Using my Zoom gfx-707 'direct'--sounds awful!

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windowman

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I bought this unit to use 'live' primarilly but I was hoping it would sound reasonably good for going straight to the board at home for practicing and scratch recordings. I've owned 2 previous Zoom units that were made specifically for going direct and they both sounded quite good but the 707, even though it has amp simulator circuitry and a choice of line level, still sounds terrible when going direct. Why even bother putting in a choice for line levels if it doesn't sound any better direct to the board when using it? Am I doing something wrong? Does everybody else's 707 sound this bad direct or using headphones? Don't get me wrong; it sounds fine 'live' through an amp which is mostly why I bought it. Thanks.
 
don't know why your 707 doesn't sound good direct .. but just curious which 2 zoom units you had were okay with direct recording. i'm thinking of getting the new Zoom GM-200 to try for the same purpose.
 
hongteck;

You know, I don't remember the model numbers I had. I know I had the very first little unit Zoom ever made. It was so small it would almost fit in your pocket. I also had the first rack mountable unit they had. Boy, that's been a long time ago. Sorry, I just don't remember. :(
 
Just wanna sayt that it's a general experience that Zoom direct out doesn't sound that great... Sounds a bit plastic, doesn't it? Miking The Amp will- keep doing the recording job, I'm afraid
greetings!
 
"it's a general experience that Zoom direct out doesn't sound that great"

Which Zoom unit are you refering to? I had the first one ever made as well as the first rack mountable one and both of those sounded pretty darn good going straight to the board. They had a fairly well made cabinet simulator circuit. I figured this one would have it too because it gives you a line level output choice as well as different cabinet sounds but these sounds are used by running your guitar through an amp. In other words it's designed to make your amp sound like other amps...sort of like a modeler. I thought that if I went line level with it, it would give me a cabinet simulator circuit in which I could take advantage of those various amp sounds. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to do that. So, my question is, why even bother putting a line level output on this thing? It's not like you could use it with a sound system.
 
Well, I owned a Zoom 2020 and I didn't really like the sound coming out of it. Also other Zoom units disappoint me when using the direct out. But everybody his own taste, and it could indeed be that there are some great sounding zoom machines. Didn't want to judge you...

greetings,
Brett
 
No problem Bret. :)

And you're right...there's nothing quite like a well miked amp. I was just hoping this unit would sound good enough to make simple scratch tapes with. Oh well...
 
Here's one for you... go to http://www.mp3.com/toefinger5 ... these are my old band's songs... we used the GFX707 *exclusively* for both live and studio situations. Live, it kicked ass. Studio, it sounded fine, until we mixed down, and we couldn't eq it right. But. Here's where my point lies... Listen to any song on the mp3.com site from our CD "Under Destruction"... Those songs were recorded with the Zoom pedal going direct to the board... Then listen to any song off of the cd "Between Faces" (with the exception of "New Preview Song"). Those were recorded going to the zoom to a Peavey combo amp acting as a head for a celestion-loaded carvin 4x12, mic'ed with an SM58, going direct into the board (no mic pre)... the aforementioned "New Preview Song" off of the "Between Faces" cd was recorded direct, because it was literally a fuck-off song that we recorded while tracking the drums (we just went direct for the guitar and bass while tracking the drums, we scratched those instruments in favor of mic'ed ones later), and just kept it the way it was, direct.

Anyways, go ahead and listen to the songs, and you'll see the difference between mic'ing and direct input for the Zoom GFX707, on both clean/modulation effects and distortion effects.

Oh, btw... The distortion effects on both CDs are almost 100% the VanHalen setting. We only use some other custom-programmed settings when I'm playing guitar on "Why?". Most everything else is stock programming or custom-programmed.

Lemme know what you notice.
 
windowman said:
No problem Bret. :)

And you're right...there's nothing quite like a well miked amp. I was just hoping this unit would sound good enough to make simple scratch tapes with. Oh well...
Click to expand...

Oh yeah... You *really* have to futz around with the amp modelling on the pedal and the EQ on your board/recorder to get a non-harsh sound out of it... at least on the VanHalen setting... it has the most gain and crunch, but also the hardest to record out of the stock distortions... It can be done though... Just gotta' EQ it and model it right. You can alter the actual programs and patches themselves, too...
 
Yeah... It sounds REAL harsh.... it's clean, yes, but it's kinda' grating... I'd definitely run it through an EQ or a preamp... What amp model were you using? That makes a HUUUGE difference when going into something direct with it...
 
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