Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

You would have been unlikely to find a more staunch opponent of (affordable) multi-effects processors than me, until I came across the Zoom G1on. Multi-effects processors promise the ultimate value - a one-stop shop for all your effects needs in a single package - but invariably fall short. Well, in recent years, the entry prices of individual effects pedals has gone down considerably due to globalization and the influx of foreign manufactured models like Joyo, Biyang, etc. Since the late 90's, I had been frustrated by my BOSS ME-30 - it served me generally well, but it offered literally 5 distortion/overdrive options (none of which were all that good), and generally was difficult to work with. And this was at a retail price pushing $200. At first glance, the Zoom G1on looks like more of the same - small orange LCD interface with two footpedals, a single selector knob, and just a handful of dedicated buttons. But that's really where the similarities end. Under the hood, this $50 Zoom G1on is LOADED with functionality, and as a person who owns dozens of dedicated effects pedals, along with other modeling software and some small combo amps, I can say that while this is an unbelievable value for beginning guitarists - even more experienced musicians should appreciate it as a portable practice device and looper. BUILD QUALITY - Again, the aesthetics of the Zoom G1on scream "early 90's", but the casing is actually quite durable and the choices they made allow this unit to sell for $50 while (reportedly) running on 4 AA batteries for up to 20 hours. (9V adapter not included, but if you have any of the BOSS-style 9V adapters around, those will work, or can be found for about $10 online. It can also be powered by the USB jack). The bass of the G1on is solid metal, so only the top and sides are hard-molded plastic. Therefore, the unit has quite a bit of heft to it, and I did not find it tempted to slide around after being tugged by an instrument cable and headphone attachment. I can't speak to the long-term durability of the buttons, but I've seen bad switches on pedals many times, and none of these seemed like a red flag to me on the G1on. Heavy stomping could surely damage the foot pedals, but I actually prefer it on a table closer to eye level for practice. For home use and operated with common sense, I expect it will last. AMP MODELS - While the product is marketed as an "effects unit", it should be noted at the start that it operates as a full preamp and cabinet simulator modeling (now) 22 types of popular amps. These are well-selected, too, offering several Fenders and Marshalls, along with some other classics from Vox, Matchless, and Orange, and modern/hi-gain amps (MESA, etc.) as well. I haven't tried every amp quite yet, but the base amp tones are surprisingly full-sounding and convincing. Tube amp snobs will tell you that they aren't as good as the "real thing", but in my opinion, they sound very good, and are touch responsive in ways that are at least analogous to how a tube amp responds to your playing. Through the LCD screen, you also have an impressive number of parameters to control, including level, gain, 3-band EQ, presence, "tube saturation", and the output cabinet size and type. Needless to say, with this number of options, if you have a particular guitar tone in mind, there's certain to be a way to get something at least close to it. EFFECTS - With a firmware update released months after the G1on was released (and factory-installed on newer productions), the G1on now boasts around 100 effects. Zoom quite blatantly tells you the name and model of the pedal or unit they are modeling, and they have a few of their own effects as well. Obviously, I can't break down all of them in an Amazon review, but I found them to be quite good. What's nice is that there are several options of each effect offered, so there aren't just two reverbs - there's closer to a dozen. And there isn't just a single "blues distortion", there's models of the TS-9 Tubescreamer, BOSS OD-1, a booster, and other options. Some have been critical of these effects as differing from their real life counterparts, but again, that's primarily semantics. If Zoom's Tubescreamer sounds totally unlike a real Ibanez pedal, yet is still useful, that's still an effect I can work with. The unit allows up to 5 effects to be chained at once, though two of those spots are often occupied by an amp sim and a noise gate. Also, you will occasionally get an error message that a certain chain of effects is too taxing on the devices memory resources, and cannot run. However, these are relatively rare, and only seem to appear with some of the more complex modulation effects in a long chain. I would rather the device cut things off if it's overmatched than try to run a complex chain and either freeze up or suffer from stuttering and terrible performance. In general, effects chaining works great, and it does allow you to move effects in the signal chain and even after the amp. USER INTERFACE & PRESET MANAGEMENT - Where multi-effects tend to run into problems isn't so much in the amount of what is offered, but the practicality of how you switch from one sound to another, and tweak the individual settings for each effect, amp, etc. I'd