New Zoom AC-2 Acoustic Creator Pedal

[lkingston]

With rechargeable NiMH AA batteries, you are stuck with 1.2v. With 9v rechargeables you have 7.2v, 8.4v and 9.6v options. If you take them apart you immediately see why. A regular 9v alkaline battery is made up of six really skinny 1.5v batteries. When those skinny cells are reduced to 1.2v, the series total is only 7.2v. The 8.4v versions have seven slightly skinnier cells crammed into the same space. 7x1.2=8.4. The 9.6v versions have 8 cells (8x1.2=9.6v).

You also need a charger that senses and appropriately charges the battery. I actually use three rechargeable 9v battery types. Regular 9.6v NiMH, a LSD (low self discharge) ones which are great for low current draw pedals like the Tech 21 Sansamp Para DI, and lithium 9v which have much higher mAh rating.

The problem with lithium batteries is that they give full battery meter ratings for the life of the charge, then suddenly fall of to nothing with no warning. This makes any battery metering useless. With NiMH, you'll get advance warning before they die if you have low battery metering or warnings.


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[Cuki79]

Originally Posted by lkingston

With rechargeable NiMH AA batteries, you are stuck with 1.2v. With 9v rechargeables you have 7.2v, 8.4v and 9.6v options. If you take them apart you immediately see why. A regular 9v alkaline battery is made up of six really skinny 1.5v batteries. When those skinny cells are reduced to 1.2v, the series total is only 7.2v. The 8.4v versions have seven slightly skinnier cells crammed into the same space. 7x1.2=8.4. The 9.6v versions have 8 cells (8x1.2=9.6v).

You also need a charger that senses and appropriately charges the battery. I actually use three rechargeable 9v battery types. Regular 9.6v NiMH, a LSD (low self discharge) ones which are great for low current draw pedals like the Tech 21 Sansamp Para DI, and lithium 9v which have much higher mAh rating.

The problem with lithium batteries is that they give full battery meter ratings for the life of the charge, then suddenly fall of to nothing with no warning. This makes any battery metering useless. With NiMH, you'll get advance warning before they die if you have low battery metering or warnings.


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That's very interesting. I actually use 18650 protected Li-ion batteries. 3 cells make 11.1v and I can use a small regulator to go down to 9.4v.

It's basically what you find in pedlatrain volto or rockborad XT LT.

I bought the rockboard but it did not work with my EPSI IR pedal so I made my own battery pack.

Of course with my DIY battery pack there is no warning. But the cells are strong enough so I don't have to "think" about it all the time.

[lkingston]

With AA batteries, I limit myself to two types: high capacity mAh and Eneloops. The Eneloop batteries are LSD (low self discharge) and will hold a charge much longer. The two weaknesses are lower capacity (2000 - 2100 mAh) and they need to be charged more slowly. There are other LSD batteries on the market, but none of them hold their charge anywhere near as well.

A bit of background: Regular NiMH batteries lose about 10% of their charge a day even without being connected to anything. This is why it is good to charge them right before you use them. This can be a very quick charge (around an hour) if you have a fast charger. Eneloops are great if you want to charge the batteries a week or more before an event. They still lose their charge much faster than alkaline, but the rate is much slower. A year in storage before use is no problem. There are also Eneloop Pro batteries which have higher capacity (around 2500 mAh) but far fewer recharge cycles. My experience is that there are far fewer than the advertised 500 recharge cycles and I've had numerous failures with Eneloop Pros. Meanwhile regular Eneloops are rock solid.

Another thing to be aware of is that the better chargers charge batteries individually rather than in pairs. This is really important in practice even if it isn't always in theory.




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[guitaniac]

Originally Posted by lkingston

With AA batteries, I limit myself to two types: high capacity mAh and Eneloops. The Eneloop batteries are LSD (low self discharge) and will hold a charge much longer. The two weaknesses are lower capacity (2000 - 2100 mAh) and they need to be charged more slowly. There are other LSD batteries on the market, but none of them hold their charge anywhere near as well.

