This processor is really amazing! I love it when I plugged it in into a Marshall MG30GFX Amp but it sounds way more amazing when plugged into a Multimedia Speakers with Subwoofer and Stereo speakers.....this Zoom G5n is really meant for creators, it has super easy functionalities and is very beginner-friendly. I just love it.
This is the actual way that digital multi effect devices are made for: For FR-FR- speakers => Full Range - Flat Response! So you're absolutely right! Amplifiers have too much character themselves - this is why you shouldn't these peocessors over them.
I use this pedal as my main effects unit. If you look past the flaws in its useability, it is very versatile and its a lot of fun to use. It has suited all of my needs and hasn't failed me in gigs. Just sharing my thoughts and my experience with the pedal :). Have a nice day!
but saying 'look past the flaws' is being very generous. You could say that about anything half decent. I do know what you mean, but these quality of life things are deal breakers for me with multi effects units. No offence intended btw.
I've found with multi effects units that their best use is for modulation effects. Set your amp the way you like it with overdrive and reverb like you were going straight in and then use it for your delays, phasers, choruses and those fun bits. The whole setting up patches to be the whole damn thing is a pain in the ass. 90 percent of the time i use patch 1 which is a slight boost and delay. Patch two is the same boost and delay with a chorus effect. Roll down volume on guitar for cleaner chorus sound and patch 3 is my ambient patch. I just plug my strat into my digitech rp 255 and bounce around between those 3 patches. 🍻
@@misterknightowlandco even the basic RP55 is surprisingly good and I use it as headphone out if I take a travel guitar with me on business. I am looking for a decent bass pedal - I know there are bass versions of this guitar pedal but unless the frequency range isn't flat then just wondering who well they would work on a bass (and vice versa).
I've used a Zoom MS70-CDR for years now as my main modulation box. It's a little brother of this thing. All the rest of my gear is analog, but modulation's digital much of the time anyhow and it's so handy to have those individually rarely used warbles and shimmers taking up only one spot on my little gigging board.
the way I use it, is I have things such as noise gates, compressors to reverbs usually always on and only leave the 4 that I would ever turn off or on, and if its more than 4 then I have a new patch with those changes done. But I only ever have 4 that I would need to display for me to control, so I don't need to worry about the scrolling.
@1:04:50 - Expression pedal angle seems such a minor thing but it's not - at least not for me. It's one of the reasons I went for the full fat Helix rather than the LT - expression pedal on the full model is much closer to flat than the LT, and feels much better in use.
Nice one Dave you definitely got some great sounding tones outta this, for its low price point compared with other units from competitors it seems to have some really great sounding FX that seem to work well with each other, nice and warm and decent sounding drives, distortions & fuzzes, warm modulations, nice delays and verbs, easy to program and built solidly. Glad you were nice and honest about the down sides that you don’t like, like most things gonna be certain things everyone will have things they don’t particularly like or would prefer to work or be set out differently, for me these things just mean you have to work with any piece of gear in the best way you can to get the best out of it working in a certain way that unit requires you to use it, as long as you’re able to work with it to get round issues then I’m cool with changing the way I use gear, when it’s really doing your head in and really pissing you off that much that it’s constantly hindering how you use something then that’s the time to get rid and buy something else you can work easier and better with. All in all your excellent playing and the overall tones you’ve demonstrated in this video I think has persuaded me to get a used one at a good used price even though I don’t need one.
I love your guitar playing, you are a really good teacher and you make really honest and entertaining vids. The thing I like most about you, though, is that you seem to be the embodiment of what's going on in my head most of the time!! You are my living brain with a face!
Dave being a habitual watcher of your videos, and the way you started off with the whole love and hate thing I was sure that thing would be in the garbage by the end of the video based on your hate for fumbling with complicated processors, it was good to see you hang in their with it and you came up with some excellent tones, that AC 30 tone was very Brian May-ish as well, that wah kills brother, you sure have me wanting to check one of these out, cheers from Florida, long time fan, love you like a brother
one way of getting around the problem of only having 4 effect controls, is break them up as patches. When I had the g5n, I had a clean patch with all associated effects on one patch and a overdrive patch with all its effects and switch back and forth between patches. I never used the looper so I don't know what effect that has with the looper, worse case you can always have a separate loop pedal.
Great review Dave. Thanks for putting this online. I bought one of these yet have not used it yet. I have been hoping to replace the mess of pedals I've been using, but was hoping for something not too complicated. I have a Digitech rp500 that just gives me headaches trying to program, not at all intuitive and there is no rythm machine either. Your brief explanation of how this works already gives me an idea of what to do, and your playing is fantastic.
Love this review Dave! Awesome playing and awesome sounding pedal. Bought myself one after watching this review. Can't wait to play with it. Thank you Dave!
Maybe I could explain the reason for the overload issue with an analogy. Imagine you are a juggler, a good juggler. You can juggle nine regular balls. But as a trick in your act you do a segment where you juggle bowling balls. However, you can only juggle three bowling balls. (Because bowling balls are very heavy.) Each effect and amp sim requires a different amount of processing. Some require a lot of processing while some require very little. Continuing the analogy, some are heavy, some are light. Most effect chains contain a mix of heavy and light weight components. Our juggler may only be able to juggle three bowling balls, but as part of his act, he can juggle one bowling ball along with five regular balls. Including the bowling ball in the mix requires more of his attention so he cannot juggle a full nine balls, (i.e. one bowling ball and eight regular balls). That is the case with the G5N. It can handle more effects if they are light and less if they are heavy. But in no case can it handle more than nine regardless of how light they are. Restricting the G5N to the number of effects based on the possibility that they might all be bowling balls would unnecessarily limit the device and make it much less capable. Regarding your concern about scrolling, please investigate the difference between memory mode and stomp mode. Using the G5N does require a different mindset from a traditional peddle board.
