Zoom G3

mike_l

I just got a Zoom G3 this evening.

Any suggestions for settings?

 

I'll report back with how I get on with it........

 

 

ewal

Difficult to know where to start really - obviously depends what you want to do. The one thing you'll quickly find is that the level on the dist/OD effects needs to be low in order to avoid a big volume boost.

mike_l

I'll take any suggestions. Other than all-out-metal (even though my preferred listening is metal) as I (generally) don't like "metal" distortion pedals, preferring a dirty amp, with an O/D in front.

I'd like a Pink Floyd-esque tone, as I love David Gilmour's playing, and Floyd were one of the first bands I got into....

Something blues-y would also be good.

 

@Photek who I got the unit from has said the Fuzz is good, which is an effect I've never got on with.

 

Also the G3 is my first foray into multi F/X, as I've always been an individual pedal kinda guy. Well through a switcher unit...

photek

I love the fuzzface on there plus if you run it in front of the amp the auto-wah is amazing! The first thing I did with most of the effects was turn the mix down. I guess it is the same with most multi effects that they want to show you what it can do but in the real world I don't want an 100% wet mix on most effects.

As ewal says all the drive setting were much too loud so they need backing down. The reverbs are all set to cavernous levels and the delays well over the top.

Basically once you have calmed all of the settings down it does a hell of a lot. Have a play with the looper as that was probably the thing I used most for practicing, stick a 12 bar down and rip over it for ages 

<:-P

ROOG

I have the same problem with my G5, I've checked out Guitarpatches.com but they don't have many G5 patches and most of them are distortion based. Hopefully they will start to build over time.

Currently trying to make Space echo effects!

Would it be possible to have a library of patches on this site? 

p90fool

One suggestion, turn all reverbs/delays off when tweaking patches, they mask what's really going on. The core sounds on the G3 are pretty good, I gig direct to desk with one on some pretty big stages, and it's a consistently authentic amp sound every night, regardless of venue.

Try to disregard your prejudices regarding amp models too. I've disliked real Orange amps since the 70s, but it's my go-to model as a utility amp on the G3. All the amps can be livened up with a compressor model set as a clean boost with a slight treble lift, and don't forget what a graphic EQ model can do for all amps, just like in the real world.

I love mine, and as a mainly clean-ish or just-breaking-up type player I've always struggled with digital gear mainly due to feel rather than sound, so the G3 is the first generation which really works for me. Don't get me wrong, my pair of cranked JTM45s will always give me the biggest grin, but they're purely for headline duty now where I know I'll get a decent soundcheck. Further down the bill they just throw me an XLR lead for the G3, give me plenty of volume and we're away

mike_l

I think I'm mostly going to use it as a practise tool and for those times I can't be arsed to get the big pedal board out...

It'll mostly be into the front of my likkle Valvestate practise amp

 

I've been given a couple of jobs to do this pm, but should be having a play after doing them.

I'm thinking a Strat and a Fuzz setting should give me a ball-park Hendrix ot Gilmour tone.

ZenOvertone

I've been considering one again to regain control of the growing board - one thing I didn't find out is whether there is a hard bypass facility or is there always a buffer in circuit as I only wanted to use for the FX? - it shouldn't be an issue in theory as the first pedal is the usual TU3 buffered tuner though followed by a couple of true bypass OD pedals.

Does anyone know this?

ICBM

Definitely no hard bypass, if the B3 is anything to go by. I can't see why it wouldn't be or why it would matter with this sort of unit, to be honest.

Still thinking of getting a G3 for guitar since the B3 is so impressive for bass...

p90fool

mike_l said:

I'm thinking a Strat and a Fuzz setting should give me a ball-park Hendrix ot Gilmour tone.

The factory "Machine Gun" preset is pretty good, and great fun for those Hendrixy moments.

monquixote

It's buffered bypass only, but it seems to be fairly benign anyway. 

It isn't completely transparent, but it doesn't make it sound worse to my ears and I have it at the end of the chain so I know I can drive lots of cable if I need to.

My tips would be.

The mods and delays are ace. The delays all have far too much mix and feedback to be usable. 

The verbs aren't the best, but can be made much better by removing the huge amount of pre delay they all seem to have by default. 

The amp sims are great, but they don't take real pedals well so drive them with the modeled pedals. The clean models all have too much "tube" which is think is simulated power amp load. Pull that back and they have a lot more dynamics and sparkle. 

The modelled pedals all have stupid amounts of level by default so pull that back.

If you aren't on the latest firmware (v2)then get it patched. 

