Zoom G11 Review

[Top-L]

Just received and won't be able to do much with it until later tonight, but I did update the FW and play for about 30 miutes.

Quick takes (More info later):

* It looks great, very attractive. I dont understand the hate it has received for its looks.

*Metal chassis/base, even though top is plastic. Feels sturdy, all switches are substaintial.

*The one I received is defective. The AMP name LCD lights up, but never shows any text. Updating firmware did not fix. The device seems to work otherwise, although the L/R balance may be a little off.

* What everyone says about it, that it needs good presets is true x1000. The problem is that the presets I tried don't have the cab sim set up correctly.

*Stock, it sounds grainy and almost direct-like. IDK if thats because the cab sim was not set for 100%, or even turned on.

*The way its designed (no one tells you this) to get good sounds is that you can mix cab sims and IRs. You have one cab sim set at 100%, then an IR following which you can select the mix level and wheter it is in/out of phase. Within about 30 minutes I had mixed a cab sim with a room IR and had sounds that were credible.

*The REAL problem is that editing it, despite having a touch screen, is a PITA. If you want to change anything, you still have to touch,touch,touch, select, then back, back out of the menu. And having direct access to all the parameters by dedicated knobs, not sure if there is much advantage to this.

I think it can be made to sound very good, BUT you need to come up with a strategy for IRs. To get the whole thing working and sounding right you would need to set up and duplicate a number of pedal slots in every preset, and I don't think there is a way to copy pedals between patches.

IOW, its a very basic editing layout that would be great IF the amps/cabs sounded brilliant by default. BUT because they don't, you are stuck with having to make a ton of manual edits in each patch with a UI that isn't really designed for making surgical edits. By the time you have your basic tone dialed in, you probably will have used half or more of the pedal slots on cab sim/IR mixing, and EQ blocks.

That said, when I got a room IR mixed with a cab sim it was sounding very "flagship like". But I'm probably not going to invest that time in this platform.

There are alot of things I like about it, and if I play with it more I may have some breakthroughs. This one is going back because defective, and at this point in time I probably won't get a replacement.

[Top-L]

OK, another hour with this, and....it's ... not good. Actually its really bad.

Simple patch: Noise Suppressor, Tube Screamer, Krampus(amp), cab sim, IR, delay, and reverb, just those pedals, and its at 97% utilization. At one point early on I quickly ran out of juice when I added a delay.

An IR takes 20% of its processing... just to give you an idea how little power it has.

Start up takes literally 45s. WTF!? The light show is cool, but my PC with SSD boots 3s faster than this.

Regarding trying to get a good sound. You can use a cab sim by itself with mic turned on. It sounds kinda grainy and FLAT direct even with the mic turned on. (What do you expect, the cab sim takes 4% cpu.) If you add a room IR after and try to mix, you can tame the highs, it sounds more 3D, but you also get a degree of boxy phasing. It looks like they intended for you to mix IRs and cab sims. The problem with mixing is that the level varies wildly (say if you only want 10% room mic, the volume just dropped by more than half) so its a pita twisting knobs to keep it from clipping or disappearing.

It seems like there *should* be some combinations of cab and IR that dont get that boxy sound, but I haven't found it. It looks like they intended for you to mix them, but it just doesnt work. The cab by itself is grainy, it might be possible to use EQ to tame the top. Or maybe loading a custom IR is the ticket? The stock IRs that I tried... never quite sounded 3D except the room ones, but they weren't right by themselves.

My opinion of the G11 is that they didn't have any sound designers making decisions and ensuring that it would sound good. It looks like a modeler. It technically works and does the things a modeler should do, but it sounds half baked.

I think it goes beyond just having bad presets. Sure you can drench everything with delay and reverb, but by itself it either sounds grainy or boxy/phasey.

Possibly someone out there found the magic combination that give it a full 3D sound without any phasiness. But at the end of the day, you are dealing with a really weak processor. The amp model takes 30%, an IR is 20%. There are only 9fx slots. You get the picture. Its not really worth it to try to use it to sculpt your tone when you are going to run out of cpu at any moment.

The amp models actually sound very much like the Helix, but the cab sim is a step beneath. I never loved sounds from the Helix, but neither were they obviously bad.

Regarding the editing. It sucks. A touch screen does not make a good UI. The problem is that you have four pages of text boxes, each which does a single action. Want to add an effect, you have to back out and scroll to the page with the option you want.(Where is that?) I don't think this is a matter of just learning it, you still are faced with going in in in, then out out out every time you want to select something. Then scroll scroll scroll to find the option you want. Bad.

I notice that ALL the resellers have removed the reviews from their web sites. That should tell you something. They are trying to unload these.

There are absolutely no system options. No ability to turn off all the cab sims if you are plugging into an amp. No global EQ. Nothing like that. There are no assigns. No ability to control or link individual parameters.

