Zoom GFX8

John Walden puts his foot down to test‑drive Zoom's GFX8 floor‑mounted guitar direct recording and effects processor.

Whatever your personal standpoint on the most appropriate way to record electric guitar, only the most die‑hard 'mike an amp' guitarists can fail to be impressed by the ability of the current crop of amp simulators to get convincing guitar tones onto tape or hard disk with a minimum of fuss. Indeed, while price will obviously narrow down those choices for some, the main problem faced by most potential purchasers is simply the huge range of products to choose from.

In terms of guitar effects processing, Zoom are probably best known for their budget 500 series of foot pedals. The floor‑mounted GFX8, priced at £299, is their first serious stab at the middle market in guitar processing. This price puts it up against stiff competition from Boss, Digitech, Johnson and Line 6, amongst others. So if a device for direct recording of electric guitar is currently on your shopping list, is the Zoom GFX8 a worthy contender?

Zoom In

The GFX8 is housed in a sturdy medal case that measures 455 x 200 x 80mm with a colour scheme of gold labelling on metallic green that is pleasing enough on the eye. Zoom's Variable Architecture Modelling System (VAMS) is at the heart of the processing within the GFX8, as it is in the company's Pod‑like GM200 reviewed by Paul White last month. The documentation claims that VAMS is a combination of both analogue and digital technology and that it adapts its internal configurationdepending upon the type of sound being used. I can only guess that this means that the processing power is reallocated in some way depending upon the combination of effects selected, but even having read the manual carefully, I ended up none the wiser!

Some 160 preset patches (arranged in 40 banks of four patches) and 80 user patches are available. Each patch can be constructed from a chain of effects modules comprising: Drive, Zoom Noise Reduction (ZNR) and EQ, Amp Simulation, Modulation and Delay/Reverb/Special FX. A total of 69 effects types is available, and all the usual suspects are present (see the Effects Taster box) as well as some more extreme treatments for those who don't want their guitar to sound like a guitar.

The various inputs and outputs are situated on the rear of the unit (see The Tech Spec box for full details) and include the usual quarter‑inch jack guitar input, a left/right pair of quarter‑inch outputs, an effects send and return, a stereo mini jack as an Aux In, a quarter‑inch stereo headphone socket, and MIDI In and Out. There is no digital output. The rear panel also houses the power socket (for the usual wall‑wart), a power switch and a rather small rotary knob for setting the output level. At least the latter won't get knocked accidentally by a pair of size 10s when the GFX8 is being used for live performance.

The top surface is dominated by six footswitches (used primarily for patch selection) and an expression pedal. Sound editing is achieved via the 10 rotary knobs and nine small buttons, and a two‑part LED display (capable of displaying eight and two digits respectively) is used to show the current patch name or details of the parameter currently being edited. As with most floor‑mounted guitar effects processors, the editing controls and the size of their respective labels mean that the unit is best placed on a table top if you want to do any serious editing work and not end up with a large physiotherapy bill.

As well as a printed manual and patch list, the package includes a mixed audio/data CD, which contains editing software for both Mac and PC and 37 short audio demonstrations of the GFX8 in action. While a little cheesy in places, these are useful as they give a quick idea of the range of sounds on offer. The PC version of the software was tested as part of the review and installed without a hitch.

Sound Control

On‑screen editing with the supplied PC software.

The manual gives clear instructions on hooking the GFX8 up either with a guitar amp or directly to a power amp or recording device. Most of the review was done in the latter mode, but usefully for those who want to carry their settings between live and studio situations, the amp simulation can be switched on or off globally. The amp simulation settings provide a small selection of generic amp and cabinet types as well as a cabinet 'depth' parameter. In combination with the Drive module, these settings allow a wide variety of basic amp tones to be simulated for direct recording.

The GFX8 operates in five different modes. Play mode is activated on power up and allows patches to be selected via the footswitches and, er, played! In Manual mode, the footswitches turn effects modules on or off rather than changing patches. In both Play and Manual modes the current patch can be edited using the various front‑panel knobs, but full Edit mode is accessed by pressing the Edit button (a sensible choice!) situated beneath the EQ knobs. The final two modes, Jam Play and Sampler, provide various fun and games with sampled phrases.

When doing basic editing in Play or Manual mode, a big plus is the inclusion of amp‑like tone controls. The Presence, Treble, Mid, Bass and Gain controls make quick fine‑tuning of a patch very similar to carrying out the same sound‑shaping tweaks with a guitar amp. Such amp‑like controls are one of the best features of the Line 6 Pod and Johnson J Station (reviewed last month), but are less common on mid‑price floor‑mounted units. Well done Zoom! The three largest rotary knobs, positioned to the right of the LED, allow selection of individual effects types within the Drive, Modulation and Delay/Reverb/Special FX modules. The smaller knobs immediately below these alter a specific parameter in each of these modules. For the Drive module, for example, this knob will usually adjust the gain level. The parameter controlled by each of these 'on‑the‑fly' editing knobs can be user selected in Edit mode. Usefully, when any of the editing controls is turned, the LED display changes from showing the patch name and number to display the parameter being altered and its new value. After a couple of seconds, the display returns to the patch name.

