am using my pod 100% now and wonder why I ever strugled with the 505.
Oh by the way the 707 is a cool processor my buddy sold me his pod so he could get one, we were both very happy when our business transactions were done

[37point5]

I have one and have been using it for about three years now. It can produce some really great sounds with a lot of tweaking. The distortions are a little harsh, so I usually run any distorted lead patches through the distortion channel on my amp, with the pre-gain on the amp just high enough to smooth things out. Um, the reverbs are pretty lame, the delays are non-programmable, the amp sim is useless and the step effect is silly. The auto wah and pitch shift are okay, the acoustic simulator is nice, the compressor settings are pretty good, and the flanger and chorus are good.

All in all I'd say this makes a really cool cheap portable pedal for playing gigs, and is good for recording, too, but only if you're willing to spend a long, LONG time tweaking settings.

Ryan

P.S. You can hear what it sounds like at http://mp3.com/37point5/
All of my guitars on those recordings were run through the Zoom in some form or another.


[This message has been edited by 37point5 (edited 06-14-2000).]