Zoom 1010

Once bought as my first effects pedal and having used literally hundreds of different pedals and multi effects units from various manufacturers since, from time to time I keep coming back to this little gem.


The pros:

Standalone, it offers a limited but useful chain of effects, suitable for the basics in a band setting. Simply set the pedal in EDIT mode and use the foot switches to turn the distortion, modulation and delay/reverb section on when needed.

In combination with other pedals, it functions as boost pedal, noise reduction, compressor, wah (with proper expression pedal, unfortunately doesn't work well with a generic impendance curve), equalizer and has a neat retro modulation and delay/reverb section. I'd say the chorus is really nice, and the room reverb provides a nice layer of fullness if set correctly.

It has analog distortion circuitry. This feature is actually what makes it still relevant and even excellent to this day. Merely for this fact, this pedal is worth getting your hands on! It offers eight very different (and each one useable) distortion types which all come with optional amp simulator for d/i use.

Has a built in tuner (this is my excuse to bring it along on my pedal board )

It uses standard center-negative 9V adapter.


The cons:

It is mono.
It does not have tap tempo.
It has no battery operation.
Factory patches are all over the place, this is no good advertisement if you want to get a grasp of this pedal by testing the factory patches.
UI is not modern - no turn knobs but push buttons to change parameters instead.
Outdated technology obviously makes it limited in options.


Wrap up:

The compromises made in designing this pedal were clearly well thought through, and yielded a product that was amazingly versatile and it has helped out many guitarists low on budget to give them access to compression, wah, distortion, modulation and reverb/delay in one go. Zoom understood something, and today's Zoom's multieffects show they only expanded on that understanding.

Analog distortion options alone make this is really nice choice for the experimental guitarist on a budget. From fat fuzz to simulated cranked up tube amp - it does it convincingly. The modulation section is retro but the chorus is nice enough.

For todays prices you can't go wrong on this pedal - you will need to fiddle with parameters to get the sound to where you want, obviously, and there's more than just the 3-4 knobs on a regular pedal, so there's that. Despite it's great ease of use it's more versatile than you might think and some patience is required. Well, patience pays off!

I baught this Zoom 1010 effects unit on Ebay for 50.00 dollars,I needed a unit cause I was tired of using stomp boxes

The unit is really good....i have heard people say things like the distortion patches are No Good..but i like mine..i use this with a Laney 50 watt head and a 4x12 Cab....If i wanted real distotion i would used my own,But in my opinion the Distortion patches a real good....You can't turn you amp up all the way and then put on you zoom 1010 and use distortion...it is too muddy...you have to use a clean channel on your amp no matter how much power your using and then the ZOOM 1010 sounds Great...

I have also read people say you need to be carefull with it that the pedels pop of and What Not...well....I have not had that problem at all....but then again i don't Kick the thing around like it was one of those Metal made somp boxes from the 70's.


I just wish it ran on battery's also

The construction is like anything eles...Be good to it,and it will be good to you....

It is just as well made as the other lines on the market

Bottom line...i think this unit holds up to any other effect unit around...i own other ZOOM products and I think they Are GREAT!

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

I bought this Zoom 1010 i think in 1993 in Hungary, where I live. In that time it was 30.000 HUF which means that it was double price of a simple Boss Compressor pedal. So it was fantastic cheap, if you see all the effect types it includes!!!

Lots of effects, small size, and very easy to use, easy to program the patches. Very good tuner it has! Very good Noise Reduction! Absolutely hum-free operation!

The types of the distorsion sounds are little bit similar to eachother. It would be much better with at least 5 sectioned pedal switch plus a Bank up and down switch, becous that 3 itbhas ar not enough on stage. And I miss the pitch shifter!

This unit has 16 types of distorsion- 8 of this are amp simulated - and it works also! You can find all the important effects, like chorus, flanger, reverb, delay, a good EQ. You can program 12 patches and store them. But even you have a lots of (30) pre-programmed sounds in preset patches.

This is a very good made unit. I've never had a problem with it.

This is my firts digital multieffect and I'm not that graet guitarist, who couldn't work together with a ZOOM 1010. If you want to have an easy to use, good quality, multieffect for not much money, ZOOM 1010 can be a good choice for you. And try to find a sound that you can like.

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