Pressing the Edit button activates the full Edit mode. Editing is pretty intuitive, given the constraints of the LED and the fact that many of the individual effects have between five and eight parameters. This is aided by the fact that the EQ knobs double up as editing controls in this mode, so the amount of button pushing and page scrolling is perhaps less than on some other floor‑mounted guitar effects units. If you have a suitable MIDI‑equipped Mac or PC, moreover, detailed editing can be done very efficiently via the supplied software. As can be seen from the PC screen shot, all the parameters for each module are displayed and can be edited within a single window. The software can also interrogate the GFX8 and retrieve all the user patch information for archiving to disk. Although I came across one or two very minor discrepancies between the documentation and the software, the on‑screen editing was on the whole both reliable and very simple.

As well as overall patch memories, the GFX8 also has two 'custom' memory slots for each of the Drive, Modulation, and Delay/Reverb/Special FX modules. Therefore, if you do some detailed edits on the Drive module for example, and want to save these for use in other patches, these settings can be stored in one of the custom slots.

Zoom Out

So, with an impressive feature set and the mystery of VAMS, how does the GFX8 sound? Pretty damn good, it must be said! While the presets are, as with many guitar multi‑effects units, designed both to show off the unit and make the guitar sound big (often too big in the context of a full band arrangement!), some restraint has been exercised. In particular, the tone of the majority of the presets was quite warm and did not contain the head‑slicing top end found on some similar units. Those of you who like to use such a biting tone need not worry, however, as a little experimentation with the EQ showed that the GFX8 was perfectly capable of cutting it with the rest! I found myself turning down the Gain level on many of the presets when using a humbucker‑equipped guitar, but with a less powerful single‑coil‑pickup instrument, things were just about right.

The patch names give an idea of what is on offer, some emulating particular amp types, others particular styles and a few sounds associated with individual guitarists. The intentions of OLD VAN, BLACKZEP, WOMAN TN, '70 SOUL, JAZZY, MS9000 and SOLDN, for instance, will be pretty clear to most of the guitar‑playing fraternity, and while some will quibble about the precision of these simulations, they are all in the right ball park.

By coincidence, during the review of the GFX8, a version 2 upgrade chip arrived for my own Line 6 Pod, so I was able to do an interesting A/B comparison of the raw, uneffected tones available from the two units. Each amp simulation in the Pod is based on a very specific model of amp (such as the Marshall JTM45). By contrast, those in the GFX8 are perhaps a little more generic (they bear names such as FDR CLEAN and VX CRUNCH) but they cover broadly the same ground. The GFX8 stands up pretty well against the Pod and, in particular, the clean and hi‑gain sounds are just as impressive as those of the popular Line 6 unit. For me, the Pod has the edge for sounds just on the verge of breaking up, and its gain control seems to operate in a smoother, more valve amp‑like fashion; on the other hand, the GFX8 has a more comprehensive range of effects and doesn't require an expensive additional floorboard to provide an expression pedal for live use.

The quality of the effects themselves is generally very good. With the exception of long, sustained notes on high‑gain sounds, the noise reduction tames any background hiss reasonably well. The delays, chorus and flange effects are all of a high standard and pretty flexible, and the reverbs, while they are not going to compete with a stand‑alone rack unit, are perfectly acceptable in the context of a guitar setup. Of the various special effects, the harmonizer is quite usable and there is some fun to be had with the sampling capability, but others (on this and other guitar multi‑effects units!) are less useful. For example, don't expect the Drive module 'ACOUSTIC' to turn your Les Paul into an instant Ovation, or the Synth effect to do away with your keyboard player!

Conclusions

As with many modern items of hi‑tech recording equipment, it is not possible to detail all the facilities or functions on offer from the GFX8 in a review of this length. Zoom's first foray into mid‑priced guitar multi‑effects units stands up very well against the competition, and the standard of the amp simulations is good enough for high‑quality recording applications. In addition, those dedicated tone and gain controls make basic sound editing very straightforward.

If you need something for both live and studio use, the GFX8 is certainly worth a serious look alongside the equivalent units from the likes of Boss, Korg and Digitech. If it is just for studio use, then the competition is even greater, with the Pod and Johnson J Station the most obvious alternatives at the price. One thing is certain: in demoing all these units, you will have some fun making up your mind!