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Zoom
G3XN Multi-Effects Processor Zoom takes its years of experience in the Multi FX arena and crams it into a compact, value for money package that is far greater than the sum of its parts. In a world brimming with amp sims and Multi FX units, it takes something special to grab the attention of potential buyers, but even more so to persuade the hitherto unconvinced to leave their boutique amps and pedals behind. Zoom are no strangers in this area - they released their first effects processor in 1990, and many young guitar players cut their teeth on the company's 1996 505 II range. Twenty years on, Zoom's G3XN manages to offer a compact, well-built FX unit that sounds far more impressive than its price would suggest, making it an attractive, but above all, affordable option for anyone wanting to dip their toe into the overflowing waters of guitar processors. |
Lead Tone (More examples here)
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Build & Effects
Straight out of the box, I was struck not only by the G3XN's surprisingly compact design, but also its build quality and sturdy metal enclosure. The unit feels solid and reassuringly weighty, yet somehow manages to cram six footswitches, three LCD displays and an expression pedal into its 13-inch wide housing, making it a great option to throw in your gig bag or the overhead compartment of a plane for overseas dates.
The back of the unit sports a standard guitar 1/4" jack input, an auxiliary stereo mini-jack input and stereo left and right outputs, with the left side doubling as a mono headphone output for those late-night practice sessions! The stereo outputs proved an invaluable option, not least to show off the G3XN's lush chorus sounds: I also got a lot of mileage out of using the right output as a second mono split of my guitar (great for sending a separate feed to the PA mixing desk, or even to an IEM setup for monitoring purposes). This was a real lifesaver at some shows and became a rather handy utility feature performing a similar function to a DI box. There are no FX loop options, but this may be a lot to ask of a small piece of kit that is already bursting with features. The unit is powered by the included AC adaptor (no batteries here) which has a variable voltage for use in different countries. Finally, the onboard micro USB connector allows for software editing and backup functions (more on this later).
Despite its compact size the G3XN is home to 68 effects, 10 amp/cabinet models, a looper, a tuner and a drum machine. As you would expect, it plays host to all the usual suspects found in today's guitar rigs (Marshall, Fender and Hiwatt amps and cabs, Tube Screamer and Big Muff pedals) as well as more exotic options. Reverb, delay, compression and modulation are all represented, with multiple styles and models available for each. There are even a few wacky sound effects thrown in for good measure - perfect for those who’ve ever wished to trigger an explosion sound effect at the press of a footswitch! In my personal pursuit of that elusive, heavenly Allan Holdsworth-style UD Stomp sound I wish more multi-tap delay options had been included, but despite this, the G3XN’s effects roster makes for an extremely versatile and well-rounded collection of sounds - a library that grows with every Firmware update.
From the heaviest, brain-crunching Djent distortion to the ethereal clean tones required for delicate ballads, I found the quality of effects to be excellent across the board, working equally well in front of my tube amp, or as a replacement for the entire rig! As if that wasn’t enough, the full-range sound of the unit, along with its onboard compressors and crunch effects, ensured that the G3XN quickly became my go-to bass guitar rig, with none of the low-end loss you would normally associate with using guitar effects on a bass. That’s two less amps to carry and one less trip to the chiropractor!
Editing & Software
With all these great sounds on tap, the key to successfully wielding them is in the editing functions of the pedal. With its selection of rotary knobs and footswitches that mimic the layout of traditional stompbox controls, the G3XN has fairly intuitive onboard editing features. The inherent restrictions of screen real estate and the complexity of some effects chains mean that some scrolling is inevitable, but thankfully menu diving has been kept to a minimum and is very intuitive for the most part. I was able to quickly tweak, add, remove or completely re-arrange entire effects chains on the fly with minimal effort. I would therefore say that the editing implementation is better than could be expected given the unit's compact dimensions.
The unsung hero of the modern-age digital effects landscape is software support. For the G3XN this comes in the form of Zoom's Guitar Lab suite which allows for patch editing and firmware updates, as well as those all-important backups. When gigging, I was able to set up, back up and recall entire shows worth of effects chains, all in setlist order and tailored to each night of the tour. A really great quality-of-life enhancement! Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the process of organising and moving of patches within the software: the lack of traditional copy, cut and paste functions with keyboard shortcuts means that relocating patches or trying to put them in an alternative setlist order after the fact can be a chore (which makes the back up function a Godsend once you’ve mastered it!)
