Just picked up a Zoom G3. Outstanding reverbs and delays (worth the price alone for me), plus a useful, simple 40 sec looper and lots of fun/silly stuff. Battery power, clear hi-vis display and tuner are extremely useful when playing on the street with minimal gear. Very intuitive layout and feels solid.

I'm running both sides of the Stick (mono) into it via my SP2 preamp, mainly using the Zoom's graphic EQ, HD reverb (with high pass filter) and occasional Tape Echo. I'm a longtime Zoom fan, and this unit is definitely a step up from the G2 series.

I don't use modelling, but I'm told that the new chip is an improvement in that department. Many of the presets are noisy, high-gain settings - nothing unusual about that, but still annoying. Would stack the reverb up against any other mfx and many dedicated units out there. A bargain IMO.

Cheers,
Andy

I wondered about this, have a few items sitting around this G3 could replace, considering it's price.

A couple of things I was curious about:
1. If you set up your own overdrives, are they decent, or too noisy? (I have yet to see any amp modeling that works for me by anyone)
2. How do you like the compressors?

If you haven't found amp modelling that works for you, I doubt that this will be the answer. I don't think it's inherently noisy (quite the opposite), but some of the presets are ludicrous.

Sorry, I haven't touched the compression, but they offer a few different models.

Beware that the G3 is limited in its setup as 3 stomp boxes, so if you want to run compression followed by distortion/EQ and 3-4 effects, you're out of luck. It's not a true MFX unit in that sense.

IMO the G3 is ideally placed among other pedals, or for someone who plays clean with mainly time/mod effects. Some people will look at it more as a live looper with built-in effects. It's very functional and easy to use.

Cheers,
Andy

Abdy, did you give a try to the Line6 M9?
I guess both devices are from the same league, and I'm jus curious about Stick players who tried it. If I hadn't been satisfied with my rig, I'd have tried it for sure.

I have checked out Line 6 M9 (and also their great sounding HD units).

They are small differences these days, because most of the new products sound good. To me, the Zoom G3 feels slightly more intuitive, as well as being battery/USB powered (vs MIDI in/out on the Line 6). Mono input is a drawback on the Zoom vs Line 6, unless you're using a preamp/mixer.

Another detail: The headphone out sounds fantastic compared to other pedals I've tried; not sure what Zoom have done, but it makes a great headphone amp.

Once again, I'm not into amp modelling at all, so no comment there. I do think Zoom has really got the time-based effects right.

Cheers,
Andy

thanks for this great and informative thread!

I picked up a G3 on a partial trade today, wow! This is one fantastic little box. The headphone sounds really great, and I was able to get some really good tube amp sounds on my guitar. I ran my NS through it as well. The playback from the looper sounds really well, and I like that timing graph that moves left to right so you can see where in time the looper is. Graphs work better than running numbers for me.

Be careful with that "Divebomb" patch - that one could seriously blow some speakers. Going through pedal mode was fine, going through that patch mode had some nasty moments. I liked the Stevie Ray Vaughn and U2/Edge patch the best.

There's now a "B3" out for bass as well.

Yeah, there was one patch that nearly killed members of my household (including pets) when I first plugged it in!

Good to hear that you're getting some nice tones out of it too, including amp sounds. Will have to give those a go sometime - for now I'm happy using just the HD reverb and some EQ.

Another nifty feature is being able to monitor through the unit while you're recording into a DAW. This effectively gets rid of any latency issues. The only negative experience I've had so far is installing the Sequel (Steinberg) software that came with the G3.

Will definitely check out the B3, although I've always preferred the G2 over the B2 (find the EQs and effects more useful). I DO like the B2's defretter, and hopefully the B3 will have an even better version.

Cheers,
Andy

When playing through an amp - amp simulators do NOT make any amp sound like the real thing, from my experience. What Zoom has done doesn't have the extra cab simulators. In my opinion, just more varieties of useful tube tones. My Fishman Loudbox now sounds like a real guitar amp. I don't often need my 65-lb "boutique" guitsr amp, and I like the additioal versatility of the Fishman with the Stick. This is at least the third pedal I've tried through the Fishman, I'm now getting what I'm looking for. Beats buying another small amp for my guitar.

Haven't tried it yet through Logic, but from what I'm hearing through the headphones, I'm thinking I've got better amp models through the zoom for my guitar. The NS sounds good through just about anything I run it through, still haven't tried the Grand through it yet.

One issue I found with some of the amps - when plugging into a real amp, the noisegate does some funny "slicing" of output. The "US Blues" amp worked the best, but the other amp models the threshold had to be turned way down. That is not a problem with the headphones.

I did download the latest version of the pedal's operating system. Perhaps they will fix that issue. Not a showstopper, without the noisegate, noise from high gain amp models and OD/distortion effects isn't that bad. I've played through worse from more expensive effects.
I use high-quality cables, so that's not the issue.

The analog delay is fantastic. Switch it from "mono" to "p" mode, makes a huge difference.

Andy - regarding the battery, it's probably best to use re-chargeables, just burned through a set in less than a week.

So far so good - really liked the "U2 Edge" patch with my guitar, the Vox virtual amp worked really well right out of the box. Just put it to good use in a recording. Not hearing anything bad through Logic.

I'm a bit disappointed with the graphic EQ's frequencies - too bad they are not variable. I ran my bass through my SansAmp Bass DI into the G3 to use the compressor. Worked well with the SansAmp, no noise. I turned off the EQ and used Logic's "Jazz Bass" setting.

The SansAmp has always been a great way for me to make guitar-specific effects work with bass, and avoid buying bass-specific pedals. I've had that longer than any other pedal.