Sometimes I use memory banks to optimize how fast I need to switch effects, like a distortion to an angelic chorus. In other scenarios, I use the stomp mode just in specific songs, because it's only one pedal to switch on or off.
agree on the scrolls as i said on your last video,,i got a 3nx for just effects going four cable,,,ended up getting an hxfx as well to replace it,,the scrolls are crap
I have a G5N but I'm not keen on the sound of it into my Katana. I think I need to experiment more as I wasn't happy with my GR55 guitar synth that I've had for 5 years, I only used it about 4 times previously but plugging it into a stereo full range PA and working on some sounds I get it now! Not over the moon on the glitches I get on a lot of the sounds still but adding strings or organ pads under guitar chords sound great. Yeah I need to look at the Zoom again ;0)
Hell yeah more videos on the Zoom g5n presets like you did with the Katana Dave! Would love to see what you come up with.. Maybe a Dave Murray one?!! 😊
16:15 'scroll doesn't seem like a major issue'. For me it would makes the looper unusable, especially live. At home, after laying down a loop it is very likely I be using a different Patch for my soloing , actually 99% of the time it would be a different patch, and live , no way would it be useable. The G5 is different, the looper is separate, why Zoom didn't carry this feature over to the G5N is a mystery.
Given the price, it’s easy to eliminate scrolling and DSP limits. In Canadian dollars, a pair of used G5n's is $350-$400. 8 stomp switches, 10 paddles and 2 expression pedals. Compare this to a new HX Stomp at $900 w/tax, Helix LT at $1,800, a Boss GT-1000 at $1,600, or a Strymon Riverside, Iridium, Mobius, and a Big Sky at $2,700 before expression pedals, MIDI controller, cables, and a PS...
DAVE the AMP is counting as a 2 TWO block so when u add a AMP is TWO bock always and then u can add 7 more blocks but yeah some of those effect ocup More Memory than others so u has to swich effect for those who has less Memory , u Can do that by conecting to a Computer an see every effect how much Memory use it.
My first multi pedal was a ZOOM 3030, which was also a great piece of kit back in the 90's. The only downside was the CHEAP connectors (all round) with weak soldered in/outputs. Also the power supply (incl the cable of the powersupply) was shit... But everything else was great. Many very usable sounds. Easy to program (for what it was). And nice features like the pedal for wah/volume/expression. Stereo output. etc. I can see this as a 5th gen 3030 P.S. Your camera lens makes your guitars look crooked/bent...
Hi Dave, we actually have the same setup. Katana mark1 and Zoom G5n. Would you mind doing a set up them both just to show how the katana handles the g5n and vice versa? All the love. Thanks. Also my guitar is an epiphone plus top pro.
I got a Mission expression pedal for my HX Effects. Expensive but they got it just right. Can get them used for about $80 here, still quite expensive used. It looks about the same as the G5n as far as travel goes.
It is just water with hiccup juice but my brother the hours and hours that you spent being in this moment, Learning how to play that machine so beautifully, I have yet to do it...
Hi Dave, yes I could use some help or advice here. The scroll paddies is excatly what is keeping me in an doubt for if I should buy the Zoom G5n or not? So I understand excatly what you mean with in the heat of the moment and that you don't want to scroll in such a moment. And yes 8 switches would be what I would wish for too. So mean while I found a used Line 6 Pod HD500x for about 200,- euro that has 8 switches to control the on/off for pedals and in comparison with the Zoom sounds also very good (on UA-cam) maybe a little bit darker but not muddy. So this seems a good affordable option. Have you or anybody experience with the Pod HD500X and the Zoom G5n? Is the Zoom G5n better or just as good as the HD500X? And the line 6 POD HD500X has all the things we actually whish for like the 8 switches for example......... Advice would be welcome because the Zoom is nice compact but the HD500X does have all the swiches.
I think it sounds amazing and you get a lot for the money. Yea they could have designed it better....but few things are perfect. I was especially blown away by the clean sounds, some of the best I've heard. Also I thought the drums sounded really good too. Maybe Zoom will bring out a patch for the overload problem. But If you still recommend it, it has to be very good...as you've got so much experience with Multi effects and pedals. Also it just sounds massive if you know what I mean. Great demo Dave :)
Think its a hardware problem. Maybe even memory related to the processor. I have one its still an awesome pedal. Actually I have the 3n as well. You can bring it to a gig and plug into the PA in the place your playing load an amp model in the zoom and your off. A lot of the thing we guitar players complain about 99 percent of the people in the audience could never tell the difference.
hay Dave guitar g5 n boss ge7.into the return.zoom has some great sounds but some are missing that real sound.its in the ge7.psa boss plugs also....found the zoom sounded best at half volume.ge7 has a volume control..... basically I been trying gn5 into every bucket I got.ge7 makes them all sound good....much easier to configure with out having to touch the g5n.
I have this pedal board and I'm agreeing with you on every point. I was thinking of getting the Boss me-80 because it has 8 buttons and no switches, like the G5n but since I couldn't find any good examples of how it sounded, I ended up buying the latter. It really sounds amazing!
Thanks for the review. Connect to ToneLib software via your Android phone or Windows PC and your life will be much better interms is scrolling, editing, moving patches, backing up patches, etc.
20:47 ''scroll function is stupid'' 💯 Then zoom ruined the series with the pull down menus and only 3 patches per bank in the G6, oops, I just looked again I guess its even worse, it only has up and down patching' 😄😄 I've been using my G2's for years, the G5 makes the most sense as an upgrade, all of the other brands I try (and often) always sound too digital, sterile and fake, as well as often ice-picky frizzy through an amp at gig volumes, but sound great in online reviews 😄, plugged into a laptop 😄 , I don't gig with a laptop. G5 is on the way, looking forward to giving it a shot.