The Guitar Lab software's editing section mirrors the pedal both functionally and visually for the most part, making it relatively painless to tweak sounds and navigate patches. However, I felt the computer user experience could be improved: it would have been nice to see larger graphic displays and clearer button layouts which take advantage of the whole computer screen. There are alternative software solutions that fare better in these areas (for example, ‘Tonelib’, which I found invaluable for organising and setting up setlists in the pedal). It would be nice to see Zoom take some cues from these solutions, and improve on what is already an excellent overall package.
Whilst organising and moving patches isn’t as streamlined as it could be, the backup and recall procedure is straightforward and surprisingly fast. Zoom's ‘Guitar Lab’ even allows you to download patches by notable pro guitar players, so there’s lots of incentive to dig in and make some noise!
CPU vs Slots
The G3XN generously allows you to add up to seven effects to a patch or chain. This is sufficient for most purposes, and allows for any effect within the chain to be bypassed or activated on the fly in traditional stompbox style. Unfortunately, the size of the unit means that only three effect slots can be shown at any time across its three LCD screens (more details in the 'In Performance' section below).
There also seems to be a strange restriction on CPU usage vs the amount of effect slots. Both the unit and editing software give a handy indication of how much CPU usage a chain takes up and display an ‘overflow’ warning when you’ve maxed out the available processing power for a patch. This is helpful and totally understandable. But it also maxes out at seven slots worth of effects even when there is plenty of CPU power left in the tank. As a result, I often can’t access the pedal's full potential before the slots fill up. If we could show/hide effects from the chain, perhaps we could free up some slots to get more processing power from the pedal.
Despite these issues, I mostly find that creating chains and chasing those holy-grail guitar tones is a blast, with the myriad of effect options giving a lot of flexibility. Once I had committed to operating the pedal in the multi-FX patch-based mode, the ability to swap out entire effects chains and amp/cab sims at the kick of a switch was great. Allowing the sound to be exactly what I wanted, unhindered by the restrictions of what pedals I had physically brought with me that day!
Straight out of the box, I was struck not only by the G3XN's surprisingly compact design, but also its build quality and sturdy metal enclosure. The unit feels solid and reassuringly weighty, yet somehow manages to cram six footswitches, three LCD displays and an expression pedal into its 13-inch wide housing, making it a great option to throw in your gig bag or the overhead compartment of a plane for overseas dates.
The back of the unit sports a standard guitar 1/4" jack input, an auxiliary stereo mini-jack input and stereo left and right outputs, with the left side doubling as a mono headphone output for those late-night practice sessions! The stereo outputs proved an invaluable option, not least to show off the G3XN's lush chorus sounds: I also got a lot of mileage out of using the right output as a second mono split of my guitar (great for sending a separate feed to the PA mixing desk, or even to an IEM setup for monitoring purposes). This was a real lifesaver at some shows and became a rather handy utility feature performing a similar function to a DI box. There are no FX loop options, but this may be a lot to ask of a small piece of kit that is already bursting with features. The unit is powered by the included AC adaptor (no batteries here) which has a variable voltage for use in different countries. Finally, the onboard micro USB connector allows for software editing and backup functions (more on this later).
Despite its compact size the G3XN is home to 68 effects, 10 amp/cabinet models, a looper, a tuner and a drum machine. As you would expect, it plays host to all the usual suspects found in today's guitar rigs (Marshall, Fender and Hiwatt amps and cabs, Tube Screamer and Big Muff pedals) as well as more exotic options. Reverb, delay, compression and modulation are all represented, with multiple styles and models available for each. There are even a few wacky sound effects thrown in for good measure - perfect for those who’ve ever wished to trigger an explosion sound effect at the press of a footswitch! In my personal pursuit of that elusive, heavenly Allan Holdsworth-style UD Stomp sound I wish more multi-tap delay options had been included, but despite this, the G3XN’s effects roster makes for an extremely versatile and well-rounded collection of sounds - a library that grows with every Firmware update.