Is it worth $600? If they had sound designers to ensure it sounded good, with a good selection of presets, then maybe. But probably not. I think anyone that spent $600 on this would regret not spending a little more for a flagship (I mean seriously regret it.. cmon an FM3 is only $400 more), or a little less for something that is not pretending to be a flagship. They would be happier. The touch screen UI doesn't make it a good UI, and the dedicated hardware knobs on each effect means they are very basic, mostly limited to only four parameters.

I was really excited about this, but now I realize why all the sites have suppressed reviews and why they aren't stocked in stores so you can try them. They are seriously flawed.

This was released shortly after the pandemic hit, so I'm assuming there were other problems.

[Mincer]

Is this a device that will be regularly updated?

[ArtieToo]

Good review. Info like this is helpful and informative. Even though, I'm not in the market for one of these, it's always fun to look at what's out there.

[Obsessive Compulsive]

IR = Internal Routing, Integrated Reverb?

[ArtieToo]

IR = Internal Routing, Integrated Reverb?

Impulse Response. It's the fancy, "techno" way of saying . . . what the speaker sim sounds like.

[Obsessive Compulsive]

Impulse Response. It's the fancy, "techno" way of saying . . . what the speaker sim sounds like.

Ha! Never thought of that. He says it's part of a patch, like an entirely different effect?

[ArtieToo]

In a way, it is. If you assume that picking which cab sim will affect the overall sound. Selecting a 4x12 Marshall stack, will be different than a 2x12 Fane, and yet again different than an "American" 12".

At least, that's how I interpret it. I've only dealt with cab sims. Not IR's per se.

Edit: Thinking a little more about it . . . I think a "cab sim" is built in. IR's are in software and can be downloaded and installed like samples.

I think.

[Top-L]

Is this a device that will be regularly updated?

Probably not. If they included a firmware update with a new cabinet sim, or a way to properly mix IRs it would be much better.

I think the only way to go about using this is to find some really great IRs and program around that.

This is the next morning, and in retrospect, the point of no return for me, the point where I realized I couldn't make this work, was when I was trying to adjust the reverb. I realized "Oh, this reverb only has four parameters" which is barely enough to control a reverb.. no high pass filter, no reflections control, just very basic. You take it for granted when working with other FX processors, that the reverbs have several pages of parameters. This is further underscored by the parametric EQ block. There is only one band of EQ; most parametric EQs in mainstream processors have four bands. If you want four bands, you have to use 4 of the 9 fx slots.

Some of their pedals span two slots which gives you eight parameters to adjust, but most are just four knobs. The fundamental problem with this design is that because of the virtual pedal layout, most of the effects are very basic.

The base price of this should be $600, where you can get another 15-20% off. And even still it would be a hard sell.

[Top-L]

In a way, it is. If you assume that picking which cab sim will affect the overall sound. Selecting a 4x12 Marshall stack, will be different than a 2x12 Fane, and yet again different than an "American" 12".

At least, that's how I interpret it. I've only dealt with cab sims. Not IR's per se.

Edit: Thinking a little more about it . . . I think a "cab sim" is built in. IR's are in software and can be downloaded and installed like samples.

I think.

Yes, the cab sim is built in. Usually cab sims have multiple parameters like EQ, resonance, mic mix, etc to let you get a good sound.

IRs are just cabinet "snapshots" you load which serve the same purpose as a cab sim, but usually have less adjustments.

The G11 has seventy in-built IRs, but the handful I tried all sounded very flat/grainy, except the room IRs.

[Masta' C]

Updates and support? It's Zoom, so in my experience...no, prepare to have updates abandoned after a year and fight heavily if you ever need warranty support.

Top-L, how's that Quad Cortex with industry-leading processing power and a better UI looking now? I suppose you "get what you pay for" after all?

[Top-L]

Updates and support? It's Zoom, so in my experience...no, prepare to have updates abandoned after a year and fight heavily if you ever need warranty support.

Top-L, how's that Quad Cortex with industry-leading processing power and a better UI looking now? I suppose you "get what you pay for" after all?

It looks much better.

BUT... if the G11 has taught me anything, its that a touch interface is not necessarily better. So I'm no longer in the "ohh shiny its touch" category of people swayed by that.

I'm eyeing the GT1000 or FM3 again. At least with the 1000 I know what I'm getting (having used the 100 for 5 years now). The GT is a virtual pedal chain with dedicated hardware knobs for navigating and selecting specific actions. There is no menu diving for editing, arranging, adding/deleting effects. Everything is right there on one screen. The pedal chain on top that you move around in, and the parameters listed underneath.

I dont know how the FM3 interface would work but I see most people using the computer interface, so that is not as appealing.

The QC UI could be a complete bust if it is similar to the G11. I have to watch the videos again. There needs to be a virtual pedal chain that is always accessible with separate pages showing parameters. I know the GT1000 and Helix take this approach. With the QC for instance, if you select an effect, does the virtual pedal chain go away or hidden by a menu? Thats the problem with the G11. You are always going in in/out out. With the GT and helix if you want to do something else, you (almost) always have direct access to the virtual chain.

[Top-L]

Played it some more last night... I have 30 days to return this defective one, so might as well explore a little more.