Awesome vid man!🙏🙏 I have a lil questions about it Dave, I hope you can help me. I got a v847, a ds1 and the jackhammer. I want to use this after the jackhammer to add boosters, Choruses, delays, etc, would you recommend it to do like a "hybrid" pedalboard?
It's the same with their Multi-Stomp pedal. It says that you can put 6 effects on at any one time, but if the pedal uses too much processing power with 4 modulation effects it will just out a line through ant others you add to the chain. It's strange because Zoom are usally on top of things like this.
While visiting my best mate over in Montreal last year we saw a pretty good band in a bar and the guitarist was using two of these Zooms into a Twin Reverb and he was getting some amazing sounds. Especially him and the bassist taking turn to loop riffs and passages. We just simply assumed that one was a back up. Now though after seeing your vid and you r reveal of the '4 pedals only' issue and thinking back to the myriad of sounds this guy was conjuring I now think he was using both simultaneously.
I've heard some people are using 2 at the same time, but one G5n is already quiet big, portable but on the bigger side. 2 x G5n seems like a big package to carry...
@@JohannDaart Yeah he definitely had 2 on stage and both were switched on. I always have a nosey after gigs at what the guitarist's rig is (don't we all on here??? lol) and just expected a large pedal train loaded up with a plethora of pedals as is the norm type of setup. But no just the 2 Zooms and nothing else with one being I assumed a back up. Zoom are great but they're more 'bedroom blaster' than touring/live kit (although as Dave shows the G5N seems pretty robust) so I pondered about reliability. But no, this band were very proggy/shoegaze/soundscape so I'm now convinced he needed the two to run more pedals (and amps?) simultaneously. Oh yeah 2 x G5N might be a bit heavy but not as heavy as that Twin he also had! Now they do test the old back muscles... ouch! It was old and battered too so it wasn't the new ultra light modeller one.
You might use two units if you want one for effects that you run before your preamp, (like distortion) and a second for modulation effects that you want to run inside your effects loop (chorus, delay etc. ).
Hi dear Dave =) Beautiful intro Aaaah.... loved it,..I am here to see your rewiew on the G5n I saw your rewiew on the G6 and though there are issues on both units these are my 2 pedals i look at and is it really worth the money to go for the G6? time will tell ,..recon that the G5 is all metal even the expression pedal,...the design on the G6 is apealing it looks great and load IR´s too,.. I am into metal and LOVE the Diezel amps , hope the simulations on these units are good,...My old G3 DZ or Diezel sounds Fokin digital crap,..I really am thankful for this rewiew Dave you are a wonderful soul Thanks Love Cheers =)
It looks a practical solution to the whole effects malarkey... but I'm not convinced. Maybe it sounded good in the room but here it sounds really flat and the Rory sound didn't really work out. The best was the clean dreamland setting. That was gorgeous! Having said that, it seemed to like humbuckers more, but the way it breaks up a distorted shows its weakness.
another great video Dave! 😊 my pedal buying addiction has pretty much followed your videos and I was really tempted by this as a "level up" from the Zoom G2.1 which I got and still love but what put me off is the lack of 2 channels per patch which live I think is pretty important for rhythm/lead. Im guessing you are still going to have to line up your patches to match the set like the G2?? I just bought a G7.1ut for £50 that I cant wait to arrive. Have you thought of trying that beast or even the G9? bith have the 2 channel option and a tube boost option. 😊
Great review Dave! U rlly have taste on how to assemble effects, in fact i got inspired by ur JF zoom tone vid since I’ve just started messing with pedals. I also loved the tone on the two patches u showed in this vid, and wanted to know the settings of them. I’ve got a zoom g3xn, which has 3 footstomps and 7 maximum effects on chain (as u also said its not true since the marshall takes up 2 sections and some pedals overflows). Do u have any suggestion on how to get the same tones on this vid with these limitations?
Hide your guns Dave! Lol... Great content man.. I have never played a tube amp but I like what I hear with modeling technology, I own a Line 6 POD HD500X and I can get any tone that I can think of in a matter of minutes, the trick is getting used to your device... Cheers man, and stay safe!
This, and the review you did of the black Sub Zero guitar are my favourite intros. Good fuck lad! BTW, does the Zoom's effects work well with the Katana's effects?
Great video, playing and I really love your enthusiasm and honesty. I've got a G3XN, I paid £100 for it second-hand, like you I think it sounds incredible and for the price I doubt it can be beaten. I agree that it could be improved with the adjustments you suggested but I don't think that they annoy me quite as much as you. The 'up to 9 effects' limit certainly has to be taken with a pinch of salt and Zoom even publish a PDF file detailing what the load of the effects are indiviually (the best sounding ones the most usually!) If you're using a full signal chain with amp and cab this can be quite limiting but if you just using is as virtual pedal board I don't find this an issue as I'm not likely to use 7 (on the G3) effects simultaneously when I'm playing in to an amp, especially as I use the reverb on that too. The scroll thing is a bit clunky too and on the G3 it seems like the payoff for having a smally footprint for the pedal. I've found it easir using patch mode to toggle multiple effect on and off at the same time. Then swithing between that and stompbox mode, which is dead easy of course. I love having several different virtual pedalboards available - so much easier (and cheaper) than traditional boards but I'm sure purists will hate me for saying that! Love to see the HX Stomp vs G5xn video as I'd be interested to see how especially the amp and cab models compare.
Hey, is there a delay between switching in between patches in memory mode? Thinking of buying this pedal and using memory mode for different tones rather than stomping on different switches
What I hate are low processing power and you can not switch between volume and wah and it uses 1 effect slot for volume pedal which is extremely ridiculous
I love your playing as always and your enthusiasm. It's not the first time watching one of your videos has cost me money, lol. I must admit playing this through a Marshall stack is not a fair appraisal of the sound. The Marshall is going to colour the sound big time. It's okay to check out the built in effects which sound great to me. However, I would like to hear the amp and cabinet modelling through some monitor speakers. Could you do that in another video and give us your impressions?
