Korg Ax1500g

Local non-chain music store, $425.00 canadian

This unit is absolutely awesome for use in a home studio! DI it sounds incredible. Between the drive & cabinet selections/combos and the fact that you have to option of setting up the gain for A/B switching (which puts it WAY above other units, that alone makes it invaluable. It basically allows you to create your own 2-channel amp. Then you can add a mod, pedal, and reverb/delay FX. All the FX and sounds I found were of very good quality. It will never get replaced. If it breaks (which I doubt it will, very tough construction) it's getting fixed! Oh yah, and when you create your own 2-channel amp, you can save it in one of like, 30+ memory slots! So cool.

Uh...well...If it were free it would be better. But other than that, there is nothing I don't like.

Top quality.

I couldn't function without it at this point. My studio has evolved around this unit.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

I purchased this from the Academy of Music in Brisbane, Australia for $499 (down from $699 because another store was selling them for that price). The main motivation behind the purchase was that I was becoming bored with the limitations of my Korg Toneworks AX1G which I'd had for three years, and I felt it was time to upgrade the rig.

This unit offers a much greater tonal variety than what it's little brother offers, although I guess that's what you get for double the price. Most of the distortions have plenty of guts, the clean sounds are excellent, and the acoustic simulator, while not spectacular, does a near enough job. Where the distortions and clean sounds on the AX1G are thin and fizzy, the AX1500G's sounds are thick, strong and robust and depending on your use of EQ settings can offer a good tonal spread.

The knobs and dials setup is much more user friendly than the push button style of the AX1G, and the LED screen is fairly easy to read, day or night, except when there's a light directly over the top of the unit. This however only becomes a problem when operating the tuner because the glare limits your ability to see what's showing on the screen. I've found I can overcome this by shadowing the unit with my foot.

In addition, the expression pedal has plenty of weight to it, so it offers some resistance on the travel, unlike the AX1G, which is made of lightweight plastic and can be operated with your big toe.

I've got to wonder if Korg will ever master a decent overdrive. One of the few similarities between the AX1G and its bigger brother is pathetic overdrive, unless it is used in exactly the right applications. If you're hoping the Tube OD on the AX1500G can deliver an early Malmsteen-like power crunch, you will be disappointed - that's something best left to the stronger distortions on the unit, such as the Classic Distortion or the British Stack.

I have found, however, that when the drive is kept to 1 or 2, the Tube OD effect does a very good job of giving a little extra bite to a more-or-less clean sound (something in the style of Hank Marvin et al).

A fault that I've read in other reviews of the AX1500G is the limited range on the expression pedal. I'm afraid I have to agree. This doesn't really bother me since I almost never use the expression pedal for anything except volume swells, and it does this well enough. There is someone on the net who operates a user-support forum website who has provided instructions for a modification to extend the travel of the pedal, and hence, improve the range on the pedal.

The bank-down set-up is a bit ugly. To go down a bank necessitates hitting two buttons simultaneously, and it doesn't always come off as you'd like. The same guy who offers the mod for the expression pedal also has a mod for adding a button exclusively for the bank down action.

To put it simply, solid as a rock. The thing is almost entirely hard metal casing, and packs about 2 kilos of weight. Once when I was in a bad mood and kicked the thing across the room, probably doing more damage to my toes than to the unit. I've read stories of people driving their cars over these things by accident and not doing a scrap of damage. I believe them.

This is a top intermediate unit. The sounds available are far better than those offered by some of the smaller, cheaper units, but it comes at a far better price than similar offerings from competitors such Zoom, Boss or Digitech.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

Purchased at Guitar Center, purchased it because of the flexibility of the effects, and the quality of both the effects and the construction of the unit. Paid $299.99.

This multi-effects pedal is an all-around great pedal. The construction is solid metal unlike the flimsy plastic BOSS ME-33, and the cosmetic appearance (as unimportant as that is in the long run) is far better as well, in my opinion. Having never owned an REAL amp, I can't give an educated opinion on the amp modeling characteristics, except to say that I can't complain about how it sounds. The Vintage 4x12 cabinet is my favorite sound. The drive effects are somewhat satisfactory for me, but only in terms of the overdrive effect. It has a nice warm but still crunchy overdrive. The distortion effect doesn't really have a "mellow" option on it. It's either very distorted, or it's off. Maybe that has something to do with my Nashville Power Tele (hot-rod pickups), and that's my guess. I ended up buying a BOSS CS-3 compression pedal, because although the Korg pedal has a compression effect in the drive slot, you have to choose between that OR one of the OD/DS effects. I like to have compression WITH the OD effects, and this caused me to need to buy another pedal. The chorus effects are very nice in my opinion. I love the classic chorus, as well as the flange. I don't really care for the phaser as it seems to sound too "fake" to me.

The wah leaves a little to be desired, I think. Although it's modeled after the Vox wah, it just sounds like a cheap imitation. I'll probably end up buying the actual Vox, or maybe a Crybaby sometime in the future.