be lying if I said that the G1on is free from all of these inconveniences - it isn't. But while the G1on limits you to 100 factory presets that can be overwritten, edited, or renamed, they did make some design choices that make it workable. From the home screen, the left and right footpedals cycle through banks of presets (Zoom includes a very detailed chart telling you what each is supposed to be, ranging from "Classic rock lead tone" to "Guitar tone of the dude from Maroon 5"). The banks are arranged A0-A9, B0-B9, and so on. The 4-way directional buttons allow you to skip to different letter bank for quicker navigation. Once you are within a preset, you can select a particular effect (such as a delay or overdrive pedal), and then the footpedals will turn that effect on and off. One of the best features is an "autosave" option: the default is to autosave every change you make to the patches so you don't lose those settings going forward. While some may not want this, I found it useful to weed out some of the totally unusable sounds. That being said, I do wish it made it a little easier to create and store my own patches based on a simple OD pedal -> Amp -> Reverb pedal setting. You can do this, but only if you overwrite some of the 100 factory patches. RHYTHM/LOOPER FEATURES - I've seen a surprising number of G1on users who could care less about the amp simulations and effects, and buy the G1on strictly because it has a 30-second looper. Try finding a halfway decent looper pedal for under 100 bucks - it doesn't really exist. What's more, this looper can be played along with 68 rhythm patterns that cover a wide variety of genres. The sound quality of the drum beats surprised me the first time I heard it through my headphones...what a great practice aid! The looper is operated by the footpedals: you designate the number of beats for your loop, set the beats per minute (tempo), and then you can infinitely overdub your loops, provided the run time is less than 30 seconds. It does not have "undo" feature, however. This is my first hardware-based looper, and I can see getting a ton of use out of it. DRAWBACKS - While my overall review is a glowing 5-star recommendation, I will mention some negatives about the unit that buyers should be aware of. Most of these are minor, or can be addressed with a workaround. As mentioned above, the unit does not come with a power supply (but does come with 4 AA batteries). It cannot be used as a recording interface, as the USB connection is only for firmware updates and powering the device. It has one 1/4" jack for output, whether you are using it to run an instrument cable out to an amp, or plugging in headphones. For the latter, however, you may need a 1/4" to 1/8" adapter (these are widely available for cheap). The interface has a bit of a "language" to editing presets and individuals effects/amps, but I picked it up quickly. One thing that is a bit difficult to manage is volume. The good news is that it has plenty of output for headphones. The bad news is that the output level of different presets can vary quite a bit. There is no "volume knob" for headphones or output to an amp/speaker. If you are using an amp simulator, there is a volume knob there. There is a second volume option for overall output of each preset. And then there is a Master Volume that dictates the output of the whole unit, but again, this is in a menu and probably would have been better served as a dedicated knob on the unit. For the most part, once I lowered the master volume to around 50, I was able to enjoy most of the presets at a decent volume through my Sennheiser headphones. The unit has a tuner, which is accessible by pressing both pedals, and I found it quite workable. It even has settings for alternate tunings! However, there does not appear to be any great way to "bypass" the entire unit, which limits its usefuless as a "stompbox" into a real guitar amplifier. There is a "bypass" effect, so I suppose you could set up an entire preset just as the bypass. But even in that case, I would expect there would be some coloration of tone running through the G1on, which is unfortunate. OVERALL - Despite those drawbacks, I was absolutely blown away with how much I enjoyed the sounds coming out of my Zoom G1on. I wouldn't have paid $150 for it, and this wasn't really a device I "needed". But at $50, I simply couldn't put my guitar down. So often, we get that "5 minutes of curiosity" as a guitar player, where maybe we just want to experience playing with an auto-wah now and then, but don't want to necessarily BUY a $70 pedal for that sole effect. The G1on makes that possible in a way that is extremely convenient and gratifying. It's also small enough to fit in the front pocket of a gig bag, which means you could enjoy these sounds virtually anywhere. The rhythm and looper features are great, and there are endless hidden gems (the Acoustic Simulator is possibly the best I've heard, and I generally HATE acoustic simulators). If properly used and appreciated, it can help become a better player, provide endless hours of fun and experimentation, and maybe (just maybe) prevent you from spending needless money on ancillary effects pedals, since your $50 Zoom G1on probably already has that sound on board. Highly recommended.