Didn't u say the amp effects count as two? That's nine then, right? Since your also playing thru a Marshall too,y not drop the amp effect to give you two more? Am I off target here Dave? Still sounds awesome, Love it know it's not the Plexi but an option maybe on that patch, Cheers Mate 🎸✌️ 🎸👍
Hi Dave. What is is your opinion on this Zoom g5n vs Boss katana or Boss Tone studio. Personally I think BTS id for me to much a digital fuzz. Just can't seem to get any serious looking aloke tones out of it. Is the Zoom G5n, according to you, more easy to handle or do you prefer the Boss Tone studio? Thanks in advance
I dropped my iPad on my g5n the day after I bought it and broke the left most lcd screen. I contacted zoom U.K. to see if they could help and they never got back to me.. I contemplated getting a g3 just for a spare screen but couldn’t be arsed so I bought a Helix Lt. so I have a virtually brand new G5n collecting dust..
Dave you are awesome guitarist so in your hand everything sound great. This confirm only the sound come from your hands equipment is no matter :) Anyway which will be better Boss me 80 or Zoom 5gn? Boss easy navigate with knobs but shorter looper 30 or 38s guys helps Christmas coming so I need new toy:)
What are the od/distortion /pre-amp/eq sounds like on this to play? Probably a personal thing, but I have always had an issue with Zooms preamp stuff, from my first zoom (Zoom 8080 flagship model from late 90's) to other zooms I have tried out since then. For this reason, I tend to shy away from using or buying zoom effects. SAying that they do have some good modulation & reverb/delays, so using the 4 cable methods with an amp and separate TS style pedal for boost could be an option. It would be really cool if zoom would release a product that changes my mind.... By the way, great playing as always Dave.
Dave, thank you very much for this. Great review (and of course guitar playing). I know that you hate connecting it to the computer and stuff, but could you please upload your presets using the included ToneLib software? Most of us here would rush to get a G5 just to be able to play around with your tones.
Have you pluged the G5n to the power amp in of the Katana Mk2? Im very curious, cause i have a Zoom G5n and Im thinkin in the Katana also to plug the G5n. Cheers from Portugal 🍺🤘
Really good playing man I do videos and only really started to enjoy doing It i just did it because it was there at first but I dont play like a god like u man haha i always fuck up when record button goes on lol nice vid man
Another excellent video from ‘the purple room’ with the tips of your socks as support. I was looking forward to this video after the unboxing and first impressions of the zoom g5n. I wasn’t disappointed! Dave, is there a way to get your criticisms across to zoom, concerning your issues about the scroll function and overload, for future development?
Hi Dave i have the zoom G5 (not the G5n) that uses the scroll via buttons on the top of the case i have also done a mod on it so i can control the banks etc via a foot pedal to save all the messing about it can also have 4 patches to use separate 1-2-3-4 via the foot switches have you tried or seen the G5 ? thanks ian
I am just at the beginning of this welcome video and test. There is one thing puzzling me: in order to work with an ampli and then with a Pc, how does "Ampli/Cab On-Off" work? Should I switch it patch after patch, or there is a more logical and mental health saver general "On-Off" option? Thanks for answering me.
Most genuine guy on youtube! Keep up the good work dave.
WE NEED THIS PATCHES PLEASEEEEEE!!! Amazing, wow, speechless...
This processor is really amazing! I love it when I plugged it in into a Marshall MG30GFX Amp but it sounds way more amazing when plugged into a Multimedia Speakers with Subwoofer and Stereo speakers.....this Zoom G5n is really meant for creators, it has super easy functionalities and is very beginner-friendly. I just love it.
This is the actual way that digital multi effect devices are made for: For FR-FR- speakers => Full Range - Flat Response! So you're absolutely right! Amplifiers have too much character themselves - this is why you shouldn't these peocessors over them.
Ahh the joom Z5, classic unit to pair with a Pibson Les Gaul through a Dender Feluxe
😂😂😂
I use this pedal as my main effects unit. If you look past the flaws in its useability, it is very versatile and its a lot of fun to use. It has suited all of my needs and hasn't failed me in gigs. Just sharing my thoughts and my experience with the pedal :). Have a nice day!
but saying 'look past the flaws' is being very generous. You could say that about anything half decent. I do know what you mean, but these quality of life things are deal breakers for me with multi effects units. No offence intended btw.
I've found with multi effects units that their best use is for modulation effects. Set your amp the way you like it with overdrive and reverb like you were going straight in and then use it for your delays, phasers, choruses and those fun bits. The whole setting up patches to be the whole damn thing is a pain in the ass. 90 percent of the time i use patch 1 which is a slight boost and delay. Patch two is the same boost and delay with a chorus effect. Roll down volume on guitar for cleaner chorus sound and patch 3 is my ambient patch. I just plug my strat into my digitech rp 255 and bounce around between those 3 patches. 🍻
@@misterknightowlandco even the basic RP55 is surprisingly good and I use it as headphone out if I take a travel guitar with me on business.
I am looking for a decent bass pedal - I know there are bass versions of this guitar pedal but unless the frequency range isn't flat then just wondering who well they would work on a bass (and vice versa).
Anyone here try Boss ME80? Or the GT1. Does it sound as good as the Zoom here. Looking for help choosing. Thanks.
@@accentontheoff heyho, Just wondering If you got any of those? Thinking about the Same :)
Got a Squier Classic Vibe 60s Telecaster arriving this week.
It looks amazing.
Paul Corre i am so happy for you mate :) enjoy it darling
As always Dave your playing is passionate and majestic. So good 😊
I have been using Zoom G5n for 2years now and this is the best thing that I have heard
How does it sound at gigging volumes through
a guitar amp?
