Zoom G2X Four Guitar Multi-Effects Processor with Expression Pedal, Multi-Layered IR’s, Amp Modeling, 75+ Built-in Effects, Looper, Rhythm Section, Tuner, Audio Interface, Lightweight

Product Information

However, thanks to the comprehensive on-board controls, and Zoom's Guitar Lab software, dialling in your perfect sounds and saving them as presets couldn't be easier. Changing effects midway through a song is somewhat impractical. It's achievable if you are switching between effects that are stored in adjacent memory slots. Otherwise you will have to keep hitting the "up" or "down" footswitches until you reach the program you want. The foot switches are "up", "down" and "on/off". The up and down switches cycle through the 50 programs. Zoom’s product launch video shows how the G2/G2X Four’s arrow key cluster can be navigated with your foot. This is a hugely optimistic portrayal. In reality, the screen is too small and low-res to parse much useful information from sitting, let alone standing. The ‘up’ key is positioned in such a way that pressing it with your foot means you cover the entire screen. And try to press the centre button, and there’s a good chance you’ll also mash one of the directional buttons.

With so many different effects and simulators to choose from, you'd be forgiven to think that the Zoom G1X Four would be difficult to operate. Would you be surprised to learn that it doesn’t get any better when I try to build my own patch? Slightly fatigued by the scooped high-gain sounds dominating the factory presets, I decide to give something ambient a go. So, I load up the basics: a pitch-shifter, a mono delay and – oh. The pitch-shifter and the delay have eaten most of the device’s CPU, meaning a bunch of the amps just refuse to load. There's plenty to explore in the G1X Four with over 70 effects to play with. You've got your classic effects such as overdrive, compression, and fuzz; but you also get crazier effects like ring modulator, pitch-shifting delay, and sitar simulation. Drums Included! Play along with 68 great-sounding rhythm patterns in different time signatures, including 4/4, 3/4 and more.The G2X Four’s compact design and diverse effects selection make it a powerful addition to any existing pedalboard. The default programs range from the not-so-subtle to the bizarre and amusing. However it's easy to create your own programs. A program can contain up to 5 internal effects. Many of the internal effects are emulations of specific standalone pedals. For example, there are emulations of the Tubescreamer ("TS Drive", Klon ("Gold Drive") and Zendrive. Don't let the eccentric default programs put you off. There are plenty of usable effects in this pedal.

Thanks to the ever-growing library of patches and effects, every guitarist can expand their sound selection via the Guitar Lab app (for iOS / Android). Handy Guitar Lab app (iOS/Android) for editing on smartphones and access to new effects (requires connection via USB-C port)

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Sounds That Inspire Each pedal has more than 60 traditional and boutique effects, including ring modulator, pitch-shifting delay and even sitar simulation. Use the built-in 80-second looper for songwriting or enhance your performance with additional sound layers. That’s a whole lot of things you can’t do. But the most damning result of the meagre CPU is the actual audio processing. The G2/G2X Four have as much headroom as the contraption Giles Corey was pressed to death in, so even the amp models based on high-headroom pedal platforms have almost no dynamic range. And it’s really, really easy to make the unit clip internally: I was getting audible peaking from somewhere in the signal chain, with 6dB of headroom left on my audio interface. This wasn’t the result of using too many dirt pedals – this was with a plate reverb and a Fender Twin! App-solute Chaos Digital connectivity is limited to just a USB-C port – no MIDI ports of either size and no Bluetooth. Over USB, you can use the pedal as a two-channel audio interface to record directly, but as we’ll get into later, it’s not quite cut-and-dry as to whether you can actually use it to control the unit and load presets. In any case, it doesn’t support MIDI over USB.