A bit of background: Regular NiMH batteries lose about 10% of their charge a day even without being connected to anything. This is why it is good to charge them right before you use them. This can be a very quick charge (around an hour) if you have a fast charger. Eneloops are great if you want to charge the batteries a week or more before an event. They still lose their charge much faster than alkaline, but the rate is much slower. A year in storage before use is no problem. There are also Eneloop Pro batteries which have higher capacity (around 2500 mAh) but far fewer recharge cycles. My experience is that there are far fewer than the advertised 500 recharge cycles and I've had numerous failures with Eneloop Pros. Meanwhile regular Eneloops are rock solid.

Another thing to be aware of is that the better chargers charge batteries individually rather than in pairs. This is really important in practice even if it isn't always in theory.




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Thanks for the timely info. Long night ahead.

[martingitdave]

Hi folks, I started this thread about 6 months ago in anticipation of the new Zoom AC-2 pedal. You can read through to get the gist of what folks were expecting, and if they though it would meet their needs. A few weeks ago, I bought one.

I mainly gig with my Martin HD28E Retro because the onboard Aura Plus F1 system is great. The rest of my guitars have "plain Jane" passive K&K installs because I don't gig them that often and I prefer the lowest impact pickups. But, like many of you, I feel the K&K sounds better with a preamp or DI between it and the amplification.

I've tried a number of products that all give some good tone with my K&Ks. Some of my favorites have been the Red Eye and the TC Helicon Play Acoustic. Both of these pedals assist with impedance matching and produce a pleasing tone. That said, I was interested in a DI pedal that would allow me to have more control over my guitar tone when I am playing with other people through their amplificaiton. In this situation, having a small unit, with battery power, is a real benefit.

The AC-2 is a well made unit with 3 band EQ, gain control, reverb, and a body resonance correction feature. The correction feature is designed for piezo pickups and magnetic pickups. I don't have any of the later, so I can't comment on that feature. I assume the piezo correction was designed for an under saddle transducer. But, frankly, I think it sounds very good with my K&K equipped dreadnoughts. I gave them a little mid cut, some reverb, chose the dreadnought and 12-string settings, and got a very usable and pleasing tone. I suspect the modeling is a bit subtle if you pickup is particularly quacky. In those cases, the Aura or Tondexter might be a better fit. Since the K&Ks are rather robust sounding to start with, I think the modeling adds enough body and air to make the sound more pleasing.

I recognize that a lot of players will thumb their noses at Zoom products because they tend to be value driven and they are digital. But, for those who are a bit less fussy, I would suggest you demo one and see if it can help improve your pickup's tone. I intend to keep mine in the gig bag for these situations, and maybe more in the future.

Please note, I don't have any gig experience with this product yet. So, I highly recommend a demo before buying.

I hope this helps!

[SalFromChatham]

Dave... 4 years later and a thank you.

I actually this might be the perfect simple pedal for my passive magnetic pickup guitar, which is my favorite. Tuner, reverb, boost... I use an Ac adapter anyway.

[martingitdave]

Originally Posted by SalFromChatham

Dave... 4 years later and a thank you.



I actually this might be the perfect simple pedal for my passive magnetic pickup guitar, which is my favorite. Tuner, reverb, boost... I use an Ac adapter anyway.

My pleasure. I've since moved to the Sunnaudio preamp for my K&K pickups. But that zoom was one of the better one pedal solutions I tried. I got a few good gigs out of it.

[hotroad]

Its a toy for those who like easily broken pedals, poor sound quality and outdated ways to use it. Save your money.

[MrErikJ]

I agree, Dave, this is a stellar pedal for many applications. I rather liked its "modeling" (just a detailed EQ) goes a long way to getting most pickups pretty close. I especially like that it has outs for pre and post EQ/Effects, which sound guys love.

I'm currently trying out a EAE Gigmix but I'm not entirely convinced I wont keep using my AC3. It's especially nice with a single-source pickup.