I've used a Zoom MS70-CDR for years now as my main modulation box. It's a little brother of this thing. All the rest of my gear is analog, but modulation's digital much of the time anyhow and it's so handy to have those individually rarely used warbles and shimmers taking up only one spot on my little gigging board.
the way I use it, is I have things such as noise gates, compressors to reverbs usually always on and only leave the 4 that I would ever turn off or on, and if its more than 4 then I have a new patch with those changes done. But I only ever have 4 that I would need to display for me to control, so I don't need to worry about the scrolling.
@1:04:50 - Expression pedal angle seems such a minor thing but it's not - at least not for me. It's one of the reasons I went for the full fat Helix rather than the LT - expression pedal on the full model is much closer to flat than the LT, and feels much better in use.
Thank so much to show the Ibanez wha simulation , love it
Nice one Dave you definitely got some great sounding tones outta this, for its low price point compared with other units from competitors it seems to have some really great sounding FX that seem to work well with each other, nice and warm and decent sounding drives, distortions & fuzzes, warm modulations, nice delays and verbs, easy to program and built solidly.
Glad you were nice and honest about the down sides that you don’t like, like most things gonna be certain things everyone will have things they don’t particularly like or would prefer to work or be set out differently, for me these things just mean you have to work with any piece of gear in the best way you can to get the best out of it working in a certain way that unit requires you to use it, as long as you’re able to work with it to get round issues then I’m cool with changing the way I use gear, when it’s really doing your head in and really pissing you off that much that it’s constantly hindering how you use something then that’s the time to get rid and buy something else you can work easier and better with.
All in all your excellent playing and the overall tones you’ve demonstrated in this video I think has persuaded me to get a used one at a good used price even though I don’t need one.
Everything you're saying about this, I said about my HX Effects. Absolutely love that thing.
Tremenda pedalera ! Acabo de comprar una nueva ( Julio 2021) la encuentro súper fácil de usar y sonidos de calidad.
Love this room you are filming in Dave!
Me too, I really dig this look!
I love your guitar playing, you are a really good teacher and you make really honest and entertaining vids. The thing I like most about you, though, is that you seem to be the embodiment of what's going on in my head most of the time!! You are my living brain with a face!
Dave being a habitual watcher of your videos, and the way you started off with the whole love and hate thing I was sure that thing would be in the garbage by the end of the video based on your hate for fumbling with complicated processors, it was good to see you hang in their with it and you came up with some excellent tones, that AC 30 tone was very Brian May-ish as well, that wah kills brother, you sure have me wanting to check one of these out, cheers from Florida, long time fan, love you like a brother
one way of getting around the problem of only having 4 effect controls, is break them up as patches. When I had the g5n, I had a clean patch with all associated effects on one patch and a overdrive patch with all its effects and switch back and forth between patches. I never used the looper so I don't know what effect that has with the looper, worse case you can always have a separate loop pedal.
Just was scrolling over your channel and suddenly this popped up,thank you!
Hi Dave thanks very much for your Rory tones really sounds great made my lock down day cheers
Great review Dave. Thanks for putting this online. I bought one of these yet have not used it yet. I have been hoping to replace the mess of pedals I've been using, but was hoping for something not too complicated. I have a Digitech rp500 that just gives me headaches trying to program, not at all intuitive and there is no rythm machine either. Your brief explanation of how this works already gives me an idea of what to do, and your playing is fantastic.
Amazing video. I would like to see another patches from JF (stadium arcadium, btw, BSSM). I'm looking forward to buy the G5n
Love this review Dave! Awesome playing and awesome sounding pedal. Bought myself one after watching this review. Can't wait to play with it. Thank you Dave!
Nice
Gonna ditch my Fractal FX2 for one of these
Life’s too short to spend menu diving
Nice to have a video in your living room! That tele sounds great as well!
My bank balance can't handle these videos dave!!
Cool nick 😄
Beautiful guitar playing
Maybe I could explain the reason for the overload issue with an analogy. Imagine you are a juggler, a good juggler. You can juggle nine regular balls. But as a trick in your act you do a segment where you juggle bowling balls. However, you can only juggle three bowling balls. (Because bowling balls are very heavy.) Each effect and amp sim requires a different amount of processing. Some require a lot of processing while some require very little. Continuing the analogy, some are heavy, some are light. Most effect chains contain a mix of heavy and light weight components. Our juggler may only be able to juggle three bowling balls, but as part of his act, he can juggle one bowling ball along with five regular balls. Including the bowling ball in the mix requires more of his attention so he cannot juggle a full nine balls, (i.e. one bowling ball and eight regular balls).
That is the case with the G5N. It can handle more effects if they are light and less if they are heavy. But in no case can it handle more than nine regardless of how light they are. Restricting the G5N to the number of effects based on the possibility that they might all be bowling balls would unnecessarily limit the device and make it much less capable.
Regarding your concern about scrolling, please investigate the difference between memory mode and stomp mode. Using the G5N does require a different mindset from a traditional peddle board.
Sometimes I use memory banks to optimize how fast I need to switch effects, like a distortion to an angelic chorus. In other scenarios, I use the stomp mode just in specific songs, because it's only one pedal to switch on or off.
agree on the scrolls as i said on your last video,,i got a 3nx for just effects going four cable,,,ended up getting an hxfx as well to replace it,,the scrolls are crap
Not that is some Swiss army pedal Dave. Mind blowing and of course in your hands - supreme 😀👍👍
I love watching your reviews, better than watching normal TV as nowt on that lol
I have a G5N but I'm not keen on the sound of it into my Katana. I think I need to experiment more as I wasn't happy with my GR55 guitar synth that I've had for 5 years, I only used it about 4 times previously but plugging it into a stereo full range PA and working on some sounds I get it now! Not over the moon on the glitches I get on a lot of the sounds still but adding strings or organ pads under guitar chords sound great. Yeah I need to look at the Zoom again ;0)
Dude! Love the Vigo the Carpathian picture!
