Zoom A3 Hit Or Miss?

[8TrackJoe]

Originally Posted by RockerDuck

After having the A3 for awhile, I experimented with the Mic input. This A3 can be used as a 2 channel mixer. I sang thru the mic and played guitar. I had reverb on the mic. Worked out good.

Thanks for posting this information. Had been wondering about it ever since the A3 came out.

[Doubleneck]

Originally Posted by RockerDuck

After having the A3 for awhile, I experimented with the Mic input. This A3 can be used as a 2 channel mixer. I sang thru the mic and played guitar. I had reverb on the mic. Worked out good.

That is interesting especial I remember you can add the mic anywhere in the effects chain so you can have reverb on voice and still have that and another effect on guitar. Given its compactness this is would be a handy mixer for something quick like a open mic? Small coffee house. Got to try it.

[RockerDuck]

I think more people have looked at this thread than I've seen.

[jlipoth]

Originally Posted by Dancehallking

anyone use the zoom a3 successfully with a k&k, jjb, or similar type pickup? did you use the preset patches or turn those off? Also, if you are using saying a dreadnought, if you choose the other types of guitar like parlor or om, etc. will it change it to sound like those guitars or is the point to pick what you are playing to try and restore your guitar sound?

I got a Gibson J35 last week and I decided to add a k&k style pickup (JJBelectronics) partially because I prefer having 2 sources and partially because I had a bad experience with a k&k in the past and recently found out it was not installed correctly (I wanted to give it another chance)....

First I plugged the element into the pickup input and the JJB (k&k style pickup) into the mic input. It was a lot like using my bband a2.2 I have in another guitar, except the JJB is a beefier sounding SBT. I really like this setup!

I wanted to see what the JJB was like by itself, so I plugged it into the pickup input. It was really quiet. I had to turn the gain well past 3 o'clock, but it sounded pretty decent. Then I plugged it back into the mic input. I preferred this by far, because I didn't have to pin the gain. Frankly, I don't think the JJB needs guitar modeling anyways.... I used basically the same setup on the A3 that I described previously for my other pickups. (Sonic maximizer 44bass, 9treble and then opto compressor). I was surprised how much "woof" I was able to get rid of. My only concern is that I haven't tried this on stage yet. I was in my living room running into a Fishman loud box. I'm curious whether the A3 will keep feedback from becoming an issue (and/or will it kill the tone if I engage the feedback suppressor) .

The potential feedback issue aside, I have to say that the A3 really cleaned up the K&K pickup nicely. I was actually able to get articulate high end without adding anything harsh to the sound and better defined low end.

[DoryDavis]

Interesting. So I've asked this question before, on a different string. But maybe there are some updates. Has anyone tried the A3 using a Taylor ES1, using the TRS low impedance into the xlr (mic) input of the A3?
You can still program it to put the effects on this input right? How about the modeling?

I've just become a big believer in what I perceive to be the "hi fi" sound of using the trs out on my Taylor. I don't want to give that up, but I like the idea of the A3 in many ways, the modeling, the effects, etc.. thanks

[RockerDuck]

If you plug into XLR, it models microphones. I wouldn't worry to much about plugging into the guitar input since there are some high end guitar models that will make your Taylor sound even better.

[DoryDavis]

Rockerduck, thank you. Are you saying don;'t worry about just using standard 1/4" connection for the Taylor, as the models will make it sound better, surpassing any "high fi" sound from the trs? I have to admit I am leaning towards buying this pedal...