Any Zoom AC-3 users?

[JackB1]

OK so I'm trying this out as an all in one effects pedal for my solo acoustic act.
Haven't gigged with it yet...only tried it at home. Any tips or pointers for use?

One thing I don't understand is why would they have one stand alone reverb and then you can have another additional reverb on top if that? Who would want reverb on top of reverb? Besides that its a pretty nice pedal. Easy to use and everything is knobs, which I love. Not sure how I feel bout the modeling of the guitars though?

[dogdog49]

I'm thinking of getting one of these and I imagine having all the secondary effects easily available on top of the main reverb will be one of my favorite features. I play fingerstyle and sometimes like to bring shimmer in for certain sections. It looks to me like I can have the main reverb set for a modest room or hall type effect and bring shimmer (or any other effect) in on top with a simple tap of the effect footswitch just for those sections. Am I wrong about that possibility?

[JackB1]

No that’s exactly how it works. I understand bringing chorus or delay in on top of reverb, but reverb on top of reverb doesn’t make sense to me.

Originally Posted by dogdog49

I'm thinking of getting one of these and I imagine having all the secondary effects easily available on top of the main reverb will be one of my favorite features. I play fingerstyle and sometimes like to bring shimmer in for certain sections. It looks to me like I can have the main reverb set for a modest roomed reverb or hall type effect and bring shimmer (or any other effect) in on top with a simple tap of the effect footswitch just for those sections. Am I wrong about that possibility?

[lkingston]

On this pedal, I don’t believe you can turn off or dial back the body resonance modeling.

[Philly112]

Originally Posted by lkingston

On this pedal, I don’t believe you can turn off or dial back the body resonance modeling.

That's true, it's always on (you can turn off the 'target' guitar, but not the 'source' guitar'). However, I wouldn't hold that against it, it's a VERY subtle effect, and (to my ears anyway), is the least impressive part of the pedal. To be fair, I do need to spend a bit more time with this, and put down a loop so I can fiddle with it more at a decent volume.

Re the reverbs, yes you can put another reverb (hall) on top of the standard reverb if you want; whether you have any use for that is another matter. There is also a 'modulation/reverb' which kind of does a chorus/reverb, which can also be stacked on the standard reverb (you can't have the standard reverb, hall and mod/chorus on at the same time though, that would be silly).

Other than that, it's a good sounding unit, the compressor works well, as does the boost. The effects all sound good. There is a pad effect which works very well, and I have zero use for.
I would question whether you need 3 different delay types in an acoustic, they all tend to sound very similar to my ears when used at the levels I use them. You can't do chorus+delay which might be an issue for some.
It can also run off a small USB power bank (like you charge phones with), which is a positive.

I like it, but 'it is what it is...'. It's not a magic bullet, and if you have an amp which has lots of effects built in, I'd probably buy a separate boost or compressor if you need them, and look elsewhere for any body resonance solution.

[JackB1]

That's correct you cant....but you can find one that doesn't alter the sound much, if that's what you want.

Originally Posted by lkingston

On this pedal, I don’t believe you can turn off or dial back the body resonance modeling.

[JackB1]

When you turn off the target guitar, it chooses the best target for the source you choose automatically. But I agree, it's just a subtle effect and it sounds great with it on.

All the effects do sound great and they are all pretty subtle, which makes them all very usable for different songs. Not sure when I would use that "pad" effect though, but it is cool. I leave everything pretty much at 12 oclock for the effects settings, so if I switch between them during a gig, non of them will sound too over the top.

Originally Posted by Philly112

That's true, it's always on (you can turn off the 'target' guitar, but not the 'source' guitar'). However, I wouldn't hold that against it, it's a VERY subtle effect, and (to my ears anyway), is the least impressive part of the pedal. To be fair, I do need to spend a bit more time with this, and put down a loop so I can fiddle with it more at a decent volume.

Re the reverbs, yes you can put another reverb (hall) on top of the standard reverb if you want; whether you have any use for that is another matter. There is also a 'modulation/reverb' which kind of does a chorus/reverb, which can also be stacked on the standard reverb (you can't have the standard reverb, hall and mod/chorus on at the same time though, that would be silly).

Other than that, it's a good sounding unit, the compressor works well, as does the boost. The effects all sound good. There is a pad effect which works very well, and I have zero use for.
I would question whether you need 3 different delay types in an acoustic, they all tend to sound very similar to my ears when used at the levels I use them. You can't do chorus+delay which might be an issue for some.
It can also run off a small USB power bank (like you charge phones with), which is a positive.

I like it, but 'it is what it is...'. It's not a magic bullet, and if you have an amp which has lots of effects built in, I'd probably buy a separate boost or compressor if you need them, and look elsewhere for any body resonance solution.