The reverb effects are great. My favorite thing about the pedal however, is the fact that you can choose between two difference channels for each effect preset. This is great in that channel "A" can be a more mellow rhythm in the verse of a song and channel "B" can be louder and give you that boost you need in the chorus.

My only dislikes are the fact that you can't choose compression along with a distortion or overdrive effect and then the quality of the distortion effects. Also, the acoustic simulator sounds incredibly pathetic to me. I've tried using all of the pickup combinations on my Fender Power Tele (three pickup with five switcheable positions - AND a Fishman Power Bridge - tele bridge with piezo pickups on the saddles that gives the guitar it's own acoustic tone) and nothing can make it sound even remotely like a real acoustic to me.

The pedals are a little on the small side and I've had several instances where I hit the wrong one because they're small and placed close together. That's not a REAL big issue to me, but if I had designed the pedal, I would have tried to remedy the problem.

The construction is great. It's a solid metal chassis and I think would be very hard to damage.

Overall, it's a very quality pedal and a great buy for someone who can't afford to buy individual stomp boxes. If buying individual stomp boxes isn't a problem for your budget, then go that route instead. It'll be worth it. If you have a 2 or 3 channel amp, then definitely buy individual stomp boxes. Otherwise, this pedal is a great purchase (especially for someone who runs the signal straight to the sound board and doesn't use an amp.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

I work for a music retailer, so I got a screaming deal. This item usually goes for about $299.99. I bought this because I needed multi-effects for live performance, and couldn't afford to buy individual stomp boxes at $100 a pop. This pedal has been worth every penny.

Just about everything. The body is metal which gives it enough weight that it doesn't move around under foot. The effects are grouped into banks (16 preset/16 user) with 3 sounds per bank (total of 48 preset/48 user). Now here's where it gets good. The three sounds in each bank are diverse, usually a clear, distortion, and chorus/flange. Also, each sound has an A/B channel. The B channel activates the drive on the effect, so you really have 6 sounds, all without switching banks. This is very important for me, because I use this for live performing. I need to be able to quickly add drive, and effects without a hitch. This pedal is great for that.

You can also switch banks while still playing the sound you were on. This is not available on Zoom and Digitech pedals. Usually, as you scroll, the sound changes. Now you can get a sound, and play away while you scroll and get your next bank ready. Also, the sound change is very fast. No noticiable delay when you tap into a new sound.

The knobs at the top allow of quick changes for drivers, cabinets, modulation, and pedal. This is useful, because I have presets that I like to use, but the pedal does wah or something, and I want volume control. No problem. Get the sound, turn the knob to volume, and play away. This pedal is a live musicians best friend.

I haven't played much with the user programs, but for studio musicians, listen up, this could make a big difference. Most pedals say they have user settings. You spend an hour setting it up, getting just like you want it. But if you unplug the unit, all of that is lost. MOST PEDALS DO NOT SAVE YOUR CHANGES!! The AX1500G does. All the work you put into it is saved.

Last, the tuner is very good. Even better than my Boss tuner. (Really, I'm not kidding.)

1. The Buttons are small and there are five of them. I have small feet, but I play in Doc's, so I was hitting two buttons alot. I had to learn to turn my foot on its side to make sure I hit the button I was going for. I could see how someone with size 11's might have even more of a problem.

2. Scrolling down through the banks requires hitting two buttons simultaneously. The problem is one of the buttons also access the 3 sound in a bank, which is usually a very loud distortion. This means clicking in a new, abrasive sound by accident. I try to just scroll up whenever possible.



Great metal body, nice solid expression pedal. Chicken head knobs and dials are tight, no problem of accidentally moving them. The foot buttons are plastic, but they should hold up, especially under my light weight.

I have done alot of research, and here is your comparisson shopping list. These are internet prices, not in store, but you could get these prices at a store if you bargin.

Pedals in the same price range:
Digitech GNX1 $299 Digitech GNX2 $399
Digitech RP2000 $299 Roland ME33 $240
Digitech RP300 $199 Korg AX100G $250
Digitech RP200 $149 Boss GT6 $400
Digitech GENESIS3 $299

I feel all digitech products are overpriced. They use too much plastic, and I have seen more than one crap out during a band's set. The GNX2 is nice, but not as useful in a live situation. The ME33 and AX100G are nice, but for $50 bucks more, you get way more pedal in the AX1500G.

The only pedal I played that was a step up from the AX1500G was the Boss GT6. As far as ease of use, Korg wins, but the GT6 more sounds and more control over programming.

I'm sure I've left alot of stuff out, but here's the real point of this rant. As a live musician, I look for ease of use, variety, and dependability. In a gig situation, this pedal has out performed rack mounts, and higher priced Boss pedals. For $300 bucks you'll get a workhorse that will make you proud.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com