Hell yeah more videos on the Zoom g5n presets like you did with the Katana Dave! Would love to see what you come up with.. Maybe a Dave Murray one?!! 😊
killer socks Dave
I have the same feeling about headphones, but the Boss Waza Air changed my life. I recommend anyone to try it and be blown away.
16:15 'scroll doesn't seem like a major issue'.
For me it would makes the looper unusable,
especially live. At home, after laying down a
loop it is very likely I be using a different Patch
for my soloing , actually 99% of the time it would be
a different patch, and live , no way would it
be useable. The G5 is different, the looper is
separate, why Zoom didn't carry this feature over
to the G5N is a mystery.
Given the price, it’s easy to eliminate scrolling and DSP limits. In Canadian dollars, a pair of used G5n's is $350-$400. 8 stomp switches, 10 paddles and 2 expression pedals. Compare this to a new HX Stomp at $900 w/tax, Helix LT at $1,800, a Boss GT-1000 at $1,600, or a Strymon Riverside, Iridium, Mobius, and a Big Sky at $2,700 before expression pedals, MIDI controller, cables, and a PS...
DAVE the AMP is counting as a 2 TWO block so when u add a AMP is TWO bock always and then u can add 7 more blocks but yeah some of those effect ocup More Memory than others so u has to swich effect for those who has less Memory , u Can do that by conecting to a Computer an see every effect how much Memory use it.
Please tell us the settings for your presets or make them downloadable. Great to hear your playing.
My first multi pedal was a ZOOM 3030, which was also a great piece of kit back in the 90's.
The only downside was the CHEAP connectors (all round) with weak soldered in/outputs.
Also the power supply (incl the cable of the powersupply) was shit...
But everything else was great. Many very usable sounds. Easy to program (for what it was). And nice features like the pedal for wah/volume/expression. Stereo output. etc.
I can see this as a 5th gen 3030
P.S. Your camera lens makes your guitars look crooked/bent...
38:53 is some fantastic stuff dave ;)
Thanks I needed to hear that. Excellence with heart lives.
Hi Dave, we actually have the same setup. Katana mark1 and Zoom G5n. Would you mind doing a set up them both just to show how the katana handles the g5n and vice versa? All the love. Thanks. Also my guitar is an epiphone plus top pro.
I got a Mission expression pedal for my HX Effects. Expensive but they got it just right. Can get them used for about $80 here, still quite expensive used. It looks about the same as the G5n as far as travel goes.
How do you like it
Might be worth checking firmware is upto date on the unit could solve overload issues worth checking out zoom website.
Bro praised it the best he could in the beginning. Then started picking out the faults as best as he could
Thats the idea of giving an honest review. Positives and negatives.
It is just water with hiccup juice but my brother the hours and hours that you spent being in this moment, Learning how to play that machine so beautifully, I have yet to do it...
Heavenly sounds Dave
Hi Dave, yes I could use some help or advice here. The scroll paddies is excatly what is keeping me in an doubt for if I should buy the Zoom G5n or not? So I understand excatly what you mean with in the heat of the moment and that you don't want to scroll in such a moment. And yes 8 switches would be what I would wish for too. So mean while I found a used Line 6 Pod HD500x for about 200,- euro that has 8 switches to control the on/off for pedals and in comparison with the Zoom sounds also very good (on UA-cam) maybe a little bit darker but not muddy. So this seems a good affordable option. Have you or anybody experience with the Pod HD500X and the Zoom G5n? Is the Zoom G5n better or just as good as the HD500X? And the line 6 POD HD500X has all the things we actually whish for like the 8 switches for example......... Advice would be welcome because the Zoom is nice compact but the HD500X does have all the swiches.
I think it sounds amazing and you get a lot for the money. Yea they could have designed it better....but few things are perfect. I was especially blown away by the clean sounds, some of the best I've heard. Also I thought the drums sounded really good too. Maybe Zoom will bring out a patch for the overload problem. But If you still recommend it, it has to be very good...as you've got so much experience with Multi effects and pedals. Also it just sounds massive if you know what I mean. Great demo Dave :)
Think its a hardware problem. Maybe even memory related to the processor. I have one its still an awesome pedal. Actually I have the 3n as well. You can bring it to a gig and plug into the PA in the place your playing load an amp model in the zoom and your off. A lot of the thing we guitar players complain about 99 percent of the people in the audience could never tell the difference.
hay Dave guitar g5 n boss ge7.into the return.zoom has some great sounds but some are missing that real sound.its in the ge7.psa boss plugs also....found the zoom sounded best at half volume.ge7 has a volume control..... basically I been trying gn5 into every bucket I got.ge7 makes them all sound good....much easier to configure with out having to touch the g5n.
They just put out the g11 which has a lot more options but also almost $500.00 u.s. more!
I have this pedal board and I'm agreeing with you on every point. I was thinking of getting the Boss me-80 because it has 8 buttons and no switches, like the G5n but since I couldn't find any good examples of how it sounded, I ended up buying the latter. It really sounds amazing!
ME-80 has minimal simulation of a cab. So you would need a power amp/return of a combo amp + guitar cab (and it would sound great).
@@JohannDaart Thanks for the info! Well I only have a bass amp, which works fine with G5n, so I think I choose wisley in the end. :)
Thanks for the review. Connect to ToneLib software via your Android phone or Windows PC and your life will be much better interms is scrolling, editing, moving patches, backing up patches, etc.
20:47 ''scroll function is stupid''
💯 Then zoom ruined the series
with the pull down menus and only
3 patches per bank in the G6,
oops, I just looked again I guess its
even worse, it only has up and down
patching' 😄😄
I've been using my G2's for years,
the G5 makes the most sense as an
upgrade, all of the other brands I
try (and often) always sound too digital,
sterile and fake, as well as often ice-picky
frizzy through an amp at gig volumes,
but sound great in online reviews 😄,
plugged into a laptop 😄 ,
I don't gig with a laptop.