From the heaviest, brain-crunching Djent distortion to the ethereal clean tones required for delicate ballads, I found the quality of effects to be excellent across the board, working equally well in front of my tube amp, or as a replacement for the entire rig! As if that wasn’t enough, the full-range sound of the unit, along with its onboard compressors and crunch effects, ensured that the G3XN quickly became my go-to bass guitar rig, with none of the low-end loss you would normally associate with using guitar effects on a bass. That’s two less amps to carry and one less trip to the chiropractor!
Editing & Software
With all these great sounds on tap, the key to successfully wielding them is in the editing functions of the pedal. With its selection of rotary knobs and footswitches that mimic the layout of traditional stompbox controls, the G3XN has fairly intuitive onboard editing features. The inherent restrictions of screen real estate and the complexity of some effects chains mean that some scrolling is inevitable, but thankfully menu diving has been kept to a minimum and is very intuitive for the most part. I was able to quickly tweak, add, remove or completely re-arrange entire effects chains on the fly with minimal effort. I would therefore say that the editing implementation is better than could be expected given the unit's compact dimensions.
The unsung hero of the modern-age digital effects landscape is software support. For the G3XN this comes in the form of Zoom's Guitar Lab suite which allows for patch editing and firmware updates, as well as those all-important backups. When gigging, I was able to set up, back up and recall entire shows worth of effects chains, all in setlist order and tailored to each night of the tour. A really great quality-of-life enhancement! Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the process of organising and moving of patches within the software: the lack of traditional copy, cut and paste functions with keyboard shortcuts means that relocating patches or trying to put them in an alternative setlist order after the fact can be a chore (which makes the back up function a Godsend once you’ve mastered it!)
The Guitar Lab software's editing section mirrors the pedal both functionally and visually for the most part, making it relatively painless to tweak sounds and navigate patches. However, I felt the computer user experience could be improved: it would have been nice to see larger graphic displays and clearer button layouts which take advantage of the whole computer screen. There are alternative software solutions that fare better in these areas (for example, ‘Tonelib’, which I found invaluable for organising and setting up setlists in the pedal). It would be nice to see Zoom take some cues from these solutions, and improve on what is already an excellent overall package.
Whilst organising and moving patches isn’t as streamlined as it could be, the backup and recall procedure is straightforward and surprisingly fast. Zoom's ‘Guitar Lab’ even allows you to download patches by notable pro guitar players, so there’s lots of incentive to dig in and make some noise!
CPU vs Slots
The G3XN generously allows you to add up to seven effects to a patch or chain. This is sufficient for most purposes, and allows for any effect within the chain to be bypassed or activated on the fly in traditional stompbox style. Unfortunately, the size of the unit means that only three effect slots can be shown at any time across its three LCD screens (more details in the 'In Performance' section below).
There also seems to be a strange restriction on CPU usage vs the amount of effect slots. Both the unit and editing software give a handy indication of how much CPU usage a chain takes up and display an ‘overflow’ warning when you’ve maxed out the available processing power for a patch. This is helpful and totally understandable. But it also maxes out at seven slots worth of effects even when there is plenty of CPU power left in the tank. As a result, I often can’t access the pedal's full potential before the slots fill up. If we could show/hide effects from the chain, perhaps we could free up some slots to get more processing power from the pedal.
Despite these issues, I mostly find that creating chains and chasing those holy-grail guitar tones is a blast, with the myriad of effect options giving a lot of flexibility. Once I had committed to operating the pedal in the multi-FX patch-based mode, the ability to swap out entire effects chains and amp/cab sims at the kick of a switch was great. Allowing the sound to be exactly what I wanted, unhindered by the restrictions of what pedals I had physically brought with me that day!
In Performance
While the unit's button layout is certainly intuitive, there were a couple of times in performance when hitting a patch change switch would cause me to accidentally nudge one of the effect parameter knobs with my foot, thus slightly changing the effect settings. Failing a marked improvement in my clumsy foot co-ordination, this is something that a guard rail would be a great solution for!