Tonally, the IRs do what they do. There are a good selection of IRs even though they can't be easily mixed without phasing. The 1in and 12in IRs have a good tonality. To minimize the "grainyness" you have to pick the right combination of amp and IR. The tone is not horrible. Some might even say acceptable or good. This could just be my ears adjusting. IOW, I don't think an external IR would magically transform this into something else. The included IRs cover enough ground that you don't need to add IRs. OTH, I've never worked with a processor that has the hunt n peck aspect of picking IRs. I'd rather a good cab sim.

This time I focused on what the amps could do. There are two categories of amps. There are the "old" amps (15% cpu) and the "new" amps (30%cpu). The new amps, to my ears, have another layer of air on them that you don't hear when effects are added, but tonally they are similar. In fact one of my favorites was the XTC Blue which is an old amp. The old amps are not necessarily bad and you could use them and free up some processor. Still need to explore this some more.

What my ears are hearing is that the sounds, even the high gain ones, have an open character and are missing the blur or heft that distorted amps usually have. I'm having a difficult time dialing in a saturated and round lead tone. I can crank the gain, but I'm not getting that thickness in lead notes. It might be a matter of using EQ to dial in some low mids, or picking the right IR? Its in the ballpark but needs some work.

The tones that the G11 seems to excel at are the lower and mid gain tones. There is an open character or clang in most of the amps by default. You can strum chords with distortion and it stays articulate, doesnt sound like a hornets nest, but when you play the lower notes, they dont have the warmth or blur that you expect. Its like there isn't any power amp simulation. Again, it might be possible to rectify with proper EQ settings. Or maybe my ears are too used to the way BOSS does distortion.

Regarding the editing, there is an "Edit All" mode that shows the pedal chain and combines several of the editing features. You can do most things from this menu so it isn't that bad. One nice thing is that as you make adjustments to your patch and move to another one, you don't have to save. All the settings are "live" and remembered. Patch switching is pretty instant.

I'm going to install the software and see if they have any downloadable presets that are worthwhile.

If this listed at $500 and you got it down to 400 with a coupon, it would be very worthwhile. There is not much more to it than the G5n, which I think lists at $350. They added a touch screen, enlarged it for another pedal, added IR loading, and maybe a tiny bit more processor. Its odd that they thought they could nearly triple the price. I really do like the way it looks, but I still think a list of $600 is too high.

[Masta' C]

That seems like a very fair assessment. Thank you for reviewing it and following up with your thoughts!

[Top-L]

That seems like a very fair assessment. Thank you for reviewing it and following up with your thoughts!

Whats crazy, is that now I'm thinking about exchanging it for a good one and keeping it!

Spent some time at lunch tweaking, and it wasn't hard to use a parametric to get a sound that is nearly identical to my sound on the GT100. Now, I know what you are thinking, a GT100 is not a benchmark for tone, but I've tweaked the GT for years, know all its tricks... mixing dual mics on the cab sim, EQ blocks, parametric,resonance filter, and I've been able to get it sounding identical to sound samples of the GT1000 and FM3 I've heard online. Or at least close enough that it doesnt matter. (My problem with the GT100, once I've done all that, there really isn't much processing left, and it takes a ton of time to set up new patches that way.)

What I found is that the "flagship" amps in the G11 that take 30% processor, sound good with their matching cab, which only takes 4% of the CPU. So what it comes down to is that if you want to use a flagship amp (30%) with an IR (20%), that is where processing gets limited and you aren't going to be running long effect chains. But if you avoid that scenario you aren't going to be running into too many problems because most general effects are 3-5% cpu.

The thing that is cool about it, if you are a sound tweaker like I am, you have an array of knobs directly available without having to go into any menus. So I have the cab sim,(with its tone controls), the parametric EQ, and the amp controls all under my fingers to make minute changes. You have to keep the unit in the "edit all" menu, so you can touch to drag, turn effects on/off, add/delete effects all from the touch, which having instant access to all the parameters in the pedals.

To get a good sound from the cab sim, you have to choose the right mix between the two mics, and set the LO/HI balance properly. Thats it. The EQ controls in the cab are sensitive and if you just throw a stock cab sim in your patch, it will have too much hi frequency and sound grainy.

The patch switching time is almost instantaneous, so you don't really need snapshots or anything like that. You won't get delay spillover between patches, but neither is there any dead air.

Whats cool about it is that its an immediate gratification device, you just turn the knobs to get it sounding right, you don't have to save the patch or anything. When you switch patches and come back, it will be just how you left it.

There are a ton of different effects, a literal toybox of different things to play with. My basic hot rod Marshall sound was easy to achieve with the TS + Krampus, its matching cab, and a parametric boost at 1.6K. Noise suppressor in the front of the chain cleans up everything.

At the end of the day, it could be an improvement on what I'm using now. ( I will have to play with it a couple more days, go back to my GT and see if my ears are deceiving me.) It has a couple bass amps, a drum machine, and a looper which is better than the GT. But its all very simple, it doesnt have an advanced switching or midi control options built in. I think $500 is the price someone would pay and feel happy with it. $600 still a bit steep considering alternatives.