Zoom GM200

Paul White gives Zoom's new low‑cost modelling guitar preamp the once over.

Line 6 clearly started something when they released their innovative Pod desktop guitar amp modeller, because this year sees a number of similar products hot on its tail. Direct competition for the Pod is provided by the Johnson J Station (see review starting on page 100), while Zoom have chosen to target their amp modeller towards the lower end of the market. The result is the GM200, a very low‑cost guitar preamp with switchable amp modelling, a choice of output characteristics and some basic effects.

Model Looks

The GM200's silver‑coloured plastic case is remarkably light — even the slightest tug on your guitar cable and it'll be flying off your desktop! Power comes from the included mains adaptor, though battery powering is also possible. The front panel offers standard rotary controls for Gain, Master Level, Treble, Middle and Bass,along with a smaller knob to set the threshold of Zoom's own noise reduction system (a type of expander/gate from what I can tell) that comes after the amp model but before the effects, so reverb tails don't get cut off by it. There are also two stepped rotary controls which are used to select different amp models and different output characters, while the effects are controlled by a single knob which is used both to select between different effects and vary their depth or rate as appropriate. Unlike the Pod and J Station, there's no programmability, patch storage or MIDI. Only one effect can be active at a time.

The GM200 includes speaker simulation, so that the output can be DI'd for recording, offering simulations of close‑miked, room‑miked and stereo‑miked setups. However, there are also other output options. Four of these (Off, Warm, Bright, and Boost) are designed for when you're using the GM200 as a front end for a guitar amplifier and, interestingly, there are also four (Flat, Edge, Punch, and Bottom) tailored for the response of a domestic hi‑fi system. For practice, there's a Mix In stereo mini‑jack that allows the output from a CD player or other suitable source to be combined with the guitar signal. The stereo output jack also serves as the output to a mono or stereo guitar amplifier, while dual phono outputs are used when recording or when feeding anything that requires a line‑level source. There's a gain switch by the input jack to suit just about any guitar, from a low‑power single‑coil model to high‑output humbuckers. All the connectors are on the rear panel.

The effects section is fairly rudimentary and is addressed by a single rotary control divided into four sections: Chorus, Tremolo, Echo and Reverb. Moving the control through each of these sectors increases the level of the selected effect and changes other parameters such as the tremolo or delay speed at the same time. Unfortunately, there's no tap tempo facility for the delay, which makes obtaining precise delay times impossible.

GM Sounds

Like the Pod, the GM200 models a series of popular amps, but whereas Line 6 tell you what the amps are, the list in the Zoom manual reads like a musical general knowledge quiz. For example, "Emulates a tube type combo amp developed in the '60s by an American company known for its single‑coil pickup guitars." Or how about "Emulates the British‑built tube amp that became the Hallmark of the Liverpool sound in the '60s?" Fortunately the review model came with a crib sheet (see box), and in fact the amp models do sound very different from each other and are recognisable impressions of the real thing. American Clean provides the only really clean sound while the rest run from mild blues, through overdriven combos and stacks to out‑and‑out fuzz.

I don't think the models have the same dynamic subtlety as the Pod, but they capture the essence of the original pretty well and sound particularly good for hot solo work or crunch chords. The speaker simulator also works well, providing a plausible miked up sound, and having three of four tonal options for each of the output modes adds to the versatility. The reverb sounds pretty authentic in a combo spring kind of way, but it can't be used at the same time as the other effects — which also sound much like their pedal counterparts. The most obvious weakness of the GM200, however, is the amount of background hiss generated when any of the overdrive sounds are used; the full extent of this is quite obvious if the noise reduction is turned off. Using the noise reduction hides the hiss reasonably successfully, but it is still audible if notes are allowed to decay naturally with no new notes being played to cover up the problem. Unfortunately, the hiss sounds quite different to the noise and hum generated by a real guitar amp, so it can't be passed off as 'vintage grot'!

Overall, the GM200 sounds rather better than its price might lead you to believe, though the hiss does rather mar its performance. Used with care, it is fine for demos, quiet practice and even gigging. You do get a lot for your money, the sound is impressive and it couldn't be easier to use.