This demo is all G3 into a desk:

The one thing I would like to know is if there is any way to make it do patch switching rather than act as three pedals?

mike_l

@monquixote ; Yep, there is, a little 2 switch unit, with a little lead, plugs in the back can be used to switch patch up/down.

Pop into work one day next week and I'll show you what I mean. 

ICBM

monquixote said:

The one thing I would like to know is if there is any way to make it do patch switching rather than act as three pedals?

If it's like the B3 you simply hold down the left button until it goes into patch mode.

I'm amazed you haven't found that since I've done it quite a few times by accident - I tend to rest my foot on the button - not notice until I press of the buttons which changes the patch... and then I'm into a parallel universe which isn't quite so easy to get back from quickly when you find yourself lost in a completely different sound which is not what you wanted in the middle of a song!

Grumpyrocker

Another tip - if you are using the amp models to play with headphones on, make sure you add the "air" reverb block at the end of your chain. This adds subtle stereo depth to your whole sound that makes using headphones light years more pleasurable on the G3 than the POD HD. It's not an effect to use with a real amp though, just for headphones.

monquixote

I've found the patch up down menu, but it's not quite what I wanted. 

What I'd like is to be able to define the 3 buttons as three whole chains for example and then switch between them or switch them all in or out with one click. 

You can do this with the Nova, but I can't work out how to do it with the G3. 

Grumpyrocker

You can't, sadly.

mike_l

Well, I've had a play this afternoon.

Fuck me there's a lot of of pre-set patches.

Some are nice, and useable, but could probably d with tweaking. Some are downright ridiculous and, frankly shite (the robo thingy one).

I'm sure once I've found my way round the unit properly I'll be able to set-up nice, usable patches quickly.

 

Thanks for the advice guys.

I'll return with any settings etc I like....

monquixote

Grumpyrocker said:

You can't, sadly.

It just seems like a baffling omission. 

2 clicks is the most I can reasonably do for a solo so if I want to put some verb and delay on a lead sound I have to use the combined verb/delay effect rather than a separate delay and HD verb which sounds much better. You can't even hit 2 pedals at a time as that scrolls the screen in the v2 firmware. 

Even the patch change menu is useless as whichever block is on the first footswitch fires for a second when you hold it down to get into patches and they activate instantly as you scroll through them so you can't preselect. 

It's ace, but it could be world beating. 

ICBM

monquixote said:

Grumpyrocker said:

You can't, sadly.

It just seems like a baffling omission. 

2 clicks is the most I can reasonably do for a solo so if I want to put some verb and delay on a lead sound I have to use the combined verb/delay effect rather than a separate delay and HD verb which sounds much better. You can't even hit 2 pedals at a time as that scrolls the screen in the v2 firmware. 

Even the patch change menu is useless as whichever block is on the first footswitch fires for a second when you hold it down to get into patches and they activate instantly as you scroll through them so you can't preselect. 

It's ace, but it could be world beating. 

This sort of thing seems to be par for the course - I always felt the same about the Boss ME-50... it sounded good, was simple to use, very practical and had some great effects (in particular the ability to use the wah as a post-FX filer sweep) - but had the maddening 'feature' that you couldn't turn on and off individual effects once you'd selected patch mode... manual mode was a single memory *separate* from the patch system.

The B3 has instant permanent overwrite of all parameters, so you can't experiment with something or do a one-off tweak for a particular situation and then simply revert to the last stored setting when you want to go back - or not without remembering to store it to somewhere else first.

The best you can do seems to be to find the one that's got the least annoying compromise for your own personal operation... and hope it's also the one you like the sound, size and effects of. It won't be .

digitalscream

monquixote said:

It's ace, but it could be world beating. 

Exactly - all they needed to add was MIDI for patch changes.

I still have this theory that it's possible...I've been reading around, and it seems that the USB port is actually only partially for the audio output - it's also a USB-MIDI bridge. That means that something like this should work.

EDIT: Confirmed here!!!! Well, confirmed with the iConnect MIDI, which works exactly the same way. Now the only question is...is it worth spending another £90 to add MIDI program changes to the G3? I'm inclined to say "yes"...

monquixote

ICBM said:

The B3 has instant permanent overwrite of all parameters, so you can't experiment with something or do a one-off tweak for a particular situation and then simply revert to the last stored setting when you want to go back - or not without remembering to store it to somewhere else first.

The best you can do seems to be to find the one that's got the least annoying compromise for your own personal operation... and hope it's also the one you like the sound, size and effects of. It won't be .

They've made that optional on the G3 in the V2 firmware so perhaps it might get fixed in due course.