The issue is somewhat worsened by the auto-save function which is either ‘on’ and saves every tweak you make (intentionally or otherwise), or ‘off.’ Whilst the ‘off’ setting seems an ideal solution to avoiding saving any accidental tweaks, it means that if you do accidentally tweak an effect mid-song and then try to perform a patch change in anticipation of your big guitar solo moment, you are greeted instead with a prompt asking you if you want to save the changes. In this case, you’ll be stuck on the previous patch until you reach down, scroll to ‘no’ and then click the ‘enter’ button. On the plus side, your guitar solo may take on a fresh lease of life with this unexpected sound!
To be bypassed on the fly, effects have to be visible on screen - if you want to bypass an effect that is off screen, you first have to use the scroll function to move the display over to its location in the effects chain. Since there's a short screen animation between each scroll, this is pretty difficult and long-winded to do mid-song.
Additionally, there may be effects in the chain that you would never want to bypass and thus take up valuable screen real estate and ‘scroll time’ to navigate past. In these cases, it would be great to have a hide/show function for effects - this would be especially useful for amp sims and other effects that take up two display slots! The interim solution would be to save the tweaked sound as a whole new patch and use it in a multi-FX style setup, rather than as an individual effect in a virtual stompbox chain.
While the unit's button layout is certainly intuitive, there were a couple of times in performance when hitting a patch change switch would cause me to accidentally nudge one of the effect parameter knobs with my foot, thus slightly changing the effect settings. Failing a marked improvement in my clumsy foot co-ordination, this is something that a guard rail would be a great solution for!
The issue is somewhat worsened by the auto-save function which is either ‘on’ and saves every tweak you make (intentionally or otherwise), or ‘off.’ Whilst the ‘off’ setting seems an ideal solution to avoiding saving any accidental tweaks, it means that if you do accidentally tweak an effect mid-song and then try to perform a patch change in anticipation of your big guitar solo moment, you are greeted instead with a prompt asking you if you want to save the changes. In this case, you’ll be stuck on the previous patch until you reach down, scroll to ‘no’ and then click the ‘enter’ button. On the plus side, your guitar solo may take on a fresh lease of life with this unexpected sound!
To be bypassed on the fly, effects have to be visible on screen - if you want to bypass an effect that is off screen, you first have to use the scroll function to move the display over to its location in the effects chain. Since there's a short screen animation between each scroll, this is pretty difficult and long-winded to do mid-song.
Additionally, there may be effects in the chain that you would never want to bypass and thus take up valuable screen real estate and ‘scroll time’ to navigate past. In these cases, it would be great to have a hide/show function for effects - this would be especially useful for amp sims and other effects that take up two display slots! The interim solution would be to save the tweaked sound as a whole new patch and use it in a multi-FX style setup, rather than as an individual effect in a virtual stompbox chain.
Conclusion
While the multi-FX marketplace may be vast and crowded, Zoom have brought a product to the table that is as well built as it is affordable and as flexible as it is compact. Though there's room for minor improvements, the excellent effects selection paired with its stompbox-style knob layout and editing functionality really makes sense to me as a player. In a way, this sums up my experience with the G3XN: while its price to performance ratio is undeniable, it feels like Zoom have created something that is less about complex manuals and menu-diving and more about plugging in and making a wonderful racket - something that will appeal to everyone from a novice rock guitarist to a top pro player.
Whether you’re in the market for your next live rig, your next multi FX unit or an all-in-one guitar and bass processor, the G3XN may be just the little workhorse you’ve been looking for.
While the multi-FX marketplace may be vast and crowded, Zoom have brought a product to the table that is as well built as it is affordable and as flexible as it is compact. Though there's room for minor improvements, the excellent effects selection paired with its stompbox-style knob layout and editing functionality really makes sense to me as a player. In a way, this sums up my experience with the G3XN: while its price to performance ratio is undeniable, it feels like Zoom have created something that is less about complex manuals and menu-diving and more about plugging in and making a wonderful racket - something that will appeal to everyone from a novice rock guitarist to a top pro player.
Whether you’re in the market for your next live rig, your next multi FX unit or an all-in-one guitar and bass processor, the G3XN may be just the little workhorse you’ve been looking for.
