Zoom 505 > Reviews > Zoooooooom

Author's product rating:   

Ease of Use	Easy
Durability	Average
Value for Money	Excellent

Advantages:	Fantastic value
Disadvantages:	No tremolo, delays don't very much

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

The Zoom 505 is probably the best multi-effects unit on the market. I know there are better sounding pedals, but the sheer value of this thing surpasses them all. I got mine second hand, with the external power supply and the expression pedal for £30. You can get the same package new for about £70 or £80.
The 505 is a little 2-button pedal in a plastic case (which is actually quite strong), with 4 additional buttons for editing patches.
There are various effects available: distortion (8 types), compression, wah, noise reduction, amp/speaker simulator, EQ, chorus, phasing, flanging, doubling, pitch-shifting, step filter (crazy!), reverb and delay. All of these effects are superb. Despite the limited editing features, you can usually get a patch you want. The flanger and phaser go really slow, there's plenty of chorus, the pitch-shifter includes several intersting harmonies - not just the standard octave above or octave below - and the reverbs (hall and room) are very pleasing. The omission of a tremolo was a bit dissapointing, though.
The editing features, as I have said, are very limited. You only have the option to change one parameter for each effect type (in the form of 9 presets each). This does, however work very well, and the noly effect that I thought needed more variation in the given presets was the delay. There are several short delays with many repeats, then just one at the end with a long delay and 1 repeat. Oh, by the way, did I mention that this is a stereo effects unit? Some of the delays are ping-ponged (they bounce between the left and right speakers). AND there's a built-in chromatic tuner.
Overall, the Zoom 505 is an amazing multi-effects pedal. I think the price tag is worth the whammy effects (with the expression pedal) and the step filter alone. It's worth combining the 505 with a separate distortion and delay, but whatever, this is great value. Every guitarist should have one.