G5 is on the way, looking forward
to giving it a shot.
Very good Dave, I'm your fan!
Zoom should have installed one more 13$ sharc DSP to fix this overload.
Awesome vid man!🙏🙏 I have a lil questions about it Dave, I hope you can help me. I got a v847, a ds1 and the jackhammer. I want to use this after the jackhammer to add boosters, Choruses, delays, etc, would you recommend it to do like a "hybrid" pedalboard?
I would recommend it yeps.
@@thedavesimpson thx man, love your content ♥️ you have taught me many things about music and life, you're great!
It's the same with their Multi-Stomp pedal. It says that you can put 6 effects on at any one time, but if the pedal uses too much processing power with 4 modulation effects it will just out a line through ant others you add to the chain.
It's strange because Zoom are usally on top of things like this.
Have a G3xn and could use the same review, the scroll function is a nightmare but apart from that an amazing pedal
While visiting my best mate over in Montreal last year we saw a pretty good band in a bar and the guitarist was using two of these Zooms into a Twin Reverb and he was getting some amazing sounds. Especially him and the bassist taking turn to loop riffs and passages. We just simply assumed that one was a back up. Now though after seeing your vid and you r reveal of the '4 pedals only' issue and thinking back to the myriad of sounds this guy was conjuring I now think he was using both simultaneously.
I've heard some people are using 2 at the same time, but one G5n is already quiet big, portable but on the bigger side. 2 x G5n seems like a big package to carry...
@@JohannDaart Yeah he definitely had 2 on stage and both were switched on. I always have a nosey after gigs at what the guitarist's rig is (don't we all on here??? lol) and just expected a large pedal train loaded up with a plethora of pedals as is the norm type of setup. But no just the 2 Zooms and nothing else with one being I assumed a back up. Zoom are great but they're more 'bedroom blaster' than touring/live kit (although as Dave shows the G5N seems pretty robust) so I pondered about reliability. But no, this band were very proggy/shoegaze/soundscape so I'm now convinced he needed the two to run more pedals (and amps?) simultaneously.
Oh yeah 2 x G5N might be a bit heavy but not as heavy as that Twin he also had! Now they do test the old back muscles... ouch! It was old and battered too so it wasn't the new ultra light modeller one.
You might use two units if you want one for effects that you run before your preamp, (like distortion) and a second for modulation effects that you want to run inside your effects loop (chorus, delay etc. ).
Love the new intro background.
Hi dear Dave =) Beautiful intro Aaaah.... loved it,..I am here to see your rewiew on the G5n I saw your rewiew on the G6 and though there are issues on both units these are my 2 pedals i look at and is it really worth the money to go for the G6? time will tell ,..recon that the G5 is all metal even the expression pedal,...the design on the G6 is apealing it looks great and load IR´s too,.. I am into metal and LOVE the Diezel amps , hope the simulations on these units are good,...My old G3 DZ or Diezel sounds Fokin digital crap,..I really am thankful for this rewiew Dave you are a wonderful soul Thanks Love Cheers =)
You are gorgeous! I really love Your playing! Greetings from good old Germany!
It looks a practical solution to the whole effects malarkey... but I'm not convinced. Maybe it sounded good in the room but here it sounds really flat and the Rory sound didn't really work out. The best was the clean dreamland setting. That was gorgeous!
Having said that, it seemed to like humbuckers more, but the way it breaks up a distorted shows its weakness.
Saludos desde Tucumán Argentina!
Good Gravy!! Dave that intro and Demo was inspiring,Cheers ps you could always get an other one and have 8presets!lol
another great video Dave! 😊 my pedal buying addiction has pretty much followed your videos and I was really tempted by this as a "level up" from the Zoom G2.1 which I got and still love but what put me off is the lack of 2 channels per patch which live I think is pretty important for rhythm/lead. Im guessing you are still going to have to line up your patches to match the set like the G2??
I just bought a G7.1ut for £50 that I cant wait to arrive. Have you thought of trying that beast or even the G9? bith have the 2 channel option and a tube boost option. 😊
Great review Dave! U rlly have taste on how to assemble effects, in fact i got inspired by ur JF zoom tone vid since I’ve just started messing with pedals. I also loved the tone on the two patches u showed in this vid, and wanted to know the settings of them. I’ve got a zoom g3xn, which has 3 footstomps and 7 maximum effects on chain (as u also said its not true since the marshall takes up 2 sections and some pedals overflows). Do u have any suggestion on how to get the same tones on this vid with these limitations?
I don’t remember sorry. Its been a while since i used one of these.
Hide your guns Dave! Lol... Great content man.. I have never played a tube amp but I like what I hear with modeling technology, I own a Line 6 POD HD500X and I can get any tone that I can think of in a matter of minutes, the trick is getting used to your device... Cheers man, and stay safe!
Where you hook up ur amp, in guitar input channel or fx loop ? My amp doesnt have any fx loop
I heard that the amps takes two slots that's why you can't add another effect. Considering the price, you get so much more with this than other brand.
Whats the song at 34:08 to 34:15?? lol I'm a nerd for music, I'll download a 10 second clip from movies or games just for a part lol lol
This, and the review you did of the black Sub Zero guitar are my favourite intros. Good fuck lad!
BTW, does the Zoom's effects work well with the Katana's effects?
Great video, playing and I really love your enthusiasm and honesty.
I've got a G3XN, I paid £100 for it second-hand, like you I think it sounds incredible and for the price I doubt it can be beaten.
I agree that it could be improved with the adjustments you suggested but I don't think that they annoy me quite as much as you. The 'up to 9 effects' limit certainly has to be taken with a pinch of salt and Zoom even publish a PDF file detailing what the load of the effects are indiviually (the best sounding ones the most usually!)
If you're using a full signal chain with amp and cab this can be quite limiting but if you just using is as virtual pedal board I don't find this an issue as I'm not likely to use 7 (on the G3) effects simultaneously when I'm playing in to an amp, especially as I use the reverb on that too.
The scroll thing is a bit clunky too and on the G3 it seems like the payoff for having a smally footprint for the pedal. I've found it easir using patch mode to toggle multiple effect on and off at the same time. Then swithing between that and stompbox mode, which is dead easy of course. I love having several different virtual pedalboards available - so much easier (and cheaper) than traditional boards but I'm sure purists will hate me for saying that!
Love to see the HX Stomp vs G5xn video as I'd be interested to see how especially the amp and cab models compare.
Hey, is there a delay between switching in between patches in memory mode? Thinking of buying this pedal and using memory mode for different tones rather than stomping on different switches
Have you ever tried a Richie Kotzen Flyrig?..I think I would like one
What I hate are low processing power and you can not switch between volume and wah and it uses 1 effect slot for volume pedal which is extremely ridiculous
I love your playing as always and your enthusiasm. It's not the first time watching one of your videos has cost me money, lol. I must admit playing this through a Marshall stack is not a fair appraisal of the sound. The Marshall is going to colour the sound big time. It's okay to check out the built in effects which sound great to me. However, I would like to hear the amp and cabinet modelling through some monitor speakers. Could you do that in another video and give us your impressions?
Dave do you have any albums we can listen to? You're a killer player
davesimpson.bandcamp.com/
Thanks man, I’ll check it out :)
the knobs boost and tone are 0 position? and the zoom into loop MG marshall? thanks
Thats correct on the boost. I don't use it and the pedals going into the front end of the amp.
Didn't u say the amp effects count as two? That's nine then, right? Since your also playing thru a Marshall too,y not drop the amp effect to give you two more? Am I off target here Dave? Still sounds awesome, Love it know it's not the Plexi but an option maybe on that patch, Cheers Mate 🎸✌️ 🎸👍
Hi Dave. What is is your opinion on this Zoom g5n vs Boss katana or Boss Tone studio. Personally I think BTS id for me to much a digital fuzz. Just can't seem to get any serious looking aloke tones out of it. Is the Zoom G5n, according to you, more easy to handle or do you prefer the Boss Tone studio? Thanks in advance
The g5n is definitely more user friendly.
@@thedavesimpson Thanks. I thought/felt so to. Not really my cup of tea to always need a computer to change settings. Thanks for the info.
Love a Dave Simpson video - Just bought a Vintage Flying V based on his previous vids.
I dropped my iPad on my g5n the day after I bought it and broke the left most lcd screen. I contacted zoom U.K. to see if they could help and they never got back to me.. I contemplated getting a g3 just for a spare screen but couldn’t be arsed so I bought a Helix Lt. so I have a virtually brand new G5n collecting dust..
Why dont you take it to zoom service centre ? Or maybe a good electronics expert who can help you to replace the screen
Dave you are awesome guitarist so in your hand everything sound great. This confirm only the sound come from your hands equipment is no matter :) Anyway which will be better Boss me 80 or Zoom 5gn? Boss easy navigate with knobs but shorter looper 30 or 38s guys helps Christmas coming so I need new toy:)
Hi Dave, thank you for this great video! I just ordered the G5N, can’t wait 😄. I have one question for you: are you still using it in 2023?
I gave it away when i reached 100,000 subscribers.
I use Zoom MS50G, but Hotone Ampero is GREAT, complete and very small.
How could I resist that thumbnail?
What are the od/distortion /pre-amp/eq sounds like on this to play? Probably a personal thing, but I have always had an issue with Zooms preamp stuff, from my first zoom (Zoom 8080 flagship model from late 90's) to other zooms I have tried out since then. For this reason, I tend to shy away from using or buying zoom effects. SAying that they do have some good modulation & reverb/delays, so using the 4 cable methods with an amp and separate TS style pedal for boost could be an option. It would be really cool if zoom would release a product that changes my mind....
By the way, great playing as always Dave.
Dave, thank you very much for this. Great review (and of course guitar playing). I know that you hate connecting it to the computer and stuff, but could you please upload your presets using the included ToneLib software? Most of us here would rush to get a G5 just to be able to play around with your tones.
Love it. What eargasmic song are you playing in the beginning by the way?
I made it up.
awesome sound!!
Have you pluged the G5n to the power amp in of the Katana Mk2?
Im very curious, cause i have a Zoom G5n and Im thinkin in the Katana also to plug the G5n.
Cheers from Portugal 🍺🤘
Really good playing man I do videos and only really started to enjoy doing It i just did it because it was there at first but I dont play like a god like u man haha i always fuck up when record button goes on lol nice vid man
Is there an updated version of this now ?
Another excellent video from ‘the purple room’ with the tips of your socks as support. I was looking forward to this video after the unboxing and first impressions of the zoom g5n. I wasn’t disappointed!
Dave, is there a way to get your criticisms across to zoom, concerning your issues about the scroll function and overload, for future development?
i love the sounds. can i copy them?
Hi Dave i have the zoom G5 (not the G5n) that uses the scroll via buttons on the top of the case i have also done a mod on it so i can control the banks etc via a foot pedal to save all the messing about
it can also have 4 patches to use separate 1-2-3-4 via the foot switches
have you tried or seen the G5 ? thanks ian
Never been a pedal player, and see no point in starting now (be drooling on it in just a few years), but great stuff on the 9' intro!
I am just at the beginning of this welcome video and test. There is one thing puzzling me:
in order to work with an ampli and then with a Pc, how does "Ampli/Cab On-Off" work?
Should I switch it patch after patch, or there is a more logical and mental health saver general "On-Off" option?
Thanks for answering me.